meet miss megan

A couple of posts back, I announced the big news around here of my promotion. Along with that promotion came the need to hire a nanny to help with the kids outside of preschool hours.

Meet Miss Megan. Megan has been helping out some this week while finishing up her two week notice with her old job. She starts with us full time on May 2nd. The kids love her and the best news? Megan is a Johnson & Wales graduate, which means she's happy to cook for us! (SCORE!)

Yesterday, Megan made a homemade pizza with the kids for our dinner. It was great and the kids had a great time.

But tonight... well, tonight she knocked my socks off. It was beyond delicious! And the best part? It was ready when I finished working for the day, plus Megan is an organized cook that cleans as she cooks. Amazing, simply amazing. I'll admit that I don't know all of the details, but I plan to inquire on Monday.

Roasted Chicken

Sauteed Green Beans

Roasted Red Potatoes

And the finale? Vanilla Cupcakes with a strawberry jam filling and cream cheese icing.

Two whole plates of them that are now singing to me from my fridge like sirens luring in the ships.

And I know this is hard to believe, but they tasted better than they look. SAS Cupcakes, Polka Dot Bake Shop, etc, who?? Kid tested, kid approved!

Finger licking good...

This is right up Ainsley's alley!

Please help us welcome Megan!

Thank you, Megan, for jumping right in and helping to make this a relatively smooth transition thus far. We're very happy to have you (and I'm not just talking with a happy belly)!

happy birthday dear luke!

On Saturday we went to a birthday party for our sweet nephew Luke, who turned 2 on Monday.

Here's a pic of Luke with his Mom, my Sister-in-Law, Megan. She's happily cooking bun #2, due in September.

Here's the Birthday Boy in his cute little shirt that his crafty momma "rigged" for the day.

Ains was welcomed by Luke with a sweet, sweet hug.

But Caleb took it upon himself to get his own hug, WWE style.

Mimmy is always equipped with lip products, and the kids know exactly where to go in her purse to find them. (Luke is in the background with the chapstick)

Presents are always so fun!

The BIG HIT of the party... CAKE and HOMEMADE ICE CREAM! YUM!

I thought the look on Luke's face was so sweet here, like, 'Hey Mom, Dad, whatcha got there?? Hmm?'

Candle-licking good!

'Done with the candle, now is my piece ready yet?'

'Sa-WEET! SUGAR RUSH! Whooo...'

Luke wasn't the only one with a sugar high.

Brad sat by Caleb very nicely...

But Caleb still wouldn't share. I think he might have emitted an audible growl here.

'YUMM-O!'

As the night was winding down, Ains was showing us the new dance that she had learned, in her words, 'Walk Like an Instruction'.

Pippy got into the party spirit, or rather was forced into the party spirit via grandchildren...

Happy Birthday big boy! We're so glad to have been able to share in the joy of your party!

sunset as seen from 30,000 feet

I flew up to Minneapolis and back on Monday for a couple of meetings and this was the view from the plane as we were flying over NC and preparing for descent into Charlotte.

Why was I in Minneapolis on Monday might you ask? Well, I got a promotion! I am the National Account Manager with Britax calling on Target and Target.COM independently, but still working with others for my other large accounts. With this job change, I am now officially back on with Britax full time, but luckily, still from my home office. We've hired a nanny, Megan, and she starts full time May 2nd with some help as her schedule permits before then.

I'm very excited about what this means for my career, and what it means for my family. Hopefully I'll get my nights back to do as I want, and not work until bedtime. My first order of personal business, read a book and blog more! Hopefully with that personal time will come a happier Mommy, and with the nanny will come a cleaner house (someone with more dedicated time to pick up after the kids) and better meals (she's a Johnson & Wales graduate!).

So please help me welcome Megan and bear with me as I get my bearings around the new responsibilities.

thursdays @ earthfare

Thursday nights at Earthfare are quickly becoming one of my secret Get-Out-Of-Cooking tricks. With the purchase of one adult meal over $5 in the deli, you can get up to 5 kids meals for FREE! This week I was on my own with the kids since Brad was out at a work social. So I decided that it would be easier to just load up both of them along with our neighbor, Aidan, and all have dinner at Earthfare.

Normally there is a Balloon Artist but this week we had face/hand painting. I missed capturing Ainsley's painting in process, but here's a cell phone shot of Caleb. We was very intrigued by the painting of a JEEP on his hand.

Unfortunately, the JEEP didn't withstand the taste test... Here's the evidence:

And here are the remains:

Ainsley picked out a nice vining floral motif and glitter! Since it wasn't on her hand, she frequently asked if the paint was still there. She so loved this added extra to our dinner.

I think this funny face is the result of the added sugar from the chocolate milk!

Aidan chose a butterfly and got a little glitter as well. The girls had a blast!

And here are just a couple of shots of Caleb being silly. He was happy to be ow-side for a little bit.

And in case you're wondering, this was a big cheesy smile with eyes cheesed shut. Such a little ham!

year of the house - month 3

Okay, so this is late, very very late. What can I say? I've been a slack blogger. Things have been busy around here and there are a lot of exciting changes currently taking place (more on that in a blog post or two).

We have been hard at work on the outside of our house... finally! This summer will mark 5 years in this house and we just now got around to landscaping up against the house. Meet, THE WALL...

Blocks that were bought with the original purpose of making a raised bed vegetable garden, ended up as the beginning of a wall that we've discussed over the years. With plans to re-landscape the front of the house, it was now or never. I meant to get a shot or two of Bradley hard at work with his hand shovel, rubber mallet, and level but I was always covered in dirt from planting.

When we moved in, we had what my old Horticulture professor called "lollipop bushes" (meaning bare trunks and a ballooning bush on top) and he had beaten it into our heads that these were not satisfactory landscaping options. So finally, they're gone! Hopefully Dr. Mellichamp would approve of what we selected to replace them with. (Let me add here that I need to pick up 2 hydrangea to go with the one seen to the left in the frame above. The air conditioning unit will not remain as exposed as it is now.)

The photos that should be here, but were never taken, are the planters at the top and bottom of my front stairs. They were refreshed and are ready for spring. I found myself running around outside on several nights with sheets to protect them from colder temperatures, but they're all doing great still.

And here is my container herb garden ever so conveniently located beside my side porch. My old rosemary bush took a beating last year and the winter finished it off, so I have a new baby. In addition to the rosemary, I have (in order of left to right, top to bottom) cilantro, Italian parsley,basil, rosemary, sage, basil seeds (not yet sprouted), thyme, mint, dill, and some wildflowers (starting to sprout) for color. These guys are taking root and beginning to grow. Hit me with some yummy fresh herb recipes - I'll be ready soon!

And finally, the pièce de résistance - my couch! Technically, I guess, this should fall into April since we picked it up on April 1st. But I'm too excited to wait! It's great! It's fantastic! It's better than I could have dreamed... and OH. SO. COMFY!! (Again, a HUGE shout out to Nest Furnishings)

Please don't have high expectations for April... Other than finishing some planting in the front, there's not much on tap.

bookworm

ainsley reading caleb a book

bikin on the greenway

One of the biggest selling points of our house was the proximity to the Greenway and last week we had a new first while out there. Ains was first attempting to ride a real bike (with training wheels, of course). I had to drop something off at a family member's house and they had been preparing for the local consignment sale. In their carport was a Barbie bike with a $10 tag - SOLD! I dropped off what I needed to drop off and loaded that bike right on in the car. I sent an email later to acknowledge my theft with promises of payment if it passed the trial run.

So as soon as Daddy got home and changed, we were off to the Greenway to give it a spin. This is her first stint on the bike. She wasn't so sure about it.

So she hopped off to collect some flowers for the basket. Brad decided that he would give it a go... I think he's a little big for it.

Here's a serious pose with her 'new' bike. She preferred to use the bike's basket to store the flowers she was picking versus actually riding it.

I think this is when Brad showed her the bell... obviously as witnessed above, she wasn't as excited about just the bike.

This next picture captures my heart. This represents that awkward baby/toddler run where body parts are all going in separate directions. This is one picture I hope to always remember and a time I hope to never forget. Caleb had a blast running up and down the greenway while Sissy rode her bike.

His run back was interrupted by the sighting of a 'PANNNNEEE', aka airplane. He watched it cross the sky with enthusiasm.

I made her ride on her own. She was a little anxious, thus smiling for the camera, but too afraid to look away from the front.

And finally, here's a picture of my men... Aren't they cute?!? And flowers, for me!

Ains asked to take her bike out today but we got carried away with yard work (just wait for the March house post!) so it looks like we'll be giving it a go for round 2 tomorrow. Wish us luck!