Where Has the Time Gone?

Am I really the proud mother of a fiveandahalf month old?? Yes!

Was it really only 7 months ago that we purchased our first house? Fo sho.

Are we already coming up on our 2 year wedding anniversary?! You betcha.

Where has the time gone???

I'll tell you....it's off making memories. I have a ton to share considering I have not been very good about keeping this blog up-to-date. Typical. So in order to save you from too much reading I'll just post some photos. That's what I do best anyways! :)

we bought our first house!

Keller Leslie Patterson is born 8.11.11 7lb5oz 19 3/4in

our first family photo

we love visits from Aunt Mary

my first bulldawg football game

hangin' with my best bud, Henry

starting to get a little personality :)

and visits from Aunt Nickel too!

peanut m&m for halloween!

I love the cell phone and watching tv!

chillin' with my cousin AC

my first photo with Santa!

 

Mommy dressed me up as a reindeer...

an elf...

and another elf!

Mommy got her first deer on Christmas day!

I'm too cute for words

A couple of Keller's newborn photos

First picture with Daddy

First picture with Mommy

 

My first Christmas

 

Most recent picture of our little Irishman :)

Hope you enjoyed the recap! I swear I'll get better at this....

-Amelia

Keller Leslie

I just realized I had not announced on our blog the sex of our baby...it's a BOY! & we are naming him Keller Leslie.

Lots of people have been asking us where we got the names so I will explain here. Jonathan and I both really like the musician/singer Keller Williams so I guess you could say he is his namesake. Not only is this guy a great artist and performer but his name is really cool! ;) And I love that it's Irish!! Leslie is Jonathan's middle name, along with his Dad and Great Granddad...so obviously we liked it because it's a family name but again I really liked it because it's Irish! So like I mentioned before, I hope and pray this little boy comes out red-headed and he will be my little Irishman :))) and I will sing to him the lullaby my Grandmother use to sing to me when I was little. It's called "An Irish Lullaby".

And because Jonathan and I are such big Railroad Earth fans, Keller will also have a special song of theirs. I first heard this song long before we were even married and knew then that I would use the lyrics in the decoration of the nursery and Jonathan would learn to play it on the guitar and sing our future baby to sleep :) It's called "Little Bit Of Me" and it is Keller's Lullaby.

Happy Memorial Day!

In honor of Memorial Day and the unofficial kick-off to summer, I want to share one of my favorite summer-time staple recipes, "Mis'sippi Caviar"! I first had "Tippah County Caviar" at Newk's a few years ago and really liked this side dish. So I googled to find a recipe and like I always do I find two or three that catch my eye and I combine them to make my own. Keeping, deleting and adding items to make it unique to me and my taste.

So today's recipe goes like this:

"Mis'sippi Caviar"

Ingredients:

* 1 large tomato, diced
* 1 medium white onion, finely chopped
* 1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped
* 1 jalapeno, finely chopped
* 1/2 cup chopped green onions
* 1 loose cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
* 5-6 tablespoons of olive oil
* 3-4 tablespoons of lemon juice
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 2 (15-ounce) cans black-eyed peas, drained

Directions:

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl.

In a separate small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper.

Toss all together and let marinate for at up to 8 hours in the refrigerator before serving.

Hope you enjoy this yummy recipe that you can make all summer long! Happy Memorial Day!! And a BIG thanks to all the troops that have fought for this country! :))

"How Did Your Mother Ever Survive?!"

So I can't believe I'm coming up on my 27th week of pregnancy which means, "Hello third trimester!" Wow!! Can you believe it?! Monday I go back to the doctor for my 5th visit, including the dreaded glucose test, and it makes me think back to January 21st when I went for the ground-breaking first visit...it is one I will always remember..

Since it was the very first baby doctor visit, Jonathan wanted to come along. He is going to be such a great daddy! We get there at like 8 a.m. for an appointment at 8:30, that way I have plenty of time to fill out all the fun paperwork. Then it's on to a consultation with the insurance specialist. Thank God I had Jonathan with me because all this is like Japanese to me, say what?? He's actually a licensed insurance agent and he even got a little confused. After that conversation we headed to the lab for the usual...urine test, weight and blood pressure, yadda yadda yadda. Then soon after we were seen into the exam room where we were told the doctor would be in shortly. Riiiigghhtt. You see, it must have been the day for deliveries because that waiting room was packed out and I swear the doctor didn't show up to the exam room until maybe 10:30 if not later. Now, for those of you who don't know my husband, let me explain what I went through for the next couple of hours.

Not 10 minutes after we get into that exam room he is opening drawers and cabinets, snooping through the tools and supplies and making me a nervous wreck!! Never in my life would I EVER get off the chair or exam table to snoop through the doctor's office stock!? What was I thinking bringing him along??! Then he proceeds to pull a latex glove from the box and begin blowing it up like it's a balloon!! I was apprehensive at first, but I admit I did play along for a few minutes, hitting the glove balloon back and forth with him. It was fun, but we had to stop before she walked in on it! I would have been so embarrassed had she seen that. After I ended that episode he got restless again and I exclaimed, "How did your mother ever survive?!" In which he responded, "She had snacks! Do you have snacks?" Considering I was only 11 weeks pregnant and had the appetite of a hippo, I in fact DID have snacks in my purse. Praise the Lord! Those kept him occupied until the doctor FINALLY showed up.

We talked with her for a while and then she left so we could head to the ultrasound room. But she didn't leave without telling Jonathan to not forget his souvenir (the glove balloon). Geez. So we headed to yet another waiting room where again he gets restless. Tapping his foot, speaking what I think is too loud for a doctor's office waiting room, bored out of his mind. I'm thinking, Dear God, please let this child take after me in the form of patience and rest. To my relief, and his, the nurse calls my name for the ultrasound! Yes!

Not only am I excited that we're about to meet our baby for the first time, but this gives him something to do! As soon as that image came up on the screen, we see our baby. It is just a kicking, squirming, wiggling and even sucking it's thumb! I instantly started tearing up. It was the sweetest moment I had ever experienced, especially hearing the little heartbeat for the first time. Now to my astonishment though, for the next 15 minutes, or however long the ultrasound took, I didn't hear one peep from Jonathan!! Who would've known.... I swear he passed out he was so quiet. I guess he was just in shock.

Nevertheless, I survived that first appointment with whom I thought was my husband and not an overgrown child. But considering the whole appointment took 3.5 hours, I'm glad I had some sort of entertainment! ;)

We're Having A Baby, My Baby & Me!

If you haven't heard the news already, Jonathan and I will be welcoming our first baby into the world this August! We are beyond thrilled and can't wait to meet our precious baby!!

On December 15th I took an at-home pregnancy test and to my astonishment it came out positive. I screamed and literally did one of those heel click jumps. Or at least attempted one! I was home alone and it would be several hours before Jonathan came home from work so I HAD to tell someone. I picked up the phone and called Jonathan's little sis, Katie. She had been asking to be an aunt for quite a few months so I wanted her to be the first person to share the wonderful news with. After we got off the phone we exchanged a few texts of excitement and then I asked her, "How should I tell him?" Or at least I thought I sent the text to her.... sometime later I get a text from Jonathan and he asks, "Tell who what? Who is him??" I instantly knew what I had done and wanted to kick myself. Really??! Did I really just tell my husband about our first baby-on-the-way through a text message?!?! Only that would happen to me. His next text read, "Are you pregnant?" I responded with, "I ruined it!!!" Needless to say it wasn't the most romantic way of telling him but it definitely led to a good laugh and will be a great story to tell our children one day.

Being the big "I Love Lucy" fan that I am, I always compare my life events to the hilarious antics of the best television show ever created. Lucy tried several times at telling Ricky she was pregnant with their first baby "at just the right time" and never got the chance. So she decided to surprise him at work. And this is how it went. Don't you know I will always double check before I hit "send"!!

Caribbean Honeymoon Holiday

Being the awesome blogger that I am, I am just now writing a post on our official honeymoon we took back in November. I know, I am so on top of my game. Anyways...we got the wonderful opportunity to spend a week on Grand Cayman Island this past fall all thanks to my sweet aunt and uncle. Thank y'all for the time of our lives! We will remember it always!!

We flew out of Jackson on Monday, November 1st. If you want to save a couple hundred dollars while flying, do it on a week day. Makes a difference. We had a connecting flight in Charlotte and then headed down south to the Caribbean. As soon as we landed we could hear the hip shaking music and feel the Caribbean sun on our skin. We were in heaven!!

We arrived soon thereafter at our beautiful home for the next 7 days, The Caribbean Club. We were lucky to have made it safe and sound though because the taxi drivers in the Caymans are like none other! PHEW!! We met the concierge Danielle, who became our best friend on the island, and she showed us to our private villa. Beautifully decorated with paintings and carvings by local artists, this little gem had an ocean front view and it was spectacular! After getting settled in and touring the grounds we walked across the street to the grocery store and picked up some essentials for the week. When we got back we took a leisurely stroll on the beach and cooked dinner in the kitchen of our villa. It was a relaxing first night.

Early the next morning we headed out to rent a car for a couple of days. The island is small enough to tour in one day so we didn't need the car for very long. But when the guy drove around the corner in our rental I thought Jonathan was going to have a fit. Does anyone ever watch "Family Guy"?? Jonathan drove around in this tiny car for the next two days singing, "Pimpin in a Brand New Hyundai"! Real funny but got old fast.

We took the sardine can and drove to the East side of the island where we found a neat arts and crafts shop, a shipwreck location, and an old lighthouse. After a few hours of seeing where the roads took us we headed back to the villa for lunch. Once we arrived we talked to Danielle and she invited us to go out on her friend's boat with her and more island visitors. Yes, please! So after eating lunch we headed to the North West side of the island towards Morgan Harbor, but not before making a pit stop in Hell. Yes, you read correctly, Hell. You can have your picture made with the Devil and send a postcard postmarked "Hell". Quite entertaining. We then drove over to Morgan Harbor to meet up with Danielle and her friends. They took us out on a fishing charter boat to a sand bar where we got to swim with stingrays! It was amazing and probably my favorite part of the trip! There were tons of them!! They wouldn't really bother you unless you had squid in your hand to feed them, then they would bombard you until you gave it up. I did feed one and it feels like the hose on a vacuum cleaner sucking on your hand. Very cool! The females get much larger than the males, but they are all very "gentle giants". After swimming with the stingrays we headed to a coral reef to snorkel. This was also very cool and an underwater majesty! Very colorful and full of thousands of different fish species. This was one of Jonathan's favorite parts of the trip. After a day full of adventure we headed back to the villa to get some rest.

The next day we went to the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park. This was Jonathan's other favorite part. It was very beautiful and although we didn't get to see any, it's very common to cross paths with an endangered blue iguana. After visiting the park we had to take the rental back so the rest of the time on the island we either walked to our destination or took a cab. Most of our time was spent relaxing on the beach or at the pool. We did get out a couple of times to go shopping and out to eat. We walked a few condos down to The Ritz Carlton where we had dinner one night at one of their restaurants, Periwinkle. We had the best calamari in the world! And a yummy pizza too! We also had a delicious brunch one morning at Luca, the restaurant downstairs in our condo. And I couldn't leave Grand Cayman without some awesome souvenirs! My favorite shop was Pure Art where I purchased this beauty.

All in all we had an amazing week! I wish I had more pictures to share other than our underwater cameras, but I accidentally left our digital camera on the plane and never got it back :( I guess that just means we will have to go back one of these days and do it all over again!!

*I look like such a little girl in this photo! But this is me (pretty far out in the ocean) in front of our condo!!

*The two of us in the awesome pool!

*enjoying the pool!

*snorkelers!

*sweet stingray

*me holding one of the male stingrays, so cool!

*Jonathan holding one of the male stingrays

*tons of stingrays!!

-Amelia

Camo & Jaunkies

This is beyond late but I still wanted to share these photos. The following images are from a relaxing weekend Jonathan & I spent at the farm back in October. He spent his weekend in camo and I spent mine in jaunkies, aka pajamas. My whole family calls pajamas, jaunkies...don't ask.

*nothin' betta' than a hammock

*hammock reading

*vampires and a cell phone out of service

*I like to just call this "breathtaking"

*maroon grass

*from one angle it looked maroon, from another it glistened

*guessing these are brown eyed susans, not really sure

*if these walls could talk

*I've fallen and I can't get up

*a view from below

*sun-bathing susans

*starlight art

-Amelia

Mustard & Apples???

I love to cook! Like you didn't know that already.... but I love to cook with strange mixtures of ingredients. Things you would never imagine putting in the same recipe. Like bacon and chocolate! I'm crazy, I know. I got a great idea last week for a new sandwich recipe from Real Simple magazine. Gourmet sandwiches are one of my favorite things to make and I enjoy eating them even more! ;) My love and appreciation for delicious sandwiches stems back to the 4 weeks I spent in and around Europe. I would go back in a heartbeat if just for a sandwich. Yuum-ee.

Anyways, this is what I came up with....


Apple & Cheese Panini

wheat bread
thin sliced apple, a couple layers (gala, fuji, pink lady, any sweet apple)
thick sliced sharp cheddar cheese
thin layer of mustard
some crushed red pepper flakes
drizzled honey


Cook in a skillet with butter like you would a grilled cheese! Serve with your favorite soup or stew and garnish with more sliced apples! Enjoy!! :P

While I was preparing the meal Jonathan exclaims, "Mustard and apples??!" I told him to just trust me.... I was right ;)

Fall Cafe

As the season changes and temperatures drop, we tend to do anything and everything outside. Especially eat :) On the official first day of fall we started it out right with broccoli and cheese soup with a yummy grilled cheese. Life doesn't get much better than this. We welcomed Autumn in our backyard "Fall Cafe" with our dogs and a couple mugs o' beer. It was a splendid afternoon!

*fall cafe

*bully is always good company

*king of the rummage

*dimples so cute

*that's my hubby ;)

*this boy is SO proud of his garden

*and who would've known it would still be producing..

-Amelia

What We've Been Up To

First I will apologize for the lack of blogging, but we have been SUPER busy lately and I swear the summer just vanished in the middle of it all. So I will just give a run-down of what we have been up to since my last post.

I launched my business, Studio Milly Jean Weakleg in mid July! So far, so good!! Already have booked two weddings for the year 2011. That sounds so crazy, 2011... and I have several photography sessions lined up for the fall :))) Makes me so happy! Also, I'm getting ready for my first festival which is next Saturday, September 18th. Anyone and everyone in the Desoto County area should plan to attend this fun-filled event and stop by my booth!

*business card

I started classes with KidzArt! It is SO much fun and I enjoy every minute of it :)) even the hectic ones... for those of you who aren't aware, I am an artist instructor for KidzArt which is an after school program teaching kids the fundamentals of drawing and art. I teach Tuesday-Thursday and have 28 kids total, grades K-3. I LOVE IT!!

*student work from this week

Jonathan & I have booked our belated honeymoon! We will be headed to Grand Cayman Island for a Caribbean holiday! We are so excited and can't wait to be there. We are so fortunate to be able to take the trip of a life-time! A big thanks to my aunt and uncle for letting us stay in their beautiful villa at the Caribbean Club!!

*where we will be staying

Jonathan was awarded the "Above and Beyond" award at work! I was such a proud wife of his accomplishments and had to reward him myself with a little party. Homemade decorations and a yummy dinner of chicken ranchero calzones, his favorite :)

*great job, Jonathan!

We've been eating LOTS of veggies from the garden Jonathan planted right after we moved to Pearl. Considering we were late getting it into the ground and it was on the small side it didn't turn out half bad!

*he is the one with the green thumb, not me

I got the chance to visit Starkville for Katie's 21st birthday and had a blast hanging out with her and her friends! It's always great to be back in Vegas :))) and I just love every minute I get to spend with my new sissy!

*Katie, with her birthday present

And last but definitely not least, we've been gearing up for Mississippi State FOOTBALL!! We had a great season opener last week against Memphis, winning 49-7. So proud of our Bulldogs! We played our second game last night against Auburn but came up short against the #21 team in the nation, 14-17. We're still ringing our cowbells though and praying for success next weekend in the Swamp!

*Dan is still (and always will be) the Man!

Well that just about sums up our first summer as newlyweds! Time sure does fly by when you're having fun and we are looking forward to our first holiday season as a married couple! Fall will be here in 12 days!!! And I LOOOOOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

GO DAWGS!!!!!!!!

-Amelia