Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday

First of all, Happy Anniversary to my hubby. We started dating sixteen years ago and are celebrating eight years of marriage. The time has gone really fast! We did some low key celebrating at home last night. I made D's favorite meal, pork chop and biscuit casserole with mashed potatoes and carrots. I also got a little caramel cake from Wal Mart to share. We hope to go out on a date in the near future. Happy Anniversary, Babe. Love you!

We are also celebrating L's first Birthday. I cannot believe he's already one!!!! This year has flown by! L is such a sweet pea. He's laid back and sooo lovable. He is willing to tag along with us just about anywhere we go provided he's been fed and has had a good nap. :) He really only gets cranky when he needs something or if Big Brother takes something out of his hands. L is playing peek-a-boo, waving, blowing kisses and practicing sign language. He is Daddy's boy. L hears the back door open and close every night when Daddy gets home from work. L barrels (crawls) through the kitchen to greet him. He then throws on his breaks (throws his left leg out to the side and his right leg under his bottom to stop him) and reaches his arms up in the air for D to pick him up. He says "Hi" in the sweetest little voice. He also says Dadda, Mama, Ba-ba, Ball, the first two letters of N's name and bye bye. He puts on a big cheesy smile and kinda of says "Cheese" when a camera is focused on him. He's trying to walk. He is very confident in himself when he's hanging onto someone's hands or onto a walk-behind toy, but immediately returns to crawling when you let go of his hands. His hair is still curly and his eyes are still as blue as blue berries. So cute! He's is such a joy. Happy Birthday, Baby. Mommy, Daddy and N love you to pieces. :)

Little Critters

We've had a couple unusual little critters around our house this summer. We've had several praying mantises or "walking sticks" and we saw a katydid the other day but I didn't get a picture of it. Below are pictures of the praying mantis we saw most recently. I need to read more about these little creatures. I wonder if we are seeing the same praying mantis over and over or if we see a new one each time. I suppose I won't really know for sure, but I could read up on it to learn more.

N sure likes looking at him/her. Look at how big his (since our house is predominately male, we tend call almost everything of unknown gender a boy) eyes are. This mantis will let you get really close to it and it will look you square in the eyes. He rocks back and forth the closer you get. According to Wikepedia, "The repetitive swaying movements may be most important in allowing the insects to discriminate objects from the background by their relative movement, a visual mechanism typical of simpler animals. Rocking movements by these generally sedentary insects may replace flying or running as a source of relative motion of objects in the visual field." Apparently these little critters can be quite the fighters when it comes to getting food. If you read more about it on wikepedia you might have the same thought I did. They should be called preying mantis instead of praying mantis.

Morning Glory

D purchased a packet of Morning Glory seeds this spring. N and I planted them together. I enjoyed planting them with N, but I had no idea how interested we'd both be in following it as it grew this summer. I can see the plant from my kitchen window. I glimpse at it each time I stand at the sink and am amazed at how much it grows. I thought I was taking tons of pictures of it, but I didn't take as many as I thought I did. I wish I had the ability to set up time lapse photography to capture the flower growing. This plant almost had a personality. It would stretch out a limb to reach for something to grab onto. It'd wave in the wind for a bit and eventually decide to grip onto the nearest thing it could find. It eventually started blooming beautiful purple flowers. N enjoyed counting how many blooms were on the plant each day and he'd pick a few to bring inside. Here are some pictures below.

Happy Birthday, Dad

Happy Birthday, Dad. I told N it's your Birthday today and N said, "Yay!!! When do we get to go to his party? Is he having cake? I love cake!!" I had to tell him you're not having a party today but you're celebrating in your own way. So, do somethin fun for yourself and eat some cake. :)

Grandparents Day: Memory Wall

Did you know today (well, Sunday) is Grandparents Day? My sisters and I were lucky to have all four of our Grandparents a part of our lives. Each Grandparent had his/her own distinct personality. They all taught us very different things. We are fortunate enough to have one of our Grandparents left. She is my Dad's mom, E. When JV was in town a few weeks ago, JV, Dad and I took a road trip to visit Grandma E for the day. We hung out at her apartment, went for lunch at Cracker Barrell and swapped stories. My Grandma E is one of the neatest people I know. She's witty, smart, gracious and sharp as a tack. Oh, and might I say she's the tiniest bit stubborn?? No?? Okay, forget I mentioned it.

When we arrived at Grandma's apartment that day, the first thing she showed us was (what I will call) her memory wall. It's a wall in her apartment she has filled with pictures of family. Pictures new and pictures old, they are all special to her. Some are black and white, but most are colored photos. She has enough Grandkids and Great Grand kids to start a soccer team and each child's photo is represented on her wall. There are many pictures of Grandpa up there. She also has post cards sent to her from her kids and Grandkids. The post cards represent many states and various countries visited by the person who sent it. As I stood and looked at Grandma's wall I couldn't help but think that this wall is a little representation of a walk through her life. It really tells her story. As we drove home that night and as I recounted our day, in my mind I wondered what my "memory wall" will look like some day. I promised myself I will fill my life with many great moments so my wall will be as full as Grandma's.

Banana Muffins, Sweet Potato Muffins

Now that fall is knocking at our door, I'm getting excited to make muffins and soups. I haven't gotten around to making an soups, but I have made two types of muffins. I made the recipe below couresty of Cooking Light and myrecipes.com. I really liked the muffins, but wanted to vary them, so I made them a second time with sweet potatoes. Both recipes are below. Delish. :)

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Courtesy cooking light found here

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
• 1/2 cup egg substitute (1 egg, 1 egg white. Didn't have egg sub on hand)
• 1/3 cup plain lite yogurt (I used light sour cream,didn't have yogurt on hand)
• *Dash vanilla or almond extract
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used 60% dark crushed choc chips)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add banana, egg substitute, vanilla and yogurt; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

*I reached into my pantry to add a dash of vanilla extract for more flavor. I accidentally picked up my almond extract and put that in the muffin. I'm glad I did because that tasted really good!

Sweet Potato Muffins

Courtesy cooking light

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (could do 1/2 white flour, 1/2 wheat flour)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup egg substitute (1 egg, 1 egg white. Didn't have egg sub on hand)
• *1/3 cup Vanilla low-fat yogurt
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add banana, egg substitute, and yogurt; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

*The vanilla yogurt provided plenty of vanilla flavor, so I did not use vanilla extract in this case.

Big kid

I was up with L last night, so I decided to sleep in this morning rather than getting up to work out. I was laying in my bed waking up when I heard, "Mom, open the gate please. I'm ready to get up." N was up. So I got out of bed and headed for the gate (the gate across our steps that prevents the boys from falling down the steps). N was sitting there with a big smile on his face and he was already completely dressed. He said, "Mom, I got dressed all by myself and I didn't forgot (no, that's not a typ-o. He said forgot) my undies. " He was fully dressed and none of his clothes were on backwards. I was so suprised and proud! I said, "Wow! Did you do that all by yourself? Where did you find the clothes?" He said, " In my drawers, Mom. Come and look!" I was preparing myself to see a ton of clothes pulled out onto his floor like this scene I blogged about, but there weren't. The only clothes on the floor were the jammies he wore the night before that he changed out of. Wow! He opened the drawers to his dresser to show me where he found each article of clothing....Great! As a side note, I think he learned where his clothes are because I asked him to help me put his laundry away the other night. He remembered where they were, so he took it upon himself to get something out to wear. This time he happened to pick out clothes that match and look super cute. We'll see what he picks out in the future. :)

Back to School

N had orientation for his new preschool last week. He is super excited for that to start. He went to VBS at his new "church school" (as he calls it) this summer, so he's a little familiar with the staff and the facility. We enjoyed meeting N's teacher, A. She seems super sweet and very organized. We also got to see his class room. We immediately found the hook with his name on it where he will hang his book bag and coat. We also found the bathroom (located just off their class room), so he knows where to do all that business. N dove right in and played with the toys. He was very drawn to the toys that you use to build things. He built a police car for his teacher. I think he was ready to stay there for a couple hours as I had a hard time getting him to leave. He is so ready for school. I do a lot of activities with him at home, but he needs more structure than I can give him being that I have to also take care of L.

This week is the last full week before school starts. I'm trying to work in the fun things we haven't done this summer or things we want to do one more time.

Monday we went to the mall to make some returns and went to Target to buy school supplies. I heart Target. :)

Tuesday L had his follow visit for his eye surgery. I took both boys with my 'cause I knew it would be a quick visit and quick it was! The doctor was super, duper friendly (I joked with D that I want "some of what he's takin." That's how friendly he was). While he was doing the exam the doctor said, "L, you have IBE disease." And I thought, oh great! Here we go again! Another ailment...And the doctor said, "That's Illegally Blue Eye disease." Har, har. He turned to N and said the same thing. N thought it was hilarious. The boys were both really good at the appointment, so each got a sticker. After the doctor visit, we went to Rainbow Play Systems to burn off some energy. L is now getting to the point were he doesn't want to sit in the stroller the whole time anymore. He'd rather crawl or "walk" around. There weren't any other children or moms there, so I let L crawl all over the place. I know, some of you may think that's disgusting, but I did sanitize his hands immediately after we played and we took a really good bath that night, so I'm okay with it. Needless to say both boys took great naps/had great quiet time, so I had some nice, quiet time to myself (which I rarely get these days!).

Today we hit the swimming pool at our gym for the kids' play time. I put L in the daycare. I'm not comfortable swimming with both boys by myself, so this worked out great. N loves swimming in the deep end (while wearing his life jacket). He's not one to jump in or be really silly in the pool, so it was actually quite relaxing to swim with him. We had McD's for lunch afterwards.

Mom is coming over tomorrow to watch the boys while I have a lunch date with D. I'm really excited for that. We were in a really good routine of having lunch dates, but fell out of it when L got sick. Then I plan on running a few errands alone! Yay. Friday we will either head to the local farm/park one more time or we'll do something else outside if the weather cooperates. This weekend there is a farm show that D wants to take the boys to. Other than that I hope to get a few things done around the house and relax before school starts. :)

Side note...

As I said above, L is a busy little guy. He's got crawling mastered, so he's attempting walking. He's a brave little booger and I think he's going to be a climber. He's trying to say a few words as well. He says...err yells...the first two letters of N's name all the time. He says Mama and sometimes says Dadda. He also says ball. I'm trying to break him of always drinking from a bottle and he's doing pretty well with it. He's getting accustomed to using a sippy, but he definitely knows what a bottle is. He kinda throws a fit if he see a bottle and you give him a sippy instead, but he gets over it quickly. He's still not sleeping through the night. Ugh! He has reduced from waking up three times per night to once her night. It's an improvement. D and I will celebrate when he sleeps through the night w/o waking up!!

Well, I better go. I have learned that I have to get chores and to do's done any chance I get, so I better get some dishes done, prep supper and make some phone calls while I can. I am getting together with some other Mommy friends tomorrow night for a Mexican themed cooking night. Looking forward to that. :)