She's growing...

Things are starting to calm down. It's nice. E was so overwhelmed with first her birthday and then Christmas the next day. Now all I have to do is figure out where to put all her new toys... It was a lot of fun, though, watching E open up all of her gifts. For the first time she was more interested in what was under the wrapping paper than the paper itself. There was a lot of "bows" and "ooohs". (The bows have actually turned into wows lately.)

E had her 2 year well visit today. She weighs 31 lbs /14 kg (90th percentile) and she is 32½" / 82½ cm long (75th - 80th percentile).

Ok, so right now there's a commercial for freecreditreport.com on TV. Am I the only one who find their song very catchy? My feet keep moving every time I hear it.

Birthday

Happy Birthday E!

Winter Wonderland

E and I went out to play in the snow yesterday. It took forever to get her ready. She was so patient though. Once we got out and she saw all the snow she said the same thing she says everytime we turn the Christmas tree lights on: Bow! Which is her way of saying wow. I put her down in the, for her, thigh deep snow. She didn't move an inch. I had to make a path for her to follow. But when my path turned and she saw the steps to the pool deck in front of her she just kept pushing through that snow all by herself. It got deeper and deeper too. You could barely see her little legs. She was so happy when she reached the steps. We ended up having a great time playing in the snow.

Birthday

Grattis på födelsedagen lillebror!

Starting now going backwards...

12/19
I love my husband. I just put E to bed and I'm sitting here by the window and I can see him shoveling snow outside. He's working so hard. There's a lot of snow out there, and it just keeps falling... It's so pretty. I love the beginning of winter, before you get tired of the cold, dark days and the snow that just won't stop falling. That usually happens to me mid January. But right now it's just pretty and beautiful. I hope to take E out in the backyard tomorrow to play.

12/17
Can't get into it here to much, but I can say this: If you want to "borrow" things from us you better call us first and ask us. Not just take it. Especially since we're not buddies. Our relationship is more of a business type.

12/16
I woke up to the sound of flatware falling on the floor. I knew C was already on his way to work and so I was wondering how they could just fall all by themselves. They can't! I opened the bedroom door and saw a big, fat, gray squirrel under the kitchen table. I quickly closed the door and called C. He kept asking how it got in. Like I cared right then and there... I just wanted to know how to get it out. He told me to open the back door. As I walked to the door the squirrel jumped the other way right into the room with all the boxes we still haven't unpacked since we moved. It snuck all the way to the back corner and I could not get it out. I opened up a window and built a nice set of stairs for it with some of the boxes. I guess he got offended by that. Like he couldn't just jump that high if he really wanted to. So he stayed in his corner. I called the local police and they gave me the number to Animal Control Center and as they, 10 minutes later, moved the boxes around to get to him he jumped out the window. Not sure if he used my stairs or not. I spent the rest of the day cleaning and disinfecting, but still felt like I had squirrel germs everywhere. (I think the stuff I vacuumed up from the corner was squirrel droppings, but I'm not sure since I don't come across that very often.)

12/12
Woke up with no power after an ice storm. It was beautiful outside and quickly getting pretty cold inside. E and I spent the day with R and her boys while C and J installed a generator at our house. They worked so hard. I love my husband who does so much for us and I'm very thankful for our friends for taking us in and feeding us and keeping us warm and helping us out. C and the guys spent the next day chopping up some trees that fell in our and our neighbor's back yard. Thanks guys! Later that day the power came back. Nice! (Not that I can complain too much when we have a generator to give us heat and some light, and our stove and water runs on gas. But still... nice!)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

E and her girl friends

E had a playdate today at Tiny Tots with L and K. All girls, that doesn't happen very often. They had so much fun. It's great to see them interact, starting slowly to play with each other and not just next to each other. E and L were playing in the castle, E was inside looking out through a window at L and they both just started fake laughing at each other, back and forth. So funny! Then there was this boy dressed up as a fire fighter that came to rescue E from the burning castle. He would go in, take her hand and lead her out. She followed along nicely (not so sure I like her just following strange guys like that, hmm...), but when he let go of her she went back into the castle again. The boy kept rescuing E for awhile, explaining to her "I'm just rescuing you". She played along nicely for awhile, sat on the back of his fire truck and all, and then walked back into the castle again.
When it was time to eat she happily shoved spoonfulls of mac & cheese and peas into her mouth, finished the bowls in record time and hurried back to play.
The girls also spent some time in the playdough room. That was E's first time with playdough. She wasn't very impressed. And she didn't like the flavor. You should have seen her face! =/

Update

I updated E's last blog entry from Nov. 30th by adding a photo of her blogging. I'm also working on linking you to some of the recipes on my dinner list.

Bye bye

I figured I would sneak over to the computer and write about yesterday's joy while E is watching Steve Songs.

Yesterday was Sunday and when I normally drop E off in the nursery she screams her head off, but then she calms down a few seconds after I leave and plays fine until I come back for her after service. Yesterday, however, this didn't happen. We walked downstairs and while I was signing her in she tried to peak in to the nursery to see what her friends were doing and when I handed her over she just stood there on the floor, waving and saying "bye bye". I gave her a big kiss and said bye back to her. And walked away with a big smile!

ice ice baby

The refrigerator repair man came this morning and he fixed our ice dispenser. E was so excited (once he left, when he was here she was shy). She loves ice! So I filled up a small cup of crushed ice for her. (Oooh, choking hazard - I can here you say it.) Yes, it's a choking hazard, but I'm watching her (and I removed the larger pieces), I promise. And it is a great way to get more water into her.

Ice is pretty good! Do you know where they have the best ice? In the ice machine in the cafeteria at a local hospital - A.M.
If you can't get some of that I recommend the ice made by our friends A & Z's dad's company.
Well, I guess that was some pretty random ice info right there.

What's for dinner?

After "talking" to a few of my friends on FB I realized that we all pretty much are always looking for something new to throw into the mix when we plan our menus. So here's my menu for the next few days (not in order):

• Kielbasa Pot (I add carrots too. Leftovers are great to fry up for another meal)
• Shepherd's Pie
  
• Paste E Fagioli (I lost my really great recipe for this, I have an ok one, so if you have a good one please let me know)
  
• Chicken Pot Pie
• Tuna Noodle Casserole
• Buffalo Chicken Strips w/ Pirogies
• Hamburgers and roasted potato wedges
• Pizza
• Chili Chicken & Veggie Soup (add your favorite beans to the leftovers and serve with rice for a new meal)
• Mini Cannelloni Bake (still debating if I should use ground beef or turkey)
• Chicken Tortilla Stew (makes a lot so I freeze and eat again another night)
• Tomato Soup with grilled cheese
• Pasta with homemade almond/parsley pesto (since the other 2 people in my family are allergic to tree nuts)

If veggies aren't a big part of the meal already I serve it with a salad or some other veggies.
I added some links so you can check out the recipes if you want to. I do tweak them a bit, though, to suit our family.