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Something that makes me happy: Baking and creating in the kitchen! I think I’ve finally justified the need for a Kitchenaid mixer. I have wanted one for a very long time. Too bad that I didn’t figure this out a few weeks ago. I’ll have to wish for one next year!

Something I’m thinking: I am itching to get my 2010 photobooks done, but I know I won’t get much time for that until at least after Christmas.

Something I’m hoping: I hope that the weather doesn’t interfere with our plans to host our families at various times over the holiday break. I can’t believe that it isn’t even officially winter yet, and we’ve already had like 4 different winter events (and the bitterly cold temperatures in the teens – brrrrrr!!!! Our heating bill is going to be insane this time).

Something happening around the house: I’ve gone through several iterations of destroying and cleaning up the kitchen in the last few days!

Something I’m reading: I’ve made a half-hearted attempt to start reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I’ve been busy.

Something I’m watching: I forgot to mention that we watched the finale of Amazing Race, and I can’t wait for next season’s “second chance” edition!!! Woohoo! I see some favorites returning.

Something tasty: I updated my recipes to include the cupcake bites and the mint variation on OREO truffles. I’m going to try making peanut butter OREO truffles today. Friday night, I made red velvet cupcake bites. Saturday, I made Chex Mix, ginger snaps, and Devil’s Food cake cupcake bites. I’ve already made 4 batches (well, two double batches) of Chex Mix. I think I might make another 4 batches before the end of the year. I have to make the original oven recipe. The microwave version just won’t do. I love Chex Mix…YUM! I’ve been making the batches dairy free (for me!), and I still think it’s great. I plan on making a few vegan batches later this week (did you know that regular Worchestershire sauce has anchovies? I have some vegan Worchestershire sauce so I can make Chex Mix for my vegetarian friends).

Something Maddie is doing (33 months old): Maddie is quite the helper in the kitchen! She watched me make some things and was just as excited as she would be helping. She helped me mix batters, helped me pour in ingredients, and was almost solely responsible for coating the ginger snaps in sugar before putting them in the oven. She’s pretty good about listening when I tell her to stand near the kitchen sink and away from the oven when opening and closing the oven door. Her best friend’s family gave her a Christmas apron as a gift, and she loves wearing it while we “make things.” Her classroom had their holiday party on Friday, and we decorated gingerbread houses. I think Maddie was the only one who wasn’t eating more candy than they were using to decorate! I had told her that she couldn’t eat the candy when we made the train from the kit last week since gingerbread house kit candy is a bit sketchy. The candy at her holiday party wasn’t sketchy, but I let her continue to believe that the candy was just for decorating. She has had a few M&Ms while we’ve been baking (and has sampled pieces of the ginger cookies). Oh, and her bedtime has continued to be terrible! I hope that this is just a short phase. She hasn’t been falling asleep until after 10pm. She does better when we put her to bed later than her usual 8pm bedtime. We’re going to have to try to shift her bedtime back to 8pm. It’s been nice on the weekend, as we’ve had more time in the evenings to bake together, and she’s been sleeping until almost 9am in the mornings!!! That’s unheard of for Maddie. She is much more likely to get up at 6:30am than she is to sleep past 7:15am on any day. Unfortunately, this routine won’t work for our daily work/school schedule. Hopefully, we can work on this while on our holiday break together. We have to keep an eye on her these days with Cullen. She tends to want to push him out of her way when he’s trying to get one of her toys. We are constantly working on her to not snatch things from him, regardless of whether they are “her” special toys or not. When we tell her to go to time out, she is not usually happy about it but goes to the time out corner without a fight. She tends to do a good job about staying there until we allow her to leave. She then tells us what she did wrong and what she can do instead (push her shopping cart instead of push her brother, tell a parent to remove Cullen from her domain instead of scream and push her brother, etc). She doesn’t get sent to time out for many reasons unrelated to her brother.

Something Cullen is doing (47 weeks old): Cullen’s holiday party was also on Friday. One of his teachers inspired me to give the cupcake bites a try since she made cake bites for the party. I haven’t been able to eat them since they are not dairy free, but everyone seems to like them. Cullen is excited about his new egg shakers (which is a good thing since Santa is bringing him a few more). Cullen’s last two nights have been so much more pleasant. That’s not to say that he didn’t wake up or nurse during the night. He still did that, but he went back to sleep pretty easily and didn’t scream all night. I’ll take that every night for sure. I think he also didn’t join us in bed until after midnight both nights, but I’m not always sure what time Gabe goes up to get him. Since the last two days also involved him not taking his antibiotic (which still involves a huge screaming fit each time), I’m not sure whether the two events are related or not. Perhaps the antibiotic is still the culprit?? I don’t remember if I have mentioned his separation anxiety in these things. He is very attached to his parents right now (especially me), and he does not like it when we leave the room, especially when we leave him at daycare. We found out this week that Cullen doesn’t like it when Gabe leaves him either, so it’s not just a Mommy thing.

Something I am struggling with: I can’t find the spare battery for my little camera. We tried to find it before Thanksgiving, and I still can’t find it. Maybe it will turn up after we shuffle around everything for Christmas?

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I’ve been doing pretty well with my mini goals. I sent out the majority of my cards yesterday, as planned. I have a few more that were lacking addresses and the ones for the teachers. I hope to make some more ginger snaps, schedule a few blog posts, and wrap presents today. Oh, and I finally got Cullen’s letter finished up and posted yesterday!

Something I learned: I learned how to make cupcake bites. Mine don’t look as awesome as Bakerella’s, but I was excited about how cute they turned out!

Something I’m looking forward to: Christmas!!!!!! I love Christmas!!!!

Something random: The other day, I thought of the perfect gift idea on the way from my office to the parking lot. I used the amazon.com app on my phone, found what I wanted to get, ordered it, and it was on my doorstep two days later. It was a lovely combination of two things that I have come to love in the past year or so – amazon prime and having a smartphone (specifically an iPhone).

Something captured: Our family at Maddie’s party at school

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: The thought of having my hubby back home again.

Something I’m thinking: Solo parenting two small kiddos is tough! Hopefully, Gabe realizes how much that we appreciate him!

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping to survive the next few days until Gabe gets home from his business trip. The two bedtimes so far have not gone well, to say the least.

Something happening around the house: I’m trying hard to keep up the house while Gabe is out of town, but between getting the kids fed and happy and spending over two hours putting them to bed, I just don’t have a lot of energy left.

Something I’m reading: I’m still trying to finish The Secret History. I hope that I will be more motivated to read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Of course, I also have a lot going on and not a lot of time for reading.

Something I’m watching: Not much time for watching or reading this week.

Something I’m playing: Um…don’t think I played anything this week, either.

Something tasty: I discovered that some more cake mixes are dairy free (and that they have 1/2 batch boxed cake mix to make 12 cupcakes). I made some yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting. They were dairy free and delicious. This is good information as I hope to make the kids’ birthday cakes this year.

Something Maddie is doing (33 months old): She had her first experience of actually asking Santa for what she wanted for Christmas. At some point while we were walking around the mall after seeing Santa, she got upset because she didn’t have her doll with hair or her cars. I guess she didn’t quite get that Santa was going to come to our house at a later date to leave the presents. She is taking Daddy’s business trip fairly well. She has asked for Daddy a few times, but she knows when he is going to be back. She insists that he will give her hugs and kisses that morning and tell her that he loves her big bunches…and bring her a present. She also adds that Cullen wants a present, too.

Something Cullen is doing (45 weeks old): Cullen had his first visit with Santa. He’s been fussier at night, again. His night time never was great, but I felt like it got better for a while. Tonight, he was extremely fussy when trying to get him to sleep. In researching with Dr. Google, I think that he has lots of the classic silent reflux symptoms. We have an appointment with his doctor on Friday where they wanted to check his weight after our last appointments (with the lactation consultant and the pediatrician). I think maybe they will need to increase his meds. He also has a terrible case of diaper rash after lots and lots of stinky diapers. Poor little guy. I don’t think that he feels well. I wonder if he’s getting another tooth, too.

Something I am struggling with: Getting both kids to bed by myself. Two nights, two different tactics, two disasters.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I’ve been looking at schedules for local cake classes as well as some photography class schedules. I might take a cake class in January or February. It would be great to take one in January so that I can learn a few things about making Maddie and Cullen’s birthday cakes. I’m not sure when I’ll have time to take the photography class, but I would like to take one on post processing.

Something I’m looking forward to: Having Gabe back home, book club, dinner with friends, dinner and games with friends, and poker night.

Something captured: The snow on Saturday messed up some of our plans. My parents were supposed to have joined us on the Santa train on Sunday, but they weren’t able to make it. Kristin was able to come with us, and we made the best of a very cold day.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Being back home after a long road trip.

Something I’m thinking: Why is it that every year I feel like I’m ahead of the game before Thanksgiving, and then suddenly after Thanksgiving I feel REALLY BEHIND with my Christmas shopping.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping to get a lot done this week…priorities are to finish Maddie’s 33-month letter, finish Cullen’s 10-month letter, and decorate our Christmas tree (and the rest of the house).

Something happening around the house: We were out of town for more than a week. It’s great to be back home. We have a fresh mountain Christmas tree that we cut ourselves this past weekend. It’s sitting in the library waiting to be decorated.

Something I’m reading: I didn’t read anything this week.

Something I’m watching: We’re still struggling to keep up with our television shows. We didn’t watch a whole lot this past week, though we did manage to catch Amazing Race when we were at my parents’ house.

Something I’m playing: We played euchre with my parents and with Dylan and Gabe’s mom. We also played Scrabble Slam for the first time. That was fun and quick.

Something tasty: We had lots of tasty things this week!!! The most surprising dairy-free food this week was the devil’s food cake with “milk chocolate” icing. I was shocked that milk chocolate icing did not contain milk or chocolate. I wasn’t complaining – I was able to eat it, and it was tasty!

Something Maddie is doing (33 months old): We drove around Lexington a bit on Wednesday while Gabe’s parents were setting up for a craft show. Cullen was sleeping, and we hoped that Maddie might nap as well. At one point, we heard a little voice in the back seat say, “Both kids are sleeping!!” Maddie had her eyes closed, pretending to sleep. Her giggles gave her away. Maddie has been very sweet this week. She often says things like, “I am happy to see my Mommy,” “I’m happy to be with my family,” and “Cullen makes me happy.” She’s a sweet girl!! She barely napped all week. She only napped once when we weren’t in the car. Without a nap, she gets a little out of control in the evenings! Sometimes she’s whinier than usual, and other days she’s just crazy.

Something Cullen is doing (44 weeks old): Cullen was a chatterbox this week! His babbling has increased immensely, and I think he might be giving his sister a run for her money. One of the new sounds that he has been making this week is “mama.” I’m not sure he’s using “mama” and “dada” in context quite yet, but he’s getting close! I love hearing him say, “Mama” over and over. This week, he was introduced to both Soy yogurt and Coconut Milk yogurt. He thought that was quite yummy! We are wondering whether Cullen has some issues with soy in addition to dairy as he had a few rough nights that coincided with soy yogurt consumption. I’m considering keeping a food diary along with notes of how his nights are.

Something I am struggling with: We found out a few days ago that Gabe has to leave town for 4 days soon. I don’t know how I’m going to survive with the kiddos while he is gone! I’m a little nervous about how all of that is going to work. I’m most concerned about making dinner, getting both kiddos to bed (always a challenge), and getting myself and the kids ready each morning. I know I can do it, but it seems a little daunting at the moment!

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I decorated a cake for Dylan’s birthday, and that makes me want to look into taking a cake decorating class (on my goals list!). Maybe I’ll look into doing that soon!

Something I learned: The Monday before Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving Day itself are excellent travel days! The bulk of our travel was on these two days, and I feel like we had the road almost to ourselves. We did our last bit of travel around the kids’ bedtime on Saturday, and that was pretty good, too.

Something I’m looking forward to: Decorating our Christmas tree!

Something random: We saw a giant forest fire in West Virginia on the way back from Kentucky.

Something that didn’t fit in these categories: We visited Gabe’s parents’ shop for the first time this past week! We loved it! They have done a very nice job with it. I made a video walk through and hope to post it when I get some free time (hahahahaha, free time! I’m so funny!).

Something captured: The tripod is on my packing list every year so I can get a group photo on Thanksgiving Day! I think this is our best shot…the kids were not too happy about getting photographed.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Being caught up on the uploading and sorting part of photo organization. I have a lot of work to do when it comes to doing something with those photos, but sorting/uploading is a huge step.

Something I’m thinking: We have so many fun things to do this time of year, but it is quite busy!

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping to get some good photos of the kiddos in their costumes tonight.

Something happening around the house: We got rid of our big, tall bushes in front of our house. Yay!!!! I have never liked them much, and they tended to harbor spiders who build webs across our entryway. I’m so happy to have them GONE!

Something I’m reading: I finished Enchanted, Inc. and started on our next book club selection, The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I enjoyed Enchanted, Inc. and hope to read more of that series eventually. I’m thinking about getting back to the library habit before too long. Gabe has been reading a lot, too. He’s going to be finished with The Hunger Games series soon!

Something I’m watching: We finished Shutter Island after my last somethings post. Eh. By the time we got to the “big reveal,” we had already figured out the gist of it. I wonder if it would have felt different to watch it all in one night or to watch in the theater. Gabe said he saw some reviews of it that suggested that we weren’t the only ones to feel underwhelmed by the end.

Something I’m playing: We played Euchre with our neighbors on Friday night. It was fun to play some cards!

Something tasty: I had pizza last night. So far so good with Cullen today, so we’ll see!!

Something Maddie is doing (32 months old): We have been introducing more movies to her lately. This week, she watched Cars and Monsters, Inc for the first time. Well, she watched part of the movies, anyway. She usually loses interest within the first 15 minutes of anything. Her eyes were as big as saucers when we turned on cars. After watching for a couple of minutes, she said, “The cars are talking!” and then matter-of-factly, “Some cars talk. Some cars don’t talk.” We tried to get her to play a little Mariokart, but she’s still not quite getting the hang of that!!!

Something Cullen is doing (40 weeks old): He continues to scream the majority of the night. He had his 9 month check up this week, and they didn’t find anything obvious wrong with him. I don’t know if it is teething since he doesn’t seem to be better when he has Tylenol. I do think he’s probably doing some more teething. He still only has half a tooth, and I think he’s getting the second tooth on the bottom. At his check up, he weighed 18 pounds, 12 ounces which is about 20th percentile, according to the CDC. He’s 29 1/4″ long which is about 80th percentile. He’s long and lean! The student shadowing our pediatrician seemed to be concerned about Cullen’s growth chart, but I am not at all concerned. This is the pattern that Maddie followed as well. I refuse to get stressed about weight again unless the doctors really are concerned. I don’t think that they are, but they did recommend focusing on foods higher in fat. He continues to hate his antibiotic. It’s a major struggle to get him to take it every day. We decided to start giving it to him in the morning as we weren’t sure if it was upsetting his tummy at night. We are also giving him probiotics to see if that improves his nights.

Something I am struggling with: As mentioned, giving Cullen his antibiotic is a huge struggle!

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I worked a little bit on our 2010 photobooks! Whew, that is a lot of work!

Something I learned: I learned that you can display coupons on your phone and use them at the Carter’s outlet. I love not having to remember to print coupons!

Something I’m looking forward to: Trick or treating tonight!

Something random: You know what’s random? Halloween weather around here. You never know if it’s going to be 35 degrees or 88. Looks like tonight will be nice, but we were just outside early this afternoon and it was HOT.

Something captured: Tigger and Winnie the Pooh are ready for candy tonight! Too bad Tigger’s hood doesn’t fit terribly well.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

This is another one that I wrote up a couple months ago but didn’t get around to posting. I’m glad I wrote this one down – I would have forgotten it!

After being told her options for lunch, Maddie said the following to daddy:

Maddie: YOU can have lettuce.

Lettuce!! Ha!!!

A little later, she hands Daddy a play potato.

Maddie: Here’s some lettuce.
Daddy: This isn’t lettuce; this is a potato.
Maddie: It’s pretend lettuce.

Something that makes me happy: Celebrating our wedding anniversary (four wonderful years and counting!).

Something I’m thinking: I think I ate too much dinner. We had meatloaf and potatoes in a crockpot. It was yummy, but it’s pretty dense.

Something happening around the house: We carved pumpkins today!

Something I’m reading: Still reading bits and pieces of Enchanted, Inc. here and there. I’m excited that Gabe has been reading The Hunger Games series. He will probably finish the trilogy before me.

Something I’m watching: We started watching Shutter Island last night, but we weren’t able to finish it. I hope we’ll finish watching it tonight after The Amazing Race.

Something tasty: We went out to dinner to Acme Food and Beverage Company for our anniversary. It was great!!! I especially loved my appetizer which included heirloom tomatoes (best tomatoes I’ve ever had!), mozzarella cheese (I made a rare exception to the no dairy as I didn’t feel I could pass up that appetizer!), deviled eggs, and pickled something…squash? regular pickles? I am not sure, but it was all very, very good.

Something Maddie is doing (32 months old): Maddie and I went to the fair with Shannon and Keira. I think the most memorable moment for Maddie was riding the pony. She was so scared while doing it that she was shaking, but then afterward she couldn’t stop talking about it. When we got home, she couldn’t wait to tell Daddy. This is a good season for Maddie as she’s very excited about pumpkins. Ever since we went to the pumpkin patch, Maddie loves pulling into the driveway and excitedly points out the pumpkins on our front porch. She thought the pumpkin carving was interesting today. I made the Pooh pumpkin just for her.

Something Cullen is doing (39 weeks old): Cullen turned 9 months old this week. He has his 9-month appointment this week. He has started crawling on his hands and knees a bit more, though still finds that he is faster doing the army crawl. He’s started resisting his antibiotic. This is particularly frustrating since we will be giving it to him every day for who knows how long. I hate that we’ll have to fight him daily to take it. He had some exciting new foods this week: saltine crackers, blueberry muffin, multigrain cheerios, and pancakes (technically, he had a little bit once before, but this time he had a bit more).

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I’m getting caught up on organizing my photos (not specifically listed on my goals, but still related to my goals). I’m also formulating a plan to run a 5k next year. I’m excited about the idea! I hope I can keep my motivation and complete it next year.

Something planned: Book club, play date, a trip to the museum, and Halloween fun!

Something captured: Keira, Cullen, and Maddie at a Halloween festival on Saturday.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Four years ago today, Gabe and I were getting married in beautiful Sedona, Arizona. We have had a wonderful, and very eventful, four years and I look forward to many, many more.

I’m excited about our dinner tonight at Acme Food and Beverage Company in Carrboro. Each year, we have picked a restaurant recommended by friends that neither of us have experienced. We had hoped to eat at Lantern this year, but unfortunately we waited too long to make reservations. Maybe we will try it another year. Acme also sounded interesting, and we found plenty of things on their menu that we wanted to try.

In previous years, we have eaten at 18 Seaboard, Mo’s Diner, and Second Empire. Our favorite anniversary dinner was Mo’s Diner, hands down. I think it may have even been my favorite meal ever.

Speaking of favorite things, this is one of my favorite photos from our wedding day. Our ceremony was perfect and beautiful.

Any time I think that the months cannot go by any quicker, they do. Life is pretty amazing with the kiddos. It’s time for another letter to Cullen! (more…)

Something that makes me happy: We had a wonderful weekend spent mostly outside enjoying the perfect weather.

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about all the photos we took this weekend with our visit to the Life and Science museum, neighborhood block party, and the pumpkin patch today. Whew, big weekend!

Something I’m hoping: I hope the weather continues to be nice at least through Tuesday when I’m taking Maddie to the State Fair!

Something happening around the house: It’s very convenient that the neighborhood block party happens right in front of our house!

Something I’m reading: I started reading Enchanted, Inc by Katie Chandler. I wanted to read something light before starting the next book club book, The Secret History. I haven’t been allowing myself much time to read lately.

Something I’m watching: We are giving The Event a try and thinking about dropping some shows (potentially including that one since we haven’t invested much into it yet!). We’re keeping up pretty well with Glee and Amazing Race. Somehow, I can also keep up with 90210. We’re behind on most of our shows, though.

Something I’m playing: A little Carcassonne on the iPhone and a little Angry Birds. Not much else.

Something tasty: We had some purple sweet potatoes, though Gabe and Maddie didn’t think they were tasty without a load of brown sugar. Cullen and I thought they were good.

Something Maddie is doing (31 months old): Maddie did great this week with her dinners. We have been putting all sorts of foods in front of her for a long time. She has often refused foods outside of her comfort zone which includes most fruits, almost anything with cheese, and nearly any junk food. She does eat peas, but this week she really gobbled them up when I referred to them as a “special treat” and called them “pea pops.” Neat trick. We had pot roast this week, and she ate carrots, potatoes, celery, and even a little bit of beef. That same night, she had some fresh applesauce (made specially by Mommy!). For dessert, she had pureed pumpkin. She was interested in tasting what I made for Cullen. She ate a whole bowl of pumpkin “sauce!” I was very impressed. Tonight, she ate purple sweet potatoes, though she protested until Daddy added enough brown sugar for her liking. She actually ate pork chops which was very unusual for her. I have to admit that I initially bribed her with a marshmallow. I try not to do that often, but what can I say? It worked, and she ate more pork without bribing. I think the trick is to get her to try tasty things and the rest is easy. When I asked her how she liked the pork, she said, “it tastes like chicken!” I swear, I haven’t taught her to say that. So funny! Maddie’s favorite part of the museum on Saturday was the butterfly house. Her favorite part of the block party was the toddler bounce house. It’s hard to say what her favorite part of the pumpkin patch was, but I would say it might be a toss up between the hay jump, the “cornbox” (like a sandbox but with corn instead), the hay ride, and selecting pumpkins. Big weekend for a little girl!

Something Cullen is doing (38 weeks old): He started his daily antibiotic for his kidney reflux this week. He’s been taking it well, which is a relief since he’ll be taking it for at least a year or much longer. Cullen enjoyed some new foods this week: peas, pumpkin, and purple sweet potatoes. Unfortunately, I accidentally consumed dairy for lunch on Saturday and Cullen spit up several hours later. This is the 4th time that this has happened, though I wasn’t 100% sure at first that my lunch contained dairy. I called the restaurant to confirm and my salmon cake indeed had heavy cream. Darn! I was hoping that he had outgrown the dairy sensitivity by now. I guess we’ll hold off on giving him dairy directly for a little while longer! Little Man has been crawling on his hands and knees a little but still prefers the army crawl. He’s been waving more, too.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I recently worked a little on our 2010 photobooks. I marked off some of my goals that I had already completed but forgot to mark.

Something I learned: Despite their constant resistance, both of my kids need naps. Ok, so this isn’t completely new to me, but lately Maddie has been resisting her naps. This weekend showed me that she still needs her nap, regardless of what she might think about it.

Something I’m looking forward to: The State Fair with Maddie, a Halloween festival, and our anniversary.

Something random: The State Fair this year has a new food item: a burger that uses two Krispy Kreme doughnuts as the bun. I think that the original KK burger used one doughnut instead of two, but a photo that I saw of the fair burger looks like it contains a doughnut on each side of the burger. I did a little research, and I’m seeing that the KK burger started at a minor league baseball club. While I will admit it probably doesn’t taste as bad as it sounds, I will be skipping this at the fair (or anywhere else). No thanks!

Something captured: Cullen and Maddie at the pumpkin patch today.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

The months where I have to write a letter to Maddie and a letter to Cullen are a little rough! It’s challenging to get them both done on time, and this time I missed the “deadlines.” Oh well, as long as I write the letter on or around the date, then I’m happy. Here’s the latest letter to Cullen. I wrote it on the day after his 7-month “birthday,” but I’ve been struggling to keep up with the photos. (more…)