SMILE!

This just makes me smile. :-)

family weekend

This past weekend my parents came up for a visit! They watched Matea for us on Friday night while Aaron and I went out on a date, then Saturday night they stayed at the Inn on Lake Superior. It was great - we got to go swimming, go to a few shops in Canal Park, and do s'mores! I do think that my mom is really the only one who actually likes s'mores - in the words of my dad, "these would be great without the marshmallows." I TOTALLY agree!

gnocchi. delicious.

I've been making an attempt lately to work on the "food" part of our lives. My goal is to regularly have a meal plan for 7-10 days, grocery shop according to the recipes, and EAT THE LEFTOVERS. Theoretically, this should help us save money and calories since I can plan healthier meals. Last month when I attempted this plan we saved about $70 on our monthly grocery bill. Now if that isn't motivation, I don't know what is! Truth be told, I have done this in the past and not stuck with it, so here is to turning over a new leaf...or something.

Anyway...I was on eatingwell.com and came across this recipe and we really enjoyed it. I substituted spinach for the chard and also added some turkey sausage for a bit of meat....and ENJOY!

pictures

So, I'm learning more about photography...and one of my wiling subjects has been Jodi! Its a win-win - she gets pictures during her pregnancy, and I get to practice on someone who is so patient with me! Here are a few photos we took today...

January update

Haven't blogged much this month...here's what's been keeping me busy!

Hair hair hair. I'm learning more about taking care of Matea's hair - and honestly getting a little frustrated at times. My styles don't last very long and it takes me quite a while to do them. Regardless, I am learning and getting better each time I do Matea's hair. She has A TON of hair, its unreal! I love the way it looks right after I wash and condition it - it has these beautiful ringlets that are just gorgeous. Someday we'll figure out how to get those ringlets to stay after her hair dries (I think!). In the meantime, here is her hair after a few days of it being free...and my first time doing bantu knots!


We moved Matea into a toddler bed about a month ago...she loves it (can't you tell by the picture). She hasn't tried getting out yet when she isn't supposed to, which has been great!

We took a quick 4 day trip to Missouri with Jesse and Jodi to visit Aaron's grandma for her 90th birthday. It was REALLY fun and really really good to see Grandma Grace! I am so glad we could make it down for the party - it was really special to us that Grandma got to spend some time getting to know Matea.
Aaron got me a new external flash for Christmas and I also got Lightroom for the computer to work on some photo editing stuff - my brain has literally been on overload trying to learn things. I finally figured out I need to just learn one thing at a time, so I am slowly starting to figure things out.

Took Matea to the MD today for her 2 year appt - she grew 3.5" in the last 6 months - which would explain why we keep thinking she is looking so much like a KID and not a TODDLER. The doctor said she has the language of a 4 year old - but she's a bit behind in the gross motor skills. Nothing to worry about though...we decided we'll start playing Twister. :-)

I also put in my "i'm quitting" notice for my job - so my last day will be May 1 unless they find a replacement sooner. I'm not moving to a new job, I'm just going to be done and stay home! Aaron's business has picked up quite a bit and we feel this'll be a really good move for our family. So...there you have it!

Christmas

Christmas was great this year! We headed to Frederic on Wednesday afternoon and then on Christmas Eve went to Coon Rapids for a few days. It was such a relaxing few days and we completely missed having to travel in any bad weather! It was great! The only downside of the entire few days was coming home to our driveway which was completely covered in almost 2 feet of packed down nasty frozen snow. Thankfully Jesse was around - it took Aaron and Jesse 3 hours with 2 snowblowers to clear our driveway!!

Above: our makeshift sled (a boogey board)
Below: A cute picture of my mom and matea

Bentleyville

Saturday found us with nothing to do - and a visit to Bentleyville to be checked off our list - so we picked up Brandon and headed down to the light display in Bayfront Festival Park. Personally, I think the display was talked up a bit much, but it was completely worth it to go. We think it is great that the display - and cookies, popcorn, marshmallows, cocoa, and coffee - are all FREE to EVERYONE. Thanks Mr. Bentley and Duluth! We were a bit chilled after spending an hour outside looking at lights so of course we had to stop at Starbucks on our walk back to the car!