Working on my resolutions

Well, in case you didn't know, last week Maggie Grace, Ben and I all had a stomach bug that's been going around. We are all better now, thankfully. Ben had to call in sick for work, I must say it's been nice having him home this extra week.

I have been working on my resolutions. As luck would have it, the speaker at our MOPS meeting this morning teaches photography. She offered a quick tutorial that was extremely informative. Ben took photography classes, I want to say in high school, but I've never had any formal training, so I really loved all of the tips she had to share with us. So many of the tips she had are so easy but I'm such a point n click photographer, I can't wait to experiment!

Now, on to my once a month cooking. That has not been as successful. About five of the recipes I am to prepare call for turkey. The idea was to buy the turkey on sale during Thanksgiving, cook it and divvy it up into the various recipes. I decided to cook my turkey last night. I consulted the web and found some directions that led me horribly astray. I put the turkey in the oven at 6:30 and by 11:30 it still wasn't done. I finally turned the temperature up and set my alarm every 30 minutes to check on it. I want to say at about 1 am it was finally done, and I set it out to cool. I woke up at 3 am to put it in the fridge. Yes, I was exhausted! But wait! At 4 am Maggie Grace started crying, so I went and slept with her. I wish I could tell you all my hard work paid off, but no, it didn't. I cut into the turkey and it was PINK! I have never seen pink turkey meat in all my life so into the trash it went. Now what am I supposed to cook?! Much less now what are we going to eat!

Well, while I have been working on resolutions Maggie Grace has been working on her catwalk. She is so cute walking in her little heels. She's also been talking up a storm. We still can't understand a lot of what she says. It's fun to ask her questions, she always answers, usually with uh-huh or uh-uh. She is also saying new words everyday, although "shoes" is still hands down her favorite word.

It was really cute tonight and kind of profound. Ben and I were discussing if men felt any kind of nurturing instinct like women do. I said that even at Maggie Grace's young age she has an instinct to nurture. Yesterday at church she was playing with a friend who is about 9 months older. She kept giving him his blanket, pacifier and sippy cup. After Ben and I were finished talking Maggie Grace jumped off the sofa and ran into her room. When she came back into the living room she was carrying her baby doll and ssshhing it. She is constantly reminding us that she understands what we are talking about, for the most part anyway.

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year! I was talking with Susan the other day and she asked if I had any resolutions for the year. My reply was just one- to take more pictures with my good camera. Well, I've realized as the week's gone on that although they aren't resolutions per se I'm trying to make some changes. The first being to update my blog once a week. Even if it's a quick "today was wonderful" or "I'm so glad to today is over". The second thing I'm working on is using a little pocket calendar and writing something Maggie Grace did that day. It's been fun so far, some days nothing particular has happened and I really have to come up with something no matter how little. Some of my entries so far are: said the word "purple", got her hair cut, I swore she said "I love you" over the phone, brought me a sock I dropped on the way to the laundry and my favorite for New Year's Eve-locked herself in our bedroom closet. These are things I want to remember, but unless I write them down will be forgotten.

I'm also trying to be more frugal, I want to underscore the word trying. For the second month I'm cooking all of my meals at once. The menu includes roughly three breakfasts, three lunches and eight dinners, with all recipes doubled. Ideally, I'm supposed to cook everything in one day, but that is just not possible. If I'm in the kitchen Maggie Grace is wanting to help and it stresses Ben out beyond belief. So, I've worked out a system I cook three items a night after Maggie Grace has gone to bed and Ben is on a trip. I've cooked about half my items so far and will cook the other half when Ben goes back to work on Saturday. Once a month cooking has saved my sanity, all I have to do is pull the meal out of the freezer, thaw it, and heat it. I don't have to worry about trying to entertain Maggie Grace while I'm trying to cook, we eat out less, and have cut our grocery bill in half.

Well, I might as let it all hang out. I bought some MnM's to reward Maggie Grace for going potty. We've had a little set back and I thought the MnM's might help. I can't keep my hands off them, but really, who is suprised by that confession?

Rehoboth Beach

Every summer my sister and I take a little girl's trip. Last year Maggie Grace was a newborn so we just did the girl's trip at our house. This year we hit the road and headed to Rehoboth Beach, DE. Rehoboth is a fun family beach and since it was the anniversary of my grandmother's death we thought it would be a fitting destination. We stayed with our cousins who were such gracious hosts. Our cousin Jackie gave up her room for us and they had selected all kinds of goodies for Maggie Grace. Every morning they had the best breakfast and dinner was delicious. I felt like I was in the lap of luxury.

We took the first flight out of Atlanta and were in Washington DC by 9:00 am. After renting our car and the ride to Rehoboth it was noon and the three of us were starving. My cousins had lunch ready to go for us, BLTs! I only mention this because BLTs are my favorite sandwich and theirs were delicious. After lunch Susan, Maggie Grace and I headed to Georgetown to the cemetery. Thankfully Maggie Grace fell asleep, as it gave Susan and I time to visit and reminisce. By the time we got back to Rehoboth dinner was waiting, a full BBQ spread out on the front porch. Then off to bed.

Maggie Grace woke up Saturday morning at 5:30! I did my best to keep her occupied while everyone slept, but decided to get in the car and find a park. Instead we headed down to the beach. It was wonderful. The boardwalk was scattered with joggers, walkers and other parents of early morning kiddos. I let her loose and off she ran. It was the most precious thing in the world. After about three hours we headed back to the house for a delicious breakfast and then off to the beach. We played on the beach for a few hours and then grabbed a bite to eat on the boardwalk and then we headed to Funland. This was the moment I had been waiting for probably since I had dreamed of having children. Maggie Grace did not disappoint. She had such a blast on the boats that parents were watching her instead of their own kids. Some Japanese tourists were snapping her photo and videoing her. She was in her element. Next we hit the fire trucks. She had a blast ringing the bell. Then it was on to the cars, where she was mesmerized by the clown in the center of the ride. Our poor cousin, folded herself up and got in the backseat of the car so she could ride with Maggie Grace, who only cared about the blasted clown. Lastly we rode the carousel, it had been a full day at Funland. All of the rides Maggie Grace rode on were the exact same rides I rode on at her age. Life was coming full circle, all I can say is wow. After another delicious meal it was off to bed, we were beat.

Saturday morning, Susan, Maggie Grace and I headed down to the boardwalk and rented bikes. It was a blast. Maggie Grace's helmet was too big and kept falling over her eyes, bless her heart. She was a real trooper. After our morning exercise it was back to the Joseph's for a plate of delicious pancakes. Were they fattening us up for slaughter? I can't help but think so. We went to the outlets and did a little shopping and went and visited our Great Aunt Mae. Back home it was another delicious dinner and back to Funland for a bit more fun.

Unfortunately it was Monday and time to head home and even more unfortunately our flight left out of Washington at 5:55 am, add in a 3 1/2 drive, an hour to fill up the gas tank and return the rental, an hour to check-in, we had to wake-up at 12:30 so we could be on the road by 1 am. The things I do for free travel.

Baby Rose

On Wednesday Ben, Margaret Grace and I hopped on an early morning bound flight to Memphis to meet the newest addition to the Jackson family-Rose Ryan. I could hardly wait to get my hands on her. She is absolutely stunning! Becca was doing wonderfully, she looked terrific as always, and was up and about as if she hadn't given birth the day before. Here is a sweet little picture of the three cousins. Sol and Margaret Grace were more concerned with their pacifiers than Baby Rose. Sol and MG were so cute, it was a massive love fest for the two of them. Unfortunately we had to head home that evening, though I was secretly wishing our flight would cancel.

Kicking It Into High Gear

Maggie Grace is walking! She picked the best weekend in the world to do it too. Everyone was in town for her baptism and got to see her walk. In my opinion it's all due to Sol, Maggie Grace decided she just had to keep up with him. It was such a wonderful weekend. We went to the Atlanta aquarium and then had a big pizza party at our house. Sol and Maggie Grace played like there was no tomorrow and Maggie Grace ate pizza like she would never get a chance to taste it again. Sunday morning Maggie Grace was baptized and then Ben and I made lunch for everyone before they headed home.

Last week Ben, Maggie Grace and I went to Savannah on vacation. We had such a blast! We did a lot of walking around the historic district, it was simply beautiful. One day we went to Tybee Island and took Maggie Grace to the beach. The temperature was okay but the wind was blowing so it was a bit chilly, we only got to play in the water for about 20 minutes or so.

Here is Maggie Grace with her purse, ready to run some errands. She loves this purse! Last night while cleaning up her room before bed I couldn't find a puzzle piece. I looked high and low. Imagine how hard I laughed when I opened up her purse this morning and there it was! She is hilarious. She will put anything and everything in there and she loves to walk, stop, check the contents of the purse, and resume walking.

She has also decided she wants to use silverware. We've been giving her a baby spoon but tonight she wanted the real thing. She looked at me while eating dinner, looked at my fork and started talking, so I handed her my fork. It's pretty funny because she can't really work a spoon or fork well, so she will place the food on the fork and then take the food off, and put it in her mouth.

Moss Won't Grow On a Rolling Stone

We have been busy! Last week Ben was called into work so Maggie Grace and I hit the road to go strawberry picking. It was about an hour ride one way but it was worth it, the strawberries were delicious. We ate a gallon of strawberries in two days! They were that good.It was such a great experience. I put her in the Babyhawk on my back and we got to picking. We had our first pail full in about 15 minutes, so we decided to pick another pail and give the strawberries out to friends.
Last Saturday Maggie Grace had her first haircut. Our hairdresser was wonderful and did such a great job. Especially considering Maggie Grace kept trying to turn around and see what the hairdresser was doing. Later in the day Maggie Grace and I walked up to our town center where the annual Jonquil Festival was taking place. There were all kind of yummy goodies and beautiful items for sale. I picked up a little hair bow for Maggie Grace's new do. By the time we made it back home the girl was out.
Sunday afternoon we headed to the town next to ours for the Taste of Marietta festival. All in all I'd say there were about 70 different restaurants selling little samples of food around the town square. Maggie Grace and I picked up some yummy treats and headed to the grassy part of the square and listened to some great music from a local band.

Tuesday we headed to the Ted to watch the Braves beat the Cardinals. It was the first game we've been to this season and I can't believe we won! Maggie Grace had such a great time and was a real trooper staying awake for the whole game which didn't end until about 9:15.

Stay tuned for out next big adventure!

Lovin' Life

Maggie Grace, Ben and I spent a couple of days in Charlotte this past week. It was an absolute blast. The reason for going was so Susan and I could go see Death Cab For Cutie in concert. Oh my goodness we had such a great time! We had a 45 minute ride to Davidson College, where the concert was taking place. The college is so incredibly beautiful. We grabbed a bite to eat and headed to the arena. The concert was fantastic, it ties with Tom Petty for the best concert ever. Plus we got to hear a new band, Ra Ra Riot, they have a great mellow yet vibrant sound. Even Maggie Grace likes them, I was listening to them yesterday and she started clapping.

Friday evening we met up with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins for dinner at the Olive Garden. What a great time! I always love seeing them and catching up with them, and most of all laughing. It is always such a good natured time with them. Maggie Grace had a good time, after she got sick on the breadsticks I had been feeding her, UGH. She had such a great time being passed around the dinner table and having the spotlight. What a ham!