our life

weekly menu plan

2010-09-09T13:18:00.002-04:00

Remembering I have a blog today so that I can participate in the great menu exchange! :-) This is not meant to be a week of healthy meals, but of tried-and-true family favorites. So here goes!

Monday
Killer White Chili served with crushed tortilla chips and corn bread. This recipe comes from a fabulous bridal shower gift I received 9 years ago...everyone at work put together a recipe book with their favorites, and this has been our fave from the bunch so far.

1 large jar, Great Northern Beans
1 lb chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp cumin
1 small jar salsa
8 oz pepper jack cheese, shredded
1 can beer (optional)

Throw it all in a crock pot and cook on low all day. Tastes better the 2nd and 3rd time you reheat!

Tuesday
Pizza Pasta Casserole. Make an extra for next week!

Wednesday
Crispy Baked Pesto Chicken.

Thursday
Marvellous Mini Meatloaves. We prefer the Italian and BBQ versions.

Friday
We don't cook on Fridays. It just doesn't happen. Or really much on the weekends, if I'm being honest. But in the spirit of sharing, I'll do my best. :-)

Sweet and Tangy Chicken. Dubbed "chicken meal" in college, it is a long-time favorite for over a decade.

Saturday
Tony's Famous Cheeseburgers. Unfortunately, I can't divulge this secret under penalty of death by my husband. ;-) Here's what I can share: low fat ground beef, bread crumbs, A1, and a little Garlic Garlic or Onion Onion (but not both) from Tastefully Simple. Mix it by hand like a meatloaf, form patties, and grill to medium. Add cheese. Serve on Aunt Millie's wheat buns. I prefer mine with just ketchup and bread & butter pickles. Patties are generally too large for a side, but go great with a pasta salad or wedge fries.

Sunday
One-Pan Pork Roast With Parmesan Fries. Yum.

the shoeless score

2010-05-08T21:10:00.002-04:00

freezing cold at soccer today, but ryan kept going despite losing his shoe - and managed to score a barefoot goal! that's my boy! ;-)

in love

2010-05-05T16:14:00.006-04:00

with my new family photos, courtesy of April Harnish Photography! I signed us up for a Mommy & Me session as a gift to myself for Mother's Day, and then I thought it would be the perfect time to have some pics taken of me with MY mom...so we did! I can't wait to have them printed and framed...but first I have to decide which ones I want! Tough decision!

singing time with ryan - "good ol' boys"

2009-09-08T10:29:00.003-04:00

sorry about the long ending...stop button wouldn't work! :-)

getting ready for 2009 craft fairs!

2009-07-23T09:34:00.002-04:00

hey everyone - long time no blog again! :-) my mom and i are getting ready for this year's round of craft fairs...i hope you will come visit us again! we'll have our custom photo holiday cards, crayon rolls, camera straps, baby stuff, and coffee cozies of course, but this year we are also adding MORE fun stuff! come check out our new clothing and accessories for your little girls, magic wands, and jars of fun!

you can find us at the St. Malachy Christmas Bazaar on November 7! See you there!

long time no blog!

2009-05-04T08:58:00.004-04:00

Let's see...at 3 years old Ryan is 38 inches tall and 34 pounds. He is playing soccer this spring and loving it. First game is this Saturday and we're so excited to see how it goes! First team picture is this weekend, too. This weekend was spent purchasing and building Ryan's new swing set! The boy is in heaven!! Looking forward to a relaxing Mother's Day weekend.

more pics

2009-01-31T15:22:00.003-05:00

So, I'm not doing very well on my photo a day, and it is only January! I have a long 11 more months to go...we'll see. But here are a few recent faves.

We got snowed in on January 28! 12.5" of snow - wow! Ryan had to walk out to make sure his sand box was okay. ;-)

Helping daddy shovel out the dogs.

First meal on the new stove - the infamous "chicken meal!"

Oh, and cupcakes, of course.

Fun in the DinoSphere at the Children's Museum!

Checking out the trains.

Ry refused to meet Batman, but I snuck a cool pic!

Loving the bulldozer.

We can't wait to go back soon to check out the Legos exhibit that opened today!

wow, i used to have really long hair

2009-01-24T17:58:00.003-05:00

I'm not claiming these pictures are GOOD pictures of me, but man I miss my hair. This is what I am trying to get back to (only with my college body, too). And the next time you hear me say I'm thinking of going chin length again, SOMEBODY PLEASE STOP ME!

frosty the snowman!

2009-01-24T08:31:00.002-05:00

raffle for a good cause

2009-01-20T16:10:00.002-05:00

Need a new camera, camera bag, or camera strap, and have an extra $5 floating around? If so, you will definitely want to check out this post. You can also check it out if you are just a nice person and want to help a family finance the adoption of a little baby. :-)

my big helper

2009-01-18T21:39:00.001-05:00

a few new pics

2009-01-14T17:10:00.002-05:00

My sister-in-law Jacqueline sent me some pictures she had taken during the Keen Family Christmas and this past weekend bowling for our niece Amy's birthday. Since I've been slacking on the Project 365 photos (thanks for pointing that out, Rhonda! :-)), I thought I would share these instead! (Jacq - I edited them in photoshop to brighten them up a bit - let me know if you want me to send the edited versions back to you!)

At Scott & Stacie's house Christmas Eve...I'm going to guess I was about to give him a kiss. ;-)

Bowling for Amy's b-day. This was Ryan's 3rd time bowling...he lost interest after the first game when he discovered the game room that is reminiscent of a ghetto Chuck E. Cheese's. $15 later we had a light up rubber dice set and a Patrick bouncy ball.

project 365

2009-01-03T14:21:00.005-05:00

While waiting for my kit to arrive, I thought I would go ahead and post the pictures I've taken so far so I don't forget the stories that go with them.

December 28, 2008
Tony's Uncle Dennis was unable to attend the Colts vs. Titans game and offered us his tickets! Jenni was kid-free for the weekend, so I asked her to go with me. Although many key players only started the game, we still had a great time cheering on our team to a 23-0 victory! This was my second time at the new Lucas Oil Stadium, but my first Colts game there.

December 29, 2008
A new favorite game to play in our house is fort-building with couch cushions, pillows, and a blanket.

December 30, 2008
Since I was home with Ryan during the holidays, I thought I would take advantage of the opportunity for some hard-core potty-training. We started out with his favorite pair of undies - Thomas, of course - and went through 3 more pairs today. The boy has little to no interest in stopping his play time to run to the bathroom, but I still have hope. I finally put a vinyl tablecloth down to try to save my floors!

December 31, 2008
After fighting me for over an hour, Ryan finally passed out on the couch watching Caillou. We had plans to be up late for a New Year's Eve party at the Russell's, so a nap was extra important today!

January 1, 2009
With Tony hungover and puking all morning, Ryan and I decided to distract ourselves by making bagel pizzas for lunch! I'm surprised any of the pepperoni actually made it onto the pizzas as fast as Ryan was eating them out of the package!

January 2, 2009
After a quick shopping trip to Meijer, we stopped at Chick-Fil-A for lunch and some play time. Such a nice surprise to run into Georgia, a super-cute friend from daycare! Ryan and Georgia played hide-and-seek for quite some time before I could finally tear him away to head home.

January 3, 2009
This never fails to crack up both Ryan and me. Tony hides behind a wall and holds Ryan up horizontally so it looks like he is peeking around the corner - they always start up high by the ceiling, then work their way down to the floor.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-29T14:19:00.004-05:00

Hope everyone had as nice a Christmas as we did. It was very sad missing Dad so much, but Ryan's excitement over EVERYthing helped keep my spirit up.

I'm not sure why Blogger always puts my pics in reverse order from how I upload them, but I'm tired of fixing them, so what you see is what you get. :-)

Can you believe that, although I took my camera over to Scott & Stacie's house for Keen Christmas on Christmas Eve and took lots of pictures, I left my memory card sitting on the desk at home so I ended up with NO PICTURES?! Jacqueline - you'll have to send me some of yours, please!

catching up again

2008-12-23T08:13:00.003-05:00

You'd think I would learn my lesson and post regularly so I don't have to keep playing catch-up, but that just doesn't seem to happen. So here is a photo-heavy post for you to catch up on the past month or so.

Ryan's second time bowling - was contemplating having his b-day party at the bowling alley because he had so much fun, but I think we're nixing the party this year and getting Ry a "big park" for the backyard - that is all he is asking for for Christmas, so how can we resist? ;-)

Thanksgiving found us at Nana and Papaw's for lunch, where Ryan loved working his first "big boy puzzle" (ie, not wooden with holes to put the pieces in).

A funny hat he made at daycare.

After lunch, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Keen's house on the far southeast side of town. We all had fun playing a basketball version of skee ball down in the basement!

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas tree! We switched all of our ornament hooks over to ribbon so I wouldn't have to be paranoid about hooks this year! It was much easier for Ryan to help us out that way, too.

We headed over to Brownsburg's Winter Wonderland party at the Rec Center - it was okay. Ryan enjoyed petting the reindeer and played a couple of games, but mostly liked people-watching at the top of the bleachers. :-)

Ryan's Christmas party at daycare was on the 17th, so we spent the evening before making yummy pretzel hugs!

On the 20th, we headed over to the Moose Lodge for the children's Christmas party. They give pretty nice gifts and Ryan got a stocking full of candy, an apple, and an orange, and ... a helicopter! I don't think they could have picked out a more perfect gift, and he hasn't stopped playing with it since!

Yesterday, my Mom and I took Ryan to the Indiana State Museum for their "free day" for the 12 Days of Christmas (thanks for the info, Jen!). Ryan got to ride on a real choo-choo (it was a replica of the one they used to have at L.S. Ayres, for those of you who may remember). Mom took some video of us riding the train, but it is too long to post.

Now Ryan and I are (hopefully) enjoying two weeks at home together - I'm on vacation until the 5th, yippee! Today is dentist day, and tomorrow our holiday celebrations begin with the Keen side of the family in the afternoon. Christmas morning will be at home, and then we'll head over to my Mom's for lunch. After that - full-time potty-training! Santa may need to bring Ryan some more undies, just in case 12 pairs aren't enough. :-) Next week we're planning to enjoy Peewinkle's Christmas Puppet Show, and hopefully veg at home a bit. Merry Christmas everyone!

tired of the lack of posts?

2008-12-11T09:39:00.003-05:00

I know, I know. It is so annoying to go to a blog only to find that the newest post is the same one you saw the last time you visited. Especially a blog like mine where I am bad about updating. The solution? Scroll ALL THE WAY DOWN to the bottom of this page and subscribe to my blog via email. Then you don't actually have to visit this page ever again - you will receive my posts in your inbox just like an email newsletter. Enjoy!

swishing (or why best friends make the best Godmothers)

2008-12-01T10:27:00.002-05:00

As someone who has known me since 7th grade, Jenni knew me before braces, during braces, and after braces. She became accustomed to my flashing an oddly huge grin at her after meals, and knew to give me a nod or a head shake. You see, I was paranoid about having food trapped in my teeth/braces. And people just don't tell you when there is something there! Wouldn't they much rather know than have people stare? I know I would! So I relied on my family and my best friend to help me out when a mirror wasn't available.

This has now trickled down to my son. One Saturday when we met Jenni, Leah, and Kaden for bagels, Ryan decided he would rather have a chocolate muffin. Needless to say, there was lots of chocolate stuck in his teeth! We both laughed when he smiled at us, and Jenni suggested he swish his milk around a little bit to help clear things out. This suggestion has since led to swishing each sip of any drink he has, much to my amusement. Some day I suppose I'll need to make him stop, but for now, I'm just enjoying it. And that is why best friends make the best Godmothers. :-) Enjoy!

a few shares

2008-11-12T09:13:00.003-05:00

Just a few shares from the wonderful photoshoot we had with Lindsay Hand at IMA on November 2. I haven't decided which ones are going to be incorporated into Christmas gifts, so you just get to see a few for now. :-)

are you ready

2008-11-12T06:53:00.000-05:00

for some new photos? Check back later this morning!

photos, photos, photos

2008-11-03T11:35:00.004-05:00

Ryan and I got together with 5/6 of the Russell clan to make some spooky treats for Halloween - cookie baking and pretzel-hug making fun!

Leah and Kaden's Papaw stopped by, and he and Leah busted a few moves to some NKOTB!

Then on to trick-or-treating the next day! Here's my little pirate before we headed over to our first neighbor's house - where the crying ensued until it was time to move on to the next house. :-) At our third neighbor's house, they came out with a bowl of candy for Ryan to choose his own piece...he grabbed the whole bowl and yelled, "Thank you!" ;-)

And then on Sunday we met up with the Russels again, along with Lindsay, for a fun photoshoot at IMA! I think Ryan and I will be heading back there again very soon! Here's one shot I got before my camera battery died...I'll post more when I get my proofs from Linds!

There was a really fun new sculpture from Robert Indiana that was a bunch of brightly-colored numbers - I think we'll be heading back when its time for Ryan's b-day to get his picture next to the 3! :-) I'm really hoping the one of Ry giving me a kiss in front of the LOVE sculpture turns out - if so, it's going to be a Christmas gift for Tony! Shh....

happy halloween

2008-10-31T09:02:00.002-04:00

How did I start out this fun day? With a $150 speeding ticket. Just what we need right now! Sigh. Anyway, Happy Halloween from my little pirate. These are the little stickers I made to seal up his goody bags at daycare.

I'll try to post some more pictures from the Halloween party later today - just got a bunch from my mom that I need to check out. And we're having an official photoshoot on Sunday with the fabulous Miss Lindsay, so hopefully next week I'll have more shares!

Do you love quilts? You've got to check out this post at JC handmade. I wish I had the patience and skill for quilting - I had great plans to make a quilt for Ryan's bed last year at Christmas time, and have since cut up all of the fabric I purchased to make camera straps instead. :-) But if I win the contest, I would love to have a fun quilt in orange, blue, and green. Ah. So go enter, and maybe if you win you will give the quilt to me to cheer me up about my speeding ticket?? :-)

just for rhonda

2008-10-27T11:27:00.005-04:00

Okay, not JUST for Rhonda, but she is the most recent person to complain about the lack of photos on the blog. :-) And it IS her birthday after all, so who am I to deny a request like that?

Ryan's Halloween party yesterday seems to have been a success! I hope everyone had a great time. I haven't actually downloaded my own photos yet, but here are some I snagged from Erika this morning. :-)

Ryan is dressing up as a pirate this year. The hat didn't stay on long, but he is really digging the eye patch, which I was sure he would hate. Here he is playing with one of his girlfriends (all three were at his party, can you believe it?). :-)

Pin the nose on the pumpkin. Yea to Isaac for winning (and actually agreeing to be blind-folded and play correctly!). ;-)

A group shot - not sure what everyone was looking at!

The standard open-mouthed-why-are-you-taking-my-picture look.

Decorating felt jack-o-lantern magnets.

We ended up with some wonderful weather, so the kids were able to burn off some of the sugar out in the back yard. Ryan skipped his nap that day and I'm not sure about all of the other kiddos, but he was crashed hard by 8pm. :-) Looking forward to trick-or-treating on Friday!

cute

2008-10-23T07:32:00.006-04:00

So, last Saturday after meeting Jenni and the youngest kiddos at Big Apple Bagels for some breakfast goodness, Ryan and I headed to Target to try to find him some new shoes. (We ended up with these, after Ryan declared them "cool.")

I also decided we may as well get him a new outfit since he's supposed to get his pictures taken by Lindsay tomorrow (although now it looks like it's going to rain...), and we ended up with this shirt and some new dark jeans:

We picked up a few goodies for his Halloween party this Sunday, and then I decided maybe I needed some new duds of my own. I found this sweater and paired it with a long-sleeve brown t:

The next morning Ryan came into the kitchen, saw me wearing my new tops, and said, "Mama, you're CUTE!"

Love that kid.

damn "bee movie"

2008-10-20T08:37:00.002-04:00

for making my kiddo think bees are friendly and fun!

Ryan and I were over at one of the local elementary schools playing on the playground, when we noticed a baseball game going on at the diamonds next door. We walked over to watch a few innings, and Ryan got stung by a bee - inside his ear! Ouch! Never seen my boy quite so freaked out as he was then. He cried for most of the rest of the afternoon, took a brief nap on Dada's lap, and was whiny for the rest of the night. I did get him to eat an apple and a banana, and he went to the grocery store with Tony to get dog food. We played blocks, and that kept his mind of the pain. He woke up several times last night scratching at his ear, but some Motrin and more calamine helped. This morning he woke up and said, "Mama, my ear no hurt anymore." Thank goodness! We took some supplies to Mary's house just in case....

i'm a genius

2008-10-16T14:25:00.002-04:00

No, I'm not so conceited as to think that (oh, who am I kidding?). That was Ryan's response to Tony the other day. Ryan is in his, "Why? Why? Why?" stage, and Tony answered one of his questions by stating, "Because I'm a genius." Ryan retorted, "No Dada not genius. MAMA IS!"

Such a smart kid I'm raising.

last night it was alligators

2008-10-10T09:15:00.002-04:00

But they were good alligators sleeping in the water, of course.

ryan knows karate - and there are pirates and dinosaurs in our house?!?

2008-10-09T08:53:00.003-04:00

Ryan knows karate!

Well, according to the other kids at his baby-sitter's he does. If you've ever seen Ry kick a ball, you know he has a very tight, fast, stiff kick. I guess he was doing that in Mary's back yard the other day, and all of the kids started yelling, "Look! Ryan knows karate!" They were so impressed. ;-)

There's a pirate knocking on the door.

Last Friday I was trying to get Ryan to go to sleep and we had about a 30-minute conversation about whether or not there was a pirate knocking on the door, if he was a good pirate, or if he was a bad pirate who was there to take BeBe (Ry's blanket). I'm not sure where this crazy imagination came from all of a sudden, but it is quite amusing.

Well, if there aren't any pirates, there must be dinosaurs!

Last night was all about dinosaurs. "Mama, there's a dinosaur out in the hall." "No Ryan, there's nothing there." "I think its a bad dinosaur. He wants my BeBe!" "No Ryan, if there was a bad dinosaur out there, Daddy would have stopped him from getting to us. There's no need to worry." "Well, there's a good dinosaur out there then." "Well, if there is a good dinosaur out there, then he's BEING good and sleeping like you should be doing." "Otay Mama."

Love this kid.

just a quickie

2008-09-17T11:57:00.002-04:00

How cute are my boys?! Poor Ry - its hard to find a hat that will fit his big head correctly. :-) Need to find an adjustable toddler-sized Colts hat!

oldies, but goodies

2008-09-08T14:02:00.006-04:00

so, my mom has been not-so-patiently waiting for a blog update. i'm just not feeling the blog lately, you know? but in order to keep nana happy, here are some of my favorite pics of ryan from when he was around 11 months old. these were during his always-sucking-in-his-bottom-lip phase. :-) "my best friend's little sister" (ha ha - inside joke i hadn't thought about in a long time!) took them for me, and i recently dug them out to use in one of my free artscow photobooks. i converted the pics to B&W, then made the pages using a free template from the shabby princess. in order to fill the 30 pages of the photobook, i alternated these pages with full-size color photos. i can't wait to see it in person! lindsay - not sure if you read my blog, but we need to get together for a shoot this fall! email me!

RIP Daddy-O

2008-08-12T09:54:00.007-04:00

Richard Conway Anderson ("Andy"), 69, passed away Wednesday, August 6, 2008, in the company of his two children. An avid golfer, he lived most of his life in the Indianapolis, Indiana area until his long-awaited retirement to St. Petersburg, Florida in 2001. He was a U.S. Army Veteran.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Austin and Helen Anderson, and his two brothers David and Wendell Anderson. He is survived by his son Thomas Anderson and wife Tammy of Plant City, Florida, and his daughter Jennifer Keen and husband Anthony of Brownsburg, Indiana. He also leaves behind two sisters: Carol Fink and husband Ronald, and Judith Sasse and husband Gerald; two sisters-in-law: Linda and Kathy Anderson; and 10 nieces and nephews.

Richard's pride and joy were his 9 grandchildren: Jonathan, Kane, Isaiah, Trey, Destiny, Thomas, Hunter, and Skylar Anderson, and Ryan Keen. He will be dearly missed and lovingly remembered by all who knew him.

Graveside services were held on Saturday, August 9, 2008, 3pm, at Springhead Cemetery in Lakeland, Florida.

Obituary in Hendricks County Flyer

Obituary in Tampa Tribune - TBD - can't find it online

Death Notice in Indianapolis Star

strolling

2008-07-26T10:43:00.009-04:00

We had a great time on Thursday meeting up with the Russells for some canal walking fun! Ry had only been to the canal once before, and that was over a year ago with Uncle Tom and Papaw, and I wore him in my Babyhawk the whole time since he was barely walking. So this was quite an adventure for him! Check out Jenni's blog, too, for some more pictures!

Best buds checking out the water.

"Mama, I running!"

Still amazed we got all 5 of them to sit still for some pics...I'll follow Jenni's lead and post the progression. Not sure what came over Ryan! :-)

Ahh..young love. What 2.5-year-old gets a girlfriend this hot?! :-) Little brother is standing nearby to protect his big sister - love it!

Leah and Kaden jumping like frogs (poor Kaden took a nose dive). :-(

What? Is that a genuine smile while looking at the camera? Unheard of!

Lovely Leah in the flowers.

And some action shots! I've GOT to remember to switch to the action setting on my camera!

summer

2008-07-16T09:49:00.002-04:00

Summer template courtesy of digitreats.typepad.com

the last of the layouts

2008-07-14T14:37:00.002-04:00

So much for getting 30 layouts done in 4 days! I ended up using ArtsCow's standard templates and backgrounds for the majority of the pages in my photo book. But it's documenting the memories that counts, right? Here are the last of the layouts I managed to do before my free photobook credits expired - very simple, but things I wanted to be sure Ryan knew about later on. I can't wait to see how the book turns out!

a few more layouts

2008-07-10T10:47:00.002-04:00

Okay, I am totally loving the free photo books from artscow because it means I'm actually getting around to scrapping some important memories! :-) Here are a few more - this time from Ryan's birthday and from Easter.

some layouts

2008-07-09T08:43:00.003-04:00

I promise I will try to post some new pics by the end of the week - I have the next 2 days off from work, so hopefully I can do some posting in between loads of laundry. :-) In the meantime, I scrapbooked! Okay, so they are just digital layouts, but it still counts, right? I'm trying to pull together some layouts to have printed up in an 8x8 book from ArtsCow (see logo to right for a great deal!). I have 2 out of 30 pages done so far - yikes! Enjoy!

photo catch-up

2008-06-23T09:51:00.015-04:00

Blogger hates me today and gave me errors on many of the photos I tried to upload. Oh well...here are a few for those who have been hounding me. :-)

On June 8th, Tony volunteered at the Eagle Creek Kids Fishing Derby. He does this every year, although this is the first time that Ryan and I have tagged along. We were excited to be joined by Angie and Isaac, too!

Apparently not all little boys have the "I love to play with worms" gene...sorry Isaac!

On the 14th, we headed over to Arbuckle Acres for the annual duck race, which had been rained out on May 31st. It was kind of lame, but Ryan got another pony ride. I was so proud of him for not freaking out when the pony stopped halfway through to pee!

Since the duck race events were not very entertaining, we squeezed in some playground time before heading home.

On Friday, I scored at a garage sale and got a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe and Tough Tire Trike for $12 total! We got out a bucket to wash them down on Saturday, and Ryan decided that Tony's truck could use a little washing, too.

The boys hit 7-11 while I was grocery shopping Saturday night - love the red slushy tongue!

Ryan and I also checked out the aquatic center in Danville Friday afternoon - we had a blast! It wasn't quite as hot as it has been recently, so there was definitely some shivering going on. Planning to check out the ones in Plainfield and Mooresville sometime soon, too. What is up with Brownsburg that we have nothing like this???

On Sunday we got to help sweet Miss Ani celebrate her 1st birthday! We had a blast visiting with friends, and Ryan really liked the cake! :-) Happy Birthday, Ani!

it's huge!

2008-06-13T09:52:00.002-04:00

We got a new bed last night! I'm so excited! We upgraded to a king-size, which I got to pick out, and we all slept soooo well last night. None of us wanted to get up this morning! I had to quickly find some new bedding during lunch yesterday - not a decision I like to make spur of the moment, but I think I can live with this set. I can't believe how much more expensive king-size bedding is! Now to find some fun queen-size bedding for Ry's new bed (he gets our old one). I can't believe how big our old bed looks in his room! And I can't believe how small our room looks with a king-size bed in it! But I don't care - its not like we do anything in there besides sleep and sort laundry.

Will try to post some pics this weekend - have lots of cute ones to share! Ryan has been going through a nudist phase this week...as soon as we get home, he beelines to the backdoor while taking off his clothes, anxious to get in the pool. No time for swim trunks, mom! :-) And I don't think I ever posted any pics of our experience with the frog last weekend....

Happy Father's Day to all of the daddy's out there (although I'm not sure any actually read my blog, except maybe my brother)! :-)

okay, okay, i'll post

2008-05-29T14:42:00.004-04:00

Warning - there is a whole lot of cuteness going on in this post! :-)

First of all, for those who may or may not know what has been going on with me for the past couple of weeks, just know that I'm staying at my current job and all is right in the world.

Second, can I just say how excited I am that it is finally time for this?? Mom and I are going Friday...I can't wait!

Third, how did this kiddo get to be such a big boy so fast?

Wearing his cute raincoat for the first time, helping Dada fix the fence after Ben dug out of it AGAIN and broke 5 more planks. Anyone want an almost-6-years-old beagle/lab? ;-) The matching hat didn't fit on Ry's big ol' head, so he had to wear a beach hat.

Call me a terrible mother who doesn't teach her kid manners if you must, but I found this hilariously adorable. Last Sunday, I really wanted to go to Flap Jack's for breakfast, but we had gone on Saturday and I felt guilty going twice in the same weekend. So I sent Tony off for donuts. Except it was the first time in 2 years and 4 months that Ryan had let us sleep in (he slept until 9! I woke up at 8 - grr), so Hilligoss was already out of the good stuff and Marsh had not much left. Tony was able to find a few goodies for us and luckily he and I grabbed our's before Ryan got up because, as you will soon see, Ryan decided he needed to try each one before settling on a winner.

I'm not sure if a winner was ever declared, but the chocolate icing on the Bavarian was about the only thing he ate.

We might actually get our garden planted this week! The weather has been so insane lately that we've been too scared to plant yet for fear of one last frost. Tony (and Ryan) tilled up our newly expanded garden area last night, and I think they may be planting this afternoon. We planted my strawberries and blueberries last weekend on the side of the house - hopefully they will live! Not a great selection this year.

Anyway, here is Ryan playing with his dump truck in the garden...

Chasing Mama with a worm...

"Tilling" with Dada....

And a lovely dirt smile. Okay, it's a fake smile. He won't smile at the camera, but if I say "show me your teeth!" it kind of looks like a grin. I'll take what I can get.

outtakes

2008-05-13T10:02:00.010-04:00

Our family pictures on Saturday turned out FABULOUS! It was SO hard to narrow down which ones we were going to purchase - luckily one of the great things about Portrait Innovations is that they give you a CD with all of your photos on it - not just the ones you purchased. :-) Thought I'd post a few of the outtakes from our session...see the little slideshow below.

We had a dreary Mother's Day here, as far as the weather went, but we had a great time hanging out with family! Hard to believe it was my 3rd Mother's Day already!

the weekend - finally!

2008-05-08T09:51:00.004-04:00

Okay, so its Thursday and I'm just now posting about the weekend - it could be worse, right? I didn't want to post until I had pics ready, and I just pulled them off the camera this morning.

Friday ended with dinner at Nana's (Chicago's Pizza - took 90 minutes and then the order was wrong! Grr.)...where we got to meet Nana's new puppy, Tillie Mae!

Here Ryan is telling Tillie to look at the camera - too bad he rarely does when I tell HIM that! :-)

Here they are wrestling over the soccer ball.

Okay, this is not posed, I swear! And I'm totally getting one of these for my house (kidding!) because Ry just crawled right in and stayed for like 10 minutes!

Saturday morning we did some garage sale-ing with Sandy, then home for lunch and a nap. Tony and I went to a party that night for Erika and Erin's (twins) 30th birthday, and Ryan spent the night at Sandy's for the first time.

Sunday we headed to the zoo for some shark-petting, giraffe-feeding, choo-choo-riding fun. Here we are waiting in line for the giraffe feeding. There was a very, um, frisky male that day attacking all of the ladies! They just kept running from him - ha!

Who needs the stroller when Dada is around?

Ahh...the choo choo. I hate this thing. It used to be cool because it took you all around the actual zoo. Now you get to go "behind the scenes" and see the...are you ready for this...maintenance facility! Whoo-hoo! Oh well, the kid loves trains, so what can you do?

This weekend calls for a possible day off tomorrow, and dinner with Nana at Los Toros tomorrow night, family pictures at Portrait Innovations on Saturday morning, a hog roast at Bob and Addie's Saturday night, and Mother's Day activities on Sunday. Hope all you moms out there have a fabulous day on Sunday!

a lovely day for a walk

2008-04-27T16:09:00.006-04:00

We did it! Today turned out to be a gorgeous day, and Jenni and her crew joined Ryan and me for the March for Babies at Hummel Park in Plainfield (my first time there, but it seems like a really nice park - we'll have to explore it some other time). We even had a picnic lunch bfeore the walk started. Thank you to Jenni for joining me, and to everyone who donated to a cause so dear to my heart.

Now that the weather is nice, we got out the golf set that Uncle Dave and Aunt Jacqueline got Ryan for Christmas! Ryan absolutely loves it! Thanks again, guys! Dave, you'll have to come give Ryan some pointers since his golfing Grandpa lives in Florida...he was learning from Tony, Chris, and Dickerson! :-)

And I'm not sure about this one - he's either starting to slowly turn into the Incredible Hulk, or he was outside playing in the back yard while Daddy was mowing yesterday...you make the call.

you and me goin' fishin' in the dark

2008-04-23T11:12:00.003-04:00

Okay, so it wasn't really dark, but I always loved that song when I was little and it comes to mind whenever we go fishing. Which we did last night. With Ryan. For the first time. He absolutely loved every second of it, until it was time to leave. He loved the worms and the weeds and throwing the fish back in. He would scream "BIG FISH" every time he got a bite. It was one of the most adorable things I've ever seen. And the best part was he caught about 9 fish!

"I know it may have looked small, but it was really T-H-I-S big." Ahh...the fishing lies start at a young age, don't they?

Daddy helping him hold the pole, with Uncle Scott, and cousins Austin and Brandon fishing nearby.

Although he loved touching the worms, he would always yell, "EW!" when he picked them up.

This was the first fish he caught after I arrived, so it was probably his 5th or 6th catch.

Daddy was so proud that he caught his first large-mouth bass!

mama monday: children’s music

2008-04-21T14:16:00.003-04:00

We don’t listen to a whole lot of children’s music in our home. Don’t get me wrong – we all like and enjoy music, and who doesn’t love shaking your hiney once in awhile? But children’s music just doesn’t do much for us, in general.

I play piano (not so well anymore), and Ryan LOVES to play with me. He thinks it is so cool to sit on Mama’s piano bench and reach WAAAYYY over there to hit the low notes and then WAAAYYY over there to hit the high notes. His train table is in the same room as the piano, so often while he’s playing choo-choos, I’ll play piano.

Tony plays guitar. And boy-oh-boy does Ryan like to play guitar, too! Tony is great at making up words to “our” kind of music, so he’ll often sing crazy songs about Ryan to the tune of an Everclear song (eg, "Pale Green Stars") or something. Very creative, my hubby.

Ryan and I listen to a lot of music in the car. Some of our favorites are Jack Johnson (who doesn’t love the banana pancakes song? We sing that on the weekends while I make - you guessed it - banana pancakes!), Norah Jones (which I listened to non-stop while pregnant), and Kenny Chesney (probably because of the fun tropical sounds in a lot of his songs). Tony also has an old mix CD that he and Ryan like to listen to while, ahem, jumping on our bed. Some of the songs have been censored by Mama, but it’s a lot of fast rock songs that are the perfect rhythm for jumping to. :-)

As for actual children’s music, we do have a few CD’s. We picked up the soundtrack to “Elmo Makes Music,” since Jenni was kind enough to take us with her family when the show was in town recently. We have the first “For the Kids” CD, which is really great…children’s songs sung by “our” bands – Cake, Sarah McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies, etc. That one actually does make it into rotation in the car. "La la la la lemon" by BNL is awesome. We have two of the Sandra Boynton CDs that Erin mentioned in her post, but they haven’t really won any of us over yet, despite her books being some of our favorites. And we have some various lullaby/classical type CDs that also don’t get much air time.

As far as Ryan’s favorite song goes, I’d say it has to be a toss-up between “Wheels on the Bus,” Leah’s version of the Tiny Tim Turtle song that she taught us in Florida, and KT Tunstall’s “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” (the no, no, no part is easy for him to sing, and he loves to dance to it with me in the kitchen!). “Walkin’ in Memphis” by Marc Cohn also gets played pretty loudly on Saturday mornings when we’re straightening up the family room.

did you feel it?

2008-04-18T11:15:00.003-04:00

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gxPvXBa_kwldln7jw_kNT0EsoE1QD904786O0

I sure did! I had just woken up and looked at my alarm clock, saw that I had 1 more minute to snuggle under the covers, and then the bed started shaking. Our "husky" cat Crosby had been laying in the window seat, and he jumped onto the bed, so I thought he had just jumped really hard and bounced the mattress. But then my water glass scooted off my nightstand, and I knew it had to be an earthquake. Crazy!

I vaguely remember one other quake when I was in elementary school...maybe 4th grade? My mom and brother were in the car waiting for me, and she kept telling him to stop rocking the car! Poor guy wasn't even doing anything (for a change)! :-)

Still trying to fix up the blog in spare minutes here and there. I'm not digging this template at all. We'll see what else I can find. Stay tuned!

Weekend plans include scooping up Ryan and going to dinner with my mom (and possibly Terry) tonight at Wiggles. Mmm...fair food all year round...mmm. Saturday we're checking out another puppet show with my mom, my friend Debbie, and her granddaughter Sophia, and then Ryan and I are heading over to my cousin Leanne's house to help finish setting up her farm's blog and maybe chase some chickens. Sunday will be breakfast at FlapJack's, and a newborn photography shoot for my friend Erin in the afternoon. Somewhere in there I'd like to squeeze in some laundry, clean the bathroom, and buy a new door. We'll see!

bear with me

2008-04-15T15:21:00.002-04:00

I'm trying to make my blog all cool and it's much harder than I thought it would be. :-) Slideshow is up at the site mentioned in my last post - go check it out!

sneak peeks are up!

2008-04-14T21:00:00.002-04:00

Check it out - the sneak peek of Dave & Jacqueline's wedding photos!

http://www.eclipse-photography.com/wordpress/?p=267

Chad was an AMAZING photographer - really laid back and cool, was more about telling the story of the day than making us do a million stiff poses. I've already recommended him to my friend Becky, getting married next April! I'll let you know when the slideshow is up - I think it will have all of the photos he took!

Not sure I could pick just one favorite, but I love the one with Jacq resting her head on Dave's chest, and he's kind of looking off. And of course, who doesn't love the one of Brad grabbing Gretchen's booty?? :-)

ahh...finally spring!

2008-04-06T19:31:00.005-04:00

We finally hit temps in the mid-upper 60's! Yahoo! We definitely took advantage of the warmer weather. Saturday we had breakfast at FlapJack's and then bought a new bike for me! We went home, Tony made some adjustments, and went on our first family bike ride of the year! Ryan has been begging to go for quite some time, but it was just too cold. We rode over to one of the local schools and played on the playground, then headed home for lunch and a nap. Then Ryan and I ran to Marsh to pick up New York strips (for so cheap I couldn't believe it!), corn on the cob, fresh strawberries, and Cool Whip, and we grilled out for the first time this year, too!

Today, I got some alone shopping time at Kohl's, then we met Tony's dad and step-mom for lunch (they took us out to celebrate my b-day). Ry fell asleep in the car on the way home from Lone Star, and after nap we went for another bike ride,

and stopped by to visit our favorite family of six for a few minutes.

We headed home, played with bubbles and balls, and then went for a family walk. Definitely not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow - I'd much rather do fun things outside with Ryan every day! :-)

happy birthday to me!

2008-04-02T08:42:00.003-04:00

easter and knickers

2008-03-29T12:00:00.005-04:00

Catching up with some Easter pictures and last night's wedding! Enjoy!

Umm...yeah, Ryan won a prize bigger than him! :-)

Here's little Oliver Twist!

The gorgeous bride and happy couple! Congrats to Dave and Jacqueline! We had a blast - thanks again for including us in your special day! Have fun in Cozumel next week!

Can't wait to see the sneak peeks their photographer posts! (Hint, hint!) Chad was awesome, and even showed me a couple of tricks on my camera!

Also, I know there was one picture of Tony, Ryan, and me together - but we'll have to wait to see it until Tony's Dad sends it to us!

again!

2008-03-21T08:54:00.002-04:00

We had another poopy on the potty last night! Go Ryan!

Have some fun pics from dyeing Easter eggs last night - will try to post them this weekend. Happy Easter, everyone!

lots-o-pics

2008-03-20T11:41:00.005-04:00

Pulled a bunch of fun pictures off of my camera this morning, so I thought I'd share some random ones from the past month or so. Enjoy!

How high can it go?

Trying on big boy undies for the first time (and soon after peeing on the couch....)

Playing ball!

Caught him mid-jump! :-)

Wheeeeeeeeeeeee! (gotta love the burst mode)

Awww....

my big boy

2008-03-19T15:46:00.001-04:00

My big boy came up to me last night before bedtime and said, "Poopy!" I asked him if he needed to go, he said yes, so I took him back to the potty. And sure enough, he did. He got two M&M's for that one. :-)

Mama Mondays - Ryan's Favorite Books

2008-03-17T10:36:00.002-04:00

As a piggy-back post to Erin's (who has quite the delightful blog...I discovered her through a message board when her daughter was a finalist in the BabyGap contest a couple of years ago - and she won! Sarah is about the same age as Ryan, so it's been neat to compare notes. I'm sure you'll bookmark her blog once you've read it the first time! But I digress...), the following are a few of Ryan's most favorite books...these are the ones we've read over and over and over again. Some we have received free from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which you should totally look into if it is available in your area. One free book a month! Gotta love that!

Okay, the list:
Any of the "How Do Dinosaurs..." books by Jane Yolan (Get Well Soon is a fave)
Raindrop Plop by Wendy Cheyette Lewison (a great counting book, from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library)
Anything by Sandra Boynton (especially Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy...and Belly Button Book is on my list of "baby shower must-give gifts")
Anything by Karen Katz (right now loving A Potty for Me)
"Stand Back," said the Elephant, "I'm Going to Sneeze!" (a book my mom saved for me from when I was little!) by Patricia Thomas
When the Elephant Walks (Keiki Lasza, another Dolly Parton book)
Hooray for Fish (super bright colors, looks painted - Lucy Cousins)
I Love My Mama (Peter Kavanagh)
A Number of Animals (Christopher Wormell)
Don't Forget the Oatmeal (another one saved from my childhood, by B.G. Ford - Sesame Street book)
Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too? (Eric Carle)

If you have a Kohl's near you, they are doing 4 Dr. Seuss books this month as their $5 Kohl's Cares for Kids special. They don't hold Ry's interest yet, although he did love going to see "Horton Hears a Who" this weekend!

tagged

2008-03-15T19:18:00.005-04:00

Niki tagged me, and I'm supposed to; * Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.* Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.* Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Let's see...

I am completely addicted to etsy - I even have a "favorite etsy shops" folder in "my favorites"

I have a sewing machine that I don't know how to hook up, and tons of fabrics and patterns just waiting for me to figure it out

I have hundreds of dollars worth of scrapbook supplies in my craft closet, but I don't really enjoy scrapbooking anymore, nor do I have the time to do it (guess they'll go in the garage sale this summer with all of the baby stuff!)

I hate eating tomatoes, but love tomato soup, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, etc.

I cut my hair chin length every 3-4 years, and always wish I hadn't

I take hundreds (literally) of pictures of Ryan every week, but am bad about getting them printed out

I'm obsessed with watching Jon & Kate + Eight, Project Runway, Top Chef, Dancing With the Stars, Grey's Anatomy, and am starting to get back into Lost, but missing last season really threw me off.

Sorry those were so lame! :-) Okay, hardly any of my friends have blogs (come on people!), so this is hard...do MySpace pages count? I'm tagging: Jenni, April, Erika, Erin (cool! she posted some pics from her maternity shoot!), Tania, Jacqueline, and Angie.

ETA: Here's a pic, too! :-) "Cooking in jammies"

march for babies

2008-03-08T17:58:00.005-05:00

Since there are obviously a lot of people coming here that I don't know (I'm not even sure what countries some of those dots are in!), I thought I'd share (a condensed version of) my story. Hopefully it will inspire you to click on that little badge over there on the right to support me in the March for Babies. If you are local, I'd love for you to join my team as we walk on April 27 in Hummel Park. Jenni and her 4 little ones already have (thanks babe!).

My husband Tony and I were married in the fall of 2001 and immediately started "trying" for a baby. After 4 years of frustration, we finally found out we were pregnant in August 2005. We were ecstatic! In January I was at my usual check-up and my blood pressure was reading a little high. Okay, a lot high. 160/100. I was immediately admitted to the hospital for observation and, once my blood pressure had been down for a few hours, sent home to be on bed rest until I delivered. I had to go in every 2-3 days to be checked (and wasn't allowed to drive, so thank goodness my mom doesn't work outside of the home!), and almost every single time I went in for a check-up, I would be admitted to the hospital again. They finally just kept me in because I had developed a headache that would not go away (a second symptom of pre-eclampsia), and on February 8, I delivered Ryan via C-section. He was 4 pounds, 12 ounces (pretty big for being over 6 weeks early), and had some lung issues that first day. He was on a CPAP for awhile, and I didn't even get to hold him until he was around 10 hours old. He had to stay in the NICU for 15 days until he was able to regulate his own body temperature (it was consistently LOW - too low - so low that sometimes when we would be at the NICU to visit, they didn't want us to take him out of the incubator except to nurse him).

There's no absolute known cause for pre-eclampsia, although I have a suspicion that my high-stress, way-too-much-overtime job had a lot to do with it. (Don't worry - I don't work there anymore. While I was pregnant 2 other girls who worked there were also put on bed rest.) I don't know what I would have done if we had lost Ryan, but I'm sure going to do whatever I can to help support the March of Dimes in their quest to end premature births. I hope you will, too.

busy weekend

2008-03-03T20:31:00.003-05:00

What a busy weekend we had! It started out Friday night with me getting off work late (again!), and then meeting Nana and Ryan at Pizza King for dinner. Saturday morning Ryan and I did a maternity shoot for our friend Erika's twin sister Erin (due mid-April), came home, played around the house, and then...went to the circus! It was definitely too long of an event for a 2-year-old to sit through, so we left at intermission. Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast at our favorite morning place - FlapJacks. A quick stop at Wal-Mart and then home for lunch. At 1, we met up with Jenni and her crew for a puppet show! I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was really cute and Ryan loved it! We're planning to go back in April and take Nana with us! Sunday was unseasonably warm, so after the puppet show we ventured over to a nearby park and played on the jungle gym and walked the trails. Very good weekend! I have pictures to go with everything, but will have to post them later. Off to fold some laundry before Ryan's bedtime and time for one of my favorite shows!

If you're stopping by, please leave a comment! I'm very curious who my international visitors are! :-)

he's two!

2008-02-24T12:11:00.007-05:00

Okay, so he's been 2 for awhile now, but he just had his 2-year well child visit, so this is when you get the update! :-)

At 2, Ryan weighs 28 lbs, 7.5 oz; is 34.75 inches tall; and has a head circumference of 49.5 cm. His favorite phrases are "thank you mama," "there it is," "how are you," "no no," and anything that ends in a k sound (truck, black, pink). He loves jumping...especially off of the couch. He still loves books and crayons and puzzles and chasing Bobby and Bup around (don't ask me how in the world Crosby and Satchmo evolved into Bobby and Bup!). :-) He loves his play kitchen and helping mama cook, anything choo choo, and anything that teaches him something...the boy is a sponge! He can count to 9 if he's watching a certain episode of "Little Einsteins" where they count the planets, and on his own can count to 4. He loved swimming in Florida, so we're looking into swim lessons this summer (Jen...where did you find the info about the class in Plainfield? Their website says it ends in March...is another one starting up after that?). We're working on potty training...he'll go #1 anytime we sit him on the toilet, but has only gone #2 one time (and he still doesn't tell us when he's going/gone #2). I think we're going to pick a weekend and just wear big boy underwear all weekend and see how it goes. Don't want to rush it, but I'm pretty over diapers. ;-) Here are a few more pics...we celebrated Ryan's actual birthday at Pizza King (his favorite place) with Dada and Nana, and then had the big party 2 days later at Chuck E. Cheese (what a nightmare! But I think everyone had a good time...).

missing FL already

2008-02-18T13:49:00.006-05:00

Well, we made it home safely and I think we are all wishing we could stay there forever. To come home to 20 degrees and snow flurries isn't exactly a welcome sight. Oh well...we'll go back soon! Here are a few highlights of the trip....

Jenni and I were really good about taking pics of each other, so we could "swap" and have pics of ourselves with our own kiddos. Will post more after we've made the swap! SOO grateful to Jenni for coming with me...she made it possible for me to be able to bring Ryan! And I didn't bring my camera to dinner, but I was so excited that my brother and his family made the drive over from Plant City to meet us for dinner Saturday night! We packed a lot of memories and good times into three days - and I wouldn't have changed a thing (well, except maybe to extend the trip...). :-) We're both talking about moving down there permanently!

and we're off...

2008-02-15T04:41:00.003-05:00

to Florida! Yippee! No more cold weather for us! Well, at least for 3 days. I'll try to be a better blogger and post some pics when we get back. Lots of firsts on this trip...Ry's first time swimming, first time at Disney World, first time we're flying without Dada's help. Yikes. :-)

Hope you all had a fabulous Valentine's Day! I ended up with a new diamond ring from my hubby! How's that for a surprise? Especially after we decided not to get each other anything! Hmph. ;-) Love you babe! We'll miss you this weekend!

look out magic kingdom...

2008-01-27T16:29:00.000-05:00

here comes Ryan! :-) We're very excited about including a brief visit to Disney World as part of our 3-day weekend in Florida next month! Ryan can't wait to get his own "Me Mouse" ears - these are dada's.

dinner with nana

2008-01-21T08:29:00.000-05:00

Ryan and I have started a new tradition - every Friday while Tony is playing poker with the boys, we meet my mom/Nana for dinner! We started out with the intention of going someplace different each week, but Ryan loves Pizza King so much that now we go there every time! Here are a few pics from one of our recent trips - Papaw was able to join us this time!

Pic 1: Amazed that the train actually brought us our drinks!

Pic 2: Being silly.

Pic 3: Giggling at something Papaw did/said.

Pic 4: Kisses for Nana.

Frame courtesy of Andrea Victoria, www.designerdigitals.com

hey ryan, where's your...?

2008-01-11T13:50:00.001-05:00

(click for larger view)

a peek at ryan's day

2008-01-11T10:21:00.000-05:00

The director at Ryan's daycare surprised me a few weeks ago by sending me these shots from his classroom! Kind of neat to see him "in action." :-)

Not sure who this little girl is, but she sure is cute! I blurred her face to protect her privacy, so you'll just have to trust me on her cuteness.

This one was from their class Christmas party...sitting next to the same little girl! Guess Ry thinks she's cute, too! ;-) Love the cookie on his face. He's such a messy eater!

new pics from new camera

2008-01-10T16:11:00.000-05:00

Here they are - new pics from my new camera. I'm so excited! Now I'm wishing my PhotoShop skills were better...one thing at a time, right? :-)

First, how Ryan likes to watch "Little Einsteins" every evening (yes, EVERY evening).

Showing me his foot.

"I like jumping off of my stool."

"I like stickers and I like to put them on my head. Especially if they are elephants."

"Aren't I charming?" :-)

Win a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer Contest

2008-01-07T13:37:00.000-05:00

A Cowboy’s Wife is having a contest on her food blog! You can win a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer and she’ll ship anywhere so everyone is eligible!

The Prize:

The winner will receive a brand new Hamilton Beach 4.5-qt. Eclectrics Stand Mixer, Pineapple Yellow!!

About the mixer:
From Hamilton Beach’s “Eclectrics” line, this all-metal stand mixer comes with a host of accessories - a Flat Beater for cakes and cookies, a Dough Hook for bread and a Wire Whisk for whipped cream or pudding. The 4.5-qt. stainless steel bowl comes with a Pouring Shield that helps prevent splattering while in operation. The pouring shield has a built-in chute for adding ingredients. Powered by 400 watts, the stand mixer has a two-way mixing action to ensure all ingredients are incorporated into the mix. The quick-release, tilt-up head assists when removing the bowl. 9 x 14 x 14-in. When you’re ready for a kitchen re-do, don’t call in the carpenters! Instead, “counterscape” your kitchen with Hamilton Beach’s retro-designed, affordably priced electrics in happy, sun-saturated colors. Their “Eclectrics” line includes updates to those classic appliances from the 1950s. All of their “Eclectrics” are available in six colors: Apple Green, Moroccan Red, Pineapple Yellow, Intrigue Blue, Sugar White and Licorice Black.

good news...

2008-01-06T08:51:00.001-05:00

Play Doh washes out of clothing. :-)

Oh, and I finally got a new digital camera. I'm so excited. As soon as I get a new card reader, I'll have lots of awesome pics to share. This camera has zero delay/lag time, so I have yet to miss any shots that I wanted to capture! Very important with an almost-two-year-old running around 24/7!

captured

2008-01-04T09:39:00.000-05:00

Ryan went to his first wedding back in September (I think...I can't remember any other weddings in the past 2 years? Technically he was in my belly during Jack & Jen's, but we didn't know it yet.) - the wedding of my good friend Stephanie to her Irish hunk Louis. Ry got a little antsy during the full-Mass ceremony (at the GORGEOUS Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral) and I ended up holding him most of the time instead of snapping pics like I had planned. Luckily, their photographer captured this adorable picture of him looking over my shoulder. What a surprise to see that in Steph's wedding proof gallery! Special thanks to the photographer for the friendly cropping...no Mama butt in the picture - whew!

alllllviiinnnnnn!!!!!!

2007-12-31T17:11:00.000-05:00

No photos to go with this post, but Ryan and I met Nana (my mom) for lunch and...Ryan's first movie in a movie theater! We saw Alvin and the Chipmunks, which wasn't as terrible as I expected it to be. He wasn't heavy enough to keep the theater seat down, so we had to be creative with coat placement, etc. He stared at the screen in amazement and didn't even move for about the first 20 minutes, then he crawled over to me, snuggled up on my chest, and slept for the rest of the movie. :-) Can't wait to see this one in March! Too bad it won't be out for his birthday....

Happy New Year, everyone! Some friends of ours are having a kid-friendly party tonight, but we're not sure if we're going yet or not. What a great idea, though! It's so hard to find a baby-sitter on nights like this!

school pictures

2007-12-21T11:25:00.001-05:00

Isn't my little man looking so grown up? I can't stand it! Don't you just want to give him a kiss and a squeeze?? I wish they would have varied the poses a bit, but overall I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

I'm pretty sure this will be my last post before Christmas (and possibly for the year), so Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas traditions

2007-12-05T10:12:00.000-05:00

What are some of your family's Christmas traditions? Last year, Ryan was only 10 months old at Christmas and, although he liked looking at the lights on the trees and playing with wrapping paper, he wasn't really into the holiday. This year he's definitely more excited...he loves "re-decorating" the tree every night, and now that we've had our first snowfall, I'm expecting to find him and Tony having a snowball fight when I get home tonight. So I'm trying to come up with traditions for us...from cookie baking to going downtown to look at the lights on the Circle, to each of us getting to open one present on Christmas Eve, and that present will be a new pair of pajamas to sleep in that night. What are some other ideas?

I have to admit, I've been avoiding Michael's because I think it would be very hard not to purchase all of the Martha Stewart Christmas crafts. I stopped by on my lunch break yesterday to pick up some supplies for a bridal shower I'm hosting, and scored this cute project on clearance for $9! Can't wait to get it put together...we're a few days behind on it!

florida pics - finally!

2007-12-04T14:54:00.000-05:00

Jenni convinced me it was time to get my butt in gear and post some pics from our recent vacation to Florida - so here they are!
Okay, blogger sucks and won't let me add text where I want to for captions. :-(

At the park near my Dad's apartment.

First time at the ocean!

On a dolphin-sighting boat tour.
Mama and baby dolphin right by the boat!

Thanksgiving Day at the park near my brother's house.

This is Ryan's cousin Skylar pushing him on the swing - too cute! Can you believe she is 6 months older than Ry?

may the force be with you

2007-11-01T08:51:00.000-04:00

and again!

2007-10-10T08:47:00.000-04:00

Last night before getting into the bathtub, I stripped Ryan down and put him on his little potty. He freaked out and stood up immediately, and then ran out of the bathroom (stupid me for not shutting the door). I yell to Tony that there is a naked baby on the loose, so we're running around trying to catch him before he pees everywhere. We made it back to the bathroom, and Ryan lifted the lid on the big toilet...so we put him on it and he peed! Such a good boy! We, of course, made a huge deal out of it and danced around to celebrate. My boy is getting so big!

This weekend we have plans to go to Beasley's Orchard, now that Fall weather has finally arrived! I can't wait! Ryan had a blast sitting with the pumpkins last year...I can't wait to see how much fun he has actually running around and picking out his own pumpkin this year! I hope he likes apple cider as much as I do (are toddlers even allowed to drink cider? I know I couldn't when I was pregnant...).

No new news about Dad. They are still trying to find another hospital to transfer him to...are there really that many people with heart problems in Florida that they can't find ONE SINGLE BED???? I told him he needs to come up here for treatment anyway, but he didn't seem too excited about that idea. ;-)

Car shopping tonight after work...not sure what I want and I have a feeling we'll just end up fixing the Escape. But it's fun to look and dream at least!

just had to share

2007-10-09T10:24:00.000-04:00

update

2007-10-08T11:48:00.000-04:00

Hello! Here's a quick update while I eat my lunch....

Dad is still in the hospital, and his condition appears to be stable. They keep pumping him full of blood thinner medication and are preparing to transfer him to a facility with a better cardio unit. Please keep him in your prayers.

Saturday was our 6th wedding anniversary, and Sunday was Tony's 34th birthday! My how time flies! I had 13 rolls of film developed over the weekend, and here are a few of my favorites:

18 (almost 20) month update

2007-10-02T09:15:00.000-04:00

We had Ryan's latest well-baby visit on Friday, so I thought I would post his stats:
Weight: 26 pounds (50%, a little down from our last visit, but he was wearing clothes then)
Height: 33 inches (50%)
Head Circumference: 49 centimeters (75%)

I have about 20 rolls of film to get developed, so I should have new pics sometime in the near future. Stay tuned! Especially for the pics of him in his new suit at Stephanie and Louis's wedding! Such a fun and special night!

In the meantime, here are two pics that my dear friend Tania just sent me. Peanut and I met her for lunch last weekend to say good-bye...she is getting ready to move back home to Missouri. We are going to miss her a lot! Thanks for sending us these, hon! I hardly have any of just me and the wee one! :-)

new pics!

2007-09-06T21:15:00.000-04:00

Okay, Jenni has been way better at keeping up her blog than me, so I'm inspired to post tonight, even though I have a lot of packing to do, plus I'm exahusted. Here are some recent pics:

Baking cookies with Mama:

Discovering worms in the garden (gotta love the dirt under his fingernails - what a boy!):

Petting a shark at the zoo:

Riding the carousel (is that spelled right? one of those words that just looks weird...):

oh yeah, he's still got it

2007-09-02T18:17:00.000-04:00

And I still love him after all these years! He was always my favorite...I was never swayed by Donnie or Jordan (and Jon and Danny never stood a chance - ew). :-) Thank goodness Jenni had her camera phone with her because this was the same day I broke my camera at our stupid Gymboree class! :-(

Okay, I don't know if it sounds terrible for you guys. It plays fine off my computer, but I think uploading it to the blog messed it up. Oh well, enjoy the eye candy at least!

my 10 names

2007-08-27T10:51:00.000-04:00

YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current street name)
Mitzi Picadilly
YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav icecream flavor, favorite cookie)
Rocky Road Chocolate Chip
YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
jkee
YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Blue Elephant
YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Marie Indianapolis
YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
Keeje
SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink, put "The" in the beginning)
The Red Lemonade
NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
Willie Austin
STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy)
Vanilla Whatchamacallit
WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother & father's middle name)
Annette Conway

fun at the fair

2007-08-14T21:56:00.001-04:00

We had a great time at the fair and with Ryan's first pony ride (well, donkey ride I guess). Then home for some fun in the pool and with the McDonald's stand!

mia

2007-08-07T10:19:00.000-04:00

Sorry to have been MIA! Life just gets in the way of blogging sometimes (and I'm out of the habit of doing this!). Not much new in our world...man, is it hot this week! Tony and Ryan have been playing in the pool and the sprinkler every afternoon before I get home, and Ryan loves running around in just a diaper!

I lost my Blackberry last week at the Nora Target, in case anyone finds it. :-( I miss it a lot.

I bought a purse! I know this is nothing special to most women, but I stopped carrying a purse several years ago. I have a little wallet keychain thing from Coach that I regularly use, but in the last few weeks have found myself wishing I had a purse to hold all of my stuff. So I got one.

Ryan went to his first concert last Tuesday! Dave and Rae played a free concert at one of the local parks, so we had a picnic dinner with our friends Jenni, Leah, Kaden, Hannah, and Cody! It was a lot of fun, and we could still hear the music while the kids played on the playground! Excellent! But I forgot to take my camera with us. :-(

Speaking of Jenni, here are some pictures she recently gave me of one of our playdates! I think Ryan spent most of his time eyeing whatever Leah and Kaden were playing with! :-)

simpsonize us!

2007-07-27T12:52:00.000-04:00

Okay, so the official "Simpsonize Me" site is terrible...if you can actually get it to load, none of the pictures you upload will actually work! So...this is the best we could do. :-)

ready to ride

2007-07-26T13:27:00.000-04:00

It took a couple of tries, but now Ryan LOVES his helmet and riding in his trailer behind daddy's bike. Every time he is in the garage, he bee-lines for the bike and climbs into his seat with his little stuffed rhino!

some recent pics

2007-07-19T07:35:00.000-04:00

Here are some pics from a recent shoot with baby Ani...little Anisten Lea was born June 24th...Ryan can't wait until she is 16 and can date! :-)

This one was used for her birth announcements:

I just love this one:

And here are some of Ryan from the 4th of July parade!

the blog is returning

2007-07-18T14:05:00.001-04:00

Watch for it soon!

test

2006-08-19T09:26:00.001-04:00

Just testing. I upgraded blogger last nighta nd weird things are happening!

6-month check-up

2006-08-18T20:24:00.000-04:00

Okay, so he's really 6 months and 10 days. But today was our doctor visit, so this is when you get the 6-month update.

Ryan is weighing in at a whopping 17 pounds 6 ounces. I truly thought he would be over 18, but not yet. And he's 25.5 inches long. Proud to say height has moved up from the 5th percentile to the 25th, and weight is still at 50th. Not to shabby for being compared to those who are, technically, 6 weeks older than you!

Everything else looks great. Dr. Walters said we should be feeding him more solids than we are (we were doing mostly bottles with some solids thrown in for good measure), so we'll be upping his menu this coming week. We still have 3 foods left to try (pears, squash, and prunes) before we can say we've tried all of the 1st step flavors. And then the fun will really begin! All kinds of food combinations to try! :-)

Have a great weekend!

P.S. I don't think I shared our State Fair adventure here. Let's just say that Ryan and I are BOTH glad that the fair is only once a year. :-(

ryan is a parseltongue

2006-08-18T08:55:00.000-04:00

Okay, unless you are a Harry Potter fan, this post will make no sense to you at all.

Ryan and I often chat while he's on the changing table for a diaper change or to get dressed. Yesterday morning we were chatting and he was talking in his little whisper voice. S's are an easy sound and he was doing lots of s's, plus blowing bubbles and raspberries of course. But it dawned on me that the sounds he was making are just like the sounds Harry made when he discovered he could speak parseltongue! My little wizard. :-)

halloween

2006-08-09T14:25:00.000-04:00

so, we were going to do a baby yoda costume for ryan this year...until i saw this.

oh my goodness, is that the cutest thing ever? i know i'm going to hate myself for it when i start sewing on all of that ribbon for the mane, but you only have your 1st halloween once, right?? luckily ryan has a nana who is a whiz on the sewing machine...otherwise, who knows what this would end up looking like! :-)

jabber jaws

2006-08-09T13:21:00.000-04:00

ryan loves chit-chatting with us and telling us all about his day. his conversations usually involve a few excited screams, some humming, and some raspberry-blowing. well, last night i had put him down into his pack & play bassinet so i could use the bathroom, and when i came back in he was on his belly with his head up looking at the door. i said, "hey baby!" in my best joey-impersonation, and ryan said, "mama!" in his cute little whisper voice.

good boy! :-)

babywearing

2006-08-09T06:59:00.000-04:00

i'm so exited! i finally ordered my babyhawk yesterday! i went with a reversible one, and these are the patterns i chose.

i hope it's pretty in real life! i should have it in time for our trip to florida, which is what i was hoping for so i can carry ryan in it at the airport and on the plane. our hotsling just isn't working for us anymore because it's not adjustable...he's getting bigger, and i'm still getting smaller. i also got invited to join an indy babywearing group on yahoo! who knew!? jess from the BH customer service happens to live in indy and noticed my location on my order form.

off to get ready for work. it's been one of those weeks! can't wait for the weekend, although i may end up working. ick.

lots of updates

2006-07-28T20:25:00.000-04:00

I'm a bad blogger. I get mad when I visit blogs that haven't been updated, yet I leave mine neglected for weeks at a time. It's just hard to find time to download pics from the camera, edit them, upload them, and then try to be funny and witty. :-)

Anyway...lots of updates. Possibly not in chronological order, but I'll do my best.

July 1: Ryan becomes Catholic! Even though his mama isn't, Tony asked if Ryan could be baptized at St. Malachy and I agreed. Thanks to Jenni and Jason for agreeing to be Godparents!

Not the best pic, but the best one that was on my camera. People were supposed to be sending me the pics they took that day, but I haven't gotten any yet. Ahem! :-)

Crazy picture, this next one, but check out those eyes! So glad Ryan's eyes seem to be staying blue! Most pics I have of them, he has red eye, so I was SO excited to see this one. Even though he looks like one of those scary dogs on the greeting cards that have the huge heads and little bodies.

Rolling, rolling, rolling... yup. We had done it once or twice before, but now we can officially classify Ryan as a roller. Um, yeah. He was on his back when I went to use the bathroom. Guess the bed is no longer a safe haven!

First trip to the zoo. We went with Jenni, Leah, Kaden (Ryan's best friend), Jon, Angie, Isaac, and Rose (Ryan's girl friend). Ryan liked the elephants and this is us on the train.

And last but not least...drumroll please...we're eating solids. We started rice cereal at 4 months, and have now added bananas (picture 1) and green beans (picture 2) to our menu. Bananas were a huge hit, green beans seem to be tolerable (not as yummy, but more fun). :-)

Okay, Ryan is getting too wiggly for any more one-handed typing. Ta ta for now.

why do dumb people have to ruin everyone else's fun?

2006-07-21T16:26:00.000-04:00

I really, really appreciate the people who take the time to leave a comment or send me an email about my blog. I do. Even if I don't know you, I always appreciate your kind words. But some dumbass keeps spamming my site with retarded comments, so I've switched the blog over to the moderated comments feature, which means your comment will be emailed to me and then I can either approve it or reject it. If you post anonymously, which most of you do, and I can't tell who the comment is from, it may get rejected. Unless, of course, your comment is about how cute my little guy is. Those will always make it through! :-)

Okay, I may be crazy, but I'm seriously considering switching to cloth diapers. Do you have any experience in this? If so, send me your thoughts!

Ryan's first trip to the zoo is on Sunday, so look for updated pics next week! He's going with his best friend AND his girlfriend (plus their older siblings), so it should be quite an adventure! Have a great weekend!

best friends

2006-07-13T20:54:00.000-04:00

Ryan had a built-in best friend when MY best friend Jenni gave birth to her little boy Kaden, just a few weeks after Ryan was born. Kaden's big sister Leah just turned 2, and we took these pictures of the boys at her b-day party. Don't they look like they'll be up to no good in just a few more years? :-)

new pics

2006-07-12T16:50:00.000-04:00

We had Ryan's picture taken on June 24 and got the prints last night! I couldn't wait to share! Isn't my guy just the cutest thing you've ever seen?

karen katz

2006-06-27T15:50:00.000-04:00

I am in love with these books ! I ordered the Daddy and Me one for Ryan to give to Tony for Father's Day and it is awesome! I put the rest of them on my Amazon Wish List (where the link above goes to), in case you ever need to buy me a present. :-)

weekend

2006-06-26T15:16:00.000-04:00

We went canoeing with some friends yesterday out on Sugar Creek. It was a lot of fun, despite being a little chilly and rainy. Haven't grabbed the pics off of my camera yet, so I'll post a classic Ryan pic for your viewing pleasure.

Ryan's baptism is this weekend, so we've been busy planning and preparing for that. Thank goodness it's finally almost here because at the rate my little guy is growing, he might not fit into his outfit for much longer -- and it's a 6 months! We also had some new pictures taken this past weekend...can't wait to see how they turn out! Not much else to say, but I feel like I've been neglecting my blog, so I wanted to get a new post up. Have a great day!

short, fat, with a big head

2006-06-13T17:40:00.000-04:00

Yup, that's my boy! Just got home from his 4-month check-up...he's 14 pounds, 10.5 ounces (50th percentile), 23.5 inches (5th percentile), and his head circumference was 41 cm (75th percentile). Sheesh. I guess looking at Tony and me, the kid had no hope of being tall. But 5th percentile? Come on! ;-) He also got 4 shots, so we're gearing up for a long, feverish night.

very cool

2006-06-13T09:50:00.000-04:00

I so want this for above the piano in my living room. View other options here.

cracking me up

2006-06-09T14:36:00.000-04:00

Ryan entertains me daily...he's such a happy baby! These pics are part of the album posted below, but I felt they deserved some attention by themselves. :-) Enjoy!