E

Even Cooler - Today I went to Publix. No Carrie Underwood. BUT, I did see Steven Curtis Chapman. I'm on a roll!

Everything But The... - My favorite ice cream from Ben and Jerry's. Chocolate, Vanilla, and all sorts of chunky stuff.

Elizabeth - My middle name.

"Either the situation needs to change, or your heart needs to change" - this has been echoing in my heart the past 2 years. Obviously our situation isn't changing, so I have had to work through a lot of heart changing!

etsy.com - a great place to shop!

F

Free Spirit - Sometimes I wish I could me more like this.

Family - The more I am away from them, the more I realize how much I need them.

Friends - A show that I can watch and always laugh out loud.

Fashion - I need some help here. Any takers?

G

Grimace - In second grade I wore a purple jogging suit to school. All the kids called me Grimace. I never wore it again...

Green - Our family is definitely sold out to going green. We can only do so much to our home because we are renting. We have adjusted our thermostat, changed out all of our light bulbs, are making adjustments to how much we drive, and hope one day to be able to drive a hyrbid. It has become a big deal for us. So much so that hubby is trying to figure out how to incorporate it into his career. If you and your family have not made any steps towards helping our environment, I strongly encourage you to do so. Here are some sites that will tell you how.
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/3915
http://www.lowimpactliving.com/?gclid=CO6Wxoanj44CFRIygQodcEy5Og

D

Down Right Cool - At least I think so. I met this girl at the mall today. Well, sort of. She was mainly intrigued by my little ones who were being quite friendly. After she walked away I was racking my brain as to where I had seen her before. Turns out, I had seen her on TV on a live acoustic show. She is in a band called Paramore. They are labled as a funk band, so not quite my cup of tea. She's got a great voice, though. I'm still waiting to run into Carrie Underwood at Publix. We'll see!
Dr. Pepper - Other than water, it's my drink of choice.

B

Bailey - The name of one of our cats. She is the one who loves to snuggle and greets me every morning with a purr.

Berita - This is the name my roommate in college and I would use when we prank called. We were quite mature for our age!
Big Hair Bands - Dare I say that I loved them all in high school - Cinderella, Mr. Big, Motley Crue, Skid Row, White Lion, Great White...

Becoming - I find great hope in this word. There is hope for me, as I am becoming more like Him every day.
Banjo - an instrument I would love to learn to play one day.

C

Coffee - I have my cup every morning. Not sure if I could ever give that up.

Cable TV - We finally got Cable TV after 6 years of marraige. Most days we wish we didn't have it. For us, it brings too much distraction.

Cats - If anything were to happen to Mitch, I would be that weird old lady with 20 cats. I love animals.

Carpet Head - this is what my sister called me when I was in elementary school. I fell victim to WAY too many perms. I'll show you a picture some time. Not pretty.

Country Music - I have grown to love this more and more as we have been in Nashville.

Chocolate - I couldn't have an encyclopedia of me and not mention chocolate. Yum! It's my favorite treat.

So, I have had a bit of writers block lately and have not posted in over a week. I thought I could maybe do "Menu Plan Monday," but since we are having eggs TWICE this week I figured that may be a bit boring. I was also hoping to post this great video of Jake laughing at Neily. He has the best laugh I've ever heard. But, my computer wouldn't let me download for some reason, so there went that idea! Finally, I came across a blog and got the idea for this post...

The Encyclopedia of Me.

A -

Autumn - By far my favorite season

Apples - Along with peanut butter or some really sharp cheese, they are my favorite snack

Audrey - The name of my imaginary friend when I was little

Asheville - Where hubby and I are headed for our anniversary in October. I can't wait!

Agitated - Some days I am so quick to be this way towards my kids. I need to work on that.

We had a fun weekend with my parents. They bought N this cute little tent in honor of her successful potty training. Hmmm. I'm still waiting for my present for successful potty training...

One of J's favorite past times is smashing his face against the sliding glass door. It's not the best picture, but I thought I would still share this photo capturing him in all his lovliness.

Granddaddy and Gigi are coming in town this weekend and we are excited to see them. For this round of company, I am making Crumb Top Apple Pie. It is my favorite apple pie of all time and you must try it before summer is over. It is definitely a crowd pleaser.

2 c. all purpose flour
2/3 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup uncooked regular oats
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c chopped pecans
3/4 c butter, melted
4 cups peeled, thinly sliced apples (approx. 3) I use golden delicious
1/3 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 c water
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Combine first 5 ingredients; add butter and stir until blended. Measure 1 cup firmly packed mixture; set aside for pie topping. Press remaining mixture in bottom and up sides of a well-greased 9 inch pie plate. Arrange apple sliced in pie plate; set aside.

Combine 1/3 cup sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a small saucepan; stir in water. Bring to a boil over medium heat; stir in vanilla. Pour hot mixture over apples; Crumble reserved topping over pie.

Bake at 350 for 42 minutes, covering with aluminum foil during the last 15 minutes to prevent excessive browning (if necessary). Serve with ice cream. Yield: 8 servings.

We had a great visit with some good friends this weekend. Our friends Kenneth and Kathleen, along with their little boy Jay, came to Franklin to hang out with us. We had some good laughs, great conversation, and watched our little ones enjoy each others company. I made this yummy dessert by Paula Deen. It's a bit rich, but good and quite easy to make. Here is a pic of Jake enjoying his. And here's a pic of Kenneth hanging out with the kiddos.

Well, we have survived the hardest part of potty training and all is still well with the Stephens. N has done well overall and now it's time to put that training into practice as we go about our normal routine. I figure it's best just to expect accidents and plan for them rather than be fearful of them. Thanks to all for your encouragement and prayers during those days where I had to search the depths of my soul to find a little more patience. No longer having 2 kids in diapers is pretty great, especially for the wallet.

Another change we are going through is J is dropping his morning nap. This is a pretty big deal for me since I have not had a "free" morning since N was born. She didn't drop her morning nap until J was 3 months old and by that time he was set in his 9am nap schedule. So we are embarking on new territory yet again. What's a girl to do?

Here are a couple of pictures from last week when my sister Jen and her little girl Elizabeth came to visit. The girls had a great time and spent most of the time giggling. It was fun to see them interact and actually play together (not just beside each other). We went to a place called Jump Zone and had a blast with Daddy/Uncle Mitch.

ARG!!!

After 2 1/2 days of potty training and countless hours spent watching the Little Einstein's Pirate Adventure, that's about all I can think of to say. Arg. The "pee pee" part is going fine. The "poo poo" part, not so much. I know that part usually takes longer, so I am finding some solace in that. I will update more tomorrow as each day seems to get a little better. I welcome any suggestions or cheerful comments!

IT'S POTTY TIME!!


This weekend we are taking on the challenge of potty training. I am hoping that it will go smoothly as N has shown interest in the past several weeks. We are headed to Target in a few minutes to pick out some big girl panties and a bag of treats. She really wants panties with rockets on them (she is a big fan of Little Einstein's), but as you can imagine that has been a bit hard to find. Just a tip - don't google "rocket panties." You will NOT find cute kids underwear...

I will update next week as to how the training went. Here is a picture of N showing her doll Abby how to use the potty. I added a picture of J just because he is so cute!

I got this idea from a friend's blog. This is what's going on with me.

Things that I am enjoying right now:
-Having my husband home every night for dinner (Can I get an Amen?!!)
-Our screened-in porch
-Finding new friendships with the young and old at our new church home
-Re-reading a book from college/SBP - "The Practice of Godliness" by Jerry Bridges
-Having high speed internet
-Researching a destination for our 7 year wedding anniversary coming up in October
-Seeing my kids crack each other up :)
-Seeing bunny rabbits and turtles in our neighborhood

Things that I am not enjoying right now:
-Hot summer afternoons
-Having a yard to take care of
-A teething child
-My husband's love for the Sci-Fi channel. Every night there is a "discussion" about what to watch.
-Trying to get to a point where I can run 3 miles w/o feeling like I am going to die

I promise to post new pics soon. We have had some issues with my computer that I hope to resolve soon. Until then, it's just me!

Dreams
The other day I found myself thinking about a picture I drew in the third grade. The assignment was to draw a picture of what we wanted to be when we grew up. I divided my paper in half and one side was titled Tennis Champion and the other, Rockstar. Well, we all know how that turned out! Then in fourth grade I discovered Amy Grant and totally wanted to be just like her. I got a guitar that year for Christmas and started taking lessons soon after that. A spark had definitely been lit within me.

Then I went to my first lesson. Not having the music appreciation that I do now, I frowned upon my teacher because he only played bluegrass and "heehaw music," as I called it. The first song I learned to play on the guitar was "Found a Peanut." Are you kidding me? I am not sure that at any age that would be a cool song to learn. Needless to say, the guitar lessons came and went. Throughout the years, though, I picked up my guitar here and there and taught myself how to play. My first "cool" song (and I use the word cool very loosely) that I taught myself was "Every Rose has it's Thorn" by Poison. You gotta love the Big Hair Bands from the 80's for putting out some great music! Thankfully, there were more songs to learn and much better songs to learn. In college and a few years after I met some really great people who helped me improve my guitar playing skills and even let me sing with them a little. Good times.

Over the past several years my guitar has sat in the corner, becoming dusty and out of tune. I play it on occasion, and each time that I pull it out I wonder why I don't play more. Then, the other night hubby and I went to a local cafe' and heard some really great music - just some songwriters and their guitars. All of the sudden, I was in fourth grade again! My heart was beating fast and I was so excited to get home, pull out my guitar, and strum away.

That night, I decided that I wanted to be a songwriter when I grow up. My music may not fall on the ears of many, but this is something that I want to do for me. It's something that I can enjoy, my family can enjoy, and my Lord can enjoy.

This is a desire that has been in my heart since I was 9. At times I felt moved by it, other times I didn't have the confidence to do it. But finally, at the ripe old age of 32, I am ready to pursue my dream. I have asked for guitar lessons for my birthday and I can't wait to see where things go from there. Watch out Nashville...Here I come!

What about you? What did you dream of as a child and what do you dream of now?

Save at the Grocery Store!!

I heard about this link on the Today show several months ago and just joined recently. It is a great, convenient way to get coupons. You can choose only the ones that you want and can get up to 10 coupons for the same item. Check it out here .

I wanted to let you all know that my blogging may be a bit slow over the next week or so. My ancient old computer won't properly download the comcast software, so I will be using hubby's computer in the evenings when he is home from work. I will be a blogger by night for a time. Also, I have been advised to not use my kids names in the blog. So until I can come up with something better, they will be called N and J (my creativity is astonishing, huh?). I promise to blog as much as I can, but for now I must go. My 6am appointment with myself for a run is finally happening at 7:30pm. Better late than never!

Weekend Getaway... Well, sort of.

My parents took the kids for the weekend so that hubby and I could finish unpacking and get 100% settled. We have almost completed everything we set out to get done, plus we got a couple of dates! I wanted to share about a fun place we went to last night. It is a corner cafe in downtown Franklin called The Listening Room. They have live music most nights and the performers range from songwriters to country star hopefuls. Last night the entertainment was 4 songwriters who live here in Franklin. It was great music - just the 4 of them and their gutiars taking turns playing their originals. One of the songwriters there played some songs that he wrote that i'm sure you all will recognize: "The Gambler" sung by Kenny Rogers, "Forever and Ever, Amen" sung by Randy Travis, "When You Say Nothing at All" sung by Alison Krauss, and "Lucky" sung by Mary Chapin Carpenter. It was such a treat to hear some really great music and eat some good food. The whole evening only cost us $24! As we sat tapping our toes, we thought of 3 couples who would definitely dig this place - The Parris', Welch's, and the Camp's. Just another reason for you Birmingham folks to come and visit!

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

Seems like our favorite things change day to day around here. Somedays it's Dora, others it's Little Einsteins. Some days it's Bear, others it's Lamb (aren't we so creative with the names of our stuffed animals?!). Here is a pitcture of N's favorite thing to wear. She got them for Christmas and we just found them a few days ago as we were unpacking some boxes. N has had them on pretty much all day every day since we found them. I love that she doesn't care that it's 90 degrees outside and that she thinks they look pretty wearing them all by themselves. She is so cute and definitely one of my favorite things!

Welcome to the Stephens family blog! I have been wanting to do this for some time now and finally have the resources and time to do so. I hope you all visit often to see what's going on with our family as we continue on this journey!

We have spent the last 2 weeks trying to get settled in our new home and it has been quite stressful and exhausting. The kids have been little troopers as Mitch and I have constantly had stuff to do. We took the afternoon to do something just for them and went to Pinkerton Park, one of our favorite parks here in Franklin. N loves to swing, slide, and play in the sandbox. J likes to climb on anything he can get to and loves to go the opposite direction of mommy and daddy. He's quite the adventurous one!