Lemon-Garlic Turkey Breast

If you don't cook in a crockpot-you are crazy.  It is so easy, especially with the kids.  I can throw something in in the morning and it smells great all day, and then it is ready to go for Kevin and I to have dinner together once the kids are in bed.  I am constantly looking to find more crockpot receipes that I like and have minimal prep work, so I am thrilled that Kelly over at Kelly's Korner is starting a crockpot link up each week.  My one advice on crockpot cooking is invest in one that has a warmer feature--that way you can start it whenever in the morning and you don't have to worry about turning it off at a certain time, it goes go to warmer automatically which is perfect for me because I would hate to have spent all day slaving in the kitchen for dinner to be ruined :)  Here's a receipe that Kevin and I really like and it always sounds impressive when you can say that you made a turkey for dinner.

Lemon-Garlic Turkey Breast

3 lbs. turkey breast
1/2 cup lemon juice
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. dried parsley
1/4 tsp. dried tarragon
1/4 tsp. dried rosemary
1/4 tsp. dried sage
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 cup white wine

Place the turkey breast in the Crock-Pot slow cooker.  In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, garlic, parsley, tarragon, rosemary, sage, salt, pepper and wine.  Pour the sauce over the turkey breast.  Cover; cook on Low 8 to 10 hours (or on High for 4 to 5 hours).  Slice before serving.  Makes 6 servings.

For those that do Weight Watchers--this is 6 points per serving.

Sorry I don't have a picture, but you know what turkey breast looks like.  I do though have a picture of one of my favorite people doing a little grocery shopping with her new grocery cart (granted we are in a mall and not the grocery store, but she just had to push the cart the second that we bought it.  I'm sure those actually trying to shop weren't as amused as I was, but oh well, when you have a happy toddler, you don't mess with it.)

 

Happy Cooking!

Steppin' Out Saturday-Bachelorette Party Edition

Saturday we celebrated my college girlfriend's bachelorette party.  She is from New Jersey, hence her nickname Jersey, and it was only fitting that she have a "Jersey Shore" themed bachelorette party.  Now, mind you, I have actually never seen the show (and I am actually quite proud of that fact), so I didn't know exactly what to wear to fit the part, so I just got a sundress for the night that I can actually use for when we go to Florida in a couple of weeks as well.  I was pretty pumped when I found this dress online at Banana Republic for 30% off and then I had $40 in gap dollars, so the dress ended up only costing me $40!!!!

I don't have a great picture of just me in the dress, so here's one with my friend Jill (and yes she is dressed for the Jersey Shore theme and no that is thankfully not a real tattoo )

We started out the night at Jersey's maid of honor's house for drinks, games and gifts.  Here's the bachelorette on her night out.

I wish I could have gotten a close up of her freshly painted "safety pink" nails and her smoky eyeshadow.  Mind you, Jersey had no idea what the theme of the night was going into it, so she was pretty suprised that she got to look this awesome for her big night out!!!! She was rocking the infamous "Zeus" necklack and she also did drink out of the chalice for the entire evening. 

After an interesting gift giving session, we headed out to dinner at Quartino.  This place is great for large groups, reasonably priced, and the food is always good. I have been here a couple of times and have never been disappointed.  They also have a private room that fits about 15 if you think that your party is going to get rowdy.  Our party was rowdy, we just chose to do it in the middle of the crowded restaurant as opposed to in a private room because what fun would that have been. 



I'm not exactly sure what is going on in this picture, but Jersey is marrying a cop, so you can kind of see her fake badge for the night.  Good thing she didn't try to citizen's arrest anyone.

After dinner, we were a little early for our next stop so we ended up being invited into "Snickers" by some lady who I'm pretty sure should have left around 4 (and it was now 9:30), to say she was overserved is an understatement.  But, Snickers ended up being a blast.  There was alot of singing and dancing to be had (even some dancing in the open air windows).  I as a mother of two did not partake in the dancing in the windows segment of the evening, but I sure as hell did take pictures of those that did :) 

This picture is funny to me, only because the three of us just all had babies within the past 4 months, so we weren't so much feeling the dance in the window thing, but you gotta be there to support your friends, right?

The night ended up at The Baton Lounge, which all I will say about that is, interesting.  I had to check out early because I am old and by 11:00, I was falling asleep at the show.  Plus knowing that my two little alarm clocks go off at 6 am does not make for fun mornings when you are out to late the night before.  I definitely had a good time though and it was so fun to see my college girlfriends.  We don't all get together too often anymore due to all being different places in the country and having crazy schedules, but when we do, it's always like old times (however, I will speak for myself in saying, I definitely can't hang like I used to.  Going out two nights in a row this weekend was definitely difficult for me, hence the back to the routine post from yesterday.) 

So, congrats Jersey!!!!  Can't wait to see you become a Mrs. in a couple of months in Jersey.  And no bachelorette party is complete without a picture in front of a fire engine with some firefighters, so here you go!

Linking up to Mandy

A new routine

This past week and weekend have not been so great in terms of weightloss.  Now, they have been great in that I have had family and friends and fun things going on, but it has definitely been a week that got us out of our routine, eating out a lot, and not exercising enough.  So this week, it is time to get back on track, back to the routine of things, and overall back to making some healthier choices.

While I love to have fun things to do, I also really love routines.  My body thrives on routine, to the point where Kevin makes fun of me becuase I do much better going to bed at 9 each night, even on the weekends.  I have always been that way, and I know that about myself, so when I start getting out of my routine, my body just does not respond well.  I am also starting to notice that trait in Kiley.  Last week, we had a couple of rough days and I am pretty sure that it was because she was out of her routine as well.  She didn't have great naps all week and I think that we tried to fit in too many things that are just not activities for toddlers these days (i.e. shopping). And now that Ella is almost 4 months (I know, I don't know how she is getting so old, so fast), she is starting to develop her own routine which is throwing off the routine that I had for Kiley.  So, with fall starting, and now two kids schedules to figure out instead of one, we are re-thinking our old routines and having to develop new ones.  New ones that will mean more time spent at home instead of going to classes and playgroups, but I have come to be ok with that.  It means more time for my girls to get to play together and for me to enjoy watching them grow instead of constantly being on the go.  I have struggled with this becuase I felt that Kiley might be missing out on something by not being able to go to classes every day, but soon enough, she will be in school and I will miss these days of just being able to play at home.  So, I am going to embrace this time of being able to develop our new routine of going to the gym in the morning and staying home in the afternoons to enjoy moments like these.  This is the first video I have that have Kiley and Ella somewhat playing together, with Ella kind of looking like she is enjoying it. 

So, with today being Monday, I am resolving to get myself back on track with my eating and back to my routine.  I am glad that we have a couple weekends coming up with absolutely no plans, so I can really focus on eating well, working out, and sticking to the routine.

And if you didn't believe me about Ella getting so big these days.  Here are a few recent pics of the little lady.  She is starting to look like a little person to me now and starting to develop her own personality (and sleeping through the night, 6-6 baby!!!!). 

So happy!



Ella and Grandma



Kiley ready for her workout!


 

Have a great Monday!  Here's to a new week and new routines.

Happy Birthday Kevin!

We have been celebrating Kevin's birthday all week long, and his actual day is finally here.  We have been busy this week making birthday signs,

baking cupcakes,

shopping til' we dropped for presents,

signing cards and hanging up the birthday banner to get ready for his big day.

Kiley and Ella even made Dad a special Birthday video.





Last night, Kevin and I got to enjoy a nice dinner out and drinks afterwards with friends. 

And today, we are doing whatever Kevin would like to do (which may be sleeping for him and trying to keep the girls quiet so daddy can sleep for me). 

Happy Birthday Kevin/Daddy!  We love you so much and hope you have had a great week and have an even better day. 



Show Us Your Life-Baby Shower Ideas

I'm linking up over at Kelly's Korner again today for her Show Us Your Life post of the week.  This week's topic is Baby Shower Ideas

Let me just start off by saying I had the worst luck with my baby showers.  I have the sweetest family and friends who have thrown me beautiful showers and sprinkles (or at least planned to have them). For those that don't know, both of my girls were born 5 and a half weeks early.   My showers for Kiley were planned for when I was 34 weeks pregnant.  My friends threw me one on that Saturday and my sister and mom threw me one on Sunday.  That Thursday before my big shower weekend, my blood pressure got pretty high and I was admitted to the hospital for monitoring.  Luckily though, I was able to get released Saturday morning, and was able to make it to the showers, but on bed rest.  I am really thankful that I was able to make it and I got so many wonderful gifts for Kiley.  I swear I didn't have to buy clothes for Kiley until she was like a year old.  My friends at work had also planned to throw me a shower, however, I had Kiley a week before the planned shower and was gone on maternity leave, so I never actually had that one. 

With the sprinkle that was planned for Ella, my friends tried to plan ahead (and even moved the date up after we thought that I might go even earlier than anticipated).  It was a suprise sprinkle, which was so sweet of them, but what do you know, I came down with bronchitis three days before it.  As part of the suprise, Kevin's job was to get me there.  So when he suggested we go to brunch on that Sunday (while I am hacking up a lung), I knew something was up so it wasn't much of a suprise anymore that something was planned, but all of the details remained unknown to me so that was a success.

I had an awesome time at all of my showers and sprinkle, but they definitely didn't go exactly as planned, but then again, nothing with my pregnancies went exactly as planned.  So is life, I guess. 

I don't have a lot of ideas because I haven't planned a baby shower for anyone yet, but a couple things that I have done or seen done that I like are. . .

1.  Thank you gifts
I had 5 girlfriends that went in on planning one of my showers and 2 that kind of "took the lead"  For all 5 girls, I got them personalized note sets. That looked like this

I got them from Swoozie's.  This is a great site that has a lot of fun personalized stuff with pretty good prices and they shipped really quickly as well.  The fun thing was that they have different styles to choose from so I was able to pick a style and font that I thought fit each girls personality.

For the two girls that took the lead on planning, I also got them gift certificates to Mario Tricoci so that they could enjoy some pampering. 

My mom and sister threw my second shower.  I wanted something special for them for all the love and support that they had given me through my pregnancy and when I found this necklace.


It's from Red Envelope which is another store that I really like.  They have quick shipping, plus they have a lot of jewelry that you can personalize with the receipent's birthstone, name, etc.  I liked this necklace because for us it symbolized Kiley entering the world and becoming the third generation of our immediate family. 

2.  Books

A fun gift that my friend Jill always gives at baby showers is a fun basket filled with some of her favorite childhood books. 

I think that this is a really cute idea because you can never have enough books. 

Another cute idea that I have heard of, especially for a shower that is out of town and you don't want to have to ship a lot of stuff back, is to have a book shower where everyone brings their favorite childhood book.  This would be fun to do for a sprinkle as well, since most of the time, you don't really need a lot of stuff for a 2nd or later baby, but usually most people want to bring something. 

3.  Onesies

A gift that I thought would be cute but I haven't actually given yet is to buy 12 onesies for the first year and then the month onesie stickers to put on them to take pictures each month.  I bought some of these

 for Kiley from this etsy site http://www.etsy.com/shop/pickysticky.  Granted I only took the pictures for the first 4 months (I was bad about this), but I have seen people do really cute things with these pictures as decor for 1st birthdays. 

How cute is this little peanut of mine

So those are my ideas- nothing mindblowing by any means.  I am pretty tired today after a busy week with Grandma in town and I have a really busy weekend ahead of me so I need to take a nap when Kiley is napping to gear up for it.  Tomorrow is Kevin's birthday and then I have Jersey's Bachelorette party tomorrow evening.   While I love busy weekends and seeing friends, I am also looking forward to having a couple of weekends coming up that we have nothing planned. 

Happy Friday and be safe if you are on the East Coast.  Kevin and I took an awesome trip to the Outer Banks a couple of summers ago so it is near and dear to my heart, so I hope Irene doesn't cause too much destruction. 



"I'm Going to Love You Through it"

I have been inspired to run my first 5K on September 24th, 2011 in honor of my mom, my Aunt Nancy and Kevin's Aunt Sue.  They are all amazing women that have battled breast cancer and I am so thankful that they fought hard against it and are still with us today.  I recently came across this video by Martina McBride of her new song "I'm Going to Love You Through It." 

It's really hard for me to put into words how much this song touches me, but all I can say to those in my family that have battled this deadly disease is-thank you.  Thank you for fighting so hard that you are still with us today.  Thank you for enduring painful treatments and procedures even though I am sure that at times it was the last thing that you wanted to do.  Thank you for being strong and looking cancer in the face and not backing down.  Thank you for your courage.  Thank you for making me one of the lucky ones that didn't have to say good bye. Thank you for being a living part of my daughters' lives and not a picture that I have to show them and explain to them who those amazing women were.  I can't thank you enough and tell you enough how much I love each of you and how grateful that I am for you to still be here today. 

So, with that, on September 24th, I will do something that I haven't done before in support and honor of my family.  I will run on behalf of you as a survivor.  Granted, I may not run fast and I may have to walk a little bit because if you know me, you know that I am not a runner.  But, it's the least that I can do to support you for being such fighters. 

If you would like to support me in this endeavor-I am looking for either a.  people to run with me or b. people to donate to the cause. I am hoping to raise $300 for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.  You can click on the link below which will take you to my personal page and then click on donate to Natalie. 

http://www.info-komen.org/site/TR/RacefortheCure/HIL_ChicagolandAreaAffiliate?px=10492348&pg=personal&fr_id=2250

I know that I am short on time to raise my money, but with two kiddos everything is a little rushed, but I am used to it and I know that I can do it.  Can you help me reach my goal?

Now, I am off to the gym to keep up my training :)  Have a great Thursday!

Kiley's favorite toys!

I don't have a lot of time to write today as Grandma is in town and we have lots of fun to have, but I just wanted to share a few pictures and videos of Kiley playing with her favorite toy(s). 

I have not found a single toy that keeps Kiley entertained more than . . .

The dogs! 

You want proof, here it is. . .



This is my absolute favorite picture of Kiley and Madison.  I love Madison's look in this picture.  Priceless.

18 month and 3 month pictures

Last Friday, the wonderful Katie Ryan of Katie Ryan Photography took Kiley's 18 month and Ella's 3 month pictures (granted Kiley is 17 and a half months and Ella is 3 and a half months), but only having to worry one day about some weird rash showing up on your baby's face or that your 17 month old is going to suddenly decide to cut her hair on picture day seemed a lot easier for me to handle once this month rather than try to actually do a 3-month shoot for Ella and an 18-month shoot for Kiley. 

Now onto my short plug for Katie Ryan, in which I get no compensation for this plug, this is just my own thoughts and feelings.  She is AWESOME.  If you live in the Chicagoland area and are in need of a photographer, check her out.  Her prices are reasonable, she will come to your house, and she sends you a cd of all of the images so you can do with them what you would like.  I have used her for all of Kiley and Ella's professional pictures thus far, plus she does pet photography, family pictures, weddings, engagement shoots, etc.  She is also starting to do some marathon shoots at different locations, which I love because you get a whole different set of scenery. This shoot she did at Brookfield Zoo and she is working on getting one together at a pumpkin patch for the fall. I can't wait. 

So, remember my miserable fun shopping day to the Gap with the girls last week. Well, I had to get these outfits for the photo shoot.

Is there really anything cuter than baby/toddler jeggings?

Matching dresses = love having two girls!

So of course, getting to and from the zoo proved to be quite a pain in the booty, but I think that it was worth it in the end.  Getting there, I decided to not get the girls dressed until we got there because Kiley always wants a snack in the car so I didn't want it to get all over her and Ella would inevitably spit up on her outfit if I put it on any earlier than necessary.  I left plenty of time to get there, and made great time, until I got to the one road I know how to take to get to the zoo, which was shut down to one lane.  Ugh, I sat there for 25 minutes just trying to get through one intersection.  We finally got there, did a quick change in the back of the car, and we were off.  Good thing I decided to not work out that morning because I had to power walk/run through the zoo to make it on time.  Of course, I couldn't exactly remember where the children's zoo was that we were going to meet at, so I ended up walking around it about 3 times before I actually got there winded and sweaty, but at least I was not hoping for a cute mom and daughters shot that day because it was not happening.  We finally made it and of course getting Kiley to cooperate was not happening.  All she wanted to do was have snacks and go through the back of clothes that I brought, but I think that Katie ended up getting some pretty good shots of my non-cooperative daughter.  Ella was her usual laid back self and couldn't have cared less about what was going on--that is until the drive home, in which she cried for an hour and a half straight as we sat in fun Friday Chicagoland traffic :(  To say I wanted to pull my hair out was an understatement, I think if I had had a razor at that point I would have gone all Britney Spears and just shaved my hair right there in the car.  But, we made it home, the girls got to bed, and I enjoyed a relaxing evening of popcorn for dinner, a couple glasses of wine, some Dateline episodes and my US Weekly.

Ok, so enough rambling, and on to the pictures.  I heart them and I know you will too.  Granted, I am biased, and think that my girls are adorable, but also again Katie Ryan is awesome, and even if my toddler is not being cooperative, she still is able to capture great shots.  Thanks Katie!

http://katieryanphotography.blogspot.com/2011/08/kiley-ella-81911.html

Have a great Tuesday!

Move it Monday

So, I am going to talk about weight loss today. Not because I think that it is of interest to any of you, but it is what is going on in my life right now as I try to shed the baby weight, but also because I think that a weekly or bi-weekly check-in will help keep me accountable and motivated to stay on track.

So, in a quick summary to get you up to date, I have always been relatively thin-not super skinny, but I would have never considered myself overweight.  Granted, there were times where I could have lost 10 pounds and looked a little better, but my weight was always in check.  I also have always been pretty active whether it is dancing, going to the gym, being outside, etc.  So, when I first got pregnant with Kiley, I was about 130 pounds which was one of my stages where I could have used to lose about ten pounds.  Kevin and I had just gotten back from a two-week long vacation where we had an awesome time eating out and drinking to our heart's content.  So we got back from that vacation and I realized I should get in gear and signed up for a half marathon--well, low and behold, I found out I was pregnant the next day, so I decided that training for a half marathon when I am not really even a runner while pregnant was probably not going to happen.  I worked out here and then during my pregnancy, but nothing that I was really routine.  When I finally had Kiley, I was 175 pounds. 

So, I worked my butt off last summer and got down to 137 pounds by October and then, suprise, I found out I was pregnant with Ella.  So, now I was starting out still about 17 pounds above where I would have liked to be.  Now, with Ella, I also tried to work out during pregnancy in hopes that I would not gain that much weight again, but again I failed in that department.  Ella was already on the small side, so when my doctor told me to take it easy, I took that as "Eat cupcakes to your hearts content and let's fatten this baby up."  When Ella was born, I was a whopping 185 pounds.  I gained pretty much the exact same with Kiley and Ella.  I think that no matter what, your body is going to gain whatever it wants it to, but that is me talking as someone who didn't really work out and used pregnancy as an excuse to eat pretty much whatever I wanted.  I know--it's not the best example, however, for both of my girls being 5 and a half weeks early-I like to think the extra cupcakes helped :)

So here I was 185 pounds-and yes Ella was on 4 pounds, 7 ounces, so where the additional 35-40 pounds came from, let's not talk about it.  I decided to do Jenny Craig.  I thought that would be the easiest thing for me since I just meet with my consultant once a week and get me pre-packaged food and then I am off for the week.  Here's a picture of me that first visit.  It's not pretty, if you want to shield your eyes, just close them for a second and scroll down.

I do like Jenny Craig in that it is really easy if you follow the plan exactly, however, I was having a hard time with that because we do tend to eat out a lot and after not drinking for 9 months--I wanted a glass of wine (or two) here and there every so often. So, I decided to start logging my meals into Weight Watchers online as well. I am still doing Jenny Craig, but I have found that tracking my points has been a lot easier for me to keep my portions under control and make healthier choices when I am not eating Jenny meals. 

As for working out, I have been pretty good about getting to the gym.  Mainly because, I pay a montly fee for childcare and can take the girls there for up to two hours a day.  The Kid's Club is awesome and after putting Kiley in gym boot camp (to get her used to going, we went everyday for 2 weeks just so she got to know everyone), she now loves it and today even starting crying when we were leaving because she wanted to keep playing. 

My favorite exercise is probably spinning classes.  I just love that someone else is telling me what to do on the bike and I just get to sit there and listen to good music.  I would do spinning every day if I could because I enjoy it and it burns a lot of calories, but I know that I will get burnt out if I do that, so I have been trying to mix it up a bit more.  I started doing pilates to help with core strength.  The first class I took was a killer.  After two c-sections in 14 months, the abs really were non-existent.  I have kept with it though and I am really starting to see some results.  I am doing the mat classes, as well as, the reformer, which if you have not done before is really cool.  Last week, I also decided to throw in doing the Couch to 5K program.  While, I am not a runner at all, and actually don't really enjoy running, I like what it does for my body.  Plus, I am trying to work towards something, so I decided that I would train to do a 5K in the beginning of November (more on that in a later post though, because I have more to share about that). 

So basically, that is where I am at today.  Weighing in this morning, I am down to 147 pounds which is decent.  This is the picture I took last week.  Not the most flattering as my hips look gigantic and I had just gotten out of the shower, but I guess it's a realistic view of where I am at today.

And I would also like to thank Morgan for all of her love and support!

Certainly an improvement from the first pictures, but I also have a good amount to go before I reach my "goal."  I'm not sure if I will ever get to my "goal" weight, but I am going to definitely try.  It's hard to say, after having two kids and getting older, exactly what my ideal weight is.  It's definitely not where I am at now though, so I am still motivated to keep losing the weight.  It's a slow process, which is why I felt like it would be a good post for me to update every once in awhile.  It keeps me accountable to stay motivated on my goals.  So, while not the most entertaining subject, it's pretty relevant to my life right now and something that I have been working really hard on.  So please keep me motivated!!!! 

Weekend Recap

This weekend was pretty low key, which was nice since next weekend is going to be super busy with Kevin's birthday and Jersey's bachelorette party (both next Saturday).  So I really don't have too much to update on the weekend unless you want to hear about the cleaning, laundry, and gym-going that I did, so I will just leave you with a couple of random videos and pictures from the last week to hold you over until tomorrow.

This picture is funny to me because the other day I was walking and this nice man kept commenting on how handsome my little boy was.  Now, I guess if Ella was a boy, that would be a compliment, however, SHE is not.  But she is handsome, isn't she.

Kiley is obsessed with feeding the dogs these days, as in, the second I put her plate in front of her, she immediately starts giving it to the dogs.  I don't have the heart to stop her though when it brings her this much joy :)  And now that I am posting this and re-watching it, I probably should go clean the applesauce off of the dogs heads.  And, yes, if you are wondering, I am watching Les Miserables in the background.  I told you it was a pretty boring weekend.  But, really, if you haven't seen the 25th anniversary special that they have been showing on PBS, it is quite good.  I never was a Jonas Brothers fan, as I am probably a little too old (and it may be creepy for me to still be into boy bands), but Nick Jonas is suprisingly good in this.  Who knew he could actually sing.

Kiley is still obsessed with the bathtub.  It's kind of like her lazy boy.  Her other obsession that you can sort of see in this picture is her purses.  She has two right now that she carries around everywhere with her.  It's always fun to see the random things that she puts in her purse.  Much of the time it is an old ipod that she pretends to talk on like it is a phone.  So if you see us and wonder why in the world I bought my daughter an ipod or iphone, no I did not, and I am not that crazy.  But, I am sure there is some 17-month old out there who has her own ipod. 

This picture is so cute of Ella--I just love the headband.  We won't discuss the huge bump that the little rhinestone left on her head for hours after I took it off of her.  I guess at some point she is going to have to learn that we women sometimes have to make sacrifices for fashion. 

And the last picture for this boring post is for Abby.  She's a little mad that I posted the back to school picture of her and her exact words are that I am "going to pay for that."  She says it with love though I am sure--emotion is kind of hard to read in an email so I am just going to assume that she meant it with love :) So I will post an embarassing picture of myself.  You can't ever take yourself too seriously right? So here I am modeling Mr. Potato Heads glasses.

I would consider us even now Abby.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Back to School Traditions

So, as most schools are getting ready to head back to school next Monday, I am linking up today to Kelly's Korner for her weekly Show Us Your Life topic.  She picks a different topic each week and people can link up their own posts on the topic.  This weeks topic is Back to School Traditions. 

Since neither of the girls are in school yet, and we don't have any so-called traditions for them yet, I had to think back to the back to school traditions that I can remember doing each and every year.  The only one that really comes to mind is the quintessential Back-to-School picture.  Now, trying to find some of these pictures for this post proved to be a little difficult. I guess my mom must have most of them, but I did find this little gem. 

If my memory serves me correctly (based on the broken leg) this is me going into the 2nd grade which was the year that I started at Hunting Ridge.  I assume that Abby was starting junior high based on my quick 5 year addition (but I could be wrong, it's early).  There's a lot that can be said about this picture--mainly Abby's outfit because how cute am I, you can't make fun of me, but this post is about school traditions not bad outfits.  What I really wish was in this picture was the goose that my mom had on the front porch.  It was one of those big statue geese that my mom would dress up for different seasons, events, etc.  The goose had it's own closet for geese outfits that of course you can only buy at one of the zillions of craft fairs that she would drag my dad and I to (thinking of that, how did Abby always get out of going to the craft fair?) because what store would sell outfits for geese.  So, this leaves me to wonder, what was the goose wearing in this back to school picture?  I miss that goose and now I realize that I have to get something similar that my girls can remember and make fun of me for when they are older.  Love you mom :)

Other than that, I don't remember to many other back-to-school traditions.  Yes, we did the back to school shopping trips.  Of course, my favorite was always the shopping trip to get new school supplies.  If you know me, you know my love of office supplies.  It's a little sad that I don't have much use for them anymore, but you better believe that when it is time for the girls to go to school, they will have the best school supplies out there.  Let's hope that when they go to school an Ipad is not of the school supply list--why do I have a feeling that in a couple years that may be the case. 

The one thing about traditions is, obviously, you have to do them every year and you have to start them early on.  So, now I am left to think of the things that I want to be traditions for my family.  What back-to-school traditions do you remember as a kid and which ones to you think that I should do with the girls?  I need some good ideas. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend.  I have some fun posts planned for next week, so get excited!  I am leaving you on this Friday morning with a little video that I shot this morning while writing this post.  It is entitled, "Kiley is thirsty." And yes, I did stop her from doing this--after I shot the video :)

Embrace the Camera

So today I am linking up to Emily of the anderson crew.  The concept is that each Thursday she challenges her readers to get in a photo with their kids. While I have a ton of pictures of Kiley and Ella by themselves, it is sometimes hard to remember to actually get in a picture with them from time to time, even though 99.5% of the time I don't look anywhere near picture ready.  I'm sure that they will appreciate having pictures with their mom (and dad, when I can remember to snap pictures at 6:30 at night)  You can read more about embracing the camera here.

This first picture, I find to be amusing.  I was attempting to do the head in a circle, picture taken from above shot that all girls do at some point in their lives.  It could be a dance team thing, I don't know, but I have never once seen a group of guys get together and say "hey I have a great idea, let's all lay down in a circle with our heads in the middle, and have someone take a picture from above."  If you have that picture, please send it to me, I would love to see it.  So here is the picture that I actually got.

As you can somewhat make out, Kiley's head is the blur of hair that you see trying to get up, Ella is half in the picture, and I am just trying to make the best of it.  So chalk that one up to a fail.  Note to self-don't attempt the head in a circle picture again until I 1.  learn how to take a picture of ourselves and get everyone in the picture and 2. not have a toddler who refuses to sit still for one second.

The next attempt is with Ella.  Obviously, much easier because she doesn't move, however, it is tricky to get her to look at the camera while taking it myself, so here is the best that I could do.  And please, let's not discuss the lighting in this picture. 

These are my attempt at getting all three of us in a picture all at once. 

Obviously, those were a big fat fail.  However, I do really like the one where Madison is trying to "join in the fun." 

And this one, is just me and my moose. 

Man, it is hard work embracing the camera.  But, I must say, the pictures that I love the most are not always the most perfect, but are the ones that make me remember exactly how it felt to be in that moment.  So I guess these pictures sum up my days, it can be a lot of failures and misses, but as long as I can still end the day with a smile and see the humor and joy in it all, then everything is a success.

Hope you find some time today to embrace the camera!

Letters

Dear Pregnant Lady at Gap giving me nasty looks while my daughter has a meltdown,
Yes, I bring my two children to BabyGap to torture them by shopping and buying clothes for them. 

xoxo,
Natalie

Dear Gap employees,
While I am sure that you did not appreciate my daughter screaming because I would not let her down and run around your store, I bet you would rather hear the screaming for 10 minutes while I get my butt in and out of there quickly.  By listening to the 10 minutes of screaming, believe me, it saved you 30 minutes of having to clean up after her if she was quiet and tearing your store apart. 

xoxo,
Natalie

Dear Chipotle,
I wanted to stop by and have you for lunch today, however, as you can see from the above letters, my daughter was in no mood for a girl's lunch because I had just tortured her by buying her new clothes. Maybe my loving husband will stop by your place tonight and pick me up something since I had to miss out on coming over for lunch.

xoxo,
Natalie

Dear Loving Husband,
Please stop by Chipotle and pick me up dinner. 

xoxo,
Natalie

Dear Stephanie (my Jenny Craig consultant),
While I know that Chipotle is not part of the Jenny Craig mealplan, quite frankly, I don't care.  Now, ask me again on Saturday when you weigh me in and I may have a different feeling about that, but for now, I would rather just have a big fat burrito bowl rather than your frozen spaghetti and meatballs.

xoxo,
Natalie

Walking the dogs

So walking the dogs in our house is no easy feat.  Let me start with the preparation, which takes about 10 minutes, at least.  First, I have to get my coffee, then Kiley needs to have a snack and water, and Ella needs to be fed and put in her carseat.  Then comes the process of getting everyone downstairs, while the dogs are going nuts because just the statement "You want to go for a . . ." sends them into a tailspin.  They literally do this thing where it looks like they are high-fiving each other.  Once everyone is in the stroller and leashes are on, I have to make sure that pacifiers are in the stroller because let me tell you that getting a mile away from home and having a meltdown is no fun.  Yes-I did, on one occassion, have to carry a baby home, push the stroller and walk two dogs for about 10 blocks--so no I will never forget the pacifiers again. 

So needless to say, I get plenty of comments from passerbys while I am walking the kids and dogs.  People think they are so clever with the "Eh, you got your hands full."  I pretty much hear that statement at least once a walk, if not more.  I also love the people that look into the stroller to see if I actually have an infant in the infant carrier-no I am just pushing a double stroller with an infant carrier for fun. 

Yes, we do take up an entire city sidwalk

Kiley all set up with her snacks.  One thing I have leared as a parent, you can never have enough snacks on hand!

So back to the punchline of this post-I was walking the dogs yesterday and we came across another lady walking her cute yellow lab.  Now usually, I do not let the dogs "greet" other dogs because it is just to much for me to handle while also trying to drink my coffee (and I never let them greet little dogs because those suckers are mean).  So, for some reason, I let the dogs go and greet this nice lab.  (Sidenote on Morgan--she is a little like me, extremely nosy and at times has an issue with personal space, but then when she feels that someone is getting into her personal space she gets all jumpy and anxious).  So, Morgan does this and the nice yellow lab does not like the smell of Morgan so they get into a growling, barking match.  I repeatedly am trying to get Morgan to come along by saying "Morgan come", "Let's go Morgan" etc. I basically said Morgan about 5 or 6 times. 

As we are walking away the nice dog owner says "Oh that's funny, your dog's name is Jorge." 

Me (with a bewildered look on my face):  Um, no it's Morgan.

To complete the walk, I also had the privilege of seeing a rat run right across the sidewalk in front of me not once, but twice.  Disgusting, but the dogs thought that it was really cute and wanted to take it home as a pet.

Why blog?

I was trying to think of a good way to put why I wanted to start a blog, but then I came across this on one of the blogs that I read http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/ and I think that it is exactly the reason that I wanted to start blogging.

Kelly wrote:

"I've said this before and I mean it - I blog because I honestly wouldn't remember half the things my girls have said or done or their milestones if I didn't put it somewhere. This has been an AMAZING way for me to keep a record for our family. It forces me to think about taking pictures all the time too or I might not do that either. And the grandparents and other family members can watch our girls grow. I make time for it because it's a priority for me to keep those memories. I would do it whether I had 2 readers or 2000."

I have realized that I am not great about writing in Kiley or Ella's baby books, and much to my dismay, my memory and metabolism have gone somewhere together that I cannot seem to locate.  Hopefully, I will enjoy my time blogging and also give my family and friends a place where they can keep up on the Pollack family happenings.  So, in a nutshell, that is why I have started blogging.  Now, like everything else in my life, it is about staying committed to recording these memories.  So that is what I ask of you--keep me committed.  Comment on my posts, ask questions, give me suggestions on what to post about.  My goal is to post at least 4 times a week-so check back often :)

So with that I am off to go browse through the two Halloween costume catalogs that I got in the mail today.  I can't believe that we are already thinking about Halloween, but I do love Fall and I am pretty sick of Chicago street festival season.  So I guess I am little bit excited about football season, sweaters, and walks with the dogs where we can go farther than around the block.  As for Kevin--we know that he is excited about Fall.  He is in 3, yes 3, fantasy football leagues this year.  I think that it is a bit excessive, but you know Kevin and his love of football (both college and pro--which means yes, both Saturday and Sunday and filled with football in our house)  He likes to say, "You knew I liked football when you married me."  To sign off and go sit on the couch while both girls are napping at the same time!!!!!  Here is a favorite picture of the dogs to tie in Halloween and football.  Yes, they are wearing football dog jerseys and handing out Halloween candy :)

Kiley's latest obsession

So last night, Kevin was putting Kiley to bed and I could hear her starting to have a major meltdown.  Later when I asked what it was about--it all had to do with Kiley's lastest obsession of Ella's bathtub.  She pulls it out of the bathroom all the time and will just sit in it, puts her snacks in it, carries/pushes it around.  Last night, Kevin said that she wanted to take it to bed with her.  I'm a little worried that instead of a security blanket, she is going to have a security bathtub.  Can you just see it now, Kiley carrying the bathtub with her to Kindergarten. Ugh, I am in for it with this stubborn little thing.

It kind of reminds me of the Friends episode where Chandler and Joey trade everything they have in their apartment for a canoe.