Another yummy (and easy) recipe...

Oven Fried Chicken

1 tbsp margarine

1 1/2 tsp paprika

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2/3 cup bisquick

2 1/2 to 3 1/2 lbs cut up whole chicken, skinless

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Melt margarine in 13x9x2 baking dish (in oven). Mix bisquick, paprika, salt and pepper; coat chicken. Place meaty side down in dish (should be hot with the melted margarine). Bake 35 minutes and then turn chicken. Bake for another 15 minutes.

EASY and YUMMY! That's what we are having for dinner tonight!

Stay tuned for details and pictures of my great girls weekend!

All About Brayden

I haven't written about our sweet girl in awhile, so I thought I would give some updates!

She now has 8 teeth!! The last two have both popped through in the last week.

She is taking a few steps here and there. Tonight she took 5 steps for her brother and daddy...of course when I walked in the room she stopped!

She is talking a little bit. Bye, mama, dada, bubba are her favorites these days, but she also says ba (for ball) and da (for dog). She makes the cutest dog barking noise and has the car "vroom" noise down perfect!

She knows where her nose is, and on some days she can point to her mouth and eyes.

She knows what she wants and will let you know it! She doesn't like being left out and can become quite possessive over toys that she is playing with.

We love our little girl and are amazed everyday by all that she learns and does. And today is your lucky day....a little video! In this one you will see and hear her dog barking noise, blowing bubbles with her spit, trying to stand (and walk), and her possessive nature when Kennan sits in "her" chair. Enjoy!!

I am going to be taking a blog break! Tomorrow I am off (hopefully...I'm flying standby) for a girls weekend! I cannot wait!! I'll have lots of pictures and stories to share when I get back!

One More...

So this morning all of the moms of the kids in Kennan's class were invited to the school to watch and observe for the first hour. It was a lot of fun to see what all he is doing (circle time, colors, nursery rhymes...) Anyway, the class was putting clothes on these cut out bears that would be appropriate for dressing them to go outside. This was the first time the class did this activity so the teacher was trying to explain it to them. At one point the teacher said "We are going to dress this bear in the clothes it would need to wear to go outside. Right now they are in their pajamas. Could they go outside like this if there was snow on the ground? Would they play on our playground in the snow dressed like this??" Very matter-of-factly, my brilliant son tells her "Bears sleep during the winter." Well, he put the teacher in her place! Bears don't need to dress to play in the snow because they sleep in the winter! HAHAHA!

A Kennan Story

Kennan and Kenny just got done reading The Tale of the Three Trees for his bedtime story. After they were done, Kennan came running into the kitchen to tell me that, "I want to be a boat that takes Jesus up to heaven. And when God sees me he will laugh so hard and say 'Kennan you are a boat, that is so funny.' " And he went on to say "And then God will tell Jesus that he is his Son."

I love this kid.

A favorite fall recipe...

Cinnamon Apple Pork Tenderloin

1 to 1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
2 cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 tablespoons dried cranberries or raisins

Preheat oven to 400. Place the pork tenderloin in a roasting pan or casserole dish. Combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl and stir. Spoon the mixture around the pork tenderloin. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and spoon the apple mixture over the tenderloin. Return to the oven and bake 15 to 20 minutes longer, or until pork is browned and cooked through (150 to 160 degrees).

YUMMY! and super easy!! Let me know if you try it and what you think!

Is it Spring or is it Fall??

So this is what I see when I look in the backyard. Right now. In the middle of September.

Take a closer look. My rose bushes are in full bloom! And the best part is that all 8 bushes produce different types of roses!
They make a beautiful bouquet!
Maybe I don't know enough about roses, and they are supposed to do this...either way it is a great surprise! Despite the rose bushes being in full bloom and the 80 degree weather, I think I am ready for fall to be here. So here is what I want to know...

What is you favorite fall recipe??

When I think of fall I think of pies and crockpot recipes. What do you think of? Leave your recipe in the comments on this post, or write your own post and then give us the link in the comments. I can't wait to hear everyone's ideas so I can get to baking, or cooking, or crockpotting (is that a word?). And if you are good and everyone participates, I will share mine in my next post!

A Wonderful Weekend

This past weekend my cousin Stephen got married in Colorado. We packed up the van and headed out there on Thursday to enjoy a long weekend of celebration. I am not kidding when I say that we took over 800 pictures in the 4 days...needless to say, I had a hard time picking the ones to share!

The view on the way into Canon City, CO

On Friday, we went to the Royal Gorge Bridge (or as Kennan called it - the Groyal Gorge) This is the arial tram we road over the gorge

Some views from the bridge... Me and the hubby at the Hawaiian themed rehearsal dinner
We went to the Dinosaur Depot on Saturday and Kennan and my dad (Pops) discovered some bones!
The handsome ring bearer posing for some pictures...
What a ham!

With the groom...I think this might be my favorite picture.
Getting his groove on at the reception...
Kennan and Brayden dancing...
Some of the wedding party, ring bearer (or master, as he called himself) and the flower girl

Stephen and his beautiful bride, Jenn Uncle Kyle and the kids with Stephen and Jenn
On our way back home, we stopped at the Capulin Volcano in New Mexico
Kennan was afraid the volcano was going to blow hot stuff on us...don't worry, it didn't!

We had such a great weekend!! The ring master did an excellent job at the wedding (with A LOT of bribery and gummy worms). The only downside was the after wedding pictures when he growled at the photographer...hopefully she can do some photo editing on the last few pictures she took! All in all, he did about as good as a 3 1/2 year old can do!!

I wish we would have had more time to explore the town and more of Colorado because it was beautiful! The bride's family was so accomadating, the Royal Gorge was amazing, and the rehearsal dinner was yummy...steak and salmon!! The wedding and reception were perfect! (Hey Jenn!! Welcome to the family!..I think she reads the blog!)

We have a winner!!

Thanks for all of the comments on Post #200!!!

All names randomly in a container...

My little helper mixing them up...
Drum Roll please...
Yeah for Maggie!!!
Congratulations Maggie!! Email me at kjrigoulot @ yahoo so I can get your address!!

The BIG 200!!!

For post #200, I thought about posting 200 things about myself, but got to 10 and I realized how boring I am.

I thought about posting 200 pictures, but realized you have probably seen all the cute ones.

I thought about posting 200 knock-knock jokes and decided there probably aren't enough funny ones out there.

So, I decided to just get to the point. Let's have a giveaway!! I couldn't decide what would be the best kind of prize since I have many types of readers...grandparents, mommies, daddies, singles, marrieds...anyway, you get the point. So....the prize is going to be a set of candles, just in time for the cool fall weather. I love to light candles up all over the house, and figured it would be a great prize for anyone who wins!!

The rules are easy. Post a comment on this blog entry and tell me how much you love me. Just kidding. Tell me the favorite post or picture you have seen on my blog since you've been reading. Easy, right?? One entry per person, please! Phone lines...I mean comments...will stay open until Sunday at midnight CST. I will have an unbiased member of my household pick the winner (all the names in a hat) and then post it on my blog Monday morning.

The fine print: I am going to be away at a wedding until Sunday and didn't want to only leave comments open until tomorrow night, that is why there is so much time!! I also don't know how much access to the internet I will have until then, so don't leave your email address on your comment as a way for me to get in touch with you (unless you don't care if others see it).I will just post it on the blog and if I can reach you another way, I will, and if not we will pick another winner after a few days of the winner not claiming the prize. Edited to add: You can still comment even if you don't have a blog or blogger profile. Just leave your comment and click on anonymous. Make sure to sign your name (and maybe last initial) so I know who you are!!

Happy commenting!!

Picture Post

WARNING: There are 24 pictures in this post...keep reading at your own risk!! And then at the end, comment and tell me which one was your favorite!!! If you make it to the end, there is a small announcement!

On Labor Day, our town had a festival put on by the fine arts group in town. It was really great and Kennan had a blast! (Brayden was there too but there wasn't much for her to do!!)

Kennan dancing to the high school band's music... Made a little sand art...
Rode on a pony...
Sat in a fire engine (there's Brayden...told you she was there!!) Did some art with shaving cream and water colors...
Rode on a "train"...
And had a sword fight with some buddies...

The next day, Tuesday, was Kennan's first day of school which I already posted about. I failed to mention that it was also the day he wrote his name all by himself, with all of the letters!!! He has been able to do "E" for awhile now, but never the "A" or "N" and "K" always gave him a little trouble. Well, I guess he was inspired during his first day of preschool to come home and give it a try!!!

Hard at work...

The finished product...Major celebration! This boy has ups!!!
On Thursday Kennan was the cross carrier for his school on their way to the chapel...

I left the kitchen to fold some laundry and Little Miss Mischief got to work!!!
Friday evening was our first home football game!! Since we live in a small, one high school town, everyone knows the place to be on Friday nights!!! We bought 3 season tickets so that we could sit with some friends to make the games more enjoyable for the kiddos. It was a bit chilly and windy, but Brayden and I made it until halftime. We rode home with some friends and Kenny and Kennan stayed until the end of the third quarter.

Brayden enjoyed cruising up and down the benches... Kennan and Mason say "Go Team!!!"
Kennan getting his groove on during the school song...

I guess Kennan has been inspired by being able to write his name because art time has become a lot more frequent at our house! Here he is writing a letter and drawing some pictures for some PTS friends. We set out to work on some art for Hannah, Katie, and Hans (small groups at a time, you know.) Well, by the time we got to Hans, Kennan informed me that he was only going to "send some art to my girlfriends." Sorry Michelle, Hans' art will have to be saved for another day!!!
Play time in the backyard!!
I believe she was making this face at her daddy...
Bath time!! It occured to me today that I have about 500 pictures of Kennan in the bath tub and only 5 of Brayden. So, I took a few this evening.
Not to be outdone by his sister, Kennan had to be in some too!!

Congratulations to you if you made it this far!!! Now, which picture was your favorite?? It shouldn't be too hard to decide...there were only 24 pictures to choose from!

This is my 199th post!! I can hardly believe it!! Stay tuned for my 200th post and reader contest!!