flower plucker

we're still fluctuating with our temperatures a bit here even though we've officially been experiencing "fall," on the calendar, for a little over a month. this week, we had to turn on the air conditioner again after a few hot & humid days....last night, i set the heat to kick on at 65* because it was supposed to be around 32* last night. tonight, i'm warming up with a cup of hot chocolate after a night outside for Trick or Trunking...

it's kind of funny...because i was just thinking that i'd be outside "soaking in" the "warm" temperatures of today/tonight if it were February...i'd have a t-shirt on and i'd think, "boy, it's really warm!" but i really think that, after it's so warm through the summer, it takes your body awhile to "adjust" to cooler temperatures... i dunno, maybe i'm just getting old! (hehehehe!)

a few weeks ago, we were experiencing a "cooler" day... K was sporting her little jean jacket while we played outside... she enjoyed watering the flowers with me, and of course, afterward, she loved picking the mums off of the bushy plants or plucking the few blooms left on the petunias or geraniums. :) even after several attempts to remind her not to pick the flowers...just sniff...she'd still look at me with that "gleam" in her eye and she'd reach down and pull off another little flower... then she'd put the flower to her nose and inhale as loud as possible... :) and, well, honestly, i'd start to smile and laugh... (yes, i'm such a good disciplinarian!)

on this day, i decided to take some pictures... and i managed to grab a few pictures of her LOOKING at the camera... she moves around so much that it's hard to get her to LOOK at the camera these days... and well, while i'm not a photographer (i just wish i was), these were pretty good... :)
enjoy my little flower bandit :)

see that mischevious gleam in her eye?
picking something, i'm sure

the poor geraniums...but look at her!

again...so pretty

reminds me of a female james dean, minus the cigarettes

and a fast car

:)

it's a day of remembering for me...

when i woke up this morning, i thought about what i was doing 2 years ago...timing contractions... :) i sent ry back to sleep after my water broke at 6:15 that morning... :) i knew we had a little time...

...and almost 24 hours later (i didn't think we'd have THAT much time :)), my life changed forever... :)

happy, happy birthday to my SWEET baby girl... who has made life more wonderful than i could have ever imagined... :)

happenings and meal plan for 10.18.10 to 10.24.10

things are crazy this week... i am going to need to remind myself to take the time to ENJOY moments... mostly my sweet Katherine's 2nd *gasp* birthday... my baby turns 2 on Saturday...it seems impossible, but it's true... and in the words of my friend, Carey, who has reflected on her three little ones' milestones...it would be nice if things could slow down just a little bit... i feel that way with K... woah nellie!

~i have to get some pictures downloaded and posted... i really have intentions of it all the time but never feel like i have time... :(

~we had K's 2 yr pictures taken on Monday afternoon... can't WAIT to see the magic that Jessica works... :)

~K's birthday is on Saturday... grandparents will be here...and it just happens to be a birthday season... my mom celebrated her birthday on Sunday and my mother in law will celebrate her birthday on Thursday... we'll be having Tres Leche Cake to celebrate their special birthdays... YUM! :) (i made this cake last year for MY birthday...heaven in disquise of a cake, no lie...WOW!)... then, for K's birthday, we'll be caking it up again...strawberry cupcakes and cake... can't wait for THAT! (and it will be better than last year's DISASTER of a load cake...ICK!)

~i started watching Thomas and his new little sister, Tenley, 2 weeks ago... we're getting the hang of things with an 8 week old and 2 two-year olds... some days are better than others... :) it's been great for Katherine to have her pal back....but it's also "training" K for life to come in a few short months...

~oh yah, speaking of...had our ultrasound last week...it's a GIRL! a little sister for Katherine... :) i'm so excited for her... :) a gift for years to come ('cept for maybe during those hairy teenage years!) :)

~loving the fall weather...we have bouts of warmth and then some chillier days... :) lots of leaves are changing, mums are in full color...pumpkins! :) yay! :)

~i have a paper due on Sunday for my class; not a good week to have a paper due! :( i'm sure it will be finished, but i'm sure it will be difficult with the crazy schedule... not looking forward to squeezing that in...

~it's lunchtime here, so i better get myself ready so the kids can eat before i lose my window! :)

speaking of food...here are the meals for the week... even though my MIL will be here, i tried to plan a little... :) and a special "thanks" to Sarah for inspiring the first meal choice of the week! :)


Monday: homemade chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes (they were DIVINE!) and homemade apple pie (yes, i spent a lot of time in the kitchen on Monday...)

Tuesday: english muffin pizzas

Wednesday: lasagna

Thursday: CiCi's pizza (gotta quench that hunger for mac n cheese pizza for the best sis-in-law in the world! :))

Friday: out to eat with the grandparents and cake, of course! :) (Happy Birthday, Gamma R and Bebot K :) )

Saturday: out to eat with the grandparents again, i'm sure :) and cake :) (Happy Birthday, Katherine! :) )

Sunday: who wants to eat?! we've probably gained 5 pounds in the last 2 or 3 days... :) anyhoo, we'll probably do leftovers... :) if we don't have leftovers, i'm sure we'll come up with something :) oh, and cake! :) hehehe :)

meals for 10.11.10 through 10.17.10

nothing fancy this week... :) we have an overstock of a few things, and i really want to get rid of some things... so, i tried to keep the grocery list to a minimum so that we could declutter the "mess!" :)


here's what is on the menu for us...

Monday: chicken, leftover cheesy bowties, corn

Tuesday: spaghetti

Wednesday: leftovers (maybe homemade pizza w/ the spaghetti sauce?)

Thursday: turkey burgers, carrots, & sweet potato fries

Friday: sour cream pancakes, sausage (Ry) & turkey bacon (R n K :))

Saturday: leftovers/scrounge or eat out

Sunday: not sure yet...maybe grilling out... :)

enjoy the week! :)

the best kind of surprises...

it seems like it was awhile ago when i sat in disbelief about being pregnant with K... i understood how it happened...and when it happened...and that it was truth, but, for months, i just felt like it was all a dream...

for weeks, i thought that i probably just had some "female issue" that mimicked pregnancy... as most of you know, you don't really "feel" much in the beginning of a pregnancy... i wasn't sick, i wasn't gaining weight, i wasn't having cravings...it just seemed impossible that a test "said" i was pregnant... i looked at that test for weeks after i first saw those two pink lines... weeks... in disbelief...


it wasn't until March 31st (yes, i remember the date) when we went for our first ultrasound that i had to believe it was true... the little legs floating around were the first things i saw... and i turned and looked at Ry and said, "i think it's really for real..." :)

i couldn't have ever fathomed the changes that would come from our little surprise... i would have never guessed that my "passion" for teaching would soon wane... i would have never guessed that i would resign from teaching, which was my identity for years...

and there are so many other wonderful changes that came from our little surprise :)


but, i know that the changes and surprises that we experienced are the best kind... i can't even begin to imagine life without my sweet Katherine... so many people told us, "ohhh, when the baby gets here, you'll never believe that life existed before it..." (no gender references here...we didn't know what we were having :)) how true that statement became... life is simply WONDERFUL! :)

well, new surprises await our family...

yep, Katherine is going to be a big sister this February...

i was emotional when i told Ry... i cried because i was scared at what this would mean for Katherine's world... i love how things are "now"...and i wanted her to have more one-on-one time with us before we rocked her world with a new little one...

but...surprise...again! :) it's not always about what we "want," is it?

i think experience has proven that surprises like this always turn out to be the most incredible blessing...kind of like that surprise back in the early months of 2008 when we learned that we'd be parents the first time...

and, now, i look at this "surprise" as an incredible gift... i can't imagine loving anyone more than i love Katherine...but i know we will... but i think the gift will be for Katherine... yes, it will be an adjustment for her, but what an INCREDIBLE blessing it will be for her to be a big sister... to have a little brother or sister with which to grow up with and to share life...

things will be a little different this time...there will be no "surprise" on the day of delivery :) i "made a deal" with Ryan when I was pregnant with K that if we didn't find out what we were having the first time, we could find out for the second child... :) so, in two days, we'll know if Katherine is going to have a little sister or brother. (and yes, we all know what Daddy wants! :)) and, well, knowing if we're having a boy or a girl will make it easier to pick out a name before we leave the hospital (Katherine was known as "baby girl" for her first 2 days of life...and the name has stuck :) that's what we call her a lot :))...and, maybe we will have a precious little blue or a pink outfit to bring home our newest addition versus the "non-gender specific" ducky sleeper we used to bring home Katherine :)

but, i think we're ready for a little surprise... after all, does it get any better than a sweet little one? i think they may just be the best kind of surprises... :)

meals for 10.4.10 through 10.10.10 (<---hehe :))

well, it's that time again...to think about food...
i'm starting back "to work" this week with my little tikes... Thomas (2 yrs.) and his new little sister, Tenley (8 weeks), will be joining us on Wednesday... we're excited to get back into the swing of life with our friends :)
but, i also know that, for the next few weeks, i'm bound to be tired and things may be a little hairy... :) and, who wants to slave in a kitchen when you just want to sit down and go to sleep?! :)
taking this new schedule into account, i tried to plan better because, basically, i want leftovers more often and don't want to spend an hour in the kitchen later in the week getting food together... :) and with cooler weather, i think our bodies are craving warm comfort foods... :) yay! :)

so, here's what we'll be munchin' on this week... :)

Monday: macaroni soup and grilled cheese

Tuesday: sloppy joes (Pioneer Woman) & mac n cheese
(if you have never had Pioneer Woman's sloppy joes, make them... you will LOVE them! :) it takes a little more time than opening up a can of Manwich, but it's sooooooo worth it!)

Wednesday: leftovers :)

Thursday: Morning Star buffalo wings & cheesy bowties

Friday: leftovers :)

Saturday: scrounge around w/ leftovers or eat out

Sunday: chicken hot dish (which will make leftovers for next week! :))



wishing you a wonderful week with your family and friends and lots of good eats, too! :)

potty...a beginner's tale...

so i have been contemplating whether or not to start K with potty training. she displays "some" readiness, but i don't think we're all the way there yet...

i don't want to force the issue...
but she tells me when she has to poop...
she runs out of the room when it's time to poop...
she observes me using the potty and tells me that i'm going pee pee...and she does the same thing when she hears daddy go...and when we take Beezer and Shorty outside to go... :)

i have picked some momma brains...when did you start? was it hard? how did your child do? did you give her M&Ms or other bribes? did you use a potty chair (on the floor) or a potty seat on the big toilet? did they regress when a new sibling came along? lots of questions... :)

so today, we went to Walmart to buy a potty seat... we went to Target a week ago and they had just Dora potty seats...and i will tell you in a few sentences why we didn't get that one...
ANYHOW, we got a cushy tushy potty seat today...it's white with yellow ducks... it's not the "cutest" seat, but hey, you're gonna use the bathroom on it, right?!
it's nice and cushy, too (as the name promises :))...for little tiny sweet little behinds... :) and it was better than the purple potty seat with "princess" printed on it (what?! who takes a wee on a potty seat that tells you that you're a princess?)...or, for the boy crowd, a baseball potty seat or football potty seat...or the ever popular Dora potty seat (which would probably, in a yelling voice, bossily tell you to take a crap in Spanish [i'm not a big fan of Dora])......

i forgot to buy M&Ms tho... but it's OK, i'm not like...DIE HARD potty training... i just want K to have a chance to sit on her potty seat to get started with the idea... if she seems ready and asks to sit on it semi-regularly, then I will get M&Ms... :)

and i really wanna get K the book "Once Upon a Potty" - forgot to get that, too... :) have you ever read it? it's so super cute... :)

so, before our nap and after lunch today, we opened our new cushy tushy potty... :) momma made a big deal out of it... i asked K if she wanted to sit on it to try to pee pee or poop, and she flashed me her smile and shook her cute head eagerly in agreement... yay! :)
as i was getting the seat situated on the "oval office," K decided it would be fun to put her arm through her cushy tushy toilet seat to surf in the water...
nice...
momma stops K with a raised voice "noooo!"...
tears follow...
momma kisses K and reminds her not to put her hands in the toilet...
tears are gone... :)

momma sticks her sweet girl on the cushy tushy...and we sit and talk... K talks about poop and pee pee and she wanted toilet paper... i tore off a few sheets for her and she was pleased as a peacock...
she promptly wiped as if she had done pee pee...
and hopped off her potty seat...
:)
we washed hands...antibacterial soap this time since she took a little expedition in the clean toilet water...

not a TERRIBLE first experience.... :) enough to make me laugh and look forward to doing it again in a few hours when she wakes up from her nap :)

meals for 9.27.10 to 10.3.10

gosh, i can't believe it's almost October already.... :)
i love fall... :)

i'm back to meal planning this week...i took off a week b/c my in-laws were in town... :) my mother-in-law is a much better meal planner than me :)

here are the eats for the week... it's a weird week here... Ry and i have dentist appointments on different afternoons and getting geared up for homecoming this weekend... that means Ry won't be home much...so dinners will be simple and....basic :)

and, i have to say that i'm not leaving K out of meals... for the last several nights, she's pretty much refused dinner... so, her dinners are things like fruit! i always offer her what we're having, though, but she rarely eats it and will not try it... can i mention, again, how much i love having a picky eater?! *ugh*

ok, ok... the plan... :)

Monday: leftovers (chicken cutlet sandwiches from Sat. night) & mac n cheese

Tuesday: bagel pizzas

Wednesday: tacos

Thursday: chick-fil-a (yum! :) a benefit of having a dentist appointment in town :))

Friday: *Homecoming Game* me: quesidilla Ry: eat out *probably subway*

Saturday: *Homecoming decorating all day and dance at night* take out - pizza

Sunday: Frenchie chicken fingers, mashed potatoes, & a veggie


hope you have a good week! :) enjoy the fall weather and eats with each other :)

caramel apple dip

i'm blessed to live near a beautiful apple orchard (which i toured every year i taught 3rd grade)... and, i am even more blessed to know the wonderful family who runs this apple heaven... :)

missy, one of my friends and the wife of one of the owners, shared this recipe recently... and it is Y.U.M.M.Y! it's not too sweet...it has an interesting but good taste...and paired with an apple slice... (or two apples, sliced, if you are us :)), you will think you've died and gone to apple heaven... :)

Missy's Caramel Apple Dip

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 t. vanilla extract

Melt your butter in a small pan. Add your brown sugar and stir constantly until smooth and dissolved. Remove from heat and add your sour cream and vanilla extract. Stir to combine.


go ahead...make it... if you do, i will warn you, you won't be able to stop eating apples with this dip... :)

oh, and buy lots of apples... :) you'll need them... :)

i can't wait until i need a snack this week... :)

meals for 9.13.10 to 9.19.10

i think fall is finally knocking on our door... i see leaves scattering the ground...and a cool breeze blows in our windows at sunset... :) i love it... fall is one of my most favorite times of the year...the colors and smells...pumpkins and mums... :) Earth's rest from a hot and demanding summer is well-earned... :)

my meals haven't quite taken that "fall" turn, yet...but we're looking forward to some yummy eats this week! :) here's what will be on our boring white plates this week... :)


Monday: chocolate chip banana pancakes, sausage links (Ry) and turkey bacon (me :))

Tuesday: leftovers (corn noodle casserole from Sunday)

Wednesday: BBQ meatballs (Meg's recipe), corn on the cob and mashed potatoes (totally stole
the rest of the meal from her plate picture - so original, i know :) - but it looks so good!)

Thursday: leftovers (corn noodle casserole?) OR bagel pizzas (me) and California Kitchen's BBQ chicken pizza (Ry)

Friday: meatball sandwiches (leftover meatballs from Wed.) & mac n cheese

Saturday: leftovers or eat out

Sunday: cream of broccoli soup and grilled cheese (haven't decided on which recipe for the soup...will post it when i do :))


happy eats to you all! :) ENJOY your time with your family and friends! :)