Andi – Page 50 – ANDI HAYS

Pot Roast

Posted on January 17, 2012January 17, 2012 by Andi

I made a pot roast the other day and it was so yummy! I always forget how easy these are to make. But I forget how much food they make! I really need to make it on a night I am having people over to dinner because I have so much leftover!

It’s really simple, though. Put in some carrots, onions and potatoes into the crockpot.

Brown the meat on all sides. It gives it a nice crunchy outside and makes some yummy flavors. This was a huge piece of meat (it was the smallest one they had at the store). I continued browning it more after I took this picture.

The add the meat to the crockpot on top of the carrots/onions/potatoes.

In the same pan you browned the meat, add some water and a packet of onion soup mix. This gets all the tasty bits off the bottom of the pan. (Great picture, huh?)

Then you pour the soup mix over the meat in the crock pot.

Then you cover it and cook for hours! Then the meat just falls apart and everything is soft and yummy!

I didn’t take any pictures after it was dished up because I was too hungry and just needed to eat it after smelling it all day!

I used THIS recipe to make this, in case you are interested.

11 Months Old

Posted on January 16, 2012January 16, 2012 by Andi

Just one more month and this little girl will be 1! How is that even possible? I’m deep into birthday planning and the invites will be in the mail soon!

Maddie is learning things so quickly! It’s hard to keep up with everything that she is learning.

Some of the things she has been doing this month are giving hugs and kisses, blowing kisses (getting better, but still working on this one), waving to everyone, being shy around people and burrowing her head on my shoulder, understanding words (which is really kind of creepy…she understands what we say and reacts…amazing!), imitating more, remembering things exist when they are out of her view, being more snuggly, eating food by biting it with her teeth (she has 6 – 4 on top, two on the bottom) instead of needing small pieces of food, taking her bow out of her hair, putting everything behind her head, walking everywhere, following us around the house, bringing items to me (books for me to hold while she turns the pages)…phew…the list just goes on and on!

Here are some pictures of this crazy, wild girl in action!

Snorting and being an entertainer!

Tearing up newspaper. A favorite past time!

Maddie loves to eat. She will eat just about anything. Here she is enjoying sloppy joes. It is one of her favorites!

She even rubbed it in her eyes. Smile

She loved the box my dust buster came in.

Playing at the library…while I picked out books.

Maddie loves the chair Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Dave gave her! She plays on it all the time. She likes to stand on it and sit on the arms. She did make the chair tip over once and went over the back of the chair, then later that day, she went over the side. It was a rough day. Smile

Maddie loves her dolls!

I went to get her up one morning and she had taken the clothes off her doll. Impressive!

She also loves her block stacker.

But not as much as she loves her milk!

Here is Maddie playing with her food. She put one Cheerio at a time into the cup hole on her high chair.

Eating waffles.

She was so excited about bubbles at Paige and Brian’s house!

And Maddie had fun playing with the train set at National Camera. Smile

Ok. I think I have shared enough pictures of her. There are a lot that I left out…I had to stop somewhere! So here are the pictures from this month and the previous months’ posts.

An Amazing Gift

Posted on January 15, 2012January 11, 2012 by Andi

Chuck’s mom is an amazing seamstress. She can sew anything! This Christmas, she out did herself. She made Maddie a “fun book” with all sorts of learning pages.

You can remove all the shapes to match them!

You can move the apples around!

Yep, there’s a dog inside! And the bear comes out of its bed that has a squishy little pillow in it!

Guess what’s inside….the flowers to attach to the other page!

Check out the detail of this little doll!

And yes, I know the shapes aren’t in the right order. I did this so the velcro wouldn’t hit the words and the bow on the other page. And the little pouch opens to put the shapes into.

Are you not utterly impressed? She hand stitched all of the words. What a wonderful gift! It’s a little advanced for Maddie now (because she wants to eat the small shapes), but we are working on it with her.

Thank you so much Linda for this fabulous gift! I know Maddie will love it and it will be a favorite toy for a long time!

Our Final Christmas/Birthday Celebration

Posted on January 14, 2012January 15, 2012 by Andi

Last weekend we had Chuck’s mom, sister and brother-in-law over for our final Christmas celebration.

We had a wonderful time opening gifts. Or watching Maddie open gifts. Smile

And here is a video of Maddie playing “swords” with Paige. Smile

We also had a birthday cake (DQ ice cream cake) for Chuck’s birthday.

We had a great time seeing everyone! Especially Chuck’s mom who is in town (they live in Florida during the winter).

We are also really excited that Chuck’s sister is having a baby in May. We just found out they are having a girl! I can’t wait for Maddie and her cousin to play together. They are going to be the best of friends!

Tomorrow, I am going to post pictures of the best gift Maddie got for Christmas. Chuck’s mom made it. And you aren’t going to believe it!

Thank You Cards

Posted on January 13, 2012January 11, 2012 by Andi

I thought it would be fun to make some thank-you cards from Maddie for people for her Christmas gifts. Here are some of the pictures from our craft project.

Big Girl

Posted on January 12, 2012January 11, 2012 by Andi

A little while back, I posted about Maddie going to daycare. I just came across a couple pictures I took of her the last day she was there. I picked her up during snack time. She was such a happy girl sitting there eating with a couple friends. Smile

It was nice to see her so happy since a couple times we came she was upset because she was so tired. I am glad she had fun when she was there.

And I really want one of those bibs she is wearing…brilliant! Smile

Toilet Paper Project

Posted on January 11, 2012January 5, 2012 by Andi

I came across a picture of a project I did in the Fall that I never shared. I came across this adorable idea and knew I had to give it a try. So I went looking for some fabric and paper sacks…oh, and toilet paper….and put some little pumpkins together!

So you just lay down the piece of fabric and fold it into the hole of the toilet paper. I cut out some leaf shapes that had a long tails to stick in the hole. Then I cut some strips of the paper sack and made them into accordion fans and stuck them in the hole, too. They were so cute and so simple to make. I had them placed all over the house.

At the end of the season, I just put the fabric and paper stems in with my other Fall decorations to use next year!

I am sure I could have made these for other seasons. Maybe make them look like apples, or ornaments or something. I might have to give it a try!

Asian Grilled Chicken Breasts

Posted on January 10, 2012April 7, 2016 by Andi

I have been trying to make more meals and plan ahead for them. I feel like if I write them on a calendar I am more apt to make them for dinner and not just try to wing it. So the other night, I wanted to make some baked potatoes and I wanted to try a new recipe for the chicken. I looked through my cookbook of recipes to try and came across this one. I was too hungry and excited to eat, so I didn’t take any pictures.

It was really simple to make. And it was pretty darn tasty. I was only making two chicken breasts for us, but I used all the sauce and marinated it most of the day before I grilled it on my grill pan on the stove.

Asian Grilled Chicken Breasts

1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt,to taste
freshly ground black pepper
6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

——-

1. Mix the oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, mustard, salt and pepper, and brush on the chicken breasts. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

2. Preheat the grill.

3. Grill the breasts for 5 to 6 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness. Let the chicken rest on a plate for 1 or 2 minutes before serving.

——-

My substitutions we using minced garlic and ground ginger…because that is what I had. I didn’t really measure them out. Just threw in what I thought was a good amount. It smelled so yummy! I think the only thing I wish is that there was a little extra sauce to drizzle over the chicken or my potatoes. I am sure I could have made a little more sauce and heated it up to use, but thought I should follow the recipe the first time. Smile

Do you have any food related resolutions this year? Have you tried any new recipes that I should add to my food calendar?

Dancing Maddie

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Andi

Whenever music comes on, Maddie dances. And by dances, I mean she bounces up and down. This can be sitting or standing. It’s adorable. The other night she was dancing like crazy to some music on tv. Of course she really went to town after the video turned off, but it’s still cute to watch!

Of course….please excuse me in the background being annoying.

Buried Lies

Posted on January 8, 2012January 4, 2012 by Andi

I just finished this book the other day. FINALLY. I have started this book a couple times before and couldn’t get into it. This time I thought I should just commit and read it. Holy cow. It took me forever to get through this book. It wasn’t very good so it wasn’t very motivating to read. Plus, when I did get reading a few chapters at a time, I was so distracted or upset that the story kept going on random tangents that I didn’t think were necessary for the story line. 30+ chapters in, new main characters were being added. I was not impressed.

So I decided to stick it out, because Chuck used to coach hockey with the author. He has written a few other books (which I have read), but I was least impressed by this one. I had high hopes, though because I thought it was going to be a good “who-done-it” book. It just wasn’t all that interesting. I feel bad saying the book wasn’t good because I knew the author.

The writing itself wasn’t all that bad. It was mostly the new characters and adding in seemingly unnecessary information throughout the book. There just wasn’t enough to hold my interest.

Therefore, I am not going to recommend this book to you. It just wouldn’t be the nice thing to do to you! Smile

One of my resolutions for the year is to read more. I have been quite diligent about reading every night before I go to sleep. I have been given some books from some friends that I want to read. I also want to read more while I walk on the treadmill. I used to read to and from work on the bus and I enjoyed that time. Now I need to make myself find other ways to fit in reading.

Have you read anything lately that I should be adding to my list?

Happy reading!