Kansas City

Scott had a conference in Kansas City this week so we tagged along.


[After a dinner time debacle the night before I decided it would be a lot easier to get Evy and I room service for breakfast. I think this means Evy had room service for the first time about 24 years earlier in her life than I did.]


[Dinner with built in entertainment. That's what it takes to have an enjoyable meal with a 3 year old! We hit the Japanese steak house in the Plaza. Yes, Evy is eating crackers...]


[Charlie hanging out in the hotel room.]


[It was about 38 degrees so we decided to hit the zoo. As you can see in this picture we were the only humans in "Africa"]


[Riding the carousel. Evy requested the "girl lion." Scott put her on a Tiger and Evy quickly corrected him!]


[Perfect weather for Polar Bears!]


[Thank goodness the lions were out!!! Most of the African animals were off exhibit because it's not really 38 degrees in Africa. Evy had been talking about the lions all week and we were all very relieved to spot "The King and his girlfriends" according to Evy.]

The Grand Prize

Yesterday I blogged about my "big" do-it-yourself project over the weekend, but really the grand prize goes to Scott. With the help of You Tube and my Dad, Scott tiled our master bathroom. This is Scott's first major house project and I give him a lot of credit because he does not enjoy this type of thing. The project started Friday night with the removal of the toilet and is wrapping up tonight with the installation of our trim. Thanks to Papa Jake for providing his expertise!

Homemade Baby Food

When I worked full time I never would have imagined making my own baby food. In fact, I probably rolled my eyes at a few moms who made the food--thinking they were nuts. I mean, you can buy the stuff in the store. So, even I am a little shocked at what I am about to admit...I made my own baby food! I wanted to use organic food this time around, but did not want to pay the price for organic jar food. Now that I have a little more time on my hands I figured it couldn't be that difficult.

Ingredients: Two sweet potatoes, one bag of frozen peas, and one bag of carrots. About $10 worth of organic produce.

Appliances: Steamer we had on hand, freezer containers that Charlie got for Christmas (practical Christmas gifts for the poor second child) and an immersion blender that I bought for $18--more to come on that.


[Steaming the carrots]


[Baking the sweet potatoes]


[Pureeing the carrots. I noticed there were black flecks in the carrots. After further inspection it became apparent that the plastic in my brand new blender was chipping off into the food. I might have used some profanity at this point.]


[The peas are ready to freeze!]


[Baby's first sweet potatoes]



[Three trays stocked up in the freezer]

Thoughts: The whole process, from cleaning and cutting up the vegetables to getting everything in the freezer took about two hours. I estimate that I have enough food to last more than three weeks since Charlie isn't eating much at this point. If I had a better blender or food processor it would take less time. After the immersion blender bit the dust I just used my regular blender and it doesn't mix the food very well so I had to keep stopping and stirring the food down to the bottom. One hour after finishing the project I looked in the mirror and noticed I had sweet potato all over my face--the result of having to stir food down into the blender while it was on. Overall, a pretty easy task and one I hope to maintain.

New Source for Shopping

At the suggestion of my sister-in-law I checked out Old Navy online for kids clothes. The timing was excellent because they had 30% off all kids items. Coupled with a coupon I already had and my every day free shipping for having a Gap card, I made out very well. I scored these shoes for $8.78 and Evy has not taken them off in two days.

Luck

Today, someone who doesn't read this blog told me that I am so lucky that I am able to maintain a career and enjoy motherhood. The comment really annoyed me so I need to blow off a little steam via this blog. The definition of luck is "success brought by chance rather than through one's own actions." After busting my rear-end to finish my master's degree I choose to take a mid-career demotion while many of the colleagues who started in my field with me were taking titles that have Vice President in them. I was loyal to my employer for more than 10 years, regularly taking on additional projects with no additional salary. I now have the same amount of responsibility but get less pay than the person who was previously in my role because I bust my rear-end to fit my work into 20 hours per week. I will work four hours of overtime tonight with no pay (the equivalent of 8 hours for a full time staff member) because I want to keep my part-time job. I rarely take lunch breaks because I often have more than 20 hours of work to do in a week. I am not complaining or upset by this sacrifice. I'm happy to do it because it means that I have more time with my family, but it's not luck that has gotten me here. Some of you will totally understand what I'm saying. Some of you won't get it at all. Either way, I feel better :-)

Subs. No Sprouts.

Evy can eat an entire Jimmy John's sub which I think is pretty impressive. But I am her mother and I am pretty impressed with most things she does. She takes her sub with only meat and cheese which turns out to be a good thing. Literally, as I'm typing this the Fox News ticker is reporting "sprouts at sandwich chain Jimmy John's are linked to an E. Coli outbreak." Great news.

My Valentines

Over the weekend Evy and I made cookies (Notice the rolling pin? No break and bakes this time!) and delivered some to our friends in the neighborhood. Evy thought it was so fun to carry the plates of cookies up to the doors and ring the bells. I was home today, but took Evy to school this morning for a couple hours so she could participate in her classroom party. She had a lot of fun going through the bag of goodies from all of her friends. I hope your valentines treated you to a great day!

Bedtime Antics

[Does this look like a child who is supposed to be getting ready for bed?]


[Charlie looks a little freaked out to be in bed with Evy. She's also probably wondering why there is a Lion in bed with her.]

Side note: Charlie does not actually sleep with Evy. Do not alert the authorities.


[My sister is a nut, but she is pretty funny!]


[I am a nut!]

Stories

I intended to post about Charlie today as she is getting a little neglected on the blog. But, Evy keeps saying the funniest stuff. So, one more story about Evy and then Charlie gets a turn tomorrow!

Evy: Who built the Moon?
Scott: God.
Evy: He must have a really tall ladder.

-------------------------------------------------

Evy: Mom, what you doing?
Emily: I'm ironing my shirt.
Evy: Oh, so you get the sprinkles out?
Emily: Do you mean wrinkles?

The Big Dream

Apparently Evy had a whopper of a dream last night. She has recounted it to us about 20 times today. According to Evy, "Daddy was dribing in his car and a-hind him was an ant! The ant put my daddy in a bowl. And then the ants started to eat him. Daddy turned into a dinosaur. He was like green and there was a chicken. We sabed daddy from the bowl and that's the end of my dream."

Splurge!

Scott had a last minute meeting in Des Moines yesterday so the girls and I decided to tag along and go to the mall while he was in meetings. We spent most of our time at the play area but had to walk past Baby Gap on the way to the foodcourt and I got sucked in! The majority of Evy's clothes come from Target with an occasional splurge at Old Navy. I rarely buy anything at Gap because I can't justify spending that amount on clothes that she will wear for three months. However, it took one look at the adorable pink jeans to change my mind!!! Evy is into accesories so she also got a pink belt. We tried on some adorable pink shoes but they didn't fit her and that ended up being a blessing. Evy is a seriously fun shopper and that gets me into trouble too!! It was Gap card Tuesday so I got 10% off and had a $10 reward certificate to use but the outfit was still stupidly expensive. You'll be seeing Evy in this outfit frequently this spring!

First Pinterest Project

We completed our first project from Pinterest. These Valentine's Day Rings made from Hershey's Kisses and pipe cleaners were really easy and I was shocked that Evy's friends ages 6-9 all thought they were pretty cool. We're going to make a second batch this week to take to Evy's Valentine's Day party at school. Fun idea!

Garf!

Scott: "I'm going to make you smell my stinky feet!"
Evy: "Oh, Garf!"

Just found out Scott was pretending to smell Evy's feet this morning and then say, "Oh you're going to make me barf." Apparently Evy thought it was hilarious. I'm going to have to more closely supervise these two.

Jokers

These teeth freaked Evy out at first. Now, she thinks they're hilarious!