3 Month Pictures

I missed a few posts last week. I also did not follow the menu I made for menu Monday (I did finally make pot roast last night for some dinner guests). But there's nothing like Sunday Son-day to get back on track ;) Here are some 3 month photos of the little guy... hard to believe it's almost time to take the 4 month pictures...

Not So "Thought-Provoking" Snow Day

I had a few ideas this week for "Thought-Provoking Tuesday". I can't remember most of them and the one I can remember, I don't really want to write about. There is only so much you can say about some jerk that decided to fly his plane into a building because he didn't want to pay his taxes and, quite frankly, I'd much rather post snow pictures :)

Menu Monday

We stuck to the plan last week! We found a keeper recipe for pork chops. The salmon was pretty good as well. If we try the meatloaf again, we are going to try to find a way to make it less mushy.

So here is the plan for this week:

Monday - Crockpot Pot Roast, Salad, Biscuits

Tuesday - Beef Enchiladas, Salad

Wednesday - Eggs and Biscuits or Eat Out

Thursday - Pizza (frozen this time, haven't figured out what recipe I want to try for the homemade pizza yet)

Friday - Baked Tilapia

Saturday - Burgers

Sunday - Eggs and Biscuits or Eat Out (whatever we don't do Wednesday)

I think I'm going to have to brainstorm a little earlier next time. I'm finding it hard to decide what to do when I know I have to go shopping in the morning. I need to make a list!

2 Month Pictures

Catching up on the month pictures. Here are some 2 month pictures:

Meatloaf and Patriotism

Well, we switched up the menu a little bit. We had the meatloaf today because I didn't get the pork chops marinating this morning.

I thought the meatloaf tasted pretty good, but it was a little mushy. We might give the recipe one more shot and try to figure out how to make it less mushy. Maybe a better texture will make it a keeper.

On another note, we were watching the Olympics last night and ice dancing was on. It was ice dancing, so I wasn't paying that close attention, but I did hear the commentator mention that one of the Georgian competitors was from the United States and that her citizenship had been expedited for the games.

Now, I realize that athletes do this often. However, I find it ridiculous that this skater had never even been to Georgia. Isn't competing for your country kind of the whole point of the Olympic games? I think one should have at least set foot in the country they are competing for. Learn a few words in the native tongue, meet some fellow countrymen, buy something with the local currency. Just my opinion. At least they said she "would like to visit" Georgia after the games. Woohoo... what a patriot.

Late Post

Couldn't think of much to write today, so here are a couple of pictures of Bryson from earlier this week.

Grabbing "Ollie the Octopus" with two hands:

First time riding in the stroller like a big boy:

My Parents

Welcome to my first Thankful Thursday post! I had a hard time deciding who to be thankful for first because I have a lot of people for whom to be thankful. In the end, I decided to start with my parents because, without them, I would not be around to be thankful for anyone else.


My parents are awesome. I know I'm biased, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find better parents anywhere. I've pretty much always felt this way, but now, being a parent myself (even for only 3.5 months), I have an even greater appreciation for all that they have done for me.

I could probably write for days about all the reasons I'm thankful for my parents, but in an attempt to organize my thoughts, I decided to list 10. Please know that this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the gratitude I feel for them. In fact, look forward to future Thankful Thursday posts about each of them individually. But for now:

Ten Reasons I am Thankful for My Parents:

1) They taught me about faith and introduced me to Jesus Christ.

2) They always provided us with everything we needed and then some (and still do).

3) They demonstrated how to be a good person... selfless, considerate, thoughtful, responsible... the list is endless.

4) They always supported our endeavors and attended our events. I think I can count on one hand the times that they weren't both at a game or a concert, and all of these times involved doctor appointments or surgery or something of the like.

5) They provided a lifetime of fun times and fond memories... holidays, vacations, games, laughter...

6) They are both cancer survivors. For their survival, I am grateful to God, but to them I am grateful for their faith, courage and strength during their battles.

7) They provided a loving, nurturing environment with appropriate boundaries, expectations and consequences. We knew what was expected and what to expect.

8) They demonstrated what a loving marriage should look like.

9) They instilled in me an appreciation for the important "things" in life. While we were fortunate to have many material "luxuries", I learned that the most important "things" in life aren't things.

10) They love me unconditionally and I know, without a doubt, that I can count on them for anything.

I really could go on, but I said "10 reasons" so there you have it.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for everything! I am truly blessed to have y'all in my life! I love y'all!!!

What to read?

Yikes! I almost missed posting today.

I have decided that in March I will read 1 chapter of Proverbs each day. I have heard that some people do this every month (I believe there are 31 chapters). I don't know if I will do it every month, but I would like to do it once at least.

That leaves me with a week and a half to read something else. And I'm not sure what I want to read.

::: google break :::

Okay, if I include today, there are 12 days left in February. It appears as though there are 12 chapters in Ecclesiastes, so I think I'll read one a day, starting today.

Well, no reflections or insights today... just a plan :)

Olympic Observations

I love the Olympics. I can't imagine how anyone could not love the Olympics, but I suppose some people might not.

For weeks, I will walk around humming the NBC Olympic theme in my head. You know, the one by John Williams with the timpani and the brass.

I love how for two weeks every two years the world seems a little smaller, a little more unified. Like for once our similarities are bigger than our differences. I love to hear the stories of the athletes. The struggles, the obstacles they have overcome to get there. They are all winners already, yet they have such a strong desire to win just one more time. For themselves, for their team, for their country.

I had never really given it much thought, but this year has brought to light just how dangerous the winter games are compared to the summer games. The ice, the blades, the speed, the gravity. Tragedy befell this year's games before they even began. The Georgian luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili, was killed in an accident during practice. Such an incredibly sad beginning to the Olympics.

Of course, then organizers went about attempting to make the event safer for the competitors. And, of course, it is so easy to think "why didn't they have the steel beams covered in the first place?". But no one could have foreseen this tragedy.

In addition to the modifications to the track, they also moved the starting line for the men down to where the women were set to start. The idea being that this would give them less momentum, less of a chance to get up to speeds of 95 mph, less of a chance to have a horrendous crash.

Then (and this is what I'm trying to understand), they moved the women's starting line down even further. If the women had already practiced at the newly designated "Men's Starting Line", why the need to move them down? Why is there a need to have some distinction between the two? Is it that important for men to reach faster speeds, to take more risks, to be more impressive?

I don't know if this really bothers me. I'm not sure what I think. What do you think?

Menu Monday

Well, it's "Menu Monday", so it's time to plan out the meals for the week. As I have done with the blog, I am going to attempt to use "themes" to organize our meals for the week. Hopefully, doing this will help me decide what to plan for dinner. I find it is much easier to make a decision when you have choices that have already been narrowed down.

First things first. Here are the proposed "themes" for the days of the weeks. I'm going to be flexible here. Most days will have a couple of things to choose from and if we decide to eat something completely different one day, that's fine too. I am going to also try to maybe make a "recipe box" or something to keep track of the recipes we like (maybe a recipe blog? haha), so I will have a place to go for ideas.

Monday - Crockpot/Casserole

The idea here is to have leftovers for lunch for the week. And I will be home most of the day on Monday to make sure the Crockpot doesn't explode or anything like that ;)

Tuesday - Italian/Mexican

Wednesday - Breakfast/Chicken

Thursday - Burgers/Pizza

Eventually, I would like to try homemade pizza...

Friday - "Meatless"

This is in quotation marks because it will probably very rarely be meatless. This could be fish, a vegetarian dish or a salad (even if the salad has meat in it).

Saturday - Steak/Pork Chops/Grill

Sunday - Make up/New Recipe/Free day

If we go out to eat one day, I can simply move that day's menu here or move everything back one day. Or we can go out to eat on Sunday, or I can try a new recipe... whatever.

Okay, so this week's menu...

Monday - We have family portraits in the evening, so we will probably pick up something quick afterwards. No cooking.

Tuesday - Spaghetti, salad, garlic bread

Wednesday - Eggs and biscuits

Thursday - We already have buns, so we will do burgers this week.

Friday - Maple Salmon, green beans, apples

Saturday - Maple-Garlic Marinated Pork Tenderloin, broccoli, oranges

Sunday - Easy Salsa Meatloaf, corn, black-eyed peas

Alrighty, that's the plan. We'll see if we stick to it or not.

Spit Happens.

Dear Bryson,

Spit happens. A lot. See:

And, if I'm being completely honest son, it is my least favorite thing about you. Well, maybe leaky, poopy diapers are my least favorite thing, but the spit happens more frequently (read: all.the.time.).

But there are important lessons to be learned from spit. In fact, there are important lessons to be learned from just about anything.

Everyone spits. What I mean is that everyone has their faults, something about them that is not great. Because of this, we should try to look past people's faults and see the good in them. If all I saw when I looked at you was a spit machine, I would be missing out on all the wonderful qualities you have, like your beautiful blue eyes and that smile of yours that melts my heart.

There is a thing called "unconditional love". This means loving someone in spite of their spit. This is the kind of love I have for you. And at some point in your life, you will realize that Mommy has spit too. And I hope you can love me in spite of it.

There will come a day when you stop literally spitting up. While I look forward to a spit free day, I do not wish it to come too soon. I do not want to rush these precious days with my cuddly baby boy. So, for now, I will simply stock up on the burp cloths and cherish every spit filled moment.

Love,

Mommy

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day, Boogie!

Themes

Well, here they are, the much anticipated (you couldn't wait to see them, could you?) "themes" for my blog. I reserve the right to totally ignore the theme for the day, if I so choose, but I hope this will help me post more regularly to this blog o' mine.

Sunday Son-day

This day will be dedicated to Bryson. Maybe pictures, maybe an update on his latest accomplishments or challenges, and also a series of letters to my son. (I got the letter idea from another blog in which a mom was writing a letter to her son every month about his growth and development and adventures for that month. I might not do an "every month" detailed update, but something similar, I guess.)

Menu Monday

Even though I will probably be making my menus and shopping on the weekend, this is the day I will post them. Why? Because it starts with an M and I couldn't figure out where else I wanted to put it :) Once we get our dinner situation figured out, I might repurpose Monday for another topic. We'll see.

Thought-provoking Tuesday

Okay, what I say might not be thought-provoking, but this will the day I discuss current events or societal trends or something like that. Hopefully, the thought of posting on Tuesday will give me motivation to keep up with what's going on in our world. Sometimes staying home with a kiddo for most of the day, it's easy to not pay attention to the world outside.

Wednesday in the Word

Because I want to spend more time reading the Bible, this will be the day I use to discuss that journey. Maybe a verse that has stuck out to me, maybe a reading plan for the week, maybe a deep thought or prayer, or maybe also discussion about another book I'm reading for fun.

Thankful Thursday

Pretty simple. I will write about something or someone I am thankful for. I already have a few ideas for this, I will probably start with all the wonderful people in my life. That should give me plenty to write about for many Thursdays to come :)

Family/Fun Friday

Maybe a family update, maybe thoughts on being a family, maybe just something funny (family or not) I thought of, or something fun we've done or are planning to do.

Smorgasbord Saturday

Because I couldn't think of another theme, and because you always need a "catch-all" for things that might not fit... this is the day for that :)

Revamping the blog.

From and including: Saturday, October 18, 2008
To, but not including : Friday, February 12, 2010

It is 482 days from the start date to the end date, but not including the end date

Or 1 year, 3 months, 25 days excluding the end date

Alternative time units

482 days can be converted to one of these units:

• 41,644,800 seconds
• 694,080 minutes
• 11,568 hours
• 68 weeks (rounded down)

As you can see, I used this website to calculate how many days it has been since I first posted to this blog. In these last 482 days, I've published 42 posts. That's not even 1 post a week!!

So at this point I ask myself, "What do I want to get out of this blog? What do I want it to be?" And, because I talk back to myself, I say "I have no idea."

But, I have been having ideas lately. Ideas about organizing. Organizing the house, our meals, this blog. These ideas are not new really. I've had them before. So, before anyone gets too excited (I'm mostly talking to myself here again), know that these ideas may not pan out. But here is the big idea... Themes.

I am going to use what I call "Themes" to revamp certain areas of my life. It seems kind of corny, but I think it will help me make decisions. For instance, if Tuesday is Italian day, that gives me a more narrow list of options for dinner ideas. And if it's "Thankful Thursday" on the blog, that will give me more ideas of what I can write about. I'm going to make a concerted effort to publish a post everyday, but if I miss a day here or there, I will simply try to pick it back up when I can.

Now, I'm pretty sure not many people read this very often (of course there is often not anything to read, haha). I only have three "followers". And that's okay. I don't know if I will "blogcast" to facebook (I'm not even sure if that's what you call it) or try to get more people to read. I think for now, I will just use this more as a tool for myself and treat any readers as a bonus. Consider yourself a bonus :)

There are also people who have blogs where they create a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days, or take a picture each day for 365 days. I kind of have an ambition to do these things too and I'm trying to decide whether or not to create one or two more blogs (which is kind of silly, I can't keep up with one, how do I expect to keep up with three?). I will give that a little more thought...

Okay, so you are probably dying to know what my themes are now, right? Well, me too. haha. Okay, I have to admit, I have a few ideas, but I have not hashed it all out completely. So, you will have to come back tomorrow to find out what my themes will be :)

Oops, I was doing so good...

Then I forgot about my blog.

But I'm back again and still catching up on some past events. Below are a few pictures from our Christmases :) We had a wonderful time visiting with family! Bryson slept through most of the present openings... so of course we took the opportunity to decorate him with bows!!