Snow Stompin' and Cocoa Smiles

I dread going outside almost as much as I dread doing crafts with Tanner. It isn't the act of actually being outside... it's the preparation process that is such a drag. My kid SCREAMS the entire time I'm putting on his snowsuit, boots, gloves and mittens. He rips his hat and mittens off over and over again until I finally get him outdoors. Once he's out there he's usually pretty good about leaving it all on, and gets down to the business of stomp, stomp, stomping snow!
For the amount of time that we end up staying outside, the hassle of getting him ready usually doesn't feel worth it, until I realize that we just did our bodies and minds mass amounts of good by breathing some FRESH, CRIP air into our lungs.

 

After playing outside for a bit we came in to make some hot cocoa.  Tanner had never had cocoa until today.  He's stolen plenty of sips of coffee, latte's and chai teas... never cocoa though.  He didn't just wait for it to cool down, he waited for it to get cold.   I made it with 2 cups of milk, 2T Sugar, 2T Cocoa (That you'd use for baking), and 1t vanilla.  It was too sweet for me, but Tanner loved it.

Multitasking~stirring and eating a pumpkin muffin at the same time!

Tanner approves of "cocococo"

Pregnancy Update *10/25/11*

10/13/11~ Went in for my glucose test.  Pretty uneventful.  Fasted for 12 hours. Went into Eielson clinic at 7:30.  Drank a bottle of orange syrup. Played on my iPhone and read magazines for an hour.  Got a vile of blood drawn.  Was sent off on my merry way and just have to wait for the results.

10/25/11~ We had our 28 week prenatal checkup today.  Dr. John Durst was who we got to hang with today.  He was super nice.  Told us that boys are the best, that he has a son who is now 41 and he can't get over how time flies! He said my blood pressure was the best that he's seen in a long time.  Said that I'm measuring perfectly.  Baby is sounding great but was laying transverse.  He kept asking me if baby moves a lot. I had felt baby move into a crazy position on our way to our appointment so I'm not the least bit worried. I have now gained a total of 17.5lbs.  I'm not the least bit worried about that either. ;) Next appointment is in 4 weeks... November 23. :)

27 Weeks

28 Weeks

Paint

I got brave enough to finally pull out the water colors and the finger paints that have been waiting for their chance to be explored. They've been sitting in the cupboard for quite some time, and everytime I thought about taking them out I envisioned HUGE messes all over my house and my kid being covered from head to toe, and of course lots of temper tantrums when it came time to put it all away. It wasn't so bad... the mess anyways. Tantrums were just as I imagined, but we got through them! :)

Not so messy

We experimented with a stick and a carrot.  The carrot went straight to the mouth, paint and all.

The water colors were pretty tame, except for when I put the paints on the table and went to get a cup of water and came back to the table to find the whole thing of paints being licked and a kid with a multi-colored mouth/chin.

SURPRISE! Art by Tanner.

I hooked up our iPad to my computer and found 86 saved "photos" to it. I guess Tanner wanted me to see all of his masterpieces! His drawings are a lot of fun and a few of the photos he took of himself are pretty darn great!

I am posting all of the drawings he had saved and 1 of each of the pictures he took... he took MASS amounts of each pose! CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK!!!

Toddlers + Touch screen devices = Lots of laughs!

Pinterest

My friend Susan over at The Talley's Alaskan Adventure introduced me to Pinterest last week.  Pinterest has quickly become my favorite addiction.  It is a way to organize and share things your find on the internet.  You create pinboards with all of your favorite recipes, books, hair styles, craft ideas, etc., and others can view those pinboards and get ideas too.

A few ideas I've tried in the last week thanks to Pinterest;

Pumpkin Spice Latte  I didn't enjoy it very much.  I don't really know why I made it. I don't like the pumpkin spice latte's at the coffee stand, so I'm not sure why I thought I'd like them at home!

Muffin Tin Monday  This is a fun one that I think I'm going to try to do every Monday.  Tanner has become almost a finicky eater.  He's a big eater when it's on his terms... I'm just trying to change things up a little to keep him interested.  The Muffin Tin Monday idea is kind of like a homemade lunchable where he can eat out of each little tin and have fun with the variety!  It went over fairly well!

BREAKFAST
Top Left to Right; Kix, Milk, Crasins.
Bottom Left to Right; Grapes, 1/2 Banana muffin, Peach Yogurt

LUNCH
Top Left to Right; Tomato, PB Sandwich, Goldfish.
Bottom Left to Right; Boiled Egg, Almonds, String Cheese.

DINNER
Top Left to Right; Italian Orzo, Milk, Carrots.
Bottom Left to Right; Pork Chop, Italian Orzo, Croutons.

Sandpaper T-shirts Tanner and I went over to Susan's for a playdate with her two boys. All three boys drew on sandpaper and we ironed their drawings onto their shirts!  Lots of fun and kept them busy for a few minutes! Watch out Grandparents, there very well could be a T-Shirt, designed by Tanner, coming your way!

"Designing"

Susan tracing Sean's drawing

Ironing on the drawing

Tanner's Shirt

All three completed shirts.

Pipe Cleaners and Colander I didn't know if this one would hold Tanner's attention, but it did.  He thought it was great when he got the pipe cleaner into the little hole.

Oatmeal Smoothie  Pretty tasty.  It wasn't the "green smoothie" that I now make on a regular basis, but still yummy!  It was a little thicker than I like my smoothies so next time I may add more liquid or less ice.

This picture, that I found posted on Pinterest, absolutely cracks me up! hahaha It's so me!

The list goes on of all of my great finds.  There are so many kids craft ideas that I'm interested in trying out during the winter months.

If you don't have a Pinterest account, GET ONE! If you have one, start following me and I'll follow you and we can share ideas with each other. ;)

Ninja that smoothie!!!

Last week my blender bit the dust. I knew it was on it's last leg. The motor kept getting louder and louder and occasionally the blades would stop.  When those blades made their last go around and I unplugged the blender for the last time I was sad.  I make smoothies every morning for breakfast, and though I have a hand held, wand type blender, it isn't the same.  I made it three mornings without a blender and then went to Fairbanks and bought a Ninja Blender NJ600 XL.

Product Features

• Generous 72-ounce pitcher
• 1000-Watts professional grade motor for heavy duty blending and processing
• Pitcher, lid and blades are dishwasher safe
• Ninja 6-Blade Technology
• Ultimate Ice Crushing Action - Blasts Solid Ice Cubes Into Powdery Snow In Seconds

My new "big daddy blender"

The first smoothie made in the blender; Grapes, Banana, Spinach, Carrot!

Delish! 

What are some of your favorite smoothies?  Lately I have been trying to put 2 fruit servings and 1 or 2 veggie survings in them.  I put about 2T rice protein powder, water and ice in them.  Delicious and Nutritious!

Mish-Mash + Friday Photo Dump

Brandon's mom, Minty, came to Fairbanks for some training last week for 4 days / 3 nights. We went over to Bridgett's, where she was staying, for a few hours every evening to spend some time with her.

3 Generations

Gram-Gram playing angry birds with my ANGRY BIRD

Bridgett and I had a chili cook off on Saturday night.  Both chili's were great and the kids voted equally for both chili's.  Surprisingly, there weren't many leftovers!!!

My Chili-Left - Bridgett's Chili-Right

Taste testers

Lucas getting ready to dig in

We have had to deal with water issues, every winter for the last 5 years.  In 2009 we put in a new well.  Last weekend we finally buried the line from the well to the house.  We shouldn't have to deal with water problems, while living here, every again... KNOCK ON WOOD!

Brandon rented a backhoe to dig a trench for the water line.  Tanner loved the backhoe and would scream when he have to get out.

Backhoe

:)

Nephews and Tanner helping to cut styrofoam board

f

Wrapping the pipe with heat tape

Growing, growing!  This little guy is getting big and strong!  I swear he is almost into my ribs already!  Going to be pretty painful soon!  No major complaints about pregnancy at the moment though.

25 Weeks

26 Weeks

... And the icing on the cake... Friday Photo Dump. I've got about 2 weeks worth of cell phone pics to share...