Wordless Wednesday: Kickin' Back

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Go Graham Go! and Healthy Moms.

Potty Time Tuesday: Round Two

I tried back in June to potty train Blake, but he was still peeing about 20 times a day and it really wasn't working out-especially since I was letting him run around half naked and I was cleaning up little piddles all over the house! LOL! I decided that I'd wait a while before trying again. So last week I decided it was time for round two (and hopefully the final round!) Blake had been showing a lot of interest in the potty, he was giving me a hard time about diaper changes and he was letting me know when he peed and pooped.

I went with the same tecnique of letting him run around half naked and leaving a potty chair in his play area. He gets to help flush the potty if he goes, we do a happy dance and clap and cheer for him and he gets candy each time. (I'm doing my best to make him think that going on the potty is fun!) This is how it has gone so far:

Day 1: Pooped in the potty in the morning, peed in the potty 4 times in the afternoon.

Day 2: Only peed once in the potty in the afternoon and pooped in his diaper. (He had been wearing a diaper at naptime and nighttime.)

Day 3: Accidents in the morning. Peed in the potty twice in the afternoon and no poop all day.

Day 4: Only a couple accidents in the morning, then peed and pooped in the potty the rest of the day. (When I say pooped in the potty the rest of the day, I mean he pooped like 6 times! He was making up for the last couple days!)

Days 5&6: It was the weekend and we had places to go, so he didn't do well at all. Being that he wasn't letting us know when he had to go and was only going on his own, I didn't figure he was ready for the pottying anywhere but home anyway.

Day 7: Started with a couple accidents, including a poop accident, but not too bad for being off track all weekend.

It's now Day 8 and I'm hoping he gets on track enough that we can start seeing how he does with underwear/training pants on. I'm really not sure how he will do having to take his own underwear off or ask for help, so I'm concerned we'll be having a lot more accidents again. I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

For more Potty Time Tuesday, check out Healthy Moms.

Make Something Monday: Cheesy Zucchini Bake

Wow-it's seems like forever since I've done a Make Something Monday! I actually haven't tried a lot of new recipes since my blogging break, but the ones I did try were delicious! This Cheesy Zucchini Bake was even better than I expected and if it wasn't so time consuming to make I would have made it more than the two times that I did. I actually wasn't going to make it again after the first time due to how long it took, but after I tasted it, I couldn't help but want more! (Plus it uses up a lot of zucchini, which we had WAY too much of!) It tastes a lot like lasagna and is delicious!

Cheesy Zucchini Bake

4-1/2 cups sliced zucchini

2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 large onion, chopped

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 can (10-3/4 oz.) tomato puree

1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon dried basil

2 cans (2-1/4 ounces each) sliced ripe olives, drained

3 cups (12 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

6 eggs, lightly beaten

1-1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

1. In a large skillet, saute zucchini in oil until tender. Sprinkle with salt and pepper; stir. Transfer to an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish.

2. In the same skillet, saute onion until crisp-tender. (I also sauted some green peppers with the onions, since we had so many!) Add garlic; saute 3 minutes longer. Stir in tomato puree, tomato paste, sugar, Italian seasoning and basil. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes or until slightly thickened. Stir in olives. Pour over zucchini. Sprinkle with mozzarella.

3. Combine eggs and Parmesian cheese; pour over zucchini. Bake uncovered, at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let the dish stand for 15 minutes before serving. Yield:12-16 servings.

Doesn't this look delicious!?

This is what my plate ended up looking like due to our overload of veggies. We're definitely not vegetarians, but we sure ate like we were for a while! ;-)

Our Final Days of Summer

It's hard to believe that summer is already over and today is the first day of fall. This summer has been SO busy, but it's been a ton of fun...especially for the kids. We packed a lot in these last few weeks before the autumn leaves started flying-take a look!

Pine River Nature Center

That was the first time we'd been to the nature center and we loved it! They had all sorts of hands on ways for the kids to learn about wildlife, plus trails and an awesome treehouse! :-)

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The Garage Sale

I helped with what was my first garage sale. I couldn't believe how time consuming it was, but we were able to get rid of a bunch of stuff while making a little money. (The pictures are from Morgan's point of view. The sweet woman waving is Morgan's great grandma and the others are friends of the family and Buck, Grandma's dog.)

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Diggin' Up Potatoes

We dug up our potatoes about a week and a half ago and got all sorts! We'll be eating good for the next few months! We all had fun with it too. It was like digging for burried treasure! ;-)

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The Detroit Zoo

The arctic exhibit was my personal favorite. It was set up so neat! There was an area where the seals swam over us and the polar bears played in the water right next to us-a truly amazing experience! (I wish I could have gotten better pictures-they didn't turn out well.)

These are pictures of the butterfly house and some of the birds we experienced. The kids and I really got a kick out of the duck-she was trying to eat the stroller! LOL!

Just a few more of our favorite animals to see at the zoo. Morgan's favorite was the hippo, even though he just slept and I always think the giraffes and zebras are really neat. The other picture is of the kids looking at the buffalo.

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The 2009 Michigan Firemen's Memorial Festival

The festival was very nice this year. With the exception of the mornings being in the mid 30's, the weather was beautiful! This was also the first year that Rich, along with a a few other local firefighters, competed in the Search & Rescue competition. They had 15 minutes to get their gear on and find 2 'victims' in a building full of smoke. Even though they didn't win, they learned from it and are anxious to do it again next year!
*Please excuse the music in the video. It was getting late while I was searching for music, so I settled on a song that just had the word 'fire' in it, instead of trying to find one that fit better.

Blake's 2nd Birthday

Blake's second birthday was nearly 2 weeks ago now. (It was August 28th-I know-I'm way behind on posting!) We ended up doing 2 separate birthday parties for him for each side of the family due to the family's schedules. I made a cake for my side and a big cookie for Rich's side of the family. (I didn't get a picture of the cookie, but I decorated them exactly the same!)

Blake's birthday at my parents' place

The cake for the little tractor lover. :-)

Blake trying to get his tractor off the cake. (He could have cared less about the candles!)

"Yes! I got my tractor!" ;-)

Morgan helped open all of Blake's presents. (We really should have not had him open the Duplos first. He cried when we took them away so he could open the rest of his presents.)

Blake's Frecklebox book.

Opening more presents.

Blake playing with his Duplos from Oma and Opa (my parents).

Morgan with her best friend, Brookelynn. (One of my best friends' daughter.)

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Blake's birthday at Rich's parents' place

Morgan in on the present opening action again.

We got smart and had Blake open the clothes first! (He looks quite disappointed, doesn't he? No crying though!)

More presents.

Blake got his very own rocking chair from his grandma and grandpa. (Isn't it pretty!?)

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I can't believe that my baby is two already. I really wish that I could stop time for a while and enjoy this age a bit longer. He is such a little sweetheart! He gives everyone hugs and kisses right now and makes a little 'muah' sound with the kisses. The hugs are cute too! He runs to the person with his arms out wide-adorable! I also love the little noises he makes when he is playing with his cars and tractors. And he picks up new words all the time now. I just love hearing his little boy voice and seeing his little sweet boy actions! I know this stage isn't going to last long, so I'm soaking up as much of it as I can for as long as it lasts. :-)