Menu Planning Monday...

Okay...I usually try to grocery shop for two weeks at a time and when it was just Me and Matthew that worked out great for us...since the Little Miss came along AND started eating big people food it hasn't been working out so well. Usually I end up spending double our budget since I go back for fresh fruits and some how end up buying a whole nother cart full of general stuff that we *need* and somehow we still end up running out of meals to eat...so I am going to try to split our budget and grocery shop one week at a time and see how far that takes us.

I also always end up thinking I have enough meat and veggies for everything in my head, but most of the time some of the meat goes bad or I make something completely random so we run out of ingredients so I am going to try and stick to a menu plan and get only enough meat for what we need, not buy in bulk because it seems cheaper. Wasted meat is not cheap meat!

So for the next week we should be having...

Tuesday: Chocolate Parsnip Chili (hey I saw the recipe in my Fit Pregnancy magazine and it looked pretty easy and very healthy so I figured I would give it a try :) I will let you know how it turns out...)

Wednesday: Crock Pot Sweet Potato Chicken Enchilada

Thursday: Cheesy Ham/Broccoli/Potato Bake

Friday: Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup (hey it's Friday time to relax!)

Saturday: Breakfast for Dinner - French Toast, Eggs, Hash

Sunday: Sheppard's Pie (excellent left overs for Monday lunch!)

Monday: Chicken with Apples and Stuffing

So....What's on your menu???

Friday Firsts - A couple...

I don't have a whole lot of pictures for this weeks post.

But I do have a couple of firsts or maybe a mix of firsts and lasts...

First...Cassie is starting to dole out not only Hugs but Kisses as well (though never ever when there is a camera around) two of the sweetest things ever are receiving one of these kisses for myself and or seeing her give her daddy a kiss :)

Also Cassie's first (four) upper teeth are finally breaking through! She is taking is like a champ and so far just has completely random outbursts of crying and fussiness...

Next up is the fact that I think we are finally seeing the end of the onesie (for a couple of months anyway) in this house...I think the little miss is going through a growth spurt since her 18 month clothes are quickly becoming shorter and shorter in the sleeves and legs. So we will be on to the 24 month and 2T clothing very shortly because 1) it gets harder and harder to find onesies in that size and 2) it is soooooo much easier to get a plain shirt on over a very mobile little girls head :)

Another item that is quickly going the way of the dinosaur are Cassie's bottles and formula...right now we are on sippy cups of plain old whole milk and watered down juice through the day and only one bottle of formula to get her to sleep at night. As soon as we are done with this last cannister of formula though that bottle is history as well. Really pretty nervous about that!

Wordless Wednesday - Children at Play

This mommy reads

Alright...goal for 2011 is 25 books read. Who knows if I can make it or not, but at least I have a goal!! I am bound and determined to make it to some of the actual get together's for our local Nest Book Club rather than just read the book so we shall see!

1. Awakened (House of Night book 8) ~ PC and Kristen Cast

Currently reading - Storm Front (The Dresden Files Book 1) ~ Jim Butcher

Songs of Love and Death - Various Short Stories

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child - Marc Weisbluth

And since we are talking books...

Since the last Harry Potter release it has been a very, very long time since I have been super excited about a book release...to the point where I would actually go to the book store and wait in line until midnight when it was released so I could be one of the first people to start reading it.

This book...

I would gladly do that for...

..IF I wasn't pre-ordering it on my nook so it would get delivered right to me :)

If you have never heard of Pioneer Woman before check out her blog @ ThePioneerWoman.com she has everything from cooking to gardening to photography to even home schooling covered and a great love story to boot!

Family Friday Firsts - Our first few nights in our new home

Not technically a first for just Cassie, but a first for the whole family...

Welcome to our new HOME :) we have a lot of plans to give this place a major make over and make it completely ours. Many people we have talked to told us that you don't want your second place to be one that you have to put a lot of work into, that that is what your first house is for and for your second home you want a place that you can just move right into. But that just isn't us. We wanted a place that we could put our hearts into and make OURS completely and totally. This. is. the. place. Of course stay tuned for more pictures as the work commences...

A view from the top of our drive down toward the street, and one back up...one of the major selling points of this house for us was the privacy that the distance from the road provided...at some point we are going to remove most of the brush that lines the driveway right now and put in a row of hedges or trees and expand the width of the drive way so more people will be able to park.

another selling point for us was the playset the sellers so nicely included in for us, the girls are just going to love playing on it for years to come :) can't wait for warmer weather so I can take Cassie out there and see what she thinks of the swings!

The beautiful pasture that we have right across the street, right now since there aren't any leaves on the trees we can usually see the cows from our living room window. Makes me smile every time, you sure don't get that in Schenectady!

Can't believe it, but this is the only picture I thought to take of the living room! Suffice it to say it is a nice big room with dark wood floors, will post more pics once we get it settled and clean!

Kitchen and dining room, lots and lots of plans for this down the road first and foremost though is a coat of paint to get rid of that silly nasty rusty color that is there now...going to tone it down to a nice buttercup color until we can redo the entire thing, put in some french doors and some more cabinets/counter tops (and a gas stove :) )...

Cassie just loves this hallway, she loves being able to run from her bedroom into the living room and back again (and take all her toys with her) and she loves just being able to explore on her own. I love that (with the exception of the basement) there are no stairs to worry about her climbing up or down...

Our master bedroom...soon to have a nice coat of blue paint on the walls and dresser or two :) pics to come once we find the time to get it done!

This is what will become Ali's room, right now grandma is living there until we get her apartment completed!

And this would be Miss Cassie's room, now a lovely shade of the lightest purple almost white color, it makes the room so much brighter! Just need to get some decor up on the walls and make a set of shades (because I cannot find what I have in my head so I am just going to have to make them!) again I will post more pics once we get it (mostly?) done.

and the bathroom...probably the only room in the house I have no plans for right now...which is a good thing because I don't think my brain can take much more planning :) we have a very long time to get everything figured out though so I'm not worried.

This little buggy was here to greet us on our first night here...I took it as a very good sign...

And here is how Matt and I spent our first night here...not even an air mattress, good thing we had the pillows and blankets...it was actually the first GOOD night sleep I had gotten in a very very long time, so nice to finally be in our new home. The perfect New Years eve.

And the view from Cassie's room...can't imagine she wont like seeing this every morning when she wakes up.

She was right at home once we got her toys out for her.

Sirius doing his best to be in the way as we started putting our touches on the Living Room...

We are so going to be pros at this with in a year...got a lot of coloring to do...

Our fabulous new dining set...I love this thing :) this and a set of curtains makes the paint in the kitchen *almost* bearable...at least I can live with it for the next month or so until I get the energy up to start with the painting again...

Our first *real* snow storm hit about a week after we moved in...just couldn't get over how pretty it was all coming down, didn't have a bad view from any window in the house.

And I am sure Matt is very glad we have the snow blower :) don't know what he would have done without it!

Like I said we have many many plans for what we want to do with this house, some will get done in the immediate future, some we will be able to take our time with. I will post updates as we finish with everything...and or do some posts of our journey along the way toward getting everything done :)

Craft room inspirations...

Okay so as you can see from yesterday's wordless Wednesday post, we are finishing up our basement. We are going to split it down the middle, cut a hole in the foundation wall for a door and do one half for my Mom for an apartment and the other half we are going to use for a family room and craft room.

We were planning on splitting the remaining space in half and using half as a craft room and half as the family room, but I am more a fan of open concept spaces and I think that would leave just too little space for our family area (our half is going to include the laundry area, furnace, water purifier tanks and the bathroom which will be shared by Mom). However just making the entire space open wasn't an option either, because lets face it, I do alot of crafting and I work best creatively in organized chaos...so I still need to be able to shut a door and close out the "mess" :)

Enter my one of my favorite blogs...The DIY Showoff who posted this picture a couple of days ago...

and our problems are solved...a craft closet! why in the world did I not think of this? I had a craft closet when we were living in Clifton Park and it was the absolute perfect area for me. And if we plan the space out properly we can do one for both myself and my mom. We can gear mine toward my jewelry making and photography and we can gear hers toward her quilting. Ingenious I say.

So after I saw this post over at the DIY Showoff I went off on a Google images search for some more inspirations...thought I would post them all here so I had them organized and together to go back on when we get to the decor stage (which Matt has already told me is all mine...he will put up the walls and the doors everything else is up to me :) )

This one happens to be my favorite I love the idea of the french style doors rather than the bifold doors so that you can use them as more storage space that is completely hidden away when you close them!

Peg board is going to be a definite organizational must...whether I put it on the wall or the door though I am not sure...right now I am leaning more toward the door...

Must remember to look for mason or jelly jars when going garage sale shopping this spring too bad I threw away all the baby food jars I was stashing away when we moved...

Love love love the shelving AND the lighting...never thought to put lights on the shelves but it would be an awesome advantage!

Ribbon Rack...pretty and functional...score! plus it looks pretty easy to DIY

And since we are doing this in what will mainly be a family entertainment area I love the idea of putting a chalk board (or in lieu of a chalk board one of the fun mirror type magnetic boards posted below) up on the doors so that Cassie and Ali can go creatively crazy and color on the boards and or post their own art work up :)

So now really can't wait to get started on this whole project! I have never been much of a sumer person and I love winter, but I have never ever been more anxious for spring to come so the ground will thaw and we can get all this work on the road! Unfortunately we have to wait till the ground thaws out so we can cut the hole for Mom's entrance so we can really get going on things, but until then we can get the framing done and the plumbing/electric done. Can't wait to see how it all turns out!

Wordless Wednesday - Can't wait to get started!

Status updates I just can't wait to post...i.e. so much to look forward to in the coming months!

~ Cutting a hole in the foundation of our house today...this could get messy

~ OMG look at all the green out there!

~ It's a GIRL! Allison Rose born ______ at _______ am/pm

~ So so nice to finally have our master bedroom look like...well a bedroom...

~ Yay no more rusty kitchen color!!

~ Geocaching today!!!

~ Picked up our first farm share can't wait to figure out what's for dinner!

~ Basement is D.O.N.E. game night Friday...be here or be square!

~ Awesome, 25 books read and it's not even December yet!

~ My Skates still fit!!!!

~ Dinner out at the Melting Pot tonight for Valentine's day :)

~ Just bought tickets to the final Harry Potter movie... bittersweet but I can't wait!!

~ Yard Sale today! Come buy all our stuff!

~ Today marks a Decade together with the love of my life, happiest 10 years so far :)

~ Wait I am 29? I guess this is the day I officially stop counting the years :)

~ We are FINALLY all unpacked!

~ Heading out for our first camping trip of the year...

~ Going out Kayaking! Haven't done this in a while should be interesting!

All those and much much more to come I am sure :)

Friday Firsts - Birthday Girl!!!

Well, somehow it happened...a year has passed since our lives were completely and irrevocably changed and Little Miss Cassandra Lynn entered our world. We went from being parents of a newborn to parents of a toddler in the blink of an eye. And besides wanting time to slow down a little, we wouldn't change a moment of it for anything.

Cassie's birthday this year was celebrated not only by us but also by mother nature with a wonderfully white slow moving snow storm. It was the perfect kind of storm that left a nice white fluffy blanket over a couple of days, but slowly enough where the road crews were able to keep up with it and keep the roads nice and clean.

We started off the morning with a nice cold cup of milk and presents for the birthday girl. She loved the milk but really wasn't all that interested in opening up the presents...playing with them once they were open on the other hand was a completely different story.

Since we went with blocks for her Christmas present we decided to get her "musical" (maybe percussive would be a better word here?) instruments for her birthday. Ones just like the ones she loves to use in Kindermusik class. And they were a hit! We also got her her first dolly and stroller, but those couldn't hold a candle next to the drum and claves :) maybe in a few months she will be more interested...although she does LOVE putting things in her stroller and wheeling it all across the room.

After presents (and after daddy and grandpa got the snowblower running) we headed out. We went to Bella Napoli to pick up her cupcakes (no I did not make them this year, we bought them since I had no idea where we would be holding her shindig) and to Build-a-Bear to make her first Birthday Bear! She ended up with a birthday bunny this year since it had nice long ears so that she could drag it all over the place :).

We didn't end up getting to go out and play in the snow, but that's okay I think she had a pretty good day anyway. I am so so glad that circumstances happened to keep me from planning her birthday party on the actual day of her birth, it was nice to keep the day for just us. And it was nice to not have to worry about the snow all day and people traveling in it!

Sunday we had her party which went swimmingly well. Family came from all over to help celebrate, it was great to see how loved our little girl is.

The following pictures were all taken by my talented friend Miss Carlene Godfrey she was a life saver! I wanted to actually be in some pictures instead of being behind the camera for this special once in a life time event of my baby girl and so Carlene was able to help out and I couldn't be happier with the results! Thanks so much Carlene!

And while I am giving shout outs, I would like to thank my cousin-in-law Mrs. Brooke Perrigo for coming and helping me set up and decorate, I don't know how anything would have gotten done with out you dear!

Back to the party... with my Christmas money I purchased a Cricut machine so that I could make the banner (and a ton of other decorations for holidays/events to come) and I LOVE the thing! It made quick and easy work of the banners once I figured out how to use it. I actually have plans now to use it to make decor for Cassie's room and our Master bedroom, can't wait to see how that turns out...

This banner didn't actually end up getting hung up, but I believe I am going to string it up above Cassie's crib so it doesn't go to waste, quick and easy decor!

I just love this pic of the two of us!

And this one too of the 3 (.5) of us :)

Gosh I thought Matt had gone a little overboard on the Pizzas, but turns out he figured just right, we had hardly any left overs. It was good stuff!

Cupcakes turned out excellent as well. I couldn't just put out plain cupcakes without some sort of handmade touch so I made some chocolate pics to add to them I think they turned out rather great if I do say so myself.

Awww don't think this girl could get much more adorable, of course I am proved wrong every single time I think that...

This chair is Cassie's chair, everyone remember that. By proclamation of the princess ~ No toy, no doll, no animal shall sit in this chair except for the princess.

One day I think Miss Cassie is going to turn into a Strawberry. Good thing she has her daddy's preference for non-sugar coated, non-chocolate coated fruits...

Oh can't you just feel the love here?

And a store bought cake for her to "dig" into, hey at least the sprinkles matched!

Notice the Cake Plate? Turned out pretty awesome didn't it? going to have to find a nice safe place for it so we can pull it out every year!

One of the great things of having a professional photographer do the pictures? yea she can finagle the picture and move everyone around so that EVERYONE is seen in the group photos, no hiding allowed! Going to get one of the group pics blown up and printed so I can hang it in Cassie's room.

Little birthday girl was so excited when she saw the candle lit and everyone started singing to her.

Maybe next year we will practice blowing out the candle so she can make her wish :)

Oye, don't know how a little girl can be so ruff and tumble like she is most of the time and yet be so entirely prissy when it comes to having anything sticky or goopy on her her hands...well at least she wont be making mud pies anytime soon :)

And once she has a spoon she digs right in...I love this little girl more than words can even express...

After cake we opened presents (which again she still wasn't that into, next year for sure!) but she loved playing with each and every one once they were opened.

And that as they say is that. It was over in the blink of an eye and all of a sudden she was 1 year 2,3,4... days old, no longer weeks or even months old but 1 year... It really is going all too quickly I am very glad we have all these pictures and this blog to help memorialize it. And I am bound and determined to keep it up, especially when Miss Ali arrives on the scene.