We had our first baby shower one week ago today, which our oldest had a blast at. Click below to see Photos.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Baby Sister
Less than 6 weeks to go! I'm getting a little anxious with all that we still need to accomplish before baby sister is born, but we are all very excited for her arrival. Soccer Dad has finished sanding our daughter's new chest of drawers and now all we have left to do is paint it :) We picked out a pale pink (she helped) and I think we'll do the knobs white. The paint that we purchased to touch up the crib and baby's chest of drawers, was found spilled in a puddle on the garage floor last Sunday. Of course, it happened on a Sunday. Luckily the dogs had just dragged the bag off the shelf, only one can spilled, and they did not track doggy prints all over. I'm just happy it wasn't the pink paint :)
As soon as we can get the chest of drawers painted, we can move our oldest's current chest of drawers, which matches the crib, into the nursery, start washing all of the belongings. We're replacing the three sets of navy blue panel curtains with something much lighter and airy. The nursery is currently rather dark and drab. Imagine all four walls with wood panneling, wooden closet doors, wood floor, and navy curtains. Great for a hunting lodge, but not so great for a nursery.
We have our church shower tomorrow, yay! We'll be able to figure out what we still need for baby after this and get everything put away. Phew! Our first shower was marvelous and Our oldest had so much fun opening all the presents and eating chocolate cakcake. I'm sure she'll have just as much fun at the next.
We're still in the process of picking out a baby name. We've narrowed it down to two. We wanted to pick before going into labor, but at least we've got it narrowed down to two names, instead of ten, like last time :) Our oldest thinks we should name the baby big guy and the baby in her tummy is named little guy. Her imagination has really been developing lately. A few days ago she was pretending that I was Garfield and Soccer Dad was Skeeter. Meow!
As soon as we can get the chest of drawers painted, we can move our oldest's current chest of drawers, which matches the crib, into the nursery, start washing all of the belongings. We're replacing the three sets of navy blue panel curtains with something much lighter and airy. The nursery is currently rather dark and drab. Imagine all four walls with wood panneling, wooden closet doors, wood floor, and navy curtains. Great for a hunting lodge, but not so great for a nursery.
We have our church shower tomorrow, yay! We'll be able to figure out what we still need for baby after this and get everything put away. Phew! Our first shower was marvelous and Our oldest had so much fun opening all the presents and eating chocolate cakcake. I'm sure she'll have just as much fun at the next.
We're still in the process of picking out a baby name. We've narrowed it down to two. We wanted to pick before going into labor, but at least we've got it narrowed down to two names, instead of ten, like last time :) Our oldest thinks we should name the baby big guy and the baby in her tummy is named little guy. Her imagination has really been developing lately. A few days ago she was pretending that I was Garfield and Soccer Dad was Skeeter. Meow!
Friday, November 5, 2010
Christmas Cards
I'm super excited to take our picture for our Christmas cards this year. We have a pretty funny idea, as long as we can get our toddler to cooperate :) I'm not sure if we'll attempt to get the dogs in the picture too...probably not, the cats may feel left out!
I'm going to be using Shutterfly to order our cards this year, they have a great selection and you can even save 20% with the promotion they have going on right now. Here are a few examples and you can find more here: Holiday Cards
It's super easy to upload your pictures, we've done this for ordering prints, plus they offer 50 free 4x6 prints for new members, which we took advantage of! To upload pictures click here: upload pictures or go here to sign up as a new member: Sign Up! After ordering, your prints arrive in the mail, which I found to be super convenient.
Shutterfly also offers many other items such as cards, calendars, invitations, etc. Not only do they offer traditional calendars, but also desk calendars which are currently 20% off.
So now for the really good part! My fellow bloggers may be able to grab up 50 Free Holiday Cards from Shutterfly as well! All you need to do is hop over to Shutterfly and register. It only takes a minute and you might be able to get your holiday cards for free!
I'm going to be using Shutterfly to order our cards this year, they have a great selection and you can even save 20% with the promotion they have going on right now. Here are a few examples and you can find more here: Holiday Cards
It's super easy to upload your pictures, we've done this for ordering prints, plus they offer 50 free 4x6 prints for new members, which we took advantage of! To upload pictures click here: upload pictures or go here to sign up as a new member: Sign Up! After ordering, your prints arrive in the mail, which I found to be super convenient.
Shutterfly also offers many other items such as cards, calendars, invitations, etc. Not only do they offer traditional calendars, but also desk calendars which are currently 20% off.
So now for the really good part! My fellow bloggers may be able to grab up 50 Free Holiday Cards from Shutterfly as well! All you need to do is hop over to Shutterfly and register. It only takes a minute and you might be able to get your holiday cards for free!
I hope you all go sign up and spread the word to others that might be interested!
I provided this post for Shutterfly and will be receiving 50 free photo cards for sharing my review.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Blessings
We've been so blessed since moving to our small town and I've especially been noticing it since we've gotten pregnant. Most recently, we really needed another dresser or chest of drawers and I felt like I prayed and prayed, and nothing was coming up. Last weekend we were driving by a yard sale and we happened to see a chest of drawers. Soccer Dad hopped out and asked and the husband said he would like to get at least $10 for it. Whoopie! It needs a little TLC, but now we can finally move our Toddler's chest of drawers, which matches the crib, into the nursery. Which means I can wash the baby's clothes, put them away, and get the rest of the room set up. Phew, I feel like it's coming down to the wire. Our toddler is also super excited about her new dresser :)
We were given a "like new" two seater stroller, which was originally purchased for $200 something. Yay, God! Our toddler also loves the new stroller and that she'll get to ride with baby sister.
Work and church both want to throw showers for us, what a blessing for our second baby!
Biggest of all, God has provided a house, church family, and friends. It took a while to start making friends (over a year), but it's finally happening.
We were given a "like new" two seater stroller, which was originally purchased for $200 something. Yay, God! Our toddler also loves the new stroller and that she'll get to ride with baby sister.
Work and church both want to throw showers for us, what a blessing for our second baby!
Biggest of all, God has provided a house, church family, and friends. It took a while to start making friends (over a year), but it's finally happening.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Our cooking adventures
I've had several friends and family who've made subtle comments about how I haven't been keeping up with the blog. I find that when I haven't posted in a while, it just gets harder and harder to create a post, because there is soooo much I have to share and I get overwhelmed and decide to wait longer. Makes sense right?
I don't think I've posted since we were in Oregon and while there my lovely sister-in-law kept talking about Dave Ramsey. I've always leaned toward Suze Orman's financial advice, but I was curious about what Mr. Ramsey had to say. I waited for weeks for his book to be returned to our library, but when it was around 3 weeks late, I decided to fall back to old faithful, Suze Orman and read "The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom." This resulted in revamping our budget, other financial areas of our life, and our eating habits.
My toddler and I have been baking and cooking many more recipes from scratch, which I've had people asking me about so I've decided to share a few of my favorites with you here. She does love to help with all the cooking, including whisking, beating, cracking, dumping, pouring, and even on occasion stirring with her toes. If you see an item of interest, just click on the link
1. Mayonnaise : don't forget to pasteurize your eggs before creating to avoid salmonella. Pasteurizing eggs is also great when cooking or baking any recipe that involves an uncooked egg. When making Mayo, please don't add too much salt, it is also a bit of a different color than store bought mayo.
2. Pita Pockets : time consuming, but turned out great!
3. Pumpkin Bread : My new favorite pumpkin bread recipe! Recipe calls for 1c honey, but I use 1/2 c honey and 1/2 c apple juice and recipe turns out great. Honey is a bit expensive for our family to use that much in one recipe.
4. Tortillas : Amazing! My whole family loved these and they were so good straight off the griddle. This website is written by a Mom whose family is debt free and has many great reads.
5. Wheat Bread : The best homemade bread recipe that I've ever used. I make the dough in my bread machine and bake the bread in the oven. If you scroll down the page, she'll tell you how to do it. We use this bread for about half the bread we consume monthly and it is fabulous. The recipe calls for 2T brown sugar, and we've made it with 2T, 1T and no brown sugar and all three tasted great.
6. Yogurt : My toddler loves this yogurt! The recipe calls for 1/2c plain yogurt, but we prefer to use 1/2c vanilla yogurt for a bit of added flavor. Yogurt CANNOT be frozen and thawed. We also use 1 or 2% milk and add 1 packet unflavored gelatin. This results in a nice thick yogurt that is easier for Abby to eat. When using the gelatin, refrigerate for the gelatin to solidify. I also love this website for her other crockpot recipes. She will list a regular recipe, but also a gluten free version, as her family does not consume gluten.
I've been using 1/2 wheat and 1/2 unbleached flour in all recipes that call for flour and our family has been perfectly happy with the taste. I usually always leave out all sugars and replace with honey, apple juice, or apple sauce. Agave nectar is also supposed to be a great alternative, but it's more expensive in our stores.
Let me know if you try any and how they turn out and I'll continue to post recipes that I find to be wonderful.
I don't think I've posted since we were in Oregon and while there my lovely sister-in-law kept talking about Dave Ramsey. I've always leaned toward Suze Orman's financial advice, but I was curious about what Mr. Ramsey had to say. I waited for weeks for his book to be returned to our library, but when it was around 3 weeks late, I decided to fall back to old faithful, Suze Orman and read "The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom." This resulted in revamping our budget, other financial areas of our life, and our eating habits.
My toddler and I have been baking and cooking many more recipes from scratch, which I've had people asking me about so I've decided to share a few of my favorites with you here. She does love to help with all the cooking, including whisking, beating, cracking, dumping, pouring, and even on occasion stirring with her toes. If you see an item of interest, just click on the link
1. Mayonnaise : don't forget to pasteurize your eggs before creating to avoid salmonella. Pasteurizing eggs is also great when cooking or baking any recipe that involves an uncooked egg. When making Mayo, please don't add too much salt, it is also a bit of a different color than store bought mayo.
2. Pita Pockets : time consuming, but turned out great!
3. Pumpkin Bread : My new favorite pumpkin bread recipe! Recipe calls for 1c honey, but I use 1/2 c honey and 1/2 c apple juice and recipe turns out great. Honey is a bit expensive for our family to use that much in one recipe.
4. Tortillas : Amazing! My whole family loved these and they were so good straight off the griddle. This website is written by a Mom whose family is debt free and has many great reads.
5. Wheat Bread : The best homemade bread recipe that I've ever used. I make the dough in my bread machine and bake the bread in the oven. If you scroll down the page, she'll tell you how to do it. We use this bread for about half the bread we consume monthly and it is fabulous. The recipe calls for 2T brown sugar, and we've made it with 2T, 1T and no brown sugar and all three tasted great.
6. Yogurt : My toddler loves this yogurt! The recipe calls for 1/2c plain yogurt, but we prefer to use 1/2c vanilla yogurt for a bit of added flavor. Yogurt CANNOT be frozen and thawed. We also use 1 or 2% milk and add 1 packet unflavored gelatin. This results in a nice thick yogurt that is easier for Abby to eat. When using the gelatin, refrigerate for the gelatin to solidify. I also love this website for her other crockpot recipes. She will list a regular recipe, but also a gluten free version, as her family does not consume gluten.
I've been using 1/2 wheat and 1/2 unbleached flour in all recipes that call for flour and our family has been perfectly happy with the taste. I usually always leave out all sugars and replace with honey, apple juice, or apple sauce. Agave nectar is also supposed to be a great alternative, but it's more expensive in our stores.
Let me know if you try any and how they turn out and I'll continue to post recipes that I find to be wonderful.
Monday, August 16, 2010
To church on time
It seems as though every Sunday morning since I was a kid there was always something, should I say someone, trying to prevent us from making it to church, at least on time. I'll not mention any names, but I think we all know who the culprit is. This last Sunday was one of the worst as far as pee-pee and potty is concerned.
On Saturday, our toddler peed in her car seat, as seems to be the trend lately. I washed it and hung it out to dry, so it would be ready to re-install on Sunday morning. I packed up her snacks, drink, my purse and the cover, and put it on the table. At some point when I wasn't looking, she pulled the cover down off the table and left it on the floor. I happened to find it a few minutes later with dog pee on it, ahhhh! Our little squirt man has picked up the bad habit of peeing in the house.
At some point during the weekend one of our kitties urinated on something in the laundry room. I swept and mopped the floor on Saturday, took absolutely everything out that could be removed on Sunday, wiped it down before church, and the room still stunk!!! Our toddler has also decided that she needs to use the potty chair all by her big girl self. She occasionally misses the potty and this send a lovely aroma through the bathroom.
While cleaning the bathroom, I noticed how well behaved and quietly our toddler was playing in her room. I popped my head in to see what she was up to and found that she had ripped up four colors of play-dough into pea sized pieces all over the floor. Yay...another thing to clean up before church! Once this was all picked up, we managed to make it out the door and to church on time.
I've learned my lesson, all I need to do is shower an hour before my normal time, as I did on this Sunday, then I'll have time to clean up all of life's little disasters. It turns out that the cat had relieved itself in Mat's shoe when it was sitting in the garage and Mat placed his shoes in the laundry room to dry, where the smell was multiplied 100 fold by the heat of the dryer. Stinky!
Anyone have any other Sunday morning stories?
On Saturday, our toddler peed in her car seat, as seems to be the trend lately. I washed it and hung it out to dry, so it would be ready to re-install on Sunday morning. I packed up her snacks, drink, my purse and the cover, and put it on the table. At some point when I wasn't looking, she pulled the cover down off the table and left it on the floor. I happened to find it a few minutes later with dog pee on it, ahhhh! Our little squirt man has picked up the bad habit of peeing in the house.
At some point during the weekend one of our kitties urinated on something in the laundry room. I swept and mopped the floor on Saturday, took absolutely everything out that could be removed on Sunday, wiped it down before church, and the room still stunk!!! Our toddler has also decided that she needs to use the potty chair all by her big girl self. She occasionally misses the potty and this send a lovely aroma through the bathroom.
While cleaning the bathroom, I noticed how well behaved and quietly our toddler was playing in her room. I popped my head in to see what she was up to and found that she had ripped up four colors of play-dough into pea sized pieces all over the floor. Yay...another thing to clean up before church! Once this was all picked up, we managed to make it out the door and to church on time.
I've learned my lesson, all I need to do is shower an hour before my normal time, as I did on this Sunday, then I'll have time to clean up all of life's little disasters. It turns out that the cat had relieved itself in Mat's shoe when it was sitting in the garage and Mat placed his shoes in the laundry room to dry, where the smell was multiplied 100 fold by the heat of the dryer. Stinky!
Anyone have any other Sunday morning stories?
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Our Babies
I've begun feeling the baby kick quite often within the past few weeks. The biggest difference I've noticed between this one and when I was carrying my firstborn, is the intensity this one has. My firstborn was always wiggling around and I was constantly feeling little flutters and quick movements. When the current little one moves, s/he means it! I don't feel the baby as often, but the kicks are very strong, possibly a future soccer player! Soccer Dad has even been able to feel the kicks on several occasions. Other than that, I seem to be carrying the baby the same as the first. My allergies have been much worse and I've had more skin problems (my wedding ring doesn't like me). I did find out that my Aunt had the same problem with her ring when she was pregnant as well, phew, I'm not such an odd ball.
Our other baby isn't such a baby anymore! She's already two, I can't believe it! She watches mommy get ready for work everyday and wants to be just like me :) She puts makeup on with me, plays with unplugged curling irons, and picks out her own clothes, which she changes about 5 times per day. She especially loves all of her pretty dresses. Last week she noticed that I had a different pair of earrings on that I don't normally wear, and she wanted to wear earrings too! Normally I hang bracelets or rubberbands on her ears and she's satisfied with that, but I remembered that I have three pairs of Grammy's clip on earrings. She was so tickled to wear her great grandmother's green sparkly clip-ons, that I couldn't get her to take them off until bedtime for two days in a row. I know how much those earrings pinch, but she's a tough little thing and didn't seem to mind. I hear her calling me now, have a fabulous afternoon!
Our other baby isn't such a baby anymore! She's already two, I can't believe it! She watches mommy get ready for work everyday and wants to be just like me :) She puts makeup on with me, plays with unplugged curling irons, and picks out her own clothes, which she changes about 5 times per day. She especially loves all of her pretty dresses. Last week she noticed that I had a different pair of earrings on that I don't normally wear, and she wanted to wear earrings too! Normally I hang bracelets or rubberbands on her ears and she's satisfied with that, but I remembered that I have three pairs of Grammy's clip on earrings. She was so tickled to wear her great grandmother's green sparkly clip-ons, that I couldn't get her to take them off until bedtime for two days in a row. I know how much those earrings pinch, but she's a tough little thing and didn't seem to mind. I hear her calling me now, have a fabulous afternoon!
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