Thursday, April 30, 2009

15 months

We went in for Rowan's well baby, or should I say sick baby appointment?
Here's the rundown:

Weight:  21 lbs 14 oz (20%)
Height: 32"  (80%)
2 ear infections
2 shots
1 wheezing boy
2 prescriptions (steroids and an antibiotic)

Let's hope that summer brings some better breathing and lack of ear infections!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Meet Hungry

The other day I was in Walmart and had just Chandler with me. I told him if he was a very good boy, he could pick out a treat. He was a very good patient boy for over a half hour while I shopped, so we headed over to the toy department. He found this very realistic lizard for $1. I could handle that. He also decided he wanted a push pop, so we headed to the check out with his lizard and push pop. Here's how our conversation went:

"What's your lizard's name Chandler?"

"His name is HUNGRY!"

"Hungry? Is hungry the lizard hungry?"

"Yeah, Hungry's hungry!"

After the cashier had scanned his toy and treat, Chandler proceeded to open the push pop and started eating it. He was considerate enough to remember that hungry was hungry, and shoved the push pop into his mouth over and over. Then he'd look up at me and smile quite proudly.

Photo Courtesy of Tiffany's lizard photos

A little bit about Hungry:

  • Length: Just over a foot
  • Weight:  2,000 flies
  • Color:  Tan with red spots
  • Sleeps: In Chandler's closet on a blanket.  
  • Loves hanging out in the dishwasher, or so Chan tells me.
  • Can stretch really far, is really squishy, and feels real.....ewww
  • Now has a crooked smile from being gorged with a push pop

I can quickly see that Hungry is becoming part of the family. ;)

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Eating Out..and.....Eating Out

So I am proud to admit that the grocery challenge is going great!  I have $45 left for the month and only one week left.  Nice.  However.....the eating out part has been NOT so great, but delicious. ;)  On Thursday Sara and I got together for a playdate and she offered to watch the boys so Marsh and I could go on a date Friday night.  Sooo nice.  We had gotten a babysitter earlier in the week so we could go to the temple, so this meant 2 dates in one week.  The last time that happened was before Chandler was born, imagine that.  We ended up going to Joe's Crab Shack.
 It was really good.  I've never had fresh crab where I had to break it out, but I really liked it.  Saturday night we went down to Provo to a Mac store to look at new Macs.  Hopefully there is an IMac in our future.  Our MacBook just isn't cutting it and is super slow whenever we open any of our design programs. (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.)  I'm doing more and more with my Babes and Kids Blog and am getting lots of contacts from PR reps, and it would sure be nice to have a computer that runs much faster.  Hopefully soon.  After looking at Macs, we ate at Goodwood, a super yummy barbecue place. \ The boys behaved great which was so nice, and the food was great.  After realizing how tight my pants are getting from slacking in the exercising department lately and eating much more food than I need to, I told myself I was going to eat better this week....yeah right.
My mom came down last night, and we spent today shopping, and....eating out.  We ate at Paradise Bakery for lunch.

 If you have one close and haven't tried their cookies, you totally need to.  

For dinner we all met up, (Marsh, the boys, Jason, Mom & I) and went to Won Won Wok, a Chinese place I have mentioned in the past.
 After that it was back to our house to play Bananagrams,


and take cheesy pictures :)

 It was fun to get together and spend time with my mom and brother.  Even though this eating out extravaganza is deliciously fun and I am happy about it, my pants are not.  They are extremely tight and not fun to put on.  We are at the "laying down" stage.  You know what I am talking about, right?  Where you have to lay down to do them up.  Not fun.  A few lbs...5 lbs...more? I think there's a reason I don't own a scale.  I don't want to know :)
So, I'm going to TRY to be good the rest of the week....

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Panda Love

Rowan had an upset tummy last night and so we were up for a while waiting for his medicine to kick in.  He has been loving on this panda a lot the last few days and totes it everywhere with him.  I think it's one my mom gave Chandler his first Christmas.  Just thought he was being cute :)



Playing the Thomas Game

Here's Chan playing the Thomas at Action Canyon game on the Thomas site.  He'd love to win the real thing from Mom Dot!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Easter Weekend

This weekend was a lot of fun. Other than the fact that I worked almost 30 hours this weekend (Thurs- Sun anyways,) and over 4 hours of commuting, I am beat. Our home looks like a war zone, and I'd rather blog :) I definitely need some R&R though. Friday night we colored Easter eggs. Chandler was really into it this year, he loved it. The easter bunny came on Saturday since I had to work today. Since Chandler's birthday is late Fall, and it doesn't make much sense to get a bike in the middle of winter for Christmas, the Easter Bunny brought Chandler a bike. He was SOOO excited! However, since it has a flat tire and the chain keeps falling off, I think we are going exchange it. Then of course there was tons of candy, a Lilo and Stitch dvd, and little wind up toys for both the boys. Saturday afternoon we headed up to Justin & Avry's for Savanna's baptism. (I can't believe I didn't get a picture of her, but I'm sure Avry will post some sometime this week.)
Afterwards we went back to Avry & Justin's to barbecue and have an Easter egg hunt. Rowan was a regular pro and got a lot of eggs. As soon as we went outside, Chandler started hitting other kids with his easter basket. Go figure. He'd rather do that then search for eggs.
Today was the first day shift I had to work. I have to work Sundays every so often, but I'm hoping that will change when we get a new schedule for this summer. It sounds like Marshall had quite the adventure at church with the boys and ended up coming home after Sacrament meeting. As soon as Marshall said the "p" word, (primary) I guess Chandler totally flipped out and ran outside. He was kicking and screaming, and Rowan started screaming and crying because Chan was. I guess Chandler looked at Marsh and said, "No primary dada! I'm going home!" He started running down the sidewalk. After being punched and kicked repeatedly, Marshall just came home and put Chan down for a nap. I feel so bad I wasn't there to help him. I can't believe how much we've butted heads with Chandler in the last couple years, and he's only 3. He is so extremely headstrong and I just don't understand why he hates primary so much? I look at parents who have a lot of small children and think they must either be Saints, or have children that behave really well. It's all I can do some days not to have a nervous breakdown with just our two. I'm sure hoping that Chan grows out of this defiant stage. Now that I am totally off subject, I'd appreciate some tips to try to get him to primary?!
There's the weekend in a nutshell, and a plethora of pictures below.

Coloring Easter Eggs


Easter Goodies



At Avry's house after the baptism

Mark, Jason, Geoff and Cheryl.  (It was my first time meeting Geoff's fiance.  They are getting married in June.)
Grandpa Nielson & Row


Easter Egg Hunt



Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Easter Party

Chandler had his Easter Party with his preschool playgroup.  He's been so excited and helped me fill eggs last night.  Of course, the wind is horrible today so it was somewhat short lived.  He liked it, but ended up only getting like 5 eggs?  I totally thought he would be into it, but he was content with just a few.  Rowan on the other hand was trying to get as many eggs as possible and kept dropping them.  He got just as many eggs as Chandler and then quickly figured out there was candy in them.


Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Week 1


Grocery shopping is done for the week, menu is planned.  We used our "eat out" for the week tonight, go figure.  It's Tuesday and already gone. :)  
Total Spent:  $54.12
Total Saved:  $101.49
Budget left: $105.88
 I will have to cut my budget the next few weeks as I am determined to stay under $160 for the month.  Smiths was having their case lot sale though and there were a few things I really wanted to get.  The boys LOVE canned grean beans, so I got a case  of that, tomato sauce, and ramen.  I was also excited to get 96% lean hamburger for $2.50 a lb.  I never see it under $3.00, so that was a great deal.  Some of the other random stuff you see pictured was free, or close to free.  Alas all of the candy, oust, visine drops, dr. pepper.
Here are some of the things I have stuff for and could use for main dishes on the menu this week:
Shepherd's Pie
Southwest Chicken
Cowboy Spuds
Chicken Broccoli Casserole
Tacos
Orange Chicken

(And if any of you are wanting to try the grocery game, referring e-mail is tiff_nielson@hotmail.com)

Sunday, April 5, 2009

The Challenge

Marsh & I sat down to re-evaluate our budget. It seems like we have to do it often because after a month or two, we start bending it. Does this sound familiar to anyone else? Anyways, I've been doing The Grocery Game for a little over 2 months to try to build some food storage and save on our groceries. I've been saving about 60-70% on our groceries, and have noticed I've been able to get soooo much more for our money, and have stockpiled our linen closet and a lot of different foods. My family and anyone that knows me well, knows that I thrive on an awesome deal, it's a game for me and I love it. I've seen this challenge around and thought I would try it for the month of April. Basically you try to feed each person in your family for $10 a week. This would be a big cut for us. I grocery shop once a week and we budget around $70 a week, so about $280 a month for groceries. If I do the challenge this month, that would mean $160 for the month. I can't believe it would save us $120! And the catch is - you can't just eat Ramen and Macaroni and Cheese all month. You have to do balanced meals. We are guilty also of liking to eat out. So another rule: We can only eat out one meal a week, and of course we have an allotted budget for that as well. Some may think it's different since our boys are little, but you'd be surprised how much they can eat. Granted, it's not the same as my 12 year old nephew who can pack away the food, but they eat a considerable amount considering how little they both are. I'll check in once a week to let you know how we do. Is anyone else up for a challenge?

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

What's For Dinner?

I tried a new recipe out tonight thanks to the Kraft website.  It was creamy chicken, tomato, & bacon pasta.  It turned out super yummy.  Mine wasn't quite as pretty as the one below but still tasted fabulous, and it was pretty easy. Here's the recipe.  I'm thinking I might add some mushrooms and fresh tomatoes to it next time.  YUM!

What was for dinner at your house tonight?