Home 'n Hosed

So Long, 2011!

2011-12-31T20:00:00.062-06:00

2011 has been a great year for us with lots of new and exciting things happening. Here's a rundown:

January

Ethan and I started Kindermusik class. He's gone from being a sleepy baby on my lap to an active participant over the past year.

February

We took Ethan on his first road-trip -- to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. It was a very long drive but Ethan was a real trooper. We even had a couple of warm and sunny days.
I also took Ethan to the Nashville zoo for the first time (it was my first visit there too).

March

Ethan took his first flight...to Arizona. We also went to the Grand Canyon (Cayne's first time there, too) and other National Parks and Monuments on our way to Tucson.

April

Ethan went to his first wedding (in Arizona). He danced the night away at the reception until his bedtime and had a blast.
I gave a talk at the ASIP Career Development Lunch on Effective Poster Presentations at the Experimental Biology 2011 meeting. It was a great experience and was also my first ever night away from Ethan.

May

We joined our first ever CSA. We loved our weekly box of vegetables and can't wait to participate again next year.
We went to a First Birthday Party for our niece, Mackenzie. Ethan had no idea what was going on but we were happy to get to spend the special day with family.
I took Cayne to his first ever Jimmy Buffett concert. I don't think he's a parrothead yet, but he did enjoy it.

June

I took Ethan swimming for the first time -- he loved it! I can't wait until next summer when he should do some serious splashing!
We also had our first professional family pictures taken. Ethan has changed so much since then but we love looking at these cute photos of our baby.

July

Ethan's first two teeth came in at the same time! He still only has four teeth.

August

We took Ethan on a day trip to Chattanooga to see the Tennessee Aquarium. He loved the penguins and he was a wonderful traveler!

September

We got to see my sister get married at the Belmont Mansion in an beautiful and intimate ceremony with family.
I took Ethan and Cayne on their first trip to Disney World and Grandma & Grandpa Wade, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Nathaniel came along too.

October

Ethan went trick-or-treating for the first time, with his cousin, Mackenzie. He dressed up as Bamm Bamm Rubble.
Ethan turned 1! It's still hard to believe it's already been over a year since we brought our baby home as happy, nervous, exhausted, and scared parents. Sadly, we are still happy, nervous, exhausted, and scared...but mostly we are happy.

November

We took a road trip so that Ethan (and Cayne) could meet his great-Grandma Poteet (my dad's mom). It was a long drive to Illinois but as usual, Ethan was a real trooper and he had fun playing with his great-grandma.

December

Ethan started walking! It is so cute to see our little guy moving around on two feet.
I went to San Antonio to interview for a job with Susan G Komen for the Cure. I'm very happy to say that I was offered the position and will be starting to work for this great organization in January.
Ethan met Santa Claus and loved him! No tears for Santa for our little boy....at least not yet!
Christmas with two toddlers at the grandparent's house was priceless.

Ethan is sad to see 2011 come to an end.

We hope that all our friends and family had as much fun in 2011 as we did and we hope for all the best for everyone in 2012.

Happy New Year!

Project Management Certification

2011-12-29T13:44:00.000-06:00

While thinking about beginning a more aggressive job search a couple of months ago, I kept running into a "preferred qualification" for a number of the positions that looked interesting: project management coursework or PMP certification. Interestingly, even though I've been managing projects and/or programs for years, I had never considered taking any formal training in actual project management (graduate school was definitely training in project management, but in a very different way). Cayne has worked with project managers and encouraged me to find a course in project management to learn more about it -- he thought it could only help me learn new ways to do what I like doing anyway and that it might even help me find a job.

I found a course through the PMI (Project Management Institute) website that was a 4-day long course of study here in Nashville by a company called PMstudy.com. I was a little nervous about the course, knowing nothing about the provider other than that they are a certified provider with PMI. Well, the class was a small group but the people who were there were taking it as professional development for their employers: Vanderbilt and other businesses in the area...most of whom had colleagues at their workplace who had taken the same course previously and gave good feedback. That bit of information made me much more confident about the course.

The class was really good. It was a grueling schedule going from 8am-almost 6pm Monday through Thursday but somehow the instructor managed to keep things interesting and entertaining. We also had 1-2 hours of homework each night! I learned a lot and felt very confident about passing the project management certification exam after completing the course (the course I took came with a money back guarantee that you would pass the certification). I really liked that while we were taught exam-taking tips, we also received lots of real-world scenarios and advice.

I took my exam a week after the class finished at the Prometric testing center in Nashville. The PMP (project management professional) certification exam is a 4.5 hour exam of 200 questions. I felt like I did pretty well but there were definitely questions I was unsure about how well I answered. In the end, I found out that I had passed and that I am "proficient" (the highest rating) in Initiating and Closing projects, "moderately proficient" in Planning and Executing projects, and unfortunately, I'm "below proficient" in Monitoring projects. Well, at least I know where I need more work!

My next step is to complete an online Six Sigma Greenbelt course that was included with my classroom prep course that will help me earn some of the continuing education requirements for maintaining my PMP certification. I'm excited to learn a little more about Six Sigma concepts.

In short, I would definitely recommend PMstudy.com's 4-day Project Mangement classroom prep course for someone interested in an intense study of project management concepts. It's a high level overview with practical advice, and definitely helpful toward passing the PMP certification exam. In fact, it is probably the most insightful and practical management course I've taken...most likely because it's the one that relates closely to what I've been doing in my career while integrating important management concepts. I'm really happy I took it and really glad I passed my PMP certification exam.

Christmas Photos

2011-12-25T20:46:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas, everyone!

We had a wonderful day and hope you did too!

Mom, I don't want to go home to and have to go to bed. I want to play!

Christmas Eve 2011

2011-12-25T20:28:00.000-06:00

On Christmas Eve, we had fun playing in the yard and enjoying the warm weather:

Then Daddy continued the tradition of reading The Night Before Christmas at bedtime.

Merry Christmas from Ethan!

2011-12-24T22:12:00.000-06:00

Buzzy Bee

2011-12-22T19:51:00.002-06:00

There is a reason some toys are classics:

We caught Ethan having fun with his Buzzy Bee!

More Birthday Pressies!

2011-12-19T19:48:00.008-06:00

Last week, Ethan received a box full of birthday pressies from his New Zealand relatives. This gift opening experience was good practice for Christmas! He got a Buzzy Bee, lots of Animalz, a cool balloon ball, an awesome hand-knitted sweater and some other cute things. He even got to talk with his "Marg" on Skype while opening the gifts.

Talking with Santa

2011-12-16T13:58:00.000-06:00

We took Ethan to see Santa Claus today and Ethan LOVED it! I was nervous he might not like being handed to a stranger (even a very friendly, Santa stranger) but he turned right to Santa and pointed at his beard, smiling and laughing. He was so mesmerized by Santa that he didn't want to look at the camera for a photo. When he finally did look at the camera, he seemed annoyed at being distracted so he stopped smiling. As soon as Santa caught his attention again, he was all smiles. This is much better than last year when he slept through the whole experience! I'm sure he told Santa what a good little boy he has been...and how good his mommy and daddy have been too!

Dickens of a Christmas

2011-12-11T14:58:00.001-06:00

In front of the Franklin Square

We took Ethan to downtown Franklin for the Dickens of A Christmas street festival today. It was chilly (46 degrees) but still sunny and nice for strolling through downtown. We saw a handbell choir, a harpist, clarinet player and other musicians as well as Scrooge (a reformed Scrooge saying "Merry Christmas"), the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, and many other characters in Victorian costume. The oddest sighting was Cayne's favorite -- it looked like a wedge of cheese in a Santa hat. We never could figure out why it was there.

Ethan really enjoyed people-watching while we walked around and babbled to anyone who would listen. He also got to try his first piece of a doughnut -- he loved it and kept trying to get more!

Munching on one of Ellie's Old Fashioned Donuts...YUM!

Watching the horse-drawn carriage go by.

Trains at Cheekwood

2011-12-03T17:14:00.028-06:00

We took Ethan to Cheekwood to see the model trains at Trains! Tennessee In G. The weather was perfect -- sunny and warm for December and we had a lot of fun strolling around the park. Ethan really enjoyed seeing the moving trains that were decorated for Christmas and the Christmas tree decorations in the Frist Center were neat too. You can see a You-Tube video describing the train exhibit here. He even got to hear the Nashville Philharmonic Flute Ensemble...Ethan didn't know what to think of the live music but he was definitely mesmerized by it.

"Mom, I think there's a train coming!"

"I just want to watch the trains...forget about these photos!"

Ethan enjoyed the tall Bamboo

This was one of the best-decorated trees.
They were all neat but a little strange.

There was a tepee as part of the
American West Exhibition too. Fun!

Perpetrating stereotypes with Mommy.

Toddling

2011-12-02T22:48:00.000-06:00

Ethan took his first real steps on November 27th (he had taken 1 or 2 before but those were more "controlled falling" than walking). It was exciting and he has gotten so much better just in the past few days at toddling. Now he can stand up by himself and walk across the room. He holds his hands up and moves in a very Captain Jack Sparrow manner. It's so cute to watch and he is so proud of himself too!

Here he is on one of his first nights of walking:

And here he is on December 2nd:

Trip to Illinois

2011-11-22T15:20:00.045-06:00

Having fun with Great-Grandma Poteet

Ethan finally got to meet his Great-Grandma Poteet last weekend. On Saturday morning we left home and drove about 7 hours to Bloomington, Illinois. Ethan did great on the drive -- sleeping, babbling, and playing almost the whole way. He got fussy about the last 30 minutes, which made us happy that we had already decided to stop for the night in Bloomington instead of heading the extra 30 minutes to Morton, where his Great-Grandma lives.

Sunday morning we headed to his Great-Grandma's house in Morton. It was a quick and easy drive and it was exciting for us to introduce Ethan to his first great-grandparent. We visited with grandma and Ivon the whole day and had a good lasagna for lunch and apple dumpling pie for dessert. Ethan had fun meeting them but especially loved playing with their cat. He giggled and chased the cat everywhere he could; luckily, the cat was faster than Ethan.

Ethan also loved this puppy statue
(and it couldn't run away from him)!

After leaving Morton, we went back to our hotel for an afternoon nap before meeting The Arendells for a delicious dinner at Beningo's Restaurant. It was fun to catch up with them and Ethan had tons of fun playing with them at the dinner table. We came home on Monday so it was a short trip but it was great to catch up with everyone we saw in the short time we were there! Plus, Ethan got to spend time in two new states: Kentucky and Illinois!

Creamer packets are fun toys!

Dan showed Ethan how to use a pen and a fun hand-stacking game.

Bamm Bamm Rubble for Halloween

2011-10-31T22:36:00.000-05:00

Everyone had fun Trick-or-Treating!

For his first time Trick-or-Treating, Ethan dressed up as Bamm Bamm Rubble in a costume made by his Grandma Wade. His cousin, Mackenzie, came over to Trick-or-Treat with him and the two of them had a lot of fun. Ethan doesn't know what candy is yet, but he sure was selective in picky out pieces to take from all the pretty colors and textures available (Cayne and I are going to have sugar overloads for a while, I think). This was also Cayne's first time Trick-or-Treating and pumpkin carving so we all had a Happy Halloween!!!

Our inspiration!

Our Bamm Bamm had to wear an undershirt, pants and socks to stay warm.
Nashville doesn't have the same climate as Bedrock!

Mackenzie was a cute butterfly, but she didn't like having her antennae on.

Aunt Sarah tried to scare Mackenzie and Ethan with her pumpkin mask!

Both Cayne and Ethan are ready for their first time Trick-or-Treating!

Hmmm...these things look interesting!

Pretzel bags taste yummy!

Bamm, Bamm, Bamm....Bamm, Bamm!!

Grandma, what are you doing answering my door?!

Everyone liked Cayne's kiwi Jack-o-latern!

Happy Halloween!

One-Year Check-Up

2011-10-28T15:56:00.011-05:00

I took Ethan in for his one-year check up at the doctor today. He was a great patient who had both his doctor and nurse giggling with him at his baby babble. He even showed the doctor how he can say "hot"...she was impressed with his ability to make the "h"-sound. He passed his exam with flying colors and even handled the shots pretty well. He had to get four...one in each leg and one in each arm. We both got flu shots so hopefully we'll avoid that nasty bug this winter! While he has remained around the 50th percentile for height, he has dropped to the 25th percentile for weight, only gaining about 1.5 pounds in the last 3 months. The doctor wasn't concerned about this, though, which is good. Apparently, lots of babies drop a little when they get super active (and Ethan is definitely active). She said we might see him go down a little more before his next visit at 15 months as well but that we should keep offering him food until he rejects it and add some snacks between mealtimes to replace nursing. Hopefully he will start eating chunkier foods soon, too!

Here are some other updates:

He is cruising. He likes to walk behind his walker (he can't turn it around yet, though) and from furniture piece to furniture piece. He sometimes walks while holding our hands but isn't confident when he does this. We've seen him try to stand a few times but it only lasts a few seconds before he falls.
He can say "hi", "hot", "dat" and "dada". Sometime he squeaks out a "mom" but he makes me work very hard for it. He babbles other syllables all the time.
He can sign for "milk" and clap his hands. We've seen him do the "clean-up" sign once and he has also started to wave "hi" and "bye" sometimes. He also puts his hand on his head when someone says "oh no!".
Ethan weighs 20 lbs, 11.5 ounces.
He is 29.75 inches long.
His head circumference is 45.75 centimeters.
Ethan loves to head-butt things, especially his mommy and daddy while playing.
His favorite books are Dr. Seuss books.
His favorite new toy is the ball his Grandma and Grandpa Wade gave him for his birthday. He likes to head-butt it too.

He has been in 6 states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
He has been to 2 National Parks: The Grand Canyon and the Great Smoky Mountains. He's also been to lots of National Monuments in Arizona.
He has 4 teeth (2 on top and 2 on bottom).
He likes to feed himself cut up carrots, bananas, avocados, green beans, and peas and crumbled ground beef. He loves whole milk and yogurt with some fruit mixed in.
He has started to put shapes in his shape sorter (I just have to show him where they go).
He is a great shopping companion...he flirts with all the salespeople!
His bedtime is around 7:00 and he sleeps 11-12 hours a night. He sleeps with a stuffed giraffe rattle (to keep him occupied when he wakes up in the morning).
He has 2 naps a day (on most days, anyway)...one around 9:00 and one around 3:00 -- he will nap anywhere from 1-2 hours each time.
Cayne and I still sneak into his room every night to check on our sleeping baby just like we did when he was a newborn. We are giddy parents and can't help but smile when we see our little pumpkin snuggled up in bed looking so cute. Sometimes we accidentally wake him up and have to go running out of his room before he sees us and thinks it's time to play, though!

Birthday Boy: One Year Old!

2011-10-25T22:23:00.013-05:00

Ethan turned one year old today and I am still wrapping my head around the fact that somehow my newborn baby turned into the cutest, sweetest one-year-old boy ever! We had a little party for him with family and I definitely think he had a ton of fun. He got to play with his cousin, his aunts and uncles, and his grandparents. He got to eat some delicious cake (even though he got tired of it and didn't eat too much) and got to open his presents. Well, ok, so he was more interested in playing with the tissue and wrapping paper than he was in unwrapping the gifts, but that's OK... he loved the toys and books and puzzles once he saw them. The big hit of the night was definitely his new ball from his Grandma and Grandpa Wade.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Ethan. We love you!

Aunt Ashley, I'd like some of Mackenzie's cottage cheese
for my birthday, please.

Mackenzie, can't I have a little taste?

May I see your license and registration, ma'am?

MmmMmmm!

Lots of pressies for me!

Ethan has his one-year check-up on Friday so I'll post his updates once we get home from that appointment.

Pumpkin Farm Fun

2011-10-23T13:04:00.020-05:00

On Saturday, we met Russ, Ashley, and Mackenzie at Gentry's Farm for some Fall pumpkin fun. We wandered through the corn maze where Uncle Russ kept us from getting lost and the Munchkin (Soybean) maze where Mackenzie kept us on track. Ethan had lots of fun on the hayride to see cows and getting up close with other farm animals after the ride. We even picked out some pumpkins to take home...we'll carve them for Halloween. The best part was that the cousins got to have fun playing together!

In the corn maze.

Hey Mackenzie...we could totally be farmers!

With Aunt Ashley...getting ready for the hayride.

A COW!!! MOO!

In the Munchkin Maze.

Here's a cute one of the cousins I stole from Aunt Ashley's site.

Audition to be Bamm Bamm Rubble

2011-10-22T22:55:00.001-05:00

I think his Halloween costume is going to suit his personality very well.

Fall Colors in Gatlinburg

2011-10-22T12:39:00.050-05:00

Last week, we headed to Gatlinburg, TN to take Ethan to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Ethan's 2nd National Park!). We enjoyed great weather...one warm day, one cool and rainy day that made the leaves really pop with color, and one cold day where we saw snow at the higher elevations. We did lots of drives through the park and went to three park visitor centers for passport stamps...even the one in North Carolina. We also did a hike to Grotto Falls and saw some neat historic cabins, a farm museum, and a working grist mill.

We are so lucky that Ethan is a great traveler. He missed seeing the snow because he was sleeping in the car but otherwise he had fun seeing the pretty leaves and all the unique people in Gatlinburg!

The grist mill at Cade's Cove.

At Cade's Cove

Our cabin -- Mountain Mint

Hiking to Grotto Falls

At Grotto Falls

A little bit of Autumn in the background with a lot of Winter up close

At the Oconaluftee Vistor Center in Cherokee, NC

The ranger gave Ethan a "Friends of the Rangers" sticker to put on his hat

Walking around the Mountain Farm Museum

A pretty drive

We had to stop and show Ethan where his
Mommy and Daddy got married

Of course, we had to spend some time in downtown Gatlinburg too!

Ethan thinks something's not right about that scarecrow.

I love the look on Ethan's face here

Playground!

2011-10-15T19:54:00.001-05:00

Ethan loves our neighborhood playground.

Ethan is Eleven Months Old

2011-09-25T17:26:00.004-05:00

Today Ethan turned eleven months old. I can't believe we've already reached this milestone and that I'm going to be planning a first birthday soon! He is the sweetest little boy and is getting good at letting us know what he wants (without using words). Here are some things he's been up to in the past month.

He has three teeth now (2 on the bottom and 1 on top).
He likes to grind his teeth - he really seems to love the noise even though Cayne and I hate it.
He can pull up to standing and "cruise" from object to object as long as he is holding on.
He likes to give cuddles.
His favorite game is bulldozing daddy.
He also likes pushing his walker around while crawling...I'm sure one day he'll try standing up behind it.
Another favorite game is "Up and Down"...when Ethan pulls himself up to standing when we say "Up" and then sits back down when we say "Down". This game can go on forever!
He doesn't call us "mommy" or "daddy" but he knows that's what we are called. He will "go to" or "come to" whichever one we tell him to.
His favorite word is "Haa-Dah". We don't know what it means but he says it alot.
He loves pointing at new things. Since Cayne likes to read him The Nose Book, Ethan will point at your nose if you ask "Where is my nose?". Sometimes he gets confused and points at your eye, but he usually gets it right!
He has started eating some mushy finger foods (bananas, avocados, pasta, green beans) and Stage 3 chunkier foods. He will finally eat just about anything we give him.
He has started trying to eat everything he finds on the ground...paper, carpet fuzz, dead bugs.
He went to Disneyworld!
He likes swinging in our little neighborhood playground.
He started his Kindermusik "Sign and Sing" class. He doesn't do any signs yet but hopefully he'll learn some soon!

Ethan's First Trip to Walt Disney World: Epcot, All-Star Sports, and Time to go home

2011-09-24T22:26:00.005-05:00

On our last full day at Disney, we headed over to Epcot. Ethan fell asleep (of course) just as we entered the park so Cayne and I played around in Innoventions for a while during his nap. I made my own roller coaster and Cayne made his own video game. When Ethan woke up we rode Journey Into Imagination (he loved it) and let Ethan make his own figment before heading to Chefs de France for lunch. The french waiters coo-cooed over Ethan (and Ethan behaved very well) while we ate some delicious onion soup. Chef Remy from Ratatoiulle even stopped by to say "hello" to Ethan!

Cayne playing around at Innoventions

Ethan loved "Journey into Imagination with Figment"

He loved seeing the Figment posters too

Chef Remy wasn't as big of a hit as Donald, but he was still fun!

After lunch, we walked around the World Showcase and rode Maelstrom at the Norway Pavillion before running into Donald on the way to Mexico. Ethan loved seeing his buddy Donald again and was even more excited to see Donald on the Gran Fiesta Tour (the boatride in the Mexico pavillion).

Who do you see, Ethan?!

It's Donald Duck!

Since we were right next to the test track after riding the Gran Fiesta Tour, we decided to ride test track again and visit the GM employee lounge with dad. In the lounge we had a great view of Epcot and a neat view of the inside of the ride too. Ethan was disappointed that he is still too short to ride but we told him he's halfway there!

In the GM Lounge at Fast Track

You'll be tall enough in the blink of an eye, Ethan

After a stop in the Baby Care Center and taking a while to wander around the World Showcase a little more, we gave Ethan to the grandparents to take to our new hotel for the evening, All-Star Sports, while Cayne and I had dinner in Morocco at Restaurant Marrakesh. It was a delicious dinner and afterwards we caught the bus for our new hotel. We had to wait a little bit for the bus, but it was shorter than any of our other bus waiting times and even though the bus was crowded, it wasn't any worse than the Beach Club buses were (hence, we were very impressed with the Value Resort transportation in comparison to Deluxe Resort transportation).

Cooling off and playing at the Baby Care Center

At the China Pavilion

Model trains at the Germany Pavilion

When we got to the hotel, we still needed to check in. I waited in the short line for folks who had done their "online check-in" while Cayne went to bell services to pick up our suitcases that we had let Disney transfer for us. We were very pleasantly surprised to find that bell services had already put our suitcases in our room for us (awesome!) so we didn't have to carry them. Unfortunately, the crib I had requested in advance wasn't already in our room and it took about 45 minutes for them to bring it. We picked Ethan up from his grandparents' room and got him ready for bed and asleep in his crib once it finally arrived.

The All-Star Sports room was nice. It was very small...not roomy but seemed pretty clean and in good condition. I wouldn't mind staying in one of the family suites at this resort (where you get 1 bedroom with a queen bed and a living room with a sleeper sofa), as long as I had my own car to get me to the parks and restaurants without needing to use the Disney buses.

Our trip home was pretty uneventful. The Disney Magical Express was awesome again...we got to check our bags at the hotel and then didn't have to deal with them again until we got to Nashville. All in all, we had a very fun trip!

Time to go home...on the Magical Express

Ethan's First Trip to Walt Disney World: Back to the Magic Kingdom

2011-09-24T21:16:00.002-05:00

The cast members at the Polynesian made us feel right at home

On our fifth day, we planned to go to the Magic Kingdom. As I mentioned, none of us wanted to brave the awful Disney Magic Kingdom Transportation system again, so dad drove us to the Polynesian for a delicious breakfast of Tonga Toast and then we caught the monorail to the Magic Kingdom (much nicer than a bus!).

First ride on the monorail

We headed back for Fantasyland and watched Mickey's Philharmagic while Ethan slept and then rode the carousel, Small World, Peter Pan's Flight, and the Enchanted Tiki Room.

Mouse ears!

Mesmerized by "It's a Small World"

There's even a New Zealand part on Small World...with a Kiwi!

By the time we were finished, we were hungry and took the monorail over to the Contemporary Cafe for a delicious and relaxing late lunch. From there, we went back to the Polynesian and our hotel to get ready for our early dinner at Cape May Cafe.

The Clam Bake Buffet at Cape May Cafe was wonderful. Very good food with great variety. We took longer to eat than we expected and by the time we finished, we only had about an hour before the Main Street Electrical Parade started. I had to feed Ethan and get him to sleep before we left and even if we drove, I'm not sure we would have made it in time to watch the parade so we decided to save it until our next trip, when hopefully Ethan can stay up to watch it too.

Mom and dad went to walk around the Boardwalk and when they got back, Cayne and I went for a nice evening swim in Stormalong Bay.

Ethan's First Trip to Walt Disney World: Animal Kingdom

2011-09-24T20:46:00.004-05:00

For our fourth day, we headed to Animal Kingdom. We got there right after the park opened and headed straight for Kilimanjaro Safaris. I loved that ride -- we saw so many animals! My favorites were the baby elephant, baby giraffe, and baby Mandrill baboon. They were all so cute! I would love to go back one day and do the safari tour that Disney offers to spend more time watching the animals.

Kilimanjaro Safaris really wore Ethan out!

We then met Sarah and Nathaniel for a ride on Expedition Everest. We took my brother's advice and waited for a seat in the very front car and it was worth it (especially since we only had to wait for one train to go before our ride). We also rode Dinosaur and Kali River Rapids and walked through Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. Ethan liked seeing the bats and tigers on the trail. He also had fun playing with the dinosaur statues while Cayne and I took turns on Dinosaur.

Trying to get a good view of the tigers

We grabbed a delicious quick-service meal at the Yak and Yeti counter and took it to the baby care center to eat (so we could feed Ethan in an air conditioned area). Again, the baby care center was super nice and it was a relaxing way to take a break from the park. After our late lunch, we headed back to the room.

Ethan didn't want to take a nap (because of all the construction noise) so instead of leaving him in the room we decided to try to tire him out some more by taking him swimming. He loved swimming in Stormalong Bay and playing in the sand and waterfalls. We ended up letting him take a short, super late nap after construction had stopped.

First time playing in the sand!

That evening Cayne and I went to the Hoop De Doo Musical Revue at Fort Wilderness. The show was wonderful...very campy and fun...and the food was great too. I was impressed at what a great show the actors put on for such a small audience though (the room was only about half full)!

Ethan's First Trip to Walt Disney World: Hollywood Studios

2011-09-24T19:56:00.007-05:00

For our third day, we had a character breakfast at our hotel and then headed to Hollywood Studios. The character breakfast was so much fun. I wasn't sure what to expect with Ethan but figured we might get some cute photos. Well, the photos didn't come out so great but Ethan absolutely LOVED interacting with Minnie, Donald, and Goofy. Donald was his favorite but he lit up whenever one of the characters walked anywhere near our table. It was so cute to see him giggling and smiling at Minnie, Donald, and Goofy...especially since he had never seen any of the Disney characters before our trip.

After breakfast, dad, Cayne, Ethan, and I headed to Hollywood Studios. We decided to walk since it was a nice day and I had read online that the walk from the Beach Club is not too long. To make sure we headed on teh right path, I asked a cast member in the Beach Club Marketplace. She had no idea how to walk to Hollywood Studios but asked two other cast members before one told me the only way to do it was to walk along the road and that I'd know I was going the right way when I passed a "Hess" gas station. That didn't sound right to me, so we decided that we'd walk to the Boardwalk Resort and that from there we would see signs directing us. Well, there weren't any signs but after taking a pretty round-a-bout way we found the walkway to Hollywood Studios!

Ethan fell asleep along our walk after all the breakfast excitement so we headed to the thrill rides first. We rode Tower of Terror and Rockin' Rollercoaster and when Ethan woke up we rode The Great Movie Ride. After that, we rode Star Tours a couple times and decided we'd had a day and headed home. As we were walking to our boat, it decided to leave so we had to figure out if we wanted to walk back or wait 20 minutes for the next boat. Since the walk to Hollywood Studios (going the wrong way) took about 30 minutes we decided we could get to the hotel faster if we walked.

We grabbed a late lunch at Hurricane Hannahs and cooled off in our room for a little bit. It was Ethan's naptime, and even though the construction noise was pretty loud, we left the baby with the grandparents so Cayne and I could have a short swim in Stormalong Bay before the grandparent's dinner reservation. The pool was great...the slide was tons of fun and I was really impressed with the eagle-eyed lifeguards.

After mom and dad got back from their dinner and Ethan was asleep, Cayne and I went back to Hollywood Studios to meet Sarah and Nathaniel and rode Toy Story Mania, saw Muppet Vision 3D, and rode Star Tours and Tower of Terror again.

Ethan's First Trip to Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom Transportation Nightmare

2011-09-24T18:49:00.032-05:00

Today we headed over to the Magic Kingdom! I was super excited about taking Ethan to Fantasyland for all the fun rides there. It was a hot day but we did pretty good getting lots out of the way. Unfortunately, this day was the worst Disney transportation day ever. Our bus to the park was packed (I was lucky enough to get a seat and hold Ethan but everyone else had to stand) -- not a big deal but it all went downhill (transportation-wise) from here.

When we got to the park, we made a beeline for Fantasyland...though we did stop for some pictures in front of the castle. It was cute to see the Main Street cast members waving a people with their mouse gloves as we walked down the street. We went through the castle and into Fantasyland, stopping to ride "Snow White's Scary Adventures" first because there wasn't any wait. Ethan liked it, but he did suck his thumb a little through the scarier parts. Next up was "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" where again there wasn't a line to wait in but we stopped anyway just to play with the cute interactive exhibits. We also rode "Dumbo" and by then, Ethan was sleepy so we took him to some air conditioning to nap with his Grandma while the rest of us went on some non-baby-friendly rides. Splash Mountain was closed so we rode "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad", "Space Mountain", and "Tomorrowland Speedway". After that, it was lunchtime and Ethan had woken up so we had a quick-service meal at Pecos Bill's Cafe (yummy burgers).

In Pooh's house

Ethan loved the interactive honey drips!

He's pooped!

On Jungle Cruise

Ethan really liked the Jungle Cruise

After lunch, we took Ethan on "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Jungle Cruise" before deciding we would head back to the hotel for a swim before our early dinner at Narcoossee's. We hopped on our Beach Club bus but before we could leave a bus caught on fire coming into the bus loading zone. We were told that we'd have to wait a little while before our bus could pull out. A little while later, we were told we had to take the monorail or ferry to the Ticket and Transportation Center and catch a bus to our hotel from there because no buses could get in or out of the Magic Kingdom loading zone. We were all exhausted but braved the intense mid-day heat to get to the ferry, wait for the ferry, and then walk to the resort buses at the TTC. The TTC was a madhouse by the time we arrived and lots of buses were going to the Value Resorts and other resorts but eventually a bus was designated for the Epcot resorts. We hopped on as fast as we could but it was crammed full of people and worst of all, the air conditioning wasn't working! I didn't realize that until we were on our way or I would have hopped right off. The "sauna bus" stopped at the Swan, Dolphin, and then Yacht Club before we got to the Beach Club and the 93-degree outside temperature was a welcome relief from the "sauna bus"...it actually felt nice and cool outside! Ethan was bright red after the bus ride (very scary) so we sprinkled some water on him and headed straight for our room. Total time from leaving the Magic Kingdom until getting off the bus at the Beach Club was over 1.5 hours! After that, we didn't want to take Ethan back into the heat at the swimming pool and we only had about an hour and a half before we needed to leave for dinner anyway, so our afternoon was swimming was cancelled.

Bus Fire!

On the ferry...trying to get back to our hotel.

Dad drove us to the Grand Floridian for dinner and it was absolutely fabulous. Since we were in the first seating group Narcoosee's wasn't open yet when we got there but we got to see Sarah and Nathaniel driving a water sprite while we waited. Unfortunately, we didn't get a window-side seat (we were right by the bar) but we had a great server and Cayne and I both had amazing scallops for dinner. We let the grandparents take Ethan back to the room after dinner while Cayne and I went to the Magic Kingdom to watch the fireworks and take advantage of the evening extra magic hours. Since we were right by the boat dock, we hopped on the boat to the Magic Kingdom. I have always loved the boats that take you to the Magic Kingdom -- I think they are so cute and fun! Well, this one started off fine...it was there when we got to the dock so we got to hop on and then we went to the Polynesian before heading over to the Magic Kingdom. When we were close to the Magic Kingdom, the boat stopped and we waited for over 20 minutes in the water for another boat to leave the dock. At first it was funny but then the mosquitoes started coming out over the water and it was just annoying. Finally the other boat left the dock and we were able to get off our boat -- about 40 minutes after getting on!

Waiting, and waiting, and waiting...still waiting to dock

When we got to the park we rode the train to Frontierland and hopped on Splash Mountain, which was now up and running. Sadly, they were still having problems because lots of the audio-animatronics looked "dead" because they weren't working and all the announcements about ride issues kept Cayne from being able to catch the "story". We also rode Thunder Mountain again (it's fun at night!) and then headed to Main Street to watch the fireworks. The Wishes Fireworks show was really neat with awesome choreography and we dashed to the ice cream parlor for ice cream as soon as the show was over. Then we met up with Sarah and Nathaniel and headed to the Haunted Mansion to ride. It was, as always, a fun ride and I really liked the updates they gave to the "hitchhiking ghosts" at the end. It was a little after 10 at that point and even though we could have stayed in the park until midnight, we decided to head back to our hotel after our long and tiring day.

In line at the Haunted Mansion

This time, it took over 45 minutes to get home. We finally walked in our hotel room door at 11:50 that night. We must have waited almost 30 minutes just for the bus to arrive (and we weren't even the first ones waiting in line)! It was disheartening to see 2-3 buses for every other resort pass us by while we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, a Beach Club bus showed up and we packed in like sardines. I am so glad we didn't wait to leave until the park closed at midnight...we might not have made it back to our room until 2 am!

Ethan's First Trip to Walt Disney World: Beach Club Villas and Epcot

2011-09-24T15:46:00.015-05:00

On our first full day at Disney, we left Pop Century to stay at the Beach Club Villas. That morning the food court at Pop Century was so packed that we couldn't stand to wait in a long line for a fast-food breakfast (or even just coffee) so we ate some breakfast bars I brought and headed over to the Beach Club to check in (transportation courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa Wade). Disney did transfer our luggage for us -- a nice service but this time our luggage wasn't brought to our room, just to bell services at our new hotel.

The interior of our room was nice (minus the popcorn, fruit-loops, and receipts the previous guests left on the floor and housekeeping didn't bother cleaning up). Our view would have been OK (it was of a courtyard and car turnaround/front lobby area) but there were ugly green construction lifts all over and we were right above the designated smoking area. We called to see if we could change rooms but were told the hotel was full but there might be a possibility of moving on a later date in our stay. The next time we asked, they were still full. So, unfortunately, with the construction noise Ethan couldn't nap very well in the room and we couldn't use the balcony because of the smoky smell (it seemed someone was always smoking in the designated smoking area).

Our view of construction from our room balcony

Our view of the designated smoking area and ashtray
(that's the corner of our balcony in the foreground).

Construction noise video during one of Ethan's naptimes

(this was relatively quiet construction noise).

After checking in and grabbing a quick breakfast at the Beach Club Marketplace, we walked over to Epcot. It took about 5-minutes walk to the park, which was great. We headed for Journey to Imagination, thinking that would make a great first ride for Ethan, but he fell fast asleep on the walk there. Instead, Cayne, dad, and I rode "Soarin", which was a fun ride, while mom stayed with the napping baby. Ethan had woken up when we finished and we decided to ride "Living with the Land" and the mom, dad, and Cayne used our Rider's Pass to ride Soarin' while I took Ethan to the Baby Care Center to feed him. It worked out pretty well -- the Baby Care Center was really nice, cool, and quiet!

Eating breakfast in the Solarium at the Beach Club

Waiting for Soarin'...Cayne's first ever theme park ride!

The five of us met Sarah and Nathaniel for lunch at the Coral Reef Restuarant. We weren't super hungry after our breakfast so planned to order appetizers but doing that must have really upset our waiter because he was very rude with us during our whole lunch...not a good introduction to Disney Dining. It was a very uncomfortable experience, although seeing the fish in the aquarium is always fun. After lunch, Ethan enjoyed "The Seas with Nemo and Friends", although I don't think it was as neat as "The Living Seas" used to be. We also rode "Spaceship Earth", "Universe of Energy" (Ethan napped on that one), "Mission to Mars", and "Test Track" (those last two without Ethan).

That evening we went back to Epcot for some delicious fish and chips (at the United Kingdom Pavilion) and tacos and churros (at the Mexican Pavilion). Ethan was pretty tired and fussy by the time we got our tacos, so we ended up taking them with us back to our room for a relaxing meal after putting him to bed.

Ethan's First Trip to Walt Disney World: Pop Century Resort

2011-09-24T11:02:00.009-05:00

On September 9th we headed to the Nashville Airport to fly to Orlando. Ethan was good on the plane but he refused to sleep until just before we landed. Luckily, it was a short flight. After we landed, we eventually found Disney's Magical Express -- charter buses that take you to your Disney Resort Hotel. We didn't have to wait at all to get on our bus but once on board, it took about 20 minutes before we left the airport. There are 2 great things about Disney's Magical Express: 1) You don't have to hire a shuttle or taxi or get a rental car to get to Disney -- the buses are a nice, easy way to get to the resort...for free, and 2) Disney also picks up your luggage and puts your bags in your hotel room for you -- no need to wait at baggage claim (when traveling with kids/babies, this is an awesome feature!). It was about a 40 minute drive to our hotel.

On the Magical Express bus

We got there just as Grandma and Grandpa Wade were arriving at Disney (they drove from TN) so we checked in, fed the baby, and then planned to head to Downtown Disney for dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Express. We just missed the bus when we got to the bus stop but the next bus arrived about 10 minutes later...awesome! It started pouring on the ride over and unfortunately, even though Ethan had a stroller raincover (thank you, Aunt Ashley!) and I had an umbrella, I had left our rain-ponchos in the hotel room. We hung out in the bus-shelter for a few minutes getting the stroller/rain cover set up and then made a mad dash for the first store we could find...The Christmas store. We stayed there until the rain slowed and then started looking for a place to eat.

Dinner was OK. Not bad, but not great either, and after dinner we walked around Downtown Disney. Cayne loved the Lego store (and the water monster made out of Legos) and I loved the bulk Mr. Potato Head pieces (Disney, Star Wars, Classic...just about anything you could think of).

At Downtown Disney

Ethan's First Trip to Walt Disney World: Overview

2011-09-24T09:33:00.000-05:00

Ethan and Donald, Best Buddies

Cayne and I took Ethan on his first magical trip to Walt Disney World in Florida last week. All three of us had a blast and as an added bonus, Ethan's Grandma & Grandpa Wade, Aunt Sarah and new Uncle Nathaniel were there too. Ethan's first park was EPCOT (first ride was "Living With The Land"). His second park was the Magic Kingdom and his first ride there was "Snow White's Scary Adventures". His favorite Magic Kingdom ride was "Jungle Cruise" and his most favorite Disney ride was "Journey into Imagination with Figment" (a close tie with the "Gran Fiesta Tour" at the Mexico pavilion). Ethan also loved the dinosaurs and tigers at Animal Kingdom but didn't find much to interest him at Hollywood Studios.

We stayed in a 2-bedroom villa at the Beach Club Villas and although we didn't get to spend much time in their awesome pool, Stormalong Bay, Ethan got to go swimming in it once and he had so much fun. He only ate a little bit of sand on the "beach" and he loved the waterfalls.

Ethan did a great job at the parks with the help of the Disney Baby Care centers (these are really nice air conditioned spots for feeding/playing/changing babies). Transportation was not-so-good (one trip home from the Magic Kingdom took over an hour and a half and included what I call the "sauna bus" considering the 93-degree outside air felt cool when we finally got out of the bus) so if we decide to ever go back we won't stay somewhere requiring bus transport to either Epcot or the Magic Kingdom (or we will rent a car to get to the parks, a real waste in some ways considering how nice the Magical Express free airport shuttle is).

We went to one character breakfast (at Cape May Cafe) with Ethan and he lit up when he saw Minnie, Goofy, and Donald! Donald was his absolute favorite (part of the reason he loved the "Gran Fiesta Tour" so much). It was so much fun to see his cute giggling reaction to Disney characters!

While I wasn't impressed with Disney service or the "Disney Experience" on this trip we did manage to have fun in spite of all the setbacks. So for now, we don't have any plans to ever return to Disney World but I'm sure when Ethan is 5..or 7... or 9 years old he'll convince us to take him back. If Disney can somehow convince us that they've returned to their customer-oriented ways, we will be glad to take him again.

M-I-C-K-E-Y...See-ya real soon!

There are just too many pictures for one blog post, so I'll break up our trip into a blog post for each day. Stayed tuned!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Holman!

2011-09-08T17:18:00.027-05:00

On September 6th my sister got married at Belmont Mansion. And now Nathaniel really is Ethan's uncle, not just his "soon-to-be Uncle". It was a beautiful, intimate ceremony and both she and Nathaniel looked so happy! Sarah had a beautiful dress and the cake, made with organic ingredients from Dozen, was wonderful (my favorite part since I love cake). I even made citrus-y punch and a sherbet ice ring that turned out tasting pretty good, especially considering I didn't really know what I was doing.

I didn't take any pictures of the ceremony but here are a couple from before the wedding.

Ashley took lots more pictures so I'm going to have to defer to her blog for more photos.

Sarah and Nathaniel are honeymooning at Disney World so we will see them tomorrow when we get to Florida.

Congratulations Sarah and Nathaniel!

Ethan at 10 Months

2011-08-28T18:38:00.014-05:00

Ethan turned 10 months on Thursday! Our baby is really growing up fast with big changes everyday! Here are some of the things Ethan has learned to do in the past month:

He can pull himself up to standing...no walking yet.
He likes to point.
He does a funny hand-salute/hail-Hitler motion that we think is the start of a "wave".
He loves opening and closing doors, especially the ones with the pinch guards that cause the doors to bounce back at him.
Still only two teeth!
No real words yet...just lots of Dadas and the occasional Muhm but not necessarily directed at either of us.
His favorite book is still Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?
He likes to turn the pages when we read to him.
He eats more variety of food but still likes perfectly smooth textures. He can even eat apples now. Some favorites are: sweet potatoes, eggplant, peaches, mangos, squash, and banannas.
He likes yogurt mixed with fruit. We've also put a little whole milk on his oatmeal...so far no allergy problems!
He is getting better at eating puffs. They are usually spit out but every now and then he gets one chewed/dissolved and swallowed.

Tennessee Aquarium

2011-08-22T22:13:00.008-05:00

Ethan and Cayne enjoying penguins flying through the water and waddling on land.

Today we took a day-trip to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. I had never been to the aquarium but Cayne had and kept telling me how neat it was. I'm glad we went because it was a cool couple of buildings (one for freshwater fish and one for saltwater fish). Ethan really seemed to enjoy it too. He liked the penguins the best (they waved at him lots because they thought he was waving at him when he was really just excited and flapping around). I couldn't get a good picture of it because the waving and flapping was too fast but it was hilarious!

We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for lunch on the way there.

This is the closest to a shark I ever want to get in a shark cage!

Ethan at 9 Months

2011-07-29T14:42:00.017-05:00

I can't believe I let Ethan's 9-month birthday (and my birthday) on July 25th go by without posting his photo! In the past month he has become much more mobile, making it more difficult to get these blog posts up. Anyway, here are some tidbits about 9-month old Ethan:

He has 2 new teeth -- the bottom middle teeth.
He learned to crawl...first forward crawl was on July 22nd and he has been getting progressively better and faster every day.
He had his 9-month check-up on July 26th. He had his vision checked (perfect) and iron levels checked (also perfect). Because they pricked his foot to test his iron, they gave him half of an orange-flavored Icy Pop to distract him....so, he's had his first official lolli too.
He weighs 19.0 lbs.
He is 28.25 inches long.
He is getting too tall for his infant carseat now...and almost too heavy (ours only goes to 22 lbs). Unfortunately, our Safety First Convertible Car Seat doesn't fit rear-facing in our Saturn (it's too tall and we can't get the angle right because of the seat-slope), so I'm trying to find a new convertible car seat that will fit and keep Ethan rear-facing for as long as possible.

And more exciting news is that for my birthday present, we are going to take a trip to Disney World in September! Cayne has never been and of course, neither has Ethan so I will get to have fun experiencing it with them.

Sprouting Teeth

2011-07-13T18:15:00.000-05:00

Ethan is slowly losing his cute gummy smile in favor of a cute toothy smile. Two teeth are on the way!

CSA, Week 10

2011-07-13T18:12:00.001-05:00

This week's CSA share included:

2 eggplants
2 tomatoes
purple carrots
4 ears of corn
2 patty pan squash
purple bell pepper
4 potatoes
2 cantaloupe (1 with fruitlovers share)
quart blueberries (with fruitlovers share)

Here's how we used our veggies in the past week:

Zucchini Pie (trust me, this was delicious...much better than it sounds...like a frittata): zucchini, onion, tomatoes
Grilled Pork Chops and braised cabbage with apples: pork chops from our meat CSA, cabbage
sandwiches and salads: tomatoes, lettuce
Blackberry Cobbler: blackberries and blueberries
Squash casserole: yellow squash, onion, zucchini (from our garden)
Boiled potatoes: red potatoes
fried green tomatoes: green tomatoes
Tomato/basil/mozzarella appetizer: tomatoes
Rolled Stuffed Eggplants
Yakinasu (Japanese Grilled Eggplant)

Yakinasu
with soy-sauce/lemon juice

All those delicious meals and we still have lots leftover: purple cabbage, green beans, bell pepper, blueberries and blackberries, lettuce, and cucumbers! Add to that the squash, tomatoes, purple ("green") beans, and corn we got in our DWI box. It seemed like we've been eating lots of veggies in the past week (and lots of meatless dinners too) but we definitely have room for improvement and need to get these leftover fruits and veggies used up asap!

Garden: Harvest Time

2011-07-13T18:11:00.000-05:00

It's time to start finding some new things to plant in our little garden. Yesterday, Cayne "harvested" all of our potatoes (they look great and we fried one to taste and it was tender and delicious) and we've been enjoying the lettuce and zucchini for a while now. The carrots are still growing good and the zucchini plants are still producing but I think we picked the last of our lettuce the other day.

So far the tally is:

20 red baby potatoes
2 zucchini (and 3-4+ more on the way)
a few bunches of lettuce/mesclun (enough for about 6 salads, and some sandwiches/hamburgers)
carrots (TBD)

Our bibb lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cabbage, herbs, and cantaloupe didn't grow. One little tomatoes plant is finally starting to grow. It might be too late for it to actually produce anything this summer but we'll see. Was it worth it? Well, maybe not monetarily because of the expense to get it started (the soil, container, etc) but it has been a fun experience and what we did get tasted great. If we keep it up, it will definitely start being more cost-effective, since the seeds (or plants, which is probably what we will use next time) are cheap in comparison to buying at the store.

CSA, Week 8 and Week 9

2011-07-07T09:02:00.050-05:00

I didn't get last week's CSA details posted so this week I'll show what we've received and what we've been cooking the past couple weeks.

Week 8 CSA Share

Week 8:

cucumber
eggplant
purple bell pepper
purple cabbage
3 tomatoes
3 yellow squash
4 ears sweet corn
onion
1 pint blackberries
2 pints blueberries (fruitlovers)

Week 9 CSA Share

Week 9:

cucumber
3 red potatoes
3 tomatoes
4 yellow squash
eggplant
green bell pepper
lettuce
onion
green beans
purple cabbage
pint blueberries
2 pints blackberries (fruitlovers)

Here's how we used the Week 7 and Week 8 shares:

oven "fried" chicken (Cayne had to cut our whole chicken into pieces for this one): chicken from our meat CSA, corn on the cob (on the side)

fried green tomatoes: green tomatoes (these were delicious...neither Cayne nor I had ever had them before!)

Rolled Stuffed Eggplant (we made this twice because it was so good) -- from The Joy of Cooking: eggplant
Pasta Primavera: tomato, squash, zucchini, onion, carrots, kohlrabi, green bell pepper, purple bell pepper
Cabbage salad (From Asparagus to Zucchini Cookbook): cabbage
hamburgers: ground beef from the meat CSA, tomatoes, lettuce from our garden, onion, corn on the cob (on the side)
sandwiches: tomatoes, lettuce from our garden
mozzarella stuffed sausage meatballs: ground hot sausage from our meat CSA
tacos: ground beef from our meat CSA, onion, tomato (BTW, Trader Joe's taco seasoning is the absolute best taco seasoning you can buy...and their taco shells are great too)
lasagna: ground hot sausage from our meat CSA, ground beef from our meat CSA, (squash and zucchini in one of the lasagna pans I froze)

Coffee/Crumb cake: blueberries
vanilla almond fruit tart: blueberries and blackberries
babyfood: yellow squash, zucchini, and pattypan squash
I also froze some chard and kale using my Foodsaver

We still need to use the potatoes, onion, cucumber, and a few of the berries from last week but we did a pretty good job making a dent in that box. We also have 2 heads of green cabbage and lots of tomatoes from our DWI box to use up. Time for some BLTs and some tomato/basil/mozzarella salads! I also need to make a new batch of pickles using the cucumbers from the past couple weeks.

8 Month Old Ethan

2011-07-01T10:19:00.029-05:00

Ethan turned 8 months old on June 25th and we celebrated by having our photos taken during a break in the rain that day. Our little man has changed so much in the past month and he's even on the last legs of using his infant carrier seat because he is getting too long for it. Here are some milestones from the past month:

He can roll just about anywhere he wants to get. He has also started "moonwalking" a funny half-crawl/half-scoot backwards.
He loves laughing at all of his stuffed animals.
He is getting better at eating food from a spoon (not just frozen veggie and fruit "popscicles") and likes oatmeal, banana-flavored oatmeal, bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, pears, and squash.
He likes to try drinking water out of our water glasses -- he really lets us know that he wants a drink of them. We've started putting a little bit of water in a sippy cup for him to get used to a new way to drink.
He usually has 3 naps a day that can last anywhere from 30 minutes to 1hr45 min -- at around 9:00, 12:30, and 4:00.
He wakes up around 7:00 each morning but some mornings he sleeps in until 8:00 or so (I love those mornings!).
His hair has really started to grow -- he looks like he has a little buzz cut instead of just fuzz.
The only word he consistantly uses is "Dadadaaa" but he doesn't use it only for Cayne -- everything is "da". He also has said words that sound like "baybay", "mah", "bah", and "hah" so he is getting some new consonants in there.
His favorite book is Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? (when Daddy reads it and makes the sounds).
Still no teeth!
He went swimming for the first time and loves it.
He gives the best cuddles and has learned to wrap his arms around us for a hug.
He gets a real kick out of kicking the side panels of his crib. He is a little karate master when lying down. The sound spreads through the whole house to let us know he has woken up.
He gets contagious giggles watching balls bounce.

I LOVE MY BALL!

Family Pictures

2011-06-28T20:13:00.000-05:00

We finally went to have some family photos taken for Ethan's 8-month "birthday" last Saturday. We went to the Ellington Agricultural Center near our house to have them taken by Ashley of AshMill Photography. The location was awesome -- so pretty and so many neat things to have pictures taken by or near and we had lots of fun meeting Ashley and trying to get Ethan to smile for the camera. Check out the photos here...the link should be active for 3 months: http://ashmillphotography.photoshelter.com/gallery/Wagener/G0000GXYifdA_fvs .

Oh, and I'll get Ethan's 8-month post with pictures uploaded soon!

CSA, Week 7

2011-06-22T19:56:00.000-05:00

This week's CSA share included:

1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 onion
3 cucumbers
swiss chard (silverbeet)
1 green bell pepper
4 ears corn
bunch of beets
bunch of red potatoes
bunch of carrots
1 pint blueberries (fruitlover's share)
1 pint blackberries (fruitlover's share)

And from the "free" box I picked up:

1 eggplant
3 green tomatoes
1 kohlrabi

Here's how we used our veggies in the past week:

Coleslaw: cabbage, spring onions
Pasta Primavera: zucchini, summer squash, red onion, carrots, cherry tomatoes

Balsamic Marinated Beets: beets, red onion
Squash Saute: zucchini, yellow squash, garlic, yukina savoy

Veggie Stir Fry: Bok Choy, carrots, yellow squash, zucchini, sugar peas, kohlrabi
Blackberry Cobbler: blackberries
Bumbleberry Cobbler: blackberries and blueberries
Refrigerator Pickles: cucumbers
Green Bean Dinner: green beans, onion, and CSA cubed ham

From our CSA box last week, we still have one small bunch of yukina savoy to cook. From the DWI box, we still have lots and lots of squash, a couple zucchini, kale, chard, some blue potatoes, and 2 tomatoes. Granted, we haven't eaten the coleslaw or marinated beets yet (they had to chill overnight and then we didn't eat them yesterday...meaning we'll try them tonight) but I think we did a pretty good job getting through most of the veggies and all of the fruit this week. My goal for the upcoming week is to start freezing some of the greens to use in roasts and stews this winter, start freezing some of the squash/zucchini, and introduce Ethan to zucchini.

A New Kind of Blackberry Cobbler

2011-06-20T19:32:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, I used a recipe from allrecipes.com for Blackberry Cobbler with some of the blackberries in our CSA. This is a different style of cobbler from any I've ever made before but it is one of the highest rated recipes on the site so I decided to try it out. I followed some suggestions in the reviews and cut the melted butter (that you leave in the bottom of the pan) in half and made my sugar syrup using 3/4 cup sugar and a cup of water. I also used an overflowing pint of blackberries, which was more than the 2-cups the recipe called for. The result was fabulous! It was a perfect not-to-sweet and not too biscuit-y cobbler (that would be "scone-y" to folks in NZ). Anyway, the cobbler was so delicious that Cayne and I ate 2/3 of it the night I made it. I suppose we may be eating more fruits and veggies but we're not exactly eating more healthily...but at least we're enjoying it!

Our Garden is Growing

2011-06-19T14:17:00.001-05:00

Our garden on June 10, 2011

The garden we planted a while back has really taken off. Everything we planted is growing except for the tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, and the heads of lettuce. I think we should have bought tomato plants instead of trying to grow from seeds (but the day I went to Lowe's, they had their garden center gates closed and the plants were outside so I couldn't get to them and decided to try seeds instead). But the potatoes, carrots, zucchini, and mesclun have really taken off!

DWI Box This Week

2011-06-19T14:10:00.001-05:00

We have so many veggies, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all of these. Here is a picture of everything in our DWI box this week...and yes, mom still has lots and lots of veggies left at her house to prepare!

We have 3 heads of cabbage, some chard, some kale, cauliflower, snap peas, yellow tomatoes, red tomatoes, and heaps of squash. I hope Ethan starts liking his squash soon!

Click Clack

2011-06-18T09:32:00.001-05:00

Ethan has learned to make a new noise:

Refrigerator Dill Pickles

2011-06-16T19:48:00.000-05:00

When I saw that we had some bumpy-looking cucumbers in our CSA box last week, I thought they looked like they would make perfect pickles. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to make pickles and assumed that I would need to know how to can pickles in order to make them. Well, I decided to see how difficult canning would be, because I knew that neither Cayne nor I are big fans of cucumbers and I didn't want the cute cukes to go to waste. As I was reading a recipe on how to can pickles and seeing all the supplies I would need (which seemed like overkill, considering I only had 3 cucumbers!) I stumbled across a recipe for "refrigerator pickles". The recipe I found was for "bread and butter pickles", not my favorite kind -- I like Dill Pickles. I kept looking and finally found a recipe for refrigerator dill pickles that I knew I could modify to have less sugar and more dill in the pickle shape I wanted. I wasn't convinced my first attempt at pickles would be good, but 4 days later when I tried my pickles I thought they were excellent...a perfect flavor and very crispy! In fact, I've already pickled the 3 cucumbers I got yesterday in our CSA.

Refrigerator Dill Pickles

1.5 cups distilled white vinegar

1 tbsp sugar

4 tsp kosher salt (or any non-iodized salt)

1 tsp whole mustard seeds

1 tsp whole coriander seeds

3/4 tsp dill seeds

2 cups hot water

1 clove crushed garlic

3/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh dill

1 sprig fresh dill

Heat the water in the microwave and add the salt and sugar. Stir until dissolved. Add the vinegar, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, dill seeds, garlic, and chopped fresh dill. Cut the blossom end off the cucumber or both ends, if necessary, to make sure they will fit into your jar/container. Cut into spears or into discs, whichever you prefer...I cut mine into spears. Put the cucumbers into an airtight container that is not much bigger than the pickles. I used a plastic take-out soup container. Pour the vinegar/dill solution over the pickles, covering them completely. Add a sprig of fresh dill to the container, cover tightly, and refrigerate. Wait 2-3 days before eating. Pickles will last 1 month in the refrigerator

CSA, Week 6

2011-06-15T19:19:00.000-05:00

This week's CSA included:

2 small kohlrabi
1 red onion
baby carrots
3 squash
3 cucumbers
3 zucchini
green beans
yukina savoy
blueberries
2 quarts blackberries (in the fruitlovers share)

Ethan wants to try a blueberry!

Here's how we used (most of) last week's veggies:

Strawberry ice cream: strawberries (and Hatch Dairy milk and cream)
Roast Chicken: squash and CSA chicken
Chicken and squash casserole: leftover roast chicken, squash, zucchini, carrots and onion
Refrigerator pickles: cucumbers
lunch salad: lettuce (from last week's DWI box), squash, and zucchini
Frozen Peas: all the peas

We still have quite a bit left over from last week (green beans, bok choy, yukina savoy, beets, and some extra squash and onions (from the DWI box). This is partly because our CSA box has been getting fuller each time we pick it up as summer gets into high gear so I really need to figure out a good way to store some of these veggies for later use. I'm looking forward to using the peas I froze in casseroles and soups, for example. This weekend is the freezing/canning class at the Williamson County Cooperative Extension, so I'm looking froward to seeing how that goes.

Our Little Fish

2011-06-13T20:15:00.001-05:00

Today was Ethan's first time in a swimming pool! We went to Mackenzie's grandma's (Grammie's) house where they have a beautiful salt water pool. Mackenzie and Aunt Ashley were already playing in the pool when we got there and Ethan joined right in. He didn't splash as much as I expected but did kick a little bit after some encouragement and pretty much just seem to be taking it all in. He especially liked when I lifted him out of the water and then let him splash down, back into the water. He enjoyed it so much that we stayed in the water until his little toes got wrinkled. I think it is going to be a fun summer full of swimming! Thanks to Ashley and Linda and Eddie for inviting us over...Ethan can't wait to come back to play!

Ashley can handle two babies in the pool!

Aunt Ashley and Mackenzie had fun swimming too!

Watch Ethan kicking and moving in this video:

Ethan fell fast asleep on the way home --
the sun and water really wore him out!

Dinner Tonight: Mhmm...Not sure what to call this one

2011-06-08T22:56:00.001-05:00

Tonight I made a skillet dish/soup using some of the sausage we got in our CSA and some veggies. I thought the sausage might be like a Mexican chorizo since it was labeled as "Ground Pork Sausage...Hot" but it wasn't anything like Mexican chorizo. It tasted good though, and I'm glad I tried this dish, considering I'm not a very big fan of sausage and I did not have high hopes for how it would taste while I was cooking it. Cayne loved it and calls it perfect "man food". I will admit that the sausage gave a good flavor and the kale was awesome-tasting in this dish.

Ground Sausage and Kale Skillet Dinner
1 lb hot ground pork sausage
2 large baking potatoes, sliced
1 bunch kale, rinsed and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can chicken stock
2 bay leaves

Brown the sausage in a large skillet (like you would brown ground beef). Add the onion, potatoes, and garlic and sautee until onions are tender. I also added a little vegetable oil because there was not much fat in our CSA sausage. Add the chicken stock, bay leaves, and con of tomatoes. Once the liquid is hot and bubbly, add the kale (you might have to add in batches, so that it will wilt, making room for more in the pan). Mix everything together, cover, and let simmer until the potatoes are tender.

CSA, Week 5

2011-06-08T15:13:00.014-05:00

This week's CSA included:

carrots
2 zucchini
4 baby squash
3 cucumbers
onion
Yukina Savoy
Bok Choy
green beans
English peas
beets
strawberries (in the fruitlovers share)

I'm a little bit glad we didn't get lettuce this time, because even though Doe Run Farm's lettuces taste great -- I still have to use up the lettuce from last week! This looks like a fun box to try to use up, though! Too bad the canning class hasn't happened yet or I would try to make pickles from those cucumbers (they are the bumpy, perfect-for-pickles type of cukes).

Also, the article on the Doe Run Farm CSA came out on Tuesday in the Williamson AM section of The Tennessean. There was a short quote from me in it and a photo of me on the back page of the paper. The photo didn't make it to the online version of the story, which is a same because it was a pretty nice photo of me getting my box of veggies and strawberries. :)

More Veggies... The Wades Didn't Want It (DWI) Box

2011-06-07T22:31:00.018-05:00

My mom really wants to support local farmers so she joined 2 different CSAs this summer for 1/2 shares at each one: Delvin Farms and Flying S Farms. But, while she likes some of the veggies she gets in these shares, she doesn't like all of them. Cayne told her that he would eat anything they didn't want so now we have a weekly addition to our CSA share-- her rejects! So, she's calling those veggies The Wades Didn't Want It Box...our DWI Box. This week we got romaine, kale, garlic scapes, baby squash, sugar peas, blonde peas, chard, and garlic in our DWI box. This adds to my weekly challenge of cooking all these great vegetables...but I'm up for it!

We did pretty good this week using up ALL our veggies except the 2 bunches of romaine lettuce, 2 bunches of kale, and a garlic bulb. Luckily, the greens still look great so if I use them in the next couple of days they'll still be good and the garlic will last for a while, I'm sure. I can't believe we went the whole week without a single salad though! Still, that's a lot of left over lettuce...and we pick up our new CSA box tomorrow! I've got to get cracking....or freezing! Luckily, Delvin Farms is offering their shareholders a canning and freezing class so mom and I are signed up to take it on June 18th.

Here's how we used up all the veggies (and a little of our meat CSA) this week:

Chicken Curry Dinner: cauliflower and swiss chard (aka: silverbeet to you Kiwis)
Chicken and Veggie Casserole: squash, carrots, spring onions, and broccoli
Pork Stir Fry: pork (from the meat CSA), spring onions, bok choy, carrots, garlic scapes, garlic, sugar peas
Frozen Peas (to use later in the year): Blonde peas
Chicken Tikka Masala: spring onions, squash, garlic scapes, English peas, red and yellow chard
Strawberry Tea Bread: strawberries (we ate most of strawberries fresh though)

Ethan Pictures and Videos

2011-06-07T13:44:00.000-05:00

I realize I haven't been putting up many photos of Ethan (and in all honesty, I know that food pictures aren't super exciting). So, here are some recent pictures of Ethan looking his cutest!

Yay! Clap, clap, clap!

I love my carrot "popsicles"!

Seriously? You're my mommy?

What cha doing down there, daddy?

Dinner Tonight: Bok Choy and Pork Stir Fry

2011-06-06T22:01:00.013-05:00

Cayne, stir frying the veggies

Tonight we used meats and veggies from our 2 CSA farms to make a stir fry. I prepared all the veggies and the stir fry sauce and Cayne did the cooking. It tasted so good! The Peaceful Pastures pork was super flavorful and the fresh veggies were superb, as usual. Our stir fry included squash, carrots, garlic scapes, spring onions, bok choy, garlic, and some ground ginger. I made up the stir fry sauce based on a recipe I found online and it was delicious. It didn't look like the recipe made very much but it was so flavorful that it ended up being the perfect amount. After cooking the meat and then the veggies, Cayne pushed everything to the side of the wok to heat and thicken the sauce before stirring it all together. Then we served it over some rice.

Stir Fry Sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
2.5 tbsp chicken broth
2.5 tbsp white wine
1 tsp sugar
4 tsp corn starch

Thickening up the stir fry sauce

Dinner Tonight: Broccoli Squash and Chicken Casserole

2011-06-04T19:14:00.023-05:00

Tonight I decided to use up the broccoli, squash, and carrots from our CSA in a casserole. I had found a basic recipe to follow online at Food.com but ended up changing it up quite a bit. It tasted great...being a casserole I think you could put anything you wanted to in it though!

Squash, Broccoli, and Chicken Casserole

1 cubed, cooked chicken breast
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets

2 yellow squash, chopped
3-4 carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped onions (I used spring onions)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 beaten egg
1 3/4 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
4 tbsp melted butter
1 can cream of mushroom soup
4 slices swiss cheese
1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
fresh chives to sprinkle on top
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the melted butter, mayonnaise, egg, cream of mushroom soup, salt, pepper and shredded cheese (it's OK that it's not melted) together in a large bowl. Add the vegetables and chicken. Stir to mix. Pour into a greased casserole dish (2 qt size) and top with the swiss cheese slices and then the bread crumbs (you can also melt some butter and mix with the breadcrumbs before baking for a crisper top). Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle fresh chives on top.

BTW -- the Jones Mill Farm
Pain de Champagne tastes awesome!

First Visit to the Farmers Market

2011-06-04T11:59:00.004-05:00

Today we left the house early (around 8:30) to check out the Franklin Farmers Market at The Factory. It was a nice market...not exactly what we were used to in Dupont but it was lively. The cool thing about this market is that it is partially under a pavilion cover, meaning there is shade -- a really great idea and it really helps keep things cooler! Since we have our CSA veggies we didn't need to pick anything new up and we went to pick up our new meat CSA share (from Peaceful Pastures) so we also didn't need any meat. Instead, we bought some fresh milk and strawberry gelato from Hatcher Family Dairy, some fresh eggs, and some cinnamon rolls and a loaf of French bread from Jone's Mill Bakery.

Our meat CSA looks like it will be delicious, too. We only got the 1/2 share so we'll be picking up every other month (for a total of 3 pick ups). This month we got: 2 whole chickens, 2 beef sirloin steaks, 2 NY strip steaks, 2 pounds of hot pork sausage, 4 pounds ground beef, 1 pound of cubed pork, and a huge beef roast. All the meat is pastured/grass-fed so it should taste great and be super-healthy! Only, now I wish we had purchased the full share.

Ethan had fun people-watching and promptly fell asleep as soon as we got back in the car! Normally, we don't get out of the house until after his morning nap (meaning 10:30 is about the earliest we leave) but I think he liked this little change in routine.

Ethan is ready to go home!

Dinner Tonight: Curry

2011-06-03T19:45:00.014-05:00

Tonight I cooked some Trader Joe's Curry Chicken Tenders (delicious) and Roasted Curry Cauliflower. I also used up the rest of the Swiss Chard from last week's CSA by cooking it in the same pan as the chicken to give it a little bit of curry flavor as well. It worked really well to throw it in the pan after the chicken was finished, adding an interesting but subtle flavor. Everything tasted so good and it was a really simple dinner to make...although to like it, you must like curry! I'm really enjoying using our CSA veggies when cooking. I also made some more Strawberry Tea Bread, although I couldn't find hazelnuts at Publix so I ended up using a mixture of leftover hazelnuts and walnuts that I toasted before grinding. I think it will still make a great dessert!

Roasted Curry Cauliflower

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp curry (I used Penzey's Sweet Curry)
1 tsp salt
1 head of cauliflower, washed and cut into florets

Mix oil, lemon juice, salt, and curry in a bowl big enough to hold all the cauliflower. Add the cauliflower and coat the florets with the curry mixture. Pour cauliflower into a large roasting pan in a single layer. Bake at 450 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender.

CSA, Week 4

2011-06-01T16:06:00.005-05:00

Squash, Carrots, Strawberries, Spring Onions

This week's CSA box included:

Red Lettuce
Kale
Bok Choy
Carrots
Spring Onions
Broccoli
Cauliflower
English Peas
Squash
Strawberries (in the Fruit Lovers portion)

Broccoli, Bok Choy, English Peas, Cauliflower

There was a reporter from Williamson A.M. (a section in the Tennessean newspaper) at our drop-off location today, so be on the look-out for an article on Doe Run Farm in the paper!

We got so many things, I couldn't fit everything into my Chico Produce Stand Bags! I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do with all this food this week! On Saturday, we pick up our first Meat CSA at the Franklin Farmer's Market, so we'll have more things to play around with trying to cook!

Here's how we used last week's veggies:

Dinner Salad: Mizuna, Strawberries, English Peas, Radishes

Lunch Salad: Red Romaine, Swiss Chard, strawberries, English Peas, Chives (I also added carrots and cherries)

Chicken with Penzey's Bicentennial Rub: Beets with Swiss Chard and Beet Leaves (click on link for recipe)

This beet/beet leaf/chard/onion/bacon
side dish was delish with the chicken!

Strawberry Tea Bread: Strawberries
Broccoli Cheese Soup: Broccoli, Spring Onions, Chives

We still have a few leaves of Swiss Chard we will have to eat this week. I'm really impressed with how the cotton/hemp Produce Stand Bag made for keeping lettuce fresh has kept the Chard looking delicious this whole week!

Welcome to Fin Land Tour: Jimmy Buffett 2011

2011-05-30T10:35:00.025-05:00

I took Cayne to his first ever Jimmy Buffett concert on Saturday night to kick off Memorial Day weekend. We left Ethan at home with Grandma and headed to the Margaritaville Nashville Street Party for music and drinks before grabbing dinner at Panera and then heading into Nashville's Bridgestone Arena for the show.

Little Parakeet

Ethan wants to be a Parrot Head too!

I had bought the cheapest seats in the highest section (section 314) because those were the only tickets available on Ticketmaster (I tried buying the second they became available online). Unfortunately, they were "behind the stage" seats but I decided they couldn't be too bad...after all, the last time I saw Buffett in Nashville (my first Buffett concert) we were also behind the stage and still had fun. Well, I guess they didn't sell many seats in our section because when we got there, they told us they had closed our section and that they were going to exchange our tickets for the section immediately below it. So, we were still technically "behind the stage" although really we were "beside" the stage...right at the stage-left exit but we were moved much closer --- to section 108. We had to make our way all the way back down to the ground floor to get to our seats but it was definitely worth it!

Enjoying the street party!

At his first Buffett concert.

I'm not a big fan of Buffett concerts that take place in an arena because I think lawn seats are the best (and the most fun). And it seems that every time I'm in an arena, the section I'm in is full of people who do not want to stand and dance to the music, even if the whole rest of the arena is dancing. This concert was no exception but at least I had a great side-on view of Jimmy and the rest of the crowd having fun! Cayne thought it was funny to see someone set out Jimmy's jandals (flip flops) for him at the stage exit every time he left the stage. Kenny Chesney also came out a couple times to sing with Jimmy and Mac McAnally. Also, this was the first time I've ever seen Jimmy have an opening act but he did come out to introduce the group and they were fabulous! It was Ilo Ferreira and his band (and that link will take you to a story on the Bonaroo website describing how Ilo met Jimmy). They only played 3 songs but were really great and then the concert started. Jimmy also only took a brief one-song break (while Nadirah Shakoor sang). I still think it's pretty impressive that he can entertain for over 2 hours with such a short break!

After the concert we were able to get out of the arena pretty fast since we were on ground level and made our way back to our car. A friend suggested parking between Church and Commerce Streets, which is what we did and we left Nashville via Church Street and didn't get stuck in any traffic.

In all, it was a great experience. Cayne got to see that people really do were coconut bras and grass skirts to a Buffett show even if he didn't get to experience true Buffett tailgating with fins-on-cars and parking lot inflatable pool parties but he did get to see lots of parrotheads making the most of a no-tailgating situation. Kudos to Margaritaville Nashville for getting a permit to close down a block of Broadway for the Street Party...and for selling fabulous $6 margaritas (unlike Bridgestone, who sold worse-tasting margaritas for $12).

Dinner Tonight: Spring Salad of Arugula with English Peas, Radishes, and Strawberries

2011-05-27T21:44:00.011-05:00

Ethan playing with food but not eating it...yet.

I found this recipe while searching for something new to do with our CSA radishes: Spring Salad of Arugula with English Peas, Radishes, and Strawberries | Earthbound Farm Organic | Recipes for Delicious and Healthy Food. It looked delicious and I had almost all the ingredients. I bought a Trader Joe's Champagne Vinagrette the last time I was there so decided to forgo the vejus dressing in favor of using our new dressing and decided that instead of arugula we could use our CSA mizuna, supplementing with some red romaine if necessary. We also had the English peas and strawberries from our CSA. So, all I really needed was walnut oil, goat cheese, and a baguette.

The salad was delicious! The goat cheese croutes were absolutely fabulous. I will have to try these with other dishes. I think marinating the cheese in the walnut oil gave it a great subtle flavor but a good olive oil would taste almost as good. The mizuna was good too -- earthy but milder than arugula...I just cut off the ends of the leaves (some of stalks were a little thick) before tossing it in the dressing. Oh, and Trader Joe's Light Champagne Vinaigrette gets two thumbs up and was the perfect complement to the fruit and veggies in this salad.

Strawberry Tea Bread

2011-05-26T19:57:00.003-05:00

Strawberry Tea Bread

This afternoon I made some strawberry tea bread using some of our CSA berries. This is a recipe I made once a long time ago and loved but then forgot about. All these spring strawberries reminded me of the yummy-tasting bread so I had to try it again. I think the ground hazelnuts really give it a great punch, although I'm sure you could also just add hazelnuts to the mix and it would be just as good. The other great thing about it is that you can bake it in your bread machine, which must use less energy than having your oven turned on for an hour (and I think it keeps the kitchen cooler, too...although maybe a newer over would be just as good at that).

Strawberry-Hazelnut Tea Bread

1.5 cups strawberries
2/3 cup softened butter
3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs (at room temperature)

1 tbsp milk
1/3 cup ground hazelnuts
1 1/3 cup self rising flour, sifted

If using a bread machine, remove the dough hook from the bread machine pan. Line bottom of loaf pan with baking paper or wax paper (I used aluminum foil). Spray with baking spray or grease and flour the pan.
Hull and coarsely chop the strawberries.
Cream the sugar and butter together.
Add the eggs and milk to the butter/sugar mixture.
Mix the ground hazelnuts with the flour and gently fold it into the wet ingredient mixture.
Gently add the strawberries and fold in.
Spoon into the pan.
Put pan in bread machine and use "Bake" setting. Bake for about 50-55 minutes (I baked for 60 min). Or, use a 350 degree oven and bake for 60-70 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a wooden skewer into loaf -- it should come out mostly clean when the bread is done.
Cool for 2-3 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

This was a great desert for our Broccoli Cheese soup dinner! :)

7 Months!

2011-05-25T19:00:00.007-05:00

Ethan turned 7 months old today! Still a cutie and trying to discover new ways to get into mischief everyday!

Here is his 7 months update:

Ethan can turn over -- he loves to flip onto his belly as soon as you lay him down on his back.
He likes to roll -- he can only roll to the right, and has done it a couple of times to reach a toy.
His rolling sometimes gets him into trouble in his crib -- he either turns onto his belly and gets uncomfortable but can't remember how to flip back over or rolls into the side of the crib and can't figure out how to push himself away from the side. We've removed his crib bumper because of his rolling into the sides.
He likes to eat food out of his mesh feeder. He hates being fed. He has had sweet potatoes, carrots, and bananas out of his mesh feeder.
Still no teeth!
He can clap! He likes to clap his hands together and say something that sounds like "yay". He especially likes to do this while I change his diaper...I think he is trying to encourage me ('Yay! My mom finally figured out what's wrong!").
He likes to bounce up and down while sitting. He started doing this in his highchair and now he does it anywhere. We think he is trying to dance.
He still stomps when he gets excited.
He still only says "da daaa daah" and sometimes "babah"...and something that sounds like "yay".
His favorite toys are anything that he can chew on (blocks, stuffed animals, teethers, rattles, etc).
He is very curious about everything around him and wants to touch, taste, and experience everything he sees and hears.

CSA, Week 3

2011-05-25T18:41:00.000-05:00

In today's CSA box we received:

Broccoli
Red Romaine lettuce
Swiss Chard
Mizuna
Radishes
English Peas (and we already opened 1 pod try some raw peas -- delicious)
Spring Onions
2 qt strawberries (1 from the Fruitlover's portion)

All our CSA veggies fit into our new reusable Produce Stand bags I got at Amazon from a company called ChicoBag.

It came with 3 bags and an apple-shaped holder (although I think it looks like a tomato): 1) a cotton/hemp bag for the greens (you moisten it a little before putting the greens inside and then it is supposed to keep them from wilting while not getting soggy either); 2) a bag made from recycled plastic bottles (rePETe) that locks in moisture for the broccoli and peas (this must be the most similar in function to the grocery store plastic produce bags); and 3) a bag that is half mesh and half rePETe for putting in veggies that release ethylene gas, like apples (I put the onions and radishes in there).

Our CSA veggies ready for storage.

I'm looking forward to trying new recipes this week with our veggies. All the vegetables we've eaten have tasted so fresh and delicious -- much better than grocery store veggies! And we are eating new things! Here's a sampling of what we did with last week's produce:

Skillet Supper Pork chops

Skillet Supper Pork chops (pork with cabbage, apples, and bacon): used the cabbage and chives from the spring onions (a recipe from Mary Engelbreit's Queen of the Kitchen cookbook
Beef Bulgogi (from Trader Joe's): used the Swiss chard and asparagus as sides
Salad (for lunch one day): used the kohlrabi, radishes, and lettuce
Tacos: used the remaining lettuce, onions, and radishes (BTW: Trader Joe's sells the best taco seasoning!)
We used the strawberries by just eating fresh berries, having strawberries and cream, and making strawberry shortcake with some delicious brown sugar shortcakes mom bought from Dozen at the Franklin Farmer's Market

We still have the beets and broccoli from last week to use up...I think we will definitely have to make more Broccoli Cheese Soup!

Dinner Tonight: Bulgogi and Chard

2011-05-21T22:27:00.000-05:00

Tonight I used some of our CSA vegetables and something new I found at Trader Joe's: Beef Bulgogi. I always love Trader Joe's marinated meats and I used to like the Bulgogi cart that would come to the NIH campus for special events. While I didn't prepare a traditional Korean meal, it still ended up tasting delicious and we discovered a new way to cook Swiss Chard (I'm honestly not sure if I've even eaten chard before). I steamed the asparagus and cooked the chard (leaves and chopped stems) in olive oil/garlic/crushed red pepper and then added some lemon juice before serving -- a simple recipe I got out of The Joy of Cooking. BTW -- apparently you are supposed to wrap your bulgogi in lettuce leaves but I just mixed some of the chard with the beef and it tasted great. The best part was that everything cooked really quickly -- once things were chopped and ready to go, the cooking time was only about 10 minutes. Now I'm ready for my next CSA vegetable challenge.

Solid Food: First Month = Epic Failure

2011-05-19T13:21:00.005-05:00

Ethan "enjoying" his sweet potatoes this afternoon.

We've been trying to feed Ethan solid food for just over a month now and the results have been awful! Sweet potatoes are the only thing he will eat and he will only eat them sometimes. On a good day, we can get him to eat almost 1 ounce of pureed sweet potatoes. Most days, we are lucky if he gets 2-3 spoonfuls of sweet potatoes down. I try to time his solid-food feedings for when he is awake and not starving (if he's too hungry, all he wants to do is nurse). We try different times of day and different foods. So far he has sampled rice cereal, apples, avocados, bananas, sweet potatoes, and carrots. He likes the rice cereal OK but the sweet potatoes are by far his favorite. The apples were the worst experience (I tried them twice, the first time mashed and the second time pureed). We ended up having to hose off the stroller the second time he tried apples, so we definitely won't be trying those again for a very, very long time. It has been a very frustrating month and it seems that we've wasted a lot of food. Perhaps it is time to take a break from feeding the solids and try starting again in a couple weeks.

This is his "I hope you're finished trying to feed me" look.

CSA, Week 2

2011-05-19T10:39:00.014-05:00

This week we got:

asparagus
broccoli
spring onions
lettuce
cabbage
radishes
Swiss chard
beets
kohlrabi
2 quarts of strawberries (we signed up for the fruitlover's share to get the extra quart)

The kohlrabi (the vegetable we couldn't identify last week).

Now I just have to figure out what to make with all this produce! The strawberries are easy -- they are so delicious Cayne and I have been snacking on them for "dessert" while watching TV after we put Ethan to bed. Last night I found some delicious-sounding beet and kohlrabi recipes in a book Cayne's friends Jono and Anna got us, Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Companion, so we'll have to try those.

Delicious Broccoli Cheese Soup

2011-05-18T15:20:00.005-05:00

A couple of days ago I tried making some broccoli cheese soup using the broccoli we got in our weekly CSA share. I was a little apprehensive because I love broccoli soup and the last time I tried making it (a long, long time ago) the recipe I used (in Joy of Cooking) had a step where you are supposed to puree your soup until smooth. Well, no matter how long I tried pureeing in my food processor, my soup turned out grainy and unappetizing. This time, I looked around online for lots of recipes and found some that call for pureeing and some that don't. I decided to make a non-pureeing recipe, where I would just add the broccoli florets at the end.

My favorite-looking recipe called for putting shredded carrots in the soup too and I figured that if I was buying carrots to shred anyway, I might as well shred and steam extra to make baby food with (our pediatrician recommended shredding the carrots before steaming so that they don't need to steam as long). So, I started off with the carrots and while those were steaming I chopped the broccoli and came to a realization: I was going to be wasting a lot of broccoli stalks if I only used the florets and I figured that the stalks would add good flavor to my soup (after all...there are all those broccoli soup recipes that call for pureeing your soup after putting both florets and stalks into the soup). I decided that pureeing not the entire soup but just the vegetables might help to keep the soup smoother while adding great flavor.

So, after steaming and then pureeing Ethan's carrots, I steamed some broccoli stalks and carrots together and then pureed them with a little chicken stock to add to my soup. The end result was delicious! And since it's a mash-up of a bunch of different recipes, I can call it my own, right? Here's my recipe:

Betsey's Broccoli Cheese Soup

2 medium or 3 small bunches of broccoli

2 cups shredded carrots

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 TBSP butter

1/8 tsp nutmeg

3 cups chicken stock

1 can cheese soup

2 cups shredded cheese (I used Mexican blend but think Sharp Cheddar would be better)

1/4 cup milk

1.5 tsp mustard

1.5 tsp Hot (Hungarian) Paprika

1 tsp Mexican Oregano

1 tsp Basil

salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste

1. Chop the very ends off broccoli stalks. Then cut the broccoli florets off and set aside in a medium bowl. Chop the remaining broccoli stalks into small pieces and put into a steamer basket. Add 1 cup of the shredded carrots to the steamer. Stem broccoli and carrots for approx 10 minutes or until very tender.

2. After broccoli and carrots are tender, put both into a food processor with up to 1/2 cup of chicken stock and puree until smooth. Set aside.

3. In a large pot, melt butter and add chopped onion and nutmeg, cook until onions are transparent.

4. Add remaining chicken stock and the can of cheese soup (if you'd rather not use the cheese soup, add extra milk and cheese later). Add the pureed carrots and broccoli. Stir to mix.

5. Add the mustard, hot paprika, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper.

6. Add remaining cup of shredded carrots and broccoli florets. Heat until bubbling and reduce heat.

7. Add the milk and shredded cheese (save some cheese to sprinkle on top of each serving). Heat for 5-10 minutes on medium-low. Add extra salt and pepper to taste.

8. Serve in soup bowls with a side of bread and sprinkle extra cheese on top of the soup.

This soup tastes great the next day after flavors have had an extra chance to mix!

Our First CSA

2011-05-11T15:23:00.001-05:00

I picked up our first CSA box today from our Doe Run Farm pick-up spot at Maryland Farms. Cayne and I are excited to eat farm-fresh produce without having to try and decide what exactly we should buy. I figured that this way, once a week we'll get a box of fresh veggies and can then decide what to make with them! We did the mini-share -- there's no reason to get too much of a veggie overload our first time trying this out.

This week's box included a pint of strawberries, a cauliflower, 2 broccolis, spring onions, some greens (either kale, swiss chard, or turnip greens), and what I think is a rutabaga. Jamie Oliver would be very disappointed in my lack of ability to positively identify the rutabaga and the greens. However, Cayne and I are going to love eating all these yummy-looking veggies and we are already looking forward to next week when we'll also start getting a box of fruit with our veggies!

Gardening, Take 1

2011-05-10T11:31:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, Cayne put together a 4x4 raised bed garden for us to try to grow some of our own vegetables this summer. I planted seeds last week and we were excited to see some green leaves sprouting through the topsoil so soon! We planted tomatoes, red potatoes, broccoli, cantaloupe, zucchini, lettuce, and carrots. We also have some barrel planters where I've put some herb seeds (oregano, cilantro, basil, rosemary, parsley, and tarragon) -- those haven't sprouted yet though. We hope to have some delicious vegetables to put with our CSA vegetables this summer!

We're going to have to thin our some of these seedlings soon!

Our herb barrels

I also bought a bunch of mulch at Lowe's when it was on sale 4 bags for $10 to finally try to make our front landscaping beds look decent (they've been neglected for a couple of years, I think). Cayne started with trimming some of the shrubs in the front and I finished the job (trying to make the bushes look nice and round -- it's harder than I thought it would be!). Then I weeded and added our new mulch. So far, I've only done one bed -- I'm waiting for Cayne the edge the other ones before adding the mulch with his new birthday present (the Stihl Trimmer)...and I ran into an ant nest while weeding one of the beds so I have to finish that up as well. However, the one bed I did finish (the main one in front of the house) looks awesome compared to how it looked when we moved in! Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the mulch really will keep those weeds down all summer long.

The finished bed.

This makes the house look so much better!

A view of our house from the street.

This is the bed that still needs edging, mulch, and a little more weeding.

A little much will make a big difference here
(and Cayne needs to trim that holly bush -- it's too tall for me!).

Mackenzie is ONE!

2011-05-09T11:31:00.010-05:00

The Wade Family

Our newest niece, Mackenzie, turned 1 on Friday and we got to go to her house to celebrate with her family. It was so much fun! She had the traditional Wade family lambie cake that her Grandma Wade baked and her own special smash cake baked with love by her mom. The birthday cake was Mackenzie's first time having sweets and she LOVED it (following a Wade family tradition of cake lovers, I think)! I didn't get many pictures but here are a few that we took. I'm sure there will be lots more photos posted at Wade's World soon!

Happy First Birthday Mackenzie!!!

Here, Aunt Sarah...try some of this delicious cake my mom made me!

You don't want any? OK, I'll eat it!

Little Koala Bear

2011-05-06T11:44:00.000-05:00

Ethan's aunt Sarah thinks that Ethan is cuddly like a Koala Bear so she got him a little stuffed Koala that he loves playing with.

Cayne's Birthday

2011-05-04T22:42:00.007-05:00

Happy Birthday Cayne!

Some of the family decided to stop by for in impromptu party too (good thing I got a cake)!

Already 6 Months Old!!

2011-04-25T20:56:00.000-05:00

Ethan turned 6 months old today. This year is just flying by. He's not independently mobile yet but I'm sure he will be zipping around the room soon and I'll really be missing these early months of babyhood. He is still a super happy baby and I love seeing him enthralled with the world around him.
Here are some updates:

· He is 27 inches long and weighs 17 pounds, 4 ounces. He has gained exactly 2 pounds since the last time he was weighed (in February) and has grown 1 and a half inches! He is still in the 50th percentile for weight and head size and 70th percentile for length.

· Ethan is still sleeping through the night. He goes to bed between 8:00 and 8:30 and usually sleeps until 7:00-7:30ish.

· He is getting better at napping during the day (probably because he is more active) but no matter how hard I try, I can't get him on a real napping "schedule".

· He tends to roll onto his side to sleep. And he will only stay napping if I lay him in his crib on his side.

· He turns around 180 degrees in his crib during the night, so that his feet are where his head was when we put him to bed. We're not sure exactly how he does this because we never seen him move like this, but it's cute to find him in a new position every morning.

· He went on his first airplane ride to Arizona.

· He went to his first National Park: The Grand Canyon.

· He caught his first cold coming home from Arizona.

· His thighs are so big! They are Thunder Thighs! He looks like a mini rugby player, according to Cayne. Yesterday, we discovered that his thighs are bigger than Mackenzie's. This is good news for her (she is a girl, after all) but it's hilarious that he's so bulky already!

· He likes to play with his cousin, Mackenzie...at Easter he even tried to hold her hand!

· His favorite toy is his jackrabbit puppet. He likes to pet it and put his fingers in the puppet's mouth. His jackrabbit makes him giggle so much, it is adorable!

· He is very good at sitting by himself now. He falls over when he gets excited but for the most part balances himself well.

· He gives hugs and slobbery "kisses". His Aunt Sarah calls him a Koala bear because he is so cuddly.

· He has had his first food: rice cereal. I have also tried giving him pureed apples but he spit them all up. :( We will keep working on getting him used to new tastes.

I love this look.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T21:56:00.048-05:00

Ethan celebrated his First Easter with the Wade family today. He dressed in his Easter best and headed to his Grandma and Grandpa Wade's home for a delicious Easter lunch. His Uncle Russ, Aunt Ashley, and Cousin Mackenzie were there too and he had lots of fun playing with them.

Mackenzie had fun getting both balls, and then sharing Ethan's ball.
He got her pink ball sometimes too!

Where did my cousin go?

We even had a small Easter egg hunt where the babies got to try to find eggs hiding in the trees, bushes, and on the ground. I think Mackenzie did a better job finding eggs than Ethan did! I, however, found a tick on me (yuck!) while helping Ethan find some eggs.

Grandpa helped Ethan find an egg.

I think this might be the first time Ethan sat in the yard.

The Easter Bunny hid these eggs a little high for babies.

Mackenzie had fun too!

Mackenzie found a Magnolia leaf and Ethan found grass!

Grandma helping Ethan.

Grandpa helped Mackenzie too!

A successful hunt!

Sarah and Nathaniel come over once they were finished at work so Ethan got to play with them for a little while before heading home for food and bed.

Before bed, we let Ethan play with his jackrabbit puppet from Tim and Diane Bowden -- he loves his bunny so much we couldn't resist getting a video of his giggles while playing.

Easter Egg Hunt at Kindermusik

2011-04-20T16:31:00.000-05:00

Ethan's Kindermusik class ended with an Easter Egg Hunt this morning and he ended up enjoying it more than I thought he would. Miss Amy told the Easter Bunny to hide eggs all over the courtyard and we went out with the babies to find what we could. I was holding Ethan (of course) as we walked around looking for eggs. Granted, Ethan really just wanted to see everything in the courtyard and grab a hold of some of the plants but he did actually see and try to pick up one egg I held him in front of that was balancing on the leaves of a small bush. I "helped" him find a few more before we went back inside to play with our eggs.

Ethan loved playing with all the plastic eggs and his basket inside -- eggs were rolling everywhere and shaking and being dumped out. All the babies had fun with their new treasure! Findley's mom, Donna, also brought everyone a pop-up Easter book and Ethan had fun playing with the book too. We had so much fun that Ethan didn't want to leave, so I let him play with his Easter Eggs again when we got home. I guess it's time for him to enjoy "fill n' spill" games.

Meeting the Easter Bunny!

2011-04-19T22:31:00.002-05:00

Today, Ethan and I went with his Grandma Wade to meet the Easter Bunny at the Coolsprings Galleria. Since we were able to go during the middle of the day, there wasn't a wait, which was good, because we had lots of time to try to make Ethan smile for the camera (something I have a hard time doing sometimes). Unlike with Santa Claus, Ethan was wide awake for this adventure and was giving smiles to everyone before I introduced him to the Easter Bunny. He was happy to see the Easter Bunny, but when it came time to "smile for the camera" he was much more interested in looking around...he was so mesmerized by the Easter egg trees and other decorations that he didn't smile at all -- he just wanted to take everything in. We ended up with a cute bright-eyed photo anyway!! I'm sure the Easter Bunny will bring him some fun treats on Sunday!