Upset Tummy and 101 Market

This past weekend we traveled up to MN to visit my family.  It started out a great weekend but my early Sunday morning things had changed.  Poor little Elsie woke up with an upset tummy and after her 5 oz early morning bottle around 4:45 AM she decided she didn't want to keep it down and threw it up everywhere this continued  three more times over the next two hours.  I felt so bad for her...it is so hard to see your child sick and this was the first time she had thrown up. :(  The only good part about all of this (if you can find a good thing) is that my non-snuggler became a super snuggler and snuggled all morning.  John and I were fighting over who got to snuggle in the chair with her.  

We started her on some pedialyte because when she saw her cousin Piper get a bottle she was pretty upset she didn't get one so we did about 1/2 oz every 20 minutes for about and hour and half and then slowly increased it.  Then around noon we gave her 2 oz of formula and did that a few times throughout the rest of the day. The most she had was a 3.5oz right before bed time for a grand total of 11 oz.

Our original plans for Sunday was to head out to 101 Market early and then go visit our friend's Jason and Ashley and their 1 week old baby boy but of course the visit never happened :(  Super bummed but we will just have to do it the next time we go to MN to visit.  We did end up going to 101 Market but didn't get there until about 12:45.  And Elsie was still not her normal energetic self. Here are some photos from the afternoon.   

Elsie now is just not quite sure about these animals.  

She used to like watching them but now she gets a little scared.  

Even when Grandpa takes her out to see the horses she would rather 

look from a distance.  

All these goats were just waiting for Allie to give them some food.  

Baby Piper hanging out in the stroller.  

Corn Pit!  Daddy took her in this time.  

All three girls.  It was pretty funny.  Tami brought Piper in and started 

putting some corn around her to help her stay in place.  The next thing

we know, Elsie thought she should put some corn on her too and started

putting corn on her head.  

Tami and Allie playing around. 

Checking out the yellow stuff

Our little family

The three girls

Getting ready for the animal train ride. 

I decide to take Elsie for a ride on the animal train.  I think she enjoyed

it but it was pretty bumpy.  The whole time I kept thinking...do not throw up!

She was pretty busy chewing on her hand though.  She got another bottom tooth. 

Spider Web Fun!

A Day at the Orchard

A couple of weekends ago, Elsie and I joined Bev, Brandi and the girls for a trip to the local orchard.  It is definitely more than an orchard.  There were so many activities for the kids to do.  There was this corn pit that Elsie loved, a bouncing pillow, a pumpkin patch, a petting zoo, a giant slide, some bouncing horses, and so many more things.  We spent a few hours there.  Elsie did okay at the beginning but got pretty fussy after the first hour.  In fact, we had to take turns holding her because she did not want to go back in the stroller.  I would have to say this was the most fussy I had seen her in a long time.  Overall though we did have a good time. 

Thank goodness for the pacifier...it kept all the corn out of her mouth! 

She looks so tired here. She was all worn out from 

spending the night and Grandma and Grandpas the 

night before.  

The bouncy pillow

This is something we will definitely have to go to each fall...I can't wait until next year.  I think Elsie will have lots of fun when she is just a tad older.  

Pushing Along

Elsie has been having lots of fun pushing along behind her walking toys!  She loves it!! Here is just a short clip of her pushing along.

Playing at the Park

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day!! It was sunny and somewhere in the mid 50's. We decided late in the afternoon to go for a walk and we ended up at the park. There was no one else there so it was perfect to let Elsie play for awhile and try some things out. I have never really taken her to the playground before and she had a blast. We first tried the swing and she LOVED it. The we moved over to the main playground. I took her down the big slide a time or two and then took her to the little one. She had so much fun crawling back and forth through the tube to John and me and loved going down the slide by herself.

Crawling Through the Tunnel

(I think the white gloves were a mistake :)

Weeeee!

So sad to have to leave the park.  

My Day in the Kitchen

This post is coming way later than I planned.  A whole month later haha but here it is!

This past Monday on Labor Day I spent a good part of the day in the kitchen working on stocking our freezer with meals for the fall.  Every once in a while I go through this and it makes our week nights that much easier.  We can just pull something homemade out of the freezer and voila! dinner is prepared.

This pretty much took my entire day!

All the ingredients gathered and ready to go! 

The Final Products

• 10 lbs ground beef cook with onions  (most recipes call for onions cooked with the ground beef.  I love having it cooked already so I just need to thaw it and warm it up.  I can use it in casseroles, add taco seasoning for tacos or whatever.  
• 5 lbs ground turkey cooked with onions (I use this the same way as I do the ground beef)
• 3 meals of Beef Stroganoff Mixture-you just add pasta and sour cream when you are ready to eat. (Could not find recipe online)  
• 2 Meals of Salsa Sloppy Joes
• 2  Enchilada Casserole
• 2 Pans of Cheesy Potatoes (No Recipe)
• 2 batches of  Meat Loaf Miniatures
• 2 Beef Toutiers (a pie like casserole) (Could not find recipe online)
• 2 batches of Hot Taco Pockets (Could not find recipe online)
• 2 pans of Tator Tot Casserole (No Recipe)

Most recipes came from the new Taste of Home Freezer Cooking Recipe Book I found on the shelf at the checkout line at the grocery store except the cheesy potatoes and tator tot casserole which ar emy own recipes.  

Total Meals Prepared:  

15 Meals

15 lbs of ground meat

2 side dishes

My New Meal Planner

So I love to plan meals but it takes so much time to figure out what we want to eat and then make the list of what groceries we need.  Well I stumbled across this wonderful program called eMeals.  It is a service that for $5 a month will put together 7 dinner meals each week and will include a list of groceries you need and includes recipes for each meal.  They email the meal plan to you on Wednesday and you can just print it off and go.  LOVE IT!

So when you sign up you can choose the # of people you will be feeding (1-3 or 3-6).  Since it is just John and myself I chose the 1-3 option.  Then, you choose what kind of meals you want.  Options include: normal, low fat, low carb, low sodium, organic, vegetarian, vegan, and there is probably more but I can't remember.  I just picked normal but I can change it at any time.  The last thing you choose is where you plan to buy your groceries like Whole Foods, Walmart, and some others that aren't in this area.  You can also pick "use your own store".  I picked Walmart because then they use many of the ingredients on sale at Walmart that week.  I might not end up buying at Walmart but it is nice to know approximate cost.  So for each ingredient it will list the current price it is being so for and the the approx. cost at the end.  For 1-2 people it ends up being between $45-$60 a week.

So I have used it for two weeks now.  So far I like having it.  I signed up when they were having a 10% off deal too.  When I get the meal plan I will look it over and cross off at least one or two meals.  We don't prepare that many meals a week, we go out of town a lot, and some nights we order in or go out to eat.  No point in buying groceries for meals we will never eat.  I also like to pick out a favorite meal that I already make.  Another great thing about this is that I hang it on the fridge and it is easy for John to look at it and start dinner without me having to tell him what to do.  He can just pick a recipe off the list and go with it knowing we have all the ingredients on hand to make it.  Last Friday it was a delicious ham and egg quiche.

I do have to say the meals we have tried so far as pretty tasty.  Of the seven meals they are all pretty varied. There typically is a crockpot recipe, an egg recipe, a sandwhich recipe, and then others.  Just a great variety!  Also each meal comes with a main course, vegetable or salad, and a fruit.  It seems like all food groups get hit on.  I just signed up for three months but so far I am happy with it and would consider continuing with the service.  I did switch which type of plans we were getting from the "classic" plan to the "low-fat" plan.  You can change your plan one time a month.

Here is my last weeks plan:
Meal 1:  Chicken Avocado Club SAndwhich with Chips and Grapes
Meal 2:  Beef Stroganoff, Egg Noodle, peas, toasted rolls
Meal 3:  Spinach and Tomato Pizza Fresh Carrots
Meal 4:  Loaded Baked Potatoes and Spinach Salad
Meal 5:  Honey Mustard Turkey Tenders, Brocolli and Cheese, Pasta
Meal 6:  Favorite Beef Stew, Crusty Parmesan Rolls
Meal 7:  Ham and Cheese Quiche, Cinnamon Apples

The ones I crossed out are the one I decided not to make.  I knew we were going to be gone over the weekend so we wouldn't need all the meals.  I do want to make the Turkey Tenders recipe sometime though.  It sounded really good.

Can't wait to get our new plan today!

Meeting Baby Piper!

A couple of weeks ago Elsie and I made a trip up to MN to finally meet Baby Piper.  We both had been battling colds and we finally got over them so we could go and visit.  Elsie did a great job again riding in the car even though she slept very little on the drive.  I have come up with a system to keep her happy and busy.  Up on the passenger seat next to me I keep her bag of toys along with 3-4 pacifiers.  Every now then I will "drop" a new toy to her for her to play with or whenever she seems like she is done with her current toy. It is also nice to have the extra pacifiers right by so I don't have to dig around her carseat looking for the one that fell out of her mouth.  Our system seems to work pretty well for us.  

We got up Friday evening around 5:00, played for a while with Grandma and Grandma and then ate dinner.  Elsie once again had a rough night with sleep.  I think her worst nights of sleep happen at my parents.  I think the fact that I sleep in the same room as her might have something to do with it.  

On Saturday we woke up and went to a fundraiser breakfast for my cousin's hockey team.  It was so delicious!  Then we did some shopping, came back to my parents for a short bit before heading up to my sisters.  Elsie had fun playing outside with Grandpa and Uncle Stub.  The grass was so soft (compared to our dried, brittle grass at our house).  She loved playing with the leaves and the grass.

We finally made it up to my sister's and met Baby Piper. How adorable is she!!!

Piper Lynn at three weeks old

 Allie loves being a big sister!

Elsie loved Piper.  Right away she was drawn to her and wanted to touch the baby.   No longer is she the littlest one anymore.  She gets to be the big cousin :)

Piper was in the swing and Elsie loved watching her from this chair.  

Elsie and Piper are going as the same thing for Halloween this year.  Our little flowers!   

Grandma and Grandpa with their three girls! 

I just love my new little niece.