What's Up Wednesday...

     Today is the last Wednesday of the month so I wanted to link up with a couple of other bloggers {Sheaffer}, {Shay}, and {Mel} for What's Up Wednesday...

      What we’re eating this week…

My latest Meal Plan Monday post is {here}.  I post these weekly.

What I’m reminiscing about…

Summer.  I miss warm summer evenings where we can meet our neighbors outside and let the kids run around.  Being stuck inside all winter is so tough!

What I’m loving….

For the past month I’ve been working out 6 days a week from the comfort of my own home in the mornings!  It’s made me realize that I don’t need a fancy gym or expensive workout videos.   There is so much free content online… check out {Pop Sugar Fitness} and {Gymra} just to name a couple.  Every morning at 5am it’s just me, my unfinished basement and my weights!  I love it so much!

What we’ve been up to…

January has been crazy busy for us.  Ryan has been working a lot lately (this is his busy time of year), Rowen has started a tumbling class one night a week and really enjoys it, Wyatt is growing like a weed, sitting up, teething and drooling all over, and I am just trying to keep up with work, the kids and everything in-between!

What I’m dreading…

The SNOWmageddon storm we’re supposed to be getting next week.

What I’m working on…

I love to blog, and lately I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a separate fitness/running blog to help keep myself motivated and accountable, but i'm not 100% sure I have the time to dedicate toward it.

What I’m excited about…

Running outside again!  In March I’ll begin training for my 5^th half marathon!

What I’m watching/reading…

I don’t read (sorry, hate it), but I DO love to watch TV and lately I have been non-stop watching Parenthood on Netflix.  I try to watch an episode or two each night.  It’s a lovely little show centered around a large family and their everyday lives.  I'm hooked!

What I’m listening to…

I’ve been very into listening to the Podcast “Serial”.  I usually listen to it while working out, or on my drive to and from work!  I love a good crime story!

What I’m wearing…

You’ll most often times see me wearing yoga pants and tees, ha!  I’m not fancy and I love to be comfortable!  Here's a good example...

 What I’m doing this weekend…

My mom and I are throwing my sister a baby shower.  Rowen also has a “fun night” event at her preschool!

What I’m looking forward to next month…

Valentine’s Day!

What’s my favorite Valentine’s Day Treat…

I’ve been pinning a few Valentine’s Day sweet treats to make with Rowen, I’m really looking forward to making {this}! 

Meal Plan Monday 1/25/2016

It was a pretty fun weekend.  My sister is due with her first baby in March so her in-laws threw her a baby shower on Saturday, so cute!

Sunday night we had my parents over for dinner and to play with the kids and noticed Wyatt had a fever.  He's been pretty miserable since then and his temperature hasn't gone down any.  Sick kids are the worst!

Hoping for a smooth rest of the week and some delicious dinners, too!  Check it out...

Monday:  {Lemon Chicken Skillet}

Tuesday: {Southwestern Crispy Grilled Turkey and Cheese Sandwiches}

Wednesday:  {Slow Cooker Pepperoni and Chicken}

Thursday: {Italian Ground Beef Casserole with Biscuit Topping}

Friday:  Not Cooking

Shared with:

Org Junkie

Emergency Situations with kids. What if...

I’ve been thinking a lot about emergency situations and “what if’s” when it comes to my kids.  What if something happened to me when I was home alone with the kids, would Rowen know what to do?  What if we had a fire, would the kids (or me for that matter) know what to do?

About a week ago, I was cooking dinner and trying to tend to the kids after work as usual.   Things got a little chaotic and I completely forgot I had something in the oven and burned it, which then triggered the smoke detectors in our house. 

While I was not happy that I burned our dinner, I WAS thankful for the situation because it made me realize that Rowen had NO CLUE what the alarm from the smoke detectors meant.  This of course then got me thinking - how can we explain fire safety and other emergency preparedness information to a three year old?  I know the kids' school will also teach some of this, but I think they need to hear the information from us, too.

We haven’t done it yet, but we plan to talk with Rowen about all of the above soon.  In the meantime I’ve been gathering (what I hope will be) some helpful discussion tools via Pinterest!

{Books}: We have this book and have been reading it!  It addresses"stop, drop and roll" and helps explain what firefighters do!

{Fire Safety Videos}: Rowen loves her ipad and watching videos, so these will be great!

{Crafts}:  An easy way to keep her busy and to help visualize the "911".

 Songs:  Rowen sings 24/7 so these will be a hit!

{Info Sheet}:  While I know she can't yet read, this is something that I think every family should have hanging on their refrigerator!

Meal Plan Monday 1-18-16

Happy Monday!  Besides the fact that the weather is so cold it's borderline unbearable, the weekend was great!  The highlights for me were a much needed "friends dinner" on Friday night  and then a birthday party for our little neighbor guy on Sunday!  So much fun!

The weekend also included the usual meal planning/prepping. We've been pretty lucky in that most of what I've planned so far this month the family has really liked!  There have been a few duds in there, but we've been pleased for the most part.  Hope to continue the trend this week...

Monday: {Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie}

Tuesday: {Sloppy Joe Cornbread Bake}

Wednesday: {Brown Sugar Ham Steak} - Rowen loves ham, she eats ham the best out of any meat, so I hope she likes this!  We'll probably have this with veggies and rice or potatoes

Thursday: {Slow Cooker Cheesy Bacon Ranch Potatoes} with {Garlic Parmesan Roasted Broccoli}

Friday:  Not Cooking

Shared with:

Org Junkie

5-6 Month Baby Favorites

Last week I posted Wyatt’s most recent update {click her for that post} and today I wanted to do a 5/6 month baby favorites post...

1// {Fisher Price Poppity Pop Musical Dino}:

This was one of the gifts Wyatt received for Christmas this year {here is that link}.  This toy is pretty brilliant!  Yes, it’s loud and somewhat annoying to listen to, but I can easily get past that given the fact that it holds his attention for long periods of time! I highly recommend this toy!

2// {Hylands Baby Teething Tablets}:

Wyatt is definitely teething.  Now, I am not one for organic, herbal remedies, oils or anything like that.  Sorry, it's just not my cup 'o tea.  However, our daycare center wont administer Tylenol for things like teething, so we send these tablets with Wyatt during the day to ensure he doesn't get too cranky - they seem to work!

3// {Fisher Price Discover ‘n Grow Jumperoo}:

Wyatt LOVES this!  He goes crazy jumping and bouncing as hard as he can!  I like it because the seat is nice and deep and seems to support him well, it's much more responsive to movement and seems to be bouncier than others we looked at!  Great buy!

4// {Chicco Polly Magic Highchair}:

This is the same highchair we used when Rowen was a baby and we still really like it.  My favorite things about it are the fact that it folds up for easy storage, has three different positions making it usable from newborn through toddler stage, and is also very padded!

5// {Baby Boy TMNT Caped Bib and Bootie Set}:

This was given to Wyatt as a Christmas gift. While the "cape" part of the bib is pretty impractical, I love the bib itself!  It's made of a polyester material making it SO easy to wipe clean when we're done feeding him!  I plan to order 2-3 more! Oh and the booties are adorable and fit him great, too! :)

6// {Sassy Wonder Wheel}:

This toy, which I randomly found at a consignment store for $1, is awesome!  We like to have Wyatt join us at the dinner table in the evenings, so I usually put him in his highchair and stick this toy on the tray in front of him using the attached suction cup.  It spins and rattles when he touches it and the bright colors easily keep Wyatt entertained while the rest of us enjoy our dinner!

7// {Breathable Baby Breathable Mesh Crib Liner}:

At about five months (when Wyatt started rolling over), we attached this bumper sides of his crib so his arms and legs wouldn't get stuck between the rails when he moved around.  It's made of mesh material making it breathable and is great buy for parents who are leery of bumpers yet don't want their kids' limbs getting all twisted up in the crib!  Side note, read the directions carefully when putting it up.  I thought I knew was I was doing, but I didn't. HA!

Meal Plan Monday 1-11-2016

Meal Plan Monday on the blog!  I've found some good ones and I am SUPER excited about tonight's meal!  It's SO STINKIN' cold in Iowa right now and the meal we have planned tonight just screams warm and cozy!

Monday:  {Easy Slow Cooked Beef Ragu} We are just using angel hair pasta

Tuesday:  {Cheeseburger Flatbread Melts}

Wednesday: {Chicken Enchilada Skillet}

Thursday:  {Hot Ham and Cheese Rolls} I pinned something similar to this awhile back, but this recipe has a little different spin to it and uses a pizza crust!  These were a huge hit in our house!

Friday:  Not Cooking

Shared with:

Org Junkie

Wyatt 5/6 Month Update

It’s hard to believe Wyatt is now 7 months old!  Time is FLYING by!  Here’s a recap from the last two months…

His official Stats:

Weight: 17.8 lbs (he’s a solid little dude)

Height: 24.5 inches

Teeth: none (definitely teething though)

Clothes: 6-9 month

Wyatt 's personality is developing more and more every day!  According to his teachers at daycare he’s "the happiest baby they’ve ever met!” 

He is now officially sleeping in his crib (unless he’s sick then he ends up in his swing). At about 5 months he moved from sleeping on his back to sleeping on his stomach.  He was pretty restless at first, waking up quite often until we introduced a small crocheted blanket (don’t worry, it’s totally breathable), which immediately did the trick.  He loves to curl up with it and sleeps great all night (most nights). 

Wyatt has hit quite a few milestones these past couple of months. One of his favorite things to do is to “be heard”.  He loves to squawk as loud as he can and babbles quite often!  He’s started sitting up by himself (still a bit unsteady, but getting there), scoots and rolls all over, and is now pushing himself up on to his hands and knees like he’s ready to start crawling any day now!  He definitely gets frustrated that he can’t quite move yet. 

As far as eating goes, the majority of his meals come via bottle (about 25-30 oz a day).  At 6 months we introduced baby food, but he didn’t really take to it right away.  We currently feed him via spoon once a day (usually at dinner time) and he’s liking it more and more (bananas are his current favorite).

Other favorites of Wyatt’s include: bath time, hanging out his Jumperoo – he goes absolutely crazy in the thing, being tossed into the air and giggling at the top of his lungs, staring at his hands for long periods of time (hilarious to watch), and of course his sister – he LOVES watching her play and she is a great source of entertainment for him!

Overall he’s a wonderful baby – we love him so much!

Watch me grow...

Meal Plan Monday - First one of 2016

Besides heading to our neighbor’s house for NYE to let the kids play while the parents threw back a few, and watching the Hawkeyes get the crap kicked out of them, the long weekend was pretty uneventful.  Wyatt came down with a bad cold Friday (which he then passed on to Rowen), leaving him down and out and forcing the rest of us to spend some much needed time at home!

On Sunday we headed to church/Sunday School and then home for the usual...cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping and meal prepping.  

Here’s what we’re having this week…

Monday:  {Baked Sweet Hawaiian Chicken} (Hoping Rowen eats this – she loves pineapple)

Tuesday:  {Slow Cooker Spaghetti and Meatball Soup}

Wednesday:  {Bacon Parmesan Gnocchi}

Thursday: {Cheesy Avocado Quesadillas} (Rowen will most likely just eat a beef and cheese 

quesadilla)

Friday:  Not Cooking

Shared with:  Org Junkie

Our Christmas 2015

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, celebrating with both kids and with our families.  Rowen was beyond spoiled and Wyatt was his happy-go-lucky self watching all the festivities take place around him.  Like every year, the Holiday FLEW by...

I'm not one to normally like snow, but a white Christmas is always a plus.  In the days leading up to Christmas I didn't think we'd have any snow, but we were all pleasantly surprised when the big, white fluffy flakes started falling Christmas Eve morning!

We spent the morning watching Christmas movies and making cupcakes for Jesus' birthday, a tradition we plan to do each year {you can read more about those here}.

After lunch we piled into the car to head to my parents' house for church, dinner and presents!

It was a late night.  Santa happened to leave both kids a new pair of Christmas pajamas at Grandma and Grandpa's so we put those on the kids and headed home to layout cookies and milk for our Elf. I say Elf because Rowen was adamant that she did NOT want Santa in the house, she was quite concerned he would come into her room while she was sleeping --- I promised her he wouldn't and that our Elf, Lonnie would do all the work.  I told you she didn't like him, ha!

So, the "Elf" did as he was told...

Christmas morning did not go exactly as planned unfortunately.  Rowen woke up in a terrible mood (typical three year old lacking adequate sleep, I guess), and kept saying she didn't feel well.  She pretty much bypassed her presents that morning and headed straight for the cinnamon rolls Ryan had made. After eating she still wasn't her usual self so with the help of us she (Wyatt, too of course) opened her stocking and gifts.  Oh well...

A couple hours later we then headed to Ryan's parents' house.  Rowen fell asleep on the ride there and was in a much better mood when she woke up (thank goodness).  We spent the rest of the morning opening more gifts, eating lunch and just lounging!

The Tuesday after Christmas was our fourth an final celebration.  My family from out of state was in town so we all got together that evening for dinner and a small gift exchange!

That wraps up Christmas 2015 -  I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas, too!