Anne - Adoptable

Our foster Puppy!  She is available to adopt through Wags and Whiskers!! (Minnesota)

Anne (Lab/Beagle mix)
3 months old on July 22

Anne is not your typical puppy. She shows more mature tendencies than most dogs her age. This doesn't mean that she doesn't like to run and chew, because she does. This just means that she shows great personality towards some other things. For instance, when clippiing her nails all you need to do is hold her and turn on the TV. Her curiosity gets the best of her and she doesn't even know what your doing. She didn't squirm once! She also shows great potential for walks. When on a leash she doesn't pull, more walks behind and to the side of you. Which is very normal for a puppy that's never been on an "official" walk before, but when rewarded for such behavior, it won't change! She LOVES to play with her foster sister, a yellow lab. In fact they play non-stop until we separate them. Like human toddlers, puppies need their naps and Anne is no exception. When playing with other dogs she doesn't show any dominance. She goes straight into play mode. When she's done playing she just lays down and doesn't interact, despite all attempts by her foster sister. If she is in the middle of playing and you want a cuddle ... she is ALL FOR THAT. She gives the BEST puppy hugs. She never tries to squirm away. She will cuddle and hug you until your done!

Anne is great with small children (3 ½ and 1 ½). She loves to play tag with them but also sits on their laps while on the couch if an adult is there to watch over. As long as you've taken her to the bathroom, she sleeps through the night with no protest. (9pm to 7am). Please keep in mind that she IS a puppy and she has normal puppy mouthing, but she doesn't bite. Not even once. Her biggest flaw, if you can even call it that, is that she loves to chew on sticks. Big or small they become instant toys.

Potty training is coming along. For never being introduced to the concept of going to the bathroom outdoors, she is picking up on it VERY quickly. She does all her “duties” before breakfast and before bed. Of course there are several other breaks throughout the day, but those are the two that she is VERY regular with.

She is very treat driven as well. She learned to "come" when called within an hour and she is working on "sit". It's coming along VERY quickly and I am impressed with her learning curve!

Please feel free to contact with any questions you may have!

That time already

We had a fun day today!

Mk is all registered for preschool and after shopping around I found a new gym bag.  I figure now that  I'll have to carry a bunch of stuff into the studios with me, I should get an actual bag ...

Last year I signed Mk up for Christ Lutheran, but this year I switched her to Family of Christ.  I feel better about it already.  The school is set up better, I was completely ignored during the tour (all the focus was on Mk), and Mk cried when we had to leave. It was a good experience and we all had a nice time there.

After our adventure at school we went shopping.  I was looking for a gym bag.  There were lots of options, but I ended up with a UA bright pink one with lots of pockets.  I also looked for new workout clothes, but nothing was saying "buy me".  I DO need new shoes I realized as well. blah. They're so expensive.  Anyway, just wanted to update the world a bit!

Mongolian Chicken - HealthiER

This recipe is high in sugar, has a lot of soy sauce, and some vegtable oil.  It is by no means "healthy", but this version skips deep frying the meat so it's at least a bit healthier than others.  This recipe has been adapted from THIS one for mongolian beef. (most of the text is theirs)

HeathiER Mongolian Chicken


4 tsp. vegetable oil
2 tsp. ginger, minced
2 Tbsp. garlic, minced
1 c. soy sauce
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes1 c. water
1 c. brown sugar (packed)
2 Lb. Chicken breasts
3 large green onions
cornstarch (optional)

Make the sauce by heating 4 tsp. vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Don’t get the oil too hot. Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce, red pepper flakes, and water before the garlic scorches. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to medium and boil the sauce 2-3 minutes or until sauce thickens a little bit. Remove sauce from heat.

Slice the chicken into 1/4 inch slices. Tilt the blade of your knife at about a 45 degree angle to the top of the chicken so you get wider cuts. (slicing slightly frozen chiccken is easiest) Cook the chicken thoroughly. 


Add the sauce to the chicken, cook for 1 minute while stirring and then add green onions. Cook for 1 more minute. Now at this point you can either remove the beef with a slotted spoon or tongs and discard the sauce (this is what restaurants do) OR thicken the sauce with a cornstarch-water mixture to desired thickness and serve it over rice with the chicken.


Serve with desired style of rice, we prefer brown.

Mw's big day

It's only 11am and Mw has had the day from hell. Here is his day from his point of view:

My day started off just fine. I got some peanut butter toast and milk. That crazy lady, mom, was running all over again instead of just sitting down and watching me eat. I mean REALLY, what else does she have to do? After all my food was gone she took me out of my chair, what the heck.  I was still hungry.  I tried to tell her, but she just ignored me like usual.  Then, get this, she felt the need to take my pj's off. I was so cold.  I definitely put up a fuss with that one. 


Shortly thereafter I was wooshed out the door and ended up in some sterile office. While sitting on mommy's lap some crazy guy made me lay back and he started poking at my teeth and I cried to tell him I didn't like it, but everyone just ignored me, AGAIN! Mommy called this guy a "dentist".  I did get a new toothbrush from the dude though, so that was nice. 


Then after we got home mom said I was tired and tried to lay me down. HA - I just pooped instead so I wouldn't have to sleep.


 Then once again I was taken out of the house and brought to another place. After looking around I KNEW this place. The lady that was leading mommy around was the one that hurt me last time. So of course I started to cry when she got near me. Mommy said she was just trying to weigh me, but I didn't believe her. Then the nice lady came in, mommy called her the doctor, and she just kept talking and talking and talking. THEN, that first lady came back and just when I started to trust her she hurt me, THREE times. I knew it, it was just a scam the first time.  See if I fall for that one again.


I'm protesting the day by refusing to take a nap, even though I'm tired. I'll show mom that she shouldn't allow people to make me mad, even if it's "good" for me.

Okay, I'm not the greatest story teller, I don't build suspense or make it interesting. I accept my inability to write well.

I just had a flash of "oh my gosh, when did that happen" a little while ago as well.  I was waiting for the kids to finish their snacks and I looked up at Mk and she looked so tall!  When did that happen?

Mw's updates from the dentist: teeth had buildup scraped off and they recommended a rotating toothbrush so when we do get to his bottom teeth they get that much more brushing action.

Mw's doctor updates:
27lb 5oz - 84%
33" - 94% (he's tall!!!)
19" head - 81%

He received three vaccinations and the doctor FINALLY conceded that he may have a circulation problem.  She had a name for it but isn't going to "diagnose" him with it yet.  She said it won't cause him any harm, but if he does have it there is no way to fix it.  Basically the vessels in his feet and hands randomly spasm and decrease circulation to the area. Nothing we can do. He may start to complain of funny feelings in he hands/feet when he's older and if that's the case that is when they will officially diagnose him. I don't remember the name because she didn't make it official.  It started with a "H".

I am also very proud of him.  He is currently napping in a toddler bed.  This is the first time that he has slept out of his crib.  I've had the bed set up for a few days and I have been moving the mattress around and working on getting in and out of the bed safely (feet first) with him. He was playing in it this morning after the dentist and got in/out safely on his own so I figured it was okay to make the switch. I still have the crib set up in case he doesn't do as well tonight. I hope to be able to take the crib down soon.  I will be moving the back of it to Makena's bed for her headboard (it's designed for that) and throwing the rest away.  If for some reason he would start to have issues with the toddler bed we would always have the pack-n-play as backup.

In the toddler bed for the first time!  I have the crib in the background, just in case!

"Really mom? I JUST woke up and I'm trying to eat my spaghetti and apples"

Well, I should make some lunch now. I am going to try to sneek into Mw's room while he's sleeping and take a picture of him in his new bed! So check back for that.

Ding Dong

I've finally done it.  After a few weeks of having an embarassing doorbell button it has been fixed.  I don't know how the original one broke in the first place, but I guess that doesn't really matter.  The new one is on. It's not what I originally wanted (brushed bronze) but that one didn't fit so I had to go with the "classic" look. It used to be a nasty yellowed one.  I wanted a new one anyway, so the fact that it broke was a blessing in disquse.  It pushed me to buy a new button.  After about 5 minutes of work, it was switched and we were back in action. Bring on the deliveries!

This past weekend went so fast.  Jared went fishing with his friends up in the northern part of the state and I went to his parents house for the weekend.  It had been a long time since we'd seen them. They seemed happy to have the kids there. We got there around noon on Saturday and left about noon on Sunday. The roads were okay when we left, but by the time I got closer to the cities the snow had changed to freezing rain and it was getting slippery on the side roads. We got home around 2:15 and then we had the neighbor over a little later for some chatting.

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Chopping on a turkey leg, num num num

Not sure what he's thinking here. He just stood there with his face against the window for a while!

Classy pencil hair. hahaha

showing me her band-aid while I tried to take a nice picture

What do you want me to do?

Updates

I have been TERRIBLE about blogging this new year.  I have a lot going on and sitting at the computer typing is not what I want to do in my "free" time.  However, there are some updates I want to get down so I don't forget!

Mw:
Bottom two molars have broken through and are halfway in.  We are now waiting for the top incisors to come in and make our lives a little easier.  He is a mess of boogers and grossness with these teeth!

Says a few words.
His FAVORITE is "bowww" (ball). He says this when he wants to play, usually after he's done with a nap or done eating. If he's having a meltdown I can ask him if he wants to play or go nigh nigh and he will answer me.  It's SO nice that we're getting to the point that he can communicate with me.  He never picked up on signing so we don't have that to fall back on like we did with Mk.

He also says:
ack (snack)
mom
dad
Nigh (nigh nigh)
Hi
eat
tickle tickle tickle
nummy nummy nummy
yummmm

He shakes his head "no"
Waves Hi/bye
Points to things we're talking about
Gives kisses - you know, the open mouth going to eat your face kind?  I LOVE them.
He likes high fives and fist bumps (only if it explodes afterward, the likes the "pow" sound)
His "thing" to do now is to flick his hair like Jared does and to suck his tongue when he's tired.  Sometimes he'll just do this when I ask him if he wants to go to bed instead of saying "nigh". It's cute, for now, but there is that part of me that thinks about how expensive braces are going to be because of this little habit.

I don't think I've mentioned it, but he walks EVERYWHERE now.  He backs up, turns around, basically he's an old pro. He grabs things off the ground while standing, throws things across the room (the kid has an arm!), LOVES to make his matchbox cars go down the track, likes to entertain himself with toys (doesn't always need me to play with him, which is SO nice), and he still likes to play in his rocker chair that Grandma got him a long time ago.

He actually seems to understand what I'm saying now.  He will go get the ball if I tell him to. He will come to me, he will defy me when I tell him "no", he will put things down or pick things up if asked.

He also mimics really well.  He likes to play kitchen with us and pretend to eat the food! He can also pick up on something new by watching.  the most recent was how to put his cars on the track. The track is pretty small (matchbox cars) but he does really well with it and takes his time.  It's cute to watch. He still likes to take his time and figure things out on his own as well.  Not a trait he learned from his mommy!

Digging for another car to put down the track

He eats almost anything.  He's starting to not like things.  He doesn't like carrots, avocado (ever since the time the threw up all night after having some - he was about 6 months old), and .... well that's really it.  He eats really well.

He was going to bed at 6pm every night, but last week he pushed himself to 7 and hasn't looked back.  We don't mind.  He still gets up around 7am and takes 1-2 naps a day.

He likes to make the ramp go up and down.  It's rather noisy.

He also got his first "mom" haircut today.  That just means that I didn't pay a professional to do it.  I got it a little short though.  Nothing that a couple of weeks of growing out can't fix. Jared says he likes it, but I think he thinks I paid for it so he doesn't want to feel bad about spending the money. *update* I told Jared that I did it and I got a "nice job". I will try to remember to post a picture of it later.

Nice hair *cough cough*

Mk:
She is just an amazing child.  She is so full of spunk and I just hope I can try to channel it in a productive direction.  She still throws a "fit" whenever she doesn't get her way, but now she gets a timeout whenever she throws an unjustified fit.  It's STARTING to cut back on their frequency.  She really does burst into tears and starts to cry whenever she doesn't get the answer she wants.  I always try to give options to avoid this, but sometimes that's just not possible. I would say that the fits are my biggest challenge with her. I *think* I have it figured out now, but we'll see.

Just showing some 'tude

She LOVES dance class and really likes gymnastics as well.  Her little life revolves around getting to do these things.  I can threaten not getting to do those two activities or not going to the Y and she will immediately change her attitude. I can also get her to hurry up with things when we are going to an activity.  Otherwise she is the slowest little girl I know.  Especially when it comes to eating.  The girl has no problem taking an hour to eat 1 piece of bread that has been turned into a pb&j.  No lie.  I gave her one for lunch the other day and told her that when she was done she could get down.  I didn't tell her she had to eat it all. She was there for over an hour playing, goofing around, making the sandwich pieces play tag with each other, you name it. Anything to slow the eating process. This KILLS me.  I frequently set timers and urge her to focus. She is growing at a steady rate so I don't worry about her nutrition, but man, a little hustle sometimes would be nice!

She is getting better every day with writing her letters.  She has almost all of them except the most important ones: M and K.  Both very important to spell her name. Go figure!  I think it's the angles that have her tripped up. She can trace them without a problem, but can't do them without something to look at or follow.

She loves to read and gets several stories a day. We play board games almost every night. I sometimes take the night off and let Jared do that with her.  Some days I need a break and it's good quality time for them.

She's starting to wean herself off of a nap.  Usually she can go 2 days max without one before it catches up to her.  If she does try to pull the "no nap game", she crashes and sleeps for about 3-4 hours when she finally lets her body win. Then we can't get her to bed for the night.  I've tried waking her after an hour and she won't get up.  She will open her eyes, talk to me, and then tell me she's going to go back to sleep. What's a mom to do? I'll tell you: let her sleep!!!  I like the quiet.

It's that time of year, you know; preschool registration.  I have it narrowed down to a couple of schools that I like.  Both have registration in early February. I may hold out one more year. She can't start kindergarten until 2014 so even if I did just next year that's a year of preschool before K.  I don't think she even needs preschool, but she REALLY wants to go to school.  She asks me every day if she has been a good girl and can go now.  I think she hears that all her older cousins can't play because they are in school and that makes her jealous.  A lot of her dance friends are in school too, so that must be hard for her.  She was supposed to go this year, but we pulled her last minute because I didn't like the feel of it after they had changed directors. She was also REALLY naughty at the open house so I may have told her that's why she couldn't go this year. "She showed us that she couldn't listen and follow directions".

Okay, for those of you that are thinking, what was so bad that we did that to her:
After pushing the limits during our "tour" and meeting teachers, blah blah. We had some ice cream. She loved it. We were packing up and she headed toward the door.  I told her to stop and she kept going, not just going, she sped up.  I dropped everything and had to RUN after her.  She got out the cafeteria, through the entryway, through 2 sets of doors (with people coming in them, and nobody stopped her), and 2 steps into the parking lot before I was able to grab her. The worst infraction was touching the parking lot without holding a hand.  She got a timeout right there on the curb that day.  I didn't even feel weird with the other parents looking at me.  I was SO mad/scared that day. I get worked up just thinking about it.

Anyway, she thinks she's ready to prove she's ready for school now. We'll see I guess!

I'm tired and have to study (more on that later).  Enjoy your day and smile!!

Ground Turkey Stroganoff

I am having to put this to blog because I can't "pin it" from it's original site! I have also adapted it a bit for my taste.  I served it to the hubs and kids last night without telling them that I swapped in the ground turkey and nobody said anything about it.  They all scarfed it down like they were starving.  Especially the one year old!  The original recipe calls for ground beef, less pepper and is from cooks.com.

GROUND TURKEY STROGANOFF

1 pound ground turkey, extra lean 1 small onion, chopped 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper (minimum) 10 3/4 ounces cream of mushroom soup, condensed 4 ounces mushroom stems and pieces, drained (optional) 3/4 cup sour cream, or yogurt (plain) In medium skillet, brown ground turkey and onion. Stir in garlic salt, pepper, soup and mushrooms. Simmer covered, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in sour cream; heat through, but do not boil. Serve over rice, noodles or chow mein noodles.Serving Size: 4

What a way to start!

2012 is here and it's coming in with a bang. WOW!

The first was a quiet day at home, we did some shopping, nothing big.

Monday, the second, not too bad of a day, we went out and bought a new fish since Frank died. Makena decided to name the fish "Sully Fish".  Sully is the name of our neighbor's dog, she was sure to say: not Sully dog mom, Sully fish. That evening we went out to eat at Chili's.  I decided I needed to be a good girl and ordered myself a house salad. GO ME!  Everyone else had cooked food (YAY them!!)

Tuesday at 3am all hell breaks loose in my little bubble.  I am getting to look at my bathroom way to frequently while everyone else enjoys a nice nights slumber. Jared's alarm went off at 5 and he came out and saw me laying on the hallway floor.  I think it was at that point he figured he better not go to work. I told him to go and that I'd call him if I needed him. Well, he didn't get very far away when I called him back.  There was no way I was going to be able to take care of the kids when I was in the bathroom every 2-3 minutes. So he came back and did kid duty all day. I eventually made it to the bed so I wasn't on the floor, but the walks to the bathroom became more and more difficult as the day went on.  Of course I was becoming more and more dehydrated. Skip forward to 5-6pm, many "I'll never eat crap again, I'll be healthy, I'll do anything if you make this stop thoughts"; I finally threw up. That was such a blessing in disguise.  I wasn't "sick" anymore after that. I slowly drank pedilyte to rehydrate and tried to get some sleep. Every time I woke throughout the night my digestive system felt better but my head was worse.  When morning came I was VERY weak, thirsty, and tired. Jared decided he would take today off to help as well. Unfortunately Mw woke with his eye crusted shut so after helping Jared deal with that I called the doctor and got him an appointment right away this morning, I knew it was pink eye, but needed the Rx. After a diagnosis of ear infection AND pink eye they came home. I was still babying the piece of toast Jared had made me an hour earlier and trying to drink pedilyte.  That sat well in my stomach. Hooray for the little things!

Jared brought Mk to dance and left the sleeping baby with me. However, the baby didn't sleep for very long. I had 15 minutes of quiet time. And during that quiet time I was cleaning, cleaning, laundering, cleaning.  It was starting to hit me physically that I didn't have much in the way of food in me. I had been cleaning while the boys were at the doctor as well. Anywho, I grabbed Mw and he enjoyed a nice snack while I sat with him in the basement. Once Jared and Mk got home he made the kids lunch and then we all played downstairs together. Now it's nap time and I think I am going to partake in that adventure! Oh, I decided to try a yogurt as well. It's going well so far!

Wish us luck and fast healing!