Friday, March 25, 2011
Poor kitty
Jenavieve has found a new way to make sure her favorite cat (for obvious reasons) goes wherever she wants him to...
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Vivi's first time bowling!
Our local adoption group has monthly outings, and this month, we went to a bowling alley! They separated the group by age, so we had all the 2 year olds at our lane and the lane next to us. They have cool ramps now for little kids so the ball actually rolls all the way down to the pins. I remember when I was little we used to have to get someone to run down and push a stopped ball on multiple occasions.
The little ones thought it was cool the first few times, then the novelty wore off. Jenavieve bowled maybe 5 frames. She didn't quite get the concept of rolling the ball away and then getting it from the ball return. I turned away from her for a second and she took off running down the lane toward the pins, trying to get her ball back! I just had my street shoes on so I was trying to keep my balance and go as fast as I could to catch her, but eventually she slipped and I was able to grab her. She made it more than half way down though. We all had a good laugh, and Eric and I both kept a much closer eye on her when she went up to bowl-which of course, she insisted on doing by herself. We could get the ball set up on the ramp, and then she would say "ova der, ova der" to send us back to our seats.
Of course Tiana (the doll that she never lets go of) went bowling too!
Look at those cute little bowling shoes!
Being goofy with her friends Liliana and Carlie. Vivi and Liliana have the same birthday, and really understood each other. They had a blast running around and mimicking each other.
The little ones thought it was cool the first few times, then the novelty wore off. Jenavieve bowled maybe 5 frames. She didn't quite get the concept of rolling the ball away and then getting it from the ball return. I turned away from her for a second and she took off running down the lane toward the pins, trying to get her ball back! I just had my street shoes on so I was trying to keep my balance and go as fast as I could to catch her, but eventually she slipped and I was able to grab her. She made it more than half way down though. We all had a good laugh, and Eric and I both kept a much closer eye on her when she went up to bowl-which of course, she insisted on doing by herself. We could get the ball set up on the ramp, and then she would say "ova der, ova der" to send us back to our seats.
Of course Tiana (the doll that she never lets go of) went bowling too!
Look at those cute little bowling shoes!
Being goofy with her friends Liliana and Carlie. Vivi and Liliana have the same birthday, and really understood each other. They had a blast running around and mimicking each other.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Happy Birthday Baby J!
Baby Girl's birthday was listed on one of her medical forms as March 12th. We were visiting family in Ohio on that day, so Vivi and I made a cake on Monday to celebrate.
This is what she did while I was writing on the cake...she kept sticking her fingers in it so I turned away and put the cake on the counter to do the writing. When I turned around, she had a very innocent look on her chocolate covered face!
Vivi blowing out her little sister's candle. (Strain all you want, I jumbled the name, hehehe ;)
Yum! Hopefully next year we'll have a picture of Baby Girl blowing out her own candle :)
This is what she did while I was writing on the cake...she kept sticking her fingers in it so I turned away and put the cake on the counter to do the writing. When I turned around, she had a very innocent look on her chocolate covered face!
Vivi blowing out her little sister's candle. (Strain all you want, I jumbled the name, hehehe ;)
Yum! Hopefully next year we'll have a picture of Baby Girl blowing out her own candle :)
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Motion sickness
We have been trying to keep busy and beat the winter blues! Vivi and I went on 2 road trips, one with my mom to visit my grandpa up north, and this past weekend we went with Eric down to Ohio to visit his sister, her husband, and their 3 girls. But more on that in a minute. First I have a disgusting parenting story to tell ;)
On the drive up north, we stopped at McDonald's for lunch, and ate in so we could stretch our legs. I got fries with my meal, so Vivi got apple slices with her happy meal and we shared. Then we got back in the car, and about an hour later, Vivi threw up all over herself and her car seat. It looked and smelled like apples, which we had never gotten from McDonald's before-they were pre-peeled and sliced and in a plastic bag. I thought maybe the way they preserved the apples had upset her stomach. After pulling over in the middle of nowhere to change her and clean her car seat a little, she had cheered up and we finished the drive without another incident. We had a great visit with my grandpa, Vivi loved playing with his dogs, especially Jake, who followed her around the house and was SO good and gentle. He's the kind of dog that makes you want to get a dog (don't worry, we won't-yet).
Fast forward to the drive to Ohio. The drive was going great-we left right at Vivi's nap time so she slept and Eric and I actually got a couple of hours of uninterrupted talking time. When she woke up, I climbed back to sit with her and we shared some crackers and an apple. We were 20 minutes away from Amanda's house when, yep, you guessed it, she threw up everywhere! She was soaked, I was soaked, her car seat was a mess...we pulled into a gas station where I changed my clothes and her clothes while Eric went inside and bought some lysol spray and some carpet freshener, and we tried to remember if she had eaten raw apples at any time between the 2 trips. I don't think she had, she's been on a kiwi-blueberry-strawberry-grapefruit kick lately and I think of those as being healthier than an apple, so I don't really offer apples to her. Usually an apple is part of my snack while she's napping. So we started thinking maybe she is allergic or intolerant to raw apples.
But, on the drive home from Ohio (it's an almost 4 hour drive) she didn't eat any raw apple, but about 3 hours into the drive, she started looking a little yellow and saying "belly...yuck". So we got off at the next exit and let her run around the parking lot of a 7-11 to get some fresh air.
We started thinking maybe it was a motion sickness thing. When we got home from Ohio, Eric took off the car seat cover (which, of course, is not machine washable, thank you Britax!) and scrubbed it in the shower and hung it to dry. It has thick padding so I knew it wouldn't dry fast and we'd be stuck at home on Monday, so I did an experiment and let her eat all the raw apple she wanted for breakfast. And...she was fine. So, motion sickness it is. Honestly, I was sort of hoping it was an apple allergy. It would suck, but it would be easier to avoid. Between Ohio and South Carolina, we already have multiple road trips built in to our year. Not to mention the 12+ hour flight to Ethiopia coming up...
I found a recipe for peppermint ginger candies, I'm going to make her some suckers and we'll experiment with that on our next trip. We also now travel with multiple extra outfits, plastic bags to contain yucky outfits, lysol and fabric refresher, and paper towels.
I also shared on facebook our little problem and a couple of other moms shared that when their child eats apples in the car they throw up. Orange colored crackers and popcorn were also mentioned, so we'll be sure to avoid those too!
Other than that little issue, we had a really fun visit with our Ohio family. Vivi LOVES her cousins and was so happy to play with them. We also went to a great children's museum near their house that had lots of fun stuff for kids of all ages. She's already asking to go see them again.
On the drive up north, we stopped at McDonald's for lunch, and ate in so we could stretch our legs. I got fries with my meal, so Vivi got apple slices with her happy meal and we shared. Then we got back in the car, and about an hour later, Vivi threw up all over herself and her car seat. It looked and smelled like apples, which we had never gotten from McDonald's before-they were pre-peeled and sliced and in a plastic bag. I thought maybe the way they preserved the apples had upset her stomach. After pulling over in the middle of nowhere to change her and clean her car seat a little, she had cheered up and we finished the drive without another incident. We had a great visit with my grandpa, Vivi loved playing with his dogs, especially Jake, who followed her around the house and was SO good and gentle. He's the kind of dog that makes you want to get a dog (don't worry, we won't-yet).
Fast forward to the drive to Ohio. The drive was going great-we left right at Vivi's nap time so she slept and Eric and I actually got a couple of hours of uninterrupted talking time. When she woke up, I climbed back to sit with her and we shared some crackers and an apple. We were 20 minutes away from Amanda's house when, yep, you guessed it, she threw up everywhere! She was soaked, I was soaked, her car seat was a mess...we pulled into a gas station where I changed my clothes and her clothes while Eric went inside and bought some lysol spray and some carpet freshener, and we tried to remember if she had eaten raw apples at any time between the 2 trips. I don't think she had, she's been on a kiwi-blueberry-strawberry-grapefruit kick lately and I think of those as being healthier than an apple, so I don't really offer apples to her. Usually an apple is part of my snack while she's napping. So we started thinking maybe she is allergic or intolerant to raw apples.
But, on the drive home from Ohio (it's an almost 4 hour drive) she didn't eat any raw apple, but about 3 hours into the drive, she started looking a little yellow and saying "belly...yuck". So we got off at the next exit and let her run around the parking lot of a 7-11 to get some fresh air.
We started thinking maybe it was a motion sickness thing. When we got home from Ohio, Eric took off the car seat cover (which, of course, is not machine washable, thank you Britax!) and scrubbed it in the shower and hung it to dry. It has thick padding so I knew it wouldn't dry fast and we'd be stuck at home on Monday, so I did an experiment and let her eat all the raw apple she wanted for breakfast. And...she was fine. So, motion sickness it is. Honestly, I was sort of hoping it was an apple allergy. It would suck, but it would be easier to avoid. Between Ohio and South Carolina, we already have multiple road trips built in to our year. Not to mention the 12+ hour flight to Ethiopia coming up...
I found a recipe for peppermint ginger candies, I'm going to make her some suckers and we'll experiment with that on our next trip. We also now travel with multiple extra outfits, plastic bags to contain yucky outfits, lysol and fabric refresher, and paper towels.
I also shared on facebook our little problem and a couple of other moms shared that when their child eats apples in the car they throw up. Orange colored crackers and popcorn were also mentioned, so we'll be sure to avoid those too!
Other than that little issue, we had a really fun visit with our Ohio family. Vivi LOVES her cousins and was so happy to play with them. We also went to a great children's museum near their house that had lots of fun stuff for kids of all ages. She's already asking to go see them again.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
The Best Oven Roasted Potatoes
These were super easy to make, and they tasted like steak fries you would get at a restaurant! I served them with grilled chicken and a big salad, and my dad is planning on using the leftovers I gave him to eat with his eggs for breakfast. Yum!
Best Oven Roasted Potatoes
1/8 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic OR 1 tsp garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 tsp chili powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine oil, garlic, parsley, chili powder, pepper, and salt.
Stir in potatoes until evenly coated. Place potatoes in a single layer in an oven safe
dish. I used a casserole dish, a baking sheet would work fine too.
Roast for 20 to 30 minutes, turning occasionally to brown on all sides.
I found the original recipe here but adapted it by reading the comments for the recipe, which usually helps. The original recipe would have been too herby for me I think.
Best Oven Roasted Potatoes
1/8 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic OR 1 tsp garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 tsp chili powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine oil, garlic, parsley, chili powder, pepper, and salt.
Stir in potatoes until evenly coated. Place potatoes in a single layer in an oven safe
dish. I used a casserole dish, a baking sheet would work fine too.
Roast for 20 to 30 minutes, turning occasionally to brown on all sides.
I found the original recipe here but adapted it by reading the comments for the recipe, which usually helps. The original recipe would have been too herby for me I think.
I didn't take a picture of it, but it looked really yummy, an impressive dish for company. The yummy dishes never end up with pictures taken because they disappear so fast ;)
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Miss mischief
The house has gotten dry, as it usually does in winter, so we pulled out our humidifier for the bedroom. It is a jug of water with a tube that the vapor goes up, and a removable cap so you can point it where you want it to go. So far in the week since it has been out:
-we couldn't find Vivi's pacifiers at naptime-they were in the tube, with the cap back on!
-Vivi had been playing in the bedroom when I heard her yell "help!". I ran into the bedroom to find that she had taken the cap out and tried to climb in (!!) and got her foot stuck inside the jug.
-where's my deodorant? In the tube!
-why isn't the vapor coming out? Vivi stuck a crayon in there, put the deodorant on top of it, and it got pushed into the mechanism that vaporizes the water, where it melted and jammed it up, and then after Eric scraped it all out, the vapor smelled like melted crayon.
Toddlers!
-we couldn't find Vivi's pacifiers at naptime-they were in the tube, with the cap back on!
-Vivi had been playing in the bedroom when I heard her yell "help!". I ran into the bedroom to find that she had taken the cap out and tried to climb in (!!) and got her foot stuck inside the jug.
-where's my deodorant? In the tube!
-why isn't the vapor coming out? Vivi stuck a crayon in there, put the deodorant on top of it, and it got pushed into the mechanism that vaporizes the water, where it melted and jammed it up, and then after Eric scraped it all out, the vapor smelled like melted crayon.
Toddlers!
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