fruit salad

last month kellen's classroom held a fruit salad party. each child brought in a different fruit and then for the afternoon activity and snack, they made and ate the salad. kellen's fruit was banana and he had a hard time giving up all of his banana's to the fruit salad. he scarfed down a whole banana before giving the rest of the bunch over to be cut up!

everyone took a turn dumping and mixing. kellen loved serving up bowls of fruit to all the parents. he served himself a giant bowl and then of course just picked out the mandarin oranges and pineapple.

as much as it's a near daily struggle for me to be away from my babes all day while i'm at work, i am sure thankful that they are able to go to the school right on campus. it's so nice to be able to easily drop in and say hello or participate in the variety of activities they have available. i keep telling myself this, because as much as i know that it's a great place, i still really struggled this last week now that maya has started going to "school'. she is in kellen's old infant class, little torch. it's right across the playyard from kellen's classroom, toggler...so on nice days when both classes are outside playing the kids can see each other.

things i'm diggin

here are a few more things i thought i'd share with you...who knows, maybe i'll make this a monthly project - seems like that's the only way i actually get on here and blog!!

1. amazon subscribe and save - this feature is AWESOME for so many reasons. first, find your favorite items...so far, i've subscribed to pampers, gogo squeezes (portable fruit sauce - kellen digs these!), rice cereal and a couple of other go to snacks for kellen. you choose how often you'd like to send it (every 1, 2, 3 or 6 months.), can cancel anytime (even after your first shipment), free shipping AND 15% off the regular price. there are thousands of products - food and snacks, health and wellness, household supplies, personal care and beauty products, baby & child are products. how great not to have to run out to babies r us, the grocery store or target...instead, just have it delivered, for free and typically cheaper!

2. in honor of tax day - turbotax.com i've been using turbo tax for the last 9 years and it basically allows me to wait until the very last minute before sitting down at the computer and banging out those taxes. never a fun job, but turbo tax makes it easy for me!

3. wholesomebabyfood.com and onehungrymama.com - as i inch days closer to having a six month, the thought of feeding her some goodness other than her mama's milk is creeping into my mind. as i did with kellen, i plan on making the majority of her food. it's so much easier than it sounds and i actually found it very rewarding to steam up those great organic veggies and fruits, puree and then freeze in ice cube trays for a freezer full of fresh and healthy food for my babe. the wholesomebabyfood site was a good to site when i was making food for kellen. onehungrymama is one that i've only recently discovered in my quest to look for healthy and good recipes that i can make for the whole family. you see, kellen is a bit of a veggie snubber, so i've been trying to figure out ways to incorporate veggies into his diet and this site has a number of great meals that do just that! i love how you can search by age - so once maya is eating a wide range of foods, i'm hoping to pretty quickly transition her to table food so that we can all eat the same meal as a family!

4. csa's - community supported agriculture. we just signed up for our fourth season of our csa and while we're still a few months away from receiving our first week of veggies - i thought it'd be a good time to share with two sites with you all so that you too can sign up and embark upon a relationship with a local farm to share in the harvest and enjoy fresh, local fruits and veggies (another reason why it was so easy to make my own baby food - i had fresh, organic veggies delivered to my work weekly!). i'm lucky in that i have an option of two farms that will deliver my weekly harvest to my work - so it makes it super easy! most farms deliver to several different local famer's markets - so you should be able to find one that delivers to your neighborhood farmer's market! this year we actually decided to try out a new farm, really for no other reason than to check out something new! i feel a little guilty - like we are cheating on the farm we've gotten our harvest box from for the last three years - but i know that they always sell out their harvest boxes, so i'm just opening up a spot for someone else who has been wanting one! in fact, most farms sell out rather quickly - so if you are interested in joining a csa, i recommend you get on it fast! here's are a couple of websites that list local csa farms - Portland Area CSA Coalition and Local Harvest. my next quest is to find a farm that raises grass-fed beef and buy a portion of a locally and ethically raised and butchered cow. has anyone done this or have recommendations?

first swing!

our weather has sure been crazy - sunny and warm one day or hour and cold, rainy or hailing the next! this weekend, i took advantage of a stretch of sunny weather and a visit from uncle bry to take the kiddos on a walk to the park. once we got there, i realized maya was old and strong enough to be able to be able to give the old baby swing a try! luckily uncle bry had his iphone with him, so we were able to catch some cute shots of the girl swinging - i think she enjoyed her time!


and of course, because she's the second child...she only gets a minute of the limelight to herself. kellen had fun pushing her and then big brother wanted to swing, too. so we put them together in one baby swing...could they be any cuter swinging together? i don't think she minded sharing the spotlight, either!


thanks for the fun and the cute pics, uncle bry!

and speaking of iphones...i am upgrade eligible as of may for a new phone through work and the iphone is now an option. should i make the jump from blackberry to iphone? i know, i know...i'm so behind the times not having an iphone and i should be a no brainer - but i tell you, i'm not so sure i'm a fan of the touch screen keyboard! and really, do i need the iphone to further feed my internet addiction?

my girl and me!

i love her!!!

monthly project {four people times twelve} // march

ok - forgive...i'm a little late in posting this! once again, squeaked the picture in on the last day of the month - on our toy covered living room floor! at least i'm giving myself a record of what really goes on in this household - we must pick up these toys at least four times a day.

these pics were taken with the self timer feature on a wednesday (which i currently have off...sort of!), right as aa came home from work and seconds before we start the frenzy which is getting dinner on the table, a bit of play time and then bedtime routine before aa and i crash out just to start our crazy days over again. life with two babes is a whirlwind and to top it all off, i'm now back to work. started back on march 22 - 1 day after my girl turned five months - 5 MONTHS?!! how can it be. i have very mixed emotions about being back to work - on one hand, it is nice to have a bit of time to myself, even in all the craziness that is my work life these days, but on the other hand, i miss my babes so much and i know that this time flies by - my biggest fear is that i'll regret not taking this time to just be home. it's a topic of discussion near daily and really i take it day by day, sometimes hour by hour. we'll see what happens.


kellen has been testing boundaries, limits and our patience these days! we had a rough couple of days early in the month with lots of hitting (of me and maya), throwing things (at me and maya...including a 5 pound weight on the girl! ah.), and all around mischief. i realize that this is all part of his development, but sometimes it's all i can take! the 5 pound weight about took me over the edge! these outbursts seem to come in waves and i can see them coming by the glimmer in his eye and the devilish smile on his face. i've been really trying to focus on showering him with attention, which i think is part of why he acts out - he just wants some attention!

moving on...he's been loving gymboree these days, learned to climb out of the crib this month (yikes!), is really a big helper and LOVES sesame street, especially cookie monster and elmo! he's been adding to his collection of guys and things that have to sleep with him in his crib at night - currently there are the following stuffed animals: two monk monk's (monkeys), big T (teddy bear), teddy (#1!), lizard, doggie and duckie, two cookie monster diapers, his blanket and some assortment of books - anywhere from 3-8 different ones! he's such a funny and sweet boy! i simply can't get enough!

my maya girl...5 months - really almost 6 months! i'm falling more and more in love with my girl by the day. she's still super demanding - don't even think about putting her down and walking out of sight! and yes, i'm still sleeping all night with her in my arms and no, she isn't taking a bottle...which has been a bit of a challenge with me back to work. we are SO lucky that grandma jan has been able to watch her on mondays and that she's willing to bring her to me 1-2 times to eat. my sister has been watching her for about four hours on tuesdays and daddy has been home with her on thursdays and also bringing her to me 1-2 times a day to eat. that is all changing on monday when she will start in the little torch classroom at the stringer child development center at nike - same classroom that kellen started in a year and a half ago. i have such mixed feelings about it - feels like she's so young to be in group care (kellen started at 9 months), but it will be nice to be able to go over and feed her when she's hungry.

the girl is getting so big and learning new tricks - march 7 she rolled over from back to tummy. she's pivoting all around, reaching for everything, grabbing her toes and really expressing herself with her voice! poor girl had a terrible rash on her face the last month, but i think we finally found the trick to keeping her clear - grandma el's ointment (hate that word!). one of the main reasons for the rash - TWO new teeth. the first one broke through march 12 and the second one march 29. those babies are sharp!!! it's hard to believe that solid foods are right around the corner - where does the time go???

the biggest thing in my world has been starting back to work. i'm supposed to be working part time, but there is a tremendous amount of work to be done right now. i'm feeling more and more that i might as well officially go back to full time, since i'm working it anyway - may as well be paid. especially considering that once maya starts at stringer, i would have to pay nike to work at the part time hours! not such a great feeling! back to work, meant finally a new haircut! bye bye pony tail, hello shorter do! i loved it the first and second day, but i've been having trouble doing it myself and i'm starting to think i'm ready to grow out my bangs.

oh - the BOB's are finally on sale! now i just need to figure out which one i want to get - the orange with 16" wheels or the black with 12" wheels!


we've been on a bit of a pancake kick lately. we've been alternating between two different kinds - this recipe for perfect pancakes and a cornmeal pancake that's made with yogurt, whole wheat flour and well...cornmeal (along with some other key ingredients!). i make a bunch of little "baby" pancakes and kellen eats them right up with a little syrup on the side for dipping. the best part is we freeze the leftovers and have breakfast or snacks for kellen on the go during the week!

my book for book club this month was the day the falls stood still. a great read that i highly recommend. we all met up at flying pie pizza for pizza and beer on a friday night. felt so good to be out of the house on my own...it so rarely happens these days!

i'm drawing a blank on anything else that happened this month - may need to start a written log so that when i finally get around to this i'll remember what we were up to! i'll try to do better next month...but no promises! ha.