A new year... a new home.... blogging again

Well! I have decided that one of my resolutions this year going to be to keep up this blog! I feel like this was a way that I kept in contact with people who don't usually see us, and I have just fallen behind. When I logged in this morning I saw that my last post was December 31, 2011. That was a whole year and A LOT has happened in that year.

In this year, I hope that I am able to use this as a tool to let people know what is going on with us. I also want this to be something that I can use as an outlet for my thoughts and feelings. Life happens and I am excited to let people know all that is going on with us!

In the past month we have been very busy. We have moved out of our rental house and have moved back to Lilburn to save some money. We are paying off bills and trying to buy a house of our own one day. I am hoping that will be sooner than later. We are so grateful for family and friends that are so supportive of us and willing to help in any way possible.

As we embark on this new chapter of our lives, we want to say thank you to everyone who has prayed and thought about us in the past couple months. Life has been hard and we have had some big decisions to make, but we are so much better off than we were. We are so thankful to our families for dropping everything and asking how they could help. As I dragged my feet about moving, everyone else was there to pack a box, move a box, or offer a Kleenex in the process.

Now that we have moved, I am a much happier person and know that we made these sacrifices for the right reasons. OUR FAMILY! Our marriage is stronger, our relationships are better, and our friendships have grown so much in such a little time.

Thank you again! We can't wait to share what the next year has in store for this Evanina family!

Christmas #1 -- Stephens' Family Christmas

We met the week before Christmas with my dad's family it celebrate. We had so much fun with everyone! Our cousins came in town from North Carolina with their sweet girls. They were precious with Mollie and we such a joy to have around. We did dinner at my dad's house on Friday night and then had Christmas at my Uncle Mike's house on Saturday.

Instead of doing presents for everyone, we drew names and then bought toys that reminded us of that person. We gave the toys to a charity in the area for the kids to open on Christmas. This is what Christmas is really about... giving!! None of us really needed anything, and it was a great way to give back for everything that we have.

Here are some pictures from the weekend with our family:

Cereal -- Not a huge fan!

When we went to the pediatrician for Mollie's 4 month check up the doctor said that we could start cereal and food. This girl has not turned back since she was introduced to food. She LOVES to eat! She is slowly realizing how to eat from a spoon and now had decided to start doing raspberries in the middle of her meals. It is HILARIOUS (to her) and a joy (to me) to watch her grow up before my eyes. She currently eats 2 times a day. Once about 10 in the morning and again at 5 or 6, depending on her feeding schedule. She eats cereal with every meal (not her favorite). In the morning she gets a fruit with her cereal and in the evening she eats a fruit and veggie with it. I have to say that veggies are her favorite. There hasn't been one that she didn't like, but peas are her FAVORITE! She will eat anything I put with peas. As for fruits, she is not much of a fan. She enjoys apple sauce and peaches, but other than that, she isn't a huge fan.

Here are some pictures of her first trial with cereal. I have to say that it isn't much better than this some nights. She loves to make a mess! It is all hands on when she eats, but it is so much fun! I wouldn't change it for the world!



I don't know what you are giving me, but I DON"T LIKE IT!

Ok... I will keep trying...

What do you want me to do???

When will this be over???

FINISHED! Thank goodness!!

Now I will be a big girl and hold my bottle.... I know how to eat from this :)

Thanksgiving

better late than never right?!?!?

We enjoyed Thanksgiving day at my dad's house this year. We had the typical Thanksgiving dinner for our family. We had turkey, dressing, bread, homemade mac and cheese, green bean casserole, and my FAVORITE.... broccoli casserole. It was a great day with family, just to be.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we celebrated Thanksgiving with David's parents.

Here are some pictures from the wonderful weekend....

I have a blog?!?!?

Hello world!!!
It sure is amazing how busy life has been since I started back to work in September. I can't believe that I haven't made a post since October. Life has definitely happened, and I have just not made time to update everyone on what is going on...

A quick update:

The past few months at work has been crazy for me. Working on finding a balance for everything has really been difficult. I love my job so much! I can't explain the happiness I get when I see my kids at school "get it". It gives me a purpose in my life. I know my purpose is as a mother, but it is also as a teacher. I help guide and encourage children that might not get it for the rest of their day.

David has been very busy work work as well. We are so lucky for him to have a job that is in town and consistent! He loves his work and feels glad to be helping people every day. He remembers that he could have been in their shoes if he wasn't so lucky. David also enjoys his days with his baby girl. He loves just being the 2 of them and being able to take her from place to place. He even schedules daddy daughter playdates with our friend Jason and his baby!

Mollie is getting SOOO big! She is doing something different almost daily right now. She is almost sitting up on her own (she can sit for a couple seconds and then topples over...). She loves to laugh and smile. She is just the happiest baby ever! She is getting so much better about taking naps in her bed, and she loves being held all the time!

Toby is getting better and adjusting to the baby more and more. Now that she is so alert, she LOVES playing with Toby. He loves this until she grabs his hair with her mighty pull and won't let go. You can tell he certainly loves his time with us when she isn't around though. He definitely feels left out some days.

I am going to do my best to get better at finding time to update this thing. With Mollie getting so much bigger and being awake so much more, finding time for myself has become very slim. I love spending time with my baby girl and wouldn't change it for the world. She has become such a big girl. I can't believe how much she is doing now. I will be posting more blogs later this week updating how she is and what is going on in her life with updated pictures.

Our laptop is messing up and won't read the memory cards right now. I promise pictures will be updated very soon!

Emily's Confirmation

I love spending time with my family. Ever since I have become a momma, this has been so much more important to me. It is very important that Mollie knows her whole family (Great Aunts and Uncles included). Today my sister was confirmed in the church. My brother was her sponser, but he was unable to be there, so I was asked to be his substitute. As we were sitting at practice on Monday night, we were told that the Archbishop would as the confirmants questions. This made my sister very nervous, and I was nervous too! They prepped us for whatever he might ask. So today when we got to the church I was answering all of the questions in my head. I knew that she would be able to ask me the answer if she didn't know what it was. SCARY!

Anyway she was great! Her saint was Mary and he didn't even ask her a question. He just talked about his love for Mary. It was great! Afterward we took some family pictures. I love to document days like this! Here are just a few:

Recipe of the week: Poppyseed Chicken

The past 3 weeks back at school has been crazy and I really haven't tried any new recipes. I just didn't have the time of energy to cook much, so we went back to the easy staples of the Evanina household. Here is one of my favorites. I love to make this recipe on Sunday nights and then reheat it another day. We will be eating it for lunch throughout the week.

Ingredients:
3 lbs of chicken
16 oz of sour cream
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 stick of butter
1 1/2 cups of bread crumbs
2 tbsp poppy seeds

Directions:
1. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces.
2. Boil the chicken for 15-20 minutes. Grease an oven safe dish and preheat oven to 325 degrees.
3. Mix the chicken, sour cream, and cream of chicken soup in greased dish.
4. In another bowl, melt the stick of butter.
5. Mix butter, bread crumbs, and poppy seeds
6. Pour bread crumb mixture on top of chicken mixture.
7. Put the dish in the oven for 30-40 minutes.
8. ENJOY!!!