Glittens!!!!

I've never owned a more wonderful set of winter handwear than my new pair of glittens. My friend Jenna owns a pair that I love. She got these for me because she knows I've been on a quest to get a pair for at least a year. I've never found anything good. She found these though. I love them. I think they will be especially helpful in getting Grace in and out of her carseat in cold weather. I love my new glittens:)

Mexican Meatballs

Thanks to my friend Amy we have a new favorite recipe in our house. I made her Mexican Meatballs tonight and we LOVED them. The only thing I did differently from her recipe is I didn't measure anything (just guessed), skipped the onions and used onion powder instead, and I used medium instead of mild enchilada sauce. As Grace says when she eats something she likes these were nummy!

Ingredients :

• 1 pound ground turkey or ground beef
• ½ cup finely crushed tortilla chips
• ½ cup grated zucchini (sub. shredded carrots)
• ¼ cup green onions, finely chopped (sub. white onions)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• salt and pepper to taste

• 1 can (10 oz) mild enchilada sauce
• ½ cup water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except enchilada sauce and water. Shape into 1 ½ inch meatballs. Place on a sprayed baking sheet with a rim. Bake for 20 minutes or until browned. (Freeze after this step, if freezing to eat later. Then thaw and follow directions below.)

In a large skillet, combine enchilada sauce and water. Add cooked meatballs, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve over rice. Sprinkle shredded cheddar on top.

18 Months Old

Grace is 18 months old. Unbelievable. She is really growing up and is so much fun. We took her to her 18 month doctor's appointment today and she weighed at 23 lbs 14 oz which is about what we thought she would be. She also was 31.75 inches tall. Here are several things Grace has been up to since my last "report" at 15 months.

• Learned to identify and say the capital letters of the alphabet (16 months)
• Started climbing on furniture. She can climb on couches and chairs without help but she has a little foot stool she prefers to carry around and use to help her get up (16.5 months)
• Started eating off of a plate and is slowly learning to hand it to us when she wants more or is done instead of flipping it (17 months).
• Goes down slides all by herself at the park.
• Saying lots of words. I updated her list of words the other day just to get an idea how much she can say and she has over 200 words that I could think of.
• Still loves being read to. She would love to sit on laps and read books all day.
• Counting. Grace can count to 11 and is starting to show that she knows when she counts she is counting things. She likes to count fingers, toes, and blocks (17 months).
• Obsessed with putting on shoes and going outside. Mentioning either word sends her to the front has impatiently waiting for shoes to go on and the door to open.
• Learning to identify people by name. She knows Grandma and Grandpa for both sets of grandparents, her cousins Josh and Jenna, her aunt Laura, and several of her friends that she sees regularly.
• Throwing temper tantrums. She is really beginning to learn that she can have some independence and wants what she can't have. Hence the temper tantrums.
• Caring for her dolls. Very recently Grace has taken to carrying her dolls around, putting them night night, laying them down and saying diaper like she wants to change them and really being into caring for them. She has always liked her babies but this is a new thing. Hope this means she'll be a good helper when her baby brother is here.

That's all I can think of for now. I'm loving this age and can't wait to see what Grace will learn/do next.

Haircut Reveal

So I got my haircut a few days ago and am now finally ready to post a reveal picture. After the cut I was happy with how it looked and the style in general. Unfortunately it was not even. A friend of mine from church is a hairdresser and looked it over on Sunday morning and confirmed it was uneven. Even though you couldn't tell from afar or even that close up how uneven it was I knew and it bothered me. I kept messing with the longer parts and just felt a little unhappy with the cut.

My friend offered to fix it for me for free so today I went in and got my hair re-cut. She did and excellent job! So I booked my next appointment with her. I feel like I'm being disloyal to my other hairdresser but I guess I just need to move on.

Sorry Buddy...

...I hate to do this to you but I hope you'll be ok with it. Here are our baby BOY'S private parts for all to see. We found out that we are having a boy and can't be more excited. Now it's time to pick out a name.

18 Month Pictures

My sister came to visit this weekend and take 18 month pictures of Grace. They turned out AMAZING! I just posted one of them in this post but if you want to see more pictures you can visit her blog about them on her website here. I love them!

Go Pack Go

Grace wanted me to post this picture of her in her new Packers cheerleader outfit. It is pretty cute:)

Hair Ideas Please

I don't know what to do about my hair. I just made an appointment to get it cut on October 16th (exactlly 6 months after my last cut). It is getting really long and I always have it back in a messy ponytail. I just am sick of always having it back. I don't want to go really short and I cannot do bangs because of my cowlick. But, I'm looking for some ideas for a cute, fun and easy to maintain cut. Feel free to comment or send pictures that I might like. I NEED something fresh. Thanks ladies (and maybe gents). Below is a close up picture of my hair now. I can't believe I actually had it down.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for....

1. The right to vote. Grace is filling out my sample ballot and practicing for the day she is allowed to vote. Don't forget to vote on November 2nd this year. If you live in Illinois you can find out who will be on your ballot and info on some candidates here.

2. The consignment store a few blocks away. Grace has several pairs of jeans that are entirely too long so I hit up a local consignment store and scored 4 pairs for $13 total. Now I don't have to roll them 5 inches like in the picture above and I put a few pairs of jeans away that will serve her much better when she is taller.

Curtis Orchard

This weekend we took a trip to Curtis Orchard with our friends Teresa, Bryan and Ava Rae. We had a fun time eating apple donuts, petting goats, looking at pumpkins, and trying to stay warm. It was a windy and cool fall day so a great setting for an apple orchard. Here are some pictures.

16 Weeks Pregnant

Just checking in with a 16 week pregnancy update. I only have a few things to report. I had a doctor's appointment last week which went ok. I had gained 3 pounds which is what I think I had lost so I'm at my starting weight. I also enjoyed hearing the baby's heartbeat again. I have to take my glucose tolerance test early (usually taken between 24 and 28 weeks) to check for gestational diabetes sometime in the next couple of weeks because there was a little bit of sugar in my urine. I'm trying not to be worried because it is normal to have a tiny bit of sugar in your urine when you are pregnant and I had just eaten a bowl of coco puffs and had nothing to drink. So, pray it was just that.

I'm also happy to report that I have finally seen improvement in the way I'm feeling. Last week was pretty good. I was able to get out of the house a few times and was only throwing up first thing in the morning most days. I did that my whole pregnancy with Grace so I wouldn't be surprised if that happened again. As long as I feel good the rest of the day though it's no big deal. It's just the way it is for me.

Below is my 16 weeks picture. I'm wearing all maternity clothes now. I could probably get away with regular shirts. I just figure I might as well wear maternity shirts to get some use out of them and not stretch out my regular ones. I can't get my pants buttoned so I'm definitely in all maternity pants.