I'm Going To Disney World!

We are off to Disney World today! This will be our very first family vacation and Sullivan's first trip to Disney. We are very excited. Tyson's whole family will be there and they are all looking forward to their time with Sully.

They always get really excited about family trips especially ones that include Disney. We all have matching shirts and sweatshirts that the sisters made and embroidered. They are really nice so I will be sure to post pics of our giant matching clan when I can.

Included in our itenerary are the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Disney's Studios MGM. A couple of rest days are scheduled in as well. Goodness knows we will need them. Tyson has been very helpful getting ready and is so excited that I think I might be able to get the child rate for him at the door. 8 )

I will keep you guys "posted!"

M I C - See you real soon!

K E Y - Why? Because we like you!

M O U S E

Tracy & the Boys

Recipe of the Week - Easy Almond Rocha

This week is a request of Mom's. With the holidays right around the corner I thought it was a good one too. I was given this recipe by a dear friend back home, Linda Baker. It is sooooo easy and very yummy!

Hope you enjoy.

Easy Almond Rocha

2 1/2 Cups Blanched and Slivered Almonds

1/2 lb Butter (2 cubes)

1 T Corn Syrup

1 Cup Granulated White Sugar

1 1/2 Cups Milk Chocolate Chips

1/4 Cup Water

In a heavy skliiet combine sugar, water, syrup, butter and almonds. Stirring constantly, cook to hard crack or until the almonds are toasted light to medium light brown.

Pour into a greased jelly roll pan. (smaller cookie sheet with sides)

While warm, sprinkle the milk chocolate chips over the mixture and spread when softened. If you like you can sprinkle almonds on top too. Makes it pretty. 8 )

Let cool, remove from pan and break into pieces.

The Kitchen Towell Bandit - Reward For Capture

There is a Bandit loose in our home and the reward for capture is HUGE! Everytime I go to dry my hands or the dishes in the kitchen the towells are missing. If any of you have seen this Kitchen Towell Bandit be careful. Do not be fooled by his charming smile or his adorable face. He is dangerous! Just look at him!

One Pearly White

Every morning at about 6:30 our little guy wakes up squawking and singing in his crib. Mommy stretches, greets the dawn and makes her way up to recieve her morning blessing. He is always so happy. We play peek a boo for a bit between the slats in the crib and now that he is pulling up on his own he likes to peek over the top and laugh at me. When we have had our fill of that game and our diaper is fresh we head downstairs and kick Daddy out of bed. While Daddy gets his shower and gets ready for work we eat breakfast.

A couple of days ago Sullivan noticed something new. He nearly pulled himself out of his highchair trying to see what Daddy was up to and what that funny noise was. It was the sound of teeth getting a good scrubbing and Sullivan wanted in on that action! We thought it was only appropriate as he is now the proud owner of one adorable baby tooth.

I put him on the kitchen floor and he scurried over to Tyson, pulled up on his jeans and begged to be included. The following pictures are the scene that unfolded with Daddy, Sullivan and his infant finger toothbrush.

This has now altered our morning routine. The minute he hears the water running in the bathroom sink he scrambles to his daddy's feet to polish his one impressive pearly white.

My Favorite Things - Part 2

My Scavenger


My Little Crawler


My Escapee


My Ten Little Piggies


My Boys


My Motzart

My Mess Maker

Recipe Of The Week - Chicken Tetrazinni

Allright folks, we are starting a new family blog tradition. Each week we are going to share one of our family favorite recipes. It might be one we have loved for a long time and enjoyed eating that week, it might be something new and fun that we found in a magazine or stole from a friend. (I will be sure to give credit where credit is due!)

This week is one passed along from Mom and is definatly a new favorite. It is really easy to make for a small dinner get together, a friend in need of a meal or even dinner for two with some really yummy leftovers as Tyson and I have figured out.

I chose this one because I made it for Angie a couple of weeks ago and then Christa last week and they have already asked for the recipe. I swapped broccoli for the mushrooms for the Price's version and they say it was yummy that way too.

Please comment if you try it and tell me what you think!


Chicken Tetrazinni
3 to 4 cups cooked chicken (I use 4 frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts out of the package)
salt & pepper
8 oz. angel hair pasta
6 T butter
8 oz. sliced mushrooms (I double this every time)
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup light cream or half & half
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup cooking sherry, dry if possible (the sherry is the key ingredient)
1 1/2 or 2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese (as much as you like really)
Paprika (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in skillet, melt 2 T butterover med/low heat. Add sliced mushrooms and saute until golden. (I like to add a little sherry to the mushrooms as they saute) In a saucepan, melt 1/4 cup butter, stir in flour and 1/2 t salt and stir until smooth. Add chicken broth and cream and cook, stirring until sauce is thickened. Add chicken, cooked mushrooms and sherry and heat through. Place cooked pasta in buttered 9X13 baking dish then pour chicken/mushroom/sauce mixture on top. Top with Parmesan cheeseand sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, until hot and bubbly.
Serves 8

Monkeys belong in the Zoo!

Well, we took our chances on Sunday and took our little monkey to the zoo. We went to church in the morning and after the service we took him home for a preparatory nap. While he slept the storm came in. We thought our plans might be doomed but the rain stopped and we decided to grab the umbrella and throw caution to the wind.

Apparently the Sabertooth Tiger exhibit had been precariously left open because look who we ran into before we even got to the entrance...

That would be "Gnash" the mascot for the Nashville Predators. Cool huh?

Tyson happens to know the man behind the mask and we exchanged greetings in appropriate mascot language. (Miming) He was so supprised to see Sullivan had gotten so big. As we said goodbye I felt a little silly as I hollered in his direction "It was good to see you again!"

Two reasons;

1) I have never really "seen"the guy so as far as I know he really does have a blue face and very large teeth.

2) All the other moms gave me a wierd look as they walked away.

Come on guys! Gnash and I go waaaaay back! 8 )

We had a great time just the 3 of us and here are a couple of pics from our excursion.

As you can see the Meerkats are our favorite.

We weren't sure they would let us go home. As you know...

...Monkeys belong in the zoo!

Mommy Monkey

Teeth! Yikes!

We have them folks. Remind me again why we need these awful things. 8 )

Sullivan has cut one tooth so far on the bottom. You can't see it too clearly yet but it is there and reaking havoc on our household. As soon as it is clearly visable you will be getting a picture of the nasty little culprit.

Anyone out there in blogger land have any miracle advice for teething babies? Feel free to comment. We are desperate.

See?!?

Jeepers Creepers - An update on Sully's Peepers

(Stole this from Mom's blog - Precious huh?)

I am so sorry that I forgot to post this much earlier. Please forgive me. 8 )

As you know, Sullivan has regular eye exams scheduled every 3 months with Dr. Joos. These exams, for an adult, would normally be all that are necessary to check the status of the glaucoma. However, because Sullivan is little and squirmy, we have to schedule an EUA (exam under anesthesia) after every other visit. An EUA allows Dr. Joos to do all the tests and measuring she needs to do to make sure we have healthy eyeballs. We will do this about every 4 or 5 months until he is old enough to sit still in the exam room. Dr. Joos says they are pretty bribe able around 3. 8 )

The plan of action with these exams is always the same; if the glaucoma is presenting active symptoms then Dr. Joos will perform a surgery to install an implant in the eye, one at a time, to control the pressure. It is kind of like a pressure valve. Basically, they perform the exam and come and report to us what they found. If it is good news we go to the recovery room and wake up our precious baby to go home, if it is bad news they go back and perform the surgery while he is out. Due to the nature of the disease you never really know what to expect.

A couple days after we returned from California we had an EUA scheduled for Sullivan. While I was gone I had to stop the drops we were administering to Sullivan's left eye twice a day in order to get an accurate reading of the health of that eye. I was so nervous doing that. Sometimes having something to do helps you feel like you are in control but the truth is that we are not in control, He is. So I asked God to take my fear and to continually remind me to release Sullivan to Him. He is the one person in this world who loves him more than I do so those hands are more qualified anyway.

Thankfully as you have already read, Paige was there to sit with me and help me out. She was great to have along because she is really supportive and positive. Thank you Paigee!
Tyson would have been there but we have spent just about all of his vacation hours on Sullivan's prior surgeries. We both had a good feeling about the outcome so he decided to sit this one out. To be honest, if this is going to be our routine until he is 3 I really need to get used to going alone.
Sullivan did great. It was different this time because as he is getting older he is getting wiser too. He is starting to get a bit of separation anxiety and knows something fishy is going on. He didn't like the little sensor that they put on his toe or getting his temp taken but he did okay. The nurses said that around 1 year is when they start having to give "Pre-Meds" to them to calm them down prior to surgery. We'll see. It was early morning so he didn't have to go hungry for too long and once you give him a cute nurse to flirt with gets preoccupied. 8 )

After about an hour and 15 Dr. Joos and her assistant came back to tell us that Sullivan's eyes are doing great and that we can take him off of all meds. Soooooo Awesome!!!! His optical nerves look healthy and the left eye is slightly less far sighted than the right which means that when his eyes are fully developed he may be slightly nearsighted in that eye.

Soooo, at this point we have no symptoms of glaucoma! Yeah!

I'll Call You Squirt Too

I have called my sissy Paige "Squirt" for as long as I can remember and I don't think she even notices anymore. I don't really notice to be honest. I think that if I used her actual name she might think I was upset or something. It is the fondest in terms of endearment as far as I am concerned. I am not sure that there is any one else in the world quite like her. She is quite possibly my favorite person in the whole world.
Having said all of that, I have to admit that my life has come to include a "Second Squirt". Sullivan Shawn has captured my heart and undoubtedly the heart of the first "Squirt" as well. I had so much fun watching Paige enjoy her time with her "Sully Wully Bonker Head" as she has named him.

We got to see quite a bit of her while we were in CA but stole some TN time with her too. Such a treat! She flew home with us making for a very fun flight for all three of us. When Paige visits we like to relax and hang out. Not much planned activity. It makes for good quality time. Which we have recently learned is one of her love languages. I think that I am beginning to truly realize and appreciate the the beautiful woman God has created in her and I am so proud of her.

Her sense of humor is one of the many things I love about her and she has been dating a really neat guy named Thomas who has a great sense of humor too. He came to visit while Paige was here and we had a great time getting to know him. They got out to see the sights of Nashville and ran into this crazy guy! ----->
They were pretty excited as you can tell.




Thomas & Tyson babysat for me and Paige so that we could go to a women's praise and worship event at the church and the boys really impressed us. Not only did I get to enjoy the whole event, Sullivan was fast asleep when we got home. Ahhhhhhhhh. So nice. Way to go guys!

I think Thomas and Paige had fun with Sully and we enjoyed every minute of their visit too. We miss you guys!

Jiggity Jig

Well, this is my adorable little man helping me pack for home as our fabulous California vacation came to an end. We were there for almost 3 weeks and we had such a wonderful time! We stayed with my parents in their new home in Yuba City for the beginning of our stay. They have a pool in their new house which was REALLY great as it was sooooooo HOT there. Going swimming in a pool was just one of the many "Firsts" to be had on this fun adventure.

Another "First" was the plane ride out and back. I was really nervous but shouldn't have been, Sullivan did great. I had my sissy Paige with me for the trip home which was very nice. Sullivan was very well behaved and recieved many compliments. I would like to say he was a perfect gentleman but it appears that he may have picked up on one of daddy's bad habits. As the flight attendant passed by he smacked her square on the tush and when she turned around to investigate he gave her a huge smile. I am pretty sure that was when he won her heart. 8 ) Goodness knows thats when Tyson won mine. ; )

He is apparently more like mommy than I knew. He pretty much tried to talk to everyone he could make eye contact with and when they weren't looking he tried pretty hard to get their attention. Here are some photos from the plane ride. You will see in the 3rd one Sullivan found a friend behind us.

I fall more in love with that kid everyday. I wonder sometimes if God watches us as we learn, mature and experience the world and finds just as much joy as I do watching Sullivan.

My parents were great hosts and there new home really is beautiful. Sullivan and Nanu had great bonding time, we played with the doggies (the bumpy one and the mean one) and Nana bought way too many adorable outfits for Sullivan which I have been happily rearranging in his closet ever since we got home! 8 ) Thanks Mom!

Tyson was able to fly out in the middle of our trip and sneak in some time with his family too so we headed down to the Bay Area for a few days where Sullivan got to meet the rest of the Pardee family for the first time. Most importantly his Aunt Tiffany who has been DESPERATE to get her hands on him and then ofcourse his cousins who he enjoyed playing with thouroughly!

And the highlight of my trip was getting to see my grandparents love on Sullivan and get to play with him. They fell in love for sure and so did Sullivan. I have been so eager to see them myself and to watch them enjoy Sullivan was such a joy. We went to church with them 2 of the 3 weekends that we were there and spent the night with them too. Being in their home really does feel a bit like being home again. I miss it deeply.