Rough week

It's going to be a rough week for my family. I can't go into details at this point, but I could really use everyone's thoughts and prayers.

Strawberry picking

These pictures were too cute not to share. We took Carter strawberry picking to get the first strawberries we let him try. So much fun!

I'm behind again. . .

First of all camping didn't go exactly as we planned. We left Sunday morning around 9am, thinking that Carter would nap most of the way there. He didn't. This left him fairly cranky by the time we got there. Once we got to the campgrounds, we did a quick walk, and then decided to set up because it looked like rain. Just as we got everything set up, it started to rain. Also, about 15 minutes after we got our tent set up, I tripped over the door, bruising my knee and tearing the tent. It rained all afternoon and all night, into the next morning. Carter would not go to bed because it was too light out and too noisy. We finally got him to bed after 10pm. Carter woke up screaming, scared from the storm 5-6 times. I'm sure the people camping next to us loved us.
Things started to clear up the next morning after breakfast. We had a picnic lunch at a park and let Carter play. He loved it! Then we took Carter for a swim at the beach. He loved playing in the sand and splashing in the water. We had a great day!
The night was another story. I worked really hard to try to put Carter to bed at his normal time, but he just would scream if I put him in his pack-and-play. After an hour of this, we decided to go for a car ride to see if he would fall asleep. He finally falls asleep after nearly 45 minutes of driving. We then try to move him to the pack and play. No luck. He resumes his hysterical screaming. Tim and I decide to get a hotel room at this point. We knew neither of us could take another night without sleep. Luckily the closest hotel was most empty and gave us a room for a great deal. It took us almost an hour to get Carter bathed and calmed down. He slept until almost 8:30 the next morning.
Instead of camping one more day, we decided to call it quits early. I'm thinking we'll try camping again next summer.

S'mores Brownies

I found these on http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2009/04/smores-brownies/

S’mores Brownies

adapted from Bon Appetit, October 1991

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
5 large eggs
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup graham cracker, roughly crushed with your hands
12 big marshmallows (I also diced 6 additional marshmallows and stirred them into the batter. These marshmallows dissolve when baked, so you can leave them out, or throw them in. Up to you!)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9×13-inch baking pan with 2-inch-high sides. Combine first 3 ingredients in small bowl. Stir butter and chocolate in a medium sized bowl over a heavy saucepan of simmering water. Stir chocolate and butter in this double boiler until melted and smooth.

Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla in large bowl to blend. Stir in warm chocolate mixture, then dry ingredients. Fold in graham crackers. Pour batter into prepared pan. Dot with 12 large marshmallows. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 30- 40 minutes minutes.

Marshmallows will be browned and puffy but will deflate as the brownies cool. Cool for at least 20 minutes than slice with a sharp knife, cleaning the knife with hot water if it gets too messy and sticky. Serve or wrap individually in wax paper for storing.


Yum!

Camping!

We're leaving to go camping tomorrow morning. I'm a little concerned with the weather forcast: hot and rainy. It'll be the first time we take Carter somewhere to stay overnight besides Tim's parents house. It'll also be the first time for us to use our new tent. We purchased it right after our wedding. We ended up not going that first summer because we used all of our vacation traveling to Greece. Last summer I was hugely pregnant or we had a newborn, so we didn't go camping. I'm a little bit nervous on how Carter will do. No matter what, it'll be great to get away.

How many words is average?

I'm trying to find some good sources of how many words/phrases are average at each age. I feel like I have no real concept of what is "average" because the kids I'm around tend to be either very verbal or very not verbal. For example my cousin Joe at the age of 3, could explain that he didn't want any of the pages of his dinasaur book read that contained information about carnivores (yes, he actually used that word) because they scared him. You can't tell me that the average 3 year old knows that (or maybe even the average 7 year old). On the other end of the spectrum one of my nephews was barely talking at 3. (He's now 7, and doing much better verbally, but I would have to guess still behind.)
So far the words/phrases Carter has are:
Mama
Dada
Umpa (His word for Grandpa)
Is (His word for Chris)
Baba- bottle
What is it? - (I didn't believe this one at first, but he says it all the time when pointing to things and it's always in the correct context)
It's done- (I'm not completely sure about this one because we've only heard it a couple times)
Bye-bye
I'm sure there are a couple more, but these are the only ones I can think of right now.
I have a feeling that we will be doing much of his learning using music. He loves music!

The Great Wagon Debate

Tim and I have been debating on whether Carter should have a plastic or a metal wagon as a birthday gift. Tim strongly feels that the classic metal ones are a superior choice. I, on the otherhand, would like one of the cool plastic ones with underseat storage, seatbelts, and cup holders. My big negatives on the metal ones are that they are heavy, they rust, no seats/seat belts, and I don't for see me using it as a substitue for a stroller once Carter gets a little bit bigger (and we have another child). Any thoughts/ reviews on the subject?

Two new recipes

The first is from my friend Meghan.

Chicken enchiladas:
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into small pieces or strips
1 bag shredded cheese (cheddar, monterey jack or co-jack all work well)
1 cup sour cream
1 package taco seasoning
1 can green chiles
1 package flour tortillas (or corn if you like that better)
2 cans red enchilada sauce


Cook the chicken in a skillet until done. Follow instructions on taco seasoning and add to the chicken. Put chicken in food processor and shred/chop into small pieces. (if you want to skip this step, I would recommend cutting the chicken into small pieces before adding the taco seasoning!)


Place chopped chicken into medium mixing bowl. Add sour cream, chiles and 1/2 the shredded cheese. Also add about 1/4 can of enchilada sauce. Mix all together.


In a one large or two smaller baking dishes, empty the rest of your first can of enchilada sauce in the bottom of the pans. One by one, spoon the chicken mixture into each of your tortillas, roll them, and place in pans. Once you've filled the pan(s), cover with the remaining can of enchilada sauce and the remaining shredded cheese.


Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes.

They are delicious!



The next recipe is for RHUBARB STRAWBERRY CRISP. I found this at cooks.com
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1837,147170-250204,00.html

2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 c. oatmeal
1 c. softened butter

Mix together for crust and topping.

Filling:
1 1/2 c. chopped rhubarb
1 1/2 c. sliced strawberries
1 2/3 c. sugar
2 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch
2 1/2 c. water
2 tsp. vanilla

Combine crust ingredients, press 1/2 of mixture into greased 9 x 13 pan. Top with rhubarb and strawberries.
Stir together sugar and cornstarch, stir into water. Cook until thickened. Pour over fruit, sprinkle other 1/2 of crumbs on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

My business revealed. . . .

So I've been working hard to try to get my business off the ground. What is this business you ask? I am selling used maternity clothes on ebay. If you want to check my stuff out, search for my user name jmwerner23. I feel like this is a great opportunity because A)Maternity clothes are expensive B) There are not that many places that sell used maternity clothes C) I loved having cute stuff to wear when I was pregnant. I'm considering adding baby items too.

Another busy week

I feel like this is one of those weeks that I really can't account for where all the time went. I've hit garage sales the last two mornings. Wednesday was my peak where I was found pairs of Nikes and Stride Rite shoes that looked like new for .50. How can you beat that? At that same sale, I also purchased another booster seat )($3), a hugo box of quatros (larger than duplos) for $5, a couple church shirts and sweaters for (.50 each)all looking brand new. I love good deals! \
In other news, I am excited to be getting "new" washer and dryer this afternoon. My grandma decided that we could have the almost new high-efficency washer and dryer from my uncle's house. I'm very excited to be able to start saving on our water, electricity, and detergent costs.
We are also in the market for a chest freezer to store all of the veggies we grow this summer (and buy at farmers market) for the winter. While they are not super cheap, we decided that in about a two year period we would be able to save in frozen veggie costs alone.
Does anyone have a vacuum sealer? We are thinking about purchasing one of those too.

Carter never fails to amaze me. . . . .

with his appetite and willingness to try new foods. For the last month he has refused to eat baby food. Because he only has one potential food allergy that we know about (oats) I feed him pretty much everything we eat. When he doesn't have all of the same things on his plate, he tends to get upset. I found this out when I didn't give him asperagus the other day. He also likes radishes, something even I don't like. We found this out when he kept trying to grab one off a veggie tray. Figuring he wouldn't like it, we finally just let him grab it. We were amazed when he ate the whole thing. Today he decided that he was going to share my egg rolls with me. The only thing we have found that he doesn't like is American cheese (I don't blame him on this).
Somehow I don't think we'll end up being this lucky with our next kids and eating. How many 10 month old babies do you know that eat steak?

One nap days

One nap days, I swear, are harder on me than they are on Carter. Tuesday mornings we have a playdate with our former ECFE group. I love having Carter socialize with kids his age, but it's hard because he usually takes a morning nap now. Missing this nap leads to a crabby overtired baby who is now also starving for lunch. Today he woke up as soon as I took him out of the car, so I decided to give him a quick lunch and bottle and put him down for his morning nap 90 minutes early. I'm hoping this means he'll sleep a lot longer.
My project for the day is cleaning up our dining room (office/dumping place) and neatening up our bathroom and kitchen. I also decided to take on some our downstairs reorganization. So far I switched a couple books shelves around and returned a couple to the garage, put away a few craft projects and supplies, and threw away a bunch of junk. I foresee a garage sale in our future. Hopefully I'll get a little bit of crafting time once I'm done. :)

Carter Pictures

I forgot I had taken some pictures on Memorial Day of Carter with the water table my parents bought. So cute!

Progress!

I made major progress during naps today. It is in no way actually making a dent in all of my half finished projects, but it is a step in the right direction.
The zipper bag was made based on a tutorial on skip to my lou. http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/01/14/how-to-make-a-lined-zipper-pouch-tutorial/
The hot pads aren't based on any particular pattern, just on the ones in my kitchen.
The adorable handbag is the buttercup bag. The pattern can be found at Made by Rae.
http://madebyrae.blogspot.com/2009/02/free-buttercup-bag-sewing-pattern.html

Day two: A success already!

It is 9:30am, Carter is down for his first nap of the day, my kitchen and bathroom are clean, and I'm free to enjoy the rest of my "nap time". Life is good! Hopefully I'll have some finished crafts to show off later.