Show Us Where You Live Friday

Kelly over at Kelly's Korner is hosting a Kitchen Edition of Show Us Where You Live Friday.

My kitchen is what I call a two butt kitchen. It's not very big, but I like it. This is the eat in area. I love my bistro table. We got this the first year we were married...it was out on our deck at our first apartment. This picture was taken awhile ago. The only thing that's really changed is the ironing board isn't there anymore it's out on the porch now.

We got our kitchen cabinets from Lowes. I love dark wood. I found the island online at Target and my friend gave me her old pot rack. I've always wanted a kitchen with a pot rack.


Like I said these pictures are old so there is a bunch of stuff on the counters now that wasn't there then....like canisters, mail, a knife block. I just noticed my red Sharps container on the counter so these pictures must have been taken when I was going through IVF.

When we bought the house we knew we were going to redo the kitchen. It was absolutely disgusting. The kitchen used to be shaped like a big L, we decided to redesign it so it's more like a J now.

The old kitchen had this awful old wallpaper and the cabinets were lined with indoor/outdoor carpet. There was NO WAY I was going to put my dishes in them. We also ended bring all our appliances from the condo.

The only thing we salvaged was the flooring. Michael took it up and put it in the full bathroom upstairs. The door with the shelves is my pantry under the stairs. I don't know what I would do with out it since I'm a huge fan of Costco.

I scraped wallpaper off for hours. There is where the original doorway was into the dining room.


It just made more sense to move the doorway and since Michael is so handy he did just that.



Here is what my kitchen looked like for 3 weeks after we moved in. We were using paper or plastic everything and eating out a lot. I was so happy to have a home cooked meal.

Thanks for visiting my kitchen!

Product Review

I saw a commercial on TV about this new Outdoor Windex and they said you could get a coupon if you went to their website. The coupon is still available. I bought it at Wal-Mart and just used it for the first time tonight. It was so easy!!! And it worked just as good as I was hoping it would. I was going to pay a family friend $275 to clean all our windows inside and out, but now I'm just going to do them myself. I know it will take me longer, but it will definitely save me some money and Owen liked helping me clean the inside windows. I wish I had taken a before picture...my windows were filthy. They look so great now!!!

Surfs Up...Dude...I mean Elmo!

I'm sorry I just couldn't resist! Owen's been doing so good with potty training and his Elmo undies are so adorable. He actually looks funny in diapers now (we still put him in a diaper at night). Today he didn't have any accidents and he even told me he had to go potty instead of me just taking him every 40 minutes or so. He really is a big boy now!

Play-Doh

Ever since Ga-Ga got Owen Play-Doh in his Easter basket he's been hooked. So last week I took my $10 gift certificate I had for Kohl's and got Owen a cute Play-Doh set that included two containers of Play-Doh, a rolling pin, shape cutters, scissors, a play knife and other toys. Owen has wanted to play with it everyday day. Of course his favorite thing to do is destroy the masterpieces that you make.

Like Michael's Play-Doh man that took him forever to make. It only took Owen 2.5 seconds to destroy it.

While the big boys were making and destroying Play-Doh creations, Jack was having fun chewing on the Play-Doh toys, but soon he got tired of being confined to the highchair and he started throwing a temper tantrum. He's even cute doing that!

One Bite For You, One Bite For Me

After Owen and Jack woke up from their naps on Satuday, I let Owen have a choice between a cheese stick or yogurt for his snack. He chose the yogurt and Jack really wanted to have some too. I thought it might be funny to see if Owen would actually feed Jack. When Owen drops a little yogurt toward the end of the video I say, "Drip...Mama will have to clean that up later" and Owen says, "Keen up"!

Potty Time

This picture pretty much sums up what Owen did all day.

Owen wore his Elmo undies all day long. He watched his Elmo Potty DVD 4 times! It's a total hit...thanks Uncle Ryan. He went pee pee 12 times and only had 4 accidents. Still no poo poo in the potty, but tomorrow is another day. I'm so proud of my big boy!

This baby boy...

Isn't going to have any problems going from breastfeeding straight to the sippy cup. Especially if the sippy cup is full of iced tea.

A Temporary Addition

From Friday night to Sunday morning Michael and I watched our niece Samantha while her parents went on a mini vacation. It was fun and quite exhausting having 3 kids in the house under 3. Plus Michael ended up having to work all day so it was just me for most of the day. Now I'm the one that needs a mini vacation.

For the most part Samantha did great. She loves to love on Jack, but she's a little rough sometimes so she heard the word "no" a few times. Owen was actually the one that had the hardest time. He's a very routine kid and this just was way out of the norm for him. He's also not into sharing his toys right now so that made it rough. Owen did lovingly start referring to Samantha as "Mantha". He would point to her chair and say, "Mantha chair" or her sippy and say, "Mantha sippy".

What's for dinner?

I know that I personal have gotten myself into a rut when it comes to cooking dinner. Thankfully I have a husband who loves to try new things and experiment with food. This got me thinking that other people who read my blog might be going through the same thing...so I thought it might be fun to share recipes every once in a while in order to expand our horizons when it comes to food. That and it's always fun to share a favorite recipe with others. So with that said I would like to share this recipe for Chicken Fricassee. It's found on page 398 of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. Michael just made it tonight for the first time and it was definitely a restaurant worthy dinner. It only took about an hour for him to make it from start to finish and I'm sure now that he's made it once it won't take as much time to make it the second time around.

Chicken Fricassee Ingredients:

1/4 cup of flour

1 tsp paprika (Michael used twice this amount)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

3 chicken breasts

1 tbsp oil

1 cup of halves fresh mushrooms (we didn't have fresh so we used canned)

1/3 cup chopped green or red peppers (we used yellow peppers)

1/3 cup sliced green onions (we used white onion)

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 tsp dried basil (we used thyme)

1/4 cup milk

1 tbsp of flour

Cooking Directions:

1. In a plastic or paper bag combine 1/4 cup of flour, paprika, salt and pepper and set aside.

2. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Add chicken to bag and shake to coat.

3. In a 12 inch skillet cook chicken in hot oil over medium heat about 10 mins or till lightly browned, turning to brown evenly (add more oil if necessary). Remove chicken and set aside, Drain fat, reserving 2 tbsp of the drippings in skillet.

4. Add mushrooms, sweet peppers and onions to skillet. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth and basil (or thyme). Bringing to a boil, scraping up browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Return chicken to the skillet. Bring to a boil, reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 35 - 40 minutes. (Michael had to add more water, but I think it's because he was boiling it a little too fast so boil it on a really low temperature). Once chicken is no longer pink transfer chicken and veggies to a serving platter.

5. Skim fat from pan juices, measure 1/4 cup of the pan juices and return to the skillet. Stir milk into the 1 tbsp flour, stir into pan juices. Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 1 min more.

6. Spoon some of the sauce over chicken and serve.

Now it's your turn...first share one of your favorite recipes on your blog and then come back and use Mr. Linky to link that post to my blog that way everyone can enjoy your recipe as well. If you don't have a blog feel free to leave your favorite recipe in the comment section instead. Happy Cooking!

It's Truck Weather

Since it's been nice out lately I've been able to take the boys outside at Ga-Ga & Pa's house so they can play with the truck sandbox. We haven't actually played with the sandbox part yet just the truck.

This is the second time I've put Jack in the driver seat. The first time it wasn't pretty....Owen was quite jealous!

Jack is such a cute shorty he's barely sitting on the seat.


As promised last year in this post....here is the very clever V8 (Low Sodium V8 at that) engine that Dad build for the truck. It's safely stored inside the hood of the truck.

Growing Boys!

Last Wednesday Kim and Andy came over for a play date. We had a nice lunch together and the boys got to play for a while. It's so cool to see how much they've grown since we first started taking pictures of them together. They are all over the place and I'm sure in the next month or so they'll both be walking. Watch out world!

Micah and Kim have our old glass coffee table and Kim said that Andy does this at their house too. He's not quite sure why he can't stand up under there. Too cute!

Fav 8's

I've been tagged by Nikki from Aunt of 14 list my favs.

Here's the rules--mention the person that tagged you. Complete the lists of 8's. Tag 8 of your wonderful blogger friends. Go tell them you tagged them!

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To:

1 - Michael and I going to San Francisco in May.
2 - Michael getting home today...I hate it when he works on a Saturday.
3 - Jack walking.
4 - The average temperature being over 65 degrees on a daily basis.
5 - My mom retiring...if my dad will ever let her. :)
6 - Possibly going to Disneyland later this year.
7 - Getting 8 hours of sleep every night.
8 - Mill Creek Garage Sales next Saturday.

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

1 - Swiffered
2 - Cooked
3 - Nursed Jack
4 - Took a shower
5 - Hung out with Jen
6 - Blogged
7 - Did the dished
8 - Laughed

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1 - Have the motivation and coordination to be good at a sport.
2 - Learn the skills of photography.
3 - Speak another language fluently.
4 - Have more patience.
5 - Garden and grow things instead of kill them. (Steph you seriously have your work cut out for you)
6 - Travel more.
7 - Read more...I was doing good, but after the Twilight Series I lost my motivation.
8 - Shop everyday.

8 Shows I Watch:

1 - House (Only the reruns on USA though)
2 - Survivor
3 - Biggest Loser
4 - Ghost Whisperer
5 - Designed to Sell
6 - Design on a Dime
7 - Wheel of Fortune
8 - Jeopardy

Okay I know I'm going to get made fun of for the last two but that's what we watch the last hour before the boys go to bed. It's certainly family friendly TV and Owen loves seeing the letters and I sometimes feel smarter or dumber watching Jeopardy depending on whether or not I know the answers.

Whenever I tag people no one does it so I'm just going to leave it open. If you'd like to list your Fav 8's on your blog more power to you. Comment on this post though so I can check them out.

Random Picture Challenge

Today Brittany challenged us to go all the way back to 2002. Unfortunately I didn't get a digital camera until 2005 so this will have to do.

For our 6th wedding anniversary Michael and I decided to be tourist around Seattle. Even though we live here we don't do a bunch of the tourist stuff. So we bought a City Pass and hit most of the attractions. The day we went to The Aquarium we went to The Crab Pot down on the pier. If you've never been is was strangely fun. The table is covered in paper then they give you those lovely bibs to wear and a mallet. They bring your food in one big pot and dump it in the middle of the table. At first I was totally taken aback by this, but then you realize that everyone is eating like that and you forget all about looking like a barbarian and enjoy your food.

Side note: Thank goodness my style has changed. I still own that shirt, but my hair look so much better now. I'm sure in 5 years I'll say the exact same thing about my hair style now though. Funny how that works!

Owen Speak

Owen knows the difference between red, blue and yellow. Sometimes he knows orange too.

He finally started saying "one"! It's a breakthrough. He used to refuse to say one he always started with two instead.

Owen is started to act and his favorite thing to pretend to do is fall down. He falls down and then gets up and says, "I fall".

Owen knows how to make the sound that a motorcycle does. He lifts is hands up like he's holding the handle bars and goes "vroom vroom."

Owen has a book that's call Yummy & Yellow. It's a book about Winnie the Pooh and how he's looking for something that's yummy and yellow. It's all about teaching the different colors. Well a few weeks ago Owen asked for this book by saying, "Yummy Pooh!"

Owen loves to point to the different chairs at the dining room table and in the car and say, "Daddy Chair, Pa Chair, GG Chair, Ga-Ga Chair, Jack Jack Chair and Mama Chair". He's correct when he points to the chairs too. He remembers where everyone sits. In the car he points to the passenger seat and says "Daddy Chair"....ha you know who does most of the driving around here. :)

We've been teaching Owen that he has to clean up his mess even if it was an accident. We don't want him to think that he can just make a mess and not be responsible for cleaning it up. Of course we help him and don't expect it to be perfect...he is only 2 years old, but still we like to teach him that everyone has a job to do. So from learning this he's learned two new words...job and mess. He's says them perfectly. It's funny when Jack drops something on the floor Owen will point and say "mess".

My hands are always cold in the morning so when I change Owen's diaper he holds his arms tight at his sides because he knows I have to touch him and it's "coeg" = cold.

Since Owen has been saying his name a lot lately he's been talking about himself in the third person. He'll say things like, "Owen's juice" or "Owen's car". It's fun to hear him take ownership of things he knows are his.

The other day the boys and I ran out to Payless Shoes because they were having a good sale. Since the store was a stand alone store and wasn't in a mall I decided to just have Owen walk and I carried Jack. While I was looking for shoes for Michael, Owen was running up to all the mirrors and looking right at himself and yelling, "Owen!" He seriously was surprised each time he saw himself in a different mirror.

Owen repeats just about everything we say now. Here are some other words he says remarkable well...

Manny - This is for Handy Manny on Playhouse Disney

Truck - He really says it well and it doesn't come out sounding bad.

Fork - He did try to say fork this morning and it did not come out sound right the first time, but I just over enunciated it and he got it the next time.

Chicken - He will only eat chicken and sausage and tuna if it's in a casserole. He will not eat beef yet.

Mommy's Day Out and The Boys Day with Daddy

Last Christmas part of my present from my Mom was to have a whole day with her where she paid for the meals. Last Saturday was the day I chose to redeem my gift. We started out at Dave's Diner in Sea-Tac and then headed over to Value Village in Burien where I got some great finds. We had lunch at The Secret Garden Teahouse. If you have ever been interested in going to a tea house I would definitely suggest going to this one. The service is great, the food is excellent, atmosphere is perfect and the price is right. After that it was onto more shopping. We were going to have dinner at Spiros in Kent, but we ended up have dinner at Burger King instead because we ran out of time and we weren't that hungry since lunch was so filling. While Mom and I were having so much fun the boys were having a grand old time with Daddy too. When I got home Michael showed me the following pictures and told about the fun they had. I was so happy that I wasn't the only one that had a terrific day. I sure hope the boys know what a great Dad they have.

Here's what Michael told me happened during their boy day together. First Michael made a wonderful ham, potato, onion and cheese breakfast. It was wonderful! I almost thought about eating in rather than out. After that all the boys took a shower together. This was only the second time Jack has been in the shower and Michael said he actually enjoyed it. After the boys naps they headed out to go play mini golf. This totally shocked me that Michael would do this. I don't even think I would try to do this with the boys by myself. Captain Jack's mini golf in downtown Kent was having a Pro Show so everything was free until 3pm. Luckily Michael and the boys got there at 2:54pm. Michael said that most everyone thought it was hilarious that he was there golfing with two kids.

At first Owen was trying to hit the ball like Daddy, but then he decided it would be easier to just throw the ball and then he just started putting the ball in the hole.

Michael said that he would just pick up Jack and move him along and he would just sit right where Michael put him until it was time to move to the next hole.

Owen made it to hole 9 and then it was all over. Thankfully Michael didn't have to pay so it was no big deal that they needed to leave early.

After golfing Michael took the boys to Dairy Queen. Of course that was hit...who doesn't like ice cream. Michael said after the first bite Jack was just yelling for more.

All in all everyone had a great day and I survived! Being gone so long from the boys was definitely a test for me since Michael and I will be gone for almost 3 days next month. I did way better than I thought I would. As long as I was busy I was fine. I loved being with my Mom the whole day...it was the best gift ever. Thanks Mom, I love you!

Superman

Boys can be so fun! Owen just started going down the slide this way. I love that the nice weather is here so we can go outside now. Owen asks to go outside and, "Pay" all the time. It makes we wonder how on earth we survived only playing indoors for the last few months. Thank goodness spring is here!!!

Walking With Assistance

On Friday April 10th we stood Jack up to see if he would walk with the help of his walker. We had tried before, but he would get scarred, but this time around he just took off. As you can see Owen was not happy with Jack using this particular toy. He kept saying, "I walk"! Owen always goes through an adjustment time when Jack starts playing with a new toy. Eventually he gets to the point where he doesn't care if Jack plays with it or not.

Show Off!

The other night I was cleaning out the van and Michael was weeding the yard with Owen's help. Jack decided to crawl over to the slide and play by himself. He didn't know I was taking this picture...of course he's putting a rock in his mouth.

He caught me!

Hey mom!!!


Love those baby blues!

I Wanna Soak Up The Sun!

The weather was perfect today and we had nothing planned...that is until my girl friend Lori emailed me that she was heading to Seahurst Park in Burien. I was all over that...I even woke up Jack from his nap to get down there. As you can see in the background of this picture I brought the double stroller with me. NEVER AGAIN! Pushing that thing through the sand is like trying to run underwater. It doesn't work! Next time I'm going to put the boys in the ATV wagon instead.

Here's my friend Lori in her totally cute sun hat and another friend Carmen and her daughter Alysha. Carmen is pregnant and will find out if she's having a boy or a girl this Wednesday. I can't wait to know.

Here are Lori's girls...Izze and Abby. Until recently Izze has been in the same nursery class at church with Owen and they really enjoy spending time together. In fact Lori and I joke that they are courting. Izze's an older woman, but I'm cool with that. :)

Look at that cute shirtless kid!! See the Olympics in the background. Gorgeous!!!

Izze and Owen had a great time climbing over the drift wood and digging in the sand.



Later on I pulled out the bubbles and they were a great hit until they got dropped in sand and didn't really work much after that.

Jack did great at the beach. It's crazy how much more relaxed you are with the second child. I remember taking Owen to the beach and I was freak about the sand. I didn't want him to eat it and I kept trying to brush him off and keep him clean. What a freak! Now I just let them get dirty and clean it up at the end...mush easier.

Of course Jack did have to taste every rock within reach and he crawled around in the sand and got all dirty. It was great!

What a beautiful baby boy!

Owen threw sand EVERYWHERE! There was sand in places there never should be. I joked that Owen now knows what it's like to be exfoliated down there. Poor guy!

I wish everyone could have enjoyed putting there feet in the sand today. If you didn't get too...take a vacation day tomorrow or call in sick (I won't tell) get yourself to the beach and soak up some sun!

Not too much though...

I put sunscreen on Owen, but his diaper moved down and this happened. It's his first sunburn and I feel awful. It doesn't seem to be bothering him, but we put some Aloe Vera on it so hopefully that will keep it from hurting.