Weekend Recap

As of this weekend I am an official mom.

My hair is chopped. And I bought a one piece bathing suit. M.O.M.



Teagan sporting her moo-moo leggings and me sporting my new hairs at Cook's Dairy Farm.  Check that one off the the summer bucket list!




Perhaps it's because my 30th is right around the corner.  Perhaps it's because I've had two children in less than two years and my ab routine is non-existent.  Whatever the reason, I felt that it was time to bid my farewells to long hair and string bikinis. 

My new look was sported at our pool this past weekend.  Mid-June and it was our first time swimming! Low 70s and cloudy is simply not conducive to being poolside.  Saturday we packed up and headed to the pool to have our plans literally rained on.  So to the great indoors we went—the kid friendly mall.  Carousel, play place, Bass Pro (for the fishies), and Rainforest Café.

Thankfully we could strap Parker to the horse because God forbid we try to hold onto her.

Bass Pro had boats too.  Who knew? One day we'll have a boat.  One day when I don't have to fear my fearless Parker jumping/falling/diving out of the thing.  But for now, we will spend 30 minutes at a time pretending to drive the Bass boats while ignoring the glares of grumpy old employees.

An 80% chance of rain on Father's Day turned into 80 degrees and sunny.  We zoo’d it, complete with a picnic (another bucket list item checked off!) and pooled it.  The pool has a kiddie area complete with a kid-sized water slide.  Parker walked up the steps to the slide a couple times, thought about it, then came back down.  But bravery got the best of her and finally she slid down.  “LETS DO IT AGAIN!” Repeat 60 times (not exaggerating).  The joy on her face was enough to burst my heart.  Watching her conquer her fear of the slide made me one proud mama.  Watching her slide through my arms at the bottom of the slide, going completely under water (have I mentioned the world ends when girlfriend even gets a drop of water in her eye? Because it does) made me feel a little less proud.  But a couple minutes of ear piercing screams later and she was back at it. 

She ain't mad about it.

And neither is her partner in crime.

How itty bitty teeny tiny doesn't T look next to Kris??



Teagan doesn't appear to mind water in her eyes. 



So there you have it.  I forgot how much fun we have during the summer.  Sun up to sun down we are go go go.  Looking forward to next weekend.  Water park? Beach? More pool? Maybe we'll do it all!

And last but not least, happy Father’s Day weekend!  I couldn’t ask for a better dad for my girls.   Funny, patient, kind…he’s got all the positive traits and none of the negative.  Love you and all that you do for us!

Teagan is 8 months old!

8 months old and no complaints!

As you can see from the above picture, Teagan is still loving life and smiles 24/7.  Babbles of "dada" are heard nonstop and my constant requests of "say mama, Teagan! Maaaaa-maaaaa" are met with a response of "dada." Stinker.

We are 100% into finger foods and girlfriend cannot get enough in her mouth.  Pasta with marinara sauce, grapes, bananas with wheat germ, broccoli (she loves it, just like her sister did!), black beans with shredded cheddar...really I can't think of one food that she's refused.  We've slowly started introducing wheat again and it seems to be going better than in the past.  The most recent times we've had zero bleeding diaper rash and zero cranky baby syndrome.  Hopefully we're getting somewhere!

In true Teagan fashion of being happy in the current moment, she has absolutely no desire to crawl or pull up.  No interest in that nonsense.  And actually, she still can't stand to be on her belly for more than 1 minute, tops.  But she's starting to figure out that she can scoot around on her butt.  I'm willing to bet that butt-scooting will be T's preferred method of getting from point A to point B. 

I'm weeks late on this post and while sleep has changed for the better (squee to the squee!) I'll save that for the 9 month post. The 8th month greeted us with the typically every three hour wake up to eat--11pm, 2am, 5am.  Teagan is down for the night by 8pm and wakes around 7am.  Naps are still frequent, usually three, sometimes two a day, and range from 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. The crib is actually being used this go around for all naps.  Crib time is also happening until T's first wake up at night.  Yay for getting use out of our organic crib mattress (which did not happen so much with Parker...).  Often she sleeps on her side or belly.  If she happens to end on her back and stirs, feet holding is her method of comfort.

Get that flash outta my face.

We've had a pretty healthy month other than those pesky allergies.  Daycare is going great.  Teagan has adjusted very well to all of her friends and fab teachers.  Love those ladies and all they do! From crafts, to outside time, to bubbles, to hugs and love...not a day goes by that I'm not thankful to have such great caregivers in our lives. 

Life is good :) Happy 8 months, sweetie!

Recipe Share: Mini Egg Bites

I have a slight addiction.  Actually, a massively slight addiction (is that even a thing?).  Something to the tune of not understanding that I don’t have a college sized football team to feed but rather a family of four.  One of whom is under the age of one.  Does that even count in the “number of mouths to feed” equation? Me thinks probably not.  But I also have the most amazingly well-behaved fur baby on the face of the planet who loves nothing more in life than to jump on the table/counter/children under 36 inches in a desperate attempt to find food.  Bump my “mouths to feed” tally back up to four. 

On one of my most recent Costco runs I grabbed not one but TWO of these bad boys:

Let’s see here.  One container has 24 eggs.  I bought two.  I already had a dozen eggs at home. 24 + two + one dozen + an expiration date in a matter of weeks that I happened to overlook (details shmedetails) = desperate need for freezer egg meals. 

Enter my good ol’ standby—mini egg bites.  Not only are they scrumptious (word of the day from Sesame Street, thankyouverymuch), but they freeze well, making it a really easy morning meal.  Hubs likes them. Parker likes them, though she does question the edibility of the green foreign objects (spinach), and I like them.  Winning all around.

Perhaps my favorite thing about these bites is the ability to make them your own.  Throw in whatever you have on hand—artichokes, red peppers, kale, bacon (!!!)—and see what taste combo you like best.  Enjoy!

Mini Egg Bites

Adapted from Weelicious

Ingredients

·         6 large eggs

·         4 tablespoons milk

·         4 tablespoons parmesan, grated

·         1/4 cup spinach, chopped

·          

Preparation

1.    1. Preheat the oven 375 degrees.

2.    2. Spray or grease mini muffin tins with oil or butter.

3.    3. Whisk the eggs and milk together. Add the cheese and spinach

4.    4. Add a heaping tablespoon of egg/vegetable mixture to each muffin cup.

5.    5. Bake for 12-14 minutes.

6.    6. Cool and serve.

May Things

May has come and gone and as usual, it was a great month in the S house. Some May happenings included:

Well, this has nothing to do with May but a few months ago the girls were subjected to their semiannual school photos.  I’m always excited to see the end result.  



Classic.





The "Reflection Pond" really adds a little something special to this one.



Oh my poor Parker!

Memorial Day weekend was spent in Columbus with my fam.  The Cbus zoo was visited and it was in.credible.  Apparently it’s the #1 zoo in America.  Huge variety of animals, aquarium, petting zoo, pony rides….seriously, this zoo has it all.  A water park is even attached but at 65 degrees no one was about to jump in for a swim.



Nana, Pap Pap, Lindz, and Jes



Miss Diva rocking her shades, compliments of Lindsey and Jes.



That Sunday we headed up to Aurora to visit Kris’ family.  Parker and Teagan were finally able to experience a parade.  Small it was but both enjoyed it.



MELTS MY HEART.



Kris was able to see his grandfather on Sunday and the very next day, on Memorial Day, he passed. I’m very thankful that we made it to Ohio in time for Kris to say goodbye.  We were already back in Michigan when we heard the news.  So we packed everything back up and headed back to Ohio early Wednesday for the funeral.  While not the happiest of circumstances, it was truly great to see so many family members. 

Miss Natalie and Teagan :)

Parker and her cousin Caroline.  Only three months apart but states away so they don’t get together too often. Of course they start playing together in the cutest way possible minutes before we’re ready to head back home.

Caroline is  an excellent piano player.

Just ask Parker ;)

Trying to get five children to pose for a family photo is quite the impossible task. 

And the photo dump continues:

Lindsey & T

Lindsey & P

P & something swimming

BOBCAT!

Loving life

&

Heehaw

My little daredevil.  Girlfriend has absolutely no fear. Rock walls, jumping from slides, ignoring of our pleas of “be careful.” I like the brave, adventurous personality that’s balled up in all 36 inches of her.  I just hope that no broken limbs come as a result.

So there you have it.  We did lots of other things—hung out with neighbors, blew up our huge swimming pool, arts & crafts, and more—and we’re looking forward to warmer temps this month.  Happy June!

Summer Bucket List

Oh my, have I ever been neglecting this blog! By the time all the babes are sleeping soundly (930pm) it’s time to shower, clean the kitchen, prep bottles/T food/my lunch/Kris’ lunch, pack bookbags, pump (die pump, die) prep a meal for dinner, get the morning coffee ready to roll (necessity), lay out clothes for me and the girls (double necessity) & so on (all with the help of my super duper hands on hubby).  Call me crazy, but by the time this is all said and done (11pm-ish) zoning out to trash TV is higher on the totem pole than blogging. 

May recap is coming up as is Teagan’s 8 month post.  We had a pretty eventful past month and the busy busy will continue through the summer.  To make sure we hit up all areas of fun that we want to a summer bucket list is in the works. From the little to the not so little, we’re doing it all.  In no particular order:

1.       Chuck E Cheese

-Parker is 2 ½ and has yet to experience CEC.  Pizza, games, creepy looking mouse with what I’m sure is an equally creepy looking dude inside said mouse…what’s not to love??

2.       Upland Hills Farm

-near and dear to our hearts.  The location of Parker’s 2^nd birthday party and home to many farm animals, hayrides, storybook trail, pony rides…Upland is our fave country spot. 

3.       Picnic at park

-any park, it doesn’t really matter. We often have picnics in our backyard in the summer so we’ll do the same with just a change of scenery.

Mini snack picnic after our family run to the park. We even got to check out the new community vegetable garden.  Pretty neat area to live in!

4.       Fly a kite

5.       Roast marshmallows over a fire

6.       Toledo Zoo

-apparently we get a discount with our Detroit Zoo membership.  And bonus—we can stop at El Vaquero in Monroe, Michigan on the way down!

7.       Parade

-crossed off ( we saw the Memorial Day parade in Ohio) but we have more to see during the Cherry Festival in Traverse.  Parade every day!

8.       Northern Michigan

-ringing in my 30’s with Sleeping Bear Dunes, gorgeous lakes, and general outdoor fun.

9.       Moonlight Movie

-compliments of our downtown.  Four Saturday nights in the summer a family friendly movie is shown on a jumbo screen and food and drinks are served.  915pm is the start time so while we’ll probably have to cut out a tad early or deal with an epic meltdown (I vote option one) but we’ll still make it happen.

10.   Red Oakes Waterpark

-lazy river, huge kiddie area, wave pool…it’s all very fun!

11.   Aquatic Center

-we live here in the summer

12.   Lakes

-we also live here in the summer

13.   Try new foods

-this is an idea from Parker’s teacher.  Each week pick out a new food as a family. Talk about it—the color, texture, smell—try it, and decide whether or not to buy it again.

14.   Farmer’s Market

-we have yet to go this season.  Time to load the babes up in the wagon and head downtown! It could tie in nicely with #13.

15.   See a movie

-a real movie in a real theater.  Teagan will probably have to sit this one out so it may be more of a mommy & Parker/daddy & Parker date

16.   Go bowling

17.   Play putt putt

-done! We played “pup pup” last weekend.  Parker was over it by hole 7 but still had fun “helping” us get our balls in the hole.  And by helping, I mean picking them up and dropping them in.



Hole in 12!



Even baby Teagan joined in on the fun. I lobbied for a higher par due to having a baby strapped on my chest.

18.   Wild Summer Nights—Detroit Zoo

-the zoo stays open late, bands play, and beer and wine are served (fo real), and everyone picnics and has a good ol time.

19.   Cook’s Dairy Farm

-keeping up with the farm theme (see #2). Lots of cows and pigs.  Last year we even saw a baby cow only a few days old! Parker was even allowed to feed it a bottle. Skeptical she was but it was adorable.  Their ice cream is homemade and it’s just a cool place with cool farm folk.  Apparently you can take the girl out of the country (me) but not the country out of the girl (me again). Stoaked to go back.

So there you have it.  Not too shabby so far!

I promise that I’ll be back sooner rather than later.  Or maybe I’ll choose to watch the Bachelorette instead ;)