Party

This weekend we went to a birthday party for Emily's friend Alanah. It was a gymnastics party at the YMCA. Two years ago, we did a quadruple birthday party for all the friends with August birthday's, Emily included, at the Y. This year, Emily said she wanted her own party. In short, she didn't want to share the limelight with anybody else. So, we celebrated only Alanah's birthday on Saturday.

And man, did these kids have fun.








They had a freeze dance competition and Emily won.


Even the little monkey had fun.



And the big kids had fun too.


I have to say, I'm almost 37 years old and I was having so much fun. No photos to document it, but I was swinging on the rings, walking on the beam and doing front flips on the trampoline. Maybe I should have my birthday party at the Y.

The Space Between

When we moved into this brand new home three years ago, we tried to keep everything as shiny and bright as the day we moved in. Of course, it lasted about a week. But on our one year anniversary, we pulled out all the major appliances (stove, fridge, washer and dryer). We made a mental note that it should be done every year on our move in anniversary, June 28th.

June 28th came and went last year without the movement of any major appliances. We put it off and put it off. Then, we had a preemie baby and life changed. Majorly. Even though Noah still isn't sleeping through the night (yes he's one!), we are getting more rest. He usually wakes up once for a quick bottle and some nights he doesn't wake up. You never know. But the point is, we are getting more sleep.

With Emily in school, I'm finding that I can actually accomplish things around the house for the first time in a year. It's rewarding. But, I bit off way more than I can chew this morning.

I was supposed to just mop the floors.

But, the other day, Noah was trying to get something in the space between the fridge. I didn't pay much attention at the time, but when I was sweeping (followed by vacuuming, followed by swiffering, followed by mopping) I noticed what he was going for.

Well, I'm not sure if it was the red magnet, Rocko's tennis ball, or the cheerio. But in any case, I decided to pull out all the major appliances today.

I truly don't know what I was thinking. Noah was only going to be asleep for 90 minutes tops. I didn't have time to be doing this. But, I did it. I didn't show you the stove picture because it's too disgusting. And that front plastic part on the bottom of the fridge does come off and what I found stuck to the grill behind there was nasty. Black dog hair and dust everywhere. I think my fridge will run more efficiently now that it's not wearing a fur coat.

We haven't had a black dog in over 8 months.

I sucked everything up in the Hoover and pine sol'd my way around the house.
And around Noah.

It was no small feat. I think there is a special place in heaven for stay at home Mom's who move out major appliances by themselves and clean everything.

In the meantime, I have to go tackle this huge clean pile of laundry. Between all that moving, I was washing every set of sheets in our house after hearing about all the bed bug outbreaks. It just makes me itch to see those little suckers on the news. Yuck.


I tell ya, my life is exciting.

Around Our House

It was that time of month again. Time to make more pasta sauce. Once a month, we buy the huge can of crushed tomatoes from Costco and we whip up a batch of very yummy sauce loosely based on my Grandmother's recipe. She's from Italy, so you know it's good. I say loosely based because no matter how much I try to follow the recipe, it never tastes just like hers. Probably because she doesn't use a recipe. Anyway, this huge pot of sauce is then frozen into 4 containers and we have pasta once a week, usually on Wednesday nights because that's when I have my housewife.

With the sauce and sausage has to be some homemade meatballs. Again, my Nana's recipe, but it never tastes the same. In any case, I don't mind adding the ingredients to my Kitchenaid mixer. I don't mind frying them. What I mind is raw meat in my hands. When I was little and we didn't have a Kitchenaid mixer...

***I interrupt this story to bring you another story...we didn't have a Kitchenaid mixer because there was no such thing as the web. Since there was no web, there was no Pioneer Woman. Without the Pioneer Woman, I wouldn't have a kitchenaid mixer now. She gives one away every once in awhile just for fun. And I won one. And I won $250 to chefs.com on her site too and got some Cuisnart pans that will probably last until my baby is in college. So, even though over 25,000 people enter, someone has to win. And that someone was me twice last year, so it could be you too. So go to her web site today because she's giving away a kitchenaid mixer. Then, you won't have to squish up the meat with your hands again. ***

We resume this story already in progress...
I used to squish all of the stuff up with my hands and roll the meatballs out for my Mom. I thought it was fun.

I decided it was time for my little sous chef to get her hands dirty.




She was very enthusiastic at first. She made 3 different sized meatballs and said she was done. She thought the meat felt "yucky" in her hands.

My sous chef quit on me.
*********************
Noah is learning a lot of things lately from his brother. Most importantly, how to be engrossed in watching TV.

*********************
It finally happened. Noah got his first real injury. He's had some bumps and bruises, but nothing that ever drew blood.

He had a spoon in his hand and he decided to pull up to standing using the door of the dishwasher. What is it with babies and the dishwasher? He slipped and his nose got the brunt of it. And there it was, real blood dripping all over.

And that folks is about as exciting as my day gets.
And I love it.

Free Photo Book

I'm a sucker for a free photo book.
I just can't pass up a good deal.

And even though it takes a good 5 hours to get it perfect, I'm always thrilled when it arrives and I have one more photo book for my collection.

I don't scrap book.
I haven't printed up 4x6's since 2007.
I blog.
And I jump on the offer whenever I find a promo code for a free photo book.

I was going to do a photo book of our trip to Idaho, but since Noah (being the third child) is already getting the shaft in so many areas, I decided to make an entire book of his first year.

You can take a peek at it here. If I misspelled anything or something is wrong, please don't tell me. I'd rather not know.

Because I love ya, I'm passing on the good cheer.

Go to picaboo.com and enter the promo code FREEBK
You'll only pay shipping which is $8.99 and you'll get a free large hardcover 20 page book. Cha ching! Offer is good through August.

A little advice...only upload how many photos you think you'll use. I uploaded more than 200. They automatically put 2 or 3 on a page and you'll have to delete anything past 20 (or pay for it). Realistically, you may want some pages to have 1 or 2 photos, some may have 9. Try to keep the upload to 100-150 pictures to make it easier. Trust me. And if you order your book and decide you should get one for Grandma (sorry, didn't order a second one for you Gwynne), you can go back to your account, change your e-mail address to a new e-mail address and you can order the same free book with the promo code. I may just go back and make another one of Idaho with a different e-mail address.

So, go make a photo book of your summer vacation.
Or your baby's first year.
Or your dog.
It'll make you happy when it arrives in the mail.
I promise.

Our Garden

Every year we plant a garden. And every year, I think I learn what to do and what not to do for the following year. Then, we try what we learned the following year and it doesn't work. I've about given up. After three years, I've learned that squash and tomatoes are about the only things that we can grow successfully up here. We actually don't even plant them and they just keep growing.

We planted much later this year as we were still getting snow a few days before May. So, we've barely had anything edible yet, a few zucchini, one tomato. Forget about the bell peppers and cucumbers that we planted. It seems zucchini and tomato plants are popping up where we didn't even plant them and choking out the weak (bell peppers and cucumbers).

Our raspberry bushes are doing beautifully. But, you can see the golden raspberries are the majority and the red ones are few and far between. David says they have a different maturity rate. So, maybe next month they will switch ratios.


And holy basil! I don't know what happened to it this year, but I think it's on steroids.

We've made several versions of pesto and froze them for the winter. And we still have enough basil to make a small town in Italy very happy. Anybody need some? It's choking out my poor parsley that I need for meatballs and rice pilaf. It's nothing but a basil bully.

Mama's Gotta Do, What Mama's Gotta Do

I had to make homemade egg rolls yesterday. We had been out for almost a month. If you've never made egg rolls before, you are missing out. I was always disappointed in anything I'd get in a restaurant, so I tried an at home recipe and it's one of our favorites. I make a big batch and freeze them. Then, I take 2 out whenever we make Chinese food and they are the perfect side dish.

But this post isn't about egg rolls, it's about what I had to do to be able to get an hour to make the egg rolls. I gave Noah his first Dum Dum sucker.

I had to stop to snap 38 photos of him, but it kept him busy for over 30 minutes and I was able to get my egg rolls done.

Emily is doing great in school so far. She is becoming so confident. She makes me proud. She always wants to play with Noah. After school, Ben, Noah and I wait for her outside the main entrance and she runs up to us. I hold out my free arm to hug her and she goes right for Noah. They love each other. Don't they look alike? Right down to the dimple on the right side.


We've had appointments the past 2 days in the morning, so Noah's nap gets pushed back a little. By the time we get home, he is exhausted and falls right to sleep. He usually turns to his side or immediately rolls on his stomach. Today, he was so tired that he just laid right where I put him. He looks so sweet that I had to get the camera.


And you haven't seen many pictures of Ben lately because he isn't wearing costumes much anymore. Instead, he wants to be naked. All the time. We are so used to it that we don't even notice. I'm hoping it's just a phase. He also wants to be Catwoman or a ladybug for Halloween. I'm hoping that's just a phase too.

One Year

Noah had his one year well visit. His measurements are always a little off from what I do at home, but it's all good.

He was 29" - 25-50%
(when I put him on the measuring blanket, he is clearly over 30 inches)
and 19 pounds 10 ounces - 25%

He's gained an inch and 1 pound since his 9 month well check. Boy has he come a long way from the beginning. It's hard to believe that those are the same dolls. I'm going to keep the orange self tanning doll just to show him that he was smaller than that doll in the beginning.


And more great news, Noah caught the cold/flu that everyone had last week (that's not the good news), but he didn't get an ear infection! It's the first time he got the sniffles and didn't need an antibiotic. Yea! And when he was getting his vaccines, I was holding down his arms and he was screaming, I noticed tooth #7, bottom right side of the middle.

I'm going to make him a steak tonight to celebrate.