It's the Simple things

I have to say that I love the simple joys of motherhood almost as much as I love the big joys (talking, walking, etc.) I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with the book "I love you, Stinky Face" but I picked it up at Kohls after reading it with Killian there, and him loving it. Anyways, the little boy keeps asking, "but mama, but mama, what if I was... (and he says something like a big, scary ape or a meat eating dinosaur), would you still love me then?" Killian is in LOVE with this book, and he calls it "but mama mama" book, and he knows how to find it by it's spine :) Every night he picks it out, and if I read it as number 2 or 3 out of 4 books, he'll say he's all done and ready for bed after we're done reading it. Apparently it's the best ending for the day. :)  Oh I LOVE this little boy. <3

Our weekend

Well our weekend started out non-eventful... and blossomed into lots of fun. Saturday Killian and I were SO sick :(. I felt like I had strep... and his cold was getting the better of him. After sleeping in, we sat around our house, until lunch/nap.. he then took a 3 hour nap, and I had to wake him! Some of my extended family was in town, and I haven't seen them in YEARS, so of course I wanted to visit. Boy, he was not happy to be woken. :( But he loved all the attention of so many adults thinking that he was adorable :) We came home for dinner, play time, and bed promptly at 7 pm. On Sunday, We headed out for Milwaukee to spend the day with my sis. The plan was to get there before lunch, eat lunch and take a nap, then head out for shopping/site seeing. Of course, after watching 45 min. on his dvd player, Killian slept an hour in the car.. then promptly wanted no proper nap. So after lunch, and a half an hour of trying to convince a very tired toddler to take a nap somewhere new... we headed out shopping. We went to 3 different grocery stores, and I got alot of fun new foods, including beet sugar (which I'm very excited to use, since I'm going to try and cut out all cane sugars from our diet this summer). Then, we headed over to an outdoor mall. By this point, Killian was sick of me trying to get him to sleep in his stroller, and he had to get out once and a while to run around. I bought a new (first time in 2 years) outfit for myself, and a great floor puzzle for Killian, that he can do with me. My sister got him a WONDERFUL wooden drum (as a belated christmas gift), that he loves.
After shopping, we headed over to my grandparents and  visited before going out to dinner. By this point I was exhausted and ready to go home. We didnt get home until a little before 9.. and Killian didn't fall asleep until 915 (yes, the bugger didn't fall asleep the entire ride home!). And now.. he woke up at his usual 630 am.. UGH. It's back to school today :(

Spring Break

It's been a very rewarding spring break. While I have yet to do almost any homework (oops), I've gotten the house spic and span.. and of course spent as much time with Killian as possible. We've been to the park about 5 times, 3 walks, mom and pop place 3 times, monkey joes, fazollis... and of course just spent time at home. Tom. we're swimming in the morning, off to the library for story time, mom and pop place again for lunch (this time with a friend and her daughters), then after nap, we're going to spend some time with my friend Amanda and the children she babysits for. Sat. is farmer's market, dog food store, childrens museum, lunch with family, and movie night. Sunday we're spending in Milwaukee with my sister. Yes, we are jamming as much time with each other, and fun events into one week as possible! So now the real question is, will I get all the homework done that I need/wanted to? Probably not is my answer, but I'm going to stop blogging, organize my office, and try to get at least 2 journals written for my math class (2 out of 3 is pretty good :) ). Hope everyone is enjoying their week. I will try to post some photos of the rest of our weekend on sat./sun.

Welcome Stella!

Months ago, I had decided I wanted to get Killian a dog for his 2nd birthday. He SOO loves stubby.. well any animal really, but stubby especially since he was raised by him. In fact, he often imitates stubby by sniffing boulders that Stubby sniffs, and "barking" at people stubby barks at. Yes, it's very sad.. Killian was meant to be a second child. I knew this from the beginner. Anyways, after some thought, I decided another dog wasn't feasible, and with all that is going on in our lives, I forgot about the idea. Well, as these things tend to go, Stella fell into our laps. My mom was at a horse auction, and saw these puggle puppies, and called me. We talked the owners down to 175$ since I'll have to spay her, and after some hours of soul searching, I decided it was too perfect not to do it. We brought Stella Winkel home last night

 

 Stubby hasn't left her alone yet. She is another puggle, though has more beagle in her than stubby, and is only 8 weeks old, and I swear less than a pound. :)
And again, as these things go, she fits into our family perfectly. Stubby is so happy to be dominate over something/someone, and shows her the ropes of the house, while trying desperately to play with her. Killian loves her like a baby, and is very gentle and sweet with her. (Eventually, I want her to sleep in his room. I think we're going to go get a doggy bed for her today.)
Stella has given me a project to focus on that doesn't have something to do with this custody BS.
As for Stella herself? Well she's energetic, and def. stubborn (which fits our family), but she's also smart (again, our family). She's already learned what go potty means, and what it means to go outside. She's gone outside every time so far (and though I know there will be accidents, seems to understand where she should go). The only thing that I have to teach her at this point (besides her name), is not to chew on things! I never had this problem with Stubby, since I got him when he was 5 months old, and he was to terrified all he did was stay in a little ball on top of my clothes. But Stella.. well she's losing her baby teeth and loves chewing. I'll post some more photos later, because we're heading over to my mom's this afternoon where we'll play outside and get lots of adorable pictures. Enjoy your sunday!

Top O the Morning to ya!- Party for Toddlers

So today a girlfriend and I had a party for our toddlers (mine + the two she nannys for). We had lots of fun!! We "hid" gold coins (chocolate) around the house for them to find

We had the kids helps us make Green Jello and Green bean cassorle:

 While our food was cooking, we did a GREEN shamrock are project:

 We did a few rhymes:
Five Green Shamrocks added 2-15-98 Original Author Unknown
Five green shamrocks growing outdoors
(Child's name) picked one, and that left four.
Four little shamrocks, green as they can be.
(Child's name) picked one and that left three.
Three little shamrocks playing peek-a-boo
(Child's name) picked one and that left two.
Two little shamrocks nodding in the sun,
(Child's name) picked one, and that left one.
One little shamrock for St. Patrick's Day fun.
(Child's name) picked it, and that left none.
Cut 5 flannel board shamrocks and let the children make shamrocks on a
stick and place the numbers on the shamrocks for math count.


And finally, ate our food- the chicken was supposed to be green, since I used broccoli puree, but it didn't work as well I thought it would.. but still good :)** Here's the recipe for chicken nuggets with veggie purees **

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On a SEPARATE note, but to do with Green celebration.... Here's a new recipe to add to my pile of homemade/non-toxic cleaning products. I already posted about my floor cleaner, but here's a recipe for window/glass cleaner:

1 cup rubbing alcohol + 1 cup of water + 1 Tbslp Vinegar + a few drops of essential oil (for the smell of course). And again, add that to a spray bottle that you can buy at the dollar tree/store.. Don't forget to label it!! Use away :) Here's a helpful hint, I love the method brand of cleaning products, which I'm not using up one bottle at a time and slowly switching to all homemade cleaners.. but Method makes a WONDERFUL window rag that has ridges to catch all the runaway cleaner.  I LOVE it.
Hope all of you in the midwest are enjoying this beautiful weather!

First few visits to the park 2010

OOH how we love the park :) We've gone 3 times since this weekend, and Killian has been loving it. Side note, last summer (at the end), I could bike to the park no problem, on Sunday, I almost died.. ya that was a BIG wake up call. Anyways, here are a few photos of Beaner enjoying the park:

Killian was so happy to be able to run on grass

Killian wanted so badly to move the digger by himself. Sorry dude

Big swing

Little slide :)

I also bought this little toddler hard helmet for Killian at a thrift store for .50. He really loves it.. and tells me he's bob (aka bob the builder) when he wears it :)

Spring, Spring, Spring

Spring is here (well, almost!) I started planting some of my seedlings for my garden. Some are being gardened in containers in my house/ front porch (garlic, baby carrots, sugar snap pea, lettuce, spinach, herbs), (I'm growing potatoes in a barrel.. yay- but that's going at my mom's house), while others are going into raised flats/ground in my mom's back yard (carrots, eggplant, onions, leeks, watermelon (2 types), cantalope, cucumbers, beans, etc.) I'm so excited since I'm actually doing it right this year. I planted my leek, onion, and eggplant seedlings..

Here they are soaking up some sun/warmth (instead of buying pots for all of my seeds.. I've been saving containers from food in order to sprout my plants)

It's hard to see.. but my leeks sprouted already! I'm very excited to see a little green !!

I plan on planting my lettuce and spinach today once I buy some containers for them. Last fall I planted garlic at my house, my dad's house, and my mom's house. I had covered mine with leaves to keep it warm... and it was finally time to take the leaves off!

No green sprouts yet.. but I'm waiting :)

I took a picture of Killian's new (used) chair for our porch, because I plan on serving breakfast out there this spring/summer.

Can you tell that I'm over excited about spring????? ** If anyone would like to grow their own food this summer/spring, but doesn't know how, or where to start, let me know. I can give you resources, and the few tips that I learned last year in my first year of growing. Number 1 tip, start your seeds now.. though it's not the end of the world if you don't **

Anyways.. back to KILLIAN. Yesterday I had my 2nd PRAXIS exam (for certification in the state of WI), so Killian spent the morning with Gammy. After we came home and had a nap.. I took him to his FIRST real movie in the movie theater! He loved it. I think he really loved the popcorn and slushy, but he sat through the whole thing. We saw Princess and the Frog.. which was kind of scary- and a little bit of a bummer. Killian kept telling the bad guy on the screen that he was "bad" :) 

Today I plan on taking bean for a bike ride (he keeps asking to go) to the park. Last time I checked, the park was still all snow, but I'm hoping the week of warm weather helped melt it all. After nap I want to take a walk (to get stubby out of the house), and then we're eating dinner at my dad's tonight so Killian gets some grandpa time. 

ONE more week of school until spring break.. and UGH it's a busy one :( A paper, exam, presentations and quizzes. But then I get off for a whole week to spend with my bean <3 Hope you all have a gorgeous week!

We're almost there- spring?

So there's lot to say/pictures to share since my last (real) post. My sister's visit was wonderful, but busy! And school has become very demanding of my time, not to mention that Killian's life is changing by his father entering his life for the first time.. so that puts extra stress on the both of us, not to mention more time out of my weeks for supervised visitation (this thursday will be our first one). But, we had a wonderful week.. Thursday we went to mcdonalds playland with friends while we waited for Wild Air to open up, and boy did killian have fun climbing into the tubes. Then, we were at Wild Air. He loved that as well. He was tired out by the time we got home! Friday was our usual storytime at the library, but Killian decided not to take a nap afterwards, so he was in bed as soon as we got home at the end of the night. Yesterday we spent our usual sat. morning at the mom and pop place, then after his nap, Killian got his hair cut. I was just going to layer it in the back, but decided to get him a faux hawk (I've always wanted one for him, but I didn't think it'd work with almost no hair on top). It looks adorable:

 

Getting all the hair shaved short

 

You can see it easier here.. so adorable

Sat. night Killian spent the night at my moms (in a big bed with bedrails.. he liked it MUCH better than the pack n' play)- and I went out for the first time (yes, I've been 21 for 9 months). It was fun and WONDERFUL to spend time with girlfriends who don't have children Killian's age. :) But I have to say, it's not something I'd do often. 

So today is a lazy day- we spent the morning at my mom's and came home for nap/afternoon. The house needs to be cleaned/picked up, and I'd like to get a walk/bike ride in this afternoon- it's just too beautiful NOT to be outside.

On a similar note... spring is in the air!! I started sprouting some of my seeds, and planned out when the rest either need to be sprouted, or planted in the ground/containers. OH how I love spring/summer! I'm excited for my CSA this year- I'm also doing a honey CSA :) AND now a girlfriend and I are going in on a meat CSA as well. This I'm VERY excited about, because a). the only meat I can/will purchase is beef and chicken at the supermarket, and I'm getting sick of those and b). I want to get better at cooking meat since Killian's not a vegetarian, and I'd like to start eating more meat- but only if it's humanely raised of course. 

This summer we're going to have SO much amazing food.. I think the only thing I'll have to purchase at the grocery store will be grains/breads/pasta. Oh how I love summer fruits/veggies!!

I'll end this post with some pictures from my sister's vacation here:

Bath time

 

Hugging.. so sweet (Killian would pat Gabe's back) :)

 

Killian wasn't so sure he liked Gabe taking his pony for a walk

 

Our boys and Jennifer's friend's daughters

 

Killian and baby E

 

All the kids playing the piano

 

Killian loves playing the piano with mommy :)

Have a wonderful week of warm weather!!!

20 Month old photo shoot

So I haven't gotten Killian professionally photographed since he was 12 months:

 

  

So I decided that it was time to get his photos taken again. Jennifer's friend took his photos for me. Here are a few: