Sweet tooth

I....Have a sweet tooth....Not like a "I like sweets" tooth....a "If there is chocolate around I can't control myself" sweet tooth.  The worst thing was when a kid in my class would bring me chocolate or cookies or something delicious they made as a family the night before...Sometimes I would eat it in the morning (this was pretty much a guarantee if someone brought me dark chocolate)...while doing AM attendance...I know, that is horrible, right?  Especially when I was teaching the kids about healthy habits!  Maybe we should have had a lesson on self control and I could be the "bad example!"

It's horrible.

One thing that has been able to pacify my sweet tooth is a spoonful of peanut butter.  Now, I know PB isn't great for you, but at least it has some protein in it!

So, I went on a search to find a recipe that gave me something sweet without just eating chocolate...Here is what I found! http://luxhippie.tumblr.com/post/5276760473/healthy-peanut-butter-banana-oatmeal-cookies

Peanut butter, banana, oatmeal cookies with no sugar (maple syrup instead...but we get real maple syrup here in MI) and whole wheat flour!  They are doing the trick today!

I halved the recipe and didn't use any chocolate chips (those don't belong in my house, because if they do, I will just eat them....I know, terrible). Abby's going to hate living here because I can't keep anything sweet in the house or I will eat it.

Things we have been doing around here....

Getting ready to go to the pool....

Learning our letters....Or, learning how to empty a box.

Drawing....

  Swimming...

 Visiting cousins....

 Sleeping...It seems like right after I posted the "Abby you aren't sleeping post.." She slept great.  We have two incredible naps everyday (which are very predictable) and you sleep from 7:00-7:00. It is awesome!

And just the other day we went to the park, for you!  The last times mom went to the park, it was more for her to hang out with her friends...But this time it was for Abby to play!

Her favorite part was the tunnel.  She just went back and forth and back and forth.  Second to the tunnel was the swings.

We are still working on walking.  Today you have been pulling yourself up a LOT and cruising across the furniture and from the coffee table to the couch. Hopefully you will walk at some point sweet girl. 

A little project

An old....yellow leather chair....

Turned into....a new one with paisley fabric and refreshed brass "legs" (I spray painted the brass with a textured brown paint - It's hard to tell in the picture :))

Now our guest room is officially "re-done"  (as much as you can re-do a rental house....)

I got two of these chairs from Andy...I re-did both of them the same way and one is my craft area chair.  I LOVE those chairs.

Closet Organization!

I am lame...and I love to organize...

Today I put Abby's bed in the guest room and got to work on her closet during her nap!  Here is the finished product.  I should have taken before pictures.  Her closet became the catch all but was driving me crazy.  I knew I needed to organize it, but doing so with a 13 month old who is into everything is difficult. 

So, problem solved, put her to bed in another room, give me 45 minutes.  I have a beautiful closet with bins that are all labeled ready to be used when needed.

Ahh..I love organizing.  It fills me up.  If you need help in this area, you can call me ANYTIME....My relaxation is if I am stuck in a cluttered room and I can organize.  messed up, I know.

She loves hats!

Abby starts laughing immediately when a hat is put on her!  We have tried to catch it on video/camera, but they are always really blurry....

But, we figured we would share anyway, I love my iphone!

Projects - abby's bathroom and the guest room

Abby got a gift card to Macy's last Christmas.  We wanted to buy something special with the gift card but didn't know what to get that would last.  She grows out of clothes so quickly....But, then we bought some things to make her white bathroom a lot more fun!

Notice the cup/toothbrush holder....and it matches the hair clip organizer that Miss Rachel made her!  Perfect!

A new shower curtain, hand towels, and a fantastic rug! 

I love how this was all pulled together!  The only two items that were in the same "collection" were the towels and the cup for the sink.  I was worried it wasn't going to look good together, but when it came in the mail (ordered it online) I was SO HAPPY!  Abby loves her new bathroom!  

I also have been working on making the guest room a little more comfortable without putting more holes in the walls (darn rental house...)  Here is what it looks like (notice the chair):

I took a close up picture of the dresser because I found these amazing stickers while I was in line at JoAnn's buying the fabric for the chair.  They were the exact color (which was hard to match) and were the perfect accessory to jazz up a plain white dresser!  And...They were only $1, bonus!

The chair really is in this corner, but I moved it for the first picture to get it all in one shot.

Wanna come stay with us for a while? You can!

Fashion

I have some pretty fashionable friends...I am NOT very fashionable.  However, I have tried hard to get out of my mom jeans and t-shirts....Here is what I have come up with.

Denim jacket, skirt made by my mom (because she is amazing) and tall green boots.  This outfit is complete with accessories too!  A watch, earrings, and a necklace.  I know, I am crazy.

Painted toes and jazzy flip flops

 Denim jacket (Ok...Now realizing how that is a staple in my wardrobe) a super cute skirt that is shorter in front and longer in the back and ruffly at the bottom (I am sure my fashion friends know what that is called, but I don't) Sorry about the blurry picture, my 4 year old niece took it.

 And, I viewed this one as fashion forward too...I wore shorts (I am going to get over my fear of doing that this year...I just really don't like shorts) and even though I had a baseball hat on...I made my hair curly and rocked some messy pig tails.  I might have looked like  wanna be 16 year old, but I promise I am not (I do NOT want to go back to that phase...) But, I was comfortable and I thought it was cute.  A good look for the park...Which is what we did today.

Thanks for bearing with me and my attempts to be fashion forward!

Running

I have really enjoyed running lately. I am not sure why.  Sometimes it is something I just dread and hate doing while I am doing it...But there are other times where I can't wait to go out and do it...Where I actually smile for a long time-while doing it...and this almost always happens, I feel great afterwards.

My new love for running is because of these things:
1. A desire to be alone.  I know this sounds terrible, but sometimes I just want to turn on my music and tune out everything.
2. A station on Pandora called "Pop and Hip Hop Mix" OMG!  It doesn't get any better!  I will be tired during my run and a new fantastic song will come on and will get me through the next four minutes of my run!
3. Friends who also like to run.  Faith is always talking about how great she feels because she is working out, Emily runs with me (which makes me run so much faster and longer), Amy signs us up for races, another Amy tells me how much she runs which keeps me accountable, and Erica is another one who loves running and her love of running seeps into my blood stream!  I mean, who wouldn't want to run with friends like this?
4. Spring.  Spring in MI is beautiful!  I am so excited we are leaving winter behind us (and this winter was SUPER MILD by the way)...Spring comes, then summer, then a beautiful MI fall!  I have 7 months of wonderful weather to look forward to!
5. I really want to have "runner legs"  I think this is a lofty goal, but I am still going to go for it.
6. Secretly, I want to run a half marathon.  I feel like I could do that here in MI because we are at sea level...I don't think I could ever do that in CO!

Say a prayer....

It's hard to believe that three years have passed since Steve's PRT deployment.  I had to count several times to make sure I had it right.

March 15 was a terrible day and it turned their world upside down.  I am tears as I write this...There really are no words to express the tragedy of that day.  His team lost 4 men to a roadside bomb.  Every year since then we have done something special to remember the strength of those men, to honor their lives, and to celebrate the fact that we get to be together. Sadly, these are not the only men who have put their lives on the line to protect what we call freedom here in America. The war in Afghanistan is real and I hate it, but this happens too often.  

Say a prayer today for military families who have lost loved ones.

A visit to Ohio!

We got to go to Ohio to visit Larry, Julie, Alexa, Josh and Karina!  It was so fun to hang out and just relax together before the AF moves everyone (you know how that goes all you AF families!)  They are on their way to DC and we are still here, but will eventually move :)

We got to go to an ice cream place that has batting cages, ice cream (we got the Buckeye Sunday....) and even a petting zoo!  The goats were fun.

 This one just had babies a few days ago!

The goat licked my hand...

So much fun!  Thanks everyone for making our trip to Ohio fun!

Date night!

Surprise!  Jen called us on Friday morning and said, "We have tickets to tonight's Red Wings game, wanna come?"  

Let me think...."yes!"

We dropped Abby and grandma and grandpas and had a blast with Russ and Jen!

Of course, the Red Wings are awesome and they won...Three goals scored in the last five minutes!  I haven't been to a more exciting hockey game!  

Last professional sports game we went to was with Russ and Jen...and that game was incredible too.  At the end we were all jumping up and down and cheering!  We have a pretty good track record. If you want your team to have a close game but to come out with a win, just call the four of us to come and sit in the stands!

(and, we got free Tim Horton's coffee and donuts for being in section 116....Bonus!)

zoo day!

We went to the zoo!  Grandma got us tickets and lucky us, the weather was perfect!

Abby looking at the giraffe with daddy!

 Bears, Bears, Bears!

The Wolverine!  Even though they are not native to MI (I am pretty sure about this fact, not positive) the Wolverine is U of M's mascot!  Steve was excited to see it....They are always out and about at the zoo!

It was a GREAT day!  Abby got to meet Miss Rachel and enjoyed her stroller ride through the zoo...She even got a little nap in there.  I guess the zoo is really for the mommas and the pappas.

13 months

Dearest Abby,

We love you so much.  You bring so much joy to our lives and we love every minute we get to spend with you.  You are a beautiful and fun little lady.  Just today someone told me, "She is adorable...You need to have more..."  Oh Abby, we love you.

Things that are going on with you....

• PT.  You do PT three times a week.  Twice in Novi and once at home.  It is going well.  You turn your feet in and won't stand or walk on flat feet.  We are working on building up those muscles and will soon be taping your feet to make sure you use them properly.
• OT. You nailed the OT test.  Working at 19 - 24 month range.  The OT wants to meet again with us in June to look at Abby again, but she was very pleased with Abby's skills.
• Sleep. We are still working on this.  Oh dear Abby, you were doing so well!  Then, we went to DC and now you like to cuddle in the middle of the night.  We are back to letting you cry a little to put yourself back to sleep.
• Skin. Your skin is SO sensitive!  We went swimming the other day and your stomach and back completely flared up.  A huge rash and bumps all over.  It took about 48 hours to clear, but now we are getting back to your smooth skin.  
• Naps. they are great, you are a super star napper, I hope night sleep becomes like your naps.
• Cousins. You LOVE your cousins.  You are thrilled when you see them and love to play in their room with the "big girls" Being close to them is incredible.
• Words. you say:
• dada
• roar like a lion
• moo like a cow
• bubba
• sign more and all done
• sometimes you say mama, not a lot though
• cat
• We are always amazed at how well behaved you are. You have gone on planes, to national monuments, museums, parties, late night things...You are just the best.  You rarely cry and we love that about you.
• Food. you eat EVERYTHING.  It doesn't matter what it is, you will eat it: asparagus, cheese, all kinds of fruit, fish, chicken, meatballs, the list goes on and on.  You were so sweet tonight, you grabbed your spoon, tried to put your cheese on it and put it in your mouth.  It was precious.  We love how much you are learning.

We love you sweet girl and can't get enough of your cuddles and smiles.  You are starting to consistently lay your head on our shoulder and we just love that.

Your momma and dado love you.

DC

Our mini vaca to DC with the Klenke's!

Abby was a super-star-champ-wonderful kid...She barely cried.  She slept good and was awesome in the backpack.  I love my kid.

We had lots of fun (see pictures below) and got to see the new DC stuff....

Klenke boys and Abby

 MLK Jr. Memorial

 Grandma and Grandpa

 wedding soon!!  woot woot!

 Our roots....

 trying to make an "m"

 "Yep, I was born here!"

 The Klenke's getting CRAZY

 We are the only state that you can use a hand to tell where you are from...Other states try, but it doesn't work....

 We have never seen this before.  The AF memorial.  (I only saw it from a distance, it was quite a walk, but the guys went).  The memorial represents the thunderbirds.  Usually when they are in formation or doing a fly over they are in a set of four.  They have three fly up and one flies off to the side to represent some of the planes not coming home.  They tried to symbolize this with the memorial. They also made the memorial because the AF doesn't have a "place" to go to because their fighting is all in the air.  A pretty great memorial if you ask me....

 More of the crazy ones..

 Tomb of the unknown soldier

 Washington Monument at sunset...Steve is awesome at capturing the moment

 Arlington

 The family!!

 Arlington

 Night in DC. So beautiful.

 AF memorial

 We went to the Newseum...which was an awesome experience!

This is the radio tower from the top of one of the twin towers.  They had a great memorial here for the journalists who covered 9-11

 AF memorial

 AF memorial

 blue eyes

 AF memorial...You can tell what a beautiful day it was!

 Iwo Jima

 Vietnam 

 it was a bit windy.But look, no jackets!

 Obama wasn't home.  He was at his daughter's basketball game.

 Tired nugget of love

 She wasn't so sure of the police horse

 At the Newseum we got to do a fake news broadcast!  

If I figure out where the videos are saved, I will upload them...It was fun!

All in all, amazing trip! We rented a house that was just down the street from Union Station.  Took the subway everywhere, did a lot of walking, and had most dinners at home.  It was a great trip!  Looking forward to more!