Sometimes the week is more relaxing that the weekend

This past weekend was reminiscent of weekends past...before baby...when life was sometimes more hectic on the weekends that during the week.  It was one busy, golf-filled weekend and I didn't crawl into bed until after midnight last night.  So let's be honest - I'm exhausted this morning, drinking a regular coffee, and may not be able to catch my spelling mistakes.  I usually don't get all my mistakes on a good day, so this blog post could be riddled with grammar errors.  Or just not make any sense.

When I'm tired I crave sugar and the first thing I did was eat a few handfuls of my caramel chocolate popcorn from Friday.  It was good, but didn't wake me up enough.  Coffee, please hit my bloodstream now!

This weekend was all about golf.  I had golf Saturday morning like usual, but then we had a Father/Daughter Golf event in the evening from 2:30-7:30pm.  So, I finished classes at noon and then was back up at the course at 2:30pm.  Yeah - it was a lot of golf.  The girls really had a great time golfing with their Dad's though, so it was worth it.  For some reason they seemed so much happier than they did with Mother/Daughter golf and I have no idea why.  The girls just seem to like golfing with their fathers more than their mothers.  Then on Sunday I coached two little kid classes (5 and 6 year olds) for my brother-in-law, so that means I had golf on Sunday too.  Boo.  Especially since it was Father's Day and having to coach golf right smack in the middle of the day meant that I didn't have much time for anything else.

I did make Tres Leches cake.  I made the cake part before golf and this is what it looked like when I got home:

Hmm, someone ate the corners.  Ivan insisted it smelled too good to leave alone!

Here is the finished product:

Instagram: mapleandmud

Ivan had mentioned he was really craving tres leche cake so I found a recipe on The Pioneer Woman and gave it a try.  It was a bit complicated because you had to beat the egg yolks and then beat the egg whites and then mix them together and then whip the cream.  It was a lot of beating and whipping and waiting - for cakes to cool and milk to soak up.  But the end result was pretty delicious.  And Ivan was really happy with it, so that is what counts.  He also got a belt (that was too big) and a new golf shirt from Evan.

Ivan really is a great Dad and Evan is obsessed with him these days.  If Ivan is not around he is constantly saying "Where's Daddy" over and over again.  It's adorable and I'm so glad they have a good relationship.  Hopefully it will continue to go strong and they will watch soccer together for years to come.

This is my favorite picture of them!

And because it was Father's Day and I love my dad, here's a photo of my Dad and me** from my wedding:

Aren't we cute!  I still wish I hadn't picked such a low-cut wedding dress.  I really didn't think it was going to be that low cut when I bought it.  I loved everything else about that dress except that it was a bit too low.  Oh well, not really a big deal.

**Also, because someone will want to correct my grammar - here is a short grammar lesson about when you use "and I" and "and me". 

"I" and "me" are personal pronouns.   For some reason, people are obsessed with using "and I" for everything - they say "John and I went to the movies" and "This is a photo of John and I" but only one of those sentences is correct.  You only use "John and I" when you are the subject of the sentence (the first example).  You use "John and me" when you are the object of the sentence (second example). 

A really easy way to remember this is: take out the other person and does it make sense to say "I" or "me"?  

For example, in the first sentence (John and I went to the movies), if John wasn't there it would make sense to say "I went to the movies" rather than "Me went to the movies.  Therefore, when adding John you should still say "John and I went to the movies". 

In the second example (This is a photo of John and I), if you removed John would it make sense to say "This is a photo of I"?  NO!!!  You would say, "This is a photo of me."  Therefore, when you add John you should keep it the same and say, "This is a photo of John and me." 

Please do this because I see this grammar error EVERYWHERE  and it drives me crazy.  Even smart, intelligent people constantly post pictures on Facebook and their blog and always say "This is X and I in San Diego".  No - that is not correct.  It is "X and me in San Diego".  Would you ever say, "This is I in San Diego"????? 

If you want a great explanation, hit up the explanation in the Oxford Dictionary.

************

Do you notice any consistent grammar errors on my blog???  

What did you do for Father's Day?

Special Titi Weekend

This weekend was such a great one.  Not that last weekend, a three day weekend, wasn't amazing too, but this one was jam-packed with fun activities.  I actually got out for a run on Friday night and it felt amazing.  We ended up going kinda late, like 6:45pm, which means we didn't get home until almost 9pm.  No, I didn't run for 3.5 hours.  I did 3 miles and then we played at a playground for over and hour and then we ran 1.5 miles home.  It was cool and crisp and the perfect running temp.  And Evan had a blast at the playground.  Pretty much all of our runs have a playground attached to the these days.

Saturday started off the same: golf.  It's fun waking up and spending the first four hours outside.  I love the outside and when it's nice I would be happy to spend the entire day out there.  Then I had a special day planned with my niece.  I have been looking forward to this all week.  We ended up not having a lot of time because I had to be back at the golf course for Mother/Daughter golf.  I wasn't playing (obviously, because I have no daughter), but I was helping run the event with the other coach.  So, my niece and and I headed over to Barnes and Noble for a special day at the bookstore.  It wasn't the most ideal place because Evan was with us and he doesn't sit and listen to a bunch of stories like we would have preferred.  However, it wasn't't too bad, he entertained himself with a chair for a while.  My niece and I picked out a short book for her to practice her reading and then we picked out a chapter book that we could read together.  I was really hoping for Little House on the Praire, but my niece is all about princesses and faires.  It was funny actually.  She would pick up every pink book in the store and wanted all the books about princesses and faires and it was even better if  the book was covered in sparkles and glitter.  Haha.  I wanted Anne of Green Gables or The Secret Garden, or Little House on the Praire.  Since I didn't want to buy a book that she wasn't going to read, we ended up with The Never Girls: In a Blink...which has faires in it.  And the book was pink and glittery, but she loved it.  Maybe God new what he was doing when he gave me a boy!  We read the first chapter while eating soup and a cookie.

On Sunday we headed to the zoo again.  This time with my other niece.

We had such a fun time.  It was funny because my sister had actually texted in the morning that my niece didn't want to go anymore (she was nervous going without her sister or parents), but I didn't get the text and showed up anyway.  We convinced her to come with us and she had a great time.  She didn't cry once!  And when she started to say she wanted to go back to the car and go home, we were walking back to the car anyway.

We pet the goats, which is my favorite thing.  Evan loves it too, but my niece was very hesitant.  She was fine until the goat turned suddenly, then she jumped a mile high and refused to pet them again.  As you can see in the picture (above), Evan was all about the goat food.

We also took the little zoo train which she loved.  Evan loved it too, he just doesn't like to smile on command.  We saw the giraffes, rhinosourus, elephants, chimpanzees, monkeys, cows, polar bears, and many other things.  We never have time to see everything, but we still had a busy day.  And both kids refused to sit in the stroller, so Ivan and I pushed around bags and drinks.

At the end of the day both kiddos were exhausted.  My niece fell asleep with her new polar bear in her lap.  It was adorable.

Then I got home, made a batch of chicken soup for Ivan and pumpkin soup for Evan and boiled some black beans to freeze.  That is my new thing.  I cook a bag of dried beans in the crockpot for five hours, separate the beans from the liquid when they are finished, freeze the beans and make Sopa de Frijoles with the bean water.  So quick and easy and now I don't have to buy any canned beans.

This is what Evan does while I'm cooking.

And between all these fun activities I even managed to do all the laundry and fold the clothes and even put them away.  Amazing.

How was your weekend???

Mother's Day Weekend

{I didn't take any pictures this weekend for some reason so I'm interspersing adorable pics of Evan through the months for Mother's Day - since he made me a mother}

He was so little here!

I have a bit of a dilemma - my bus friend now moves over for me to sit next to him in the mornings.  I'd much prefer to sit alone in the mornings because it's my time to blog and sleep.  However, I feel rude walking past him when he has clearly already moved seats so I can sit down.  Then I don't get my very important nap though...and I can feel the difference as I try to get my work done.  It's painful and makes me want regular coffee instead of the decaf I fixed.  Ugg.

This weekend was great though, so I can't really complain.  On Friday I met up with two of my friends from the community college where I took nursing pre-reqs.  We went to Panera and chatted about nursing and all things that go with it.  It was so fun.  One girl is already in the nursing program, I start in the Fall, and the guy is starting next spring/fall.  It was so nice catching up. 

Before his first haircut!

Saturday was golf in the morning and then normal grocery shopping in the afternoon.  The golf girls were pleasantly calm today (at least my group).  It was a nice change from the running around that they normally do.  Kids can be crazy, especially with golf clubs!  Evan was taking a long nap so I was able to sneak out and grocery shop in peace.  Evan isn't too horrible at the store yet, but it's still more peaceful to go alone.  It's also more expensive.  Somehow I only had about ten things on my list but still managed to spent $150.  And I didn't even buy anything fun - definitely not going to be making any candy purchases or baking brownies or cake this week!  The grocery store is a money suck - I need a budget diet!

And then Sunday - Mother's Day!  Hubs went into work in the morning and Evan and I slept in until 8am.  Quite glorious.  Well, I was up at 7am, but cuddled with Evan until 8am.  Nothing like a Mother's Day cuddle.  Then I wore up and opened my present from the boys: a new pair of TOMS!  Yay!!!

Look at that face - and that hair !!

Then we got up and made blueberry muffins, bacon, and eggs (for Evan and Ivan) and oatmeal and coffee (for me).  We watch a little of The Voice and relaxed and then showered.  We had plans to go pick up my nun-friend and take her for lunch.  She's not a mother and her mother passed away years ago (my nun-friend is 85!), and so I thought it would be nice to take her out again.  So, we drove into the city and picked her up and headed to Panera.  I love going there with her because it's relaxed, we can chat for however long we want, and Evan can move around a little more than at a regular restaurant.  I ended up ordering something off their "hidden" menu - Steak Lettuce Wraps.  It was pretty good and not nearly as greasy as some of their other food.  Did you know Panera had a secret menu?  It's on their website but not listed on their in-store menu.  You have to ask for it at the register and know what you want.  Pretty sneaky, huh.

After we came home Evan took a nap (he has really been into 3-4 hour naps these days) and I got a meal in the crock pot, the dishes done, and dinner cooked (the crock pot was for Monday).  My plan was to get all of dinner ready so I could go for a run with Evan when he woke up.  Total fail.  He woke up at 6:30pm but then was super clingy until after 7pm. He wouldn't let me put him down or change his diaper and he just wanted to hide his face in my neck.  By the time he was ready to go in the stroller it was too late to get a run in with playground time, so we just ate dinner.  Oh well, should have gone in the morning.

Evan's first race!

We ended the day with a Skype to my mom.  Evan loves Skyping with Mimi and the minute you mention it he runs to find his bird (my mom made two stuffed birds, one for her and one for him and they play with them on Skype) and comes and sits in my lap.  It's adorable.  He was a bit wild yesterday and was throwing golf balls, climbing on everything, and throwing a few fits, but it was still a nice chat.  Then off to bed he went and I followed shortly.

Evan with his Mimi!

 Now I just have to get through another week at work and being away from this kiddo - which is hard when he's adorable and cuddly and a little easier when I spend all night dodging golf balls!

A failed run and a busy weekend

As I told my husband this morning, it's Monday again.  How does that happen so quickly?  This weekend was a blur, I can barely fathom that it came and went already.  I started Saturday off with a walk around the lake.  We haven't done an early morning lake walk in a while, not since I started running.  I had missed them so it was fun to head out early and get a walk in.

Evan was excited to see all the trees.  The entire walk he pointed out every tree and airplane...take a look at that picture again.  There are a lot of trees.

Saturday afternoon we headed into Baltimore to see my brother's in-law football team play Baltimore City College.  Luckily it was a fairly mild day so we didn't freeze too much.  Just a little.  We won, which was exciting!  Then we go to the bathrooms before heading home and Ivan runs into someone he knows.  A guy from the golf course.  How funny is that?  We are in the middle of the city and Ivan finds someone he knows.  Crazy.

That evening we had my niece's birthday party and I also had a First Tee movie night event.  I could only stay at the party for a little while and then I headed to the golf course to watch Dispicable Me with a bunch of little golf girls.  It was cute watching them.  That night, after the movie, it was more of this:

Chemistry - what would I do without you?  I have a test on Tuesday.  Boo.

On Sunday we headed out to see some apartments.  What had been four was reduced to two.  Not much choice.  So we looked at them both and then had to make some decisions.  One was in good condition and we met the landlord and she seemed nice and easy to work with.  However, the condo was a little on the small side...875 sq ft for at two bedroom (our current place is 1100 sq ft).  The other was bigger...1200s sq ft...but wasn't in great condition.  The carpet had holes in it, the walls were in dire need of a painting and had millions of nails in them, the bathrooms were gross, some of the window sills had water damage, and the hallway smelled like cigarette smoke (it was a controlled access-type building).  So, obviously the guy doesn't really care about the place much.  We decided to put our application in with the smaller place with the nice landlord.  Hopefully we can find enough space for our stuff.  And that the owner is ok with our dog.  Still keeping our fingers crossed.

The rest of the afternoon was supposed to be filled with studying and cooking, but it didn't turn out that way.  Evan was tired but burst into tears every time I put him in the crib.  So he ended up napping in my arms and I watched the latest NCIS and Parenthood.  Then we went to the grocery store and spent all our money.  I didn't get to start cooking until 5pm, but I whipped out chili, cornbread, and pumpkin soup while doing three loads of laundry.  Not too shabby.

The only thing I didn't have time for was my run.  I headed out with Evan in the early morning and we got half a mile and he started crying.  I went a bit further and then realized that it wasn't worth it.  So I took him out of the stroller and we walked home.  I am hoping to maybe do a long run today instead.  We'll see.

So many things to tell you and the worst run ever

This may be a long post because I have so many things to update you on.  A lot has happened since we last "chatted" and since we are practically best friends I feel like I need to give you the full update.  Hold on to your seats people, it's gonna be a long ride.  But don't get too excited because I haven nothing of real importance to tell you.

First, what is this update with out a mention of Halloween?  I know I am late on this and should have posted on Friday with the rest of the blogger world, but I was swamped at work and by the time I finished all I wanted was to rest my eyes from the computer screen.  However, Evan was the cutest monster ever.  Don't you agree?  My niece was an adorable Angelina Ballerina and I went as myself, so don't make any comments about what my costume might have been.

Instagram: mapleandmud

I bought Evan's costume second hand and mainly because it looked nice and warm.  Figures it was practically 60 degrees that night, but he didn't seem to be too hot.  And yes, we had to go trick-or-treating with his Easter basket because I dropped the ball on a Halloween basket.  I also didn't have a Halloween shirt for him to wear that day either.  I am trying to keep on top of things but I obviously wasn't on top of everything.  We only got candy from a few houses because I didn't want piles of it waiting to be eaten by me.  So,  I had pretty much eaten all the candy by Friday...maybe I should have let him go to a few more houses!

This weekend was a blur of many things.  Saturday started out nice and slow because it was the first weekend with no First Tee!  No getting up at 6am to get ready for golf!  I wish I could say I was productive and did a ton of other things but no, Evan and I slept in.  We walked the dog and had some breakfast and took the morning slow.  Then when Ivan came home I went to take a shower...and read my Runner's World magazine for the first hour (no worries, the water wasn't running).  Ivan caught me though and he came to see why my shower was taking two hours!  Evan and I decided to do a little shopping and banking so the two of us headed out (Evan refused to nap so I gave up after 30 mins).  After the bank we went to my favorite baby consignment store.  I bought Evan the cutest clothes ever.  Seriously, so adorable.  I also got him some puzzles and a new sippy cup.  I then went next door to the upscale dog store for some glucosamine pills for Dolce.  He has a limp that won't go away and I think it is a bit or arthritis.  I had really wanted to buy myself a new pair of pants, but after shopping for toddler and doggie I decided to call it quits.

On the way home Evan fell asleep and when we got home Ivan was sleeping.  I put Evan in his crib and thought I'd make my favorite cookies, great pumpkin cookies, since everyone else was napping.  I have wanted to make these for a while but never found the time.  I put the flour and oats in the bowl and then realized I needed a cup of brown sugar and I only had a few tablespoons. So off to the store I went...all by myself.  Yay - party at the Giant.  When I got home Evan was awake though...so no cookies were made...until that night when he went to bed.  I think I started around 10pm - but the time was changing that night so I figured I could stay up extra late.  And it was worth it.  I love these cookies!!

My instagram: mapleandmud

Sunday was an even more productive and pumpkin day!!!

First, we came off daylight savings time, which is my favorite thing to do.  An extra hour in the day! My dream come true!  I thought I'd get an early run in since Evan would be up early, but I was mistaken.  Evan slept until 8:15am!  I got bored and actually folded and put away our large stack of clean clothes.  After Evan woke up, we headed out for a run.  The worst ever.  It was sunny and when I checked the weather I thought it said 55 degrees.  NO WAY!  I think that was the high, it was more like 46 degrees.  I bundled Evan up but I was wearing shorts and a short sleeved t-shirt.

I can tell you, it was too cold for this outfit.  The second bad thing about my run?  It was WINDY.  So windy!  So I was extra cold.  Plus, the route I went on was kinda hilly and pushing the BOB through the wind, up hills, was ridiculously unfun.  At one point the wind was blowing the stroller sideways and I was having to use all my arm muscle (which, honestly, isn't much)  to keep the stroller on the path.  Then Evan's blanket blew away and I had to run and get it.  On a few of the hills where the wind was blowing directly into my face I felt like I was running in place.  It was one tough run.  It was also the longest run I've done with BOB - 5.5 miles.  I finished the run without walking though and feeling returned to my legs and arms eventually.  And the biggest accomplishment?  Evan didn't cry at all!!!  Usually he starts crying at about the 4 mile mark and I can stretch out another half mile or so, but he was content pointing to every tree for the entire run (and eating a smoothie I made him for the road).  Let's hope this run wasn't a preview of what my winter training runs are going to be!

After I got home, I hopped in the shower and off to church we went.  I bought Evan the cutest church outfit at the consignment store the day before and I was so excited to put him in it.

Sorry for the crappy iPad photo, but he wouldn't stand long enough and at a good enough angle, so this was all I got.  I thought it he looked pretty dapper.  After church we headed to brunch with some friends and then finally headed home.  Evan went down for a nap and I started to do some major cooking.  I made pollo guisado (a Honduran dish) for Ivan and then was going to make pumpkin muffins and spinach and quinoa patties for Evan...however, when I looked in the fridge there was only one egg left and I needed five.  So, quick change of plans.  I ended up making pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin soup for Evan.  I had found some canned pumpkin with BPA-free liners and bought a bunch, so I just happened to have all the ingredients for those two dishes.  I guess I was on a pumpkin roll or something - cookies, soup, and pancakes!  I then decided I had enough energy to organize all of Evan's clothes and pull the clothes that don't fit him anymore and put the larger and more wintery clothes in his dresser.  And then I actually stuffed his diapers!

But with all that cooking and organizing - I didn't do my two Chemistry assignments and I didn't clean the bathrooms....some things never change.

And this morning I woke up refreshed from the extra hour of sleep (don't worry, my body will adjust in a day and it won't feel so exciting anymore)!

Happy Monday!!!!

Broken buses and 10,000 ravioli

I drew this all by myself....

 Ugg, these past few days have been horrible with regards to commuting.  On Thursday my bus never showed up so I had to take the local (and got home at 7:15 rather than 6:30), on Friday the bus never showed AGAIN and I had to take the local and there was a huge accident and I didn't get home until 8:00pm (and keep in mind I leave the office at 5pm), and then this morning our morning bus broke down so I had to take the local.  Seriously bus company - service your buses!!!

Ok, I just had to complain about that for a second...as I sit here going to all the park and rides knowing I'm going to be 45 minutes late to work.

This weekend was super jam-packed.  I had my last day of First Tee.  The girls were actually sad and said they'd miss us.  That means A LOT because a lot of the girls don't love golf and they do it because their parents want them to...and then we spend 8 weeks trying to convince them that golf is a lot of fun and they should keep doing it.  So, it seems like we succeeded and most of them said they'd be back in the spring.  I will miss them and the golf season (and the extra paycheck!), but it will also be nice to have Saturday mornings free again.  And it's getting cold, so it is less fun golfing when it's 37* out like it was this past Saturday.

In the afternoon Evan and I took a trip down to DC to visit my co-worker and her new baby.  I LOVE babies and I really love tiny little newborns.  Her son was born just two weeks ago, so he was little little.  It was fun to see her, catch up, and hear her birth story.  After being pregnant I love hearing about other people's birth stories for some reason.  It's not something I ever thought about before, but now I'm always interested.  My plan had been to bring her some frozen food, but she didn't confirm until Friday night so I didn't have time to make anything.  I stopped by Panera and bought her a bunch of bagels instead, and I had already bought some granola and oatmeal a few weeks ago.  I felt like that was the nicest thing that people did for me when I had Evan - everyone came with food.  It was something that had never occurred to me and I appreciated it so much.  Keep that in mind!  If any one of your friends ever gives birth - head over with food, they will love you forever.

It's a good thing that I am not pregnant right now because I can tell you - Evan was NOT happy with me holding the baby.  He kept trying to crawl back into my lap and push the baby away.  Not in a mean way, but definitely in a jealous way.  I can totally see him being jealous of a new baby.  He played with his toys a bit but kept coming back and trying to crawl into my lap.  He does that when I hold my sister's daughter too.  He's definitely a momma's boy right now - he loves to cuddle with me and will climb into my lap and give me a kiss for no reason.  It's the most adorable thing in the world, but maybe it wouldn't be if I had another baby!

Later that night I picked up Ivan and we tried to go to Costco, but it was closed.  It was really annoying because Evan had fallen asleep in the car and then we woke him up to get him out - only to find out that Costco closes at 6pm!  On a Saturday!  Crazy sauce.  So we went to Target instead and spent a ton of money there.  On non-essential items - minus the dog food.  I HATE going to Target for that reason alone - I always find stupid stuff I don't need (and Ivan finds more) and then then next thing we know we are paying $80 when we only needed $13.00 dog food.  Frustration to the max (and yes, I did just say than and I know it sounds stupid, but I'm not erasing it).

Sunday was suppose to be a bit lazier, but it wasn't.  I got up early to go running with my sister and Evan - even though it was only 37* outside.  Freezing!  And I couldn't find our weather shield for Evan.

See that nice contraption that keeps Evan warm?  Where did it go?  I searched every box, closets, drawer, and cubby that it could possibly be and it is NO WHERE.  I have no clue what happened to it and it's driving me crazy because it's like $65 and I don't want to have to buy another one.  However, when it's cold and I force Evan to go for a run with me, I feel bad having the cold wind blow in his face.  He was fine yesterday though and only started fussing the last half mile, and never broke out into a full cry.  He did pitch one of his mittens overboard though and it's lost forever.  Sorry Mimi - it was one of the Mickey Mouse ones you made him last year.  It was a good run though.

That's me after the run in my running clothes.  Sorry, we don't have a great mirror to take good photos.  Also, I seem to have hurt my food somehow.  I'm not sure how, but it started hurting on Saturday and it's only gotten worse.  I wasn't even doing anything - just noticed this dull throb in my arch area and now it's so painful I can't walk normal.  I had to do a run-hop thing because it hurt to run and I am now hobbling all over the place.  I have no clue what could have happened and I am just praying that the pain disappears.  We'll see.  I'm thinking I probably shouldn't run on it until the pain goes away, even though running on it didn't make it worse.

We did finally go to Costco yesterday and spent a bunch of money on things we didn't need and some things we did.  I bought some Ravioli that I thought Evan would like, but he doesn't.  So, glad I have 10000 more raviolis for him.  And Ivan bought 32 Cokes.  Yup, I guess you can never have too much coke if your name is Ivan.  We also bought a HUGE bag of carrots that Ivan said he's going to help eat.  Ivan hates vegetables so I figured if he was going to eat a few carrots I'd buy them.  Of course we then had to make a quick trip to Giant to buy the rest of the food we didn't want 500 of or that Costco didn't carry organic of - like yogurt and eggs.

All in all the weekend was fun, but my main goal had been to study and that didn't happen much.  I started to study on Sunday afternoon while Evan was napping but then he woke up and was still tired and fell asleep on my chest for an hour.  So I watched Parenthood instead....

Family Fun Weekend

We finally did something different this weekend and it involved leaving the house.  Where did we go?  Does this give you a clue?

We went to the zoo!  We had been talking about going to the aquarium, since we became members, but it was supposed to be a nice weekend and the aquarium is all indoors.  So we decided to venture to the zoo instead. 

I had to pose sideways so you could see Evan...
I don't normally pose sideways for photos.

I still had golf in the morning so we didn't head out until the afternoon, but it was perfect.  The weather in the morning had been cool and cloudy so the zoo wasn't too crowded.  However, by the time we got there the sun was out and it was perfect weather.

I carried Evan in the Mai Tei the entire time and he loved it.  For some reason we are not stroller people when we go out.  I always take the stroller when we head out for a walk, but if we are going somewhere like the football game or shopping we just always carry him or put him in the baby carrier.  I'm not sure why.  But the baby carrier was the way to go here because it was easy for him to get close without having to maneuver the stroller between people.

He really loved brushing the goats.

They were so cute.  Ivan's favorite part was the farm exhibit, of course.  We ended up with a lot of pictures like this.

And this,

We saw a bunch of giraffes but since we were there so late we couldn't feed them.  They were still fun to,look at.  Ivan also really liked the penguins.  I'm not sure why but we stood and looked at them for along time.

They were eating, so it was fun to watch them scarf down fish.  At the end we had somehow missed the crocodile (Ivan's favorite animal) so we had to rush back to the chimp exhibit and fine the one lone crocodile in a tank.  We made it and on our way out we snapped a photo together (a rarity).

We had so much fun.  Ivan wants to go back next week, but at almost $18 a person to get in, I don't think we'll be going every week.

Sunday was a normal day, except I subbed for another First Tee coach so I had to work again.  Melissa and I went for a 4.5 mile run in the morning.  It felt nice because it was such a beautiful morning.  I then took at trip to the grocery store where I was able to keep our bill to close to $100.  Then I went to Costco and spent $60, so there goes that budget.  It was important that we buy 30 rolls of toilet paper, 900 baby wipes, and 32 cans of coke....

And the Ravens lost.  Boo.

But I made chicken soup and Evan has a new tooth.

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What did you do this weekend?

What's your favorite zoo animal?

 - Mine is the gorilla and chimps.  I love to watch them because they are so human like.  I also like the elephants.

Baking cakes and dancing in the rain

Ok, so I didn't actually dance in the rain.  Or even come close to it.  But it did rain, a lot, on Saturday.  That was just what came to me when I was writing the title, so I went with it.  

This weekend was jam-packed!  I know I say that every weekend, but this one was extra busy.  Maybe because I signed up to make my co-workers baby shower cake.  I don't know why I did that.  I have NO TIME to bake and decorate cakes these days.  I just haven't done a cake in years (since my other co-workers shower cake) so I wanted to do one for the shower.  Not the smartest idea though because it was a bit hard to squeeze in...and I still haven't decorated it.  I made all the frosting though.  And dyed it.  And I don't have a present for her yet.  Boo.  I will soon though.

On Satuday I feel compelled to mention that my golf girls were so well-behaved.  I was so impressed.  Both classes were hitting really well and paying attention.  It was great.  It made the class so much more fun to coach.  Ivan had a golf tournement in the morning too.  He'd been looking forward to it for months.  I think he had a good time, even though he was hoping to win and didn't.  Thursday night golf league is finally over!!  I am so relieved.  It wasn't that I minded Ivan golfing, it was that we had no one to watch Evan.  It was so hard to find someone and eventually Melissa started watching him but she watched him all day too so I felt badly asking her to do it again at night.  So, we are now done that chapter of our life, until next year.

We were going to head to the aquarium or zoo Saturday afternoon but ended up running errands instead.  We had a bday party in the evening and we needed a present and Ivan wanted to buy a new phone.  And then, while at the mall I bought new glasses and picked up my contacts.  It rained all afternoon too so not the best weather to drive into the city in.  Maybe another weekend.

Sunday was beautiful and I took Dolce and Evan for a long walk.  It was perfect.  I've been going running with my sister in the mornings on Sundays and have really missed my walks (although I love running too).  Being pregnant really helped me enjoy the simplicity and relaxation of a good walk.

Is that not the prettiest thing ever?  The mist was rising off the lake as the day was heating up.  The temperature was perfect.  Evan and I hung out on the benches taking in the beautiful site.

This is my Instagram photo - follow me at mapleandmud

It was a lot of fun.  I love walks with my baby and doggie.  We had to make sure Evan was warm so we finally found socks to put on him.  And you can't tell from this photo, but I put his outfit on backwards.  Whoops!  It had snaps and usually the snaps go down the front...but then when I got home Ivan said it was on backwards and when I looked...sure enough, the tag was in the front.

And notice his snack container hanging off the belt (that belt is really to make sure the car seat doesn't fall out when you have the adapter in, but I think it works well to attach things too), he was munching on snacks and sharing with Dolce the entire time.

The rest of Sunday was a blur of cake baking, frosting making (I accidentally flavored the frosting with almond extract instead of vanilla extract...), dinner making, lunch-for-Ivan-for-the-week making, a bit of Chemistry studying, laundry doing, brunching, grocery shopping, and a small attempt to stop time (which didn't work).  And I must mentioned that our dryer squeaks so much when we dry clothes it's almost deafening.  Something must be done before I dry any more clothes.  Oh, and on Friday the heat shield fell off our car.  At the gas station.  We drove around with an extremely loud rattling for a while until my husband just took the heat shield off.  Hopefully our car doesn't blow up.

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What was your weekend like?

What did you have for dinner last night?

Do you make cakes or buy them?

A Birthday Weekend!

Before I get into the birthday celebration, I want to cry about the fact that it is dark and a bit chilly at the bus stop these days.  I hate to admit it but I think fall is coming, and after that...winter.  How did summer go so fast??  I only made it to the pool once.  We only BBQed once.  Sad how fast time goes.

And talking about time flying...how is my baby one year old already???  I cannot believe that an entire year has already gone by.  To relive the moment, I read through all my birth story posts (here, here, and here) and hubs and I walked through his birth day in memories.  It is still crazy to think it was a year ago that he was born.  It seems both a lifetime ago and yesterday that it happened.  I have to say, Evan came into this world and stole our hearts.  I love every minute I spend with him.  

We didn't have a huge birthday party for him.  It was hard to resist societal pressure to not go overboard and have a huge party with invitations, decorations, gift bags, games, etc.  There are so many cute ideas and themes and so many other people go all out for their kids' birthdays that a few times I felt a bit neglectful.  However, instead of a party I wanted to spend the money on family pictures.  I wanted to have a nice memory and I thought family photos would be a great idea.  I think it was.  The photographer was amazing and she did such a fantastic job getting Evan to smile and pay attention.  I can't wait to get the pics back (don't worry, I'll post a few here).

My parents did come down to celebrate Evan's first birthday, so that was super fun and the best present ever.  They came on Thursday night, so we pretty much spent the entire weekend at my sister's house.  I took Friday off so that I could spend some time with my birthday boy.  We headed over to my sister's and hung out there all day.  We made Evan's birthday cake and played around with the kids.

How do you like my rainbow cake!!!

He's eating so fast you can't see his hand...he loves cake, just like his momma!

My friend Andrea came over with her two kids in the afternoon for cake.  After Evan was born she came over ever week for my entire maternity leave.  Her visits were a life saver.  She really helped me out and answered so many of my questions and made me feel so relaxed.  So, I really wanted her to come celebrate Evan's first birthday.  We opened some presents and hung out and then headed to my brother's in law football game.

Evan loves his new truck!

On Saturday I had The First Tee in the morning (new fall season - lots of new girls) and then we hung out at my sister's again.  Yesterday morning my sister and I had a 5k race.  

Before the race - hanging out!

It was my first 5k in years...like over ten years!  We signed up and then I happily realized that my parents were in town and could easily watch the kiddos while my sister and I ran.  Perfect!  I had been hoping to PR in the race but never really got a chance to train much.  I had only been running once a week for a month and before that I had probably run 5 times in the previous three months.  Definitely nothing to brag about.  However, I think I did pretty well.  I ran it in under 25 minutes, which was exciting for me.  So maybe not a PR, but not a snail walk either.

That was pretty much the weekend.  Today's my husbands bday and I have nothing for him.  It's sad.  I have to run out today and see what I can find.  It's hard having two birthdays in one weekend - hard on me and hard on the bank!  Plus, Ivan usually has the car these days so it's extra hard for me to get somewhere to buy something.

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Are you ready for the fall?

What did you do this weekend?

Back to School...and other random stuff

I have a bunch of random stuff on my mind, so I decided to share it all with you.  In all it's random gloriousness.

***I can't believe summer is over and I'm heading back to school tonight.  I'm just taking one class (Chem 101), but on top of 12 hour days, month 9 of pregnancy, and normal life - one Chem class is all I can handle.  Ok, that's partly a lie since this is my last week of commuting to work for a while.  After this I am working from home and then I'm on maternity leave.  But I think I'll still have long days after Maple Baby comes!  But I'm so close to finishing these pre-reqs that I didn't want to take a semester off (I only have Chem 102 and Human Growth and Development left after this).  This may or may not have been the smartest choice on the planet (taking classes during my maternity leave).  I will talk to my lab professor tonight and see what he thinks about me missing a lab (since it's inevitable that I'll give birth soon and I can't promise that going to lab that week will be the top thing on my list).  If he seems to think that there is no way I can pass if I miss a lab, then I still have time to drop the class.  From reviews of him on RateMyProfessor.com, it appears he's an old guy.  This may or may not work in my favor.  Old men can be over-the-top understanding when it comes to pregnancy...or grumps.

I admit that school is not the first thing on my mind right now and I can't seem to muster up a lot of energy.  I'm hoping that I can muster through though.  I'm sad because all my friends are taking Chem for Allied Health and I am stuck in real Chemestry.  Boo.  One of the schools I want to apply for requires two semesters of Chemistry and the only way to take the second semester is to take Chem 101, rather than Chem 107 (the easier Chemestry).  One of my friends was willing to take the regular Chem with me but it didn't work out with his schedule.  So, I'm all alone.  No more friends to motivate me, be my lab partner, and answer my 900 text messages because I wasn't paying attention.  I will have to survive on my own.

***I don't have any pictures for you because my camera ran out of batteries.  It's a good thing too because I replaced the batteries.  Otherwise we may have shown up at the birthing center with a battery-dead camera.

I put the new batteries in but then forgot the camera at home.  So, nothing of interest to show you.

I'm not sure what I would have taken a picture of though.  My one new notebook?  My super exciting Chemistry books?  Who knows.

***Maybe I would have snapped a picture of the weird guy who sits in the office across the alley from me - in the dark.  It's spooky.  His desk faces my window and he's kind of hard to see without his office light on (because of the glare), so it looks like there is a ghost in there.  It's pretty dark in the office because our window faces a very tiny alley that doesn't get much sunlight - so I don't understand how he can see anything.  I am so spooked out that I closed my blinds.  Yup, I have a window office and I have to keep the blinds down.

***I also coached my last golf class yesterday.  No more First Tee until the spring.  I haven't not coached a session in four years!  I have always done spring, summer, and fall.  My co-coach will be coaching with someone else for the first time.  I will miss those kiddos, but it sure will be nice to have Sunday mornings free.

Hubs is already excited about church and brunch (what replaces First Tee in the off season).  Honestly, he is much more excited about brunch than church I think, but he is always up for church.

***And one more funny story.  On Saturday hubs decided to put on his wedding suit to see if it still fit.  It did.  But then he refused to take it off.  He insisted on wearing his suit to run errands.  I'm serious.  He wore it to the bank, to the Mexican grocery, to Target, and to Chipotle.  I was wearing capris, a t-shirt, and flip flops.  It was hilarious.  I wanted to take a picture but he thought I was making fun of him so he refused.  He made some comment about how much my father had paid for the suit and how he never wears it.  I told him we could eat out at fancier restaurants and he could pull it out for that.  He seemed to think that it was a stupid idea to spend more money just to wear the suit.  He thought it was perfectly reasonable to just put it on for Saturday errands.  Sometimes I wonder about him!


What random things are happening in your life???