Another fun weekend!

Not much to report here, just had another fun-filled weekend with great weather. Our niece had another softball game in the area, so we traveled to Greensboro on Saturday and spent the entire day outside. Spent a lot of time Sunday playing and hanging around the house. Here are a few recent pics of the boys...

 

 

Look who's sitting up!

 

Tyler helped Scott put together a new bench for our entryway.

Check out the tongue!

Culinary Nirvana

For some people this title might mean something a whole lot fancier and tastier than what it means for me this week. We reached a cooking pinnacle in the Jones household this week.  For the past four nights in a row, I have only cooked ONE meal for the entire family. (Well, one meal for Scott, Tyler and myself. Jake doesn't quite count yet. But, all I have to do for him is pop a little puree in the microwave, so he's no trouble at all.)

This is huge for us. I wish I could say that it happened because of some grand plan or strategy I had. Nope, simply happened because I had very little time to cook this week, so Tyler really didn't have a choice. I had also run out of Tyler's staple rice and was determined to stretch out our food at the house and not go to the grocery store this week. Tyler tried LOTs of new things this week!

Night #1
Angel hair pasta and marinara sauce. Tyler's eaten this at school a few times, but never at home. He balked at this one the most, but ended up eating it!

Night #2
Grilled chicken, french fries and cantaloupe
He eats the first two things all the time, but he also tried the cantaloupe.

Night #3
Tacos
This took a little creativity on Scott's part. He ended up breaking up the shell and they made mini taco bites for Tyler to eat. He ate the ground beef and the cheese. Two foods he doesn't eat a lot

Night #4
Hot dogs
Only eaten these one other time, but tried them!

I'm on cloud nine about all of this! Thinking about what else we'll try next week!

Can you tell which is which?

Everyone talks non-stop about how much Tyler and Jake look alike. And I think, "Yeah, you can definitely tell they are brothers, but they have their own unique characteristics."

Maybe I'm sensitive about this, since when I was growing up, people said the same thing about my sister and me. People always asked my mom, "Are they twins?" I'm the older one and was a little shorter than my sister, so we were the same height. My mom even dressed us alike. Clearly, this was not the end of the world, but I remember thinking - somewhat dramatically I'm sure - "No, I am my OWN person!" So, when people say this about the boys, I feel a twinge of my issues creep up.

Then, I went back and looked at pictures of Tyler and Jake both at 6 months.

Damn, they look alike. Check it out...

First half birthday!

Our baby boy Jake turns 6 months old today!!! Here are a few recent picture of our little Jakey. He's rolling over all the time - including at 3 am - and chattering up a storm. I think he sees Tyler talking and thinks, "I better start now, or I might not get a word in at all!" He's still - knock on virtual wood - a great sleeper, usually sleeping all the way from 7 to 7. He's eating everything we put in front of him and still nursing really well. We're so lucky!

Thankful on Thursday

It's been a hectic week this week, primarily because I'm working on about 3 proposals at work along with all of the normal, day-to-day work, so I've been working at home in the evenings a lot. While it's been a little stressful, there are still many things to be thankful for this week!!!

1. One of my best friends SZ. Thanks for picking up the phone, listening to me freak out and making me feel soooo much better!

2. A job that I love so much, I am willing to burn the midnight oil for - and not be bitter about it! And a job that allows me the flexibility - even when things are really busy - to leave on time, pick up the boys and play until bedtime, then get back to work after we tuck them in.

3. A night out this weekend with J & T! I know we all need it. Looking forward to Round 2 at ToTH!!

4. Glee. Damn I love that show.

5. Tomorrow is FRIDAY!

Back in the game

Right after I had Jake, I gave myself a little slack in the savings department and took a break from couponing. But now, I am BACK! I recently switched over to a clippless couponing system - which has saved a ton of time - and today I did quite a successful run at Harris Teeter. With coupons and VIC savings, I got about $125 for $39!! Here's everything I got...

Yes, I'm a dork and lined everything up and took a picture of it. But, when you save that much, it's exciting!!!

You my best friend

I think Tyler said the cutest thing he's ever said to me tonight. We were on the way home from school today and he was telling me all about his day. Something about his friend Josh and a truck. A few seconds later, he said,

"Mommy, you my best friend. I your best friend?"

My heart about melted, but I managed to squeak out - almost between tears - "Absolutely!"

It seems like at each stage in Tyler's life, I think, "This has got to be the best."

But it just keeps getting better!

Go Cats!

We spent most of the weekend being very proud of our niece A. She's a freshman at Western Carolina University and walked on to their softball team this year. They kicked off their season at an invitational tournament in Cary this weekend. So, we had family in town for the games and spent most of the weekend outside enjoying some great games and the amazing weather!  

  

I heart Google

When I started this blog, I wanted it to be all about our family - and not work - but I found out about something this week that I am just too excited about to not share! More than 6 months ago, I worked on a Google grants application for work and we just found out we got it!!! Google grants are essentially in-kind advertising on Google, so we're going to be able to market in a way that our state government budget really doesn't allow us to normally. Now I've got a LOT to learn - and quickly - on how to manage our Google AdWords account!

 

Thank you Google! 

The Breast Idea

In a couple of weeks, I will - if all goes according to plan - be celebrating a huge personal milestone. I will have breastfed Jake for 6 months!!! I've learned so much this second time around, but the biggest lesson I've learned is the importance of having a great network of support. There is just not enough support for breastfeeding. Period.

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a blog called "The Breast Idea."

What drew me to their site was that it was founded by women who had themselves dealt with a lot of the same issues I had. I started emailing with one of the founders to share my story. They featured it on their Web site last week - check it out at http://www.thebreastidea.com/2011/02/mom-of-week-3-katy.html

A perfect weekend!

We spent the weekend in the North Carolina mountains with some of our favorite people - the Pittman and the Barnes families. We are blessed to have such wonderful friends. Friends that you can spend the entire weekend with and not have any drama or issues. That's a blessing!

We all got together to celebrate J's 31st birthday. It was one of those weekends where you spend the entire time talking, relaxing and playing. We were also able to meet Miss Caroline, the newest member of the Barnes family. It was a perfect weekend!

My new office digs...

This week has been a little crazy for a variety of reasons, but my office move has been a big part of it! In the past, I've been on a different floor than a lot of people I work directly with like our designers and Web programmers. We acquired a new suite of offices at work and now we're all in the same area! The past couple of days, everyone's been moving into their new offices and getting settled in. The best part has been cleaning through some of my files. There are a few things I have NO idea why I kept all these years - like a media call log from 2005 and notes from a study session for the UNC Journalism School Spelling and Grammar test from 2002!

It took me about 3 hours to pack it all up, but it will probably take me 3 months to get everything settled the way I want it. Here it is!!

Kinecting

We got a Kinect for our XBOX 360 today and this thing is so cool! I am not really a video game person, but I have been looking for ideas on workouts I can do at home and read awesome things about the Kinect.

We hooked it up tonight and tried it out. Once you get the hang of using your hand/body to control things, it's a lot of fun! It even takes pictures while you play. Here's one of Scott and Tyler jumping around.

 

We also got Zumba and I tried it out a bit this evening. I broke a sweat just going through the tutorials!  I can't wait to get back in shape! And we booked the house for our beach trip this summer, so I have a LOT of motivation.