Stuff

Callie's Aunts are babysitting tonight!  And what am I doing?  Blogging.  And trying to decide what to do...there are so many options!  Relax, watch the bachelorette, :) clean the house, go shopping, put the clean laundry away from last week, get a pedicure, rent a movie... All the things you don't realize you take for granted before you have kids...right?

I Callie just had a fun playdate at Suzanne's this afternoon.  We got out the kiddie pool (two days in a row, I love summer!) and talked while we watched the kids swim splash.  Callie had a (juice) popsicle and and go-gurt.  I don't think she is used to that much sugar in one sitting, because she stood up in the pool, and laughed by herself for like 5 minutes straight; she was almost hyperventilating.  And then she did it again in her carseat on the way home.  What a nut!  Good luck tonight, Aunt Annie and Aunt Elyse!  :)

So Suzanne, she's made me think about getting some of these.  So many choices, so cute!  Personalized melamine plates.  A great gift idea, too. 





Speaking of getting things, I ordered this calendar today. I thought it was quite stylish and would look nice in my kitchen.  However...it is 2011, and I don't think I will be able to wait that long to use it.  So I might just hang it up for 2010.  Do you think anyone would notice?



Anyway...I should probably get going and not waste any more precious time.  :)   Have a good night! 

"She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness." Pr 31:27

P.S.   Oh about the sleep/nap thing...THANK YOU for your suggestions.  I am switching to one nap a day. And maybe a 7:30 bedtime. I'll try it for a week (thanks Sarah!).  She does have black-out shades in her room, but no noise machine.  I might have to get one (or a fan).  And I'm getting the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child at the library asap.  I'll let you know how it goes!

Four Things and Two Winners

So a few crazy {frustrating} things have happened lately. 

1.  Callie wakes up at 5:15am.  Every.  Morning.  This has been happening for about three or more weeks now.  It's soooo early - a friend even noticed that I send emails super early in the morning.  :)  Her current sleep schedule is:  wake-up at 5:15am, first nap at 9am (1-2 hrs), second nap at 1pm (45 min), bedtime at 8:30pm.  Well, that obviously isn't working.  So I'm now trying to transition her to one afternoon nap (instead of two naps).  First nap around 12, bedtime at 8pm?  I tried that yesterday, but she still woke up at 5:15 this morning. I just want her to sleep a little bit later, or a lot later actually.  I don't know what to do.  Any suggestions from any moms out there? 

2.  We finally decided to turn on our AC on Sunday.  Kyle made a joke like, well, we've never used it yet since we bought the house...hopefully it works!  Ha, ha.  Turned in on, went to church.  Got home from church, the house is hot -- much hotter than when we left.  Felt the vent -- it was blowing hot air.  Started to freak out a little, then called both of our dads.  Brian had the idea of checking that the fan outside was running.  It wasn't; it was stuck.  My amazing husband fixed it...just in time!  Now our house is nice and cool.  Phew.

3.  I decided to take Callie to the waterpark yesterday morning.  It's a (free) park in our town that has these water fountains that kids can run through.  I put her suit on, put my suit on, sunscreen, our cover-ups, sandals, her hat, threw in some bottles of water, a sippy cup, packed a lunch, and brought my beach chair, thinking it would be a relaxing morning watching her play in the water.  We got to the park. It was in the high 90's... The water wasn't turned on.  :(  After all that work!  Thankfully, we had a plan B and a friend and her daughter came over and we got out the blow-up pool.  That's not all...

4.  I dressed Callie up in this adorable tutu and took her to a lake yesterday afternoon to take some pictures.  No shirt, no shoes, just the tutu.  It was cute; she looked like a princess with her little belly sticking out.  I took a few pictures.  Every single picture was...super blurry.  Not just a bad-picture blurry, but something-was-wrong blurry.  I started to freak out a little, then realized that it must be due to the humidity and waited for it to adjust to the outside temperature.  No luck.  I tried it again this morning, no luck again - everything was blurry.  Okay, now I'm starting to freak out.  I called Canon's 1-800 number, and we still couldn't fix it (I'm totally freaking out at this point...I have a maternity photo shoot this weekend in Clear Lake that I've been so excited about...what am I going to do?!?!)  Then, my husband comes downstairs, ready to leave for work.  He thought it must be a simple switch somewhere that got bumped.  I said, in hysterics, no, it's broken, the Canon guy and I tried everything. What am I going to do this weekend?  He said, what's that (pointing to the AF/MF switch on my lens)?  Ah-ha.... Problem solved.  The auto-focus switch on my lens got bumped to manual-focus. Ironically, this happened in both lenses. Have I ever told you how super smart my husband is?!?!?!  And really, really good at fixing stuff!

 

Okay, I'm sure you are all dying to know who won the free photo shoot!  I decided to pick two winners, since I'm super generous like that.  :)  The first winner (of a one-hour photo shoot of your choice) is....

♥Stephanie and Jared!  They are some of our best friends fiom college, and they started dating around the same time that Kyle and I did.  They now have two sweet little girls and I would LOVE to do a family photo shoot for them.

♥And the second winner is...KyleeB!  I haven't met Kylee but she is a blog reader and I am looking forward to meeting her when I take some newborn pictures of her little one due in late June!


Thanks so, so much to everyone for your comments.  Winners, please click here so I can get your information and we will be in touch!  www.photographybynealy.com

♥nealy

Rumors & Balloons

I picked the munchkin up from our MOPS childcare last Friday and she was truly a site to be seen. 

She had a pink balloon tied to her wrist, dried sugar around her mouth (from a candy necklace she was sucking on, they tell me), and  was so tired she was about to pass out right then and there.  Not to mention that all morning she got loads of attention (our nursery workers are so wonderful with the kids). 

The kids had an end-of-the-year carnival....  I think she had the time of her life, what to you think?!?!?  :) 

 So after her nap, we went out to the backyard.  I had to document this fun day.  And then when we were done playing with the balloon, I tied it to the rail of our back deck.  When Kyle got home, he thought we should take it down because the neighbors might think we just had a baby and might bring over food or something.  :)  Oops!  I didn't even think of that.  

So I recently heard a juicy rumor.  About Costco.  That one is coming to town.   I'm not sure where I heard it, but maybe from a few different people.

This makes me soooo excited.  I'm been wanting to join a Costco for awhile now.  My parents are members and they rant and rave about all of the great products and low prices.  I really can't wait for a Costco to move to town (and Sam's is out because I'm forbidden to shop at Walmart).  :) 

So I did what most people would do to confirm fact vs. fiction.  I Googled it.  And yes, I found articles in local newspapers that confirmed the story.  Then I wondered, when will it open??? Are we talking days, or years???  I emailed Costco customer service.  They wrote back the next day and said, I'm sorry, we have no knowledge of a warehouse opening in your area.

Now I'm just confused.  Does anyone know anything about this?!?!? 

Another question, unrelated...do you ever make sweet potato fries?  Have you gotten them to turn out crispy?  Because mine turn out soggy every time.  Until I discovered these...

Oh my, they are so good and so easy.  And they are crispy!  I found them at Super Target in the frozen foods section.  Ore-Ida sweet potato fries.  Yum-o.

And before I forget, thank you for the comments on my new photography blog.  If you still haven't left a comment for a free photo session, please do so....it would make me soooo happy!  :)

And gals (my local gals), are any of you going to watch the guys play softball tonight?  Callie and I will be at both games if it's not raining.  If it does rain (or if the weather isn't "perfect" softball-watching weather), do ya'll want to come over here with the kids?  Let me know.

Toodles!

♥ Going Public ♥

It's no secret that I am suddenly a little obsessed with taking pictures.  I can't seem to do anything or go anywhere without my camera in hand.  Callie has been the main culprit of this, but friends and family have suffered as well.  :)

So, I've decided to just go with it.  I'm starting a photography business.  This is a huge leap of faith for me and something that I never would have thought I would do. But I love it.  And they say to do what you love, right?

So I am nervous excited to present to you my new website (please don't laugh)...

www.photographybynealy.com

Please check it out and let me know what you think.  Also, kind of as a grand opening, I am giving away one free photo session.  All you need to do is leave a comment anywhere on my new photography blog saying what kind of session you would want {children, family, newborn, maternity, special occasion, etc.}...leave it before Tuesday, May 25th, and you will be entered to win a free one-hour photography session of your choice {twin cities or clear lake, iowa location; includes one-hour photo shoot and a CD of digitally-edited photographs}.  It would make me so happy if you would enter! 
 
I also want to thank my friends Steph, Bri, Tonya, and Annie, as well as my cousin Jennifer, who are all wonderful photographers.  Thank you for answering so many of my questions, and for the inspiration to do this. Thank you to all of my wonderful friends and family for letting me "practice" on you and your kids, as well as for the support and encouragement.  I am truly thankful. 

Wish me luck! 
♥ ♥ ♥

A Tuesday

It's a Tuesday in May and finally it feels like summer!  We've been out of town and just got back last night. Callie and I visited my parents for the weekend.  It was so nice to have some extra help with the munchkin.  I got a little extra sleep, we watched a few movies and hung out with family.  My mom and I talked about design and decorating all weekend too.  They are currently building a new house, so there are lots of decisions to be made.  I'm totally itching to build a house someday, it would be so much fun. 

We discovered these slipcovers for wingback chairs at Target.com.  I think they are new.   They are twill and seem really nice - $89 each and currently free shipping. 

I think a pair of the chairs would be amazing at the ends of her dining table, similar to the picture below. 

I also convinced her to put up one of these in the dining room/eat-in kitchen.  I love sunburst mirrors, and this one is quite large so I think it will look awesome.  Thanks, mom, for letting me help with some decorating ideas!  I hope you like the mirror when it gets there, and I hope you can find a pair of wingback chairs to use the slipcovers on. 

I am really sad to report that this morning, Callie hit her head on the corner of our family room coffee table.  We have been afraid that this would happen and have been meaning to get one of these in place of our wood one because it would be much more kid-friendly. 

Unfortunately, we were too late and the damage is already done {I know you can buy things to put on the corners, but because of the shape of our table they wouldn't stay on}.  The good news is she didn't cry for too long, but it looks like it's definitely going to leave a bluish-purple bump on her foreheard.  Poor baby.  I feel so bad.

I have a wonderful MOPS group.  At this group, we have really good food too.  Last week a friend brought this yummy dessert and I have to share it with you because it was sooooo good. Tiramisu Bites.

The recipe is from Betty Crocker.

12 slices (1/4 inch think) frozen (thawed) pound cake

1/4 c water

1 1/2 t instant coffee granules

1 1/2 t rum extract

1 container marscapone cheese

1/4 c powdered sugar

1/2 c whipping cream

12 oz semisweet baking chocolate (or mini chocolate chips)

1. Line 24 mini muffin cups with petit four paper cups. Cut 2 (1 1/4-inch) rounds from each cake slice. Place 1 cake round in bottom of each cup.



2. In small bowl, mix water, coffee granules and 1/2 teaspoon of the rum extract. Drizzle about 1/2 teaspoon of the coffee mixture over cake in each muffin cup. Set aside.


3. In medium bowl, beat cheese, powdered sugar and remaining 1 teaspoon rum extract with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. In another medium bowl, beat whipping cream on high speed until soft peaks form. On low speed, beat cheese mixture into whipped cream. Spoon or pipe a rounded tablespoon whipped cream mixture into each cup, covering cake.


4. Grate semisweet chocolate over each cup. Refrigerate at least 4 hours to blend flavors. Store covered in refrigerator.


Okay, Callie just found an old piece of string cheese on the floor that she put in her mouth.  I need to go pry it out, wish me luck!  :)

♥ Mamas & Panini ♥

I hope all of the mothers out there have gotten to sleep in and were served breakfast in bed this morning.    And hopefully your day is looking like this...

And maybe not so much like this...

This is my second Mother's Day as a mommy, and I'm reflecting on just how wonderful being a mother is.  Although I will never fully grasp just how much God loves us, I feel that being a mother has helped me understand that so much more.

Isn't it just amazing how much we can love these little stinkers (and big stinkers)?

Speaking of stinkers...the other day I smelled something and knew Callie needed her diaper changed. So  I said to her, "let's go change your butt."  She turned to me, pulled up her shirt, and touched her belly button.  She did it twice.  I thought, that was kinda funny, where did that come from?  However, Kyle noticed that the word bellyBUTTon has the word BUTT in it. How funny.  That makes me wonder...when do I need to start saying "bottom" instead of "butt?"  :)

The other morning we were singing "Five silly monkeys jumping on the bed..." and I got to the part "mama called the doctor and the doctor said..." Then I stopped and asked, "What does the doctor say?" and she goes, "ah-ah!"...which is the same thing she says when we ask her what a pupppy says.  I guess we need to teach her the difference between doctors and puppies!

This Mother's Day I am also blessed to have not just one, but two wonderful mothers.  My mom is so great and I am realizing more and more than we are so much alike.  I'm also blessed to have such a great mother-in-law as well.  She did an excellent job raising my husband, and I hope to practice many of the same things with my kids.  Between these two fabulous mothers, I think I have quite a role model to look up to in terms of mothering.

Enough of the sappy stuff, let's talk about food.  Do you have a panini press?  Neither do I.  But that hasn't stopped me from making it.  This is what I like to call, "Poor Man's Panini."



You make it with your...George Foreman.  And who doesn't have one of those lying around?  We started ours with a little herbed goat cheese, because it makes anything better.

I love panini because you can be creative and fill it with anything.  Some favorites?  Tomato, basil, and mozzarella.  Or yesterday we had turkey, salami, herbed goat cheese, mozzerella, and basil.  Adding some leftover spinach-artichoke dip would also make a regular turkey sandwich super yummy.

Try buying the good quality salami at the deli counter.  This was some sort of dry salami - a little spicy and really good.  A little goes a long way.

I just plugged in the George Foreman Panini Press, sprayed it with a little olive oil, and pressed.

And kept it on until it looked like this.

Perfect!

♥ Happy Mother's Day! ♥

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Ephesians 3:18-19

On Meeting Giada

Giada de Laurentis is one of my favorite food network chefs {as well as Barefoot Contessa/Ina Garten}.  I just love unwinding  from the day and watching cooking shows while I make dinner.  Is anyone with  me?  And I love Giada's cooking because she uses healthy, fresh Italian ingredients like fresh mozzarella, mascarpone cheese, fresh herbs, olive oil, hazelnuts, and nutella, my favorite!  I also love her show Giada's Weekend Getaways {when we were in Cabo last spring, we tracked down a few restaurants that she went to on her show while she was there}.   

So...when I heard she was coming to my husband's company to do a little cooking demonstration to promote her new line at Target, I just happened to schedule a lunch date that day downtown!  :)

Giada was fun and talkative, and much like we see her on TV.  I was a little bummed I didn't think of buying her new cookbook ahead of time when I heard she was doing book signings afterwards.  But thankfully they were giving out photographs, so no worries.  

Her husband, Todd, was there too.  Kyle spotted him right off to the side of where we were standing.  Todd has made guest appearances in some of her shows, but never seems to like the limelight as much as his wife.  He's a designer for the fabulous store anthropologie.

At the end of her cooking demonstration, she did a question-and-answer segment.  Most of the questions were about cooking.  The secret to her tomato sauce?  Carrots and butter (and fresh tomatoes). How she stays so slim while being around food so much (a question she always gets asked)?  Her answer was...portion control.  She said she believes you can eat anything you want, but not as much as you want, and she thinks about everything before she eats it.   It's all about calories in, calories out - that's just how it works, and if you want to eat more, you have to work-out more.  Good advice.  :)

When it was my turn at the signing booth, I said hello and told her I was a huge fan.  I also asked her what kind of food her daughter likes to eat (she has a little girl just a little older than Callie).  Her answer?  Lambchops.   :) 

Who's your favorite Food Network chef?

Do It Yourself {Silhouettes}

I think shadow silhouettes are a stylish and classic yet personal way to decorate your home.  They're surprisingly easy and quite inexpensive to make.  In fact, I think I just used materials that I already had, so it cost me nothing. 

Here are some step-by-step instructions, as promised!  

Step 1.  Take a snapshot of the the person's profile.  This worked best with Callie when I set her in front of the TV {although I usually don't let her watch TV for this reason, among others}. 

Step 2.  Print the picture on cardstock.  Fancy printer not necessary.  Just make sure you print the picture out the same size of silhouette that you would like to frame. 

Step 3.  Cut out the profile, making sure to keep details like little eyelashes and pieces of hair.

Step 4.  Paint one side of the cardstock.  This works best with a flat black spraypaint (I know, I used satin but that's all I had at the time). 

Step 5.  When paint has dried, tape or glue it onto a white (or your colored/patterned) piece of cardstock (or paper).  Frame, and you're done!


Here are some other great silhouette ideas as well from 6th Street Design School.  I love the thought of making a silhouette of your dog.  How fun!

About Six Things

Brr!  It's freezing today and on our way to the gym this morning, I think Callie almost blew away!  She is getting to the point where she just loves to walk by herself when we go places.  This is just fine with me, except she's Miss Independent and is not really into hand-holding.  :)  Thankfully the wind didn't take her away.  I just heard on the news that warm Marches and Aprils lead to cool Mays.  And we might even get an itty bitty amount of snow.  I might have to get those sweaters back out!

So we finally got around to cleaning and organizing our master closet {hopefully we won't really have to get our sweaters back out!}.  We kind of went crazy and organized the storage room as well.   I can't believe how much relief I feel now that our storage room is organized.  I even got out my trusty old label-maker and went to town.  It's pretty weird how much this is affecting my overall disposition of knowing our storage room is no longer a total disaster.  :) 

We also had breakfast with dad before work.  She can eat a huge breakfast in her high chair, and then as soon as she sees us eating, she wants our food too.  She really does eat a lot for being such a peanut! 

Notice the coffee cup in the picture above?  These are my new absolutely favorite thing.

They are ceramic to-go cups, eco-friendly.  You may have seen them - I think just about every store is starting to sell them.  There's something about drinking coffee out of a Starbucks cup w/ lid that just makes you feel way cooler than drinking out of one of those metal coffee-thermos mugs.  Or am I alone in thinking this?  So I bought these at the mall last week.  And I think I smile inside every time I use them.

I also wanted to share the most-perfect t-shirt that I found at J. Crew Old Navy (online only).  They fit just right and are super cute, so I ordered it in a few different colors.  I think J. Crew has sold the exact same shirt except for a much larger price tag.  Pretty cute, huh? 

So a friend was over the other day and I was asking her for some advice on what my living room still needed in terms of decorating.  It's been a slow progress, and I change my mind on things so often.  She mentioned something on the coffee table would be nice.  I thought that was a good idea, so I went to Target and bought this orchid.  Does it look real??? 

Because I was just at Home Depot and walked by some real orchids and seriously, they look the same! I'm horrible at keeping plants watered, so fake plants, however tacky they may be, are my friend.  And the thought of a pot with dirt + toddler running around + whitish-beige carpet made me a little nervous.  We'll see how long it lasts until the munchkin destroys it anyway!  So far, she hasn't touched it...just the candle and coasters that are sitting next to it.  Amazing.

Before I forget...I know I promised a tutorial on how to make a shadow silhouette.  That post is coming right up!  In the mean time, try to stay warm and go get yourself some eco-friendly mugs!