Puddle Jumpin' and Comfort Food

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that, living in Washington, we get our fair share {ha! That's an understatement!} of rain. Add to that a little boy who longs to jump in the puddles every {single stinkin'} time we set foot out the door and you have the makings for some serious puddle jumping once I gave the okay. We got his boots on, zipped up his raincoat and let him have at it. Meanwhile, I grabbed the camera and popped the trunk of the Explorer to give me some shelter from the rain as I snapped these shots...

Getting ready....

Here's the jump...

And the splashdown!!

I also snagged this video of our little "water monster".

And I love this shot of some serious puddle stomping. :)
Then, after Ethan took a shower to warm up, he and Sean made a Costco run while I made spaghetti for dinner. My first attempt at homemade sauce and it was YUMMY!! Lots of fresh veggies, though the tomatoes came from a can, and some lean ground beef all simmered together on low heat. We had that and some crusty artisan bread {from said Costco run} that I split lengthwise and spread with a little {homemade} garlic butter and toasted up. Comfort food at its finest. We had nice full bellies and even Ethan gobbled it up! Though, I did have to pick the parsley flakes off his bread because he "didn't want grass" on his bread!! Ha ha!! Love that kid! After dinner dishes were cleared, we carved our pumpkins {pictures to come} because Ethan had been begging to "poke our pumpkins". I love this time of year.

Pardon my absence...

I've been a little busy...

Working on this mess we call a garage. {Amazing what one summer of BBQs, camping and playing at the lake will do to the organization of a garage. All out the window, I tell ya!}
Made this for my mom's birthday {and one for me... with the help of Jenn and her vinyl cutter}.

Made these lanterns to add to my Halloween decor.
And baking. Lots of baking. {Three loaves of pumpkin bread... not pictured.}
Oh, and of course, taking care of this little dude!

So sorry the posts have been few and far between. I promise I'm working on them. And working on commenting on everyone else's blogs. Yeah, I'm behind on that too!

September Recap

Where does the time go?! I'm home more now and yet seem to have less time to blog. I still have stuff to catch up on from summer!! How can this be?! I feel like I'm back in college and will have to pull some all-nighters because I'm so far behind..... Bwah ha ha ha! Right. Like that will happen!! In the meantime, please enjoy this lovely review of September.

* Date-night-movie-of-the-month: Non-existent again! I do not like these numbers. Unfortunately, there wasn't much that we wanted to see. There were a handful of movies that looked interesting, but nothing we wanted to pay "full price" for and nothing good at the "cheap theater". So we spent our money on a nice lunch at Stanford's after a trip to the Temple.

* Sean the piano man. He started with his first student the second week of September and now has three students on his roster with four more potential students. Of course, this makes for a long Wednesday since he has a full work day, all 3 lessons and then mutual at 7pm. It's also the one day a week that I put in a little extra effort to make sure dinner's ready between 6 and 6:15pm so he gets something to eat before running off to the next thing!

* A couple of last trips to the lake. Of course, this is one of the things I haven't blogged about {and I have so many good pictures!!} so this is the first time you are hearing about it, but.... we spent much of August at the lake and LOVED it!! The pictures here are from one of the days we {the parents} decided it was too cold to swim. The little ones thought otherwise and decided to prove us wrong. Especially little Maddy!!

Yes, this is Maddy. In her sundress. And undies.

Ethan contemplating joining her rebellion...

Maddy couldn't wait for him to make up his mind!

Coleman sisters.

Ethan opted to stick to the water's edge and just trow rocks in.

I love how blue her eyes are against the gray water.

Ethan's too. And you gotta love that cheesy grin!

* My sister Christine came for a visit! Ethan and I picked her up from the airport and then treated her to Yo-Cream frozen yogurt {11am isn't too early for frozen yogurt... right?}. My parents came all the way up to pick her up from our house, but while we were waiting we hung out and I got started on a monster batch of chocolate zucchini bread before realizing I didn't have enough cocoa powder! So a trip to Freddies was necessary and, according to Ethan, we were "lucky" enough to get a car cart. Yay {said with no enthusiasm}. Well, Ethan loved it, but that thing was a beast to turn. I hope we are not so lucky on future trips. Once my parents got here, we went to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch. Seriously, I love that place, but Sean's not nearly as in love with it so it was good that he had to work!We didn't really get to see her much after that since she was down in Oregon and {other than Ethan and I's usual trip down for work} we were up in Washington, but it was still good to see my sissy and Ethan liked seeing his auntie.
* Monday morning with Maddy: I think it's safe to say that Maddy is one of Ethan's best friends. They get along great most of the time, and when they don't, they seriously fight just like brother and sister! We love having Maddy over. On this particular day they did a variety of activities...

Playing with cars and duplos.

Watercolor painting. This kept them occupied for almost a full hour!

Playing "house" with all the kitchen stuff. Though this picture just cracks me up because Maddy found the devil horn headband and between the two of them, she does seem to have the more devilish ideas of how to get into mischief!

My paparazzi.

* Stake conference: Normally, this isn't something I would think to blog about, but it was the first time I had done everything associated with stake conference. The stake temple day, adult session on Saturday night and then the general session on Sunday morning. We went with a big group to the temple and worked on initiatories for family names for a friend. It was a really neat experience to be a part of her family's work.

* Random Ethan pictures:

I was shocked when he said he wanted a bubble bath. Of course, I don't take bubble baths, so I improvised and just used dish soap!

Oh, the joys of potty training!

Don't ask me how he can tuck himself up small!

* Events already covered or still to come:
- Labor day backyard camp-out with the Colemans {this is in the works...}
- Last week of work

We get some SERIOUSLY weird mail!

Alright, folks. Add this one to the "weird mail" file! {And this time it wasn't addressed to me!}

For the record, so far our "weird mail" file includes...
* Numerous retirement brochures for me.
* Trial hearing aide offer for me.
* Letter from a dude in the slammer for me.
* Planned Parenthood flier for me.

And now this:

"Special Savings Only a Woman Would Want"

Addressed to this man:

And on the inside:

Bwah ha ha ha!!! I can't make this stuff up. I honestly have no idea how we get on these mailing lists. And, {TMI}, I don't even use that brand. Bummer.

I won a cookware set from Our Best Bites!!!

Ok, so if you regularly read my blog, you know how much I rave about my favorite cooking blog: Our Best Bites!! They are always posting something tasty to try for dinner or a new, sinful treat. Currently, they are in a food blogger cooking competition sponsored by Better Homes and Gardens and as part of the incentive for voting, they were given 3 different full cookware sets to give away on their blog. Well, of course, I entered the giveaway and WON!!!! I just found out this morning and am totally excited!! Not to mention that I got my top choice: the Non-Stick Hard-Anodized pots and pans.
The 13-piece set includes:

• 1.5 quart saucepan w/ lid
• 2.5 quart saucepan w/ steamer insert and lid
• 4 quart covered Dutch Oven
• 8.5" skillet
• 10" skillet
• 8 quart stock pot w/ lid
• 4 quart deep skillet w/ lid

For further evidence of the awesomeness of their recipes, check out some of my faves:
* Key Lime Tarts
* Cheesy Garlic Rolls
* Dressed-up Sloppy Joes
* Chocolate Zucchini Bread
* Everyday Cinnamon Rolls

PS: You can vote for them here.

Swim Lesson Attempt #2: FAIL

Well.... we tried. Monday evening and all-day Tuesday we talked about swimming lessons - what happens when we get to the pool [change and shower off], who he goes with [teacher and other kids] and what they'll do [kick and float and blow bubbles in the water] - and Ethan was completely gung-ho!... right up until we started to drive to the pool Wednesday morning! But we went anyway, got him changed and showered off and headed to the pool and that's when he froze! We were there early and I tried to take him to his teacher, but he wanted nothing to do with the teacher, other kids and the pool. When it came time to get in the water, Ethan fought it, but when his teacher reached out to take him I went ahead and passed him off hoping he'd calm down once he was in the water. I backed away slowly and then went to watch with the other moms. Ethan was still freaking out {and I started to worry he'd have a breath-holding spell - worst episode was here} and the second the teacher put him on the edge of the pool to kick with the other boys, he bolted!! I met him just outside the pool doors and, while holding him, walked back to the pool to thank the teacher for trying but he told me he had a lifeguard coming out to work with him one-on-one. She was very helpful and we both tried, as well as the lesson coordinator, to get him in the water but it was to no avail. In the end, I decided we'd try the parent-toddler class next and wait a while. They were nice enough to credit back all of the lessons except for one. I think it was mainly separation anxiety because he's never had problems being in the water before, so hopefully a parent-toddler class {where I'm in the water with him, the teacher takes him for a while and then gives him back} will help.

After our morning drama, we snacked on bananas and headed to the craft store to check out the Halloween stuff and so I could get some Modpodge for a craft I'm planning - I'll post pictures when I'm done. We found lots of fun and easy Halloween crafts the two of us will be working on over the next couple weeks, including this monster mask. Paid a whopping 79 cents for it and it has already provided him much entertainment. Originally, I'd planned on letting him use my paint {i.e. not really washable!}, but he was so eager to work on it that he was more than happy to use his watercolors.
After the craft store, we made a Target run {my Target trip frequency has dramatically increased lately!!} to get our copy of Beauty and the Beast!!And, of course, we had to go home and watch it while we ate our PB&J sandwiches for lunch! :)

I reak of Ben-gay, there's a hole in our wall and water-resistant swim lessons

I smell like an old person. And I mean no offense to older people, I am just not a fan of smelling like menthol. Right now, though, I reak of it. Saturday night my back starting hurting a little - like someone had sucker-punched me between the shoulder blades as hard as they could. Sunday morning it was worse. Sunday night Sean gave me a back rub and really worked on loosening up the mega-knot that was my right shoulder blade. It worked. For about 15 minutes. Then everything tightened back up and I could hardly sleep. Monday morning Ethan and I ran to Walmart before his swim lesson to get swim diapers for him and Icy-Hot cream for me {and shower gel for Sean and I since we were both out and Sean had been using mine to the point I thought the bottle had a leak because I was going through it so fast!}. Once we got home, Ethan helped rub it on my back because, really, who can rub Icy-Hot on their own shoulder blade? Especially when the slightest movement in the wrong direction kills that shoulder blade? Anyway. It helped - a little. Then, last night, Sean rubbed another dose into my back and, although it still kills me, I have some movement back. But I still reak. My sinuses, on the other hand, are doing great!

Going back to the swim lessons... Ethan had his first one yesterday. I signed him up for a Monday/Wednesday morning class at a local community center. Pre-Beginners for ages 3-5 to "adjust to the water and become comfortable putting his face in the water." Well, Ethan is already pretty comfortable in the water, will put his face in and blow bubbles and do armstrokes and kick when someone holds his belly up. There was none of that yesterday. Despite lots of talking about swim lessons and what he would be doing, Ethan froze once we walked into the pool area and he would not go with the instructor! And the moms have to wait on the other side of a big window because there's no spectator section inside the pool - so I was the only mom still in the pool area. But no amount of coaxing was getting him in the water yesterday - unless he could go down the slide. Oh boy. So we both went and sat behind the window and talked about what the class was doing. Tonight we are going swimming as a family [the pool's open at Sean's work] and we're going to work on the same things we watched the other kids do in the class and then fingers crossed that he'll go with them on Wednesday morning. If not, I guess we'll start with the parent-toddler class or wait a while longer. {I already checked with the lesson coordinator and I can get a refund for the remaining classes - thank goodness!}

And finally... There's a hole in our wall. By the front door.It was the result of our landlord attempting to fix a leak from this external faucet yesterday. It'd been leaking for some time, but he's been really busy lately so hadn't had a chance to come fix it {which really is unlike him - he's usually on the ball as far as maintenance goes}. I had resorted to putting house plants underneath it so the water was not going completely to waste! His wife was over checking on all the units on Saturday, saw the leak and, well, guess who was here to fix it on Monday?! He tried several different things before determining that the hole had to be cut in our wall. And while he ran to Home Depot to get a part, Ethan brought out his tools to help fix it too!So now the leak is fixed, the hole is patched and just needs another coat of spackle {or whatever} and some paint.

Today's adventures will include a 4 mile walk {already done - fastest pace yet!}, finishing the laundry, watching Maddy {and breaking up fights} for a few hours and family swim tonight. Oh, and not having to pack for Oregon tomorrow!

Last 2 days of work

Wednesday 9/29/10 {all times are approximations}
5:35am: Up and at 'em. Get dressed, load up the car and wake Ethan for our last trip down to OR for work purposes.
6:10am: Stop at Krispy Kreme donuts for 4 dozen donuts for work and 1 dozen to share with my family. I go for the seasonal apple-spice cake donut {not as good as the pumpkin-spice variety that is due to come out any time, but still tasty} and Ethan likes the chocolate glazed with sprinkles. I'm a sucker for sprinkles too!
7:20am: Make last Mickey D's breakfast run. Get our usual {mostly}. An egg mcmuffin with a folded egg for me. A sausage burrito to keep for my Thursday a.m. breakfast. And Ethan changes it up a little by getting a strawberry-banana smoothie to share instead of apple dippers.
8:25am: Arrive in Harrisburg. There is construction. Ethan is overjoyed! I am not.
8:45am: Arrive in Junction City. Have to take the long way to get to my grandparents house. More construction. Ethan is thrilled. I'm getting a little peeved. Send a text to my boss to let her know I'm running late. Again. Chat with my grandparents for a while and surprise them with their favorite old-fashioned donuts from Krispy Kreme. They are sad it's Ethan's last week. Their plans for the day include putting up lawn chairs to watch the construction that is literally in their front yard. Ethan will be ecstatic.
9:30am: Arrive at work. Late. Again. Well, what are they going to do? Fire me?! Ha ha!! ;) Still very frustrating since I dragged my butt out of bed extra early to be sure I had time to get the donuts and still get there on time. Dang construction.
9:30am-5:15pm: Work. 2nd to the last day. Boxing up and filing and organizing and tossing paperwork that has been in and on my desk for far too long. This was my desk. As you can see, there were lots of pictures of the fam, especially the little guy.Get lunch from The Jail {a local dive on the UO campus} and have yakisoba, terriyaki chicken and cabbage. This picture is after I'd already eaten my lunch portion for the day. Yeah, it's a lot of food.
5:30pm and on: Hanging out with my family. A little bored because their computer is having issues and the geek squad has it. Take Lizzy to mutual and swing by Target for some much needed curl-enhancing hair products, my new candy obsession {Air Head Xtremes - sweetly sour belts},

Photo from airheads.com

a couple of dollar deals and some gifts for our PA nieces and nephew {since I'm lame and didn't send anything for the nieces' birthdays - but the nephew's is next week, so I'm hoping to get it mailed in time... fingers crossed!}. Convince my mom to make crepes for dinner and my dad does a batch of his yummy bruschetta. Yes, they don't go together, but I'd been craving my mom's crepes and had yet to try dad's bruschetta. Neither disappointed. Thanks mom and dad! Get Ethan to bed and read our new book {from the book fair}: I Need My Monster. We highly recommend it!Stay up and watch The Whole Truth. I am loving that show!

Thursday 9/30/10
LAST DAY!!
7:40am-8:40am: Get up, shower, get ready, load up the car and head off to work. Stop by Dutch Bros. for a free hot chocolate {thank you Miller card!}.
9:00am-5:15pm: Work my last day. Finish clearing off and cleaning out my desk. Nothing left on top but the phone, computer, adding machine, tape dispenser, stapler and in-box. Nothing left in the drawers except neatly organized office supplies. Go to lunch with my dad at Roaring Rapids and get their pizza and salad lunch deal. Eat outside by the river because it was a gorgeous day!Finish out the day. Say my goodbyes. Get a lovely mini pink rose and card signed by the whole crew. Also get a nice card from my replacement and a generous gift card from my office manager.

Here I am with my replacement, April [on my right] and the office manager, Linda [on my left]. I will miss working with both of them.

Me and my dad. We were the "old folks" of the company. Dad is going on 11 years this December.

And finally, me at my desk.

6:40-8:40pm: Drive home. Turn off cell phone to conserve dead battery and pray that we have no random car problems. We arrive safely home.
9:30-11:15pm: Ethan is in bed. Sean pops popcorn. New WA friend, Jenn, comes over and we watch Grey's together. Sean goes to bed after Grey's is over and Jenn and I watch Private Practice. :)
11:30pm: Stay up late and waste too much time on Facebook and checking people's blogs {remember, my parents' computer is in the shop}. Go to bed knowing I have absolutely nowhere to be in the morning. :)