Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Christmas Treats

These are the tasty treats I made for a cookie exchange I was invited
to. The exchange was such a fun evening and I was proud to take my
pretty Oreo truffles...that's what I call them, not sure what they are
really called. Thanks to Jamie for the recipe! I have listed it
below.

1 pkg Oreo cookies (can use the mint ones for a 'Thin Mint' tasting truffle)
1 pkg cream cheese
1 pkg white chocolate chips

Put oreos in food processor until crumbs are fine.
Add cream cheese and mix until you have a chocolate 'dough'
Roll 'dough' into bitesize balls
Chill in fridge for about 2 hours until balls are firm
Using a toothpick, dip balls into melted white chocolate leaving a
little of the chocolate at the top to show through
Drizzle the top with white chocolate to look pretty

*NOTE: If you melt your chocolate for too long and it starts getting
hard (called 'seizing') you can add a tablespoon of vegetable
shortening to fix it. I found this out after calling the Nestle
Tollhouse Hotline!!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Have a good day!

Hope you are having a good day! Millie is!

One Man Band

0 to 60 in 24 hours! Yesterday, Noah didn't want to get out of bed
(my bed that is) because he didn't feel good. He had a belly ache and
a temperature and wouldn't eat much of anything. Today he seems to be
making up for lost time. He already had breakfast and is now giving
Bowman and me his One Man Band performance...he obviously doesn't care
Millie is trying to nap!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Mt. Food-ji

Noah's job is to feed Bowman each morning. Well, aparently Bow was
extra hungry today! I guess that is what I should have expected when
I heard him yelling "Mommy, 'gig' scoop!"

Monday, December 8, 2008

Daddy and Noah Iceskating

A Winter Outing

Our morning started by driving about 40mi north of the city to Gurnee
to attend a family iceskating event sponsored by Jon's company.
Neither Jon nor I have been iceskating in YEARS, but we were
cautiously optimistic about going, and knew we couldnt pass up an
opportunity for Noah to skate 'like the hockey players on tv.'

Although we didn't stay very long, the time we were there was action
packed. Jon took Noah out first, then I took him for a spin. We made
it around the whole circle of the rink without falling! We did get
stuck at one point because he started moving his feet so fast - it was
making me laugh so hard I almost wet my pants...then he was
laughing...we were immobilized with laughter!!

Next we were off to cut down our Christmas three. We have been cutting
down fresh trees since the year of Noah's first Christmas and have
decided to make it our tradition. Fortunately, we have had snow every
year since so we get a great pic...not to mention the experience of
trudging through the snow. Millie was in her bunting strapped to the
front of me and Noah was on foot. He started getting frustrated
because his glove kept coming off and the snow was a little deep.
Bowman LOVED frolicking in the snow...until we hooked him up to the
tree. He pulls it for us back to the car. Usually he likes it, but
this year he struggled a little.

All in all, it was a great day and we were all exhausted when we got
back!

Friday, December 5, 2008

Never wake a sleeping baby.

It has been said that you should never wake a sleeping baby...
Why would you want to when they look like this??!! So precious and
innocent.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Tree Update - Part 4

It has been a little over a week and a half since my last tree post
and as you can see, there isn't much left! There are a few stubborn
leaves still hanging on for dear life toward the bottom, but all the
rest are long gone. Maybe the next time I post there will be snow?!?

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Best Buds - Part 2

Here is another example of Noah and Millie getting along and 'playing'
together.
Noah likes to climb up the side of the crib and get in to play with
Millie when she wakes up*. Here he is playing music from Millie's
music box to help her stop crying. As you can see, it worked!

*please note that I said that NOAH likes to climb up the crib and get
in with Millie...his Mommy, on the other hand does NOT like that he
does that! Mainly because he also does it when she is taking a nice
nap and wakes her up!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Tree Watch 2008 Part 3

Looks like my Tree Watch entries will soon be coming to an end! Not
too many leave left. I know all the rain we have been getting has
played a roll in that.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Noah's Turkey Craft

Noah and I made this fun turkey today after his nap. It turned out to be a great project for him! For the tail feathers, we traced his hands on construction paper and he cut them out mostly by himself...I had to help guide his hand and the paper. We used bamboo skewers to attach the feathers to the pumpkin. Next we glued the face pieces on...I think his favorite part were the google eyes!!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Tree Watch 2008 -part 2

Here is my tree update. I took this picture on Monday, 5 days after
the previous picture was taken. What a difference a few days can make!

Mr. Fix-it

After making our blueberry muffins this morning (from scratch!), Noah
wanted to put the batteries in the light I bought to put in the jack-o-
lantern so he went to his 'oom' (room) to get his screwdriver and 'am
ererer' (hammer). He tried, but the screwdriver wouldn't fit. That's
okay, I had the same problem...that is why it is still sitting on the
counter 5 days after Halloween!!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Swinging into Fall

Here is Noah on the swing at the park...possibly our last trip there
for the year? Hopefully not, but it IS November!

See more details below.

Last trip to the park??

Today is also just as beautiful as yesterday! I LOVE that the leaves
are falling and it is nice enough out to go for walks and 'crunch'
through them. We walked all the way to the 'far away' park today.
Millie slept all the way there and all the way back! Noah did a great
job of listening and stayed on the stroller's boogie board the entire
time.
Here is a pic of Millie at the park.

Last Ice Cream of the year!

Yesterday was such a beautiful day! It was 70 degrees and sunny...in
November!! Noah, Millie, Bowman and I all took a walk to the polling
station so I could vote. That was an event of itself! On the way back
the ice cream truck pulled up, so we decided to have one last outside
icecream for the year as I am sure beautiful days like this are
limited. We truly enjoyed our treat...as you can see. Millie had
some too...on her head!!! She was strapped to the front of me in the
baby carrier and I accidently dripped on her. Ooops! Guess we know
where Noah gets the messy gene.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Tree Watch 2008

Every fall I look forward to watching the trees outside change
color...particularly the large tree in front of our house. I thought
it would be fun to track the changes here. So far, there hasn't been
any color change as you can see, only a few lost leaves from some
heavy winds last week. The trees across the street (on the side of out
house) are now bare - two weeks ago the turned a beautiful bright
yellow. Maybe this one will have some changes for my update next week??

Monday, October 27, 2008

Best buds...for now!

I just wanted to post this picture as proof that Noah and Millie love
each other. Hopefully that feeling lasts forever, but I know there
will come a day when Noah's requests to 'Hold her' turn into 'hit
her' ...and her innocent gazes of adoration turn into glares. So if/
when that happens I will have this picture to remind me (and them!) of
the 'good old days!'

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Five years ago...

If you would have asked me a month ago if I would have been interested in writing a blog, I would have said...'Are you kidding?' I thought it was a waste of time and only for people who don't have anything better to do...also, who would read anything I would write anway? But since then I have read a couple other blogs and it began to make a little more sense to me. I realized it can be used as a means to journal events I want to remember and I want my children to remember...and it doesn't matter if no one else reads it. So, lately, I have been contemplating the idea of starting my own blog and after the day I had with my family today, I think I want to try because I don't want to forget these wonder, precious days with them!

Today is my 5th wedding anniversary...and I couldn't have picked a better way to spend it than with 4 of my favorite people - Jon (my husband), Noah (2.5 year old son), Millie (9 week old daughter) and Bowman...okay, so one of the 4 is my dog, but he counts as a person in my book! We started the day as we do most weekend days, with a trip to our favorite bagel shop. We all have our favorite Saturday morning treats...Jon the bacon and egg bagel, Noah with his mini raisin bagel and me with a whole wheat bagel with lox cream cheese. After breakfast we make a trip to our old Lincoln Park neighborhood to go to the Farmers Market. We walked around and happened to run into our old landlord Dave. Once we made our rounds, Noah walked on the rocks and we answered questions about what kind of dog Bowman is we took him to one of his favorite places...Montrose beach. Bowman always seems to know when we are on our way there! We had so much fun throwing the ball for him in the open field. Noah had his own ball that he would throw and pick up. Next Noah wrestled with his daddy a little and then we made a Mommy, Daddy and Noah sandwich...all while Millie napped in her carseat and Bowman caught his breath in between fetches.

Once we finished in the open field we stopped on the way out of the park at the Kids and Kites festival. It was soo neat. The whole field was filled with children and their families. The weather could not have been more perfect for flying a kite! Sunny, slightly windy and about 60 degrees. We grabbed something to eat and then bought a kite so we could join the fun! Noah loved seeing all the kites and watching his mommy and daddy (mostly daddy) try to get the kite in the air. Lucky for him, his dad is quite the kite flyer! He also enjoyed wandering around taking in all the sights and sounds...I had to chase him down a few times! Meanwhile...Millie still napped.

After our awesome morning together, we went home for naptime. Noah took a great nap...who wouldn't after an eventful morning like that. Once he woke up, we were at it again and took both of the stinkers out for a nice anniversary dinner. We went to Fogo de Chao...a nice restaurant downtown. I guess we thought we had such a wonderful morning that we would take our chances at dinner too!? Well, surprisingly, dinner went well...about as well as it could with a 2.5 year old boy and newborn. Although he didn't really eat too much (except about 5 butter rolls!) Noah seemed to enjoy the men who go from table to table serving the meat. He also made sure to point out the mural on the wall behind us had 'Fire!' (one of his favorite words) on it. All in all both little ones behaved very well and we looked at it as an opportunity to teach them manners.


I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this day. Jon and I laughed at dinner when we realized we were spending our wedding anniversary with our kids...something many couples do alone, but we decided for where we are right now...we wouldn't have it any other way! It is days like today that Jon and I not only feel so fortunate that we live in such a great city, but that we live here together!!!