Gracie's Puppy Cake

and other pictures of Grace's first birthday. Here is a picture of daddy, his cake and the birthday girl.

Happy Birthday, Little Pookie!

It is hard to believe, but our baby is 1 year old! It has been such a delight to watch her grow and develop. Now it is even more fun to watch the relationship begin between her and her sister.

Happy Birthday, sweet, busy, determined, big-eyed little Gracie!

 You are determined to begin walking. It is fun to watch you giggle and giggle when we "put you into position" to walk.

You laugh and laugh when mommy and daddy throw the ball for you.

You sign more and more and more, especially when it come to food.

You are going through a phase of being afraid of your baths.

You say mama and dada. Just tonight you answered mommy when she asked "what does a sheep say?" Baa!

You are as big as your sister was when she was 18 months old!

You love music and will clap your hands when music comes on.

You like to spin around and around on your bottom.

You like taking apart the lego towers that your sister put together.

Although you are usually shy with strangers, you are starting to warm up to other people faster.

You sleep from 6:30 pm until 6:00 am. You wake up at 6:00 am on the dot!

You are starting to follow your sister around the house. You like it when she tries to make you laugh.
You get very excited when you see dogs when we are out walking.

We haven't found any food that you don't like.

You are persistent when it comes to plugs and outlets.

You sleep best when you are in the room with your sister.

We love you very much Gracie!

Last year at this time...

a VERY pregnant woman and her 2 year old daughter joined some friends at Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester. It was a HOT day and the beach was the best place to stay cool. On the way home from the beach, the same VERY pregnant woman began having contractions. Could this be the day? The contractions stopped. VERY pregnant woman and her daughter were able to take nice long naps. That was a good thing because soon after the naps were over, contractions started again. That night, just as August 19 switched to August 20, VERY pregnant woman was no longer VERY pregnant and Grace Elise was welcomed into the world.

We love you little one!

Introducing...

Olson Baby Number 3!!!

Belly Shot at 14 weeks.

We expect to meet this little one sometime at or around February 16th. I have been MUCH less sick this time, for which I am very grateful. So far everything has been going well. We will keep you posted.

Summer Trip to North Dakota

For the first time since the kids were born, we made a summer trip to North Dakota. The weather was wonderful and the trip came at just the right time for us. We had just said goodbye to some dear friends of ours who were moving to the midwest. It was good to have a change of scenery to take a little break from the grieving.

The girls (and us) had a blast. There are pictures below from our trip. Some highlights were...

• Exploring the farm and seeing a huge flock of pelicans in flight.
• Helping Grandma (Hannah) wash Chase after he tangled with a skunk.
• Swimming in the pool with cousins. (It was FREEZING! I don't know how they did it.)
• Visiting The Theodore Roosevelt National Park and seeing a buffalo. (We were a little disappointed that we didn't see many other animals, but unfortunately we chose the one rainy day to do this.)
• Riding the tractor with Grandpa and the four wheeler with Daddy.
• Playland at McDonald's... enough said... daddy, mommy and Aunt Heidi understand!
• Seeing Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Myron, Aunt Lois, Aunt Loree, Aunt Heidi, Uncle Nell, Lanie and Macy.
• Playing at the playground in Bowman.
• Playing games, especially Battling Tops.
• Dressing up

To see the slideshow bigger, just double click on it.

Recipe Experiment Number 1

Thank you to those of you who posted suggested under my last post. I will definitely have to try those recipes out. This was my first attempt. From www.wisebread.com

Meatless Quesadillas
Layer refried beans, black beans, shredded cheese, and green onions (you can add fresh diced tomato, too) on a flour tortilla. Place another on top, spray with light cooking spray and flip it over so the sprayed side is down. Let it get all brown and toasty on one side over medium heat in a frying pan. Then flip. Put it on a plate, slice into triangles with a pizza cutter and service with salsa and sour cream. 

I had some leftover rice to which I added chopped onion, garlic, cumin, chili pepper and some tomato sauce. This was a nice side dish.


Verdict: I enjoyed this meal. The girls ate it. Gracie liked the black beans especially, but both cleared their plates. Daryl ate it, but he wasn't blown away by it. His comment... "It doesn't have a lot of flavor. Its just beans and stuff. Maybe you could add chicken or something to it."

Sigh... oh well. What I've decided is that I'm a timid spice girl. I don't have a lot of confidence in adding spices to things. I'm so afraid of over spicing, that I tend to make things too plain, especially if they don't tell me exactly what to add and how much. The other thing may be that my spices are getting old.

Well, back to the drawing board. This recipe may end up as a lunch thing. Its easy (although I need to perfect flipping the whole thing or perhaps just rolling it up as a burrito) and uses ingredients I often have on hand.

My Challenge

It has been so long since I have posted. SO MUCH has gone on in our lives since we returned from North Carolina, including a trip to North Dakota. I have pictures to post and stories to tell, but that will have to wait until later.

I am challenging myself to find 5 vegetarian recipes over the next month that my meat-loving husband (and meat-loving me for that matter) will deem "keepers" to our monthly menus. Why am I doing this? To be more healthy? Maybe. To perhaps save money? Always a good thing. In reality? I just need a challenge to get out of my menu planning rut and after a girls night out discussion with some friends, this seemed like a good way to go.

So, if you can help, that would be great. Daryl has even agreed to try a tofu recipe and I don't have to tell him it is tofu. If you have a vegetarian recipe that your family just LOVES, send it my way. It would be greatly appreciated.

I'll keep you posted on the status. The month begins... now.