happy easter!

The Lord is RISEN! 

 

 

Of all the holidays, Easter is my absolute favorite, along with the three days before (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Vigil Saturday).   

 

Have you been watching The Bible on the History channel?  It's become such a hit, becoming part of pop culture.  They've even talked about it on E! News which is awesome (finally something with some value...ehm Kim & Kanye's baby).  Jeff and I have watched all the episodes (in pieces) - who can stay up until 10 these days?!  Not us!  I keep begging him to get DVR so we can watch some of these shows earlier in the evenings.  Anyways, I'm thinking about purchasing the DVD set for Jeff for Father's Day, then it could be something we could watch every Lent.

 

So back to Easter.  What a bust.  No Easter bunny.  No Easter baskets.  No sear sucker vest and newsboy cap for Patrick.  No Mass.  No egg hunt at Grandma's house.  All because of the sickies!

 

First Patrick, then Jeff, then me. 

 

I feel like I've been inducted into true motherhood.  The one where you're puked on by your child (remember spit up?  that's a joke), you take care of him all night long, get everything sanitized and washed in scorching hot water the next day, THEN YOUR HUSBAND STARTS PUKING.  And it starts all over again!

 

Seriously you guys, it's been a rough few days around here.  I'm just glad it's over.  Well, I'm still only functioning at about 80%, but Moms have to suck it up.

 

And I am beyond sad that I missed getting us all dressed up and heading to church to celebrate this beautiful day.  Oh well, we will just celebrate next weekend!

 

Have a BLESSED Easter with your loved ones!!

 

 

 

 

aden + anais

 

Obsessed!  Obsessed!  Aden + Anais are the best blankets.  Or swaddles.  Or nursing covers.  Or sun covers.  Or burp cloths.  I used these things constantly when Patrick was a wee one; even up until he was a year old I was still carrying them in his diaper bag.

 

I didn't just stop at the swaddles, I even bought their mum + bub skincare which I was in love with for some time.

I swaddled Patrick until he was about two months old, but it seemed like I was up all night re-swaddling him.  Now look at what they have!

 

the easy swaddle
 

First of all, it's adorable (they have more prints).  Second of all, it's made of muslin which makes you feel like the Virgin Mary did when she wrapped up Jesus.  Third of all, you don't have to wrap and re-wrap the swaddle any longer.  Amazing. 

Since Patrick is quickly becoming the size of Shaquille O'Neal (and he's still using a newborn blanket), I really want a couple of these.

classic dream blankets

If you're going to a baby shower, these are super gifts that the Mama won't return.  And trust me, Mamas return a lot of stuff. 

give it a rest, teachers

Cassie is talking about this today on her blog and it really got me thinking.  People really see things completely different...AND I LOVE IT.  Makes the world go round.  So, you must read this article about holiday overkill.  Then come back, k?

So what do you think?  As I was reading, I just bobbed my head in agreement with the Mom.  What the hell?  Gold coins for St. Patrick's Day?  The stupid 100th day of school?  Who gives a crap, how about the LAST day of school?  Now that's something to celebrate.

Don't get me wrong, I have loved starting traditions with my little family, making certain days special, and even being creative once in a while.  But there is no way I will buy a goodie bag of candy for every student in my child's class for Valentine's Day, or make some elaborate crown for the 100th day of school.  I think it's LAME.  And I think it's the reason kids are the way they are these days - spoiled, selfish and ignorant.

That was harsh, but true.  I love my students dearly and try to teach them the humility of Jesus every single day, but even I struggle with it.  We all do.  But making sure there is a constant smile on our children's faces isn't helping the situation at all.  I mean, what is the purpose of life?  Materialistic happiness?  Probably not. 

Being together and loving one another IN ORDER TO GET TO HEAVEN.

But then I fast forward to when Patrick is in school.  I already know I will be an involved parent - I see how it makes children successful.  Not overly involved, but enough to where I know what's going on and to guide them to work to their potential.  And maybe I will be making holidays crazy creative and fun, who knows?  But I'm going to err on the side of being more simplistic because we all get to parent the way we want, and that's the way I want to.

doing the societal easter activities

To me, Easter is about Jesus rising from the dead.  But we're not there yet, so Pat and I have been diving into the social norms of Easter like hunting eggs and coloring eggs and visiting bunnies.  I don't get it, but it's been supa fun.

Obviously it was freeeeeeeezing here in Ohio.  As a matter of fact, my school closed today for their first snow day because of the snow and wind - it's just yucky.  We were fortunate to have sunny skies for our egg hunt, so the kids could see the eggs for the 30 seconds that it lasted.

We also did some egg coloring thanks to our friends that had us over.  Unlike me, she is an AlwaysSuperMom so she makes sure her kids color eggs.  Although on that note, I did color eggs with Pat last year, so I'm what they call a SometimesSuperMom.

See, I wasn't lying.

isaac & amy

These videos are incredible.  I'm pretty sure I posted the first quite a while ago, and I'm pretty sure most of you have seen it before, but it never ever gets old.  Now the second video is Isaac's latest compilation which will make you cry like a baby.  Say yes to love!

why i'm losing my mind

• Sickness.  My son has a runny nose and a cough AGAIN.  It's like, HOW MANY TIMES CAN WE GET SICK IN SIX MONTHS?  Croup, RSV, ear infections.  He's perfect for a week and then what do ya know, he's coughing at again.  He couldn't even eat dinner without catching his breath because his nose is so stuffed.  And he's decided recently not to blow his nose and I can't find the aspirator.  So then I'm in tears because my kid can't breathe. 

• Social cues at work.  Here's the situation:  I'm sitting in the teacher's lounge sulking about God knows what, just minding my own business reading the newspaper.  If you had any frikking clue at all about body language and social situations, you wouldn't have said a word to me.  In comes the music teacher.  Nice lady?  Yes.  Talks too much?  Yes.  About things I don't care?  Yes.  So she's rambling about the 4th graders and how they are never in their seats and always too loud (you know, a regular bitch-out session).  This is something I do not care to hear about.  I'm sick of people griping about the 4th graders.  After five minutes of completely ignoring her, I look up and scream say "MAYBE YOU SHOULD TRY SOMETHING NEW."

• Tim McGraw.  Please, just do yourself a favor and stop singing.  I heard one of his old ones the other day - Just To See You Smile.  Gosh, now that was an amazing song.  Effortless vocals, great lyrics.  One of Those Nights?  Not so much.

• I missed book club this month.  We read Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  Well, I read 1/4 of it.  It was the night of Jeffrey's birthday and since I was spoiling him, it meant staying home in order to do that.  Then for my birthday yesterday?  I didn't even have a card from him, let alone a gift.  WTF dude?

          Anyways, I NEED BOOK CLUB. And now I won't get it for a month! MORE TEARS.

• How can I calm all this stress?  I already got a pedicure last week, which really helped.  Caribbean vacation?  That's more like it.

      

a birthday party

Inspiration for gifts and party ideas always comes at the last minute for me.  I didn't have one thing planned yesterday for Jeff's birthday at 2:47 when school released, but at 2:55 I had an entire game plan:  haul ass to Target to find the perfect gift, pick up Patrick, haul both our asses to the grocery for cake frosting, wrap gift and have it displayed in line of view from door, cake made from scratch will be frosted and candled by 7 pm, ham & pineapple will be in oven along with scalloped potatoes .  PHEWY.  All of this whilst a certain child hung on my legs and tickled my toes.

Now, don't think I'm this excellent wife who always takes care of her husband.  The reason I wanted to go all out was because I'm not.  I don't take care of him enough.  We didn't spend much on eachother at Christmas, Valentine's Day is always something small, our anniversary was Chicago (but we didn't buy eachother gifts, per say), so I really wanted to spoil him this time. 

As I was perusing the aisles of Target wondering what on earth I would purchase for my husband who insists he needs nothing, I thought back to our trip to Chicago.  There was a Keurig in the apartment we stayed in and Jeff really got a kick out of it.  He drinks coffee every morning but we just have some dinky thing that makes it.  That's it!  A Keurig!  So I bought him one of the really sweet ones, programmable, 3 cup sizes, etc.  He was pretty stoked.

My cake wasn't perfection, although when it's mixing in my Kitchen Aid it always seems like it will be.  I have a tendency to cook them too long and they end up a little dry.  And though I would normally make my own frosting, there was no time so we opted for the new Cool Whip frosting - don't waste your time.  It sucked, and totally ruined any chance my cake would've had.  We each still ate a slice after putting the babe to bed so that it felt like a celebration.  Jeff made a wish and blew out candles and it was a very happy 29th birthday for my hubby.

st. paddy's day, then & now

Then...

 

 

 

 

 

Now...

 

 

 Don't mind Rudolph here.  We took a nose dive down a few steps - no big deal.

 

P.S. - See how you can get waaaay more pictures of your kids when they are stationary?

P.P.S. - See how that stupid medicine ball is in both photo settings? 

P.P.P.S. - What are the chances that ball is being used just as much as it was last year (which was not at all)?  One hundred percent.

our bedtime routine

Now that Patrick sleeps through the night pretty consistently (maybe 5 of 7 nights?), I really look forward to going to bed.  There's a calm in the air that wasn't always there, and knowing that we'll both be rested in the morning makes it that much better.

Since Patrick was about three months old we've had him on a bedtime routine (probably not unlike many other babies) and it really works for us.   He's always gone to bed early - it's just something we couldn't control, so our routine starts early.

5:30 - Supper. 
Usually consists of whatever I make that night, but if it's too spicy or has hamburger in it, I'll chop up an avocado or sweet potato.  By the way, the perfect sweet potato?  350° for an hour, right on the middle rack.  After 30 minutes, poke it with a fork a few times.


6:00 - Bath.
Recently Jeff has been taking Pat in the shower with him.  When we first started doing that a couple months ago, he would SCREAM bloody murder, but after a few nights he couldn't wait to get in with Daddy.


6:30 - Stories. (and I sneak in a few prayers until he gets antsy)
His favorites haven't changed much, but he is really digging these Fisher Price flap books lately.  And really, he just wants me to point and name everything in books these days, forget the words.


7:00 - Relax.
This is when all of us hang out in the family room, talking and playing.  Before the evil time change, this was collapse-in-crib time after watching Mike the Knight.  Not anymore.  Now we have to listen to Diego and his liberal animal-saving, green Earth CONSERVE OUR NATURAL RESOURCES bullshit.  However, being a scientist I kind of buy into it.


8:00 - Night Night.
I hate that I got suckered into Mommy talk (but I kind of love it too), like night night and boo boo and horsey.  But you just do it automatically, like it's been inside you all along.

Anyways, I still rock Patrick to sleep.  And he still takes his paci to go to sleep.  And I sometimes have to sing our lullaby if he's wound up.  But this is the best part of the day.  Such sweetness in their closed eyes and full pouty lips.  Makes ya wanna have four more.


P.S. - The sheet for sleep.
After visiting Jeff's cousin and wife in Chicago, she swore this fitted crib sheet from PB kids was the reason her son was an awesome sleeper.  She happened to have an extra one in her nursery closet and she actually GAVE IT TO ME.  Like, how do you say thank you when it doesn't do your gratitude justice?  They are so comfy and luxurious, I will never buy anything else for my babies.

Night night!

chicago

Okay so Chicago.  Don't get mad, but we should've known we wouldn't be crazy about it.  I used to think I would like to live in the city for a couple years after college, but I know deep down that I'm just not a city girl.  The small spaces, the traffic, the murderers.

Anyway, just me and Jeffy went for a little vacay sans baby.  We haven't vacationed together since our honeymoon, so it was overdue.  Obviously it was put off because of Patrick (whom we missed dearly and talked about most of the time).  We were all Can't you just see Pat's reaction seeing that flamingo?   

Since Jeff and I are certified historians (him) and scientists (me), we were most excited about the Field Museum. 

We got to see Sue, a T-Rex with an almost-complete set of bones!

If I think back to what I got most excited about, it would be this six-foot tall replica of DNA.  I literally almost collapsed it was so freaking awesome.  There was an entire lab behind glass where you could watch scientists analyzing DNA of all types of organisms.  Unfortunately, scientists don't work 24 hours a day and sleep on a cot in the lab, so we weren't able to see any working at the time.

A triceratops that took me back to The Land Before Time immediately.  "No Sarah, two horns never play with long necks."

We spent three hours at the museum until I could no longer stand on my own two feet.. I was exhausted!  Jeff was so mad that we couldn't go to the bottom level and see the UNDERGROUND ADVENTURES and the MAN-EATING LION.   Sorry honey, I've done enough learning.

On our last day we visited Navy Pier and froze to death got lunch at Margaritaville.  Yum!


Other thoughts:

• Driving through Indiana was like driving through District 12 in The Hunger Games.  It was straight-up creepy.  It really made me appreciate Ohio's updated, clean infrastructure.

• Instead of staying in a hotel, we opted for a free stay at a friend-of-a-friend's apartment.  It happened to be on the 38th floor. 

• I'm glad I had my riding boots to wear around the city to ensure that I fit in with every other female (and some males).

• I was adamant about going to Mass, but everytime I mentioned it Jeff would say "Oh darn I think we just missed it!"

• The cab drivers were not talkative nor friendly.  I kept thinking of all these questions like How long are your hours?  Or Does your mom have to drop you off at work?  Or What ethnicity are you?  Or Do you realize you have the worst effing job in the world?  All of which I held in so I didn't get socked in the face. 

• We're glad we visited, but we will never see you again Chicago.  It's been real!

makes it feel like fall

Okay, I swear this isn't a food blog.  But it would be criminal not to share some of these recipes with you.  If this immediately turns you off because of the whole maple syrup overkill, I promise you will not taste it by itself - it's so mild.  And the sage is to die.  I didn't even have a side dish with this, just whipped it up by itself.

Maple-Glazed Chicken

 

Ingredients

 

2 pounds skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts, cut into large chunks

Kosher salt

2 T EVOO

2 apples (1 red, 1 green)

8 shallots, quartered lengthwise

1/4 c fresh sage, torn

1/2 c chicken broth

1/4 c maple syrup

1/4 c apple cider vinegar

 

 

Directions

 

Pat the chicken dry and season all over with salt.  Heat a large heavy skillet over medium high heat and add the olive oil.  When the oil is hot, add the chicken skin-side down and cook, undisturbed, about five minutes.

 

Turn the chicken and add the apples, shallots and sage to the skillet.  Reduce heat to medium and cook until chicken is cooked on the bottom, 4 more minutes.  Transfer the chicken to a plate and continue to cook the apples and shallots, stirring until golden, about two minutes.

 

Meanwhile, make the glaze:  Mix the chicken broth, maple syrup, vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a small bowl.  Add the mixture to the skillet with the apples and shallots and boil until reduced by three-quarters, 2 to 3 minutes.  Return the chicken to the skillet, turning to coat until cooked through, about 2 more minutes.

four years ago today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~favorite memories~

 

year 1

 

In between our wedding and honeymoon we had one night at our newly renovated home.  Unfortunately it wasn't completely finished - the wood floors had yet to be stained and therefore our brand new couch was still covered in plastic in the living room.  I'll never forget, I made tacos that night (our first meal at home as a married couple).  We sat on the plastic-covered couch and scarfed those tacos.

 

 

year 2

 

Jeff plays softball for a church league (because he is an avid church-goer) and I've been going to his games since I can remember.  But this year was particularly memorable because it was just me.  Just me and the other wives.  None of us had kids, we were just there to cheer on our husbands.  Isn't there something so romantic about that?

 

 

year 3

 

Bring pregnant with Patrick holds some of the best memories for Jeff and I.  We did a lot of bonding in those summer evenings - watching TV, Jeff just laying his hand on my belly waiting for Patrick to roll move around.  Every night I would say "You know, it's not going to be just me and you for much longer."  The birth of Patrick came on time and in perfect harmony.  I couldn't have asked for a better labor and delivery, and sharing those moments with Jeff were priceless.

 

 

year 4

 

Our mornings with Patrick stand out the most.  He's an early riser, so all three of us usually flop around on our big bed for a half hour, just giggling and playing peek-a-boo.  Making Patrick say words that make us crack up, like FLAMINGO (bingo) and TAPIOCA (ca-po-ca). 

 

 

Here's to our fifth year, Jeffrey!  I love you more than words can describe!