SWW

It's that time again.

 

Time to link up with Shannon for another So What Wednesday!

 

This week I'm saying So What if:

 

-I was more than willing to lose an hour of sleep over the weekend for extra daylight in the evenings. I can now actually play with my kid outside when I get home from work.

 

-When I called my inlaws on Saturday to wish them a Happy Anniversary (45 years!!) I told my MIL I hoped she would get lucky that night. She laughed hysterically. Kristian was grossed out.

 

-Instead of buying something fun with our tax refund I'm using the money to pay off our credit card.

 

-It was all I could do not to yell at the customer service person from FIOS this morning when I called to question the charges on my bill. If she doesn't understand the charges how the hell am I supposed to?

 

-We have no plans for St. Patrick's Day. It's really not a holiday that I make a big deal out of but I did buy Hunter a new shirt for it.

 

-I will probably eat all the candy/food I buy for Hunters Easter Basket. Candy isn't good for him anyways.

 

-95% of Hunters clothes come from Target, Old Navy and Walmart (yes WALMART!) I don't believe in spending a lot of money on baby clothes that he will outgrow in a couple months or stain.

 

-I'm very proud of the fact that I haven't been to Starbucks in a week. That hasn't happened since I was pregnant. 

Weekend Photo Dump

My kid has a new found obsession with brooms. He loves ours and at our last playdate with my friend Kelli he wouldn't put down her sons toy broom. After hearing this my mom decided to buy Hunter his own toy broom/dust pan set. I gave it to him on Sunday morning and he literally squealed with excitement.

Please pardon the mis matched jammies, we had a poop incident right before this photo.

I hope he continues to be this excited to see a broom in a few years when this is one of his chores.

 

I felt pretty crappy all weekend but on Sunday pulled myself together long enough go with Kristian and Hunter to the park and enjoy the beautiful weather we were having. Spring was definitely in the air. This kid LOVES being outside and LOVES the park. He only wanted to stay in the swing for a short time because he had places to go and things to explore.

Umm why do you look like a 5 year old?!

Think he's excited to be outside?! Nope, not at all.

Ooooh dirt!

Look Ma, I can throw the dirt! Typical Boy.

Shadow family.

 

When we got back to the house we decided to drop Moxie off and grab Halpert who always desperately wants to go outside. So we took the cat on a little nature walk in the woods behind our house. He actually will follow us up and down the path without a leash and without any issues. He's actually better behaved than the dog.

 

Once again yesterday morning as soon as I brought Hunter downstairs he immediately went for his toy broom. Obsessed is an understatement. And of course he threw a fit when I refused to let him bring it to daycare. I know. I'm a horrible mother.

 

Check out the video below. He's a natural.

 

Recipe- Asparagus Carbonara

Yesterday I found a recipe I had torn out of the Rachel Ray magazine years ago and decided to make it for dinner last night. It's a bit more labor intensive than I remembered but it turned out great and Kristian was happy so that's a win in my domestic goddess book. 

Asparagus Carbonara

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3/4 pound spaghetti

1 bunch asparagus cut into 2 inch pieces

2 tablespoons EVOO

5 slices of bacon (I used 6, the more the better)

3 cloves garlic finely chopped

1/4 cup dry white wine

salt and pepper

In a large bowl beat together the eggs and cheese.

Cook the pasta until al dente, adding the asparagus during the last minute of cooking. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of cooking water. 

Add the hot pasta and asparagus to the egg mixture and toss to coat. 

Meanwhile in a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat and cook the bacon until crisp. Stir in the garlic. Add the wine and cook until slightly reduced, about 1 minute.

Stir the bacon mixture into the pasta, adding enough of the reserved pasta water to moisten. Season with salt and pepper. 

And voila!

Snow Day 2013

We haven't gotten a decent snow storm in about 2 years. We've had a few very minor snow "storms" but nothing that produced anything significant. Hunter has two snowsuits that he's already outgrown that never even had the tags removed. So when I heard we would be getting anywhere from 3-10 inches yesterday I was psyched.

Well the "snowquester", like most snowstorms in the DC area, turned out to be a big letdown. Yes we did get a few inches where I lived but many people just saw rain. The few inches we got were the wet, heavy, notveryfuntoplayin type of snow but I was determined to get Hunter in his new, big boy snowsuit and go out to get a few pictures play.

Fortunately I was able to telework so I got to spend the day with my little dude in between answering work emails. We started the day with some snuggles in bed.

 

Followed by Hunter checking out all the white stuff outside.

We had a couple inches early on in the day.

 

Hunter is finally starting to enjoy cartoons and will actually sit and watch them for probably 10 minutes tops but I'll take those 10 minutes of snuggling when I can.

 

Finally, after Kristian got home from work and Hunter woke up from his nap, I bundled him up in the snowsuit my inlaws bought him for Christmas. Fortunately it's 24 month size so hopefully it will still fit next winter. I think it took longer to get him dressed than we actually stayed outside for.

 

I don't know if it was the bulkiness of the snowsuit or the wet snow itself but Hunter did NOT want to stand or walk or even sit in the snow.

 

But I managed a few cute photos. Pardon the pacifier, he screamed bloody murder when I tried to take it away. I guess he needed a safety blanket so to speak.

 

Yep that's what happened when I took the paci away.

 

Daddy snuck in for a quite photo as well.

 

We gave Hunter a little snow to eat and after the initial confusion over the cold he wanted more.

 

Unlike Hunter, Moxie loved running around in the snow. She had a blast but I wasn't fond of the wet dog smell that lingered on her the rest of the day.

 

When we came back inside I had to get some more work done so my boys took a nap in the basement next to the fire for an HOUR! I was actually pretty jealous. Hunter never naps like this with me, only daddy.

 

Despite not getting as much snow as they predicted we made the best of the snow day at home together which I had been wishing for all winter.

SWW

Another Wednesday means another link up with Shannon for So What Wednesday!

This week I'm saying So What if:

-I'm so excited we have a snow day today! We haven't had a decent amount of snow in two years and I love getting to stay home with my little man. Once he wakes up from his nap I want to take him out to play in it. 

-I'm annoyed that Kristian went into work for a few hours this morning. I'm sure he'll be fine but I always get nervous when he's out in bad weather.

-I was thrilled to get a surprise bonus check from work on Monday. It was thanks for having to work a lot of overtime from home in the evenings and weekends the past two weeks to get a big project done. I guess all the bitching I did made them feel bad. Squeaky wheel gets the oil right? 

-Kristian and I bickered over what to do with our tax refund money. He always wants to spend spend spend and I want to save save save. I think we are going to do a little of both. 

-The fact that my older brother turned 40 on Monday made ME feel old. How is it possible that my brother is FORTY!! 

-I'm obsessed with my crockpot and making soups in it. I'm planning to make another soup today

-I got a little sad watching the last episode of Dallas which was JR Ewings final episode. I grew up watching that show and it really is the end of an era.

-I'm so excited that I'm ALMOST done with Hunters first year photo book. I only have like 4 more pages to do. Oh and it's going to be 95 pages long. 

Playdates and Wagon Rides

We had a very full and fun filled weekend.

 

On Friday night, we found the snuggie that my inlaws had bought for Moxie and decided to see if it would fit Halpert. It did. He was less than pleased. But he does look damn cute.

Friday afternoon Kristian took Hunter to the doctor to get a note saying that the diarrhea poops he keeps having are teething related and unless he has other symptoms he does not need to be sent home from daycare. This is now in his file and will hopefully cut down on the number of times he's being sent home early. When I got home I saw my child dressed like this. Kristian has a bad habit of forgetting to button the onesie before putting the pants back on after diaper changes. Whatever works right? 

 

On Saturday I got to visit one of my oldest friends Kelli who has a 2 1/2 year old little boy. Ryan and Hunter did very well playing together and only had a few instances of not wanting to share toys. Oh and Kelli's basement is huge and basically looks like daycare so Hunter had a blast.

For some reason of all the toys in the basement Hunter was obsessed with a toy broom. He also loves our broom at home. He's weird.

When Kelli and I met at the age of 12 I never envisioned seeing our little boys playing together in the future. Love it.

 

On Sunday, we had a nice family day of running errands in the morning and then in the afternoon, despite the chilly weather, took Hunter and Moxie on a long walk in the wagon. We put two pillows in the wagon for Hunter to sit on and put a warm blanket over both he and Moxie. They loved it. I foresee many wagon rides as the weather warms up.

At one point, Hunter pulled the blanket down and started petting/patting Moxie. And my heart basically exploded.

When Kristian started to quickly pull the wagon down a hill, Moxie got scared and jumped out but Hunter loved it.

 

We then dropped the wagon off at home and went for a little walk in the woods behind our house. Hunter loves the woods as much as his daddy does. They will be having lots of adventures together in the future.

 

We are supposed to get anywhere from 3-8 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow and for our area that's a LOT. I'm so excited about a possible snow day at home with my little family tomorrow. Expect lots of snow pictures later this week.

It's a small blog world after all

One of the things I love most about blogging are the people I've connected with and the friends I've made over the past few years. One of the things I hate most about blogging is the fact that 99% of my blog friends live far away and I will probably never get to meet them in person. Which is why I get super excited when I connect with someone who actually lives within driving distance.

Whenever someone new comments on my blog I always try to take a peek at their profile and/or blog if they have one. If it turns out that they live in the DC metro area I get especially excited and will typically start following them or even reach out with an email or comment. A few weeks back I got a comment from someone new (Hi Sara!) and after looking at her profile and seeing she also lives in Northern VA I emailed her.

We emailed back and forth and with each correspondence we discovered we had more and more in common. As it turns out she ALSO went to ECU like I did. Then I found out that not only did she attend ECU but was ALSO in the same sorority as me at the same time! Now, you're probably wondering how I didn't recognize one of my sorority sisters right away right? Well she is two years younger than me and pledge during spring semester of my senior year. By that point I was really only attending the meetings and functions that I was required to attend. I was more focused on my impending graduation and spending time with my boyfriend at the time and the friends I had already made through the sorority. I never really got to know those new girls. Now once I found out what her maiden name was and looked her up on Facebook I did remember her. We also discovered that we both went to St. Lucia on our honeymoons and had the same wedding song! Oh and she's due with a baby girl this May and could quite possibly have her on my birthday. Talk about coincidences!

Since she lives close to where I work we decided to meet up last week for lunch at a restaurant that we both loved while at ECU. Since I had already technically met her 11 years ago in college and she's a sorority sister I wasn't nearly as nervous as I would have been had she been a complete stranger. We had a very nice time catching up and talking about pregnancy and babies. Though I may have scared her with my birth story (sorry about that!) We also discussed getting together again in the future for lunch and hopefully for playdates once her little one arrives.

One of my complaints lately has been that I don't have a lot of local mommy friends so I'm very excited to not only have a new mommy friend in the area but one that is a sorority sister as well. If it weren't for this little 'ol blog who knows if we would have ever reconnected. Isn't the Internet a great place?