Happy Birthday E!

When people ask me what my dream job would be, I choose 1 thing, Justin Timberlake's personal assistant. However, since I don't really see that working out in the near future, I choose party planner. Tell me what you think. Would you hire someone to plan a home party for you? I am talking all you have to do is say what your theme is and give ideas you have and leave it to me! I can come to your house and set it up, let you party away and then clean up after your guests leave. Sound good? That's what I want to do, oh yeah, that and plan weddings.

Although I enjoy the occasional happy hour, baby shower, dinner party or adult birthday party planning, this was my first experience with a kid's party and let me tell you I had a blast! I went with a red and teal circus theme. This party was filled with all the JUNK FOOD you find at the circus! We're talking fresh cotton candy made by Mickey the Cotton Candy Man, circus peanuts, homemade soft pretzel bites (cinnamon and regular), animal crackers, chocolate dipped pretzel rods, nachos, cupcakes, candy and caramel and cheese popcorn! I also had bubbles outside (which froze due to the snowy weather...boo) and a photo"booth" complete with costumes for guests to play circus dress up.

I must admit that the photo booth was not my idea. It was an idea from a fabulous super-mom and blogger friend Bethany. She also happens to be my birthday photographer! Let me just say these two things. 1) Bethany normally only shoots outdoor natural light photography. I had to twist her arm to be a guest at the party + bring her camera. It worked, she showed up:) I really just wanted a couple family shots and a picture of his cake. As you can see below, she went above and beyond her call of duty. 2) I highly, highly, highly recommend having a friend, family member or photographer take your pictures if you are hosting a party! I didn't snap one picture the whole day and I didn't worry one lick about not getting the pictures I wanted. Bethany rocked it and I knew she would. FYI- She also took Everett's fall photos if you want to check out what she can do when the weather warms up.

Now get ready for too many pictures! I couldn't pick just a few. I love them all! Happy Birthday Sweet Boy E!

The special thing about Everett's cake was that it was made by Suplise! It's a Party who just so happend to be the same lady that made our wedding cupcakes and donut groom's cake.

Everett's New Ride

He wanted a spoon:) I have to say that this is one of my favorites...even if he's not very happy.

1/2 Marathon Training Day 1

Good News- No one at Snap today! I got to listen to 93.3 on the treadmill!
Bad News- Oh boy, I have a long way to go!
Good News- I ran 3 miles on my first day...not too terrible. I could have gone further but I had to go to work.
Bad News- No incline.
Good News- I have until OCTOBER to get ready.
Bad News- Have to get ready for over 10 more miles.
Good News- I have until OCTOBER to get ready. Now I know why I didn't want to run one this spring.

Keep checking back to see if I make it. Yikes!

Soft Pretzels

**I took a picture, but it didn't look as professional as this one. This is what they looked like.

Have you ever looked at a recipe and it is rated as "Easy" and the next thing you know you are mixing dry ingredients and then adding wet, using a spatula to fold and then the KitchenAid, putting parchment paper, flower and butter on a pan before heating for a while and then turning whatever your cooking? My point is, sometimes recipes claim to be "easy" and they are definitely not!
I am a working mother here people! As my family can attest to, I am a pretty amazing cook (toot toot) when I have the time. The last time I made a knock your socks off meal was Christmas Eve. I made my first turkey, twice baked potatoes, pecan pie and my sweet potato casserole. My husband picked up the largest Honeybaked Ham I have ever seen! Just those three things took me 1 day of preparation and one day of cooking! That doesn't even include all the sides my family members contributed!
I don't have time to cook food that require a lot of steps! Ladies and gentlemen (but probably mostly ladies)! I now present one of the easiest recipes in the world! Not only is it easy, it was quite the hit on E's birthday! So much so, I didn't get to try one. Good thing I had an encore performance for our staff lunch last week. Not as fresh the day after, but just as good.
I mean, you don't even have to mix anything! If you know how to boil water and stir an egg, you can do this! Thank you Sandra Lee!

Ingredients-
One loaf white bread dough (thawed)
Flour for dusting preparation surface
1 egg (beaten)
1/2 cup of course salt

1. The recipe says to divide the dough into 14 pieces and create pretzels, you know, like Auntie Anne's or Wetzle's Pretzels. Want to do something easier? Cut them into bite sized pieces for pretzel bites!
2. Transfer dough to the refrigerator until you are ready to boil.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
4. In a large pot, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. Add 3 regular pretzels or about half of your pretzel bites to the boiling water. Boil until the bread floats indicating they are finished. For a pretzel, this may take 3 minutes. It only takes about 30 seconds to 1 minute for the pretzel bites.
5. Drain pretzels on a paper towel.
6. Place pretzels about 2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet.
7. Brush with egg and sprinkle with salt.
8. Bake until golden brown. Bake regular pretzels 15-20 minutes. Pretzel bites will take about 12 minutes.

Personal Goals...Not Resolutions

I really don't believe in resolutions. I think I made one six years ago to drink more water. That didn't really work out. However, I thought about my life last year and how many HUGE changes were made- Grant and I decided to start a family, Everett was born, I got a job opening a new middle school, I decided to work part-time, I started my own little business, the list goes on and on. Basically, 2010 was a big year and I wanted to keep the ball rolling!

This brings me to my next motivator. I am a self diagnosed Oprah and Ellen addict. Where does this come in? First, as soon as I heard about OWN (you know, the Oprah Winfrey Network) I became glued to channel 189. One of my favorite shows is Oprah's All Stars. Oh Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz, your banter is captivating. I digress. The All Stars have been talking about making 2011 the "best year of your life". I must say, it is pretty motivating.
Another motivator is my girl Ellen DeGeneres. May I say I was a fan way before she was a Cover Girl, on the cover of O or met George Clooney. I have loved her since the first time I saw her stand-up on HBO. Those of you that have been fans since then, we all remember the "That's not Nancy!" and "Club soda? Be right back," stories. I'm laughing inside thinking about them! Again, I digress. The thing I admire most about Ellen is that she always talks about seeing the best in people and talking about being beautiful on the inside. I constantly think, Would Ellen be pissed at this lady for cutting in front of me in line? Probably not. She is nice to everyone.
I promise this is all leading somewhere. Now what you've all been waiting for. I have read a lot of blogs, watched a lot of television, read many magazine articles and now I have complied My 2011 Personal Goals!

1. Be present in every family moment. Between Fluffy Cakes, errands, cooking dinner, packing lunches, cleaning up, doing laundry, catching up on my Thursday night TV (A MUST) and endless "to do" lists, it's hard to sit in the moment and appreciate everything God has given me. Just this weekend Grant made the comment that Everett is getting so big. I'm so excited to see him grow and so heartbroken at the same time because I know my baby isn't a little snuggle baby anymore! I need to appreciate every single second of him not knowing how to talk back while I can! I have always tried to do this, but I need to really be present in those moments when we are together as a family. Ev's first birthday snuck up on me and I now realize that I only get 17 more of those before I let him spread his wings and try this life thing on his own.

2. Eat better. Isn't this a given? Everyone has this as a goal. Let me just say this. When I was preggo, I was very much a healthy eater. I didn't necessarily cut out any junk, I just added A LOT of fruits and veggies. I will not share the exact number, but let's just say I didn't gain a whole lot of weight and I got rid of all of it (with a little muffin top to show my achievement). However, again Dr. Oz has inspired me to eat more fruits and vegetables. He says you should eat things that look like they just came out of the ground. I already eat quite a bit of fruit and vegetables, but I could do better. I quit caffeine over a year ago, I can certainly do this!

3. Less gossip. Do you ever think about how much time you waste each day gossiping about other people? I don't think a lot of people intend to talk about others to hurt them. Let's face it. It's fun to talk about reality tv with your friends or what your dumb co-worker did that made you mad. But have you ever noticed that if you're around negative people it gives you a negative attitude? I don't want to be like that anymore. I think I would have a lot more time on my hands and a lot more positive thoughts if I just cut gossip out of my life.

4. Finally, I just looked up my very first 1/2 marathon! I have been talking about doing a Rock and Roll Marathon for years! I think I am actually going to bite the bullet and do one! I have decided on the Rock and Roll Marathon in Denver next October. You'll probably have to follow the blog to see how I do on this one! The longest race I have ever ran is a 10K pre-Everett. I cannot think of a more beautiful setting! I am head over heels for Colorado! It is my favorite place in the world! If I feel like I am going to keel over during the race, I think those gorgeous mountains can give me a little peace of mind. Probably not, but I'm going to keep telling myself that. Let the training begin!

We're Home!

Here are some early pictures when our little explorer could be put on the floor and we didn't have to worry about him moving. He would just sit in his bouncy seat and play while we got ready, ate dinner, whatever, what a good little boy! We finally got that bath thing figured out! Thanks for lending us the tub Auntie Jill!

I just love how big his little snowsuit was! The doctor told me to stay in for 8 weeks due to H1N1. This was our very first walk. I'm sure it was 30 degrees outside! Don't be alarmed. I had him in sweats, a snowsuit, blanket and a cover over his stroller. He actually got heat rash...in February!

One of our daily "lay on the bed and stare at eachother" times. I am still in awe of him every day.

He's always been a little curious thing. He's trying to figure something out in this one:).

First snuggle with Auntie Jill.

Uh, love him!

All bundled up!

Hi Everett, I'm Mommy. Nice to Meet You!

Exactly one year ago today, I got to see my little buddy's face for the first time! You hear it all the time, they grow up so fast, but I must say that it is so true. I feel like I have known this guy all my life and at the same time it feels like it was just yesterday that I met him.

Since I have already gone over the whole story in my last blog that went all wacky on me (to read, visit http://www.anneandgranthashbaby.blogspot.com/), I don't want to bore anyone with the story again. Instead, I wanted to share what I got him for his big O-N-E.

First, Daddy and I picked out a tricycle that looks a little something like this-

Is he too small for it? Yes, but I just love it and I think the boy needs a tricycle and it has a bell! Come on people! Also, a family friend of mine who has 3 grown,well, college-aged, kids gave me a great idea for a yearly birthday gift. She buys them a book that reminds her of their achievements for the year and always writes them a special letter in the front. I had a pretty hard time choosing between Curious George and my final selection. However in the end this is the book I chose. You can only give him this one for his first birthday. It just won't make sense after that. He can have George next year. Who knows what he'll be getting into by then??!-

Even though Ev was born in the morning, I was up all night and anyway it has a beautiful message so I think it is just right. I am going to go ahead and share what I wrote to my little boy. It may be very personal and something that shouldn't be shared on an Internet blog, but if the book gets lost or something else happens, I want Everett to be able to look back and see what I wrote to him. Everyone knows once something is on the net it is there for good, so this way my words will never get lost. What I'm trying to say is skip over this if you just want to get to the pictures.

Dear Everett,

One year ago today I met a little boy who changed my life. Your nana and I used to talk about how since I was a little girl, I always talked about being a mom. The day you came into our lives was the day my biggest dream and so much more came true.

When we were in the hospital, all the nurses said what a calm, sweet baby you were. I thought for sure you would come home and start crying, but you never did! You were and still are a laid back guy.

In just a short year you have already achieved so much! You have learned to roll over, sit up, crawl, walk and dance! You can eat solid food (ham, apples and pasta are your favorites:), drink from a sippy cup and you are quite the little traveler! I take you anywhere from the store to swim lessons to Springfield to Las Vegas! You behave absolutely perfect in any setting! You are like your mommy and need to be out and about!

Although you are already so much more than I have ever hoped for, I still have big dreams for you! I am eager to hear all you have to say and watch you go to school. This year has flown by so fast I know you'll be in preschool before I know it! I can't wait for you to try sports and clubs and make new friends. I am going to try to capture every moment because I know those milestones will be here before we know it!

I am going to blink and you'll be in junior high and then driving to high school! However, before all that can happen, I just want you to know that even though you don't understand now, someday you'll read this and I hope that you'll see that you are the greatest gift God ever sent down to be with your daddy and me. You make us better people. You make us laugh, play, smile, sing, chase, share, hug, kiss and PROUD every single day. . I have no idea what God saw in us to give us this beautiful baby boy to keep forever.

Just know that I will try to be the best mommy I can be every single day. All I want for you is to try your best every day I want you to be good and kind to others, finish what you start, work hard, find hobbies and people you love and surround yourself with them, keep your head up no matter what, treat people with respect and do the right thing even when no one is looking!

There will be bad days for both of us, but I promise today and always that I'll not only do my best to set an example for you, but I will be there to guide, love, support, hug and kiss you no matter what.

You are my sunshine and I love you so very much! Here is volume one of many birthday books. 2010 was a great year!

I love you Baby Birthday Boy! Love, Mommy

One tired and VERY PROUD Mama. It' very brave of me to post pictures like this, but it's how I looked, happy, exhausted, too tired for mascara or concealer, overwhelmed and very much in love. Moms to be should see how it is. Just keepin' it real.

Now that's love!

Notice the ruffles on the hospital gown. Like that's going to help with the hot mess that was my face! I got into my sweats as soon as I possibly could!

This Time One Year Ago...

I looked a little like this

(Notice my bag is packed on the floor...and I am HUGE!) and around this time I was going to the nurse's office to have her take my temperature because "I didn't feel right". After school I went home and got in bed. At 7:00 I started watching American Idol. At 8:30 I turned off the lights and tried to go to sleep. Around 9:00 I told Grant we would be going to the hospital in the morning. Check back tomorrow for my little buddy's debut pictures!