Saturday, January 30, 2010

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

This is the most snow I have ever seen. Ever. And it hasn't snowed this much in Nashville in years. 


Ryan has been snowed in with us since yesterday afternoon. Today, they just couldn't take it anymore. He and Kurt grabbed a table (yes, I said table) and went "sledding" down the various "hills" around our complex. It was quite the spectacle. I'm sure that many of our neighbors were cautiously peering out their windows at the idiots who were about to hurt themselves. And for the record, they did hurt themselves. Nothing is broken or bloody, but they both sustained head injuries from table legs gone awry. Ryan already has a knot to prove it. I'm sure that Kurt's very own knot isn't far behind. I was smart enough not to partake in the festivities. 


For your viewing pleasure...










Monday, January 25, 2010

Project 365: January 19-25


I'm still hanging in there. I was really worried that I was going to just cop out by now, but I haven't! I keep thinking that I'm going to be so glad I did this. That's what keeps me clicking away every day.


January 19:
Just an impromptu self-portrait, including Kurt and Bella. It was late and Liam had already been in bed for hours.



January 20:
Liam finally likes his Raz-berry teether. He was just chewing away while I changed his diaper.



January 21:
Tonight after Liam went to bed, Kurt and I watched this. It was so good, and exactly like the book. 



January 22:
Liam happily finished off his bowl of rice cereal. He just kept opening his mouth like a little bird and I kept shoveling it in!



January 23:
Poor Bella never gets her picture taken anymore, now that Liam came along. She's a sweet girl! And she has alien eyes, which I can't figure out how to fix.



January 24:
While I made the waffles and Kurt cooked up the bacon, Liam hung out in his high chair, with his favorite toys: frozen teether, Baby Einstein Takealong Tunes, and his Raz-berry teether.



January 25:
Kurt gave Liam a bath tonight. It was so cute to watch. When I saw this sweet smile, I just about melted.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Project 365: January 11-18

Hang onto your hats! This is gonna be a long one.


January 11, Monday:
This was our dinner tonight: crescent rolls, Kurt's famous mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts with bacon and passionfruit vinegar, and marinated chicken.


January 12, Tuesday:
I spent the afternoon just relaxing on the couch, with the sweetest, cutest boy ever!






January 13, Wednesday:
It was cold outside, so Liam wore his adorable raccoon outfit, complete with eared raccoon hat!






January 14, Thursday:
This is what Kurt found when he came home from work: me, reading, already in my lovely glasses, and a needy Bella by my side.






January 15, Friday:
Since Liam has been completely on formula, I feel like all we do is fill bottles and measure out formula. I guess it's Kurt's turn tonight.






January 16, Saturday:
Kurt wore his new boots to work for the first time today. This is what they looked like after work. They look pretty broken-in already, don't you think?






January 17, Sunday:
Today Liam tried rice cereal for the first time. He actually seemed to enjoy it.






January 18, Monday:
Thanks to Martin Luther King, Jr., I got to spend the day with my favorite little man. Here he is sitting in his rocking chair after we read a book together.




EDIT: I posted this on Monday. From here on out, I'll be posting on Tuesday, with Jessica, from The Mom Creative. Here's her button!



Sunday, January 10, 2010

My Blog List

I hate it when I have nothing new to read. To combat this problem, I follow about a zillion different blogs.


For your convenience, I have created a comprehensive list of all the blogs that I read, listed by subject, and then alphabetically. You’re welcome. Although it’s not like anybody was actually so interested as to ask for this list. Oh well.


Food Blogs:
  • Ezra Pound Cake: Rebecca Crump lives here in Nashville. She makes all kinds of fabulous food!
  • Food Wishes Video Blog : So cool. Chef John does a video of everything he makes. And he makes a lot of stuff. Try his Chicken Parmesan.
  • Joy the Baker: Joy is a baker who lives in Los Angeles. She’s not only funny and witty, but her pictures will cause you to salivate on your keyboard.
  • Kelly’s Recipes: Kelly, from Kelly’s Korner Blog, posts her favorite recipes here.
  • The Pioneer Woman: Ree Drummond is an amazing cook. She has a cookbook now, too! Her blog is about lots of other things besides food, like photography, homeschooling, ranch life, and more.
  • Smitten Kitchen: Deb lives in NYC. How cool is that?
  • The Rantings of a Carboholic: My bestest friend, Keri, loves to bake. She works at her family’s restaurant and sells her amazing pound cakes on the side.


People Blogs:
  • Bring the Rain: Angie Smith lives here in Nashville! She just wrote a book about losing her 4th daughter. And she’s now pregnant with her 5th!
  • Think Liz: Elizabeth blogs about her family (including her adorable son, Jude, who is just a few months older than Liam), food, and crafting/sewing.
  • J Cooper Photography: Jenn is a talented photographer. She blogs about her family (such cute kids), photography, crafting/sewing, and decorating/remodeling her house. Before she became a photographer, she made custom kids’ clothes.
  • Jesus Needs New PR: Matthew Paul Turner lives in Nashville and is a writer. He is the husband of Jessica Turner, of The Mom Creative.
  • Kelly’s Korner: Kelly’s blog is all about her life in Arkansas. She loves God, football, Sonic, and her family.
  • Leslie’s Little Ladies: This is my sister! She lives in Georgia (with her husband and her “little ladies,” Emma and Madeline) so we don’t get to see each other much. Also, she is doing Project 365, like me.
  • Live, Laugh, Love…My Family!: This is my cousin, April, who lives in Florida. As you might guess from her blog title, she blogs about her family, including her two kids, Devan and Laila.
  • MckMama: MckMama lives in The Frozen Tundra and blogs about her family, her faith, and whatever else she’s thinking about!
  • Our New Normal: Robyn and I went to high school and college together. She lives in Georgia. She’s doing Project 365, too.
  • Petit Elefant: Allison calls her blog a “family lifestyle blog,” where she writes about “everything related to modern parenthood.”
  • The Design Girl-Project 365: As the title suggests, this is the Project 365 blog for The Design Girl.
  • The Mom Creative: Jessica Turner lives in Nashville and blogs about her family, her faith, saving money, motherhood, scrapbooking, and lots more.




Crafty Blogs:
  • Allie Brown’s Layouts: If your blog needs a new look, there are lots of options to choose from here.
  • Anna Maria Horner: Anna Maria is a fabric designer, author, and seamstress who lives in Nashville. She also has 6 kids!
  • Creativity by Crystal: Crystal is a digital scrapbooker and she also designs digital scrapbook materials.
  • HELLO, my name is Heather: Heather is a fabric designer and seamstress. Her fabrics are gorgeous and so are her pictures.
  • Pink Chalk Studio: Kathy owns the online fabric shop Pink Chalk Studio. She’s a seamstress and a quilter. She has also written some of her own patterns.
  • Portabellopixie: Sandi is a fabric designer, author (her first book is coming out this Spring), and seamstress.
  • Posie Gets Cozy: Alicia does just about everything crafty…sew, crochet, knit, paint, and lots of other stuff. She is also an author, with a new book coming out this year.
  • Simplify: Camille is a fabric designer and quilter. She has two really cute boys and a cute house. And she always looks really cute herself.
  • Skip to My Lou: The home of all things handmade.
  • Sneaky Momma Blog Design: If you want to customize your blog, Jill can help!
  • The Design Girl Blog: Danielle designs digital scrapbooking materials and does blog makeovers.
  • Kevin & Amanda: Amanda is a digital and traditional scrapbooker, amateur photographer, and recipe enthusiast. She also has a website with really cute scrapbooking and handwriting fonts called Fonts for Peas.




Project 365: January 8-10


January 8:
Liam doesn't like leaning back in his tub, so we tried letting him "sit up."



January 9:
These are the books on my nightstand. We're getting excited about Liam starting "solid" food in a few months!



January 10:
Kurt got a new coffee maker for Christmas and it has been used almost every day since!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Show Us Your Life-New Year's Resolutions

First off, let me just say that we are on SNOW DAY #2! Yay! Now, on with the post.

Every Friday, Kelly (at Kelly's Korner Blog) does what she calls Show Us Your Life. There's a new topic every week. After everyone writes their post, they post a link on Kelly's blog. It's a great chance to find new bloggers.


This week is New Year's Resolutions. I was a little bit hesitant to do this post, because I am usually not a fan of resolutions. I admit, I make at least one just about every year. But the problem is that I never follow through. I forget about it, or I just get tired of doing whatever it is. And that is always disappointing.

So I've decided to make resolutions this year that are "do-able." They need to be really specific, so that I can tell if I'm keeping up or not. Saying, "I'm going to lose weight this year," won't work. I need a number, a concrete goal. And I don't want to say things like,"I want to be a better mother/wife this year." It's not that I don't want to do those things. I do. I really do. But they can't be measured. It's too subjective. I would much rather decide what I think being a better mother/wife would mean on a day-to-day basis, and make a resolution to do those things. For instance, if I thought spending time with Kurt would make me a better wife, I would resolve to have date night a certain number of times a month, or something similar.

This year in 2010, I want to:

1. take a picture every single day, all year long. This is #1 for a reason! I already posted about it here.

2. buy a really nice camera and learn how to use it. If you have tips/suggestions about that, please please please leave me a comment or email me.

3. make a Shutterfly book for 2010, using my Project 365 photos, and another Shutterfly book of Liam's first year. That also means that I am going to be digitally scrapbooking a lot. I'm so excited!

4. purchase Photoshop Elements and really learn how to use it. Again, tips/suggestions are greatly appreciated!

5. blog at least twice a week (and share my 365 photos, too).

6. lost those last 3-4 lbs. from pregnancy. And yeah, I'm pretty proud that that is all that's left. I also recently was able to wear my pre-pregnancy jeans. But still, I would love to be back where I was before I got pregnant. if not a little less. I'm not going to make a resolution about actually getting my body shape back where it was, because that would require exercise. And I don't do exercise. I'm so lazy.

Click the button below to go back to Kelly's Blog!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

I make my own granola bars.


It's true. I do. And you should, too. I know it sounds weird. But trust me on this. Just do it.

When you look at this recipe, I do not want you to be alarmed. The recipe IS from a dieting website. And I'm sorry for that. But you're just going to have to believe me. You do like granola bars, don't you? I kinda forgot to mention that as a prerequisite. It's important.



1 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup shredded wheat
1 cup nuts
1 1/2 cups dried fruit
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil or coat an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. Place the oats, shredded wheat, walnuts, dried fruit, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, and vanilla. Add the oatmeal mixture and chocolate chips and stir to combine.
4. Transfer to the baking pan and flatten down gently with the back of a spoon or spatula to spread evenly.
5. Bake about 18 minutes until the edges turn golden brown and the bars are done. Let bars cool completely in pan before slicing and serving.

(Please pardon my sad attempt at food photography.)

I've made these a few times before and I have a few suggestions. First, when you're measuring the oats, shredded wheat, and nuts, try to make them more like a heaping cup-full. Next, when you're measuring the honey, you should spray your measuring cup with non-stick cooking spray before you put in the honey. It works so much better.

And if you're wondering how much dried fruit you really need, just go to the part of the grocery store where you find the raisins. They have these smallish bags with all kinds of dried fruits. I personally love raisins and cranberries. Anyway, you need just one of those bags.

One more thing. You can add the chocolate chips if you want to, but I don't. Unbelievable, I know. But it just makes it too sweet...as if that's possible!

Snow Day!



I'm so excited because today is a snow day. No school! And it's looking like tomorrow will just be more of the same. I like this kind of week...go to school for 2 days, out for 4. Nice.

So here are my 365 photos from the past few days. I am becoming more and more aware of my sad photography skills and the fact that a point-and-shoot camera has many limitations.

Tuesday, January 5:
Here's my new lunchbag, hanging on the pantry doorknob after going to school for the first time.



Wednesday, January 6:
While I was at work, Kurt made a surprise pot roast. It was so good!



Thursday, January 7:
Today was our first real snow of the year. This was right after it started and we realized that it was sticking!





Monday, January 4, 2010

Project 365

It's a new year and I have a new project. If you know me at all, you know how I get about new projects. I come up with some new idea, get obsessed for a short time, and then give up or quit. Adult ADD, anyone?

Well, my new project is Project 365. Basically the idea is to take a picture everyday. The idea is to get better at taking pictures and to remember the kind of everyday stuff that you wouldn't normally take pictures of. For instance, I wouldn't normally take a picture of my breakfast, but I did...because it was really good and it made me happy! So my plan is to write a new post each day with that day's picture and a caption. But I know that I'll slip up sometimes and not post every single day. If I do get behind, I'm just going to post a few days worth of pictures at time, like I am doing today.

That means I'm going to have 365 pictures. Then what?! Well, I'm glad you asked. I've recently discovered digital scrapbooking. I've been using a program called Photoshop Elements. I am planning to do a layout, with the pictures and the captions, each week. At the end of the year, I'll upload all my layouts and make a book at Shutterfly. It will be just like a photo album, but I won't have to get all those pictures printed. It will be just like a scrapbook, except that I won't be constantly pulling all my scrapbooking supplies and making a mess. Sounds amazing, right? I thought so, too!

January 1: Liam is getting so much better at sitting propped up.


January 2: Our boy is growing so fast! Here are some clothes that he has outgrown.



January 3: This is Liam's new sleeping position. How adorable!



January 4: Bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich and Starbucks. The best breakfast!



Saturday, January 2, 2010

Listen up, ya'll!

Liam has something really important to say. I just wish we knew what it was!

He has been "talking" up a storm lately. He especially does it when he's tired and he's trying to keep himself awake (note the slow blinks toward the end of the video). We did this video after he had been up for a few hours and was ready for his morning nap.




And here's another cute video we did last night. Liam's favorite thing to do is bounce. He likes to bounce on the bed when we change his diaper, when he "plays drums" with Daddy, and when we play on the couch. Liam sure does love to play with his Daddy!

Related Posts with Thumbnails