Visit to the Farm!

Checking Out Great Grandpa

2 Months Old!

Ocean Themed Nursery

So I finally started really working on the nursery...
Brian's mom put together this awesome "under the sea" quilt, and it went perfectly with the green and blue baskets I already had, so I decided to go ahead and try and get more color into the room, using those shades. The chair is temporarily in the space where the crib will go when we eventually get it.
I had these old white (Billy) bookshelves just sitting in the closet taking up space, so I decided to go ahead and get them out and utilize them. They were ones I had used in my first apartment. We matched the paint to the blue and green on the quilt, and I love how they turned out.

I have been collected books ever since I decided to become a teacher. Since my ideal grade to teach is 5th, most are upper level chapter books, but I collected a good deal of picture books while in my 1st grade internship. I also have a goal to collect every Caldecott winning book, and many of the honor books, so I have those as well. Poetry books, the fairy tales of both the Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Andersen round out my collection. My next goal is to get more ocean oriented ones to go with the room, that we can start reading to Theodore.

This side of the room is still pretty much the same as it was before.

Our next big step will be buying the crib. At the rate baby is growing, it will probably be sooner rather than later. I haven't been able to find any crib skirt or bumper that I really like, so I decided to go ahead and make my own. They will hopefully be completed in the next few days. This fabric is for the skirt and one side of the bumper. And this fabric will be for the other side of the reversible bumper. Hopefully they turn out well!

Reinspired!

So my sister-in-law has created a cooking blog, and that, paired with a lot of extra time at home now, has re-inspired me to get in the kitchen! I have a whole stack of cooking magazines that I've received in the last few months (I've canceled most of the subscriptions until I can read all the ones I already have-and make something from each one). We also have practically banned ourselves from eating out (to save $$), so this has been a great alternative. Now we need to figure out how to spend less at the grocery store...

These are all from Rachel Ray's magazine.

I have never eaten, or made Brussels sprouts before, so this was interesting. It was basically sauteed up with red peppers into a sort of slaw. Was actually not too bad (for Brussels sprouts) and a pretty good way to disguise some of those veggies. I will be sure to make it again!

RR paired it with halibut, but we'd already had fried catfish earlier in the week, so Brian bacon wrapped some cute tiny little lamb chops and we used Rachel's recipe for mashed potatoes.

My next meal wasn't quite as adventurous, though I had never had Ricotta cheese before. It didn't turn out to be anything special, but the meal was good. (Forgot the peas in the picture.)

Orchietta with peas and bacon (substituted for panchetta)

I had some canned pineapple left over from this winter, so I really wanted to use it up.

Brian says pineapple is not a Caribbean food, but I liked the way this Chicken Jerk turned out anyway.

Cutie!

Easter 2010

Easter in our Church's newly remodeled sanctuary!

With my family.

With Aunt Erin.

Brian made Leg of Lamb for Easter dinner.

And I made cheesecake for dessert.

Theodore being goofy...

And in his second outfit, sleepy...

Baby Goes to Washington

So we met my family in DC a few weekends ago when they came out to visit. We embarked on our second annual trip to view the Cherry Blossoms!

Many of the family had never rode the subway. I am now an expert at the DC system, don't even have to look at the map anymore (can't say the same for the NYC metro).

We came up Smithsonian station, right on the mall.

We saw the White House, getting ready for the Easter egg roll later in the weekend (I have got to try and get Theodore a ticket next year!).

We saw the new WWII Memorial (well, newish).

The Lincoln Memorial (I made it up all the steps.  C-section pain has subsided).

The Korean War Memorial (one of my favorites-really makes you think about the soldiers).

The often overlooked Memorial to "The Great War"

And finally the Cherry Blossoms!

This year the Tulip garden was in full bloom.

Matthew got this great shot!

It was a fun day, and exhausting! My family had driven the night before, so they were dragging by the time we got back off the subway at our cars. But we made it home to the hotel in time for the basketball games.

7 Week Old Video Clips

My mom forgot her video camera here again, so we have more cute clips!





Here he is mesmerized by his mobile... I wish we would have got this set up earlier. He loves it!




He loves talking to daddy in the morning and when he gets home... he had been going good before I got the camera out.


Watching his mobile again.

And finally tummy time... he'd rather not.

March Madness

It was a hard year to be me...

Last year I went with my heart, and made picks based on who I wanted to win. Not who I thought would win. This year I really wanted to win so I made real picks, hoping to rise to the top of our 70+ entries bracket.

After the first couple of rounds, we were looking pretty good! Theodore's bracket, and mine, were two of only three brackets with all final four picks still in. We were looking pretty good until Syracuse and Ohio State went down. But, I still had Duke as my champion. It was hard to root against Purdue (they went as far as I called in my bracket), but I had to. And then, when it came down to Duke vs. Butler, it was really, really hard to not wish for a Hoosier school's victory! But, I was going to be happy either way. I tied for Second! (prize=$55) I had actually called for W. Virginia to be in the final four, but then crossed it out right before I turned it in... if only!! I would have won by quite a lot if so. Some of my better picks:

• Purdue beating Texas A & M
• Old Dominion beating Notre Dame
• St. Mary's taking out Richmond
• Michigan State over Maryland
• Butler over Vanderbilt
• Kansas NOT making the final four