Mommy Adventures

Impatient

2011-11-16T17:07:00.001-06:00

We're waiting to hear back on whether or not Tim will be receiving a job offer. He had an interview yesterday to talk about his background packet. The backgrounder told Tim that he thought he would probably be getting an offer, but HR has the final say on the matter. This job would be the answer to our prayers. It has better benefits (but then again, pretty much anything does than our current ones), better pay (not a ton, but it would definitely lower the stress levels around here.), and better hours (no more nights :) ). It would also keep us living around the same area that we do now, which for me is the biggest plus of all. Tim has worked so hard in the past two years working on his masters and constantly applying for jobs.

Carterism

2011-09-29T16:11:00.002-05:00

The preschool we're sending Carter to is through the school district's ECFE program, so has a day once every other week that the parents come with the kids. The first day of school was a parenting day. Every night as I'm getting Carter ready for bed, we discuss what's going to happen on the next day.

Me: Carter, tomorrow you'll go to school all by yourself.

Carter: Mommy, I can't drive yet.

Me: (Trying not to laugh) I know you can't. Daddy will drop you off and I'll pick you up.

Carter: Oh, I was worried that I'd have to drive all by myself.

And he's pretty much always this funny.

The kind of night you always remember

2011-07-24T06:47:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I told the boys that if they took good naps we would go check out the fireworks at Slice of Shoreview. Neither of them had seen fireworks before, so I'm not sure they even knew what I was bribing them with. Tim was working, so I knew I could potentially be in for a rough time.
At 8:30pm I started getting the boys in their jammies and loading the car up. We pulled into a parking lot a couple blocks away. (Parking any closer tends to be a pain to get out of after fireworks and I since I didn't know how the boys would do I don't want to be stuck in a parking lot with crying kids for an hour.) Just as I had gotten the boys snuggled into the double stroller, I felt a rain drop. As I walked closer to the park, it began to rain harder. By the time we were able to hear the band playing, I knew we needed to turn around. It started pouring a block away from the car.
Right after I got the boys snuggled back into their carseats and the stroller in the trunk the fireworks started. They must have decided to set them off early because of the rain. From our parking spot, we had the perfect view. Carter came up to the front seat to snuggle with me and get a better view. He loved the fireworks, and thought each one was better than the last. It was one of those sweet moments that you just don't want to end.

No Grocery Shopping Challenge

2011-06-26T14:10:00.004-05:00

We're running a bit over our grocery budget this month and with the extra expenses of graduation, mother's day, father's day, many birthdays, and the boys' upcoming birthday party. We have been spending so much extra money on last minute trips to the groccery store. So I've decided to take the challenge of see if we can make it 2 weeks without a grocery store trip.
The Rules:
1. Meals will be made with items found in the pantry, fridge, freezer, and garden.
2. The only exception to the rule is milk/formula for the kids and $5 a week for fresh fruits and vegetables. (We have only a few in the fridge at this time and there's no way they'll hold out for two weeks).
3. Home-made freezer meals are fair game, but I will try to avoid using store-bought frozen meals.

Anyone else want to play?

Random act of kindness

2011-04-09T16:14:00.002-05:00

Dear Kind Older Man, Thank you so much for helping bagging my groceries today. It made my day! Taking two small children to the grocery store is a challenge normally. Adding huge lines and pricing issues could have been a disaster. You and your wife made the time pass so much faster by asking Carter about Thomas the Train and other things that interest 2.5 year old. I'm sure your grandchildren adore you. Thank you so much for your kindness!

Tinfoil Dinners

2011-03-28T11:48:00.004-05:00

DH is a meat and potatoes kind of guy and I am pretty much a chicken and pasta kind of girl. Finding a meal that includes beef that I like is a little more of a challenge. Tinfoil dinners are one of the meals that I grew up with my mom making. They're pretty easy to make and something that even my two year old will eat.

Ingredients: Ground Beef (You can do this with chicken too if you like that better)

Carrots

Potatoes (I use red, but any works)

Cooking Spray

Butter

Tinfoil

Directions: Lay out tinfoil and spray with cooking spray. I usually use about 18 inches of tinfoil per serving. Cut up carrots and potatoes. Make beef into hamburger patties and place in the center of the tinfoil. Surround with potatoes and carrots.

Fold up tinfoil. Place on a cookie sheet and cook in the oven at 425 degrees. Bake for 45-60 minutes. Check the potatoes and carrots with a fork to see if they are fully cooked.

Homemade Baby Teething Biscuit

2011-03-26T15:42:00.006-05:00

Jack has been teething like crazy lately. I always kind of wonder what's really in of the pre-packaged foods for kids, so I decided to try to make my own. There are tons of recipes online for teething biscuit. I decided to experiment with making my own.

Ingredients:

1 cup rice cereal

1 cup flour

1 cup applesauce
3 tablespoons oil

cold water (add as needed)

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients together.

Add applesauce and oil. Slowly add water as needed. It should form a very sticky dough.

Roll out on floured surface. Cut out using cookie cutters. I choose bunnies for Easter (although some of them look more like pigs than bunnies). Bake at 425 degrees for 12-13 minutes. You can tell they are done when the edges turn a golden brown.

Jack really seemed to enjoy munching on them. I will definitely be making them again.

Sassy Spring Message Board

2011-03-26T10:25:00.004-05:00

As a mom of a baby and a toddler, I enjoy crafts that I can finish in less than one nap time. I tend to have crafting ADD, so projects that take longer may or may not every get completed. Projects that take about only minutes to complete are my dream.

Supplies needed:
Frame- Any size will do, but I used a 8" by 10"
Scrapbook paper (Mine is Amy Butler, which I purchased at Joann's)
Scissors
Pencil

Trace the insert from the frame on your scrapbook paper and cut it out. Stick scrapbook paper in frame and hang up. Enjoy! Mine will be hanging up in my kitchen to make my grocery list a whole lot cheerier. It would also make a great dorm room gift for any graduates in your life.

Amazing Blueberry Muffins

2011-02-10T15:15:00.004-06:00

Tim and Carter made blueberry muffins while I was at work yesterday. There is pretty much nothing better than coming home to made from scratch baked good from 2/3 of my favorite guys. (I was amazed by the fact they were able to get this done while crabby teething Jack took a 20 minute nap.) The muffins were so good that they were pretty much gone by breakfast this morning. Since we still had a ton of blueberries left, we made another batch.

Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons white sugar
a pinch of cinnamon

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2.Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top.
3. Mix white sugar and cinnamon. Use to top the muffins.
4.Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Jack is 6 months old !!!!

2011-01-10T18:19:00.004-06:00

Okay, not until tomorrow at 11:55pm, but still. The past 6 months have gone by way too fast. Whoever said "The days are long, but the years are short," was so right. We've definately had our challenges in the past 6 months, including reflux, the stomach flu, and a cold that was starting to become croup. Jack's smiles have made them all worth it.
My favorite recent development is the relationship between Jack and Carter. Carter adores Jack (sometimes not gentlely enough) and Jack think Carter is hilarious. I am so excited to see their friendship grow as they get older. Jack just started sharing a room with Carter. Tim and I love to listen to them talk to each other on the baby moniter.
Jack is not quite sitting up on his own yet, but I think it will happen pretty soon. He's able to balance for a little while if we prop him up with his arms. He loves to roll. Front to back is easy, but back to front happens less often. Jack uses his legs to rotate himself on the floor, usually to get closer to toys or Carter.

Happy 6 month Birthday to my handsome little guy!

Christmas Card Slacker

2010-11-24T15:17:00.019-06:00

I'll admit I'm a total slacker when it comes to getting holiday cards out. Last year we didn't them out until the week after Christmas. This year, I'm already ahead of the game because I've been scoping out the photo cards on Shutterfly There are so many cute designs to choose from. (It would probably help if I already had the picture taken too.)

So far this is one of the top contenders. I love the plaid and brown. It's Christmasy, but not cheesy.

I love the simplicity of this one too.

Or maybe something cute and modern like this one. Way too many choices!
I've had great luck ordering from Shutterfly in the past. They have many great gift ideas from

calenders and mugs . It's the perfect gift because who wouldn't want to get a gift with a picture of my adorable children on it. :)

I can't wait to make my final card choices once I get my pictures taken of the kids this weekend.

It's snowing!

2010-11-13T09:53:00.002-06:00

And I'm not talking about just a few measly flakes. There looks to be atleast a good 4 inches or more already. It seems strange to go from fall to winter overnight. The first thing Carter said when I opened his shade this morning was "It's no-ing, it's no-ing!" I was amazed he even remembered what snow was from last year.
This could create some trouble's for Jack's baptism tomorrow.

Sucesses and Challenges

2010-08-30T15:24:00.002-05:00

I don't think I really ever take the time to reflect on all the good things going on in my life; instead I am usually focused on the areas that are stressed me out. I'm going to try to
somewhat often write about the areas that are a success in my week and what I'm really struggling with.

Success: Carter has decided to pretty much take potty training into his own hands. This morning from the point I changed his diaper until when he used the potty chair before nap he stayed dry.
Challenge: I really need to stop doubting his abilities to be potty trained and let him try wearing his big boy underwear if he wants to.

Challenge: I just can't seem to get on top of our house cleaning.
Success: Two more loads and I'll be caught up on laundry. This will hopefully free up some time so I can work on other chores.

Jackson: One month old

2010-08-17T14:45:00.003-05:00

It's hard to believe Jackson's been in our lives for a month already. He's grown so much already (no exact stats yet until our appointment on Friday).

At one month you are:

Just starting to grow out of your newborn clothes. Anything footed is too small, but most of the onesies still fit.
Are breast and bottle feeding. You like to eat every two hours during the day and on a rare occasion will go as long as 6 hours at night.
Just starting to smile when you hear your mommy and daddy's voices
Starting to get more on a schedule. You usually take a morning, afternoon, and after dinner nap. Bedtime is usually sometime between 10 to 11pm. You're awake and ready to start the day by 7am.
Refuse to sleep in your cradle. Your best sleep gets done in your bouncer or on mommy.
Have already taken a road trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa Ballman, Great Grandma Ballman, Aunties Steph, Stacey, and Heather, Uncle Jeff and cousins Ben and Lauren.
Hate bath time and having your diaper changed.

Jackson, you have brought so much joy to your family already. We love you so much!

Craziness

2010-08-10T18:40:00.000-05:00

Last Monday was Tim's first day back at work since Jack was born. We went on our first (since Jack was born) play date with the Straka's. The boys had a good time playing with Cole and Lacey and I enjoyed getting out of the house. Tuesday was by far the roughest day of the week. It started off good with me dropping off Carter to play at my parents' house while Jack and I went to visit my co-workers and figure out when I will be going back to work. My co-workers loved meeting Jack and are very excited for me to be coming back in another couple weeks. Now for the bad part of the day. I had driven our new car. Not use to all of the new features, when we were ready to leave the mall, I threw the diaper bag, my purse and keys in the front seat. I was then going to place Jack's car seat in the backseat when I realized the car had locked. I took Jack back into the store so I could call my mom since I didn't know Tim's work number. She was able to come help us fairly quickly. Tim has the only other key with him at work in downtown. I then remembered with the extended warranty we bought we got free roadside assistance. My parents also have the same brand of car, so I tried using the number they had in the glove box for the service. After 15 minutes trying to look up our account, it turns out that there is several different numbers for service and that was not the one ours was through. I then call the dealer to get the correct number, which also is not able to look us up since our car is too new to be in the system yet. It would cost us $80 out of pocket to send someone out to unlock the car, which we'd probably be able to get reimbursed for (but they didn't know how long that would take) and they weren't sure how long it would take to get someone out there. During all these phone calls Jack decides he's starving, so I start breastfeeding him in the car in the parking. (And I happened to have about the worst shirt choice for this, so I was pretty much exposed to the whole parking lot.) At this point time decides to drive from downtown to meet us to save the $80. The rest of the day went much more pleasantly. Wednesday I decided I needed to be brave and go out again, so both boys and I took a field trip to Walgreen's and Rainbow to get my coupon deals. It went surprisingly well. Thursday we went over to my parents for dinner since Tim had work and class which means Tim is gone from 8am until 10pm, a very long day for me! Friday we just hung out at home. Saturday was another uneventful day. Sunday I woke up with the stomach flu. I haven't been that sick in a long time. Tim had to work, so I sent Carter over to my parents for the morning. Jack and I spent the day in bed alternating between sleeping and nursing. Luckily Tim had Monday and Tuesday off, so we've been recovering the last two days.

My much belated birth story

2010-07-28T19:55:00.004-05:00

Things have been a little crazy lately since baby Jack has been born, but I finally posted his birth story.

In the afternoon of Saturday, July 10th I was having contractions between 7-10 minutes apart. I was leery of getting too excited about them after going into the hospital the week before and being told that I was having “false labor”. As the evening progressed they were getting closer together and I was getting much more uncomfortable. Tim was working until 11pm and I was determined to not make him come home early unless I was for sure going to have the baby that night. Around 10:45 my contractions were between 4-5 minutes apart. I decided to call my parents to come over to spend the night with Carter because I was pretty sure it was the real thing this time around. I called Tim at 11:01 and he got home as fast as he could.
We made it to the hospital a little after midnight and got settled into our room. It happened to be the same room that we stayed in when Carter was born. They got me hooked up to the monitors and saw that my contractions were between 3-4 minutes apart. The nurse then did an internal. I was only 1cm dilated and 70%. I was extremely disappointed that I had made pretty much no progress in a week. They decided to have us stay to see if I progressed any further. When they checked me two hours later, I had progressed to 2cm, enough to let us stay to continue being monitored. I was given something to help me get some sleep. They checked me again at the 6am shift change. I had made no progress. I was still having contractions every 3-4 minutes. The nurse was not sure what my doctor would decide to do. She mentioned that I could possibly be sent home. Exhausted and frustrated, I asked what would happen if I changed my mind about trying for a VBAC. She said she wasn’t sure and would ask my doctor.
At 9am, they gave me the option of starting pitocin. At that point anything that would make the baby come quicker was a welcome thought. Because I really hadn’t slept more than a few hours in the last week, they offered a pain meds so I’d be able to get some rest before I was ready to push. I slowly started to make some progress, and spent most of the day napping. During one of the internal checks, my daytime nurse, who was not at all gentle, accidentally broke my water. At 3pm I decided that I would most definitely be getting an epidural because the pain was getting unbearable. Around 8pm, my labor and delivery nurse decided I was ready to push. Things were going well, but very slowly. After the 2nd hour, they were becoming more concerned about how the contractions were affecting the baby’s heart rate. The potential need for a c/s or use of the vacuum was brought up. At this point the on-call doctor for my clinic switched (the other doctor had been on-call for the whole weekend and got called into do a c/s.) She was willing to let me go for a little while longer as long as conditions didn’t change. At 11pm, after three hours of pushing, my body had pretty much stopped reacting to the pitocin and my contractions started to lose strength and slow down. As much as I didn’t want to use the vacuum, my choices were pretty much being narrowed down to that or a c/s (which I really didn’t want after this much work!) Around 11:45pm, the doctor prepped everything for the vacuum and had extra nurses on hand in case we needed them for the baby. After two more pushes with the vacuum, Jackson Curtis was born at 11:55pm. He weight 7lbs 10oz and was 22 inches long.
Overall things are going well for our family. Jack is a sweet and mellow baby and big brother Carter loves him so much. The adjustment to having two kids really has gone fairly smoothly for us so far. The real test will be when Tim goes back to work next week.

The first few days of recovery were just as bad as or worse than my c/s recovery. Now, over a week later, I feel almost back to normal, which has made the VBAC experience completely worth it. There was no way I could have done it without the encouragement of my nurses and the doctor who ended up delivering Jack.

Parmasan chicken

2010-06-07T17:22:00.003-05:00

Ingredients
1c bread crumbs
½ c grated Parmesan cheese
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp Olive Oil
½ tsp salt
Pepper
4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
¼ c basil
¼ c Mayo

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine bread crumbs, parmesan, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste in bowl.
Mix basil and mayo in small bowl and spread mixture evenly over the chicken. Sprinkle bread-crumb mixture evenly over mayo and press lightly to adhere. Place chicken in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
Bake the chicken until crumbs are golden brown for 18-22 minutes.

I'm planning on freezing half of this for another meal, serving it with pasta and tomato sauce.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

2010-05-27T08:41:00.003-05:00

I'm determined to have at least a week or two of meals frozen before baby comes. I'm too worried for the time that Tim (He's a pretty decent cook) is off work, but more so when he goes back to work. I'll try to post the recipes as I go.
This is one of my favorite sweet breads. I make it all the time.

Banana Bread
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas
1 cup chocolate chips (can skip if you just want plain banana bread)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix all ingredients together. Pour into two bread pans. Bake 45-50 minutes.

Buca Di Beppo Lemon Green Beans

2010-05-25T18:46:00.002-05:00

I had Bucas over the weekend with some of my girlfriends. I forget how much I completely love their food. This is a pretty good replica of their green beans. :)

Ingredients
1 lb fresh green beans
1/4 cup butterr
2 medium lemons (juice)
salt, to taste (I used sea salt)

Directions
1. Prepare the green beans by clipping off the stem end.
2. Melt the butter in a sauté pan on low heat. Squeeze the juice out of two medium-size lemons. Strain the pulp and the seeds out of the lemon juice.
3. When butter is melted, carefully add the lemon juice to the pan.
4. Raise the temperature to medium and reduce until the lemon juice and butter become a sauce. Do not brown the butter.
5. Place the clipped, fresh green beans in boiling water for two to three minutes. Do not overcook. The green beans should remain crisp.
6. Strain the green beans and add to the sauce in the sauté pan. Toss the green beans in the sauce and season with salt to taste. Serve immediately.

Disturbing

2010-05-10T19:14:00.002-05:00

In my quest of knowledge on food companies, I discovered after buying Horizon Organics half and half at the grocery store this week that they are pretty much what I'm trying to avoid. I guess this explains how their prices really aren't any different than Kemps. And it kind of bums me out because the same parent company own Silk Soy milk (which I love!).

http://www.naturalnews.com/021186.html

http://www.wisebread.com/horizon-organic-milk-is-it-all-just-lies

http://sites.google.com/site/integrityinbusiness/

On another interesting note, I found a chart that shows what who owns some of the bigger organic food brands. Check it out. I was amazed at how many of them are own by big corporations.
http://awesome.good.is/features/009/009buyingorganic.html

Self/Family Improvement Goals

2010-05-05T13:05:00.002-05:00

These are almost more for me than any of my readers, but I wanted to get down in writing my goals on the ways that I am working to improvements in our lives.

1. Consumerism: I'll admit it. I like to buy stuff. I have improved on this greatly since being home with Carter for the last two years, but like most people I still sometimes get the "I want" fever. Areas I'm doing well on: I don't buy very many clothes anymore. What I do buy now is stuff that I love how I look and feel in it now. (Not how I might look in it if I lost 10 pounds or if I was more toned.) Almost all toys (gifts from others excluded) are purchased used. I plan on doing a big toy purge right before birthdays and Christmas to get rid of anything that is not used. We don't have the space and we don't need that many toys around. Areas I can still improve on: Kids/baby clothing. I'll admit it, I love buying baby and kid clothing. They are just so cute. We definitely have more than is needed. On the positive side much of it is hand-me-downs and garage sale finds. As I've been washing baby clothing, I've been pulling out anything that I don't really like to give away.

2. Food: This is such a big area for us, so I'll break it down further.

a. Grocery shopping: I've cut our monthly bill down significantly by couponing, meal planning, and shopping from a list.

b. What we're buying: I am currently trying to research and learn more about the items we are buying and the companies that produce/grow/manufacture it. The more I learn, the more I feel I need to learn. Just a few of the issues I'm concerned with include" treatment of employees (Are they hiring illegals to lessen their production cost? Do they pay their employees livable wages and offer them benefits?), genetically modified crops (Is their any way to escape/avoid this? What are the long-term repercussions going to be?), localism (can I get more of the products we eat grown locally to save on pollution/cost of travel to get it here?), use of antibiotics, pesticides, etc (Organic vs. non? Or are there any other options?), treatment of animals (free-range? corn-fed vs. grass fed?) packaging (Should I be concerned about the BPA in plastic or metal can lining? ). These are just a few of the issues I could think of off the top of my head.

c. Cooking: I'm really working to expand my cooking horizons.

Motherhood

2010-04-29T18:32:00.002-05:00

Let me be completely honest here. Being pregnant and the mother of a toddler is hard. I've been lucky enough so far to have a relatively easy pregnancy so far. Yes, I had morning sickness for the first half, but I rarely actually threw up. Once I hit the 18-20 week mark I've felt pretty good. The most negative aspect of pregnancy until recently had been that I failed my one hour glucose test two weeks ago. (I did manage to pass my 3 hour test, but man was I crabby to have to take that!)
Now that I've hit the third trimester the real fun has begun. (If you don't to hear me whine, feel free to skip to the next paragraph.) Since I've finally started to put on the baby weight, I've started to have back pain. It has become increasingly worse this week since I've been sitting in the most uncomfortable folder chairs ever in training all day, everyday this week. Tomorrow is the last day of training, so I'm hoping the lack of extreme sitting will help my poor body. To make life even more fun, I've also been waking up with leg cramps. Two nights ago, it was so bad that they woke me up at 4am. I've increased the amount of calcium and potassium, so hopefully these should lessen. I get heartburn from everything (or even nothing). And since I'm sleeping less, I have very little patience for naughty toddler behavior.
But, after one of the moms in our preschool class lost her baby at around 34weeks, I try to remind myself whenever I get crabby about being pregnant about how lucky I truly am to be pregnant. In less than 12 weeks, I'll (hopefully) have a beautiful baby boy to snuggle.

Craftiness

2010-04-26T12:36:00.002-05:00

One of my goals for the next 12 weeks before baby boy arrives is to start and/or finish 50 projects that I've either been meaning to try or just need to do a little bit more to complete. Here are the first three completions.

1 and 2. Pillowcase dresses. The Pink is for my niece/goddaughter Lauren. Since she's is the only little girl in the family, she gets to be the lucky one to receive all my girlie craft projects. The shamrock one is for my friend's dog. Moo is a very stylish pup.

Project #3 is a burp rag embellished with some fabric. I love having these on hand for baby gifts because they are so cute and useful.

I'm hoping to have a productive nap time so I can complete some more projects today. :)

Another Recipe/ Honey Lime Chicken

2010-04-20T13:06:00.002-05:00

I really liked this one, but Tim wasn't a fan. I think it could be improved with green peppers.

Honey Lime Chicken

2 lbs chicken tenders
1/2 Tbl garlic salt
1 Tbl oil
1 20 oz can pineapple rings (I used chunks since that was what we had)
1/4 cup honey
3 Tbl lime juice
2 Tbl soy sauce
1 Tbl cornstarch
Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt. Brown in oil. Drain pineapple. Add one fourth of the pineapple juice to skillet. Cover and simmer 6 to 8 minutes until chicken is golden. Remove chicken. Add honey, lime juice, soy sauce, cornstarch and remainder of pineapple juice. Bring to boil. Cook and stir until thick and clear, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Allow to cool. Place chicken, pineapple rings and sauce in freezer bag. Label and freeze.
To serve: Thaw. Heat until sauce is hot and bubbly and chicken is heated through.

Easy Hummus

2010-04-19T16:31:00.002-05:00

This is a combonation of a couple recipes I looked at

Ingredients
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed
1 clove garlic (I like to use two)
1⁄4 cup olive oil, plus more for serving
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (I didn't really measure, just used half a lemon)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¾ teaspoon kosher salt

Directions
In a food processor (or good blender), puree the chickpeas and garlic with the olive oil, lemon uice, cumin, and ¾ teaspoon salt until smooth and creamy. You may need to add a couple tablespoons water to achieve the desired consistency.

So simple, cheap, and delicious!

I love garage sale season!

2010-04-17T16:33:00.003-05:00

I hit the motherload of rummage sales this morning at Falcon Height Elementary School today. The only thing I specifically have been looking for is 2T size clothing for Carter for fall and possibly some toy tools for Carter.

I ended up finding a Kolcraft Contours stroller for $60 that look almost like new. While it wasn't exactly what I was looking for in a double stroller, I couldn't beat the price and I love the fact that both seats can be forward or backward facing and it works with my infant seat. :)

We also ended up an Evenflo exersaucer for $10. We never ended up getting one for Carter, but I have a feeling that I will need to be putting this little guy down much more than I did with Carter. For that price, I figured I could garage sale it if I didn't use it and I would for sure break even on it. Our other big purchase was a work bench for Carter. He was very excited about it!

I ended up finding some cute sleeping gowns and sleepers for the babe that looked brand new. So excited about all my deals!

Adult pillowcase top

2010-04-11T09:19:00.003-05:00

After a failed search all over the web for directions on how to make an adult sized pillowcase top, I took the advice of a fellow crafty nestie decided to somewhat wing it.

Basically I used my bust measurement and added 3 inches for the width. I used 26 inches for the length. Please excuse the horrible pictures. I really need to have DH help me take better ones. The pictures do not do it justice. For a non-maternity shirt I would probably experiment with making the back slightly smaller than the front.

Margarita Chicken

2010-04-08T19:57:00.003-05:00

This recipe really couldn't get any easier.

Marinate chicken breasts in 2 cups of margarita mix for a minimum of 4-6 hours (I would probably do longer). (I also added some pepper, garlic, and dried onions to the fix to give it a little more flavor.)

Grill.

We chopped it up and used it in tacos. It would also be good served with some Spanish rice.

Pillowcase Dress

2010-04-07T19:18:00.003-05:00

Probably a good thing I'm having a little boy because making pillow case dresses is so addicting. I would never be able to stop making little dresses like this.

There are tons of tutorials out there, but I found this one the easiest to use. http://freshlypicked.blogspot.com/2008/03/pillow-case-dress-tutorial.html

Slow Cooker Lemon Garlic Chicken

2010-03-31T19:18:00.003-05:00

Ingredients
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 cups chicken stock
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (I used the bottled stuff)
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used more, but I love garlic)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley

Place all ingrediants (minus the parseley) in the slow cooker. Cover, and cook on High for 3 hours, or Low for 6 hours. Add the parsley to the slow cooker 15 to 30 minutes before the end of the cook time.

Times may vary depend on how hot your slow cooker runs. Mine runs fast and was slightly overdone at 5.5 hours on low.

I served it with au gratin potatoes and peas.

Peeps T-shirt

2010-03-30T17:22:00.003-05:00

I think I finally have my act together and will have time to start posting again. :) I plan on trying to catch up by doing several mini posts all this week.
First one of my nap time crafts this week. I was inspired by this adorable peeps t-shirt on http://gilliangreding.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/03/take_a_peek_at_.html . I adapted it a little bit and only did one bunny.

My little man was not the most willing model.

He did however enjoy the beautiful weather today.

Where have I been?

2010-02-15T14:24:00.003-06:00

As usual, life with a toddler (and being pregnant) is never dull. Like most of retail, my hours for work have pretty much dried up for the month of February. After all of the craziness in Novemeber and December, it's nice to have the chance to rest and get caught up on things.

The list of projects we need to get done before baby comes just keeps getting longer. Tim is working on the finishing touches of tiling our basement bathroom and hallway. It is already a huge improvement from the ugly tiles and icky carpet that was there before. We are now working on picking out a new vanity top to complete the remodel.

Since Carter and the baby will be sharing a room, we have a lot of decluttering to do in the next couple months. Storage is very limited here, so we are having to be very creative with finding a place for everything. We're hoping to get a large shelving unit for the garage, so that much of what we have stored elsewhere can move out to the garage.

I had my 17wk doctor's appointment on Friday. My weight stayed steady at what it had been when I had been in 2 weeks earlier. Because of my much more extreme symptoms and the heartbeat is way faster than Carter's was, the doctor is guessing it's a girl. I guess we shall see in another two week when we have our ultrasound. Tim is worried that I'm too convinced that it's a girl and will be disappointed if it's a boy. The only thing I would be disappointed with was the lack of an excuse to buy little girl clothes. I'd be thrilled to have another little boy.

Cleaning SOS

2010-01-30T18:38:00.003-06:00

I had been hearing about the Fly Lady cleaning program on the nest, so I decided to finally check it out today. I knew it was the right thing for me when on the welcome page I read, "Are YOU living in CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) like Franny in the pink sweats? Do you feel overwhelmed, overextended, and overdrawn? Hopeless and you don't know where to start? Don't worry friend, we've been there, too."
So I decided to sign up and check it out since it was free. The first day's assignment was to clean your kitchen sink. Pretty easy. And she actually gave some ideas to get them extra clean. (Not sure why I had never thought about using steel wool to clean our stainless steel sink, but it worked amazingly well.) I peeked at Day 2 and Day 3 and I think I'm pretty safe to skip ahead to Day 3. Day 2 just talks about getting up and dressed for the day. Since I've always done that, I don't think that's much of an issue.
I'll try to update on how I'm doing. My clean sink did inspire me to get my kitchen clean. So already I can say it's doing some positive things.

Relief!

2010-01-25T13:12:00.003-06:00

Last Thursday I tripped while taking some laundry down ours stairs. Now I know better than to go down the stairs in my socks. Wood stairs are just too slippery for that. I luckily only fell own 3 stairs, hitting my butt and back. It definitely scared me. Since I wasn't having any cramping or bleeding there really wasn't any reason for me to go into the doctor.
I had just began to feel the baby fluttering in the last couple weeks. When I hadn't felt the baby flutter all weekend, I started to worry. So we decided, while I was probably worried over nothing, it was worth calling the doctor anyways this morning. They said I really didn't have anything to worry about, but if it would make me feel better I could come in and have them find the baby's heartbeat on the Doppler. Knowing that I would worry until my next appointment, I decided it was worth taking Carter out in the snow, to hear baby. The doctor found baby's heartbeat after just seconds of looking. I had worried over nothing.
I'm taking it easy today because I was up until 7am with Carter. I think he's getting his 2 years molars in which has made him clingy and miserable. He would only sleep in my arms. Every time I put him down , he would scream like crazy. As tired as I am today, I'm trying to remember to enjoy those moments snuggling with Carter because he's growing up so fast!

Pregnancy obsessions

2010-01-20T20:51:00.002-06:00

So it's crazy to think that I'm already more than a third done with this pregnancy. I'm really hoping my energy will return soon. I'm pretty good at trying to avoid caffeine, but some days after my early morning shifts I'm not able to function without a diet coke. It is glorious!
I'm dying to shop for baby stuff with all the amazing clearance sales going on right.

Some of my favorites this time around are:
Bubble baths: I take one pretty much every night. It is the one thing that seems to help relieve my back pain.
S'mores: Microwave s'mores are my obsession. I make them all the time. For some reason they taste good pretty much all the time.
Mott's natural applesauce: I try to only only eat applesauce without added sugar to make it healthier. Mott's is the only natural one that tastes any good.
Yoga pants: Pretty much my uniform when I'm at home.
Oberweis Chocolate Milk: Simply amazing. I'm not a huge milk drinker, but it just tastes so good.

Finished Projects at Last!

2010-01-10T11:58:00.004-06:00

One of my goals for the year is to get caught up on all of the half finished sewing/crafting projects I have going on. Today I successful finished a blanket for baby and a small baby quilt (if we end up having a girl I'll keep it, otherwise I'll sell it or gift it)

The Polka dot one is somewhat based off the baby bear tutorial on http://sew4home.com/projects/bed-linens/358-stylish-baby-nursery-the-three-blankets . I'm still learning how to do all the stitches on my new machine, so the spacing between some of the stiching aorund the edges is slighly goofy. But it will be a perfect lightweight summer blanket for baby.

It's been another somewhat crazy week that I really can't explain where all the time has gone. I worked three days this week, but since the work load is so light this time of year I got off really early. My Friday shift even got cancelled. While I am sure we will miss the money that I could have earned, it was nice to pretty much still be a SAHM this week.

This Carter's typical wild man face. He is so goofy these days!

Pregnancy-wise time has been flying. It's hard to believe I'm almost in the 2nd trimester already. I'm still feel somewhat icky most afternoons. The exhaustion is pretty much constant (and I assume will remain until I no longer have small children anymore).

Heaven is the face

2010-01-03T15:20:00.002-06:00

The song "Heaven is the face," by Steven Curtis Chapman makes me want to cry. For those who don't know the story behind the song, his 5 year old daughter died after being accidently run over by an older brother who didn't see her. I can't imagine the pain and grief that family must feel. It's just a really beautiful and heartfelt song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9JTwJ_1lzE

Quote that made me think

2010-01-02T19:11:00.000-06:00

"Joy is prayer - Joy is strength - Joy is love - Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls."
Mother Theresa

It's so simple and so beautiful.

Oh Baby!

2009-12-30T14:22:00.003-06:00

Carter's new brother or sister is due July 20th, 2010. For those of you who remember, Carter's due date was July 20th, 2008. It's so crazy that we ended up with the same due date again.
I had my first actually appointment with the doctor this morning. So far everything is looking good. It took forever for the doctor to find the little stinker's heartbeat because it kept hiding. We did in the end hear it.
The due date is probably one of the only things that my pregnancy with Carter and with this baby have had in common. With Carter, I was nauseous pretty much in the morning. I threw up every once in a while. With this baby, I am nauseous almost every afternoon and evening but mornings are fine most of the time. I've only thrown up once. With Carter I couldn't stand the smell of chocolate or pretty much any sweets (Christmas was rough that year). With this baby, I love sweets. With Carter I craved protein and loved hamburgers (as long as I didn't have to see raw meat.) With this baby all meat grosses me out even when cooked. I can stomach chicken sometimes. Gatorade was my magic trick to make it through the day with Carter. This baby seems to think it's far too sweet.
Tim and I joked with the doctor about her 4th of July weekend plans (since she was out of town that weekend when Carter came). She said as long as it could avoid the U2 concert on June 27th, she'd be there this time.
We are still up in the air on whether we will attempt a VBAC. That's one of the best things about my clinic, the choice is mine as long as a c/s isn't needed for safety reasons. The plan right now is to wait until much closer to my due date to know exactly what we're dealing with. I just don't want to get it in my head that the birth will go one way, when in fact things could change at the last minute. My tentative thoughts at this point are to set a c/s date at 39 wks. If I go into labor before that and things look good, I would attempt a VBAC. From what I've read so far, the success rates of VBAC lessen after 39 wks and c/s are the safest at that point. It also looks like inductions will never be an option for me. I'm also at a higher risk of having another breech baby since Carter was breech. (I can't find any good statistics on this to know how much more likely this is, but I did read it in a legitimate medical article, so this means it would have to be statistically significant.)

MIA

2009-11-22T12:38:00.002-06:00

Sorry for no blogging lately. I've been super busy! Since my last post I've started two (and quit one) job. The job I started and quit was at the movie theatre. Lets just say the minimum wage and late nights were not for me. (As a side note, please don't whine to the people who work at the concessions stand about how much everything costs. Yes, it is expensive, but it is not going to their paychecks.) I am currently working for JcPenneys doing stock/merchandising stuff. It potentially may only be a seasonal position, but I really like the environment so far. Everyone is really nice, they reward you for hard work, and the management actually learns your name.
Carter's been adjusting to me working pretty well. He gets to spend time with Grandpa when both Tim and I are working. Grandpa is pretty much his favorite person ever. His favorite new word is "no" and he uses it often. A couple days ago he got upset in the bathtub after sticking his head in the water and said "Bad water. No!" He also told Tim he was a "Bad Daddy" because he was doing dishes instead of playing with him.
Hopefully now that I'm getting used to this new schedule I'll do a better job at keeping up with posting. :)

One of those days

2009-10-29T11:04:00.002-05:00

It's 11am and I am not dressed yet. Carter is down for a nap after a very cranky morning. I'm hoping this will be a long nap, but since the lawn care service just showed up to clean up leaves I am doubtful it will be.
I've been such a bad blogger lately. Life seems to always get in the way of blogging. What's new with us?
Tim and I celebrating our 3 year anniversary on Oct. 20th. It's hard to believe that it's been that long already. We celebrated by making a crab dinner at home. It was relaxing and delicious.
Carter was sick on Sunday and Monday with Roseola. He had high temps for 2.5 days and then the telltale rash on his torso. We were relieved that it was just this and not anything serious. We're not sure whether he picked it up from MOPS or from ECFE, both of which we attended at the end of last week. (I'm leaning towards ECFE because of the timing of it all.)
I had two interviews yesterday and will have one today. Two of the jobs are pretty much part time retail-ish positions. The other is still part time, but more of an office position. My unemployment runs out in another month and we can't afford to live without it with Tim's hours being reduced so drastically lately.
I am thinking about doing a craft show that our MOPS group is putting on as a fundraiser. My only hang up is whether or not I can get enough stuff done in the next couple weeks to have anything to sell. I need to finalize my decision within the next day or so and reserve my table.
I've been working like crazy to get Christmas presents done too. So far I have 1.5 quilts done for gifts and 3.5 to go. I'm not getting too nervous yet.

My new love

2009-10-19T20:46:00.002-05:00

I just completed a bigger version Merry and Bright. I'm so excited to have something wintery to snuggle up with on the couch. :)

Banana Pancakes

2009-10-16T08:27:00.002-05:00

After seeing a recipe for banana pancakes on one of my favorite blogs, http://www.beautyandbedlam.com/, I decided to see if I could adapt my recipe to add banana. Check out Jen's blog if you get a chance. She never fails to amaze me on her cooking, thrifting, and crafting abilities.

Banana Pancakes
2 cup all-purpose flour
4 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk (I like to use skim)
2 ripe bananas, mashed with fork
1/2 cup cooking oil

1. In mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder,baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In another mixing bowl combine eggs, milk, bananas, and cooking oil. Add to flour mixture. Stir just until combined still slightly lumpy.
2. Cook on lightly greased griddle or skillet over medium heat until pancake is bubbly and edges are slightly dry.

I like to serve these with chocolate chips. They are delicious! It is possible to take out the egg if you have an allergy. (I learned this by accident when I forgot to add them one day) Add a little more milk if it looks to thick.

Merry and Bright Quilt

2009-10-09T21:21:00.003-05:00

I just finished my first Christmas gift. I love it so much I might have a hard time giving it away. I will most likely end up making one that is slightly larger to keep for myself. It ended up 40" by 50".

I fall in love with pretty much every quilt I've made so far, but this one has stolen my heart! :)

First MOPS

2009-09-24T15:06:00.002-05:00

We had our first MOPS meeting of the year today. I'm really excited to be getting back into all of our regular schedule of activities. There were a bunch of new moms and a bunch of new babies.
I was a little worried how Carter would do in the childcare, since it's been since May since we were there last. He didn't seem to have much of a problem with me leaving. When I went to pick him up, he was still vegging out from a nap. Hopefully he'll always be that easy to drop off.
It looks like it will be a good year! :)

What a weekend!

2009-09-20T13:09:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was crazy! We got up at 6am (when Carter woke up) and left almost immediately so we could spend a few hours hanging out with Tim's family before our niece Lauren's first birthday party. Carter loved to give Lauren kisses and hugs. He also gave Ben, his three year old cousin, a hug so big it knocked him over. We headed home after the party was over.
My friend Katie's bachlorette party was last night too. I went into the party not knowing how long I would stay, but I ended up staying until the end at 2am. It was fun to have a girls' night and Katie is a hilarious drunk. I definately feel too old to stay out like that anymore. (Or should I say pretty much ever, since I've never been too much of a partyer.)
Tim is working today, so I've been trying to have a pretty mellow day with Carter since I;m so tired. We went to get some apples at Pinetree Apple Orchard, one of our favorite fall places. Carter loves to bite into apples now that he has he teeth to do so.

Dear neighbor,

2009-09-12T14:04:00.002-05:00

Please refrain from parking your stroller with a screaming/crying toddler in front of my house ,(Especially during my child's nap time) unless you would like to watch my child for the evening who is now short an hour on his nap.
Thank you!

State Fair Pics

2009-09-10T20:47:00.005-05:00

I'm really bad a remembering to take pictures while we are out and about. I did, however, make sure to take some pictures of my boys at John Deere. Tim, being a former farm kid, is a huge fan of anything John Deere.

Last Year

This Year

2 baby quilts finished for 2 baby girls

2009-09-10T20:34:00.004-05:00

One of my former coworkers had twin baby girls a month ago. She is the sweetest lady and I wanted to make something special for them. I tend to fall in love with each and every project I do, but I definitely think this are my best quilts yet. :) Now I need to get back to work on the many Christmas presents I have started.

I'm going crazy. . . .

2009-09-05T09:05:00.002-05:00

Without my sewing machine. It's only been a few days, but I'm dying to have it back. I'm leaning towards buying the more expensive sewing machine. Now the only problem is deciding where to buy it from. In the Twin Cities there is only one authorized dealer of the Inovis 900D which is Creative Sewing Center. It is the full retail price right now. From my research online, it seems that I should be able to get it for almost half of that. Unfortunately,it's not sold online, so I can't buy it that way. I am considering checking with sewing machine stores in Rochester and St. Peter to see if they'll give me a better offer. For a $300+ difference in price, it would be worth the drive.
Maybe I'll just have to borrow my moms machine until I can find a better deal.

My sewing machine

2009-09-03T11:21:00.002-05:00

While sewing yesterday all of my stiches started to go all whonky. Usually this means the tension is off. So I took out the bobbin and a metal piece fell off. At some point the screw that attached this metal piece to the bobbin fell out. I searched all over, but the screw is still missing.
I was planning on buying my new machine soon anyways, but I guess this is just my kick in the butt to figure out what I really want and go for it. I looked at a shop that carries only Berninas last week. While they were really nice, the cheapest one was more than $800. At this point in my life, I can't imagine spending that much on a sewing machine. So today when Tim gets home, I'm going to take a little trip to one of the other local sewing machines stores to take a look at what they have that is much more in my price range ($400-$600). From my online searching, I'm very interested in the Brother SE-350. I'm hoping they will have that one in person so I can try it.

Wow!

2009-09-02T10:40:00.002-05:00

I've been really bad about blogging lately. I think my plan with "back to school" next week is to try to get our lives much more on a schedule. Hopefully this will mean much more blogging.
What's new with us? I've been hitting the job search hard again. At this point, I've been applying mostly for part time positions, so that we can hopefully manage to keep Carter out of daycare for a little bit longer. (FYI, i have no issues with actually putting kids in daycare, it's just an expense we can't afford at this point.)
I've also been busy looking for a new sewing machine. I made almost $300 sell stuff I no longer needed at a family garage sale, so I can afford to buy a much nicer machine. I think I will be investing in a Brothers machine in the next week or two. The one that I want has the ability to monogram. :) This will also come in handy for one of the Christmas presents I want to make for Carter and maybe some of his little friends. I'll post pictures once I start them.
Carter is growing so tall and skinny now, just like his daddy. He's starting to talk so much more now and in short phrases. His favorites are "what is it? an "want that." My favorite addition to the list is "I love Ray". (The neighbor dog at my parents.) I will not say that he loves anything else, just Ray.
Tim might have a potential job development. Right now it's too early to say if it will become anything. If this works out somehow, it would be the answer to so many prayers.
My mom is doing fairly well in the first two weeks of chemo. She's tired, but no other real side effects yet. Her head is starting to get itchy, so that means that her hair will probably start to fall out soon. Luckily, I saved quite a few silk scarves from my buying office days, that she'll have a pretty good variety to wear. I'm tempted to email a few of my old vendors to see if I could buy hats directly from them, so that I could get some fun ones.

10 year reunion

2009-08-24T09:07:00.002-05:00

This weekend we went to Tim's 10 year reunion. Tim had a great time catching up with his classmates. I, on the otherhand, was bored out of my mind. First of all, it was held at a bar that I would consider was for somewhat of a rough crowd. It was potluck and the times for it were 3pm until 1am. Many people disn't show up until around 8pm or so. Probably not the best plan for a potluck. I guess I'm really just not a fan of having to make small talk and answer the same questions over and over again. (And hearing the same stories over and over again)Tim is definatley on his own for the next one.
Carter had a great time hanging out with his cousins Lauren and Ben. We also enjoyed going to the Steele County Fair. (Think the State fair divided by 10)

Bad news

2009-08-16T00:24:00.002-05:00

Well, my mom's doctors changed their mind on the chemo. After presenting my mom's case at a medical conference last week, her doctor decided that she for sure needed to have chemo. And not just the typical chemo of breast cancer patients. 12 week of once a week treatments (that take more than 3 hours a time) and then every other week for the rest of the year. Sucky!
Althought this will diminish her chance of getting cancer again, this is still quite a set back from what we thought.
Please keep my mom in your prayers! It's going to be a difficult year.

Updates

2009-08-12T22:53:00.003-05:00

Well, things never seem to go quite as planned.
1. I have been trying to finish up two baby quilts for one of my sweet former co-workers who just had twin baby girls. The pieces have been cut, one has been sewn together, but otherwise the progress has stopped. I'd like to get them sent by Monday at the latest. We'll see if that happens.
2. I'm still not finished with my doll quilt for the swap. I finally figured out what I want to do though, so hopefully it just needs an hour or two of work.
3. I still haven't made any decisions on what ECFE classes I should sign Carter up for. I have three choices at the school I would like to go to, but I'm indecivice of what day or whether I should sign up for one of the mixd groups. So far i haven't heard of any of the kids in Carter's class from last year that will be signing up at this school.
4. On the bright side, we are setting up a playgroup with two of the other moms and little boys from last years group. We plan to get together every other Wednesday.
5. The daycare for the baby didn't pan out. I'm am now waiting to see if I get an interview for some afterschool nanny jobs. I have also been apply for lots of part time jobs.

The unknown

2009-08-10T13:21:00.003-05:00

Right now I'm playing the waiting game. I have no idea what I will really end up doing this fall. There really haven't been any decent job prospects lately. From what it sounds like, this recession stuff really isn't going to turn around until at least January. So I'm not really holding my breath on a job in the traditional sense of the word.
I decided to officially offer to do daycare for the 5 month old. Now I am just waiting to hear back whether or not her mom is still interested. I figure if it's meant to be, it'll work out. And if not, that's okay too.
Tim is taking a class today to try to get approved for some funding for an emergency responder class. This would be the first step on the way to become a paramedics. While this is not his dream job, it looks like the chance of getting into law enforcement just isn't going to happen anytime soon for him. For every job in this area, there are thousands of applicants. And the market just keeps getting more saturated.

Wait- it's already August?!

2009-08-04T18:04:00.002-05:00

I'm really not sure where July went. We've been busy, but I'm not 100% sure with what. I guess one of our more major things was Carter's 12 month appointment today. He is 31 inches tall (90%) and 23.5 lbs (50%). My big concerns for this appointment was the trasition to only sippy cups and whole milk. Carter had been refusing to drink whole milk from the sippy and when I diluted it with an ounce of formula he would drink it and then throw it up. We came up with the plan to be done with bottles. As long as Carter will take 2 oz of milk at each meal we won't worry about it too much yet. If he continues to throw it up, we'll try switching to lactose free milk. So far this has worked pretty well, getting him to drink 6 oz of milk is sometimes a challenge. On the days he won't drink it at meals, I offer it at snack.
This weekend we have the wedding of one of the girls I grew up with. It should hopefully be fun. It'll be nice to be out for the night baby free. The only bummer is missing my cousin Joe's 5th birthday party. (Which reminds me I still need to go get him a present. Any ideas?)
I'm still sewing away for the quilt swap. I think I might actually have found an idea that I like. Hopefully my partner will feel the same way! I need to get something done today! :)

Beer with Green Olives and other thoughts

2009-07-28T22:08:00.003-05:00

Some people think it's gross, but to me on a summer night (after a very long day) there is nothing better.
A few updates. My mom is healing fairly well. She got fitted for her prothesis today. It's looking like at this point she won't need any chemo or radiation. She is so lucky to have caught the cancer early. (Memo for all of you out there- stay up on your routine dr. visits and get a mamogram.)
Carter took his first steps on his own about a week ago. He is becoming more and more brave. I don't know if I would consider him walking yet since he doesn't really take more than 8-10 steps at a time, but he's getting their. His climbing skills have also improved. Things that formerly were safe on kitchen and bathroom counters are now fair game. On his tippy toes, he is almost tall enough to reach the door handles at my parents house.
His most adorable new habit is sharing. He loves to share his blankie and food with everyone. (He does also feel that everyone should share with him also. This sometimes is more of an issue in public. One example is when he thought a little girl we didn't know at a local fair should share her corn dog with him.)
The less adorable habit he has developped lately is throwing food off his tray. We have started to take his tray away every time we catch him throwing food on the floor on purpose. He gets a second chance after one minute. If we catch him doing it again, the meal is over. He's been much better about it the last couple days because we have been very consistent on how we react to his behavior.
Not a whole lot to update about me. I'm doing my first quilt exchange on flickr. I am in awe of all the talent in the group of 200 or so quilters. I am still just a beginner, but I am so inspired to try new thing because of all of the beautiful work I've seen in the past week.
I'm am also reaching a point in the job searching where I don't know where to go from here. I have the possible option of doing daycare for a 4 month old starting in the end of August. I've been praying about this alot because I'm not sure if this is the right move for me or not. On one hand, it would be nice to be able to make some money and still not have to put Carter in daycare. On the otherhand, doing daycare will not make a ton of money, and I'm not sure I'll be able to do the same things with Carter and a baby as I would with Carter alone. Tim thinks I should say yes and continue to job hunt. I don't feel like I can make the commitment to watch this baby and potentially take a job. Anyone have any thoughts for me on the subject? Either way I decide, I need to be making some moeny soon. But would it be better for my family for me to get a part time job?
Tim has been super busy with work and trying to get a handyman business started. I think he could potentially make this into something full time if the economy turns around anytime soon.

Quilt swap

2009-07-22T12:23:00.002-05:00

I'm doing my first quilt swap through a group on flickr. http://www.flickr.com/groups/dollquiltswap/ I'm really excited/ nervous by all of the beautiful work that people have made in past exchanges. Hopefully mine will be up to snuff. Sometime today I will be finding out who I will be making mine for. I have so many ideas in my head and I can't wait to find out more about this person, to know what they like as far as style and color.
So if ther person who is making the doll quilt for me is reading this here are a few hints on what I like. I love bright,modern prints. I'm addicted to buying any fabric with fruit on it, even if I have no plans for it. I love polka dots. I just painted my sewing desk turquoise. I have a one year old little boy named Carter.

Carter's birthday party pictures

2009-07-22T07:33:00.003-05:00

I'm finally starting to catch up in uploading my pictures. I didn't take nearly the amount of birthday pictures that I thought I had. Hopefully everyone else got some good ones too.

Milk

2009-07-15T23:17:00.002-05:00

The important thing is not that we can live on hope alone, but that life is not worth living without it. - Harvey Milk

I guess the history I learned in school was missing some major gaps because I can say I know very little about GLBT history, or pretty much anything more than a couple paragraphs on any minority group. So I really can't tell you how historically correct the movie was. I found the movie very powerful. It made me want to try to fill in those gaps of history that I never learned.
I highly recommend it.

The other inspirational movie that I watched last night was "The Pursuit of Happiness". I had heard this one was good, and it lived up to the reviews. Being another true story, I think I'd like to find more about how things actually happened.

It's been great to see some truely inspiring movies that aren't sappy.

I am amazingly lucky. . . .

2009-07-09T20:27:00.002-05:00

to have such good friends. The past couple weeks have been hard because my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. I am so grateful to have the support of my friends during these rough times. Their thoughts and prayers, help with childcare, and offers of meals are more helpful than they even know. I know I can survive the worst of times with them. (And hope that we get to celebrate some happier times soon!)

Has it really been a year already?

2009-07-06T06:16:00.002-05:00

I woke up this morning at 6am, somewhat like last year. Only last year I was exactly 38 weeks pregnant and my water broke. (Much to my surprise since we had a scheduled C-section for a week later since Carter was breech.) We did some quick packing for the hospital and were there by 7am. The confirmed that my water had indeed broke and that I was having contractions. Since C appeared to still be doing fine, they told us they would contact our clinic and that the c-section would probably happen sometime that afternoon. We flipped on the tv to relax since we had no idea how long we would be waiting. Around 8:30 the nurse rushed in to tell us that the doctor had decided that since I had eaten anything yet that we could do a 9 am surgery. Things got rolling and at 9:30am, Carter Thomas was born. 7lbs, 9oz, 19 inches of beautiful baby.
It's hard to believe that beautiful baby has already grown into a hansome little boy.
Happy Birthday Carter!

The kind of day I needed. . .

2009-07-04T21:05:00.003-05:00

The 4Th of July definitely the kind of day I needed after last week. Tim worked an overnight shift(and needed to sleep), so Carter and I decided to go to the St. Paul farmer's market with my parents. Carter loved seeing all of the people. We picked up some fresh broccoli, zucchini, green onions, and red potatoes.
After that I took Carter home to take a good nap. As soon as he woke up, we had a quick lunch and headed over to my aunt's house to catch the boat parade on Turtle Lake. It started to sprinkle when we were watching the parade and then it started to pour. 30 minutes later the weather became beautiful again.
Carter wasn't a fan of his first pontoon ride because he hated wearing his life jacket. He loved playing in the sand and swimming with his daddy.
We headed home around 8:30 because Carter was exhausted. It was really nice to spend a relaxing day with my family.

July already?!?!

2009-07-01T20:03:00.003-05:00

What happened to June? It's hard to believe that Carter will be one in 5 more days. It's also hard to believe this time last year I was hugely pregnant. I hopefully won't ever be 38 weeks pregnant again in July.

Otherwise not too much too update at this point. We're planning on celebrating the 4at the lake at my aunt's house.

Rough week

2009-06-29T08:14:00.001-05:00

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

2009-06-26T22:07:00.003-05:00

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. . .

2009-06-26T21:47:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-20T10:03:00.000-05:00

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!

2009-06-20T09:47:00.002-05:00

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?

2009-06-14T11:24:00.003-05:00

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

2009-06-09T14:20:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-08T17:19:00.002-05:00

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. . . .

2009-06-07T14:31:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-05T09:45:00.002-05:00

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. . . . .

2009-06-02T14:27:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-02T13:07:00.003-05:00

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

2009-06-01T14:39:00.002-05:00

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

Progress!

2009-06-01T14:32:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-06-01T09:29:00.003-05:00

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.

It's amazing!

2009-05-31T14:39:00.003-05:00

My kitchen is actually clean. I have never been an extremely clean person. I like a clean bathroom and kitchen, but after that as long as it doesn't get too bad, I don't care. Post-Carter my standards have been lowered/changed. Now the priorities are making sure anything at a level he can grab is clean, and as long as I can feed him or bath him in a sanitory manner, I'm probably okay with it.
My new cleaning plan is that I need to spend one hour a day working on the room of the day. Sunday= Kitchen. Once that room is clean, I need to try to get one load of laundry started and neaten up the rooms from earlier in the week. After that, I am free to use nap time for my own interests. Today/Day one is a success. My kitchen is cleaner than it's been in a long time. Tomorrow will be bathroom day, Tuesday=Dining room, Wed.= our bedroom, Thursday= Carter's room, Friday= Living Room/Family Room, Sat.= A little bit of straightening and a break!

Lack of Blogging

2009-05-29T14:33:00.003-05:00

I feel bad for not blogging very much lately. I feel like I'm in somewhat of a funk. I have crafter's ADD and haven't finished anything in forever (which needs to change!). I need to figure out what I need to do to get inspired again.

Some quick blogging

2009-05-26T12:21:00.003-05:00

We've been busy lately!
Last Wed. we went to 4th grade track and field day at my mom's school. Carter, being the class mascot wore his Zepher shirt so that we matched the kids. The kids adored him!
Saterday I went garage saleing with Stef. It was a complete failure. I'm not sure if people just don't have sales on Memorial weekend, but every sale we went to was full of junk. Kind of a bummer that we didn't find any deals, but it was still nice to chat and be child-free for a couple hours.
Sunday we had a BBQ with my mom's side of the family. My parents, being the indulgent grandparents, had picked up a water table for Carter to play with that they had seen that morning in the Target ad.
Monday we worked on planting all of the vegetables for the garden.

Carter's latest game

2009-05-22T07:01:00.002-05:00

He love to take all the food off the shelves he can reach in the pantry. It's a good thing we switched all the things he could get into trouble with to the higher shelves.
The other funny thing he's been doing lately is taking an unopened bottle of cooking oil and crawling with it. I'll have to get pictures of it sometime. Yesterday I found the bottle next the couch.
Who needs toys when you have kitchen cabinets?

Blueberry Muffins!

2009-05-21T07:09:00.002-05:00

I've been in the mood for blueberry muffins lately. When I saw fresh blueberries at the groccery store last night , I knew I wanted to try to make them from scratch.
I found this one on allrecipes.com.

Blueberry Muffins II "Low-cholesterol muffins."

PREP TIME 10 Min
COOK TIME 20 Min
READY IN 30 Min
Original recipe yield 1 dozen

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 egg white
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons margarine, melted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Use vegetable oil spray to grease 12-cup muffin tin. Set aside.
Mix 1/4 cup of the flour with the blueberries. Set aside. Beat egg white and 1 tablespoon oil lightly in bowl. Stir in milk and melted margarine or oil.
In separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Sift dry ingredient mixture over egg white mixture. Stir just long enough to moisten flour. The batter will look lumpy. DO NOT OVERMIX. Fold in blueberries. Fill each tin two-thirds full with batter. Bake in preheated oven 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

They turned out pretty good. The only thing I might add would be a tiny bit of sugar on the tops.

And because I need to post more pictures

2009-05-19T21:15:00.002-05:00

a cute one of Carter in his buddy Cole's adorable orange chair. I can't believe this time last year I was hugely pregnant!

What a day!

2009-05-19T20:58:00.002-05:00

Today we were busy! First we stopped by my uncle's house to see the progress. It looks amazing! (If you know anyone in the market for a house in Minneapolis, let me know. If we could afford to move at this point, I would be so interested!)
Then we did a quick pit stuff for lunch at Arby's. Carter loves regular roast beef sandwiches just like his mommy and daddy.
Next we paid off my car loan. We are now officially car loan free. It feels good! $600+ a month (between both payments) of pressure is now off our backs.
Next we did a little shopping at Mall of America. This may be TMI for some people, but until today I had not purchased a bra post baby. For many women, an increased breast size is a positive benefit of having a baby that tends to go away after you stop breast feeding. For me, not really the case. Since breast feeding only lasted the first 6 weeks for us, my ladies should have returned to their previous size almost 10 months ago. I am still one size up from my "normal" size. This is an issue because it puts me into all the frumpy old lady bras. The majority of the bras at Victoria's Secret and Gap body do not even come in my size. Very depressing. I keep hoping that maybe in some twist of fate I will go down a size with all of my exercising. Anyways, enough about my breasts.
In other news, a couple of my friends are going to 5K with me in July. I'm thrilled I have people to make me accountable for my running!
Minus feeling really crappy, today was a great day!

Progress

2009-05-18T14:10:00.002-05:00

I completed Week One, day 3 of Couch to 5K. I'm still not in great shape, but I can already see an improvement since my first day. I'm now looking for 5Ks in MN for late June/early July so that I have the proper motivation not to quit.
I'm booking it on my new quilt project. Hopefully the blocks will be complete tonight or tomorrow so I can show pictures. There are a few things I'd do differently next time, but overall I love it!
Carter and Tim went to get an oil change in Tim's car, so I've had an hour of free time. It's been fabulous!

And it continues

2009-05-16T22:18:00.002-05:00

I started an additional quilt. This one I am planning for a baby gift. I have 10/42 squares completely done and the other 32 started. I'm hoping to have the other 32 squares done in the next 3 days, so that I can get it to get it toegther by next weekend to give as a gift. I can't wait to show pictures. I love it already.
In Carter news, he has been a teething and allergy crabby mess. He screams about 50% of the time he's awake these days. While I love him dearly, it's hard to be patient when he can't tell you what's wrong. It almost makes Tim not having any hours for work this week worth it. The bright side of a crabby teething Carter is that he sometimes takes longer naps. I'm finally starting to make progress in the massive amount of housework that needs to be done.

I think I have a problem

2009-05-15T11:30:00.002-05:00

I started two more quilts. I need to learn how to finish some of these projects! The one is a 9-patch quilt that I'm doing with a quilt-a-long. I started two weeks after everyone else, so I have some catching up to do! My goal for the weekend is to get atleast one of my started projects finished, and do an extra 9-patch block each day. It's an ambitious goal!

Random Conversation

2009-05-13T22:08:00.002-05:00

Tonight at the post office automated postage machine:
Middle aged guy: Whoa! You've got a lot of packages to mail.
Me: Yup. I can stop for a minute so you can do yours.
He proceeds to ask me about if I'm ebaying, ect. Very long conversation for someone I don't know.
He finishes his postage, puts his package in the mail box and starts walking to the door. I start working on my next package. He comes back to look for his recipt.
Middle aged guy: Whoa, did you see my receipt?
Me: Nope, sorry.
Him: Oh whoops! I guess it's in my wallet. That's what happens when you have a couple beers before going to the post office.

Is it strange to anyone else that he went to the post office buzzed? If you have time for several beers are your postal needs really that urgent?

The end?

2009-05-13T17:42:00.002-05:00

This week is the end of two of our activities until fall. We had our last ECFE class on Tuesday. I was really sad for it to be over because Carter loved it. On the very bright side, our group is trying to set up summer playdates during what was our classtime on Tuesdays. We're psyched!
Thursday is also our last MOPS until Sept. I'll miss it over the summer.

Mother's Day

2009-05-11T15:47:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it's Monday already! I had a great first mother's day (minus the 4 times Carter was up during the night). We were up around 7am since that's when Carter decided he was not going back to bed. Tim and Carter were really thoughtful about the gifts they picked out. I recieved a one month membership to the community center, childcare passes to use for Carter while I work out, a book on learning to quilt, and a giftcard to JoAnn Fabric. Great stuff!
Tim had to work, so Carter and I went over to brunch at my aunt and uncle's house. The food was great and Carter had a good time chasing after my two cousins: Joe (age 4)and Aiden (age 3).

Quick Birthday Presents

2009-05-09T11:08:00.002-05:00

We have Cole's 2nd birthday party today (one of my best friend's son and Carter's buddy). I whipped up a few quick birthday presents last night after Carter went to bed and this morning during nap. I think they turned out pretty cute!

And done!

2009-05-08T14:26:00.002-05:00

My course work is complete minus dropping off one form later today. Needless to say, I'm thrilled! I went garage saleing this morning. The first three houses were a bust, but the fourth scored some good deals.
Tim, Carter, and I ran errands this morning before Tim had to go to work. Our first stop was Fleet Farm. My favorite part about going there is asking Tim if we need (insert random farming item here). Todays favorites include sheep milk replacer and cow taggers. I'm pretty sure I will never have any need for 99% of what they sell. Our next stop was Lowe's to get the baby gates we finally decided on. Of course we get them both home and one is missing pieces, and we don't think it'll work for us. Back to the drawing board. I so wish we could move to a more child friendly house! Some day!

Freedom!

2009-05-06T08:48:00.004-05:00

I finished my two papers last night and am now waiting from the people from my group presentation to decide if we need to make some changes. So only one more project left until I have freedom!
One of my goals for the month of May is to ebay or donate all of the clothes that I will no longer wear (which happens to be a lot post-baby). Carter likes to help with this.
Today is Carter's 10 month birthday. This is what happens when Mommy leaves the patio door open.

Picture Update

2009-05-05T07:45:00.003-05:00

Weekend update!

2009-05-04T07:32:00.002-05:00

I'm so behind in all of my crafting. So many projects are waiting for me half done. After Wednesday night, I should have the time/energy to start working on them since I will done by my three classes. I can't wait! And I should be done until July!
We kept pretty busy on Sat. and Sunday. Saturday Carter and I went over to check out the progress on my uncle's house. It's looking beautiful! If you're in the market for a house in Minneapolis, let me know. The new colors are very pottery barn-esque and really give the house some personality.
I picked up lunch from McDonalds on the way there so we could lunch with my parents and grandma. Carter loves to share chicken nuggets and fries with me. Later we had dinner with my parents and watched "Marley and Me" (Very cute, but be ready to cry!)
Sunday Carter and I hung out until Tim got home from work at 2pm. We then went over to my parents house to work on the gardens and have dinner. Carter had salmon for the first time and loved it (which is funny since I hate it!). He also played in the grass for the first time. He was very hesitent at first (a rare thing for Carter), but then became more and more brave about crawling on it. I'll post pictures later. They turned out great!

Friday!

2009-05-02T07:48:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was another hit. I found one great sale in Lino Lakes that I bought a ton of stuff at. Then I headed over to White Bear Lake for a huge neighborhood sale there. I was finding kids' clothes for $.50 an item that looked almost brand new.
Tim got off early from work, so we headed over to my grandparents' house so that he could do their yardwork and Carter and I could visit with them. They adore Carter! Afterwards we went out to dinner with them at D'Amicos. It was the first time we took Carter someplace and had to feed him a dinner that wasn't a bottle. Overall it was successful. I think it would have been better if I would have brought Carter's booster seat instead of using the high chairs because he was so interested in trying to grab plates, glasses, people's food, ect.

Sale results

2009-04-30T16:27:00.002-05:00

I ended up getting a couple really good deals. :) I didn't really know the Coon Rapids neighborhood that had a large number sales going on, so while getting somewhat lost in the housing development I stumbled on several more sales that I hadn't heard about. My other mishap was that we drove out of the way to a sale in Roseville (about 20 minute drove from Coon Rapids, 10 minutes out of the way from our house). I drove by the house and didn't see any signs or tables or anything. The sale's next week. Whoops! I guess I need to pay better attention to the dates.
Our deals of the day were a booster seat folds up for $3 (I almost bought a similar one of these for the fully price of $30. So glad I waited one more week!), a Little People Noah's Ark for $3 (Carter loved playing with Cole's), two pairs of jeans for Carter in 2T for .50 and a dollar, and a girls baby gap outfit for .25 (for that price someone I know can use it).
I also got 2 of the 7 papers I need to complete by next Wednesday! I can't wait to be done!