playing catch up.

 

It has been forever since I posted last. Here are the things that have changed and made it possible for me to (hopefully) begin blogging more.

 

1. Little Man (L) is basically sleeping through the night every night now.

2. Add to that Mommy not giving in and letting him come in to bed with us at 5am

3. Me waking up when D wakes up for work meaning I am wide away while L is fast asleep and you get a blog post :)

 

 

Here are some things that are new in our household.

 

Meet Holly Swinehart.

One of L's Christmas presents.

 

They always say a dog is a man's best friend. I think Holly lucked out with two best friends.

She adores D and loves on and plays with L like you wouldn't believe.

It is wonderful...

most of the time.

 

 

We also have a HUGE talker on our hands now... and most of it makes sense.

Here are a list of words L says on a regular basis

 

Dog (he loves that one.)

Shoes

Feet

Book

Cat

Bear

Please

TA and Thank you

Birds

Bath

Mom and Dad

No

Stop

Slide

Rock

Moon

Ball

Plane

James (thomas train)

Thomas

Diesel

Toby

Wooo hooo

Train

One, two, threeeee!

Where'd it go?

all done!

put shoes back

and finally,

belly button (this is the only one that he acts out every time)

see below!

"Belly button!"

He is getting to the point of pretty much mimicking every word we ask him to say which is so awesome and he knows that a dog says "ruff ruff" an owl says "Hooo hoot" and the letter A goes' ah ah ah ah!"

On top of that, he is quite OCD about wiping his own hands and mouth after each bite of food!

 

Moving on...

we are also on the positive side of potty training. L has been one to tell us when he is uhhm...going for quite some time now. So we take his que strip him down and sit him on the potty. He is pretty awesome and we have had 2 successful number 2's and three successful number 1's. Not bad for a 17 month old. :)

 

 

 

Catching up on the holidays quickly: here is our little Turkey this past Thanksgiving.

 

 

 And a family Thanksgiving picture

 

 

 

Our first Texas winter has proved to be quite amazing (minus this crazy cold front we have right now) Hello shorts in December. I am in love with this weather!

 

I will leave you with a couple of family Christmas photos since L just woke up for the day!

 

 

 

 

 



weekend projects.

We love them. It is that feeling of doing something productive while being able to bond and have quality time together as well. Since before we were married we fantasized about owning a home and having a little project for each weekend. You know, you spend money but it is more of an investment sort of thing.

I absolutely love our house. It has always just felt right. However, there are definitely things I could change. It is amazing how a house of only 8 years can have such "out dated" features. Wooden medicine cabinets are definitely not the 'in thing' right now.

May 2012

The weather has been gorgeous the past few days which has allowed our projects for the week to be outside ones. Goodbye bushes and little trees. Goodbye wasp nests! I will not miss them one bit...either of them!

Here is my to-do list. This will not be a quick thing...after all, it has to fill plenty of weekends. :)

two shelves in laundry room
update lighting
    -foyer
    -stairway
    -kitchen
    -garage entry
    -bathrooms (all)
    -laundry room
kitchen window covering
new entry window curtains
replace all interior door knobs
cut down rose bush
replace bathroom hardware with more modern hardware
cut down trees & bushes
pull up brick by driveway (don't ask!)
redo trash can spot
scrub floors
clean oven
re-organize master closet
clean patio and put up lights
clean stones from around trees
reseed the yard
pressure wash driveway



and for the bigger things:
knobs on kitchen cabinets
granite counters
molding on cabinets in kitchen
turn master bath vanity into a double
replace stair rail with wooden pillars
make island a mini bar (don't judge!)
build bedframe
brick in our front garden
find outdoor seating for front and back
buy and install over range microwave

that is a lot, yes...but it will be well worth it in the end!

finger paint. body paint. edible paint?

   For any parent reading this, you already know the direction it is headed. I have been hard at work on Little Man's playroom. I have had the idea in my head for a while now and if anyone knows me, you know there is no changing my plans...not when it comes to our house.

Normally planning and completing a decorating task is beyond words stressful. I am one of those people who enjoys it to begin with and then despises it by the end. None the less, this project has been completely different. Maybe because it is a playroom and playrooms aren't intended to be stressful? Or maybe it is because I have had Little Man's awesome artistic help to get me through.

I want this space to be created by him as well as designed by me. So, this is how I decided to do it...

P-L-A-Y-R-O-O-M. 

Those eight letters brought so much joy to Little Man and it was so much fun to watch. We bought 9" letters from Michael's craft store and let him finger paint all of them!  Unfortunately, D was working the day I did this and since I had to keep an eye on my rainbow fingered monster I didn't get any pictures of the actual finger painting...but the end result is wonderful. Look out, Picasso. 

Along with the letters getting painted...I also got painted, Little Man got painted as well has his lips, tongue and all the way through that little digestive system of his. Three words for you...ew. ew. ew! Thank goodness for non-toxic labeling AND for parents who calm your nerves even when you have read that paint is non-toxic and still want to call them 'just to be sure' :) {Thanks guys, you are the best!}

There is still plenty of work to be done but we are getting there. I feel completely satisfied knowing that Little Man can be proud knowing that he 1. helped create his own play space and 2. did his painting all on his own...no assistance necessary. And proud he is...take a look at this beauty of a picture I captured today. I absolutely adore this little guy.

I will update more as I get the room a little more put together. I can not wait to see it all finished.

Let's get out of this town...

We have had a lot going on here in the past couple of months. Life hasn't seemed to slow down much for us lately. It is a bittersweet feeling seeing the days pass faster than you think, especially when you are cherishing every single moment with a little one who is changing faster than time itself.

D and I consider ourselves "gypsies" of sorts...always on the move. We even have the lifestyle to prove it... not many couples can say that they have lived in seven different homes in the 3.5 years they have been married. This includes seven different cities and four different states. We don't slow down. ever.  We never really minded it, sure, it was inconvenient at times but the thrill of going to a new place where you know absolutely nothing...well, there is nothing more exciting.

Now, getting to the point of that little rambling. We have been in San Antonio since mid-April. Other than Little Man and me flying to North Carolina for my sister's graduation at the beginning of May, none of us had left San Antonio since arriving. wow. Don't get me wrong, Ole' San Antone is beautiful absolutely gorgeous, but we love adventure and we felt stuck in a non adventurous rut...so what better to do than go and visit the Cowboy capital of the World! So we woke up early on Saturday morning and headed to Bandera, TX.

It was wonderful. That little country town that you see in movies? yes, I felt like I was on set in some kind of western movie that D forces asks me to watch with him on Saturdays. Country stores, little bbq shacks, several generation old homes. What was even better is that it is considered in "Hill Country" (for those of you who thought all of Texas is flat...you were wrong) The skies were gorgeous, the views were magnificent on the drive to and from and that southern food we indulged in...well, that was to die for. Probably a pretty good indication of why this certain restaurant had been featured on the History channel.

We walked around the market and D embraced his inner cowboy and got a cowboy had. I am pretty sure by the end of the year he will have spurs on his boots and a good ol' tucked in cowboy shirt to go with it! We also got Little Man a {Celebrate Bandera} shirt as a memory of the weekend. Then the parade started...I didn't get pictures of it because we were recording it but we got to stand within 10 feet of where a whole herd of Longhorns were walking by. They are HUGE. Little Man thought they were the most awesome things in the world!

The sun was hot so we called it a day kind of early, headed home and watched the start of the college football season with Pizza and Beer (obviously not for Little Man!) We love football and we love pizza. We also love that they go so well together. Anyway, it was the perfect evening to a perfect day...and the best part? It was Labor day weekend so we still had two whole days together as a family. nothing better.

I think the Gypsy in us has been settled for now...so thank you, Cowboy capital of the World for giving us a memorable Saturday family day. See you next year, Celebrate Bandera!

Grilled Pizza.

Before I begin, let me just say that today will probably be the only time there are two posts in the same day but I seem to be slightly inspired this evening. It could be because all of my creative juices are flowing from starting this second blog, or it could be because we had grilled pizza for dinner tonight that was amazing and {not to toot my own horn or anything} but I made the dough from scratch and it turned out great! So, without further adieu, here is my first food post.

Garlic Alfredo, Spinach, Mozzarella and Chicken pizza

(bare with me, I will come up with a more creative name) 

Made from scratch grilled pizza

Seriously, this was the most delicious {and healthy} pizza I have eaten in ages. I knew I had met my soul mate when I found someone who could eat devour a pizza as quickly as I could. So, to be able to do it guilt-free...well let's just say I was in pizza heaven.

Pre-grilled.

                                   

My very own "grill master" 

Handsome man.

why yes, that is water in a wine glass. I like to keep it classy even when there is no drinkable wine in the house. A fantastically delicious and filling meal. I can't wait to try more grilled pizzas!

Last but not least, Little Man loved the pizza. So much so, that I suppose he wanted to keep it all warm by shoving the entire part of his pizza in his mouth all at the same time!

There are a few things I will be doing differently after Christmas {when I will be getting my kitchen aid mixer... a true tool of beauty} I won't have to mix all the dough completely by hand with help from a whisk. What should have taken me 5 minutes actually ended up taking 20 minutes. So, 20 minutes and a sore hand later, my dough still wasn't my version of "perfect" but it was close enough.

All in all, this meal was a complete success...everyone should try it! p.s-Dad, K will be asking for you to grill this when she gets back home to you...so be ready!

Second Blog. Post One.

Why a second blog? Well, there are several reasons I have decided to start this blog and although I am not sure why I feel brave enough at the moment to tackle two blogs (one of which I am terribly behind on) at the same time, I am confident that this blog with do three major things. One. Keep memories in mostly words -rather than mostly pictures- as in my other blog. We will have these digital letters to look back on for forever. Two. Keep our families a little more updated on our every day life as a family and not just Little Man. Three. {and this one is the toughest to admit} This second blog is my crazy attempt to break my habit of checking social networking sites...yikes, did I really just type that? YES! Facebook has got to go! So with that said, this blog will more than likely now be the best way to keep up with the Swineharts'.

  -Now, you should do one thing for us. Take your mouse and 'do whatcha gotta do' to save this blog as a favorite :) Bookmark it and blog creep away. Really, you have our permission!

Little Man's birthday photo shoot at the Japanese Tea Gardens.