Addie is 4 months old today!

Here's the series I've been taking all along.  First the full baby shots :) (gorgeous quilt is from Anita).  I don't see a lot of difference between months 3 & 4!

and the headshots (you can actually tell in these that her hair is growing back):

fun or frustrated?

you be the judge :) is addie having fun or is she ridiculously frustrated in this video?  (spoiler alert, she doesn't do anything super interesting in this 2 minute video but i find it really funny since i'm her mother, especially at the end when she has to catch her breath purely from batting at the toy with such ferocity) :)

is it fall yet?

i know it's just finally gotten hot, but i'm over it!  looking forward to cooler weather and beach trips :)  but in the mean time, we are enjoying the a/c and dressing addie in adorable little sundresses!

nate's practicing for CROW this week (Canoe Races of the World).  it's a great cast activity where you show up to magic kingdom bright and early (6am-ish) and with the help of 9 other people, row a concrete canoe as fast as your arms can carry you around tom sawyer's island.  we've both been participating for years although this is now the second year in a row i haven't.  last year i was pregnant but couldn't share yet so i just lied and told everyone i was too busy.  despite the ungodly early hour, it's great fun :)  it's also pretty incredible to see magic kingdom empty first thing in the morning!

the #1 question people ask me about addie when making random small talk is "is she a good sleeper?" or some variation.  i've found myself doing it too, i'm not sure why :)  and well, she used to.  lately she's been up quite a bit more.  i go back and forth between being all zen about it and pulling out every book i have on baby sleep and developing countless strategies.  they inevitably all go to hell the minute she starts crying at 2:30 am of course :)  i should probably just stick to the zen side of things ;)

workin' 9 to 5...

er... not quite so much anymore :)  but i'm on day two of my new gig and it's going well so far!  here's addie at her desk while i was at mine:

What's up working world?

she's also been drooling like it's her job.  we think she may be teething already, she's been doing a whole lot of fussy ear grabbing!

Drooling. It's what I do.

she's also interested in tasting just about everything she sees :)

Are you going to eat that?

roasted rosemary onion potatoes

this is one of my favorite sides, from none other than betty crocker :)  it's both easy and delicious which means it's always at the top of my list :)

4 medium potatoes (1 1/3 lbs) - I use red
1 small onion, finely chopped (1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh or 2 tsp dried rosemary
1 teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

1. Heat oven to 450, grease bottom of a jelly roll pan with olive oil
2. Dice potatoes into 1 inch pieces
3. Toss all the ingredients in a bowl
4. Spread in a single layer and bake uncovered 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally

i dropped some rosemary while i was chopping, cleo was unimpressed.  

probably because i usually drop something she's never had before, not something she can find in the yard :)

but i digress.  here they are, ready for the oven!

i forgot to take an after picture, i was too excited to eat them :)  

i can't believe it's the last day of june!

starting in july, i'm going to try and complete this photo a day list -- i found doing things like this encourages me to carry my camera around and keeps me more creative with photography -- so i'm aiming to get all 31 come the end of july although i may not complete them each day :)  i'll post them here as i knock them off!

can i stream it?

if you haven't seen this website, i've been finding it handy lately - www.canistreamit.com - you enter whatever movie you're looking for and it will show you whether or not it's available via different streaming services to watch instantly, rent etc.  i'm hoping eventually they'll add tv shows too :)  way better than entering a search with the roku remote!

addie's review of the magic kingdom

we took addie to disney for the first time last weekend.  it wasn't at the top of our list until the weather cooled off, but nate's cousin matt was in town with his girlfriend and their daughter so we went with them to magic kingdom.  the weather actually wasn't too bad!  we've had a tropical storm in the area for about a week so it was overcast but not too hot.

addie took a nap, and seemed to enjoy the overall ambiance of the place :)  here she is for her first visit:

Addie's first trip to the Magic Kingdom

afterwards, nate interviewed addie on her experience, here's what she thought:

addie & daddy

so i knew parenting with nate would be entertaining, and so far he's lived up to my expectations :)  here are a few conversations we've had lately:

on children's songs:
nate: old macdonald had a farm.. e-i-e-i-o.  and on that farm he had a rooster.  e-i-e-i-o...... what does the rooster say again?
bri: cock-a-doodle-doo!
nate: well a cock a doodle here and a cock a doodle there, here a c.... wait.  that's not right...


on cold remedies
bri: it's all natural, it's eucalyptus.
nate: well that one guy died from that didn't he?
bri: what guy?
nate: socrates.  no wait, that was hemlock.  but also all natural.


on instilling a love of citrus

more to come on this topic i'm sure :)

i want to learn to sew!

i'm adding sewing to my list of hobbies- who wants to teach me?? :)

radical homemaker... domestic engineer... stay at home mom

well whatever you want to call it!  as of july, i will be staying at home with miss addie!  i'll still be working from home part time so i didn't completely dive into the deep end of stay at home mothering, but i'm super excited to be spending more time with addie and keeping things organized around the house for our family.  i'm hoping to also use the time to pursue photography a bit more, but we'll see how much time is left in the week after addie, work, and home stuff.

it was a big decision for nate and i, but a relatively quick one.  once i'd been back at work a week, we started talking about it and realized it was both something we could do, and something i wanted to do- both key to the decision!  so here we are, embarking on a new phase :)

back from pennsylvania!

we're back from addie's first trip to pa and we had a wonderful time!  it was a quick trip but everyone came to see us on saturday so we were able to get a lot of visiting in :)  addie did great with the flights and had fun meeting everyone.

nate and i even took a few hours to do a canoe trip on the yough which was great :)  we left addie in the wonderful hands of nina, linda and granny so we knew she'd be well cared for ;)

we also celebrated father's day (nate's first!)

back into the blogosphere!

well in the longest break i think i've ever taken from my blog:  we had a baby!  and we cannot get enough of her.  and although everyone says, "you won't know what you did without her," that's entirely untrue.  i know exactly what we did without her!  we went out to long relaxed dinners, we sat on the porch and drank wine uninterrupted, we paid more attention to cleo, and we spent less money on diapers.

but it is so worth it.

Hello World!

she's such a fun smiley baby, our little bird.  and we're starting to get a few more laughs and giggles out of her too which is really fun :)

so i decided to start blogging again.  there are at least several sets of adoring grandparents so i'm guaranteed at least a few readers ;)  i'm also planning on getting back to cooking dinner at home and a few photography projects as well, so i plan on sharing all that here too :)

turkey day (a bit early)!

while my family was in town for the cruise, i took advantage of having them around close to the holidays and we had thanksgiving (we won't be in AZ this year at all for the holidays)- it was fun! :)  it was also my first hosting of thanksgiving all by myself!  of course, i had plenty of kitchen help from mom and cassie :)  here is my menu and planning with links to everything i made -- i pasted in notes as i found them from either the recipes or reviews of the recipes for easy access :)  we liked pretty much everything so i got lucky with the recipes i picked :) nate carved the turkey (i forgot to take a picture before it was carved!).  our turkey's name was 'hurkey.'  hurkey the turkey :)  mom made the pie- it had maple syrup in it and it was really tasty!  i need to get the recipe from her so i can make it next year :)  it even had little pie crust groundhogs on top (in lieu of any more autumn type cookie cutters which we don't own) :) 

• Turkey & Gravy 
• The best way to thaw a frozen turkey is in the refrigerator. A 12-pound turkey takes 2 1/2 to 3 days to thaw. If you run out of time, thaw the bird, wrapped in its original packaging, in cold water, changing the water every 30 minutes. Figure 30 minutes per pound, or 6 hours for a 12-pound bird. 
• It is best to squeeze the oranges as you place them in the cavity Add extra chicken stock to pan as needed 
• Herb & Onion Stuffing 
• Serves 8-10 – probably ½ recipe... 
• Cut the bread into smaller pieces, use 1.5-2 cups more stock than it calls for 
• Double herbs, double egg 
• Noodles (Nate, family recipe) 
• Mashed Potatoes (by Pioneer Woman of course) :) 
• Bread
• From our local bakery 
• Maple Pecan Sweet Potatoes 
• Cranberry Sauce
• Cassie was in charge here and I think she left out some things that weren't to her liking- whatever she did, it turned out great! 
• Citrus Green Beans with Pine Nuts 
• These were good, but I wouldn't make them again with Thanksgiving dinner- the flavors weren't quite right with all of the other yumminess :) 

The day before plan!: 

• Prepare brine, brine turkey for 24 hours in advance 
• Shock green beans and chill
• Buy bread
• Take cranberries out of freezer (it's hard to find fresh cranberries in October!) :)
• Chop everything for the stuffing

The results:

 our groundhog pumpkin pie....                                      sweet potatoes (extra marshmallows!)

sonoma salad

so i've been seriously slacking in the kitchen ever since getting pregnant.  big time.  the whole first trimester and a good part of the second, i didn't want to eat anything and the narcolepsy also didn't help!  but i am slowly getting back on the wagon :)  this is a recipe i've been meaning to post for quite a while -- i had a salad (from the airport of all places) and loved it, so i recreated it at home!  the dressing is... tangy.. but you can easily adjust by adding more honey :)  according to mom & cassie (who had the dressing on a completely different salad), it tastes like chinese hot mustard :)  but in this particular combination, the mandarin oranges and gorgonzola work pretty well with that mustard taste :)

Salad:
Baby spinach
Mandarin oranges (drained)
Gorgonzola Cheese, crumbled
Cucumber, diced
Tomatoes, diced
Diced ham or turkey (not pictured above)

Dressing:
1/4 cup (ish) dijon mustard
2 tbl (ish) honey
White wine vingear

Whisk the dijon and honey together until smoothly combined -- I kind of guesstimate and make the dressing to taste.  Add the white wine vinegar until the dressing is thin enough to pour, mixing as you go.

Combine all ingredients and enjoy!

ah vacation- especially the cruise variety!

we recently returned from a cruise with my family and it was wonderful :) it was a first cruise for most of us- i've been on 3 but was always working, nate's been on i think the same number +1 where he was relaxing and i was working but for everyone else, this was a new experience!

i exist!

 nate, cassie, cadiem and i shared and a room that adjoined with mom and marty's room so we had plenty of togetherness :) i really enjoyed the ship, it had lots of beautiful places even from inside the ship where you could see the water. notes for next time: even if the kid isn't old enough to be in the kids' clubs, it still matters whether or not the cruise is family oriented! when mom and i were looking at cruises, i knew celebrity wasn't really for the family crowd but i wish there had a been more for cadiem to enjoy! regardless, he had a great time just being 2 and silly and playing with his trucks/trains :)  i think this is my favorite picture of cadiem from the trip (hanging down from cassie's bunk eeaaarrllly in the morning) :)

 i posted a ton of pictures on our smugmug (in November 2011), the cruise was a 5-night and stopped in both roatan, honduras and cozumel, mexico.  cassie and marty did some snorkeling in roatan while the rest of us enjoyed the beautiful beach but other than that, we didn't get into too much :)

in cozumel, we took a ferry over to the mainland near playa del carmen which was rough!!  i've never actually gotten seasick but i did on the way over to playa!  cadiem also didn't feel great but luckily he never got sick, just nauseous- he slept it off though, and marty carried him through playa :)

the reason we ferried over was totally worth it :)  we toured the mayan ruins at tulum.  it's a gorgeous setting right on beautiful cliffs and beach.  i wish we'd had more time to explore but it was such a neat thing to see!  next time i'm bringing my swimsuit :)

once we were back in cozumel, mom & marty headed back to the ship with cadiem and cassie, nate and i stayed to explore with the couple of hours we had left until all aboard.  nate asked around for a great taco place and we were directed several blocks away from the main tourist area to a great place!

while at dinner, cassie realized both her seapass and passport were in the diaper bag... which mom had taken with her.... on the ship.  it was then we got a bit nervous :)  we quickly finished dinner, hopped in a taxi, and made it back to the port!  but... getting on the pier was a no go without ID (there was quite a bit of discussion over the walkie talkie about the fact that we were sisters to try convince whoever was on the other end, but still to no avail).  we decided nate would be the fastest and sent him off to the ship while we waited at the entrance to the pier (which at this point was looking relatively deserted)!  despite the mild panic, we actually had a really nice conversation with the security guards while waiting for nate to return.  then, word came through on the radio: we were clear to go (nate had talked to security on the ship and had us cleared)!  we headed off to the ship (by this time i think there was maybe 15 minutes until sailing) and had to stop at each security point to re-explain and ask them to radio back to the original guards that had let us pass.  finally we got back to the ship, and nate was there, seapass card in hand!  whew!  thanks to nate, we didn't have to leave cassie in mexico, i think cadiem might have missed her :)

after all that adventure, we had one more relaxing day at sea:

and then arrived back home :)  all in all, it was a wonderful vacation and all of us got to spend so much great time together!!  i was sad to see everyone head back but luckily i'll at least get to see cassie and mom relatively soon :)

back from the dead?

wow... i think i've sunk to a new low in the history of this blog when it comes to post frequency!  i'm going to indulge in a brief explanation of why and then get on with it :)  at first, i was just slacking.  then, at the end of june we found out we were expecting a baby (!) and i didn't blog because it was such a big thing and i couldn't even tell people yet!  then, i fell asleep for roughly two months so there wasn't any blogging then either.  then i ran out of excuses and now it's almost november :)  but oh my goodness, there's been a lot going on!  mainly two things:

1. we're expecting a baby (after a looooooonnnnnnggggg few years, more on that later) and could NOT be more excited!  we found out today she's a girl :)  i cannot wait for march 4th!!
2. nate had a dirtbike accident while we in arizona and broke his back, his arm, and his finger.  he was out of work for a month and still isn't back to 100%!  he's pretty much recovered but has a whole lot of exercises to do at home and still needs to be very careful not to reinjure anything.  we also learned nate has a high tolerance for pain ;)  while in the ER, he pegged his pain tolerance at a 2-3 on a scale of 1-10.  imagine our surprise when the doctor came sprinting back in with the x-ray results to tell us that he broke his back!

the good news is, he'll be good as new by the time the baby shows up so that's fantastic :)

the hot days of summer

well it's officially hot!  and after a bit of a random start to the weekend, we've had a great lazy weekend.  good food, plenty of time with friends and with each other, and plenty of time in the a/c which is totally key right now :)  we're planning out several trips for the rest of the summer to cooler locales which always helps keep us sane :)  hope your summer is about to kickoff with a great start! :)  wishing you plenty of watermelon, ice cold beer, a/c, swimming pools, margaritas and the beach :)

(delicious) Roast Chicken!

This was a new one for me- and I had NO idea how easy it was!  I think the idea of the prep scared me, but it wasn't bad at all.  And I realized that I rarely cook a dinner that just cooks away in the oven, giving me time to prepare everything else :)  I also made a few equipment substitutions... no twine?  Cut a strip from a rag!  No roasting pan?  Put an (all metal) cooling rack on top of a 9x13 casserole dish! :)  No meat thermometer?  Hope you get lucky (and err on the long side of the cooking times)! :)  It is of course, another great recipe from Cooking Light :)

Ingredients

1 (4-pound) whole roasting chicken
2 teaspoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 shallots, peeled and halved
3 fresh thyme sprigs
1 lemon, quartered

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Discard giblets and neck from chicken. Starting at neck cavity, loosen skin from breasts and drumsticks by inserting fingers, gently pushing between skin and meat.
3. Combine butter and next 7 ingredients (through garlic) in a small bowl. Rub mixture under loosened skin, over flesh; rub over top of skin. Tie ends of legs together with twine (or... cut a strip off a rag ;). Lift wing tips up and over back; tuck under chicken. Place chicken, breast side up, on a rack; place rack in roasting pan. Place shallots, thyme sprigs, and lemon in cavity of chicken.
4. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 450° (do not remove chicken); bake at 450° for 15 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in meaty part of leg registers 165°. Remove chicken from pan; let stand 10 minutes. Discard skin. Carve chicken.

the seasons, they're a changin'

sure, official summer doesn't start until june 21, but summer has arrived!  a quick survey showed phoenix above 100 this week, florida's in the 90s, and pennsylvania is supposed to get awful close to 90 this weekend!

we've been busy with our usual influx of spring visitors, and spring travel.  we've had a wondeful time with all :)  my mom's visit was filled with flowers, birds, wine, and great food :)  we even found a gator or two :)  can you spot the one in this picture?

(hint, he's in the water and he's only showing his eyes!)

we also had a great time with my gram and aunt peggy - we took them pretty much straight to the beach and enjoyed every moment of it :)  it was fun to spend mother's day with the two of them :) 

we've also been to portland, or and fayetteville, ar for two beautiful weddings :)  it was fun to explore new towns with old friends :)  i'm still getting all of the pics on smugmug, but they'll all be there eventually :) 

hope the 'summer' is kicking off well for all of you :)  now that porch weather is dwindling, i'm aiming to spend some of this great indoor time blogging (among other things) :)