Happy Birthday Lil' Man

The snow outside is gently falling, exactly like it was one year ago today when I met the little man who would steal my heart away. Lil' man was a scheduled c-section and was scheduled to arrive between 8 and 8:30 but he decided to make a grand entrance when the doctors lost his heart rate and he rolled onto the umbilical cord so at 7:19 am on December 31, 2008 I met the man of my dreams. I can't tell you how much I love you because there's just not enough time in a lifetime but know that you and your sister have my whole heart. You were a perfect 9lbs and 2 oz and 21.5 inches of all boy. You have learned so much in your year it amazes me (and frightens me somewhat), you're starting to walk and have mastered the art of climbing on anything and everything, can say "mama" with absolute conviction and are one of the happiest babies I've ever seen. Happy Birthday baby boy, and remember the whole world is celebrating with you!!!!



12/31/2008


12/31/2009

Emily's world

Seriously why is it that the minute the leaves start changing colors the stores think they need to put out Christmas decorations? Luckily this year we were able to procure a Halloween costume for Em with 2 weeks left to spare before the event. Last year we had a very hard time finding one for her with that much time left. She's going to be a witch.....here she is trying on the costume:



Sharing a popsicle with Daniel who is having MAJOR teething pain.....



And finally entertaining Daddy and I with her song about Cinderella and the number 3:

Freezer/Pantry Challenge Take Two

Ok here we go again. Let's see how this week works out for my challenge since last week not only did we have Chinese one night we also had pizza.

Monday: Homemade Hamburger Helper
We had some leftover ground beef, shredded cheddar, elbow mac, and milk and voila Hamburger Helper at a fraction of the price. Plus it allowed both me and E to have lunch on Tuesday

Tuesday (aka Daddyless dinner night) Breakfast
I bought eggs on sale at A&P for a buy one get one free and we had a ton of pancake mix. So the kids had pancakes and syrup and Mommy had eggs and sausage (I don't like pancakes)

Wednesday: Pot Roast
We bought a HUGE pork loin at BJ's when it was on sale and have slowly been eating away at it.

Thursday: Baseball food night
Hot dogs and fries.

Friday: Chicken a la Grandma
Chicken thighs in olive oil and breadcrumbs, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies

Saturday: Musgoes (leftover night)

Sunday: Chili
Chili is pretty much a given on Sundays once football starts. It's easy to make, both my kids eat it, and it makes enought for leftovers.

Let's see how this goes since I actually had a menu plan ahead of time.

Freezer/Pantry Challenge

As some may know my husband and I are planning to move at the end of November. To make life easier (and in all actuality cheaper) on us we are conducting a freezer/pantry challenge to reduce the amount of food we have in our freezer and pantry and to try not to go grocery shopping every week except for necessities (milk, bread, eggs).
To do this we need to make a menu plan and in complete honesty we're really, really bad at that. So far this week here is what we have had for dinner

Sunday: English Muffin Pizza
(I got the english muffins for $1.99 at Hannaford, the mozzarella for .99 at Hannaford and I had a can of crushed tomatoes left over from when stop and shop had them for .50)

Monday: Chicken a la Grandma, homemade stuffing, mixed veggies
(I got boneless, skinless chicken thighs for .19 a pound (!!), we had some white bread that my kids won't eat so we turned it into stuffing, and we had the frozen veggies from a s&s stop when they were .50 a bag)

Tuesday: Stuffed Peppers, garlic knots, alfredo noodles
(The hubs made dinner with ground beef we bought on sale a month ago, we bought a HUGE bag of rice at BJ's about 6 months ago and are still using it, the peppers he bought yesterday, I bought pizza dough on Sunday in the hopes of making homemade pizza but had a problem getting it to roll out so that's where the garlic knots came from, 1.99, and the alfredo noodles were a pasta roni package that I bought for .50)

Wednesday: This we will call my "Adrianne didn't have a menu plan" night. Chinese food. 'Nuff said. Except that I also got a replenishment on my tupperware. Oh and that I got enough food to have dinner for hubs, mini-me, me and enough for lunch for all three of us the next day. And well, breakfast for me. There were vegetables in it so I deemed it healthy.

Thursday: Musgoes (whatever is in the fridge "must go" or leftover night to a normal family) And now I realize that in order for this to work I really, really need to make a menu plan and not try to fly by the seat of my pants.

Conversations with a 3 year old

E: Mama, can we go to Heaven?

This was the question asked of me by my 3 year old on the way home from Sunday School today. It's her first time being in Sunday School and she LOVES every minute of it and apparently she's listening when they go to the chapel for song and story time. I pondered how to answer this for her as Heaven is somewhere that she should want to go, but is not somewhere that we can go right now. While I thought of how to answer her over our shared lunch of nuggets and fries she asked another question:

E: When can I meet God?

I tried to tell her that she sees God everyday. In the flowers by the side of the road, in the leaves that are now starting to change color, in the bright blue sky and the fluffy white clouds that are shaped by elephants. I tried to tell her where I see God; in her smile, in her brother's baby blue eyes, in watching them learn and grow every day. How do you give answers to a 3 year olds questions when you're not so sure you know the answer? How do you tell her that you don't know and she responds with "why?". How do you explain to a 3 year old who sees everything in matter-of-fact that you can't drive by Heaven just to see what's going on? Or that you can't schedule a meet and greet with God? I started to tell her that going to Heaven and meeting God are going to be direct reflections on how she lives her life. She sat and thought about this for a long time and then asked a question that I could answer:

E: When I go to Heaven will you be there?

Absolutely baby, absolutely.

AL CENTRAL CHAMPIONS!!!!

Most that know me, know that I am originally from Minnesota and a big fan of the Minnesota Twins. Especially when my dad used to take us to games in the Metrodome and watching my favorite player of all time #34 Kirby Puckett and being able to be in the state when they won the World Series in 1987 and 1991. Two years in a row now the Twins have come from behind to force a one game play off to enter the playoffs within the American League. Last year was a heartbreaker as the Twins lost to the Chicago White Sox 1-0. This year no one thought they would be able to catch the Detroit Tigers who had a 3 game lead heading into the last 4 games of the season. But with an amazing (17-4) record for the month of September my beloved Twins forced a playoff in the Metrodome. I must say that when Miguel Cabrera hit that hot 2 run shot off of Baker my heart sank a little but the way the Twins stuck with it and kept answering runs with runs of their own reminded me a little of how this game is supposed to be played. With a lot of heart. Both teams played with a tremendous amount of heart rallying from being down one run each and eventually forcing extra innings. In the end it was the Twins who came out on top 6-5 in the bottom of the 12th inning on a single by Alexi Casilla that scored Gomez from 2nd. I think that both teams played last night like the players of yester year and each would have deserved the win. Congratulations to the Minnesota Twins. Everyone else please pray for my hearing as my hubby is a NY Yankees fan (as is the rest of my in-laws) and it should be interesting in our household starting tonight.

My Everest

So the other day I got an email from active.com asking what my "Everest" was and it really got the wheels turning thinking about what I want to accomplish in my lifetime. I'm married to an amazing man (who can seriously drive me nuts but I know loves me for everything that I am and in spite of everything that I'm not), have two wonderful children (who I watch with amazement every day when they surprise me with how great they really are), and I'm really not looking to accomplish much more than raising my children to be the best they can be. So thinking with this in mind (and knowing that I want my kids to know that anything is possible) I've decided that I have two "Everests" 1) I want to run a 5K, followed by eventually running the NY marathon and 2) I want to complete a triathalon. Now for anyone who knows me I'm extremely stubborn and when doing something I usually do everything in my power to get it done and that I can be extremely lazy and working out is really not my cup of tea. But as I said before I want to show my kids that hard work and perseverance can overcome anything so here's to completing my Everest. What's your Everest?

Fall

I love fall. Just about everything about it, changing leaves, falling leaves, apple picking, the pumpkin patch, eating or drinking anything with the hint of pumpkin in it. Wearing sweaters and jeans and being comfy. Football Sundays and Mondays (and sometimes Thursdays and the occasional Saturday college game too which means then sometimes on Friday night as well), Sunday school is in full swing. But most of all I love it because it's a time when my kids are a little more likely to want to snuggle up to a warm body and because that means its time for fall pictures.

What a whirlwind

.....and I have loved every minute of it. Last weekend I took the kids to the Hyde Park Quadricentennial. This has importance in two ways for me especially first its a free thing to do with my kids, second it is believed that Henry Hudson anchored his ship in the Crum Elbow Creek in 1609. It was a nice day without it being too warm, fall was definetely in the air especially when the wind blew. It gave Emily a chance to go from table to table and come away with a souvenir from each. There was the paper rose she got to make (marking the rose gardens in FDR's lawn), the piece of wooden furniture stamped with Val-Kill (a la the furniture at Val-Kill Eleanor Roosevelt's estate), a wooden sailboat (to commemorate Hudson's Half Moon ship), and a dutch hat. It was a wonderful event and really got the kids and community involved.

Here are some of the pictures from the day:

Busy Saturday.......

So today is both the Hyde Park Quadricentennial and the Arlington Street Fair. Both are about the same time. The Quad is 1-4 and the Street Fair is 12-6. I've decided to enrich both my childrens lives by going to both. Alone. With a 3 year old and a 9 month old. God help me. Stay tuned for pics of my amazing kids having an amazing time!!

Free samples

I LOVE free stuff. Mostly because it's free. But also because it gives me a chance to try something that I most likely wouldn't buy without trying first. There's an that has amazing free samples. This site updates every day and always has something that I'm interested in. Below is a picture of just some of the samples I've received. The best part is I haven't paid for deodorant in over a year due to the free samples I get.





That's 10 magazines, a formula sample, a bookmark,a Betty Crocker warm delights sample, and three full size cans of Chunky soup......who can beat that????

Miles of Hope walk

I have said for years that I really wanted to do a Race for the Cure walk, a relay for life, etc., etc., but I have either not had the time or was just lazy in doing it. Not this time, I am all registered for the Miles of Hope Breast Cancer Research walk on Sunday September 27 at James Baird Park. I'm totally looking forward to doing this walk with my kids and even more so to raise money for a stellar cause. I'm hoping to start instilling in my children the desire and need to support causes such as these. We have always donated to St. Judes, the American Cancer society and our local food banks but doing activities such as these and seeing all the awesome supporters, not to mention survivors is equally thrilling. Now I only have to get my rear in gear to prepare for a 5K while hauling two kids.....

Already breaking hearts.....

...unfortunately it's my heart. I type this as I listen to my son not cry himself to sleep. He hasn't napped all day, is cutting teeth, and is incredibly tired. I know he needs to sleep and I think even he may know it, but at 7 months old it's way more fun for Mama to hold you than it is to nap. If it feels like my heart is breaking now what in the world am I going to do when he starts dating?

What a whirlwind of a weekend!!!!! Emily was DYING to go in the pool and lucky for her (and me) Aunt Denise was very willing to take her in...Below are the highlights

 

 

 

 

I suck

I mean I really suck at blogging. There doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done that I want to and blog. So here I am trying to do it while on my lunch break. I've decided that yet again I need a swift kick to the keester to drop the last pesky 15 pounds of my pregnancy weight. Why are those last 15 always so hard? Probably because I decided to have my son at the end of December and in the midst of all kinds of eating holidays and birthdays I just haven't managed to remember that I'm no longer eating for two. With that said I had a lentil burger (no bun and it was delicious) and a salad for lunch but I'm seriously debating about rewarding myself with the Reese's peanut butter egg that is mockingly calling my name. Maybe I'll find willpower somewhere and resist the temptation. Tomorrow we are taking Emily to the Bronx Zoo for her 3rd birthday----seriously she's 3 already when did that happen? Pics to come soon.

Massive blogging catch up