8. Cooking Challenge - Week 11 (11/12)

This week, I cooked twice. Earlier this week, I made the crockpot cheesy chicken I made in week 2. Tonight I cooked chicken quesadillas with a side of black beans. This was the first time I ever made a meal that I totally winged on my own without a recipe. I think they came out pretty good! :)

8. Cooking Challenge - Week 10 (10/12)

This week I cooked our favorite chicken and rice casserole again (looking back, I also cooked this for week 6). It's an easy meal to feed us all for 2 nights. We served it with some mixed vegetables.

74. Visit 5 places in the NC region I've never been to before (2/5).

This weekend, I took a little road trip up to Richmond, VA, with some friends to see the "So You Think You Can Dance" tour at the Richmond Coliseum. We had a great time, and I got to visit another place in the NC region I had never been to before (other than driving through on the highway).

8. Cooking Challenge - Week 9 (9/12)

This week, I made these stuffed meatballs by Rachael Ray. We love this recipe, but we only make the mozzarella ones, not the ones with the cherry tomatoes (they just don't sound as good to me). And we only use beef because I don't eat veal. Yum!

1. Start using our cloth grocery bags

We've been using them for a few months now, pretty much since I started the challenge, but I wanted to wait and post until we had really gotten our routine down (keeping them in the car vs keeping them in the house so that we don't get to the store and realize we've forgotten them). We really love using them. They hold so many more groceries than plastic, the handles are more comfortable, and our grocery store gives us points on our rewards card for using them. Yay!

Bill has joined the party...

Bill has started his own 101 in 1001, check it out.

http://bill101in1001.blogspot.com/

8. Cooking Challenge - Week 8 (8/12)

Tonight I made french toast for Bill and me, and an english muffin pizza for Liam since he doesn't like french toast. I had planned to make these stuffed meatballs that we love, but Liam's sick this week and we just never made it to Whole Foods to get the ground beef, so we went simple instead. I'll do better next week!

September 2009 Progress

Completed in September: 6/101
Current Total: 10/101

5. Read 101 books (16/101).
I read 4 books this month. My favorite this month was Hide by Lisa Gardner, great murder mystery!


9. Take 1001 photos in 1001 days (436/1001).
I took 192 photos this month. I think my favorite picture this month would be one of the sunrise pictures posted below.

73. Fly a kite.
I thought I was going to get to cross this one off at the beach, but our 49 cent kite broke before we ever got it up in the air! I guess you get what you pay for...


I've done a lot of blog posts this week! :)

74. Visit 5 places in the NC region I've never been to before (1/5)

In case you missed any of the many blog posts about it, we visited Myrtle Beach, SC, last week, somewhere I had never been before! :)

49. Go to the aquarium.

While we were in Myrtle Beach, we visited Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, and had a great time. Liam had thrown off his sleep schedule that day and ended up having a meltdown at the aquarium, but was able to pull himself back together in time to enjoy the fish.



Liam and Daddy with sharks swimming over their heads


Liam got to pet a horseshoe crab, which he thought was fabulous, and later on he also touched a sting ray. He is fearless and fascinated with all of these creatures!

14. Try 5 new foods (1/5)

While we were in Myrtle Beach, I finally tried shrimp and grits. This is a southern dish that for whatever reason I never had growing up, and when we moved to NC and I first heard of it, it just did not sound appetizing. I was imagining regular buttered breakfast grits with shrimp in them, but that's not how it was at all. There was sausage and gravy in the grits, and the shrimp were spicy and grilled, and it was very yummy! I will definitely try it again.

3. Bring Liam to the beach for the first time, and 23. Take a vacation with Liam

This week we spent 5 days at Myrtle Beach on our first family vacation, knocking out two goals with one stone - bringing Liam to the beach for the first time, and taking a vacation with Liam. He loooooved the beach and had no fear at all of the ocean.




He loved the waves, he was laughing and kicking his feet whenever Bill lifted him up during a big one




Looking at sea shells. He loved to pick one out, and then run down and throw it into the surf. You can see lots more pictures from our trip on my main blog, and on Snapfish.