File under: Things I Never Thought I Would Say....

Where is your poop?! Go find me your poop!

Planter Boxes

Its snowing outside. It's been snowing most of the day. Luckily it has also been melting all day too so there is only a little outside on the ground. Even though snow is outside my thoughts are constantly about spring!! Brian went to another gardening class today (and won a bag at the raffle..he always wins!!) and they mostly talked about landscaping flowers. Pshh, I'm not interested in flowers! Give me vegetable garden, fruit trees and berries! (I do need to plant some flowers though...we have spots for them by the house and around the flag pole.)

I know our garden will be a work in progress for many years but I'm trying to decide if I should use planter boxes or just plant in the ground. Our soil is VERY rocky so we could work hard at removing the rocks and fixing the soil or just put nice soil in the boxes. But would I be able to grow as much in boxes? I came across these plans for boxes at Ana-white.com. LOVE that site. I sit and dream about it. I think I am going to have Brian made this too. How cute! And much safer than climbing up on chairs.

So....planter boxes or the plain ol' ground??

We went over to the Hill's house today and watched the BYU basketball game against SDSU. Can I just say...AWESOME! I was so glad they won! I can get a little excited over games.

Sigh

You know what stinks? Trying to spring clean your kitchen and only getting half way done. It looks trashed but the insides of the cupboards are nice and organized!

I'm too tired to finish tonight.

Ba-ba-ba-babies

A super huge CONGRATS! to my friend Dawnelle! She had her first baby yesterday! Dawnelle and I have been best friends since Louisiana and were roommates a lot of college. Sadly we don't talk as much as I would want now that they live in New Jersey. They named their little boy Christopher Jack and I am SOO excited for her! Love you Dawnelle!

Looking at a picture of her holding her adorable baby and seeing him look at her totally made me tear up! And.....you know what is coming....made me totally want another infant! haha. Brian rolled his eyes when I told him that. The 9 months of wondering what your baby will look like and then putting in all that hard work to get them here and holding him for the first time, counting fingers and toes, memorizing the little body. It's so amazing. I can't tell you how much I love that moment.

I decided to go watch the video of Jack being born, pretty much for the first time since I had him, to try to remember the sensations and say NO you don't want another right now. And for a little bit I didn't. I thought, now why is it I don't get epidurals? and then he came out and I remembered why. And I loved it. It was so great to be able to hold Jack for so long after he was born. It was so great to be surrounded by such supportive people who trusted in me that I could have that baby.

Sadly, I don't think that it was the last moment that I will wish for another baby. My sister in law is due like any day! Whoo hoo Lea! My cousin Haley is due in May. My other best friend Rachel is due in July. And my good friend Joslyn is due in July too! Thats not to mention various other people I know who are pregnant that I will hear about or see on facebook.

Guess I really need to go start exercising to lose this weight. And I doubt we could even have another one right now even if Brian would let me, haha. Anyway, I'll just go enjoy the two kiddies I have and when the infant craving gets too much I'll have to go find one to hold.

(and mom I know you are thinking...get control over the ones you have first but I just gotta tell you Claire is doing AMAZINGLY better! We have been doing the Supernanny timeout method and totally following through every time and boy has she gotten the hint :)

New menu planning

So with using Bountiful Baskets I'm going to try to take my menu planning up a notch and plan out two weeks at a time and only go to the store every two weeks! (can it be done??) I'm going to plan around my BB. I'm at a little disadvantage this time because we didn't go to the store last week so we'll have to get a few (very few) stuff sometime today or tomorrow (like diapers!!) So here is my menu to get us to my next bountiful basket.

Mon-Spinach salad with strawberries and poppy seed dressing

Tues: Cream of Jerusalem Artichoke soup with bread

Wed: Tacos

Thurs: Leftovers

Fri: Sausage Pizza

Sat: Hungarian Cabbage and noodles

Sun: Chicken nuggets

Mon: Sweet potato burritos

Tues: Corn beef and cabbage

Wed: Chicken Pot pie with Jer. artichokes

Thurs: Leftover

Fri: Spaghetti

Sat: Eat out (first sat/my birthday)

Yesterday we had quite a few people over for dinner. Brian, Logan, Jacqueline, Brian's mission companion and his friend, Bruce (Brian's roommate) and his girlfriend Emily. It was fun! Claire loves Jacqueline and Emily. Jacqueline is so nice and patient with Claire and lets her go through her purse and take everything out. I have to warn everyone who comes over to 'hide yo lips (gloss), hide yo wallet, hide yo purse! Claire be going through everything ova here!' (get it?)

Jack woke up at 5:45 today. So far I have three loads of wash done and bread made and my menu planned, plus many books read. And it's only 10!! Jack is taking a nap now :)

It's good!

It's been a great week. Tuesday I had a Relief Society activity that I went to about keeping your house clean. I've been doing so great with Fly Lady. My house is not spotless and most of the time there are toys everywhere but if someone dropped by I would not be embarrassed. My kitchen would be clean, my bathroom clean, and I would be dressed. And it's made picking up so easy. I can get everything off the floor and put away in less than 30 minutes. Sometimes that is a lot of toys! I love it. It was nice getting more tips and of course talking to people. I love our ward. I feel like I'm slowly starting to get into it, although I think it will take a few years to REALLY feel like we know people.

Thursday some friends came over for a girl's day/play date. I really should have gotten some pictures. Cheri, Julia, and Katie both have two girls. Poor Jack was so outnumbered! It was SO nice to talk with friends and have the kids play. The kids did really well together too.

Friday we had some friends from Sawtooth over and that was great too. I really need to have people over more because I always enjoy it so much.

This morning I went and picked up my Bountiful Basket that I ordered on Monday. I picked a friend from church up and took my basket. You go in and they have everything sorted out in buckets and you put everything in the one you brought. They are 15 bucks, plus 1.50 processing fee and I had to pay 3 bucks for it being my first basket but I wont have that again. We got
Strawberries
Bananas
Mangos
Cantaloupe
Apples
Pears
Spinach
Yams
Carrots
Squash
Cabbage
Jerusalem Artichokes

I'm so excited about it. It is a lot cheaper than buying it all at the store and it's more seasonal, and there is stuff I probably would not buy (yams and artichokes) that I can try new things with. Jerusalem Artichokes are not like real artichokes. They actually look a lot like ginger. That's what I thought they were at first and I was wondering what I would do with so much ginger!

Brian and I went to a free gardening class today. Bryan babysat the kids. Two of his missionary companions were visiting from BYU I and came with him. I downloaded the pictures off my camera and found this. Kinda funny. I think they are coming for dinner tomorrow. Super nice guys. One is from North Carolina and the other is from Nigeria.

The kids are great. Jack is cruisin around the furniture and wants to walk so bad. He loves tormenting his sister during her diaper changes. As soon as she is laying on the floor he coming speeding over to claw at her face or try to pull her hair. Claire starts yelling NO JACK NO! Dont hurt me! It's kinda funny :) We're trying to work on "soft" with him.

Breastfeeding:Mormon Pioneer

http://rixarixa.blogspot.com/2011/02/breastfeeding-history-moment-mormon.html

She has a picture of a painting of the pioneers with a woman nursing, no blanket *GASP*, with men around. Must have had a healthier relationship of nursing back then. :-P

Life lately

So, not much happening here but I still feel the need to do a blog post :) Today was "Grocery Day" at the McEwan household. An hour and a half and we are done for the week. We went to a new store (well not new new, just new to us) called Winco. It was pretty sweet. They had bulk pretty much everything, from corn nuts, to spices, to cereal, to wheats and pastas, to candy, to gravy mixes. I think thats where we will go to get spices. I've been perfect with following my menu for two whole weeks. I'm pretty dang proud of myself. It was hard to go home and eat leftovers instead of stopping at Wendy's but it wasn't in my budget and I didn't want to spend my "blow money" on it so we didn't go. And I feel good about it :)

Menu:

Thursday: Black beans and rice (Dinner In the Jar book)

Friday: Veggie Pizza (our new tradition...pizza on Fridays)

Saturday: Mahi Mahi Rockefeller (a nice dinner to celebrate Valentines Day)

Sunday: Roast

Monday: Spaghetti

Tuesday: Chicken and Rice

Wednesday: Leftovers

Playing together...so cute

Jack loves holding a peach and sucking on it.
Cute babbbee
When my parents were in for Christmas, Brian and I went to Color Me Mine to paint something for Jack like we did for Claire. I did the picture frame and Brian did the hat. It was a lot easier than last time, not having contractions during the date :) We're going to do it for all of our kids
Claire after nap. She was not amused


Jack eating some smashed bananas.

Jack in Pictures

Posted a couple posts today. Check them out! Now....Jack

FLYing

Ohay have you ever heard of FLYLady? In keeping with my Order theme for this year I joined to help keep my house under control. So far I'm doing the baby steps and just the first couple has made me a changed woman. They are 1) keep your sink shiny and 2) get dressed when you wake up from your head to your toes.

1) Dishes don't go in the sink, they go in the dishwasher. Well duh, you say, but we get into the habit of just sticking everything in the sink and them loading the dishwasher later. Now? No procrastination. Then I have to hand wash the big dishes right away so they dont sit in the sink either. We run the dishwasher every night and unload it first thing in the morning. Marvelous I tell you! It is so nice waking up to an empty clean sink in the morning.

2) I put out my clothes every night. I shower ar night right before bed. Then I wake up and ger dressed and put on my makeup. I'm on longer embarrassed if someone unexpectedly stops by.

Anyway, it's great so far. Check out the site. She is all about doing away with CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) haha

So life has been good, except that Jack is super fussy. I really think he is teething. I've stuck with my menu this week. I tried two new things I've never tried before.leeks and brussel sprouts. Yes on the leeks, jurys out on the sprouts. We've been going to bed by 8. Claire has been dressing herself. Jack is really trying to pull up on everything but we really dont have anything good for him to work on that. Anyway nothing too exciting.

Claire in Pictures