Written by andrea on September 6th, 2011
So John is only 2, but I’m beginning today to be a little more “teaching centered” in my everyday interactions with John. We’re also going to be doing more crafty stuff and create more purposeful learning opportunities. All the while remembering little guy is only 2!!
This morning John mashed the bananas for the banana bread we made (good hand-eye coordination opportunity). Then he dumped ingredients into the mixer while I briefly showed him tools of measurement in the kitchen. We played with puzzles. Read our daily Bible story. Now he’s down for a nap!
Later this afternoon he’ll get a bath and we’ll play outside briefly since it is raining. John gets a little stir crazy if he doesn’t get outside everyday, even if it is for only a short time.
On tap for dinner is pork stir-fry. I’ll slice cabbage, red peppers, onion, carrot and broccoli. Saute it lightly in a big pan with some strips of pork and add a stir-fry sauce I bought recently and want to give a try. For dessert we’ll have some of that banana bread. It turned out to be a pretty awesome recipe. I used Tyler Florence’s Banana Bread with Pecans recipe which is available on Food Network’s website. I’ve tried the old Betty Crocker and Better Homes & Garden recipes in my cookbooks, but they leave much to be desired. A friend gave me a recipe which tastes pretty great, but it never finishes cooking on top before the bottom burns.
I’m also finally feeling like the house is recovering from Hurricane Irene and being without power for 85 or so hours.
Posted in 2 yr old, Homemaking & Recipes, Homeschooling, John | No Responses »
Written by andrea on August 6th, 2011
Our little boy was born! As John says, it is his “Appy Boo-ee” today! He’s an amazingly wonderful little boy. And his Mommy & Daddy are soooooo proud of him.
This evening we are going over to Dave’s parent’s house for Chinese food, cake & ice cream. I think John’s auntie/godmother and uncle will be there too.
Posted in John, News | No Responses »
Written by andrea on July 10th, 2011
I always say to John, “up you go”, when I pick him up. So the other day he started saying something that I finally figured out was “up you go” when he wanted picked up. It is so cute. He’ll run over to me and say, “up you go” and want to be carried.
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Written by andrea on July 6th, 2011
It is hot outside, but it was still a nice and productive day. The first thing this morning I took an Excedrin. I had a caffeine headache anyway (drank a bunch of soda over the weekend), but the caffeine in the Excedrin was just enough to wake me up all the way. I think I was meant to be a coffee drinker, but never developed a taste for the stuff. I’d probably have to put so much sugar/chocolate/cream etc in the stuff and it would defeat the purpose. And it really is too hot for me to drink hot tea. Iced tea has too little caffeine, unless maybe I haven’t done my research and maybe there is a great “get ya up and goin’ ” tea out there…have to look into it.
John bathed while I cleaned the bathroom. Our bathroom is pretty tiny so my eyes never actually leave him, so in case mom is reading…John is well watched while bathing. I also decided to get rid of the bathroom’s current decor during our upcoming garage sale. So I took all the wall hangings down, dusted them and set them aside for the sale. We are planning to paint the bathroom woodwork all white this summer so now I’ve got a clean slate from which to work.
I took care of a bunch of laundry, even hung some out to dry on the clothesline. John and I scrubbed the rod iron railing outside readying it for spray painting tomorrow. John took it upon himself to scrub the steps and rid them of some moss growing on them. John LOVES playing in water so I let him play with the hose while also watering the tomato plants.
Dinner was in the oven, again with John’s assistance, even before Dave came home from work. That was very nice. So all in all a productive, nice day.
John’s new phrase is: “up you go” when he wants to get picked up. I always say, “up you go” when I got to pick him up so it is too cute that he says that instead of “up” like other kids.
Posted in Homemaking & Recipes, John | No Responses »
Written by andrea on July 2nd, 2011
In an effort to meet out goal of keeping the pictures updated, I’ve updated the pictures through June. That means through this past Thursday, so it doesn’t get more current than that. I’ve also gone back and added descriptions because I saw that we hadn’t done that in a while. Enjoy!
Posted in Uncategorized | No Responses »
Written by andrea on June 20th, 2011
We are on the last leg of our trip out to Ohio to visit my parents. We decided to met in Canton, OH which is kind of a half-way point between IL & CT. We left last week and stopped the first night in PA to visit dear friends of ours. Then we traveled the rest of the way to Canton. Canton is a pretty nice little city and offered several fun things to do for all of us. My parents really had a ball with John. They hadn’t seen him since Thanksgiving so he’d grown a lot since then.
Well, we’re spending the night in Lancaster, PA and John is currently letting me know he wants some of my attention. Better get going.
Posted in Trips | No Responses »
Written by andrea on May 14th, 2011
Here is another new picture!
Posted in John | No Responses »
Written by andrea on May 14th, 2011
Here is another new picture!
Posted in John | No Responses »
Written by andrea on May 14th, 2011
Here is a new photo!
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Written by andrea on May 4th, 2011
I had planned to be finished “spring cleaning” the entire house by Easter, but the project got expanded. Dave and I decided to purge our entire house of everything we don’t use/love/need. Our dining room and front porch has turned into garage sale central and we’re still not done. A couple of rooms are completed; like the bathroom, our living room and the upstairs hallway. The living room is actually housing a piece of furniture for the garage sale, our sofa. We’d like to get some money for the sofa, but we’re also game for just giving the thing away to however will hauled it.
With our new computer we have plans to divest ourselves of a whole pile of media; DVDs and CDs specifically. Dave bought a giant amount of memory that can hold 200+ DVDs and piles of CDs. We’ll sell all but out favorites from both collections and free up even more room. I think this will make the collections more accessible also. We rarely listen to any music and I think it is because it is a pain to search the collection for what you want to listen too and then load it into a media outlet.
Well, I need to get dinner on the table. I think we’ll have au gratin potatoes with broccoli and diced ham baked as a casserole.
Posted in Homemaking & Recipes, Lent | No Responses »
