Running

Finally!!  I'm getting back into it!!! I'm really serious this time!  Josh and I are running the 7K Lucky Bucket race in the middle of May.  That would be 4.3 miles.  Lame, I know, but I've gotta start somewhere.  A 10K (6.2) was too much, a 5K (3.1) not challenging enough, but the 7K will be just right starting out.

What's really sad is the fact that I could run further at 22 weeks pregnant than I can now.  I spent Mother's day weekend with Josh in DC last year, and we ran through the monuments-over four miles in the blazing heat.  The heat alone would kill me these days.

Lexie and I get in the car around 9-10 am, I drop her off at Y-care, and head outside to the running trail.  Most days it is cloudy, very windy, and 45 degrees.  I am dressed in shorts, long sleeves, gloves, and a thick headband to cover the ears.  My cell phone is in the tiny pocket of the shorts (in case Lexie needs me) and the MP3 player in my right hand. 
I reset the GPS watch, tell God how much I miss Shiney (my friend and running partner), and take some deeeep breaths.  It's almost time!  The nerverous excitement is kicking in!
After the deeeeep breaths, I start the music, and I begin. 

Today I've got 2.5 miles on the schedule.  I will run 1.25 miles.  Then I will turn around and run back.  That should take 25 minutes. 

I'm looking forward to running in NC next week.  The weather will be much better and so will the green scenery.  By the end of next week the schedule says I'll be running 3.5 miles.  Hope so!

Lexie's First Egg Hunt

All the eggs in one basket

 After dinner last night we had an egg hunt.  So cute!  We spread the eggs out on the green blanket and pretended it was the grass.  Lexie's eyes lit up as she chased the eggs around.   She is one determined baby.  She would finally get close to an egg, touch it, and it would roll further away.  I expected her to get tired or angry and give up, but she stuck with it!

Target $3.10

 Yes, I am still couponing! Target paid me $6 to buy both of the Nivea body washes.  I had coupons for everything except the Mum-Mums.

Ready to go!

Best sippy cup ever-Lexie loves the straw

Listening to the ABC song in the Kitchen

 Here are some shots of our Easter fun.  There are more to come!  As soon as I find some plastic eggs on clearance we'll do an egg hunt :)

Grandma's cupcakes

Easter Bark-  Jellybeans in white chocloate

One Year Ago Today...

My mother, mother-in-law, and I walked into the Dr. Office in Altanta for the 20 week appointment.  It was the day of the big ultrasound.  The Doc had already determined that it was a 90% chance our baby was a boy.  He had a high tech machine that helped him guess this at this at the 12 week appointment.
Our thoughts were...well, he guessed a boy.  That means he saw something there.  90% is pretty good.  I guess we're having a boy. 
The only person who knew better was Kristen.  Every time the baby issue was discussed she'd say- No, Jennifer, you're having a girl.
Anyway, back to the 20 week appt.  We settled into the ultrasound room.  The Grandma's so excited to see the baby on screen.  Part way through the doc asks me what he had guessed the sex to be at the 12 week.  I tell him, and he says "I'm not so sure about that, but we'll get to it at the very end".  So the rest of the ultrasound I am on pins and needles trying to get used to the idea that a girl is now a possibility. 
Finally, we are at the end. The baby is developing on track in the 50th percentile.  I have only gained 10.8 pounds so far, and YES! IT'S A GIRL!!!!  The Grandma's were laughing and screaming in delight.  The doctor leaves.  I get up and say "her name is Alexis Kate...now I have to tell Josh he's having a girl"
Later that night Josh laughed at the news and told me he wanted a girl all along.

AND THAT IS THE STORY OF THIS DAY ONE YEAR AGO. WE ARE SO THANKFUL FOR OUR GIRL.

 The meatballs were just okay.  They had too much of one spice and not enough of the others.  Plus I made them with 96/4 ground beef-They probably needed a little more fat for flavor.  I could try again, but probably won't.  I think I cook too many Italian dishes for Josh as it is.

Taking a rest from all the crawling

 The highlight of our week was having house guests! Colby and Lucy are on their way to Wyoming.  They will be our closest family members-14 hours away.  Lexie had fun saying "hi" and waving over and over.  It was great to catch up with them.  Hopefully we will make a trip their way before we leave this lovely place.

 Daddy came home early since he had to go in very, very early in the am!  Lexie enjoyed playing with him.  They are great playmates :)

Homemade

I have to tell you I'm not much of a "homemade" person. I like the idea of it, just don't really love all the hard work it takes when you can generally buy the very same thing. My ideas are beginning to change. To be honest, if I want to continue to stay home, they have to!

The past couple of weeks I've gone out of my comfort zone to make some stuff from scratch. It began with Butter and Ricotta Cheese. Carrie inspired me to get started. She came over and we worked for an hour and a half. It probably took me that much longer to clean the kitchen. The end result was tasty!

With some of the butter that we made, I made a garlic spread for our dinner tonight with all fresh ingredients. YUM!!

Sunday's lunch was breakfast for dinner. The homemade pancakes took a very long time to make. It was much more involved than the "add an egg and some milk to this premade mix". The result was tastier and more moist than the mix.

Leftover Pancake Batter

Love the apron from my sis!

While Lexie was sleeping on Sunday I decided to re-purpose a vase and some soup cans to make a homemade spring centerpiece.

Here's two out of three

This morning I am in the middle of  making homemade meatballs and sauce.  I have everything in the bowl, ready to be mixed.  Just took a break to write this and talk myself into putting my hands in the ground beef.  YUCK!

Thankful to spend my days with this happy girl...

I hear the Birds

It's amazing! There are no barking dogs to drown them out today!  I guess my chat with the neighbors worked.

Last night Josh and I filled in a map of our street in hopes that we'll learn our neighbors names and get to know them.  This is a good idea for us.  I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but, in Atlanta we had a neighbor couple who we talked to ever single day and didn't know their names.  Horrible, I know!  We joked that one day we'd get their names from the mail in their mailbox.  
We only know one neighbor lady's name so far (Sue, she's across the street)  Everyone else was named  by what we know about them:  Omaha Police Man, 911 Operator, Barky Dog People, Retired Colonel, Teacher with two kids, Other Barky dog people.
I told Josh I'd go talk to the other barky dog people in a couple of days to take care of that annoying situation-  That got vetoed.  He says this is not a "battle plan"  we're not here to "clean up the neighborhood".  I guess not.  I can be happy with what was (hopefully) accomplished yesterday.

The Mountaineer ghost is gone!  I let Lexie chew on the key fob while we were at HyVee the other day.  It ended up sticking and that caused the car to lock and unlock on it's own, day and night.  $55 is how much it cost me to keep my child quiet in the store.

Here's a picture of Lexie with her new Baby Bible.  She likes the bright pictures.  We're trying to get in the habit of reading it with her each night.  Sometimes it takes a while to establish new routines!

Meal Planning

I'm finally going to do it!!!!!!!

Here's the plan for the week:

Sunday- Beef Roast
Monday- Baked Jerk Chicken with Salad
Tuesday- Black Beans and Rice
Wednesday- Spaghetti and Meatballs with Salad
Thursday- Soup and Grilled Cheese
Friday- Pizza and Salad
Saturday- Crust-less Quiche

I'm hoping that by meal planning I can stay in our $300 grocery budget (which has never been done)  We're pretty much consistently $50 over.  This is my last shot at it before I ask to raise the amount.  I'll give it a couple months.  Thanks to Carrie and Kelley for inspiring me!

We have a ghost in the Mountaineer.   The automatic locks keep locking.  Over and Over again.  Lexie and I will go to the mechanic today to see what the problem is.  I noticed that it began after I let Lexie chew on the keyless remote while we were in the store one day.  Thankfully, we have the little red car for emergency backup.

The neighbor dogs keep barking.  They have four tiny dogs that are out constantly.  They bark at EVERYTHING! It's on my very last nerve.  I have to talk to them today.  The plan is to tell them when Lexie sleeps (8pm-9am, 11am-1pm, 3pm-5pm) and ask if they can keep the dogs in. The truth is, it doesn't bother Lexie, but it drives me nuts!  I figure it's better to talk to them first, see if that solves the problem, and THEN call Animal control.

After being gone for the majority of the weekend and indulging in our day of rest yesterday, the house is an absolute disaster.  Living in a mess makes me a grouchy person.
The agenda for today is cleaning, paperwork, the mechanic, and the Y.  I can't wait for the day that we get a regular house cleaner back...probably 10 years into the future, but there's no harm in dreaming!

Happy Monday!!

Oma comes to visit

Last Wednesday Oma flew in from North Carolina for a week.  We enjoyed having her.  Here's a snapshot of the week:

Day One:  Lexie and Oma played in the toy box.

 Day Two:  Carrie and Evelynn came to make butter and ricotta cheese.  Once they left Oma made us homemade pizza with some of the ricotta on top!  Yum.

 Day Three:  Oma spent the morning with Alexis while I went to MOPS.  Later that day we went shopping at the consignment sale.  Lexie's wearing a hat and playing with one of the toys from the sale. 

 Day Four:  We went on a very windy walk at the lake and made our first trip to Cabela's where we saw fish!  Oma bought part of Opa's birthday gift there.  Shhhhhh! That's a secret!

Josh signs "fish" to Alexis

 Day Five:  Here's Lexie in her church clothes.  We went to Smash burger after church and then took an afternoon nap while Josh played basketball at the Y.

 Day Six:  Lexie got the second dose of the flu shot.  She didn't cry or even whimper!  We watched the final championship basketball game later that night.

 Day Seven:  Oma and Lexie love the outdoors.  They went on lots of walks together this week.

Eating an apple

Oma feeds Lexie

 Happy Seven Months to Alexis!  She's a squirmy little girly.  I took her picture four days late this month.  We'll be getting the professional pictures made at Target later today.  I'm trying to get a professional picture every month until she reaches a year.  It sounded like a great idea in the beginning, not so much now.  Gotta stick with it though!