My Paisley Apron

February in our Backyard

2012-02-18T13:16:00.001-07:00

Kirsa's Scrapbook * Final Post

2012-02-18T12:15:00.002-07:00

Kirsa's Scrapbook: Pages 20 and 33-36, Cover, Back Cover, and Title Page. Finished and ready to go to print!!

Cover

Back Cover

Title Page

Four Years Old!

2012-02-15T10:23:00.004-07:00

Elijah turned four years old this week!! Chris commented that it's hard to believe that we've been parents for four years now. It's true, it's hard for me to imagine that every.single.day for the past four years, we have cuddled, fed, bathed, cared for, and loved this amazing little boy!

This is such a fun age so far, transitioning from three to four. He's funny, creative, imaginative, and very talkative - but can follow rules, understand sequences and consequences, calm down from tantrums, and walk without ever being carried around. He's so little and so grown-up at the same time!

Eating: This boy eats like a champ, and always has. Nothing is too weird, too new, or too green for this boy. He is only in the 25th percentile for height and weight, but that's certainly not for a lack of eating. In the last few weeks, we have moved him to 1% milk instead of 2%.

Sleeping: Oh, sleeping. The pain of our existence. Elijah no longer messes around extensively at bedtime, no longer naps, no longer wakes too early most days. He still gets up several times a night, but thankfully takes himself to the bathroom and back to bed with minimal fuss. He has a nice, early bedtime and always has, but the sleeping troubles always seem to come and go.

Routine: Elijah's routine looks something like this - 7am wake, dress, breakfast, play; 9am quiet play, craft/art/preschool time, outside time if at home, playroom time if Kirsa's still napping; 11am lunch, outside, play with Kirsa; 1 or 1:30pm rest time; 2pm playroom time; 3-4pm (when Kirsa wakes) outside, then play or crafts until dinner; 5pm dinner; 6pm bath, stories; 6:45-7pm bed.

Skills and Activities: I'm not sure I can even list here all the amazing things this child can do. He is completely physically adept, and even rides his bike smoothly (with training wheels), runs, jumps, hops, crawls, gallops, swings, slides, throws, kicks... you name it.

He can write his name, string beads, start and zip his own jacket zipper, build towers and bridges, and even put together lego cars with teeny tiny pieces.

He is loving and gentle and fun. He can make Kirsa laugh anytime, anywhere. He is always ultra-concerned whenever anyone, especially another child, is upset. He is tender and sweet with me when I'm upset, too. He is careful and mature when it comes to anything fragile, and can be very quiet in his walking, talking, and playing when he knows that Kirsa is napping.

He has about a trillion words in his vocabulary and has spoken in complete sentences for a long time. He can count to 20, sing his ABCs and even spell a few words, memorize songs and Bible verses and stories, and is the most geographically-advanced child I have ever known.

A few weeks ago, on the way home from church, we were driving southbound on I-25. This particular section had at least 4-5 lanes going each direction. He was eating lunch and the music was playing and we were talking as we were about to go under an overpass. Elijah interuppted our conversation to point out his window and ask, Is that the ramp we go down on the way to church after we've gone to Starbucks in the morning? And it was. But WHO knows that?!? We were blown away.

In fact, we're generally blown away by this sweet, wonderful little boy. Darling Elijah, you are an amazing, wonderful boy. I am so grateful for every, single day we have together - so grateful that God has entrusted you to us for your childhood - we love you SO MUCH!

Valentine's Day

2012-02-15T10:15:00.002-07:00

For me, Valentine's Day has always seemed more like a family celebration than a romantic holiday. Judging by everything I'm seeing online this year, it seems that it's turned into kind of a holiday of either (a) partnered people with ultra-high expectations and disappointments, or (b) single people whining about their single-ness. I think this is really sad, because in my mind, it's a holiday about sharing your love with those you love best. In our case, this is our little family!

So this year for V-day, we each made homemade Valentines (picture construction paper, crayons, and glitter-glue) to exchange over a dinner of pizza with heart-shaped pepperoni and a couple chocolates from a box bought at Walmart. A perfect little celebration for two small kiddos if there ever was one!

Sunday Morning

2012-02-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

it's a good thing she's cute

2012-02-12T14:28:00.004-07:00

It's a very fortunate thing that Kirsa is utterly adorable, because things have been a little rough for her lately. Combine ten days of a cold with learning to both crawl (straight for the stairs, every time!)and go-from-sitting-to-tummy-smoothly in the last 2 weeks, and she is one exhausted baby! Too many naptimes have been spent practicing these sweet new skills instead of falling asleep, and we are All Kinds Of A Mess.

Yesterday, though, I went to get her up, and found this sleeping cherub. So glad the camera was close by!

There was never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Kirsa's 1st Birthday Party

2012-02-07T15:05:00.003-07:00

Kirsa's first birthday party was also on Sunday, and she shared it with the Superbowl. (The Giants won, playing the Patriots, if anyone cares somewhere in the future...) It was low-key but fun - appetizers and soup, cake for the kids - we just invited Uncle Paul + Aunt Megan and our friends Ryan + Jen + Alexie + Brendan - grownup smores for the adults - and wow were those fantastic! - singing and presents and a few red + white heart decorations. It was really a perfect party for a 1 year old little girl!

So sorry I did not get one single picture of anyone except Kirsa! I couldn't believe it later when I looked at my camera. If it helps any, I also did not see one single play of the Superbowl - too busy making sure everyone had food + fun I guess!

One Year Old!

2012-02-07T14:53:00.004-07:00

On Sunday, February 5, Kirsa turned ONE year old! Just like last year on this weekend, it was snowing and gray and cold - but unlike last year, this baby is crawling, talking, and laughing now!

Eating: She eats all our foods, mostly - except that she doesn't have any teeth yet! Not one! She drinks whole milk with meals but still has her bottles before sleeping, putting her at about 28oz of formula per day still.

Sleeping: She started sleeping through the night! It's not every night, but it's most nights now. And she started all on her own. It's been pretty exciting. It also means that her morning nap has shortened a bit, now that she's so well-rested from the night. Her naps are still good but she has figured out how to play instead of sleep, so sometimes that means that she doesn't sleep a lot during the day. She does okay with that though, so I try not to let it stress me out.

Routine: Her days look about like this - 7am wake, dress, breakfast, play; 9:20am bottle, nap; 10:45am wake, play, lunch, outside, play inside; 1:45pm bottle, nap; 3:45pm wake, outside, play or movie, dinner, play; 6:30pm bath, pajamas, bottle, stories; 7pm bedtime.

Skills/Activities: SHE CRAWLS!! Finally! Talk about taking forever. She just started crawling 2 weeks ago. It's a full-on Army Crawl, but she can scoot pretty fast if you're dangling something in front of her that she really wants, like your dirty shoes. We have to keep a bit closer eye on her now, but I don't mind. She climbs on us but isn't pulling up on furniture just yet.

She loves to try to put on her clothes and put her hairbows in her hair. She's not even close, of course, but it's super cute.

She fills in the appropriate "words" in books that she knows if you're reading and stop, using mostly inflection and syllables, as she can't always control which letter-sounds are coming out of her mouth at any given time. She loves to read books and explore all of Elijah's toys.

She also has some very serious opinions about how some things should be done - and especially about the fact that someone should grab her cup for her every time she drops it over the edge of her high chair and utters "uh oh!" Woe to he who does not retrieve said cup immediately and return it to her possession!

But overall, Kirsa is just a fantastic baby. Talking, crawling, laughing, curious, good eater, good sleeper, and healthy as a horse. Her 1 year appointment is next week, so we'll have current size and health info then!

Happy birthday, my darling, darling baby girl!

Elijah's 4th Birthday Party

2012-02-07T14:49:00.001-07:00

Next up was Elijah's 4th birthday party. Despite the snow, we only had one cancellation. His friends Michael, Max, Alan, and Emily all came. Activities included playing with toys and balloons, decorating and filling a goody bag, putting-the-sticker-hat-on-the-dog-poster-while-blindfolded, pizza, cake, and presents! Elijah says his favorite part was "the presents"! Normal preschooler there I guess. :)

Adorableness

2012-02-07T14:48:00.000-07:00

Refinished Laundry Room

2012-02-07T14:45:00.002-07:00

Also worthy of note is my newly repainted and redecorated (or just, decorated) Laundry Room! Chris was AMAZING and scrubbed, painted, and fixed it up for me. The vinyl on the wall says "The most memorable days usually end with the dirtiest clothes." Love love love it.

snow

2012-02-07T14:41:00.002-07:00

Let's start off this catch-up-on-the-blog day with all the snow we have been getting! I think we've gotten almost two feet of snow in the last week. Thank goodness Chris has had most of the week off to do the shoveling (because that's EXACTLY what he wanted to do with his week off) because I highly doubt I would have bothered to dig us out of here!

Kirsa also broke out her new snowsuit (she and Elijah are both wearing snowsuits in size 2T now) as she was busting through the seams of the smaller one. Hoping this one fits for a couple years - it's huge on her right now!

Future Daddy

2012-01-24T12:35:00.002-07:00

I walked downstairs to see this, earlier this morning. They were cuddled together quietly (this is Kirsa's bunny, by the way) in the chair in the "doll nursery" - bunny swaddled in a blankie and being rocked by Daddy Elijah. For a long time now, when asked what he wants to be when he grows up, Elijah has answered, "A Daddy." Looks like he'll be a good one!

Elijah's Art

2012-01-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

Bathroom Remodel

2012-01-21T10:24:00.003-07:00

Remember the little tiny leaky pipe we had above our front bathroom ceiling back in November? (Which, as an added bonus, doubled our water bill that month...) Remember the utter disaster of a bathroom we had on our sixth anniversary? Somehow my husband figured out how to tear down, cut, and replace the wall - sand, texture, prime, paint - and completely redo our disaster into a wonderful little bathroom!

I just made the valance - using this super easy tutorial, it literally took about 20 minutes - and the "art". SO happy with our results. Sorry for the kinda crappy pictures - it's pretty much impossible to take good pictures in a tiny bathroom - not that that's the sort of problem people usually worry about.... anyway.

Elijah's First Mountain - Winter Park

2012-01-16T14:37:00.006-07:00

Two days ago, we took Elijah on his first official Ski Day ever. He has been up on skis multiple times in our local park this year, but this was his first time Up The Mountain. By 6:15am, angels Uncle Paul and Aunt Megan were at our house, ready to play parents to Kirsa for the day, and by 6:30am, we were out the door and on the road.

We hit relatively little traffic on the way up, for a Saturday morning on MLK weekend! The drive was just about 2 hours exactly - just long enough to make you way too sleepy to think about jumping out into the cold snow and exercising all day long! But we did just that, cramming our feet into ski boots and walking for.ev.er. across the parking lot, standing on the gondola lift, and finding the ski school in the little village.

We dropped Elijah off in the 3-year-old ski school at 9am for a long day of daycare-on-the-mountain. He started off with some playtime inside, a little skiing outside, a lunch of macaroni and cheese, and then they took the kids up the mountain in a trailer hitched to the back of a snowmobile. We ran into him once during the day, and he looked pretty checked-out and exhausted, but not unhappy.

His instructor, Bill, was a wonderful kid about 19-years-old or so, who was super sweet and good with the kids. The instructors in general seemed nice but very structured and firm with the kids - which is what I like to see when I'm trusting my 3-year-old to their care in the middle of winter on a mountain!

We then went and tore up the mountain in the way that two 30-year-olds do - except that the last time I was out skiing was 2 years ago and I, you know, had a baby in between. :)

We picked Elijah up at 3pm and all of us were totally exhausted but happy. He chattered the whole way home. I was smart and brought him a dinner to eat in the car on the way down the mountain - the poor kid dissolved once we hit the front door, and was bathed, in jammies, and in bed + asleep by 5:45pm. He slept until 7:15 the next morning.

Sadly, the lift to the very top of the mountain (2 miles high!) was closed due to not-enough-snow, so the pics aren't as breathtaking as they could have been. But it was still a beautiful day in the Colorado Rockies, and a great first day of skiing for Elijah! We won't put him in ski school every time - maybe once more this year - but it was a wonderful introduction to the mountain!

To Read

2012-01-13T09:52:00.001-07:00

Elijah absolutely loves to "read" to Kirsa in the rocking chair after she wakes up in the morning or from naps. (And she loves anything that he loves). It's too precious not to record! He picks books that he has memorized, and that have textures for them to touch together. Sometimes he even lets her help turn the pages.

30th Birthday Party * Melting Pot

2012-01-08T08:22:00.003-07:00

Last night, I went out to dinner at the Melting Pot for some serious fondue with five amazing girl friends! It was so fun to hang out with them all and eat delicious food. I was super grateful they all made it, despite having to drive long distances through the snowy weather. Thanks so much girls, it was the greatest 30th birthday party (if a little steamy from cooking all that fondue all evening long)!!

11 Months Old!

2012-01-05T10:11:00.005-07:00

HOW is it possible that my tiny baby has only one month more until she is 1 year old? I just can't believe it! Wow has she grown. (Seriously, she's wearing a lot of 18-month sized clothes - she really HAS grown!)

Eating: She's completely weaned from nursing and takes four bottles a day, averaging about 25oz a day. I plan to introduce whole milk soon. She eats three meals a day. Breakfast is yogurt and infant oatmeal or cheerios. Lunch and dinner are whatever we are having, as long as she can chew it, and she still eats lots of cheese, peas, and scrambled eggs. She seems equally excited about plain infant oatmeal mixed with formula, and tikka masala on basmati rice. She LOVES au gratin potatoes - that's my girl!

Sleeping/napping: She still wakes 1-2 times per night. I don't mind when she makes it until the early morning hours (after 4am) to wake, eat, and go back to sleep. However, if she falls into waking twice a night again, I may try sleep training. We shall see.

Naps are great. Probably 80% of her naps are over an hour and a half long. The other 20% are 45 minutes. She never doesn't fall asleep for a nap. She naps twice a day. She goes down at bedtime and naptime easily and just talks herself to sleep.

Routine: Her days look like this: 5am bottle; 6:45am wake, dress, breakfast, play; 9am bottle, nap; 10:45am wake, lunch, play outside, play inside; 1:30pm bottle, nap; 3-3:30pm wake, play outside or walk in stroller, play inside or short movie with Elijah, dinner, play; 6:15pm bath; 6:30pm bottle, stories, bed.

Skills/Activities: She has several words - Elijah, uh-oh, thank you, Dada, duck, quack quack. She also tries to imitate our words much of the time. She loves to play peek-a-boo although isn't quite there with the "hiding" part of the concept. She claps and says "yay!" still, which I love.

She loves splashing in her bath and trying to lean over and drink the bath water, terrifying Mommy that she's going to flop right on her face into the water! She can scoot all over the floor in any direction except forwards. We're working hard to get her crawling, standing, pulling up - anything! She's not quite there yet. She turns pages in her books, and loves to feel the various textures in the baby board books.

She also loves to swing, ride in the stroller, and ride in the car. Even on the 14-hour road trips, there was no more than 30 minutes of fussing total each day.

She's rarely fussy, and when she is, it usually means that she needs an earlier bedtime or naptime. She's a pretty happy, content baby for the most part. She has learned how to throw a back-arching tantrum when I tell her "no" or take away something she wants, but she's pretty easily distracted from that.

She loves her Daddy and Elijah. She calls for Elijah when she wakes up from naps, and whenever she thinks he should be around. He takes great care of her, fetching her toys, reassuring and comforting her when I walk out of the room, and singing to her in the car if she's cranky.

My favorite part of the day is storytime at bedtime. She smells like sweet baby soap and has a rotund tummy full of milk as she relaxes her whole body against me in the rocking chair and turns the pages of her book, sometimes arching her back to look up at me, curiosity in her eyes. Precious as can be.

I think she's starting to get somewhat attached to her blankie that I made her. She also received a gorgeous blankie from her Aunt Kimberly for Christmas that I plan to give her in her crib soon. I'd like her to start crawling and rolling more reliably before I introduce a second blankie, though.

She flirts like crazy, ducking her head, smiling and blushing. It's hilarious and adorable! She got many opportunities to flirt with all the family we saw in Minnesota last week!

In one month, she will turn ONE year old. Party plans are underway for both kids. More nostalgia to come in the one-year post. :)

Thirty

2012-01-04T09:35:00.008-07:00

Now that my 20s have abruptly ended with my 30th birthday, it's perhaps time to see where the last 30 years have brought me. :) To me, 30 is:

30. Early mornings. Since having two children, I haven't slept until 8am in about 5 years. My day begins by 6:45am, sometimes earlier, every.single.day.

29. More of me. While I fully recognize the wonderful blessings I have in these two kids, spending about 90% of the last 5 years either pregnant or nursing has left me with... more... of me than I had at 20.

28. Monotony. Along with getting up early every day, nearly every day is really the same as the last. Sometimes it's comforting and sometimes it's mind-numbing. Laundry, dishes, meals, naps (for them), cleaning (for me)... every day.

27. Maturity. I know, this is always one you look back at and laugh, because later, you are more mature than you were when you last thought you were so mature. Still, when I look back at myself and the insecurities I had at 20, a lot has changed in the last 10 years! I am far more confident in myself, am a better driver, {somewhat} more patient, and have a lot more endurance for the monotony (see #28) of everyday life.

26. Good Cooking. Although many of you know that my mother is a wonderful cook, I had picked up almost none of that by the time I graduated from college. I got married having scrambled a lot of eggs and baked a lot of chocolate chip cookies. Now I bake my own bread, and can whip up about a zillion different meals!

25. Crafting & Sewing. Growing up, my parents encouraged my crafty side with a box of crayola crayons and some construction paper, which eventually ran its course and I gave up being artsy or crafty. I would say that I am still not very artistic, but I love to make digital scrapbooks and photo albums, and sew relatively simply things like baby blankets.

24. Faith in God. Marrying my husband has brought me to new understandings of why my faith is important, how and where you get faith, what to do when your faith is tested, and how to use your blessings to the glory of God. I wouldn't say I'm great at any of this, but I would say that my faith is much stronger than it was 10 years ago.

23. Our House. At 30, we own our own home, and all that goes with that. We can paint the walls whatever color we want... after a leak in the pipe necessitates the destruction and reconstruction of the bathroom. We pay for water, trash, electricity, gas, repairs, updates, updgrades... It's a TON of work, especially for Chris, but it is nice to call this house our own! And I really, really love having a designated guest bedroom!

22. My car. A 1995 Buick Regal with 190,000 miles on it - my college graduation gift from my parents. My dream for my 30s - get a nice, used SUV for carting the family around in!

21. Our stuff. Still living on 95% hand-me-downs from our families. So grateful for all their generosity and used stuff.

20. My work. I am so lucky to be a SAHM at 30, but see #30 and #28 for the tougher parts of that. Someday, I might go back to work with my MSW, at least part time. It's gonna be a while, so I don't think about that a lot.

19. Our loans. Yep. Those are gonna be around for a while. House, medical school, college. They weren't free.

18. Our travels. Sometimes I imagine what else my life could have looked like at 30. Right now our travels are pretty much confined to visiting family. When our kids are older, I hope we can take them all around the United States and around the world!

17. My dreams. My dreams as a child were to attend St Olaf College and get married + have a family. Having accomplished both of those, I'm pretty much just focused on raising the family now. Future dreams - travels, activities - are pretty much confined within the "have a family" dream at this point.

16. My brother. My brother is married to a woman who is one of my very best friends of all time. I could not feel more fortunate to be so close, both geographically and socially, to both my brother and his wife. They are amazing and I am tempted to move wherever they go next just to be near them!

15. My parents. I am most definitely at the age where my parents' advice and listening ears are recognized as one of the greatest blessings in my life! It recently occured to me that when I was rebelling as a teenager, my parents weren't rebelling against me in return. Somehow, that was a very novel thought. I have a lot of novel thoughts like that now that I'm raising children of my own. :)

14. My in-laws. I have been blessed with wonderful, generous, thoughtful in-laws who rarely make me crazy at all! :) I really couldn't have asked for a better family to marry into.

13. My friends. Having friends that I see on a regular basis is tough with young babies and children, but I do have many close friends and feel so fortunate to have their support and fun friendship in my life.

12. Our church. We belong to an absolutely wonderful church with several young families and a great Sunday school (the one hour a week where Elijah is fully entertained and supervised by someone else for free!).

11. Our neighborhood. Our neighborhood is mostly nice, with its anticipated little issues and problems. It's incredibly diverse, with nearly every major race, ethnicity, and religion represented!

10. Our activities. Chris and I have managed to keep up multiple shared interests, including skiing, hiking, road trips, movies (in the house, we rarely make it to the theater), hosting parties, and church. Since watching the Pearl Jam documentary in September, I have to admit that I've even gotten more interested in his favorite band!

9. My camera. Yes, I did get the coveted dSLR for Christmas! I'm looking forward to learning how to use it and rewarding all of you with better pictures on this blog.

8. My technology. We still use a desktop computer - I'm torn on a laptop, because while it would be nice to use the computer downstairs, it's more money, more maintenance, and if we have a 3rd child, this desktop will be moving down to the living room anyway - and I still have never, ever sent one single text message in my entire life.

7. My music. I just discovered the 90s, and remain blissfully behind on nearly every musical trend. I can't tell you who-sang-what-song 90% of the time, but I still love ABBA, a lot of country music - especially the older stuff, punk - especially for working out, and a random assortment of other stuff. And classical, which I need to remember to play for the kids more often than I do.

6. Reading. I rarely read anymore. As a SAHM, I just end up feeling lazy whenever I read. I do plan to start reading in the evenings again when Chris is working, now that Kirsa's bedtime has been fully established for quite some time and I'm guaranteed some relaxation time after the kids are in bed.

5. Writing. This is another thing I'd love to get back to. While I do our neighborhood newsletter (delivered to over 500 families four times a year!) and sometimes write for our church synod's womens magazine, I haven't written a poem or story or essay since graduate school.

4. Elijah. The most beautiful, charming, wonderful little boy ever imagined. I love his daily hugs, jokes, stories, and playing.

3. Kirsa. My adorable, chunky monkey little girl. So happy and sweet. She's learned to play peek-a-boo and I've got to get it on video - it's hysterical. These kids are truly two of the greatest blessings of my life.

2. Chris. And the greatest blessing - this husband. Everything I'd imagined - everything on my "checklist" from my teenage years! - and more. His faith, stability, intelligence, and love for our family is astounding.

1. Me. So, here I am. Comprised of all of the above, and thirty. My goals for the next ten years: to enjoy this family, raise these kids, appreciate my husband, cook healthy meals, get to the gym regularly, drive my own SUV, take cool family vacations and visit our extended families, keep the house clean, craft and sew some cool stuff, record our activities, help our church, write, and create wonderful memories of my 30s!

My Story, My Song

2012-01-03T20:43:00.005-07:00

One of my favorite photos from all of 2011. We began this year with one little toddler boy, about to turn 3, and one squirming babe inside a very large tummy, ready to make her entrance into the world. And here we are, a year later. The house is messier, the meals are simpler, and every day, every event, feels a bit more chaotic than before. I've watched our world turn a little; one click clockwise, and the whole view changes.

I never thought that I'd love anyone so much.

Kirsa's Scrapbook * Pages 27 - 32

2012-01-03T14:32:00.003-07:00

As usual, scroll to the bottom of the post and work your way back up to view them in the order they will be in for her book, which is almost done... three pages to go!

JYC. December 28 - January 1.

2012-01-02T14:51:00.002-07:00

Note: Posted in reverse order.

A Closer Look

2012-01-02T14:44:00.004-07:00

Here's a closer look at some of the pictures on the JYC pages for our trip to Minnesota to celebrate Christmas over New Year's. Although we were technically on the road again by January 1, I included a few more of my favorites from the trip on that page to finish out the album. Trust me, you didn't want to see pictures of us Post-Vacation-14-Hour-Road-Trip-Home-ing it anyway. We were gross and exhausted.

But the vacation was amazing, despite that fact that no one slept much (except, blessedly, Kirsa, who slept fine despite fact that the house was rockin' about 20 hours a day). We had presents, parties, movies, video games, cousins, food, cookies, celebrations, and general craziness galore! Here are a few of the better pics, in case they are a little small to see in the JYC pages online.

JYC. December 27.

2011-12-27T09:14:00.004-07:00

My favorite page of my JYC album!! Here's last year's page, too, just in case it's your favorite as well.

It was a busy year, with Kirsa's birth and baptism; a trip to Montana for the kids and me; a visit + photo shoot from Uncle Jeff, Aunt Jessica, and cousin Graham; Chris' completion of his Internal Medicine residency and subsequent matching for a Hematology/Oncology fellowship here in Denver; a summer trip to Minnesota where we saw family, played in the Fairmont pool, and visited with Chris' grandpa Wayne the final time before he passed away; a trip to Montana, taking the scenic route home over the Bighorns in Wyoming; Halloween with our darling ladybug and brave Robin Hood; and a trip to Atlanta, where Elijah had his first horseback ride. We had visits from Chris' family, my parents, Chris' mom twice, and my grandma; took a beautiful hike to Emerald Lake with Uncle Paul and Aunt Megan, who we saw frequently throughout the year; sent Elijah off to preschool; AND, we hosted Thanksgiving at our house for my family!

I'd say 2011 was a wonderful year - looking forward to see what 2012 brings!

JYC. December 26.

2011-12-26T08:20:00.002-07:00

Usually this page, and tomorrow's page, happen a little closer to January 1 (which will be the last page). But since we still have a few activities coming up in the next week, I am putting these a little earlier in the album this year. I love this page, but tomorrow's is always my favorite page of the whole journal!

JYC. December 25.

2011-12-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

JYC. December 24.

2011-12-24T20:53:00.003-07:00

Merry Christmas!! I have to admit, I felt a little sad today that we weren't with either of our families for church, presents, and festivities. I was foggy with exhaustion after waking with Kirsa at 2:45am and being unable to fall back asleep last night, so from that perspective, it was nice to be home with little to do until the Christmas program. But it wasn't an overly festive day today.

Until we got to church, and wow, did this little man shine in his First Ever Sunday School Christmas Program! He recited his {2} lines loud and clear, and quite expressively (to the amusement of the congregation - a bit overly expressive, perhaps).

He was utterly confident and completely adorable in every way. He kept his hands folded together as I had instructed him, but in true Little-Boy fashion, swung them up as the tune went up and down again in time. He loved clapping with Go Tell It On The Mountain but was no where near the beat! But he sang out loudly, and I even heard his little voice reciting the whole Lord's Prayer with the congregation. This little guy really made it a wonderfully Merry Christmas with his confident participation in the worship of our Savior, whose birth we celebrate tonight!

Kirsa did wonderfully during church too, happily sucking on a bottle, numerous cheerios and puffs, several toys, and my car keys. She also sang nice and loud with the congregation during each hymn - SO CUTE - but was quiet and flirtatious with everyone around us in between.

Now that the visions of sugarplums are dancing in their little heads, it's time for me to head off to bed, just in case all this Christmas partying makes its way into our night as well. A very Merry Christmas to all of you!

More Snow Pics and Baby Pics

2011-12-23T12:43:00.004-07:00

I know, you've probably had enough of the snow pics and pictures of trees-against-the-sky. But I haven't. The deep, silky soft snow is irresistable when it comes to taking photos. As is our chubby, adorable little cherub who has learned to scoot herself {backwards} all around the kitchen floor.

JYC. December 23.

2011-12-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

Christmas-y Activities

2011-12-23T09:43:00.004-07:00

Last night, we took a 12-minute drive around our neighborhood and looked at a few of the Christmas lights and decorations. (The nativity scene is my favorite ever and definitely on my Christmas list for next year!) Twelve minutes was about all the kiddos could handle, and it was just perfect for touring our neighborhood in the snow.

This morning, Elijah went outside early to conquer Snow Mountain in the front yard before taking off for the final Sunday School Christmas Program practice. I'm hoping to get pics of that tomorrow night. It is kind of fun to be home, for the first time ever, for Christmas and participate in some of the Christmas-y activities around here!

White Christmas: Colorado Style

2011-12-22T14:43:00.002-07:00

It's going to be a very white Christmas here for 2011! Two days ago, we were predicted to get "three to five inches of snow." In case it's not obvious from the pictures, this is a good foot, or more! Which has brought out all the not-experienced-in-snow drivers, several of whom Chris has dug out of our cul-de-sac, just today. I helped dig out the Dial-a-Ride bus. :)

I will try to get more good pics of the kids later this afternoon - so far we just took Elijah skiing in the park. Later this evening, we're hoping to take a quick drive around our neighborhood and check out the Christmas lights!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

JYC. December 22.

2011-12-22T07:44:00.001-07:00

What an appropriate day for this page! Hopefully, more pictures will be coming soon - we are in the process of getting a very, very, very white Christmas in Colorado right now!!

JYC. December 21.

2011-12-21T08:52:00.001-07:00

Elijah was super, super neat while decorating cookies - he didn't even have a speck of frosting on his hands when we were done! But lest you think he's not actually 3 years old, take a closer look at Sprinkle Mountain on that cookie in the center picture!

JYC. December 20.

2011-12-20T10:01:00.001-07:00

Another boring one for the internet, but cute in real life. I wasn't comfortable putting others' Christmas cards online for the world, but it was fun making a page to remember a couple of the cards we received this year (Franz and Jeannie, Paul and Megan, Tim and Jean). I absolutely LOVE receiving Christmas cards - they are like a little present every day of the Christmas season!

JYC. December 19.

2011-12-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

JYC. December 18.

2011-12-18T14:39:00.001-07:00

JYC. December 17.

2011-12-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

JYC. December 16.

2011-12-17T10:28:00.002-07:00

Elijah and Kirsa absolutely loved Zoo Lights last night! We went very early and stayed for about an hour - it was probably about 5:30pm when most of these pictures were taken - and got home early to get them in bed, since we have a full weekend of parties and events.

I dressed them Super Warmly - Kirsa is wearing a shirt and sweater, two pairs of socks, a down snowsuit and winter boots, two blankets, AND the Sammysack. And like a good little angel, she kept her arms tucked under the blankets the entire time. Elijah is wearing pajama pants under his jeans, three shirts, two hats... he still complained of being a little cold, but not too much.

I made individual Stromboli, which we ate for dinner while walking around. We probably walked almost 2 miles total, and completely wore out Elijah - he crashed for almost 13 hours last night. (Kirsa... not so much... she was up more than not from 2:30am until 7am... mostly just chatting to herself, no doubt about all the cool stuff she saw).

At any rate, it was really fun, and I was glad we were all able to go together! Our tickets were even free with our zoo membership renewal, so we only paid $3 for Elijah. Well worth it!

Family Pics

2011-12-15T10:20:00.005-07:00

FINALLY! I have been waiting months to show you these fabulous pictures that my sweet friend Katia took of our family. In the interest of keeping the photo-part of our Christmas cards cheap, I thought it'd be nice to have a friend with a nice camera take a few pictures of us in our backyard - (love our ~~crappy~~ "artsy" fence? we don't charge much to use it as a backdrop for your own family pics!)

We used one for our Christmas card - which is why I'm not posting them until now - Chris requested that I wait until our cards had all been sent out before posting the pics - and here are the rest! Thanks again Katia, you're the best!

JYC. December 15.

2011-12-15T08:24:00.001-07:00

Wow, it's December 15 already? That came fast. This page has some of our favorite gifts from our early Christmas we celebrated with my family over Thanksgiving. Also, once again, the weekend's pages will be delayed as I like to make them for The Actual Day that the holiday activity occured. Because I'm awesome like that.

JYC. December 14.

2011-12-14T08:29:00.001-07:00

Our new nativity set...

JYC. December 13.

2011-12-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

JYC. December 12.

2011-12-12T08:23:00.002-07:00

I have asked for my first-ever dSLR camera for Christmas this year, and intend to seriously read and study about photography if I get one, so you might be able to look forward to super cool photography pages next year. For this year... this is as good as it gets! Still, I just love pictures of tree branches against the sky, no matter what the camera is.

Our Cute Christmas Kids

2011-12-11T14:32:00.002-07:00

Today was our annual Christmas potluck and party at church. Elijah has been looking forward to it for weeks - even announcing to everyone at preschool on Thursday that he was "all dressed up to go to a potluck!" Luckily I think it was everything he had hoped for - tasty food, bright koolaid, noisy kids, and lots of playtime. And I am loving the Christmas dress I got for Kirsa this year!

JYC. December 11.

2011-12-11T14:26:00.001-07:00

JYC. December 10.

2011-12-11T14:05:00.000-07:00

JYC. December 9.

2011-12-09T08:55:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow and Sunday, we have actual holiday activities happening on those days, so the posts of the pages for those activities will be a little late. Because I'm sure you're all anxiously standing by until I put up each page every morning.

JYC. December 8.

2011-12-08T08:17:00.000-07:00

JYC. December 7.

2011-12-07T08:35:00.012-07:00

JYC. December 6.

2011-12-06T08:28:00.001-07:00

10 Months Old!

2011-12-05T09:42:00.003-07:00

Kirsa is 10 months old today! I just love this age. From here on out, things just get better, and better, and better.

Eating: We are completely done nursing, as of just a few days ago! We made it almost exactly 10 months. Now we'll have a brief stint with formula before moving to whole milk around a year. She drinks about 4-5 bottles per 24 hours. She takes a sippy cup a little bit but doesn't love it yet.

She also eats like crazy! She is less interested in purees, although she still gobbles down yogurt/oatmeal for breakfast. We usually can get one veggie and one fruit puree in her for the rest of the day. The rest is finger foods - although she seems to think they're for OUR fingers, not hers! She will sometimes pick up cheese and put it in her mouth, but mostly she likes to pick it up and drop it. So we're still feeding her, but continuing to make her try. The instant she starts feeding herself, we're going to run with that.

Night sleep: This is... okay. Sometimes it's pretty good - she'll sleep from bedtime until 5am, drink a bottle, and go back to sleep until 7am. Sometimes she also wakes at midnight, and when that starts happening a lot, I start feeling a little frustrated. Last night, she slept from 6:25pm until 6:05 this morning! Which was mostly great... but I don't want to get up at 6 every day. So we're just hanging in there, for now. It's not amazing, but it's not unbearable, either.

Naps: These were truly amazing this month! Every single day she took two naps that were each 1 hour 45 minutes long. This past week, she started taking some 45-minute morning naps. I let this go at first, figuring she's getting close to a year and may start needing a shorter morning nap. But then yesterday, both naps were 45 minutes (see saddest creature EVER, below), which is why she went to bed at 6:25pm. So now we're trying something new, since her naps are starting to shorten anyway, which is...

Swaddling: or rather, UNswaddling. She has been unswaddled for nighttime nearly every night since 5 months old, but I was still swaddling for naps. She still liked it, and I figured, whatever. But now that her naps are not-so-perfect this week, I figured it's a great time to work on dropping that. I'm planning to go for broke and just drop it altogether, use early bedtimes if needed, and then try to lengthen her naps again if she doesn't do it on her own in the next few days to a week. We shall see!

Verbally: She's talking! A little. She says "Elijah" and "uh-oh" and "Dada". Sometimes she'll sign "more" while eating. She also claps her hands and says "yay!" And she shakes her head no-no, although I'm not sure she really knows that it means. (Though the other day, she reached to touch the power cord by her changing table - when she does that, I always move her hands down and say no-no - and as she grabbed it, she looked at me and shook her head no-no. I'm still not sure she knows what it means, but she knew I was going to say that when she reached for it!)

A few weeks ago, we were in the family room and she looked up at our wedding picture, furrowed her brow a little, and exclaimed, "Dada!" Too cute. She also gives kisses - the big, open-mouth, super-wet kind.

Physically: We're working!! She doesn't crawl - still - but she scoots around on her tummy (mostly backward... so frustrating), and pivots in a circle. She can stand with minimal support, although she doesn't balance well. She finally rolled on to her tummy, of her own volition, for the very first time last month - talk about taking forever! (Our doctor knows she is a late roller, and isn't worried, in case you were concerned. We're not worried either. She's already talking and otherwise developing in the normal projectory, just a little slower than average physically I guess.)

She laughs like crazy when she's tickled, and loves to be picked up, although she usually wants back down pretty quickly. She's become kind of a Mama's Girl lately, sometimes even fussing at Daddy, which is unusual for her.

Schedule/Routine: Her day looks something like this, or did up until that first nap got shorter - 6:45-7am wake, dress, breakfast, play; 9-9:15am 6-8oz bottle, nap; 11am wake, lunch, play outside, play inside; 1:20pm 8oz bottle, nap; 3:15-4pm wake, play outside; 4:30pm 2oz bottle, watch TV with Elijah; 5:15pm dinner, play; 6:30-6:45pm bath; 6:45-7:15pm 8oz bottle, cuddling, 2 stories; 7-7:30 bed; 5am 6oz bottle.

That's about it! She's mostly doing wonderfully, except those days where she gets overtired or inexplicably cranky. I'm really hoping she's crawling by next month's update! I'd love to get this girl on the move, able to get her own toys and, yes, get in to things. I'd rather chase her around than carry her around all the time, cute though she absolutely is!

Sledding!

2011-12-05T09:41:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I took the kids out sledding together for the first time. This was very valiant of me, because they were both so crabby, they were sometimes crying in unison! However, they loved sledding and were perfectly content together as I pulled them around the backyard.

Annabell's Baptism

2011-12-05T09:38:00.002-07:00

Chris and I became co-godparents for this adorable little cherub named Annabell Jo yesterday! (The other godparent is her aunt. Her parents are good friends of ours.) Isn't she an angel? When our Pastor poured the water on her head, she didn't cry, but she went nuts sucking on her pacifier. Super cute. Just wanted to share her cute pics and outfit!

JYC. December 5.

2011-12-05T09:25:00.001-07:00

This has to be my favorite page so far in terms of layout and colors!

JYC. December 4.

2011-12-04T12:39:00.003-07:00

Text:

What month is Christmas in? Friday!

What happens on Christmas? We put ornaments on the trees.

Whose birthday is Christmas? Jesus’ birthday.

Who is Jesus? He was born in heaven. He was a little baby.

Why was Jesus special? Because He was nice!

What does Jesus do for you? He helps take care of me, and He loves me.

What are some things we do to get ready for Christmas? We put up the Christmas tree, ornaments, and hang up lots of toys.

What is your favorite part of Christmas? Ornaments!

What is your least favorite part of Christmas? The Christmas tree.

Who’s coming on Christmas? Grandpa and Grandma, and Uncle Paul and Aunt Megan

What kind of cookies should we make for Christmas? a brown cookie and a white cookie

Who should we buy presents for? everybody! and Jesus.

How should we decorate our house? We hang Christmas lights on our house.

What should we sing on Christmas? Happy Birthday to Jesus!

Where should we go on Christmas? To the living room.

What is your little sister going to do on Christmas? She’s going to play with elephants and computers.

What are you going to play with on Christmas? Wrapping paper tubes and nothing else.

What else should we do on Christmas? On Christmas, we wrap the presents open, and eat cookies and lasagna, and look at all the lights on the house, and then go to bed.

JYC. December 3.

2011-12-03T08:25:00.003-07:00

At first, this seems like a pretty dark page for a Christmas album. But while much of the world seems to be celebrating Santa, parties, gifts, and ourselves, let's remember the REAL reason Christmas is so special and so important!! Our sinful, fallen world has so much pain, darkness, and death. That is why we need a Savior, and why it is so amazing that God sent His Son for us!

JYC. December 2.

2011-12-02T14:02:00.003-07:00

Yes!! I finally get to show you the big, big project I have been working on since July!

As if the Advent House wasn't enough, I also made a Jesse Tree. It's all felt. I have never worked with so much felt in my life. The tree-background-pocket thing seriously took forever to make, and is finally hanging on the wall! The ornaments were definitely the fun, fast part.

Basically, it's an Advent calendar. Each day, you read a story/passage from the Bible, mostly the Old Testament. Then you hang a corresponding ornament on the tree. You can do whatever verses you want. While I think it'd be super cool to do prophesies leading to Jesus' birth or something like that, I chose to do Bible stories, since I have small children.

I finished this on the night of November 30... so we can use it this year! That was my goal. I'm so excited!

* * * * * *

I chose - Jesse Tree (stump with leaf); Creation (earth); Adam and Eve (apple with snake); Flood (ark); Tower of Babel (tower - made by Chris!); Abraham (sky with stars); Isaac (ram); Jacob (ladder); Joseph (colored coat); Moses (burning bush); Passover (lamb); Moses (ten commandments); Joshua/Jericho (trumpet); David (slingshot); Elijah (stone altar on fire); Jonah (whale/great fish); Daniel (lion); Mary (angel); Elizabeth (woman with heart over womb); John the Baptist (water); Joseph (hammer); Magi (star); Jesus Son of God (crown); Jesus' birth (baby in manger).

JYC. December 1.

2011-12-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

JYC. November 30.

2011-11-30T10:34:00.003-07:00

Sorry this page is so boring! I post a lot of things online on this blog, but our Christmas card and letter are not among those. So the *real* page looks really cute, with the real letter and card we sent - {are sending this month}.

This is probably one of my favorite pages for the book. I love reading back over our past years' letters and seeing the pictures we sent, and it'll be fun to have them in real books over the years. Or maybe I should just make one book of all our cards and letters for each year?? Hmmm... a project for another time...

JYC. November 29.

2011-11-29T10:31:00.001-07:00

JYC. November 28.

2011-11-28T08:20:00.001-07:00

We decorated the tree and wrapped presents really early this year, since we were doing a combined Thanksgiving + Christmas with my family. Chris' mom was here to watch Elijah decorate the tree - he did most of it himself! (We rearranged the ornaments a little later...)

In Happier News...

2011-11-27T18:21:00.002-07:00

At least we meant to paint that bathroom anyway. Remember that remodel I mentioned in the last post? Isn't it wonderful? Chris spent about every free, waking moment painting, painting, painting for 8 weeks. And we ran around to Bed Bath & Beyonds like crazy one day figuring out what to do for curtains. It felt both hurried and like it took forever the whole 2 months. But here it is - done, beautiful, perfect! (And yes, the previous owners lived with holes in their walls from at least FOUR different sets of previous curtains.... ew.)

Thank you Chris!!

And now... we'll look forward to showing you our newly refinished bathroom... when we get around to fixing that hole...

And for our Sixth Anniversary...

2011-11-27T10:50:00.005-07:00

We reveled in the joys of home ownership. About five minutes after finally finishing our major repainting / re-curtaining job of the main interior of the house - a project which took around 8 weeks altogether - There was this. It started out small enough.

* * * * *

Yesterday, on our anniversary -

1. I found a large, strange bubble in the paint on the bathroom wall.

2. When Chris pulled in to the driveway after work, his headlights illuminated the bathroom window and he could see the water leaking to the outside of the house.

3. Chris crawled around in the attic and opened up strange secret passageways in the office walls to reveal... not much.

4. Chris went off to moonlight. My dad encouraged me to shut off the water to the house and call a plumber right away. Chris didn't think I should do anything but wait until morning. But neither MAN was actually here to DO anything, so I was left to make the final call. Because that's what I wanted to do.

5. So I called plumbers to find someone to come in the morning, and began tearing down the sheetrock (not exactly "drywall" anymore) in the bathroom to make this lovely hole in the ceiling.

6. Also, in the process, I got bathed in all the water sitting in a puddle where the hole is now. And I got it in my eyes. Mmmmm.

7. Now I'm waiting for the plumber. I *might* have actually found The Leak, a small but quick-dripping thing, but we'll wait for the plumber's final word on that.

* * * * *

Happy Anniversary to us! I might have preferred a nice dinner out, candlelight bath with champagne, and a massage before bed... instead of following Chris' every move around the attic at dinner, getting bathed in nasty rotten leaky ceiling water, and ripping down sheetrock....

Oh well. There's always next year! And on the bright side, Chris did bring home some beautiful flowers!!

Will keep you updated... if I don't disappear in to that hole...

JYC. November 27.

2011-11-27T09:56:00.003-07:00

Chris' work had their holiday party before Thanksgiving. Not sure how I feel about the timing, but it was fun, and the food was excellent! The art was cool, but we could definitely have used more seating - how many women want to eat standing up in their dressy shoes? Anyway, it was a good time, and I'm glad we went!

JYC. November 26.

2011-11-26T08:47:00.004-07:00

Dear Chris,

We look kind of tired in this picture. I have been working on Thanksgiving dinner all day, and you've been at work. But I wanted a picture of us for our 6 year anniversary, so here we are, looking just like us.

We won't actually see each other today, on our actual anniversary, much at all. You have shift after shift this weekend. Working hard kind of characterizes our lives right now. I spend so much time caring for children, and while it hardly seems like anything when I try to think of what I've accomplished in a day, somehow it fills every waking moment and some of the sleeping ones as well.

You spend your time working at work or working at home. There is never an end to the number of projects you have going on at once - painting the entire inside of the house, fixing the fence, putting together the swingset, fixing one car or another, cleaning the garage, hanging Christmas lights, fixing gutters fixing toilets fixing the sprinkler system...

Somewhere in there, we do seem to still find time for each other. Somewhere in there are the promises we made before God, six years ago today. With His help, we stay strong enough to build on this foundation of our marriage - have a home, raise a family, contribute to those around us.

I am so thankful for you, for your faith, for your strength. You lead our family with all the courage and endurance of a hero in a storybook, and I am proud to call you my husband.

Happy Anniversary honey! I hope our 60th is as happy as our 6th!

Love, Katie

Thanksgiving + Early Christmas

2011-11-25T14:07:00.006-07:00

What a fun week we just had! On Tuesday morning, my parents drove in from Montana (after leaving work midday Monday and driving that afternoon and evening), and spent the day with us. Grandma came to see Elijah's preschool, and we hung out and played. Both grandparents pushed the kids in the swings and played with them in the house.

Wednesday was spent getting ready for Thanksgiving, baking pies and making jello salad and such. Thursday morning, Uncle Paul and Aunt Megan rolled in, and then the partying really began! We had a great lunch of cheese, crackers, oysters, and fruit. Then the kids opened most of their presents. Uncle Paul and Kirsa had a great time with a game of peek-a-boo! Then the women cooked + washed endless dishes and the boys watched football while the kids napped/rested.

The silly turkey got done at 2pm (I was shooting for 4-5pm, but I have NO LUCK with big cuts of meat getting done, ever, when I want them to!) but we just popped it in the fridge, then reheated it before carving when Chris got home around 4:30. The dinner was absolutely delicious - turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberries, green bean casserole, lefse, strawberry jello... and of course, pumpkin pie with whipped cream for dessert! Even Kirsa got bites of almost everything.

After dinner, Elijah and Kirsa opened their final awesome Christmas gifts, we all walked outside to look at the Christmas lights Chris had hung on the house, then the kiddos went to bed. The adults opened all our awesome presents, and then... everyone left. My parents went back to Paul and Megan's and will spend the last day of their vacation there before heading home to MT.

It was such a wonderful day! I am so grateful to my dad and Paul for playing with the kids, Chris for working hard to get home in time for dinner, and most of all, to my mom for making pretty much the entire dinner and Megan for washing nearly every dish! It was hectic but so fun to do Thanksgiving + Early Christmas all together this year!!

So Tired!!

JYC. Nov 24 & 25.

2011-11-25T10:37:00.002-07:00

Note: I will try to post one page per day, but sometimes the events take place at the end of the day, and so it gets posted the next day. In that case, they are posted in reverse order, so that someday, when I click the "jyc" tag, they are all in order from the bottom up. Just in case you were wondering. :)

JYC. Intro Page.

2011-11-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

Journal Your Christmas 2011

2011-11-22T17:48:00.003-07:00

It's that time of year again - time for the Journal Your Christmas class, and the daily (hopefully) posting of pages I make for our family's digital scrapbook record of the season! I so love that this class has a lifetime membership. So here is my book cover, front and back. Tomorrow we'll post the intro page, and then I kick off my official "Christmas season" with Thanksgiving, and end on New Year's! Hope I can keep up this year with two kids to take care of in the meantime!

Quilts

2011-11-21T15:06:00.002-07:00

A wonderful lady at church makes a quilt for each new baby born in the congregation. She even made one for Elijah although he was 4 months old when we moved to Denver. Aren't they gorgeous? We are SO lucky to have her in our lives!

Grandma Visits!

2011-11-19T14:40:00.004-07:00

This past week, Grandma S came for a visit! It was SO nice to have her here. She visited Elijah's preschool, entertained Kirsa, helped fold laundry, helped me get ready for my Thanksgiving/Christmas by wrapping presents, helping with lefse, and helping decorate the tree, and was all-around absolutely wonderful to have here! Chris and I both got a lot done because she was so helpful taking care of kiddos all day long.

We went out to dinner at the Athenian and had wonderful Greek food one night. We went to Menchie's while she was here, too. It's a frozen yogurt place and is really cute and fun. I love the pic of Kirsa's face... first taste of froyo! And isn't Elijah funny, getting thrown into the leaf pile? Yikes!

Kirsa's 9 Month Checkup

2011-11-07T18:35:00.003-07:00

Kirsa had her 9 month well-check today, and it was fabulous! No concerns at all this time - she's as healthy as a horse. She has jumped way up in percentiles in the last 3 months. She weighs 18 lbs 15 oz and is 27.5 inches long (both 49th percentile), and has no anemia - her hemoglobin was 13.4. It was so nice to have such a great appointment!

9 Months Old!

2011-11-05T14:26:00.006-06:00

Our beautiful girl is 9 months old today!! Hard to believe she's been out as long as she was in! Here's what she's doing now:

Nursing / Bottles: After nursing every 2 hours around the clock the entire time we were in Atlanta, we have cut back drastically. Something must have happened to my supply while we were there - maybe because I was getting over a cold and stressed with travel - but the girl was so hungry that, when we got home, I offered her a bottle and she guzzled it like she was starving! So, now we take bottles - no looking back. We're now nursing about 3 times a day, and I plan to cut back to just morning and bedtime within the next week. I'm hoping we've weaned entirely sometime in the next 6 weeks.

Eating Solids: She's eating solids three times a day now. Breakfast is yogurt mixed with formula and infant oat cereal, then prune juice mixed with oat cereal. Lunch is a veggie, cheerios, and maybe some cheese or whatever else I can find. Dinner is a fruit, but I can see that we're going to need to expand that soon and get some more protein for her!

Protein for the tooth-less is a tough one though - still looking for ideas on that. Hoping to start some refried beans or tofu soon. She'll also eat finger foods, but doesn't quite have her pincer grasp down yet to pick them up herself. Even when she does pick them up, leaving them in her mouth is a challenge too. Finger food and protein ideas for 9 month olds is much appreciated!

Part of the challenge is that she often literally vomits her stomach contents on the first try of a new food. This is frustrating and makes me wary of ever introducing anything new! Anyway... moving on:

Nighttime: We've done some sleep training to get back to only one waking per night - we'd started having more and more night wakings since about 7 months old. If I nurse her or give her a bottle, she always goes right back to sleep, no problems whatsoever. More sleep training is probably in our near future to eliminate night feedings altogether.

I have also started nursing her + giving her supplemental bottle at bedtime with a nightlight on, and putting her down with the nightlight on, then turning it off when I leave, instead of doing all that in the pitch dark. Soon we will add a story after the feeding before she goes down.

She is always wide awake at bedtime - she almost never falls asleep before I lay her down. But she never cries, which makes it such a joy to kiss her forehead, tuck her in, say goodnight, turn off the light, and go downstairs.

Naps: Success!! This girl naps twice a day for 1 hour 45 minutes each time - and has not had a short nap in at least a week or two, maybe more (except in Atlanta, but that's fair...)! *Knock on wood* I could not be happier with her naps! She doesn't cry going down at all, doesn't cry in the middle... it's heavenly.

Swaddling: We have entirely dropped the nighttime swaddle. We still swaddle for naps (I know, I know). Will be dropping that soon, but weaning nursing and nighttime wakings is currently higher on my priority list.

Schedule / Routine: I'm happy to say that our days are really consistent, and look like this - 7am wake, nurse, bottle, dress, solids, play; 9:05 drink of water, nap; 11am wake, change diaper, nurse/bottle + lunch, play; 1:15pm small bottle or drink of water, nap; 3:15pm wake, bottle, walk, dinner, play; 6:15 bath; 6:30 nurse, bottle; 7pm bed.

Physical + Verbal: And now the fun stuff!

First, her stork bite really seems to be fading - have you noticed? I didn't, until my brother pointed it out recently. I don't mind one way or the other - I loved my little February girl's heart - but I'm sure she'll be glad not to have it when she's, say, 13 years old.

She sits like a champ, and has gotten better about not throwing herself backwards when she's tired of sitting. She still rolls front to back well, but the girl REFUSES to roll from her back onto her tummy. However, if placed on her tummy, she can raise her chest and abdomen off the floor, and scoot in a circle or forward to get a toy. Not quite crawling, but it accomplishes the same goal.

She's gotten verbal! She says "uh-oh" and looks at the floor (whether something was dropped or not). She says "peek-a-boo" using only vowels, but she will play peekaboo and cover/uncover her own face with the blanket! And she signs "more" excitedly the whole time she's eating solids. Too cute. She does a lot of babbling too - Mamama when she's tired, Babababa when she's being goofy.

She also has some decent stranger anxiety, especially in the late afternoons. And when she gets tired, I absolutely am not allowed to walk away from her. Sometimes she fusses for about 2 milliseconds at bedtime as I shut the door, but thankfully that stops pretty quickly after I leave!

So that's it! Her 9 month checkup is Monday, and we'll finally have some new height/weight info. Chris' mom visits in a week, and my parents will be here for Thanksgiving. And of course, awesome Uncle Paul and Aunt Megan are here about as often as they can stand to make the drive down 36! She's gotten so fun and has such a cute little personality! Happy 9 months, Sweet Kirsa!!

foccacia to die for

2011-11-05T14:12:00.003-06:00

I made this Herb-Rosemary Foccacia last night, and it was to.die.for. I plan to make it for everyone who ever comes to dinner at our house again. Words cannot describe how amazing this bread was!

The only change I'd make - after you mix up the ingredients thoroughly in your kitchenaid stand mixer, transfer it to a greased or oiled bowl to rise. It'll be much easier to get out of the bowl after the rise this way... and again, make sure you're using fresh yeast and bread flour whenever you make yeast breads!

Snow * Cookies * Movie

2011-11-03T10:13:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, we got about a zillion inches of heavy, thick, wet snow. Elijah and I spent an hour in the morning shoveling and trying to clear some off the car - wasted effort, since over half of it melted that afternoon anyway. Then I made these super, super cute sugar cookies for a party we're going to soon. By dinner, we were all exhausted, so I put on a little 30-minute movie for the kiddos. Obviously, they were captivated!

Just Before Atlanta...

2011-11-02T10:37:00.006-06:00

Just before we went to Atlanta, we had our first snow day of the year, and took Elijah out on his rental skis to the nearby park. He was a pretty good skier for a first try, and a really good sport! (Please excuse my awful walmart jeans. All my cute jeans were packed for the trip!)

Also, Kirsa and I had an icky cold, and she was one tired-looking baby! And Chris carved a beautiful jack-o-lantern for the kiddos. Here's the proof:

Today, we are having an even bigger snow day - pics to come soon!

Also, isn't Kirsa's snowsuit the cutest? It's real down, Columbia brand - secondhand, of course! My favorite part is that she can either wear boots + mittens with it, or you can just fold over the ends of the hands & feet, and tuck her warmly inside! And I love how well the hood stays on (although she hates that part!)

A Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T09:48:00.007-06:00

We had a very happy Halloween this year! Chris and Elijah carved the pumpkin just before we left for Atlanta. Yesterday, Elijah waited impatiently for Daddy to race home from work and get the trick-or-treating started.

It was pretty slow-going, with about three million reminders to Elijah to "Say Trick-or-Treat" and "Say thank you - LOOK at them when you say it - louder, they can't hear you - Elijah! say thank you! every time!" but eventually he got the hang of it. I think it threw him off when people would answer the door and start asking him questions about how he was doing and what his costume was.

Each and every house was an adventure for him. He commented on the driveways, cars, doorbells, halloween decor, dogs that came to the door... everything! We probably should have just let him go to three houses over thirty minutes and call it a night! (It might have been slow partly because Elijah was wearing his snow boots. Earlier in the day, he came in from outside and cheerfully informed me - I played in the puddle! And he had, and his shoes were dripping. And he has no other shoes, because who is going to buy 2 pairs of shoes for a kid that outgrows them every 6 months?)

Kirsa was not a fan of trick-or-treating. I think she was tired, maybe still catching up from the vacation. It's funny to see the differences in your own kids. At that same age, Elijah could have stayed out and cheerful all night long, but she was not having it.

So we made our way back home, tossed kiddos into bed, and Chris spent the next hour handing out candy. I was glad he was the one answering the door, because he was cheerful and funny with all the kids.

I probably just would have been hissing Shhh! There's a baby sleeping! every time they talked. One little girl also informed Chris, who was wearing his dress shirt from work and his glasses, "You look smart!" Too cute. We love our neighborhood.

Highlight: One little boy's mother reminds him - Chris! Say thank you! So the little boy says it, and my Chris says - Your name is Chris? Mine too! And the boy and his siblings all chime in - Whoa! Wow, that's so cool! In true awe. Kids are so funny!

So that's it. Happy Halloween!

Trip to Atlanta!

2011-10-31T13:57:00.011-06:00

Are you ready for the Photo Onslaught? We went to Atlanta for three days this past weekend to visit our friends Andre and Roxanne, and their sweet little girl Sofia. Although I don't think anyone slept much, it was an awesome trip and SO good to see them! We have really missed them since they moved east this summer to begin Andre's fellowship in Infectious Disease.

We took a direct flight on Thursday morning, and the kids did remarkably well on the airplane, despite the fact that the DVD player died 10 minutes into the movie! (Also, Chris did remarkably well hauling 2 carseats through the airport!) We rented a cheap car and only got a little lost on the way to their adorable house. While there, we toured their little town of Decatur, ate amazing tapas at The Iberian Pig, cheered for the Cardinals in the World Series, took 1000 pictures at a pumpkin patch, ate Roxanne's delicous dinners, and generally had a wonderful time together!

At the pumpkin patch, Elijah got his first-ever horseback ride. He was so calm, serious, and unafraid - it was amazing and adorable! Chris and I were so proud of him.

So here we go... from our first tour around Decatur through our car drive home from the airport after three fun, packed days of vacation!

Hairbows + Swingset + Cheesecake

2011-10-23T13:44:00.005-06:00

Our local consignment shop had a hairbow sale this weekend. Utter cuteness ensued.

Chris finished putting together the new swingset, which we bought used on craigslist for about 1/10 of its original price. He rented a moving truck to go get it; my brother came down from Boulder to help him load it up; I helped unload it into the backyard and put it together (even helping put that roof on! - yikes!); Megan drove back to the place we got it to pick up the hardware that they left there since it was dark when they had finished loading it into the truck; Chris replaced the floorboards of the playhouse, which was a far bigger project than I had thought it was going to be; we leveled it, bolted it, took pictures of it - and now we're ready to play!

It has, incredibly: 3 swings, monkey bars, sandbox area, picnic table, trapeze bar with rings, playhouse with steering wheel and telescope, climbing wall with climbing rope, and a huge yellow slide! A kid's paradise if there ever was one.

And, I made THIS amazing pumpkin cheesecake - and it turned out perfectly! SO delicious, rich, creamy, and amazing. I'm in love with The Springform Pan.

Autumn on our walk

2011-10-20T19:28:00.002-06:00

Dislikes

2011-10-20T19:09:00.002-06:00

Something very strange is happening around here, and I hope it's a passing phase. If there's one thing you could always say about Elijah, it's that the child would eat anything that was served for dinner. He has always loved food, from lobster and mussels to sushi and injera.

This may be due to the fact that he has a little bit of a cold, but in the last week, I've suddenly started to hear protests at dinner. Granted, Asian Cabbage Salad is probably about the least 3-year-old-friendly dinner I could make, but up until now, he's always gobbled down anything.

It remains to be seen if my Good Eater will return after the virus leaves us, or if we've ushered in the new phase of Food Preferences.

8 1/2 months

2011-10-19T16:15:00.002-06:00

Note: never leave camera within reach of 3-year-old. Lens is both smudged and scratched. Will be researching cameras to put on xmas list this year. Suggestions welcome.

Homemade Pizza

2011-10-15T10:19:00.013-06:00

Last night, we had a Date Night In. We haven't had one in a while. We made homemade pizza to eat with the kids, then played Rock Band and watched 24 after they went to bed.

I had done a big post describing our evening and this pizza, and how we made the pizza, and when I pressed publish, blogger ate it. I guess the pizza was that good! And I'm really not in the mood to recreate it now. But I will try, because it was good and we really want to remember what we did.

Homemade Vegetarian Pizza

1. Begin Dough:

{{{ 3/4 c. water at 110 degrees * 1/2 T. active yeast * 1/2 T. sugar * 1/4 t. salt * 1.5 - 2 c. bread flour }}} Sprinkle yeast and sugar on water; let sit 5-10 minutes. Stir together with salt and flour. Mix in kitchenaid mixer, or knead 4-5 minutes. Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise for 45 minutes.

Prepare a sauce if using (we didn't). Or open a jar of pizza sauce. :)

2. Prepare Toppings:

{{{ 1 zucchini, thinly sliced and slighly sauteed * 1-2 heads roasted garlic (prepared ahead of time), sliced * 1 red pepper, chopped * 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped * 2 green onions, sliced * 4 oz. goat cheese * 2 c. grated mozzarella cheese }}}

We should have also sauteed some sliced mushrooms with the zucchini, and added sliced black and kalamata olives. Next time. Obviously, you can add whatever kinds of toppings you like!

Preheat oven to 425.

3. Prepare Pizza:

Roll out pizza crust and shape onto your greased pizza stone, making a crust around the edges. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt (to help it crisp up - who wants soggy pizza dough?). Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven, add sauce (if using) and toppings, finishing with cheese.

Note: when adding toppings, keep them toward the crust, don't pile them all in the middle.

Bake for 10-18 minutes, watching carefully. Remove when cheese is beginning to brown.

Make a salad and cut fruit while you're waiting. We had a green salad (romaine lettuce, balsamic vinegar + canola oil dressing, & avocado) and an apple salad (peeled, sliced apples & halved marashino cherries mixed with fresh, sweetened whipped cream) last night.

4. Eat Pizza:

Let cool slightly, slice, and enjoy!

Cheesy Garlic Bread Swirls

2011-10-13T10:28:00.008-06:00

I made these Cheesy Garlic Bread Swirls last night. They were as amazing as they look, and fairly easy. They would have been easier if, in my planning ahead, I hadn't decided to make a meal that required last-minute-broiler and last-minute-baking-in-the-oven for the two main events. So that was stressful.

Also, I know I post lots of delicious-looking breads on here, and that some of you, as soon as you see the words "active yeast" and "knead" in a recipe, go running in the opposite direction. But making bread is really, really easy and so rewarding (because it's delicious) after you get the hang of it. Let me tell you how:

1. Get the right start. Buy the best ingredients - white bread flour (I love Wheat Montana, as I mentioned before) and active yeast (you can use the packets, but if you buy the jar, write on top the date you open it and throw it away in 6 months for best results - and keep it in the fridge!) are the two keys.

Use your meat thermometer to get the water (for mixing with the yeast - also called "activating" the yeast, but don't let that weird word scare you) to 110-115 degrees. Too warm and it'll die, too cold and it won't wake up and do its thing. Don't let this worry you - just monkey with it until you've got it about right - that's what microwaves and cold running water are for!

I also get better results using my pizza stone than a baking sheet, but this is by no means necessary. The rolls above were made in a non-stick muffin pan.

2. Dig in. Start with basic, white-flour using breads, such as baguette or ciabatta or dinner rolls. Don't do fillings or wheat flours yet. Knead by hand - you will begin to get a much, much better feel for the bread than if you knead in a bread machine or your mixer. Later, you will sometimes knead in your mixer, but start with hand kneading.

Also, kneading is easy. Put your ball of dough on a board. Fold half of it over, push it down, make a quarter turn. Repeat for about 8-10 minutes. If it's sticking to your hands or the board, add a little flour. Just don't add too much. I usually reserve some of the flour that the recipe calls for to add during kneading.

3. Troubleshoot and Repeat. It's very likely that your first 10 - 20 attempts of making bread are not going to be what you expected. Find out the cause of your bad bread from someone who knows bread-baking. In the beginning, the most common culprits of dry, tough bread are: dead yeast, yeast that was mixed with water either too warm or too cold, using all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, and adding too much flour in the kneading stage.

4. Use the right sources. My favorite book is The Art of Bread, which has all kinds of useful information and recipes for the beginning bread-maker.

5. Set a goal. Make at least 20 attempts at bread, with good-faith troubleshooting attempts each time, before you give up. The rewards will be worth it, I promise you. Once you can make bread, it becomes very fast and second-nature, and almost everyone thinks you're amazing! Basic bread uses only four ingredients - flour, yeast, water, and salt. So even though it sounds complicated, it's about the most basic thing you can make. Plus, it's the most delicious thing you'll ever eat.

Cold Rainy October Saturday

2011-10-08T09:37:00.003-06:00

Today is Saturday, and it's our city's annual PumpkinFest. And we're not going. Because it is 32 degrees and pouring rain, and I have two very small children. I might even still go if those were the only two issues, but probably the biggest problem is that there is never any parking (I mean, not even available parking!) within at least a half mile. A half mile is no huge deal, but when you're trying to be quick for the sake of the next naptime and you're pushing a stroller while pulling a 3-year-old along... it's just not going to happen. In the cold. In the rain/snow. No thanks.

So instead, I have pulled out the playdoh factory for Elijah, and am trying Kirsa's second-ever unswaddled nap. Later I'll send Elijah out to play in the rain for a few minutes, so that he can earn a cup of hot chocolate for his snack. :) At least I can console myself that next week, his preschool will go on a field trip and he'll get to do a hayride, bouncy castles, mazes, train ride, and bring home a pumpkin. So all is not lost, after all.

All Smiles

2011-10-06T10:01:00.002-06:00

8 Months!

2011-10-05T10:13:00.003-06:00

Kirsa is 8 months old today! Isn't she cuter than ever? And oh, we are in the thick of the 8-month-blues.

Surely my children aren't the only ones who hit the 8-month-blues. That phase where their sleep goes south and they become demanding, ornery, and opinionated! Elijah's was much worse - at this point, I was nursing him every 90-180 minutes all night long, and then he wouldn't eat or nap all day. He was, at least, pretty cheerful as an 8-month-old though.

Here's where Kirsa's at:

Eating: She nurses 5x a day now. There is still one middle of the night feeding, usually around 3-5am. This is acceptable to me. If she nurses more than once in the night because she wakes extra, she is nearly impossible to feed the next day. She then nurses around 7am, 11am, 3pm, and 6:30pm. She gets solids around 8am, 11:30am, and 4pm.

She's starting to venture in to new foods a little, although she literally vomited her avocado yesterday when I didn't dilute it with infant cereal, so I guess we'll be holding off on that one a bit longer. However, she loves plain infant oatmeal mixed with formula (she is a bit of an odd duck there, I think), and her favorite food is still baby peas.

She will happily eat puffs if I put them in her mouth, but once she picks them up, she just drops them on the floor. It's like it doesn't occur to her to put them in her own mouth. She tried cheerios yesterday and was skeptical. She'll eat some yogurt, and that seems to be the best "snack" to use if, for some reason, she needs a little extra to eat right before naptime.

She doesn't really use the cup yet, but if I offer a bottle right after nursing, she'll sometimes take a few sips.

Overall, as long as she only nurses once in the night, I'm pretty happy with where her eating is at.

Sleeping: This has been a roller coaster lately. She is really dropping to 2 naps, at least 70% of the time. But that makes it tough, because she's really a "time of day" girl. If she wakes early and she knows it's not time to get up yet, she'll wait quietly. But alternating between 2 naps and 3 is confusing for her, even if she needs the sleep. So we're really trying to push for 2 naps a day whenever possible. We're getting there. If each nap were 2 hours long consistently, we'd be there just fine. But we still have some 45 minute naps, and those make it very tough to get through the day.

Nights have been good. In general, she just wakes once a night. Sometimes it's twice, and that's a bad night. If it's more than that, there's often a lot of crying, as she becomes overtired. Thankfully, those nights are rare.

Swaddling: We've dropped the swaddle from 7pm - 3am again. When she wakes to nurse, I swaddle her for the rest of the night. I tried dropping the swaddle for her first nap yesterday, and it took her about 30 minutes of playing to fall asleep and then her nap was only 45 minutes long. However, my goal is to drop the swaddle altogether by the end of the first week in November (9 months). We'll see.

Routine: If we have 3 naps, our schedule looks much as it did last month. Our 2 nap days look like this - 7am wake, nurse, dress, solids; 9am nap; 11am wake, nurse, solids, play outside, play inside, snack if needed; 1pm nap; 3pm wake, nurse, walk, solids, play, bath; 6:30pm nurse; 6:40-7pm bed. Not every day looks like this, but the good ones do. It's what we strive for. :)

Skills: Unfortunately, not much new here. We do some practicing, but whenever I put her on her tummy, she immediately rolls to her back, or fusses until I let her. We're working on maintaining tummy time. She can lift her chest, her legs, or both together off the ground in tummy time, so she is gaining strength there. And she can sit for long, long, long periods of time. I still put the boppy behind her because she back-dives when she's sick of sitting and hits her head, but she doesn't need the boppy at all otherwise. I think she's either going to be a late-crawler or a non-crawler. But then again, once we drop the swaddle, I think a lot more naptimes are going to be spent practicing skills than actually sleeping, so maybe she'll catch up then.

Likes / Dislikes: She adores Elijah most of all. Except when he cries and tantrums, and then she often starts screaming and crying too. It terrifies her. But the two of them have more fun together than anyone. He makes her laugh all the time. She loves trying to reach him whenever he gets within grabbing distance. Daddy is pretty good at making her laugh too. I can, a little, sometimes, but mostly she takes me very seriously. Then again, once in a great while she will drift off to sleep after nursing before bed, and she'll snuggle her little head in to my shoulder as I go to lay her down. It's my favorite moment ever.

She also loves our walks in the stroller. She loves to chew on things - as you'll notice, she always has something in her mouth or is about to put something in her mouth. No teeth yet though. She loves musical toys, and books (to chew on, of course). She likes her bath. She loves being unswaddled in her bed at bedtime and playing with the crib rails. In fact, she'll often fall asleep clutching one, like a security blanket. :) (Speaking of - I am thinking that around 9 months, once we drop the swaddle, I'll start letting her sleep with her blankie at night).

She likes riding in the car. Actually, she likes almost everything, except practicing tummy time.

That's about all I can think of for now on her. She'll have another appointment at 9 months and we'll get updated size info then. She seems healthy as a horse, although we always seem to come up with little things (thankfully, all have turned out to be nothing) at each appointment for the doctor to worry us about. :)

Happy 8 Months, Kirsa-belle. You are the most darling, chubby, sweet, adorable baby girl I could have ever asked for!

stromboli

2011-10-05T10:05:00.004-06:00

Look what we had for dinner last night! This stromboli was SO good - I filled it with chicken, spinach, tomato, parmesan cheese, and mozzarella cheese. We cut it in slices and dipped it in pizza sauce. Next time we need to take "car sandwiches" on a road trip, I think I will make a batch of bread dough and turn it in to individual stromboli sandwiches. Yum yum. Our Best Bites is still topping my Favorite Cookbook Ever list.

For those of you nervous about things like bread dough, this was really easy. It's mostly a matter of having the right ingredients.

I used my kitchenaid stand mixer and the dough hook attachment. You will need yeast, but just buy the little packets of active yeast. I used Wheat Montana bread flour (if you are in to bread making, this is the ONLY bread flour to use!), but you could try it with regular bread flour or even all-purpose.

I didn't even have to knead it - just soaked the yeast + sugar in the water (I use my meat thermometer to make sure the water temp is about 110-115), add the flour and salt, and mix. Transfer to a greased bowl, cover and let rise. Done.

new recipes

2011-10-03T13:10:00.006-06:00

I've made a couple new foods lately that are worth sharing! First are these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. They were from my son's Answers for Preschoolers curriculum, and I was skeptical, but we made them anyway. They turned out to be pretty good - light, fluffy, and tasty!

Also worth making: Chicken Tortilla Hotdish (below) and Slow-Cooked Pork Barbeque (below) - both adapted from Taste of Home, and both Thai Peanut Noodles and Asian Cabbage Salad from Our Best Bites (my new favorite cookbook ever!)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 can of pumpkin (~15oz)

1 t. cinnamon

1 egg

1 ½ t. salt

½ c. oil

1 t. baking soda

1 c. sugar

1 t. milk

2 t. baking powder

1 t. vanilla

2 c. flour

12oz bag of chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix ingredients together as listed. Drop by spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 11-14 minutes, cool on wire racks. Makes about 40 cookies.

Chicken Tortilla Hotdish

½ c. chicken broth

½ c. chopped onion

½ c. chopped celery

1-3 cups cubed cooked chicken

7 flour tortillas (8 inches), cut in bite-size pieces

1 can (10.75oz) cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1 can (4oz) chopped green chilies

¾ c. shredded cheddar cheese, divided

¾ c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided

½ t. white pepper

1 c. salsa

Preheat oven to 350. In a pan, boil the broth, onion, and celery for about 7 minutes. Combine with chicken, tortillas, soup, chilies, ½ c. cheddar cheese, ½ c. jack cheese, and pepper in a greased 9x13 pyrex dish. Top with salsa and remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered, for 35 minutes.

Note: this could definitely be made up the night before or in the morning, covered with foil in the fridge, and just pulled out to warm up 30 minutes before baking. I don't find this to be the most amazing dish I've ever made, but it's nice for variety when you need quick or make-ahead meals.

Slow-Cooked Pork Barbeque

1 boneless pork loin roast (4 lbs) cut in half

1 ½ t. Lawry’s salt

1 t. garlic powder

1 – 1 ½ c. barbeque sauce (I used Famous Dave’s original)

1 cup cola

10 buns

Grease slow cooker. Place roast inside, sprinkle with salt and garlic powder. Cover and cook on low 4-8 hours, until meat is tender. Remove meat and skim fat from cooking juices. Shred meat and return to slow cooker. Whisk bbq sauce and cola together; pour over meat. Cover and cook on high 1-3 hours, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened. Serve on buns.

Enjoying

2011-10-02T14:04:00.005-06:00

It seems that my camera and my blog have been a bit neglected lately. To be honest, not much has happened - or to be more accurate, not much has been completed. At least nothing worth sharing. Of course, meals and laundry and naps and walks and some new recipes have been completed - but who wants to hear about those every day?

Chris started painting our living/dining/stairwell/upstairs. It's about half done. I LOVE the color we chose (after a single paintbucket of Definitely Not The Right Color went up - SO glad we recognized that right away and selected a new shade!) and cannot wait to share that with you when it's finished, which, given his days off or lack thereof, will probably be in mid-November.

The nights are cooling off, though the days are still nearly 90. We took out the evaporative cooler for the painting job and took down all the drapes (and are using them as dropcloths!) so it's been quite warm. But no one really notices anymore, after a summer without AC.

Kirsa is now actually on two naps a day, after a failed attempt at that around 6.5 months old. This, strangely, kind of makes my days busier, because it's still a little tough for her to stay awake so long between naps, and that means that she takes a little more entertaining from me in the meantime. Also, she's almost 8 months old! Elijah has adjusted to preschool and, of course, just loves it. And he's adjusting to our new routine as Kirsa's change in naps changes things. He loves to ride his car in circles around her on the floor.

So here are a few pics of just random nothingness around the house. But look forward to posts coming up in the next month on: * Halloween costumes * The Finished Paint Job * New Recipes * Our Trip to Atlanta, GA * Kirsa's 8-Month Update * and probably a few other plain-old cute-kid posts (jumping in leaf piles, perhaps?)!

PS: Isn't Kirsa funny in her carseat? She holds on to the handles of our handle like we're going on some kind of wild ride! Also, she just figured out that if she cranes her neck, she can see me driving, and she thinks this is So Weird.

PPS: Super Super congrats to this good friend who has been through it ALL and is now pregnant with twins! Praying and praying that everything continues to go well for this wonderful couple!

September : Picnic in the Park

2011-09-23T14:20:00.002-06:00

Beautiful fall day. Egg salad for me; PBJ for Chris; PBH for Elijah; Peas for Kirsa. Nearby park. Shady tree. Thick blanket. A couple toys + sweet playground equipment. Fighter jets and blue skies above. Perfect picnic.

What I'm Cooking This Week

2011-09-23T14:15:00.003-06:00

Almond Poppy Seed Bread from Our Best Bites - recipe here

Eggs Baked Over Sauteed Mushrooms and Spinach from Food and Wine - recipe here

Burgundy Mushrooms from Pioneer Woman - recipe here

Great Grandma Visits

2011-09-21T12:47:00.004-06:00

Last week, my grandma - Elijah and Kirsa's Great Grandma Polly - came to visit for several days. We had a wonderful time together, and are so grateful that she takes the time out of her life and service to her church to spend a week with us every fall.

The first night, we went out to dinner at our local (really local - it's about 3 blocks away) Greek restaurant. It is an amazing little family-owned restaurant that makes you feel a bit like you're in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The server is SO friendly and wonderful every time we go there, we just love it! And the food is awesome too.

While she was here, she helped me make plum jam with the plums on the tree in our backyard. Actually, helped isn't really the right word - she pretty much did it all herself! I wasn't much help at all, I don't think. But now I have lots of plum jam, a recipe, and have watched it done - so next time, hopefully I can make freezer jam myself. I also made pumpkin bread, banana bread, cherry pie, maple oat scones, and a zillion other meals, desserts, and fun foods while she was helping with the jam and the kiddos.

She and Elijah did lots of playing inside and outside, including his new puzzle that he just loves. She also "Guest Taught" my homeschool Creation Corner preschool one day. It was amazing to watch her with Elijah - she was so patient and so good with him. He is captivated by everything she has to say and teach him. They were best buddies for the week!

And of course, Kirsa enjoyed having Great Grandma around to play, to meet someone new, to cuddle and hold her and wave toys in front of her!

She also spent a day in Boulder with Paul and Megan, and I'll post those pictures at some point when they send them. We had a big dinner with all of us one evening too, and played Wii Party - and my grandma, who was playing it for the first time, proceeded to win the game and beat ALL the rest of us.

So, as you can imagine, it was a wonderful visit, and we're so glad she came!!

PS - don't you just love Kirsa's amazingly beautiful little dress in these pics? Many thanks to my BFF Keeley for the two most BEAUTIFUL baby girl dresses I have ever seen in my life. As I've mentioned before, I have a serious thing for Little Girls + Red & White. Will post pics of the other cute dress soon too!

Thirty

2011-09-12T13:28:00.008-06:00

It turns out that my husband is turning 30 this month. How crazy that we are now completely past our 20s. All ten of them. (Well, he is. I will never be that old.)

He commented to me that he certainly has more aches and pains after working in the yard, swinging the axe to break up tree roots that were taking over our grass, but that said pains were nothing to talk about really. I told him that at 40 or 50, they'd be something to talk about... and by 70, they'll go in the Christmas letter!

So 30 feels older, but not that much older, I guess. At any rate, we had a birthday party last night, with friends (including Kirsa's first playing-with-a-friend experience with Baby Jane), family (Paul and Megan), pizza, and a Coldstone ice cream cake called Peanut Butter Playground. Much fun was had by all, except Kirsa who was either sick or had a bout of Stranger Danger when her house was filled with so many people, and refused to be held by anyone but Mommy for the entire evening.

We sang Happy Birthday; Elijah's horrified + worried look when he belted out "Happy Birthday to Daddy" while everyone else sang "to Chris" was utterly adorable, and fortunately Chris interruped the song to reassure him, "It's Daddy - you're right, Elijah" - and so Elijah was able to finish it out with everyone else, get his cake, and fill his tummy + cover his face with chocolate.

Happy Birthday Party ~~Chris~~ Daddy! And, in another week or so... Happy 30!

See! She DOES smile!

2011-09-08T10:06:00.007-06:00

Although we generally call Kirsa "Bug" or "Bugaboo" for those same unknown reasons that any parents give their kids funny little nicknames, she's really our little Bear. She growls when she wants something, growls when she's annoyed, growls when she's filling her pants. She sleeps like she's hibernating (well, usually). And she has the cutest little gummy bear smiles! See, I told you she smiles! Apparently the jumper gives her the confidence to smile and laugh despite my camera flash!

Happy BirthVersaryMas to Me!

2011-09-06T21:12:00.006-06:00

When we bought this house, 18 months ago or so, redoing the kitchen counters was at the very top of my Need To Do list. It was a serious undertaking, more financially than time-consuming since two guys came and did all the work within 8 hours today, and it's my Christmas/Birthday/Anniversary gift all rolled into one. (It's okay - Chris won't be getting any big gifts either, since his BirthVersaryMas gift was this...)

I am so very, very, very happy with my beautiful new kitchen!!! Especially now that I've put back all the items under the countertop height and mopped all the floors. Now to find the appropriate stools for the little "breakfast bar" we added... and of course, we'll repaint the kitchen and possibly change out the hardware on the cupboards... but one thing at a time here!

Also worth noting - my husband lobbied hard for doing a tiled backwall instead of the backsplash, but I convinced him that, since we only plan on living here another 4 years or so, it wasn't worth the money... so blame me if you're wondering why we didn't do a beautiful backwall of intricate and expensive tilework...

Also, I noticed the countertops look pretty gray in the pictures. They're actually a warm, dark chocolate brown. Blame the flash. (I'm all about blame today I guess...)

Seven Months Old!

2011-09-05T10:09:00.003-06:00

Kirsa is SEVEN months old! Unbelievable. You know how you picture what your kids will be like at different ages sometimes? I had pictured her up through six months, but it hadn't really occurred to me that she would ever get older than that. And here she is!

Eating: She's still a quick nurser. She's gained an extra feeding in the night over the past 2 weeks, which I am not really excited about. However, as she'd been having some troubles with eliminating... ahem... and we finally got that figured out, I just decided that maybe she has a little catching up to do. So we're rolling with it, for now.

However, it's also obvious that, like any good 7-month-old, she'd rather eat at night and play all day, and we really don't want to let that happen. I'd like to move her to eating bottles at night and nursing during the day, to avoid having to re-train later. We'll see. The 5am feeding is moving closer to 6am, which is getting really close to our 7am wakeup time, so we may be able to cut that one out and go back to one feeding per night. By 9-10 months, I'd like to have no nursings, and hopefully no feedings, at night. We'll see how that works out. :)

As far as solids go, she's as much or even more interested than I'd expect at this age. Sometimes she'll seem to barely nurse, then wolf down 1/4 cup of food. Her absolute favorite is peas. She gobbles those up nonstop every time I get them out. She still won't drink from a cup or bottle. We're trying.

Sometimes we give her this infant cracker thing called Mum Mums and she'll eat it, mostly, but makes this totally grossed-out face the whole time. It's hilarious.

Sleeping: As I said, we currently have two night wakings. This is new, and a bit strange. I'm not doing much now except responding. The weather has cooled off, so she's a bit chilly at night (a disadvantage to not having AC - she's used to her room being about 80-85 degrees at night!), and she's still eating fairly well around the clock. She doesn't seem to need the 5am feeding, she barely eats then, so we may try to cut that one out altogether. Otherwise, she goes to bed well and sleeps well.

At night, even dressed in a diaper, onesie, long-sleeved fleece sleepsack, another fuzzy sleepsack, quilted sleepsack, and covered in three well-tucked-in blankets, she is STILL getting a bit cool. It can't be less than 70 degrees in her room. I hope she learns to sleep on her tummy in the winter!

Also, I should mention, I finished dropping the swaddle at night. I was leaving her unswaddled until the 4am feeding before, then swaddling her from 4-7am. However, she's now waking earlier than 4am for the feeding, and she's just wearing too many clothes to get her all undressed and redressed. It's going okay so far. She's still swaddled for naps.

Napping: I can't decide if she needs 2 naps or 3. I suppose it depends on the day. We tried 2 naps for a week, and then this night-waking issue cropped up, so I went back to 3. I probably need to do Some-Days-2-Some-Days-3. She goes down with little to no crying, usually singing herself to sleep. The first two naps are usually 1.5-2 hours. The third nap is 30-45 minutes. Sometimes she cries a lot for this one, which I think is a sign that we're about ready to get rid of it. That's how we knew with the 4th nap, which was eliminated around 4 months old, anyway.

Daily Routine: Her days look something like this - 7am Wake/Nurse/Dress/Solids/Quiet playtime with us; 8:30-9am Nap 1 Begins; 10:30-11am Wake/Nurse/Solids/Play; 12:15-12:45pm Nap 2 Begins; 2-2:30pm Wake/Nurse/Walk/Solids/Play; 3:45-4:30pm Nap 3 Begins; 4:45-5:15 Wake/Nurse a tiny bit/Small amount of solids/Play/Bath/Nurse; 7pm Bedtime.

Personality and Skills: She has these huge gummy smiles - which I can NEVER catch on camera because she hates the flash, but all my non-flash pictures turn out so blurry!! She just looks at me with suspicious faces (see below) whenever I get out the camera. However, she is overall a very, very happy baby. When she wants something or is annoyed, she growls like a little bear.

She laughs with Elijah, passes objects between hands, rolls from front to back, sits very well, jumps in her jumper, splashes in the tub, coos at us, bats at herself in the mirror... all that normal stuff. She's a happy, normal baby as far as I can tell. And she still ADORES Elijah more than any of us!

Christmas Brownies

2011-09-05T09:59:00.004-06:00

I promise I'm not skipping fall entirely - I have an apple pie in the oven right now! But yesterday I made (and froze... I'm not eating all these treats I'm making!) a batch of my favorite Christmas goodie that my husband's mother makes. They're more involved than the almond bars, but SO worth it!

Christmas Brownies

LAYER 1:

1 c. sugar

4 beaten eggs

½ t. salt

1 t. vanilla

½ c. margarine

1 c. flour

1 can Hershey’s syrup (= 1.5 cups)

nuts if desired

Mix and pour in large, greased jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes and cool.

LAYER 2:

2 c. powdered sugar

½ c. butter

2 T. milk (or more - you're basically making frosting)

½ t. peppermint extract

green food coloring

Mix and spread over cooled brownies. Refrigerate to set.

LAYER 3:

1 c. chocolate chips

6 T. margarine

Melt chips and margarine. Pour over 2nd layer. Let cool until set.

PS: If anyone knows how to SINGLE SPACE things in Blogger without just writing paragraphs, please feel free to share. Wretched, wretched interface. If I had it to do over, I'd use wordpress.

Favorite Fall Foods - Homemade Applechunks

2011-09-04T13:49:00.007-06:00

One of my favorite things about fall is, of course, the food! Tired of lettuce, tomatoes, and other summery salad foods that just aren't as filling and scrumptious as the winter foods that simmer all day in the crockpot? Now that the kitchen has cooled off a bit, let's start cooking with heat again!

Another favorite part of fall is apple picking. When we lived in Missouri, we took a little day trip to an orchard and picked way, way, way too many apples. It never looks like as much in your bucket in the field as it does in the bottom drawer of your fridge, does it?

One of my favorite uses for too many apples is Apple Chunks. At least, that's what Elijah and I call them. I suppose they're pretty much like applesauce prior to the food-mill stage, but they taste more like apple pie filling. And this IS healthy, unlike my previous post on the almond bars.

(Also... with regard to those chocolate haystacks - they are delicious and easy, but I forgot to take a picture before I froze most of the batch and ate the rest... so a recipe will be forthcoming when one is defrosted and not consumed before I can reach for my camera!)

Where was I? Homemade Applechunks. Again, these are pretty healthy, so serve them as fruit with dinner, and delight in the fact that is tastes like dessert but it's not! Or if you're on a diet, serve them as dessert, and for once you won't feel shortchanged. Very easy, and the apples seem to reduce a TON with cooking - so it uses up a lot of apples very quickly. Just in case your eyes were bigger than your fridge drawer when you went apple picking!

I'll use 8 apples in the "recipe" below, but for heaven's sake, it's pretty easily modified if you have more. And something tells me this would be easy to freeze or can, if you're into that sort of thing...

Homemade Applechunks

8 apples (I used gala, I think)

1/8 - 1/4 c. sugar (or to taste - don't add too much!)

Cinnamon

Peel and core apples and cut into bite-size chunks. Put in a pan with a small amount of water in the bottom (you can always add more, or boil off the excess...) and cook until apples are tender to your liking. You can't really overcook them much, in my opinion. I think I cooked the apples about 40 minutes this morning, but it was a little longer than I would have, had I not added a bit too much water and needed to boil it off...

Add sugar, to taste, and sprinkles of cinnamon. Don't overdo it, you can always add more! Boil just a bit longer. Cool in fridge, and serve hot, cold, at room temperature, on ice cream, or however you like!

When Elijah was about 1 year old, he LOVED these - they were easy to chew and good for him too. My 8 apples made about 2-3 cups of applechunks. Just for your reference. Also, you don't have to peel them. Try to balance your desire to cook something delicious with your desire to be lazy; if you like it with the peels on, by all means, skip the peeling step! :) Enjoy!