Dreamy

Watch out girls! Baby T is getting ready to be all dreamy when he gets older!

Air

This was a hard prompt

however, since my camera was a gift from my hubby this winter, I got my first change to try it out in humid air today...

In the aviary at the zoo

Something good...

we're already teaching something good to baby T (in addition to cooking!), how to keep things tidy!!!

This Happened Today...

Yes, Baby T. helped me make curry. On the stove top. a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do :-)

Blue!

I am having the weirdest cravings this pregnancy. With Baby I I loved the smell of original Dawn dish detergent. This pregnancy I LOVE the smell of our instrument cleaner at work. The cleaner just happens to be BLUE ;-)

A

Awakening...

My daffodils are coming up!

A!

This is a staple in our household.  Between Baby O, Scuba, and myself we go thru APPLESAUCE like no tomorrow.  Always on our grocery list.

Drumroll...

Play

Poor Baby I always is trying to play with Patches. For once patches was letting I play a little :-)

Blue

hopefully this hint of blue sky is indicative of spring's imminent arrival!

Blue!

Today is April 2nd. Not only is today Election Day for the State of Wisconsin, it is also National Autism Day. So today I tried to focus my picture on both topics. Showing my support for those with challenges of Autism but also to show the importance of our democratic process.

Play

Now that it's getting nice outside, Mr. T really wants to play outside.  Here he is enjoying our first "Spring" day!

Play!

As spring time weather is finally within reach, Baby O and I decided now is the time to play outside. Here is Baby O's excitement:

April's Prompts

April showers bring May flowers!

Let's hope our April prompts help us appreciate our very LATE spring this year!!!  

Father / Son

I know this wasn't part of the photo challenge, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to post a cute picture. Baby I and Daddy were on a mission to find a ball that rolled under the end table :-)



In the Mirror

 

I am so excited about this picture, because I didn't even prompt Baby W for it!  I was cleaning up around the bedrooms when I heard him giggling in one of the rooms.  I found him blabbling to himself in the mirror, giggling and giving high fives.  It was so cute!

What you do for fun...

I decided to use my half marathon medals to show what I do for fun.  Depending when you ask me, I might not say I run for fun, as much as it's something healthy I feel like I should do!  Either way, at the end of any half, I feel pretty accomplished and happy with myself.  It's also something fun mrdub, Baby W and I can do together... if this winter ever turns into spring!  I'm signed up to run the Chicago Spring Half Marathon this May and I'm hoping to run a few shorter races to keep in shape this summer.

In your drawer

 

What's in my kitchen drawer?  As you can see, I'm a sucker for small kitchen gadgets.  Actually, I'm a sucker for any kitchen gadget.  I've mentioned before I love to cook, and I love the tools needed to cook!  Some of my favorites in this drawer are... apple corer, lemon zester, crocodile grater and cookie scoop!

Clean...

For my post for CLEAN I am sharing pictures from work :-) I am a surgical Assistant at Wi Surgery Center. The first pic is where we clean our instruments after a surgical case. The second picture is a power washer for instruments. The third picture is where we sterilize the instruments. The temp in the autoclave a gets up just past 274 degrees!!!

What you do for FUN!

 

I have a few hobbies that I still find time for, allbeit not as often as I'd like to... scrapbooking, running, sewing, decorating.  I have one hobby though, that I still get to enjoy nearly every day... cooking!  I much prefer a homemade meal over something frozen, bought or on-the-go (don't get me wrong, that still happens!) and this is something fun that mrdub and I both enjoy.  We have different tastes in recipes-- he likes quick and simple, I don't mind long ingredient lists, he likes seitan, spice and anything peanutty, I like veggies, coconut and curry.  Our differences usually work out well, because it provides a variety of meals and we never get bored with our food!  So... What do I do for fun?  I cook... I bake... and I eat :) 

About You

Or more appropriately, about ME!  I've always hated socks.  My mom still tells me it was impossible to keep socks on me when I was little.  As long as I can remember, I've been happier barefoot, even in winter!  I still would rather be sockless, but I do have a fun collection of socks and my favorite are seasonal socks!  I figure if I have to wear them, they might as well be fun.  Here's a selection of my sock collection...

 

Clean

 

I used to love buying cleaning products.  I had a big box full.  Now, I try to be more efficient and also more environmentally-friendly.  Most of our cleaning products are Seventh Generation or Method, but I also love cleaning with simple baking soda and vinegar (my recent favorite combo for cleaning the glass top stove).  There's nothing better than a sparkling clean house!

Sign

 

This sign hangs in our kitchen, so it's visible nearly as soon as you step in our back door.  It was a gift last year for (my 1st!) Mother's Day from mrdub.  I love that all the rules are simple things we can do to make each day a little easier and more fun!

Working

 

Like Jen, I have two desks (well, technically three, but I share the third).  I travel between three schools each day and visit 21 classrooms each week-- you can see my pretty color-coded schedule to the right of my monitor!  Today I was working on a few things during my prep... organizing my lesson plans, making a few SMARTboard activities, reviewing student surveys and sorting out paperwork and copies.

I'm too lazy to figure out how to rotate this picture, but here's my cart.  Can't miss me in the halls!  The awesome custodian at one of the schools painted the awesome German eagle on it for me.  I love it!

 

Hard at Work!!!

Working...

I took some pictures of my desk. I have one job, but two desks at two different offices.  This is my favorite desk/office to work at (and where I happen to be today).  I am a sprawler at work... I like to think its indicative of the amount of interruptions I get...

Here's my workstation:

Here's what has my attention today.. The lovely training powerpoint I'm working on (and my 3 March Madness Brackets!!!):
 

Shoes

When we started the photo challenge, I thought I would try hard not to make every picture about Baby W.  Easier said than done... especially when his shoes are way cuter than mine!  As I mentioned in the "Explore" post, Baby W isn't walking yet and somehow he already has five pairs of size 5 shoes.  Part of me hopes he walks sooner than later so he can get some wear out of all of these shoes! 

Green

 

Back in December, my sister and I decided to sign up for the Lucky Leprachaun 7K.  Being that it was the weekend of Saint Patrick's Day, we figured it would be a sunny day and a fun run.  We convinced my brother and his wife to visit and run with us and mrdub agreed to join in.  Last year we celebrated Saint Patrick's Day with 70 degree temps and sun... this year, not so much.  My picture for today shows our green attire for the run, which is a stark contrast to the white ground!  Temps at the start of the race were in the 20s, it was windy and the roads were slushy.  Not what we had expected, but the race still proved to be a good time... and green beer awaited us a the finish!

9 o'clock

 

9:00 is generally a quiet time in our house.  9:00 AM... Baby W is usually napping.  9:00 PM... Baby W is down for the night, the house is picked up and mrdub and I are relaxing in the living room. 

Explore

Baby W isn't walking yet, but someday he will use these feet to explore the world!

9 O'Clock

What happens when you let your kiddo stay up past his bedtime......

Tasty

Tasty

One of my favorite restaurants is Comet Cafe.  I love their food and it's one of the few places I always manage to save room for one of their giant cupcakes, my favorite of which so far is Banana Split.  We were over in Bay View to run a few errands last weekend and passed Honeypie on the way home (how convenient!), who happens to serve cupcakes from the same baker.  The selection of cupcakes on Sunday was something like Mexican Chocolate, Red Velvet, Double Chocolate.  Since I gave up chocolate for Lent, I decided rather than go sans cupcake, I would try the Chai cupcake.  I love Chai tea, Chai lattes, I love the spice and flavor of Chai.  I love cupcakes.  So, needless to say, the Chai Cupcake was pleasantly tasty!

Tasty

This was a new recipe that I got from Pinterest. It was chicken chow mein. I am very pick when it comes to this dish so when I found the recipe I was a little nervous it wouldn't taste just the way I wanted it to. When John an I sat down to eat, the recipe turned out just the way I wanted it to. I think this was the best recipe I found so far off of Pinterest.

Sound

A baby sleeping is such a peaceful sound

Sound

Today's picture had me stumped.  A few easy things came to mind... Baby W's laugh, my iPod, toys, but I wanted to be more creative.  So I cheated.  I looked through my last few weeks of pictures trying to find something that looked like "sound" to me. 

And I found this.  Our street covered with snow.  Snow still floating in the air.  I love the sounds of a snowy day.  The freshly fallen snow seems to mask so much and it's almost quiet as the busy city is forced to slow down.  Once the snow stops, there's the hum of snow blowers, the scrape of shovels, the slow traffic packing down the snow, the crunch of foot steps.  As much as I'm ready for spring, I love the sounds of a snowy day!

Important

The happiness, safety, and well-being of this little guy is paramount!

In the distance

This picture was totally on mistake, but I thought it fit the prompt well.  We've had a relatively mild winter without much snow, so I wanted to take a picture of all the snow that piled up in the last week.  Schatzi recently figured out that she could keep watch out the front window if she peeks over the couch, so... my picture of the snow shows a curious Schatzi in the distance...

 

 

Important

 

Reading is important to our family.  I love reading magazines, cookbooks, fluffy novels, young adult fiction.  mrdub loves reading the newspaper (especially the sports section), sports biographies, historical novels.  We've been reading to Baby W since the day he was born-- we brought "The Night You Were Born" to the hospital for his first book, and before that we often read books to my belly.  We can only hope that Baby W has a love for reading and finds books as important as we do!

In the Distance

Is Important

Family is important. Enough said :-)

I Want....

these toes to be somewhere warm, in the sand :-)

I Want....

I Want..... Spring!!! This tree is pretty ugly without its leaves! 

Faceless Self Portrait

My 2010 Kentucky Derby Hat

My Aunt and Uncle along with my two Cousins live in Louisville, Kentucky. A few years ago I got the chance to go to the Kentucky Derby. I was so hooked that I went back the next two years. I made it a plan to go back every year after, but as it turns out, my wedding day happened to be on the Derby Day. The following year, John and I had a 4 month old Ivan. We weren't sure about traveling 6+ hours with a new baby. This year, I will be 9 months pregnant and I do not want to travel either. Next year...... WE ARE GOING!!! :-D

Favorite

I will be posting two pictures on the word Favorite

This is my Favorite child hood friend Fuzzy. She is a bit worn, but is full of love :-)

I was pretty happy that Ivan took to a comfort toy at around 6 months. I didn't take it too seriously since he was only 6 months. At 14 months now, he is still very happy with his "Monkey" as we call him. Monkey is starting to loose some of his hair as Ivan likes to hold onto the hair and suck on the hair also. We just ordered a back up "Monkey" just in case we have to do a switch a roo in the future :-)