Comings and Goings

A lot's happened since my last post. Unfortunately my grandpa, George Davis passed away last week. He was very sick and his quality of life wasn't great near the end. I am relieved to know that he's no longer suffering, yet sad to think that David will never really know or remember him. Thanks to everyone who has sent their condolences.

On the brighter side however we've been able to reconnect with some of our out-of-town family this month. Derek's mom and Jim came to visit around the first of the month and David loved having his grandma here to spoil him. We went to the children's museum, the swimming pool, and even the toy store as grandma felt David needed some new toys to add to his collection.

David reads Mother Goose to Jim (sort of)

Then my sister and her boys were in town this past weekend for the funeral. I would have liked to see them under happier circumstances but I'm glad they made it and our boys had some fun together.

Thomas and Friends has 3 devoted fans

Brian was so eager to push David on the swings, hold him, or help him out and David LOVED the attention from his big-kid cousin! Matthew was more interested in teaching David his place in the pecking order, and the fact that their teddy bears look very similar made for a few interesting scenes. Each time one glimpsed the other cuddling his bear he was just sure his best friend had been swiped and screaming ensued. Nonetheless David adored the chance to play with his older cousins

More fun at the park

The Forbidden Fruit

Conversation my brother and I shared as kids:
ME: "Hey Mike, What would you do if Dad got you your own computer for your birthday?"
MIKE: "I'd LOVE him!"
ME: "Oh yeah? Even if it was a CADO CAT?" (That's the first computer I ever remember my dad working on. I'm not even sure it could run DOS and it used gigantic floppies.)
MIKE: "Well I'd still love him, but not because of that."
ME: "Or what if it was a brand new, top-of-the-line Mac?"
MIKE: "Then I would HATE him and never speak to him again!"

At that point my dad chimes in by explaining that he would never even do that to his worst enemies (if he had any that is) and that voluntarily using any Apple computer was grounds for automatic expulsion from the family. That exact exchanged occurred over 15 years ago, but my dad and brother are still pretty fervently attached to their PCs. And I fully expect to be disowned tomorrow (pause for significant eye-rolling) when my new Macbook Pro laptop is scheduled to arrive.

Here's the deal. Our current laptop has crashed 3 times this year requiring us to box it up and send it back to the manufacturer for repairs. It could be a faulty computer or a glitch in Windows Vista, but either way I'm ready for a change. When talking to people who actually use Macs, everyone loves them. I'm sure that there are some disgruntled Apple customers out there, but I've never personally encountered one. True, there's still a bigger variety of programs that run on PCs but I really only edit photos, surf the net, and type an occasional document on my computer so that's not really an issue for me.

Here's the pros to a Mac that I get. As far as aesthetic design Macs win hands down. They are the Louboutins of computers, but I don't own designer clothes and wouldn't shell out extra cash just so my computer can look pretty (though it is a nice perk). People also rave about an operating system that isn't as easily bogged down, rarely crashes, and is less susceptible to viruses. And I'm not overlooking the fact that all the hardware is designed to work together which is rarely the case in a PC.

I'm a lot more intrigued by what I don't get though. People will list all of the above reasons when I ask why they prefer their Mac, but what it really seems to boil down to is some mystical quality they can't describe. Something to do with convenience and a better overall feel which I admit I don't really understand. I'll let you know whether I decide it can live up to the hype. See you on the dark side.

Photo Shoot

This past weekend I took some family photos for a friend of mine and am pretty happy with the results. There are definitely things I would do differently but I think I did alright for my first stab of formal portraits. Well technically it's my second. I tried one right after I got my camera a couple years ago which didn't go so well. It helped a lot that her family is so cute to work with in the first place. Hopefully they'll be happy with them.






Hmm. Somehow the right side's being cropped a little too much but I don't know how to fix that.

Self-Reliance

I foolishly left a bag of bread too close to the counter edge so David opted to prepare his own breakfast this morning. Hungry anyone?

I solemnly swear

to stop putting disclaimers before all my pictures expressing my disappointment in them. Or to not post any pictures at all because I don't have any I really like. Yes, my photography skills are far from perfect (though slowly improving) but the point of this blog isn't to dwell on that. So here are some pictures from the last month or so that I've been reluctant to share.

Swinging on Swings

Riding in WagonsVisiting the Aquarium

Sliding Down Slides

Exploring the Garden

Playing With Cousins

Driving a Train

Freezer Friendly Recipes

Something I've been trying to do lately is to make at least a couple meals a week that I can freeze half in Ziplock freezer bags for a quick and tasty meal later on. Mostly this has worked great, but of course a few meals haven't frozen and reheated as well as I'd hoped. Here's a couple of recipes that tasted great the first and second time around!

Chicken Fajitas
(In order to have enough to freeze I doubled the recipe and needed 2 skillets. Obviously I froze only the filling and used fresh tortillas and cheese to reheat. These are the BEST fajitas we've ever had!)

Ingredients:
1/2 C olive oil
1/3 C lime juice
1 t sugar
1/2 t salt
1/4 t cumin
1/4 C red wine vinegar
1 t oregano
1/4 t black pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 red onion, julienned
3 bell peppers assorted colors, julienned
1 1/2 lbs chicken breast, julienned

Instructions:
1. Combine all ingredients into a bowl. Toss well and marinate in the refrigerator for at least a couple hours, preferably overnight. (I only had time for about an hour and they still turned out great.)
2. Drain mixture and saute over medium-high heat until chicken is cooked.
3. Serve with tortillas and cheese.

Pumpkin Black Bean Soup

(This recipe is from a friend's blog and can be viewed with a photo here. She has lots of other promising recipes though this is the only one I've tried so far. I added a couple cups of leftover cooked brown rice which I highly recommend.)

Ingredients:
4 Tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup onion, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

2 cans black beans (15 oz each), drained and rinsed

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes

1 can (16 oz) pumpkin puree

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

Salt to taste

Instructions

1. In a large pot heat the oil until shiny, then turn to medium low. Add the onion, garlic, cumin, kosher salt, cinnamon, allspice, pepper, and cayenne and stir often until the onion has softened. About 3 to 4 minutes.

2. In a food processor puree the beans, tomatoes, and 2 cups of broth. Add the puree, pumpkin and remaining broth to the pot.

3. Simmer uncovered until thick, stirring often while scraping the bottom, about 30 minutes or until desired thickness. Salt to taste and garnish as desired.

Babysitting Saga Continues

Whew! Our laptop's in the shop right now which has been both a good and bad thing. It makes it harder for me to take and edit photos or update the blog, but it also means that I have more time to spend playing with David and get some Spring cleaning and organizing done.
Since my last post I had yet another babysitter decide that she couldn't watch David anymore. At the same time my office had too many nurses on staff and almost no visits for me so I opted not to not go back. This would mean sticking to a bare-bones budget and make it unlikely we would get anything saved, but I really didn't want to go back to working 12 hour night shifts unless as a last resort.

For a few weeks I was essentially a stay-at-home mom. Then everything changed. One of the full-time nurses left and the office is swamped with visits. There are no plans to replace the nurse unless the census grows so once again I was in the market for a sitter. It's still a huge pain but at least I knew from prior experience not to try traditional daycare centers (most will charge the full week's rate regardless) and went straight to the online classifieds. The first couple of sitters I met with didn't work out (one decided last minute she needed to go back to full-time work and the other just didn't seem like a good fit), but I've finally found what I hope will be a good match.All of my previous providers have been sitters who have had no other clients (though my last one had 2 boys of her own) so this will be our first brush with an actual daycare setting. I have learned from experience though that while it's most convenient for me to hire a part-time nanny to come to the house that David's much happier exploring new environments with novel toys and other children. I've also learned that people don't earn enough from one part-time kid to want to do it long. I know there's a lot of scary stories about home daycare but this woman gave me a list of over 20 parents who gave great references and only watches 2-4 children at a time rather than taking on the max allowed by the state. I'll start back next week and am pretty excited. I really do enjoy my job and relieved that our finances won't be quite so stretched.
And since I haven't posted any David pics in a while I've included some shots of the past month. I don't have any great photos as I have to hurry and whip out a shot before he realizes I've got the camera and races over to grab it.

David and Teddy (his new BFF)