365 days ago, I went in for a 40 week regular check-up at my doctor's office. For weeks, I had surprisingly made no progress (literally ZERO) towards labor and we were informed they were planning to induce on Saturday December 29th. I had been discouraged for weeks that I wasn't going to get to hold my baby for Christmas but at this point, I had accepted the fact that I would be induced on the 29th. I was going to take the next two days off work and nap, cook meals for the freezer, stock up on groceries, and relax by myself for the last time for awhile.
At my appointment, my doctor discussed plans for the induction with us and 'just for kicks' decided to examine me to make sure that there was still no progress. However, the intense Braxton Hicks contractions that I had been feeling for weeks still had not changed and certainly hadn't encouraged my body to start labor before, so I figured the exam was pretty pointless. I watched my doctor's expression turn to shock as she said "Amy, are you feeling contractions? You're (pretty far) in labor and we need to call an ambulance and have them take you to the hospital."
I was SHOCKED. Some strange phenomenon that I still do not understand to this day somehow prevented me from feeling any pain until an hour or so before Eli was born. (Don't worry.... I'm not complaining!) An ambulance took me to the hospital while Josh followed in our car. Even though I really wanted to drive myself and stop home to get my hospital bag, the doctor's office said it was against medical advice to let me do that because I was too far along. The paramedic let me ride sitting next to him in the back which was actually pretty cool and definitely a memory I won't forget.
Seven hours later Eli was born. Being a mom of only one until that moment, I was always a little fearful that I wouldn't know how to love them both equally or how I could possibly love this new little addition as much as I loved the one we already had. I guess that's the beauty and the magic of being a mother because the second I saw him, my heart was already so full with love for him that I never gave those fears a second thought.
Our Eli has blessed us beyond words. He has developed such a personality and loves our dogs and his big brother more than you can imagine. 365 days ago he made me a mommy for the second time and it was just as beautiful and special as the first time, maybe even more because I could anticipate the joy ahead of us. This last year watching him grow has been one of best of my existence. Because we've done this once before, it was easier to remind myself more not to stress about the small things, that all the challenges (including sleep!) would in fact pass in time, and that there is never, ever too much time spent cuddling a baby which I didn't have enough experience to know with Caleb.
Happy 1st Birthday Eli! We love you to the moon and back.
Friday, December 27, 2013
Thursday, December 19, 2013
You may call him a Christmas baby....
When the doctor told me that my due date was Christmas Eve when I was newly pregnant with Eli, I thought it was so fun. What a wonderfully happy time around Christmas to welcome such a beautiful gift into the world. I love Christmas time and I was so into it.
When people would find out my due date, I received all kinds of advice on how to handle a "Christmas baby". Some people advised always celebrating his birthday on his half birthday in June. Some suggested celebrating a week early or later or even on Christmas day so that the family was already together. Some people just laughed and said they were sorry for my unborn child whose birthday would always be lumped into the Christmas festivities. (Yes.. I'm serious.)
I should say though that this advice from seemingly all over the place, never really registered with me because never did I ever imagine I would still be pregnant or have my baby that close to Christmas. Caleb was born two weeks early (and research shows that second babies are commonly born earlier than the first) so I assumed we would be nice and cozy at home on Christmas Eve with our one or two week old baby.
Yeah... that didn't happen. As the days inched closer to the Christmas holiday and I was still pregnant, I started thinking of the very real possibility that he may actually be born closer to the holiday than I ever imagined. I was indeed still pregnant on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (and the day after Christmas for those keeping tabs).
Our sweet boy was born on December 27th, three days after the predicted due date. As we are nearing his first birthday, we have already been asked about how we are going to handle it. Kind of a funny question (although completely valid, I totally get it) and Josh and I thought about it for awhile, taking into account how we would schedule our Christmas plans before the answer seemed completely obvious.
December 27th is not two days after Christmas in our house. December 27th is Eli's birthday. And like any other birthday, we would celebrate it as such. Is it the easiest thing to do when we are always traveling for Christmas and often are not home on the 26th? Absolutely not. It's also not the most popular thing to do because both of our families (who we don't live in the same city as) understandably want to get to spend time with us for Christmas. But for us, it's the right thing to wake up in our own beds on December 27th and celebrate our little guy. And we will continue to do so until he is of an appropriate age to tell us what he prefers.
Never will I ever allow his birthday to be less celebrated than anyone else's or to be lumped into Christmas festivities. It may not be right for everyone, but it is right for us.
When people would find out my due date, I received all kinds of advice on how to handle a "Christmas baby". Some people advised always celebrating his birthday on his half birthday in June. Some suggested celebrating a week early or later or even on Christmas day so that the family was already together. Some people just laughed and said they were sorry for my unborn child whose birthday would always be lumped into the Christmas festivities. (Yes.. I'm serious.)
I should say though that this advice from seemingly all over the place, never really registered with me because never did I ever imagine I would still be pregnant or have my baby that close to Christmas. Caleb was born two weeks early (and research shows that second babies are commonly born earlier than the first) so I assumed we would be nice and cozy at home on Christmas Eve with our one or two week old baby.
Yeah... that didn't happen. As the days inched closer to the Christmas holiday and I was still pregnant, I started thinking of the very real possibility that he may actually be born closer to the holiday than I ever imagined. I was indeed still pregnant on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (and the day after Christmas for those keeping tabs).
Our sweet boy was born on December 27th, three days after the predicted due date. As we are nearing his first birthday, we have already been asked about how we are going to handle it. Kind of a funny question (although completely valid, I totally get it) and Josh and I thought about it for awhile, taking into account how we would schedule our Christmas plans before the answer seemed completely obvious.
December 27th is not two days after Christmas in our house. December 27th is Eli's birthday. And like any other birthday, we would celebrate it as such. Is it the easiest thing to do when we are always traveling for Christmas and often are not home on the 26th? Absolutely not. It's also not the most popular thing to do because both of our families (who we don't live in the same city as) understandably want to get to spend time with us for Christmas. But for us, it's the right thing to wake up in our own beds on December 27th and celebrate our little guy. And we will continue to do so until he is of an appropriate age to tell us what he prefers.
Never will I ever allow his birthday to be less celebrated than anyone else's or to be lumped into Christmas festivities. It may not be right for everyone, but it is right for us.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
It's the most wonderful time of the year
I'm popping in to document that I am indeed alive and filled with holiday spirit. With that holiday spirit of course comes the busiest time of the year where we try to cram way too many activities into the few short weeks before Christmas. Luckily our Christmas shopping/present buying is almost complete thanks to my early morning Black Friday online shopping. Along with Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities and travel, my little family is also planning for a joint birthday bash for our two littlest members in a few weeks.
All those half finished blog posts will likely wait to be finished for the next few weeks because what good is it to document these memories if I can't actually live them, yes? Until then I will be baking, Christmas light looking, carol singing, and enjoying the holidays with these cuties:
All those half finished blog posts will likely wait to be finished for the next few weeks because what good is it to document these memories if I can't actually live them, yes? Until then I will be baking, Christmas light looking, carol singing, and enjoying the holidays with these cuties:
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Fall Fun
The last few years, I have been a major fall lover. Growing up, I was never a huge fan of fall and always insisted that my birthday in early September still fell firmly in the category of summer. Not fall. Maybe it was always that fall was linked to the start of school and the end of summer freedom that made me loathe it, I don't know. However, luckily I have been able to embrace the all the wonderful things that come with fall: FOOTBALL (duh!), all things pumpkin, cooler weather, and fun fall activities.
It's hard to believe that it's almost Thanksgiving and with it will likely go the mild fall temperatures and bring in the cold, icky winter. Because we can't really be outside in the evenings like we were in the summer, Caleb's new favorite thing to do is to make pirate hats, boats, and airplanes out of newspaper. He kept asking for more things so clearly Mommy needs to do some newspaper folding research!
While waiting for Daddy to get home one night, we decided to rake up some leaves. Without any prompting or suggestions, Caleb immediately ran and jumped into my leaf pile. I'm seriously thinking leaf pile jumping might just be innate to children because he sure knew what to do.
And the little guy was perfectly fine throwing leaves in the air, watching his big brother run around like a crazy dude, and (like everything these days) contemplating eating them.
We've spent our cool fall days painting our Halloween pumpkins, marking roads for our toy cars with tape on the living room floor, and making cookies.
It's hard to believe that it's almost Thanksgiving and with it will likely go the mild fall temperatures and bring in the cold, icky winter. Because we can't really be outside in the evenings like we were in the summer, Caleb's new favorite thing to do is to make pirate hats, boats, and airplanes out of newspaper. He kept asking for more things so clearly Mommy needs to do some newspaper folding research!
While waiting for Daddy to get home one night, we decided to rake up some leaves. Without any prompting or suggestions, Caleb immediately ran and jumped into my leaf pile. I'm seriously thinking leaf pile jumping might just be innate to children because he sure knew what to do.
And the little guy was perfectly fine throwing leaves in the air, watching his big brother run around like a crazy dude, and (like everything these days) contemplating eating them.
We've spent our cool fall days painting our Halloween pumpkins, marking roads for our toy cars with tape on the living room floor, and making cookies.
And of course this little guy turned 10 months old this fall!
Monday, November 11, 2013
New house update: Exterior
As the name of this blog implies, I pretty much dabble in and have a reasonable amount of skill in a lot of areas. I love to cook/bake, sew, craft, and will usually try anything DIY. However, a green thumb I do not have. I have fairly little interest in gardening and zero talent/patience for it. I like how it looks when it is done but have pretty much no clue how to go about making it look that way.
One of things we wanted to get done before it got too cold outside was to work on cleaning up the landscaping out front. As I've mentioned before, we bought the house from a couple who weren't the greatest at home maintenance. Everything outside was overgrown, half-dead, not cared for and made the whole front of the house look messy. Every time I pulled up in front of the house, I cringed. Luckily, my aunt and mom came up on a Saturday to help me, probably partially because they were tired of listening to me complain about it. Thank goodness that they came and I didn't try to go it alone because it would have taken FOREVER. We took out bags and bags and bags of dead plants and it took the 4 of us all Saturday to do.
The area around the mailbox at one time I would imagine, had 10-12 daylilies around it. When we bought the house, the plants were overgrown and had been run over a million times by moving trucks.
We decided to leave two plants on either side of the mailbox, dig up the rest, and fill the area with landscaping fabric and rock.
One of things we wanted to get done before it got too cold outside was to work on cleaning up the landscaping out front. As I've mentioned before, we bought the house from a couple who weren't the greatest at home maintenance. Everything outside was overgrown, half-dead, not cared for and made the whole front of the house look messy. Every time I pulled up in front of the house, I cringed. Luckily, my aunt and mom came up on a Saturday to help me, probably partially because they were tired of listening to me complain about it. Thank goodness that they came and I didn't try to go it alone because it would have taken FOREVER. We took out bags and bags and bags of dead plants and it took the 4 of us all Saturday to do.
The area around the mailbox at one time I would imagine, had 10-12 daylilies around it. When we bought the house, the plants were overgrown and had been run over a million times by moving trucks.
We decided to leave two plants on either side of the mailbox, dig up the rest, and fill the area with landscaping fabric and rock.
It has a much nicer 'curb appeal' and will be so much easier to maintain.
Up towards the house, we have some hostas and mums that were just so overgrown that none of the plants were getting enough nutrients to grow properly. It drove me crazy that half of the plants had grown over the sidewalk and were being walked on daily.
We dug out 2 whole bags of dead plants and I can already see that the ones remaining are starting to get some life back into them. We also took down the old, falling apart flower boxes on the front porch which cleans it up a little bit.
Finally, we weren't big fans of the dark blue color of the front door and door trim so we painted it a cranberry color. I'm not sold on it but it is growing on me.
We kind of ran out of nice weather this year to finish our work but we have plans to redo the landscaping on the side of the house and give the patio and deck out back a nice new coat of stain in the spring.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Pie Countdown
For as long as I can remember, Thanksgiving has been my very favorite holiday. I do love me some Christmas, don't get me wrong, but there is something about gathering as a family where the sole purpose is to hang out and eat a huge meal that gives me a warm fuzzy. Plus, who doesn't love the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade? I'm getting excited just talking about it.
A few years ago, I stumbled upon something that makes the Thanksgiving season and the month of November just that much more awesome. Allrecipes.com Pie Countdown. Every day in November up to Thanksgiving Day, they send an email with a new pie recipe. Every year a few days before Thanksgiving, I look through all the recipes and choose one to make for Thanksgiving. It's a little embarrassing how much I look forward to the new recipe every morning and shout the name down the stairs to my husband. For some reason he doesn't quite show the same amount of enthusiasm as I do but I give him credit for playing along.
Just for fun and because I know you are dying to know, these are the pies I have made the past three years.
In 2010, I made Mile-High Peanut Butter Brownie Pie. As you can imagine from the name alone, it was delightful. However, that Thanksgiving I was pregnant with Caleb and this pie was a big undertaking for a woman who was 8 months pregnant. It was worth it in the end but it was not a quick and easy pie to make.
In 2011, I made Pecan Pie. I loved this pie and it was really simple to make. I'm usually not the biggest fan of nuts in my desserts but for this pie, I was glad I made an exception.
Last year, I made a simple Apple Crumble Pie. Last Thanksgiving I was also 9 months pregnant and actually made this pie at 3:30 in the morning due to some hardcore pregnancy insomnia. Luckily, I learned from my previous mistake and made an easy pie. Easy but still really delicious. Sometimes you just can't beat a simple apple pie on Thanksgiving.
So what will the pie of choice be for 2013? I guess we will just have to wait and see.
A few years ago, I stumbled upon something that makes the Thanksgiving season and the month of November just that much more awesome. Allrecipes.com Pie Countdown. Every day in November up to Thanksgiving Day, they send an email with a new pie recipe. Every year a few days before Thanksgiving, I look through all the recipes and choose one to make for Thanksgiving. It's a little embarrassing how much I look forward to the new recipe every morning and shout the name down the stairs to my husband. For some reason he doesn't quite show the same amount of enthusiasm as I do but I give him credit for playing along.
Just for fun and because I know you are dying to know, these are the pies I have made the past three years.
In 2010, I made Mile-High Peanut Butter Brownie Pie. As you can imagine from the name alone, it was delightful. However, that Thanksgiving I was pregnant with Caleb and this pie was a big undertaking for a woman who was 8 months pregnant. It was worth it in the end but it was not a quick and easy pie to make.
In 2011, I made Pecan Pie. I loved this pie and it was really simple to make. I'm usually not the biggest fan of nuts in my desserts but for this pie, I was glad I made an exception.
Last year, I made a simple Apple Crumble Pie. Last Thanksgiving I was also 9 months pregnant and actually made this pie at 3:30 in the morning due to some hardcore pregnancy insomnia. Luckily, I learned from my previous mistake and made an easy pie. Easy but still really delicious. Sometimes you just can't beat a simple apple pie on Thanksgiving.
So what will the pie of choice be for 2013? I guess we will just have to wait and see.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Chicken Tomato Pesto Pasta
We are always looking for a good pasta dish in this house and this one is a keeper. Josh and Caleb loved it and it was even better for lunch leftovers the next day. I usually have a rule about having the same dish two weeks in a row but this one may be an exception.
Chicken Tomato Pesto Pasta
Adapted from HyVee.com
* 2 chicken breasts (cut in half lengthwise to create 4 thinner breasts)
* 1 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
* 1 lb penne pasta
* 3 cups of broccoli
* 14.5 oz. can of petite diced tomatoes with garlic and sweet onion
* 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
* 4 oz. cream cheese (I used light, don't use fat free because it won't melt)
* 1/2 cup basil pesto
Warm oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Saute chicken in skillet approximately 3 minutes per side or until browned. Add in tomatoes and tomato sauce and turn heat to medium-low. Simmer for 8 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.
Meanwhile, cook pasta in salted boiling water. Add in chopped broccoli 5 minutes before pasta is done cooking. Drain pasta and broccoli well.
Stir cream cheese into tomato mixture and heat until melted. Mix in pesto and serve on top of hot pasta/broccoli.
Chicken Tomato Pesto Pasta
Adapted from HyVee.com
* 2 chicken breasts (cut in half lengthwise to create 4 thinner breasts)
* 1 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
* 1 lb penne pasta
* 3 cups of broccoli
* 14.5 oz. can of petite diced tomatoes with garlic and sweet onion
* 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
* 4 oz. cream cheese (I used light, don't use fat free because it won't melt)
* 1/2 cup basil pesto
Warm oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Saute chicken in skillet approximately 3 minutes per side or until browned. Add in tomatoes and tomato sauce and turn heat to medium-low. Simmer for 8 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.
Meanwhile, cook pasta in salted boiling water. Add in chopped broccoli 5 minutes before pasta is done cooking. Drain pasta and broccoli well.
Stir cream cheese into tomato mixture and heat until melted. Mix in pesto and serve on top of hot pasta/broccoli.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Happy Halloween!
Just popping in to show a couple pictures from Halloween night. In the craziness of answering the door for trick-or-treaters and trying to get both boys dressed while waiting for Josh to get home, I didn't realize I had my camera on a weird setting resulting in some grainy pictures. What can you do.
Our football player and sweet baby football had a great time trick-or-treating even though it was cold and rainy here.
Our football player and sweet baby football had a great time trick-or-treating even though it was cold and rainy here.
Hope you and your family had a wonderful Halloween!
Friday, October 25, 2013
The best buttercream frosting
I am very happy to have Internet service again after days without it. I bet there is nothing everyone loves more than paying for a service that is not actually being received. Am I the only one that cannot work the new automated customer service 'representative'. I feel like I speak clearly but I still get... "I'm sorry. I cannot understand you. Please try again." Sigh....
But on a positive note, it's finally Friday! I was starting to wonder if it was never going to come. It's been beyond crazy at work this week so this momma is taking the night off from cooking and ordering a pizza for dinner. Today is also my sister's golden birthday. So Happy birthday Britt! :)
In honor of her birthday celebration this weekend, I'm sharing my very favorite frosting recipe today. Let me tell you, I have done my fair share of experimenting over the last 5 years to find the best frosting recipe. My aunt is a pretty amazing baker and her frosting is always delicious. The depressing part for me is that she doesn't have a recipe. She always dumps some powdered sugar, some vanilla, and some water (or milk?) in a bowl and adds things until it "looks right". It's like magic. I've tried and failed with that method many times and finally concluded that I am one of those who just needs a recipe.
So the quest began for the perfect frosting. I've tried a ton of recipes but always found that they were too buttery or too sweet or even the wrong consistency. Until this one. I use this recipe for sugar cookies, cakes, and cupcakes and it never has lead me astray. I've also added cocoa powder to it (to make chocolate frosting), peanut butter, mini chocolate chips, etc. and it works every time.
Wilton Buttercream Frosting Recipe
* 1/2 cup butter (I usually use light and still think the recipe is amazing)
* 1/2 cup shortening
* 4 cups of powdered sugar
* 1 tsp. vanilla
* 2 tablespoons of milk
Cream together butter and shortening. Mix in vanilla. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add milk slowly to desired consistency.
I usually use only about 1-2 tsp of milk when I use a frosting bag with a tip to decorate cakes or cupcakes but use more to achieve a thinner consistency to spread the frosting layer. If I'm going to color it, I use decorating gel because it doesn't affect the consistency. If you use regular food coloring drops, you will probably want to add less milk so it doesn't get too runny.
Enjoy!
But on a positive note, it's finally Friday! I was starting to wonder if it was never going to come. It's been beyond crazy at work this week so this momma is taking the night off from cooking and ordering a pizza for dinner. Today is also my sister's golden birthday. So Happy birthday Britt! :)
In honor of her birthday celebration this weekend, I'm sharing my very favorite frosting recipe today. Let me tell you, I have done my fair share of experimenting over the last 5 years to find the best frosting recipe. My aunt is a pretty amazing baker and her frosting is always delicious. The depressing part for me is that she doesn't have a recipe. She always dumps some powdered sugar, some vanilla, and some water (or milk?) in a bowl and adds things until it "looks right". It's like magic. I've tried and failed with that method many times and finally concluded that I am one of those who just needs a recipe.
So the quest began for the perfect frosting. I've tried a ton of recipes but always found that they were too buttery or too sweet or even the wrong consistency. Until this one. I use this recipe for sugar cookies, cakes, and cupcakes and it never has lead me astray. I've also added cocoa powder to it (to make chocolate frosting), peanut butter, mini chocolate chips, etc. and it works every time.
Wilton Buttercream Frosting Recipe
* 1/2 cup butter (I usually use light and still think the recipe is amazing)
* 1/2 cup shortening
* 4 cups of powdered sugar
* 1 tsp. vanilla
* 2 tablespoons of milk
Cream together butter and shortening. Mix in vanilla. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add milk slowly to desired consistency.
I usually use only about 1-2 tsp of milk when I use a frosting bag with a tip to decorate cakes or cupcakes but use more to achieve a thinner consistency to spread the frosting layer. If I'm going to color it, I use decorating gel because it doesn't affect the consistency. If you use regular food coloring drops, you will probably want to add less milk so it doesn't get too runny.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Buffalo Chicken Flatbread Pizzas
It's always a belief of mine (and luckily my husband too)
that everything is better with buffalo sauce.
Okay, everything within reason. I
draw the line at ice cream.
* 1 pound cooked shredded chicken
* 1/2 cup buffalo sauce ( I love Frank's red hot, use more or less for your taste)
* 3 Laughing cow spreadable wedges, blue cheese flavor
* 1-2 carrots and 1-2 celery stalks, diced
* 1 package of mozzarella or pizza cheese
I saw these flatbreads that I hadn't seen before at the
grocery store last weekend and knew they would be perfect for buffalo
chicken. They did not disappoint.
I cooked my chicken in the crock pot with
salt, pepper, and a little water during the day and they were very quick to
assemble once Josh got home from work.
Normally, I would have cooked the chicken with buffalo sauce in the
crock pot but I was worried it would be a little too spicy for the boys and
added it to half of the chicken after it had been shredded.
The carrot and celery
added a nice crunch and the laughing cow gave a great blue cheese flavor
without being too overwhelming or adding a lot of fat.
Buffalo Chicken Flatbread Pizzas
* 1 package flatbread (we had enough chicken for our package of 6)* 1 pound cooked shredded chicken
* 1/2 cup buffalo sauce ( I love Frank's red hot, use more or less for your taste)
* 3 Laughing cow spreadable wedges, blue cheese flavor
* 1-2 carrots and 1-2 celery stalks, diced
* 1 package of mozzarella or pizza cheese
2) Spread 1/2
laughing cow blue cheese wedge on each flatbread.
3) Mix shredded chicken with buffalo sauce and spread on
pizzas.
4) Layer diced carrots and celery and top with cheese.
5) Bake for an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is
melted.
The rave reviews from my boys will definitely have me making these again.
Monday, October 21, 2013
New house update: Playroom
When we moved in three months ago, the downstairs extra bedroom bothered me the most. I'm sure if you look at the pictures, you can easily see why. The teddy bear border was totally creepy and the dark paint pattern made the room look like a cave. I absolutely hated it and in fact, we considered not buying the house because the room gave me the icks. (Hey... it's real thing.)
The walls had this dark purple rag painting on the walls and that border absolutely had to go. The whole house, including this room, has the oak trim and doors which isn't really my taste. (It's in the rest of the house too... we'll get there.)
The whole house also has popcorn ceilings which doesn't help the cave-like feeling. We are taking them down as we update every room in the house and is actually easier than you would think, just a tad messy. A post on that is coming.
 |
| Who wouldn't want to stare at this everyday? |
Because of my intense hatred for this room and because we had never taken down popcorn ceilings or painted trim before, we chose this room to do first. We figured if we screwed up terribly learning these things or hated the way it looked, we wouldn't use this room much and no real harm would be done.
However, now that the popcorn ceiling is down and everything including the trim and doors has a fresh coat of paint, I love this room. Like love it. We decided to turn this room into a playroom for the endless amounts of toys we have and use the closet for storage.
Isn't it amazing what paint can do? It completely brightens up the space and makes it look larger. Taking down the popcorn ceilings got rid of the shadow in the room and really made the room feel more open.
Seriously, the expression on Caleb's face when he saw this new room full of their toys was pretty priceless and worth all the work. I want to find (or create!) some more colorful artwork for the walls but other than that, we are pretty darn happy with how this room turned out.
Now we just have to do every single other room in the house. I should mention though that luckily this room is the only one with really objectionable paint choices, thank goodness. The rest of the house is an off-white with that oak trim and doors. Pretty boring (!!!) but at least tolerable as we work our way through the house.
Next up is the main floor powder room... stay tuned.
Monday, October 14, 2013
DIY Easy Halloween Wreath
Since having children, I've become a big holidays decorator. Can't say I was much of one before the boys but it makes me happy to see their excitement when the house is festive for the time of year. In fact, (as a little side note) my mother is great at decorating for the holidays and always has at the very least a festive hand towel in every bathroom and the kitchen for the smaller holidays. For an entire year before I was married, she went out and bought a few hand towels for every single season and holiday and gave them to me for one of my wedding showers. I absolutely love them.
Anyway, every year since Josh and I have been together we have worked on increasing our holiday decoration stash, buying at least a few pieces every year. Some of my favorites this year are these adorable pumpkins that I bought from Hobby Lobby. I think they are so cute and I would buy an entire pumpkin patch of these things if I could afford to.
I also love this basket my mom wove for my sister and I this year. So cute with the little ghosts and the orange colored reed is so festive for this time of year.
This cute sign post that we have in a planter on our front porch from you guessed it... Hobby Lobby. I swear, I could spend all day (and our entire savings account) in that store given the chance.
Finally, I adore this Halloween wreath that I made this week. Super easy and fast and looks adorable out on the front door.
I bought a Styrofoam wreath from Hobby Lobby for $4.99 and wrapped it with black yarn. I put a line of glue in sections on one side of the wreath, wound the yarn over it, and worked my way around the entire wreath. I used hot glue because I wanted it to dry/harden quickly and not stick to me or anything else.
Once it was wrapped, I glued a loop of the same yarn to the back for hanging and then started gluing my cute decorations. A couple weeks ago I found a garland of glitter covered orange pumpkins, black bats, and purple spider webs at Target in their dollar section and grabbed them thinking I would do something Halloween related with them. I took the garland apart and glued them on along with a couple white wooden ghosts that I found at Hobby Lobby for $1.50. Finally, I painted a couple .97 letters (also found at Hobby Lobby) orange to spell out BOO.
I love the way it turned out and love seeing it when I drive by. Super easy and the entire thing cost less than $20. Way cheaper than buying one and this one looks exactly like I wanted it to.
Anyway, every year since Josh and I have been together we have worked on increasing our holiday decoration stash, buying at least a few pieces every year. Some of my favorites this year are these adorable pumpkins that I bought from Hobby Lobby. I think they are so cute and I would buy an entire pumpkin patch of these things if I could afford to.
I also love this basket my mom wove for my sister and I this year. So cute with the little ghosts and the orange colored reed is so festive for this time of year.
This cute sign post that we have in a planter on our front porch from you guessed it... Hobby Lobby. I swear, I could spend all day (and our entire savings account) in that store given the chance.
Finally, I adore this Halloween wreath that I made this week. Super easy and fast and looks adorable out on the front door.
I bought a Styrofoam wreath from Hobby Lobby for $4.99 and wrapped it with black yarn. I put a line of glue in sections on one side of the wreath, wound the yarn over it, and worked my way around the entire wreath. I used hot glue because I wanted it to dry/harden quickly and not stick to me or anything else.
Once it was wrapped, I glued a loop of the same yarn to the back for hanging and then started gluing my cute decorations. A couple weeks ago I found a garland of glitter covered orange pumpkins, black bats, and purple spider webs at Target in their dollar section and grabbed them thinking I would do something Halloween related with them. I took the garland apart and glued them on along with a couple white wooden ghosts that I found at Hobby Lobby for $1.50. Finally, I painted a couple .97 letters (also found at Hobby Lobby) orange to spell out BOO.
I love the way it turned out and love seeing it when I drive by. Super easy and the entire thing cost less than $20. Way cheaper than buying one and this one looks exactly like I wanted it to.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Random stuff on a Tuesday
* My baby sister got engaged a few weeks ago which is so exciting. They are getting married in October of next year and this weekend we went to our first bridal fair in the area. I love everything about weddings and by default I love bridal fairs. We tasted a ton of cakes and appetizers and checked out local vendors. I was surprised that apparently fall weddings are getting more and more popular so vendors are booking up for next year already.
I love wedding planning and so wish I could do it again. To Josh of course ( I’m not looking for another husband), just another wedding day. My wedding was already a DIY spectacular (IMO of course) but if Pinterest had been around then…. WOW. I probably would have been uncontrollable.
* This past week we also finished Parent-Tot swimming lessons at our local rec center. The classes are for kiddos 6 months – 3 years with an accompanying adult. I took them 4 times I think with Caleb before Eli was born and we took this opportunity to do them together before Caleb is too old and will move on to the next level by himself. Both boys had a good time and Caleb is quite the swimmer! He’s kicking his feet and paddling his arms like a big kid. The teacher said he was ready for the 3 year old class, Tadpoles, in the spring.
I took swim lessons all through elementary school and then swam on the swim team in high school. For me, swimming in high school was one of the best experiences of my life. It taught me so many things: what it meant to be a part of a team, dedication, pushing yourself beyond what you actually think you can do, and made me some life long friends. My kids may not want to swim in high school and that’s fine. However, I want them to take lessons until they at least know how to swim effectively. To me, that’s an important life skill and really a matter of safety. After that, it’s up to them.
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| This was my attempt at getting them to take a picture with their certificates. Clearly, that did not happen. As Caleb would say, silly mommy. |
* We’re heading to visit Josh’s family this weekend which we are all looking forward to. His twin brother, sister-in-law and our nephew are flying in for a short visit. As I have mentioned before, we don’t get to see them very often so it’s a special time when we do. I can’t wait to spend time with our nephew who is Eli’s age. I’m so curious to see how they will interact with each other!
Monday, September 30, 2013
Eli - 9 months
My sweet baby boy. It’s hard to believe that he is already 9 whole months old. NINE! Where has the time gone.
When I think about what I will remember about him at this age is that he is on the move. All. The. Time. He is getting so fast crawling around, even faster when he is crawling for something he knows he isn’t supposed to have. When I tell him “no dog food Eli” for example, he turns around with the biggest, cutest grin and then continues to go for the dog food. It’s almost hard to continue to tell him no.
Just yesterday, he started saying ‘da da da da’. It’s absolutely adorable. I cannot even describe. A few months ago he said ‘ma ma ma’ like twice and got me all excited but turns out it was a fluke. I don’t think he quite knows what ‘da da’ means yet but we are getting there. Speaking of Daddy, he is just about Eli’s favorite person these days. When Josh gets home in the evening, Eli reaches for him and shrieks until he picks him up but once he does he is as happy as can be.
We went to the doctor this month and he weighs 19 pounds, 10 ounces. He dropped to the 47th percentile which is no surprise to me with how much he is moving. I wouldn’t have guessed however that my 97th percentile at birth baby would drop to average weight by 9 months. He’s lost some of his baby chubbiness and is starting to look like such a big boy. Sigh…
He is still nursing great and he much prefers finger foods over purees these days. We try to give him a mix of both and try to encourage him to try new foods that he has previously rejected like peas and cheese. I think we are making some progress with our picky eater.
He did great in swim lessons this month and really is starting to interact more with his surroundings. When we play outside with Caleb, he always wants to be a part of the action: drawing with chalk, following Caleb down the driveway, playing with the outside toys. One of his favorite things to do is to roll a big red ball back and forth with Caleb. He giggles and kicks his feet because he is so excited. It’s so cute watching him throw the ball with his tiny arms.
It blows my mind that I will be soon planning his first birthday party and watching him walk. Slow down time.... you are going too fast.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Life lately
Our house has been hit by the plague. Maybe that is a bit dramatic. I'm certain that a plague would be worse. Both boys have the whole nasty cough, congestion, cranky thing that is going around which may or may not be also related to the diarrhea thing that they also have. Poor Eli is having a hard time sleeping and just yesterday when I thought everyone was on the mend, I was proved wrong by a projectile vomiting incident. Rock on.
Other than that, this past weekend we went to the zoo with my family and had a great time. Both boys didn't last very long (I assume because of the impending sickies about to hit the next day) but we had a good morning. Caleb was amazed to see the actual animals that we read about in our books and loved feeding the ducks.
That evening, we celebrated my birthday with my family. I received some wonderful gifts: some Chicago Bears/Cubs gear, a cute sweater, some OXO good grips containers (LOVE) and the Rachael Ray cookware I was dying to have. Remember how I talked about the deep serving dishes that can go from oven to table? Yeah... they were shockingly small. Especially for the price they were. The small one was only 1.25 quarts and the larger one about 2.5 I think. I don't know what kind of miniature casserole you are supposed to put in those. Those unfortunately are going back to the store.
It was a great weekend to spend time with family!
Other than that, this past weekend we went to the zoo with my family and had a great time. Both boys didn't last very long (I assume because of the impending sickies about to hit the next day) but we had a good morning. Caleb was amazed to see the actual animals that we read about in our books and loved feeding the ducks.
The weather was perfect and not too hot so the animals were actually out to see everyone which Caleb loved.
That evening, we celebrated my birthday with my family. I received some wonderful gifts: some Chicago Bears/Cubs gear, a cute sweater, some OXO good grips containers (LOVE) and the Rachael Ray cookware I was dying to have. Remember how I talked about the deep serving dishes that can go from oven to table? Yeah... they were shockingly small. Especially for the price they were. The small one was only 1.25 quarts and the larger one about 2.5 I think. I don't know what kind of miniature casserole you are supposed to put in those. Those unfortunately are going back to the store.
It was a great weekend to spend time with family!
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Crock pot Chicken Philly Sandwiches
This Monday we started Parent-Tot swimming lessons at our local community center that are for children 6 months - 3 years old. I did them three times previously with Caleb and we had a great time. Right now, both of our children are in that age range so Josh and I get to do them together which is kind of fun.
The only problem with the lessons is that it gets us home for dinner pretty late in the evening because they don't get over until 6, then we have to change everyone, get in the car and drive home- you get the picture. We need something super quick for dinner those nights that is ready when we get home.
I found this recipe for Crock pot Chicken Philly Cheese Steaks on Pinterest and modified it a bit for our tastes. I knew that my husband would love them and I was totally right.
Crock pot Chicken Philly Sandwiches
Ingredients:
* 1 pound of raw chicken cut into thin slices
* 1 onion cut into thin slices
* 2 green peppers cut into thin slices
* 1 1/2 tablespoons steak seasoning
* 6 hoagie rolls
* 6 slices of provolone cheese
* 2 tablespoons butter (I use light)
1) Put butter in the bottom of the crock pot and cover with sliced onions and green peppers.
2) Toss chicken with steak seasoning and mix in with the onions and peppers.
3) Cook on low for 3-4 hours.
4) Put chicken/pepper mixture on rolls and top with provolone cheese.
I served it with broccoli but any veggie would be great. It was delicious and the leftovers warmed up well. It definitely didn't need any extra liquid and the chicken was extremely moist and yummy. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
The only problem with the lessons is that it gets us home for dinner pretty late in the evening because they don't get over until 6, then we have to change everyone, get in the car and drive home- you get the picture. We need something super quick for dinner those nights that is ready when we get home.
I found this recipe for Crock pot Chicken Philly Cheese Steaks on Pinterest and modified it a bit for our tastes. I knew that my husband would love them and I was totally right.
Crock pot Chicken Philly Sandwiches
Ingredients:
* 1 pound of raw chicken cut into thin slices
* 1 onion cut into thin slices
* 2 green peppers cut into thin slices
* 1 1/2 tablespoons steak seasoning
* 6 hoagie rolls
* 6 slices of provolone cheese
* 2 tablespoons butter (I use light)
1) Put butter in the bottom of the crock pot and cover with sliced onions and green peppers.
2) Toss chicken with steak seasoning and mix in with the onions and peppers.
3) Cook on low for 3-4 hours.
4) Put chicken/pepper mixture on rolls and top with provolone cheese.
I served it with broccoli but any veggie would be great. It was delicious and the leftovers warmed up well. It definitely didn't need any extra liquid and the chicken was extremely moist and yummy. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
The big 2-8
Today is my 28th birthday. I've always been a huge birthday celebrator and have always loved, LOVED my birthday but I think I have reached the age where my birthday is just not as exciting as my kid's birthdays. Which is really okay with me.
My wonderful husband surprised me outside of work today as I was leaving at 12:30 with this beauty.
Isn't he the greatest? Pumpkin spice latte's are my favorite and he got major points for this one. Even got a pink coffee sleeve.
One of my friends at work made some birthday cookies for me and all in all it's been a great day. Both boys are napping and I should really be using this time to do some laundry or empty the dishwasher or work on painting our powder room. However... it's my birthday and I feel like I am allowed to sit on the couch and watch the Bethenny show.
We don't have much planned for the evening. Hopefully the baby will actually sleep (what's that?) and mommy and daddy can relax a bit. I dropped a few hints about a cookie cake so hopefully we will get to relax with that.
And of course the best part of any birthday or any day of the week if getting to hang out with these guys....
My wonderful husband surprised me outside of work today as I was leaving at 12:30 with this beauty.
Isn't he the greatest? Pumpkin spice latte's are my favorite and he got major points for this one. Even got a pink coffee sleeve.
One of my friends at work made some birthday cookies for me and all in all it's been a great day. Both boys are napping and I should really be using this time to do some laundry or empty the dishwasher or work on painting our powder room. However... it's my birthday and I feel like I am allowed to sit on the couch and watch the Bethenny show.
We don't have much planned for the evening. Hopefully the baby will actually sleep (what's that?) and mommy and daddy can relax a bit. I dropped a few hints about a cookie cake so hopefully we will get to relax with that.
And of course the best part of any birthday or any day of the week if getting to hang out with these guys....
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