Two quick stories

-Jordan grunts just about every time she bends over to sit down or to pick something up...please tell me I don't do this!

-Tonight at bedtime I was sitting beside Jordan's bed reading her a book.  She "sneakily" puts her blanket over my head and then throws herself back to lay on her pillow and closes her eyes as if to say "I didn't do it!  I've been laying here sleeping the whole time!"  Once I started laughing (because, seriously, how could you NOT laugh at that?!) she busts up laughing super hard.  She has become SUCH a goofball lately and I LOVE it!

Craft time

I got this awesome "craft" idea from the Childhood 101 blog a couple weeks ago and stored it in the back of my mind.  Luckily for Jordan we had to make a trip to Joann's Fabric last Friday for something else and I remembered to pick up some pipe cleaners while we were there for this fun project.

This has become a great way to keep Jordan entertained while I am busy cooking dinner!  Which is always a major blessing!!  I showed her how to slip the beads onto the pipe cleaners, she discovered that she could also bend the ends sticking out and poke them through the holes on top of the container and Daddy loosened the lid and showed her that if she put beads inside and put the lid back on and shook it that it makes a fun noise!  There are so many things that she can do with this project and that means it keeps her entertained for that much longer and who can complain about that?!

Here she is proud of her work and pointing to make sure I see and take a picture.

Bed time story

The other day I was making dinner in the kitchen when Jordan managed to grab the Frosted Mini Wheats off the table.  She brought the box to the kitchen with me, sat down and started chowing.  Then a couple minutes later I realized she was no longer in the kitchen with me nor were the mini wheats.  I went searching for them both and this is where I found them, laying in Jordan's bed.  I laughed, took several pictures then told her she can't have food in her room and took it away.  Such a funny moment.

Speaking of Jordan's bed, we found an awesome deal on a toddler bed back at the beginning of spring.  At the time she was much too little to make the switch from crib to bed so we'd been storing it.  Well with another little one on the way we decided now is the time to make the switch as we want to give her plenty of time to adjust.  We wanted her old room to become the baby's room because it is closer to our bedroom so we packed up all my crafting supplies that was in the spare room and hauled it to another room (which is where it still rests in piles and piles) about a month and a half ago.  I got her things all moved over and her new room situated.  She loved the room to play in all throughout the day but when it came time to actually sleeping in there she wanted nothing to do with it!  Realizing that we still have plenty of time, I didn't force it.  I'd ask her before laying her down where she wanted to sleep and she'd always tease me and run to her new bed and hop in only to then jump up and run down the hall to her old room and want in her crib.  I was dreading the day we would actually have to dive in and make her sleep there, but I really should not have dreaded it at all!  Last week a friend of mine asked me to watch her two daughters, ages 2 and 5.  Jordan LOVES and admires big kids especially GIRLS!  So when all the kids laid down at nap time the youngest slept in Jordan's toddler bed and Jordan knew it.  So the rest of the day I kept reminding her at random that Savannah had slept in her big girl bed.  When nighttime rolled around that night I laid Jordan down in her big girl bed again reminding her that Savannah had slept there.  Jordan wanting to be just like those girls (which I have no problem with because they are wonderful examples for her) slept there ALL night long!  And she's been happy to sleep in it every nap and bedtime ever since!  Thanks girls for doing the dirty work for me!  Now I need you to come back over to teach Jordan how to go potty!  ;)

Tomato lover

(18 months) 

(11 months)

My girl LOVES tomatoes, probably more than any other food she has tasted.  Whenever she sees them anywhere, be it the grocery store, garden or kitchen counter, she immediately starts signing please and if I tell her she can't have one she has a minor meltdown.  I've learned that if I really do not want her having a tomato then I need to hide them completely out of her sight.  I had about seven tomato plants in the garden this year.  Every time we stepped foot in the back yard, straight to the garden she would go and start picking any tomato within her reach.  And if I tried to stop her because I didn't want tomato guts on her clothes she'd take off running!  I should be happy that it's something so good for her that she loves so much and I am I just wish tomatoes weren't so messy!  One day we had come in from picking an armful of tomatoes and I had set them on the counter.  I guess they were a little too close to the edge because I couldn't find Jordan so I set out to her "secret" hiding spot, the dark corner at the end of the hall in front of the bathroom and there she was tomato in hand as soon as she saw me she took off and we had a wild goose chase around the house until I finally caught her and put her in her chair at the table with a bib.  She cracks me up!

Every time she sees I have the camera she immediately starts following me around the house because she wants to see all the pictures I've taken of her (she loves looking at herself!) so it can be a challenge sometimes to get pictures of her in her natural habitat.  This day she trapped me against the wall and I was running out of floor to back up so I could continue snapping pictures so I leaned against the window sill in the dining room and was taking pictures from that angle.  It must have looked fun because Jordan comes to stand in front of the window, turns around so her back is to it and then starts backing up until her little tush hit the wall and she was standing just like I was.

And this picture here I just think is goofy.  She had finished her tomato and had juice all over her face and was trying so hard to get to the camera so she could see the pictures I had been taking the whole time she'd been chowing down.

drawing with Nana

Sometimes to keep Jordan occupied for a little while I give her a huge pad of paper and one crayon, but I kept finding that it never actually would entertain her for long.  I usually like to write her name and date at the top and finally realized that there were always more scribbles around that than anywhere else on the paper.  That really got the wheels turning so I got down and drew several pictures on her pad of paper and that seemed to make her happy.  She colored every picture I drew (duh!  I really should have thought of this sooner!)!

Later the same afternoon that I made this discovery, Nana came over.  Jordan showed her the coloring she had done and wanted Nana to color with her.  Nana is a wonderful artist and drew an entire scene for her!  She loved and still loves it!  She will pull out the pad and just look at that picture signing everything she sees.

I just love the way she is laying while they draw and color together!  Jordan has found this new position and lays like this all the time nowadays.  One day I looked over and she had somehow figured out how to get the graham crackers off the table (ha!  I know exactly how!  This kid is such a climber these days.) and was laying on the floor like this with her snack, watching a movie.

That reminds me, we have recently begun letting her watch movies (Sesame Street) and while we have major restrictions as far as how much she can watch, it has become a major life saver!  Jordan is quite a quality time girl and wants my constant attention all day long.  I have tried many other approaches but so far nothing has been too successful.  But this movie watching thing has really come in handy!  I can actually step over the gate to do laundry without her having a meltdown on the other side!  I am now able to make dinner without a little girl pulling and crying at my ankles!  Sometimes I can even sit on the couch and get a tiny refresher of a nap or even some reading done in a book!  It's amazing!

Blueberry girl

My friend Amanda made an AWESOME blueberry pie for our Bible study one night a couple months ago.  Normally I do not like pie, much less fruit pie but this was amazing.  Actually I quite LOVE pecan pie, but other than that I'm not a pie lover.  I got the recipe which turns out to be Pioneer Woman's blueberry pie recipe in case any of you out there in bloggie world are interested.  The best thing about this pie is she allows the blueberries to do all the work.  There is no more than two tablespoons of sugar in it and barely any other ingredients to get in the way so it ends up being this really healthy pie and that easily gives me the excuse to eat it for breakfast!  In fact all three of us here in the house have eaten it for breakfast!  Jordan thought it was wonderful and ate nearly two pieces!

She obviously made quite the mess and even got some in her hair, but it is hard NOT to when they're hanging in your eyes so much!  We are growing her bangs out but it is quite the process, let me tell you!   On a completely different note, Jordan just saw this picture as I'm writing and is now wiping her face with her hand to show that she had a messy face and is laughing as she does it.

One more story.  Jordan was sick for about a month with mostly diarrhea but there was some nausea as well.  By the end of it she weighed less than she did 3 1/2 months prior at her 15 month check up.  It was awful for both of us but I cannot imagine what she was going through.  Especially seeing her now that she is all better, her goofy little personality has come back and she seems to be laughing and giggling all the time nowadays.  It makes me feel even worse for her being sick after seeing this major change in her personality.

Picture overload!

I have not posted on here in such a long time (besides the giveaway).  I'm sure you didn't need me saying that for any of you to have noticed!  I am planning a picture overload since it has been such a long time so be prepared!  I haven't for surely decided yet whether it will be a series of posts with all related pictures together or if I trust myself enough to go that route; I'm afraid if I do that I won't get much farther than two posts!  Regardless of how they come I'm sure you'll all be happy with SOME type of post from me!  I do not have any belly pictures yet; for some reason I have not gotten around to taking any with this one but one of these days I will do a side by side comparison with my belly now and my belly when I was pregnant with Jordan.  AND in two weeks from today we have our ultrasound!  Hopefully we will be able to find out what we are having!  If not, I'm not quite as concerned as I was with Jordan.  With her I felt like I just NEEDED to know and prayed and prayed that it would be clear.  This one, I just don't feel the urgency to know.  It's so strange how very similar the pregnancies are but how different my mindset is!  

My grandma gave this adorable hat to Jordan for Christmas last year but she hasn't really gotten a lot of use out of it until now....for a couple of reasons.  One, her hair was too short and it just looked kind of silly, but now that her hair is getting longer it looks absolutely adorable on her!  Her hair has some natural wave to it that just flows perfectly out of the hat.  I love it!  And two, she was terrible about pulling out all the ribbons and I couldn't get her to stop!  Now she is old enough to explain why she should not do so and if she does that there will be consequences.  It's great!

The winner!!

It's time to announce the winner of the Macaroni Grill prize package!  I selected the winner using a random number generator at random.org and the number selected is......commenter number seven!  Amanda, that's you!  I have sent you an email letting you know as well.

Thank you everyone for playing!

Time for a giveaway!

Who loves Macaroni Grill?!?!  Well I hope you all do because MyBlogSpark has contacted me once again to host a giveaway and this time Macaroni Grill is providing the prize package!  

The winner will receive a Macaroni Grill frozen entree, serving platter and tongs!

The frozen entree we received, as will the winner, was Basil Parmesan Chicken which contains white meat chicken, broccoli, tomatoes, pasta tossed in a creamy basil parmesan sauce.  To be quite honest I was a little nervous when making it for dinner for a couple of reasons.  One, I do love basil but have experienced too strong of basil in recipes too many times that I'm always nervous to try something basil anymore.  Secondly, Brandon has a thing against vegetables so when he took one look at it, he immediately commented on the broccoli.  But once the meal was all cooked up, which was extremely easy by the way (literally toss into a skillet, pour in a little milk and let it cook away for about 15 minutes, stirring here and there), we really enjoyed it, broccoli, basil and all.  Brandon even said that it was pretty good even with the broccoli.  I could not taste strong basil at all; it was just perfect!  I do have a funny thing about meat so I picked all the chicken out but Brandon thought that it was good.  We really enjoyed it and you can't beat having dinner on the table in 15 minutes!  It says that it serves two but for our family it actually served the three of us (Jordan doesn't eat much) plus Brandon had some leftovers the next day in his lunch.  It could probably be stretched even farther if served with french bread and a salad.  Now, onto the serving platter, holy moly this is a heavy duty dish!  I was quite surprised to lift it out of the package and feel the weight of it.  I was quite impressed.  I have used it multiple times since the initial use with our Macaroni Grill frozen entree.  Same goes for the tongs, which have also gotten a lot of use!  And the tongs start at 10 inches but can be extended to 14!  

Anyway, onto how to enter the giveaway!  

The Macaroni Grill frozen entrees are available in four flavors:  Basil Parmesan Chicken, Grilled Chicken Florentine, Roasted Garlic Shrimp Scampi and Spicy Italian Sausage Pomodoro.  

To enter, please share in the comments which frozen entree you would most like to try or if none of them strike your fancy, share which Italian meal you would like to see added to the lineup. Please also leave your email address so I may contact you if you are the winner.  

The contest endsl Tuesday, Sept 7th at midnight MST.  No comments after that time will be accepted.  The winner will be announced Wednesday, Sept 8th.

Good luck!!

Gettin' wordy

Jordan said her first sentence this week!  She's not really much of a talker using real words so much yet but we that are here with her all the time can easily pick up on words she is saying that others may think is just jibber jabber.  Anyway, sorry I know you all are dying to hear what she said!  Jordan's first sentence is:  "I love you"  it makes me smile every time she says it.  She also learned to say flower...in Jordan speak.  Everything to her is "Bah!"  so we've been teaching her sign language for all those things so that we can know what she's really talking about; for example many times she excitedly comes to me after looking out the window saying "bah! bah!" over and over again and I had no idea what she was talking about.  Later when we were looking out the window together and saw birds and squirrels I showed her the sign for each and now whenever she excitedly comes to me shouting bah! bah! after looking out the window she's combining it with the sign so I know what she saw out there and can then talk to her about it.  It's very nice!  But where I was really going with that is that like previously mentioned she says bah for everything.  She likes flowers a lot and I forgot the sign for flower but I've been trying to teach her "ffffff-llll-ow-er" so she'll say that instead of bah whenever she sees them.  The other day she was sitting at the table eating and saw a picture of herself sitting next to some flowers and I hear her say "ffff-bah!" repeatedly.  I love watching her learn how to communicate...especially when she says she loves me!  :)  Another thing we think is cute and hilarious that I want to share before I sign out is Jordan says "dibble, dibble, doyle"  It's so funny.  If we say dibble, dibble Jordan goes off on this long string of dibble, dibble jibber jabber where she somehow rolls her tongue or something while she's talking because some of sounds that come out of her mouth are the oddest sounding noises but she acts as though she is rattling off some major important conversation.  It makes us laugh every time.

On a completely different note, these pictures are a couple of my favorites from all three of ours first trip to Glacier.