love

love this face, love these blue eyes (no idea where she got them!), love the smile, love the funny faces, love love love our sweet girl!

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rub a dub

Adelyn has always loved bath time...she would seriously play in the tub for hours if we let her! I think she's figured out that when she kicks, it splashes....so needless to say, when she's laying on her back, I (or Nick) and the wall are sopping wet by the time we are finished! :)

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Good Book(s)

Most people know I LOVE to read. Just about anything and everything. Educational, autobiographical, fictional, historical...you name it (except those weird romance novels, sci-fi and gory books...no thank you) :)
I am always on the look out for a good book and would LOVE to hear any recommendations you might have. I decided that I'm going to try and tell you about some of my favorites each week...if not every other week :) Granted, I know everyone has different taste you you may not like some of the books I talk about, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with that! How BORING would it be if we all like the exact same thing??
So I have 2 books I'd like to share with you :)
I read The Time Traveler's Wife about a year and a half ago. My sister in law, Steph, had been reading it and I spotted it in her bag and it looked good so I checked it out. I loved it. At first, it's a little odd because it's a weird concept, but after a bit I started to really enjoy it.
I read it again right before Adelyn was born and I still loved it. I saw that they are coming out with a movie version of it, and of course I'm annoyed because the movies are hardly ever as good as the books.
ANYWAY....the basic plot of the book is about the guy who has a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel. He has no control over when it happens or where he goes....and nothing goes with him, so he always winds up naked wherever he travels to. He meets his wife this way and basically meets her as a little girl and follows her through her childhood, adolescence and college years until they date and get married. He goes back and forth between the present, past and even future. Like I said, it's sort of a difficult concept to grasp at first....
This is the authors debut book...I haven't read anything else by her yet, but I think I'll have to look into it. :)

Okay, so the second really isn't a book, it's a series and I LOVED them! Sophie Kinsella (also known as Madelein Wickham) is one of my favorite fiction writers. I love her style...it's so fun and light. The shopaholic books (again, I think the movie was an absolute BUST compared to the books...not even close) follow a main character, Becky Bloomwood. She's addicted to shopping and it follows her through dating, meeting a sister, getting married and having a baby. I know I'm not doing this justice, but they are so funny! The first time I read them, I actually got REALLY frustrated at her because it was like "just stop shopping already!!". Sophie does a great job taking you into Becky's mind and what is going through her thoughts when she's shopping (and trying not to shop) and you really see you she starts to grow up...okay...really just at least go to your library and read the first book.... :)

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Question: How did it go for you?

So Adelyn turned 6 months on Saturday! I can't belive it.
She had her check up/vaccinations on Monday. She's 25 3/4 inches (55 percentile) 18 lbs (85 percentile) and she still has a smaller head :)
Anyway...we've been doing rice cereal for a few months and she's doing great. Our Dr. said we could start green veggies anytime...I'm not ready quite yet and I feel like her digestive system needs to develop a bit more....but I ordered this book Super Baby Foods yesterday and am excited to get it...it has recipes and how to prepare baby foods and other good stuff...it's super informative and I'm pretty excited about it.
So I'm not presuming that a ton of people read our blog, but I'm curious how transitioning to foods went for other parents/babies.....How did it go for you? What did you try first? Any experience you want to share that we could learn from??

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our new niece!

Nora Marie was born 7.14.09 at 12:45am (AZ time). She's 7lb 5oz and 20 inches long. Isn't she BEAUTIFUL? Congratulations, Alan and Steph! We are SO excited for you and we cannot wait to meet her! Adelyn is pretty excited about have a new cousin too :) She's gonna have to show her the ropes :) We love you!

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please please pray

Oscar, Noah, Veronica and Yvonne

Hello everyone,

So yesterday afternoon Veronica (our nephew's other grandma) was hit by a bus downtown Des Moines walking to her office building. Her husband, Oscar, had just dropped her off and she was in the crosswalk (with a "walk" light) and the bus made a left turn without stopping and hit Veronica. Oscar saw the whole thing and is pretty emotional about it (obviously). This is the 6th time a DART bus has hit a pedestrian downtown in 2 years. The driver was pretty shaken up (again, obviously) and stayed with Veronica and held her hand while they waited for EMS.

Veronica was in surgery yesterday to clean out the wounds in her leg and arm. No bones were fixed yet, they are waiting for the wounds to heal a bit and make sure no infection sets in.

Obviously Veronica, Oscar and Yvonne (Noah's mom) are shaken up and emotional.

Please please be praying for them. Pray for Veronica's healing and no infection set in (if it does, they may have to amputate her leg below the knee), pray for peace for them, and please pray for the driver....I can't imagine (and don't want to) how traumatizing it can be to hit and injure a human being! Pray for everyone involved, that emotionally they can find peace. God is bigger than this and I know that He will use this awful experience for His great purpose (no matter how much it sucks right now!).....He's good at that ;)

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yumminess

This is super yummy. It's perfect for breakfasts, brunches, or just because. There's actually a special pan to bake it in, but a friend of mine tried it in her bundt pan and she said it turned out just fine. I make this so much that I definitely have the recipe memorized. (picture isn't mine, I borrowed it from an internet cooking site)

1 1/4 c sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
2/3 c milk
1 1/4 c flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 stick melted butter

Beat together sugar, egg, extract and milk. Stir in flour and baking powder. Then add butter. Mix well. Spray cake pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle slivered almonds into bottom of pan if desired. Pour into a greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40minutes or till edges are golden brown. Cool cake in pan completely before removing. To remove place inverted Almond Cake Plate to top of cake pan and then flip. Dust with confectionary sugar if desired.

This is one of those desserts that I wouldn't touch growing up. I made it the other day just to try it and it was so good! Sort of like a comfort food I think. I like load of raisins in mine and then I put a little nutmeg in with the cinnamon too.

3/4 cup uncooked white rice
2 cups milk, divided
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup golden raisins
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
In another saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg and raisins. Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla. Dust with cinnamon (add nutmeg if desired). Serve warm.

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she's getting so big

Adelyn started sitting up by herself last week...she's still a little wobbly at times, but she gets better at it everyday! She'll be 6 months old in 5 days! I can't believe it...

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I'm pretty excited about it.

So this isn't much of an interesting post, but I'm excited and wanted to share :)

Most of you know I have been having a heck of a time getting rid of this baby weight! I gained a ridiculous amount of weight during my pregnancy and am now still trying to lose it (and we aren't talking a meesly 10-15 pounds)...

Way back in the day :) my family and I did tae kwon do and I was in the best shape of my life. We went to Farrells before it became a mega-fitness empire and I loved it. They have this program now called Extreme Body Shaping. It's 10 weeks, 6 days a week, of cardio and resistance training. You meet with a nutritionist as well. At the end of 10 weeks, whoever has made the most progress win $1000. A few of the nurses I work with did it and they look amazing and I can tell they have way more energy....so I decided i'm doing it! :) I work out during the week, but I need the discipline of a class to push me further. I'm really excited about it! I didn't know about the $1000 until I went in to get more info and I thought "why not go for it?" granted, that's not my goal, but it'd be fun to try for it anyway.

The next round that I will be in starts August 1. I'm really excited about this and I know it's going to be so hard (I'm going to go to the 4:20am classes so I won't have to worry about finding someone to watch Adelyn). I'll keep you posted, though, if you're interested in hearing how this works out :)

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