Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

Jackson has been patiently counting down the days until he gets to ride on an airplane to see Mimi, Bampa, and Nan!!!  "Jaxie airplane!'  That's today, by the way!  He was almost too excited to nap yesterday...  Luckily, I convinced him that he needed his rest so he could be a happy boy tomorrow on the airplane ;)  I wanted to do a little St. Patrick's Day craft with him, and I also wanted to see what he thought of the idea of a countdown.  I thought this up, but not all the way through.  It was pretty low-interaction for him, but he loves it anyways!  I counted how many days we had left, counted backwards on the page, and then cut out shamrocks with the corresponding numbers.  Jackson decorated his page with stickers and coloring.  He has also added one shamrock each morning to cross off one more day :)

Now, for my Thing I Love Thursday: Shamrock Shakes from McDonald's!!! They ROCK!  I have loved Shamrock Shakes for as long as I can remember.  I used to tell people St. Patrick's Day was my favorite holiday because of the shakes!  LOL  I got Josh hooked once he moved to IL, and we were both devastated our first March in Virginia when the McDonald's not only didn't have them, but also acted like they never heard of them!  The blasphemy!  After lots of phone calls and driving around, I found ONE McDonald's that had them!!!  Keep in mind I was pregnant that year, so I was extra happy :)  I was working as a long-term sub at the time in a Fourth Grade classroom, and the morning after we had our first shake of the season, my thing I shared was definitely about finding the shakes!  My kids were so intrigued, and I think a few parents were made to drive to the one McDonald's that had them so their kids could experience the deliciousness.  LOL  This year, we got a little nervous.  A friend from IL made it known that he has already had several Shamrock Shakes, and we still couldn't find them here!  The night our power went out, and we went to dinner with the Yanceys at McDonald's was also the first night we found Shamrock Shakes in VA!  Ah, what a coincidence!  We have been making the most of the season this year, for sure.  We even left the lovely restaurant we were at on a date night with the Buerstattes for McDonald's!  That restaurant has REALLY good dessert itself, so that says something.  I do have a few friends who aren't huge fans of mint, but when I recommended getting a Shamrock/Chocolate mix, they were all over that :)  On that note,, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

For more Things I Love Thursday, check out The Diaper Diaries!

Smith Family 2010

Seasonal Chic 2010 Christmas 5x7 folded card

Shop Shutterfly.com for elegant Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Shutterfly is hosting another amazing promotion for bloggers! Check out this website for an explanation on how you can earn a $25 gift card for Shutterfly by sharing a photo card project!

This is the front of one of our holiday cards we sent out this year. Inside there is one more picture and a little letter recapping our year. This is the card we sent to people that we only communicate with at the holidays. I will post our other holiday card later with some funny pictures from our photo sessions...

This is yet one more reason that I love working with Shutterfly :)


For more Things I Love Thursday, check out The Diaper Diaries!

A Soup and Chili Weekend

We had a great weekend! Josh had yesterday off, so we had a nice three-day weekend to enjoy :) We didn't go out a whole lot, but we enjoyed a walk in the woods each day, some yummy food, and lots of laughs together!

Our weekend kicked off with dinner at Qdoba with Mary Jo, Mark, and James. I think Josh and I both could eat Qdoba every day of our lives! It was really yummy :)

On Saturday, the Shapiros came over for dinner. Katherine and I LOVE our weekly playdates for the boys, but we really enjoy the rare occasion we can hang out as families. I made Pizza Macaroni Bake for dinner with Pumpkin Brownies for dessert. Seemed like a good fall meal :)

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Liam, Jackson, and Colin: All dressed in stripes :)

Jackson handled the time change on Sunday morning pretty well. He didn't wake up TOO early, and was in a pretty good mood all day.

Josh and I made our first batch of potato soup for the season. This is one of our favorite fall and winter staples. It was really yummy, and we had Red Lobster Cheesey Biscuits to go with it

(Jackson is smelling the beautiful flowers Katherine brought me on Saturday night!)

On Monday, Jackson hung out with Josh while I ran to a quick doctor's appointment. In the afternoon, I took Jackson with me to Giant to pick up a few last minute things for dinner. Since I only needed a few things, I let Jackson push one of the mini-carts! It was SO cute! It is a little toddler-sized green shopping cart with a pole and flag labeling him as a Customer in Training. He LOVED pushing his cart around. Whenever I gave him something to put in his cart, he grabbed it, grinned up at me, said, "Tank oooo," and happily dumped it in the cart. There was quite a meltdown when we had to return the cart, but it was well worth it ;)

After we got back from the store, Jackson helped Daddy get started on the chili we were making for dinner.

Emptying the beans into the pot.

Opening the next can.

In go more beans!

Stir, stir, stir!

We also had Southern Biscuits to go with our yummy chili!

I thought it would be fun to include our recipes for Potato Soup and Chili since they are two of our favorites!

Potato Soup

3 stalks of celery--chopped

1/2 of an onion--chopped

7-8 potatoes--peeled and cubed

1/2 stick of butter

1 cup of evaporated milk (or other milk of your choice--just don't make the mistake of using sweetened condensed milk--trust us ;))

3-5T flour

salt

1. Put potatoes in a large pot and cover with water.

2. Bring potatoes to a boil and cook until they are fork tender. Add celery and onion after a few minutes.

3: Stir in butter and milk. Lower heat to medium high.

4. In a separate bowl, quickly whisk together flour and water (we usually start with about 3T of flour and just a little water--you can always add more water!) Once this mixture is smooth, slowly pour into the pot while stirring.

5. Lower heat to medium low and stir occasionally.

6. Add salt to taste.

7. We like to top our potato soup with oyster crackers and shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Some of us also like to add chopped green onion...

Chili

2 cans of black beans

1 can of kidney beans

1 can of corn

1 can of tomato sauce

1 can of chopped tomatoes

1 packet of chili mix

1 lb of ground turkey/beef

1. Open all of the cans and add to a large pot.

2. Cook ground turkey/beef in a large pan.

3. Once the meet is finished cooking, add the chili mix. Once the mix is in, fill up the packet with water, and stir that in as well.

4. Let pan get to a boil, then lower the heat to medium and stir until the liquid is mostly absorbed.

5. Add meat to pot and turn heat to medium high.

6. Stir occasionally while the chili heats up.

7. We like to top our chili with oyster crackers and sharp cheddar cheese (do you see a pattern?).

For more Things I Love Thursday, visit The Diaper Diaries!

What I Did During Naptime

It is no secret that I love to organize... I won one of my first Wife of the Year awards when I sent Josh golfing while we lived in Crystal Lake so I could organize the garage! Our neighbors couldn't believe it! LOL I posted a few months ago about trying to organize our back storage/laundry room. We have a few things working against us in that room. One main deterrent from it being organized ALL the time is that periodically there is a piece of child un-friendly furniture that needs to be stored until later use. That takes up space and leads to things getting shifted around. I finally realized that part of the reason I wasn't feeling satisfied was that it just LOOKED dis-organized even when I had just finished working on it. So, I decided to go pick out some matching plastic storage bins for different areas of the room. I think it made a ton of difference! (If you don't, please just agree and don't burst my bubble! LOL) So, yesterday during naptime, I began my project! It didn't take me much longer than the nap, actually. Of course once I had the room organized, I turned around to see our family room in total disarray :( So, now I have piles for the Purple Heart truck to pick up on Friday, some donations for other places, and some trash that will go out tomorrow. Without further adieu, here are the before and afters:

Right side BEFORE:

Right side AFTER:

Right side (more) AFTER:

Back corner BEFORE:

Back corner AFTER:

Back wall BEFORE:

Back wall AFTER:

Left side BEFORE:

More left side BEFORE:

Left side AFTER:

For more Things I Love Thursday, check out The Diaper Diaries!

Can You Hear the Jingle Bells Yet???

I LOVE holiday cards! Going to the mailbox between Thanksgiving and New Year's is so much fun because there might be a pile of holiday cards in there! I pretty much love all holiday cards, but it's especially exciting when there are pictures and letters. I have lived for the moment I would have my own family to represent through a holiday card. Josh and my first card as The Smiths had one of our wedding pictures on it. We have sent out picture cards ever since; they featured us and Pax in the beginning, and now they showcase Mr. Jackson Albert. We even combined his birth announcement with our holiday card in 2008:

This was a Shutterfly card--luckily Shutterfly saves your old projects!

I am almost ready to order our holiday cards for this year! Some may call me crazy, but I really like to take advantage of the good deals! I have found that photo sites reward early planners. I got some crazy good deal last year on our cards, and was determined to do so again! In the process of shopping around, I came across an awesome offer for bloggers from Shutterfly! If you write a blog showcasing Shutterfly's holiday card selection, they will give you 50 free holiday cards!

When choosing a site for my holiday cards, I am really drawn to one with a large selection of "generic" cards. I don't necessarily WANT all my cards to specifically say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Hanukkah." Last year I ordered "Happy Holiday" cards and personalized according to holiday with different address label. Yeah, I pay THAT much attention to detail... Shutterfly has come to my rescue year after year. Their prices are really reasonable, they have great design selections, my cards arrive pretty quickly, and their are always great coupons!

For a holiday card geek like me, Shutterfly has attracted my attention because of the fun other products you can order: address labels and gift tags! I thought I would give you an example of each...yes, they happen to coordinate because that's how I roll :)

This is the Sleighs Away 4x8 holiday card:


Here is the matching Sleighs Away address label:

There are tons more address label options HERE!

Here is an option for a coordinating gift tag: Beary Merry:

There are more gift tag options HERE!

Shutterfly has a great promotion going for early birds like me: 20% off of holiday cards until October 27th (I realize that is today, but I'm sure there will be a new promotion soon!).

Disclaimer: This post was part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly.

For more Things I Love Thursday, head over to The Diaper Diaries!

A Pea and Spinach Tantrum?!?!?!

Jackson has been a fruit-ivore for quite some time. We have talked to the doctor about his slight pickiness and she isn't worried at all. She said that at this point veggies and fruit offer him the same nutrients, so we shouldn't stress about that. That being said, it would still be nice to know he was getting some good protein and veggie exposure. Yogurt has more protein than one would guess so that's good. To solve the veggie "problem" I discovered the appeal of squeeze pouches! I was wondering if Jackson could handle the squeezable yogurt, and at the same time came across the squeezable apple-carrot sauce at Trader Joe's. Jackson LOVED that stuff and ate it up! He would get so excited when I pulled one out of the pantry for snacktime! So, I saw Plum Organics at BuyBuyBaby and thought I would try out a couple of their squeezable fruit/veggie combos. I took two of them to Evanston with us, and Jackson LOVED them! I immediately found the closest BuyBuyBaby and bought a bunch more! There was one day when I was getting Jackson's dinner together in the afternoon and he saw me pull a half eaten pea, spinach, and pear pouch from the fridge. I really wanted to save it for dinner, but he got so sad that he couldn't have it for a snack that I had to give in! My kid was crying for spinach and peas!!! How can I deny him that?

The pouches are marketed as an alternative to the traditional jar and tub packaging for baby food. That's another perk, but I love them because they come with a twist off plastic top and toddlers can suck the yummy food out of a plastic straw-like thing. The top also screws back on in case it doesn't get eaten in one sitting.

So, a HUGE THANK YOU to Plum Organics for packaging their fruit/veggie purees in such an appealing manner :)

For more Things I Love Thursday, visit The Diaper Diaries!

Jack's Big Music Show!

The truth is, I was going to title this post: I Love Todd Hannert, but I thought that would be a little odd. The fact is, that I DO love ALL of Todd Hannert's work! I loved his book Morning Dance even before I had my own child.

Jackson now LOVES "Jack's Big Music Show!"

Let me back up and give you the background on this one. Before we moved to Virginia, I taught at Elgin Academy in Elgin, IL. I was blessed to work with an amazing staff of talented teachers and staff. To be honest, I always imagined starting our family in our Crystal Lake house so my children could attend Elgin Academy and have Mary Hannert as a part of their Early Childhood experience. She is an amazing teacher and everyone loves her! Sadly, it does not look like that will happen since our commute would be a bit lengthy now :) Anyways, Mary WAS at my baby shower before I had Jackson. One of the gifts she gave me was a Curious Buddies DVD: "Look and Listen at the Park."

I knew that Mary's husband, Todd, spent a lot of time out of the country working on his children's music show. I remember checking it out once when I was flipping channels, but I didn't give it much thought since I didn't have my own children. Jackson has really not watched much TV until recently. We live in a three-story townhouse with the main play area on the main level. We do not have a television on the main level, so there was no reason for Jackson to have much exposure to TV. However, we went through a period a couple of months ago where Jackson was waking up from his naps earlier than he should, and I could tell he was still tired and would like to still be sleeping! I finally though to turn on a DVD so he could continue relaxing before jumping into more playtime. The DVD I chose was the Curious Buddies one Mary had given me. Jackson LOVED it! He sat still for the whole thing totally entranced!

Once that was a success I DVRed a few episodes of "Jack's Big Music Show" since it too was by Todd Hannert. Well, Jackson LIVES for Jack now! At home he stands by the gate to go down to the family room and says, "Shoo! (Show!) Jack!" Here at Mimi and Bampa's, he asks for it as soon as he wakes up. Frankly, at 5:30am, that sounds like a great activity in my book... Even better, none of us "grown-ups" are annoyed by it! It's a hit all the way around :) I asked my mom to Tivo a few episodes in anticipation of our arrival so Jackson could have some Jack to watch. The first morning we were here, however, I realized that nothing had Tivoed since they do not get Nick Jr! Oh no! Jackson and I were headed to the library anyways, so we checked for some Jack DVDs while we were there. We found the only one that exists ("Let's Rock!") and have now watched it approximately 1,043,672 times ;)

We also checked out a CD ("Jack's Big Music Show: Season One). That has been fun to listen to in the car. Yes, we are a bit obsessed, but since we all enjoy it, I'm happy to appease Jackson :)

The characters on Jack (Jack, Mary, and Mel) always have some guests that help them perform. There is a list of the wonderful guest performers listed on the Wikipedia page along with an episode and song guide and some other neat information like some connections to "Sesame Street!" My two favorite parts of each show are Jack tapping his foot in the theme song and Jack's mom reminding him that they have an activity to get to soon. The activity is always different like knitting class or pole vaulting class!

For more Things I Love Thursday, visit The Diaper Diaries!

Multiple Experiments

I have conducted a couple of experiments to ease two daily frustrations. The first experiment included trying out new diaper wipes. I have used the Target brand of unscented wipes since the day Jackson was born and loved them for the quality and the price. Somewhat recently Target changed their generic brand to the Up and Up brand. That's fine, but I have noticed a difference in some of the products I regularly bought--the diaper wipes included. I usually just buy a box of the refill packs and then load them into the plastic tub I saved in the beginning. I found myself fighting with the wipes more and more often as the individual wipes jammed coming out of the dispenser. Of course, this always happened at the WORST possible moment in a diaper change :( So, I set off on a hunt to solve this problem! I asked around, and I got lots of different responses. There was no resounding vote for one type of wipe. Katherine, however, told me she uses Pampers wipes in a Huggies tub. Hmmm... Jackson and I went to Babies R Us to take advantage of the 4th of July diaper sale which was buying two value packs of diapers and a value pack of wipes and receiving a $15 gift card. I worked out the cost and with the gift card and some coupons, the Pampers wipes were pretty equivalent price-wise to the Target ones I usually buy. I thought that was a great opportunity to try out a different brand. I also picked up a tub of Huggies wipes. I felt like I had all my bases covered! I was right! The Huggies container is SO much nicer! The dispenser is made of rubber and has a long wiggly-line cut-out where the wipes come out instead of a plastic slit. I have tried Pampers wipes and Costco wipes in the dispenser and they both work beautifully! I am anxious to see how the Target wipes do in the new container... In the midst of this experiment, I had one failure: Walmart wipes are not good for anything except keeping on hand to clean up messes. They must be folded very differently and don't neatly flow one into the other. That was a disaster! I've also reached the conclusion that while they are much better than the Walmart wipes, I'm not a huge fan of either Huggies or Pampers wipes. I think I'll stick with Costco and hopefully, Target!

The second experiment I conducted was trying to get Jackson to sleep later in the mornings. I thought this was a lost cause, until I realized he had woken up soaking wet every morning for a couple of weeks. Before you think I'm an idiot for not realizing this was the problem right away, let me just mention that his diaper never mattered much to Jackson. He never fussed much even from the beginning if it was dirty or wet. Anyways, I was already putting him to bed in overnight diapers that were one size bigger than his daytime diapers. I didn't know what else I could do! Then I realized I could shorten the time the nighttime diapers had to work! I started putting Jackson to bed in a regular diaper and then changing him into an overnight one when we go to bed. He now sleeps until at least 6:15 (compared to 5 or 5:30) and then is content to look at some books or play with some cars until 6:45! WOO HOO!!! I definitely wrote a post about how much I love Fisher Price Happy Nights diapers, and I think I still really like them. But, to be honest, I have been using either Luvs or Target one size larger diapers at night and Jackson's fine in the morning! I really feel like a terrible mom for not putting two and two together sooner! I would have a hard time going back to sleep at 5am if I woke up already soaking wet through my diaper and pjs!

For more Things I Love Thursday, visit The Diaper Diaries!

Stroller Express Coming Through!

I have been contemplating getting a new double stroller to use when I have an additional little person aside from Jackson. The one I was using has been great, but it's heavy on its own and the boys are getting heavier, making for quite an unwieldy load! I was never crazy about the fact that it only had three-point harnesses in the seats either. I tried out Katherine's stroller when we were at the mall the other day, and LOVED it! It's a Graco Quattro Tour Duo. It's a relative of the one I was using (an older Graco DuoGlider), but is so much nicer! Not only does each seat seem more comfy and offer more room, but it also seems like it would be a good running stroller without being a true jogging stroller! Bonus points :) I was just about ready to propose my reasoning to Josh about buying a brand new stroller when I thought to look on Craigslist to see if there were any there. This is a newer stroller, and I didn't think there'd be many for sale. I was pleasantly surprised to find two! A family in Spingfield was selling theirs and we picked it up today! I LOVE it and Jackson seems to be on board as well :)


After trying out our new stroller on some errands and an afternoon walk, it receives two thumbs up! The cup holders are large enough to accommodate all of Jackson's sippy cups (yay!). I can have a drink in the cup holder without giving up looking at the rider in the back seat. The canopy on the front seat isn't as bulky so I can probably leave it on all the time (instead of keeping it in the closet and then not having it when it is actually raining!). There are five-point harnesses on both seats. The handles offer two different points to hold on to, so it's comfy for however you want to push. The whole thing just seems to glide along which I LOVE!

Jackson can even climb into the front seat all by himself! ***Sigh*** He's getting so big!

For more Things I Love Thursday visit The Diaper Diaries!