Happy 2014!

Happy New Year!! To kick off the new year, George and I have been doing some major cleaning and organizing. Not too fun, but it feels good once it is done. We have been specifically working on the garage, some closets, and our small bedroom...which is becoming a guest room/exercise room. We moved the treadmill and some other exercise equipment up there. We officially have all four bedrooms in useable condition....our room, Madeline's room, guest/craft room, and guest/exercise room. Lots of guest space, which means we need some guests in 2014 :)

Since I last updated we went to the Lucas Family Christmas party (last Saturday), celebrated New Years (our street organized a block party), said goodbye to Jeremiah (he is heading to Disney for 5 months), and took Madeline to her 2 month appointment...among other things of course. Those are just some of the more notable things. 

Yesterday, at Madeline's appointment, she weighed in at 10lbs, 8oz and 23.25 inches long. She is long/skinny, just like George! Poor baby had to get her first round of vaccinations yesterday too. Fortunately, many of the vaccinations are now "bundled" into one shot so she only had a total of two shots. She was not too happy about the whole thing, but recovered pretty quickly. 

George and I also managed to see some movies over the past few weeks (we have lots of family members who are VERY kind and babysit for us from time to time). Madeline even went to one...and slept through it (we timed it just right)! The movies we saw were Saving Mr. Banks, Anchorman 2, and The Wolf of Wall Street. Saving Mr. Banks was very good, I thought. Anchorman 2 was pretty stupid and not as funny as the first one. And The Wolf of Wall Street was long (3 solid hours) and very inappropriate. 

My back to work date has changed to Jan. 14 instead of Jan. 6. I spoke to my "leave specialist" at work and found out that I had 6 more days that I could take. I went back and forth on it, but decided to take the additional time. I need to use the time wisely though...which means, use it to get ahead on some school stuff b/c school starts on Jan. 13 (Happy Birthday to me)!

I should really update more often because I feel like I am playing "catch up" and my post is all over the place! I'll leave you with some pictures and a couple of new recipes too!

Jeremiah's parents had us over for BBQ on Monday night to bid farewell to Jeremiah before he left for Disney. Hannah and Jeremiah left on Thursday to drive out there. Today, they are stopping in New Orleans and tomorrow they will arrive in Orlando. Anyway, I offered to bring baked beans. Not sure what possessed me to bring those since I had never made them before :) I found this recipe and they turned out to be tasty: 

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pats-Baked-Beans/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=baked%20beans&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=%2fmy%2fdefault.aspx

I made beef stew when our friends, Sergio and Andi, were in town. It is a very good stew. One of the things I really liked about it was the rosemary. I really the flavor of rosemary! Here is the link to the recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/beef-stew-vi/detail.aspx

**Note: I added some additional water/cornstarch for a thicker consistency. I also added fresh parsley and 1/4 cup of red wine (those were both recommendations from the reviews)

My parents got Terrisa and I iron-on milestones for Parker and Madeline. It is such a cute way to keep track of their changes from month to month. Here is Madeline's 2 month picture:

The Lucas Family Christmas party always has a visit from Santa. Madeline got her first picture with Santa (aka Grandpa Lucas!)

Paisley and her babies on Christmas!

We picked our first lemon last week. We had orange, lemon, and grapefruit trees put in last March and we have fruit the first year. Only one orange, a few lemons, but quite a few grapefruit.