Vote for $1million to kids

Hey everyone! Back again to get all of you to help kids with cancer. This one is easy-peasy. Go to this twitter link and choose Children's Cancer Research Fund. If we get the most votes we get $1 million
http://www.twittacause.com/vote-for-a-cause.php
We have so much research to fund but as pediatric cancer gets a very small amount from all the government grants out there. Researchers depend on private organizations like Children's Cancer Research Fund to get treatments from the lab to the bedside of these kids.
In the past 2 weeks I've connected with more families. One family adopted a baby last summer. A few months later they found tumors in his brain and kidney. I've seen pictures of this little guy. He is only 2 months older then Penny so you can believe I started crying when I heard his story. He is undergoing some new treatments as his cancer is difficult to beat. Through all of this his mom is amazing. Her faith is so strong and she wants to do something NOW to get research going. That's where all of you come in...go vote and pass the word on via blogs/facebook/twitter/email! We have till May 10th.

Penelope meets springtime

I know all of you are going through withdrawl since you haven't seen many pictures in a while. So here you go!

We've had crazy up and down weather. It looks like are back in the 50s. Now that Penelope has tasted the outdoors, the inside activities just don't do it for her. She seems to get bored quickly. We read books, play games, sing songs...all the stuff that kept her happy during the winter, but she gets cranky faster. Yet when we go outside she is content to sit on a bench at the park with us and look around. We did get a jogging stroller from Elisa at work (Thanks, Elisa! I'll have it for a few years in case you want it back :).
So today we went to the Birchwood Cafe. If you've visited us then you've been to the Birchwood. I love that place. The owner had a baby 2 weeks after Penelope was born. Recently when I went in there I saw they are selling baby food now. It is made by Sweetcheeks, which is a local company that uses local organic veggies and fruit and delivers it to a few health food stores and now The Birchwood. Now what cafe have you ever been to that has baby food on the menu? Did I say I love this place? Well, today they had a taste testing. Penelope got to try some beets which she gave a good review on (trying to grab at another free serving when she polished off the first one...totally my daughter!). Plus, we got to meet with the owner and her baby, and the owner of Sweetcheeks. Our freezer is packed solid with all the baby food I've made, but I think we'll go to the Birchwood occasionally as a family. The owner is very funny. In her monthly newsletter she said that she incorporates all of her life changes in her restaurant. When she got dogs, she made dog biscuits; when she started cycling, she formed a bike club sponsored by the Birchwood; and now that she has a baby, baby food of course!

(Oh, and just because of recent comments I think I may be giving off the wrong impression, I'm not over the top with the organic local thing. Chris and I do have the occasional frozen pizza rolls or stop at Wendys. But we've realized there is a huge taste difference in local heirloom veggies. Also, one of the reasons we chose to live in the city is because we like small one of a kind places. As we see more go out of business we made the decision to do our best to go there when we do treat ourselves ...with that said, Dairy Queen and Target headquarters are in Minneapolis so I'm supporting local when I go there, right? :)

Becoming Me: Buttons and Bows

Okay, this is not going to impress anyone...but if you understood my relationship with art/crafts/design then you could appreciate it. Growing up our relatives bought us tons of craft kits--Knit a Dress for Barbie, Make a Rug, Homemade Candles, Crosstitch for Kids, Potholders, Pinch Pots, Hand Molds, Scrapbooking kits and of course, enough puffy paint to last an eternity of sleepovers. If you go to my parents house I'm sure you can dig up all of my half done projects. Dad--Do you remember me waking you up at 3 a.m. to help me untangle the mess I made with my crosstitch? I was in tears and you got up and helped me, but I finally gave up the next day and put it in a box (I'm sure it is somewhere in the garage). The problem is my lack of patience. I would get antsy and try to take short cuts. So Jennifer always had really nice stuff on display in her room and I'd have half done things or stuff that went way over the top. I'd tend to go overboard with any sort of color. I get it look pretty good and think "okay, just one more thing" Most years my Easter Eggs were an ugly grey because I'd quickly put each egg in every color, get a sort of tie-dye effect and instead of stopping I'd keep going until inevitably I ended up with grey eggs.

Just like cooking, I'm entranced by people who are talented at art/crafts/design. For years, my favorite show was Trading Spaces. Yet I lack the vision. I don't know if that is something you can learn or if it is innate. I'm always going to people's houses thinking "wow, I would never think to do that!" Now that we own a house I can decorate it whichever way I want. I'm hoping that I've gotten over my "more color/puffy paint the better" design style and can have enough patience to complete projects.

Don't laugh at my first project. It was so simple and nothing that came out of my own head. I saw something like it in Molly's room. It is just a ribbon tacked onto the wall to hold Penny's hair bows. I bought buttons and fun ribbon that matches the primary colors in her nursery. And...gasp...I bought a glue gun! This is as crafty as I've ever gotten in my adult life. So here's my Buttons and Bows project above the changing table.

(The picture isn't that great...it's cute in real life)

So then I was on a roll. In our living room we have this great window frame that I have with pictures of our trip to Italy. (ala Frank from Trading Spaces...doesn't it look like his shabby chic projects?) I got the window frame for $6 at an antique store in Wisconsin.
To stay with the travel theme, I've added some dishtowels. Chris's sister, Laura, gave us these fun dishtowels for Christmas that have different areas of the country where Chris and I have lived. I wanted to display them instead of wipe up spaghetti sauce from the counter with them. So here's what I did (they are on the wall across from the Italy frame)

Isn't that fun? I wrapped them around wood frames so they have that canvas look. If you can't tell, my style tends to lean kitschy.

So this morning I was very proud of my little projects...An hour after I completed them I asked Chris what he was looking up on the computer. He said "oh, I decided not to sell the couch in the basement. I'm figuring out how I can reupholster part of it and keep it for that room down there" (pffft...show off!)

A fickle spring

Okay, so I realize that I am becoming part of a strange tribe of people. These arctic people will go through the harshest winters ever with a "we can handle anything! -30 degrees? That's for wimps!" Sure, there are complaints, but it is just the way it is if you live here...until spring arrives. After weeks of weather that rarely stays below 5 degrees, everyone gets very excited when it reaches 20 degrees. We shed the scarves and gloves and talk about how warm it is outside. But beware when spring actually arrives. After a 75 degree day, we do not take kindly to a 45 degree day, even if the weather man tells us it was an unseasonably warm fluke. I've decided spring is like a mean high school boyfriend. He can pump you up with one little compliment and then bring you down for days. That is spring in MN and we all grumble about it. "Stupid gray day. Can you believe it only got above 50 on a Sunday? I mean that was a weekend." We sound like snowbirds from Tucson. It's like we'd rather have winter where we don't go through the emotional roller coaster...he is the dark, cold, brooding type so we know what we are in for. And Fall is sort of the poor wimpy guy that you like, but you know it can't last because he keeps hanging out with the bad crowd (Winter).
Well, there's my little weather analogy...I'm sounding kind of like Andy Rooney so I'll sign off now! (Dreaming of those lilac bushes and excited that after grey dreary days, we are going to have some sunshine the next few days!)

Seven Months--My little time thief

The other day I was at the gym reading some fashion magazine that had an interview with Julia Roberts. Since she has had 3 kids she doesn't make as many movies anymore. The interviewer asked what she does to beat boredom. She said she doesn't know boredom any more. Kids are little time thieves. Let me show you.
Check out this little fragile newborn... And look at her now!

Now if I took a picture of any of you seven months ago we wouldn't even be able to tell which picture was older. Yet she has gone from a very needy blob (albeit a beautiful, wonderful blob) to a giggly active baby girl with a huge personality all in 2 seasons. How can time not seem to speed by when this happens in seven months?! I don't know how to slow it down. When we get home from work we spend an hour and a half eating baby food, reading books, singing songs, going on a stroller walk and doing lots of zerberts on the belly, but alas, she goes to bed at 6:30 so we have to wait till morning to play with our giggle bug again. Tonight it was a beautiful spring evening and Chris & I tried to push the bedtime, but by 6:45 she was rubbing her eyes every few seconds so it was off to bed. We treasure our weekends where we can spend oodles of hours doing fun stuff with her. Tomorrow we are off to the park!

Becoming Me: Flail and thrash aka Hip hop class

Today I went complelty out of my element. I took a hip hop class at the YWCA. I mentioned it at work to Lacey and she decided to join me. Now you would think after 16 years of dance lessons I could do a basic hip hop class. Well, my favorite had been tap dancing and I only did okay at that from an overabundant amount of enthusiasm, some crazy talented jazz hands, and a huge smile to hide all the mistakes. These don't really translate to the hip hop genre.
So we walked into the class and were welcomed by a very large woman who turned out to be the instructor. She could move more than you'd ever believe! The rest of the room was filled with all ages, but mainly middle school age kids. Now I thought at the ripe old age of 27 that I'd be beyond caring what others thought and be able to just let go and move with the music. Yeah, right. At one point we were trying to pop and lock (yes, I know, you are laughing at just the thought of it) and I swear it looked like I was having a seizure. We stood in the back and tried our best to pick up the routine, but the teacher said "All of you in the back are overthinking it. I can see you counting. Just let your body go. It knows what it needs to do" Whoa! Did I just travel back in time to my intermediate jazz class in 1994?!
It took going to this class to remind me that it was only through tons of practice that I ever got as good as I did. So this kind of brought me to a new place in this Becoming Me thing. Sure, I was totally out of my element, much more so then if I signed up for a tap class. I could go to the hip hop class on a weekly basis...but I don't think I will. I have no desire to become better at hip hop. It doesn't excite me so I'll move on. Maybe a modern dance class...more flailing is allowed when you are pretending to be a flower in the wind or maybe I'll just find a tap class and do that weekly instead of dragging myself to the gym to sit on a stationary bicycle with a magazine. (The dragging to the gym doesn't happen as often as it should)
But in order to document our hip hop class Lacey and I showed it to Chris. His comment was "wow, you look like So You Think You Can Dance rejects" You decide...
www.nowwayisthereavideoofmepopping.com

Gotcha!

Spring break and Easter

Penelope had a wonderful week full of all sorts of new adventures. The Grandmama came to visit so she didn't go to school the whole week. They went to the park many times, sang songs, played with toys, ate yummy food...just a good time all around. Then on Thursday we loaded up the car and headed down to Kansas City. We stayed with Amy, Cory and Molly. The little cousins had a great time together. They are adorable together. I tried to put together a slide show yesterday but it crashed after an hour of uploading so I'm only putting a handful of pics on here...the majority are on Facebook if you want to see them there.

Reading Yummy Yucky with The Grandmama

Penny and Molly sharing toysDaddy and Penny playing outsideOur little bunniesMommies and babies (poor penny looks kind of squished)Penny with Peter CottontailAmy and Molly, me and Penny, Megan and AveryEaster morning...checking out her shoesplaying on Easter morning

Becoming Me: Cooking Baby Food

Okay, most of you know that cooking is not a talent of mine...eating on the other hand? I excel at that and I'm lucky to be married to someone who loves to cook. Part of the problem with cooking is that for the longest time I hated it. What was the point? It takes too long in proportion to the amount of time it takes to eat and then I have a huge mess to clean up. Why take all that time when I could pour a bowl of cereal, heat up a can of soup, or head out to a restaurant with some friends? In fact, there have been many times that I grumble and refuse to clean up a messy kitchen after Chris cooks an amazing meal. I didn't ask him to cook. Sure, I enjoyed it, but I could have had a bowl of raisin bran with a banana and washed one bowl. And as it usually works in life when you don't like to do something, you usually do it badly. I remember being 9 or 10 and putting cookies in the oven. My dad walked in and said "ewww...what smells like burnt pretzels?!" I had poured 1/4 cup of salt instead of 1/4 tsp. Fast forward to last June. I decided to cook waffles for breakfast, using bisquick, mind you. Well, at some point while gathering the 3 ingredients, I turned the box and started reading the biscuit recipe. Chris tasted the waffle shaped biscuit and said "hmmm, I could make sausage gravy and we'd have a new breakfast food." I cried and threw it out (blame pregnancy hormones). So here's the ironic thing...I'm addicted to the Food Network. How does that fit into my hatred of cooking? I'll spend hours watching Rachel Ray marathons but the thought of actually making something makes me squirm?

Well, in the past few weeks I've been making baby food for Penelope and I'm really enjoying it, even though it takes time! My mom always talks about how she made us baby food, but back then you couldn't find baby food without added sugar or salt. Then recently I've found many friends who cook their own baby food and said it is so easy. I've had lots of people ask me what is wrong with Gerber...and there really isn't anything wrong with it...it's kind of like smart ones/lean cuisine meals for babies, right? It's fast and convenient, which is usually my kind of food preparation. But there is something that feels so good about buying a bunch of fresh fruit and veggies, cooking them and watching Penny enjoy them. I never understood that about Chris. He always finds more enjoyment from the actual cooking and serving the food to me and our friends/family then if he actually likes it.

So I'm starting off with baby steps in cooking...real baby steps! Does it count as cooking if all I did was steam carrots and puree? Probably not so much, but the past week I've made more intricate meals including Penny's first "Beef stew" which consisted of carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnip, parsley, garlic, chicken stock and beef all pureed together. It smelled so good Chris and I ate some. Then today I made a pea, leek, potato puree...also very yummy. Plus, Chris and I are trying foods we've never tasted, like papaya. All 3 of us loved that! Our freezer is full of various baby foods. We freeze it in ice cube trays and then pop out 2 to microwave at each meal. Since 4 carrots fill up 2 ice cube trays it is quite the deal in cost too!
So anyways, that's my Becoming Me post for this week. I'm starting to see why Chris finds a cutting board full of fresh veggies to chop up can be fun and relaxing. I'm off to pick up my mom from the airport. Yay!