It's the Little Things That Count

One extra step in making pancakes this morning made one little guy pretty excited about Christmas break, and life in general.

Party Planning!

Jack turns one on monday! I cannot believe it!  It seemed like just yesterday we brought him home from the hospital.
Of course we are throwing him a big fat one year old party.
All the family is coming so it has to be a good time.
Last night I hit up the party shop and found a lot of great stuff for cheap...
Hats, a sign, Jackson birthday balloons, paper plates, forks, and party bags for the kids. 
So much to do before next weekend!  Tomorrow's plans? We order the cake. Hell no I do not bake!

Happy Royal Wedding Day!

image via http://www.people.com/

Yes, I am up watching the Royal Wedding on my television at 4:30am!  Why am I up so darn early?  I know that DVR exists.  There is something about watching it live people.  This is a historic experience and knowing I get to see it as it happens is so much fun.  It is also tradition!

30 years ago when I was a little baby, my mom got up to watch the Royal Wedding at 4am.  She was so excited to see Princess Diana's dress.  She always tells the story about getting up early to watch it, drinking her coffee and eating little donuts while us babies slept upstairs.  I love that story. 

So yes, although in different cities, my mom and I both have our coffee and little breakfasts ready to go as we watch the big event.  It's our thing.

With that little story, I hope you all enjoy your own little wedding tradition. Congrats to Willimam and Kate!  You make such a beautiful couple. 

Fish Farts Friday

With Jackson's first birthday approaching us, I'm starting to think about him becoming a toddler soon and all the fun it entails.  He is going to start walking, brushing his teeth himself, and playing new games.  It's going to be so fun to watch him grow....

It's also going to be tough at times to keep him entertained.  Let's face it, little kids are impatient!  Even now if he doesn't get his cracker immediately at the dinner table, he is a mad little dude.

My husband's company came up with this new android app that I think may help us out from time to time when he gets to that point.  It's a game called "Fish Farts."

When I first hear the name "fish farts" I thought to myself "oh lord."  And then I played the game and thought to myself "hey, this is cute."  The basic idea is like Tetras.  Pop the bubbles before they reach the top of the screen.  Accidentally touch a fish and let out this farting noise and start to cloud up the screen with grossness.  I couldn't stop playing it the other night.  Ridiculous.

So naturally I felt compelled to share this all with you, my lovely online mommy friends in case you want to entertain your youngsters.

Here is a sneak preview of the android app:

Fish Farts is launching today in the Android market.  Just check your smart phone market and do a quick search.  It's not really a name you can forget, right?

Or, you can get some more updates on the Facebook page here.


Happy Fish Fart Friday everyone!

Another Day at the Zoo

Last Saturday, my parents and I took baby Jack to the zoo for the first time in St. Louis!  It was a hit!

It was a very crowded day at the zoo, but we didn't care.  Since I plan on taking Jack there a lot as he grows up because we visit so often, I didn't mind the fact we couldn't see everything.  Plus, the zoo is free so it's no problem going multiple times a year.

Here are a few animals that we did see...

The animal that got Jack's undivided attention were the black bears.  I think they reminded him of his puppy dog at home, Rooney.

I love the zoo in St. Louis because I went all the time with my family.  It gives me great memories that I want Jackson to have too.

For anyone that is looking for a fun way to spend the weekend, I highly recommend the St. Louis Zoo.  It's such a fun family experience.  In addition to animals, there are fun gift shops, flowers, a train, a carousel, and even beer!  Yes, I had a beer at the zoo of course.

*photos via www.stlzoo.org

Road Trips & Crying Baby

Wow, what a weekend.  We had so much fun on our road trip to St. Louis.  The only part that was a little rough was the last hour of the ride home.  Jack had been sleeping the entire way and then he woke up....

What is the game plan for a crying baby in the car when you are all alone?

1) Sing songs that he likes...some of Jack's favorites include little tunes I've made up with his name in them like "Baby on the Run" and "Oh Look at that Baby in the Window."  I know, I'm weird, but it is more fun than singing him the same old boring songs.

2) Toss back new and fun toys for him.  Jack especially likes toy cars...tossing back binkies isn't a bad idea either.

 

3) When all of that doesn't work, try the "you cry, I cry approach."  Now, I'm not a huge fan of this approach but it worked for a bit.  Jack would let out a cry and then I would let out a cry.  Sort of like an echo.  For some reason, it seemed to make both of us feel better.   

4) When all else fails, take a break.  Pull over and give your little guy a hug.  It won't get you home any time sooner, but you might just both feel a lot better.

Road Trip with Baby & More Food

Jack and I are hitting the road today for St. Louis.  Daddy is staying home to do the taxes and work on the bathroom the weekend.  I expect to see some progress when we get home on Sunday, ha!  Wishful thinking?  No way, my hubs is pretty good about getting stuff done while we are gone.

I think I have our trip planned pretty well--sippy cups, snacks, toys, binkys, extra clothes.  The tough part is going to be the snack on the road.  Jack can't eat it in the car, so we will have to stop on the road somewhere, which I hate.  I hate fast food places, and don't want to just feed him in the backseat.  There are a couple of McDonald's on the way that are good places to stop.  Too bad their food is poison.

My game plan is to try and keep driving the whole time unless the hunger cries begin.  Maybe today he will eat a big lunch at daycare before I pick him up?  Hope so.

If we do have to stop I bought some trusty Earth's Best Organic Cereal Bars.  They get kind of messy, but they are a pretty tasty snack.  They mush up pretty nicely too.  Hopefully McDonald's won't mind.

 

Have you noticed that I've been talking about food a lot lately for Jack?  It is something that is always on the top of my mind.  I wish there was some kind of baby food resource out there for when babes start wanting to eat real food.  It's stressful.  I feel like a short order cook sometimes!

Anyone else feel my pain?

Oh well, it's Friday so who care, right?  Can't wait for our roadtrip and to see all the family and friends.

Happy Friday!

Orange Sorbet

Need I say more?

Looks like we will have to hit up TCBY some more this spring and summer.  It's Jack's new favorite thing to do...I am able to get in a good jog up there too.

Happy spring!

I Heart Whole Foods

So on Saturday, Jack and I hit Whole Foods for a little grocery shopping.  Since we were sick last weekend, we couldn't wait to stock our pantry back up.

I just love walking into Whole Foods.  All of the produce is so fresh and beautiful.  There are many organic choices to choose from--it's hard to decide.  It's great you can buy just one organic carrot if you so please--this is what I get Jack every time I shop there since they are so easy to cut up for a quick meal.

This shopping trip was particularly funny.  We were in the middle of our gathering and Jack got hungry.  Luckily they had crackers sitting out so I gave him one.  He gobbled it up.  Then I gave him another one.  He gobbled that up.  Another, and another, gobble, gobble.  While eating his fifth cracker I look down and it was such a sad sight.  Cracker was everywhere on his sweatshirt and he was passed out.  It was so funny, and apparently everyone else in the store thought so too.

I have a new favorite brand that I buy up at Whole Foods these days.  Annie's...everything.  Jackson likes the cheesy crackers, chocolate bunnies, and the mac and cheese.  So do I.  Organic junky food.  Love it!

Jackson had the mac n cheese for lunch on Saturday when we got home from the store along with some organic carrots.  Good times.

Jogging Stroller Time!

It's an amazing day here in KC.  The sun is shining and the birds are chirping.  It's on these days I cannot wait to slip out of work and pick my baby up for an afternoon run.

Yesterday I took Jack out in our jogging stroller.  It's an older one that my MIL bought from a garage sale.  You can't beat the price (free).

If I had to look for a jogging stroller though, here are some of my very favorite ones out there right now...

Jeep Overland Limited.  Love the fact you can listen to music and your baby too!  Oh and the color is fun.

Turismo Swivel Wheel Jogger.  That's right, it's got a swivel wheel.  I would really enjoy one of these babies.

BOB Revolution.  Need I say more?  Swivel and so many other features. I would invest if I was rich.

 

I hope you all are able to get out there and burn some calories with your babies this spring!  I can't wait.

Diana, A Celebration

I wanted to post about the exhibit, Diana, A Celebration, after I went to see it, but I'm so excited about it I'm posting today instead.

Tomorrow my parents are coming in town and we are headed off to Union Station in downtown Kansas City to catch the once in a lifetime exhibit.  I think the best part for me will be seeing Diana's wedding dress and her tiaras in person.  My mom always tells me the story about how on Diana's wedding day to Prince Charles, she got up really early while us kids were still in bed, and she ate little donuts ad watched the wedding on television.  I love that story.  I can just picture her all cozy on the couch watching the big event.

This exhibit comes just in time to build up extra exctiment around William and Kate's wedding in April!  I think I'll have to get up early and watch it with some of my own little donuts.

Happy Friday!  What are your weekend plans?

A Flower A Day...

Sometimes it's the little things in life that make it sweet.  Kissing your baby's feet because they are so small and soft, drinking a cold glass of water after a long workout, finding a beautiful green hydrangea flower on sale for a $1 and having it last for over a week!

I had these types of flowers in my wedding and I love them.  Not only do they smell lovely, they look lovely.

I have a lot of these flowers in my home here and there too.  I think they look amazing when dried and even when they are (dare I say) plastic.  Eek.

So if you are lucky to find them for cheap like me, buy up, display, and perhaps even dry for a lovely statement in your home.  After all, it's the little things that really count.

I Didn't Like This Soup

As some of you may know, I love making soup on the weekends.  I try to not only incorporate tons of healthy veggies, but also barley from time to time.  I was tired of the usual tomato, carrot, and barley soup, so I thought I would try something new...mushroom barley soup.  Sounds good, right?

I think it started out okay looking...I took carrots, onion, red bell pepper and portabella mushrooms and sauteed them in olive oil.

Then I added 6 cups of beef stock, 1/2 of cup of barley, and some thyme.

I think that's when it turned sour for me.  I tend to prefer a chicken or vegetable stock based soup.  I also would not recommend using the portabella mushrooms.  The whole soup was too "meaty" tasting for me, but I have to say my husband liked it a lot.

Not my favorite, but it may inspire me to try a barley soup in the future with mushroom and another kind of stock.

Eat up!

Baby's Laugh

Do you ever have a very busy day?  I know, funny joke, right?  Well that was my day today.  Throughout the day I longed to snuggle up with my little Jackson and even better, make him laugh.  His laugh makes my life so much sweeter.

Everyday something different makes Jackson laugh.  Some days tickles work the best.  Other days, peek-a-boo gets his belly chuckling.  What was tonight's secret?  Hand puppets.

I picked up some super cute hand puppets at Costco, but they also sell similar ones on Amazon.

 

My little dude has never really been into these puppets, but tonight was different.  He couldn't get enough of them.  I made little noises when I tickled him with them and he was even grabbing and hugging them.  It was too cute for words.

If I could offer a little advice to every mama out there...don't forget to celebrate your baby's laugh everyday.  I personally think the busiest days are the ones to celebrate baby's laughter the most.

Spring is Near! Stripes are the Ticket

I am one of those lucky people that got President's Day of work today.  Heck yes it was fabulous having a day off.  I'm also fortunate to have a daycare that was open...which could only mean one thing...mama went on a mini-spring shopping spree.  Seriously, this day off is just about the only time I have to go out for a couple of hours to grab a few must-haves for spring.  I decided to omit any mommy guilt my outing because I literally have no clothes since I was pregnant last spring!

I ran around town hitting up some of my fav stores.  One message was clear:  it's all about stripes this year.  They were everywhere.  I decided to go along with the latest trend by picking up some fun striped pieces.

For just under $100 I brought home...one striped sun dress, one skirt, one pair of flats, one striped cardigan, one round neck t-shirt, one long sleeve striped shirt, and one pair of cute jean shorts.  Can you say bargain shopper?


Here are a few affordable online finds I came across too...I really love the stripe on top of floral look.  I think this season it's even acceptable to do some stripe on stripe action.

image via Forever 21

Rolled Slub Knit Cardigan for $22.90

Here's a sweet striped sundress at Target for only $20.  Might as well pick it up when you are grabbing those Pampers, right?

So there you have it; I highly recommend all working moms take advantage of a day off once in a while to treat yourself to some well-deserved stripes!

An Abundance of Design Ideas in One Episode

Happy Friday!  Today I'm having a guest blogger stop by and talk about getting your house ready for sale.  I know this is something both myself and some family members are trying to do right now, and it's tough! Plus, I absolutely love the show "Designed to Sell."  It's one of my favorites when I work out at the gym.  Enjoy!


Thanks for the post from Wilbert Aguilar

Thanks to the television show "Designed to Sell", I can get an abundance of redecorating ideas for my home. The design team of this show seem to have the most marvelous ideas for getting the most use out of every space in the house. They offer a wealth of organizational ideas. Watching this show on satellite TV from http://www.DirectStartTV.com has helped me utilize the space in my own home. I've learned some excellent furniture arrangement that will make a room look larger and be more functional. I have also learned numerous organization techniques from the design team of this program.

Seeing the misuse of space in a home that someone is trying to sell is almost comical at times. Watching the transformation of both an interior and exterior area of a home is amazing. The end result is always a home that is much more inviting and enticing to prospective buyers. Watching this show makes me realize how easy it is to become accustomed to the flaws in a home and never really address the need to repair or improve certain issues. One additional advantage of the design ideas presented in the program is that the team works within a small budget. The transformation that occurs can be accomplished by almost anyone striving to improve the appearance of their home.

Parenthood: Setting It Straight

Now as you may recall from one of my previous posts, I love the show Parenthood for some reason.  I'm like obsessed with it...every Tuesday night it's my guilty pleasure.  Dysfunctional families I guess are my thing.

Something on the show last night though bothered me a little.  And now is where I'm going to warn you:

TMI alert!

So Julia, the lawyer mommy, and Joel, the cute stay at home dad, are trying to have a baby.  When they couldn't "do it" because they had to wait until Julia ovulated, that was a complete joke, right?  You new moms probably know what I'm talking about.  When you want to have a baby, you don't just "do it" on your ovulation date.  You do it every day or so up until your ovulation date.  That will give you a greater chance of having a baby.

I just felt very compelled to tell everyone out there that this is the way to do it. 

Despite this inaccurate information, the scene in the bathroom was pretty funny.  Here is a snapshot to refresh your memory.  Ha!

image via NBC.com

Heart Shaped Pizza

I'm not too hard to please when it comes to Valentine's Day.  Let's be honest.  It's a made-up holiday to get short term sales lift for chocolate, flower, and card brands.  I think my husband shares these same feelings because I never get anything on Valentine's Day.  Sad, I know (not really though).

Every year, we do have a little Valentine's tradition.  We go down to our local pizza shop in Prairie Village, Minsky's, to get a heart shaped pizza. It's not a fancy or expensive tradition, but it's a nice one and I enjoy it each year.

What a cute idea too...if you were really on a tight budget, you can even make one of these bad boys at home for Valentine's Day.  A big heart shaped cookie would be good too!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

*Heart shaped pizza image via Google images

Date Night: Park It

One of the best ways to spend a Friday night is curled up with your guy (or gal) on the couch watching a movie.  At least that is the new date night for many of us moms.

My husband and I have streaming netflix through roku and it is a life saver.  I couldn't imagine driving out to the store every time we wanted to watch a movie (not to mention people don't practice redbox etiquette all that well).  Now I have to admit, there is some random stuff on netflix...it's isn't all mainstream movies.  Last weekend I came across this PBS documentary called The Parking Lot Movie.

At first I thought "weird, no thanks," but then after taking a closer look at the description (and the high star rating), I realized this might be a gem of a flick.

Over the course of 3 years, the producer films this parking lot close to a major university.  It features the guys that work there, their daily work routines, struggles with customers, and cosmic insight to life in general.  It reminded me of when I used to work at a sub shop in college.  There were always these seemingly smart adults working there that chose to be life-long "subbers."  Same with this parking lot.  Life-long "parkers."

Another common theme between the parking lot and my old sub shop is that we embraced authenticity.  We didn't care for jerks.  The general census was that mean people suck and we didn't put up with them. Sometimes I miss being around those old sub shop friends.

So if you are looking for a indie-flick this weekend, check this one out.  It may take you back to a happy time in your life too.

Blizzards and Cabin Fever

It's official.  We had a blizzard in Kansas City yesterday.  The roads are packed with snow, winds were wild, and even my office was closed yesterday.

I should be excited, right?  Well this was like our third snow day this year (maybe fourth, I'm losing count), and I still need to get work done.  Honestly, no matter how much overtime I work at night, I still feel behind.  Don't get me wrong, I love spending time during the day with Jackson, but it's tough taking care of a baby everyday and working full time.  It can take a toll on you, especially when you can't leave the house.  Physically (baby likes to be tossed in the air now over and over) and mentally (multi-tasking meltdown). 

To help with the cabin fever, online shopping is always a treat.  Here are some fun finds that I can across...

What do they all have in common?  Snow day of course.  All the good things about a snow day that is...except my baby's smile is missing.

Oh, and if you didn't know, the first image is a snowball maker.  

A little reminder...don't forget to enter the giveaway this week!  Stay warm out there.