Running On Empty

Whew.  It has been a long week and it is only Tuesday.  We worked our tails off all weekend staining our deck.  My hand has just recently relaxed out of the position that it was in while holding a paint brush.  I am still walking like a 90 year old because I was hunched over too long, but not to fear, I think that my nightly liquid yoga treatments (a/k/a wine) are slowly doing the trick!  On the up side, the deck looks amazing!  It looks brand new, which gives Eric and I quite a feeling of accomplishment.  Other than that, our weekend was full of cleaning.  We had an appointment to have our house appraised today because we are refinancing (interest rates are off the hook right now!).  I don't know about you, but if I have someone coming to my house with a clipboard and camera the crazy comes flying right out of me.  So after a few days of nonstop cleaning I noticed today that I kept saying to myself, wow, you know it's bad when...

• You have to use a vacuum to dust out our bathtub (don't judge me, we never use it)
• Your excitement of the day comes when you warm up coffee that has been sitting out for 8 hours
• You put on your pajamas at 5:30 p.m.
• You decide to put off trying the new recipe for dinner tonight because you are too tired and the thought of having to read a recipe makes you want to throw up
• You want to cry simply because your baby sneezes mid-meal with a mouth full of yams that are now spread all over your freshly vacuumed/mopped kitchen floor

End rant.  

Yes, it has been a long week already, but on the plus side, the house is now spic and span and just in time for our guests this week!  My dad and his best bud Ben are coming out for a few days.  We are looking forward to the brief visit and Sydney loves seeing the grandparents.  

Speaking of Syd, she is still out of this world incredible (in case you were wondering).  Every week is so awesome with her because she is just growing like the cutest fricking weed you've ever seen.  She loves to run around the house with us holding her tiny, little hands.  She thinks it's hysterical and it is my mission in life to get a laugh out of her whenever I can.

Sydney has also been getting really good with her sleep patterns.  I remember not too long ago when I was sure that she was never going to get into any sort of recognizable routine, but I think we are almost there.  She's slept through the night a handful of times already and when she does get up it is usually around 4 or 5 in the morning and she wants to eat and then go back to sleep (at least for a little bit).  I'm pretty happy about that progress.  Also, she is also up to 16.5 lbs!  That is a pound and a half in the last month!  Apparently we are feeding her enough.  We are still, however, on the lookout for teeth.  We have excessive drooling and crankitude (don't look it up, it is my word), but no teeth to show for it yet.  And although I am pretty sure we've been saying that she has been teething since she was about 4 months old, I am almost sure of it this time!

All and all, things are great (sleepy, but great)!

Rainy, Cold Weekend

Rainy and cold pretty much sums up the weekend that we had here in Colorado.  I'm not complaining though!  Eric had last Friday off and so we had three full days of just hanging out as a family.  We barely went anywhere and we didn't really work on any projects either.

Sydney loves being able to see her dad throughout the daytime.  Unfortunately, Sydney has been cranky from about 4-7 p.m. lately and that is when Eric usually gets to see during the work week.  She loves to dance with him and they have some really deep conversations.  Those conversation usually consist of Dada, baba, and screeching, but it is adorable!

The one project that I did undertake this weekend is my bi-weekly menu calendar.

One errand that I absolutely detest is grocery shopping.  I dislike everything about it.  I hate coming up with meals that we haven't had twenty times that month already, I hate writing up the list that inevitably has things missing and I hate dragging out the baby in between feeding and naps to get the groceries.  Not to mention, it never fails that the day of the week that I have to go out to get groceries because I have absolutely nothing left in the house to feed us for dinner, it is cold and gross outside.

Soooooo...I had been finding a ton of new recipes on Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/) and so I thought that there was no reason why I shouldn't write up a grocery list for two weeks worth of dinners so that I don't have to run this errand quite as often.  First, however, I would have to get more organized.  I've had this old whiteboard calendar up in our office for forever and I thought it would work well and help me get things a little more under control.

I have to say, I think it has been quite successful in a couple of different ways.  For one, I am cutting my runs to the grocery store in half (for the most part) and secondly, we are trying a ton of great new recipes (and some duds).  It has been a great change of pace mixing it up a little with all the new recipes and we are saving money by not going out to eat.  Going out to eat isn't a great option for us being that Sydney goes to sleep at 7 p.m. every night, but also, making ends meet on a one paycheck budget is not easy.  It has been quite an adjustment and the more organized and prepared I am with dinners, the less likely it is that we'll have to spend extra money going out or ordering in.  Eating in is not always the funnest, but at the moment it makes the most sense for us.

So this weekend, it was time to finish up the menu calendar for April by coming up with a couple more weeks worth of dinners.  We don't always eat these dinners on the day that I post them originally, but we will have ingredients for two weeks worth of recipes regardless of whether or not we move things around.  We also end up having leftovers which is a plus because I can bump a planned dinner (something that will keep in the fridge or pantry for a while) and then we end up having an extra meal in the house if we are ever in a bind.

Well, that was my uneventful weekend.  I hope you all had something fun or relaxing going on too!  Happy Monday :)

Bon Appétit!

As of lately I have become completely obsessed with Pinterest.  At least in regards to finding new recipes.  I have recently started planning out a two week menu on a whiteboard calendar in my office (that way, in theory at least, I only have to go to the grocery store twice a month).  I would say that 90-95 percent of the recipes for those meals come from Pinterest.

For the longest time (ages 18-25) I didn't really cook and then for the longest time after that (ages 26-30) I cooked, but they were pretty boring, safe recipes.  I am really trying to expand my culinary horizons and Pinterest has become a great asset in doing so.  The fact that I am preparing so many new recipes every week is something that I pretty excited about!

Below is the first recipe that I am going to stick on the blog, but certainly not the last.  It is a Tomato Risotto With Portobello Mushroom dish.  My lovely sister-in-law, Melissa, originally pinned this herself on Pinterest.  I owe her big time because it has turned out to be a favorite and it will be a regular around here from now on.  

Tomato Risotto With Portobello Mushroom

Please ignore the picture, I took it with my phone because I was too lazy to mess with getting the camera out.  As it was we didn't eat until 9 p.m.  That leads me to a tip regarding this recipe: leave yourself plenty of time.  If you are unfamiliar with cooking risotto, you might not realize that it takes some time.  You need to add stock to the risotto, 2/3 cup at a time, until the rice has absorbed roughly 4 cups worth.  While you are waiting in between adding the stock you need to continuously stir the risotto.  I found out that it is this stirring that eventually causes the rice to release the starch that adds to the creamy sauce.

As you can see from the picture, we just paired it with a simple salad and called it good!  If you are interested in the recipe, just click on the link directly above the picture.  Bon Appétit! 

This Just In: Easter Bunny Spotted In Littleton!

Wait, no.  That's just Sydney!

We had a great Easter with our sweet little girl and the Webbers!  I think fun was had by all, even though Bro was feeling under the weather :(  Hailey and I got good reviews on our Easter meal and we all had a nice day!  It was so much fun doing this with a little one of our own this year.  I am really excited for future holidays when she actually understands what she's doing and can run around on her own with bunny ears on!  Here are some action shots from our weekend!

Maddie and Brodie did most of the egg coloring,  but Syd got in there for an egg or two :) 

Deep Thoughts on Easter Egg Colors with Madalyn Nickole Webber.

I think Big Cheese, I mean Sydney, enjoyed her Easter experience!

Say what??

Time for the hunt!

 And a family shot!

Our Life According to Syd...

One of the reasons that I put off starting this blog so long is that I was afraid I wouldn't have time to keep up with it being that our daily schedule around here is pretty loose. As much as I try (and I try a lot) I can't seem to get Sydney on the same schedule everyday. It varies quite a bit depending on what time she wakes in the morning which is dependent on how she slept or didn't sleep during the night. With all that said, I am trying to get into a rhythm with our days and weeks. It will probably take a while for the blog to catch its stride while we tweak it and get into the hang of things.

I am getting really excited about documenting our daily life, especially those monumental days that come with raising a baby! Sydney is nearly 7 and a half months already. Everyone says that you should really try to live in the moment and try not to miss anything because it'll go so fast. Well, I think I've been pretty good about trying to make the most of every second I get with her while she is a baby and I still find that it is flying by. I don't like it one bit, but I try to remember that the older she gets the more she is developing and learning. For instance, Syd is currently standing up on her own at her little play station. She also just started moving around it on her own. Watching her "work the switchboard" as we call it is the best. She's pulling the levers and pushing the buttons and it is amazing to watch. She has this adorable look of concentration and you know that she is figuring something out on her own.

We are so looking forward to Spring in the Roberts' house! Poor Sydney has been cooped up in this house with her barely sane mom for too long. I can't wait to get out on the trails around our house with her. She's getting used to taking walks with me and the dogs and I think she really likes it. We have big plans of working outside in the garden and sitting out in the backyard with a picnic and we can't wait! We have slowly been introducing grass to Syd's tiny toes and I think she's a fan. We want to get the most out of this summer as a family and take advantage of everything Colorado has to offer!