4th of July!

We were so thankful to get to spend time with Mark's family in the Ozarks over the weekend. Twenty four hours before we were to leave, James was running a really high temperature that lingered two days. He had every test imaginable run on him and were even told we should leave town! In the end, he had a virus, roseola, which resulted in a really mild rash Monday afternoon. Saturday morning, however, his fever had broken and we were able to join the rest of the family for a wonderful time! James loves his Aunt Jody. We have visits from her on a weekly basis, so he's most familiar with her.

So many cooks in the kitchen! Mark's five older sisters, niece, and mom are all in this picture!

Crawling on the dock

the best shot out of three attempts...at least we're all looking at the camera!

swim time at the pool near our cabins--Mark was doing a great job entertaining the nieces and nephews

"okay, I'm ready for more!"

coloring...

Captain Mark on the pontoon on his birthday!

"Happy Birthday, Daddy!"

Looking at the lake

This one is for Joel and Elizabeth...and my mom. My mom made the grocery cart cover (palm trees and monkeys patterned fabric) and Joel and Elizabeth gave him his cute Cubs onesie, which finally fits!

Snip snip

James needed his hair cut. I found myself constantly tucking his hair behind his ears and brushing his 'bangs' off to the side. He was sort of looking like a scraggly ragamuffin baby. On more than one occasion, strangers at the grocery store referred to him as "she", so I figured it was time. Now, my mom cut all the boys' hair in my family growing up. To this day, she still cuts my dad's hair, too. So I thought I'd try my hand at it.

We were pretty surprised at how well behaved he was. We had out an arsenal of toys and kitchen gadgets to distract him, as well as his favorite books. Books actually did the trick! Mark read the same four or five books to him over and over until I was finished. In this photo, James was trying to figure out what I was doing! It was the only time he 'checked', because Mark put down the books to snap a picture.

The finished product. I was really pleased with the haircut. It was really more of a trim, though. And I don't expect it to always be this easy. But it was a nice first attempt!

Recipes, recipes...

Well, there seem to be two major themes in my blog postings. James and food. Well, mostly James, but I really love reading food blogs and think it would be fun to have a weekly recipe post, but I have to be realistic. It's just not going to happen. After my last food post a few months ago, a few people actually mentioned to me in person that they had tried the recipes! I was so surprised that somebody was actually paying attention! So the pattern seems to be that over the course of a few months I take photos of food that turns out great and then compile them all after I have a handful. So that's that. Here's my fourth or fifth 'food post'.

Bagels. I had seen a few recipes recently for homemade bagels and decided to give them a shot. The next day I told my friend Andrea I'd done so, and she responded with a skeptical facial expression, "Oh? How did that go for you?" Honestly, it had quite a few steps, including boiling the pre-baked dough, and they were delicious fresh out of the oven but were pretty chewy the days following. (But not bad toasted). I did try to make mine with whatever whole wheat I had on hand, instead of the fancy stuff it called for. I'll try them again. It was fun to put different toppings on them; cinnamon sugar, minced dried onion, poppyseeds, and kosher salt.

Granola Bars! I have been wanting to make granola bars for months now and finally got around to it. My goal was to find a recipe that was brimming with corn syrup. These are so good that I actually made them three times in two weeks. One of those times I postponed eating breakfast 'til I could whip up a batch. I cut them into huge squares and eat them warm with a glass of milk. There's something really wholesome-ish about them. Oatmeal, whole wheat flour....I add the 1/2 cup applesauce someone recommended to make them softer (it works) and omit any mix-ins, although I tried chocolate chips and craisins another time. I actually prefer them plain!

This is a stuffed pepper, sliced in half, to show the really yummy filling!! I got this recipe for Orzo Stuffed Peppers while working out at the Y. Yes, I watch the Food Net.work channel while working out. Seems counter-productive, right? It's usually torture. Well, Giada was making this and Andrea (who happened to be visiting our Y that day with us) and I looked at each other when we saw these and practically drooled on the eliptical machines. Bell peppers are expensive, but happened to be on sale, so I stuffed a few peppers and baked the rest of the pasta filling (peppers are usually stuffed with a rice mixture) in a baking dish and ate it for days to come. I will probably continue to make the filling because it's just that good! It has shredded zucchini, diced tomatoes, garlic, parmesean cheese, italian seasonings, and mint, of all things! Yum, yum, yum....

There just has to be Mexican food. I love Mexican food. For example, today for lunch Mark and I ate mostly fresh salsa and guacamole, in addition to a small salad. These are Creamy Baked Taquitos and they were awesome! The recipe comes from my new favorite food blog. I bookmark nearly every recipe these ladies post. I'm not kidding. The only complaint about these was that we gobbled almost all of them for dinner in one sitting! But they'd make great appetizers, too. And it's another great recipe to make with shredded chicken from one of those really cheap whole chickens that are always on sale! Oh, and when you roll these, definitely microwave each corn tortilla 20-30 seconds. They'll be piping hot, but if you don't, they'll crack before you get them into the oven! Can't wait to make 'em again!

Finally, this was dinner tonight. Jambalaya. You may notice, if you've actually read this far, that it's from the same site as the taquitos. This tastes like Cajun Fried Rice. Well, that's what it is, really. Green peppers, onions, garlic, minced smoked sausage and ham (really breakin' out of the chicken/ground beef routine for us) and tomato sauce, fried with some cooked rice and seasoned with Creole Seasoning. It was really good. Mark totally approved, too. If you live close and want to try some, let me know, because we'll be eating off of it for days!

And finally, a couple of bonus recipes I don't have photos for: Pizzookies. These are dangerously delicious. I mean dangerous. And too easy, especially if you buy the refrigerated cookie dough, which I recommend. Here's the recipe.

This is a Beef Enchilada Casserole-type-meal. It's called Beef Taco Bake. I made it for Andrea and Brian when they moved a few weeks back and she asked for the recipe. So there it is!

Trip to Chicago '09

Exactly one year ago, Mark and I visited my brother and his wife in Chicago. Last January, Mark won another trip to Chicago at his work winter event. After much debate and consideration, we decided to leave James in the care of his grandparents while we enjoyed a long weekend away--four nights, to be exact. Four nights was a long time to be away from our 9-month-old, but we would have been very limited with our schedule had he been along. And he actually did quite well with his grandparents. After two days, though, we were really missing him!

We just returned home yesterday afternoon with lots of stories to tell! It was a really fun trip and extra-special to have the opportunity to stay downtown, right off of Michigan Avenue, something we probably wouldn't ever have considered splurging on. We ate and ate and ate delicious food. I had Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Greek and Spanish food all within four days!

We were able to visit Navy Pier, the Field Museum, the John Hancock Tower, Grant Park for some free salsa and cha-cha lessons, and Chinatown while downtown.




The second half of our trip was just as exciting! We got to hang out with these two, Elizabeth and Joel. The boys went to a Cubs game (Joel claimed it was the best game he'd ever been to) while Elizabeth shopped and made dinner together. We all went to see the movie Up, which I highly recommend to everybody--GREAT movie!! We finished our trip with visiting Joel and Elizabeth's church, walking around a local festival and sampling some delicious food, and then eating a nice dinner at a fun Spanish Tapas restaurant.

The view from the John Hancock Tower, 96th floor, where we had drinks the night we arrived in Chicago. The most incredible view at night. I was thrilled when we were able to snatch a table right by the window to enjoy it!

The most unexpected event of our trip was having to buy a new breastpump as a "souvenir". Since I'm still in the process of weaning, I had taken ours along, only to find it broken when I tried to use it the day we arrived. It proved to be quite the adventure for us, as we actually bought two before we could get one that worked. If anybody plans to leave a baby they're nursing, I have tons of advice for you.

James didn't seem to be too terribly surprised when we showed up Monday afternoon. We creeped into the room where he had just woken up from a nap to see him grinning back at us. Mark took him 'swimming' in our backyard in the 95* plus heat.

We're glad to be home. More pictures to follow. I'll compile and post a slideshow in the next few days....

Just like his mommy...

Several times over the years my parents have told me about a funny little piggy face and noise I used to make when I was a toddler. So I thought it was pretty fun when James started crinkling up his nose and doing the same thing! Sometimes he does it when he's frustrated, other times when he is wrestling with Mark. He was in a pretty happy mood this particular morning, so I'm not sure what started it this time. I had the camera nearby so I could share it with you!

Who do people say he looks more like?

I get this question all the time: "who do people say James looks more like?" I think people ask that because maybe they can't tell themselves. Maybe he's a really good mix of the two of us? I've seen somebody else post baby photos of the parents before and thought it was a fun idea. So you can be the judge. My family looked at these pictures over the weekend and have a pretty good guess...