Getting Things Done

I have accomplished two things that I have wanted to do for years. I mailed Christmas Cards and have made Christmas treats to share. I still can't quite believe it but I figured that if I didn't get it done this year while staying at home with the babe I never was going to do it.

It's got me thinking about what I want to accomplish this winter and I thought I would post it in hopes that it will motivate me in the new year.

1. Finish loading all of my CDs into iTunes.
2. Hang pictures on our walls in our home. Have lived here 5 years and still haven't gotten around to filling the walls.
3. Create a website for my business.
4. Sell some stuff on eBay.
5. Make a pie.

I'll stop at five and see what happens.

MornigStar Bomb

I was craving a Philly Cheesesteak the other day and my husband offered to go the store to get the fixings. He came back with these to replace the steak.

I am a big fan of MorningStar Farm products.  I have loved everything I've tried especially the mini corn dogs so I was game to try them.  

I cooked up some onion and added the steak strips. I took a taste after they had been cooking for awhile and they tasted awful so I dumped a ton of A1 sauce in the frying pan.  It still tasted funky after that so I hoped that a bun, some mayo, mustard and cheese would help and I stuck it under the broiler for a few minutes.  

The result: edible but pretty nasty tasting.  My daughter just moved the food from one part of her high chair tray to another.  Needless to say, I plan to stay away from this product in the future and stick with their other items.

Thanksgiving Tidbits

This Thanksgiving had a very Yin and Yang vibe.  The downside of this year was that my poor mom who was visiting fell sick with the flu on the big day.  The upside was that Will, Vivi and I chilled at home while we cooked a yummy Thanksgiving dinner which we have been eating for days.  With the extra family time, we were able to capture Vivi in one of her finest Toddler Moments to date.




The other thing I was able to do with the help of my DVR and the extra time at home was to watch the entire Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.  I will never watch it live again!  I was able to fast forward through the current cheesy teeny bopper bands to my old school cheesy teeny bopper hearthrob Rick Astley.  After wondering what the hell I had witnessed for about five hours, I went out with my Catholic High School gang and their Sig O's  and found out that I had gotten RickRolled.  To celebrate Rick Astley's new found cultural relevnace, I helped lead a verse or two from Rick's smash hits, "Never Gonna Give You Up" and "Together Forever."  Thank goodness the bar was very loud and none of the other tables seemed to mind.

Here are links to two of my favorite recipes from our Thanksgiving Feast:

Green Bean Bundles

Italian Sausage and Dried Cherry Stuffing

What's the dealio?

I have retired my older blog due to my husband's security worries and the reality that I am the one in our family that blogs so I felt a re-branding of the site was warranted.  I hope to post more often as I have bought into the Google solutions hook, line and sinker and am starting to use my MAC laptop more than our slow desktop PC.  I will be loading older posts in the near future so my year of baby blogging will remain intact.

I hope that you enjoy the changes I have made to my blog and that you stop back again soon.

Catchup Time

We've been busy living the good life in the big city and haven't posted anything for quite awhile.

In the past two months, Miss Vivi Mae celebrated her first birthday, has started dancing and has continued to increase her vocabulary. In the first video, Vivi shows her dance moves off for my parents, Aunt Lois and Uncle Tom. Her favorite dance tunes include anything by Dolly Parton and the B-52's.

The second video shows Vivi saying my favorite word in her repertoire. Other new words include doggy, kitty/GiGi and ducky. I've been trying to teach her to say Obama since she can say each part of his name but so far no luck. Maybe by election day. . .

Best Baker Open Ever!

The fourth annual Baker Open took place on August 9th. I was lucky enough to help out as Event Coordinator this year. I had a ton of fun geeking out on updating the Web site, sending out e-mails and organizing RSVPs. I don't know why I love to do that kinda stuff but I do.

122 golfers played and the raffle raised over $4000 for Jake VanValkenburg's memorial scholarship fund. But the highlight was a surprise wedding proposal that Team I got to help coordinate.

Head on over to http://www.thebakeropen.org/ to see more pictures from the event.

Irish Fest 2008

Vivi and I had a blast attending our first Irish Fest in Milwaukee last weekend. We drove up with Uncle Jeff and stayed with my Uncle Jim and Aunt Linda.

I think our family's rallying cry should be "Have Kilts. Will Travel." Check out our Picasa Web Gallery (click on the Pictures slideshow at the right) to see more pictures from the weekend.

Baby's Got a New Pair of Shoes

We went shopping with G.G. yesterday and she purchased a pair of Pedipeds for Miss Viv. Pedipeds are leather soled shoes that are in between bare feet and Striderites. As you can see from the video, Vivi likes them but needed to get the hang of walking with something on her feet.

She's Walking and Talking and Eating Pork

Vivi has been vertical and on the move for two weeks now. What started as a few steps here and there has become more steps than I can keep count of.

She continues to increase her vocabulary. "Uh-Oh" is the latest word that has been perfected.

Her taste buds are expanding also. Her favorite foods right now include watermellon, cuban pork and mango gellato. Oh, and I can't forget sugar cookies thanks to G.G.

Five years ago. . .

Will and I got married. It was a wonderful day and, while much more low key, today was just as wonderful. We had a very nice dinner from Christopher's and opened a bottle of wine that was a gift and a bottle of champagne from our nuptials. I hope the next five years are filled with as much fun, family and friends as the first five were. Thanks to everyone who has made our life together so wonderful.

Getting SO BIG!

Vivi has been very busy growing up this month. We have eight days left in the month but so far in May she has:

Started feeding herself cereal

Begun waving and saying "Hi"

Learned how to clap

Begun babbling "Mama" and "Dada" while looking at Will and me

Pulled herself up in her crib and playpen

Learned "SO BIG" from Grandma Shutters

Started waking Will up by tapping, actually slapping is more like it, his head

The way she's going, I'm sure she will pull out some new tricks before the month's out.

Man, That Mindy is Talented!

Mindy Myers is a great friend of ours and is one of the most talented photographers I've ever seen. And, she throws one heck of a Christmas party. Besides being lucky to have her as a friend, we have had the good fortune to have her capture the special moments in our lives; our wedding, Vivien as a newborn and, now, Vivien at seven months. Check out all of the great pictures she recently took. She managed to capture all of Vivi's expressions and it is something that we truly treasure.

Leaving for India

Our friend, Kristin is leaving for India today. She will be working at the Principal offices for three months.

We will miss her but are excited to hear about her exciting adventure. Kristin's husband, Jay, has taught her how to upload pictures and to post travel tales to their blog, www.JayandKritsAdventures.blogspot.com.

Safe travels, Kristin!

Busy Family Times

We have been caught up in a wonderful family whirlwind for the past few weeks.

On April 26th my father-in-law, Bill, laid down his overhead markers and officially retired from teaching. In his 4o plus year career, he has taught thousands of students complicated math theories and the finer points of driving on the road. It has been fun figuring out which friends of ours he has taught over the years. Betty, my mother-in-law, threw Bill a surprise retirement party at one of their favorite local restaurants. I wondered if he was surprised because he walked in to the party and seemed to take it all in stride but he did say that he was truly surprised.

The next week, my parents, Kathie and Steve, came to visit from Florida. We had a great time hanging out with Vivi and watching her tricks. She pulled out her first word while they were here. It was "Hi!" and she topped it up with a wave. While Grandpa and Grandma G. were here we went out to our old house and got pictures taken in front of the Crab Apple tree that Dad and I gave to Mom on Mother's Day many moons ago.

Then, the majority of the Quinn clan, including Jim and Linda from Wisconsin, were in town too to see my cousin Conor receive the sacrament of First Communion.  There were so many kids receiving the sacrament (over 200) that they held two different masses. Conor looked quite dapper in his new duds and received the Eucharist like a pro! Congratulations Conor!

Check out our Picasa Gallery to see pictures from all of the festivities.

And she's off . . .

Vivien officially started crawling last Wednesday. She had been taking one scoot forward and then rolling over and pushing herself up to a sitting position. While she was able to get around this way, I didn't count it as crawling until she took two scoots forward. As you can see from the video, she is cruising' now.

Social Networking Sites

In recent months, I have become addicted to social networking sites. I'm active on Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. My favorite is Facebook and one of my favorite applications is Lil' Green Patch.

The premise of Lil' Green Patch is that you send friends plants for their virtual gardens. From time to time you have to rake leaves, chase deer and rabbits away and perform other gardening tasks. For every plant you send, you save a few square feet of rain forest. It's a fun way to help the environment.

I've sent enough plants that I have access to a "Greenie On the Go." Each time someone clicks on my little friend here, we save some of the rainforest and I earn access to more plants and Green Bucks to buy virtual tools to tend to my garden. I know it sounds crazy but it is a blast. I encourage you to try it out especially for those of you who do not have a "real" green thumb.

Our baby does it too . . .

Laughing Vivi



Laughing You Tube Baby

You might have seen the laughing baby on You Tube that won the Most Adorable category in 2007. Just thought you would like to know that our daughter has a lot in common with that baby. Besides busting a gut over paper being torn, they have the same haircut. Vivi probably would have fallen over too if she wasn't strapped in.