The Joy of Slow Cooking

Thanks to Sara for cluing me in to this blog about Crock-Pot cooking. I have been wanting to use my slow cooker more frequently but have very little idea what to cook. My goal is to use it at least once a week. It just seems like it will make life easier in the evenings. It's always a balancing act to get the whole family fed dinner. With Allison in bed by 7pm she's usually hungry by 5:30 at the latest. Well, most nights Mr. Brown doesn't get home until 5:30. So that means I either have to make her a separate meal or I have to try to prepare a meal for all of us while she wants to play and Peter wants to eat. Not fun.

If I can get at least one night of meals done with the slow cooker it would save so much headache. It can be ready for Allison and 5:30 and Mr. Brown & I can eat whenever he gets home.

Do you have a favorite Crock-Pot recipe?

Morning Stroll

As I've mentioned before, Mr. Brown has been walking Allison the .8 miles to daycare each morning since the spring. During the summer, Peter and I would sometimes join the walk. Now Peter is a full-time participant in the morning walk. Here are some pictures from Peter's first day at daycare (Sept 23).

Welcome Autumn

We had a fun weekend. Friday night I made applesauce with a bunch of apples I had intended for pies but had let sit out too long so they were getting soft. We all got to enjoy applesauce all weekend. Allison is getting pretty good at using her spoon. But usually after about 10 bites she decides it's too much of a hassel and just tries to drink from the bowl like she's a Japanese child drinking soup.

On Saturday after Allison's ear check (all clear - no fluids) we went to the nursery and picked up some straw bales and pumpkins for the yard. We got them all set up and it looks great. Then Allison helped me rearrange the pictures in the living room. By help I, of course, mean that she would pick up pictures and move them around just as I was about to set them up again - fun times.


Saturday night I finally got around to making those pies. I was very excited to find a nice selection of apples at the supermarket including Jonathan & McIntosh. Now if I could just get them to import Northern Spies to Colorado I'd be a happy camper.

Sunday we got to go pick out more pumpkins because SOMEBODY STOLE OURS! I am not kidding. I highly suspect the teenage friends of our across the street neighbors. They were hanging around all day on Saturday and watched us put out the pumpkins. And our other neighbor saw some kids running away and laughing late on Saturday. He thought they were stealing his tools but nothing of his was taken. So now we have to bring in the pumpkins at night. What a pain!

Sunday we also delivered one of those pies to the new neighbors (not the ones with the teenagers!). They are a nice young newlywed couple with 2 dogs that Allison is enjoying getting to know. We really liked our old neighbors so hopefully these ones will be just as nice.

We did get some great pictures with the replacement pumpkins on Sunday.

The theory of relativity

Today Peter is 3 months old. Three months?!? Where does the time go. I swear that as you get older, time speeds up. I'm sure that Einstein did not put this in his Theory but everyone knows it's true. When you're a kid, you can't wait for things to happen. Everything seems to take forever - the school day drags on, the school year seems endless, Christmas feels as if it will never arrive, your birthday seems to only come every 2 years.

But as you get older, things change. Suddenly those birthdays seem to be popping up every 9 months, then every 6 months. That must be it, because certainly a whole year cannot have passed since the last one, right? And the work day - well there never seems to be enough time in the day to get it all done.

But for now... I'm just going to celebrate the fact that my little one has successfully made it to 3 months and seems to be growing just like he should. He's become so much more interactive and fun. Okay - well - maybe not interactive, but at least interesting. He found his hands and like to gnaw on them. He loves watching his mobile turn round and round. He gets great delight kicking in his boucy seat to make the lights and music go.

As for Allison - she seems to be changing daily. She is now up to 12 teeth. I found that out by sticking my finger in to feel them and promptly getting chomped on by at least 6 of them. There are 4 on top, 4 on bottom and 4 molars. She has mastered climbing down the stairs (well, half sliding really) and climbing up onto the ottoman and chair. It must feel like such an huge achievement to make it up into the "big people" chairs all on your own.

It's that time of year

The time when the holidays seem to come faster than you can believe. It seems like once Labor Day is over it's a mad dash to the end of the year. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and suddenly it's New Year's Day and we are sitting around in a stupor wondering what happened to the last year of our lives.

Now that it's officially fall it's time to get in gear for Halloween. I must admit this is not one of my favorite holidays. But it's fun to see the kids dressed up and pass out candy. And as our kids grow it'll be great to see them enjoying the day. Last year Allison was an adorable schmetterling (butterfly) for Halloween.


This year we have 2 to plan costumes for. I have dreams of being one of those moms that makes adorable creative costumes at home. And then I realize that I am a full-time working mother of 2 kids under 2 years old. Not gonna happen.

So it is decided... farm animals. There are plenty of years ahead for the kids to decide to be princesses and doctors and other "cool" costumes. This year I still want them to be my cute babies - while I still have dictator-like authority over the costume choices. I'm sure by next year at this time Allison will have very distinct opinions on her costume. And the winners of the costume selection process are....

Allison the squiggly pig


And Peter the pumpkin

Back to Work

My first day back from maternity leave. So far, so good. They've been keeping me busy. I managed to get my email inbox down to just a handful, attend a meeting, and take an online training course all before lunch. Honestly, it feels like not much has changed. Things move very slowly around here. I would bet I could be gone a year and not notice much difference. The one exciting thing is that the online training course I had mostly completed development of before I left is now up and running. It's very cool to see your work actually rolled out across the company.

I was definitely tough to say goodbye to the little man this morning. He was all smiles though. And he got his first stroller ride over. Well, his first one where he didn't make the return trip. Speaking of... I think I'll call and check on him.

Privacy

After much consideration I've decided to make this blog invite only. I know that's a pain for some of you because you had to register. I'm sorry about that. But I really think it's in the best interest of my kids. I'm creeped out by the idea that random strangers can check out their pics.

If you know someone who would like to continue reading that I forgot to invite (mom)email me.