Snow Day!

Today we woke up to a major blast from Mother Nature! Ice had invaded Ohio and on top of the snow we had already received, caused a huge problem on the roadways. Because of all the ice, we lost our power around 7:00 am, which also happened to be the same time that my office decided to close for the day! Yea! I HATE driving in winter weather, so this was more than welcome music to my ears. David's office also was closed for the day, so we had ourselves a SNOW DAY! Woo-hoo! Our power did come back on around 11:00-just in time, because it was starting to get a little chilly. It has been extra nice having this bonus day off of work, because Ally is still not feeling super great and I am not 100% yet either. We have done a lot of cuddling and napping today and a little playing too. I even organized the kitchen pantry and got caught up on laundry! Hopefully everything will be back to normal tomorrow, but for today, it has been nice being snowed in. Happy Snow Day!

Even Riley enjoyed the snow day (ok, maybe it had something to do with the catnip mouse I let him indulge in today)...

Miss Independent

Our dear sweet baby has a bit of an "I can do it!" attitude right now when it comes to bottle time. She has figured out how to hold the bottle herself and now you pretty much have to pry the bottle out of her hands in order to get it from her. It's pretty darn cute, though,and makes feeding a lot easier, so no complaints here! Here she is chillaxin on a Sunday afternoon with her new found independence...

A Yummy Dinner and Two Cute Babies

Tonight we had Monica (Maw-Maw), Dan (Paw-Paw), Julie, Brian and Jillian over for a little Mexican feast! I made a garlic-lime chicken dish with rice and a corn and black bean salsa. It is a recipe from my sister's friend Emily (she makes Martha Stewart look pitiful) and we have had it before and really liked it. I have never made it before, though, so I was hoping it turned out. Everyone seemed to like it a lot and there was hardly any left over, so I guess that is good indication it turned out ok. :-)

After dinner we enjoyed some turtle brownies and ice cream and fed Ally and Jillian their dinner. They filled their bellies up and then we let them play in their diapers for a few minutes, before getting them into their pj's, while we all stood around and laughed at them and took picutres.

It was a fun night and good to see the family, since we hadn't seen them in a couple weeks. Thanks for coming over guys!

All I Want for Martin Luther King Day is My Two Front Teeth???

We have a tooth folks, we have a tooth! After what seems like months of slobber, chewing on everything in sight, runny nose, sleepless nights and random fussiness, Ally finally cut her first tooth two days ago! It is the cutest little tooth you ever did see, too!

More teeth are on their way, but for now, Ally is enjoying showing off her newest addition. She thinks it is the funniest thing when the kids at daycare ask to see her tooth and she give them the cheesiest grin you ever did see. Funny one that kid!

The picture below is not the most flattering one we have of Ally, but it is about the only one I have been able to get that shows off her tooth (and one that is coming in very quickly right next to it)...

Happy Birthday Mama!

Today is Grandma C.'s birthday and we spent the day with her, hanging out with Aunt Laura and Cousin Dylan. Ally decided to give Grandma a great birthday present...she started waving for the first time! Happy Birthday, Mom! We love you and hope you had a great day!

Birthday Dinner Party

Tonight we had a birthday dinner for my mom at our house. Her actual birthday is tomorrow, but since most of us are off of work tomorrow, we decided it would be best to have the dinner tonight. Mom, Dad, Laura, John and Dylan all came over and we had chicken Marsala, mashed potatoes and salad. It was pretty yummy (not to toot my own horn or anything), even though it took a little longer than planned to make (good things come to those who wait). After dinner, Judy and Gary came over for cake and ice cream. Of course it was a white cake with white icing from Resches Bakery (standard mom cake) and it was delicious! For her gift this year, we went together and bought mom one of those nice digital photo frames and she already has it completely filled with pictures (and it holds a LOT of pictures)! We had a great evening and I hope my mom has a wonderful birthday!

Brian's Birthday!

Today is Uncle Brian's Birthday! Happy Birthday to you! We love you and hope you have a really terrific day!

Jerky

Last year (2007), I got David a dehydrator for his birthday, because he had decided that if he had a dehydrator, he could dry and shrivel countless number of items and we would be in snack heaven for years to come! :-) Well, he FINALLY decided a year later, that it was time to use it. So, right before Christmas this year, he made his first ever batch of beef jerky and boy was it a hit! David's dad especially enjoyed it (all we heard from him during Christmas gift unwrapping was a symphony of Ooohs, and Yummmmmms and "Man, this is great jerky"!). Unfortunately, I did not think to document the first jerky making on the blog, but I did get pictures tonight of him making his second batch. I don't think he was as impressed with this second batch (he said it was too dry...needed to come out of the dehydrator sooner), but he did eat it! At least he will know for the next batch! Here are some pictures of David creating...

A Birthday Breakfast

Today we celebrated Grandpa T's birthday with a nice breakfast made by my Grandma T. We had eggs with hashbrowns, waffles, bacon and hot chocolate! Tonya, Ryan, Alyssa, Julie, Brian, Kayla, Jillian and Kelly were all there!

After breakfast, Grandpa T opened his gift...a brand new dehydrator! He was very excited and is ready to make as much jerky as he can fit on those trays! He has wanted a dehydrator, since David introduced his first batch of beef jerky on Christmas Eve, but I don't think Grandpa T. expected us to get him one for his bithday. We look forward to trying beef jerky, turkey jerky or any other kind of jerky he thinks up!

We had a nice morning and the kids had fun playing together! Yea for Birthday Breakfast!