My World in Pictures

This post is going to be mostly in pictures.  I also want to try something different to hopefully get me to blogging and getting my camera out more.  There is a method to my madness of doing so too.  I pin a lot of food recipes from pinterest and I notice that others do as well.  I want to try out what I have pinned and let you all know how it was.  I think to many of us see the pic, think it looks good but never really try out the recipe.  I know I have pinned things, tried it and it was gross.  This lets you know what my thoughts are on something and if it is worth pinning for a future time to cook.  I figured the pictures taken in the process will help my photo skills that need a little more help.  I have decided to call this recipe blog entry, Try It Tuesday.  So obviously the posts will be on every Tuesday. 
I will start off with one now since it is Tuesday and I have one that I already tried out.  It was really quick to do.  My photos are not that great because one I was rushed.

It is mozzarella sticks.  It was a good one for me to try because I had everything on hand too. 

Mozzarella Sticks
Won ton wrappers or egg roll wrappers
Olive Oil
Marinara sauce

Use as many mozzarella sticks you want and cut in half if you are using won ton wrappers. I used won ton because that is what I already had.

 Wrap the cheese up by starting in the corner and fold in the sides as you go.

 Heat up as much olive oil as you want. I just used a little and turned the sticks to get cooked on all sides sides. Cook the loose end down so it stays in place when turning the cheese stick.

 

Once you have cooked all sides, then them on a paper towel to get excess oil off.  

Serve with a side of warm marinara for dipping.

I thought it was a little bland.  It definitely needed more flavor.  I think with the bread crumb method, you can add spices and Parmesan cheese to the breading mixture.  The cheese was not really that warm as to where you would take a bite and it would be stringy.  If I had let it cook a little more then the wrapper would have burned.  Will I make this again?  Maybe in a pinch and if I had all the ingredients on hand. 

Now whats going on outside my kitchen per say.

We started giving Charlee cereal.  She likes it but can't really get the spoon concept down.  It is getting better though.

We have three windows in the hallway to the girls rooms and the animals like to lay in the afternoon sun here.  I have yet to get the dogs and cat in each "window".

The hook that I hang my kitchen towel on has been useful to other things around here to Willow.  She has been fascinated by it and I keep finding different items there but the towel. 

Last week it was super windy here.  It made everything so dusty.  Then just a little light rain mixed in made things really dirty.  Our vehicles looked like we went down a dirt road.  The windows on the house were horribly dirty.  The dust just made the sky so hazy.  This is dust in the air, not rain or smog.

This morning I found this in the cat bowl and I was kind of frightened by it because I had no clue what it was until I realized it was a ginormous hairball. 

Something I don't have a picture of is our garden.  All of it is officially dead.  We need to figure out our soil and work with it so we can be more successful with our garden.

I will leave you with some pictures of my growing baby. Have a great day week.

It's Spring Outside

So our spring time here is very different then what I am used to in the Midwest.  We are not enduring snow like most people I know back in Nebraska.  In some weird twisted way I do miss the snow a bit but I am sure I would be sick of it like most people back home are.  I am not sure how to enjoy my favorite part of springtime here in the desert without bulb flowers.  My favorite flower is the tulip and I miss seeing those around, as well as the other bulb flowers.  There is just something about having these green, colorful flowers popping up after everything has been so dreary and bleak from winter.  It just says ah there is life again.  Hmm, any symbolism there since Easter is in the spring.

We have different things blooming here and it has been fascinating to see those things and learn about them.  One of the things that I learned is that an agave plant lives about 5-6 years.  When it finally produces a flower stalk, it will then die.  All of the agave plants in the neighborhood have sprouted their flower stock.  I am curious to see the flower that comes from this stock.

 We have many cacti here as you probably could have guessed.  There are not to many in our part of the city.  I am thinking it is because it is newer over here.  The big huge cactus that you probably have in your head are called sorrel cacti.  They grow wild here and if you get out of town you will see tons of them.  They are really expensive too, up to $100/ft.  We have a neighbor that has a variety of cactus in their yard.  One caught my eye because it looked like it was about to bloom.  I got a picture of it and the next day the blooms were open and then the next they were closed.  So the blooms must open and close but I am not sure when they open and close. 

We started a little garden of raised beds here.  We just put in a couple to try things out.  Plus I don't want to go to crazy since we needed to get other things around here, like window coverings.  We decided to do it on the side of the house so it gets morning sun and then in the afternoon the house shades it a bit.  I definitely wanted tomato plants to start.  I picked a cherry, roma, and beefsteak.  Little did I know that the beefsteak will do nothing.  With that being said it makes me wonder why the stores even sell them.  We have tried a cucumber plant that was already started but that immediately died and then Tim planted seeds and we have seen nothing.  I am thinking that the soil has to much horse poop in it and it has burned it up.  The tomatoes were doing super in the little planters until I put them in the bed.  They have slowed down and not produced much on the cherry plant.  Tim planted onion sets in every empty space imaginable spot around the tomatoes and they look like they are dead now.  So far we have only harvested one lone cherry tomato.  There are others on the plant but waiting for them to turn red.  A little roma has started.  Our jalapeno plant is not doing that hot either, no pun intended there. 

Here is the side of the house where our garden will be.  Our vision is several raised beds with rock all around them and flagstone paths in between the beds. Side note: there are tumble weeds to the left of the beds, they burn great and they are always blowing around on a windy day. 

The bed with tomato plants, one jalapeno plant and the dead onion sets.

The cucumber bed that is not doing anything.

Bad pic but can you see the little roma in the middle of the photo?

 

 

Our first cherry tomato.

 We have some plants in our courtyard that I am really excited about.  They were house warming gifts from Chris and Carol.  One is my favorite plant that I always had back home, a Mandevilla.  This plant had really pretty foliage and red blooms.  It was heat tolerant and just looked great.   I am excited to see if I can keep this alive all year long here.  Back home it would not have made it through a winter.  The other plant is a bougainvillea.  I saw a lot of these when we lived up in the retirement village.  They were huge and just had a ton of flowers in them.  I planted some perennials in pots here in the courtyard but I don't think they are getting enough sun to produce a lot of flowers.  I have some in back and they are going crazy.  Might have to move those to another spot to get more sun. 

Bougainvillea is to the right, mandevilla is in the center and the potted flowers are in the left.  Hopefully it will make for a beautiful entrance.

 That is really the only exciting thing about our back yard.  We do have a little fire pit going on.  The wood we get is just lumber scraps from dumpsters outside new house builds.  Tim and I will go dumpster diving for wood scraps.  Hey it's free and it is going to get thrown away anyways.  So here is a pic of the fire pit and our wood pile.

 To close this out I post some pic of little Charlee.  I am really bad about taking photos of her.  I need to get better with this.  People were not kidding when they say the second child has less photos of them. 

Her head looks way bigger then her body here.  She is wearing her hazel wood necklace to help with her eczema.

Sleepy time

Her serious face.  Check out those ears!  Poor little chapped cheeks.

  

Still Here

It has been awhile since I made an entry.  I think I have a lot of time on my hands but then I really don't.  Maybe it is just I don't have a lot of time that i can sit down and not be interrupted to make an entry.  Being a stay at home mom is more than meets the eye.  It is tiring, stressful, rewarding and also lonely. 
I enjoy being with my girls and seeing them grow and get bigger.  One of my favorite parts is watching what Willow does when she thinks she is alone.  She loves to sing, and her interactions with the dogs are great.   I never miss out on something new that they do and I am always getting hugs and snuggle time.  I am sure Willow gets tired of me, as I do her some days. 
I try to use nap time as time for myself like cleaning up the house.  Doing the one thing I don't want to get interrupted doing.  All I have during the day everyday is these little girls who's vocabularies are limited.  Tim has been working a lot and coming home at random times.  I long for adult convo and just time to myself.  I miss work and seeing all my work friends.  Just something outside of this house. 
I have applied to a couple places and the one interview I did get I wasn't really keen on it in the long run.  I obviously didn't get the second interview which is okay with me.  If I was offered it I don't think I could work due to my job at home.  With Tim's schedule being so random and not coming home at a set time I don't know if a job is possible for me. 
We had some visitors a couple weeks ago.  Tim's good friend drove all the way here to surprise him.  It was nice to have some adults around to hang out with for a week.  Tim's mom came also later in the week so it was kind of crazy around here with sleeping arrangements, activities, etc. for a bit, but it was a lot of fun and we got some date nights in and time to do stuff with somebody to watch the girls. 
Denise and I went to get Willow's haircut for the first time.  I had been wanting to do it but scared how she would be in the chair.  She hates getting her hair brushed.  I wanted to go to a place that was just for kids so maybe there was kid stuff to distract her  and the girl would be used to a screaming writhing kid.  There is nothing really close to us here so I drove up north to a kids place and wish I hadn't.  It was kind of dirty and it reminded me of an Asian nail salon.  They had TV's for each chair to distract Willow which I think was the key.  The lady kept referring to Willow as a baby and if you will imagine her saying this in a strong Asian accent.  It was kind of annoying.  So all she did was cut her hair straight across and gave her a bob.  Man I could have done that.  I didn't like it at first but it is growing on me. 
So my husband thought I needed to really make it official and get us a mini van.  Yes I drive one of those now.  I feel like a dork driving it but it is really nice to get the girls in and out.  It will be nice when we have company and we can all fit in one car. 
We have our garden going and I hope it does well.  It is a trial and error for us being rookies here in the desert.  We didn't go crazy or rather I didn't go crazy.  I gave Tim an inch and he went crazy with onions.  I want room around my tomato plants to be able to pick but he thinks every little square inch of dirt should have an onion.  Drives me NUTS.  He said he would harvest the tomatoes when needed.  I am not holding my breath on that one.  I have had a garden with him before and I see how he works.  Next year I hope to have all our beds up and good to go so we can get serious about planting a lot.  I think I should give him a couple of beds that he can do what ever with and then I get my own where they are solely mine to take care of.  Heck I am the VP of the Polson Household I think that sounds right. 
It is getting warmer outside and I wish our yard was done and not just dirt.  I think some grass would make me feel a little better too.  If only I won the lottery and could start on it next week and have it done by June when it will be really hot.  A pool would be so refreshing then too. 
I will enclose some pics of Willow and her new cut.  I will try and take some pics of the garden and get those up before everything goes crazy in the cramped raised beds. 

Willow and Beans.  She always has to cover up the dogs.

Charlee

 

The car she got to sit in for her cut.

This first cut.

She looks so thrilled.

Add caption

This finished product.

Squeaky, My Snuggle Bug

This post is about my little snuggle bug.  Tim calls her squeaky because of all the little squeaks she makes.  I think they are more like grunts.  She is a really good baby.  I was worried since I thought Willow was so good I was in for it with this child.  She sleeps through the night and has been since she was 2 months.  I was greatly surprised since we had to work Willow into that habit and she was just over three months.  Charlee took the lead and did it all on her own too.  The worst part of the day with her is about 5:00 p.m..  She cries a lot and want to EAT.  Many times we sit through dinner with her screaming.  the best part of the day is morning when I go in to get her up.  She is awake just laying there giggling and smiling. 
She is nothing like her sister though.  Charlee has blue eyes for now, whereas Willow had gray that turned brown.  Charlee has really pale skin.  Willow is naturally tan and tans really easy in the summer.  I am afraid for Charlee and sunburns, especially in the desert.  Her skin is super dry and sensitive.  I had to get special soap and lotion for her.  The doctor prescribed hydrocortisone for the dry skin, she had spot on her legs that were eczema. 
I took pics to show you details of her and basically how she looks right now.

 This is her little fuzzy hairs on top.  She doesn't have much hair lately.  She has some longer brown strands in back but it is slowly falling out.

 She has a blocked tear duct that is oozing yellow goo.  It gets worse when she crys.  It has always been yellow but we just got some eye drops in case it is a little infected.  It should go away with a some massaging in the corner of her eye.  If it does not get better then we will have to see an eye doctor to have it cleared out.

 This is her only birth mark.

 Her cute little kissing lips.

 She developed a herniated umbilicus.  This too shall go away on it's on but if not years on down the road it will have to be taken care of. 

 She has the normal cradle cap that babies get.  This is by far worse then what Willow had. 

 This is her stork bite she had a birth.  She has one on her forehead which is not as noticeable.  You can see her brown hair in this pic too.  Her ears stick out some.  I know she gets this from my side of the family.  My dad and great grandpa had big ears. 

Great grandpa

My dad

 Just chillin.

Taking in the day.

Princess Beast

Yes, this is what we call Willow now.  She has been very trying lately to the point I feel like a bad person/mom.  Last Friday I gave my 2 week notice to Tim on my stay at home mom job.  I just had it that day.  To top it off I don't have my mom close by to "drop" her off for awhile. 
Going to bed for nap or bedtime is something I seriously dread.  She drags it out for over an hour.  She keeps getting up and coming to see what we are doing.  I have tried locking the door but she just farts around in there for hours.  She will try on every shirt she has, ripped up board books, taken off the sheets and tormented the dog.  Yes, I locked Beans in the room with her one day.  Oops.
Feeling so down on myself I reached out to a friend who has two girls to see what she has done to cope with these issues.  I felt so much better about my feelings.  She told me that she had the some feelings, and most mom's do.  She gave me some ideas on how to handle and fix these problems.  Her ideas were that we should just ignore Willow when she gets up.  Pretend she is not there, she just wants our attention.  Then to do a reward chart.  She gets so many stickers for staying in her bed then she get a present.  Here is how that is all going.  She has yet to earn a sticker, I gave her a free one to see maybe what it was like to put it on the chart.  I have the pretty presents waiting for her on the fridge but they don't tempt her in any way.  The ignoring her was funny the first night and I seriously thought she was going to outlast us.  She will chase the cat around which she knows is a no no.  Last night Tim found her and the poor cat locked in my closest.  She was chasing him around the shelving unit in the middle of the room; remember my closet is the size of a bed room.  She will put on Charlee's clothes.  One day it was a newborn onesie, last night was a 6 month onesie. 
I guess this is something we have to keep working on and don't give up.  Russ and Cassie's advice have never steered us wrong in the past in dealing with children.  Some days I just want to duct tape her to the bed but I know that would be totally wrong. 
Now the part that makes this little beast a princess is that when we say the prayer before we eat she belts out "MEN" when I am finished.  Not sure why she doesn't get the "a" in front but oh well.  When it is time for bed she has to give us all a kiss even the dogs.  Ah how sweet is that, poor dogs though.  She just wants to love them and doesn't know when to stop.  I think, no I know, they get annoyed with her. 
The potty training is going and that is just what it is.  She will go when we sit her on there but she will not tell us when she has to go.  I will leave her in her panties for nap and she will not make a mess so that is good.  So not ready to do that at night, her diaper is SOAKED in the morning.  She did surprisingly well and went poo in the toilet.  We'll see if that happens again. 
We have stopped the swim lessons for awhile until she does two things.  One is that she is fully potty trained.  She has pooped 2 times in the pool.  She has a swim diaper on but certainly does not contain poo.  Tim has had the pleasure of having that embarrassment.  The other thing is she needs to listen a little better.  I guess she will not listen to what is going on and follow instructions.  I had to go and cancel the lessons and they needed 30 day notice.  I did it on a Tuesday and when Tim went to class on the following Saturday they already took her off the roster.  The instructor said they went ahead and did us a favor.  Sounds like they did themselves a favor by getting the pooping pool bomber out of there. 
Yes, this whole post was about the princess beast.

Found her sleeping in her tent one day for nap.

Always has to cover up Beanie.

This is her favorite top, even though it is not a "top" but a vest.  So don't be surprised if you she a lot of photos with it on.

Her new favorite thing to do, color. Also the chipmunks catch her attention.

Spit Up and Mud Butt

Woo Wee it has been a long time since I have had time to sit down and write an entry.  It has been a crazy month with moving, trying to unpack with a very curious 2 year old, a hungry newborn and all the visitors we have had, and not to mention the holidays.  I will try and sum up what has been going on and try not to leave out the good stuff.

My title to this blog was my week.  Willow had this crazy pooping issue going on.  As Tim so elequintly put it, she had mud butt.  Some days it would just ooze out of her diaper. Yes, I know you wanted to know that.  Many times I just threw her in the tub to wash her off.  It would frustrate me when she would not go to the bathroom to get changed she would fight me on it.  There was no way I could spank her because it might make the poop explode out the diaper.  Thank goodness after 3 days of the BRAT diet it cleared up.  It is a good thing Willow loves rice since that is mainly what she ate.

The spit up was Charlee's contribution.  I don't know why but she was spitting up everything she ate.  She seems to be really gassy and burps a lot though it has gotten better.  I have been pumping and then feeding her since she seems to be an ineffective eater on the breast.  So I think the bottle was getting her more air in her tummy.  When I tried her back on the milk tap she didn't spit up nearly as much; she has been gaining weight and doing great.  We have had many nights she sleeps all the way through.  She sleeps a lot still during the day.  I have had to break her from being held all the time.  My visitors didn't like the crying and picked her up against my wishes.  So now we have to hear her cry even harder because we won't pick her up.  All in all she is a good baby.

So when we got all moved in I didn't think I was ever going to get anything unpacked.  Willow was always into something and just being her curious self.  It was a slow process but I can say it is done.  I can't say that everything is organized though.

My advice to anyone is don't have a baby, move 2 weeks after, and then try to unpack with a toddler around.  There were times I seriously lost it.  Willow acted out and didn't listen.  She is getting better at it though.  We have started her at a preschool 2 times a week.  I know it will be good for her to interact with other children and maybe work a little on her behavior.  I know the break will be nice for me too.  We tried her on potty training before Charlee got here but it didn't fly at all.  Then after we moved we tried again and that was horrible.  I thought it would be successful once when she saw the potty chair unpacked and asked to go potty 3 different times on her own.  Well that is all it was.  It was and seems to be on her own time.  The child care lady said she will work with her on it once she settles and gets used to her new surroundings. She did surprise me yesterday and went potty on her own will in the potty but that has been the only time.  Another thing we really need to work on is getting her to stay in her bed once we put her down for bed or even nap.  She will repeatedly get up and come out to the living room.  I refuse to lay with her every time til she falls asleep.  Once in awhile is okay.  The other day i just got fed up with her getting up for nap that I locked her door.  When I went in to check on her this is what I found. She had put on a dress and jacket over her clothes.  Put on some shoes and then passed out right at the door.  It looks like a murder scene.  I wonder where she thought she was going?

While we had some visitors we got 4 rooms painted. I don't think that would have ever gotten done if Chris and Carol, our friends from Colorado were not here.  Carol did most of the painting since someone had to look after the toddler and keep the baby fed.  Tim even got his garage floor painted.  There is still some things that need to be done around here though.  Tim's garage is a pit, but that is his room to organize until I can't take it anymore.  We are getting window coverings for the family room and master bedroom right away since the sun shines in those rooms.  I didn't want to wait too long to get those done since the sun tends to fade things around here.

The yard is a whole new area to tackle.  It is just this big open flat piece of dirt.  It is not bad if it is not windy or raining.  When we had the windows open for awhile it would just get everything dusty.  Then it rained for like 3 days and that was not fun with 2 dogs.  We would have to go out to the rocked front yard so they wouldn't get muddy.  Tim decided to get 6 ton of rock to lay down in the back but that did not go far at all.  Right now is the time people around here start planting their garden.  The hardware stores are selling the vegetable plants and all.  There is no way we are going to get anything in right now.  We have to build some raised beds due to the bad rocky soil here.  At least I know we have the space for it in our yard though.

Next weekend we are having visitors again, Tim's brother Brian and his girlfriend, whom we have yet to met.  Then at the end of February Tim's mom will be back.   We are going to have to lay down the law with her, no way is anyone getting fruit snacks and juice.  It has been hard breaking Willow of the bad foods for her teeth. 

Charlee with grandma Polson.  Look at how scrawny she was.

Willow at swim lessons.

Willow with her bite mark from Frankie.  She is just asking for more when she kicks and pushes them.

Charlee does not care for bath time for now.

Willow loves her bath.

Willow and Charlee

Making Christmas cookies with cousin Carter.

Charlee with "grandma" Carol.

Our Christmas photo

Charlee in Willow's doll stroller.