9/9/2010

Thanks for all the feedback on the last post. It got me really excited so I think I'm going to do a short series on grocery/budget/coupon stuff. But Blogger has hated me this week! I couldn't sign in, I've gotten a million error messages and it just hasn't been cooperative. This does not help my motivation to blog but EXCITING announcements do make me want to blog!

So before you can ponder any of the possible exciting scenarios that just went through your head, I'll share my news. I'm returning to work. Yep, it's true and I could not be more excited! Starting next week I will begin work at our cloth diaper shop. They posted on facebook that they were looking for help. I excitedly told Currey thinking he might tell me I'm crazy but as always he shared my enthusiasm and encouraged me to apply. I went in the next morning and then went back today to work on scheduling stuff. It will be part time and around Currey's work schedule so Peanut will still get to spend her days with me or her Daddy. I LOVE the store where we buy diapers and I honestly can't believe that I get to work there. It's one of those amazing God things were I was handed an opportunity that I never even thought about but is absolutely perfect. I'm excited to be able to share my love of cloth diapers with others and get paid for it. It really doesn't get much better than that!

8/24/2010

Blythe's 6th month birthday was extra special as she will always celebrate her half birthday on my mom's birthday. It's hard to believe that in just 6 more months Peanut will be 1 year old. I can't even wrap my mind around that! Here's what we've been up to this month:

• My dearest college friend, Celeste came to visit. The fact that Blythe got to spend time with my dear friend is so special to me. Great memories!
  
• Blythe also got to meet Auntie J. We loved spending time with J in Dallas. It was a week of being spoiled and loved on. Blythe loved meeting J and I think she really enjoyed her first trip to Texas!
  
• Getting to Texas was an event! Blythe took her first flight. She did outstanding. I think I was much more stressed than she was. The other passengers were very gracious and we all survived.
  
• The flight was interesting because Blythe began teething this month. All I can say is WOW!!! Our sweet, calm baby has been really fussy. It's the worst feeling in the world to not be able to comfort her when she's in pain. Thankfully for now she is back to her usual happy self.
  
• We all got to experience our first flood at our house! Blythe slept through a lot of it but it was an adventure for sure! Hopefully it will soon get it's own post.
  
• We went to the doctor on her half birthday and Blythe weighs 15 lbs 2 oz and she is 25 inches long. We also got the go ahead to start rice cereal.
  
• Roger and Terri also came for a visit. Blythe enjoyed the extra love and attention! We enjoyed some great food and just quality hang out time together. Blythe got to go shopping for new fall clothes which she always enjoys. She is one blessed baby!

Peanut,

9/3/2010

Several of the blogs I read do Favorite Things Friday. It's basically a weekly post talking about current favorites. I've been toying with the idea of doing this for some time and I've decided to take the plunge! My hope is that a consistent weekly post might inspire me to be a better blogger. I guess we'll all see how that works out! :)

This week my favorites are cooking related. I've been in the kitchen lots lately. (And I promise that some outstanding recipes are coming!) So with out further adieu...

I've ALWAYS been a fan but I'm currently obsessed. I love that there is a recipe box where I can store recipes in categories that I've created. I can go back for reference and I love reading suggestions of people that have tried the recipes before. The pictures of food entice me and inspire me to try new dishes. I love the ease of the site!



Our new favorite ingredient is orzo. If you've never used it while cooking you are seriously missing out! Our current favorite use is this salad recipe. You should make it. Tomorrow. We've served it half a dozen times this summer and it's a huge hit. Seriously...make it this weekend! But promise me that if you make it you'll use good olives. The olives make it. Nothing that comes out of a can.


Coupons! I've always been a fan but now that I'm staying home we've had to tighten our budget in lots of areas but the easiest place to do that is the grocery budget. I'm proud to report that we spend $60 a week on groceries and we are able to do this by shopping sales and using coupons. And don't feel bad for us! We eat VERY well! We are eating more produce and organic than ever. It takes a little more planning but it's become a game to see how much I can save. And $60 covers ALL our meals for the entire week. We eat out together 3 times every 2 weeks (Both Sundays with friends after church and a meal together out) so this basically covers all breakfasts, lunches and dinners for a week. I'm thinking I should do a separate post about this. Is that interesting to anyone? I've loved spending time in the kitchen and making lots from scratch.


If money were no object, I would shop here exclusively. (See, don't feel bad for our meager grocery budget! I shop at Whole Foods!) If you don't live where there is a Whole Foods, I'm sorry! I've been absolutely amazed at how inexpensively I can get a few organic things here. (Although there are things here that are way over priced and just ridiculous!) Again, combining sales with coupons can make some products very affordable. And there are a few things we sacrifice for, like their granola. It's unbelievable! They offer nuts and cereals in bulk and I use these regularly. So there you have it! Some of my favorite cooking things. Hope to be back with more favorites next Friday!

8/18/2010

As I've written before, Currey and I have been greatly blessed by so many precious friends from all the seasons of our lives. In the last month I have gotten to spend time with 2 precious friends.

While in Dallas last week, Currey finally got to meet my dear friend, Emily Merrell. I've never called her Emily. It's always been Merrell. Merrell and I attended Kanakuk together for several summers and we were the best of friends. She came to visit me in Amarillo and I made trips to Dallas during the school year so we could see each other. I have countless memories with Merrell and Currey has heard about her for our entire relationship. Finally, he got to meet her. I didn't even know she was in Dallas (she currently lives in London) but facebooked her as we had been at a restaurant I always went to when I visited. She wrote back that she was in town and we scheduled a visit. We picked right back up where we left off (we decided we hadn't seen each other in 8 years!) and she had come across a scrapbook of one of our summers at Kamp. It was so sweet to spend time reminiscing about Kamp and talking about life now. I'm so thrilled that Currey was able to meet my precious friend too.

A week before that my best friend from college, Celeste, visited. Go here to see pictures of our time together. I was a slacker and took NO pictures while she was here. Celeste and I met our freshman year and then pledged the same club at ACU. We spent almost every Friday night together at Starbucks. We both had long distance boyfriends and would spend our Friday evenings chatting to each other and our boyfriends on the phone. I'm sure we looked like weirdos but it worked for us. :) We shared many adventures in college and always had a blast when we were together. I can report that we still enjoy each others company immensely! Celeste was here for a work conference so we got to see her on several occasions which made her visit extra special. I think it's safe to say she LOVED Miss Blythe! As the smiles in Celeste's pictures show I think Blythe loves her Aunt Celeste too. We got to share several meals, shopped and even had a couple of Starbucks dates. As always, it was SUCH a treat to spend time with my sweet friend. We just missed her precious husband Adolfo. Hopefully next time! Just wanted to take the time to document these sweet visits. Hope you are all having a wonderful week.

6/24/2010

Our time with Blythe is absolutely flying! She continues to get bigger and become more alert. With each week that passes it seems as though she is becoming less and less like a baby! We can not believe how fast she is growing.


As always, she had several firsts this month. They include..

• Her second road trip! This time we went to Wisconsin. My parents flew into Chicago and spent a couple of days with us here. Then we packed up and headed to Wisconsin Dells for the week.
  
• Swimming! We were able to give Blythe her first taste of swimming. Currey and I took her one day, then Jeffrey took her the next day. She seemed to like it. Just one more experience!
• Blythe rolled over for the first time! We actually all missed the first one, but saw 2 more after that. She waited another week until she would show her Daddy but now she just can't stop.
• Unfortunately, once on her belly she screams. She's not quite sure how to get back on her back. We are anxiously awaiting that milestone as we spend most of our days flipping her back over.
  
• We got to attend our first play group at our local cloth diaper store, Cumfy Bummy. It was nice to meet some other moms, especially other cloth diapering moms. We really enjoyed it and I think that we'll be back!
• Mommy had to take her alone for shots. It was much more traumatic for me than Blythe. I was so upset, I frightened the nurses. I HATE getting shots, so watching Blythe get them bordered on unbearable.
• She weighed 13 pounds and 4 ounces and was 24 inches long at her 4 month appointment. She's dropped to the 45th percentile in both.
  
• She is still in 3 month clothes for the most part and I'm not complaining! I'm not ready for her to grow up and it's already happening.
  

8/14/2010

I was so proud of myself because I got several posts done yesterday but then Blogger was having issues and wouldn't let me post!!! I was annoyed but thankfully, this morning, it's cooperating. So get ready for several new posts.

And since I recently realized this never posted, here's Peanut at 3 Months. So Cute!

7/24/2010

As always, these posts come so quickly! It seems as though I was just writing the last post. Blythe is now 5 Months old!!!


Here's what we've been up to this month...

• Blythe attended her first wedding and got to see Daddy perform his first wedding.
  
• That weekend she got to meet lots of people that love her dearly, including Currey's mom and 3 sets of her great grand parents. She was loved on like crazy!
  
• She also got to attend her first staff retreat. Again, Blythe received lots of extra love that week. We are so blessed by our church family especially the other staff members that we serve with. Staff retreat is always a highlight of our summer and we loved that Blythe got to be a part of that this year.
• We stay at Papa John's lake house for retreat. While we were there Blythe got to go on her first and second boat rides. She was having a hard time sleeping so we took her out on the pontoon. It rocked her right to sleep. Later in the week she got to go on another boat ride for a sun set cruise. We got a precious picture of her with her daddy!
  
• During staff retreat she began sleeping on belly exclusively. This made us very nervous initially but after staying up with her for over an hour flipping her back over we decided she could sleep on her belly. :)
  
• She can roll over from her belly to back now, although she rarely does that. She now enjoys her tummy time and spends most of her day looking at the world around her.
• Blythe got to meet Marge and Bob. This was SUCH a treat for Currey and I as we just adore the Schroeders. We enjoyed introducing them to Blythe and it's safe to say that they are in love! I think the feeling is mutual.
  
• We had some issues with feeding but were introduced to a wonderful nurse named Sue. She was truly a life saver and now we are back on track. At our second appointment with Sue, Blythe weighed in at 14 pounds and 8 oz. She is such a great eater!
• Blythe attended her first White Sox game with the youth group. She even wore her White Sox onesie. She looked adorable!

Blythe,
You still bring us more joy than we could have ever imagined. It is so fun to watch you grow and learn. You are so alert. We spend lots of time wondering about what you are thinking about. You are absolutley amazed by the world around you! You continue to smile continuously and love people. You go to everyone with ease and just eat up all the attention. You are a precious little girl and we are blessed to have you as a part of our family!