Overheard -- the sweetest of words to parents of toddlers

Today for the FIRST time --

Nessa: "I have to go pee!"

The parents out there know how exciting this is ... she has been going on the potty for a long time, but today is the first time she has told us (or daycare) that she has to go before she starts going ... and she told us more than once!!!! Woo Hoo we're on our way!

Woo Hoo, Veggie night a hit!

Well, OK, Nessa pretty much only ate applesauce, but that could happen no matter what else we serve. Shawn, on the other hand even took seconds -- and those that know him know that he was naturally more than a little nervous about "veggie night." :-)

A couple of weeks ago we decided Tuesday nights would become veggie night since it's generally a good night for me to cook. The idea of veggie night was also appealing because we're trying to cut back on our out of control grocery expenses and I thought one of the easiest ways would be to eat less meat (especially since we like the good stuff when we eat meat). When Shawn agreed to try a night w/out meat once a week I figured he was just trying to make sure I would cook supper at least once a week. :-)

Last night was the first night (we were sick last Tuesday). And today I'm enjoying yummy leftovers of:

• Apple Burgers (yum! http://www.theveggietable.com/recipes/appleburgers.html)
• Quinoa and Spinach pilaf (http://www.incaorganics.com/Entree&Side.htm) -- YES Shawn took seconds AND it did indeed have spinach in it ... I did modify this a bit by using some balsamic vinegar instead of just the rice vinegar and I think that really gave it more zing and is flavor we prefer.
• Rosemary roasted potatoes (http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1850,144168-239193,00.html -- that recipe is pretty close but I didn't have that much garlic yesterday) This was the safe bet so that Shawn would at least eat something. :-)
• And then of course the applesauce so that Nessa would at least eat something. :-)

Why did I choose those recipes? Well, first and most importantly -- I had the ingredients or enough that it would be close enough (recipes are just suggestions, right?) -- I was determined not to have to run to the store (hence no salad w/ it as we were out of fresh greens and we always have that on other nights anyway), and I also wanted things that I thought had a chance of being enjoyed while being somewhat new and different. Shawn said he didn't want to know ingredients until after he said if he liked it or not. :-)

You may notice there really weren't that many vegetables in our veggie meal. Oh well, it's a start. And if you have any gluten free (or easily adaptable as the apple burgers were) vegan* recipes to share, please do! :-)

Happy End of November!

*I simply use vegan because it's the easiest way to find recipes that have no egg or dairy which I'm allergic to.

Time to decorate!

Megan decorated much of the tree while Nessa was sleeping. Or rather, Megan put all of her favorite ornaments on the Christmas tree while Nessa was sleeping. Then when Nessa woke up from her nap she was very excited to see the tree and put almost all of the rest of ornaments on the tree all by herself!

IF you look closely you'll either love that this tree was decorated by a two year old ... or not. :-)

The only problem so far -- one day in to having the tree up (in the Great room) -- is that Nessa wants to KEEP decorating. She keeps asking for more and more ornaments to put on the tree.

We also put up Christmas window clings and listened to Christmas carols. :-)

Overheard

Nessa, upon wandering into the Great Room after waking up from her nap:

"It's the Christmas tree! And the socks!"

Nessa sees Santa at the Holiday Fair

Halloween 2007 pictures

Finally -- here are the Halloween pictures:

If you haven't hear yet, can you tell who Megan and Nessa are dressed up as?

Megan really, really wanted to be Laura Ingalls ... so we found a place to get a dress, apron and bonnet made and then decided to get one for Nessa too. I hope they'll use them a lot to dress up in as well as for Halloween. :-)

Both girls went with us to Shawn's office for some indoor trick or treating (cube to cube is SO much more effecient than house to house!). After that I took Megan back to La Crescent so she could go out with her friends later, and Shawn took Nessa home and then out to trick-or-treat around our neighborhood. (I went to yoga!)

Nessa also dressed up at daycare and they went over to the church and paraded for everyone at chuch, including the quilting groupl. I was told that Nessa costume was very recognizable to the ladies at church. :-)

You can see a few more picts in my Picasa album:

Halloween 2007

We're home ... and just checking in

Just a quick note since I'm not positive when I'll have time for the kind of post this past weekend deserves. I hope to at least upload photos tonight, but beyond that it may be this weekend and since Saturday is November 10th (Emily's birth day) I may have my mind on other things.

In short it was a WONDERFUL weekend and the extra couple of days Shawn, Nessa and I took in the Dells (and Madison on Tuesday) was also wonderful and well worth the effort.

We stayed at Christmas Mountain thanks to mom and dads timeshare (very nice). Over the weekend we spent much of our time at Chula Vista (where much of the rest of the Groth gang was staying) celebrating my parents 40th Wedding Anniversery (this really does truly deserve a post all of its own). On Monday we explored the WI Dells area (and tried to stay dry with the rain/snow (yes I said snow) happening). And, on Tuesday we headed to Madison for a bit of shopping and a stop at the zoo ... much fun. Of course the great food every day deserves more details too .... Mmmm ...

Below is a quick photo from Judy that shows Nessa at the top of one of the water slides in the "kiddie pool" area of the Chula Vista indoor water park ... this is the closest Nessa came to actually sliding down a water slide. :-)

Nessa is on the left and Charlotte is on the right. I ended up going to get Nessa eventually although I hesitated thinking if given time she might go down (hey, I hadn't been able to get her even that far on my own ... she went up with Charlotte). (Note: low res image)

OK, back to attempting to catch up with the back log that happens with not only a couple of days off of work but 5 days offline! :-)

This IS only a test

Formatting was only so-so from my gmail account (and sorry for the Fwd: on there ... long story). So, I'm seeing if it works from my work account ... because you know I have nothing to do when I eat lunch at my desk (and if you believe that) ...

Tami Groth

Technical Writer

La Crosse Management Systems, Inc.

http://www.lacrossesoftware.com/