9.30.2013

#boyfriend. :)

so i'm not a big hashtag user. have to say that i have relented and will use them on occasion. instagram only. don't understand facebook posts with them in there. and oh-em-gee. i hate when people have 329 hashtags per photo. if you have to post three times on your own picture to get all the hashtags on there, stop it! could not stop laughing when i saw this!

9.25.2013

wordless wednesday. yesterday kicked my ass!


yes, that's my fit bit.:)
work was insane. love that i now have proof than i run my ass off most days. couldn't believe it when i looked down at 4 and saw that i had 8000+ on the day. unreal!

9.24.2013

ten on tuesday 9.24.13

- i hate admitting this. i did it. i caved. i downloaded candy crush!

- i think miss melie has inherited her dad's 'donkey face.' aka stank eye. she has a pretty mean look! watch out world.

- ben asked me to read him a story during bedtime one night. so i started a 'once upon a time story' and made up a good 5 minute story. at the end he said, 'no mom. i wanted a story. not a fairy tale.' smarty pants.

-  3-0 in fantasy football. yay me! i play nick this week. here come bragging rights.

- i had just vacuumed the living room and came back in like 5 minutes later and there were goldfish crumbs every where! asked ben what happened and he said, 'the goldfish were jousting. sorry mom.'

- did our second pint ride last night. went well. loving my new bike. however, bike shorts {with that fancy crotch padding} take a lot of getting used to!

- hear that you could add pumpkin spice to your coffee and make your own flavored coffee. nick tried it this morning... but he added it to cold coffee. that didn't work so well. gonna have to try again with hot next time!

- miss melie has worn out the batteries in her swing. quite impressive. ben hated that thing. she loves it!

- so tired today i put my wallet in my lunch bag. oy. took me like 5 minutes to figure it out too.

- cleaned our dishwasher. ah-mazing. totally do it. will be doing this regularly! 


9.23.2013

county fair. 2013 edition.

it's a tradition. but we missed last year...
does that mean we have to start over?

ah well.

nick wanted to win a prize. i remember back in high school, when we went to great america, he loved playing games and was pretty good at winning too!



his luck wasn't so good today. maybe it was the baby strapped to his chest?

beans on the other hand, did great. he was a winning machine. must get that from his dad. :)


and he wanted to ride every ride. seriously. the kid has no fear. i really wish i hadn't been on restrictions and could have done some with him. next year!




met jerbear, bri, and grandma bear.


no words. but this did start a giant texting marathon with a few girlfriends. then it continued when they went to the fair and would take pictures and send some hair scratching moments they saw too!


ben wanted to go up there. auntie bri took him. yay!


another head scratcher that i texted...


mister cutie pants.


pretties. didn't realize i got nick, melie, and his dad in the picture when i took it!


waiting for the bumper cars.




he loved this roller coaster. rode it like 5 times. at least.


then we took a bunch of family photos. love that jer bear is holding the giant root beer bottle!


family photo!


nick told me to take this one and send to the girlfriends. ;)


ben wanted to do this one... he was too short. and momma isn't that brave!


potato tornado. was yummy with the fresh parm. and easier to eat that some fair food!


patiently waiting to drive again!





more games. crazy how easy they can make it look!



she loved the carrier. hardly a peep out of her. love that she held onto nick's shirt for most of the night.


one last game...


winner winner!

i think ben came home with at least 5 stuffed animals. he has an obsession with them. they all sleep with him in his tent. i should count how many he has... maybe it should be it's own post! 

really glad we were able to make it out to the fair. glad we went despite the dreary weather forecast. turned out to be a perfect evening.

9.20.2013

recipes. version 5.0

it's been a while. i just didn't have the motivation in the beginning of my pregnancy. hard to cook when you're nauseated all the time. happy to say i'm back on track! so some of these were made ages ago, like july. and some more recently. 

tropical cucumber salad: pretty tasty. bummer that you can't prep too far in advance. and mangos are a bitch to cut.

grilled lime coconut chicken and coconut rice: total success. nick grilled the chicken to perfection and the rice was yummy too. ben was a fan and so was nick's dad {who has a tendency to be a bit picky... and i mean that in the nicest way possible!}

butterfinger cake: i used two less butterfinger bars. still tasty as heck.

rice krispie roll ups: didn't roll them up. was in a hurry. just poured the chocolate on top and threw it in the freezer for it to set. totally delicious.

patriotic puppy chow: got rave reviews from everyone at the party we went to. i kinda missed the peanut butter. but it was something different! and it looked cool! 

breakfast quesadillas: put my own twist on this. used it as inspiration. nick said it was really good. i did eggs, pickled peppers from my dad, sausage, and cheese.

over night oats: made a few variations. nick took a nutella one and a peanut butter when he was working but i was still on maternity leave. going to make them for me sometime soon and hopefully, i will like them. i have tried an apple version and i really liked it. and it kept me full!

chicken and avocado soup: super tasty and easy. used rotisserie chicken. and served it with bean tostadas. ;)

mediterranean quinoa salad: yum. and filling. two thumbs up!

crock pot salsa verde chicken:  meh. i didn't eat it. nick said it tasted like pot roast on first taste. then he added it to his bean tostada and said it was much better. i did not add the oregano.

parmesan roasted tomatoes:  way good. didn't follow their measurements. would be good on some garlic bread!

9.19.2013

amelia marie: one month!

here is ben's post. just in case you want to compare the two. ;-)


- she could quite possibly be the nosiest baby ever. grunts and coos all the time. no, it doesn't stop when she is sleeping.

 - weighed in at 11 pounds 1 ounce. at her one month visit. which was a bit late... length is still 20 3/4. never reached that birth length!

 - eats four ounces every three hours.

- has been on lots of adventures: st. john fest, lake county fair, her first movie {despicable me 2}.

- wears 0-3 month clothing.

 - is super calm. only really cries when she's hungry.

- had a serious bout of baby acne.

 - always moving her legs. well, at least one of them. {she did it in utero too. i think she'll be walking soon!} ;)

 - isn't the biggest fan of her car seat.

 - loves the swing.

 - fights sleep like you wouldn't believe.

and the pictures...
the first one cracks me up. girl has some facial expressions!






'hey! i spy a kitty!'


teeny, tiny baby toes.


i remember thinking back on when ben was a baby and finding it so hard to remember when my hand covered his entire back. ;)


a little look at her strawberry. has one on her neck and higher on her head. also has two little marks on the small of her back. {does this mean she can't have a tramp stamp later in life?}


so bad that my one month post is closer to her two month birthday. oh well. i'm slowly but surely catching up. maybe... hopefully... and the point is just putting it down and remembering it so i have it one day, right?


9.18.2013

9.17.2013

ten on tuesday 9.17.13

- happy to say that the exercising is still going strong. kind of surprised myself since i thought it would be a bit much with starting work too. taking it in baby steps. finding myself with more energy!

- first pint ride. i'm getting a new bike now. just saying.

- got my fit bit. i'm in love. totally makes me want to move more!

- how come miss amelia will sleep 6-7 hour stretches on the weekend and not during the week? murphy's law of parenthood?

- have gotten back into cooking again. feels good.

- i miss daylight.

- ben got two ribbons in swim class last week. so proud.

- going to a drug rep dinner meeting tomorrow. it has been years. bad nurse.

- trying to plan our halloween costumes. really thinking it will be the last year i can pull off a theme.

- we're famous! :)

9.16.2013

wip 8.10.13

friday:

spent the morning doing birth announcements and thank you's while baby a slept.


just a lazy day at home. when nick got home from work, i made a run to target. alone. ;)

saturday:
nick and ben went to karate. then nick got a call and had to head to work with ben in tow. when they got home, gigi came over. we saw despicable me 2 and came home and grilled.

little miss did well in the theater. a little fussy but not bad. here she is telling you that she's number one! 


the garden actually produced some stuff! here's the first bounty! {can say, since i'm so far behind, that this garden kicked ass! the number of tomatoes we have is out of control!}


nick insisted on grilling ribeye. a giant chunk, nonetheless!


a cute little boy wanted to play with legos. he's a pretty fantastic builder.





sunday:
sleeping cuties! yes, i know she's not supposed to be on her stomach. shhh. don't judge. 


nick went and played disc golf with his family and i took the kids to a benefit for my coworker's granddaughter.

miss brandee painted ben's face...





tada... spiderman!


it didn't last long. he made me wipe it off about 15 minutes later claiming it was 'itchy'.

after naps and once nick got home from golfing, we headed to the cooper's to go swimming. well, the boys got to swim. us girls just visited.

ben wanted to push the stroller.


nick tried to surf. even though he is precariously close to the edge, he did not hurt himself. and although the picture makes it appear that he was surfing, in fact, he fell off seconds later. i just timed the shot perfectly!


now he's surfing. ;)


we all enjoyed bergaritas. well, chris, me, and nick. jas was inside with some of his youth group friends.


winnie and her peg leg. seriously, christy and i could not stop laughing silly girl!