Adventures In TandyLand

In Memory of Piper

2012-01-27T17:20:00.000-06:00

The day we brought her home! So little!

Today we had to say goodbye to our dear Piper. A lot of the following I'm just going to repost from Facebook from things Glenn and I wrote since I'm not up to coming up with a lot of new thoughts.


The year we moved into our house. She loved to be outside in her very own yard!

From Glenn: Today we had to give our wonderful dog Piper back to God. She was a blessing to us in so many ways I can only begin to explain. She kept us warm at night, she made us go outside and exercise when we otherwise would have sat around indoors, she comforted us when we were sick, injured, and sad. She was absolutely the best canine big sister Olivia could have had, she stoically endured the tugging, tackling, poking, and prodding that comes from a baby and young child, honestly better than I could have. She destroyed just enough of our things to remind us that possessions are not really that important. I am glad that she was not in great pain and I believe she was happy. Despite the emotional pain I will always be glad that I was able to say good-bye and be with her at the end. She brought so much joy to so many people that I thank God she was brought into our lives. Piper, you will be sorely missed.

Watching over a sleeping baby Olivia.

She loved to be wherever we were, and that included the kitchen - especially if I was cooking.

Wrestling with Olivia. I still can't believe the things she would put up with!

From me: The first day Piper came to live with us was over seven years ago. She was so tiny then, and so crazy active, but very sweet. Over the years she has calmed down and we couldn't have asked for a more patient, tolerant, and loving dog for Olivia. She has brought so much joy to our lives. I can't believe we have to say goodbye today. We got Piper before we knew if we would be able to have children of our own and had her for five years before Olivia came along so in many ways she was our first child. She filled a void in my life with her own special kind of unconditional love. When I was dealing with my depression she would comfort me. When I was dealing with the panic attacks she would cuddle up to me and would ease my anxiety. I never had a real pet before and to be honest I had no idea I could get this attached or that it would hurt this much to have to let her go. I know she's not a person, but she truly was part of our family.
Olivia's first word was, "Piper" and you can go to the post and watch the video of it here if you want. And here is the post of video of Olivia laughing hysterically at Piper when she was about 7 months old.
For those of you that don't know and are wondering, we found out a month ago that Piper had kidney disease. We put her on a special diet and took her back in yesterday to have her follow-up bloodwork. She was much worse, despite our best efforts, and her kidneys had all but failed. She did not feel good and had no appetite so she has been losing a lot of weight and she was sleeping 98% off the day. We noticed she seemed to be losing some weight and not have as much energy, but we chalked a lot of it up to her getting older - it happened so gradually. It was a very hard decision. She still perked up, however briefly, when we would come home and would still cuddle with us...but we didn't want to wait until she was absolutely miserable and truly suffering. When we talked to the vet he actually said, "You can take her home to say goodbye, but I wouldn't suggest more than a day or two." That let us know that for her own good we truly needed to make the tough call to let her go.

Olivia "reading" to Piper. The love sure went both ways with those two!

Gratituesday: It IS a Girl!

2012-01-17T20:20:00.000-06:00

We are happy to announce that we are indeed having another girl! Baby looked great today at about one pound. She has her head nestled down against my right hip and had her legs crossed at the ankles for a few pics, which was pretty cute. Her hands were always moving and when the tech was trying to get a picture of the top of her head she kept shaking it as if to say, "Stop poking me!" She did not hold still for any great ultrasound pics, but at least she cooperated enough for us to find out what gender she is. Score another one for Dr. Ray's test!
The cervical ultrasound also looked good so no bed-rest for me as of now! I continue to petition you for prayers that this baby will be born full-term and healthy. I still cannot imagine dealing with another NICU baby, especially having a 2 year old to deal with on top of it. I know we would make it through - I'd just really prefer to not have to!

Olivia and Piper - One Year Ago

2011-12-23T18:47:00.001-06:00

Here Olivia shares a snack with Piper - just over a year ago. Hard to believe she's grown up so much in a year!

 here

Gratituesday: A Date with My Husband (and It's a Girl?)

2011-12-19T22:47:00.000-06:00

Today we are going to Lincoln for my first cervical ultrasound. Not the most fun thing in the world, but I'm so thankful for the technology that may help me keep this baby in longer! What is going to be fun though, is that Glenn is taking his last day of vacation for the year to come with me to finish up Christmas shopping! Olivia is staying with my in-laws for most of the day so that we can actually take our time and buy thoughtfully. I love buying/making and giving gifts so I'm so happy to have this time and that Glenn will be there to keep me company, give input, and drop me off at the door while he goes to park. We will also be having lunch together, just the two of us! We had been really good about date nights but we've had so many things going on lately that we haven't really had a chance for time for the two of us. Knowing that it will be even harder to find time once this baby is born makes every chance we do get that much more special to me.

Last week Dr. Ray graciously agreed to do chemical testing on my urine to find out the gender of our baby. We did the test with Olivia too and while it's a little strange to hand off a urine sample to your former Chemistry professor, I think it's a fun thing to do. From what I gather, it tests the hormones and changes color depending how much testosterone or estrogen is present and can be done as early as 10 weeks. It's the same thing you can buy at drugstores now, but Dr. Ray is free and I just love that man. It's not 100% accurate, but he's only been wrong once I think so that's pretty good odds. It sounds like we will be having another girl, but we'll know more when I have the anatomical ultrasound in a month or so.
I was actually kinda hoping for a boy (and of course my dad was REALLY hoping to finally get a grandson) but after everything with Olivia I can honestly say that the greatest wish of my heart is a healthy full-term baby. We are definitely finished having kids after this one so I guess all of us will just have to be happy with whatever we end up with. :)

French Toast with Homemade Cranberry Sauce

2011-12-15T10:25:00.000-06:00

We love breakfast for supper around here and every so often I get to craving french toast - like the kind you get at restaurants (but wonder why you are paying so much for bread, eggs, and milk) that is thick and fluffy and beautiful, not the kind I make when I am using up our sandwich bread that is going stale. It's actually easy to make your own. The best way I found is to use the cheaper loaves of french bread you can buy at Wal-Mart that are past their sell-by date. They work better than fresh ones anyway.
Anyway, this post is supposed to be more about the sauce. I wanted to do something little special and festive for the french toast. I love cranberries and always keep some in my freezer. Did you know you can freeze them for a year and that most recipes don't need them to be thawed? Buy those puppies on sale and save them in the freezer - mine are from last January when I stocked up! One of my favorite cranberry things to make is orange cranberry bread. The best recipe I have found is the one on the Ocean Spray bag (also found here). The bread was my inspiration for the sauce. Here's what I did.

Ingredients:
Bag frozen cranberries
1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar (use 1 cup if you like your sauce less tart)
2 teaspons orange zest
Juice of half an orange
Teaspoon cinnamon
Teaspoon vanilla

I mixed the water and sugar in a sauce pot. Bring it to a boil. Add frozen cranberries and stir them occasionally until they start to burst. Turn heat to low and add orange zest and cinnamon. Cook for about one minute. Turn off heat and add juice and vanilla and stir well. Serve warm over french toast or all kinds of good stuff! I think this would be good with poultry or pork too, either warm or chilled.

D&D Onesie

2011-12-02T23:01:00.001-06:00

I haven't been posting pics of my projects lately because they are all gifts! However this one was a special request and while it's going to be a gift, it isn't for anyone I know, so I get to post it. It's sort of a knock-off of one the requester found online. If you have never played D&D or a role playing game of some sort you probably won't get it, but trust me, it's funny. It's probably the most involved design I've done and the weeding was a pain, but I love how it turned out. My husband (the big geek that he is) was actually really disappointed to find out that it wasn't for #2! At least the design is saved so if I do make one for #2 it will be easy.

Glucose Test

2011-11-22T20:14:00.001-06:00

I had a two hour glucose test today - ick. I had to do it early thanks to my insulin issues. I am so happy to have passed! It would have really put a damper on Thanksgiving if I had to be super careful about every little thing I eat. I have to do another when I'm farther along in my pregnancy but it should just be the one hour test.
One bad note, my really good vein in the crook of my arm (that I nicknamed "Old Faithful" - I have a lot of bloodwork done) has finally given up on me. Too much scar tissue I guess. So now I have to always have a butterfly thingy and they have to take it out of my hand or wrist which is far more painful that having done in my arm. Pray that I won't have to do a lot more bloodwork and that when c-section time comes they can find a good vein!

Olivia's 2 Year Pics and #2 Update

2011-11-16T10:02:00.001-06:00

It's been a little crazy around here lately. Between celebrating Olivia's second birthday and having her pictures done, doing an Usborne book show, and doctors appointments I feel like we have been running all over the place! On the plus side since going off of the progesterone I feel much better and all of this running around hasn't worn me out too much.
Baby #2 is doing really well. Everything looked great at my visit - my blood pressure, the baby's heartbeat, etc. Here is a terrible quality picture of he or she - it's a picture of the ultrasound picture taken off of Glenn's phone, posted on facebook, and then saved again to post here. We really need to get those things scanned.

I love how you can see the spine!

In a couple weeks I will be starting progesterone again - a different kind they call 17P - that is supposed to lower my chances of having another preemie significantly. It has to be injected and is painful. While I'm not looking forward to it, I know it will be worth it if we can make it full-term this time! I will also be seeing the doctor more often this time and having cervical ultrasounds. This is definitely more complicated this time around since I can't really take Olivia along to the appointments and they are almost two hours away from our house. Thankfully we have some great family members that are good about keeping Olivia for me.

A girl I went to college with has started a photography business so we decided to have Olivia get official professional pictures (aka not a family member) for the first time. Summer was great to work with but the biggest thing is that Olivia was super cooperative! It was cold and very windy but we gave her a couple of treats and let her warm up with Glenn in his coat a few times and she made it through. Here are a few of my favorites.

This is SO Olivia.

Is it just me or is she suddenly a big girl? I can't believe it's been two years since she came into the world. I love this kid.

My Thoughts on Halloween

2011-10-31T09:23:00.002-05:00

I posted this on facebook this morning and I wanted to post it here again too.

Dear Christian Friends –

There is a lot of stuff going aroundright now on whether or not it is right to participate in Halloween activities. If you feel it is wrong than I would neverurge you to do anything to do against your beliefs or conscience. I would ask, however, that before you censorothers who feel that they can participate without it being a sin that you thinkabout a few things. Most people that Iknow personally who are against Halloween do not have a problem with the activitiescelebrated with Christmas and Easter. Even though many of them are aware of the pagan basis for a lot of thosetraditions – Easter eggs, Easter bunny, giving gifts, Christmas trees, etc.they have found a way to feel like they are celebrating the good things withoutpartaking in any “evil” or “bad.”

I personally feel like I can do the same thing with Halloween. I use it as a time to get to know myneighbors and to build community bonds. I use it as a time to celebrate my favorite time of year and all thebeauty that God has given us at this time. I use it as a time to spend time having fun with my family.

Again, if you feel as though it is wrong to celebrate orparticipate, please do not feel like I am urging you to do anything you feel isa sin. I just want to make it clear why Ifeel comfortable.

Olivia's House

2011-10-30T15:08:00.002-05:00

For Olivia's second birthday I fell in love with the idea of making her a little playhouse out of cardboard. I was inspired by one that I saw here, but I didn't care for the flat roof and I didn't want to deal with buying more paint to make a bunch of cardboard flowers for the window box. So here are the pictures of what Glenn and I came up with together. We had a lot of fun doing it together and we spent less than $9 total! One trick that my brilliant husband came up with was to use the edge of the second box to make the roof. It looks much cleaner that way. We used duct tape to hold the house together and then a glue gun to put on accessories.
I do wish I was a better decorative painter. In any case, Olivia loves it!

Pumpkin Patch!

2011-10-22T20:25:00.002-05:00

Just a few pics from our fun day at the pumpkin patch!

She kept calling the pony a "puppy."

First Official Appointment

2011-10-22T20:09:00.000-05:00

I met with a nurse practitioner this week to go over the basics and to get some bloodwork done. I had really hoped to be able to hear the heartbeat, but in two weeks I'll be having an ultrasound so that makes up for it. I got my hospital registration packet or other paperwork. I also got to see my favorite nurse ever, Jeri. She's the head of the OB department at my doctor's office and I just love her. Unfortunately the reason I got to see her is because they ended up needing to get the best person in the office to find a good vein for my blood draw. Thankfully, Jeri will not stick until she is sure she can get it so I didn't end up like a pincushion.
The results from my bloodwork were great. In fact, my progesterone is 3 times higher than it ever was with Olivia! This means I can stop taking it after this week and I'm very relieved to hear it. The main side effect of it is tiredness so between it and normal pregnancy tiredness I have been feeling half-dead most days.
My "morning" sickness has been getting worse - I'm actually finding that the morning is when I feel the best.. I've read that there is some correlation between progesterone levels and being nauseated so I guess it shouldn't be a big surprise that I'm feeling sick a lot more this pregnancy.
Glenn will be going along for my next appointment (he only goes to ultrasound ones so only 2 total) and I'm very excited to spend some one-on-one time with him. My sweet SIL is keeping Olivia most of the day so we can really make the most of his day off and the fact that we will already be in Lincoln. It means a lot to me as it's already difficult enough to carve out time together with as busy as already are! I'm excited to get my official due date and see this little one!

Blueberry Baby

2011-10-11T21:20:00.000-05:00

I think it's funny how so many baby sites compare the size of your growing baby to a fruit or vegetable. According to one site I regularly use, #2 is the size of a blueberry right now. It always blows my mind when I think about how a baby develops - it's just amazing.
I feel pretty similar to how I felt when I was pregnant with Olivia at this point. I've had to go on progesterone again and I will say that I think it is effecting me more this time as far as making me more tired. I can't blame it all on having a nearly-two-year-old running around. I also have had a bit more nausea. With Olivia it was more of a gerneral feeling all the time but not too severe. With this baby it has been okay most of the time, but definitely worse between 3:00-7:00PM. Ginger snaps seem to really help, but it's hard to keep Olivia from eating them all. She LOVES them! I've had an increase in nightmares like I did with Olivia. I haven't stopped reading mysteries yet, but it may only be a matter of time.
By this point in my pregnancy with Olivia we had already had an ultrasound. This was not standard procedure, but because they thought I was having a miscarriage. I am anxiously awaiting our first peek at this new little one. I think we will get to see #2 in about 3 1/2 weeks.
It's funny that I've been calling and thinking of this baby as #2. Up until the time I got pregnant we always referred to our next child as Samuel or Sammy because that is the baby boy name that I have loved forever (we even said maybe "Sammie" for a girl). For some reason though almost as soon as I got pregnant I stopped thinking this way. I have no idea why. Perhaps the name just isn't meant to be.
Please continue praying for an uneventful and full-term pregnancy. Next week: kidney bean!

Zoo Trip!

2011-09-30T09:41:00.001-05:00

We went to the zoo a few weeks ago and I forgot to post pics (sorry, Dad!) so here they are! Glenn took off a Friday from work so we could go when it was less busy. The weather was perfect and we had a wonderful time! We hope to go again before Olivia's birthday.

It's hard to see but there is a big butterfly on the wall.

Picnic lunch!

We got to ride the train - my favorite!

Tiny but very pregnant goats!

Prayer Request: Making it to May

2011-09-27T17:57:00.001-05:00

If you missed the big announcement on facebook and you haven't noticed the new ticker yet on this blog, I'm pregnant! As near as I can figure I'm due around Glenn's birthday, May 22. I'm not very far along yet but I'm definitely feeling pregnant. I haven't had much nausea but I'm not very hungry a lot of the time. I've noticed that I am so ready for naptime lately! I usually have a lot of energy in the mornings so I've been trying to do things like clean the kitchen and prep food for supper then.
Other than the last few days Olivia has been doing really well at letting me be productive when it works for me (she's been sick since Sunday) and that has helped too. She notices babies at church or at the store and says, "baby" whenever she sees them. She also likes to call her dolls her "baby" and she likes to dress them, put them in her booster seat and pretend to give them food, put them in her stroller and take them for walks. Today I even saw Olivia trying to put a diaper on one of them. I hope this mothering is a good sign.
We had to take clomid again this time to get pregnant. I did not ovulate the first round so they changed the dosage and I ovulated the second month and got pregnant. It really seems like ovulation is the only missing piece of the infertility puzzle for me - it only took one round to get pregnant with Olivia. Clomid has the benefit of having hardly any side effects and only costing us $9 per round, but you can only take it 6 times (for most people). We had already decided that if it didn't work that we weren't going to try any other drugs or fertility methods. We are so very thankful to have such a wonderful child already that we knew we could be content with only one child if that's what God had in store for us - especially considering that I never knew if I would be able to have any! What a blessing to be able to conceive again!
Even though we obviously were trying to get pregnant I'm still a little overwhelmed with the thought of having another child. The thing I am most nervous about right now is having another preemie, and dealing with all of that while having a toddler. Please pray that I will have an uneventful pregnancy and a full-term baby!

Mini Lasagnas

2011-09-23T22:15:00.001-05:00

I saw an episode of Aarti Party the other day where she made little individual lasagnas using won ton wrappers (you do know that won ton wrappers are just pasta, right?) and a muffin tin. You may remember that I love making little portions in muffin tins from other posts - like the BBQ beef-filled biscuits and the mini meatloaves so you really shouldn't be surprised that I was super excited to try these out. Aarti's original recipe (which you can find here) called for an Indian twist on the lasagnas, but I LOVE traditional Italian flavors and I also hate mango so I used more of her technique and less of her flavors.

I think Olivia hid our camera so this was taken with Glenn's Blackberry.

This recipe turned out to be surprisingly quick and easy. I did have leftover meat and cheese fillings, but you could always throw the leftovers in with some pasta or just use more won ton wrappers. Aarti got more layers for each lasagna than I did, but it turned out just fine making more instead. Glenn told me he liked them better than regular lasagna and Olivia ate one and half without hardly stopping! The edges get a bit crispy, the cheese is all gooey and melty, the garlic gives a nice kick...mmmmm...I think I might need to go and heat up some leftovers!

Ingredients

Meat Filling:
1 pound of lean ground beef
1 can Hunts Four Cheese spaghetti sauce
1 tablespoon chopped garlic

Cheese Filling:
3/4 cup ricotta
3/4 cup grated parmesan (plus more for topping)
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella (plus more for topping)
1 teaspoon Kosher salt

1 package of won ton wrappers

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Brown hamburger, add spaghetti sauce and garlic, simmer for a few minutes.
Mix ricotta, parmesan, mozzarella, and salt in a medium bowl.
If your muffin tin is not non-stick spray you will need to lightly grease them.
Place a won ton wrapper in the bottom of the muffin cup. Drop one tablespoon of the meat filling into the wrapper. Top with one teaspoon of the cheese filling. Repeat, turning the won ton wrapper about 90 degrees so that the edges don't line up. Then place on one more wrapper and one more tablespoon of the meat mixture. Top with a bit of mozzarella and parmesan. This is where Aarti somehow got an extra meat and cheese layer - I must have smaller muffin tins.
Bake for 20 minutes. Let sit on the counter for 10 minutes and then enjoy!

Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits

2011-09-20T21:34:00.001-05:00

I got this recipe from my trusty BH&G cookbook - still one of the best basic cookbooks around in my opinion. This was the first time I have ever made biscuits, but I'm still on my baking kick and I had buttermilk in the fridge so again I figured, "Why not?" and tried it out. I also decided I need to always keep buttermilk it the fridge because I keep finding uses for it.
Now I've watched a lot of Food Network and seen different chefs make biscuits several times. The one thing they all talk about is how the first biscuits you cut out are always the most tender because the more you work and knead the dough the tougher it gets. Not having any biscuit cutters anyway (although you can use a drinking glass if you really want to) I took a page out of Ina Garten's book and just made them square by simply cutting them out with a knife. They certainly turned out nice and tender! We made them into little egg, ham, and cheese sandwiches and they were a big hit at our house.

Ingredients:
3 cups AP flour (I'm sure you could use some or all whole wheat here, but I would soak it in the buttermilk)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt (I use Kosher)
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup butter, cold and cut into smallish cubes (this makes it easier to cut in)
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar. Using a pastry blender (or a large fork or even your fingers) cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in flour mixture and add buttermilk to it all at once. Stir with a fork until just moistened.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead just 4-6 strokes until dough comes together. Pat or lightly roll until dough is 3/4 inch thick. Cut out with a biscuit cutter or use my method - pat the dough into a rectangle and then just use a knife to cut them into square/rectangles.
Place on ungreased baking sheet 1 inch apart. Bake in 450 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.
NOTE: Mine did not brown. They still tasted great, but if you want them to be all nice and golden I would suggest brushing the tops with milk, melted butter, or an egg wash before baking.

P.S. Normally I would try to post a picture but none of mine turned out very good. I would have kept on trying to get a good one but we were hungry!

Olivia Goes Shopping

2011-09-12T17:45:00.000-05:00

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Butterscotch Chip Cookies

2011-09-08T21:17:00.000-05:00

I have been in a baking mood lately. I've baked more in the last 10 days than I have in the last 4 months! I've also been trying to clean out our pantry. We had some unexpected bills that have forced me to get a little more creative about using up ingredients I have on hand and I've actually come up with some new favorites! I'll blog more about some of them later, but I have to tell you that for the soup I made Glenn even said the magical words, "Hey, I'll take the leftovers for lunch tomorrow." That's pretty much the highest recommendation he can give!
Anyway, back to the cookies. To help clean out the pantry and make something sweet to take on our picnic tomorrow I decided on oatmeal cookies. I looked in the cupboard and found semisweet baker's chocolate squares that I had purchased because I needed one whole square for a recipe. I figured why not, and chopped up the 7 squares I had left. I also found butterscotch chips and again decided to just go with it. What resulted may be my new favorite cookie recipe! They are simply delicious and didn't take much time or effort at all. The recipe is based on the one from my trusty Better Homes and Garden's cookbook (love that thing!).

Glenn sampled half of one of the cookies on one of the towers. :)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 teaspoon good vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup AP flour (but I bet they would still be delicious with whole wheat flour)
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup (a little more never hurt) semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
1 cup (again, not exact) butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 375. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Beat until combined, occasionally scraping sides of bowl. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. You can't overmix at this point so make sure everything is good and mixed! Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer (I had no problems getting it all in, but I have a good mixer). Stir in rolled oats by hand. Stir in chips and/or chunks. Once they are well distributed stop - don't overmix!
Tonight I used my big scoop (the one I use for even cupcake/muffin batter distribution) and made giant cookies, so I had to bake them for about 11 minutes. You can make smaller ones with a medium scoop and bake them 8-10 minutes though. If you don't have handy scoops you should seriously think about getting some. They are awesome.
Let cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Olivia: Will Walk for Cheese

2011-09-05T13:13:00.000-05:00

The Step Stool Incident

2011-09-01T09:09:00.000-05:00

I left the step stool out in the kitchen yesterday and this morning you can imagine what I discovered when I went to investigate the crinkling noise.

One happy girl!

Ah, the motivational power of graham crackers! What a silly goose! She was so happy and proud of herself. She gave me the biggest grins when I walked in and thought it was great when I grabbed the camera. I figured she'll probably could eat worse things for breakfast, so I gave her a glass of milk and half a banana and called it good.

With a mouthful of crackers!

Tandy Family Rules

2011-08-30T21:42:00.002-05:00

Please ignore how my two sections didn't quite line up. :)

A friend of mine got me started on www.pinterest.com, which is a website that makes it easy for me to keep track of all the cool things I find online. It also allows me to see other things the people find that they think are interesting, including my friends who also use it. One of the things I found on it that I loved was a set of family rules that was painted onto a wooden board and then hung in the living room. I searched for more on the site and found lots of fun ideas.
After compiling a list of rules for us and then narrowing it down I took a large picture frame (quite large) and measured the glass inside. I then got on my lappy and started working on my Silhouette's program. It took a while to choose fonts and do the layout, but it was actually the most fun part for me. I then cut out the words in premium adhesive vinyl. I did it in two sections to make it fit and use the least amount of the vinyl - it's not cheap so I try to really work how I lay it out so as not to waste any. I weeded away the stuff I didn't want, slapped on some transfer paper, and then placed it onto the glass. Their vinyl goes onto glass so easily and smoothly. It's awesome. I may add something in at the bottom still - either a flourish or another rule. I also haven't decided if I want to put some fabric or paper in the background or just remove the back so you can see the wall. Regardless, I am loving how it has turned out so far.

Olivia Finally Walks!

2011-08-27T21:22:00.001-05:00

Last night Olivia finally took her first steps! She took two steps between Glenn and me but after that would not even stand up for us. Tonight we tried again and she walked back and forth between us across the room over and over again! She laughed and grinned the entire time and only fell a couple times. Even after she hit her head once she cried for a minute and then was ready to go again.
I'm so excited for this sudden and needed progress! Rejoice along with us!

Olivia's First Steps

2011-08-27T21:16:00.000-05:00

Finding a Style

2011-08-22T20:58:00.000-05:00

Someday I will have the time, money, and energy to make my house perfect inside and out...right? Okay, maybe not but until then I have started collecting images of rooms I love. I don't really have an exact style (who does anyway?) and I don't know the names for certain styles, but I'm hoping by creating a file of ideas I can hone in on what I like.

I especially love the floor here. It just makes me smile! I love the colors too, but not so much the paintings.

I love how cheerful this is.

I love the outward facing bookshelves so much!

Yellowstone Bible Camp

2011-08-14T17:54:00.006-05:00

This year we were able to attend Yellowstone Bible Camp in Montana for the first time. We took a charter bus for 2 days to get there along with lots of family and friends. We shared a real log cabin with Harold, Deena, Robert, Katie, Wesley, and Wyatt (and the Knapps for the last two nights because of ants in their cabin). The camp itself is in the mountains and is so beautiful. A clear and cold creek ran right outside of our cabin and the sound of it rushing over rocks lulled us to sleep every night. We got to go to Yellowstone National Park on our free day and saw lots of animals and neat sights. We picked wild strawberries and raspberries one afternoon. We played games in the lodge after the kids went to bed. Olivia got to play with her cousins and Malachi all the time and she loved it. We had an absolute blast and hope we can go again in two years!
I had a hard time choosing which pictures to post because we took a ton, but here are a few favorites.

Olivia sitting out in front of our cabin.

Our log cabin - the Cottonwood! I loved staying here.

Falls at Yellowstone

Hot springs

Lake and mountains

We got Olivia a Park Ranger Moose to bring home. We named it Mr. Manymuch Moosen (Moosen for short), after a skit from our favorite comic, Brian Regan.

Playing games in the lodge.

Sammie came out to visit us one day. Olivia LOVED her!

Trying to take a picture of the kids sitting on the front steps of our cabin...

Up in the mountains - don't worry, we took bear spray!

Glenn and me

Wild strawberries! So tiny, but so delicious!

Olivia and Wesley share a bedtime snack of grapes.

Wesley and Olivia playing outside our cabin one chilly morning.

Olivia, Wesley, and Malachi bouncing on the bed and looking out the window in our room.

Grandpa, Grandma, and Olivia all passed out on the way home!

A New Adventure - Usborne Books

2011-08-11T20:49:00.002-05:00

Olivia's favorite board book!

A few weeks ago I attended an Usborne books party/show at my sister-in-law Kim's house. I wasn't very familiar with their stuff. Olivia did get one of their books as a baby gift and it was her favorite, but that's about all I knew. Within minutes of walking in I was in love with Usborne! They have such amazing kids books - high quality, beautiful illustrations, cool ways to teach your kids...be still my heart! So when the consultant told us we could sign up to be a consultant ourselves that month and she would pay the initial fee, we could earn money to support our families, there was no monthly selling or show requirement, and we would get free books, well I couldn't pass it up. So here I am starting a new, albeit low-key, job!
So if you are interested in getting some great kids books (ages infant through teen) you can go to my online bookstore at the web address below. These books make great baby gifts and birthday gifts and homeschooling moms love them!
http://www.myubam.com/N3089

My niece and nephews' favorite series from Usborne.

If you are interested in hosting a show or an e-show to earn some free books, I would love to help set you up. The cool thing about the e-show is that you never have to clean your house! Just kidding, the coolest part is still free books. The nice thing about ordering online or having an e-show is that the books ship directly to the person placing the order so that the hostess doesn't have to mess with handing out the books and can also have friends order that don't live in the same area.

"Hen's pens" is my favorite in this value pack!

Also, if you are interested in becoming a consultant to earn money and free books, let me know and I'll help you get started!

Olivia misses Mommy

2011-07-26T22:20:00.001-05:00

Tonight I ran to Lincoln with a friend to take care of a few errands before we leave for Montana. Glenn took this video to prove that Olivia really does miss me too! I guess since I'm around her so much she just normally doesn't get the chance to miss me. :) Glenn says she did this for at least 20 minutes.

Chair Compare

2011-07-11T11:12:00.004-05:00

We got Olivia's baby chair/toddler rocker back out this last week. There is one in Olivia's Bible classroom and she was playing in it so we decided it was time to get hers back out. Can you believe how big she has gotten? The first picture is in March 2010, so she was 5 months old. She is now 20 months old, which is still hard for me to believe most of the time. I love my sweet, silly, and stubborn girl!

My silly girl!

Strawberries and a Surprise

2011-07-04T12:53:00.001-05:00

Olivia 
Olivia has not always liked strawberries but today I tried them at room temp instead of out of the fridge and she was eating them like mad. It was amazing us how quickly she was eating them so Glenn got out the camera to take a video. Somehow we managed not to die laughing at what we caught on video, but she is going to hate us one day for posting this.

I'm a Project Making Machine

2011-07-02T00:10:00.000-05:00

I did a few more projects tonight. I know it seems like I am just cranking out the shirts and onesies but I'm having a blast and I have a lot of gifts I need to do lately. I'm actually just about out of pink and blue heat transfer material and I'll need to order some more soon if I want to do shirts for Olivia and all her cousins going to camp this year. I'm thinking about ordering different colors but I'm not sure. The pink and blue work really well for onesies so I can do a lot of baby gifts.
My Grandpa Don is turning 85 this month and we are having a big family celebration this weekend for him. I made this shirt for him because he is an awesome grandpa and I love him dearly. He is one of the sweetest and kindest men I know, plus he is super funny. We're hoping to get him to wear it during his party.

The tank top is for Olivia. I am loving the black/silver glitter heat transfer material. Funnily enough even though I have made a bunch of stuff for her she hasn't really worn much of it. This is because I bought a bunch of long-sleeved shirts for her to wear this fall and winter and they are in a bigger size. Because the heat transfer material does not use a carrier sheet I'm not sure if you can use pieces that aren't nine inches wide. This meant that if I only did the tank top I would waste a big chunk of material. This stuff isn't cheap (a 9 inch by 36 inch piece is $15) so I absolutely HATE to waste any. I decided to just go ahead and do a onesie so I quickly resized my design and threw it on one of the light pink onesies. I have a certain person in mind for this onesie if she finds out she is having a girl, but if not I always seem to have a friend having a baby these days.

My First Order, A Gift, and the Naughty Spot

2011-06-29T09:24:00.000-05:00

I got my very first "order" this week. I'm not really trying to make this into a business, but it's fun to do orders for people as long as they pay for the materials. I found the four shirts I needed on clearance so it worked out really well for everybody. I think the hardest part is finding shirts. We don't always have much of a selection of plain shirts at our Wal-Mart (and all we have is Wal-Mart). Onesies are easy anyway because you can always find packs of plain white onesies!
I did a shirt for my friend Lynn's son, Chase. He loves cars and trucks so this is what I came up with.

You Can Never Have Too Many Cars

Then I did three matching shirts for Lynn's daughter, Hayley, and her two cousins. Grandma Gail loves purple so I'm glad the purple heat transfer material came in time!

GG's Little Princess

Next I did a hot pink tank top as a gift for my friend Christi's little girl, Calleigh. I never got her a birthday present so we'll say that's what this is. :) I was so excited to try out the black glitter heat transfer! It wasn't exactly what I expected but I loved how it turned out. The color on the picture is way off but I couldn't seem to get a good one last night.

Sorry Boys, I Only Date Rock Stars

And lastly I tried out the new vinyl I ordered. I made a sign to put in Olivia's time-out corner. I had some problems getting it on the wall. I think this is due to the fact that I used the regular instead of the premium vinyl (which is what the manufacturer suggests for walls). The adhesive isn't quite strong enough for walls and it doesn't help that my walls are anything but smooth. Lesson learned!

Naughty Spot

More Creations and Favorite Font Sites

2011-06-24T20:42:00.002-05:00

Here are a few of the things I've been making this week with my Silhouette! I'm waiting very impatiently for vinyl to try out and for more heat transfer material (purple and black glitter!) so that I can do more projects. I'm just about out of pink now but I feel like I've gotten my money's worth out of that one roll!

Paper to go inside Glenn's travel mug for work. Every six months I update it with a new design and pictures. It started as a Father's Day gift last year and he loves it! I couldn't get a good picture of it in the mug, but rest assured it is pretty cool. :)

For my dear friend from college, Annie. She just had a beautiful little girl. Some of my project onesies accidentally got turned light pink in the wash (not complaining as I'm happy Glenn does laundry) so I'm saving them for baby girls.

These coordinating shirts are for my niece Ellee and for Olivia. Tandy-born girls are pretty scarce - Aunt Michele was the first girl born in several generations - and with four nephews running around Ellee always says that she and Olivia need to stick together. I think it is super cute how excited she gets when she and Olivia accidentally end up wearing matching colors (which isn't hard since Ellee loves pink and purple) so I decided to make them these. I can't wait to take a picture of the two of them together wearing them!

This is one of my new favorite fonts for little girl items - you can see it on the onesie above as well. It's called "cheri" and I got it at www.dafont.com. My brother suggested it to me as a great site for free fonts and it is my new favorite. I'm crazy for free fonts and I am constantly downloading more. My other favorite font sites are http://www.1001freefonts.com/ and http://kevinandamanda.com/fonts/. You can pretty much find any kind of font you are looking for between the three of them.

Personal Chef for a Night

2011-06-23T22:54:00.000-05:00

Recently I participated in a silent auction to raise funds for a family at our church. I decided to put my services as a person chef up for bid. You may not have known that I was a personal chef and well, neither did I! This was my first time. I just felt like I had to do something for this lovely family and I feel like God has blessed me with the ability to cook pretty well so I went for it! Some generous friends of mine ended up winning the bidding and I had an absolute blast cooking for them.
This was actually the first time I had ever made any of the recipes I chose. Brilliant, right? I had meant to try them all out ahead of time but never got around to it. I also didn't have a recipe really for the Baked Alaskas - I just kind of used a technique I saw on TV for making one big one and made it up as I went along. They turned out great - good thing! I definitely plan on making them again using different ice cream flavors and maybe cake for a base just to try something different. The mint chip with a brownie base was delicious though!
We decided on a menu together with a (mostly) Italian theme:
Mixed greens with blue cheese dressing and croutons
Classic tomato, basil, and garlic bruschetta drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil
Chicken piccata (chicken with a lemon, white wine, and butter sauce) with angel hair pasta - you can find the recipe here, plus I added some capers towards the end of reducing the sauce.
Roasted asparagus with Parmesan cheese
Mini baked Alaskas with a brownie base and mint chip ice cream

The winners!

Just looking at this makes my mouth water - I love chicken piccata and it's actually very easy to make!

Mini Baked Alaska! Isn't it so cute?!

The inside view. I wish I had a creme brulee torch so that I could have gotten the sides more brown.


Justin is enjoying his dessert!

As far as making this gluten free you could easily do it by not breading the chicken (or using GF breadcrumbs). The sauce thickens by butter and reducing alone so that is already safe and you could serve it with GF pasta. For the dessert you would just have to use a GF brownie or cake and make sure the ice cream is safe. Meringue is already safe so you're good to go there. If you make one big one it feeds a huge crowd and would be great for a party.

Closer to Walking?

2011-06-23T22:04:00.001-05:00

I've long since given up trying to predict when Olivia will hit milestones or in what order. I mean, whose kid only rolls until after a year and then climbs stairs and walks along furniture before they sit up? Mine apparently. I try pretty hard to not get my hopes up or worry too much about her walking even though she is now 19 months old. It has been exciting lately though at how much she is using her walker/push toys. She's been making rounds around the house quite a bit more in the last couple of days. Last night I realized that I could take her walker outside (duh) and so after breakfast this morning we tried it out. Olivia absolutely loved it! She walked around for over an hour! I was amazed at how she just keep going and going. When she would hit an obstacle, like grass in the sidewalk cracks, she would shake the doll stroller until it came free. If that didn't work she would either drop to her knees and push it over or yell until I helped her. Sometimes she would stumble onto her knees but she would just get right back up again and take off! I was/am so proud of her!
I hadn't realized how much I was looking forward to being able to go on a walk with her without a stroller. It was awesome and it was really great to just spend some time outside. She really might just walk on her own one of these days!

My big girl!

Trying to off-road. It didn't work so well. She needs some kind of tire instead of the plastic wheels. :)

Up the slope to the library.

Made it up! Now to tackle going back down.

Olivia pics

2011-06-22T09:10:00.000-05:00

Olivia's first "ink." She's been hanging out with Uncle Eric too much.

Yogurt + the bottom of the can of freeze-dried blueberries = this happy face and blue bath water.

"Cooking" in the dog's water. She likes to stir it with a fork or spoon and then offer tastes to Piper.

June Craft Night

2011-06-11T00:00:00.018-05:00

I had fun making some more stuff with the smooth dark pink heat transfer material tonight. These two are my very own designs. I also played around and made some more designs that I saved but haven't put on shirts yet. I need to buy some more colors to make them work.

This one also has a pink baby elephant on the bum.

My newest favorite shirt for Olivia. Love it!

I also made two birthday cards for various birthdays coming up and a Father's Day card for Glenn. I didn't take any pictures of them but I think they turned out really well. I'm still loving having the Silhouette and it was fun to show it off to everyone tonight. I can't wait to make more stuff!

19 Months Old

2011-06-06T10:02:00.061-05:00

Olivia is 19 months old today! She is still not walking but it has not been slowing her down much. She is climbing everywhere and will go from the second floor to the basement and back up again in minutes. She also is all over the furniture and toys. I think she has entered the part-mountain goat stage that a lot of kids go through. Today her new thing was climbing into her walker/doll stroller.

I'm not sure you really fit here...

Once I put her baby doll into the stroller she was happy to push it around for a while but is still taking period breaks to see if she can fit in it after all. Crazy kid!

Two More Heat Transfer Projects

2011-06-03T21:17:00.000-05:00

I made two more projects with my Silhouette tonight and if I had more shirts I'm pretty sure I would still be doing it right now. I am having so much fun with it so far and I love being able to have a creative outlet. Plus it is so nice to have my own space to do it in! I have been also having a great time downloading fonts from the internet that I think will look cute on shirts and stuff. It's nice to be able to use any true type font and pick out just the right one for my project.
I think my favorite thing to do with the Silhouette is going to be making custom onesies for baby gifts. I made one tonight for my dear friends, Kevin and Allison Morrill, who are missionaries in Albania. This onesie says "Little Sister." I asked Kevin for help with the translation because Albanian is so confusing. I am planning to make a shirt for big brother Michael as well with blue but I don't have a shirt to do it on yet.

I was able to easily add in the umlauts by just drawing in a couple little circles in the design studio. So simple!

I also did another shirt for Olivia. I think I bought three of the same shirt in different colors when I found them on clearance. I fell in love with this puppy and had to put it on a shirt for Olivia. Isn't he so cute? I think for Olivia's next shirt I will probably make a stencil so that I can use different colors, plus paint is cheaper than heat transfer material, but I'm not sure yet. They both are fun and easy to do.

Please ignore the weird circle on there from the ironing.

My Silhouette is Here!

2011-06-02T21:20:00.000-05:00

Lovely organization!

Everything in its place.

That's not dirt on the floor - it's a hole in the linoleum that the previous owners had covered with a rug when we looked at the house. So don't worry, Mom!

My Silhouette arrived today! Glenn and I had a lovely, clean, and organized space prepared so that I could have a dedicated project area. We had an empty space in our sunroom off of our kitchen besides a large bookshelf that I use as extra pantry space and a smaller one that I use for cookbooks and some pretty cookware. I bought some containers and tubs and we brought up a table my parents gave us for Christmas a few years ago. Glenn had an extra laptop that I can use just for this purpose (so blessed to have a geek husband!) so I'm pretty much good to go.
Although I don't plan on doing a lot of paper projects I thought it would be best to start with something simple. I downloaded a card design from the online store. I think it will be fun to use different papers and things with it and it was easy to change the size to match the paper I already had on hand.

Fun, right?

My second project was a shirt for Olivia. I bought a plain green shirt on clearance for just this purpose and used pink heat transfer material on it. I love love love how it turned out! I was a bit nervous doing it because it involved placement, as in you have to place it in the right position on the shirt so that doesn't look off. Placement makes me very nervous, even using a ruler to get it pretty close, so I made Glenn come in and eyeball it before I put it down to make sure I had it even. It's not perfect but when it is on Olivia you won't be able to tell.

Perfect for my girl!

There are so many things I can do with my new toy. I'm mostly excited to make custom onesies and shirts as gifts. I'm also hoping still to do glass etching for my family for Christmas and it will be nice to be able to work on it at home and not just when I can get to a friend's Cricut machine. Yay, I finally have some type of a hobby!

Feels Like Summer!

2011-06-01T20:56:00.000-05:00

Today was the first day it really felt nice enough out for Olivia to wear her new adorable dress from her California "grandparents," Kevin and Esther Morrill. Isn't it so colorful and fun?! I love dressing Olivia in bright and cheery things and this certainly fits the bill, plus it goes great with her purple sandals. It's wonderful having adopted grandparents like the Morrills!

Olivia's Latest Adventures

2011-05-31T10:47:00.044-05:00

Olivia has suddenly decided that going down stairs in awesome. She's been able to do it for months now but never really bothered to do it very often. Just in the last week she has been up and down, going from the second floor to the basement and back. Glenn found her in the basement trying to get into the dryer Saturday morning. Now we keep the way to the basement blocked since it is not really baby-proofed. On Saturday Glenn and Olivia went to get donuts again. This is turning into a weekly ritual instead of an occasional treat I am afraid, but Glenn loves it and I guess we will just try harder to eat healthily the rest of the time.

We decided rather last minute to go up and visit my parents and family this weekend. It was a quick trip - we went up on Sunday and then back on Monday - but we had a really nice time. Grandma took us down to see the baby kitties and Olivia got to hold one of the "old" baby kitties. The youngest ones were too young to hold still. Olivia wasn't quite sure what to make of it and neither was the kitty.

We also got a chance to visit Papa Mark and Nancy. They have a dog named Holly that we got to meet for the first time. She was absolutely the best dog with Olivia. She was so sweet. They played with Holly's ball and had a great time. Olivia loved her.

I made a special birthday supper for Grandma and Papa. We had steaks (which Grandma grilled for us since I was scared to use their nice new grill), twice baked potatoes, rolls, corn, and peanut butter fudge cream pie for dessert. It was nice to treat them for their birthdays. My mom had fun playing with Olivia on the stairs and even gave herself rug-burn sliding down them with her. Poor mom, but I had to laugh. My dad is recovering from his surgery so he didn't get to play with Olivia much but she did blow him about a thousand kisses. When he kissed her goodbye she giggled a lot because his beard was tickle-y. Olivia skipped her nap for the most part and got to bed late but went to sleep without making a peep. In fact she didn't get up to eat until 5:00 and then went back to sleep until we finally woke her up at 9:30 because we had to get going. I think she was just worn out from all the fun!
We got to have brunch with Great-grandpa Don, Nolan and Barb and kids, and Steve and Linda. It was nice to see so many Schmits! We didn't get to hang out long but it was still lots of fun.

When we got home Monday afternoon Glenn mowed the yard and then our friends Tim and Curtis came up. We had homemade pizza and played computer and had a nice time hanging out for the evening. The weekend just flew by but we managed to both be productive and have a fun time!

An Ode To Rhino

2011-05-26T10:00:00.001-05:00

This popped into my head last night as I was trying to fall asleep. I used to see it at the beginning of our Mystery Science Theater 3000 movies on VHS and Eric and I could recite the whole thing. Super random, I know, but I could definitely use something silly today and this fits the bill nicely. In sharing this I am aware that I will be showing you even more just what a nerd I am, but that's okay with me.
 I nee

May Craft Night

2011-05-23T10:46:00.014-05:00

These are the items I freezer paper stenciled at this month's craft night. Not bad for my first attempt if I do say so myself!

My friend Ginger is having a baby boy so I decided to try my hand at some custom onesies. She is a complete math nerd and I love that about her so I decided to reflect that. She also just moved to England not long ago (her husband is from there) so I decided a "I (Heart) Mum" shirt was in order.

I also decided to try a glitter shirt for Olivia. I saw a shirt that said this at a geek website once and loved it, but I wasn't going to pay $16 for a t-shirt for Olivia. I still need to wash off the extra glitter on the shirt, but it needs to sit for a few days before I can do so.

Special thanks to Megan Blinde for helping me learn how to use the Cricut!

Tandy Birthday Extravaganza!

2011-05-21T20:10:00.012-05:00

Today we had lunch at the park to celebrate the birthdays of all of the Tandy siblings. Glenn, his two brothers, and sister all have birthdays falling within a week of each other. Here are some pics from our lovely time together. I am so blessed to be a part of this family. Thankfully we finished before the rain and hail started!

Baby Bunnies

2011-05-17T21:03:00.000-05:00

When Glenn mowed tonight he found a bunch of baby bunnies all packed into a little hole in our backyard. Glenn had a pet rabbit as a kid and I think he really wanted to keep one. I have absolutely zero interest in having another animal to deal with around here - especially one that isn't exactly domesticated - but I do have to admit that they are pretty darn cute. We counted seven baby bunnies in all. Piper has left them completely alone and we're not exactly sure why but that's okay with us. I think it would break Glenn's heart if she killed one. And chances are that if she killed one it would smell eventually and she would roll in it and I would have to bathe the stink out of her so I'm not in favor of her doing it either.
I'm not sure if you'll be able to really see them on the pics, but we took a few anyway.

Olivia and Celtic Thunder

2011-05-13T21:07:00.000-05:00

A few months ago a friend told us about Celtic Thunder and its special on PBS. I Tivo'd it thinking we might watch it sometime. It has become a near daily watch in our household. It may be weird, but this is really the only TV we let Olivia watch. She absolutely loves it and nothing calms her down or cheers her up as well as this. At first I wasn't a big fan but it has grown on me and I now like a lot of the music. If my kid has to be crazy about a show at least it's not as terrible as Barney

After Nap Snack

2011-05-13T13:13:00.018-05:00

After her nap I carried Olivia downstairs and put her on the couch while I put a few things in the kitchen. Apparently I left the cheerios within reach because this is what I found when I got back to her a minute later.

Mmmm, whole grain oats!

She had her arm up to her shoulder in the box and was happily munching away! Glenn came home right then and instead of rushing to meet him like usual she sat on the couch eating. It was pretty funny since normally nothing is more exciting than Daddy coming home! I guess she was just hungry!

Sometimes I get away with stuff because I'm so cute!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T19:27:00.001-05:00

Olivia helps by unloading the dishwasher...

I am so blessed! Glenn took off work on Friday to surprise me and took me to Lincoln for lunch and to pick out a Mother's Day gift. Olivia stayed with her Grandma Deena so we got to go by ourselves, which is much more relaxing. I got my first real jewelry from him since my engagement/wedding rings. I picked out a lovely peridot ring (which is still being sized, pictures to come later) and had a great time doing some shopping for baby gifts for Mark and Ginger. After all the of the business trips he has been gone on lately it was really nice to spend so much time together.
Yesterday we had a relaxing and yet productive day. I got two coats of poly done on Olivia's dresser. I'm hoping to let it set to "cure" for another day or so and then we should be ready to put it all back together and move it into her room! I also took a morning and an afternoon nap - awesome. For supper I made a double batch of meatballs and simmered half of them in brown gravy and served them over egg noodles. Very good and something different for Glenn since he isn't a big fan of marinara (the weirdo).
Today I got to sleep in and then had a ham and cheese omelet delivered to me in bed. We had lunch with the Tandy's. The moms didn't have to do anything for lunch and we had a really nice meal. I got to take another nap this afternoon, which was awesome. Glenn ordered a pizza for supper so I didn't have to cook again and now I'm blogging and going to play some Sims while he puts Olivia to bed.
Beyond that I have a wonderful mother that I love so very much, a great and caring mother-in-law, and the chance to be a mom. The last part is something that I never knew for sure would happen and I need to remind myself some days how much I am truly blessed to have Olivia. She is funny, ornery, sweet, and mischievousness. I can already see her sense of humor developing and she loves making us laugh. She is inquisitive and curious. And stubborn, man is she stubborn! But she is mine and I'm so thankful!

Greatest Idea Ever!

2011-05-02T17:58:00.000-05:00

Ignore the smudges please!

When I originally saw the idea for this here, I thought, "That is the greatest idea ever!" Okay, so I was a little excited. I really wanted to do this project. You don't need a lot of stuff for it. Just glass etching cream, a brush, and contact paper to make a stencil.
In reality you don't need a Cricut machine, you just need a friend with one (thank you, Tera!) which made it all very simple. Haha, you actually can do it without using a one to make a stencil and the other blog shows you how, but I really wanted those crisp lines.
You need to choose a font and cut out a piece of contact paper and have the magic machine make you a stencil. Remember that you are doing it on the bottom of the dish so you will need to have the stencil made to stick on backwards so that it can be read through the dish. Thankfully Tera has a good craft brain and uses her machine a lot and was able to figure out that part in seconds because I would have been there for quite a while. You may want to practice on some scrap paper to make sure it will all fit nicely on your dish. You need to remember to save the little pieces inside the letters (in the "A" and "D" for me).
The only part I found to be tricky is putting the actual contact paper stencil onto the dish. I was trying not to be to anal about it, but I found it a little difficult to get it centered the way I wanted to. Thankfully I didn't destroy the stencil when I took it off 5-6 times and moved it around until I got the placement good enough. Notice I did not say perfect.
Once you have the stencil on and have pressed down the edges really well you can glop on the etching cream. The bottle says to wear gloves and long sleeves. I wore an old tie-dyed tank top and no gloves and I did not die, but I was pretty careful. Now, the bottle says to leave it on for 10 minutes but I read on several blogs of other people who have done this and found out that it is better to leave it on longer. I left it on for an hour. This gave me time to play a couple quests in The Sims Medieval since Olivia was in bed.

The two I did last night.

After an hour I washed off the etching cream in the sink using cool water and a paper towel to rub it a little. This is the time when I started to panic. As it turns out you can't really see the etching very much when it is wet! I was freaking out and super disappointed for a couple of minutes but then I noticed that I could actually start to see it after all.
I really enjoyed this project and since I still have a lot of expensive etching cream left I decided that I will plan to do this for the ladies in my family for Christmas. The interesting part of being a Tandy around here is that I will have to use initials for the other ladies (we even have more than one K. Tandy and S. Tandy in the area!) so we'll see how I make this work. In any case, I think it will be a nice gift. Also, this is a great idea for a wedding present!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T19:11:00.000-05:00

Olivia and Her Ducky

2011-04-23T21:06:00.001-05:00

Olivia received an Easter package from Kevin and Esther Morrill, her adopted grandparents from California. Doesn't every kid need at least one set of adopted grandparents? Olivia has certainly been blessed by them and so have we. Here you can see her checking out a purple duck that they sent.

PEEPS: The Game

2011-04-23T21:01:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again! Check out the latest Peep project by my talented brother, Eric J. Eckert and his friend Matt Rief. For the last few years Eric has been making Peep movie trailers for the York Peep Show contest. You may remember Cloverpeep, Peepinator 2: Judgment Day, and my personal favorite, Night of the Living Peeps.
This year they decided to do something different this year and created a side-scrolling (think original Mario Bros.) game where YOU are a Peep! I'm absolutely awful at it (I'm pretty awful at all those sorts of games) but it is really fun. I love that the bad guys to avoid are apples and carrots. I warn you though, it can be addictive!

Anyway, you can check it out and play here. Share with your friends!

New Mexico Trip: Half-Way Through

2011-04-19T17:58:00.000-05:00

Olivia has some kind of sinus issue right now and the drainage is making her puke when she tried to lay down to sleep. We are on the forth set of crib sheets now and I'm going to have to do some laundry tomorrow. It hasn't been the most fun I've ever had, but at least she seems to feel okay (though a little tired) while she is up. Here are a few pics from the last day or so. Time for Mom to take a nap too since no one is getting a lot of sleep.

We bought a floatie thing to give our arms a break in the pool. She likes it for a while.

This might be my favorite picture of Olivia that I have taken in a while. I love how you can see her happy personality!

Cool girl!

Trip So Far

2011-04-17T22:27:00.001-05:00

When Glenn told me he had to go to New Mexico for a week for business I wasn't thrilled, but he looked up flights and decided that Olivia and I should come along. Since the company pays for almost everything - hotel, rental car, and Glenn's flights and food, and Olivia flies free on our lap, it was actually pretty feasible. Glenn's been traveling a lot in the last few months but it really is unusal for him to do it this much. Because of that we feel like we should take advantage of the opportunity for us to travel together cheaply, even if he does have to work much of the time.
I thought I'd give a few highlights from our trip so far. We drove 2 hours to the Omaha airport, flew to Dallas, had a 4 hour layover, flew to Albuquerque, and then drove almost 4 hours to Portales, NM. Olivia did really well. On both flights we managed to find an extra seat for Olivia and it made a big difference. She is not a big an of sitting on laps. Another thing we found that helps is that we let Olivia watch a show called Blast! on a laptop. You can see the video of her watching it on my previous posts. We haven't really let her watch TV up to this point but I was glad to let her if it kept her from screaming. :) It has lots of fun brass and drum music with the musicians dancing around while they play. I'm so thankful that Auntie Kim let us borrow it!

We also borrowed some books from the library and from Kim so Olivia would have something new to look at. They kept her attention much better than ours from home probably would have.

Olivia did not take a nap all day until we got on the shuttle bus to go and get our rental car. Within seconds she had passed out in Glenn's arms and stayed asleep in her stroller and then in the carseat for about 25 minutes. She was awake nearly the whole drive to our hotel then, but she did so well! I was pleasantly surprised that we were able to head off all the meltdowns during the day.

This morning we went swimming. Olivia loved it. She really is such a water baby, but that makes sense considering both sides of the family love to swim.

After swimming, lunch, and naptime I decided to try painting Olivia's toenails with some quick-dry polish. Even with Glenn's help and a blow-drier we still had some interesting smudges, but I still love how they turned out.

We drove to a larger town nearby for supper tonight and went to IHOP. Olivia's two favorite foods are eggs and cheese so we ordered her a cheese omelet off of the kid's menu. It came with a fruit bowl and we discovered that Olivia does not like watermelon or cantaloupe. You can see that she's getting quite good at feeding herself with utensils.

One of the stores we visited had some nice board books for only $3, which is a really good price. I bought Olivia a couple to give her something else to keep her occupied during the week. I picked out one for her to read on the way back to the hotel and she happily read out loud to us most of the 20 minutes back.

Bedtime is not going so well right now. Let's just say I got to wash puke out of one pair of pajamas and a blanket in our bathtub... Praying she will go to sleep soon!

More Fun with Music

2011-04-17T16:10:00.000-05:00

Olivia's First Plane Ride

2011-04-17T12:23:00.000-05:00

Scary Little Monster

2011-04-14T20:19:00.000-05:00

On the Way to Walking!

2011-04-08T20:30:00.000-05:00

Olivia is Famous!

2011-04-06T13:07:00.000-05:00

I sent Olivia's ginormous snot bubble picture into Mompetition's "Before I was a mom..." thingy and today we are featured on the blog! I'm so proud, haha!

You can check it out here!

PCOS

2011-04-04T12:33:00.001-05:00

I was diagnosed at age 21 when my periods became incredibly irregular and I gained 70 pounds in one year without a change in lifestyle. In fact I had pretty much every symptom except male pattern baldness and infertility (we found out later that this was a problem for me as well when we started trying to have a baby). Having this has profoundly changed me and has affected my life in so many ways. There is no cure, only ways to manage symptoms. It is still under- and mis-diagnosed a lot. I just wanted to spread a little awareness.

This is a good website if you're looking for more information and links to more helpful websites.

Olivia's First Trip to the Zoo

2011-04-01T20:36:00.000-05:00

Today we went to the Henry Doorly Zoo and had the best day I can remember. The Henry Doorly is such an amazing zoo. If you are ever in the Omaha area you have got to check it out!
It was Olivia's first time and we weren't really sure what to expect from her. She actually was a lot more into it than we thought she would be - pointing at animals and fish, jabbering away, climbing on statues. The weather was cool and windy but nice and sunny. The first thing we did was take pictures on the lion pride statues. This is pretty much mandatory for a trip to the zoo - everybody does it - and it's so neat that you're actually allowed to. We let Olivia crawl around for a bit since she had gotten a little stir crazy on the ride over. She showed no fear whatsoever and charged all over the place, giving her charming smile to anyone who would stop and talk to her.
We met up with a bunch of Glenn's family and some friends after we took our lion pictures. We started out in the Wild Kingdom Pavilion, checking out a lot of little displays. Then we had a picnic lunch. We then went to the aquarium and saw the penguins and lots of kinds of fish and water creatures. This was by far Olivia's favorite. It probably had something to do with the fact that she was able to get out of the stroller and get up close and personal with the displays.
After that we headed to the Desert Dome and Kingdoms of the Night. Olivia seemed to like the Desert Dome but I don't think she was loving the darkness of the Kingdoms of the Night. We found that Olivia did best when we kept moving so we didn't linger long in any one place. We spent some time in the Rain Forest as well. The humidity in there did a number on my hair and Olivia's was starting to curl more as well which was funny. Olivia was starting to get really tired - by then it was past her usual naptime - so we headed back into the Pavilion for a little while to let her crawl around for a bit before we had to put her back in her carseat. We did a quick pass through the gift shop on our way out and got Olivia a little stuffed lion, which she fell asleep with soon after we got in the car.
I got to make a quick run into Trader Joe's while Glenn stayed with the sleeping Olivia in the car. She woke up when I got back in but seemed to be in a pretty good mood considering she napped less than 30 minutes. After that Glenn dropped me off at the Carter's store at the outdoor mall and he and Olivia played outside and went to Scheels. We loaded back up and hit the Culver's in Lincoln on our way home. Olivia got to try frozen custard and it took her a bit to get used to the coldness of it, but quickly became a fan. She then passed out halfway home and slept until I took her out of her carseat.
All in all it was a wonderful day. We all had fun, the weather was great, I got in the shopping I needed to do, and we managed to head off any major meltdowns. We didn't get to see even half of the amazing things at the zoo, but we bought a family year pass so we'll be able to go back again and again. In fact, I think I'm planning to have Olivia's birthday party there - Turning 2 at the Zoo!

I don't want to overwhelm blogger by posting the zillion awesome pictures we got today so I'll try to pick our favorites.

I love how she is on her tip toes trying to get a better look.

Breakfast Pizza

2011-03-31T09:47:00.000-05:00

A couple nights ago I decided to surprise Glenn with something new for supper. I saved some bacon back from our pancake supper a few nights before that which kept him guessing for a while, haha. I used pizza dough from Trader Joe's. I seriously love their pizza dough - it's only $.99, it tastes great, and it's super convenient. A great tip that I got from my friend Angel is that you can freeze the dough and it doesn't hurt it a bit. This is great for people like me that only have access to a Trader Joe's once in a while. You just have to let it thaw overnight in your fridge and then follow the instructions on the bag like you normally would.
This turned out so good! Olivia is a big fan of scrambled eggs and cheese so this was right up her alley. Between the three of us we ate almost the whole thing! Between the four of us (if you count our dog) we did eat the whole thing, haha! Glenn said this was definitely, "Make again." In our house, this means he loved it.

Crust
Just use your favorite crust. If you're all into making homemade, go for it! If you're like me most of the time, just buy a tasty one.

Sauce (All these are approximates)
1/2 Tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons flour
3/4 cup milk
1-2 cups shredded sharp cheddar or another strong flavored cheese (shredding your own makes a smoother sauce, but you don't have to by any means)
Salt to taste (this will depend a lot on what kind of cheese you use)

Toppings
6 eggs, scrambled (I added a teaspoon of sea salt to them)
5 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
2 cups shredded cheese (I used mozzarella and a colby jack blend because they were in my fridge and I wanted to use them up)

You could also use the following, but I kept it simple this time:
Mushrooms
Sliced green pepper
Chopped onion
Chopped ham/Canadian bacon
Cooked sausage
Tabasco
Tomatoes
Other things you like in your omelet

Instructions
Melt butter in sauce pan. Whisk in flour and cook for a minute or two. Whisk in milk and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and whisk in cheese. It will thicken quite a bit when you add the cheese.
Roll/spread out your crust. Spread on cheese sauce. Add eggs and then other toppings.
Bake according to your pizza dough instructions.
Note: My pizza always takes longer to bake than what the instructions say. I'm not sure if it's because of the stoneware or what, but just check it fairly often and take it out when the cheese is melted and beginning to brown and the bottom is a little brown.

Cookie Monster

2011-03-28T09:07:00.000-05:00

This weekend I made a dessert that required Oreo cookies for the crust. This one actually. The recipe falls into the don't bother to make again category in case you were wondering. Anyway, we had a couple of Oreos leftover so we decided to give Olivia one for dessert. She gobbled it right up! See pictures below for her cookie face.

Just a Few Pics

2011-03-25T17:27:00.000-05:00

I just love putting her hair in pig tails! Her hair is getting so long!

Reading "Goodnight Moon."

Reading out loud to Piper.

Wearing Mommy's headband. Yes, an adult headband fits my 1-year-old.

Lunch Date!

2011-03-25T15:35:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday we had the chance to go out for lunch with Tera and Malachi. Malachi was due one week before Olivia was due, so Tera and I were constantly comparing pregnancy notes. It's been fun to see them change and develop and hit milestones over the last year plus. Olivia and I went to their house first and the kids got to play for a little bit. We took some pictures of them in the same place we took pictures of them a few months ago. It's crazy how big they are getting!

Then we headed for lunch at Burger King. They shared fries back and forth and were really good during our meal. We let them play a bit in the back room once we were done eating. It was so nice to spend some time with them and let the kids interact. I hope we can do it more often!

A Project Five Years in the Making

2011-03-21T10:03:00.000-05:00

I bought this fleece 4-5 years ago and just finally made the blanket this weekend. When I saw the pink and orange argyle I just had to buy it. I looked around for something to compliment it and I found the mulit-colored dots. I think they are very fun together.
I normally don't like to keep stuff for that long not using it so it's sort of a surprise that it survived my purge before our move three years ago. I really loved the fabric though and I thought maybe someday I would have a daughter and make it for her or maybe make it for someone else that I thought would like the colors.
I hadn't made a tie blanket in years but it's so easy that I wasn't worried about doing it. I did all the cuts while I was at the craft day in the fellowship hall because it is much easier when you have a large table (I put two together). I finished about 75% of the actual ties there but had to come home so that Glenn could do some work on Saturday. It took me 15 minutes to finish it yesterday evening.
I'm so glad I kept the fabric and finally got around to making it into a blanket!

Kids Library Event

2011-03-19T13:35:00.000-05:00

Glenn had Olivia all morning while I went to have some craft time with some friends in York. He even got up with her, fed her, and dressed her! Then they went to an event at our library for kids ages 1-3. They had a wonderful time. I'm so glad Olivia was able to participate and Glenn was able to meet another gamer dad! I'll have to post pictures of my finished project later - it was nice to have some time away to work on it!

Climbing the big steps in the kids' corner at the library.

I made it!

This is her pensive look.

Reading with Miss Cassie!

Yay books!

Putting on and taking off felt animals during the story.

The bear she chose to hold during the teddy bear story.

Being a good listener!

Holiday Themed Pancakes

2011-03-17T18:43:00.000-05:00

We're not big fans of corned beef and cabbage but I wanted to do something fun for supper on St. Patrick's Day. You may recall the time I made Star Wars pancakes for Valentine's Day. What I didn't tell you what after a few batches of them I got tired of standing in the kitchen and made some special Valentine's pancakes as well that were quicker. Tonight I used the same method to make some clover pancakes. I just dyed a little of the pancake batter green and used a squeeze bottle to put the clovers on the griddle. Once they had set up a bit I poured regular batter over the top.
They would have turned out better, but I used Trader Joe's multi-grain pancake mix and the oats kept clogging the opening of the squeeze bottle. Regardless, they tasted great! I had green batter left after I ran out of regular so I just made a few green pancakes too.

I'm making pancakes a lot more often now that I have a nice electric griddle. It also works great for quesadillas!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here are some I made for Valentine's Day.

To The Park!

2011-03-17T14:33:00.000-05:00

Windy day = crazy hair!

She loves her sunglasses!

Today Olivia and I went to the park in town. It was the first time we've been there since she has been able to crawl and sit-up so I was anxious to see what she would do. I was disappointed to see that there weren't any baby swings but as it turned out we still had plenty of fun. The weather was not too cool and not too warm, just a little windy, and we had the whole park to ourselves.

Merry-go-round

The merry-go-round proved to be very entertaining. It is set on a angle so every time Olivia crawled up to the highest point it would spin her back down. She wasn't scared at all and laughed a lot. She loved crawling on it and spinning. I got some video that I'll post once I can get it on youtube.

Tornado slide.

Olivia's favorite part was crawling through the tubes.

Once Olivia went through the tube once it was hard to get her to stop! She kept going back and forth for probably a good 15 minutes. I would run back and forth as she went from one end to another and yell, "Boo!" She would just laugh and take off the other direction. I finally just had to pull her out so we could go on to try new things.

Fun times with Mama!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T11:03:00.000-05:00

Play Kitchen!

2011-03-16T09:38:00.000-05:00

Our friends, the Kite family, were kind enough to give us their extra play kitchen. Olivia loves it! She played with it for 30 minutes this morning non-stop. I don't think anything has ever held her attention this long to date. This means that Mom loves it too - haha! They also gave us the plastic food and some dishes. Olivia's favorite thing seem to be the small glass/cup. She has been carrying it around with her this morning and when I ask her if she needs a drink she pretends to take one from the cup. It's so cute!

She can almost reach the microwave!

Hey, Mom - it's fennel!

And eggplant!

Getting a drink!

Working on Self-Feeding

2011-03-14T19:48:00.000-05:00

Quesadillas! Awesome!

I love sour cream. And it makes for a decent facial.

Working on using a spoon - berry applesauce, yum!

Well, some of it got in my mouth.

Tonight we had black bean and cheese quesadillas, butternut squash, and berry applesauce. Olivia's favorite part was licking the sour cream off of her quesadilla and working on her spoon technique. As you can see, she still needs a little practice. I love that she is at the point where she can feed herself a lot of her meal. We still have to help with the pureed items (obviously) but she loves being independent! No surprise there!

Mawatari Update 2

2011-03-14T09:06:00.000-05:00

Akira is now accounted for along with his parents!

Thank you so much for your prayers.

Please continue to pray for everyone who is dealing with the earthquake and tsunami after-effects.

Mawatari Update

2011-03-13T16:57:00.000-05:00

Praise God that Kazuyoshi and Mitsuyo are now accounted for!

Akira still has not been heard from so please continue your prayers for him.

Prayers for the Mawatari Family

2011-03-12T22:30:00.000-06:00

Please join me in praying for the Mawatari family. Akira and his parents have not been accounted for as of yet. Akira was a college student with me and was in my brother club on campus. We worked as residence hall staff together for several years as well. So many people I know in Japan are safe right now and I am so thankful for that, but my heart is still heavy when I think of Akira, Kazuyoshi, and Mitsuyo. The whole thing hadn't even really hit me until I found out about them.
Thank you for your prayers on their behalf!

Undone Chicken Cordon Bleu

2011-03-09T19:51:00.000-06:00

Do you like Glenn's name for this recipe? The first time I made it that's what he called it and it made me laugh.
This is one of my favorite quick meals. I've been trying to do a lot more stuff from scratch lately, but sometimes you need to go back to one of your easy comfort foods that you can make quickly using a lot of ready ingredients. The original recipe can be found here at Kraft Foods, my old standby. I love that I can have it ready to go in the oven before the oven finishes preheating. It really does have all the flavors of traditional cordon bleu but is so much easier and takes a fraction of the time.
On a side note, picky Glenn swears that he doesn't like Dijon mustard but he eats it in this recipe without complaint.

Ingredients:
1- 1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
Stove top stuffing mix
3-4 Tablespoons butter for the stuffing mix (this is optional but I like it)
Thinly sliced ham
1 can of cream of chicken (mushroom works well too)
1 Tablespoon of Dijon mustard (you may want to adjust this amount or even leave it out if you don't care for Dijon)
Shredded swiss cheese (you can use slices but I prefer shredded)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Make the stuffing mix according to the box directions. I usually do the microwave method. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.

Place chicken breasts into the pan. Mine are actually two large chicken breasts that I cut in half. I put two slices of thin sliced deli ham on each piece.

Weird lighting for some reason.

Mix cream of whatever soup and mustard together. Cover each of the chicken breasts. It doesn't have to be perfect. I think it looks pretty gross at this stage, but it keeps the chicken so moist!

After the stuffing is finished and you've fluffed it with a fork, cover the chicken breasts with it. Cook for 25 minutes. You need to use you judgment here. If you are using large chicken breasts you will need to cook it longer. That's part of the reason why I cut mine in half (the other part being portion control).

Cover the whole things with cheese, I just left it this way for the picture so you can see how lovely and crunchy the stuffing gets on top.

Top the chicken/stuffing with shredded cheese and bake for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

The stuffing is a little crunchy on top and fluffy and moist on the bottom. The chicken always comes out moist and tender. The leftovers aren't quite as good because the stuffing gets a little soggier, but we still gobble them up.

Belated Gratituesday: Healthy and Happy!

2011-03-09T14:05:00.001-06:00

Hmmm, having formatting issues so I guess this post will be center aligned. :)

These days I'm so thankful that everybody in our house has been healthy for two whole weeks now! Not a cough or fever in sight. What a blessing! Olivia has been in a good mood a lot of the time. She's even taken to sleeping in until 8:45 occasionally. More of that please! She's also been taking good naps - rarely less than two hours. Since she only takes one nap a day I really appreciate this and I usually even get a little nap in myself most days. More sleep + no illness = happy family!

Hanging out on the sofa.

Tug of war!

They both have it in their mouth. Piper eventually won this round.

Playing with her walker/doll stroller. Maybe we're getting closer to walking?

Happy girl!

Mama is so funny!

My Husband Brought Me a Solitaire!

2011-03-07T11:01:00.001-06:00

See my new solitaire?! Isn't my husband sweet?!

Okay, so it's not a diamond. It's a Maglite Solitaire! Not that I would mind a diamond, I'd just have to wonder how he paid for it. Haha!
In his defense I do love Maglites, especially small ones I can carry all the time. I keep a pen-sized one in my diaper bag or purse. You'd be surprised when it's come in handy! I'm excited to put it on my key chain. If nothing else it will be nice to keep Olivia entertained!

Today's Fun

2011-03-03T21:21:00.000-06:00

Wrestling with Piper.

Exploring new heights.

Enjoying our warm weather!

Hey, I played with this same stick last time it was nice out!

Dad's lucky charm!

What goes up...

2011-02-26T10:18:00.002-06:00

That's right, Olivia has mastered climbing DOWN the stairs! Incidentally, we think that the "TAAAA!" heard several times is her version of "tada," so you can see from her common usage how proud of herself she is. :)

Donut Holes!

2011-02-26T10:18:00.000-06:00

We decided for the first time in months to get donuts for Saturday morning as a special treat. Glenn took Olivia with him while I slept in (woohoo!) and the owner of the shop gave her some donut holes. I guess it pays to be cute, especially if you want your pay in donut holes. She ate one at the shop and then the owner gave her another that she ate in the car on the way home, and he also put one in the bag for her for at home! Somebody got spoiled this morning...

Homemade Oatmeal Packets

2011-02-24T11:57:00.000-06:00

Our family really loves oatmeal and we eat it a lot. It's easy, quick, tasty, and really good for you - what's not to love? Once every week or two we even have an oatmeal for supper with a variety of toppings and add-ins. Some of our favorites include granola bar oatmeal and pumpkin oatmeal.
When I worked at the grocery store before Olivia was born I often wanted a hot meal before work in the winter but didn't want to get up very early or have to think too clearly first thing, haha. Glenn eats breakfast during his morning work meeting and wanted something different from toast or cereal. One night I had a brilliant moment (well, I think it was brilliant) and decided to make my own oatmeal packets. Granted it doesn't take that long to make oatmeal, especially in the microwave, but I really like the convience of this. Oatmeal packets you can buy are convenient too, but it's much less expensive to make your own. Oatmeal is super cheap and also goes on sale reasonably often. Plus this way you can put exactly what you want in them and you don't end up with any weird fillers or whatever.
It doesn't take long to put them together if you get everything ready and do it assembly-line-style. I only made four packets today because I ran out of some ingredients but if you have everything you want you can make a lot of packets really quickly. I used to make enough for a week for Glenn and I both on Sunday evenings. It works best to add one ingredient to all the bags before moving on to the next ingredient. If you can get a helper to hold the bags open for you (like a doting husband or a kid old enough to know not to dump everything on the floor) it goes even quicker.

Four packets ready to go! Look at all those cranberries and nuts - Mmmmmmm!

Here's what I put in my packets today:
1/2 cup quick cooking Irish oats
dried cranberries
chopped walnuts
spoonful of brown sugar
cinnamon
nutmeg

When I'm ready to eat I just dump the packet into a bowl, add 1 cup of water, and put it in the microwave for 2 minutes. You may have to change the time and the amount of water depending on what kind of oats you use and how thick you like your oatmeal. You can also use hot water from a coffee pot if you don't have a microwave available.
For Glenn I usually use old fashioned oats and raisins with some kind of nut and a combination of spices. He likes more cinnamon and nutmeg than I do so I'm happy to oblige. I love using different kinds of dried fruit and nuts to vary them so I don't get tired of eating the same thing over and over. Dried cherries are probably my favorite and are really good with almonds. When I make these for home I like to leave out the brown sugar and either use honey or real maple syrup for sweetness and flavor once the oatmeal is made.
So there you go. Very easy to put together and convenient to have on hand. And if you use oats that haven't been contaminated it's gluten free as well!

Gratituesday: My Health

2011-02-22T06:00:00.002-06:00

On this Gratituesday I am so thankful for my health. I just received the results back from my cholesterol test and the numbers are great! My total is very low at 146. When my blood pressure was taken last week it was 112/76. It's kind of funny in a way. I know that I don't look like I'm that healthy on the outside, but I guess my efforts are working.
Beyond that my mental health is the best it has been in months. Between the loss of my Grandma Norma and the fact that I have been switching between medications to try and find the best fit, I just haven't been feeling great. Nowhere near as bad as I was last summer, but not as good as I know I can be. I know a lot of that the reason I haven't been as bad is that I'm using the coping techniques my counselor has taught me and also having worked through some issues. Now I have being seeing my counselor a little more often again and have found a really good fit medication-wise. I'm more interested in cooking again which makes it easier to plan out meals and make good food choices. I find it so interesting that if I can get my mental health in a good place it's so much easier to work on my physical health. It can take a lot of energy to get through the day when my depression and anxiety are "flaring up" and things like eating healthy and being active are the last things on my mind. I know the converse is true as well and that eating healthily and being active can make it easier to deal with depression and anxiety...it's just one of those circle things.
I'm pretty proud of myself and thankful to God and all the people that continue to support me as I work on my health.

Olivia...the stairMASTER

2011-02-21T20:10:00.001-06:00

Listen as she growls on her way up the stairs. Grandma Julie taught her to growl like a bear/monster when she stayed at their house!

My Little Bookworm

2011-02-20T18:31:00.001-06:00

Feeling enough better to spend a little time reading on the sofa with Dad. I just love this. What bibliophile wouldn't?

Sick Kiddo

2011-02-20T17:04:00.000-06:00

The last few days at our house have been anything but fun. Olivia has been running a high fever since Thursday evening. Other than the accompanying fussiness she hasn't had any other symptoms. It seems this has been going around in our area. We actually had something similar about 6 weeks ago, but her fever was not nearly as high. It's been over 104 for a few days, even up to 104.8, which is pretty scary for Mommy! I called her pediatrician on Friday and as long as she's still eating/drinking some, having wet diapers, and her fever is responding to medication there isn't much else we can do. She's been having a hard time keeping milk down (they also said this is normal) but has been drinking ice water. She refuses outright to drink juice or Gatorade or pedialyte from her bottle or her sippy cup, but then again has never really liked them even when she is well. What kind of a kid doesn't like juice?
Thursday night/Friday morning she did not sleep much, so we didn't either. She fussed almost through the night and I was up with her at least once every hour. Friday was pretty much awful all day. She was exhausted but barely napped and the heat just radiated off of her. I was so thankful once Glenn got home to help! I was worn out! Friday night into Saturday she slept some better. Saturday wasn't as bad and her fever was down to 102 so we figured we were on the downhill slide. She even slept for 6 hours without waking up with only minimal fussing in her sleep, which was awesome for all of us. But then when she got up she was burning up again and back up to over 104! Poor kiddo. You could just tell she felt miserable. She took a long nap this afternoon - 3.5 hours - and woke up crabby, but her fever is finally way down. We're going to keep on the drugs for a while but I'm really praying that she is finally on the mend!

Warm Weather!

2011-02-16T17:46:00.000-06:00

Today Olivia and I went outside on our porch for a while to enjoy the beautiful weather. As we waited for Glenn to get home from work I found it hard to believe that it was 5:00 PM and we were comfortably sitting outside with no jackets in February. Our yard is a soggy muddy mess (so is our driveway unfortunately) so we couldn't really do too much, but it was just nice to enjoy some fresh air!

Star Wars Pancakes!

2011-02-14T20:40:00.000-06:00

Mmmmm, pancakes taste better when they are in fun shapes!

I used the recipe that came with the molds because I'd heard from some friends that have these that it works the best from the recipes they've tried. It made very delicious pancakes. Here it is:

2 eggs
3 cups AP flour, sifted
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
4 Tbs melted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
In a bowl, whisk eggs until frothy. Add rest of ingredients and still until batter is smooth and no lumps remain (I found out this is important if you use squeeze bottles) but do not overmix. Heat griddle to medium and then continue with steps below.

Grease molds and griddle generously and then place the molds on the hot griddle to heat up.

Fill the molds about half-way up with pancake batter. I honestly have no idea how you could do this without a squeeze bottle of some type. I just bought a cheap one and cut off the tip to make it larger.

After about 2 minutes you can carefully remove the molds and flip the pancakes.

Finish cooking the other side (about 2 more minutes) and then start all over again! You may need to re-grease the griddle and/or molds periodically.

Our Little Sitter

2011-02-14T17:02:00.000-06:00

Home Again, Home Again

2011-02-11T23:00:00.004-06:00

In our lovely hotel. Thanks, Abengoa Bioenergy for footing the bill!

I really enjoyed our time in St. Louis. It was great to have time to read and relax. I even got a nap in one morning! We ate out all the time and discovered that it may be Panera to the rest of the world, but in St. Louis it's The Bread Company. We tried Brazilian food (really good but maybe not worth the money) and took walks every night at the mall near our hotel after supper since it was too cold to walk outside. I played Oregon Trail on facebook and sudoku on my Nook. I took leisurely showers and went to the bathroom by myself. Ah, the simple things mean so much when you're a mom!
Glenn didn't have to be at work until 8:30 so we both enjoyed a chance to sleep in. The corporate office ended up being less than a mile away so it didn't take Glenn but a minute to get to work. This was nice as last time he had a bit of a commute when he was working at the plant.

The Awakening. Outside the corporate office.

I was a little hesitant to do this, but Glenn asked around in the office and apparently everybody likes to go out and take pictures on it!

A friend of mine from YC, Rachel, moved down there last summer. She picked me up and we got to try out a coffee house that made delicious lattes and gooey butter cake (a St. Louis specialty). She also drove me through some beautiful parts of the city. I really hope we can go again when the weather is nicer. There is so much to do! Next time she is going to take me to see the studio where she makes the most beautiful pottery so I can learn more about it. I love learning! If you're interesting in seeing some of her stuff, she's on facebook and you can like her stuff, just look for Windfall Arts - it's also for sale here. I love her farmhouse collection so much!

Rachel and I at a local coffee house. Mmmmm, latte!

Glenn and I ended up having an afternoon to hang out before catching our flight home so we went to the science museum. It was a lot of fun and one really nice thing about St. Louis is that so many museums and things are free. We went to a special exhibit called Grossology - The (Impolite) Science of the Body. It certainly was gross, and really was for kids, but we enjoyed it anyway. I didn't take any pictures of the poo portion, which included a slide for kids to ride down the esophagus into the stomach after which they can crawl out through the intestines onto a brown colored mat. You can thank me later, although I'm sure for my more visually imaginative readers the description was enough to induce gagging...sorry.

Really cool physics display. Large colored balls are taken up to the top and then they loop and whirl and whiz overhead.

Moving dinosaurs!

The snot portion of the Grossology exhibit. The faucet-head guy explained the science of boogers to us while snot drips out of his nose. Ewwwww!

Shooting boogers (ping pong balls) into the nostrils.

We're inside a giant ear canal!

A tornado that you can manipulate. Really cool.

We also spent a good portion of the afternoon looking for a Barnes and Nobel. They seem to be everywhere until you actually want to go into one. We used our GPS in the rental car and it took us to several places where there may have once been a B&N, but there certainly wasn't anymore. In fact, we had a terrible time with the GPS this time and we speculated that it was in serious need of updating.
I wish we could have had a day where Glenn didn't have to work at all...maybe next time. We didn't even make it to my parents' house until 11:00 and with Olivia already in bed it just made sense to stay overnight. We got back this afternoon and I'm so glad to be home. I made a big pot of turkey noodle soup and it was nice to feel like I was eating something nourishing again. Olivia went to bed well and doesn't seem to have suffered any lasting damage from her time away from me. It was awesome of my parents and my aunt to watch her for us!

Olivia reading to us out loud on our way home. I missed hearing her little (and sometimes not so little) voice from the backseat!

Sitting Up!!!

2011-02-08T09:53:00.004-06:00

It wasn't until I had already finished my gratituesday post that I realized I had big news that I hadn't posted yet! I have wonderful news! Olivia is officially going to a sitting position on her own! I noticed her sitting a couple times for short periods but I was afraid it was just a freak occurrence. Then I actually saw her go from crawling into a sit and stay that way for a long time last Friday evening. I could hardly believe it. She looks so strange sitting up by herself! I have no idea what made her finally decide to do it. She still seems to prefer laying down when she plays most of the time, but at least now it's not the only thing!
I feel such a sense of relief. Now I just have to get some pictures of her doing it!

Gratituesday: All Alone

2011-02-08T09:46:00.000-06:00

Glenn found out a few weeks ago that he had to go to St. Louis for a business trip and thanks to cheap flights, family to take Olivia, and tax return money, I got to come along! It is quite cold here so I won't be doing a lot of venturing without a vehicle, but right now I'm just enjoying being alone in the quiet of our hotel room.
It's strange being alone for very long now that I'm used to being a SAHM. And it's strange to have it be so quiet - no kicking of cupboards, no xylophone playing, no banging Little People into their plastic beds, no jabbering story-telling one year old . Don't get me wrong, it's actually very nice. It's just so different! And I can do whatever I want here. Read, watch TV, check facebook, update my blog, nap...and go to the bathroom by myself.
Faced with the silence and choices, what did I do once Glenn left for work this morning? I called my mom to check on Olivia of course! Haha! I do miss her, but not enough to wish I was there. She's having fun and in good hands.
Other happy things:
We are staying in a much MUCH nicer hotel and in a not-scary part of town this time.
There is a mall with a Williams-Sonoma basically across the street from our hotel and even if I can't afford to buy anything there right now I still love to look!
I get to get together with an old friend tomorrow that lives in the area.
I have my NOOK so once I finish my library book I will still have over 70 books to choose from next!

Gratituesday: New Windows = Warmth

2011-02-01T10:34:00.000-06:00

I love our house. I really do. It was built in 1913 and still has almost all the original wood floors and trim - just beautiful. When we bought the house it also had something else that was original that I wasn't so fond of - painted shut windows that were flaking lead paint inside and out. We had the house tested for lead before we bought it (my nephew ended up with lead poisoning from their old house so our family is cautious in this area) and so we knew we needed to do something about the paint. It would have been a ridiculous amount of work and on top of that they made our house so drafty! We decided to go ahead and replace all the windows. That's right, all fourteen of them, including two large picture windows. We spent more money to have it done than to do it ourselves, but it was done in one day! That was worth it to me.
Financially it has been a burden, but one we know is short-term. Our house is so much warmer and so much less expensive to heat with our new windows. As I watch the snow swirling and blowing outside right now I'm so grateful for a warm and cozy place to live. Plus I know that Olivia is not going to become sick from the lead.
And while it's hard to imagine right now, it is nice that they open and close when the weather is nice!

Head Shaking

2011-01-30T13:33:00.001-06:00

Olivia loves shaking her head and being silly. I had to turn on the overhead light and she got a little distracted there by the ceiling fan for a moment.

Hanging Out with "Uncle" Tim

2011-01-29T21:11:00.000-06:00

Even though I swore that I would never refer to non-family members as "aunt" or "uncle" I've found myself doing just that. It could partially be that we already have a niece and nephews that call him Uncle Tim. I always thought it would be confusing as Olivia got older. Glenn tells the story of not realizing his "Uncle Terry" wasn't actually related to him until he was at least 12 years old. I had an Aunt Debbie and Uncle Andy that were really just close friends of my parents. Is this something common that parents do? In any case, Tim loves Olivia just as much as if he were her actual blood-related uncle and is so good with her so I don't really mind.

Olivia tries on Uncle Tim's hat.

Olivia's First Paella

2011-01-27T18:53:00.002-06:00

Made paella again using this recipe. Turned out great again. We have so much leftover though that I really should only make this when we have company. The leftovers are good, but we ate less than half and neither one of us likes to have leftovers for more than a second meal. If you live nearby and want some, stop on by!

Gave Olivia some chicken and sausage paella tonight.

She picked out the peas and ate them first.

It was a hit!

Late Breaking Gratituesday

2011-01-25T20:53:00.000-06:00

Have you ever noticed how lovely a person is when someone really smiles a true smile of joy? I'm begining to believe that heaven being a beautiful place has less to do with the streets of gold and all that and more to do with the fact that there is no death, pain, weariness, sorrow, sadness, and tears.

I can't wait to see what that is like! I can barely imagine it. I'm trying to think of my most joy-filled moments here in this world and what it would be like to have that times a billion and all the time but my woefully inadequate human mind cannot even grasp it. It brings me to tears, having such a hope.

I hope you share the same hope. There are many days that it really is about all that gets me through!

Big Girl!

2011-01-25T11:44:00.002-06:00

I finally figured out the quick way to post YouTube videos to my blog. Woohoo!

Turkey Vegetable Soup

2011-01-25T11:25:00.002-06:00

It's funny how hard it can be to take a good picture of something that is steaming. Isn't the color pretty though?

I decided to make soup with half of the lovely homemade turkey stock I made the other day. I got about 14 cups of very thick (gelatinous actually), rich stock by the way. I froze half right off and saved the rest for this soup. Really there isn't much to this soup, but it is really tasty and very satisfying. I felt so healthy and virtuous eating it, haha! And I even got the Holy Grail of picky eater compliments from Glenn, "Now this is the way to eat vegetables!"
I got out some of the turkey I'd frozen from before (one turkey can sure go a long way!). Normally I would use some frozen egg noodles to make turkey noodle soup, but the store was out of the noodles we like. I thought about using some rice (if you use rice or rice noodles it's still gluten free too). Once I started actually making the soup I decided to just put in lots of carrots and celery instead. I used three stalks of celery and about 7 carrots. I wasn't sure how Glenn would react. I chopped the veggies really small with my Pampered Chef food chopper (like the one pictured below). I love that thing and use it all the time. I'm surprised that it still works as well as it does after eight years of use.

Anyway, I did this for several reasons. First of all, they cook up super quickly if you chop them so they are tiny. Secondly, I wanted to feed this to Olivia and it's so much easier for her if the pieces and little. And thirdly, my picky husband doesn't like big chunks of anything, except maybe meat. Haha.
I heated the stock until it was boiling and then added in the chopped veggies. I then let them cook for about five minutes before I added in the turkey meat to warm through. If you add in the meat too early it can get a little tough. I seasoned it up with a little Kosher salt. I know the stock already had salt, but that's a lot of vegetables and they needed to be seasoned too!
Today I gave some of the cold leftover soup broth to Olivia. I know it sounds gross but she has strep throat and is liking cold things right now. She seemed to really like it and it was actually easier to feed to her because it was so thick. I felt good giving it to her too, knowing that it was so nutritious.