Summer Vacation 2010

Every time I begin a new blog post, I feel the need to apologize. For my ridiculously long absence. EVERY time. So again, my apologies for the extended hiatus.

We have had an extremely busy summer thus far. I finished work mid-June, and a few days later, the little man and I were off to Kentucky. Marion met us down there a few days later after making the grueling drive with the dog. Marion was lucky enough to get several weeks of leave at once, so we took full advantage. We began the vacation with Marion and I going to the wedding of our Best Man in Indianapolis. Marion got to see his old buddies from undergrad, and we ended up staying with my friend from college, so it was nice to be able to catch up with old friends. Mom and Dad were nice enough to watch Michael for the weekend so we could make the trip sans child (although that didn't take much arm-twisting!).

After we got back to Kentucky, we relaxed a little and took some time to hang out with family. My old roomate Laura and her husband even got to come down to visit for a few days, and we had fun winning money at Churchill Downs! We were able to spend the 4th with both sets of parents and Adam and Danielle, which was nice. Of course Marion and his dad supplied us with a nice array of bootleg fireworks to watch in the backyard. :)

After the 4th, we decided to pay our dear friends in Dayton a visit on the way back. We stayed with friends from Marion's program, and I got to meet up with my old Mom's group! After a day or two there, it was off to Adam and Danielle's in Pittsburgh.

In Pittsburgh, we met up with my parents once again and Adam's dad, and the guys went out for a weekend hiking trip in the wilderness. While they were out there huffing and puffing and eating nasty food, mom and I took the more comfortable route and stayed at Danielle's apartment with the little man, with short outings to the zoo and mall.

After all of our many stops and almost a month of being in beds and homes other than our own, we finally made it back to our humble NJ abode. We had a great time seeing family, but I do have to say it is good to be home!

TWO!

It is still hard to believe, but the little man just had his second birthday. TWO years old already...where in the world did the time go? It doesn't seem so long ago that I was in the hospital giving birth, but at the same time it seems like ages ago that he was that tiny, helpless newborn...hard to imagine him that small now as he's running around the house like a madman!

For his birthday party, we were lucky that Danielle, Adam, Laura, and Juan could all make it. We also invited a couple of Michael's buddies and some people from Marion's work. It actually turned out really well for how much procrastination was done. :) With the help of my trusty sidekicks Danielle and Laura, we worked diligently until 2am to get the monster of a cake done. It turned out really well (we were doing a "Things That Go" theme) for all the work that went into it! Much thanks to the sidekicks for their help with decorating!

My partners in crime....

The finished product...

For the party, it was going to be waaay too crowded in our townhouse for that many little kiddos and their parents, so I decided at the last minute to rent a moonbounce. Why? Because I'm the coolest mom ever...of course. It was a huge hit and the kids had a blast. Who am I kidding? We all had a blast!

We are always camera happy at this house, so I put the rest of the bday pics below. Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate! Now I just have to figure out where to put this massive amount of toys....

Calling All Moms With Picky Eaters!

Calling All Moms!!!!

Check out this new blog that I stumbled upon. It's devoted to making REAL, easy meals that are....get this, kid tested and approved! No more rotating between mac n cheese and chicken nuggets every night! (Although Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution has me rethinking which nuggets I buy...anyone watch that? Disturbing!) Anywho, back on topic here. Check it out. I haven't tried any of the recipes, but couldn't wait to share the site! If anyone tries anything on here that's a huge success, let me know!

www.tastebudding.com/recipes

North Dakota

For spring break this year, Michael and I flew out to visit my extended family in North Dakota for the week. Usually, I don't have a problem traveling with Michael on my own, but this was a very rare occasion when that was NOT the case. I got to the airport and realized that I had forgotten Michael's stroller AND any proof of age for him. Of course, the guy at the ticket counter was a total jerk and gave me tons of crap for it, which made us the absolute last people on the flight (after I walked Michael thru the airport sans stroller). After the first leg, we had a little under an hour layover to get through yet another terminal and grab some lunch. After finding the closest vendor selling chicken nuggets (aka McDonalds), I proceeded to spill my coke all over Michael's head as I was trying to hold onto both the squirming child and all the food. Nice. So we go to the gate to eat since there was no other seating, and Michael goes to climb up on the chair to eat his nuggets. AND off he falls. Right on his head. Well, there went our window for lunch after his 10 min. of hysterical crying that ensued. After being paged by name to board flight number 2, Michael decides to GO #2 on the plane...try changing that in an airplane bathroom!! And of course, to top it off, there was no napping to be had.

However, I am happy to report that once this drama was through, the rest of the trip went MUCH better. We even got to catch up with my Aunt Linda and cousin Becky quickly, as they were on their way out. Most of our time was spent on Aunt Lori and Uncle Bob's farm, or at the nursing home visiting Grandma and Grandpa. Michael was a trooper at the nursing home and played really well considering he was cooped up in a little room for hours. He loved exploring the farm, though, and much thanks to Bobby and Sheldon for the tour! OH...he said his first sentence on the trip! My aunt and uncle have lots of outdoor cats on their farm, and they like to frequent the front yard. Michael was always looking at them out the window, and one day he said, "Hi Lor Lor meow!" aka Hi Lori's cats. :) So cute! He's been talking about Lor Lor meows ever since....

Here's a bunch of pictures from the trip. Enjoy!

Happy Easter!

*Warning: Photo Overload*

Again, I must apologize. I am seriously behind on this blogging thing. We have had TONS going on the past few weeks, so I'll separate them out into different posts so they're not so overwhelming. Stay tuned for the next one coming soon!

For Easter this year, Marion was flying out to job training and I was flying out with Michael to meet my mom and some extended family in North Dakota for spring break. Being that we were going to be gone, we pushed the festivities up to the Saturday before. We wanted to try and get Michael involved in some of the traditional stuff this year, which of course includes egg dying. This was actually cute to watch, you just had to make sure to give him a step to do at all times or boredom would set in!

Step 1: Color the egg with crayon.

Step 2: Drop the egg in the dye.

Step 3: Wait.

He didn't like this step too much.

Want a demo? Michael will show you how it's done:

Of course, Michael had to get an Easter basket too that he had to hunt for. (No, mom and dad, we didn't hide it in the stove...we will work up to that. :) ) He got lots of cool things like new dvds for the trip, a toy car, bubbles, and some sidewalk chalk. Of course he made a beeline for the car and needed significant coaxing to check out the rest of his loot.

After checking out his basket, we decided to make waffles for brunch. Michael made them for us. He's such a good helper.

After brunch, one of the local churches was having an easter egg hunt we decided to take Michael to. It was PACKED! They had eggs everywhere...it was insane. I do have to say they did a pretty good job of crowd control though by having hunts grouped by ages. So luckily, Michael only did the hunt with other 1 and 2 year olds, and NOT the 10 year olds. :) Michael got his fair share of eggs...he got a full basked and then we had to remove him so the other kids could get a chance! Share with our friends.....we say this a lot..... :)

Hope everyone had a great Easter!

Barbara's Baby Shower

My good friend Barbara is expecting her first baby soon, so me and a few friends from grad school decided to plan her shower. So we trekked it down to DC for the weekend and got to catch up with all my old friends from school. One friend from our class, Allison, flew up from Texas just for the event....I hadn't seen her in 4 years! Love you Allison!!!! I also got to see another old friend, Kristine, who moved to the eastern shore. I got to see her beautiful baby girl for the first time...adorable!!!!

After much planning and prepping, we were able to pull off a super cute Bedtime Stories baby shower for Barbara and her husband John. It was great seeing everyone and getting to catch up. We were just thankful we could support Barbara and John in their pregnancy and help them celebrate, they're very deserving!! We love you guys!

It ended up being a great weekend, and a special thanks to Laura, Marci and Heather for helping make it happen. You guys are awesome!!

Hittin' The Slopes

Our roomate from grad school, Laura, and her husband, Juan, decided they wanted to try out their hand at skiing. Laura had been once with us in grad school, but Juan had never been before. So they came up for the weekend, and we all went up to Bear Creek Ski Resort together. Marion and I hadn't been skiing in over a year either, so we were ready to hit the slopes!

After dropping Michael off at the daycare (no, he was not skiing with us!), we were off! Laura and Juan decided to start out with some lessons. We dropped them off on the bunny hill while we explored the other runs, but not before we got a few pics of the pros in the making!

After about 5 hours on the slopes, we all decided to call it a day. And it was a success...no bloodshed! Michael did well in daycare being that he had no nap all afternoon, so as soon as he hit his carseat on the way home he was out like a light. :)

Of course, skiing was not the only thing that we did all weekend. Michael made sure to get some quality snuggle time in with Auntie Laura! I think he's even winning Juan over!