withholding information

Confession: I have been withholding information from the blog world. I have many things to share. Here they are in list order...not order of importance.

1. I have a job. Everyday 4 hrs. Tutoring a teenage boy. For 9 weeks.

2. It is work.

3. We have been participating in swim lessons again and Josie loves it.

4. My little brother got married on Saturday.

5. He and Brittany are in Hawaii right now and I have only thought of them 40 times today.

6. The wedding was a great excuse to visit paper source and make all kinds of fun things.

7. I am going with Russ to a Zac Brown Band concert this week for his birthday.

8. We are camping out in North Carolina. I'm really excited.

9. I am preggo....11 weeks....

10. We are super excited!

Josie is at such a fun age. We laugh all the time at her made up songs. New words and pronunciations. Even her imagination and memory for our structure. She and Thomas have become even closer friends. She takes her frustration out on him, runs to tell him she has tee teed on the potty, tries to ride him, write on him...you name it he has sat through it. Every time she takes a nap or goes to bed she has to run and find him to tell him good night and give him a kiss. It is precious! This is a super fun picture I captured the other day when they were playing in the yard.

Josie with cousins Raleigh, Bolton and Camden on Easter at Nana and Grandaddy's.

We got a new hiking pack for Josie and she loves it. Here we are at Raven Cliffs.
Josie with the Moon girls before our trip to the Zoo.

The weather has been great and we have been spending a lot of time outside. Love the spring!

fried plantains

buy one or two plantains.

they are close to the bananas.

bigger and hopefully darker.

you want them to be dark for a banana.

if they are not dark you want to keep them on your counter until they are.

good plantains are mastered through the super ripe plantains.

once they are ripe:

peel and cut into diagonal and thick slices.

pour some oil in the pan. (enough to cover those jokers)

getting warm and sizzly.

toss in your plantains.

it takes about 4-5 mins on one side and 3 on the other.

you want them to start to look golden-ess.

remove them and place on a paper towel.

sprinkle with lots of powdered sugar.

enjoy a new fruit for dessert!

this time last year

This time last year....I was somewhere close to Costa Rica.

In honor of those memories I made some fried plantains. The sweet lady who cooked our breakfast every morning taught me the "real" way to fry plantains. Along with how to pick a ripe mango. I will gladly share this wealth of knowledge with you.

Pictures from my slammin camera first...

Katie lives super close and her sweet family came over for an impromptu dinner the other night. The girls had a blast...to say the least. They giggled and giggled. Fwends!

I love random outfits that occur and evolve throughout the day.

tea party on a toilet

That's right! Do what you gonna do to stay on the potty. Josie was into sitting on the potty today. Works for me. Here I go, on my potty training adventure.

I love those little toes and chubby ankles so much, sometimes I want to kiss them off.

My dad would be so proud!

If you have ever played any kind of sport with a member of the Queen family, you already know we stick out our tongue during moments of concentration. Truly this trait spans generations and all different branches of the family tree.

My sweet little Josephine has a trait taken after namesake...Riley (her middle name) is my dad's middle name.

Playgrounds require such concentration!

And because this picture is precious....I had to share! She loves those boots

your wishes will come true at 30...

mine did.

Mom and Dad overwhelmingly surprised me with a nice camera for my 30th birthday.

I was having a tough time...really feeling like I aged on this birthday.

All cares were gone and artistic Kristy is now alive on her 30th birthday.  It is amazing what a good camera can do!!

Here are just a few examples. 

Disclosure:  You cannot take my daughter home with you...or my dog...and yes they are really that precious.

I am so blessed!

orlando with friends

I feel like this picture shows what we all already know... but I just can't believe...Josie is so big.  She is really tall for her age, so everyone thinks she is a year older than she is, but she talks a ton.  I love hearing the changes daily from jibberish sentences to actual words.  It is great.  She is quite silly.  Whether it is head-banging with a straw in her mouth to veggie tales or talking to Thomas....she makes us laugh a lot.  People comment now that she looks more like Russ...what do ya'll think?

Last week we stayed in my parent's house in Orlando with some fun friends from church.  We had a great time getting away from Georgia's yucky weather and relaxing together.  We shopped, visited the Magic Kingdom, ate frozen yogurt, napped, read, danced, ate frozen yogurt and never had to be anywhere at any one particular time.  Which I LOVED!  

Magic Kingdom show

The Moon Family

Josie loved to ride any ride possible.  (We rode every ride she was capable of riding.) This is the train the takes you around the park.  It was not quite adventurous enough for her.  She got bored very quickly.  

Classic family photo.

I will create a part II of the trip.  The Knox family went with us as well.  It was our first "friend" vacation.  We usually just go with our families.  We had a blast and were well rested upon our return.  Except for the 8 hrs. in a car with a 20 month old thing...