Captain Underpants

There's a big boy in da house! Give it up for Lil' Pea! Whoot! Whoot!

Actually, I am not sure whether I should be excited or sad that we are done with diapers (other than pull-ups at night.) I suppose it is a mix of both! Pea is doing amazingly well in his big boy underpants and it is definitely exciting to see him learning, growing, and finding his own sense of independence. His little personality is just blossoming, too. He has always been a little comedian, but lately EVERYTHING is funny and silly. He will do something silly and just crack himself up saying "that's funny!" Even when he is not trying to be funny, he is constantly cracking us up! He talks nonstop and the craziest things come out of his mouth! I just love it! For example, the other night Jason shaved off his moustache and pea said (in a very serious tone), "did you eat it, daddy?"

Here is silly pea showing off his new underpants. This picture is almost shocking to me...he looks so much older.


Daddy had to get in on the fun...(no, he did not coordinate the undies with his eyes!)

Elmo in a Sock

Pea has been developing a strong affection for Elmo lately. It started at the babysitter's house with the movie, Elmo in Grouchland (or something like that). Everyday, pea often says, "that man took Elmo's blankie!" (In reference to the movie) We also own Elmo potty (which, by the way, we have not changed a poopy diaper in WEEKS!!! Yes, he mastered poo before pee) and we also own Elmo visits the Firehouse. With this new affection, he has been carrying around the only Elmo toy he owns...a 3" plastic Elmo.

The other night, pea decided that Elmo needed to go poopy and pea on the potty and that Elmo needed to wear jammies. Pea started pulling out his PJ's for Elmo, but of course they were too big! So, mommy came to the rescue and found some jammies for Elmo...in the sock drawer. Pea was very excited and has been carrying Elmo around in a sock for about 3 days now! It is hilarious!

Little Chef

Pea was particularly needy and whiny tonight as I was trying to get dinner ready so I decided to ask him to help me make dinner. He LOVES "helping" in the kitchen. His newest thing pull a chair up to the counter and try to "help" by grabbing everything in sight saying "what's this?" or "what are you making, mommy?" Over and over and over...:) I usually don't mind until he starts grabbing the knives...

So, I thought he could help me make dinner by stirring something on the stove, then I decided that was a really bad idea with mr. grabby even under the closest supervision and with my haste to get dinner done. So, instead, I put him to work making his own dinner. I grabbed a bag of dried 10 bean soup that has been in the cupboard forever, gave him some measuring cups, tupperware, measuring spoons, and let him have at it. He had a blast "making dinner." He was out of my way while also feeling like he was helping me.

Starting the soup.


Carefully measuring.





Transferring from one bowl to the next with the measuring cups.


Forget the measuring cups...



Okay, so somewhere in there, pea decided his hands were sticky so he needed to move his chair over to the sink. Now, he LOVES playing with the water in the sink. So, he got a bit distracted from his soup while getting himself wet at the sink. Actually, I was shocked to discover there was hardly any water on the floor! It all ended up on his shirt. Sooooo....

off with the shirt and back to the soup (note the wet shirt draped over the chair!).


Somehow he snuck his sippy cup of water over to the soup station, opened it up, and dumped all the water into the soup (and put some beans in his cup). Well, OF COURSE! You gotta have water for soup, right?!


Amazingly, there really were not that many beans on the floor! It was pretty fun watching him play and explore while I cooked dinner. I admit, I am not really that great at coming up with creative ideas like this so I felt like a brilliant mom tonight. hehehe! No, seriously, it is hard to balance working all day while also dealing with all of the other day to day responsibilities like cooking dinner, paying bills, etc while still fitting in quality time and activities. I sometimes have those mommy guilt moments feeling like I should be providing more structured and stimulating activities for pea at home. Anyone else feel like that sometimes? What activities do you do with your toddler?

What's for dinner tonight?

Savory Crescent Chicken Squares! I scored a great deal on Pillsbury crescent rolls a few weeks ago (like FREE) with fond memories of chicken crescent rolls my mom used to make when we were growing up. I found a similar recipe online and decided to give it my own little personal spin. They are extremely easy and quick. I think they turned out pretty yummy, too!

Savory Crescent Chicken Squares

6oz of cream cheese (I used the lowfat version), softened
1tbsp butter, softened
2c. cubed cooked chicken
1/2c. frozen spinach (thawed with water squeezed out)
1/2c. chopped artichoke hearts
1/4tsp salt
1/8tsp pepper
2tbsp milk
2 cans refrigerated crescent rolls (8oz)
1tbsp butter, melted
3/4c. crushed ritz crackers

1. Heat oven to 350.
2. In medium bowl, mix cream cheese and 1tbsp of butter; beat until smooth. Add chicken, spinach, artichokes, salt, pepper, and milk. Mix well.
3. Separate dough into eight rectangles. (Firmly press the perforations of the crescents together to seal.) Spoon approximately 1/2c. of chicken into the center of each rectangle. Pull corners of dough to center of chicken mixture; twist firmly. Pinch edges to seal. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Brush tops of squares with 1tbsp of butter; sprinkle with crushed ritz crackers.
4. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Mr. Independent

Pea has officially decided that he is the boss of the house and that he can do everything himself. It's been a lot of fun at our house! "Come here, mommy." "Do this, mommy." "Go to timeout, daddy." "Nooooooooo!! I don't want to do XYZ!" For example:

Pea: I am hungry.
Me: Okay, I will fix you some lunch.
Pea: NOOOOO!! I DON'T WANT LUNCH. (crying starts)
Me: Oh! Are you hungry?
Pea: Yes.
Me: Okay. I will get you something to eat.
Pea: NOOOOO!! I DON'T WANT SOMETHING TO EAT. (more crying and some throwing to mix it up a little.)

He then kicked it up a notch with the crying and threw something across the kitchen so he had to sit in his room for a little bit. We recently started having him go to his room when he gets mad (to the point of throwing things) to calm down. It is so funny because he just runs right into his room crying and sits in the middle of the floor. AND, he will not get up until we tell him it's okay. He will just sit there and cry until it's all out of his system and then he is fine.

On the flip side, all of his sweetness far outweighs the other stuff. One of his newest things is to run in the room saying "Look who's here, mommy?" Of course, I say "Who's here?" Pea: "It's ELI!" A couple weeks ago he asked where the sun went after it went behind the clouds so I asked him where he thought the sun went. He said "It's playing hide and seek."

A couple weeks ago Pea and I had a "mommy and Eli day." These days are very rare and I really miss them! We had a lot of fun playing at the park. And, of course, Mr. Independent was not really interested in the toddler area of the park and instead had to try out the big kid area. That is so much more fun!

Walking on the ropes.


Full steam ahead!

10 Years...then and now

Friday, 9/25, was our 10 year wedding anniversary! It's hard to believe it has already been ten years, though that time in our lives also seems like a lifetime ago. We were living in Asheville, North Carolina at the time so we were married in the mountains right outside of Asheville. It was perfect. It was very important to us that our wedding ceremony and celebration reflected who we were as a couple and as individuals so we wrote our own ceremony and vows, which made it so much more meaningful for us....and, I think, for our friends and family, too. The entire day was just perfect and it was exactly what we had dreamed about. We had a great celebration after the ceremony that was complete with a bonfire and a beautiful full moon. Who could ask for anything more?!?!

Ten years ago


Jason and I have actually been together 16 years as of this November. (Wow. Where has the time gone?) We met during my sophomore year of college. Jason had just transferred to the school that year and lived in the same dorm as me. In fact, he lived directly below me! I knew from the instant I saw him walking through our dorm that I just HAD to meet him. No if's, ands, or buts about it. I had to meet this guy! Our first conversation lasted about two hours and after our first "date" I knew he was the guy I was meant to marry. No joke! I have it documented in my journal! hehehe!

I am so lucky to be married to my best friend...to someone who understands me better than I understand myself, to someone who puts up with all of my craziness, and to someone who still makes me laugh everyday.

A Perfect Moment

Everyday, God gives us the sun - and also one moment in which we have

the ability to change everything...

-Paulo Coelho

I scream, You scream...

We all scream for ice cream! Pea finally discovered what the ice cream truck is all about this past weekend. He is very familiar with hearing and seeing the truck and knows that it is an ice cream truck, but...he had no idea what that really meant! The truck comes through our neighborhood regularly so we figured it was close enough to the end of summer to get a dose of the ice cream truck. (We deliberately did not do this at the beginning of summer. No need to create an ice cream truck monster too early!)

Notice the shadow? My attempt to be in the picture!





Shadow Family


Dora ice cream. Pea loves Dora. I think more than Diego, but not as much as the Backyardigans!


mmmmmmm...yummy!


Trying to get some of daddy's ice cream.

Who's Missing?

I recently read this great post on iheartfaces about self-portraits and putting yourself in the picture. Read the post HERE. Most of the family pictures I take are of Eli with a few of him and his daddy. I am typically the one behind the camera so I am often left out of most of the pictures. Sometimes I will hand Jason the camera, but usually I am just focused on capturing pea and his little personality. It dawned on me after reading this post that, by not including myself in a lot of the pictures, I have definitely fallen into that mommy trap where it is so easy to forget about me. I have officially become the invisible mom behind the camera. I don't want pea to look back on these years and have very few pictures of us together. I absolutely love seeing pictures of me as a child with my parents! Those pictures have helped to form and maintain so many of our family memories, our family story. Isn't that what is important? So, that is one of my new goals...more FAMILY pictures...not just pea pictures.

Here are a few from our visit to the park this past Saturday. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun feeding the ducks, throwing rocks in the water, looking at the crabapples (pea trying to eat them!)...just being together.












Okay, one token pea-only picture. ;)

Takin' A Break

I took a little unplanned break from blogger world. There have been too many other things robbing my time and attention! You know how that goes. Since school recently started, Jason is back to work and adjusting back to our school time routine. As hard as it was working all summer with my fav fellas home all day, I REALLY enjoyed having a stay-at-home hubby for the summer! He did the laundry, would start dinner, ran errands for me, planned our Mexico trip, etc, etc. Aren't I lucky? But, alas, it's back to the grind. Sigh...

So, even though I haven't posted in a few weeks, I certainly have been thinking about some "blog worthy" things such as how do you deal with rude stares (I have been noticing this more and more), how do you talk to your kids about adoption and their story, and I recently read a great post about the importance including yourself in photos with your kids! But, those posts will have to wait for right now.

In the meantime, I have really been into cooking lately and trying new recipes (if you haven't noticed already!). My newest thing? Meal planning. I am not much of a planner so this is a new venture for me and it is working out pretty well. Of course, my "plan" is a very flexible one but that is what works for me! I am finding that I have the motivation to cook more if I know what's on the menu! I generally plan about 3 meals per week since we usually have leftovers and we have a standing weekly dinner date with my parents.

So, tonight's menu included homemade Italian Breadsticks and Chicken Pesto and Couscous. Both recipes are from one of my new favorite blogs to stalk: Cooking During Stolen Moments.
I have already made several of her recipes! Now, I still make adjustments to "lighten" up some of her recipes, but every recipe has been a hit so far!

Here are the Italian Breadsticks. I have never, ever made bread from scratch before so I was a little intimated by the whole yeast, dough thing. WOW! It was so EASY!!! These breadsticks were so yummy and, I swear, they were about 1.5" thick! I made these after I got home from work and we were still sitting down at the table to eat by 6pm. Check out the recipe here. I will definitely be making these again.



We ate the breadsticks with a side of Chicken Pesto and Couscous. :) If you have never had couscous, give it a try! It cooks in 5 minutes and you can generally substitute it for rice in various dishes (though it is not as "hardy" as rice). We love the whole wheat couscous from Trader Joe's. I made this with chicken, tomatoes from our garden, zucchini from a friend's garden, and of course my garden fresh pesto! Check out the recipe here. She served this recipe cold, but we ate it straight from the skillet. Either way is delish!


Okay, next post I hope to tackle one of the topics I mentioned above!