3rd Birthday Extravaganza

It's hard to believe but 3 years ago this is exactly what we were doing....

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To say the time has flown by would be nothing short of an understatement!  There is not a thing we would change and we are so blessed to have been given our son.  I'm thankful that God chose me to be his Mom and it's a title I wear proudly!

Today-we did all of Rory's favorite things.  It was a warm beautiful sunny day-just perfect for a birthday celebration!

We started our day off with breakfast in the airport control tower!  This is a smaller regional airport but today there was plenty of traffic and we spent an hour and a half just watching the planes land and take off.  On the way home we were stopped by a train which for most would be an inconvenience.  I guess true passage into being a mother of a boy is being excited that we were the first car to be stopped by the signal and have a front row viewing of the train.  Planes and trains-what more could we want?

We had a picnic lunch with our friends--it was our first picnic and our first time using the kids picnic table.  It was nice to spend a relaxing afternoon on the deck.

I asked Rory where he wanted to go for his birthday and exclaimed, "Dinosaur Island" so late afternoon we headed to the zoo.  It was the perfect time to go and most exhibits we had all to ourselves.  Rory loves dinosaurs and when he saw this one said, "There is a brachiosaurus!"  

The boat ride is part of the dinosaur exhibit and something that we always ride if it is running.  It's fast becoming part of our zoo repertoire.

He has loved the carousel ever since the first time we visited the zoo--he just loves it and has a blast!  He bee-bops to the music and giggles the entire time!

Typically, I don't get over to the the stingray area of the zoo on the weekends because it is too crowded.    Josh and Rory can make it there during the week so it was a real treat for all 3 of us to check it out.  We had the entire stingray pool to ourselves.  Rory wasn't at all scared and reached right in the touch pool and had a blast.  The zoo had fish we could feed the stingrays and since it was a birthday celebration we indulged!  Rory wasn't a bit scared and held the fish just as the zoo keeper instructed--he loved it and again, giggled the entire time!  I, however, was a little more hesitant.  You can see we had varying degrees of fun at this exhibit!

By special request we had pizza for dinner--it doesn't get much easier than that!  After dinner, we walked down to the gourmet chocolate store and got a small box of candies as a birthday treat.

At the ripe old age of 3 Rory didn't think about presents so I had forgotten we had presents to open!  I know a water bottle seems so impersonal but he loves drinking out of water bottles so when I found one just his size I couldn't pass it up.

Long before Rory was in our lives, Josh has dreamt of teaching his son how to catch and throw a baseball.  I envision many evenings of these two playing catch long after bedtime.

If the first 3 years went by so fast I can't imagine how the next 3 will go!  We couldn't be more happy as a family with our 3 year old!

Unplanned Weekend

Josh and I purchased our home earlier this year and although we love it there are few things that we don't like.  Aesthetically, some things just aren't quite to my liking.  The front door was a reddish purple and although a pretty color I did not prefer it for my door.  So, my Mom painted it for me!  It looks so much prettier and "cool" than the old color.

On Sunday, Josh and I were going to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary at the shooting range but it was closed so we hit up Lowe's instead.  Not quite how most people would spend their anniversary but it was nice to have a couple hours of alone time and be able to eat lunch without worrying about sippy cups, spills and straw papers being shot across the restaurant.  We know you are supposed to change your locks when you move into a new house so we were a bit behind the game but now that we have new color we also have new locks!

We have a sliding glass door in our kitchen.  It's lovely because it opens right up to the deck and on nicer days lets in a wonderful breeze.  The downside is that about 25 feet away is our neighbors kitchen window.  We have great neighbors but one night I looked over and realized that we were doing dishes together...in our pajamas!  So, curtains are in order!  I've had fabric since before we moved in but have not had the time to whip them together.  With my Mom up this weekend we tag teamed and got them done in a few hours!  Rory was fascinated by the sewing machine and wanted to help me guide the fabric through.  I was surprised but he sat patiently, followed my instructions and between the two of us finished one side of the curtain.

My Dad installed the curtain rod and voila!  It really made the space look complete and helped the doors look more polished.

See that small window?  That is our neighbor--they really are great people but a little privacy is a good thing.

As if all of that weren't enough excitement look at what else has been happening!  Behind our house is a huge pond and in front of that a small creek.  Rory is not afraid of the water and that made this mama quite nervous.  Although he is never in the yard without supervision he moves so fast.  I've heard similar stories from other mom's with toddlers.  For being only 3 feet tall they really can cover some serious ground so we felt like a fence was a must.  In addition to keeping Rory safe from the road and water our family is expanding (by four furry legs)!  More on that later but here is what the yard looks like....

Overall, I would have just been happy to have the house kept clean over the past 4 days so maybe it's better to go into things without having a plan!

Dinosaur Island

Have I mentioned we love the zoo?  We do!  We spend A LOT of time there, especially when the weather is nice.

This weekend my aunt and uncle, Beth and Sean were over our way for a wedding so we were able to meet up at the zoo.  When I told Rory that we would see Aunt Beth and Uncle Sean at the zoo he clasped his hands over his mouth (Home Alone style) and said, "I can't believe it!"  It was like I handed him the winning lottery ticket numbers.

We had a great time and saw a few things that we had never seen before.  The polar bears were loving the cooler temps that morning and the zookeeper threw them yummy fish and toys with peanut butter in the water.  We had a great view in the underwater viewing area!

The dinosaur exhibit was packed but we braved it anyway since Rory specifically requested it.  Here he is petting a "baby dinosaur."  

The line for the boat ride was an hour long but Rory said he was willing to wait.  After about 30 minutes of patiently waiting in line, the zoo announced that the boats were broken!  I'm starting to sense a theme of rides breaking after we wait in line!  Rory was quite a trooper about the whole ordeal--and I made it up to him by stopping at Dairy Queen later.

                                                 

I'm thankful the zoo was very nice about the whole ordeal and gave us comp tickets to come back.  It's a good thing because I asked Rory where he wanted to go for his birthday dinner and he said, "Dinosaur Island!"

Homemade Laundry Soap

I've had this on my to do list every time I run out of laundry soap.  I never got around to it though because it seemed like I could always get store bought on sale or even buy one get one free.  I usually buy generic because national brands are just way too expensive!  I've never really had a need for homemade until recently.

Josh has sensitive skin and so does Rory.  I always buy the "free and clear" and up until now that has worked really well.   The last couple weeks Rory has complained of being itchy and has little bumps on his trunk.  Don't worry though I've checked it out and it just skin irritiation.  When Rory was a baby I remember someone held him that had on too much perfume and his little face was all red and splotchy.  Recently, though I've been an itchy mess...my arms, scalp, shoulders, chin, neck and even my calves.  I've never had this problem before and always just bought whatever shampoo, body wash, etc for myself. 

Since we are all an itchy mess I'm having to back track and re-evaluate the products that we are using.  While my initial plan for making homemade detergent blossomed out of saving money it's now become more urgent.  This was so easy that I wished that I had made this long before now.

My initial inspiration came from various pinterest boards and blogs.  This is what I used:

-1 box of Borax

-1 box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

-1 box of baking soda (the big box)

-1 container of Oxy Clean (I used the free and clear)

-2 bars of Dove Sensitive Skin

Recipes that I have seen called for Fels Naptha or Pure Castille Soap, neither of which I could find so Dove it is!

The first step is to grate the soap--I used my cheese grater.



Then, find a cute little helper and a bucket to mix everything in!  I always have one of these on hand.

I poured half of everything in, then stirred and then poured in the rest and stirred again so everything would be nice and mixed up.  This was a perfect project for a busy yet helpful toddler!  He loved pouring and stirring.

From my research on Pinterest and the blogosphere it looks like each load of laundry only requires about 2 tablespoons of homemade detergent so that is what I'm sticking with.  The supplies cost about $20 total and I can't qutie tell how long this will last but I estimate it will either save a little money or be the same cost as store bought.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will also be easier on our skin.

It may be weird to say but now I'm anxious to do some laundry with my new soap!  Clearly, it's the little things in life that please me.

Menu Plan thru May 26, 2013

I'm not generally one to talk about how fast time goes, but my oh my!!  I'm planning for the end of May--this month has flown by.

Last week we had more leftovers than anticipated and one night, the boys weren't hungry so I didn't cook.  We just had a quick snack for dinner.  Makes it easy for me!  This week has a couple repeats from last since we didn't get to them.  I don't normally plan too much for the weekends but my parents are coming for Memorial Day.  They came up for Easter weekend and I had planned so much for Easter dinner that I forgot to plan other meals! 

Monday-Leftovers
Tuesday-Grilled Cheeseburger Wraps
Wednesday-Italian Style Chicken Roll Ups, brown rice with veggies
Thursday-Crisp and Creamy Baked Chicken
Friday-leftovers to gear up for our Memorial Day weekend!
Saturday-
   Breakfast-Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake
   Lunch-Turkey sandwiches at the zoo
   Dinner-Out
Sunday-
   Breakfast-Potluck at church
   Lunch-On a lunch date with Josh
   Dinner-Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

Breakfasts:Steal Good Pumpkin Bread I'll make mine in a cupcake tin--because everything is better in cupcake form!

I'm linking up to erinbrans and orgjunkie.

Happy Cooking!

The Zoo: Dinosaur Island

Our weekend included a special visit from Josh's cousin, Stefanie and her husband, Chris and son, Hunter.  I can't even begin to describe how much fun the boys had together.  I waited until that morning to tell Rory we were going to the zoo and that we would see Hunter.  He was so excited!

The zoo has a new Dinosaur Island Exhibit and the boys had a blast!  We took a boat ride which included animatronic dinosaurs, huge fake bugs and dinosaurs that squirt water.  I'm certain the water was a favorite!

It was neat to see the boys together (adults and kids!) and how they interacted.  Even though they are only 14 months apart, being this young it's not a huge difference but it's still very noticeable.  Rory was trying to imitate everything Hunter did.   It's been awhile since both of them have been together but they acted like long lost buddies.

The boys touched a black snake named Mark.  I stood long enough to take the picture and quickly backed away.  Black snakes are common for our area and I know they eat mice and are helpful to farmers, yada, yada, yada.  I never want to be that close to once again!

It was such a lovely way to spend time with family and catch up.  

How does your garden grow?

I haven't waited for this evening ever since we looked at our house before purchasing in December--time to plant the garden!  Rory and I have been talking about it so I knew he was excited too!  

Josh and Rory worked in the garden before I got home to get the ground ready.  I see my men have a thing for wearing shorts and boots!  Ha!

Today was an extra special treat because not only was there dirt to dig and seeds to plant but huge machinery at the pond behind our house.  You can kind of see an orange truck just above Josh's left shoulder.  A new bike path is going in so tractors and dump trucks of all sorts were just a short distance away.  To say Rory loved it would be an understatement.

The boys are perfecting their skills at mound building.  I didn't know this but some plants have to be planted in a mound.  Not sure why--I'll do some research.

Rory was such a good helper at counting out the seeds, digging the holes and patting the dirt back over the seeds.  It was much harder keeping him from plodding through all the mounds we had just built!  He kept calling them "mountains."

We did not have any plants around our deck and if I planted something tall it would block our view of the water so for now, I have strawberry starts, green peppers and tomatoes here.  I have 7 different kinds of tomato plants.  I didn't mean to do that but I bought 2 packs from a garden center after my order from a catalog didn't show up and then, literally today, 6 different types show up from the catalog company.  I need to review tomato and spaghetti canning recipes, stat!  I find it a bit ironic because none of us like eating just a tomato--we do however love spaghetti sauce and tomato sauce.

Here is the finished product of the "big" garden.  I'm hoping to reap a harvest of dry soup beans, zucchini, carrots, cantaloupe, watermelon and green beans.  I have two packets of green beans left to plant but will space those out over the next 4 weeks so they mature at different times.  I'm so excited for Rory to see this process from start to finish but also provide food for our family.  It's been a rough economy for everyone and once we buy some wire and tomato stakes we will still have less than $50 total in the entire project.  I spent at least that produce every 4 weeks...if not more.  Some things I will freeze but the rest I will can.  The jars can be a bit pricey but also last forever so it's a one time investment.  I'm looking forward to harvest time--the kid in me wants to go out tomorrow morning and see a beautiful crop but it will be at least 5 weeks before anything gets here!

Menu Plan thru May 19, 2013

I'm going back to some of our favorites this week.  I've tested a few recipes lately that looked great in the picture but were just ok.  So, I'm only trying one new recipe on Saturday.  I'm learning that just because my toddler likes something on Tuesday does not mean he will like it again on Wednesday.  I'm not sure how that happens.  I have figured that he much prefers meals with lots of flavor as opposed to dishes that are more bland.

I'm also sticking with some tried and true favorites because I can whip them together in a flash.  We will be planting our garden on Wednesday, since it looks like it is finally going to stay warm!  I'm so excited for Rory to see the process from start to finish.  He keeps talking about seeds so it should be a fun evening.  Rory and I also found a gorgeous garden center where we bought some flowers, green pepper starts, tomato starts, strawberry plants and he picked out the hanging basket.  Can't wait to get our hands dirty and watch our flowers and vegetables grow!

Here is what's on my line up:

Monday-Rory and I on a dinner date
Tuesday-Ham and Cheese Sliders with fresh or steamed broccoli
Wednesday-Italian Style Chicken Roll Ups, brown rice
Thursday-Crisp and Creamy Baked Chicken, steamed mixed veggies
Friday-leftovers
Saturday-Skillet Sausage and Pasta
Sunday-out after church

Breakfasts: Double batch of Blueberry Muffins  (The boys could eat a dozen at a time!)

I'm linking up to erinbrans and orgjunkie.

Happy Cooking!

A post 13.1 miles in the making....

About 4 short months ago I made a goal to run a half marathon and Josh graciously joined me on this endeavor.  I can say, without a doubt, that it was hard work, took a lot of time and sometimes was painful.  All of those hard, painful and tired moments don't even begin to touch the exciting and fulfilling moments of race day.  I can now say that I completely understand why runners have chosen this sport.  While there were a few out to win most were out to race themselves--everyone was beyond encouraging and the giddy nerves were contagious!

First, let me show you a few pics of my favorite city...Cincinnati!  I would have loved to carry my good camera but there was no way I could run with it.  Hands down, the Flying Pig Marathon is the best way to get a great view of this city!  Our day started early, up at 4:30 to be downtown by 5:30.  The race started at 6:30.  Although, it was early this portion of town felt very much awake and alive.  

Josh and I were both nervous, although I think him more than me...or maybe I just wasn't admitting to it fully!  Our morning started at Paul Brown Stadium for a quick bathroom break before we found our corrals.  I can say that runners are the fastest people at going to the bathroom.  There were at least 50 women in front of me but we whipped through in just a few minutes.  Needless to say, I was impressed!

Once we saw the corrals, or "stalls" where you line up according to estimated time to complete, my nerves sank away to pure excitement.  It was hard to keep my legs still--I like most other people occasionally had to jump or shake our legs just to get those excited nerves calmed down.   I may or may not have hollered just a bit to let out some steam. Ha!

With the Boston tragedy, still very fresh, security was tight.  A race official and Navy serviceman checked us in.  Anything we took with us had to be in a clear plastic bag.  Security sweeps were done regularly and if you set your things down it would be thrown away.  Lots of police, swat and national guard.  It was a little unsettling to see the swat team, geared up, weapons in hand and ready to go in a split second.  I'm thankful they were there serving and protecting.  

The race started at 6:30 and literally moments before a rainbow came out!  It's hard to see in the picture but it is just above the light behind us.  That reassured me that I could do this!

I met up with my friend and found out that we were in the same pace group.  We stuck together for 11 miles and had a blast!!  We ran, talked, laughed, hollered, talked some more, laughed some more and overall had a GREAT time!

I think I was nervous because I was expecting the race to be so hard and the hills to be excruciating and maybe they were for some who were trying to run a certain pace or time, but, for me, I just had fun and can honestly say that this is one event that I have had the most fun at...ever!  People from all over come to line the race route and they cheer you on, have snacks, Gatorade, water and funny signs to make you forget that your feet or knees hurt.  There were certain moments that the spectators were so incredible I couldn't help but think that is why Hollywood enjoys walking the red carpet.  That is what I imagined it to be like.

At mile 9.5 I was hungry--thankfully, I had packed one of Rory's applesauce pouches and ate that.  Oh my--applesauce has never tasted so good!  Mile 11 was getting harder...it had started to rain and at that point was the furthest I had ever run.  The route had narrowed and the runners were thinning out but the crowd was so incredible I could have cried...and wanted to cry but didn't because I was worried they would send a medic to check on me.  How embarrassing!

The crowds were so large and dense that our families couldn't make it to the finish line, but seeing this face and his precious sign was worth it!  

My run was complete at 2:55:45 minutes (slow, I know but next year I'll register different so I wont be in the corral with walkers.  It took a lot of time to weave around them.)  Josh finished a solid half hour before me at 2:25:14.

It's safe to say that the running bug has bit Josh and me.  We are already talking about our next race!!  There is no way we could have done this without a few crucial people.  First, there is no way that I could have completed this without my faith.  There were so many times that my knees felt like they were going to explode but I would always pray before my long runs and my knees have always held out.  While running, during times I wanted to quit, sometimes I could only utter, "Oh Lord Jesus..." and I would repeat that over and over.  Our bodies can only do so much and for me, at least, my faith carried me much further than my feet alone could ever go.

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the face, I have kept the faith." 2 Timothy 2:4

Thank you to both our families for graciously keeping Rory, sometimes for multiple hours in a row so I could get my runs in.  Somehow, I don't think the grandparents minded this one bit!

Finally, our life group through church has multiple runners and each week we'd compare notes and see who was doing what.  On the times I wanted to quit, I knew one of these wonderful people would ask me how my run went and how far I'd gone.  I didn't want to disappoint them or myself.  Reporting in each week was a huge motivation to keep going and stay on track.  Josh and I are truly blessed to have such amazing people in our lives.

Although, I had originally set my goal up to be a one time thing and then be done, but I really enjoy running.  Even it is only for the race day and the excitement it brings!  Our goal has changed more than just our exercise.  We have been eating healthier as a family, getting out more and hopefully, impressing the importance of good health on our son.  We accomplished something that was merely an idea on paper, something that I ultimately thought I would not be able to complete.  It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it, really try and have an amazing support group of family and friends!