October At A Glance

Once again.. trying something new this month.. Going to do this one in pictures..

What was your favorite moments of October?

September At A Glance..

I'm changing things up this month because I feel like it.

My highlights of the month...

-Having my preschoolers start.

- Getting Isla to take a bottle and take a bottle well... (this week she's had 4 ounces, 5 ounces, 5 ounces and 3 1/2 ounces at daycare!!!!!!)

- Isla ending the month with only waking up once a night to eat!!!!!

- College football! ;)

- Our apples came in great this year and I've made some delicious homemade applesauce and apple crisp!! Yummm.. Hopefully I will be picking more over the weekend and making more applesauce!

- Oatmeal cookies! I made some and I am on an oatmeal kick.  Thinking of making Apple Oatmeal Muffins.

- Came up with a new homemade baked potato soup recipe and it was delicious!!

- Isla rolled over for the first time and now won't stop.

- Got to see my best-friend!

Favorite Photos of the Month...

August at a Glance...

Books Read

36. The Sandalwood Tree – Elle Newmark (August 18^th)

37. Smokin’ Seventeen – Janet Evanovich (August 21^st)
38. No Good Deeds – Laura Lippman (August 30^th)

I think my favorite was Smokin' Seventeen mainly because it was freaking hilarious and I flew through it.  The other books were good too. ;)

Currently Reading: Still Missing - Chevy Stevens.. which is the book club pick of the month! Join us!

Fave Recipes Posted:
Beef and Rice Enchiladas
Nacho Chicken Enchilada Casserole

And two others I haven't posted about were Chipotle Burrito Bowl and this Mexican Black Bean Casserole that I got from Amber that I made unhealthy ha.

Movies Watched
The Lincoln Lawyer
The Social Network
The Help

They were all fabulous!

Fave Photos

What were your favorites in August?

 

July At A Glance

Books Read

33. Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand – Helen Simonson (July 18^th)

34. The Last Place – Laura Lippman (July 23^rd)
35. By A Spiders Thread – Laura Lippman (July)

My favorite was probably By A Spider's Thread but overall this was a great month for reading even if it was just 3 books.  They were all great!


Currently Reading: The Sandalwood Tree which is our group read for August if you want to join! So far it is good!

Fave Recipes Posted:
Quiche
Summer Salad

I actually got back into the cooking swing this month and made quite a few yummy dishes and not all got documented.  I have a few more in store this month and hopefully will get to share them.  On the menu this week is Nacho Enchilada Casserole, Hot Dogs, Sloppy Joes and Beef and Rice Enchiladas.

Movies Watched
The Hangover 2

HILARIOUS! Yes it wasn't as funny as the first but it was hilarious for all the same stupid reasons and yeah it was basically the same movie, but who cares it is funny!

Fave Photos
This is hard.. I am going to only pick 5. You are welcome. ;)

What were your favorites in July?

June At A Glance

Books Read

27. The Happiest Baby on the Block  (June)

28. Dreams of Joy – Lisa See (June)
29. In A Strange City – Laura Lippman (June)
30. Something Borrowed - Emily Giffin (June 19^th)
31. I, Alex Cross – James Patterson (June 26^th)
32. 10^th Anniversary – James Patterson (June 30^th)

I am actually shocked I was able to read this much! Probably helped that I get a lot of reading time during nursing and that they were all fairly quick reads that didn't require a lot of brain power! My favorite of the month was Dreams of Joy by Lisa See.

Currently Reading: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand next, which is our book club read and the next in the Laura Lippman series.

Fave Recipe Posted:

Cheesy Potato Casserole - I don't think I did much cooking in June, but I have made side dishes! Pasta salads, baked beans.. we have grilled a lot!

Fave Photos

What were your highlights of June?

May at a Glance

Books Read

18. Mayo Clinic: Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy (May 6^th)

19. The Blue Orchard – Jackson Taylor (May 9^th)

20. Something Inside of Me: How to Hang on to Heaven When You’re Going Through Hell – Chitoka Webb (May 10^th)

21. Baltimore Blues – Laura Lippman (May 15^th)

22. Butcher’s Hill – Laura Lippman (May 19^th)

23. In Big Trouble – Laura Lippman (May 20^th)

24. The Sugar House – Laura Lippman (May 24^th)

25. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding (May)

Probably will be the most read month of 2011 for me.  I haven't had time to crack a book, besides the first 3 chapters of Something Borrowed that I found online since lil miss was born! Hopefully, my attention span and time management will allow more free reading time soon.  Now it seems I am either catching on on my Internet doings when I have free time or doing baby related searches or whatever.  Anywho, my fave read was probably The Blue Orchard and my least fave was Something Inside of Me...

Currently Reading (if you call it that) - In A Strange City - Laura Lippman  and Caring for Your Baby and Young Child Birth to Age 5.. which has been a life saver!

Movies Watched - Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End and Three Men and A Baby

The first Pirates movie was my hubby's and my first date, we have seen all in the theater except probably the latest one since I doubt we will be going on a date while it is still in theaters haha.

Fave Photos

 me and my baby girl about 10 hours after she was born

my dad and my girl.. it tears me up.. dang hormones!



with my grandpa.. her great-grandpa.. he has dementia and was married to my lovely grandma whose name we used for Isla's middle name.. this moment had me crying as well and he almost cried too..  love him



this is totally a move i make.. playing with my hair.. my mom did it too.. funny she is doing it and doesn't even really have hair to twirl yet!

What were your highlights in May?

April At A Glance

Books Read

14. The Keepsake – Tess Gerritsen (April 2^nd)

15. Sammy’s Hill – Kristin Gore (April 20^th)

16. Ice Cold – Tess Gerritsen (April 22^nd)

17. The Baby Name Wizard – Laura Wattenberg (April 23^rd)

18. The Penguin Classic Baby Name Book – Grace Hamlin (April 24^th)

I think Ice Cold was probably my favorite read this month and Sammy's Hill being the least favorite.  Out of the baby name books, I enjoyed both but probably liked The Penguin Classic Baby Name Book slightly more because of the literary references.  Though the set up of The Baby Name Wizard was good too.  I really like their website and it was like the website, just slightly out of date since I got those two from the library!

Currently Reading: The Blue Orchard by Jackson Taylor (AND LOVING IT!)

Movies Watched:  Informant, The Hangover, Blood Diamond and Wall Street Money Never Sleeps

I can't even remember watching Informant so I am going to guess it was just so-so.  The Hangover was our millionth time re-watching it and I still love it! Blood Diamond was a re-watch and I still like it.  Funny, I like Leo in like every movie but Titanic! And I fell asleep during Wall Street Money Never Sleeps sooo I will go with what my hubby said and just tell you that the original was better.  (He watched that when I went to bed early on Friday).

Favorite Photos:

this is me opening up a knitted hat from one of my husband's aunts at our shower.. not sure if I shared this one or not!

this is one of my favorite outfits from the shower.. cute lil pink and orange monkey outfit.. it comes with an orange top and a white top.. and i may have bought a bow/headband that matches this perfectly the other night!

this is the blanket that my husband's cousin made us on the glider in the nursery!

not a great picture but this is owl decals that we have over the crib!

Favorite Recipes:  I didn't share any recipes on the blog this month but I did make a fabulous Chicken Ranch Pasta Salad that I will share eventually with you all.  It was fabulous!!

What were your highlights of April?

March At A Glance

Books Read

9. In The Woods – Tana French (March 4th) 10. To The Power of Three – Laura Lippman (March 19th) 11. Body Double – Tess Gerritsen (March 22nd) 12. Vanish – Tess Gerritsen (March 23rd) 13. The Mephisto Club – Tess Gerritsen (March 26th)

March has been my biggest reading month so far. I was puttering out towards the end and could have added The Keepsake to this list but my attention span has been reduced to even shorter bursts than normal. ;) I think my favorite out of these would have been Vanish by Tess Gerritsen with my least favorite being In The Woods by Tana French.

Currently Reading: Sammy's Hill by Kristin Gore

Movies Watched: MacGruber

It was horrid soooooo freaking horrid. Do not recommend.

Favorite Photos:

31 week bump shot.. I love it.. ;)

Baby Girl at 31 weeks...

Favorite Recipes:

Pizza Casserole

Fruit Milkshake

Kinda like February, March was sort of a fail on my part for cooking. I just think my extreme laziness and desire to just eat things that are already prepared have taken over. I will say we went out to eat A LOT towards the end of the month and that was mostly due to my birthday / family birthday's and hopefully won't be as bad this month. I need to get back into planning weekly menus.

What were your highlights of March?

February At A Glance

Books Read

5. Sing You Home – Jodi Picoult (Feb. 10th)
6. Shanghai Girls – Lisa See (Feb. 18th)
7. The good daughters – Joyce Maynard (Feb. 24th)

A very good reading month! I enjoyed all three. I don't even know if I could pick a favorite because I liked all of them. And don't forget that Sing You Home comes out today!

Currently Reading: In the Woods by Tana French and am enjoying it! Join us Friday for our first group read discussion!

Movies Watched

No Strings Attached

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

I LOOOOVED No Strings Attached. It was hilarious! And I adore Natalie Portman who is pretty darn funny in this movie. Also, Ashton Kutcher? Finally, growing up and appealing to me. Fear and Loathing? Horrendous movie! My hubby and I rented it for free via his Best Buy Rewards program and it was quite honestly the worst couple of hours of my life. Definitely, not what I was expecting.

What I want to See: Rabbit Hole (still!), The Kings Speech and I cannot wait until Hangover 2 comes out!

Favorite Photos

We had a TON of snow at the beginning of the month. It was soo deep and soo heavy that I didn't even venture out until we had been plowed out and my husband did a quick shovel. This is taken from my basement door haha.









This picture is super dark but I love the shape of my belly in it. This was one of my 25 week photos.

Favorite Recipes
Homemade Mac & Cheese with Eckrich Sausage
Sweet Potato Fries

This month in the kitchen I definitely was the 'semi-homemade' cook, which is why I didn't have nearly as many recipes. I used a lot of frozen sides/main dishes and did a lot of veggies/salads and fruit on the sides. For example, last night we had Gortons Fish Tenders, pineapple, a salad and my husband had leftover baked beans and cottage cheese and I had leftover cheesy rice from another meal. Another new fan favorite? Using Tyson Anytizer Boneless Buffalo Wings and throwing it into a salad we make... Yummmmm. I think the fact that my sciatica flares up when I stand too long in the kitchen has been thwarting my cooking endeavors. Or the fact that not many things 'sound' good when I am planning dinner.

And a grocery shopping/meal planning update
I know at the beginning of the year I talked about how I wanted to meal plan and grocery shop accordingly not to waste food. Well, I had already been cutting coupons and worked that into the mix. I have since given up full out meal planning and instead am basing purchases off of my coupons/store sales. I have started going shopping once a week and am STILL saving more money than I was before. We always have food in the house and yes the pantry is sort of overflowing with canned soup (which is an easy to grab lunch for my husband) and I have a stock up on toilet paper/lotion but, this will help me this summer with the baby. I am really enjoying it, even if it does take me most of my Sunday to read the paper, cut the coupons, look over couponing blogs/store ads and make my list. Well worth it, and it gets us out of food ruts by constantly trying new things/cheap things.

What were your favorite parts of February?

January At A Glance

Books Read

1. The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan (Jan. 2nd)
2. The Weight of Water – Anita Shreve (Jan. 17th)
3. Sizzling Sixteen – Janet Evanovich (Jan. 18th)
4. Absolute Power – David Baldacci (Jan. 25th)

None of these really were OMG awesome reads, but I will say Sizzling Sixteen was a perfect quick funny read and Absolute Power was very interesting, but kind of on the long side.

Currently Reading: Shanghai Girls by Lisa See and Baby Bargains

Movies Watched

Ocean's Eleven

A Beautiful Mind

Neither of these were new to me and I even own Ocean's Eleven but Saturday night seemed like a night of movies for us! (As you can tell, we don't watch a lot of films in this household!)

What I Want To See: True Grit, Rabbit Hole and Country Strong

Favorite Photos

This is from the Liberty and Justice for All Exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum. I went there last week and have some other pictures I am meaning to share.

This is also from the Henry Ford Museum and this is the chair that President Lincoln was sitting in when he was shot. How freaking awesome is that? (Yes, I am a history nerd). I can't believe that you can see the blood stains!!!

Favorite Recipes
Cheesy Enchiladas!! (recipe coming soon)
Buffalo Chicken Tacos
Baked Potato Soup and I made a new recipe this weekend based off of this Pampered Chef recipe and it is TO DIE FOR!!!!

What were your favorite parts of January?

December At A Glance

I decided to start doing a quick review of every month and I am still tweaking what I want to include each time, so bare with me as I try to integrate this new monthly feature here. ;)

Books Read

I’d Know You Anywhere – Laura Lippman (Dec. 11th)
Those Christmas Angels – Debbie Macomber (Dec. 17th)
Revolutionary Road – Richard Yates (Dec. 27th)

December was a pretty blah month in the reading department. Probably my favorite out of these would be I'd Know You Anywhere, but I still think it had room for improvement. Worst book? Hands down Those Christmas Angels.

Movies Watched

It's Complicated

Frosty the Snowman

Elf

Little Fockers

It's Complicated and Little Fockers were the only new to me movies and Little Fockers was hilarious, and It's Complicated was sort of horrible. Not really what I was expecting I guess.

Favorite Photos

She's having a granddaughter!!

Grandpa enjoying the calendar I made him



pretty ornament

18 week baby bump!!!

cheese!!!!!!!!

What were some of your memorable moments of December?