Blog Smog

I'll admit it. I am in a bit of a blog smog. As someone new to blogging I am not sure what direction to take. Do I just write about what I've been up to? Inform you of something new and cool? Vent or get all deep thoughts on you? Make a little joke? I am not really a good joke teller. Hmmmm.....I am finding it is always hardest to get going on this again each Monday. I think I will find my niche with my blog, but until I do, here is what I got right now.

This weekend we got out and about with our girl Blake. Her schedule keeps getting busier and busier these days it seems. On Saturday we went to a local coffee shop, Rebekah's Espresso, for a children's story time. There was coffee (for us adults) and fabulous cupcakes (for all). Blake loved it! She half listened and half explored the place. There were puppets too and that really got her attention. We'll definitely go again. Who doesn't like coffee, cupcakes, and something for the kiddos? On Sunday, Blake did her first real Easter egg hunt. This time last year she wasn't even walking yet. Well, that was then, and this is now. She ran from egg to egg with a mission declaring each color she came upon. Pink egg! Green egg! Yeow egg! Makes me want to have random Easter egg hunts in our backyard year round! Maybe we'll do something similar, but save the eggs for Easter. Yep, feeling an idea for a new game stirring around in my head. Some sort of scavenger hunt maybe.

Us adults just enjoyed the kid time, but squeezed in the things we love too. Chad grilled his famous ribeyes. De-lish! His dad's recipe that Chad just perfects more and more each time. Another night I made my old stand-by Mexican Lasagna. It's one of Chad's favorites though and with The Pepper Plant hot sauce on it, it goes up a notch. His dad got us hooked on this hot sauce. I don't even like hot sauces and I LOVE this stuff. I think we were missing his dad a lot this weekend as well, because both of those meals reminded us of him. If you can find The Pepper Plant hot sauce near you, get it! I like the chunky garlic one the best. Never would have guessed that...ever! Now I'm craving it again. Guess I'll have to figure out tonight's dinner around that addicting hot sauce. ;)

We rented some movies too. Lil Fockers, The Tourist, and Black Swan. Lil Fockers was funny, although not really about the lil ones. The Tourist was probably okay, but I fell asleep to it..... both times I attempted to watch it. Black Swan was weird and artsy-fartsy, but good for a weird artsy-fartsy movie. Good acting, great dancing, but not for for everyone. Mom, you would not like it.

Well, I guess that is my weekend review. You may be thinking "Why do I care what you did?" and that is just fine. Again, I am in a blog smog. I'll try to get a bit more creative with this or inform you all of something really cool. I'm just still working on what that will be though. For now, get the The Pepper Plant hot sauce and go for an egg hunt with a toddler. It does make for a great weekend. Although after writing about coffee, eggs, and garlic hot sauce, I feel like I need to go brush my teeth! Bada-bing! Yeah, I'll stay away from the jokes. :)

Pink car, pink car!

Well, I guess ask and you shall receive! Blake kept talking about that red car from the grocery store cart, and her daddy went out and got her a car of her very own. She is in love with this new set of wheels. Now the words "pink car, pink car" are said around here many times a day. After playing outside with it, the pink car has moved indoors. She wanted to drive it to the bath tub the first night it was here. She then kept an eye on it from the tub as it was parked right outside the door. After her bath, she then sat it in while I blow dried her hair. In LOVE with pink car, yes, she is. We tried to give Mr. Potato Head a ride in it. Blake promptly removed him though and said "No, sorry Tato Head". I guess she won't be loaning it out to anyone in the near future. She did say we could get in, and then found it hilarious that we were too big for it. Yep, this is Blake's ride for sure!:)

Rainy Day

Well, I know I said I would try to blog every day this week, so that is what I am doing. However, today is pretty much just a rainy, gloomy, and sad day. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the Navy jet pilots who were killed in yesterday's crash that occurred here. It is a very sad and tragic occurrence that hits close to home with all those in our community. Plus, everything on the news is gloomy, and it is literally just gloomy and raining outside. So just a short blurb on the blog today. Blake is napping, and I'm just going to go read a book under a blanket......

Terrible 2's?

We are coming up on Blake's 2nd birthday here in a couple of weeks. Where has the time gone? I must say she is just getting better and better with age. Her vocabulary is rapidly increasing and she is just a lot of fun to be around. Now this morning she did NOT want to be changed out of her pajamas, but with some coaxing we got the job done. I know everyone warns about the terrible 2's, but if the pajama fight is all we have so far, then things are looking good! Here are some of my favorite Blake-ism's lately..... Also, a cute video of her laugh that her mom and dad can't get enough of.

1. She doesn't get what the word "fun" means yet. Now she is a lot fun and likes to go do fun things. However, when we ask her "Blake, you ready to go have some fun?", her response is "no". Then we try again "Are you sure you don't want to go have fun?" She then says "No way". Love it!

2. She also loves saying "kiss it?" if something is "hurt". This came about after she took a tumble and we kissed her knee or hand. Not really sure how it started, but I think she cries wolf for some extra kisses. The other day she was rubbing her elbow and saying it hurt. After asking if she wanted me to kiss it, she said "okay, kiss it" and then held out her opposite elbow to be kissed. I guess the hurt jumped elbows;)

3. She is in love with this character on Nick, Jr. called Dino Dan. I don't think he comes anywhere close to her love for Olivia. Although, we will hear on the monitor saying "Dino Dan, Diiinooo, Daaan" from her crib. Adorable!

4. She loves orange juice, but calls it "goose". Throughout the day she'll ask for goose as though she has a great idea. "Mommy, gooose?" Her face lights up. We limit the juice, but if we didn't I think she would just drink juice all day long.

5. Ahhh, this list could go on all day long. Can we just bottle her up at this age for a little longer? She is sweeter than her "goose"!

What's for Dinner?

Remember when I mentioned how I learn so much from reading other people's blogs? Well, today I thought I'd share something that I think is just so cool. A friend I met last year (but then who had to move away, boo-hoo) runs a business called Kate's Thoughts for Food. It's genius! I really feel like everyone should know about this, especially us moms trying to get dinner on the table each night! I'm going to list her website so you can check it out yourself too.

Is what it is, is a custom made meal plan for your family. You can include your preferences such as what ingredients you like to use, dislike, if you have allergies, even if your looking for low-fat, gluten-free, etc. She then emails you the recipes for whatever package you choose. You can get a single meal plan, a week plan, or even a month's worth of dinner recipes. Now you may be thinking you could just look those up yourself, right? Well, she takes the work out of it for you. She also puts together a grocery list for you to go with your meals. They are categorized and everything. You find yourself in the produce section, check the items off your list, and your moving on to the meat counter, the spices, dairy products, etc. You get where I'm going with this. She gets you organized and you don't have to figure out your week's worth of dinners because she has already done it for you. Again, genius!

On her website she also has a blog, where today she discusses baby food. I follow her on Facebook and Twitter. I just can't say enough good things about her and "Kate's Thoughts for Food". It reminds me I need to get some more recipes from her myself. I have reused what I bought from her before because so many of them were real winners that I now make all the time. Oh, almost forgot to mention how affordable she is! Only $5.00 for a week plan! Check it out! http://www.katesthoughtsforfood.com/

Weekend Mix

I'm back after a really nice weekend off. I decided not to blog on the weekends. It's a challenge enough to stick to it on the weekdays! I did four out of five days last week, so this week I'm shooting the big five. Even though everyday sometimes feels the same when you are a stay-at-home mom, Monday is still Monday. I'm just getting going and not sure what to blog about soooo... I guess I'll fill you in on my weekend. Our family tends to really like low key weekends where we stick around home. Occasionally we'll get out and about, but it's not like every weekend is jammed packed. During my younger years this would have translated to boooring, but now it spells out r-e-l-a-x-i-n-g. However, this weekend provided a good mix of it all. Friday afternoon we met up with some friends at the park so all our kiddos could run around. Saturday, I had a hair appointment, which I was in desperate need of. I love chatting it up with my hairdresser at Panache Salon. She's younger than me, is not married, and doesn't have kids. None of this particularly matters, but I find it refreshing to talk with someone at a different stage in her life than me. We look nothing alike, but she reminds me a little of my younger self. Plus, it's always relaxing to get some time to flip through some magazines and hear about other stuff going on around town outside of my usual circle.


A major highlight was getting a Saturday night out for some girl time! Our Navy wives group had a get together and our host had a surprise planned for us all. We were picked up by a bus and taken to an unknown destination. We arrived to a local gym where they teach pole dancing classes! Let me tell you, it was a lot of fun! First we had a dinner and some laughs, and then an instructor showed us a thing or two. Now initially, I think we maybe were a little skeptical or just unsure of how we would do. It's not like any of us have experience with this sort of thing! It was a blast though. Complete with super high heels to wear and feather boas. I must say it was classy too, nothing real crazy, and a bit of an upper arm workout! I felt really lucky to be spending some fun girl time with women from all over the U.S. with the common bond that our husbands are all serving our country. The pic I posted was a group shot that I'll always look back on and treasure. Such a fun night!


Swinging on around to Sunday, we had another unplanned event. While out running errands, we discovered a new little tourist attraction off Hwy 99. Our family went to Bravo Farms. I had driven past it before and heard it mentioned briefly once. Yesterday we were out that way and stopped by. I give it two thumbs up! It's such a cute little restaurant, gift shop, ice cream parlor, and petting zoo. Blake got to see several turkeys, a couple of donkeys, goats, rabbits, and a parrot in a parrot tree! It was just a quaint little place with some random things mixed together. This pic is of their tree house that I thought was just the cutest thing ever! We didn't go up in because it was packed with kids. However, next time I'm going up...to show Blake of course...because I did see some moms in there!

Well, that's our weekend summary. If anyone reading this lives around here, you should check out Bravo Farms. Their gift shop sells a ton a lot of great items. It's a cheese shop overall, but they had everything from other gourmet food items, to toys for the kids, to all sorts of random stuff. I found their website too if you'd like more info. It's www.bravofarms.com. Not sure how to add the link on here though. Here's to hoping my week will provide for some more fun surprises and good unplanned events! Hope your week is a good one too!

Mom, Can I Have the Keys?

Well, yesterday we had to run to the grocery store for only a few items for last night's dinner. We were going to a store we don't always go to because it was just for a few items. At this particular store, something that Blake loves to do there is ride in their special grocery cart car. I must say it does look like fun! I made the random comment before we went that maybe we'd go to the store later and she could ride in the car. Well, the cart with the car attached is maybe five feet long. Could that be right? I don't know. Maybe next time I'll measure it. The picture I posted will give you an idea. Although this pic was taken last summer so B is smaller. The cart is obviously the same. :) Anyways, the thing is hard to turn and steer. So when we did make it to the store, I changed my mind. I was kind of thinking Blake wouldn't know the difference or remember my comment, so I put her in her stroller and in we went. Boy, was I wrong!

The second we were in the door she started screaming and crying for the "red car, red car". I was thinking maybe I could reason with her. Dumb. I thought we already have the stroller, yada, yada. I simply got down to her and said "Blake, I know you want to ride in the red car, but....". She stopped me there. Her face was bright red. Tears all welled up in her little blue eyes. Bottom lip out like she was faking it. Hearing my words, she nodded her head yes, opened her eyes real wide, took a deep breath, and said "okay!". How do I turn that down? I did say it was something we were going to do. We need to get this errand run. Ahhh. Back towards the carts we go! I didn't want to go back out to the truck to put the stroller away. So Blake went into the red car. The stroller folded up and went into the cart. Blake was then laughing and saying "beep, beep" all through the store. She occasionally would turn around and say "mommy, mommy!" and wave at me. Melt my heart. Now she loves this, but it's not like I can mosey around. We hit the aisles probably way over that thing's speed limit. Got our groceries and were helped out by a bagger. Blake cried the whole way home though. I think she thought the car was going home with the groceries. After dinner, again a little whimper came out. "Car? Mommy, car?" It looks like soon we may getting her a little buggy car of her own to play in. I know there is a new Buy Buy Baby opening soon in Fresno. I think they have a pretty good toy section. I'm sure Walmart has them too. It sure is earlier than I expected to be taking her car shopping. We'll have to go check out the selection. Maybe I'll just have Blake take us there! ;)