This picture was taken last year on the 4th and boy has the little man changed a lot in a year. He's still just as handsome/cute/precious as ever to us! 
Something I decided to do last year on the 4th of July was to make a dessert called Chocolate Chip Delight. I heard about it from one of the girls I taught with and decided that it would be the perfect tradition for me and the kids to make for the 4th of July every year. It's really simple and something that small children can easily help with. (That's what I loved about it... nothing complicated, no huge mess, and something my kids will love to do... hopefully). The recipe has you dip chocolate chip cookies in milk and then place a layer in the bottom of a casserole dish. Then you put in a layer of cool whip, then another layer of dipped cookies, and so on. Then you can top it with whatever you want and chill it overnight. I think Garrison and his future sibling(s) will love dipping cookies and helping me top it with M&M's and licking cool whip off the spoon. Anyway, last year Garrison was on a blanket in the kitchen floor when I made it since he was only 5 months old. This year I really wanted to include him a little and see what he thought about it. So Friday afternoon we attempted to make Chocolate Chip Delight. I decided since he probably wouldn't dip the cookies and then just turn them over to me (without taking a bite or wanting to eat it himself) that I would let him dip his own cookie and eat that cookie while I dipped the cookies for the actual dessert. I showed him how to do it first and then he took over...
First dip by himself
This is so yummy and I have it all over me!
He did really good dipping the cookie in the milk and eating it until the cookie starting breaking off into the milk and he started trying to grab handfuls of milk. Then once he realized he'd pretty much finished off the cookie he thought it would be really fun to splash in his milk. Soo...
This is what he looked like when I took the bowl of milk away from him. It just broke his heart. But only for a minute...
I started laughing at him because he was splashed with milk (it was sprinkled all over him, his high chair and just a little on the carpet) and he actually had chocolate in his teeth (if you look closely you can probably see it in those bottom teeth) and as I'm looking at him I have a moment of "what was I thinking attempting this... this was a crazy idea!" So he started laughing because I was laughing and I had to get another picture. As this point the dipping of cookies and making of the dessert was put on hold and I got Garrison, the high chair, and the carpet cleaned up. Once all of that was taken care of I got back to the matter at hand and let Garrison play in the kitchen floor.
He decided to whip something up himself.
This is what else he did while I was working on the dessert. He brought his huge stuffed animal dog into the kitchen and decided to rest. haha!
Finally... the finished product. This was a rush job, so not my neatest work with the cool whip.Friday night the 3 of us went to Applebee's for supper and then had a relaxing evening at home watching the Braves game. (It's kind of funny because last year on the actual 4th of July, the 3 of us went to Applebee's for supper.)
Saturday morning I had to meet with a hostess and her husband to talk about her upcoming show and Premier's business opportunity. They were both really interested (especially the husband) so we're praying about what God would have them do. After that we went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch before heading over to Snellville to do some shopping. We got a pretty good bit accomplished and were worn out when we got home.
Sunday morning we drove down to Barnesville so we could go to our home church and then spend the rest of the day with family. I grew up surrounded by just about all of my extended family and attending cook-outs and family gatherings on every holiday, plus a few in between just to get together. It's what always made our families so close-knit and fun. Time with family was such a priority to my parents and grandparents that now it's just been passed along to me. I want this instilled in Garrison as well so it's always been important to us that we see family often and spend time with them. So, on the 4th of July we had a great time grilling out with our families and celebrating the birthday of the great country we're so blessed to live in.
When we got home from church, Garrison helped AnAn put cool whip on the "Almost Better than Baseball" cake.
Then he got to taste the cool whip. We decided that he liked it.
After about a 2 hour nap, Garrison woke up and we got ready to grill out. My Granny and PawPaw arrived first, then Terrell's parents came over, and then Nanny. I was happy that everybody got to spend time with Garrison and that we could all be together. Garrison got plenty of outside time between his grandparents and great grandparents. Thankfully it wasn't too hot. He is one loved little man and pretty spoiled when he's surrounded by all his grandparents.
He was ready to help Papa grill in the picture below. We had a ton of food and it was all delicious... I know that I ate too much and I'm pretty sure Garrison did too. We had hamburgers, hotdogs, wings, baked beans, corn on the cob, chips and dip, cake, and homemade ice cream. I think Garrison had a little bit of it all. The cake and ice cream were probably his favorites.
The best family picture we got that day.
Monday was Terrell's day off work since the 4th fell on a Sunday this year. It sure was nice to have that extra day. We were able to get a lot of stuff done around the house and Terrell was in a cleaning mood. (I love when that happens!) He straightened up the whole house and then vacuumed the whole house, plus did 4 loads of laundry... yay! Then that afternoon we went with our neighbors/friends Ryan and Katie to the movies to see Eclipse. So fun!! We loved the movie and getting to go on a double date. Then we went out to eat at O'Charley's for an early supper before heading home. Thanks to Terrell's dad (Pops) for spending the afternoon with the little man while we went on our date. We had a really fun weekend and I'm excited that I'll be able to look back at this years from now and remember everything we did.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!
No comments:
Post a Comment