Life is A Journey...Come Follow Our's

Friday, February 11, 2011

Snow Day Fun: Painting With Yogurt

I decided earlier this week that I am not an award winning mom when I'm trapped inside with my child for days on end.  Now don't get me wrong...I LOVE staying home with my boy, but there's seriously only so much you can do when you cannot leave your house.  I can only read so many books, have so many dance parties, do so many sit-ups with him on my legs, and push him around in a laundry basket so many times. Quinn probably feels the same way and can only bang on pots and pans so much, play with his same plethora of toys, eat so much paper, and enjoy his Mama for so long.

Last night I decided that I was going to change things up and try to give Quinn a new experience...time playing with new textures.  Not only did I decide not to feed him with a spoon at all today and let him only eat finger foods, but I also decided we were going to try to paint.  I've seen teachers painting with chocolate pudding and thought that might be fun!  Unfortunately, I didn't have any pudding that wasn't sugar-free and I'm hell bent on not giving Quinn any artificial sweeteners.  BUMMER.  I started thinking about what else I could use and plain yogurt came to mind!  I pulled out my food coloring (being careful to avoid the red one just in case there was red-40 in it which although I don't know why, I hear is not good for people) and dyed 2 small bowls of yogurt blue and yellow for him.  Our results...a lot a fun, a HUGE mess, a great experience, and fun pictures!





Snowpocolypse? Snowmaggedon? How About Just Snowed In!

That's right...the predicted 3-6 inches of snow we were supposed to get on Wednesday somehow turned into 21 inches!!!  Some are calling it Snowpocolypse.  Others Snowmaggedon.  Me, I just call it Snowed In and COLD (-13 when we woke up yesterday)!  Here it is Friday and the roads are still not completely plowed (our street hasn't seen a plow yet) but tomorrow and the rest of this weekend it's supposed to be in the 50s!  Thank you El Nina!  Check out these pics Brad took yesterday:


Do you see how high that snow is compared to the seat of the chairs?!?!

Still pretty

Our dock

So what does one do with 3 more snow days (the grand total is 10 so far this winter)?  In the past I would have gone CRAZY, but having Quinn around has definitely made things better.  It's pretty hard to get bored with him around.  I've spent a lot of time on the floor playing and therefore have realized that I probably need to clean under my kitchen cabinets and the baseboards as well (CHECK...done).  I've tried to work out a little bit (thank you Quinn for jumping with me during P90X, clapping for me, and for being my extra 17 pound weight for the last 10 minutes when you had enough of playing by yourself), shovelled both us and our neighbors out, gone through closets for Good Will, had a number of dance parties and learned far too many kids songs, and worked on taxes...oh the daunting task that is taxes! 

By now you're saying "I know Maria better than that...she had to get out of the house!"  Okay...you're right.  But I'm weathering this storm better than the last.  You see, we were out for 4 days last week for the first major snowfall of the season as well.  Here are the pics I took during our first storm of 8 inches:

Still Snowing

Of course we went out for a walk

Yes I was the only one smiling after we got less than 2 blocks from home 
We are ALL ready for springtime!

With 7 total snow days in 2 weeks, you know I've done my fair share of cooking as well.  In fact, I've added 5 new recipes to my list as well as 2 new baby food items.  I have great recipes for Cream of Broccoli Soup (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Best-Cream-Of-Broccoli-Soup/Detail.aspx)  and Carrot Cake (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Best-Carrot-Cake-Ever/Detail.aspx).  I made a turkey breast in the slow cooker yesterday (it was good, I just don't LOVE turkey especially in huge amounts).  With the leftovers I made delicious Turkey Taco Wraps (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Taco-Turkey-Wraps/Detail.aspx?prop31=3) and I'll let you know how the Turkey Tetrazzini turns out (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Turkey-Tetrazzini-II/Detail.aspx?prop31=3)

As for Quinn's food he LOVED his homemade chicken nuggets made with chicken, onion, garlic, thyme, carrots, and apples as well as his Broccoli Nuggets with bread crumbs and cheddar cheese!  See for youself...I must be a good cook =)

Check out those 2 little teeth!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Another Birthday Weekend

For my birthday, Brad bought me tickets to go see Dralion - a Cirque du Soleil show that was playing in Chicago.  This past weekend, we loaded up Quinn, headed out to the airport and boarded Quinn's 9th and 10th flights to Chicago.

I was so excited to go see this show.  I'd seen one other Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas, "O," and was so impressed by it that I've always wanted to go and see more of their productions.  You can see the trailer to the show we saw at http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/dralion/default.aspx  The height of flexibilty, the height of athleticism, nothing less than ... AMAZING!

Anyway...as a bonus to seeing the show and having a fabulous date night complete with a non-chain Italian meal, we got to spend time with my family - always a bonus in my book.  Even better, my sister Lisa and her fiance Ryan drove up from Indiana to spend the weekend with us.  Here are a few pics from the weekend...ENJOY!

Quinn and Grandpa Cotton at breakfast

Auntie Lisa and Uncle Ryan with Quinn

My mom (Gigi) and Auntie Lisa with Quinn and me