Monday, October 25, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
22 Months!
I can't believe Max is 22 months old today! Soon he'll be 2 years old and my, how the time has flown! Here are some fun things he's been saying lately...
-He says "nigh nigh" to all his words, including his silly song "doodldoodldoodldoodldoo"
-Love you
-Poopie
-NO!
-Yeah
-Cheese (for pictures)
-Naughty
-Knee
-Van
-Bus
-Beeeeeeeg Truck (or Beeeeeeg Tractor....lots of things are Big right now to him)
-Book
-Up -Down
-All sorts of other things I can't think of at the moment :)
Max has also been getting very ornery lately. Willful disobedience has become something Max loves doing to make me upset. I'm still working on the "to spank or not to spank" issue.
Max is starting to like watching a few cartoons. He's never cared much for TV since we don't have it on very often but I've been turning it on when I'm doing something in the kitchen and he seems to be getting more into it. Curious George and Diego seem to be some favorites at the moment. Max also loves to have his window rolled down in the car. Every time we get in, he says "down peas!" so we roll it down. Then he points to the opposite window and says "ruff ruff down peas!" (This is because he considers that Maggie's window since that's where she sticks her head out when she's in the car and Max still calls her "ruff ruff" instead of Maggie).
Max also loves going to the park. He's really learning how to climb well and keep his balance so going down slides is a favorite. Max also loves going for walks in his stroller which keeps me happy since he doesn't try to squirm out! He also has learned how to do somersaults which has been hilarious to watch. We have to make sure he does them on soft places because he doesn't understand yet that you can't do a somersault on cement...
Max also has been loving to "clean". He wants to help me vacuum and loves taking baby wipes around the house to clean the walls, floor, toys, the dog, anything within his reach. Max also has learned how to take off his diapers and shirts by himself which makes nap-times even more "special!" I have to make sure he has a tight shirt and pants on so I don't come in to find a half-naked baby sitting in pee (or worse, oh yes, I have found him in worse!)
Max has also been obsessed with the toilet. I don't think he's ready to potty-train, but he loves to unroll the toilet paper and flush it, over and over again. He likes to hold his toys over the toilet and pretend like he's going to drop them just to hear Kirk and I scream "OH NO, MAX, ONLY TOILET PAPER GOES IN THE TOILET!!"
We finally put away our high chair for him and Max has graduated to sitting in his booster seat full time. This has been up and down but I think it's good for the most part. He's also learned how to open all of our doors, so we had to put on the door-knob locks. Just when you think you have everything baby-proofed, you find out you are dead wrong. HA!
Some of the books I've been thumbing through right now on parenting are "The Strong Willed Child", "Dare to Discipline", "Temper Your Child's Tantrums" -all by Dr. Dobson, and "The Baby Whisperer for Toddlers" by Tracy Hogg. Sometimes I just wish SuperNanny would come stay at my house for a few weeks to teach me a few things. This parenting thing is HARD!
For the past 22 months Max has been the most wonderful, challenging, life-changing blessing I could have ever imagined. My heart has grown and stretched and been pulled on more than I thought humanly possible. I knew that once you have a baby your life changes and you learn a new kind of love but I never imagined it could be this amazing. The love I have for my son overwhelms me on a daily basis and gives me new perspectives on almost everything I encounter in life. Just last Saturday when I was at the Husker/Texas game with Kirk and a few of the players got hurt, I turned to Kirk and almost in tears said, "those are somebody's sons out there!" Kirk nodded but I could tell he secretly thought I was a bit nuts as he responded, "Well Jenny, it's just what happens in football!"
That's it for now! I'm off to pack a bag for me and my little love-bug to take a trip to Grandpa and Grandma Knudsons tonight!
-He says "nigh nigh" to all his words, including his silly song "doodldoodldoodldoodldoo"
-Love you
-Poopie
-NO!
-Yeah
-Cheese (for pictures)
-Naughty
-Knee
-Van
-Bus
-Beeeeeeeg Truck (or Beeeeeeg Tractor....lots of things are Big right now to him)
-Book
-Up -Down
-All sorts of other things I can't think of at the moment :)
Max has also been getting very ornery lately. Willful disobedience has become something Max loves doing to make me upset. I'm still working on the "to spank or not to spank" issue.
Max is starting to like watching a few cartoons. He's never cared much for TV since we don't have it on very often but I've been turning it on when I'm doing something in the kitchen and he seems to be getting more into it. Curious George and Diego seem to be some favorites at the moment. Max also loves to have his window rolled down in the car. Every time we get in, he says "down peas!" so we roll it down. Then he points to the opposite window and says "ruff ruff down peas!" (This is because he considers that Maggie's window since that's where she sticks her head out when she's in the car and Max still calls her "ruff ruff" instead of Maggie).
Max also loves going to the park. He's really learning how to climb well and keep his balance so going down slides is a favorite. Max also loves going for walks in his stroller which keeps me happy since he doesn't try to squirm out! He also has learned how to do somersaults which has been hilarious to watch. We have to make sure he does them on soft places because he doesn't understand yet that you can't do a somersault on cement...
Max also has been loving to "clean". He wants to help me vacuum and loves taking baby wipes around the house to clean the walls, floor, toys, the dog, anything within his reach. Max also has learned how to take off his diapers and shirts by himself which makes nap-times even more "special!" I have to make sure he has a tight shirt and pants on so I don't come in to find a half-naked baby sitting in pee (or worse, oh yes, I have found him in worse!)
Max has also been obsessed with the toilet. I don't think he's ready to potty-train, but he loves to unroll the toilet paper and flush it, over and over again. He likes to hold his toys over the toilet and pretend like he's going to drop them just to hear Kirk and I scream "OH NO, MAX, ONLY TOILET PAPER GOES IN THE TOILET!!"
We finally put away our high chair for him and Max has graduated to sitting in his booster seat full time. This has been up and down but I think it's good for the most part. He's also learned how to open all of our doors, so we had to put on the door-knob locks. Just when you think you have everything baby-proofed, you find out you are dead wrong. HA!
Some of the books I've been thumbing through right now on parenting are "The Strong Willed Child", "Dare to Discipline", "Temper Your Child's Tantrums" -all by Dr. Dobson, and "The Baby Whisperer for Toddlers" by Tracy Hogg. Sometimes I just wish SuperNanny would come stay at my house for a few weeks to teach me a few things. This parenting thing is HARD!
For the past 22 months Max has been the most wonderful, challenging, life-changing blessing I could have ever imagined. My heart has grown and stretched and been pulled on more than I thought humanly possible. I knew that once you have a baby your life changes and you learn a new kind of love but I never imagined it could be this amazing. The love I have for my son overwhelms me on a daily basis and gives me new perspectives on almost everything I encounter in life. Just last Saturday when I was at the Husker/Texas game with Kirk and a few of the players got hurt, I turned to Kirk and almost in tears said, "those are somebody's sons out there!" Kirk nodded but I could tell he secretly thought I was a bit nuts as he responded, "Well Jenny, it's just what happens in football!"
That's it for now! I'm off to pack a bag for me and my little love-bug to take a trip to Grandpa and Grandma Knudsons tonight!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Cooking with Pumpkin
Before I start my post about cooking with pumpkin, I would like you all to see the mantel that has finally been installed after only 14 months. *Can you sense my sarcasm?*It did turn out pretty well, though, even though we are in the process of repainting it black.
Okay, onto my real post.
Being as it's Fall and I've been on a cooking kick, I decided to do some fun things with pumpkin.
First I decided to bake a pumpkin in the oven. I have always thought this sounded difficult for and for some reason I've been intimidated to try it. After doing it I have no idea why I thought that, it was the easiest thing ever!
Before I baked the pumpkin I washed the outside and cut it in half. I then scraped out all the seeds and stringy pulp. I washed the seeds and left them to dry on a towel while I started the soup and baked my pumpkin.
I placed each half of the pumpkin face down on a cookie sheet. Then I baked it at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half. Doesn't it look pretty?
After the pumpkin was done, the skin peeled right off! So easy! I scooped the pulp into a bowl and let it cool before I stuck it in the fridge.
After my seeds were dry, I placed them on a skillet with butter and seasoning to make the "spicy pumpkin seeds" that my soup called for.
Another recipe I made with pumpkin, I actually used canned pumpkin for this recipe, was a Curried Pumpkin Soup. It took me about 4 hours and had some steps like "blending the soup in batches in the blender"but it actually turned out really good! It tasted even better the second day. Spicy and full of pumpkin flavor. The recipe calls to add the Spicy Pumpkin seeds as a garnish on top which I did but decided I liked it better without. The seeds were too chewy, next time I might bake them before I saute them...
The last recipe I've made recently was Pumpkin Spice Bread where I used the pumpkin pulp from my home-baked pumpkin. I made several variations, pumpkin chocolate chip, pumpkin craisin pecan and just plain pumpkin spice. Each turned out delicious! I love mini-loaf pans! Perfect for gifting my bread to my favorite in-laws. :)
Here's to more cooking with fall ingredients!
P.S. Is this not the cutest little man in the entire world!??! GO BIG RED!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
I Love Fall
I love Fall!!! Everything about it, except for the fact that it leads to winter. We won't talk about winter right now, too depressing! I have decided fall is my favorite season of all time, even more than spring or summer. Something about waking up to a chilly home because you left your windows open to catch the fresh air, sipping hot apple cider, wearing sweaters and flats and cooking up some down-home country food. I could live in this climate year round! I also love the colors of fall, from the vibrant leaves outside to the deep oranges, reds and browns that I decorate with inside. YES PLEASE!
Oh yeah, I also love our new firepit :)
Fall is our busiest time of year, by far. I feel like our lives revolve around the Husker football schedule but secretly I like it that way. It always seems as though there are more get-togethers, birthdays, outings and just plain things going on that keep our calender maxed out. Here is what we've been up to this fall so far.
A few weeks ago Kirk and I got to attend the Nebraska/Idaho game. We are blessed with a Grandma Jean who has 4 season tickets so we basically get to go whenever we want to. Kirk and Grandma Jean go to every game together and the rest of the family just fills in the other two tickets whenever we feel like going and it all works out great. Anywhoo, we had so much fun with Grandma Jean at the Idaho game. She is the biggest football fan we know and always sneaks us in food and candy plus treats us to all the football goodies we can handle. She is a hoot to watch the game with, she always leans in to talk about "Number so-and-so" and I always nod and comment like I know exactly what she's talking about. This woman knows literally everything. We always have a blast and I'm looking forward to going to another game or two this year if I can find babysitting for Max!
Then of course we hit up the AppleJack Festival, see previous post for all the pics of this fun weekend adventure. I think this is one of Nebraska's most fun things to to, if you've never gone you are missing out big time. You don't have to go during this weekend to experience it, but there is a lot more going on during the festival. We talked around Arbor Day Farm, took the Tree Adventure, took a tractor ride through the orchards where we got to pick lots of apples and hear the history of the city and we also went to the car show/carnival to get some good old carnival food for lunch. We already can't wait for next year.
Two weeks ago Max and I went to the family fun activities of River City Roundup. We went twice, actually. The first time we went with our Mom's Club friends and Max got to pick pretend apples, ride mini tractors, play in corn and pet some animals. The second day Max and I went with Rhonda (my mother-in-law) to the parade and then down to do some eating and shopping. We parked about 4 blocks away and it poured on us the whole way home but it was so much fun!!
My birthday landed on a Friday this year. Kirk was out of town for a fishing weekend which I gave him my blessing to go on because it's uber important to him and it was the only weekend that worked with his friends from college. Kirk is always so great about letting me go out with the girls or go on trips that I couldn't say no :) Anyway, so in the morning I met up with a couple girlfriends for shopping and coffee and later that night I went to Brix with the same girls minus our babes. It was so much fun!! Brix is a fun experience that I can't wait to get back to. I'm not a huge wine drinker but the martinis were amazing and the food was delicious. Great conversations and laughing until we almost threw up topped the evening off!
Last week Max and I hit up Vala's Pumpkin Patch 3 times. Yes, you heard me, we went to Vala's three days in one week! And it was a riot each time! We did almost everything there in those three days, from the pig races, to the hayrack and tractor rides, to pony rides, pumpkin chunkin cannon, storybook barn, tractor playground, giant slide and everything in between. I can't wait to go again. We got a season pass so I don't have to feel guilty about spending $12 bucks to get in everytime. Thank goodness Max is still free :) I plan on going at least once a week until it's over!
That pretty much sums up our last couple weeks of fall! I've also been cooking all sorts of yummy "cold weather" food and might post some of my recipes here later on. I'm going to attempt a Curried Pumpkin Soup with Spiced Pumpkin Seeds later on this week and I have a feeling it's either going to be a complete FAIL or absolutely delish!
Well I'm off to catch up on my DVR while Max is sleeping!
Oh yeah, I also love our new firepit :)
Fall is our busiest time of year, by far. I feel like our lives revolve around the Husker football schedule but secretly I like it that way. It always seems as though there are more get-togethers, birthdays, outings and just plain things going on that keep our calender maxed out. Here is what we've been up to this fall so far.
A few weeks ago Kirk and I got to attend the Nebraska/Idaho game. We are blessed with a Grandma Jean who has 4 season tickets so we basically get to go whenever we want to. Kirk and Grandma Jean go to every game together and the rest of the family just fills in the other two tickets whenever we feel like going and it all works out great. Anywhoo, we had so much fun with Grandma Jean at the Idaho game. She is the biggest football fan we know and always sneaks us in food and candy plus treats us to all the football goodies we can handle. She is a hoot to watch the game with, she always leans in to talk about "Number so-and-so" and I always nod and comment like I know exactly what she's talking about. This woman knows literally everything. We always have a blast and I'm looking forward to going to another game or two this year if I can find babysitting for Max!
Then of course we hit up the AppleJack Festival, see previous post for all the pics of this fun weekend adventure. I think this is one of Nebraska's most fun things to to, if you've never gone you are missing out big time. You don't have to go during this weekend to experience it, but there is a lot more going on during the festival. We talked around Arbor Day Farm, took the Tree Adventure, took a tractor ride through the orchards where we got to pick lots of apples and hear the history of the city and we also went to the car show/carnival to get some good old carnival food for lunch. We already can't wait for next year.
Two weeks ago Max and I went to the family fun activities of River City Roundup. We went twice, actually. The first time we went with our Mom's Club friends and Max got to pick pretend apples, ride mini tractors, play in corn and pet some animals. The second day Max and I went with Rhonda (my mother-in-law) to the parade and then down to do some eating and shopping. We parked about 4 blocks away and it poured on us the whole way home but it was so much fun!!
My birthday landed on a Friday this year. Kirk was out of town for a fishing weekend which I gave him my blessing to go on because it's uber important to him and it was the only weekend that worked with his friends from college. Kirk is always so great about letting me go out with the girls or go on trips that I couldn't say no :) Anyway, so in the morning I met up with a couple girlfriends for shopping and coffee and later that night I went to Brix with the same girls minus our babes. It was so much fun!! Brix is a fun experience that I can't wait to get back to. I'm not a huge wine drinker but the martinis were amazing and the food was delicious. Great conversations and laughing until we almost threw up topped the evening off!
Last week Max and I hit up Vala's Pumpkin Patch 3 times. Yes, you heard me, we went to Vala's three days in one week! And it was a riot each time! We did almost everything there in those three days, from the pig races, to the hayrack and tractor rides, to pony rides, pumpkin chunkin cannon, storybook barn, tractor playground, giant slide and everything in between. I can't wait to go again. We got a season pass so I don't have to feel guilty about spending $12 bucks to get in everytime. Thank goodness Max is still free :) I plan on going at least once a week until it's over!
That pretty much sums up our last couple weeks of fall! I've also been cooking all sorts of yummy "cold weather" food and might post some of my recipes here later on. I'm going to attempt a Curried Pumpkin Soup with Spiced Pumpkin Seeds later on this week and I have a feeling it's either going to be a complete FAIL or absolutely delish!
Well I'm off to catch up on my DVR while Max is sleeping!
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