And 6 Months Later...

Holy Cow - I'm a slacker. 6 months since I've posted. Wow. Can't even begin to catch up on those. And I don't have the patience to try tonight. Here's a shortcut version:

August: Very pregnant. Very. Hoping for an early delivery. Didn't happen. Stayed very pregnant. And hot.

September: Introduced Baby John to the world on September 11th.
The delivery was uncomplicated. Yay. Not quite as fast as Paul's, but still fairly quick. I'd like to say painless, but that wouldn't be true.
The rest of September is a blur. There were lots of kids involved. And diapers. I think I ate and did a lot of laundry as well.

October: Life became a little clearer. Our new family of 5 starting figuring things out. We had Paul's 2nd birthday.

It was a dog-themed party. My favorite part was the birthday cake.

November: Family trip to Disneyland. We went with the grandparents, so Mr. D and I actually got to ride some "big kids" rides. We had a nice time enjoying the park before our annual passes expired.

December: Well, we all know what December is all like... especially with little kids. Presents, tinsel, lights, bows, and fun.
Mr D and I celebrated our "Craigslist Christmas". We decided that our gifts for each other all had to come from Craigslist (we are admitted junkies to the site). It was a lot of fun to track down good gifts and the barter a bit for the best prices. Next year, I told him, we should make it that all the gifts have to come from the "free section" of Craigslist. Kidding. Maybe.

And now. January. The decorations are down. The cookies are eaten (and on my hips), and I am regrouping the troops again. Getting a routine going. Or at least envisioning. This is the month to start fresh. Let's go 2011. Let's hope that maybe I will post a bit more to actually document what is going on with Sara @ Home.

Squash Overload

As I've mentioned before, we planted our first garden this year. It's doing well. Surprisingly well.

And we've learned a few things too. Nine squash plants(zucchini and yellow)is about five plants too many. We have zucchini and squash all over the place. I have several 2lb. bags of frozen sliced squash, numerous bags of frozen shredded zucchini for breads, we eat summer squash at almost every meal, and the neighbors are currently all well supplied for their squash needs. We have a lot of squash.

This was yesterday's picking from the garden.


And here was today's.


Tomorrow when I see my family, "Happy 4th - here's some squash."

But if you notice, we have a couple peppers and some well ripened tomatoes. I now can attest that I understand what people are saying when they tell me that a store bought tomato can not rival a fresh, homegrown one. What a difference.

I have been pretty impressed with our gardening attempts - albeit it a little overwhelmed with Mr D brings in the haul every few days (or every day as in this week).

This week's dinner menu consists of lasagna (with zucchini), tomato and zucchini soup, grilled steak and squash, and probably a few more loaves of zucchini bread.

Summer Vacay

Well here it is June already and I have neglected updating anything online at all. Such a slacker, I know. I blame it on being six months preggie with two little kids. It's not that I have nothing interesting to share.... I just don't have the brain energy to do so. I guess posting doesn't come as easy to me as it seems to for others.

So... fast forward two months. Let's see - lots of diapers changed, naps taken, messes cleaned up, a few trips to the park, several trips to the grocery store, and lots of laundry... yup. That just about covers it.

But last week, however, we took a family vacation. Packed up the kids and headed to the mountains for the week. It sounds like we roughed it... but we didn't. We rented a cabin (house) with another family and hung out by the lake. When there are six little kids all five and under - that is the way to go. We had contemplated doing the whole camping gig, but I am so glad that idea was never fleshed out. I had enough trouble sharing a room with the four of us, and a double bed with Mr. D. Yes, a double bed. I take up a double bed all on my own these days!

I realized on this trip how much vacations have changed for us in the past few years. Mr. D and I have never been globe-trotting travelers, but we did enjoy to get away once in a while, even if it was just locally. We still enjoy going away, but the idea of coming back refreshed and renewed just doesn't work out the same anymore. There's all the packing to begin with, followed by awkward sleeping arrangements (see above), kids not on schedule, a lot of work to feed everyone and keep everyone happy.


Now don't get me wrong, we had a really nice time. We had fun on the lake, playing with the kids, hiking outside. We love hanging with our kids, but it's not the relaxing getaway it used to be. But these are what memories are made of. Right?

April Cook-A-Thon

Back in November, one of my friends invited me to come to her house and "cook for a month". We spent almost 12 hours making 23 different meals to bring home and freeze. It was a lot of work and honestly I came home thinking, "nope, not for me. That was exhausting."

But then through the next couple months I used my meals and realized that it was super convenient to pull something out of the freezer on those days where I don't know and/or don't want to make anything for the family. Plus it did save me money in the long-run.

So come January, she invited me to cook with her again. I agreed. Having a time under our belts, we planned better and streamlined things so we were able to make the process faster.

Well, the next few months passed and the past couple weeks we started talking about doing it again. I really like the cook-a-thon idea, but I didn't like the crazy long day at her house... especially now where my energy level isn't at its peak and being on my feet all day sounded wearying as well.

We planned out our meals and we (I) focused the list down to a more cost/time effective plan. Love my friend, but she can be way more ambitious than me. We were all set for today. I did my shopping. Had the list planned out.

But at things worked out, she wasn't able to participate. I thought about throwing in the towel then myself... but I didn't. I have to say I'm pretty impressed with myself.

Today I made 17 meals plus 4 homemade pizzas. My freezer is stocked.
I made:
* Chicken Enchiladas (x2)
* Meatball Casserole (x2)
* Meat Lasagna (x2)
* Creamy Chicken Lasagna
* Marinated Chicken Drumsticks (x2)
* Stove Top BBQ Chicken
* Pizza Casserole (x2)
* Sausage and Egg Casserole
* Mini Meatloaf: BBQ & Italian
* Pizza Roll-Ups (x2)

This is some of my kitchen in progress.


And my supervisor


And my mess


And now, my feet are tired. My kitchen is clean. My supervisor is sleeping. And I don't have to cook dinner tomorrow night.

The Big Owie

The tale of my baby's first big boo-boo.

I was with my mom yesterday and we were getting ready to leave to grab dinner. I was a little hungry (read: pregnant = starving), so I was trying to speed the process up. Let's go here folks. I loaded up with my purse (x-large size, of course), my diaper bag, and the "out-to-eat" bag with toys. Plus Paul.

Yes, probably not my best judgment call here. But two trips was one trip too many when I wanted to go NOW.

So we're heading out of the house. I let Paul walk on his own. We are on the porch outside. The brick porch. That descends with two small steps to the concrete sidewalk.

I should have picked Paul up. Or at least held on tightly to him. But he let go of my hand and went for the steps himself. First step. Success. Second step. Not so much. I watch in slow motion as he misses the second step and falls face first onto the sidewalk.

I drop all my bags and rush to him - bleeding and crying. It is so sad. He has a sore on his nose, his eye and forehead.

And all this is the day before my mother's wedding.

To dispel all worries though, I must say, he recovered like the tough little boy he is. We cleaned up, went to dinner. He ate like a champion and was in good temperament.

Today he dressed up in his finest and showed off his boo-boos. We just told everyone that someone tried to snatch his pacifier.





And they should have seen the other kid.

This is how our garden grows

We've been busy outside celebrating spring the past few weeks.


Getting our garden planted. Our inaugural garden. Such a test run. We have no idea what we're doing. At all. I'm sure our efforts are laughable to an expert gardener, but hey, we're a couple city kids, well, suburban kids, who think that produce comes from the grocery store.

Well so far we are off to to a promising start. I put seeds in the ground. And something has come up... and they aren't weeds. Surprisingly. While we were planting I kept telling Mr. D that if anything comes up, I will be shocked. He reassured me by saying that just about anyone can make something grow. Thanks. Helpful. I'll be the dummy who can't grow something.

Fortunately, I'm not. Lo and behold. We have sprouts.


And the sprouts keep growing.



We have lettuce, spinach, carrots, broccoli, squash, and zucchini.





Last weekend we went out and bought some pepper, tomato, and strawberry plants. They are in the ground now. And we are anxiously waiting to see when, okay, if, we will harvest anything.



This has been a great learning experience for Grace. She's helped plant the seeds and then loves to go out and check "her" garden.


Can't wait to serve some fresh veggies with dinner.

Or better yet, make something scrumptiously strawberry. I'm still optimistic.

The Latest

Not quite sure where to start. It's been a while.

I'll start with the big news.




Cute picture, right? Makes sense, right?

So I thought I was going to be super creative and tell my mom about the new arrival by sending her an email with this picture attached. She had been asking me for some pictures of the kids that she could have at work, so I thought, "cute, I'll send her a few pictures and this one will be in it."

So I send the email off Thursday night and Friday morning, I'm waiting for a phone call exclaiming her excitement for the new grandchild. I turn on the computer looking for an email.

Finally an email reply comes back.

"Thanks these are cute. I put the one with “all” the grandkids on my desktop!
By the way, my dress ...."

And she goes on to talk about a dress she bought and weekend plans.

Say what? Where is the excitement? The congratulations?

Then it dawns on me. She thinks that I took a picture of my kids with my sister-in-law's ultrasound. "All" her grandkids that she knows about so far.

And now why would I do that?

So a little deflated, I had to write back and explain it a little bit further.

Her reply:

"WHAT!!!????"

Followed by an immediate phone call.

Yes, that's better. That's the enthusiasm I was looking for.

It would have been better the first time though.

So that's the latest here. I'm going to try to get back on track, since the TWO people who read this have asked me why I am a big slacker and don't write.

They Say Its My Birthday

To celebrate getting older, I decided to go to the place where you can always be a kid! Disneyland!!!!


We had a great time. As I told Mr. D - we had a 10 hour adventure at Disneyland without any tears, meltdowns, tantrums, or arguments. It truly is a magical place!



We had so much fun with Grace. She is a stud when it comes to the rides. She went on everything we took her on and liked them all. Well, I don't think she was particularly fond of the really dark ones like Pirates of the Caribbean, but she didn't act too traumatized.

She went on the spinning tea cups,

flying rocket ships,


even the Matterhorn roller coaster.

But she still says her favorites are the "horses" (carousel). Wuss.


And to make my day even brighter, she took a picture with Tinkerbell! Our first character picture.



Paul was a good sport. He took a good 1 1/2 nap in the stroller, so he hung in there pretty good. He even rode his share of rides.

As part of my birthday gift, Mr D also upgraded our tickets to annual passes! Whee! Now we have a full year ahead of magical fun. I can't wait!

It was a really fun day. But exhausting. I'm not sure how some families do the multiple day Disney experience vacations. Wow.

I would say if I had to turn..., well, older... this was a great way to do it.

Halloween Pics!

Just wanted to share some Halloween pictures... almost a week late. We had a fun time with my two little cuties playing at the church festival. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

How I Scared the Neighbors

So my neighbors hate me now.

Okay, so hate might be too strong of a word.

There was a disruption in the neighborhood and it centered around me....


and my dog.

Drats.

I haven't even had a chance to make friends... okay, acquaintances with these folks, and now they hate, dislike, okay, have a bad feeling about me.

And the problem is, it truly is entirely my fault. And I don't like being at fault.

Last week, I decided to take advantage of the warm weather and bring the kids outside and wash my car. Paul was in the play yard, Grace was scampering around, playing with the bucket of sudsy water, and I thought, "hey, I'll let Toby out of the backyard and he can run around a bit."

And here's the thing, Toby is a super well-mannered dog. At our old place, he totally knew his boundaries and I could let him outside and never even have a second thought.

Well, now he isn't quite as clear about boundaries and he really hasn't been out front much besides going for a walk.

So here I am washing away, keeping one eye on one kid, and the second on the other... when I realized that Toby has wandered away. Wandered away right up our neighbor's driveway. We are at the end of a cul-de-sac, so the neighbor is really somewhat across the street.

I call him immediately and he responded and ran right home. I glanced at the neighbors and it seemed no one was out and about, so I figured, "no harm, no foul" and didn't worry about it again.

A little while later, my old neighbor calls. My old neighbor, from my old neighborhood, where people liked me and I knew them, and trusted them. Oh but enough boo-hooing.

So now, I'm on the phone, drying my car, watching the kids AND the dog when I notice the neighbor's daughter is out, along with her neighbor's daughter, and it looks like a parent or two. They are all standing out and looking towards my house. I assumed they were just interested because we were all out and that isn't usually the case. I would have gone over and said something, but I was on the phone. I thought, "bummer, this is my chance to get to chat with the neighbors," but I really couldn't interrupt my neighbor who was telling me about her kitchen catching fire that morning. (I guess my story pales in comparison to that).

Fast forward an hour. We're cleaned up, inside, finishing lunch when the doorbell rings.

It's my neighbor. Who wants to talk to me. It didn't sound good.

And it wasn't. She goes on to tell me how my dog had run not only to their house, but into the backyard, scared her daughter, who ran to the neighbors. The neighbors all went out onto their upper deck to watch the big scary dog from their backyard. My neighbor was in her house afraid and went around and shut up her windows because of the big scary dog.

Sigh.

I apologize. Many times. I try to explain that Toby is very gentle and usually well-mannered.

I apologize again. I invite her to bring over her kids to meet him and they can see he is a nice dog.

And I promise it won't happen again.

But I'm still the reason that a "wild" dog was roaming the neighborhood.

We went over to their house the following day with Toby (on a leash!) to apologize again. But they were not home. We realized later that they had left for the weekend. We went to their neighbor's house as well, but nobody answered.

I know we should still go over, but now almost a week has passed and its awkward. But I guess not as awkward as living here for many more years and not making contact.

I just keep reminding myself that it took about six years at our other place before we really got to know all our neighbors. I just have to have patience.... or hope they all move!

Happy Birthday Mr. Paul

It's hard to believe that it has already been a year since Paul Henry joined our family. It's gone by so fast. Much faster than it was with Grace. I realized this time that it is so fleeting that he will be a round, pudgy, kissable-all-over baby that I just need to soak it in and not worry if he is sleeping through the night, nursing too much, and just cuddle with him while he will still let me.

We had a delightful little birthday party for him last weekend. Really, I did keep it small-scale. Mr. D was very proud of my restraint. Even though I did inform him that I am keeping all the decorations because I am SO doing the theme again when he is older. I had so many ideas and fun activities, that just weren't suited for a one-year old.


Watch out! Paul is RACING to #1!

I came up with the theme idea based on his Halloween costume, which I had purchased a couple months ago. I figured why not maximize my use of it.

Paul had a great time...

getting into presents before the official "present time",

and then getting into more presents, and

showing off his cute outfit.


Then it was cake time! We had a near cake-trosphe. I purchased a race car mold on ebay for a great price and was so excited to make it for the party. However, after two stuck, ruined cakes, I had to give. I guess I should have tried it out prior to 9pm the evening before the party. So I came up with a quick solution... cupcakes!


They turned out pretty cute. Not a race car... but cute, I guess.

Paul wasn't too excited with his cake.

I know, probably cause it was a healthy banana cake without sugar, but "ppssssssth" (blowing a big raspberry) on that. I would rather have him not eat any cake then overload him with sugar when he hasn't had any yet. He had plenty of cake eating years ahead of him.

He also wasn't too thrilled with opening presents either. But Grace willing stepped in there.


Wait Paul! There's more presents to open!


All in all, we had a great time celebrating Paul's big race to one!

And what does the big #1 winner have to say?


I'll take that as a sign of a great party... to tired to comment!