New blog...

I've started a new blog at http://ourwyolife.wordpress.com. Come check out our new adventures there.

Magma thoughts is moving!

Literally and figuratively we are moving. My husband has accepted a new job out of state (things have been very crazy here lately, hence the blog fading). Anyway I want to start a new blog so that our family can be up to date on our new adventures. I don't want to do it on this blog as I've done my fair share of complaining here about people that I hope will read my blog. Anyway, I also need a new name for my new blog and am having a mind block about possible names for it. The town we are moving to is Torrington, WY. Any suggestions? Leave them below.

I'll be sure to post a link to my new blog when it is up. Hopefully in time to include the link in our Christmas letter, which I haven't even started.

Oh that funny little boy

Today's pick up at daycare was a regular laugh fest for me. I went to Bodie's room first. Lately Bodie and I have been working on his manners. He is a shy boy who takes a bit to warm up to people. When we are at school I will ask him to say hi and bye to people that speak to him first. Usually he still won't say anything. I've been reminding him that it is good manners to speak to people when they speak to you. He has really been getting better, but still needs some reminders. So tonight we were at school and as I was putting his coat on he told me that G was his friend today (and G is standing right next to Bodie). I said that was great. And then Bodie told me he was going to say goodbye to G when we left (right in front of him - I was already laughing). So Bodie turned to G and said bye and G said bye to him as well. And then hugged him! And then a kiss! Oh it was so funny. Ok, I don't think Curt thought it was as funny as I did when I told him later. Anyway, Bodie and I left and I ran right into a vacuum that was outside of his door. He told me I needed to look out for the vacuum and that I should watch where I am walking (wonder where he has heard that before). We went to Barrett's room and Bodie said bye to Barrett's teacher. As we walked out of Barrett's room Bodie told me that he'd said bye to her and I asked him if he would say bye to D who sits at the front desk at the school. She says bye to him every night and he refuses to respond. I think part of it is a little bit of a game with Bodie. He turns and looks at her and gave her a very enthusiastic wave and a bye. She was floored and said Bodie had just made her night. As we left he also said hi to G's mom who was on her way in. Hopefully he is gaining more confidence and a little less shyness.

Swimming Lessons part deux

Bodie just finished up his second swimming lesson experience. (I thought I blogged about our 1st swimming lesson experience, but I can only find a few short updates. I'll just say it was 30 minutes of frustration and crying for a month and a half). We've been to the pool a few times and Bodie usually has fun, so I was hopeful this go round of lessons would be more successful. Well things did start out promising. The first few lessons Bodie would try the tasks the teacher asked. He still wasn't too fond of trying to float, but he would blow bubbles, walk away from me, pick things up off the pool floor, etc. One weekend Curt and I were out of town and my mom took Bodie to his lesson. She said he did pretty well but the following week when I took him back his behavior was horrible. He wouldn't do ANYTHING. He stood there or clung to me the entire lesson. The following week was more of the same. I thought that week was the last lesson but the teacher told me there was one left. As fate would have it we were going out of town again, this time with the boys. I felt relieved that I wouldn't have to take him to anymore lessons. I also felt relieved not to be at the last lesson. You know, the one where the teacher tells you if your child passed or failed (and I'd guess we were in the latter category). Well imagine my surprise later that week when Bodie's report card came in the mail.

He PASSED! WTF! The teacher marked that he could do everything (including calling 911 for help...um doubtful, but ok). Actually I am glad that he passed. Part of me thinks he'd be better off in a class that parent's weren't involved in. The last week we were there a substitute teacher was running the class. She asked if he was in preschool yet. I think because of his behavior he didn't seem like he ever spent time away from me. That is the one thing that would make me nervous to have him in a class without me. He would either be very well behaved, or withdrawn and uninvolved. At least we have another year before we have to cross that bridge.

15 months

Barrett turned 15 months on Halloween. He has also had quite a growth spurt. I knew he seemed much bigger, but I just pulled out Bodie's 15 month sheet and they are the same size - except Bodie has a 1/4" bigger head.
Barrett is also growing in other ways. He loves calling out the dogs by name. Tells them "kennels" in the morning before school, and says "school" as we pull in the parking lot. He says mama and dada, but doesn't seem to have any word for Bodie. He says more and one morning told me "more nana". He loves backing up. He'll back up into anyone or anything so he can sit on your lap (or the dog's lap). He also likes to stand on his head (think inverted V). I have no idea why he does this but he never stays long enough for me to grab my camera. He loves to run away when he knows he shouldn't. We feel like he'll be a bigger trouble maker than his older brother.

Mission Deconstruction

I know of been MIA for a looong time. So much stuff going on with us right now that will provide much bloggy material in the future. In the mean time....

A month or so ago I took a week off work to get some things done around the house. Unfortunately I didn't get everything done that I wanted to, but one thing I did get done was Barrett's bedroom. When Barrett was 6 months old we moved him out of our room. We had intended on moving him into Bodie's room, but we've decided Bodie isn't mature enough to share a room just yet. So in a rush to get a good night's sleep we put Barrett into our spare bedroom. And we moved just enough stuff in the room to get the crib in. The room still housed the extra bed and all of our extra stuff. Over the past 6 months since then the room really went down hill. I kept opening rubber.maid containers of clothes to switch in and out as Barrett grew and the seasons changed. Oh it did get ugly...

I couldn't move the crib out of the room so I was pretty limited in how I could move the furniture around to rearrange things. And I really didn't have any idea what I was going to do.

It got pretty messy. But then things started finding their place.

And it got to be as good as it would get:

DipTacular

I was so excited to see that BooMama is hosting a DipTacular today. I love dips! And I made a new dip last weekend that was a hit with all the male folk at Curt's fantasy football draft. Curt tried it first and then raved to all of his friends who then tried it for themselves. It was actually kind of funny - Curt doesn't usually rave over my cooking to that extent. One guy there told me it didn't taste like he expected it to. I told him I didn't know how to take that, but he just meant that by the looks of the dip, he didn't expect it to be what it was. Anyway, here is the recipe for Buffalo Chicken Dip:

Buffalo Chicken Dip
20 oz chicken, cooked and shredded
2 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup blue cheese dressing
3/4 cup wing sauce
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Heat chicken and wing sauce in skillet over medium heat, until heated through. Add cream cheese and blue cheese dressing. Cook, stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in half of the shredded cheese. Transfer to 8x8 pan, top with remaining cheese, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until heated through and cheese is melted. Serve with chips, crackers, celery, or whatever else you enjoy dipping.

And apparently I'm not smart enought to grab the button, so go here for more dip recipes!

I just want to wear my clothes!

The one thing I was never prepared for after having kids is the huge change that would happen in my body. I mean, obviously I knew I'd be big when I was pregnant but after the baby comes out and the weight is gone, my body is oh so different. Actually it is really just my abdominal area. I seriously still look pregnant. Pants don't fit me right at all. One size is too big, the next size is snug. I've been running but not as disciplined as I should be with my eating. I'll count calories for a few days and then not for a few days. At the weight I currently am (which is less than when I got pregnant with Barrett) I'd think all of my clothes should fit with no problems. It is so frustrating. I know you can't "spot reduce" to target specific body areas but I keep hoping that if I stick to running and keep my eating in control my belly will simmer down.

I've decided to train for the Governors Cup 15K in October. So far my longest run has been 7 miles, so I'm sure I can do 2 more to complete that race. I have good endurance, just not much speed. Last night my run was to do 6 miles - 1 warm up, 4 tempo, and 1 cool down. It went well except that a train was blocking the road around mile 4.5, which made me turn around and I ended up going 7.16 miles total (of which I walked the last .9). I also had to run along a somewhat busy road where there was no sidewalk. Always makes me a little nervous but thankfully no one ran me over.

Curt starts refereeing tonight and I had hoped we'd have our treadmill fixed by now so that I could switch my runs to the morning. He called yesterday and found out it will cost $300 for a new motor plus $100 for installation. Or we could buy the same treadmill we currently own (very nice model) "slightly used" for $499. I don't know what we are going to do. That is a lot of money to repair but I also don't want to buy a "new" one. We do belong to the gym but honestly I find it a hassle going there to run. I know with the weather turning and Curt being away from home more, I will need an indoor option soon.

Happy Birthday Baby

Barrett did it - he went and turned one, and grew into a sassy little boy when I wasn't watching. He took his first steps last night. Two short ones from me to my dad. I think my mom was very excited to witness his first steps. He couldn't put on a repeat performance for Curt but I think he'll be walking soon. He is very hesitant to let go of anything he is holding onto though. He is pretty much on 1 afternoon nap a day. Daycare was having a little trouble getting him to stop his morning nap but on Friday he started making visits to the Toddler room and, as I thought might happen, he was fine and on the go until afternoon nap. He is only napping about 1 1/2 hours though, but they told me that is typical when a baby moves into that room. I guess it probably takes a little getting used to go from sleeping in a crib to sleeping on a cot (and I still can't believe they get 12 month old babies to sleep on those cots and sit nicely at the table to eat). He hasn't officially moved up but the past 2 days they've brought him over right after breakfast and he's spent the day with the Toddlers. I'm sure he'll be official by week's end.

He has 2 words he uses a lot: "da da" and "all done". He'll pull out the "ma ma" if it is a completely dire situation. Curt thinks he has said "dog" but I haven't heard that yet. He is very good at crying and gesturing at what he wants (doesn't point yet). This morning I put him in his high chair with milk and cheerios. He was fine until Bodie sat at the table with a granola bar (soft, nutragrain type). He immediately started crying when he saw that and just had to have one of his own. I think it is so funny how someone so little can already have so many opinions. It is nice that he lets us know also.

He just started to wave bye-bye. To me it seems a little late but the doctor didn't seem concerned at his appointment a few weeks ago. I'm not sure when Bodie started waving since I am the world's worst record keeper for things like that. He loves to chase Bodie all over the house and especially up the stairs (not anymore though since we bought a new gate last week).

He definitely has a healthy appetite. He drinks way more milk out of his sippy than Bodie ever did at this age. We are done nursing now, since last Thursday. I'm glad we made it through his 1st year and honestly am not sad it is over. I had mixed feeling about giving it up but a painful cut on my nipple helped me get over any sadness I might have felt.

I hope to move the boys in the same room soon. I'm struggling with it a little because Barrett tends to go down for his naps and to bed a little earlier than Bodie. I think that Curt and I will need to make a decision on this soon and if we aren't moving Barrett then we did to do his room a little nicer (since he was just thrown in the combo spare bedroom/storage/junk everywhere room). I wouldn't hesitate to move him if I knew Bodie could go to bed with out whining every night. Right now, I don't feel like we are at that place yet.

The stats from Barrett's appointment:
Height: 30 1/4" 60%
Weight: 22lb 13.6oz 50%
Head: 18 1/2" 72%

I don't know how he doesn't weigh more with all that he eats. I guess all the crawling must balance that out (and if I remember correctly, I don't think Bodie gained much at all between 9 mos and 1 year due to being so active).

Balloon

I still need to post about Barrett's first birthday, but since I am currently too lazy to get off the couch to get the camera (whose battery is about dead anyway) I thought I'd first post about how we bribe Bodie to stay in bed at night.

We have a sticker chart and this week there are 2 rewards - a midweek balloon after 3 stickers and this weekend we will watch Lion King if he gets the rest of his stickers. So last night I was going to take Bodie out to buy his balloon, but first we had to go out to my work. As soon as I walked in the door I couldn't remember if I had shut off my space heater. A quick email to the co-workers in my area didn't yield any responses so I thought Bodie and I would drive out there for a quick check. Of course as soon as we got by my office I saw the one co-worker on my team I'd forgotten to include on the email. So I tried to get my very shy little boy to chat with her. He got as far as telling her that he was getting a PINK balloon and that was it, he went off and looked around, not talking to me or her. So we leave and are driving to a near by grocery store to pick out his PINK balloon. We've been talking a lot about having good manners and being nice to people. I explained that when people talk to him it is nice to talk back to them. And now he's not talking back to me. I tell him that if he can't talk to me we won't stop and get his PINK balloon. So then he says "Ok, what are you doing, mom?" very sweetly, as if he has just seen me for the first time today. I reply "I'm driving to the store". Then again, like a parent talking to their small child, he says "yeah, what else is going on". I couldn't help but laugh at him. We went to the store and got his PINK balloon, very exciting.

One other, unrelated funny thing Bodie said to me the other day... For awhile now, Bodie has used a very small toddler pillow on his twin sized bed. The pillow is about the size of his head, no bigger. So the other day I was out shopping and remembered I needed to pick him up a new pillow for his bed. I picked one out and purchased it. When I picked the boys up from school that night, I told Bodie that I had bought him a new pillow. His reply, "was it on sale, mom?"

Birthday Party

The Saturday after Bodie's birthday we had a joint party for the boys. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to make Bodie an airplane cake.

It turned out ok. I really hoped that I'd have had more time to prepare and draw out my plans. Instead I just cut into the cakes hoping I could shape them like an airplane. Then came the frosting. For the first time I made homemade frosting (don't think I can ever go back to can frosting again!). I kept getting frustrated because the cake kept sloughing off into the frosting. I've since learned a couple tricks that I'll use next time. Either frost a thin layer, let set, and then frost again. Or stick the cake in the freezer before frosting. Now I know.

Barrett really, really liked his cake. I knew he'd go a little crazier than Bodie did but I couldn't be prepared for just how crazy he went.

Barrett really didn't know what to think about the presents. He mostly just crawled around while I opened them and then he enjoyed crawling on top of all the boxes. His birthday is not until this Friday so we'll celebrate all over again (and all weekend as we have 2 birthday parties to go to).

We finished up the party by letting the kids swim in the backyard pool. The pool was a huge hit and the perfect size for the kids. Barrett received a water table from grandma and grandpa. I wish I'd taken a picture of him playing with it - it had to be his favorite gift. He loved splashing around and getting wet.

He's 3!

Long time no blog. Of course, life is crazy as always. This mama that doesn't like when she works 40.01 hours a week put in over 60 last week, and will probably approach that again this week. But I really need to get this blog updated (and I'm out of my "I lost my camera cord" excuse because I found it this morning). So, a few weeks ago, Bodie turned 3! It is so hard to believe that he is 3 now. As a special birthday treat we took him to visit the doctor for his well baby visit. He topped the scales at 34 lbs and is a whopping 39 1/4 inches tall. When the nurse was running down the list of questions (does he do this and that) she asked if he could copy a circle. I had really no idea. He'll tell me he draws a circle but it doesn't look like a circle to me. Thankfully when the doctor came in he drew a circle on the exam table paper and asked Bodie to draw one too, and he did! Or at least well enough to satisfy the doctor, I didn't look at it. Also, I was especially proud that when the doctor asked how dry Bodie stayed at night, I could answer "completely dry". He is completely potty trained and has been for awhile now. It is so nice just buying diapers for 1 kid again. I really hope Barrett is just as easy to potty train, but I won't hold my breath. I doubt we could be this lucky with both our kids.

After our doctor visit, we came home and gave Bodie his birthday present - a new bike!He does so good riding his bike and now when we go on walks we actually cross the street! He was always asking to cross the street but I'd never want to go on that long of walks when he rode the tricycle.

He is making the transition to the 3's room at school. This week has been spent making daily visits there and next week will be the full move. Bodie does not transition easily at all, so I'm expecting a hard week next week. I've been trying to bribe him all week with earning stickers each day he has a good visit to the 3's with a reward of watching the Bee Movie with me on Saturday night (Curt will be out working the chains at the annual Shrine game). Yesterday was probably his best visit. He had a tough time today and asked the director for his blanket (I thought this was odd because really hasn't ever had anything he needed to carry around for security) but she said after she got it for him he was really fine. I think that next week I will have to start dropping Barrett off first so that I'll have both hands free for the drama that I'm sure will happen with our drop offs in the morning. He does know a lot of the kids in the 3's since half of them were with him at some point in the 2's. That doesn't seem to be much comfort to him now, but hopefully it will be in the future.

Nite-Nite

Here is Barrett when we went to sleep last night:

Here is Bodie with his doggy friends when we got up this morning:

Now I don't like having the dogs in my room at night but I guess if Bodie doesn't object we'll let the dogs go in there if they want.

Fresh Veggies

Someday I really want to have my own garden. It really isn't feasible or necessary right now though. We have 2 dogs that, I'm sure, would help themselves to anything we decided to grow. My parents have a nice large garden though (hence it not being necessary for us to have one). Every summer they are generous enough to share a lot of their fresh veggies with us. Over the weekend we got our first crop of green beans and peas. I've wasted my share of fresh veggies over the years and I am going to try my hardest not to do that this year. So tonight I set out to just snap the green beans but ended up doing about half the peas as well. Bodie helped snap the beans and then took the peas out of the pod for me. Hopefully he'll be just as excited to help me finish up the peas tomorrow.

Happy Father's Day

We had a great Father's day. We spent the morning at a local state park with my parents and my brother and his family.

Here are the boys on the drive to the park. I love how they keep each other entertained, at least until Barrett fell asleep shortly after this shot.

Barrett wasn't very excited when we got to the park. He was still a little tired and I don't think he enjoyed his flowery hat much (it was the only one I could find that fit his head).

Barrett perked up a little on the swings. This is the first time he seemed to enjoy being in the swing.

Bodie on the balance beam.

Hanging from whatever-this-is-called. His cousin climbed up this but Bodie is too cautious to do that. And this mama is ok with that!

Bodie on the paddle boats. By this time the sun had come out and it was starting to get hot but that didn't damper our spirits. After the boats we headed back to the park area to eat a picnic lunch. I honestly can't remember the last time I ate a picnic but I think I need to find the picnic set we received as a wedding gift so we can go on more, it was a lot of fun.

Bodie also got to take his first pony ride but we didn't get a picture of that. I was feeding Barrett at the time but "people" couldn't wait for me to finish before they went. I know my mom got some shots so hopefully they turn out, since she can be a bit camera challenged.

Real words

I think I'll write a post with real words and everything. I've been meaning to post for awhile but just put it off and off and then off a little more. A little update on us...

Me and Curt - Well not too much with us. How exciting of a life can you have when you don't have time for a life :). One fun thing for me...I hit the driving range with a couple girlfriends yesterday and it was fu-un. We are planning a return trip in 2 weeks. I actually hit the ball up in the air and everything. Usually I go and skim the ball across the ground. It is nice to get a little leverage under it.

Bodie - Potty training and almost 3. Glad we are surviving both of these events. The potty training has actually been a non event. I completely credit his daycare for potty training him. We did tackle nights this weekend (no choice since we ran out of pull ups and I didn't want to buy any more). He had an accident Friday night but woke up dry Sunday morning and got up at 4:30 this morning to go. So hopefully that is as bad as it gets.

Turning 3 seems to be a little more challenging. He definitely seems to be all boy. He likes to ride his trike fast, fascinated with planes and trains, and needs to do things his way! He has bad dreams (he tells us he has a dream in his ear and asks us to take it outside). I'm not sure if he is really having dreams or just says that because I asked him once if he did and then Curt told him once he'd take the dream outside. It has become a nightly ritual to take the dream out of his ear before we leave his room for the night (and if he wakes up during the night as he just did while I was writing this).

Barrett - Our little guy who may or may not have been on the verge of baby physical therapy at 9 months is a crawling and a cruising. He is all over and into everything. Curt thinks he'll be walking by the end of the month, but I would really be surprised. I remember thinking Bodie was going to be walking for the longest time before he ever did. You never know though, he might surprise us. He also loves to eat and really does great feeding himself and drinking out of a sippy. Hopefully this will ease our transition away from the breast and bottle in the not so distant future. He babbles, loves his dogs and watching his big brother. They truly seem to be great friends and I hope that continues as they get older.

Bargain Meal of the Week

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week

The new Hy-Vee.com is available and I have to say I like it. You can click on items as you sift through the 3 on-line ads to add to your shopping list. Also you can "browse the aisles" and essentially price check any item you need. I wish that other sites had that feature - it would make it easy to get the best deal if you plan on hitting a few different stores.

Easy Chicken Bake

1 pkg Chicken breast ($0.88/lb split breasts)

1 can cream of chicken soup ($0.67)

3 oz sour cream ($0.37)

Broccoli florets ($2.38/bunch organic)

1 package stuffing mix ($1.25)

Boil or steam broccoli until it is slightly tender (don't overcook it as you don't want it to become mushy later). Place chicken breast in pan. Mix sour cream, chicken, and cooked broccoli and pour on top of chicken. Top with stuffing mix. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Food Stuff

Tonight I took my weekly trip to the grocery store (yes on a Friday night. I feel like shopping eats too much into my weekend if I go during the day). Anyway, lately I've been thinking a lot about the food we eat and how we really don't eat healthy enough. I grew up as a overweight kid and really don't want that same fate for my boys. Each day I instruct Curt what to make for dinner (he usually cooks since he gets home from work earlier than I do) and every night this week I came home and he hadn't made a vegetable to have with our meal. Now I usually instruct him just on the main dish, figuring that he knows enough to make a veggie to have with it. Every night I found myself pulling a random veggie out of the freezer and tossing it in the microwave. Boring. Also our side dishes are really lacking. Mac & Cheese? French Fries? It just makes me feel bad to keep feeding this stuff to the boys night after night. So this week I took the time to plan a meal and a nice side dish and a veggie for each night. Ok, one night I did plan Mac & Cheese as the side, but we are having fish that night and I need a good back up for Bodie - and me since I don't eat fish :). Fish night is becoming a weekly staple in our house now (for two whole weeks so far). I grew up very picky and hated fish (still do) and, even though I won't eat it, I still want the boys exposed to it. Hopefully all of these little changes and planning ahead will help us form some more healthy habits.

Bargain meal of the week

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week

According to their website there is a new Hy-vee.com coming on June 8th. It promises meal ideas and coupons so it could be worth checking out.

Parmesan Chicken II

12 chicken drumsticks ($0.99/lb or you might be able to use the chicken leg quarters that are $3.90/10lb bag)
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese ($1.50/5-8oz pkg of Kraft Naturals - $1/1 coupon here)
1 egg
1 teaspoon ground black pepper (on hand)
1 teaspoon salt (on hand)

In a shallow bowl, mix together salt, pepper, and cheese. In a separate bowl, beat egg until lemon colored. Dip chicken in egg, coating well. Roll in cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until brown.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Happy Feet