"My" ladies

Super Bowl weekend the fam (minus Price) and I were in Fresno in celebration of Miss Nora Grace. Nora is my youngest niece and was being baptized and I was honored to be asked to be her God mother. My sister and her family live on the east coast and made the trip out to Cali to have Nora baptized at the same church Sydney (my other niece) was baptized at and to have the family present. I don't get to see my girls near enough and LOVE every minute I get to spend with them. Sydney is SO smart, and so sweet and so talkative and speaks so well. She amazes me! I loved spending the afternoon with her. We sat on my dads floor and squirted almost a whole can of whipped cream in our mouths and giggled! My goal is to spoil her as much as possible whenever we're together to try to gain the favorite aunt title ;) sorry Karlene!! haha! Just kidding. But I do remember when I was little and staying up way past my bed time at my Aunt Kelleys house and being allowed to eat pretzels with mustard in her bed while we watched movies. Those are the fun memories i want to create with my nieces whenever we're together!
Nora is one of the happiest little girls I have ever been around. As soon as my brother in law showed up at my dads house, I swooped her up and she was rolling with laughter. Her ear to ear smiles melt my heart! Unfortunately the little sleepy head knocked out for the majority of her visit with us and I didn't get too much quality spoiling time in, but they'll be back to California 3 more times this year and in plan to do serious Auntie damage then! ;)
Sorry there are not any action baptism shots. Because I was standing up there with the misses ( and cell phones were not allowed) I didn't get any snap shots but I did see many cameras in my peripheral vision so I'm sure I'll be able to "borrow" a few later.
A big round of applause to my sis and her hubby for raising two amazing little girls! Only about 2 more months until those little ladies get another taste of auntie spoiling 101!

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs,
XOXO Brogan Lee

Valentines day

Valentines day is one of my favorite holidays. Not because of romantic gestures, or flowers, or dates... I like it for the candy!! ;) chocolate is defiantly one sure fire way to win my heart. The kids and I did a few projects (as well as indulged in pounds, YES pounds, of chocolates). We decorated chocolate covered strawberries and made valentines day cards. It was cute an I was WAY impressed at how well Preston used the scissors! He cut a heart shape like a pro! Poor little lefty Ethan had trouble with the righty scissors. I need to go get him some lefty ones. Maverick was just about 3 months old and had a check up. It's no surprise that the little chunky was in the 97% tile for his weight ;) he LOVES his milk about as much as his mama loves her candy! He was 16lbs 14oz! This little man is growing so fast!!

Birthday boy

I don't know how the past 5 years have come and gone so quickly! I can't believe my little Preston Barrett Walling is growing up so fast. When he woke up yesterday morning he announced "that as a five year old, i will no longer break things, I'll be a good listener, and will help mommy daddy and my brothers". I got a kick out of that conversation!
For the past year we have been promising Preston that we'd spend his birthday in Disneyland but about a week ago he decided Chuck-e-Cheese would be more fun. I was really disappointed he didn't want to go to Disneyland and tried pretty hard to change his mind. I was unsuccessful (and pretty bummed) and really did NOT want to go to Chuck-e-Cheese so I convinced him John's Incredible Pizza was cooler than Chuck-E-Cheese. We went, we stuffed ourselves, we played video games, he got a motorcycle toy that only "cost" 1,150 tickets, and we had cake. It was a low key but nice birthday. Friday am we drove to the central valley for my littlest nieces baptism and had a family dinner for Preston and Karlene's birthday celebration. Preston was very opinionated when it came to what kind of cake he wanted. His requests: yellow bread cake with blue and red spiderman frosting from mommy and chocolate bread cake with green goblin frosting from aunt Ashlee. He asked, and he received!
Thank you to everyone who made Preston's special day as wonderful as it was!
Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs
XOXO Brogan Lee

Our little lady

In case you didn't think I was nuts before, I have no doubts that after reading this post you'll surely think I'm off my rocker! We are now a family of six! That's right! Price, myself, Preston, Ethan, Maverick and introducing our little lady Lucy! Almost two weeks ago we adopted Lucy, an approximately 1-2 year old boxer mix, from Helen Woodward animal shelter. She was/is very under weight, had patches of hair missing, had worms and is timid around men (which all sounds so horrible and seem like reasons not to adopt her, especially given her age and the hyper reputation boxers tend to have) but she has been WONDERFUL! Lucy and Preston are glued to each others sides 24/7. They sleep together and everything! She is wonderful In the car and on the leash ( even alongside the stroller) and is learning sit and stay. After being with us for about a week, she started to get a little spunky and is now playing fetch and trying to run on my morning walked with her. She is very protective and growls at people who come up the the house when the boys or I are near her. She LOVES other dogs, women, kids and older men. So far she has had a hard time bonding with price. She growls at him every now and then but will cuddle with him on the couch, take naps with him and allows him to pet her, feed her and pick her up. Even though she growls and keeps her distance some times, She has never charged him or snipped at him. We're assuming she was abused by a younger man. Hopefully it just takes time for him to build her trust. We love our little girl and are so happy to have yet ANOTHER new addition!

Lots of love and bunches of hugs!
XOX9 Brogan Lee

A southern meal

Since I've been on maternity leave I've been trying to make dinner every night. Most of the time its kind of the same thing; grilled chicken, a veggie and a starch. Last night our dinner fit the same format but was far from healthy and had a little southern flare. We had fried chicken, Mac and cheese with bacon bits and buttered,garlic, cheesy green beans. This was the 1st time I've fried chicken. It was much easier than what the directions led me to believe. Here is a very brief description of how I did it. P.s. this is in my own words and from memory so bare with me.
1st; put several chicken breasts in a ziplock bag and pound to the thickness of choice and then cut into smaller pieces
2nd; put chicken strips in a bowl of buttermilk and let sit while you prepare the flour mixture
3rd; in a separate ziplock mix flour, paprika, salt, pepper and bread crumbs. I just dumped everything in and didn't measure anything.
4th; put a few pieces of chicken in the bag at a time and shake until well coated. Lay chicken on a cookie sheet and cover with wax paper until the coating on the chicken begins to look like a paste. I waited about 20 mins
5th; pour veggie oil in a large pot (I used a cast iron pot that worked really well) let the oil get REALLY hot before putting the chicken it. I set the oil on almost high heat for 20+ minutes. I discovered Veggie oil doesn't splatter.
6th; once oil is hot and the coating in the chicken is at the right consistency, drop as many pieces of chicken into the pan as will fit. The recipe advised to cook on hight heat until brown and then turn down to a Low heat and cover for 30 mins. I think because of how hot my oil was and how thin my chicken was, it cooked SUPER fast. After about 8 minutes, in pulled the strips out and drained on a few paper towels.
Finally, pile everything on your plate and enjoy!!
..... And I wonder why I'm not losing weight! ;)

Lots of Love and Bunches if Hugs,
XOXO Brogan Lee

Venting

Prepare yourselves, this entire post will be dedicated to my current frustrations. 1st: I recently had my six week postpartum check up and was really discouraged but the lack of progress i've made in getting back to my normal shape. It doesnt seem to matter how many reassuring things I read in the handouts the midwifes provide, or incouraging things people say. I still feel crappy and i guess that wont go away until i get myself into gear and push myself to look the way i want. What's even more upsetting is that I seem to be the only women ever who can breast freed, work out 3-6 days a week for over an hour and a half, eat 1200-1500 HEALTHY calories a day and STILL not lose weight! In fact over the christmas week I even gained weight! UGH! 2nd: I am finally starting to understand how stressful it can be to have 3 children. Maverick is sleeping less and less during the days which means i have less and less time to work on chores and projects. I feel like i never get everything done. The cleaning, laundry, dishes never stop piling up and as soon as i seem to have it all under control, something comes up. It's not that big of a deal but for the OCD Brogan it can sometimes be overwhelming. 3rd: This isn't really that big of a deal, but Preston started school this week. I'm excited for him and happy that he is finally getting to interact with kids his own age and is getting some mental stimulation during the day. The problem is that his preschool is from 830-1230 and is a half hour drive away. So we leave the house at 8, get home at 9, have to leave again at 12 to get him and then dont get back home again until 1pm. Im also $410 poorer each month not to mention the gas money and money we spent on new clothes and shoes and the "donations" the school is asking for for school supplies...all while only reciving 65% pay due to maternity leave.

well, i'll leave with that. I'm sure there are plenty of other things to vent about but i dont want to be a downer and my exaustion has caused my mind to go blank! :)

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs!!
XOXO Brogan Lee

Christmas preview

Mr Lance Kinney supplied me with hundreds of amazing photos from the Christmas weekend. I have WAY too many favorites to post, so I'm still trying to narrow it down. When that finally happens you'll get a peak into the fantastic weekend we experienced. Until then, here are a few shots from my cell phone! I hope everyone has had a marvelous holiday and end to 2011!!

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs!!
XOXO Brogan Lee

P.s. yes, that's the beach. It was 70 degrease on Christmas so we spent some time on Avila Beach!!