Behind Every Great Woman...

there is a great man. Well, I know that isn't quite how the saying goes, but close enough. I feel the need to give my wonderful husband some much deserved credit for making things extra special this year.

I realize I have yet to do a post on Christmas, but I would like to share with you one of my favorite Christmas presents this year. From none other than my husband himself. I can vouch for the fact that he put many (80ish?) hours into this book. And while I kind of knew what he was doing, I never expected it to be as great as it turned out in the end.

Jason took our blog from way back in May 2006 and made it into a book. At the time, I was using a Mac website to publish the blog and when our subscription ran out we decided not to renew it. So, all of the hard work I put into the blog for 2 years was no longer available for viewing. I knew I wanted it to become a book at some point, but it wasn't super high on my priority list knowing it was going to be a huge undertaking. As I outlined in my 101 things list, my plan eventually is to have all of my blog entries made into books.

These pictures don't really do it justice, but trust me when I say it is INCREDIBLE!

The cover:

The back cover:

A sample page inside:

Seriously, its the best!

Not only did Jason decide to make Christmas super special with the blog book, he also worked his magic for my birthday. Turns out Henry and my birthdays are exactly one week apart, so you can imagine that I wasn't up for much celebrating this year. The nursing factor kept me from being able to go out and enjoy a nice dinner and since it was Jason's last day home with the family before returning to work, I really wanted something low key.

Henry surprised me by starting the morning off with an uninterrupted 4.5 hours of sleep. Then, when Amelia woke up, she and Jason headed downstairs for a secret mission. Turns out they were decorating the place with signs and streamers.

Later in the day (given Amelia's built up energy), Jason decided to take her out to Monkey Joe's to try to wear her down a bit. This was gift #2! Amelia came home and actually took a nap (gift #3!).

After she woke up, she and Jason decorated my cake. Jason was brave enough to take the giant cupcake form I got for Christmas and give it a try.

Not too bad for a guy and a three year old! (Of course Jason felt the need to put all (gulp) 31 candles on the cake for me.

And if all that wasn't enough, Jason and Amelia presented me with a frame with pictures inside that spelled out "MOM". Much like the frame I did for Jason for father's day. I really don't think it gets much cuter than this, I mean really!

(Check out the socks in this last one).

And last, but not least, I picked out this necklace long before Henry was born and sent Jason the Etsy link. It arrived on my birthday, so you know he had to work fast to get that done!

Not to get all mushy on my blog, but I am so lucky to have such a wonderful man in my life. I'll leave it at that.

Supper by the Shore

(Well, not exactly, but its the only illiteration I could come up with on a Sunday night after a super busy weekend)

Jason got home a little earlier than usual on Friday--before I had a chance to even start dinner.  So, we had the "Do you want this or that or those" conversation for a good 45 minutes before deciding that we would just pick up some pizza for dinner.  I certainly did not put up a fight because I honestly think I could eat pizza every day of the week--especially when that pizza is Stefanina's. 

On our way out the door we decided we would make our pizza night into an impromptu picnic.  So I quickly packed up some fruit and drinks and we picked up our pizza, salad, and garlic bread and headed to City Centre park to enjoy our dinner.  And while it definitely was not a picnic Martha Stewart would feature on her show (we didn't even use plates!), it was lovely nonetheless.  The park is beautifully landscaped and we had our picnic in between the lake and the gazebo.  Amelia thought it was so funny that we were eating outside, sitting on a blanket no less!  

And, of course, she loves pizza just as much as her mama so she chowed down!

Afterwards we checked out the fish in the nearby pond and then stopped by the playground on the way out!  

How do I love thee?

Let me count the ways.

The ways in which I have fallen in love with my iphone all over again, that is.  Check out the ways we used our iphones just on our KC trip alone:

1. We did not write down any directions before leaving.  We depended completely on the GPS to get us to the hotel and concert venue.

2. We checked how to get to the concert early on Friday and learned it was only 22 minutes away.  However, we checked again as we were leaving the hotel for dinner and learned that our iphone also shows traffic and that the travel time had been increased to 54 minutes...oops.

3. During the brief amount of time we thought Jack Johnson might be staying at our hotel, Jason used the facebook application to chat with his brother and tell him that, well, we thought Jack Johnson might be staying at our hotel.

4. We used the "Urban Spoon" application to locate restaurants of all types on the way to the concert venue.  True, we ended up eating Taco Bell because we ran out of time (see #2), BUT we knew where the closest Thai, Japanese, Italian, BBQ, Greek, and Wine Bar were.  

5. We played Jack Johnson's newest CD while sitting in traffic because I had it loaded into my iphone.  At the same time, I also played a challenging game of Sudoku to help pass the time.

6. While in traffic, we began to wonder whether or not we could bring in a camera to the concert.  We also were not sure of the cost of parking--both questions were answered quickly thanks to our iphone.

7. Prior to entering the concert venue, I called to check on Amelia--one of the 875 times I called during the 24 hours we were gone.

8. During Jack Johnson's amazing encore, (and I am a little embarrassed about this one), I used the "mylite" application to turn my iphone into a lighter (see above picture).  Hey, when in Rome.....

9.  By some grace of God we parked by a secret rear exit of the parking lot and were able to avoid at least a 90 minute wait to leave through the main exit.  Again, with the help of GPS, we were able to find our way back to the highway using some back roads and some expert navigating by yours truly.  

10.  Most of the way back to the hotel was spent pouring over articles about Jack Johnson, his background, and the meaning behind his songs.  (dorky, I know).

11.  On Saturday morning, we briefly discussed visiting the outdoor pool at our hotel.  But, one look at the weatherbug application on the iphone showed us the outside temperature was only 72 degrees.  

12.  So, instead we decided to visit the Farmer's Market on our way out and used the iphone to find information about the hours and location of the market.  Then, again, we used GPS to get there.

All of this in addition to checking our email and stocks constantly.  Have I mentioned how much I love this phone?

There and Back

We're back!  We had a fabulous time in Kansas City.  We were there for about 24 hours when it was all said and done, but it was a 24 hours well spent, for sure.

We had lofty goals to be up by 7:00, Amelia dropped off by 7:45, on the road by 8:00.  In reality, we were up at 8:30, Amelia dropped off at 9:20, and on the road at 9:55.  We had planned to meet my cousin Laura and her little man, Evan for lunch, but obviously missed the boat on that one.  We ended up rolling into KC about 1:45.  We checked into our hotel (which we once again secured through priceline for a decent price) and walked around a bit to check out the area. While walking around we came to realize that our hotel was connected to Crown Center, which mostly consisted of small shops and restaurants.  We ate at a so-so tourist trappy place and did some shopping.  Actually, I should probably say window shopping because the only thing we bought was a bag of random sweets from a candy store.  Union Station was across the street from our hotel (and actually connected to it by a large clear, covered tunnel), so we wandered around over there for a bit before heading back to the hotel to rest a little before heading out to the concert. 

view of Union Station from our hotel room

We had noticed while checking in that there were two large tour busses that were not typical passenger busses.  There was a lot of activity around the busses--people getting off and on, coolers getting loaded, etc.  We also noticed several younger, musician-looking (I don't know what made them this, they just were!) people wandering around the hotel and traveling to and from said busses.  So, I wouldn't say we were stalking the busses (or the people for that matter), but we definitely kept them in sight at all time while wandering around the area.  We also were lucky enough to have a room that faced the front of the hotel were the busses were parked.  But, unfortunately, I do not think the busses were those of Jack Johnson, instead I think they belonged to one of the opening bands instead.

We eventually headed out to the concert, grabbing a quick dinner on the way.  There was TONS of traffic heading to the ampitheater and by the time we arrived, there was little parking left.  In fact, we ended up paying $10 to park in a field with grass so high we feared the Corolla may not make it back out.  Then, we hiked about 3/4 mile to the site of the concert.  I was a sweaty, muddy mess by the time we arrived and cursing myself for wearing heels to the concert.  We found our seats, which were incredible, and listened to a little bit of Rogue Wave, the second of two opening bands, before deciding to use the bathroom and get some drinks.  Well, 45 minutes later, I was STILL in line for the restroom and by then we had both decided it might be too risky to put anymore liquid into our bodies for fear of spending the entire concert in line for the bathroom.  I met some nice ladies in line and even chatted with someone from Kirkwood before finally making it through the line just in time to get back to our seats before Jack Johnson came on.

He.  Was.  Awesome.  That is all there is to it.  Jason and I were both almost giddy during the whole experience.  I have always been a fan, but I think his new stuff is the best yet. He played 26 songs, which was basically all of his good ones, several new ones, and a couple of cover songs as well.  He is super mellow and relaxed up there, so much so that he forgot the words to a few songs (which apparently happens fairly regularly).  He came out for a 6 song encore and ended with a beautiful combination of "Angel" and "Better Together" that was simply amazing!  Needless to say, we both enjoyed the concert very much. Even though our tickets ended up being free, he is definitely someone I would pay to go see in the future.

It was pretty late when we finally got back to the hotel, so we slept in on Saturday morning, watched some cable TV we don't normally get to see, and then headed to the City Market, the region's largest farmer's market.  It was a beautiful morning.  We grabbed some breakfast there and bought tons and tons of produce.  The prices were decent and many vendors offered samples of their produce which made it virtually impossible to walk away without wanting to bring some home.  We ended up with zucchini, squash, watermelon, grapes, lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, and corn.  After the market we headed back to the car for the journey home.

I think it was the combination of watching Jamie Oliver on the Food Network that morning and visiting such a wonderfully abundant produce market shortly after that led Jason to come up with an elaborate dinner menu for Saturday evening.  We asked my parents to come over as a thank you for watching Amelia and shortly after returning home, Jason went straight to work preparing a delicious dinner for all of us.  The menu included a tomato/basil/mozarella salad (similar to what Jamie Oliver made on his show on Saturday morning), grilled chicken with mango, cucumber, and cilantro relish, grilled corn with herb butter, multigrain bread, and fresh watermelon for dessert.  I cannot even express into words how good this meal was!  I am seriously considering getting cable just so Jason can get inspired more often ;)

Kansas City seems like a great place to visit and we plan on returning soon with Amelia.  Everywhere we looked there were kids enjoying themselves.  Kids were playing in the fountains, watching the jugglers at the market, eating at a restaurant where a train delivers your meal, and there were even kids at the concert--lots of kids!  As an added bonus, Amelia already has built-in playmates in KC since she has four second cousins living there!

And We're Off!

In less than 24 hours, Jason and I are taking off to Kansas City for the weekend to see Jack Johnson!  These tickets were part of Jason's 30th birthday present (back in April) and it seems like we've been waiting for this concert for a very LLLLLLOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGG time.  So, after a trip to the park this morning, Amelia and I have been busy trying to pack and get ready.  

As you can see, I've had plenty of help.  Although, I've yet to break it to Amelia that she won't be coming along :)

iLove iPhone

Jason and I would love to take this opportunity to introduce the newest members of our iFamily:

Aren't they cute?  

Yeah, that's right we totally splurged, bit the bullet and bucked up for not one, but two iphones! After much talk, speculation, number crunching, and researching, we just couldn't resist the temptation any longer.

Interestingly enough, our credit card company's fraud alert division gave Jason a call after he paid for the phones.  Apparently, THEY even realize how uncharacteristic this purchase is from our typical spending habits.

It may seem a bit strange for a stay-at-home-mom to need an iphone, but don't worry, I've come up with a list of reasons why I it makes sense:

1. the GPS will allow me to get directions in case I get lost on the way to playdates

2. the "Scribble" application (which allows you to draw on the screen with different colors using your finger) should keep Amelia occupied in an emergency (ie: long line at the DMV, dr. visit, traffic)

3. the calculator can be used to determine the cheapest price per diaper while roaming the aisles at Target.  Plus, if I turn the phone sideways, it becomes a scientific calculator in case things get really complicated.

4. I can store all of my favorite photos of my little lady--even pictures I didn't take with my phone.

5. 7 words: up to the minute message board posts

6. Never again will I be without the entire TMBG, "Here Come the ABC's" soundtrack, so I will be ready when Amelia requests some random song out of the blue in the middle of the grocery store.

7. I will be able to check the weather on the way to the park to make sure conditions are favorable for some playground time.

8. I can post to the blog in real time.  Tantrum in Target?  You'll feel like your there! Climbing out of the Crib (part 2)?  Be the first to know!  Even before Jason :)

Now, if I can just get this thing to dispense Cheerios, I'll be all set!  Oh wait, it does that too!

Seriously, though, this is just about the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life and I know that I haven't even begun to scratch the surface yet on all it can do.  I've had some time to play with it during the day, but not as much as I'd like.  Amelia doesn't quite grasp the fascination, although the word "iphone" is now part of her vocabulary.  That alone, was worth the purchase, right?  All in the name of improving Amelia's verbal skills.  We all have to make sacrifices for our children, I guess.

Amelia and the Giant Skull

Monsanto came through again with a great opportunity to visit an awesome St. Louis attraction without spending a dime! Because Monsanto works so closely with the Missouri Botanical Gardens, employees had the opportunity to visit the gardens this weekend and take advantage of all it has to offer.

Jason's mom came along for the ride and none of us could remember the last time we were down there.  I think Jason and I have only been down once since we've been married and his mom thought the last time she had visited was when Jason was little.  So much has changed!  

One of my favorite additions are these beautiful pieces of blown glass that float in one of the reflecting pools, although I think their inclusion in the pool is seasonal.

I was most excited about seeing all of the Niki sculptures on display at MOBOT through October 31.  This exhibit came to one of our favorite spots in Chicago, the Garfield Conservatory, while we were living there, but Amelia was a little young to partake in the full experience.  

There are 40 beautiful mosaic on display at the garden and many of them you can touch, sit, and even climb on!  Amelia wasn't too sure at first, but warmed up as we went along.  I think it helped to watch other kids climb on them too!

Her favorite was this giant skull.  When the sculptures first came to MOBOT, you could climb on the outside of it, up into the nose and eye regions, but for whatever reason, that is now prohibited.  It didn't matter much to Amelia, she seemed to enjoy hanging out behind the teeth inside the skull. Even after we moved on to other sculptures, she kept wanting to come back to this one.

We also took a trip to the Children's Garden which is a relatively new addition to the park.  Amelia wasn't too impressed, but was also wearing down by the time we got there.  However, she did enjoy the water area and ended up soaking herself with this neat little spigot she found.

There was so much to see and it is all so incredibly beautiful!  When Amelia is a little older and can last a little longer, I can see packing a lunch and spending the entire day here!

Just Peachy!

We made the trek to New Melle on Saturday morning to visit Wind Ridge Farm to do some peach and blueberry picking.  This was our first time at this great little farm only 20 minutes from our house. It was not very crowded at all, despite it being opening day for peach picking.

Amelia enjoyed the short ride out to the orchard on the wagon and wanted to sit right next to the tractor so she could get a good look at the "farmer".

We found a great spot to pick some peaches, although I think Amelia got the best spot of all!

Here she is searching the orchard for the best peach, she had a hard time understanding that the peaches on the ground needed to stay there.

She had the tough job of carrying the peaches for about 12 seconds.  This picture was taken right before she said, "too many, mommy".  

Amelia liked arranging and rearranging all of the peaches in the bucket.

Here she is showing the "fruits" of her labor (sorry, couldn't resist).

When we picked about 8 lbs. of peaches, we decided we had enough.  Jason paid for them (only 99 cents/lb!) and Amelia and I headed down to the blueberry patch to get started picking those.  The bushes were more her size although she certainly was not choosy with her selections! After awhile, she got that the green ones needed to stay on the bushes and that we should only pick the blue berries off.  She would say, "no green, yes blue".  At that point, she decided she needed to go through our entire bucket and throw out the green ones, which were plentiful thanks to her early efforts.  

We picked about 3 lbs. of blueberries and by then it was heating up and we were all pretty sweaty. We also picked up a bottle of local honey while at the farm.  On the way home we stopped by a house that was selling produce from their carport and picked up some tomatoes, okra, and cucumbers.

Once home, we washed the fruit and veggies and dove right in!  Amelia had a peanut butter and honey sandwich for lunch, while Jason and I enjoyed BLTs with the homegrown tomatoes we picked up.  And, of course, we all shared peaches and blueberries.

After naps all around, Jason used my grandmother's peach cobbler recipe to make a yummy dessert for a get together later that evening.

We've never picked peaches or blueberries before, but it worked out so well, we are thinking about going back in a few days to pick some blackberries too!