"Morning, Mom"
breakfast
baths
books
bouncing
dancing
running
cuddling
tickling
Curious George
cars
trucks
trains
lamb
drool
Baby Orajel
crackers
bananas
big brother
baby sister
pink blanket
tummy time
naps
pacifier
"happy to see you, Daddy"
rice cereal
pajamas
cardboard box cave
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
cookies
kisses
night night.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Yesterday
Yesterday was a busy day for us! We had a lot of fun things going on.
Bright and early, we went to my grandfather's 85th birthday party. (8:30am is definitely "bright and early" for us, since we have to get the kids and ourselves together and drive across town, but that 80+ crowd is made up of early risers!) We invited a bunch of his friends to a breakfast buffet that is popular among them. It was really good for Papa to get out of the house, and I think everyone enjoyed the morning.
Granny, Papa, Mom, and Aunt Les
I am an idiot and forgot to get a picture with Mark and Kim, who are moving to California pretty soon. We may not get to see them again before they go, and I am really kicking myself for not pulling the camera while they were with us. Hopefully, we'll get to see them one more time before they leave.
Bright and early, we went to my grandfather's 85th birthday party. (8:30am is definitely "bright and early" for us, since we have to get the kids and ourselves together and drive across town, but that 80+ crowd is made up of early risers!) We invited a bunch of his friends to a breakfast buffet that is popular among them. It was really good for Papa to get out of the house, and I think everyone enjoyed the morning.
Here are Granny and Papa, enjoying breakfast and their friends and family.
Granny, Papa, Mom, and Aunt Les
An awesome picture of Noah and Spencer.
On the left is my cousin Arielle and Nathan.
On the right is my cousin Jonathan and his wife, Tara.
On the right is my cousin Jonathan and his wife, Tara.
Here are Nathan and Jonathan doing their impression of Noah's face when I asked him to smile for a picture. Noah did this hilarious thing where he smiled out of half of his mouth.
After the birthday party, we ran a couple of errands, then I got ready for my friend's baby shower. I was excited about this shower, because I knew I'd be seeing a lot of people from high school who I haven't seen in quite a while. Here's a picture of Jenn, me, Becky, and Kristi (seated).
I saw this ridiculous limo on the freeway. Only in Texas.
Last night, we had BBQ with some friends from college. Here is Jane with Elvia.
I am an idiot and forgot to get a picture with Mark and Kim, who are moving to California pretty soon. We may not get to see them again before they go, and I am really kicking myself for not pulling the camera while they were with us. Hopefully, we'll get to see them one more time before they leave.
It was a fun, busy summer day.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Janey's First Solid Food!
On Thursday, Jane had her first bites of solid food!
She did so great. In fact, she took to it very quickly; Noah had a hard time trying to figure out what to do with his tongue, but Jane had less trouble. Over the last few weeks, I've noticed her watching us carefully when we eat, and lately she has really started watching our meals with rapt attention. I guess doing that helped her learn how to eat!
I also think she was kind of excited about the whole thing. Boy did she go after that spoon!
As soon as I got the spoon close to her face, she leaned forward and met me halfway. I did end up cleaning a lot of rice cereal off her face, but that's to be expected, and overall she did great!
Here's her brother giving her a bite. I don't plan to allow this to be a regular thing since he came close to gagging her, but he loves helping so much (and he loves his sister so much) that I let him have a shot at it.
Our little cousin, Spencer, is in the background watching the whole thing with impish fascination.
What a neat milestone!
She did so great. In fact, she took to it very quickly; Noah had a hard time trying to figure out what to do with his tongue, but Jane had less trouble. Over the last few weeks, I've noticed her watching us carefully when we eat, and lately she has really started watching our meals with rapt attention. I guess doing that helped her learn how to eat!
I also think she was kind of excited about the whole thing. Boy did she go after that spoon!
As soon as I got the spoon close to her face, she leaned forward and met me halfway. I did end up cleaning a lot of rice cereal off her face, but that's to be expected, and overall she did great!Here's her brother giving her a bite. I don't plan to allow this to be a regular thing since he came close to gagging her, but he loves helping so much (and he loves his sister so much) that I let him have a shot at it.
Our little cousin, Spencer, is in the background watching the whole thing with impish fascination.What a neat milestone!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup
The other day, I made the easiest chicken soup you can possibly make, unless you think opening a can of Campbell's constitutes "making" soup. I thought I'd share the recipe with you--which is very basic but pretty tasty--because I figured I'm not the only one out there who could use an easy recipe every so often. Also, I made this in my slow cooker, which added to how simple it was. I used pasta, but you could also use a grain, like rice or barley. I have to say, though, that it was fun to use star-shaped pasta when you have a toddler in the house, though, because we ended up calling this "Star Soup," which was fun.
All of the ingredients are already prepped for you, except for maybe the celery (I already had it chopped because I chop up extra celery and keep it in the freezer just for soups). I chopped my onion myself, but I think you can buy frozen chopped onion, too. Generally, all you have to do is gather everything, toss it all in, and let it cook for a few hours! I wished I'd had a little parsley on hand to add at the end, but it was good without it, too. The green you see in the picture is a little frozen chopped spinach that I threw in--y'all probably know by now that I sneak spinach into nearly everything! Served with some fresh bread, this makes a nice meal.
Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup
1 32-oz. box chicken broth
2 chicken breasts
1 bay leaf
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup frozen crinkle cut carrots
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup small pasta, cooked
salt and pepper to taste
*optional: chopped parsley
In a slow cooker, add the broth, the chicken, and the bay leaf. Set it on high and cook for 2-3 hours. Add the celery, carrots, and onion. Continue cooking on high for another 2 hours or so, or until the veggies are soft and the chicken is cooked through. Discard the bay leaf. Shred the chicken. Cook the pasta and add it to the soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the parsley, if you're using it.
All of the ingredients are already prepped for you, except for maybe the celery (I already had it chopped because I chop up extra celery and keep it in the freezer just for soups). I chopped my onion myself, but I think you can buy frozen chopped onion, too. Generally, all you have to do is gather everything, toss it all in, and let it cook for a few hours! I wished I'd had a little parsley on hand to add at the end, but it was good without it, too. The green you see in the picture is a little frozen chopped spinach that I threw in--y'all probably know by now that I sneak spinach into nearly everything! Served with some fresh bread, this makes a nice meal.
Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup
1 32-oz. box chicken broth
2 chicken breasts
1 bay leaf
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup frozen crinkle cut carrots
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup small pasta, cooked
salt and pepper to taste
*optional: chopped parsley
In a slow cooker, add the broth, the chicken, and the bay leaf. Set it on high and cook for 2-3 hours. Add the celery, carrots, and onion. Continue cooking on high for another 2 hours or so, or until the veggies are soft and the chicken is cooked through. Discard the bay leaf. Shred the chicken. Cook the pasta and add it to the soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the parsley, if you're using it.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Happy Birthday, Papa!
Today is my grandfather's 85th birthday! I just wanted to wish him a happy day on such a momentous birthday.
I call my grandfather Papa, pronounced "Pawpaw." Everyone spells it with W's except for me, and the only reason I don't is that someone taught me to spell it "Papa" back when I was in kindergarten or something, and I just can't change it now. He has a blog that he puts an incredible amount of thought and effort into every day--he spends a lot of his time working on it.
The other day, we were reminiscing about how he picked me up from kindergarten every day. He remembers how my face would light up when I saw his car, and I remember that I completely wore out the motor in the electronically adjustable seats and that he had to replace it. He remembers how he used to buy me a coke sometimes on the way home, and I remember how I used to tickle him, and he'd say, in a high pitched voice, "Don't goosie the driver!"
We have a lot of good memories. Happy Birthday, Papa!
I call my grandfather Papa, pronounced "Pawpaw." Everyone spells it with W's except for me, and the only reason I don't is that someone taught me to spell it "Papa" back when I was in kindergarten or something, and I just can't change it now. He has a blog that he puts an incredible amount of thought and effort into every day--he spends a lot of his time working on it.The other day, we were reminiscing about how he picked me up from kindergarten every day. He remembers how my face would light up when I saw his car, and I remember that I completely wore out the motor in the electronically adjustable seats and that he had to replace it. He remembers how he used to buy me a coke sometimes on the way home, and I remember how I used to tickle him, and he'd say, in a high pitched voice, "Don't goosie the driver!"
We have a lot of good memories. Happy Birthday, Papa!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Five Months Old!
Miss Jane Elisabeth is five months old today!
A few things about my girl:
A few things about my girl:
- The fuzz on her head is getting a little longer and spikier. Noah's didn't do this, so I'm hopeful that she won't be bald until she's two, like he was. Not that Noah wasn't the cutest thing ever, because he was. But being a little girl, Jane sure would be cute with a little bow or a some curls.
- She is starting to get her bottom two teeth!
- She has started experimenting with her voice and making the funniest (and loudest! and piercing!) sounds. "AaaaAAAAAAaaahhh!"
- She'll smile at anybody.
- Her feet are so long and narrow that, although they don't look abnormal when she's barefoot, all baby shoes look ridiculous on her because they're so wide. So she has gone barefoot all summer, which is not a bad thing in hot Houston!
- She's getting really good at using her hands to bring things to her mouth.
- She has a vice-like grip. Pulling Mommy's hair is her specialty.
- Her favorite toys are her little lamb and a little blanket with tags.
- She goes to sleep much more peacefully if she has a blanket around her. I am not sure if it's just a habit she's really taken to that has carried over from her swaddling days or if it's because she likes to have some fabric to grip as she goes to sleep.
- She thinks it is delightfully hilarious when Noah jumps. She just gets so tickled. And when I hold her and help her to jump with him, it sends her over the moon. She laughs and laughs. It's so funny and sweet to hear a baby laugh that hard.
- Looking up at a tree from underneath fascinates her. She can't take her eyes off the branches.
- She may love her mama, but she looks very little like me! I think she's going to have brown hair and brown eyes. And her skin is darker than mine. That doesn't keep her from being super cute, though!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Brenham
This weekend, we took a little family trip. Taking little road trips is something we have not done very often over the last several years, but we're hoping to make it more of a regular thing. After the craziness which has been our life lately, we really needed to just take a weekend and reconnect as a family. I know that 30 is kind of late to come to this realization, but I'm seeing how important it is, relationally speaking, just to have fun together sometimes. Our lives have been quite dominated by to-do lists related to moving and settling in here, and most of our "free" time is taken up by tackling the next necessary thing. So I determined that before the summer was out, we were going to go out of town.
Because we wanted to do an easy trip, we chose a place that was a very easy distance. At this time in our lives, with children our kids' ages, the ease with which we can get in and out of a place really counts for something. When you're negotiating two nap times, nursing a baby, and the very limited attention span and patience level of a two-year-old, it just means a lot when you don't have to worry about stressors like traffic, entertaining the kids for hours in the car while on the road, busy restaurants, etc. Anyway, all that to say that we chose to go to Brenham, which is about an hour outside of Houston. It's a small town that has some fun little random things to do in and around town, and it's not terribly big or busy, which made it a good choice for us for this trip.
Love Jane's smile in that one.
Our first official stop was at a lavender farm. Now, this place cracked me up, because it was just so NOT this:
That is the lavender farm that Matthew, Emily, and Nathan's parents visited in England a few weeks ago. Nope, the Chappell Hill Lavender Farm is this:
Doesn't that make you just want to giggle? Poor Chappell Hill. I regret to say that it just ain't happening for you, guys. Your plants look a lot more like sagebrush than lavender.
Come to find out, their lavender had bloomed really early this year, so they had already harvested it, which accounts for the total absence of blooms. The fields did still smell kind of nice, though. And the walnut-lavender body scrub I bought at the gift shop smells awesome. Plus, they obviously were working on making the grounds a nice place to visit, because they had this nice gazebo:
Here are a couple of family pictures we took inside the gazebo.
Next, we headed on down the road and turned down a side road to make an unplanned stop when we saw this sign. Please pardon the fact that this is a little off-color, but I must confess that it made us laugh.
As it turned out, the miniature donkeys were just in some random guy's front yard, so we didn't actually stop. We just drove by, waved at the donkeys, and kept moving.
I have to say, it was nice to take a trip and have really low expectations. Does that sound bad? I don't mean for it to. It was more enjoyable that way. Rather than doing some high-level entertainment stuff, we just had fun seeing what we could see and enjoying the humor of it when it didn't turn out as planned. I also thought that it was a pretty relaxing way to go about it.
Now, one of the main things we wanted to do this weekend was visit the Monastery Miniature Horses. It's basically a nunnery that raises miniature horses! Isn't that random? It just goes to show that God calls us to do lots of varied and different things, and that he can use any work that he calls you to for his glory.
Anyway, we knew that Noah would enjoy seeing the horses, so we put this stop on the list. It was a nice, well kept place, and the horses were cute.
Did I mention that it was HOT this weekend? H-O-T hot! The temps topped 100 degrees both days (the forecast said it'd be 103 both days). If you've ever lived in Texas, you can pretty much feel how hot it is by just looking at this picture. The cloudless blue sky and the bright sun are good indicators. Imagine the sound of cicadas buzzing, and you'll get an even better feel for a hot Texas summer day. Thankfully, the pictures don't show the sweat sheen on all of us.
The horses in the corrals weren't really interested in being petted, but there were some in the barn that Noah was able to reach.
One of the things the nuns do is let kids paint little figures. We got a horse for Noah, and as it turned out, painting was one of his favorite activities that day. The picture shows how intent he was; he really enjoyed choosing different colors, and he looked so thoughtful as he decided where to paint each color.
We also stopped into the chapel on the monastery property. It was a modest building but had some pretty stained glass. As we were about to go in, an older couple drove up and headed straight inside. It was evident that they were not tourists. I went in alone to take a look around, and the couple and one other woman were sitting in the pews, praying. In the back of the chapel was a book that looked like a guest book, so I walked over to check it out. As I was looking it over to see what it was, I realized there was a space for people to write down their prayer requests. Not meaning to snoop, I happened to see that that same couple had been there before. In fact, it looked like they came there every day to pray for a loved one, which I found incredibly wonderful and sweet and devout.
After we left the monastery, we headed back to the hotel, but after an hour in a dark room with a bouncing two year old, we found that naps were going to be a complete no go. So to kill time before dinner, we went to . . . wait for it . . . Wal-Mart. We are one exciting family, let me tell you. After browsing there for a while, we went and ate dinner at a restaurant, then we followed that with sodas at McDonald's so that Noah could play on the playground and hopefully wear himself out so that bedtime would be fairly early (too bad that didn't work!). After the kids finally fell asleep that night, Nathan and I watched a movie on the computer, which was nice.
The next morning, after inhaling a huge breakfast, we went swimming. I have to tell you, I have not been swimming in years. There just aren't that many swimming pools in Boston, you know? It was so nice, and I really enjoyed it. Nathan taught Noah to jump to him from the edge, and I taught him how to kick his feet.
Then we got cleaned up and headed to the Pleasant Hill Winery to stomp some grapes! We thought this would be a really fun outing. I had gotten Noah all worked up about how fun it would be to step on grapes, feel how squishy they would be under his toes, and have his feet turn purple. He knew it would be fun.
Nathan, Noah, and me on one of the vine-covered decks.
What I didn't realize is that you had to pick the grapes you were going to stomp. You know, the only bad thing about this was that it was DADGUM HOT. But at least it was pretty.
Noah had a great time picking. In fact, he ate quite a few of those suckers.
Nathan's bounty.
Please avert your eyes if my blinding paleness is too much for you. If you can believe it, my arms are actually tan right now (for me).
Katie and I are one in paleness, and together we are bringing back the Victorian era.
Noah and Mommy with a bucket of grapes!
Dumping those suckers so we could get to stompin'.
Woo hoo!
Talk about a staged picture. The guy running the stomping area slathered grapes all over our legs and told us to take a picture. You can pretend we went all I Love Lucy if you want.
Fun times.
Because we wanted to do an easy trip, we chose a place that was a very easy distance. At this time in our lives, with children our kids' ages, the ease with which we can get in and out of a place really counts for something. When you're negotiating two nap times, nursing a baby, and the very limited attention span and patience level of a two-year-old, it just means a lot when you don't have to worry about stressors like traffic, entertaining the kids for hours in the car while on the road, busy restaurants, etc. Anyway, all that to say that we chose to go to Brenham, which is about an hour outside of Houston. It's a small town that has some fun little random things to do in and around town, and it's not terribly big or busy, which made it a good choice for us for this trip.
Here are Jane and me, waiting for the guys to get back to the car with "Texas's best kolaches" . . . which happened to be housed in an Exxon station. Nothing like the true road trip/small town experience, right? They were pretty tasty (they're hard to beat when they're so fresh), but I'm not so sure they were the best in the state. It was still fun to stop in the middle of kolache territory and get a few.
Love Jane's smile in that one.Our first official stop was at a lavender farm. Now, this place cracked me up, because it was just so NOT this:
That is the lavender farm that Matthew, Emily, and Nathan's parents visited in England a few weeks ago. Nope, the Chappell Hill Lavender Farm is this:
Doesn't that make you just want to giggle? Poor Chappell Hill. I regret to say that it just ain't happening for you, guys. Your plants look a lot more like sagebrush than lavender.Come to find out, their lavender had bloomed really early this year, so they had already harvested it, which accounts for the total absence of blooms. The fields did still smell kind of nice, though. And the walnut-lavender body scrub I bought at the gift shop smells awesome. Plus, they obviously were working on making the grounds a nice place to visit, because they had this nice gazebo:
Here are a couple of family pictures we took inside the gazebo.
Next, we headed on down the road and turned down a side road to make an unplanned stop when we saw this sign. Please pardon the fact that this is a little off-color, but I must confess that it made us laugh.
As it turned out, the miniature donkeys were just in some random guy's front yard, so we didn't actually stop. We just drove by, waved at the donkeys, and kept moving.I have to say, it was nice to take a trip and have really low expectations. Does that sound bad? I don't mean for it to. It was more enjoyable that way. Rather than doing some high-level entertainment stuff, we just had fun seeing what we could see and enjoying the humor of it when it didn't turn out as planned. I also thought that it was a pretty relaxing way to go about it.
Now, one of the main things we wanted to do this weekend was visit the Monastery Miniature Horses. It's basically a nunnery that raises miniature horses! Isn't that random? It just goes to show that God calls us to do lots of varied and different things, and that he can use any work that he calls you to for his glory.
Anyway, we knew that Noah would enjoy seeing the horses, so we put this stop on the list. It was a nice, well kept place, and the horses were cute.
Did I mention that it was HOT this weekend? H-O-T hot! The temps topped 100 degrees both days (the forecast said it'd be 103 both days). If you've ever lived in Texas, you can pretty much feel how hot it is by just looking at this picture. The cloudless blue sky and the bright sun are good indicators. Imagine the sound of cicadas buzzing, and you'll get an even better feel for a hot Texas summer day. Thankfully, the pictures don't show the sweat sheen on all of us.
The horses in the corrals weren't really interested in being petted, but there were some in the barn that Noah was able to reach.
One of the things the nuns do is let kids paint little figures. We got a horse for Noah, and as it turned out, painting was one of his favorite activities that day. The picture shows how intent he was; he really enjoyed choosing different colors, and he looked so thoughtful as he decided where to paint each color.
We also stopped into the chapel on the monastery property. It was a modest building but had some pretty stained glass. As we were about to go in, an older couple drove up and headed straight inside. It was evident that they were not tourists. I went in alone to take a look around, and the couple and one other woman were sitting in the pews, praying. In the back of the chapel was a book that looked like a guest book, so I walked over to check it out. As I was looking it over to see what it was, I realized there was a space for people to write down their prayer requests. Not meaning to snoop, I happened to see that that same couple had been there before. In fact, it looked like they came there every day to pray for a loved one, which I found incredibly wonderful and sweet and devout.
After we left the monastery, we headed back to the hotel, but after an hour in a dark room with a bouncing two year old, we found that naps were going to be a complete no go. So to kill time before dinner, we went to . . . wait for it . . . Wal-Mart. We are one exciting family, let me tell you. After browsing there for a while, we went and ate dinner at a restaurant, then we followed that with sodas at McDonald's so that Noah could play on the playground and hopefully wear himself out so that bedtime would be fairly early (too bad that didn't work!). After the kids finally fell asleep that night, Nathan and I watched a movie on the computer, which was nice.
The next morning, after inhaling a huge breakfast, we went swimming. I have to tell you, I have not been swimming in years. There just aren't that many swimming pools in Boston, you know? It was so nice, and I really enjoyed it. Nathan taught Noah to jump to him from the edge, and I taught him how to kick his feet.
Then we got cleaned up and headed to the Pleasant Hill Winery to stomp some grapes! We thought this would be a really fun outing. I had gotten Noah all worked up about how fun it would be to step on grapes, feel how squishy they would be under his toes, and have his feet turn purple. He knew it would be fun.
Nathan, Noah, and me on one of the vine-covered decks.
What I didn't realize is that you had to pick the grapes you were going to stomp. You know, the only bad thing about this was that it was DADGUM HOT. But at least it was pretty.
Noah had a great time picking. In fact, he ate quite a few of those suckers.
Nathan's bounty.
Please avert your eyes if my blinding paleness is too much for you. If you can believe it, my arms are actually tan right now (for me).
Katie and I are one in paleness, and together we are bringing back the Victorian era.Noah and Mommy with a bucket of grapes!
Dumping those suckers so we could get to stompin'.
Woo hoo!
Talk about a staged picture. The guy running the stomping area slathered grapes all over our legs and told us to take a picture. You can pretend we went all I Love Lucy if you want.
Fun times.
Check back later for pictures of our t-shirts! We planted our feet on some shirts so that we have permanent purple footprints to prove we had fun. :)
It was a nice little family getaway! And the cherry on top was after all that fun and all that heat, both kids slept for hours after we got home. Family friendly weekend road trips rock. Perhaps we'll make it to Westfest in a few weeks. That one looks great!
It was a nice little family getaway! And the cherry on top was after all that fun and all that heat, both kids slept for hours after we got home. Family friendly weekend road trips rock. Perhaps we'll make it to Westfest in a few weeks. That one looks great!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)