18 months old!

It has definitely been awhile since we last posted, but here are two cute videos of our very cute 18 month old. We couldn't help celebrate a little with cupcakes on our Goober's half birthday!

Tortes: Our "Eating In" experiment so far

We're almost three months into our year of "Eating In" and we're finally in a good groove. The first month I craved fast food and going to restaurants, but now I don't even think about it. I definitely feel like I need to start preparing some meals to keep frozen for those nights I don't want to cook, but so far I've really enjoyed cooking something different every night and playing with new recipes.

One new thing I've been trying to implement in our dinners is having more vegetarian meals. I always struggled cooking without some sort of meat because I worried that Big Papa wouldn't be satisfied without it. I'd hate to see him still hungry after dinner. But deep down I knew that it would be healthier for both our bodies and our budget if we only had meat 3-4 times a week. The first few weeks into this I struggled to find recipes that looked filling and delicious. Tofu just isn't my favorite and fresh produce can cost so much. But now, and mostly thanks to the wonders of beans, we've got quite a few recipes that we want to become staples in our cooking.

Here are some of our new favorite vegetarian meals (see Mom, I posted the links for you so you don't need to search for them yourself :) ) -- oh and did you know that chickpeas and garbanzo beans are the same thing? What a concept!

Falafel pitas with cucumber-yogurt dressing
I've never had falafel until this, but we ALL loved it, even Goober. I always am intimidated by recipes that involve making patties and cooking them in some oil, but these were really easy to make.

Corn and potato chowder
Warm and delicious for fall evenings!

Pasta with chickpeas and broccoli rabe
Nice, light pasta dish. We just used regular broccoli florets.

Pasta with eggplant-tomato sauce
The eggplant gives a really yummy texture to it.

Skillet summer vegetable lasagna
So good, but a little pricy with all the veggies and ricotta. Still though, so yummy.

Pasta with chickpeas and garlic sauce
We had this last night. You blend the chickpeas after cooking them and so they make a sauce for your pasta. We had broccoli in it instead of tomatoes because it's what we had on hand. It was delicious!

Tortes: The first post!

Well, I didn't make a torte, but I made a DELICIOUS apple pie. We had Big Papa's Mom visiting us this weekend, and so I thought it would be fun to have a special treat. I used my favorite cookbook (allrecipes.com) and found the top rated recipe for apple pie. Instead of coating each apple with cinnamon sugar, you pour some caramely goodness over the crust and apples. The caramel on the crust added just a little crunch to each bite and really brought out that great, rich flavor. It was ooey-gooey and oh so yummy! I'll definitely make it again!

Grandma and Goober reading books! Thanks for visiting!

What we've been doing!

Lots of playing!

Since the weather's started cooling off, we've been enjoying exploring the local parks. Our little Goob loves the tunnels, slides, and swings. She also likes the eat the sand and the wood chips, so that makes life interesting.

Mommy took my wood chip friend :(

Getting ready!

Crazy post slide face.

Lots of dancing!

Lots of cooking!

Our "Eating In" challenge is going very well. I've been playing with new recipes and baking a lot more bread which, thanks to my beautiful kitchen-aid, is much easier to do (thanks Mom!)





Lots of learning!

Big Papa is busy learning the law while Goobie is busy learning... well... everything! She says "Hi", [da] (for dog), [ba] (for ball), and [An:n] (for food-- yeah, that's a stretch). She isn't super chatty, but we catch her "reading" out loud to herself,  playing with sounds, and starting to sing. She's getting really good at mimicking actions and knows how to pat her head, touch her ear and nose, and rub her tummy when we ask her too. It's pretty incredible to watch how quickly she learns.

Her crib after her "nap"

She's also learning how to be a little trouble maker. One day she seemed to be having a hard time going down for her nap, but she eventually quieted down so I didn't think anything of it. When she woke up I found that she had figured out how to pull her toys from her toy box into her crib. We've since moved the toy box further away so that nap time really is nap time.

She's also climbing. Yikes. I walked into her room to see that she had climbed from her chair on top of the AC vent, pulling pictures off the wall! This girl has no fear!

Looking at the plants and flowers!

Three Tips of the Day

Torte tip:

When your wife makes a delectable cheesecake for her birthday celebration, be sure to have company over, soon, or consequences could be disastrous.

Tort tip:

Don't let your five-year-old move a plastic chair at an outdoor dinner party that may or may not be soon-to-be-sat-upon by an older gentlewoman with a brittle hip. That's potential Battery, baby! Also, don't leave Torts case readings till the third day of a three day weekend...

Toddler tip:

If your toddler is bored, resist the temptation to let her play with an opened bag of fish sticks - no matter how secure the twist tie seems. Your vacuum will smell like sea-food.

Just pictures this time

(because I know there would be some very unhappy grandparents if I didn't put some pictures up of the Goob after posting such a long, wordy post)

At the Children's Museum

Flying! Maybe she'll be a pilot like her uncle!

Or maybe a dentist?

No, no, gardener!

Loving all the new toys to play with.

Having fun!

The Splash Pad

Watching the other kids playing.

She's all smiles!

Getting wet is so funny!

She's our brave little baby!

Beginnings and Lists

Yesterday afternoon Big Papa headed out the door and began his life as a law school student! Orientation is all this week which includes a pass/fail introduction to law class. He enjoyed the first meeting, but was mortified when he told me that his phone went off during the President of the Iowa State Bar's remarks. "I can't believe I'm that guy!" he kept saying. Oh well, everyone needs to have an embarrassing moment like that now and again :)

Today was my first day trying out my new life as the wife of a law school student and I have to say, I did pretty well for myself. I've organized my cleaning schedule and set some goals to help myself stay productive and happy. I'm doing things like:

• Zone cleaning: Everyday I clean a different "zone" in the apartment -- one day is the bathroom, while another is dusting and vacuuming, etc. Rather than cleaning the whole apartment in one day and getting frustrated doing it by myself or feeling guilty when I don't finish it all, I only have to clean one zone each day. Once my chores are done, I'm done! It only takes about 20 minutes each day and the house stays clean and neat = happy me.
• Menu planning: We've set a goal this year to "Eat in" meaning, we won't be eating out at restaurants for a year. I'll blog about this later (and our reasoning behind it) but it requires me to plan, plan, plan! We brainstormed tons of recipes together last month so I can pick meals off of a spreadsheet each week. So far things are going great and I'm enjoying planning healthy meals for our family (though I did make this brownie thing yesterday with sweetened condensed milk that's already gone, oops)
• Exercising: Eventually I'm planning on getting a pass to the University gym so that I can go in the evenings while Big Papa does some studying at home, but today I did a yoga video and went on a long walk with Goobie. If I've learned anything about my personality this past year is that if I stay inside all day and don't do much, I get grumpy. I need to exercise for my own sanity and for my husband and daughters sake. Plus, exercising is apparently really good for your body -- what a concept! :)
• Singing: After my senior recital, I pretty much stopped practicing. We moved cross country, had to get settled in with my folks, then moved again. I kind of lost the motivation to keep trying. Once we got settled here in Iowa, I realized that I was really missing that side of me. Now I've made a goal to sing everyday -- I love doing it, and my sweet Goober loves it to (she particularly loves lip buzzing with me). I feel so much better about myself when I keep music in my life because it is a huge part of who I am.

I know that things will probably need to be tweaked every once in a while since we can't completely plan our future, but so far I am really enjoying the goals that we've set as a family. We love our life here and are so grateful to have the chance to be where we are. We love:

• Our apartment: not only does the layout and space rock, we have an assigned parking spot, laundry just down the stairs, central air, and in house maintenance that love our cute Goober. Oh and I'm kind of in love with our new shower curtain.
• Our new ward: In our church the congregation we attend every Sunday is called a "ward". Ours is made up of all the married students going to the University. There are probably about 50 families, most of them with at least one member of their family in grad school. They are some smart cookies! We have felt so welcomed and have already been invited to dinner multiple times. Not only does Big Papa have quite a few built in mentors to guide him through law school, I have quite a few built in friends to do play groups, go shopping, or just spend time with while our hubbies study. Hooray for support groups!
• The downtown area: Lots of fun shops, a great public library, and a splash pad that Goobie has already really taken too. Who knew Iowa City was such a cool town!
• The Children's Museum: So stinkin' cute. We'll definitely be back!
• The parks: It seems like the park district and community take great pride in their public areas because every park we've been to so far has been gorgeous. The playground equipment all looks fresh and new and the landscaping is beautiful and very well cared for. We've gone for quite a few walks around here and still can't get enough of the parks!
• Hyvee: I worried that I wouldn't find a replacement for my favorite grocery store (what can I say, there really is a family feeling at Macey's), but Hyvee did it! It's pretty old school since all of workers are dressed in black slacks and white shirts with name tags (yes, they kind of look like Mormon missionaries), and everyone is helpful and friendly. It is more pricey so today I went to Walmart for most of my things and then hit up the Hyvee for my produce. I do love Hyvee...

My list of things I'm not loving so far is very short:

• The flies: They are everywhere. It's gross.
• Milk: $3.50 for a gallon. Oh 3 for $5 creamery milk, where did you go?!

So yeah, we're happy and alive! Well, we'll see if Big Papa is still alive tomorrow after his first big study session, but I'm pretty sure he'll survive.

More posts to come including:

• Eating In: brilliant or crazy?
• Torts: where Big Papa learns lots of new words
• Apartment Safari: observing the wild Goober in her natural habitat