tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13818834738058034932024-03-21T13:03:53.988-07:00"Little Happy One"Trying to live up to my name: Womanly and HappyCarlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.comBlogger79125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-20883309594997498552013-08-20T12:40:00.000-07:002013-08-20T12:40:52.359-07:00Updating<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A 5 month break from blogging? Inexcusable I suppose. I'll blame it on spending all of ButterBean's nap-times reading the Game of Thrones series and summer time. Here are a few highlights of the last couple of months!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Summer is flying by! We are lucky enough to live within walking distance of 3 parks, so we've spent a lot of time there. The most time consuming part of playing at the park is continually emptying ButterBean's shoes/sandals since he can't abide having any sand in them and will sit on the ground yelling "Shoes off!" until his little piggies are free of sand!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Going down the "side"</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Whoahhh! </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As every summer should, ours has had a good dose of WATER! Water in all forms: sprinklers, pools, lakes, and rivers!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The slide doesn't work so well, but he loves it</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We indulged his Lighting McQueen obsession with a Cars kiddie pool </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Rocked to sleep on the boat</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Romance on the St. Croix River?</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Roomies on the St. Croix</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A highlight of the summer was my best bud and college roommate came to MN with her family. ButterBean enjoyed a day in Stillwater playing with her three beautiful daughters. Obviously, a marriage contract is being drafted for her middle daughter and BB :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">More on the water topic - my parents bought a lake cabin, so we've had extra water fun including boating and our newest hobby, paddle boarding. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">What a helper!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And last but not least, there is an addition to the family! Tubby!! My sister Lil T, has a sweet, calm, adorable new dog. He's a perfect fit!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Tubster!</span></td></tr>
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<br />Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-29320727446720950822013-03-28T12:34:00.000-07:002013-03-28T12:37:45.810-07:00Naturally Easter<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Nothing artificial here!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I tried a new method of dying Easter eggs this week. I had seen some other sites mentioning ways to dye eggs using only natural ingredients, so I hopped on board and tried a few! After googling for a while, <a href="http://www.bhg.com/holidays/easter/eggs/natural-easter-egg-dyes/" target="_blank">this is the site</a> that I got the instructions from. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I used <b>red onion, red cabbage, paprika, </b>and<b> green tea. </b>My picture shows tumeric and blueberries, but I decided to use green tea for my yellow eggs instead of tumeric and I bought fresh instead of frozen blueberries. You're supposed to use frozen, so I'll try that one next year!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Green tea and red onions at work</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Overall it was a success. If I had more time/bigger bowls/more fridge space/more dye I would have left lots of eggs in the dye overnight in the fridge for more vibrant color. I left most of the eggs in the dyes for 15 minutes or so and they were a very nice pastel hue. I put some in the fridge until evening and they darkened quite nicely.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb861NJJurRKNYZTS9A7oPfAcXj4Xs1b7vEpOjjBS4E5nfXTjJkhtGVgv9uwKTMihrYpE9FCHNUixMl3NDs1c2AdCCnyfl2C9QA1XWtrjHogfbPIWo2j7GW0c28lk6Nq2zavbaul7NIpox/s1600/IMG_3880.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb861NJJurRKNYZTS9A7oPfAcXj4Xs1b7vEpOjjBS4E5nfXTjJkhtGVgv9uwKTMihrYpE9FCHNUixMl3NDs1c2AdCCnyfl2C9QA1XWtrjHogfbPIWo2j7GW0c28lk6Nq2zavbaul7NIpox/s1600/IMG_3880.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">pretty pastels</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here's my verdict:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">Green Tea: Yellow</span> Very easy to do! Just brew green tea, cool to room temp and soak the eggs! I used 5 old tea bags that I knew I was never going to use and 1 cup water. </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">Paprika: Orange </span>A very pale orange and is all speckled from the spice bits. Again, very easy because it's just a cup of boiling water and a couple tablespoons of paprika. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">Red Onion: Jade Green</span> Jade Green? Ha! How about camo-brown green? Not so successful! Now, I could have done something wrong, but I followed directions (boiling red onion skins) and it was definitely barely greenish tinged brown. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Big ol' bowl of red cabbage dye</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">Red Cabbage: Blue </span>For sure the best of the batch!! 1/2 of a head of red cabbage makes enough dye to soak 8-9 eggs at a time. These are very pretty as a pastel blue and becomes a vibrant blue if left to soak for hours. I modified slightly and did 1/2 head of cabbage chopped into chunks in 5 cups of boiling water. Stir in 2 Tbs of white vinegar and let cool to room temp before straining out the cabbage. Aaaaand, you can take the slightly boiled cabbage and put oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper and on it and you have a tasty salad!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In this picture you can see some eggs that have polkadots. These appeared by themselves!! Maybe wash the eggs before dying? I don't know. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Quick soaked!!! Left: red onion (blah!!) Top middle: paprika Bottom middle: Red cabbage Right top: green tea</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">After a long soak in the red cabbage </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Red cabbage and green tea</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Next year I'd like to try the blueberries, and maybe some saffron. I'll do green tea and cabbage again, but I think I'll skip the paprika and red onion. </span><br />
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Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-12573532009704796822013-02-20T11:32:00.000-08:002013-02-20T11:32:42.522-08:002nd Birthday: Sesame Street <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1CMGWfx4ZsTVcem0jbW1HZ7PtuS3-2y5aB19I6KMvEpvMNNIL11RWIE4aA_vKIguwTLEHDvsniRcXeH047P6L23O8wQpO45AruvlOCHojYAimQjutkPG81YhCUFG3gH9hyphenhyphen8ZAU3g7_kgB/s1600/IMG_1552.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1CMGWfx4ZsTVcem0jbW1HZ7PtuS3-2y5aB19I6KMvEpvMNNIL11RWIE4aA_vKIguwTLEHDvsniRcXeH047P6L23O8wQpO45AruvlOCHojYAimQjutkPG81YhCUFG3gH9hyphenhyphen8ZAU3g7_kgB/s1600/IMG_1552.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Somehow ButterBean is 2 years old! He is growing up so fast and each day more of his personality emerges. He is one of the funniest people I know!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">His love of all things Elmo/Abby/Sesame Street prompted the theme for his 2nd birthday party: Sesame Street! I had so much fun planning this party!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-_pQtRnkDj8dkc4IBRVWns83EDeO4XZU2D7k-plleRNh-1gXwP9VhWzRB-59xi7QoKLOqXAKQyVc9VtTgKh-TwlfE2ArorwVaCBLplMp9o6YKN4W3M1wRt0E-LYmE0WH39x3o9ynQjzSX/s1600/IMG_1588.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-_pQtRnkDj8dkc4IBRVWns83EDeO4XZU2D7k-plleRNh-1gXwP9VhWzRB-59xi7QoKLOqXAKQyVc9VtTgKh-TwlfE2ArorwVaCBLplMp9o6YKN4W3M1wRt0E-LYmE0WH39x3o9ynQjzSX/s1600/IMG_1588.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Decorations were easy because it seems that every party store has a section dedicated to Sesame Street. Any bold primary colors work for this party! I picked up some plates, napkins, balloons, and table cloth at Party City. Michaels provided some cute little cardboard cutouts in the scrapbooking section. We had the party at Gatsby's work since our house would not accomodate the amount of people we expected to come. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The food was the most fun to make. I made the same turkey sandwiches that I made for his first birthday (big success both times). We also had Abby Magic Fairy wands -- fruit on bamboo skewers</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Burt & Ernie veggie sticks with Ranch dressing</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Big Bird popcorn puffs (ButterBean gags on the hulls of popcorn, so we had to get the puffy kind)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Goldfish crackers in honor of Elmo's goldfish, Dorothy. I considered getting ButterBean a real goldfish for his birthday, but I decided I didn't want to take care of one!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Elmo and Big Bird crackers and Sesame Street juice boxes were picked up at Babies R Us on a diaper run, but you can find those lots of places. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">For dessert we had Cookie Monster Cookies and Elmo cupcakes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The kids played Oscar's Trash Toss, which was just throwing crumpled news paper into my tiny compost bucket that looks like a mini trash can. Running up and down the hallway was another favorite!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> ButterBean got more presents that we know what to do with! It's time for a toy purge in this house!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR_sOYWn1arMTQe0GAEuJbxujzziKzxZNM5XuSfvW_5lDYaUMsO96JyXTTaIuhYL73UV-3kmn3DZ49cjcgVl9U2C0qj7fPySYTlfhCMQHyv3eyvfiDOPAXbHUxZvGLPdD4AwWSP2Ny8Hfy/s1600/IMG_3844.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR_sOYWn1arMTQe0GAEuJbxujzziKzxZNM5XuSfvW_5lDYaUMsO96JyXTTaIuhYL73UV-3kmn3DZ49cjcgVl9U2C0qj7fPySYTlfhCMQHyv3eyvfiDOPAXbHUxZvGLPdD4AwWSP2Ny8Hfy/s1600/IMG_3844.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzY1vOU_qmweV6UwNQLDUp7l8Ge6fgAj9Z8x5pBMPyzQGSJ8Qdodzdl3R6wl8UNC48ClBaCeVUF1VYY9OwMZDy7KX8gg_xY65cBuQPhgty4nK7E7S91zcmzkFgEGU17D9NfSXeJQi2WLti/s1600/IMG_3867.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzY1vOU_qmweV6UwNQLDUp7l8Ge6fgAj9Z8x5pBMPyzQGSJ8Qdodzdl3R6wl8UNC48ClBaCeVUF1VYY9OwMZDy7KX8gg_xY65cBuQPhgty4nK7E7S91zcmzkFgEGU17D9NfSXeJQi2WLti/s1600/IMG_3867.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I had a great time with this party and most importantly, I think ButterBean did too!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYXgxuijL-wIqNBjN1RzN-jbLU-Hx_YyNoq_uIBSPLqW2ytEtAZTZQA6GDc0Iyi6IRlghsHT5BJDEoo5a-fcwUW9aNLyz-zG4P_9OfCJbZECo3dm5DJgwNha-W7c_01TaChV1M_0wBaUwa/s1600/IMG_1571.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYXgxuijL-wIqNBjN1RzN-jbLU-Hx_YyNoq_uIBSPLqW2ytEtAZTZQA6GDc0Iyi6IRlghsHT5BJDEoo5a-fcwUW9aNLyz-zG4P_9OfCJbZECo3dm5DJgwNha-W7c_01TaChV1M_0wBaUwa/s1600/IMG_1571.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">After the party ButterBean insisted I put a tie on him!</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEHm8L9LyWNaThwr8Y-zQu24Shr8tyBHNN3vukYBqvsIWYTo01lQn6kn8McFJD6hKe07Dfg9ZqbXbjJEt8ccqYjEhMzlQhltj8vJZrj93aKnlzFV1i8lINkD0Hk24x2Yfiusmn_biMMzmu/s1600/IMG_1572.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEHm8L9LyWNaThwr8Y-zQu24Shr8tyBHNN3vukYBqvsIWYTo01lQn6kn8McFJD6hKe07Dfg9ZqbXbjJEt8ccqYjEhMzlQhltj8vJZrj93aKnlzFV1i8lINkD0Hk24x2Yfiusmn_biMMzmu/s1600/IMG_1572.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">party favors!!</span></td></tr>
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Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-71337421510421069912013-01-16T07:53:00.000-08:002013-01-16T07:53:22.428-08:00First Crush<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I knew this day would come. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">ButterBean has fallen for a girl. She's cute, friendly, wears pigtails...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">His first crush</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Her name is Abby Cadabby and she lives on Sesame Street! Yes, ButterBean has a crush on a puppet fairy girl. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyLq1SPWxD-gvq6mJrfjbegkKBw6860MlOeBNLuR9He6Sb3l-BXRGfvM8mxRFfnu3O5mYvh-XrFNXR1oeQU7Hp5Cy3AWzswqr-_sJTovmLGbWJOGvqhyphenhyphenkITbTGtRW52pzVYcbupP4zRPsh/s1600/IMG_1487.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyLq1SPWxD-gvq6mJrfjbegkKBw6860MlOeBNLuR9He6Sb3l-BXRGfvM8mxRFfnu3O5mYvh-XrFNXR1oeQU7Hp5Cy3AWzswqr-_sJTovmLGbWJOGvqhyphenhyphenkITbTGtRW52pzVYcbupP4zRPsh/s1600/IMG_1487.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Elmo (or Melmo if you're talking to BB) used to be his absolute fave, but he has moved on to Abby. Before Christmas, I was at Target and picked up a stuffed Abby doll for my cousin's daughter. ButterBean spent the entire trip yelling "Ahhhbeee!!" and giving her kisses. So, Santa brought ButterBean an Abby for Christmas. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Fast forward to this week. I won tickets to Sesame Street Live a few weeks ago and we brought little ButterBean to see his favorite characters sing and dance on stage. He LOVED it and yelled "Ahhhbeee! Melmo!! KeeKee!" (*cookie monster*) over and over. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOVIpNZ353jF98nkSVDJH1p2uGG8eFNRpB4gIAYgntYg6_ZRHNiCtuYtfiWbb-378fEtI64qCM3mfZrQPlZL-IHJEpuW0Hd4bskvBTpbPwWLyGGvFAzVPO9PP2-PIl1yEyZk3KAgqCt9_n/s1600/IMG_3801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOVIpNZ353jF98nkSVDJH1p2uGG8eFNRpB4gIAYgntYg6_ZRHNiCtuYtfiWbb-378fEtI64qCM3mfZrQPlZL-IHJEpuW0Hd4bskvBTpbPwWLyGGvFAzVPO9PP2-PIl1yEyZk3KAgqCt9_n/s1600/IMG_3801.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">He looks terrified, but really he was thrilled!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">All went well until we were a couple blocks from home when all of a sudden there was a loud shriek and wail from the back seat. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2a57PyUkYILLvv3fvdGR4648V2XvMwlA_63B-jomFsa_52oqdeV_6xBeJrBarcHl6x2Rdmmp0PoOR_A1ifPcn-YqWMCuwq1v_xt-rmi3FH-ADAQ_Fh3OwOYwE4JmBtA94iPl72R1QwIrm/s1600/IMG_1470.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2a57PyUkYILLvv3fvdGR4648V2XvMwlA_63B-jomFsa_52oqdeV_6xBeJrBarcHl6x2Rdmmp0PoOR_A1ifPcn-YqWMCuwq1v_xt-rmi3FH-ADAQ_Fh3OwOYwE4JmBtA94iPl72R1QwIrm/s1600/IMG_1470.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">ButterBean burst into huge crocodile tears and continued to wail. He wouldn't tell me what was wrong, but finally he sobbed "Ahhh...beeeee!" When we got home he stood by the door, pointing and crying Abby's name. Not even his stuffed Abby could console him at first. He finally snapped out of it, but he and Abby have been inseparable ever since. Every car trip, nap, journey from living room to kitchen - Abby is right there! The first words out of his mouth waking up from his nap have been "Ahhbee???" every day. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Snuggling on the couch with Abby</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYZL665CZE_nDb4Z_jE5HFT_ITqhFD4ln_J-BquFfoxvQhn3XrLi995UCEUwToZPFlaJQ_74KRhFI_NUEPen0SIv6xzHUKKhVGYb6ygBV9D-jDnhyphenhyphenAvu6FPTMXZf-YjDG0hWUHv6ijm-OM/s1600/IMG_1478.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYZL665CZE_nDb4Z_jE5HFT_ITqhFD4ln_J-BquFfoxvQhn3XrLi995UCEUwToZPFlaJQ_74KRhFI_NUEPen0SIv6xzHUKKhVGYb6ygBV9D-jDnhyphenhyphenAvu6FPTMXZf-YjDG0hWUHv6ijm-OM/s1600/IMG_1478.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Napping with Abby</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ40r3qwk488SSsW-xuLfyAcuMeOUrSL7J99H7wnMu7SHxDQNXU7qIJtsTNSvT-Bt1YC1-k2l5cYUnMDqHEHWs2IVmh3M6A85yiaVLEdHNgh1J6c2bCzi-TUh0s2mEyBEBKrpxZNWT27Ai/s1600/IMG_1480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ40r3qwk488SSsW-xuLfyAcuMeOUrSL7J99H7wnMu7SHxDQNXU7qIJtsTNSvT-Bt1YC1-k2l5cYUnMDqHEHWs2IVmh3M6A85yiaVLEdHNgh1J6c2bCzi-TUh0s2mEyBEBKrpxZNWT27Ai/s1600/IMG_1480.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Playing in his room. What do you know? Abby's close by!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">ButterBean's first crush! How cute! She's going to break his heart some day...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM9yjsfs9GhDzVePdfHvCX9VK3iBUsd9gplU2isrQ5y88JRwd9c9kSnLs1vif4jchbC17V68in5iz4wzms2yyVV16OZ_VRwcD-VBvUEv2TXY4zz0biJ-yy577a_mO_gdihS_hGLFkOvvCH/s1600/IMG_3783.jpg" height="320" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We stood in a long line (of girls) to get a picture with the Abby cutout</span></td></tr>
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<br />Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-72388331710006595942013-01-09T11:20:00.001-08:002013-01-09T11:20:54.458-08:00What We've Been Up To: Arizona<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMBvA85z1oVzmRKoboskG6T_UrKXsOC5Av_AMCeaUqiFzSdul0ToqzFCI89v2hA2nIRvfU9SW6veLnLWDAPOntNw-oaN57gxqduLgESTCtQQYXZL9hgYnce1vev2L8phrn2GdEqn2YuWug/s1600/IMG_3717.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMBvA85z1oVzmRKoboskG6T_UrKXsOC5Av_AMCeaUqiFzSdul0ToqzFCI89v2hA2nIRvfU9SW6veLnLWDAPOntNw-oaN57gxqduLgESTCtQQYXZL9hgYnce1vev2L8phrn2GdEqn2YuWug/s1600/IMG_3717.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As a present to ourselves and as a reward for surviving anesthesia school we went on a fantastic vacation to Arizona right after Christmas! We went to escape the cold, but somehow we brought the cold with us and Arizona experienced unusually cold weather throughout the entire week we stayed! The weather promptly warmed up the day after we left. Even so, we enjoyed a good 30-50 degree increase in temp by going to AZ!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I've never been to Arizona and it was amazing! We went to Scottsdale, Sedona, and the Grand Canyon and I already have a list of things I want to do when we get to go back some day!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> ButterBean was an absolute champ travelling (other than vomiting in a museum...we're still working on that) and kept us entertained at all times with his crazy dances and songs.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Checking out the cacti in the Botanical Gardens</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Pure ButterBean bliss: a golf cart</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">My in-laws, who had also never been to AZ, came as well. ButterBean loved spending time with them! The most frequent words out of his mouth were "Papa!! Papa!! Mama!" Mama = Grandma to him. It gets confusing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We are back in frozen Minnesota and trying to getting back into the groove of real life. Vacations are never long enough!</span></div>
Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-27404283923521892102013-01-07T13:36:00.000-08:002013-01-07T13:36:02.227-08:00What We've Been Up To: Christmas <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Another fun-filled Christmas has come and gone! </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRJArqaxtTIGhIhAMtgeTlHAL12g6GqkT5Xg415iyf0Hb3ddwjg6b713Hpb1T6EjJ22Du5YSGDwlE0BAw8EqxaIlxo1oTLRppdYFR6o2MsHKON7VDsL0umXknvFlZeuU8Mxpm7KR0mgGro/s1600/IMG_3642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRJArqaxtTIGhIhAMtgeTlHAL12g6GqkT5Xg415iyf0Hb3ddwjg6b713Hpb1T6EjJ22Du5YSGDwlE0BAw8EqxaIlxo1oTLRppdYFR6o2MsHKON7VDsL0umXknvFlZeuU8Mxpm7KR0mgGro/s1600/IMG_3642.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">An almost-two-year-old is the best at Christmas!! Every time he sees a Santa he says "HoHoHo" in a really low voice, followed by "pum pum pum", which is Rumpapum-pum from the Little Drummer Boy song. He also loves to carry around baby Jesus and put him to bed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here's Christmas morning!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Putting Big Bird and Abby Cadabby "nigh nigh"</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Really got into the wrapping paper ripping this year!</span></td></tr>
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<br />Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-51327203041641381362012-12-10T13:06:00.002-08:002012-12-10T13:07:32.883-08:00Passing Gas<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Ha! Guess what?? As of December 7th at 0940, I am officially a "gas passer"! In other (more mature) words...I am officially a CRNA - certified registered nurse anesthetist!! I have <i>never</i> been more stressed out in my entire life! I have spent the last month studying (I'll post my study plan for SRNAs later) and the last 27 months waiting for this one day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">These were my thoughts:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1) How would I ever face my friends and family if I failed?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2) How could I possibly stand another moment of studying?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3) I'm going to freak out!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Our graduation was in November, but it didn't give me a sense of relief because you can't do anything as a CRNA until you pass your certification exam. It was definitely a sense of accomplishment though.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf69WAUk7AeJnwNGYlYDr3JlFFvKdmQE9iZ4IQsMsJxUrFhh6DTqzyzWdPaC1gVhU1B-HtsjkGOHJKoWE86tTtTx93ZZExgUykrbjVsCLVwSnGwmjEASh1cPYhYvtJkBStLcVjiDdk__Ck/s1600/P1010204.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf69WAUk7AeJnwNGYlYDr3JlFFvKdmQE9iZ4IQsMsJxUrFhh6DTqzyzWdPaC1gVhU1B-HtsjkGOHJKoWE86tTtTx93ZZExgUykrbjVsCLVwSnGwmjEASh1cPYhYvtJkBStLcVjiDdk__Ck/s1600/P1010204.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Getting my diploma</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">My parents gave me the Fisher Price doctor's kit that I always played with. It came with a note saying "Who would have thought when you got this kit as a gift from your grandparents, you'd make it a career!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Finally, the big day came and it was time to take the certification exam! The entire week prior I had been a nervous wreck, had to force myself to eat, and barely could sleep. Thankfully, my test was first thing in the morning so I didn't have to stress about it all day. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">After going through the thorough check in process (2 IDs, picture taken, pocketes emptied, sleeves checked, palm scan taken, blood draw...kidding on the blood draw) I was able to start my exam. Half way through the exam I had to close my eyes and take a few deep breaths and refocus my brain. Then, at the end, an hour and 40 minutes later, my identification was checked again and I was given a piece of paper that would tell me if I passed. I honestly thought my heart couldn't be pounding any harder and that I might just pee my pants. I went around the corner and peeked under the paper and there was the best four-letter-word I had ever seen: PASS! Oh my goodness, I just started shaking all over, gathered my stuff and scooted out of there. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I can't describe the relief I felt!</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I did I little ninja kick in the hall and ran to bathroom so I wouldn't pee my pants. Seriously, unbelievable day! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">That night we celebrated at our house with a yummy dinner with my parents, one of my sisters, and a fantastic bottle of wine. I also received some gorgeous roses from my grandparents. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">And that was my fabulous day!!I'm looking forward to the rest of my life as a CRNA!</span>Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-41789343080876226732012-11-25T13:52:00.000-08:002012-11-26T08:34:33.471-08:00A Mortified Mama<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I haven't blogged previously about ButterBean's digestive system because I was hoping he'd get over his "problems". But, after yesterday's events, I needed to share! I will tell you the tale of my woes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A little History:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">ButterBean was a VERY barfy baby. So barfy that I marvel at the fact that he grew! I'd say 3/4ths of whatever he ate came right back up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">When he has decided he is done eating, he will gag and spit out his food. We see a lot of gagging around here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As he has gotten older he will randomly projectile vomit, look at it, say "Uh-Oh!" and walk away and go about his business. To ButterBean, a spontaneous explosion is just no biggie. I began to worry about this at his 15 month checkup when he had not grown a smidge since his 12 month checkup. After trying to figure out why he is throwing up and trying to correlate it to a food, we've given up and have an appointment with a GI specialist on Monday.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Sooooo, about yesterday. We had friends in from out of town and decided to invite them and another couple over for dinner. We've had them over once before, but it's like a once a year thing. Gatsby and I spent ALL day cleaning the house (it was in dire need of a deep clean) and making homemade enchiladas, and Mexican rice. ButterBean had a great appetite and had wolfed down his food for breakfast and lunch. Since dinner was going to be late, I fed ButterBean a half an avocado before the guests arrived. By the time the two couples arrived, I was tired!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Things were going great, a little chit chat, beer/chips/salsa/guac were being consumed. Then ONE OF THE MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENTS OF MY LIFE occurred. ButterBean took a chip, nibbled it, ate a little more and crawled up on the couch. Something was excited to him because he proceeded to bounce on the couch a couple times. I saw his make his gag face.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I put my hand out to catch the food he would inevitably spit out. He spit out his chip and out came a little of the prior avocado.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"Oh no! Not here, not now!!" I thought. I have caught a lot of barf in my hand over the last year, so that was nothing new. (I've tried to save our carpet by diving in front of the falling barf and catching it, but at this point it is beyond help)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"Please don't barf in front of guests!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">This was no ordinary ButterBean barf. This was the Mt. Vesuvius of barfing. This was everything that he had eaten since breakfast vomit. And it just. kept. coming.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Imagine - one guest leaping off of the couch to get out of the line fire, me trying to contain ButterBean's spewage as he does NOT stop!, people yelling, and more barf! Just what you'd like at a dinner party right? I won't even list all of the places that we had to clean or the details of what it looked like (think the Excorcist!). Just know it was bad.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I whisked him off to the bathtub and to get some incidental chunks out of my hair while Gatsby tackled the couch.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Amazingly, our guests stayed for dinner (I can't thank them enough for eating after that ordeal) and we had a fun time. However, I am not having people over for a looonng time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Monday we will hopefully get some answers from the GI doc, or at least start getting somewhere in this process. I can't take many more days like that. I recently had a trip to Trader Joe's that was almost as embarrassing and left me walking out with a shoeful of vomit. I've had my share of this!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And since no photos were taken of this event (duh!) I will show you the latest in ButterBean dance moves</span><br />
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<br />Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-49511458243637611612012-11-21T08:41:00.001-08:002012-11-21T08:41:54.896-08:00Little Lentil Lover Soup<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">ButterBean has become increasingly hard to feed. What happened to The Baby Who Eats Everything? He has turned into The Baby Who Spits Out Everything! Most of the food offered to him get chewed for a second and then promptly spit out onto the table, floor, or into his mother's loving hand (disgusting!). He will actually sometimes wait to spit something out and just gag on it until I put my hand out. Nice.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqEO5wb88e4zKv1uTwGtSRKo-cpZGcmkVXmJqXNHC4_25wFQg1a7L0hXJae09a0utmXxWJsMdA1ld2UTcYDcBleH2ePFlEjZn0BrGqgKTIn90HM2HLJXLKgiDc4Htd31YvcFGDP9uOWSOm/s1600/IMG_3492.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqEO5wb88e4zKv1uTwGtSRKo-cpZGcmkVXmJqXNHC4_25wFQg1a7L0hXJae09a0utmXxWJsMdA1ld2UTcYDcBleH2ePFlEjZn0BrGqgKTIn90HM2HLJXLKgiDc4Htd31YvcFGDP9uOWSOm/s320/IMG_3492.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">You expect me to eat <i>THAT?</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">His one true food love right now is Lentil Soup. My mom discovered this when she fed him some Trader Joe's. He will eat and eat and eat lentil soup. The downfall of this (besides the obvious: extreme flatulence) is atrocious garlic breath. I could not believe how awful his breath would be for a full 24 hours after consuming that soup. So, today I set out to make him a homemade lentil soup for three reasons</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1) cheap</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2) not from a can - I have a mild can phobia and the BPH that lines them</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3) less garlic = better breath</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I used <a href="http://thehistorykitchen.com/2011/02/23/jacobs-lentil-stew/" target="_blank">this recipe that I found on Pinterest,</a> from The History Kitchen blog, which uses ingredients that come straight out of the Bible. I had to tweak it though, because I didn't have all of the ingredients, and I had extra stuff lying around the house. And I recently made some yummy chicken stock that I was itching to use up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here's what I did:</span><br />
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<ul style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; list-style: square; margin: 0px 0px 18px 2.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li class="ingredient" style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3</span> <span class="name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">carrots, chopped</span></b></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3 </span><span class="name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">celery stalks, including leaves, chopped</span></b></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2 tbsp</span> <span class="name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">extra virgin olive oil</span></b></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1</span> <span class="name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">large onion, diced</span></b></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1 clove</span> <span class="name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">garlic minced (I cheat and use the jarred stuff)</span></b></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2 cups</span> <span class="name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">dry red lentils</span></b></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1/2 cup</span> <span class="name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">pearl barley</span></b></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><span class="name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>2 small potatoes, peeled and diced</b></span></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2 qts.</span><span class="name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> chicken stock (homemade preferred)</span></b></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1/2 cup</span> <span class="name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">fresh chopped cilantro</span></b></span></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1 1/2 tsp</span> <span class="name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">cumin</span></b></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1 tsp</span> dried <span class="name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">parsley</span></b></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1 </span><span class="name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">bay leaf</span></b></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b>Salt and pepper to taste</b></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Heat olive oil in medium soup pot and add diced onion. Saute until translucent. Add carrot, celery, and garlic and saute for another couple of minutes until the veggies start to get a wee bit softened.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Add red lentils, barley, potatoes, and chicken stock. Stir. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Bring to boil, add cumin, cilantro, parsley, and bay leaf then reduce to simmer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Cover and simmer for 1.2 - 2 hours stirring often. I left it for a half hour and it was sticking to the bottom. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Remove bay leaf. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with more fresh cilantro!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Good to the last spoonful!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">...And he gobbled it up! Laaahhh! That would be heavenly angels singing. This soup has a nice mild flavor - great for little folks! And, it can easily be spiced up with spices like cajun spice, more cumin or garlic, perhaps a little curry powder. Also, it gets a little thick after you refrigerate it, so you made need to thin it with some water or broth.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">All gone!!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-30554934515903194502012-11-16T20:38:00.000-08:002012-11-16T20:38:47.141-08:00Advice to an SRNA<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Close to 30 months ago I found out I was pregnant. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">27 months ago I started school to become a nurse anesthetist. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In that 3 month period of being pregnant and preparing to start school I scoured the internet for any kind of advice about going through anesthesia school pregnant/with a newborn and I could only find a couple of chats. I asked my school if there was anyone I could talk to that had gone through this before, but they had no names to give me (it's been done many times before, but they had no contact info). I talked to students in the class ahead of me and they encouraged me, but had no real advice for a new mother. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">SO, if there is any one out there in the same predicament and scouring the internet for advice on what you should do if you are going to have a baby in anesthesia school - here it is!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I can only speak for my program, so obviously it could be different elsewhere. I've already given this spiel to a few other people who have asked me and they appreciated the straight forward, no sugar coating truth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1) It's doable. Not ideal, but doable. And it's worth it! My best advice and what I told every one who asked me if I was crazy for trying to juggle a new marriage, new baby, and anesthesia school is "I take it one day at a time". Of course, you need to plan ahead so you can study and what not, but if you look to far ahead it gets overwhelming. Just focus on getting through one test, one more doctors appointment, one more feeding, one more paper. It's much less daunting that way!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2) I would never have gotten through it without the help and support of my family and in-laws. I didn't want to have to put ButterBean in daycare when he was so little (I went back to class when he was a week old) and through the help of ButterBean's grandmas I was able to keep him out of daycare the entire time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3) You will be tired, so tired! If you didn't drink coffee already, you will. Oh yes will</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">If you want to be extra tired you can do what I did and work your regular ICU nursing job every weekend for the first 5 months of school while pregnant because you need your health insurance! I can look back now and say "What on earth was I thinking?" But, you gotta do what you gotta do!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">4) You will have intense mommy guilt. Add in fun postpartum hormones and you have a recipe for an emotional merry-go-round! When you are studying, you feel guilty you aren't with your baby. When you spend time with your sweet bundle, you have the massive pile of books and future test looming in the back of your mind. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">5) If possible, find someone else in your class who has kids. You are going to to need someone to talk to who can relate to your situation. Other students (without kids or spouses) in your class will complain to you about how they just don't have time for this or that, or can't get time to study and you are going to want to jump across the table and smack them repeatedly saying "YOU don't have time? YOU are tired?!! Do you realize who you are talking to? A sleep deprived, emotionally racked, hasn't even been able to shower in three days, just spent her lunch break pumping breast milk crazy woman!" Usually, as soon as the words come out of their mouths, you can see they know exactly what they just said and they back-pedal with "But it's nothing compared to what you are dealing with"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Anyway, the point of that was to say, only other mothers with kids will understand the stresses you are going through. Your significant other and family won't understand anesthesia school (unless the are an anesthetist themself) and other students won't understand parenting. I have my study-buddy and we vent to each other all the time. It's quite therapeutic really!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">6) Your husband MUST be 100% on board with this decision because he is going to be picking up slack. He is going to be dropping of baby with the grandparents or at day care because you are going to be getting up at 4:30 to be in the OR by 6am. He is going to have to watch baby while you hole yourself away with authors like Nagelhout, Miller, and Barrash. He is going to have to listen to you <strike>whine</strike> <strike>complain</strike> talk about your crazy day in the OR, hard test, or annoying coordinator. If he isn't supportive of you being in school, I guarantee it's going to fall apart. I've been told story after story of couples getting divorced during anesthesia school. Both of you have to be in on this together!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">7) As far as taking time off - that will depend on what your school allows. Mine gave us 30ish days off to use how we wanted within the 27 months. We could work holidays to get extra days off later. Like I said earlier, I went back to class when he was a week old, but I didn't go back to clinicals until he was 5 weeks old. My body would not have tolerated going back any earlier. In all I only used 17 days of my vacation days for a "maternity leave". With the next kid, maternity leave is seriously going to feel like a vacation compared to this!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">OK this is long enough. If I think of more I'll make another post. And truly, just contact me if you have any questions. I'd love to be of help.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I will post later about the study material I bought to help me with the SEE exam and to study for boards. I'll post that AFTER I pass, though.</span>Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-57376612677075443142012-11-16T11:47:00.000-08:002012-11-16T11:48:22.608-08:00Look What I Can Do!<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">All mothers think that their children are the cutest and all think that their children possess amazing skills. And soooo, let me tell/show you the amazing "talents" of my adorable son!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">First of all, he makes daring fashion statements. Sock gloves...who knew they could be so stylish?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Not only does he get the spaghetti-o's out of the cupboard, he gets the can opener too!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Applies deoderant. Somehow this has become ButterBeans favorite bathroom ritual as of late.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Can kind of put on his own boots. This photo also shows his keen sense of fashion!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Fabulous hair stylist. This boy can spend a good 15 minutes to a 1/2 hour thinking that he is doing his hair. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Like I said, incredible fashion sense...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Budding photographer</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Ear-budding rock star</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Make up artist. Perhaps he watches mommy in the bathroom a little too much!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And that, folks, is proof as to how cool my baby is. </span>Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-30112928321002577682012-11-09T06:59:00.000-08:002012-11-09T06:59:07.909-08:00The Cutest Cowboy<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It is definitely past Halloween, but my little buckeroo was much too cute to not share a post of his Halloween costume! Earlier this year we went to Nashville for a wedding and my parents bought ButterBean a western shirt. It was big on him then, but it fits him perfectly now! I paired that with some second-hand cowboy boots and a straw hat we already had! Presto! Costume!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"There ain't room for the both of us in these parts!"</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I assumed he would be really shy about Trick or Treating, but I was wrong! He loved it! We went to 6 or so houses right around us and he walked right up and held up his little basket. He even kept his hat on the whole time! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Then we went home to hand out more candy. He wasn't scared of the trick or treaters either! Then, after all of our hard work, we had our fair share of KitKats!! We had a Grandcowboy and Grandcowgirl stop by to see us!Butterbean's face was so surprised to see them show up at the door instead of trick or treaters!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I thought that the boots would be a one time thing, but he has a shoe fetish and the cowboy boots are his new favorite accessory! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I dare anyone to say that he is not the cutest cowboy to ever live!!</span>Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-37050394922900584802012-11-07T19:54:00.000-08:002012-11-07T19:54:25.234-08:00Fall fun<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Full swing into fall! It's official of course because I have my at-least-once-a-week pumpkin spice latte and there is a continual loaf of pumpkin bread on my counter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Babies playing in leaves is one of the cutest things! Cue montage of baby in leaves!! (</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">My sister took these photos...talent!)</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">ButteBean with the aforementioned sister</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Oh, and one little detail that makes this fall extra special: I'm DONE WITH ANESTHESIA SCHOOL!!! El fin! Ok, almost el fin! I still have to pass this pesky test...no biggie, just the scariest biggest test of my life: the certification exam!! Even with that looming, I'm still overjoyed to never go to clinicals as a student, go to class, write a paper, or have a group project EVER again!! Hardest 27 months of my life are over! </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">That's right ButterBean!! Mommy's almost a CRNA!!</span></td></tr>
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<br />Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-26780191278129448282012-10-12T09:15:00.000-07:002012-11-07T19:54:54.581-08:00Triple Tomato Soup<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Fall season cooking is upon us, people! This is by far the best cooking season of the year! I still have a load of summer tomatoes to use up because my plant decided to only give my tomatoes in September. Now it's too cold at night, so I picked all the green ones and are waiting for them to ripen. I did, however, have enough ripe tomatoes to make a batch of tomato soup. Since it's a few days away from payday, I had to just go with whatever I had. Here's how I made it!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1. Cut about 10 tomatoes in half and drizzle with 4 Tbs olive oil with 2 cloves of minced garlic. Sprinkle with dried basil. Roast in the oven (400 degrees) for 20 minutes or so. If you are going to leave the soup chunky, you might want to scoop out some of the seeds before roasting them.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">see all those green tomatoes? </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">all roasty toasty</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2. After letting cool a bit, the skins should be able to just slip right off - discard them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3. Heat up 1 Tbs of olive oil in a pot and saute one onion until it is softened. Add a couple of ounces of tomato paste and 1/2 cup of oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes. Mix it all up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">4. Add 1 cup of white wine, 1 cup of water, some more basil - I would have used fresh if I had it. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat to simmer for 20 minutes.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQw_s_Y_sUmaTstFTrg6yxZBusrT_hfsYNovmANo3eWJOXRQoQCIB0thlvSpIhM3q-Z19GfIH-SD3Essr1i8G_2GWxaOqP4Fh1Sj695P1eGyMYECjRcT-zJWqUN9isT60pQwZoofHBOli/s1600/IMG_3376.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQw_s_Y_sUmaTstFTrg6yxZBusrT_hfsYNovmANo3eWJOXRQoQCIB0thlvSpIhM3q-Z19GfIH-SD3Essr1i8G_2GWxaOqP4Fh1Sj695P1eGyMYECjRcT-zJWqUN9isT60pQwZoofHBOli/s320/IMG_3376.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">5. I used an immersion blender to puree the soup to the consistency I wanted. Then I added whole milk until it was thin enough to call soup. It needed a little something so I added a little bit of brown sugar and that mellowed it out. </span><br />
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<u><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Triple Tomato Soup</span></u><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">10 tomatoes, cut in half</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">5 Tbs olive oil</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2 cloves minced garlic</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Dried basil -- couple Tbs? didn't measure</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1 yellow onion</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1 cup dry white wine</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1 small can tomato paste</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1/2 cup cream, whole milk, milk whatever you want</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Salt and fresh-ground pepper</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Place tomatoes on baking pan, cut side up and drizzle with 4 Tbs olive oil with 2 cloves of minced garlic. Sprinkle with dried basil. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes until soft. (If you are going to leave the soup chunky, you might want to scoop out some of the seeds before roasting them).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2. Take skins off tomatoes and discard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3. Over medium high heat, heat up 1 Tbs of olive oil in a pot and saute onion until it is softened. Add a couple of ounces of tomato paste and 1/2 cup of oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes. Mix it all up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">4. Add white wine, water, some more basil - I would have used fresh if I had it. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat to simmer for 20 minutes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">5. Use an immersion blender, food processor, or blender to puree the soup to the consistency wanted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">6. Stir in cream and warm. Enjoy</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Optional - add in cream at the end and warm</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Any of the following are my faves with tomato soup - parmesan cheese, saltine crackers, Annie's Cheddar Bunnies, crusty garlic bread,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Oh and by the way... ButterBean is now driving...</span><br />
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Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-88518170354492609362012-09-20T06:19:00.000-07:002012-09-20T06:19:32.243-07:00End of Minnesota Summer Fun<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Summer has come and gone again! It seems like as soon as the MN Fair is over, BAM! fall comes swooping in. I love the crisp fall air, being able to bake without steaming up the house, wearing hoodies, and so many other wonderful things about fall! BUT this cooler air also means that winter is on it's way. Bleegghhh! Here is a last look as some of the wonderful things of this summer. Good bye summertime!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">Fun in the water</span></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcFxih3SCdM1hbfgABVgAR5yE0UacBo8dN8hLwOMgI77vUxrk5lVtGDTZL8tY81C1FY6OUjXefC5-heXcmcn16iLl_kJcRsOFhZc05S1OayXoAiGVeeMPI4NtHaTi6IiQYcv_28X1vTjDE/s1600/IMG_0667.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcFxih3SCdM1hbfgABVgAR5yE0UacBo8dN8hLwOMgI77vUxrk5lVtGDTZL8tY81C1FY6OUjXefC5-heXcmcn16iLl_kJcRsOFhZc05S1OayXoAiGVeeMPI4NtHaTi6IiQYcv_28X1vTjDE/s320/IMG_0667.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">boating is exhausting!</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Garden Fresh Sun Ripened Tomatoes</span></span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc-zZIgJfDuNnHo4KmJHcYhonOeEp_n__WfWrlFyLE4VxY4droBj_NaxXL1JiK0yr_rl_Std7doitromxC1mSgLI0VB9Lvxm4FmtAmY8zeYjTs8RI5-uwvO5m4TWycusY6UtwzssaJhbT7/s1600/IMG_0846.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc-zZIgJfDuNnHo4KmJHcYhonOeEp_n__WfWrlFyLE4VxY4droBj_NaxXL1JiK0yr_rl_Std7doitromxC1mSgLI0VB9Lvxm4FmtAmY8zeYjTs8RI5-uwvO5m4TWycusY6UtwzssaJhbT7/s320/IMG_0846.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Hours of Sliding in the Back Yard</span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLFGIV99k04CfyScQuxtEJGYqcl1X-sEnNG1dE_eoVGX2t6R63WZm2VM4me_o6QqUMxlpelPmhVat6gTB_4tnPclfyW8KLjp3sh2aO4oND77-foJ5vGG2zD_HFX3SKvxWYGvaR_5IyVAO4/s320/IMG_0908.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We were given this monster pink & purple play set from a friend whose daughter has outgrown it. He loves it, but our house now looks like twin girls live here rather than a boy!</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Trip to the Sculpture Garden</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">always running...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Hey look at me! I'm about to make a run for it!!</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Ice Cream</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The Como Zoo</span></b></div>
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Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-20428582720644495352012-09-19T11:54:00.000-07:002012-09-19T11:54:23.353-07:00Farmer at the Fair<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">This was a few weeks ago, but we went to the Minnesota State Fair! This year ButterBean could actually participate more in the fair experience. We had perfect weather! Some of his favorite things were listening to a Marimba band, looking at dogs in the pet area, and chowing down on some grub. Neither he nor Gatsby joined me in trying "lamb fries" aka: lamb testicles! Not bad, I must say. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We had a fun time at the miniature pretend farm where kids get a bucket, "plant" corn in the dirt, move hay with their tractors, pick pretend apples, gather eggs etc... </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">My little farmer</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Mini donuts were a new treat for the ButterBean. Yum!!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibUzmHVxKxAlaPcRzbzhDzd18rchDbP6lZrbxDo6g5D4oKSfUzPtGMCl92yZnhSnsws27Q4TmSdfWCe9jBgfxJokQCNEI-xQXA19cvb4XwSR8Wk39iFsfKLwyzVXf20_AgsW9iKTTZUxKB/s1600/IMG_0860.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibUzmHVxKxAlaPcRzbzhDzd18rchDbP6lZrbxDo6g5D4oKSfUzPtGMCl92yZnhSnsws27Q4TmSdfWCe9jBgfxJokQCNEI-xQXA19cvb4XwSR8Wk39iFsfKLwyzVXf20_AgsW9iKTTZUxKB/s320/IMG_0860.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Another successful State Fair! </span></div>
Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-9673695914819873122012-09-14T10:52:00.000-07:002012-09-14T10:52:13.850-07:00Mis-happening Me & Musical Baby<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Why haven't I posted lately? That would be because I have recently become a klutz extraordinaire! Within a two or three month span I have spilled a half gallon of milk in my car, smashed the spoiler off of my car, broke a bowl, dropped innumerable other items, dumped water on a fellow CRNA...and my most recent costly mistake: dumping a glass of water onto my less than a year old MacBook Air. Horrifying, believe me! The bill to repair said MacBook: just as horrifying!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Anyway... I'm back!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">ButterBean seems to be following in my footsteps in more than one way. Not only can he be a klutz (as evidenced by the monster bruise on his forehead and bandaids on each knee) but he has a love of music and dance! I've already written about his love of dance, which continues on strong, especially since I have two dancing sisters that he copies!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Recently he has discovered three musical instruments, all of which he calls "heynhh" (small vocabulary), that he plays whenever he gets the chance. He first found the piano at my parents house and he loves to pound away at the keys. Last weekend he saw a guitar for the first time and his reaction was priceless! From twenty yards away he slowly crept over the the man who was playing the guitar and stood in front of him fascinated. He was shown how to strum and after he made a soft strum, he turned around beaming with pride! He listened to the guitar and played his little strums for probably a half an hour, which is a long stretch of time for ButterBean!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A couple of days later my mom and I showed him the small violin that is at her house. He was just as enthralled with the violin as he was with the guitar! He whines at the violin case until someone will take it out and let him play on it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I had a T-shirt on that had a small guitar on it the other day. ButterBean came up and was poking me in the chest yelling "A heynhh!". It took me a minute but I figured out which "heynhh" he was referring to, but once I figured it out I spent most of the day replying, "Yes, that is a guitar!" to which he would smile and clap.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">If I turn the radio off in the car, he yells "A heynhh" until I turn music back on. I hope he continues to want to play an instrument and that he never stops dancing!</span>Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-85553949450348047192012-08-22T17:31:00.000-07:002012-08-22T17:31:10.862-07:0018 Months<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">18 months old and still the cutest boy to have roamed the earth! I'm a lucky mama!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">First I must address the above picture. What time warp was he put in during the taking of this photo? It's like a glimpse of the future adult ButterBean!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Anyway, at 18 months his favorite words make him a total boy:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"Caw" = car or outside, whichever he feels like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"Daaa" = still raving about dogs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"Baaa" = Ball</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Other words just make me laugh every time he says them --</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"heenghh", which is lotion, soap, anything else that can be rubbed into skin or into his "hayyh" (hair)...diaper cream in your hair? Sure! Yogurt? You bet! Nothing better than hennghh in your hayyh, right?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Many words are still very similar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"Ba-ul" (Bottle) could be easily confused with "Bah!" (glass of water) or "Baaa", which is ball.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">or</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"Bey-ee" = belly</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"Bay-ee" = berry</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"Bay" = bear</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And here he is with a favorite toy: mommy's "tone"</span><br />
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<br />Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-69351349753054185772012-08-07T20:38:00.000-07:002012-08-07T20:40:59.314-07:00Small Town vs. Big City<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUSXRXakVasrvrrXB3AeYp6khUdnw5sfAlRwpqh1iqsrJKvRxHQGLOY5tsbsYt1lw9zn3WJOEjA1qifxEU5aJYLxrowuthuPWTWR9sXTLiPO0n_0gbXzfJ-kbPw5KBVFH7mEPamnxRuG5p/s1600/IMG_0811.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUSXRXakVasrvrrXB3AeYp6khUdnw5sfAlRwpqh1iqsrJKvRxHQGLOY5tsbsYt1lw9zn3WJOEjA1qifxEU5aJYLxrowuthuPWTWR9sXTLiPO0n_0gbXzfJ-kbPw5KBVFH7mEPamnxRuG5p/s320/IMG_0811.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Visiting me at Serpent Lake </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'm in a "rural" Minnesotan town. I'm from Minneapolis. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The differences between people in a city hospital and a rural hospital has struck me as quite funny! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Example 1: Conversations</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Rural Hospital: Nurse 1 -"Hey, what is the best cure for poison ivy?" Nurse 2 - "Brew your own sumac tea and drink it for 10 days before you think you'll be in contact with any poison ivy"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">vs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">City Hospital: Nurse 1 - "Hey, that smells good, what are you drinking?" Nurse 2 - "Soy pumpkin chai tea latte." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Example 2: Breakfast</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Rural Hospital: eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, muffins, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">vs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">City Hospital: everyone brings Greek yogurt with or without fruit and granola...everyone (I secretly eat my peanut butter and honey toast before I get to the hospital so as not to be ridiculed ;) jk)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Example 3: Conversations again</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Rural Hospital: Nurse 1 - "My brother and father-in-law are both buying Ice Castles! (enormous fish houses for ice fishing. they apparently have everything you could possible need. I know nothing about ice fishing) I can't wait for winter!" Nurse 2 - "Oh, jealous!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">vs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">City Hospital: Nurse 1 - "We just booked our trip to Cancun for this December." Nurse 2 - "That's so great! You have to go to a warmer climate at some point during the winter, or you just go crazy!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Example 4: Opinions on Commuting</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Rural Hospital: 5-10 minute commute...15 tops</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">vs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">City Hospital: 20-30 minute commute...1.5 hours tops</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Example 5: Conversations once again</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Rural Hospital: "I got my paintball gun calibrated this weekend" (I think he said calibrated...like ice fishing, I know nothing about paintball guns)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">vs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">City Hospital: "The show at Guthrie Theatre this weekend was amazing!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">All true examples! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">These three weeks of rural Minnesota have proved I'm more of a city girl, though I don't think it needed to proved. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Besides missing my adorable bundle of giggling boy, I also miss my grocery store, full of organic goodness...slim pickin's at the grocery store up here!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Turns out sand doesn't taste good...ButterBean now knows this</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-28227296193879196782012-08-03T09:35:00.000-07:002012-08-03T09:35:19.852-07:00Away from home<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Part of being in anesthesia school in a metro area means that I don't get very much regional experience (spinals, epidurals, nerve blocks) and so I have to go out to rural hospitals to get that! I've been 2.5 hours from home for two weeks and still have one more week to go. I've gone home on the weekends, but otherwise have been living in a call room in the hospital! It's like being back in the dorms - walking down the hall to the bathroom, needing a key to get everywhere, no kitchen. Yep. I've tried to study a bit, sit out by the lake that is only a couple of blocks away...but really I've use this time to watch lots and lots of Olympics! USA!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Three weeks is a long time to be gone from little ButterBean, so this week my mom brought him up Wednesday through Friday so that I could see him in the evenings. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">He has a had a great time with the lakes near by!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">All of his running around has resulted in something he has never done before: fall asleep on the hotel floor! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We had a lovely dinner on a golf course, where ButterBean had a great time running free! His new word is "car", which comes out like a question, "caw?". Most conversations now sounds like "mumble mumble mumble, BALL (baahhh)!! mumble mumble Caw? mumble mumble mumble naNAAHH?" I must talk to him with a lot of questioning inflection because his conversations always sound like a continuous string of questions. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB91hgDGb3KR8ZMp3O12FLH26ftN16Dl0rjzFSzJhon3OwbI2o5MsBXYWNpMXQOZssE5DRidoIEwwrfLaxVUBIBBQCT45BaRB9bhZBFcq9fH8ztIHvjagjICAZ3Eo6RSgO-a1P0eBJcKh_/s1600/IMG_0778.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB91hgDGb3KR8ZMp3O12FLH26ftN16Dl0rjzFSzJhon3OwbI2o5MsBXYWNpMXQOZssE5DRidoIEwwrfLaxVUBIBBQCT45BaRB9bhZBFcq9fH8ztIHvjagjICAZ3Eo6RSgO-a1P0eBJcKh_/s320/IMG_0778.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">ButterBean's favorite food: Ketchup!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A baaaahhhh!!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I'm so glad he was able to come visit me!!!</span></div>
<br />Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-47309550363726478112012-07-23T17:58:00.000-07:002012-07-23T18:00:56.984-07:00Camping<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This weekend was our much anticipated camping weekend! We borrowed a tent, bought a camp stove, and planned all of our meals. One thing we didn't anticipate: RAIN! Looking back, I can't believe that I didn't think to bring rain gear. I had s'more ingredients, tooth brushes, and an air mattress, but umbrella?...no! I'm definitely a camping rookie! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Planning: FAIL</span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We got to our muggy campsite by the St. Croix River and pitched the tent and relaxed. ButterBean thought he was extremely cool sitting in his own chair and sipping his water. He got a little too confident and face-planted off of his chair on to the gravel, resulting in a scraped nose and lip. So, within 15 minutes, he had already become filthy and scraped up! He was loving it though! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Child safety: FAIL</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Later in the evening our friends arrived with their 18 month son. We spent significant amount of time trying to get a fire started with wood and newspaper, which resulted in smoke, smoke, lots of smoke. We got charcoal...smoke. Lighter fluid...smoke. Finally we got a little fire going, which got stronger by 10pm, just in time for s'mores!</span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Fire making: almost FAIL</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Under a beautiful starry sky, we all went happily to sleep. At about 1 or 2 am I heard thunder and rain and saw crazy lightning through the tent. "That's ok" I thought, "I love sleeping during storms!"Then at about 3:30 I woke up again to the air mattress jiggling and my husband shifting around in the tent. "The rain is coming in!" he said. We had left the fly of the tent open to get a breeze. The floor of our tent was covered in water (thank God for the air mattress!) and somehow I had slept through half of my pillow getting drenched! I went out of the tent door to close part of the outer fly resulting in more drenching. The rain, thunder, wind, and lightening continued. At one point our tent started caving in on my side. "It's caving!!!", I screamed! For those who don't know this: I HATE being wet in the rain! The whole situation was so comical though that we couldn't stop laughing!! Gatsby and I met in a torrential rain, so it brought us back to 2003 when we were sitting in a mud puddle in Toronto waiting to see Pope John Paul II.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">As I was lying there I was tallying the things I had left outside: paper towels, paper plates, dishes, newspaper, OUR SHOES, chairs....yep, we were going to be wet for a looong time!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Water-proofing: FAIL</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We stayed in our tent until ButterBean woke up at 7:30. It was still raining and ButterBean was not going to be cooped up in a tent for much longer. We drove into Stillwater and found a breakfast place where we warmed up with pancakes and hot chocolate. We looked crazy: ButterBean was barefoot, our hair was everywhere, and we were half soaked. I contemplated buying a sweatshirt (yet another thing I forgot to bring). The rain let up at 10 am, however, at this point we made a collaborative decision: abandon the camp site and move the party to our house. So, we went back and started packing up our sad, soggy mess. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Camping: FAIL</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We showered, dried off, washed out our tent and set it up to dry, grilled our kabobs, and camped out in our living room. We played games, laughed, and feasted on banana boats (see below). The boys played together the next morning while we munched on our breakfasts and lounged.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheGFl4SrZjqM-gVI4AeFebYKGvpPFKnOAWQJDpDM28FAtQp04mMsyh5EVJWfXTGSF2E2by8S-FU9W3DifoeZC0wCuhhRUBaFxap-dQ1R54_kdQ1cVL5jAHG1DfKFI2UbmW1iLbgKlaX-qP/s1600/IMG_0762.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheGFl4SrZjqM-gVI4AeFebYKGvpPFKnOAWQJDpDM28FAtQp04mMsyh5EVJWfXTGSF2E2by8S-FU9W3DifoeZC0wCuhhRUBaFxap-dQ1R54_kdQ1cVL5jAHG1DfKFI2UbmW1iLbgKlaX-qP/s320/IMG_0762.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Living Room Camping: NAILED IT!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Fun Memories: NAILED IT!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">CAN'T WAIT TO TRY IT AGAIN!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Banana Boats:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Cut a center strip out of the curve of a banana. Wrap the base in tin foil so it can stand on its own. Fill the center strip with peanut butter and chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees until melty. Then top with marshmallows and broil in the oven until browned.</span></div>Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-56614802412691747502012-07-07T20:38:00.000-07:002012-07-07T20:38:29.555-07:00The Softie<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Back before ButterBean was even born, we were given a small green fuzzy blanket with silky edges by Swaddle Designs. I knew right away this would become a favorite! Before I gave it to him as a newborn, I slept with it next to me so that it would smell like Mama. 16 months later, the "softie", as we call it, still goes everywhere with him! We searched for a duplicate to have as a back up, but couldn't find one at the local store that sells them. We've bought 2 similar blankets, but lost both of them. A close friend, however, bought an exact replica for him for his birthday and it has been a great addition! </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_y67RRx1o5RlXodqrNAQDPaBtkxFFPKfPEMl78pcjZ6jQfcgf0GBFYH56okgcICWOrxzaoYTLls3ihhZm_YCDzTJVvzEtK1FJodKC9CofpPxaWT0W_Saq0uf6Pw4yOpoPk39-Sz6OlMUw/s1600/IMG_0585.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_y67RRx1o5RlXodqrNAQDPaBtkxFFPKfPEMl78pcjZ6jQfcgf0GBFYH56okgcICWOrxzaoYTLls3ihhZm_YCDzTJVvzEtK1FJodKC9CofpPxaWT0W_Saq0uf6Pw4yOpoPk39-Sz6OlMUw/s320/IMG_0585.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">ButterBean calls the blanket his "AhNana" (said in a sweet, soft voice). When he urgently wants it, he squeals "AhNaNaaaaaa!!!!" When he spots AhNana, his face lights up! As soon as he gets his hands on that blanket he smooshes his face in it and smiles so sweetly. He also offers AhNana to everyone else and rubs it on their faces as well. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I've noticed that the blanket creeps into the majority of our pictures: </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBL-f3sc4UlFkNZxbu5-iXMxz_6YgpUSlMRMosQFXjYtayKgKovIPuEleFGBn36wjIHYa4m54Hv7qqlKE4pyHoAbWsB7IPIoi940vOjwVcLLcboXb_wfn3VsynSkVkWoPB62I-vTQgTuPR/s1600/IMG_1027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBL-f3sc4UlFkNZxbu5-iXMxz_6YgpUSlMRMosQFXjYtayKgKovIPuEleFGBn36wjIHYa4m54Hv7qqlKE4pyHoAbWsB7IPIoi940vOjwVcLLcboXb_wfn3VsynSkVkWoPB62I-vTQgTuPR/s320/IMG_1027.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">When Softie was still fresh and new!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEwXSLdh8sMscYuw5jPduMzBhA-30kNN1_eTglQ-pu93GRED9ks2d1Ud0jId5gDuelAhaTGtoKmob7nJen4tAePWpqXQjdguejC3HbPVqXF1NmmJ2vYAu5lljZb8iD9ACMlt_HDrkufrq1/s1600/IMG_1057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEwXSLdh8sMscYuw5jPduMzBhA-30kNN1_eTglQ-pu93GRED9ks2d1Ud0jId5gDuelAhaTGtoKmob7nJen4tAePWpqXQjdguejC3HbPVqXF1NmmJ2vYAu5lljZb8iD9ACMlt_HDrkufrq1/s320/IMG_1057.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Back in the day! He still loves Peekaboo with Softie</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1gF5hqQexWeBTOPKVQ3oXCVBsK1xbOiyam_y9hhNYjUQEd9Rbv7SGc7TiWwRkj1Hmtr9c2q4Ct0T_jBaoPymbtKrwqmMsVrw5OHFYMPlsU6u2wjEuEM_vgQ2pZ9XkSB_ZJTWAUugUTU8Y/s1600/IMG_0387.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1gF5hqQexWeBTOPKVQ3oXCVBsK1xbOiyam_y9hhNYjUQEd9Rbv7SGc7TiWwRkj1Hmtr9c2q4Ct0T_jBaoPymbtKrwqmMsVrw5OHFYMPlsU6u2wjEuEM_vgQ2pZ9XkSB_ZJTWAUugUTU8Y/s320/IMG_0387.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">There it is again</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhovarlEgyeAoeXPpr9vc-O_JY-SkNQkxAKOMWpg9cCk1v-hT-gY5mORDp_yQr7VOFWOW0luQCZceNiFezRjaKRFtCXWfXQ-xUdjO53EVOBdkHzSukImMWZuqu0SyKBqtZQjEhpoUgy9Rho/s1600/IMG_0455.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhovarlEgyeAoeXPpr9vc-O_JY-SkNQkxAKOMWpg9cCk1v-hT-gY5mORDp_yQr7VOFWOW0luQCZceNiFezRjaKRFtCXWfXQ-xUdjO53EVOBdkHzSukImMWZuqu0SyKBqtZQjEhpoUgy9Rho/s320/IMG_0455.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">ButterBean and Bunny wrapped in Softie</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIn3RsYbh9UB7QcJvnAfByCqHAluKrAAEddUpMi-BhRCLVpi0zdl3bzANJ_xDNa284XK7jZv7lhi6G75JVDt_UX3gTcbVsJ-QhDKpQXZavojhJJCPnBaykYlhytPe7Eb0ie-6DVDF5KHbh/s1600/IMG_0439.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIn3RsYbh9UB7QcJvnAfByCqHAluKrAAEddUpMi-BhRCLVpi0zdl3bzANJ_xDNa284XK7jZv7lhi6G75JVDt_UX3gTcbVsJ-QhDKpQXZavojhJJCPnBaykYlhytPe7Eb0ie-6DVDF5KHbh/s320/IMG_0439.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">ButterBean sitting inside a drum with Softie. Why? Good question!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">AhNana is definitely the most frequent word ButterBean uses! </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Lord help us if we lose both of our Softies! It's funny because we have an ever-present Softie-Radar. If he drops it we are both diving to save it from getting lost. Before we go anywhere the question is "Do you have Nukie (his pacifier) and Softie?". Soon I'll try to wean him from the nuk, but Softie/Ahnana is going to be around for a loooong time!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-47344692663783319452012-07-01T15:12:00.001-07:002012-07-01T15:54:19.369-07:00Minnesota Summer<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Despite the fact that I have only camped outside of an RV once, live in the city, sun burn in a matter of minutes, and freak out when lake weeds touch my feet, I have a strange delusion in my head that I am "out-doorsy".</span> <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Part of this is my inner wish that I was a rough out doors-woman and part of it is that I live in Minnesota, where most everyone relishes every moment they can spend outside and try to wring every last drop of out door fun from the short 3-4 months of summer that we have. This spring/summer started amazingly early and has been one of the best I can remember! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">In order to be a true Minnesotan you must looooove the lakes that surround us! ButterBean had his first trip to Minneapolis' Lake Calhoun not that long ago. I thought he might be wary of the water, but he had a great time even though it was an extremely windy day and there were whitecaps on the lake. Whhewww! He IS a Minnesotan!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">My Calhoun Surfer Boy</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJhx4zA8lNM2dIC4YnWonCJJ_Wvk4aVEAGmwJedffaD7X-KR8C6w_MFsOcC11VHbIsq2SBW2ZyncSZgH5eVqKmlUQgjU7LHQNksgKp0oSEiyK0w15i-IKUuAcjnfnLKYG20_a3fivH_3-X/s1600/IMG_0561.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJhx4zA8lNM2dIC4YnWonCJJ_Wvk4aVEAGmwJedffaD7X-KR8C6w_MFsOcC11VHbIsq2SBW2ZyncSZgH5eVqKmlUQgjU7LHQNksgKp0oSEiyK0w15i-IKUuAcjnfnLKYG20_a3fivH_3-X/s320/IMG_0561.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> Yesterday he went on his first cruise of Lake Minnetonka and played in the Murphy Bay beach area. I've got to get ButterBean in the lakes as much as possible this summer to make him think he's out-doorsy too! We are actually going on a REAL camping trip in a couple of weeks, so I'll put my "roughing it" skills to the test. Expect an interesting blog posting!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Our other "outdoor" adventure recently has been a trip to the Como Zoo. The only animals ButterBean actually paid attention to were the monkeys. The rest of his time was spent finding any door he could sneak through, crawling up any stairs he could find, and pushing the stroller. Oh, and pounding the glass of the polar bear exhibit and screaming for no reason - the bear was nowhere to be seen. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8_GAXuttW9sHuUQim2T8If2Ibl0pibGN1jDNQNja-0AuLUCe284HwsVZhgDlJClL4qx5Y3fOMFvZfuhNAwtc8rIw6F8pDq0yv1ZUX-kMLwHBg7LiIxqZt1ICrdc4oTv0Oh41_aNVBVh_A/s1600/IMG_0623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8_GAXuttW9sHuUQim2T8If2Ibl0pibGN1jDNQNja-0AuLUCe284HwsVZhgDlJClL4qx5Y3fOMFvZfuhNAwtc8rIw6F8pDq0yv1ZUX-kMLwHBg7LiIxqZt1ICrdc4oTv0Oh41_aNVBVh_A/s320/IMG_0623.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We didn't get to the Sparky show, but we did pose with the Sparky statue</td></tr>
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<tr style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me: trying to get a picture with my son. Butter Bean: trying to get into the sea lion exhibit</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">As I sit in my air conditioned home, looking out at the 93 degree muggy day, I'm still convinced I was meant for the outdoors. Maybe it's because I'm wearing no makeup and KEENs?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br /></span>Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-20528119726268691962012-06-27T12:45:00.001-07:002012-06-27T12:45:59.397-07:00A Hard Worker<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">ButterBean is shaping up to be a workaholic!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">I've already written about how he loves to clean. However, this has evolved into him giving me the dustpan and broom and "Nnnhh! Nnnhh!"ing until <i>I</i> sweep! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">When desperate, he does the sweeping himself. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">He has added mowing the <strike>lawn</strike> sidewalk to his list of chores</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL8N9_5vGXYB9ktGbrdRHQ7rK7Vr7GzCRwaX1cAlG3l6W0ce2DQuz3w3ySsXM18MKE9UF__3T0K2vuMQ81CyjdbPpzgLs_qnpJOpera9O0vu4qRRsDvBeNIhGH253zm4bE5A5dcX7iEg_t/s1600/IMG_0587.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL8N9_5vGXYB9ktGbrdRHQ7rK7Vr7GzCRwaX1cAlG3l6W0ce2DQuz3w3ySsXM18MKE9UF__3T0K2vuMQ81CyjdbPpzgLs_qnpJOpera9O0vu4qRRsDvBeNIhGH253zm4bE5A5dcX7iEg_t/s320/IMG_0587.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">He also loves secretarial work, like answering phones and typing. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_M809MLUKGLOmM2h_K8liJMduH-Ka32MTSVeuoiEBnGpIOtSe6uMWYLFvVmN2s59yEaY3bl5mLQpvpiwDqPc76xw-ueu4gUWn0DLAIFiQhRc-q5bFJf2D65hBWsmMndE-N-kB6FqBKBnB/s1600/IMG_0498.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_M809MLUKGLOmM2h_K8liJMduH-Ka32MTSVeuoiEBnGpIOtSe6uMWYLFvVmN2s59yEaY3bl5mLQpvpiwDqPc76xw-ueu4gUWn0DLAIFiQhRc-q5bFJf2D65hBWsmMndE-N-kB6FqBKBnB/s320/IMG_0498.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These pictures were taken while we waited at a recent doctor appointment</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEHvECynv7bwJhnwTzmCgyDbuZ6EmXLaVEK0q2wEm_evde1vh97AshfmG3B8epnrM3z1BFiBnhXbolHkj8k1GgPNQDelbFRcDzvX3W5QKZQCrMhUxh264WxNPBQGqd0szuXpzLiF4EjEMu/s1600/IMG_0506.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEHvECynv7bwJhnwTzmCgyDbuZ6EmXLaVEK0q2wEm_evde1vh97AshfmG3B8epnrM3z1BFiBnhXbolHkj8k1GgPNQDelbFRcDzvX3W5QKZQCrMhUxh264WxNPBQGqd0szuXpzLiF4EjEMu/s320/IMG_0506.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">He even answers the phone for his grandma from time to time "Hello, how may I help you?"</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu08Fs59ND3-joDf7W1OZsmSdzOoW0PMU2-Sew7dEQhVSmxfXvADe_JhGRVC9xP3I1aalBvYKrARqH-hlApZQ4dhM49ast6vj92XNzHsu_RhrBICTsNcqISbJxGviypkQzG8Fgb-0MvZQ_/s1600/IMG_0582.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu08Fs59ND3-joDf7W1OZsmSdzOoW0PMU2-Sew7dEQhVSmxfXvADe_JhGRVC9xP3I1aalBvYKrARqH-hlApZQ4dhM49ast6vj92XNzHsu_RhrBICTsNcqISbJxGviypkQzG8Fgb-0MvZQ_/s320/IMG_0582.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Last, but certainly not least, he tries to help me "study". This is also known as scribble on Mommy's text book with highlighter!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju4OoloSyyDg7GmoWVKz1yIa5Dt2yhSZmNZrhDLc7DvH1kCr0JhTWOP5csfisG5jc_cBxG1iuOx__dN6PVa2F8saQdLRybPEXS-r9cEq9caoTZ0SR8OugrDBhSWQbtthgssjndB3zrwPWl/s1600/IMG_0539.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju4OoloSyyDg7GmoWVKz1yIa5Dt2yhSZmNZrhDLc7DvH1kCr0JhTWOP5csfisG5jc_cBxG1iuOx__dN6PVa2F8saQdLRybPEXS-r9cEq9caoTZ0SR8OugrDBhSWQbtthgssjndB3zrwPWl/s320/IMG_0539.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">The life of a baby can be so busy! It's amazing that he gets it all done!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br /></span><br />Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381883473805803493.post-16913937430069800942012-06-24T09:22:00.000-07:002012-06-24T09:22:08.216-07:00What a Wedding!<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
Yesterday our family went to our friends' wedding and I felt like I fell into a Pinterest board! The bride had thought of every cute detail imaginable! I wanted to run around taking pictures of everything, but then I remembered that I am not a party or wedding blogger and really don't need all of those pictures. And, I was chasing a 16 month boy and keeping him from jumping into the lake.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGUWGXC65GAHoB5ZvifUqsu1UkEAVdYVetkTVfA4dz9cYopT0DuCeDIrlYBV-MaDRXKaLdqn8hNm1fY2b2eAkR6z2vAngxGTAwgWOau26fLd1VVMwYl6Yn_5UuiHzpwSqau7LM_9jG4w4V/s1600/IMG_0592.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGUWGXC65GAHoB5ZvifUqsu1UkEAVdYVetkTVfA4dz9cYopT0DuCeDIrlYBV-MaDRXKaLdqn8hNm1fY2b2eAkR6z2vAngxGTAwgWOau26fLd1VVMwYl6Yn_5UuiHzpwSqau7LM_9jG4w4V/s320/IMG_0592.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">All those little pink and grey balls: handmade by bride- she had to have made 100 of them at least!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT5fbIvzUKdmk8lT4EjGSUCFxn85UPRXXSWkIRepNgRcePHsJBH0qnA7fkTdj3uNXd-RDar80dIh-vATzfdxJdgnu2efzIVxNmxhWVdzN3Mq4bk_1Kva272DDRo7t6XOpPmAT8N0mmhHEc/s1600/IMG_0593.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT5fbIvzUKdmk8lT4EjGSUCFxn85UPRXXSWkIRepNgRcePHsJBH0qnA7fkTdj3uNXd-RDar80dIh-vATzfdxJdgnu2efzIVxNmxhWVdzN3Mq4bk_1Kva272DDRo7t6XOpPmAT8N0mmhHEc/s320/IMG_0593.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Our table</span></td></tr>
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The reception was held at the bride's parents' lake home. Their neighbors were kind enough to let them use their property as well. So, there were two tents, one for cocktails and one for dinner, both decked out with twinkling votives, gorgeous pink flowers, and pink and grey accents galore. Their grand entrance was coming in on a pontoon and dancing up the dock as they were announced. She had the photo booth with hats and moustaches, adorable pink and grey striped paper straws for mini individual bottles of pink champagne, hand made wood signs for each area, signature cocktails, and on and on. It should have been in a magazine! I loved it!!</div>
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And to top it off -- splendid dessert table!!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WVPPLuYtOxCg2mHbpDx7eodgm9YPWfkLS6w2w-plnePcyjpk0JNFKi4OPmg2hExdpwa89Job4qGbEwYC_P7X2Q51B65NExQ3IhAbQbFHRI-AIjfElJOHp4u-GUNBLrZ4HS2FqmSsc8Qe/s1600/IMG_0608.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WVPPLuYtOxCg2mHbpDx7eodgm9YPWfkLS6w2w-plnePcyjpk0JNFKi4OPmg2hExdpwa89Job4qGbEwYC_P7X2Q51B65NExQ3IhAbQbFHRI-AIjfElJOHp4u-GUNBLrZ4HS2FqmSsc8Qe/s320/IMG_0608.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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I didn't get a picture of the whole thing because it was quite the popular spot and got crowded quickly! There were brownie cheesecakes, white chocolate macarons, candies, pink cake, and individual jarred pies!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKa2zouDEe5lZvOvMpVp7wfYNI1k8C1ECX1L0vb1Fwm_b6FWsnLuD9DKDMXuj4PllW7wBt5JTlcBMZXJdbJnO7v8PB6p-JAefY14FPdYGdzUJeXTPkpiaAdmsJzESVWw1NqAHMGyLw7odX/s1600/IMG_0609.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKa2zouDEe5lZvOvMpVp7wfYNI1k8C1ECX1L0vb1Fwm_b6FWsnLuD9DKDMXuj4PllW7wBt5JTlcBMZXJdbJnO7v8PB6p-JAefY14FPdYGdzUJeXTPkpiaAdmsJzESVWw1NqAHMGyLw7odX/s320/IMG_0609.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Too cute!! I had a raspberry pear pie, but there was also sour cherry and strawberry rhubarb. Ok, I had a macaron or three as well! </div>
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What made the desserts even more special is that all of them (except the candy)were hand made by the bride's cousins. Eleven siblings in that family and the girls all made the desserts, while the boys help construct tents and dance floors. Butterbean made friends with one of the boys and was doing everything in his power to get his attention for the rest of the evening!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio8vA4r34M1CH72hxLD7CA-2jzDzPiha3Zx-_Jyc-UCwWEZzpRnoSU5GYA8rxGo1ogQR7tDtzA-B_MFKB6w4RZji9ezUtSnM_69y7ouFsgDbohmCT0FKwvhyphenhyphen9fvVnPRlWSq_ssUly60Wxm/s1600/IMG_0613.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio8vA4r34M1CH72hxLD7CA-2jzDzPiha3Zx-_Jyc-UCwWEZzpRnoSU5GYA8rxGo1ogQR7tDtzA-B_MFKB6w4RZji9ezUtSnM_69y7ouFsgDbohmCT0FKwvhyphenhyphen9fvVnPRlWSq_ssUly60Wxm/s320/IMG_0613.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">ButterBean dancing by himself on the dancefloor - he wouldn't let me dance with him, the little stinker!</span></td></tr>
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Butterbean lasted well into the night, rocked it on the dance floor, and got oodles of compliments on his cuteness!! We all had a great time seeing friends and relaxing on the lake! Fabulous night!</div>
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<br /></div>Carlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00262609567502902448noreply@blogger.com0