fourth

Here’s how our Fourth of July went – or at least what I can remember. It’s been 2 days!

We woke up. Brian made orange rolls for our breakfast! I cleaned a little. I also washed several loads of clothes. Brian wanted to practice drums, so we took a family trip to the church. He played drums while I pushed Cora around the hallways until she fell asleep. Then, I took her to my office where I listened to music online and read a book. I quickly realized how stupid it was to sit at my desk on my one day off, so I went to push her around some more instead. After that, we went home to hang out before going to Five Guys for dinner. It was yummy! Afterward, we drove all around Homewood while Cora was asleep because that’s nice to do sometimes. We listen to music and explore roads we don’t know. I have no idea what else happened except some neighbors ended up setting off firecrackers in the street, and they were loud. Cora wouldn’t go to sleep that night until later, but when she did, she miraculously slept through all the firecracker noises. After they stopped, someone down the road was shooting off major fireworks, and they were loud but far away. They seemed to NEVER end. She slept through those, too! I did not, but whatever. 

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

GOOD THING: This week had a very nice Thursday. That is random, but it was good.
BAD THING: My mom is sick!

UPDATE:::Doy. My favorite accomplishment of the day was that I did some yardwork. I love pulling up ivy vines and getting rid of crappy plants! If I didn’t have Cora, I’d be out there all the time, and my backyard and the woods wouldn’t be so grown up this year. I’d rather not give her poison ivy, so I’ll just wait.

hemp mmm

Remember me telling you about the delicious hemp milk ice cream I bought and enjoyed? I’m still eating it! I just eat a few bites and put it back in the freezer, so it’s lasting forever and ever! I looked up the company, and they make a coconut lime flavor. I have to go find it!

food reviews

I’ve tried some new things lately – all organic, some gluten free, free-range meat, etc. Bear with me – it’s long but mostly pictures! I don’t go into nutrition because you can look that up yourself. Here are some ratings based on taste:

4.5, A+
Kashi meals are always great quality – fresh, tasty, and not your typical frozen meal. The spinach is so green, and there’s lots of it. There are beans, peppers, and the mentioned artichoke hearts. Good stuff.

 

4.0, A-
This one is just as good; I just don’t like the taste AS much as the other because I’m not a big garlic fan. I’d venture to say most people might prefer this one over the spinach & artichoke, but I do not. The chicken in this meal is outstanding for frozen dinners.

 

3.5, B+
These are awesome quality just like Kashi food. The chicken is findable and real (not tiny & mystery meat like typical frozen foods). These are HUGE. There’s some flavor of seasoning that is pretty strong, and I got tired of it after a while, but you may love that flavor. I like Amy’s burritos way better, but these are probably someone’s favorite just waiting to be discovered.

 

4.0, A-
What a cool company. This tastes similar to my Crock-Pot burritos. If you added Sriracha to this, it would be so good. I had it at home quickly, but I know it’s good stuff. It’s on the plainer side, but if you have stuff to add, I think it would be awesome. They ask you to compost the cardboard-y bowl, too.

 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST:

4.5, A 
This ice cream is non-dairy. I’ve tried several varieties of non-dairy ice cream. This might be my favorite when I don’t want to taste the coconut flavor since it seems to be in ANY flavor made with coconut milk. (I find that annoying, but if you want coconut flavor with your chocolate chip cookie dough, then whatever.) Anyway, this is made with hemp milk as you can read. I had very low hopes for this thinking it’d taste dank. It does not. It actually has a very normal chocolate ice cream taste. The only difference I can tell is that it’s actually sort of…dry tasting. It’s not the melty, creamy coldness you expect with ice cream. I told Brian it seems almost dehydrated. That weirded me out at first, but the more I ate, the more I liked it. I honestly will probably buy this again and try another flavor. I also wish I could find the Whole Foods cashier I talked to about it to let her know to not be scared.

 

 

 

saturday

Here’s another recap for you.

Saturday: I woke up after Cora slept 8 hours!!!!!! Brian then made me eggs and toast for breakfast, and that was yummy. After a while, I went running in the nice weather (and pollen) for the first time in many months. I only went about 1 mile and had to walk 2 times, but that is okay because my back between my shoulder blades were burning like crazy from the swinging motion of my arms. My legs could’ve done a little more, but I’ll try again soon! Brian stayed home and made faces at Cora while I went out (he said). That’s how we play these days mostly. Anyway, after that, I showered before we went to dinner at Lovoy’s with Brian’s parents and sister. While there, the family’s favorite waitress wanted to get a picture with Cora since she hadn’t met her yet. She’s been serving the family since Brian was little, and she knows what we all want to order before we say anything. After dinner, we stopped by CVS to rent a movie, then the group continued to our house to visit a while. After his parents left, his sister stayed to play with Cora and watch Your Highness with us. I ended up bathing Cora (my choice, of course) during the last part, so I missed the best stuff judging by their laughs, but that’s not a big deal. I also washed diapers during the movie. It was a pretty good day!

The best part – Cora slept 8 hours Friday night, and she slept 8 hours and 15 minutes Saturday night and only woke up when she did on Sunday morning because I was in there making noises in my closet! I needed her to get up, though, because she needed breakfast before I went to church.

wftw

*title stolen from Sheena’s life motto!*

I am actually NOT working for the weekend since I don’t work these days, but the weekends still roll around! This weekend, my parents came to visit from Saturday morning until Sunday after church. They love visiting Cora, and it’s nice that they’ll come down here to do so. We went to Moe’s BBQ for dinner and met Brian’s parents there. That is a great place to go eat with Cora! It’s not crowded, it’s laid back, and it’s loud enough in there to drown her out if she cries. Plus, they have good music (usually). Sunday was church, and my parents went with us. It was just the 2nd time we’ve been since Cora was born. Apparently, she farted really loud a couple of times during the special singer’s song! haha

eat this

These waffles don’t look like they’d be good at all, but let me tell you – they are DELICIOUS! They taste like what Eggo waffles try to be, but they’re way better for you and not stale or with a weird texture. They’re so awesome.

Van’s has made it to my list of good, natural foods to try. Go get these!
Here’s the page where you can read about them. They’ve got a great sugar/protein balance for me personally, which is always a plus.

winner winner chicken dinner

So, as you know, if you have a baby, people like to bring you food. It’s hard for me to accept things like this from people, but I have to say – IT IS AWESOME. The food people bring is so good!

eating

I am stuffed to the gills, and I can’t stop wanting to eat! It’s been that way for a while now. I hope it doesn’t stay that way!

By the way, you readers stink because you never, ever comment on my posts anymore even though I comment on yours!

I even started doing short posts for those of you (Casey) that won’t read more than a tiny paragraph.  You get a Google MINUS.

christmas 2

Today, my parents drove down for a 4 hour visit so we could exchange Christmas gifts and go to lunch. Our gift time was good and pretty simple, which is a nice change for us. My favorite part was getting a video camera! I’ve been wanting one, and they brought it just in time to capture Cora’s earliest moments!

We went to lunch at Mugshots because my dad loves burgers (and so do the rest of us). I just knew they’d like it, and my dad said it was the best burger he’d ever had. Success!

Christmas on New Year’s Eve isn’t so bad.

choxie darsh

Poor little Choxie has a mysterious area where her back leg meets her stomach that looks like a burn, and no one has any idea how it started! She went to the vet today, and she now has some antibiotics and a cream to try out on it. I hope it gets better soon! If it’s not gone in a week, we have to take her back. However, she did much better at the vet today. Everyone there kept saying how pretty and fit and brave she was! 🙂

GOOD THING: got our stroller, carseat and 2 bases tonight from the neighbors!
BAD THING: stomach is super full from eating dinner and dessert!