Saturday, October 08, 2011

Portsmouth Fall Festival/ Chili Fest









80 degree day at the seacoast must involve some sand/ water fun right??? We go no where without sand and water toys!






watching a sheep sheering and learning about wool






thinking some deep thoughts


Yay swings!!!



On the Pier





Looking over the Pier





They loved looking at all the big boats in the background



Fun hot (80 degrees in oct!) fall day with the family! We were hoping to see some impressive foliage but maybe its too early yet in this part of NH??

Nairi Anne at 6 months















His last days as a 1 year old :o)











Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Fire


We have been looking forward to using our fireplace since we moved in last May. This past weekend was cold and rainy so we started it up and roasted some marshmallows with the kids. They had so much fun. Now every night with hope in his eyes Israel says " Daddy build big fire???? " Who can resist such a cute face? We are going to need lots more wood! After the kids go to bed we sit in front of it and drink a glass of wine. Love this house!!!

hmmm " its yummy" says the little man



Yes we are roasting the worlds tiniest marshmallows. If you look really close you can see them!


It takes lots of concentration to get that itty bitty marshmallow on a stick



Fall decorating


I love to decorate and Keira loves to craft so we combined forces and decorated for Fall /Halloween. ( Keira colored and cut for 3 hours straight!) We did the front door ( pictured here)

The garage door


The dining room table


And the family room doors!



Sunday, October 02, 2011

Workshop Build: Day 2

http://betterdiy.blogspot.com/2011/10/workshop-build-day-2.html

Mornings at our House


After 3 kids, we have been finally pushed over the edge.  The lack of sleep has gotten to us.  WE have joined the rest of America in taking up a caffeine habit in the form of Coffee.  Neither Mike nor I like the bitter taste of coffee, so we need to mask it somehow.  We really like the Pumpkin Latte from Dunkin Donuts, but our budget doesn't allow a daily indulgence of this.  Also, it goes against our all-natural way of life.  I would rather have something made from scratch, then the packet of artificial stuff they put in the pumpkin latte.

So, we found a pumpkin latte recipe on a website (gotta love the Internet).  It is great!!  Of course there is a shortage of pumpkin, so we have to find other solutions that work for us.  We made some modifications to the recipe in that we used steamed milk.  Mike came up with an ingenious way of making steamed milk without an espresso machine.  I am sure it is not as good, but it works for us.  He uses a hand mixer and mixes the milk as he heats it on the stove.

We started making a Chocolate Mocha Latte this morning.  That is the picture above.  We uses Trader Joe's All Natural Chocolate Syrup and add it to the coffee and then pour the steamed milk on top.  To me, it looks like a Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts latte, but has better ingredients!!

It is DELICIOUS, low in sugar and has the necessary caffeine to get us through the day with 3 children under 4.

The kids on the other hand had Nachos for breakfast, which means they eat the cheese off the chips and then put the chips back on the plate.

Saturday, October 01, 2011

Happy 6 Months Nairi!
















6 months already!!! No teeth. We have given you food all of once... and I think you put one grain of rice in your mouth! We are letting you self feed and I don't think your pincer grasp is good enough for that yet. Still army/ inch worm crawling and getting pretty fast at it. Sitting up of course. Sleep... not so good. You wake up a million times at night- okay not that many but at least every 2-3 hours and we are so exhausted Mike and I have forced ourselves to start a coffee habit ( or raw milk pumpkin latte's to be exact) just so we can do our jobs. You also refuse to fall asleep on your own and must be rocked, nursed or bounced to sleep on the exercise ball. You remain prima donna baby as everything must be just so or you complain. You don't tolerate baby apparatuses for more than 2 min and even the floor is only so entertaining for 5ish min.

Your siblings adore you and Israel affectionally calls you Nairi Bean!!

But we love you like crazy and can't wait to see who you become.






Friday, September 30, 2011

Monday, September 26, 2011

Diary of a Mom's attempt at exercise.

After a weekend of food competition followed by a nephew's birthday party joined with the fact that Nairi is almost 6 months old, I have realized that I still have some pregnancy weight to lose and that I consume way to many carbs.
Since Nairi was born I have been attempting to exercise. I no longer have my gym membership but that's okay as I prefer to just walk anyways. I do miss my yoga class and the ability to lift weights but other than that I am fine with just walking for exercise. But literally since Nairi has been born I have managed to walk for exercise maybe once a week when Mike is home and do my exercise video MAYBE a total of 10 times in 6 months. Not. So. Good. I sleep better when I exercise and I have a closet full of size 6 pants and shirts that do not fit. Hence my main motivator for losing weight. Can't afford new clothes right now.
So for a while I have been stalking craigslist for the swanky double jogging stroller that I want that retails for around $600. Unable to find it for less than $500 I scored a cheapo double jogger from my sister in law that seems to work just fine. Its no Cadillac but it works. Mike was kind enough to fill the tires with air this am before he left for work. We saw Keira off to school and than I put my plan into action. I armed myself with snacks for the toddler and some toys for the baby. I nursed the baby and put her in the stroller. She is sitting there and I am adjusting the straps and immediately- and yes I am not exaggerating ( though yes I know I do have a habit of doing that) she starts with her wail that she reserves for baby apparatuses. The wail that she utilizes every time she is placed in a stroller or car seat or the walker. Its the- I'm- being -stabbed- with- 20- needles -at -the- same -time kinda wail. The some one has moved me from the throne of my mothers arms kinda wail. I proceed with adjusting the straps and offering her toys and she settles down for a min. Then I tell the toddler its time to go for a walk. I dangle the bag of snacks that he so desperately wanted 5 min ago and he ignores me and instead focuses on his shovel that he is holding and his digging in the lawn. " I digging !!" he tells me. " Great well I need exercise so lets go!!" I tell him. He continues to ignore me as he throws dirt and sand everywhere and messes up the grass. So as the baby starts wailing again I pick up the toddler, throw him in the stroller with promises that we will " Go down the hill!" and take off.

We made it out of the driveway. The baby continues her whine, wail, be silent for 30 seconds and repeat deal that she has going on and the toddler starts in on the snacks. Than the baby starts grabbing her brothers arm looking for something to chew on besides the toy that I thought might entertain her. The toddler then yells "NO NO!" at the baby and makes her cry harder. This isn't going so well. As we are near the hill I attempt to jog a bit instead of walking thinking the movement might make the baby stop wailing. No dice. The toddler offers the baby who does not yet eat solids a pretzel stick and I contemplate letting her chew on the salty thing but decide against it. At this point ( halfway down the hill) I turn the stroller around and head home as I know I am defeated.
So now I am headed up hill pushing the double jogger and the baby is full out wailing and the toddler declares it time to get out. " I get out!" he says over and over. Mind you he has been in the stroller all of 5 min tops at this point. So there we are, the sweaty mom pushing the double stroller up the hill with the toddler yelling over and over " I GET OUT!!! I GET OUT!!!" and the baby crying like she hasn't been fed in years. People can hear us with their windows open I am sure and probably think I am a terrible mom for ignoring the baby, but I can't push the stroller up the hill and hold the toddlers hand AND hold the baby. We get home and I take the upset stroller occupants out and life is good again.

Exercise attempt 2. Preschooler is at school. Toddler happily playing by himself and baby has just- as in 3 min ago been put down for a nap. I put in my exercise video and start working out. 3 min into the video I am lying on the floor doing the ab portion of the video. Toddler notices that I am just lying there seemingly doing nothing and declares that its time for him to nurse. " ME ME!!!" he declares throwing himself at me. I offer snacks, chocolate, and even more desperately gummy bears. He isn't interested and repeats himself over and over again getting louder and louder. " Me me! Me me! I want ME ME milk!" I try the ignore, pretend to not hear technique and he then repeatedly throws inself into my lap over and over again. I surrender, pause the video and provide the "me me milk" Toddler toddles off to do something else and I push play. 1 min later just as I am working up a sweat ( its a 20 min video so its pretty intense every second) the phone rings. Knowingly that I have been playing phone tag with Sears over a microwave delivery and install I check the caller ID and pick up the phone. Deal with Sears for 5 min. Hang up, restart video and 2 min later I hear the baby crying. Pause the video, go get the baby, place her on the floor next to me with some toys. Restart video. Toddler walks by and I get a wiff of a diaper in bad need of a change. Pause video, change diaper. Restart video, phone rings, check caller ID. Pause video, talk to husband. Restart video, baby crawls over and starts chewing on my arm and whimpers. Pause video, nurse the baby. Look at the clock. Must make lunch for husband as he will be dropping off preschooler from school and heading back to work and he doesn't have enough time to make his own lunch. Stop video. Give up on idea of exercise for the moment.
And that is how exercise does not happen in this house.
In the process of writing this the toddler has asked for chocolate, my kitchen aid blender, daddy's screw driver and now the vacuum. He is currently sticking the computer mouse in the air vent. Some one for the life of me please explain to me why the kid can't just play with toys!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Yes we love food..






Rule number 1 to cooking in this house. Must always have helpers, and they are the not so helpful type.





A few weeks ago there was some talk on facebook about who had the best meatballs and that led to a discussion about apple pie and whose tastes better. So we rounded up some prideful cooks and hosted the first ever food competition at our house. Every family had to bring a crockpot of their best meatballs to be judged and an apple dessert ( since its Fall and fresh apple time). We made 3 lbs of spaghetti, and bought a few bottles of wine, and people brought salads and fruit and the eating began. First we judged the meatballs. Ours came in second. Than the apple dessert. Ours tied for second place but then we did a retaste and lost. There were some prizes handed out and about a millon carbs consumed. All in all lots of fun and we are ready to do it again!




Friday, September 23, 2011

Nairi's Haircut

Before

After

5.5 Months old and her first haircut. Just like her brother who also had his first haircut at 5.5 months old. I didn't want to cut it but it was starting to look like a mullet with the back being so long. So I just trimmed the back

Vote for Mike

http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/before-after-2011-winner/

Monday, September 19, 2011

September pics


With fall comes cute fall clothes! :o)



The kids think its the coolest thing to sit on the counter and eat. Here they helped me make fruit salad and then begged to be able to sit on the counter and eat it.


Wearing daddy's old shirts and panting on a real canvas. I've discovered that the coupons in the Sunday paper for 40-60% things at Michael, Jo Ann Fabrics and Ac Moore are great for buying simple artsy things to keep our little art lover " Keira" busy.


Looking grown up!


Always surrounded by a stack of books! We signed Keira up for story hour at the local library and she loves it! She was very excited to see that the library had a few Fancy Nancy books which is her current love. We even got a Fancy Nancy poster for her room.