Friday Favorite Five

Daylight Savings Time is right around the corner, so Meredith at Stretching a Buck is asking "What are your five favorite things about spring?" I've been meaning to participate, and I just happened upon some time to post today.

1. More hours of daylight to take Josiah out for a walk after dinner.
2. Opening the windows (and leaving them open at night).
3. Putting the heavy coats away and breaking out the sandals and capri pants.
4. Firing up the grill for a backyard BBQ.
5. Spring cleaning

Mission Accomplished!

I just want to take a minute to share our exciting news.....

The weekend before last we disassembled the crib and put together Josiah's toddler "big boy" bed. We felt that we needed a few months to get him adjusted to the transition in preparation for his sibling, due in just a few short 9 weeks....not that I'm counting or anything. :-)

Well, the transition has been much more smooth than I anticipated. I thought I would have to use "Super Nanny's" technique of placing him back in his bed time and time again since he now has the freedom to get out of bed on his own. However, he has not even once gotten out of bed after we've said "good night". Nor has he crawled out of bed when he's awakened...he waits for us to come in and say "good morning, handsome". Additionally, after we've read his standard 4 nighttime books, he'll crawl up into the bed himself, lay down and go to sleep....and will sleep all night (we're going on 4 nights now--we're not counting the first week due to the little man being ill). I'm just amazed! This is all the proof I need to know that we've not forced this transition upon him, but that he was ready. Now we'll just have to wait and see what having a new baby in the house will do to this smooth transition. :-) We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Tag--You're It!

I've been tagged by my good friend, Elaine, to complete the following meme (my first one):

6 Non-Important Things About Me.

1. I absolutely CANNOT stand to be in a quiet room with someone who is eating, especially cereal.
2. I am a DIE HARD "Big Brother" fan...I've only missed 1 of 9 seasons.
3. I HAVE to drink milk anytime I eat spaghetti (this one's a weird one, I know).
4. I LOVE to vacuum.
5. Crocheting has become my new-found relaxation technique (I wonder if it will work during childbirth)
6. Pose a question, and I'll find the answer...using Google...I just love that search engine. :-)

I'm tagging Elizabeth, Lori, and Sara.

Weekend Activity

A number of things happened over the weekend....but the most exciting was the visit from Papa and Grandma. Unfortunately, Josiah wasn't feeling 100% due to a viral infection (2-3 days of fever), so Mom and Dad didn't see him at his finest (energy and all)...but they still enjoyed watching and listening to him...he had changed so much in the short 2 months since Christmas.


Papa and Grandma had gifted Josiah with a toddler bed for Christmas. But since we had no extra room in the car, we left it in IL to be delivered later. So on Saturday, Josiah's "baby" bed was disassembled in exchange for a much more exciting "big boy" bed. Josiah just thought it was the most fun thing. In fact, he immediately claimed it as his.....while sitting on the floor, I had rested my arm on the side, and Josiah pushed it off, saying "NO". Tonight is his first night sleeping in "the bed with no sides to keep him in". It'll definitely be an interesting transition, but we feel it's one that needs to happen now so that he no longer associates the crib as his and gets upset when we bring "AJ" home.

Just to quickly revisit one of my New Year's Resolutions, I noted a goal to learn a new craft. Therefore, I learned how to crochet....just a few of the more basic stitches. So I made baby "AJ" a blanket, since I've experienced that the handmade crocheted kind are some of the best blankets to swaddle with...I've included a picture below of the finished product. While it's not perfect, I'm excited to give my baby something I put so much love in to.

I also finished a "lovey" for a friend's daughter who just had a baby boy....it's my first sewing project.

Two more Resolutions to "check" off the list. :-)

Menu Plan Monday--Week of February 18th

I'm excited to report that Randy and I stuck to the meal plan last week (except for Wednesday night when I got home late from my exercise class). So I'm going to try it again...I just need to find easy recipes to help me stick to it. Soooo, if you have any easy recipes (that are family favs and they're not "secret"), I would love to add them to my recipe arsenal.

Okay, so here it goes, MPM Week #2.

Monday--Chicken Baseballs with green beans

Tuesday--Tortellini with Zucchini and Peppers

Wednesday--"Clean Out Refridgerator/Freezer Dinner"

Thursday--Ranch Pork Chops with corn and crescent rolls

Friday--Singapore Shrimp with Jasmine rice and Edemame

Saturday--Homemade Pizza (my first attempt)

Sunday--Hamburgers on the grill with homemade baked fries

Additional MPM posts can be found at: http://orgjunkie.com/category/menu-plan-monday

Menu Plan Monday

Since I've gotten sucked into the world of blogging, I've come across a number of resources to help me with my recent addiction of organization. One of them is Menu Plan Monday (MPM)....so here is my FIRST attempt at planning out the family's dinner menu.

Monday--Beef brisket and homemade tortillas

Tuesday--Spaghetti and garlic bread

Wednesday--Chicken baseballs and a veggie of some sort

Thursday--Honey Mustard Chicken, asparagus, and Irma's Famous Carrot Cake (my husband's favorite, just for Valentine's Day)

Friday--Spinach quiche

Saturday--Chicken stew with dumplings

Sunday--Beef, potato, and cheese burritos (with homemade tortillas)

Additional MPM postings can be found at: http://orgjunkie.com/category/menu-plan-monday

Warning Label

5 years ago I made a promise (as part of our wedding vows--okay, just kidding) to Randy to learn how to make his mother's famous homemade tortillas....so that our children could grow up eating them just as he and his brothers and sister had. So we both got our hands dirty tonight (this was Randy's first attempt) so that our beef brisket would not be eaten alone. Now, Josiah has only had 2, maybe 3, tortillas in his entire life, but tonight he sure knew what they were (Grandma made some during our visit to Tulsa). Even before Randy could get the first one rolled out, he was asking for one.

Josiah ate the most for dinner tonight than he had in quite some time....he just couldn't get enough "ta-tia". Of course, we had to sneak in a little bit of brisket, too. Randy was pretty excited to share with Grandma just how much her grandson LOVED tortillas...."he's definitely Mexican". The conversation between Josiah and Irma was hilarious, so I thought I'd share....we had no idea what kind of effect tortillas would have on his mood (pre-tortilla= grumpy, post-tortilla= well, see for yourself)....there definitely needed to have been a warning label

CAUTION: May cause uncontrollable laughter and excited conversation in children under 2.

PS. Just to "toot" my own horn, my batch tonight was the best one to date...however, I have a way to go with regards to making them perfectly round. :-)

A Taste of Freedom

Randy made it home late Friday night/early Saturday morning after driving 15 hours from Tulsa. It is so nice to have him home, again...but it will take me the next couple of weeks (or full month) to get used to having him around. Randy home = more laundry, more food, more tidying up, etc. :-) Unfortunately, by the time I get used to having him around, he'll be starting his Internship (notorious for working long hours at the clinic/hospital). :-(

Josiah enjoyed his time with "dada" this weekend. Who needs a jungle gym when you have "dada"? I guess you could equate me to the fun resulting from one of those climb on animals that have such a large spring attached to the underbelly that they hardly move. Whereas Randy is definitely as fun as a slide or a wiggly bridge...Josiah just laughs and laughs. But I find comfort in knowing that my little boy will want to "snunnel" (aka-snuggle) when we get home. :-)

I'm also very excited to report that I tasted a little bit of FREEDOM this weekend, too. Get this....I spent 1 whole hour at WalMart and 30 minutes at Target yesterday BY MYSELF! I can't remember the last time I was able to take my time at the store....I went through just about every isle--not because I needed to, but just because I COULD. :-) I almost felt naked....I didn't have to rummage through my purse in a quest to find fruit snacks, pick up dropped sippy cups, constantly tell 'little man' to sit or hold on while standing in the basket part of the cart because he will no longer sit still in the seat, or have to keep little wandering hands from knocking down anything he can reach on the shelves (doesn't he know to keep all hands and feet inside the ride while it's in motion?). Then when I got back home, Randy asked, "what took so long?" He's been gone for 90 days, and he asks me "what took so long" after being gone 1.5 hours?

We are still struggling with which program we should rank #1. After much debate and consideration of the pros and cons of each, we are still not any closer. Unfortunately, we are running out of time to select....the match closes in a couple of weeks. Oh, and another prayer request, if you think about it, is that Randy travels to PA to take the big DO PE test. It's set up just like if Randy were walking in to see a patient during an office visit...but he's being graded to see if he does EVERYTHING he's been taught in the books. It's a pretty big deal and it's extremely important that he comes home with a P for Pass. :-)