Thursday

Thursday was a busy day for us and I meant to blog about it yesterday, but I got pulled into an interesting evening (you will learn more in a bit).

Ben was working from home so we did not go to the gym in the morning (on days Ben works from home, we all go to the gym when he gets off from work).  So... in the morning I wanted to do something on our Summer Bucket List.

Our Summer Bucket List as of today

 

Everything we have done!

 

 

One of the things on our Summer Bucket List was to try a new park.  So, I found a new park for us to try and we went bright and early (about 8:40am) because Elizabeth had already been awake for two hours.  It was pretty cool yesterday morning and ended up being so nice at the park.  We stayed for almost a full hour (which is a long time with a 17-month-old).

 

 Climbing around.

 Enjoying the slide.

 Playing some musical pipes.

 She was on the swing for over half the time.

 

Our Thirsty Thursday was a hurricane!

 

 

Now for the interesting part of my day.  I won some money at an event, that I wasn't supposed to be at (because it was a guy's night).  I can't go into details, but yeah Woot woot!

 

 

Elizabeth's Favorite Things

Elizabeth has been loving summer and hanging with good old mom everyday.  We have gotten in a bit of a routine with breakfast, gym, play time, lunch, nap, play time, snack time, play time, dinner, bath, and bed.  And like her mother, Elizabeth has developed a taste for a few specific things.  She knows what she wants, and she knows what she likes. 

Here are some things (her favorite things) at this moment:


1. Apple sauce.  The girl loves the snack and go Mott's applesauce and inhales it every morning.  It is the best deal at our box store (we can get them for about 35 cents each) and I am happy that it is something easy and healthy.

2. Bananas.  What kid doesn't like bananas?  Mine gets one everyday with her lunch and it is the first thing she eats.  She LOVES bananas!

3. The white summer sandal.  Elizabeth wears these sandals all day, everyday.  She has turned into a shoe snob.  She wants to wear shoes all the time and they must be pretty.  I got these at target for less than $10.

4. Take and toss cups.  These cups are fantastic for water, juice, and most importantly- MILK!  Elizabeth struggled with transitioning from a bottle to a cup and this is one of the first cups she really liked.  And, she still LOVES them!  I also love the travel protector to keep the mouth piece clean.

 

 

5. Hair bows.  My girl LOVES her hair bows.  She does not leave her room each morning until she has picked her hair bow for the day.  She has some large ones that were made by her Fairy Godmother, Stacy.  She also has some small clip-on ones from Target that go everywhere with us.

 

 

 

Do your kids have any favorite things?

Elizabeth and the Animals

Elizabeth has been loving the book  Brown Bear Brown Bear, What do you see?  and I have been teaching her animal sounds to go along with the animals in the book.  She gets really excited about some animals (cats) and is still working on sounds for the others. 

Thirsty Thursday (a few days late)

Ben and I enjoyed our Thirsty Thursday this week on Thursday, I've just gotten a little behind on blogging about it.

 

This week we had a Cactus Kicker!

 

It is made with:

 

1 part whiskey

1 part tequila

1 part triple sec

1 part lime juice

 (I thought it tasted like a margarita)

 

Cheers!!!

Seventeen Months

Dear Elizabeth,

You are 17 months old today!

We have been enjoying spending every minute together for the last month.  We have traveled a lot and spent time with a lot of family and friends.  I love spending every day with you!

Today, you weigh 21.2 pounds and you are 30 inches tall.  You wear a size 3 diaper.  You have been wearing a size 4 shoe and size 18 months clothes.  

You have learned a lot of new words this past month: down, no, out, mine, and shoes.  Your new favorite word is No and you like to say it to both of us a lot.  You tried blueberries and raspberries for the first time this month and you love both!  You also love bananas and eat at least one everyday.  You still love cheese and apple sauce and any squeeze fruit. 

You eat three meals a day and one snack in the afternoon.  You are napping once a day after lunch for 2-3 hours.  

 We went to South Carolina at the end of June to visit some of my friends.

This is Dana, Elizabeth, and me.

 One night we had dinner with Teri and Libby.

One very hot day we went to the Zoo with Stacy, Emmie, and Ellie.

 At the beginning of July, we were back in DC and 

we went to an indoor playground on a rainy day.

 For the 4th of July we were in DC and had a block party with the neighbors

 Enjoying the kids table at the block party

 Family!

 After the 4th, we went to Pennsylvania to Jared and Kelly's pool party. 

You swam all day!

Before dinner, playing in their yard.

 We went down to the water front one day to feed the ducks.

 Enjoying a snack and double bows!

 This past weekend, my friends Jessica and Simone came to visit.

We took them down by The Capitol and snagged a few photos.

This is your first trip to The Capitol.

 You LOVE to read!

 Happy 17 months my girl!

We love you very much and cannot wait to see what the next 17 months bring!

Love,

Mom and Dad

Farmer's Market

Today, we went to a Farmer's Market with our neighbor.  It was nice to get out early before the heat and pick up some fresh produce.  I was after a green pepper and some onions.  The onions were really expensive so we just picked up a green pepper.

Elizabeth and I enjoyed sampling some peaches and tomatoes.  Then we browsed the rest of the market and enjoyed looking at all of the delicious food.   

 If we didn't have blueberries at home, I would have picked these up.

Yummy!

 These look delicious!

 Yum. Yum. Yum.

I love cherry tomatoes!

 Watermelons by the basketful.

Happy Summer!

Chicken in the Crock Pot

This afternoon I was racking my brain to come up with something good for dinner.  I remembered all of the barbecue sauce I had in the pantry and decided to make barbecue chicken in the crock pot.

Below are the steps to the easiest dinner ever.

 Get out a crock pot.

 Get out your chicken

(we keep frozen chicken breasts in our deep freezer)

 Get out your BBQ sauce

 Pour enough sauce to cover the bottom of your crock pot

 Place chicken in crock pot

 Cover chicken in BBQ sauce

Cook on high at least 3 hours or until chicken is done

(I cooked high 3 hours then low 30 minutes)

 We had rice and green beans as sides

(This rice cooks in the microwave in 10 minutes and

 the green beans take a few minutes on the stove)

The chicken is cooking!

Dinner is served.

Happy Summer!