yes, I realize it is just the reality

Today Cam and I stayed from home church due to another runny nose. About a month ago I posted that he was sick for a good 2 weeks. I didn't take him to church, his gym class, his speech class, etc. due to this fact. It wasn't that he felt badly, I just didn't feel right about putting him in a situation with other healthy kids.

Last week he was finally free and clear and so we took him to church. A couple days later, he was sick again. Yes, I realize this is nothing new and this is the reality of nursery. But I have to admit that it is frustrating that other parents don't seem to mind bringing their sick kids to church, therefore exposing every other kid to their cold. I know it is hassle to have to stay home and many times you just want to get out and need a break from a sick little one. But I also know it is the right thing to do in keeping them back. Too bad not everyone agrees...

the past few days

Here are some pictures from the past few days...

We spent Christmas with my parents. Before heading over, the three of us enjoyed a new tradition of devouring a batch of Land of Nod (see previous post). We then headed over to my parents' house. It was nice and relaxing. It rained all day, but Cam did great despite being stuck inside thanks in large part to his new tent/tunnel play set my parents gave him. Chris even squeezed inside for a quick picture.





The next day Chris and I took him to a park we hadn't been to in quite a while. Cam ate it up and was running around for a good solid hour. I have come to be SOOO incredibly grateful for parks. I have no idea what I would do without them.





Later that night, we left Cam with a sitter and met Jen/Eric, Chalet and her boyfriend (Jim) for dinner. We haven't seen Chalet in a long time as she lives in Chicago. Here is a picture of just us girls. It was fun reliving our Jr. High and High School days. I'm sure the guys weren't THAT into hearing stories about our prank calls and secret hand signals we had for each other, but we sure enjoyed ourselves!



This morning Cam woke up at 5:30. Makes for a looooong morning. The parks would have been too icy, so I we headed out for a walk. It was COLD, COLD, COLD. This picture is actually right before I put ski gloves on both of us after noticing the streams in the gutters were actually streams of ice. But it sure was refreshing to get out and my red cheeked Cam liked it too.



Today Cam and I are on our own as Chris is going golfing with some college buddies and then over to Peyt and Liesl's for a UFC fight to watch some bloody men punch each other. Come on...am I really exaggerating??? UFC is something I shall never understand! But he always has a great time and that is what is important. :)

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

oh my

"Dear me! I am stuffed. I don't know how else my mom can convince you to make those Land of Nod rolls. You are truly missing out if you haven't tried them yet. Oh my belly hurts..."

p.s. If you do make them, I forgot to mention that you should put some foil underneath the pan as they tend to drip and can make your oven a mess. Also, it's important to invert it onto a platter as this is how all the gooey goodness gets through it.

it's a...

GIRL!!!

any and every idea welcome...

A friend of mine recently went back to work after having her child several months ago (she is a teacher). She would really like to stay at home, however a big hurdle for her and her husband would be the health benefits. Unfortunately if she were to quit, they would have to pay for them out of pocket, which can be super expensive.

We both have been brainstorming as to things she could do from home that would not only bring in a few hundred dollars a month (at least) but also allow her to stay at home, which she really would like to do.

Anyway, if you read this blog and have ANY ideas that either you are doing or have heard of other people doing, please leave me a comment so I can pass along any new ideas that maybe we haven't thought of. ANY ideas are welcome!!

easy and AMAZING!

Yesterday we had our ending Christmas party for my moms group at church. I was supposed to bring a bread dish for the potluck brunch. Susan gave me a recipe that I was a little hesitant to try since I've never made it before.

This is literally the easiest recipe you'll ever make and it is absolutely amazing!! It was less than 5 minutes into the potluck before the whole thing was gone. This isn't to toot my own horn either. It simply looks irresistible and tastes the same..and did I mention it was easy?? So if you need to bring a breakfast dish somewhere or just want to make this for yourself, I guarantee you'll agree with my rave reviews!!

The Land of Nod
20 frozen dinner rolls (I found these by the frozen garlic bread)
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vanilla instant pudding (just the powder)
2 Tbls. cinnamon
1 stick melted butter.

Grease a bundt pan and place the 20 rolls around the bottom. Sprinkle sugar, pudding and cinnamon over top. Drizzle melted butter. Cover with a damp cloth and leave out on your counter over night. In the morning, bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes then invert onto a platter. Enjoy!!!

Here is a picture of the treat. I don't own a bundt pan, so I just used a casserole dish. It still came out yummy, but I think the bundt pan would make for a prettier presentation. I also drizzled a mixture of powdered sugar and milk over the top. Also, the original recipe calls for raisins and you could also sprinkle nuts on top. I tend to think both of those are nasty in bread, but if you disagree, by all means...!!

the big 3-0!!!!

Today is a big day for my best friend Jen. She turns 30! Since most of my readers know Jen, I just wanted to post a couple great pictures in honor of this momentous day. I posted a few similar ones a while back, but couldn't resist not sharing these!

I was also a part of this photo shoot, but I'll just share these two since it is her big day. Were we actually serious in these poses? Of course! But cut us some slack...we were 16 for gosh sakes!! Happy Birthday Jen!!!

neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow...

Today it has snowed and rained off and on all day. No, we aren't that obsessed with Costco that severe weather will never stop us from our weekly lunches, but we were sick of being in the house all morning and my little outdoors guy was needing a change of scenery. What better break than a pizza lunch and yummy samples (and we actually did need quite a few things)??

i've been banned

I'm assuming most married couples share a tube of toothpaste. It just makes sense since you are either sharing a sink or at least have two right next to each other. We have always shared tubes...until last week. I was officially banned from sharing with Chris. The reason? Apparently I don't squeeze the tube correctly and it finally got to him.

My theory? Who cares how you squeeze it as long as it comes out. If it ends up that most of the toothpaste gets squished to the end, then just squish it toward the opening when you need to! Chris maintains that if you start out squishing from the end, it works better and is much more productive. Hmmm...

So here are our tubes. Can you tell whose is whose?? :)

Cam-ese

Cam: Te-we-mo-mane! Te-we-mo-mane!
Kelly: What is he saying?
Chris: I have no idea.
Cam: (getting more agitated) Te-we-mo-mane! Te-we-mo-mane!!!!
Kelly: Oh! Train With No Name! (current favorite book from his Aunt Noonie)

yesterday

Yesterday was a GREAT day because:

*While I had another party to attend, Chris took Cam to his brother's house for both of his daughters' birthday parties. I felt badly not being able to go as sometimes Cam is a two man job at things like this. But Cam did AWESOME! Chris had planned on leaving at 10:30 but didn't end up leaving until 12:00 because he was doing so well. I was sooo happy to hear this and it made it so I could relax and really have fun at my party.

*My party was actually a tea thrown by my friend Jen's sisters in honor of her 30th birthday. It was sooo fun! It was small an intimate and I was able to see two other friends from college that I rarely get to see. Jen's sisters did such a great job in making the day special and highlighting what an amazing friend, sister, mother, and wife Jen is. We have been friends since 7th grade and I am so thankful that we have remained just as close through all of our transitions in life. :)



Emily, Jen, me, Cheryl




*Later that afternoon our good friends Jeremy and Ana (and their daughter Mia) came over for dinner. They are one of those couples where whenever they leave, both Chris and I think, "If only we lived closer...". We both get along equally well with them and conversation just seems to always flow. This was truly a perfect ending to our day! I always forget to take a picture when the four of us are together...maybe someday I'll remember. :(

Christmas...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? For some reason I do bags for birthdays and mostly wrapping for Christmas. Not sure why.

2. Real tree or artificial? I used to be big on real, but they are too expensive. We finally bought a pre-lit from Costco. While it was a little pricey to start out, it will pay for itself in a few years.

3. When do you take it down? After our last “Christmas” is celebrated. For instance this year we are celebrating on Jan. 3 with Chris’s family.

4. Do you like eggnog? 2 sips, then I'm done. Way too thick. I also don’t care for chai tea/latte because it tastes like Eggnog to me.

5. Favorite gift received as a child? I remember my parents creating a treasure hunt for me and at the end was a new tennis racket.

6. Hardest person to buy for? Chris- I think I know his style, then I end up bombing!

7. Mail or email Christmas cards? I LOVE getting the mail this time of year to see what cards we got...no emails! Even if the emails contain pictures (which for me are a MUST for Christmas cards), it just isn’t the same.

8. Favorite Christmas movie? The Polar Express (or any cheesy made for TV Xmas movie)

9. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My mom's coffee cake Christmas morning and my sister-in-law’s homemade rolls.

10. Lights on the tree? Honestly, whatever happens to be on the tree I'm looking at looks pretty to me. I grew up with colored, but we have white now.

11. Favorite Christmas song? Walking in a Winter Wonderland

12. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Pre-Cam: either. Post-Cam: stay home

13. Angel or star on top of the Christmas tree? We have never had an angel or ANYTHING on top of our tree. How sad!

14. Favorite ornament theme or color? I love that all of my ornaments came from some period of my life. Some are super ugly, but so sentimental. A coordinating tree might look prettier, but I would much prefer an eclectic one!

15. What do you want for Christmas this year? Just to see Cam have an enjoyable time with everyone...and a restaurant gift card would be nice since we are on our new eating out budget. :)

"I don't mind a little breeze!"

Before we moved here, several people warned us about the wind. To which my response was, "Oh I don't mind a little breeze." Little naive me. To be honest, that is the one thing we REALLY dislike about living here. It is windy quite often, and we aren't talking a nice little breeze. There have been several days where we literally can't go outside to play because it has been so bad.

I just got back from a very cold and windy walk to the park. Cam is still sick (going on 8 days) so we have had to miss church, speech class, MOPS, MyGym, etc. This has made for many, "What are we going to do today?" questions. Since he feels fine (it is now just the cough/runny nose), I don't want to stay in all day. So we braved the wind and walked up to the park. He had a blast, which made it worth it. But I was also more than happy when we got home.

Cam will nap in about an hour and then we'll start again with, "What should we do ALL afternoon???". Wind...grrrr...

hot chocolate

Whenever we visit Chris's parents, I always know they'll be well stocked with hot chocolate mix since both my sister-in-law and I love the stuff. This past trip, they had the most delicious mix I have ever tasted. I ended up buying a bag when I got home. I'm currently sipping on my 4th cup of the day. In my defense, I make it with milk, so I along with baby are getting lots of calcium! I do need to cut back as this stuff isn't on the cheap side. If you are a fan of hot chocolate, you can purchase this at Walmart. You won't be disappointed. :)

p.s. I have made it a few times with whole milk. Soooo much better, but so evil I know!

worth the spam

Last night Chris and I got to go to a dinner and a movie (Four Christmases...not really worth it). We went to Claim Jumpers because I had a coupon where we received $10 off a purchase of $25 or more. So our $27 meal ended up costing $17!!

I received the coupon through my email because I signed up for the Claim Jumpers club. I've actually started doing this with any restaurant that offers it. Normally I wouldn't because I know that it will mean several emails from them that aren't coupons, but rather advertisements. But I decided that deleting these spam emails would be worth it to get a few coupons now and then. Here are the ones we have received so far:

Macaroni Grill: Free appitizer on our next visit
Pat and Oscar's: Free dozen breadsticks
Qdoba: Free chips/salsa on our next visit

So while I may have to delete a few more spam, I sure didn't mind last night as we were eating our way through a great meal!!

correction

I need to make a correction to yesterday's blog, or rather an update. As of yesterday, Cam had never shown signs of feeling sick when he had a fever. That changed today. Poor thing has just been miserable, except for the short time Motrin has kicked in. He has never been quite this sick, so Chris and I are settling into bed, knowing we might very well be up a lot of the night as he has already woken up twice in an hour.

Here we are watching Max and Ruby, although sometimes even this wasn't enough to make him feel better.



This afternoon I was trying to figure out something that would make him happy. He kept saying "bye, bye", meaning he wanted to go somewhere. I just didn't know where to go. So we ended up around the corner at Stater Bros. wheeling him around in their kid-grocery cart (it has a little car in front for him to ride in). He loves riding in these! I didn't really have anything to get, but it made him happy and took up some time before bed. As we strolled by the deli, I bought some egg salad, which I've been craving for a while now. I'm excited to eat it tomorrow, but sure wish it wasn't so pricey. If anyone has a good recipe for egg salad, I would love to have it so I don't have to spend $4 on a tiny container!

a few more pictures

Here are a few cute pictures from Thanksgiving. We always get super excited when Cam is social with others, especially his cousins. I thought it was so adorable that he wanted to pull his cousin in the wagon!




Here he is with his grandma. He had discovered a fun game of throwing rocks into the puddles.



A few other tidbits:

*Went over to my mom's this morning and had the best apple cider. She just buys the regular bottled stuff but then adds cinnamon sticks and cloves while it cooks over the stove. She has tried to pass it off to me as "dessert", to which I had to quickly put her in her place. Yes, it is sweet, but dessert?? Sorry mom.

*My current favorite Christmas album is Christmas with the Rat Pack.

*Cam has been running a high fever accompanied by a bad cough. Poor thing. The good part is that he doesn't seem to notice. You would think he would just want to laze around and sleep. Nope. Not only did he still only sleep 45 minutes all day, but he was still go, go, go!!

*We have started using corn tortillas when we make tacos. Chris will cook them over the open stove flame until they get a few charcoaled edges. So yummy!

*I had a huge long Target list today, drove the 20 minutes to get there, then realized I had forgot my wallet at home. Ugh.

*Watched "The Shooter" (with Mark Wahlberg) tonight. Very good.