Recent Sam's Club fun

Meal Plan Monday

• Monday: Crockpot Shredded Chicken Sandwiches and Green Beans (Super yummy with the swiss cheese! I put my buns and swiss under the broiler for a few minutes and it made them perfect!)
• Tuesday: Ranch Burgers and Steamed Veggies
• Wednesday: Dinner at Church
• Thursday: Yuki! & Freezer Cooking Shopping with Haven
• Friday: Leftovers
• Saturday: Freezer Cooking Extravaganza with Haven! (Remember the last time I did this? So excited to do it again!)

We have mostly already planned out freezer meal menu, but does anyone have a freezer meal that is just amazing and we just MUST do??? 

14 Months Old!

Griffin is 14 Months Old Today! My how the time flies! This boy is getting more and more active (if that can be possible), more and more interactive, and more and more cute as the days go by! We are having a blast with him. A snapshot of Griffin at this stage:

• Sleep: He is sleeping through the night (Praise the Lord!) with almost no interruptions. Every couple of nights he will wake up crying for a second, find his paci and go back to sleep. He goes to bed between 7-8pm typically, and we put him in his crib awake then he puts himself to sleep. He wakes up around 6:30am most days now, and takes 2 naps a day still (Yay!) which are usually at 9am and 1 pm. 
• Eating: Griffin loves his food! The boy can eat! He has been eating table food for several months now and typically just eats whatever we are having. He seems to be a 'sauce' boy and loves meats that have a sauce on them. Some of his favorite meals have been tacos, porcupine meatballs, salmon, scrambled eggs, and bacon ranch chicken in the crock pot. Mandarin oranges are a big favorite right now (which I ate a ton of while preggo so thats funny) and bananas (ick!). He eats 3 meals a day, plus a 'snack' time around 3pm. He also is now on whole milk and takes about 20-25 oz a day of that. He is off of bottles at this point and uses sippy cups or straws. He can feed himself with the spoon some, but I dont let him do it often right now. 
• Talking: The past 3 weeks have been an explosion of new communication for Griff! The boy babbles all day long, and is also speaking in English some too! He can now say "what's that", bye, hi, cat, go, "jo", no, daddy, mama (but rarely!), and is trying to say uncle d. There are many times he says things that sound dead on like phrases etc, but I think its just happy coincidences right now.  
• Signing: Also in the last 3 weeks Griffin suddenly started signing a ton! I had pretty much given up on teaching signs bc I felt like I had been trying since 6 months with little results. Well I guess he is just ready! He can now sign: more, all done, cracker, eat, bird, cat, dog, frog, hat, water, milk, fish, and kinda of please. 
• Activity:
• Griffin is doing great at following directions now. He loves to be a helper, and will put things back, carry them for you, or go get something when asked. He is really loving being able to pick things up and take them places. We are working on consistently helping cleaning up now. 
• He can point to the following body parts when asked: tongue, nose, ears, belly, head, feet and sometimes the eye. 
• He can make the following animal noises: cat, dog, monkey, lion. 
• The boy LOVES to dance. I mean LOVES to dance! Haha! Tonight we were in Starbucks and he was hardcore having his own little party. 
• He is now beginning to "run" by actually getting on the balls of his feet and not just toddling around flat footed. 
• He is enjoying playing with balls, blocks, being outside swinging or in his wagon, and has fun with some wooden puzzles. 
• He LOVES books as well. 
• Zoey and Joey are his favorite things in the house. He loves to treat the cat like a stuffed animal and give Joey open mouthed kisses (so gross). 
• The Little Things:
• Griffin plays with my hair all the time, especially when he is tired. I love this so much. Makes my day!
• He gives me and Daddy big open mouth kisses with his tongue out now, so basically he kinda licks us! haha! How do you teach a kid they should not be tonguing people? 
• When we tell him to give other people kisses, he turns his cheek towards them so they can kiss his cheek. Ha! 
• He is a great hugger. 

Griffin is a blast. He is in to everything, is always on the go, and is usually telling you something or laughing. He is so sweet and usually very friendly. He can throw HUGE fits now as well (least some of you wonder if its all rainbows and butterflies, lol) and they are becoming more frequent. They tend to come on when he is tired or hungry- he takes after his Daddy ;-) haha! 

Here are random pictures from the last few weeks. Isnt he so grown up?!!! 

Meal Planning Monday

A few food related things from last week:

- Dont put things that you know you (or your spouse) really dont want on your meal plan. I know that Mr.Pate is not a big salmon fan (though during our dating days he always acted super happy for me to cook it for him for lunch...). Its my favorite food! But I am not the biggest fan of how mine tastes, versus eating it out. So we ate out instead of having salmon as planed one night last week. 

- I made 2 pinterest recipes this week! I made these pinwheels for community group tonight, and these roll-ups to take to Becky's last night. The verdicts: 1. The roll ups were good but I made them large (2 cresents together) and I think they are better smaller (just 1). 2. The pinwheels were yummy but messy. I chose to use pizza crust, which was too big I think. Yay for actually doing something I pinned though! 

Up this week: 

• Monday: Balsamic Pork Roast in the Crock Pot with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans (Never had this one, so Ill let you know how it goes)
• Tuesday: Grilled Chicken and Baked Potatoes
• Wednesday: Eat at Church
• Thursday: Ham & Cheese Stromboli (a super old fav!)
• Friday: North Warren's Fall Festival
• Saturday: Leftovers/ WKU Game!
• Sunday: Community Groups (have to take a dessert... hummm any ideas for me?)

Ham and Broccoli Shortcut Stromboli1 package (10 oz) refrigerated pizza dough1 can (10 ¾ oz) Campbell’s 98% Fat Free Cream of Celery Soup1 cup cooked chopped broccoli2 cups cubed cooked ham1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400º2. Unroll dough onto greased baking sheet (I use a baking stone)3. Mix soup, broccoli and ham. Spread soup mixture on one side of dough (leave one inch on the edges). Top with the cheese.4. Fold the dough over the mixture long ways and pinch all sides to seal.5. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown. Slice and serve. Yields 4 servings.

MS Walk- Then and Now

Our little family at the MS Walk last year:


Our little family at the MS Walk this morning:



Wow! We participated in the MS walk a gain this year, and the weather was so much better!

Last year it was pretty cold. I "wore" Griffin the whole time, so we kept stuffing his blanket over his head Etc to keep him warm! He slept most of the walk last year, and when he wasn't asleep He just looked around.

This year we took the stroller and pushed him. He really just wanted to be with his dad and out of that strolled! Then annual Puppy Paddle was going on today, so we had lot of entertainment!!

All in all we had a great time and are glad to have had the opportunity to raise money and awareness to fight MS.


- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Those Ordinary moments

Oh Fall! I dont understand why, but life just suddenly seems to slow down when Fall gets here. Maybe it's because the weather finally cools off and you can go outside without being miserable! Being outside just makes me want to breathe in every moment and Thank our great God for His creation.

I loved tonight. Nothing special. We simply ate dinner, and then played. But it is those normal
moments that I want to burn into my memory so desperately!!! Such as...

... Griffin holding the phone to his ear and jabbering away to Justin's mom. He loves talking on the phone.
.... Griffin "tackling" me and Justin in the living room floor. And thinking it was the coolest thing ever.
.... Justin and Griffin throwing the ball to Joey in the front yard.
.... Griff going to get a book and then coming and plopping down in my lap to have me read it.
... Griffin climbing in an out of his wagon.
.... His surprised face when Justin opens the garage door.

The everyday normal moments just steal my heart away. It's hard to explain, but getting to walk this journey with my boys is such a blessing. Wouldn't trade it for anything!

The Tuesday night lowdown

Ok so you know the drill by now- I spent the night watching Teen Mom followed by the Duggars. My thoughts:

- Finding out about all this drama that has been going on the whole time with Teen Mom is straight up annoying. Weren't we supposed to be seeing real life this whole time? Then why don't we know that Maci and Kyle had drama with him talking with other girls?
- Bentley loved Kyle, so I am not buying that he didn't even mention him or ask for him. I mean really? He lived with him for like two years or something.
- Man Ryan just really seems to hate Maci. Why? I think she just reminds him of how much he sucked at being a dad in the beginning. And I thought it was so weird how one second Dalis and Maci are saying mean things and the next they are saying the other one is awesome. Confusing. Wonder how they really feel?
- Again, I feel literally sick for little Leah. Her dad is a total jerk and her mom is nuts. They are both so selfish. I just want to adopt her! She is so precious!!
- Well other than the unseen footage, it's over for these girls. Now I want to know who will be on Teen Mom 3?!! Haha
- Anna was on the Duggars talking about how much she loves being a stay at home mom. Not gonna lie- I get so jealous of what successful entrepreneurs they are!
- Anna started the episode by talking about how she tried cloth diapering (again I think?) and just isn't doing it now. Looked like she had nice diapers too. Wonder if they are just sitting there wasting away.

That's about all I got. Waiting on my cloth diapers to be done so I can hit the hay. Whew.

Meal-to the-Plan-to the-Monday!

I am really feeling back in the groove around here- we have meal planned for 4 weeks in a row! Whoa!
Up this week:

• Monday Night: Pecan Crusted Pork chops, Creamy Mashed Potatoes, Béarnaise Sauce and Green Beans (yeah I randomly decided we needed to eat like kings tonight... no one complained, lol!) 
• Tuesday Night: Asian Tomato Beef in the Crock-pot
• Wednesday: Dinner at Church
• Thursday: Salmon, Brown Rice and Green Beans
• Friday: Leftovers
• Saturday: Grilled Chicken and Veggies 
• Sunday: Taking some type of Appetizer to Community Group Game Night! 

Right after I graduated from college, I did a leadership/missions program with the KBC in Louisville. One of the "discipleship" things we learned was how to cook/entertain. Emily Stewart made us all kinds of goodies, but this pecan crusted recipe was one of my favorite takeaways. I have not made it in YEARS. I suddenly have a desire to get back in the kitchen and cook things that remind me of our early marriage days. Weird but yummy :-) Mr. Pate is a fan of this phase! haha! 

Pecan Crusted Pork Chops (also works well on Salmon!)

6 Pork Chops

2 tbsp Dijon Mustard

2 tbsp mayo (I used sour cream tonight and it worked well too)

1 tbsp oil

1 slice bread, torn into small pieces

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp parsley (or 4 sprigs fresh)

Turn oven to Broil. 

Mix mustard, mayo and oil in a small dish (one you can fit a pork chop in). 

Place bread, pecans, salt and parsley into food chopper and pulse until finely chopped. Place onto a plate or in a shallow dish. 

Dip pork (or salmon) into mustard mix and cover on all sides. Then dip in pecan mixture until coated well. 

Place pork on a broiling pan and Broil 6 " from heat about 10 minutes or until brown. Then flip and broil 10 more minutes or until cooked thru. 

Serve with Béarnaise sauce (add 1 tbsp dijon to it). So yummy!! 

Misc "Media"

** First up, Griffin can blow bubbles now:

And he loves to help with laundry:

And he is starting to identify parts of the body:

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

The Story of the Moses Ornament-Take 2

(Sorry the last link didnt work!)

The story of our Moses Ornaments posted the ministry blog "Grow-Proclaim-Serve". Check it out (and make sure to get your orders in soon!):

 http://www.growproclaimserve.com/articles/193/2012/09-06/beyond-a-baby-shower

The story behind Moses Ornaments

The story of our Moses Ornaments posted the ministry blog "Grow-Proclaim-Serve". Check it out (and make sure to get your orders in soon!): 

http://www.growproclaimserve.com/articles/193/2012/09-06/beyond-a-baby-shower

Things I don't want to forget

::: Griffin ate cat food for the first time this weekend :-( ha! At least we made it 13 months!
::: Going in to get Griffin in the mornings is my favorite time all day. He is always sitting up playing in his crib, and when he sees me he smiles really big an stands up quickly reaching for me. Once I pick him up, he tosses his paci into the crib and we go turn off his nightlight and sound machine. He loves to push the buttons! He always claps for himself after he successfully turns it all off. Ha!
::: Griffin can point to his tongue, nose, ear and belly when asked where they are (ex: where is your tongue griffin?).I am trying to teach eye now, but he always points to the ear when I say it, I guess bc it's an "e"? Still so cute!
::: He loves loves loves putting stuff away. He will get something out and you can say, "can you put that back?" and he actually does it and then claps! Ha! But then he may grab it again and the whole process starts over ;-) oh repetition!
::: Griff started saying "no" at the appropriate times this weekend. Glad he is beginning to use words correctly, but not glad to already be hearing no! Ha!
::: He blows kisses so well! It's cure!!! He will usually blow kisses on command, which is fun.
::: Zoey is griffins favorite thing right now. He gets so excited when she comes around. He walks around saying "eow" for meow. Melt my heart! He also loves to lay on top of her and snuggle
His face into her. She is totally not a fan of this! Ha!
::: The other day he just belly flopped onto zoey.
::: He started using a snack cup recently. They are these little cups with a top that lets you reach in to get snacks but not let them spill out. He sat on the kitchen floor playing with it and just kept turning it upside down ad shaking it. Ha!
::: He is riding on toys now and able to use his legs to make them scoot around now.
::: He loves his big jumbo Legos! And he can build with them well too!

There are so many little things or mannerisms that I want to store in my mind forever, it's so hard to remember it all!

Ironic Tuesday nights

::: The last two Tuesday nights I have watched Teen Mom, and then 19 Kids and Counting. Ironic much? Haha
::: Did any of you watch the Teen Mom Finale Special tonight? I almost didn't bc stupid insight had it labeled as Teen Mom 2, so my DVR wasn't going to record (I am so not a fan of that one). My thoughts:
1. Did everyone but me know that Farrah's parents were divorced?!! I had no clue. They are always together. Weird.
2. Glad Dr.Drew asked her why she calls her dad Michael! I have always wondered! Hated her answer though. She is sooo weird.
3. I think it's weird for her to have been on a show for 4 seasons and never have shared why she really had all the anger towards her parents. Who knew?!
4. Just love Catelynn and Ty! loved when she said "look at all of the Teen Moms, no one except me and Ty are still together, and that's because the stress raising a kid when you are a kid is too much!" (paraphrased) true true.
5. I really can't wait to hear about Maci and Kyle, and get to see the interview with Dalis. Drama!
6. I hope amber is getting her life together for the sake of that adorable kid!

::: I heart the Duggars so much. I long to be as patient with griffin as they seem with theirs. Wow. 19 kids. I can't fathom 2 right now! Ha! But I love how supportive and nice they are to each one.
::: Our BBQ in the crockpot was very dry today. I had the bright idea that we needed to shred it halfway thru cooking. In my mind we could put more
BBQ sauce on it and then it would e juicy and flavorful. Instead that made it very tough meat. Fail.

Do the next thing

Just do the next thing.

It's advice I have read in books from one of my favorite authors, Elizabeth George. And today, I read it again from a different Elisabeth, Elisabeth Elliot. This is a great article, I highly recommend you take a few moments and read it today.

http://www.backtothebible.org/index.php/Gateway-to-Joy/Do-the-Next-Thing.html

A few of my favorite lines:

"Somehow or other, the peace of God descends upon us when we take things calmly, peacefully and humbly as the next thing that God has assigned us to do"

"... I do what you told me years ago to do. Do the next thing. Don't sit down and think of all the things you have to do. That will kill you. It's overwhelming. It's daunting if you think of all the things that are involved in a task. Just pick up the next thing."

I needed to hear these reminders and encouragements today. As a mother to a toddler, and a full-time working mother, as well as a family in ministry, my to-do list is always unending (isn't everyone's?!). I can become paralyzed with the amount and just do nothing. Which creates even more stress later. Or I can just do the next thing God has given me to do, and trust His plan for me. 

So today, I will do the next thing. How about you? 

Meal Plan Monday!

Happy Labor Day Monday! We have had a wonderful, productive and fun day around here. I LOVE days like that. Last week we ended up eating at home four nights. Not too shabby. We did make an appearance at Red Lobster (thanks to a gift card) where my son ate a TON of salmon! Yay- he got his momma's love of seafood. So here is what we have going into our bellies this week :-)

• Monday: Broccoli Chicken Potato Parmesan 
• Tuesday: BBQ Pork Sandwiches in the Crockpot
• Wednesday: Dinner at Church
• Thursday: Grilling Burgers & Brats & Veggies 
• Friday: Tacos
• Saturday: Leftovers
• Sunday: Community Groups are starting up! Woo Hoo!!

What are you having???? 

Ladies man

How was griffin entertained At the Hot Rods game? By a cute little lady named Kennedy who was sitting next to us!

Take me out to the ballgame

We had free tickets to the Hot Rods last game of the season today, so even though it's a pretty dreary day we decided to head over for awhile. It actually felt really good, and was real laid back with barely anyone there. Griffin enjoyed eating LOTS of popcorn, staring at Roscoe from afar (but not wanting him to come close!), and dancing. It was some good family time. Love long weekends!