Muffin Tin Monday, Christmas Recap

First, here is our weekly Muffin Tin:



Ok, the photo won't rotate for me, tried it 3x and it comes up sideways. Anyway, he had turkey meatballs with cheddar cheese, apple cobbler yogurt with sprinkles, Annie's cheddar bunnies, watermelon and canteloupe.

Christmas Recap:

I think a toy store exploded in our living room. :) Connor got tons of toys and clothes. He did well with opening everything. He had fun playing with his cousins and eating lots of food :)

2010 Christmas Letter

Greeting Family and Friends!

This year, I am taking the lead from a few friends and posting our annual Christmas Letter online. We are not sending Christmas cards this year. Postage is expensive and we could never seem to all be in the same place, at the same time, dressed nicely, for someone to take a picture of us.

Connor's had a big year. He turned 1 in April and we celebrated with a big party. He started walking soon after and I don't think he's sat down since. This kid is constantly on the move! He talks really well for a 20-month old. Jon calls him the "walking tape recorder". He knows most of his body parts and we are working on colors and numbers. He loves books and "reads" to me often.

If you read this blog, you know that we have been doing something fun called "Muffin Tin Monday". Every Monday (or whatever day you choose), you serve a meal in a muffin tin. We have a fun green silicone star-shaped tin. It's neat, something different. Connor sure likes it! We have also been going to a place called Bellaboo's. Bellaboo's is a play and discovery center for kids. They have different themed rooms. Connor has a blast every time we go.

In May, Jon and I celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary. We spend the weekend away at Key Lime Cove Indoor Waterpark Resort in Gurnee, IL. It was a lot of fun! We hope to go back sometime and take Connor with.

I am still a stay-at-home-mom. I wouldn't trade it for anything. In November, I celebrated one year with Tupperware. I am taking a bit of a break right now, but hope to resume doing parties in January. I have met some wonderful people and love doing parties.

Jon is enjoying his job with Tredroc Tire. He's been busy traveling all over Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin to the various locations taking care of the computer systems.

All of our pets are doing well. The dog, Madison, is kept busy playing with Connor. She takes a nap when he does to recharge :) The horses, Kobe and Raja, are good. We are trying something new this year with the water tank. Following online plans, we've built an insulated box and are not using a tank heater. So far, it's done well with our weather. Ice does still form, but it's easy to break through. Cocoa, the bunny, is enjoying a new cage set up. She has a puppy pen with vinyl wrapped plywood underneath. We have added a shelf for her to jump up and down. She's frequently on it all stretched out.

We hope you are all doing well. If you have not visited our blog before, please feel free to look around and check back often. I update it at least once a week.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,

Jon, Jennifer and Connor

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ~Norman Vincent Peale

Wordless Wednesday - First Santa Pic

See more Wordless Wednesday here!

Ah-choo!

No Muffin Tin this week. Momma's been sick! Luckily, I am feeling mostly better and it doesn't appear that Connor caught it.

On Saturday, we met with Jon's sister, mom, grandma and our niece and went to Breakfast with Santa. We did not do Santa last year. Connor was not pleased. He kindly let Santa know that they are not friends by yelling, flailing and acting hysterical when placed on Santa's lap. It's a classic first Santa pic. Once Jon gets the scanner hooked up, I will post it. In his defense, they gave us tickets to call us up, and when our numbers were called, he was in the middle of eating. Now Connor loves to eat, and does not like to be taken away from it. :)

This weekend, I am making Christmas cookies. I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner. I haven't even mailed cards yet! Oh, back to cookies. I am making peanut butter, pumpkin, chocolate chip, mint chocolate chip, chocolate thumbprints and oatmeal butterscotch. I plan on putting some dough in the freezer for later use, but we'll see if that happens or not!

Muffin Tin Monday....er... Thursday

Ok, so things have been busy this week... We've been gone every day except for today. Which is why you have multiple posts in one day :)

Here is the Muffin Tin I did for Connor's breakfast this morning. Christmas tree toast with peanut butter, snowman toast with marshmallow fluff, Sugar Cookie yogurt, and a "holly" cheese stick.

I picked up a set of Wilton Edible Food markers a month or so ago and hadn't brought them out yet. Did you know they are supposed to be refridgerated after opening? Now I have markers in my fridge...

Oh, and if you didn't see it earlier today, the fun flavored yogurt (pumpkin pie, sugar cookie, etc) is from Archer Farms, one of Target's brands. Don't let the "low fat" and "fat free" sway you away from them... they are quite good!

See more Muffin Tins here

Wordless Wednesday (on Thursday)

Connor saying Hi to Raja

Our riding path

And for those who asked, the fun flavored yogurt in last week's post comes from Target :) It's their Archer Farms brand.

See more Wordless Wednesday here!

Visit to Great-Grandma's

Yesterday, we visited my Grandma J, Uncle Roy and Mom. Connor likes to explore new places :)

Grandma should not have let Connor play with her camera... now he wants to play with mine.




Me, Connor and Grandma/Great-Grandma

Uncle Roy showing Connor a real camera :)

Connor has a thing about phones... he had never played with a corded phone before. I think he sat there with it for at least half an hour. We had to unplug it so he didn't accidently call someone...

Wordless Wednesday - or not

Forgot to post my Muffin Tin Monday, so here it is as my "wordless" Wednesday.



Eggy bread, apple slices, pumpkin yogurt w/ sprinkles

See more Muffin Tin Monday here!

See more Wordless Wednesday here!

Muffin Tin Monday, a few days late

Ok, so we did Muffin Tin Monday on Thursday since the theme was Thanksgiving.

I don't know why the picture is sideways, but it won't let me fix it. So we had crescent rolls, sweet potatoes w/ marshmallows, stuffing, honey glazed carrots, turkey and cranberry sauce. Connor went right for the cranberry sauce and didn't eat much else. He did better later on with the leftovers :)

See more Muffin Tin Monday here!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tupperware Black Friday Sale!

Ok, every now and then I have to post a bit about my Tupperware business. :)

Tupperware is offering internet customers FREE SHIPPING Friday Nov 26 - Monday Nov 29 on orders of $75 or more!!



Click here to Shop On Your Seat, Not On Your Feet!!

Did you know the Shape-O-Toy is still around? It makes a great gift! Connor loves his! We have awesome kids sandwich keepers and tumblers too!

No Muffin Tin Today

This week's Muffin Tin Monday's theme is "Thanksgiving". Since we are having Thanksgiving here, we have nothing ready yet :) I will post a Muffin Tin on Thursday. I am actually going to do a Tin for lunch, but it won't be anything "special". Although, Connor does love his tins :)

Completely Forgot

I completely forgot about Wordless Wednesday yesterday. Jon's grandma recently passed and it was her funeral. She was 94. I never got to know her. She had Alzheimer's already when we met. From what they said, it sounds like she was a pretty neat person to know. RIP Sarah.

Ok, on a lighter note, my mom reminded me that Thanksgiving is next week. ??? Where did November go?? I can't believe it's already half over. I need to get into super-cleaning mode so the house is ready. I hate cleaning...

I've gotten into doing my nails lately. I love OPI lacquer and found their Facebook page. They are doing a water marbling contest right now. I have no desire to enter it, mine aren't nearly good enough. But it's fun to play with. Here is my second attempt:



I still had some clean up to do, and the camera didn't pick up the sparkle. The colors are brighter in person too.

Updates :)

(Connor snuggling with Jon before he left on a business trip.)

First things first, I won a Baltic Amber necklace from Inspired By Finn on Mom's Crafty Space! Yay! Can't wait to get it. I somehow injured my wrist when I was pregnant with Connor (so 2 years ago). The barn door was frozen at the bottom and I really had to yank on it to get it open. So doing that 2x/day till Jon shaved off part of the door really did some damage. The doctor wouldn't x-ray it because I was pregnant, and I never went back to get it looked at. Every now and then, when I overuse it, it hurts. A lot. I wonder if I dislocated something in there. Anyway, Baltic Amber is supposed to help with aches, pains, headaches, teething pain, etc. I will post a pic once I get it, and if it does help, maybe see about hosting a giveaway here. That's something I'd like to do anyway, just not sure if I have enough readers.

My mom told me she was coming out on Thursday next week. I asked her, "What's going on Thursday?" Um, yeah, Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK! How did that happen? November is half over, and Connor's almost 19 months old. Where does the time go?



Our local Target now has a grocery section. I really like their Archer Farms yogurts. The Honey Almond is really good. Fat Free/Low Fat actually tastes good, not like some other brands. Here are their Holiday flavors:

Pumpkin Pie, Cranberry Cheesecake, Apple Cobbler, Sugar Cookie, Vanilla Maple, Egg Nog

Oh, I almost forgot. We had our first snow last week! And then a few days of 60's... Gotta love the Midwest. Here is Connor checking out snow for the first time. (Last winter doesn't really count, he was too young to get into it.)



(Yes, we have to carry a stick every time we play outside. Goodness knows we have plenty around here!)

Muffin Tin Monday - Food Pyramid

Ok... so "Food Pyramid" theme... I had a Tupperware convention this weekend, Jon was out of town yesterday, so wasn't thinking in advance for this. Here's what I threw together:



Top L-R: Peanut butter "dog bone" toast, apples & blueberries sauce (leftover Gerber jar I found in the pantry)
Bottom L-R: Green beans, peach yogurt, whole wheat Goldfish/Annie's Cheddar Bunnies

See more Muffin Tins here!

Muffin Tin Monday - No Theme

We did a Muffin Tin Lunch today.



Top L-R: chicken nuggets, cheese stick, chicken nuggets
Bottom L-R: chocolate chip Teddy Grahams, cherry pomegranate yogurt with sprinkles, chocolate chip Teddy Grahams

Check out the other Muffin Tin Monday entries!

Oh, and check out our morning backyard visitors! They are after all the acorns by the tree house.

Not Ready For Winter

It is starting to get colder here in Northwest Indiana. One of my friends in Elkhart got snow last night. Soooo not ready for snow. We've had a few nights in the low 30's. So far, no ice on our horse water tank.

My Wordless Wednesday picture this week was the "ghost mist" as I call it over our neighbor's corn field Monday morning. It happens now and then and always looks so neat. I'm glad you all enjoyed seeing it.

Connor has been keeping busy. He keeps trying to crawl over the barrier into Cocoa's room/my office. He enjoys emptying his Tupperware cabinet all over the kitchen (pic coming soon). He's recently discovered "Dinosaur Train" on PBS. He really doesn't watch much tv, but I do occassionally put on a cartoon for him.

He is talking more and more... it seems like he tries/learns new words every day. Now he's coming up to you, babbles on and on, and looks for an answer. Um... ok? And he looks quite disappointed when you don't give what he considers and appropriate response :)

Wordless Wednesday

See more Wordless Wednesday entries here!

Muffin Tin Monday - Trees, Leaves and Harvest

It's Muffin Tin Monday again! This time, the theme is Trees, Leaves and Harvest.

Top L-R: Grilled cheese (if you can see it, there are leaves stamped on the bread), chicken

Bottom L-R: Annie's Bunny Grahams, peach yogurt

No trees, no real "harvest", but it works for us.

And yes, he did dip the grilled cheese in the peach yogurt...

See other Muffin Tin Monday meals here!

Halloween 2010!

First, we went to a friend's wedding. Connor laid on Jon the whole time, clutching a cracker, and humming to the music.





Then we went to Jon's sister's house to go trick-or-treating with her and our niece. Connor was a dragon, Katie was a princess.







Of course, I had to make a cake:

Muffin Tin Monday - Halloween

Not bad for my second time doing this!

Top L-R - jack-o-lantern (bologna & cheese) sandwich, diced peaches, sugar cookie
Bottom L-R - Archer Farms honey almond yogurt w/ sprinkles, ghost bread

And what do you think was eaten first? Right. The cookie.

See other Muffin Tin Monday Halloween Theme pics here!

Trip to Michaels

Yesterday, my mom, Connor and I make a quick trip to Michaels. I thought I had a silicone muffin tin in the basement, but I can't find it. We moved here 4 years ago and still haven't unpacked everything... yeah I have too many baking items. My guess is it went the way of my Silpat which was found a few months ago and promptly lost again. Anyway, Target didn't have ANY silicone muffin tins. Michaels only had shaped ones. So I got Wilton's green flower one and a pack of 101 cookie cutters. They had the blue star (too small) and red heart (not for a boy), but no regular round ones.



Here's a close up of the cookie cutters. Various sizes and shapes, cookies to sandwich cutter size. Letters, numbers, Valentine's Day, 4th of July, circles, Halloween, Christmas, Easter, general shapes. Can't wait to use them!



They were $14.99 before the 40% off coupon.

18 month pictures

Hard to believe my little baby is already 18 months old! A year and a half... where did the time go? I know it's just going to get worse as he gets older and time moves faster.

He had his 18 month check up yesterday. He was 33 1/2 inches tall (2ft 9 1/2in), and 23 lbs. This was his first time on the "adult" scale and wall measure. I think there is a difference between that and the baby scale because he was the same height and 1 lb heavier at 15 months... I know he's gotten taller and weighs more. He wanted nothing to do with the doctor. Screamed when he checked his ears. He's never had ear problems, doesn't now either. His next appointment won't be till he's 2. Yay, no more 3 month appointments!

After, we went to get his 18 month pictures done. He wanted nothing to do with the photographer, either!

Wordless Wednesday - Boo!

Check out more Wordless Wednesday here!

My First Muffin Tin Monday

I stumbled on this blog last week. Muffin Tin Mom. What the heck is it? Every Monday, there is a theme (or no theme) for a "muffin tin meal" or snack. You put your child's meal or snack in a muffin tin. Simple. And cute :) This week had no theme.

Here is our first attempt:



Slot 1 & 2 - Toast with pumpkin butter
Slot 3 - Colby Jack cheese
Slot 4 - Twisty Grahams

Wordless Wednesday

Bonus fall pic (this is our house in the misty morning)

Wordless Wednesday

Busy, busy

Winter is going to be here soon... Boooo!!!! Yuck. We've been busy around here lately getting ready for it. Of course, Connor isn't our only "kid". I have two horses, a rabbit, a dog and fish too. We're trying something new with the water tank for the horses this year. Every year we've had to run a tank heater (it gets below zero here), and that adds $100-300 to our heating bill each month. Jon and I are working on a solar option. Hopefully it works. I need to finish painting the tank box today since it's going to rain the rest of the week. I'll post pictures when it's done and keep my fingers crossed that it works well enough that I don't have to run the darn heater.

Yesterday, I re-did the rabbit cage. Well, pen is more like it. Cocoa is about 6 years old. She's a castor Rex and came from the humane society. We got her in August 2005. The bunny cages they sell in the stores are too small unless you give them tons of play time every day. So she has a puppy exercise pen (x-pen). It's 48x48in. Jon attached a sheet of vinyl flooring over a piece of plywood for the floor. She's had this set up for pretty much the whole time we've had her. I wanted to give her a shelf for more exercise and more privacy. We used a piece of scrap wood, used dowel rods below for support, and carpet stair treads for the top. The new shelf is 18x48 and gives her lots of space to stretch out. I added the new hay rack too. It's a wire basket I found at Big Lots. The rugs are 100% cotton and also a Big Lots find.

More Pics

There is a neat children's place near us. It was designed for learning and fun. They have different themed rooms. We've been once and Connor LOVED it. We will definitely be going back!





We also checked out the local apple orchard. I've been there before, but this was Connor's first time.

Connor had no fear at all of "Peter the Pumpkin Eater"! Peter does eat pumpkins, but wasn't running while we were there.



Connor and Grandma M