Month: November 2011

Both Nick and Wade are out of town so Amber and I got the boys together for pizza and a movie. We never got around to the movie. The boys had too much fun playing. The best part was when we were sitting downstairs talking and would hear these little boy giggles from upstairs.

We started the morning with arts and crafts, or as arts and crafty as I get. We decorated the gumdrop tree (with Dots).

Alex spent the day at MDO and I marked a ton off my to-do list. We had a quick playdate with Abram and then rushed out to meet Asher and Abby for dinner (Note that all of Alex’s friends also have “A” names.) The kids were crazy, as usual, but had a great time. They obviously didn’t sit still enough for a clear shot, but blurry is okay too.

We’ve become regulars at Yo Mama’s Story Time (thank goodness it isn’t every week). Today we had a bunch of friends join us – Riley, Sam, and Abby!

Alex is almost always up for ice cream. Today he was really excited to pour on the toppings and then he refused to eat a bite. Oh well…

Alex hadn’t been awake long when the doorbell suddenly sounded. On the front porch he found the book “Elf on a Shelf“. He and Mom sat down to read.

I’m not sure how much he understood, but he recognized the Elf when he saw him. We still don’t have a name for him. (Alex has never named anything so this will be a first – if he ever does.)

My Mom is content to let Alex be Alex. This is what her living room looked like when we got ready to leave. (Now at our house he would have been picking up some toys….)

After a quick drive (3.5 hours) we arrived at my Dad’s house for a visit. Alex was all over the place and really excited to ride his pony. (He never has named it so my Dad calls him “Little Bit”). Dad always rounds up the big horses and puts them in their stalls while we ride the ponies. He also feeds the ponies before riding and Alex spends the time talking to them.

Madison always enjoys Dad’s house. She spends the entire time running and running. She also proves exactly how much a “city” dog she is. She followed us to the barn and repeatedly rolled around in horse poop. Yuck! Then she was confused why we didn’t let her inside for lunch.

We had dinner (Chick-fil-a nuggets and El Chico cheese and chips) with Mom. Alex had a lot of fun “cleaning” all of my old toys.

With nothing pressing on our agenda, we all lazed around a little this morning. Aunt Emmy tried to teach Alex how to play “Hi Ho Cherry-O“, but Alex just wanted to move the cherries from bucket to bucket.

Today’s big adventure was putting up the Christmas Tree. Alex and Pop took a toy break while we got everything ready. Then it was time to decorate!

Alex loved the process of hanging ornaments. I got a kick out of his technique. He hung all his ornaments in exactly the same place.

I’m on a roll with these family pictures and arranged another one for today!

Wade and I made it to Memphis in time for dinner last night. (What a difference it is to drive with just Madison in the backseat!) That gave us all day today to have fun and get ready for our Turkey dinner at 4 pm. The weather was wonderful so we explored the outdoors. Alex still loves the tree house and jumping in leaves.

Alex also showed us “his” desk (complete with markers and scissors) and all of the books at Granny’s house. I was surprised at how attached Alex was to Wade and me. He obviously realized we weren’t around the last week. (And it sure made a mom feel good!)

Then the extended family got together for Thanksgiving. Tina and Marie were quite happy to entertain Alex (and laugh at his antics). We spent quite a bit of time exploring Wade’s room and his mementos from childhood. Imagine my surprise when I discovered my husband can perform yoyo tricks. How has this never come up?

I wanted a group picture and everyone was kind enough to participate.

From the pictures (and talking to Granny and Pop) it appears that Alex had a great week. Aunt Emmy even came in early to visit too!

One of my favorite pictures was this one. Judy showed Alex her cupcake and he immediately wanted to make a “Cookie Monster” too.

Wade and I have been buying fresh Christmas trees since before we were married (maybe 10 years?). This is the first year we’ve made a really bad mistake (not counting the tree we had to cut the back out of to fit in our corner). We got the tree home and realized it had an unusual amount of sap. In fact, we’ve named this tree “Old Sappy”. We’ve also decided to forgo our heirloom ornaments and stick with colored balls and lights (all of which will be thrown away at the end of the season). It’s a new look for us, but I kind of like our little, sappy tree. (Popcorn to be added later.)

The first picture shows exactly what is responsible for the sap and what to avoid in the future. (Pinecones in the “after” phase.)

I spent the day painting. Wade is a trustee at the church, which means he is in charge of fixing the building. He had mentioned that the girls’ bathroom need to be painted. I had a free day today so I offered up my services. It took all day, but the bathroom is now purple! (I’ll get a picture at some point.)
When we moved in, the glass-paneled door between the sunroom and the living room had a broken pane and we had it repaired. The man informed us the door was in rough shape and next time he would probably have to redo the entire panel. Then Alex and an incident with a hammer and the door (see here) and we never got around to taking the door back in. During the Fantasy Football draft, Alex and Abram got on either side of the door and both pushed. Now the cracked glass shattered and the door had to go to the shop. It was an expensive repair, but I have a gorgeous new door. And the glass doesn’t even rattle when you shut the door!

I was taking a nice nap on the couch while Wade was watching the Packers play. I awoke to the sound of the camera taking a picture. (Obviously Wade’s favorite type of picture – see here.)

Wade and I made the trip to get a Christmas tree without Alex (sadness). It’s amazing how much faster the process goes without a toddler (or a baby in a backpack). I don’t think I have blogged about this past years, but Wade always brings a powered saw (of some kind) to make the cutting go faster. Every year something goes wrong such as low battery or faulty EB build (meaning a new tool that isn’t quite right). This year everything was perfect and Wade was able to use his Milwaukee saw with no problems!

We got home with just enough time for me to make my contributions to the neighborhood Friendsgiving – dressing and Grandma’s Mac & Cheese.

Alex is visiting his grandparents and I have no big projects on the horizon. It’s a day just for me!

(Thanks for the chocolate Amber!)

Pop flew in this morning. We met Wade for a quick lunch, went home for a nap, and then I drove Alex and Pop to the airport. Alex is spending the week with his grandparents in Memphis. I’m curious to hear how his plane ride with Pop went. He was definitely excited!

It’s been almost two years. The boys are bigger and the blocks are smaller.
Now (November 2011) and Then (January 2010)

We are adding to our love of “Moose“. Alex’s friend, Asher, gave him a pair of Moose slippers. (The eyes even light up when you walk.)

Alex and I were complete bums this morning (yay!) and then we finally got our day started. We went to storytime at Yo Mama and Alex had a blast. He made a turkey, heard a Curious George Thanksgiving, and got chocolate yogurt (with lots of toppings). When the reading glasses were handed out, my very manly boy asked for pink.

After an awesome nap (for Alex, Madison, Tabit, and myself) we headed off to play with Abby and Asher. They only sat still long enough to eat their suckers with a few minutes of TV. They are full of energy – especially mine!

My favorite part of the day was when Alex brought his toys into the kitchen to play while I cooked dinner. He kept up a running dialog between the police car and the taxi.

(The second picture is a flashback to last March. Tabit still loves to chase the cars.)
And no day is complete without books!

Alex’s favorite activity the last few days has been coloring. Today I took a look at his coloring book and noticed a difference (that only a mom would see). Instead of randomly coloring all over the entire page, he is trying to color specific things. Granted he is nowhere in the lines, but baby steps. Definitely baby steps.

We had an ice cream date with friends today! Alex and Tristan were very excited to try out their creations.

Then Wade had them color a paper and helped them make it into an airplane.

Before long we were outside flying airplanes and generally being silly.

Today’s outing was to the Jelly Belly Factory! This had been on my list for a long time and I was excited when Amber suggested the outing. My opinion – probably not worth a trip back. On the plus side you get to ride a train. On the negative side you ride the train around a warehouse and stop every few feet to watch a video. The biggest plus is the tour ends with a free bag of jelly beans and an awesome gift store!

Today was cold (relatively speaking)! We also had our first snow flurries of the year. Alex and I embraced it by wearing new winter clothes and playing outside!

My Mom recently sent Alex the book, Little Boy, which features a boy and his cardboard box. Today Alex very much reminded me of that little boy.

In general today was a big “pretend” day. Alex was also a friendly ghost saying “Boo” and a spaceship.

Within the last year, I have found two awesome recipes using apple cider. I’ll admit that apple cider seems like a fall ingredient, but I have been making both recipes at least once a month all summer. I have previously posted about the chicken recipe – Cider-Glazed Chicken with Browned Butter-Pecan Rice. Below is the recipe for Spiced Pork with Sauteed Apples from Cooking Light.
Ingredients
3/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut crosswise into 12 pieces*
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups thinly sliced unpeeled Gala apple
1/3 cup thinly sliced shallots
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup apple cider**
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
Preparation
1. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Combine first 5 ingredients; sprinkle spice mixture evenly over pork. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove pork from pan; keep warm.
2. Melt butter in pan; swirl to coat. Add apple slices, 1/3 cup shallots, and 1/8 teaspoon salt; sauté 4 minutes or until apple starts to brown. Add apple cider to pan, and cook for 2 minutes or until apple is crisp-tender. Stir in thyme leaves. Serve apple mixture with the pork.
* I substituted pork chops for pork tenderloin (which I always do)
** I have only been able to buy apple cider in 1/2 gallon containers. I use my old baby food freezer containers (similar to ice cube trays) and freeze the remaining apple cider. Then I put the frozen cubes in a ziploc bag and simply thaw as needed.

Random moments and thoughts from the day:
Killing two birds with one stone (Clean dog and clean child):

Future football player:

Baby Grant – I love baby facial expressions and the stage with no neck:

Melissa and I both left our cameras at home with the Dads. We managed one picture together.

We spent the entire weekend at the mall and had a great time walking and shopping. We stopped long enough for a movie last night (The Footloose remake. We agreed it was good, but not as good as the original.)
One of my roommates from Semester At Sea lives in Minneapolis. Liz took us out for breakfast this morning and then showed us the cool sculpture garden at the art museum. She even had us on our way and back to the mall by the time it opened!