Recipes I want to try...

Okay, so I love finding blogs written by first time parents. It's so neat to see how similar our experiences truly are. But when I find a parent blog that also has cooking tutorials with great pictures and instructions....WIN!

I was going to post a few recipes that I found on Four Lease Ranch blog here, here, and here but then I realized she has another blog dedicated to just her cooking. You had me at chocolate cake.

Lisa and Krissy, if you are reading this...I call dibs on the tortilla casserole for small group.

New Posts

Every now and then I'll find some photos or remember something that I forgot to post.

So that my blog stays chronological, I'm post dating them so they will show up as if I posted them when the memory happened.

So that you don't miss any new posts that happened to be tucked back in an old folder, I'm listing the new articles here. Enjoy!

How we manage until Daddy gets home.

Pictures from the Day

Play Date with Markers

How to eat your first ever Oreo

18 Month Check Up

Pigtails and Bacon

Just an average heart warming Tuesday

Brooklyn,

I know you won't remember this but yesterday when I walked into the toddler room to pick you up from daycare, you were playing happily with your little friends. I love watching you interact with other kids. Then your friend Savanah got on the bouncy zebra and jumped and jumped. This prompted you to go to the bouncy horse and jump and jump. Your teacher and I clapped and cheered at how fast you both were bouncing. This got the other kids excited and soon everyone was clapping and cheering. I felt like we were having a party! It was hilarious to see the huge smile on your face. I love watching you have a good time.

Then you and I walked out to the car but rather than get right in, we took a walk. It was a brisk sun shiny day. We walked along the fence between the property and a pond, looking at the birds and scanning the ground for bits of anything you thought was interesting.

You found an acorn top and considered it precious. You would throw it down the sidewalk and then run to pick it up. I just enjoyed being outside with you. Then I found a rock and threw it. You would run to pick it up. This went on for several minutes. Finally, I noticed all the acorns on the ground around a small oak tree and pointed them out to you. You love collecting 'akins' and picked out as many as you could fit in your little hands.

Then I showed you the pockets on the front of your shirt and how well they would safely hold your little treasures. You gently put each acorn in your pocket. You are such a joy to watch.

After walking back to the car and buckeling you in safe and sound, we drove home. You manage to get your shoes and try so hard to put them back on. You'll get it eventually. I love how eager you are to learn and master new things.

Once home, I gave you some cereal for a snack and opened some cinnamon applesauce for myself. You showed great interest in my applesauce so I sat on the kitchen floor with you in my lap and we shared it.



You won't be small for very long, my precious baby. These are the moments I want to remember forever.

I love you,
Mommy

We did it!

We are notorious for eating out basically every night and honestly, it gets old. Then when we do finally shop for groceries, we get bored with the idea of cooking so we put it off until the food spoils. It's not that we hate cooking at home. I actually love it. It's the shopping and clean up afterward that is a major PITA.

Anyway, the food we waste is a disgusting habit that I want to break.

So last week John came home from a farmer's market with a bunch of fresh delicious veggies and cuts of meat. I think he spent around $40. Immediately we sat together and planned out dinner for the week using up all of what he bought.

Monday - Fajitas
Tuesday - Meatloaf
Wednesday - Pizza (Not us cooking but it was a frantic day so give a girl a break.)
Thursday - Home Group where meals are provided
Friday - Ate out with John's parents
Saturday - Steak, corn on the cob, baked potato
Sunday - Burgers and I even made a CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday - Spaghetti (sauce was leftovers we had in the freezer.) What? We ate leftovers?! YES.

We win at cooking this past week! The only thing we threw out were the leftovers from Friday night (resturant food.) Not my fault. It wasn't that great a meal to begin with so the remnant should have never come home with me.

Tonight we will use up the last of his farmer's market run: Chicken marinated in a mandarin orange maple sauce with asparagus. Woot!

Pigtails and Bacon

I was finally able to wrangle Perpetual Motion Toddler still long enough to put her hair into pigtails. Then, to distract her from immediately pulling them out, we went for a walk to visit the neighborhood cats and ducks.









And then Saturday morning we went for breakfast. I cringed when John let her steal his bacon, but she liked it so what could I really say at that point?

18 Month Check Up

We learned at your (infinitely long) doctor visit that, at 32.5" tall and 26.25lbs, you are in the 75% in height and weight, which I think is great considering how small you were at birth.

Here you are waiting for the pediatrician to come in.

And waiting.

And waiting.

Until finally he arrives.

Did you notice the time stamp on the above photo? No? Let me enlarge that for you:

FYI, our appointment was at 10:00am. Grrrrrr!

Moving on....

Brooklyn, at 18 months you are so much fun! You love to try to do things on your own. You run everywhere you go. You still enjoy putting things in the trash for me and daddy. You are an excellent mimic. You are so curious about everything. Your vocabulary is growing daily. You've figured out how to put my iPod on the Bose player so you can dance to Blues Traveler. You take very good care of your baby by sharing your gold fish crackers with her.



and taking her for rides on your scooter.

You LOVE Elmo. I mean L.O.V.E Elmo. Or Emmo as you call him. You love to say Doo Daa Doo Daa Doo Daa as we sing Camp Town Ladies. You think every semi truck or bus is a choo choo. Did I mention you love trains???

You have become kind of whiney and temper-tantrum-y when you don't get your way. You constantly want 'up' and I can't always hold you while I'm cooking or doing laundry, so when I tell you 'no' you gently lay stretched out on the floor and cry. You hit your head on the tile floor once during a tantrum and ever since then learned that easy-does-it. So I can't help but laugh as you ease on down to the floor and try your best to stay mad. Mine is your new favorite word. I know this stage will pass. And there are soooo many good things about you that these few unpleasant age-related things are easy to see beyond.

To end this post on a good note, I love how you ask to go night night when you are tired. I love how you snuggle your blankets in the morning. I love how you think that hiding your face makes the rest of you invisible. I love how much you giggle when you see the neighborhood cats. I love how you yell Daddy! and run to the door when he comes home.

Good, bad, happy, sad...you are so special to us. I love you with all my heart.

Viva Las Vegas.

My vacation was great. Here is a photo recap of all the merriment.


Tiffany picked me up at 5:00am in the pouring rain on Friday, so I was too tired to be sad that I didn't get to see Brooklyn and say goodbye before we left. Getting through OIA security was no problem at all...no naked scanners, no junk touching. It was the same experience as it has always been. Thank goodness. I love when you expect the worst but get the best.

The flight over was nice - got upgraded to business class for the first leg. Hello leg room!

I also took some pics of the grand canyon as we flew over. Yes, my camera lens...uh...ROCKS! (pssst, I have the best husband ever...he buys me lenses even when I don't ask for them or know that I even want them.)

We were met with champagne, roses and a stretch limo

to take us to the hotel. We traveled like the princesses we are!!!

Tiff and I saw a show (Le Reve)

toured the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop
(of Pawn Stars fame...no, we didn't see Chumlee. Dang it.)

gambled (I won some major loot!), got dressed up

ate some really good food at a french resturant in our hotel (Andre's) where I found the definition of yum....

Veal tenderloin with baked foie gras

and Grand Marnier souffle. Caution: This WILL make you slap yo momma.

some so-so food (In & Out Burger - I reeeeally don't get what all the fuss is about. It's a hamburger, people!):

El Diablo Cantina (where the margarita's make you silly!)

had some delightful cupcakes from The Cupcakery in our hotel:

We hung out with some of the natives:

and walked through many of the fancy hotels. Check out this chocolate fountain!?! For realz it starts up in the ceiling...

And these crazy cakes!

And we visited an ice bar aptly name Minus 5. (Get it? Minus 5 degrees is how frickin cold it was.)



MGM Grand stuck out to me as a potential vacation spot when I come back with my family. I mean really...who has a lion exhibit in the middle of their lobby? Only the cool people, that's who.



Speaking of cool people, I did miss John so badly. I want him to be a part of every fun and exciting thing I do. Of course I missed Brooklyn too. Thankfully John sent me many pictures and text updates of her to keep me from going crazy.

The flight home was Les Miserables. At this point in your vacation you are DONE with the anticipation and just want to be home. Not to mention AirTran seats feel like they are literally shrinking around you in flight.

Vacations are always a blast, but when I walked through the door of our apartment to John's waiting arms, I cried because I realized how deeply I missed my family. The arrangement of roses he had for me was icing on the cake.

PS I made a little promise to myself to never vacation without them again. After all, I didn't get married and have a family to go solo. In fact, I took today off to spend some time with my daughter.