Monday, January 30, 2012

Liam's 1st Hair Cut

Well it was a little traumatic (mostly for me) having Liam's beautiful curls chopped off.
Here are some before pictures:



During (we tried to calm him with food)



And after...


A member in our ward owns a barbershop so he offered to cut Liam's hair for free and at our house. It was very nice of him to stop by and work on Liam. I still am trying to get over his curls. He was so freakin cute with them. If our next kid has curls like Liam I am not caving into Nick's request for a haircut. I really don't care if people thought he was a girl. He dresses like a boy, they are just dumb. Anyway, with his new haircut Liam looks much older but still cute. It's crazy what a haircut can do.

At least Liam seems happy

Don't you just love his cheesy, goldfish filled smile?

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

A Few of My Favorite Things (now that Oprah is gone, here are my two cents)

Not in any particular order

Skin Care
1. Trish McEvoy Beta Pads (exfoliater)
2. La Mer Hand Treatment
3. Laura Mercier Oil Free Tinted Moisturizer SPF 20
4. Trish McEvoy Beauty Booster SPF 15
5. Trish McEvoy Vitamin C Cream

Make Up
1. Trish McEvoy Instant Pick Me Up for Lips
2. Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick
3. Chanel Nail Polish
4. Trish McEvoy High Volume Mascara
5. MAC #3 Lash (fake lashes)

Clothing
1. Down East Basics
2. Gap
3. Ann Taylor
4. H & M
5. Forever 21

Shoes
1. Aerosoles
2. Tom's
3. Asics
3. UGG
4. Stuart Weitzman
5. Coach

Here is a picture of Trish



She is in her sixties. She looks amazing.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Nap Time

SO it has been really hard for me to find the motivation to blog. Usually I either have tons of housework to do or I would rather take a nap. Its pretty 50/50. Today, Liam took a 2 1/2 hour nap in the morning so I got most of my chores done. After lunch we went to the park and played soccer (thanks Uncle Matt and Papa for teaching him how to kick). I know he is tired when he starts to fall down a lot and just lays down while he is drinking his water. So now he is down for his second nap. Hopefully it will be long so I can fit in a little nap myself ;)

Here are some pictures to update you on our going ons:


One day Liam will stop being our little drool monster (he has all his teeth so...)

Nana helping put Liam's new toy together

Liam on his favorite toy...mostly because it plays music when you hit the lion's nose.

Liam excited for his Christmas gifts

Me and Liam waking up on Christmas morning.


We bought Liam a tent with a tunnel....its his favorite thing


To be honest I haven't really many pictures since Christmas. After they turn a year you're not as camera happy. Plus they (mostly boys) are always on the go so it is hard to get a good picture.

What else....Oh yeah if you didn't know already we are having another little boy in May. I need to take a nap just thinking about that. I am going to be so tired.

Um I am working part time for my sister in law at Trish McEvoy. It's okay if you haven't heard of them. I wouldn't if it wasn't for my sister in law. Its a fun little job and lets me get out the house two days a week. I mostly do it for my sanity.

My dad had three more stents put in on Wednesday and will have to have surgery in three months to have a defibrillator put in. He is doing a lot better than when he had his third heart attack in November. We have been pretty lucky so far.

Nick's business is still doing really good. It keeps growing and picking up more clients :)

All and all everything is going good. Well except for our dishwasher they just died on Monday. Hopefully Nick can successfully put in our new dishwasher tomorrow.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Chandler Chuck Wagon Cook Off

First off, how is it November already? I don't know where the time goes. Yesterday I had my first Saturday off since I started working with my sister in law Amy. I love Saturdays. I got to take two naps :) That makes me happy. Since we didn't really have any plans, we decided to check out the second annual Chuck Wagon Cook Off that Chandler was hosting. There were ten different chuck wagons competing for the title of "Best Chuck Wagon". It was pretty cool...take a look.



I thought it was pretty cool seeing all the people dressed up as coyboys/cowgirls. Also there was a little petting zoo and by little I mean tiny. Like if you blink you might have missed it but whatever.


I was surprised that Liam wasn't scared at all by the animals and that he really wasn't that impressed my them either.

Pros:
1. It was free (parking, petting zoo, fake shoot out, live music)
2. It was really a nice day to be outside
3. Lots of open space for Liam to run around
4. The air smelled delicious
5. Decent food from the vendors not in the chuck wagon cook off

Cons:
1. Large pits dug in the ground with burning hot coal (not good for a curious little one)
2. The chuck wagon food sold out within 15 minutes of them opening (so we didn't even get to try any of that food that smelled sooooooo good)
3. Not enough chuck wagon food (very disappointed)
4. Hello! I didn't get to try the chuck wagon food
5. How come I didn't get chosen to be a judge on the cook off panel?

We will have to try again next year and get there super early to try the food. It was only $10/person for a 5 course chuck wagon meal. I really wish I could of had some of that food. I mean they did have other food vendors and I did get to eat a yummy bbq pork sandwich. So I can't complain too much, I just wish I could have tried a little of that food. It really did smell delicious.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Liam's Birthday

Since Liam's birthday was on Wednesday we decided to keep it low keep and then have a family party on Saturday. My aunt, Lisa (yes that is where I got my name), sent Liam the cutest onesie.

I know it's a little hard to see but it say "Liam the drool monster" which is pretty fitting. And yes my son's hair is out of control. Looking at this picture, I now can see why the lady at Safeway said he was a "cute little girl". Anyway... So yesterday we celebrated Liam's birthday with our families.










It was a lot of fun and filled with a lot of firsts. Liam had his first party, his first hot dog, his first water balloon toss, and his first cake. I wish I had taken a video of everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to him. At first he looked scared and then he started clapping. So adorable. I am glad we did a little party for him, it was worth it especially since he slept 9 hours last night and took two really long naps today :)

Thursday, August 4, 2011

To eat or not to eat


I have been meaning to do this post for awhile. Just recently, someone we know posted pictures of their 5 month old eating oreos. Oreos? Really? 5 month? I have a problem with this and part of me thinks that this should be considered child abuse. For multiple reasons. But as Nick quoted last week "if you judge people, you have no time to love them". After all, Nick thinks I was abusing our child by not letting him eat meat. Which by the way there are a million reasons why you should wait as long as possible to feed your child meat if at all. Ask me some time and I all go through my list. Liam is eating meat now but only once a week. You can call it a compromise. Since I am not judging anyone and their parenting skills, I will share, out of love, some recipes I make for Liam.

#1 Super Cereal
(Liam eats this every day)
So this is a super easy recipe that can be made in a variety of ways.



Ingredients:
2/3 cups whole grain (millet, steel cut oats, quinoa, brown rice)
4 tbs legumes (black eyed peas, pinto beans, black beans, navy beans)
4 cups of water
1/4 cup flax seed (if desired)

Directions:

Ground dry ingredients ( I use my blender)


Add water and ground ingredients to medium sized pot. Heat mixture, stirring frequently, until it begins to boil. Lower heat and let boil for ten minutes, still stirring frequently.



When finished place in individual ice cube trays to freeze. When ready to eat defrost 2-4 cubes (depending on how hungry baby is).

If you want to go crazy add bananas or applesauce. If you are really crazy like me add sweet potato and spinach.

#2 Homemade Veggies and Fruits

So there are a variates of ways to make theses too.

Ingredients:
Any vegetable or fruit

Directions:

Using, a steamer cook the fruit or vegetable until soft. If using a potato of any kind, peal the skin off after cooking. Add cooked fruit to blender and 1/2 the water remaining int the bottom of the steamer (this is where a lot of the vitamins and minerals have gone from the skin of the fruit). Blend until you have reached the constancy that your child is accustomed to. As with the Super Cereal place in ice cube trays and freeze for later.


#3 Homemade applesauce

I mean can this be any easier?

Directions: Peal skins off of apples. Throw in blender. Ta da. Homemade applesauce.



#4 Banana Wheat Bran Muffins

Ingredients:
2-1/4 cups wheat bran
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 bananas, mashed
2 egg whites
2 tablespoons agave nectar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper cups.

In a large bowl, whisk together the wheat bran, baking powder and brown sugar. In a separate medium bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, egg whites and agave nectar.

Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until combined. Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups. Bake until the muffins are lightly browned and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.


Yummy :)


I had to throw this last picture in of my mom making airplane noises as she feed Liam.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Nick's New Business

Last month Nick decided to go into business for himself. For those of you who don't know, Nick is a financial planner. It was a really hard decision not only for Nick but for me too. I am always weary of change. And starting a business is really really hard. Did you know that 50% of new business fail in the first year? And 95% fail in the first five years? Yikes! Luckily though for Nick, he has me as his cheerleader even though he thinks I am his nemesis when it comes to this. I just like to make sure everything has been covered that's all.
Anyway, back to Nick....So his new business is in the office buildings on Tempe Town Lake. They are pretty sweet.

So far he has done pretty well. The main reason for him starting his own business is because he has a really good in with the Phoenix Fire Department (he now manages some of their pension). He was unable to work with the FD at Edward Jones and at his last position at First Financial. You'd have to ask Nick about them....I start zoning out sometimes when he starts talking about some stuff.
Now that its been about a month, I feel a lot more confident that Nick is going to succeed. I am glad I married such a go-getter.
I have been helping Nick with a bunch of random stuff. I helped design his business logo.



I wanted to include Heavlin somehow but Nick wouldn't let me. Heavlin Fuller Wealth Management. Sounds good.
I have made several batches of gourmet cookies to send to new clients (I have some good recipes now thanks to The Brown Eyed Baker).

Currently I am helping him design a web page. Its a lot harder than I first imagined and very time consuming. Mad props to people who actually know what they are doing. Hopefully I will have it done by the end of this month so you can all check it out.
I guess you could say that we have been pretty busy.