The Wednesday One: Week 4

The Wednesday One: Week 3

Menu Monday #36

Whew. What a week/weekend it has been! Obviously, I am still playing catch up since this is being posted on Tuesday, instead of Monday! Things started getting crazy on Thursday, when they announced that morning that schools would be closing early. So, I picked Ethan up from preschool earlier than normal and we headed home to get ready for the snow! And sure enough, it actually came this time. It came very quickly. We ended up getting 5 inches of snow in under 3 hours here at our house!! Kind of crazy since we didn't even get that much all year last year! Sadly, that meant that it took Josh almost 2.5 hours to get home from work - something that normally takes 15-20 minutes. :/ Snow + mountains does not mix well.

When it started...biggest flakes I've ever seen!

Less than 3 hours later it was a winter wonderland!!

Unfortunately, all that snow meant no school on Friday, which meant no Family Fun Night for preschool. :( I hope that it gets rescheduled! Fortunately though, the snow was cleared pretty quickly by road crews and the warm sun started melting things pretty quickly too, so Ethan was able to make it to his dentist appointment. No cavities for him. Yay!

Such a big boy!

I was also able to get my hair cut and colored, then we enjoyed some time playing outside in the snow!

He's so light, he had trouble breaking through it to walk!

We came inside and enjoyed some snow cream as a fun treat! I first heard of it when we lived in Georgia, but had never tried making it myself. They were big fans. So was I!

It's super easy to make and almost tasted like homemade ice cream, my favorite! :)

Snow Cream

Ingredients:

• 8 cups snow
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Mix all items together in a large bowl until the correct consistency is achieved. Adjust vanilla and milk as needed. Serve immediately.

After that, we enjoyed a dinner out at one of our favorites, the Yong Asian House. Later that evening, my parents and my sister and her family arrived from Ohio to spend the weekend with us, for a late Christmas gathering. The five cousins had a blast playing with each other!

On Saturday morning, I made a couple breakfast casseroles for everyone to enjoy with some fresh berries. Then the kiddos got bundled up to go out and play in the snow. They made a huge snowman, with the help of Grandpa, of course!

Wow! Too bad it didn't last long in the sun!

Grandpa and Grandma Frank with all five of their grandkids!

After naps, we rounded everyone up and made our way to the Hands On! Museum for a little fun and education that afternoon. The kids were able to learn about teeth and make their own toothpaste in the discovery lab. Fun!

Mixing up his strawberry toothpaste

They also enjoyed playing with all the fun equipment and making bubbles!

Noah! :)

Playground time!

Bubbles!

After a fun time, we made our way to Scratch to fill our bellies. Pesto cheesesticks and a few pizzas were a wonderful idea. We chose the toppings for one of the pizzas, ordered one as a "limited trust," where we crossed out a few things we didn't want, and ordered the final one as a "full trust," where they chose everything for us. They were delicious, as usual!

Ethan's drink of choice!

Yuuuummmm!

On Sunday morning, I made some whole wheat coffee cakes for everyone. We enjoyed a lazy day around the house with the kids playing outside again.

Sunday: Chicken and noodles, green beans, French bread

One of my all-time favorites. Super simple, too! Boil a whole chicken for 90 minutes, then remove from the pot and add egg noodles (the super skinny ones are the best!) to the water. Simmer for 20 minutes while you pick the chicken off the bones and add it back to the noodles. So good! I sautéed some green beans in a little canola oil, seasoning them with a little minced garlic and parmesan cheese. I also made a loaf of fresh bread, too.

Monday: Melt in your mouth baked chicken, whole wheat rotini, roasted asparagus

An easy, yummy, healthy dish that everyone enjoys.

Tuesday: Pot roast with potatoes, carrots, and onion

It is quite chilly here, so this meal sounded like a wonderful way to warm up. I have started adding a little A1 sauce and onion soup mix in with the meat and veggies. It gives the chuck roast a great flavor!

Wednesday: Tomato soup, grilled cheese and prosciutto sandwiches

Another cold day will be warmed up with some tasty soup. This is a meal Ethan is always requesting, so I was happy to oblige. I use Amy's Organic Tomato Bisque. I make my own French bread for the sandwiches and use provolone cheese with the prosciutto. It's a great combo.

Thursday: Chicken and rice in a bag, corn

I have never made this one, but it's one that my mom used to make a lot when I was young. You put rice and soup in the crockpot, then put in a bag that contains chicken and onion soup mix. You poke holes in the bag and the juices mix in with the rice and soup. The end product is really good, so I hope Josh and the boys like it, too!

Friday: Out to eat

Not sure where we'll end up.

Saturday: Girls Night Out!

I am excited to head out with the girls again for dinner. It's nice to get away for a bit and enjoy some girl talk. The guys will be fending for themselves, which probably means take out pizza for them!

How's the weather in your neck of the woods? Last week was quite possibly the craziest week ever that we have experienced. We had enjoyed a beautiful weekend in the 70s, which was quickly followed by rain. Lots and lots of rain. So much rain that the unfinished portion of our basement managed to flood a bit. Not a fun surprise. :( The rain then switched over to sleet, which was quickly followed by the snow. All that snow, then the temperatures were back to the 50s and the snow is almost gone already! Now we're experiencing the coldest day we've had here yet. I wasn't kidding when I said it was crazy here! I think all this weird weather is wreaking havoc with my kiddos. Ethan is home sick today from preschool with a fever, congestion and cough and Noah is still fighting his ear infection. Fun times for us. Hope everyone is staying healthy in your house!

The Wednesday One: Week 2

Noah is 18 Months Old!

Noah turned 18 months old yesterday. We celebrated his 1/2 birthday by going out to lunch with Daddy. That boy can tear up some cheese pizza at Johnny's!

He destroyed an entire piece by himself!

Eighteen months meant that it was time to make a visit to the doctor's office for a well-check. So, that is where we spent our morning today! He weighed in this month at 21 lbs 8 oz (staying around the 5th percentile), up exactly one pound from his 15-month check. He measured up at 33 inches (up to just shy of the 75th percentile), up 1.5 inches from October! This puts him under the 3rd percentile for height-to-weight ratio now. I swear he doesn't look that skinny and he really does eat a lot!! :/ His head was measured at 48.75 cm (right around the 75th percentile). He looked good overall, except that the doctor found that the poor little guy has an ear infection (it was red, with fluid), so he'll be taking an antibiotic for the next 10 days to try to make it better, and we'll follow-up to see how it looks.

Coloring at the doctor's office while we waited!

Noah is still doing great sleeping through the night. He is still sleeping around 11 to 12 hours at night. For almost the past month, he's been down to just one nap a day most days (anywhere from 1.5 hours, up to a record 3.5 hours, but normally around 2 hours). It can be a bit difficult on preschool days, trying to keep him up until almost 2 pm, but it has been mostly successful...

Morning rest time. Phasing out that morning nap is hard! :/

He is still pretty good about eating most things, but has started to become a bit pickier now. He is unfortunately more wary of trying new things I make now. He has continued to avoid most green veggies, too, but will eat the others. He has a never-ending hunger (I'm starting to wonder if he has worms?!?) and lets me know it by climbing up in his booster seat (he started using one right after Christmas) and buckling himself in when he wants to eat! Haha! He has weaned himself from nursing except for first thing in the morning. About a month ago he decided he didn't want to nurse before going to sleep anymore.

He really loves buckling his seat, even after he gets out of it. :)

New accomplishments the past 3 months:

• Teeth 10-11 made their appearance
• Saying "Grandpa," "Grandma," "baby," "Daisy," "cheese," "pizza," "cookie," "TV" (and others I am probably forgetting)
• Identifying lots of body parts

He has continued to teethe the past 3 months, with a couple more gradually making their appearances (another top canine, and bottom one, too). I can tell when it's happening now, because he tends to gnaw on his hands when he has one coming in. Poor guy. I'm pretty sure more are coming soon.

He is starting to say more words now! When my parents were here for Christmas, he called my dad "Grandpa" for the first time! My mom said she heard "Grandma" from him too, but I haven't witnessed that one myself yet. He says "baby" all the time when he sees pictures of babies. It's super cute. He'll call Daisy by name. He'll say "cheese" for pictures, and sometimes when he is eating it. He'll say "pizza" and "cookie" when he is eating those, too. :) When we get in the van, he'll often say "TV" because he really loves watching Cars 2 while he's riding. I've unfortunately gotten into the habit of letting him watch more than I probably should, but it's great for keeping him either a) happy (he's still not a fan of riding in vehicles), or b) awake (on preschool days), and happy, awake (i.e., not ruining his nap) babies make happy mommies! ;) He tries to say lots of other stuff, too, but nothing we can clearly identify yet. He appears to be getting an earlier start than Ethan did in the speech department though, which is promising.

He has gotten really good at identifying the major body parts/facial features when I name them. Nose, eyes, ears, mouth/teeth, toes, fingers, belly button, etc. His favorite is his belly button. He loves pulling up his shirt to give me a peek. :)

He's growing up so quickly now! I feel like I blinked and he went from just a little baby to a full-blown toddler!

Menu Monday #35

Well, we survived our first week back to a normal routine. Yay! It was a good week, followed by a great weekend. The temperatures warmed up just in time for the weekend and it was fantastic! We loved having the windows open and airing the house out. Josh and I were both bit by the productivity bug and we both worked on projects all weekend. Mine was my office. I started going through drawers and filing cabinets and throwing old stuff away. So far I have filled up almost an entire large trash bag. Yay! I also finally tackled my "to file" pile. It was at least 3 inches tall. :/ It is now almost gone, and that makes me happy. I still have quite a bit to do in that room, but at least I accomplished a good deal this weekend.

Josh's project was the basement. When we moved in, it was finished off into 2 rooms, but was a lower-end finish. So, our plan for the basement was to take out the wall between the 2 rooms to create one large room that would be the media room/playroom for the boys. So, the time came to finally start that project, as we are growing tired of all the toys in our main living room. Josh made great progress in just 2 days and we now have an open space down there. Next up will be a little bit of drywall work, getting the ceiling framed back up, then new paint and new carpet. Hopefully it won't be much longer and we can call this project finished!

Near the beginning of the demo, with just a small opening...

By the end of the weekend, it's one big room!

On Friday, I was craving some Indian food, so we headed to Sahib, our local Indian restaurant. Yuuuummmm. I splurged this time on some bhel puri (a salad) and a mango lassi (a drink) to accompany my chicken tikka masala. :) The boys had paneer (cheese) tikka masala, and Josh had a super spicy lamb dish.

 

Such a big boy!

On Saturday morning, I made one of our favorites, whole wheat banana bread pancakes, since I had several bananas left. They are always a hit! I had a little helper this time, too. :)

"Helping" Mommy make pancakes...

Topping them with maple vanilla glaze completes them!

Josh took a break from the basement to enjoy some time outside that afternoon with the boys. T-shirts in January?? Yes, please!

Crazy driver behind the wheel!

On Saturday night, we thought pizza sounded tasty, so we headed to Scratch Brick Oven because it's always good. If you're local and haven't been yet, you really must. This time, Josh talked me into a "limited trust" pizza. We let them pick the toppings, with the exception of a few that we didn't want. I am so glad that we did. We haven't had a bad pizza yet there, but this one was by far the best! We could tell it had smoked ham, bacon, sausage, spinach, jalapeño peppers, pickles, mushrooms, and Granny Smith apples for sure. It appeared to have a mix of their red and pesto sauces, too. Everything worked so well together to make a spicy, yet sweet, mix. They really know what they are doing!

The boys love the pesto cheese sticks!

"Limited trust"  - a slice of heaven!

On Sunday morning, Josh made us breakfast. Scrambled eggs with some leftover sausage and shredded mozzarella cheese and Cream of Wheat. A yummy start to the day! We continued working on our projects, with more outside breaks to enjoy the weather. We were pooped by the end of the day, but proud of how much we managed to accomplish in a weekend.

Sunday: Grilled sirloin steaks, oven roasted red potatoes, roasted broccoli

It was too nice not to grill, so that is what we did! Josh handled the steaks, while I did the veggies. I coat my potatoes (diced into small pieces) in a little EVOO, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, rosemary and grated parmesan. So delicious. I coat the broccoli in a little EVOO, sea salt, freshly ground pepper and shredded parmesan.

Monday: Baked chicken nuggets, mac 'n cheese green beans

Josh has a work dinner, so it will be something easy for me and the boys. I'll make my own chicken nuggets by coating some chicken breast strips in some bread crumbs and baking them. I'll make Annie's Organic macaroni. It tastes just like the blue box, so the boys are big fans.

Tuesday: Cajun stuffed peppers

I haven't made this meal in a long time, so it will be nice. I love the mix of quinoa and brown rice in the red peppers, and sausage instead of beef.

Wednesday: Tag Pic Pac with chicken, roasted asparagus

I haven't tried making my favorite Carrabba's dish at home yet, so I'm hoping this one goes well. I bought some tagliarini pasta from Fresh Market and I'll follow the recipe Carrabba's has on their website. I like to add grilled chicken to mine. Asparagus should make a nice side for this pasta dish.

Thursday: Pork chops, roasted butternut squash, couscous with toasted pine nuts and cranberries

It probably won't be nice enough to grill, so I'll either use a grill pan inside, or lightly bread the pork and pan fry it. I have missed the squash, so it will be a yummy addition. The couscous is super tasty and a big hit with Ethan!

Friday: Out to eat

We'll grab something before heading to Ethan's preschool's Family Fun Night! :)

Saturday: Out to eat at Scratch

My sister and her family are coming into town for a late Christmas celebration. We are excited to take them to Scratch so they can enjoy some pizza with us!

We have a busy week in store for us this week. Tiny man is 18 months old today, so we have his well-check tomorrow morning. I'll hopefully be back then for an update on how he is doing!

The Wednesday One: Week 1

For 2013, I'm going to start a new weekly post on Wednesdays. It will be a mix of a project 365 and a project 52, since I'll be taking daily pics, but posting weekly. I am putting together weekly collages of Instagram pics that I take, capturing our everyday moments. I will choose one photo for each day of 2013. One word will be used to describe each photo. Hence, The Wednesday One. My hope is to create a photobook at the end of the year to preserve these precious memories.

Menu Monday #34

We enjoyed another week of having Josh off of work. Sadly, he's back at work today, and we were back to waking up to alarm clocks. :( Grandpa and Grandma Seeley and Uncle Jared visited for a couple days at the beginning of the week, then it was time for the Christmas decorations to disappear for the year. It's bittersweet. I love gazing at the lit-up tree in the evenings (it's always magical to me!), but I hate swatting at little hands all day as they try to remove ornaments for the gazillionth (yeah, that's a word - it's like 100 trillion?) time. This year, the tree kind of had to go, so we would have room for all the new toys the boys have! It's kind of ridiculous. They were spoiled rotten between all 3 Christmases this year!

The feast I made for New Year's Eve was fabulous! I was very happy with how the mini pizzas turned out. I will make those again. They are a great way for guests to be able to customize their toppings if you decide to do a pizza bar. That could be a fun option for a winter party, when you can't fire up the grill! The star of the night had to be the crabmeat appetizers though, but I was also equally impressed with the cranberry cream cheese crostini. I had no idea what to expect with this recipe, but I couldn't have been more pleased with the results. They were heavenly and I will definitely make them again because they were fairly quick and easy to make, too! I also discovered that the extra cranberry mixture makes a delicious salsa for corn chips! Yum. So, in Sesame Street fashion, the letter of the day must have been C...crabmeat appetizers; mini pizzas with chorizo, red onion and cilantro; Caprese skewers; and cranberry cream cheese crostini! Whew!

On New Year's Day, our Caribbean Jerk pork roast was delicious, as usual, but surprising to me, I actually really liked the sautéed red cabbage (a Rachael Ray recipe) that Josh made. In the past, I have tried preparing it other ways, and I was never a fan. But the flavors that he used this time were great (for the recipe, he used whole grain mustard instead of mustard seed), and the final dish was a good one. I would definitely make it for dinner if I could get the kids to eat it!

On Friday, we decided to check out our local fossil museum, as it's just down the road from our house. Ethan went in October with Uncle Mike and cousins Jacob and Rachel, and he kept telling us he wanted to go with us too, so we decided to check it out after naptime. The boys had a good time, especially when they got to dig for fossils. :)

 

After we were done there, we headed to Carrabba's, to beat the dinner rush. That place is always busy, but luckily there wasn't a wait at 5:30!

On Saturday morning, I made blueberry pancakes with a blueberry syrup. They were very tasty. I used my strawberry pancake recipe, but substituted 1/2 whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour, and blueberries for the strawberries. For the syrup, I used the rest of my fresh blueberries, some granulated sugar, some cornstarch (as a thickening agent), a splash of water and a splash of orange juice. The orange juice provided just the right amount of tartness to counter the sweetness of the berries and sugar. It was perfect.

We enjoyed some time outside that afternoon, since the sun finally decided to make an appearance after days and days of rain!! The boys enjoyed riding around in their new dune buggy, and I managed to slow down the tiny one for a pic. :) He is such a sweetheart!

On Sunday morning, I decided to use up some of the ingredients that were leftover in the fridge, so I threw together a frittata, using the rest of the cherry tomatoes from the Caprese skewers, and the green onion from the cranberry cream cheese crostini. Perfect! I had also bought an extra package of English muffins in case I wanted to make a double batch of crabmeat appetizers, so those made a good side, topped with some strawberry preserves. I hate wasting food since it is so darn expensive lately, so I was happy that I didn't have to throw out this stuff! I used my basic frittata recipe, just changing up what I added to the eggs, milk and cheese.

Sunday: Leftover chili with whole wheat spaghetti and shredded cheddar

Continuing the trend of cleaning out the fridge, we ate up the leftover chili we had. This time, we served it over the spaghetti (Cincinnati-style), topped with the cheese.

Monday: Crunchy chicken, pierogies, sautéed corn

I made this meal a few weeks ago for the first time in awhile, and it was gobbled up by everyone, so I'll make it again. I coat the chicken in egg, then a mixture of crushed cornflakes, paprika, salt and pepper, then bake it. I sauté the pierogies in a little butter, as well as the corn. :)

Tuesday: Beef stroganoff over egg noodles, steamed peas

I haven't made this meal in ages, and Josh requested it awhile back, so I'm finally getting to it. I basically use Betty Crocker's recipe, as that is the recipe my mom uses. It's tasty served over egg noodles. I wanted to sauté some snap peas in a little EVOO, but our local store didn't have any, so I'll steam some frozen peas, unless I stop by Fresh Market to pick some up in the morning.

Wednesday: Whole wheat Pizza pancakes, Caprese salad

I haven't made these in awhile, but the boys love them, so I'll make them this week. I'll be using sausage and pepperoni in them. I still haven't updated my original recipe, but I now make my own Bisquick, and also sub 1/2 whole wheat flour, too. On the side, hubby and I will have a Caprese salad - fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar. Light and delicious.

Thursday: Cream cheese chicken chili over rice

I've only made this one once, a couple of months ago, but it was good. I really liked how the rice sopped up all of the liquid, and it did help cut down a bit on the mess factor with the tiny one, too. :) Instead of using a dry packaged ranch dressing, I make my own. It's super easy, much cheaper, and no extra ingredients that you can't pronounce!

Friday: TBD

We'll probably go out.

Saturday: TBD

Ditto.

It is going to be a rough week getting back into a routine again and back to preschool for Ethan tomorrow. I'm hoping it goes better than I am expecting it to! Is everything back to "normal" at your house, too?

The Christmas Letter I Didn't Send

As usual, I sent the obligatory Christmas letter to family and friends this year with our Christmas card. It's always upbeat and paints a happy picture of our little family. While everything in it was indeed true, it of course just highlights the positive aspects of our life right now. So, in an effort to showcase what life is really like with two boys (under 4) and a dog, I present you the Christmas letter that I didn't send out this year. Thanks to Anna at My Life and Kids and an episode of Up All Night for inspiring me to write this one, too! :)

Dear Family and Friends,

Another year had gone by and like they say, the years are short, but the days are long. So long. We finally found a house (because we're really, really picky) after being cramped into an apartment for six long months. We quickly learned that two small boys and a dog require more space than a 3 bedroom apartment can offer. Apparently, we love moving during the best weather times of the year (during ice storms in Kentucky, when we hit record lows in Georgia, etc). This time we chose the dead heat of July. That was fun. If we wouldn't have had movers, I probably would have given up and we'd still be in the apartment. We are enjoying living in the (new to us) house, but have learned there are downfalls to buying a house that you didn't build yourself (like we did with our first two). Someday, I'm hoping that we'll finish all of the renovations that we want to make to this one. I guess it's easier to make a list of them rather than to actually start them. In nearly six months time, we have managed to swap out most of the brass door handles for oil-rubbed bronze ones, and install under cabinet lighting in the kitchen. We've hung some pictures on the walls (mostly using nails that were already there) too, but that's about as far as we have come. Perhaps the New Year will bring us renewed energy to tackle more of that list? I'll keep telling myself that.

We were able to move in to the new house in time for little Noah's first birthday party! He's 17 months old now. I seriously don't know where the time has gone. I know that's very cliché, but I guess that's what happens once you have more than one child. Are we crazy for wanting to add another to this brood?? Noah has really started to develop his own little personality now. It's possible that he may have quite the stubborn streak. No idea where he would get that one from! ;) He seems to throw more tantrums than Ethan ever did, but we're hoping by ignoring them that he'll stop doing it. FYI, so far, it doesn't appear to be working. Noah is also not the traveler that Ethan was/is. He truly hates being strapped into that car seat for more than 30 minutes. He's not afraid to let you know it either. It makes our trips to Ohio truly delightful, though we continue to make them regularly. I think we went 9 times this year. That has to be a record for us! We also threw in a trip to Florida, too. That was a much easier drive when we lived just 4 hours away in Georgia. Noah is very independent, as well. While Ethan was happy to let us spoon feed him until well past 2 years, Noah won't let you come anywhere near him with a utensil. He insists upon feeding himself, no matter how messy the meal. It's so much fun to clean up after tomato soup dinners! Though he has proven to be more difficult than his big brother (who wouldn't love nightly feedings every 2 to 3 hours with Noah until he was 8+ months old?), I am very thankful that he is sleeping through the night. With all that said, he truly is a pretty awesome little guy. He has the sweetest demeanor (when he isn't throwing those tantrums), and we've declared him to be the best hugger ever. He was a quick mover like his big brother, crawling at 5 months, cruising at 7, then walking at 10 months. These boys like to keep their Mommy on her toes! Things haven't progressed in the speech department very quickly though until recently. He's saying "mama," "dada," "nana" (that's for banana, sorry Grandmas), "Grandpa," "cheese" (said while grinning from ear to ear with a cheesy grin, of course) and is getting fairly decent at some other words now. He signs for "more," "cup," and "all done." Yes, food is very important to this little guy! We're hoping he'll start saying more soon (Mommy is actually undecided since the big one never stops talking now that he started!), which we think will be soon based on how much he is babbling now. The boy loves to dance (Gangham style, anyone?), read books (it's super cute when he lays on his belly in his room to listen), and cuddle. He finally enjoys playing with his big brother (when they aren't fighting over toys, that is), and that makes us happy.

Speaking of the big brother...he is almost four now! He has grown up so much. He can be a super awesome helper around the house, when he isn't running around naked in it, squealing, "Naked boy!" Awesome. He continues to love playing with his cars, and we're working on the whole sharing with his little brother thing. That's not going well either. He started preschool in August, going two days a week. Mommy loves a little silence around the house those days, and Ethan loves playing with his new friends. Win-win! We're a little worried that he already has 2-3 girlfriends on most days. It's going to be a long 15 years with that one! He started speech therapy in March to work on saying more words, and to get better with his pronunciation. He has been doing really well with this, but as stated earlier, it's hard to get him to stop talking now. Whose idea was it to speed him along? While we're proud that we were able to potty-train him quickly, we're not so proud of his obsession with his wee-wee. Please tell me this goes away eventually? Ethan is super intelligent, sometimes too smart, we think. He doesn't hesitate to remind us most days that, "Mommy, I'm just three," or "Daddy, I'm just one boy," and "That's ok, Mommy. Some people don't know things." He's quite the funny little man!

Daisy continues to enjoy her princess status of the house. Do all dogs enjoy 1/2 of a king-sized bed to themselves every night? If it's possible, she may be getting even lazier in her old age. Moving from dog pillow to couch to bed all day is hard work I guess? She's been getting more stubborn about eating, too. Unfortunately, this then results in either, a) Josh force-feeding her, or b) her vomiting about once every 1-2 weeks. That's fun. Fortunately for her, she's still the most obedient of our children, so we'll keep her around for awhile.

Josh is enjoying his new job at Eastman. At first, he had to get used to the slower pace of the research environment, but now he thinks it would be hard to go back to the crazy hours he used to work. Kristy agrees. Josh would probably love to pursue some actual hobbies now that he has more free time. For now, he'll have to settle for playing his X-box at the house while the boys nap, since Kristy likes to flee the house for some "me time" whenever she gets the chance!

Kristy continues to stay at home with the boys. She dreams of someday doing a little more than wiping butts and noses all day, but will have to settle for that for now. She continues to enjoy cooking and trying new recipes (at least when the boys eat them anyway), and blogging here about various things. She is thankful she has been able to make a few friends here and enjoys getting to spend time with them.

As I mentioned earlier, we enjoyed a trip to Florida this year. Once we got there, that is. The boys really did love the beach and the pool. While Kristy still dreams of tropical, kid-free vacations now, we did have an enjoyable time. We're excited to go back next year!

Love,

The Seeley Family
josh, kristy, ethan, noah and daisy

Looking all sweet and innocent here, of course. ;)

And there you have it. I hope your Christmas was great!!