Meal planning Sunday

We have a busy week this week with story time at the library one night, my cousin's basketball game and book group, so I will be making double batches of things so we have plenty of leftovers

Sunday - Leftovers from last night's V-Day dinner
Monday - Shepard's pie, cinnamon rolls
Tuesday - Leftovers
Wednesday - Stuffed shells, garlic bread and salad
Thursday - Matt leftovers/Jen book group
Friday - Homemade mac and cheese and salad

Daddy's V-Day Card

We made Daddy's Valentine's day card on Wednesday and now that we've given it to him, I can show you the pics :) Acadia looooved "painting with piggies" and I just love crafts with her hand or foot prints - they're too cute! It will be fun to see this card 10 years from now - I'm sure we won't believe that she was ever this small!

Card for daddy

Acadia made a card for daddy the other day. She loves to "draw hand" so I let her trace her hand, then I did it and cut out the outline. We had some heart stickers that I added to her hand and glued onto construction paper. Daddy loved it!

Sign language for "I love you"

Our mailbox

We took a few days to do this Valentine's Day mailbox. Anytime she asked me to paint or color, I would bring out some pink or red paper for her so I could use it to cover her mailbox. I used kitchen sponges and cut them into a heart shape for her stamp and we just used a shoebox for the mailbox. She loves sticking the Valentine's cards she's made for people in her mailbox!

Choo-choo train

I grabbed my bag of cookie cutters this morning to get ready for Valentine's Day and decided I would use one of them to cut out Acadia's peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. She loooves choo-choo trains, so I chose a train shaped cookie cutter.

I gave her the rest of the sandwich once she was done eating the train part. It's hard to hear, but she says "hello" to me through the sandwich...silly girl...

TFT - Staying in touch

I was the last of my friends to get unlimited texting. It always took me forever to send a text and I guess I would have rather called someone than text them. But lately, I very rarely talk to people on the phone. There are a few people that I do talk to daily/weekly, but honestly - between reading people blogs (and leaving comments), facebook, e-mail and texting - I am able to keep in touch that way. And the weird thing is I feel very connected to my family and friends, even though we don't physically talk every week.

I think, especially since I've become a mom that it can be hard to talk on the phone when Acadia is up - either I'm trying to get out the door, we're doing a craft, I'm changing a diaper, making a meal, she's having a tantrum, etc, etc, that sometimes it's just easier to send someone an e-mail to let them know I'm thinking about them once Acadia is down for her nap.

TFT: How do you stay in touch with your family and friends?

V-Day heart banner

Yesterday morning after breakfast Acadia started a Valentine's banner. I chose pink and red as the colors and had her paint and stick hearts on two scraps of paper. Once dried, I cut out 6 hearts and hung them up for her to see. She was pretty excited about it - so excited that when I turned by back for a second, I caught her standing on the ledge of the fireplace trying to reach for them! Scared me half to death! Luckily I was able to lure her away from the fire place with heart shaped stickers.

Playing with my new camera

We got our camera working the other night after Acadia had gone to bed. Poor Mercedes turned into my subject while I tried our camera out. Not long after I took all these pictures, she got up and went into the other room....

Wordless Wednesday: Emma Joy

Winter Fest 2009

This past Saturday we went down town for the annual winter fest. We got down town right around when the Penguin Plunge was starting, but decided not to make the trek to the waterfront. Here are some pics of it, though, from the Burlington Free Press:

It was an awesome day out - almost 40 degrees or so, which is practically t-shirt weather here in Vermont! The sun was out and it felt nice and warm - it was good to be outside. When we headed towards the waterfront to visit the Echo Center, it got pretty windy and that was the only time it felt really cold.

This guy was making an ice sculpture on Church Street and for some reason it was cracking Acadia up!

Some pretty cool snow sculptures

After we were done with Church Street, we went to Boloco's for some Mexican food. It took Acadia a while to sit down - she wanted to stay outside!

Happy once we gave her a strawberry-banana smoothie and a peanut butter and jelly burrito

When did she become so funny?

Both of these happened yesterday:

If you're a mom (esp. a SAHM with no daddy for distraction), then you know that a lot of the time, you just have to use the bathroom with the door open. Unless, of course you want to hear a toddler crying and knocking at the door. Yesterday, I was using the bathroom and Acadia came in like she normally does, and sat on her potty and read. I said to her, "Ohh - are you going pee pee on the potty?" Even though her pants were on. And she said yes. Then a few minutes, she got up, looked in the potty and said, Tried! Tried! YAY! With her hands up. She was so proud of herself! LOL!!!

Then she was eating her afternoon snack (a bowl of blueberries) and looked at me and said, Mmm mmm good! I started laughing and said, Did you just say mmm mmm good?! And she said yes and laughed. Then said "funny".

I mean - where does she get this stuff?

Love it, love it, love it!!

If you are a parent, please, please add All and Sundry to your google reader. OMG - she is soo funny!! This post was just too awesome not to share.

I remember Monday

I remember...being in the hospital the day you were born. Most newborns (if not all?) still have fluid in their lungs after they are born and I remember you making choking sounds as the fluid made its way out. I remember being in a cold sweat every time and praying that you would be ok. Luckily the nurse was there every time and would take care of you. Like it was no big deal. Like you didn't almost die. Or so I thought! LOL!!

My cousin Kim came over after she got out of work to meet you. She was holding you and we were all talking when all of a sudden, you started making the choking noises. I just froze and stared. And just like nothing, Kimmie rolled you onto your side, patted your back and kept on talking. Like it was no big deal. Like you didn't almost die. To this day, I still think of her as superwoman for saving your life. Dramatic? Probably. It's funny to me now, but when you've never gone through birth, you've never had a child, every little noise made from that little body is frightening. So, when you get older and can actually say a sentence, please thank cousin Kimmy for saving your life when you were only a day old!

Thanks to you...

I am now playing with my brand new Nikon camera!!! Matt and I went out and bought it today, and I must say - it was your comments, e-mails and phone calls telling us how much you love your Nikon that made the decision for us :) Thank you! I'm so excited to start using it!

Meal Planning

I love meal planning - plain and simple. It saves so much time and money in the long run by looking at your week on Sunday mornings, along with the sale fliers and a mental list of what you already have in your cupboards and planning out what you will eat for the week. It can be time consuming, but honestly - it's so worth it. It saves you from having to search through your cupboards on a Monday night when you're exhausted and don't feel like having to think about what to make for dinner. I keep my list of meals for the week right next to the calender on the fridge so I know what frozen meat I need to take out the night before, etc. I can't even emphasize how much time and money this saves!

I think I will start sharing our meals, because I love getting meal ideas from other people, so maybe someone else will get ideas from here :) BTW - if you ever want to know a recipe to something, just ask and I can post it in the comments section.

Sunday - Chicken cheese steaks with a salad

Monday - Grilled cheese and soup

Tuesday - Cheese ravioli and garlic bread

Wednesday - Frozen pizza with a salad

Thursday - Tacos and rice

Friday - Cheeseburgers, french fries and baked beans

Love this idea!

I found this idea on a crafting blog. They used wooden slates and painted them, but since I am not crafty at ALL, I decided to print them out on scrap booking paper and laminate them. I made newborn - 3 months, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months. I am seriously in love with this idea - when I am trying to get out the door or quickly hang laundry back up in the closet, this will really come in handy so I'm not grabbing the wrong sized clothing.

V-Day project

I forget where I found this idea, but I'm sure we've all done it at some point - I know I did when I was a kid. You cut out two small hearts from a cereal box and one bigger heart.

The painting was her favorite part, although every time I tried to take a picture of her, she told me "No" and lowered her head. Hmmm....I think she's finally getting sick of mommy taking so many pictures.

Then glue the "arms" on once the paint has dried

Add eyes

And the smile, of course!

Potty Training 101

This week we started Potty Training '09. I finally got around to reading Diaper Free Before 3 - I was in the middle of it for about a month or so, before finishing it up last week. I found a free potty chart on-line and decided on 3 colored stickers - green for you know what, pink for you also know what, and yellow for trying.

How we are starting out is asking her 3-4 times a day if she would like to try to use the potty. Normally she says yes and we get some books or a puzzle, her sippy cup and head into the bathroom. No matter what, she will get a sticker and she LOVES this!

On Monday - morning one of day one, I asked her if she had to use the potty and she said yes. We went in and she sat right down and went potty then said all done!! She was so excited and we made a huge deal out of it. I know it was beginners luck, but that's ok - it was a great way to start the week!

TFT: Extra Money

Matt and I have been going back and forth about getting a Nikon 60. We are leaning towards buying one before Emma gets here, so that we have learned how to use it before she's born. I know it's a lot of money to spend on a camera, but I hated the camera I had when Acadia was born and have no good pictures of her in the hospital because the pictures all came out blurry. So, in the long run, having a really good camera seems totally worth the investment.

We've been talking about how to spend our money - camera, a new sink for the bathroom, a new tub, etc. and it has made me think (for about the hundredth time) how nice it would be to have more money. Who doesn't want more money?? I'm not talking filthy rich or anything, but it would be nice to be able to make big purchases (ie. the camera and tub) without stressing about it and over analyzing whether we need this more than we need something else.

So, TFT is: What would you buy if someone gave you $500?

Decisions, decisions

After going back and forth as to what we should do for Acadia's second birthday party - have a big party like we did last year, have a small party, have no party and take her to Boston on her birthday for some fun at the children's museums - we have finally decided on a small party. Who knew that a decision on whether or not to have a birthday party would take so long to decide!

And after going over a bunch of themes, we've finally decided on an Elmo theme. I had so many cool ideas, but when it comes down to it - the girl loves Elmo. So we'll be doing what millions of Americans have done for their child's first, second or third birthdays and have Elmo as a theme. Not original, but I hope she'll love it.

Now, off to ask Uncle Jimmy if he'll wear the Elmo suit I rented for her birthday - cross your fingers! LOL! J/K...