Amazing Blueberry Muffins

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 !!!!

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

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!

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

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

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

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.