in da' hood...

i'm not a fashionable hat wearer... in fact, i think i look really dumb in a hat. i can remember feeling this way when i was a kid playing softball... i dreaded seeing pictures of me in my team hat... :) ugh!

opinionated me here... i don't like hats for daily wear (speaking as a wife) for Ry, but he does wear them when he hasn't showered and has to go outside...or if he's mowing or something. but i don't like the way they make Ry's hair look when he takes it off...and i really don't like the sweaty smell of a hot head on my husband...ICK!

opinions aside, i'm glad to report that K seems to have gotten the "good hat head" gene from her dad. :) (she doesn't look dumb in a hat like her mom :)) i love to see her in one of Ry's hats...she puts it on backwards...and walks around... :) a cool chick... :)

while she lives smack dab in the middle of the country, should she ever go to the city, i know she'll fit in well in da' hood! :)

piggies

i have always wondered with my sweet girl's little toes would look like if i painted them... :) for a long time, i refrained from painting them because i didn't want to "push" growing up, and i wanted her to stay "safe" when she was still in the stage of putting her feet in her mouth...
last friday, we were met with some free time, and i decided it was time. :) we were getting ready to go out and play in the baby pool, and every girl likes for their toes to look pretty! :)
and i have a love affair with her feet... they are the most kissable and soft little feet in the world... :)
so, in a moment of "less active" behavior, we sat and i painted her toes... :) quick and speedy is the name of the game there... :)
i loved her reaction...walking around looking at her toes... :) stopping to touch her new pink nails... :)
i know i'm a little partial, but i'm pretty sure these are the cutest little piggies i've ever seen :)

happy summer! :)

meals for 6.8.10 to 6.14.10

it's another one of those weeks where intentions seem to be outweighed by changes of plans... :) actually, it's been this way for the last few weeks...
i guess that will be the theme for the summer, though...plan but be flexible... :) i'm OK with that...somtimes, spur of the moment changes give you even tastier ideas... :)

my meal plan for this week, on paper, has lots of arrows and "rewrites," but so far, no one has gone hungry...
:)

Tuesday: skillet lasagna and salad
Wednesday: leftovers (skillet lasagna, shish kabobs)
Thursday: cheezy chowder
Friday: probably out to eat to celebrate the end of the school year :)
Saturday: hamburgers on the grill, baked potatoes, vegetable
Sunday: chicken stuffing casserole (new recipe - we'll see)
Monday: leftovers (cheezy chowder, chicken stuffing casserole)


maybe, just maybe, this will be on the table on the given days... if not, it will be on the list next week! :)

enjoy your week! :)

Summer Wish List

what are you going to do this summer??

now that summer is almost here (yay!!!) and we have K around to make life so much more fun, i thought it would be neat to do a list of "wishes" for us to do this summer... most of the ideas are family focused, and some of the items are a few things that i, personally, would like to do...

while this list isn't going to limit our summer, they are things that we'd really enjoy doing in the next few months... :) and, who knows, maybe we will find even MORE fun things to do! :)

of course, we'll take lots of pictures to document our time... :) it's my hope to make a Summer 2010 book for us... :) these events will hopefully be the chapters in our book! :)


make peach jam go to the zoo go to the beach catch lightning bugs feed the ducks go swimming spend time with Grandma and Great-Grandma in Illinois go to the Baltimore Aquarium watch fireworks see an old friend paint a room go to Shenandoah National Park on a hike tie-dye shirts go to the local library go fishing make Katherine’s first year photo book blow bubbles go on a picnic finger paint chase down an ice cream truck play at the park sew something creative read

meals for 6.1.10 to 6.6.10

happy June... :)
summer is knocking on our door... :) the hot weather already arrived, though! :)
i love having all these summer fruits and veggies available... :) YUM! :)
corn on the cob...watermelon...peaches... :)
it's soooo good! :)

here is what's going to be on our table this week... :)

Tuesday: spaghetti and homemade bread sticks (from last week - didn't get to it!)
Wednesday: Boboli pizza
Thursday: leftovers (BBQed chicken, corn, potatoes)
Friday: grill out (hot dogs?), broccoli/green beans, and mac n cheese
Saturday: eat out or take out, maybe?
Sunday: kabobs on the grill (probably chicken, pineapple, kilbasa, green peppers, & onions) and another vegetable (we'll see what goes on sale tomorrow!)

snacks and other meals... lots of fresh fruit - watermelon, peaches, strawberries, pears... :)
(can you feel the juice running off your elbow? :))

:) i hope you enjoy the week! :)

she makes me smile...

it's been almost a year since i wrote my letter of resignation from teaching... i keep thinking how fast the last year has gone and how much i've loved every single second of being at home with K... and i look forward more years of pure joy! :)
it seems like she's growing by the minute...i saw how long her legs were today in the high chair...and how long her feet seem to be getting... and how much growing she's going to do this summer... :)
i wish there was a way to "capture" all of the things i love about her... her quirky personality and how the words she knows come out... i just can't take a picture and save these things... so, i figured i should write some of them down... :)

i smile when she jumps... in the last week, she's taken to jumping all the time... as she says, she loves to "djump." and the smile that spreads across her face when she does it... :) i love it...

i love how, after dinner, she runs for her little couch, throws herself on it, and looks at you to start her "DBD" before we start getting ready for bed. in the last few weeks, we've been going for walks before the DBD, but she's still excited when we get back to watch her Praise Baby video...

i smile when she says "no no no" when she's doing something she knows she shouldn't be doing... :) then she looks at you and grins... :)

i love how she dances... with her leg bounce at the knees and the arm movements... :)

i love her blue eyes...

i smile when i watch her play outside... she explores everything, loves dirt, and if she can find a ball, she's ready for a game... :)

she makes me smile when she calls a rainbow a "bee bow" and she calls a baseball a "bee ball"

i love how her second toe on her left foot doesn't stay down still... :) it's like her feet aren't wide enough... :)

she makes me smile when she looks for "Elmo," "Arnie," and "Burr" in her books...

i love how she points to things in her books and says, "mmmm" when she wants you to tell her what it is...

she makes me giggle when she throws it into reverse to sit on your lap when she's found a book she wants to read with you...

i love how her hair curls in the back...

i smile when she takes her plate and says, "all di" when she's finished with her meal...

i love how she runs to sit down when she knows it's time for a snack... (we've worked hard on sitting during snack time)

i laugh when she sees the open pantry and stands there and says, "trac-er, trac-er, trac-er" until she gets a cracker to satisfy her hunger... :)

i love how she finds a little stick outside and decides to use it to touch each towel that hangs on the clothes line...

i can't help but smile when she weaves in and out between the clothes on the clothesline like it's a game... :)

i love how she takes her blanket and shoves it under her nose each night to smell its sweetness and familiarity...

i smile when she throws her paci into her crib when she gets up and says "bye-bye, dii dii."

i love how she is starting to finish sentences for me when we read "Goodnight Moon." :)

i smile thinking about last night. as she fell asleep while we were rocking, that she kept pointing and sleepily saying "mooo" as the gibbous moon was shining into the window...

and there's so much more...
she makes me smile...all the time... :)

meals for 5.24.10 to 5.31.10

i can't believe the end of may is this week... absolutely amazing... June is knocking on the door...and that means SUMMER! :) yay! :) lots of fresh fruit...veggies...
cookouts with family and friends...BBQing... roasted marshmallows... mmmm! :) life is good! :)

since this weekend is the "unofficial" start of summer, i'm trying to change the fare up a bit... there are still some "regulars" that we'll enjoy, however... and yes, much to Ry's dismay, soup is still on the menu... i love soup for a few reasons... it's good for you (usually), and we always have leftovers... :) this week, i decided to try a new recipe from the "Taste of Home" cookbook that i got for xmas...we'll see how it turns out! :)

Monday: cold cuts and pasta salad with salami, pepperoni, and fresh mozzarella! (yum!)
Tuesday: Amish Chicken Corn Soup (you can find this recipe by searching for it here)
Wednesday: omelets and fried zucchini
Thursday: tacos
Friday: leftovers and corn on the cob
Saturday: cookout - taking homemade mac n cheese
Sunday: spaghetti w/ homemade bread sticks
Monday: BBQ chicken, baked sweet potatoes, corn on the cob

i hope that you have a wonderful week! enjoy your time filling your bellies!

and, more importantly, please, don't forget to take some time to remember those who have fought for us and lost their lives while defending our country... it's because of those men and women that we can especially cherish our freedom on this, and every, Memorial Day...

the man whistle...

we have two dogs who are super sensitive to outside noises... loud trucks (esp. UPS)...dogs barking... while i find their whimpers and barks to be a little annoying at times, i guess i'm happy that they are the big wimpy and wouldn't attack a fly protectors of our house...ya know, we have real guard dogs... snarling, foaming at the mouth, pointy canine teeth catching the light just right...the full Monty... :)

on Sunday morning, the most annoying person decided to whistle near our opened windows. we were all working on our yummy breakfast of french toast at the table... i have no idea where this person was (we have neighbors, but they weren't out) ...but every 30 seconds or so, we'd hear the whistle... short whistle, short whistle, and then a little longer whistle... after each man whistle, of course, the dogs would move quickly from room to room to "attack" out the windows or the sliding screen door...

Ry mumbled something about some stupid guy whistling and driving the dogs crazy...

eventually, it stopped...so i figured that the person lost interest in whistling and moved on...

on Tuesday afternoon, i opened the sliding door again because it was getting stuffy...and the whistle started again... i really thought it was a random man... i had NO idea who would be out whistling at 2 in the afternoon... our neighbors are at work then...and our houses/land butt up against a field where horses graze...and another field where cows graze...

i will admit that i was a little nervous thinking "oh man...who IS this person and are they going to try and break in?"

of course, the dogs got up and started their whining/crying, low barks... i scolded them... the whistle stopped...

my fear passed...and we enjoyed the rest of the day... :)

that very same night, we're sitting at dinner...and the whistle started again... after listening for a few seconds, i said to Ry, "is that a bird??" seriously, we sat in silence and listened... (well, almost everyone was quiet - the dogs starting their whine :))...

sure enough, it's a BIRD... and we've heard the man whistle bird several times this week...

now, can i just ask...have you ever heard a bird that whistles like a man????? :) while it's not so cool for people with dogs, it may do wonders for a woman's ego. :)

meals for 5.16.10 to 5.22.10

looking at the meals for the week, they sure don't look very well-rounded...
food is food, right? :) lots of tomato-based items... in reality, i'm trying to use up some stuff that's in the fridge/freezer...so we'll see what we can do with the boring fare... :)

Sunday: BBQ - burgers, leftover mac n cheese
Monday: leftovers - chicken chimichangas (YUM yum!), zucchini
Tuesday: macaroni soup
Wednesday: English Muffin pizzas
Thursday: spaghetti, salad, and bread
Friday: leftovers/eat out
Saturday: leftovers/eat out
(not sure which day we'll be eating out...)

hope you have a good week and that you have lots of good food with lots of good company :)

it's a girl...

i was reading this post by Jessica Gottlieb, and i was shuttled back to October 23rd, 2008 as darkness fell on that wonderful day...

i gave birth to my daughter on that day... i hadn't slept in a long time...i'd been up for probably 36-40 hours and i gave birth in that time...
i was sitting in my bed, holding her, still wrapping my mind around the idea of having a little baby... it was raining out...and i could see a few trees before the pretty brick building that hogged about 90% of my view...

now, we didn't find out the gender of this little one... i swore that not knowing would help me "push it out..." and i loved the surprise... :) i hadn't ever been pregnant before, and i had nothing to compare my feelings to, but i just kind of felt like i was going to have a boy... people told me their thoughts, and i guess i just went with the majority...

and after 23+ hours of labor, when they announced, "it's a girl" on that early Thursday morning, i cried...i was so happy "it" was a girl :)

that night, as i sat there looking at the rain drops on my huge window, i still couldn't believe i had a baby...and that sweet baby was a little girl wrapped in a soft cotton blanket...

it was probably hormones and exhaustion, but i cried... i cried because i sat there holding this little tiny baby...and suddenly, i was transported to 13 years in the future...as she stood there begging me to wear the shorts with "Juicy" across the butt...or the skin tight booty shorts that are popular... or a mid drift top...

see, i really thought it was going to skip into a sports store and choose "Nike" and "Adidas" shirts for my awkward teenage son with legs longer than an ostrich...

i know that it's going to take a lot of prayer to raise this little girl... but i pray, every night, that she is raised in such a way that she honors God and has pride in her appearance and dresses so that she doesn't advertise "things" that only her future husband should ever see when she gets married when she's 50

and i know that her dad and i are going to have very high standards for her dress...

and i know that she'll never wear outfits like we see in the video on Jessica's blog...

i'm thinking back to the days when i wanted to fit in, and i know it's so hard for a child to see other kids wearing such provocative fashion and not want to be like them... and from friends with older children, i know it's hard to find clothes for little girls that are tasteful...

i remember being a teenager and wanting a "Co-Ed Naked" t-shirt (popular in the 90s) because everyone had them... i did get one, a Co-Ed Naked Volleyball shirt, as a matter of fact... but it was behind my parents' back...and then when my mom found it... woah buddy... needless to say, i didn't ever wear it...and it still sits in my drawer at my parents' house... "on the floor is where you'll score" was printed across the back... now, if my daughter EVER wanted to wear that, i would burn it in the back yard and find a large floral moo moo for her to wear to school

i pray that my husband and i have the strength to remain strong in our convictions as we raise our sweet girl... :)