There is a lot that goes on in March. I feel like every time we turn around we’re celebrating something new. It keeps life exciting, but also means my house is in need of some serious post-celebratory-cleaning. Here’s a brief recap of what we’ve celebrated so far. A million birthdays, including our favorite little lady’s. Free day at the train museum. Cooper was actually a little overwhelmed by the huge trains, but really liked the model train display. Our anniversary….
Noel requested red velvet cake for Valentine’s Day this year. Now there’s just one little problem I have with red velvet cake: the insane amount of red food dye most recipes call for. I was engrossed in researching cakes made with beets when Noel looked over my shoulder and interjected, “I’d rather have a good tasting cake that wasn’t red.” So, we turned to one of our trusted food blogs, Smitten Kitchen. I love Smitten Kitchen and have made maybe…
January was a whirlwind. There was a lot going on and I’m still a little shocked that it’s already February. I wasn’t able to give Ground Hog day as much attention as I would like, but I couldn’t let it pass without making a traditional treat. We tried a new Rice Krispie Treat recipe this year that made the day still seem a little special amidst all the chaos. We made Pioneer Woman’s Nutella Krispie Treats and they did not disappoint….
We spent the last couple days of 2012 being incredibly ill with a stomach bug. (Apparently there’s been kind of an epidemic here in Colorado. So glad we could be a part of that. Thank you, Norovirus.) For 48 hours there was always at least one person vomiting at any given moment and those that weren’t were suffering from body aches and/or fevers. It was pretty bad. It’s amazing how much a bout of sicknesses can increase your gratitude for things we typically…
Celebrating Christmas with little kids is awesome. Neither Cooper nor Ellen had any idea that Christmas was coming or that presents would be exchanged. They didn’t give any thought to a certain man in a red suit and they didn’t search the house for where I hid their gifts. They marveled at our tree, enjoyed playing with the nativities we set up around the house, and snuggled into bed while we sang them Christmas Carols about baby Jesus, but for…
I typically try to avoid retail establishments as much as possible during the month of December. We hole up, living off of food storage and purchasing any remaining gifts online. Historically this has been a good strategy, but this year I didn’t plan quite as well and within only one week of Christmas I found myself at, take a deep breath, Costco. The only time I’ve seen it worse was when we mistakenly showed up the Saturday before the Superbowl….
I get excited about weird things (Groundhog Day, cloth diapering, bread, etc), so it shouldn’t really come as any surprise that I’ve been dying to celebrate Noel’s 12/12/12 birthday for almost a year. When one has a birthday on such a cool day, one must celebrate in style. So I plotted, planned, and managed to keep secrets (no small feat for me). I wanted the day to start off right from the very beginning, so at midnight (12 am) Noel started…
Pro: When kids are really little they can fly for free. Con: You have to wrestle a wiggly baby for the duration of your flight. Pro: Ariline workers will often take pity on you and check your carry-on luggage for free when you ask nicely. Con: Kids are too little to help carry any any of the baggage and even though they’re so tiny they require A LOT of baggage. Pro: Kids clothes are tiny, so you can fit a lot…
I went to the store yesterday in search of some silly, but festive prizes for our church Turkey Trot and after combing the entire store I only found a tiny selection of paper plates and cheap turkey centerpieces tucked away in a random corner. However, the WHOLE store was decked out for Christmas and all prepped for their “Black Friday” sales. (Technically, the sale now starts Thanksgiving evening, but I guess they thought we wouldn’t recognize this as a threat…
Cooper is starting to talk a lot more and one of his favorite words this fall has been “punkin!” The word is always said with at least one exclamation point. About a week ago, we picked out a couple of pumpkins at a local patch. Just last night, we finally got around to carving them. We thought about putting it off at least one more night when dinner was just one long whine-fest, but when we mentioned the word “pumpkin”…