Blog

  • Our Government at Work

    The other day we received a replacement property tax notice in the mail.  It explained that because the Governor and the Legislature have been unable to agree upon legislation to address funding for schools, and that the Governor vetoed the most recent funding option on September 4, 2009.  This veto resulted in a change in the property tax.  It was then explained that we needed to pay the difference.  Care to guess what we still owe?

    $.01 yes that is correct.  They reprinted all of those forms and re-mailed them out to all of those property owners.  I think it is safe to assume doing that was way more costly than forgetting about that penny!  I am thinking of actually just mailing a penny in, I don’t really want to waste a check on it, I already have to waste  a freaking stamp!

  • 11 months!

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    The regularly scheduled wordless Wednesday is interrupted to celebrate 11 months of Noah and Ezra! I cannot believe in just one month they will no longer be babies and welcoming toddlerhood, well at least Ezra will, Noah might not be doing any toddling!

    Ezra is now getting in to everything!  He loves exploring the house and finding new things to play with.  He is figuring out how to open closets, drawers, and take down baby gates.  He is also practicing his balance, he is frequently letting go of things to see if he can stand.

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    Taking out his immobile brother

    Noah loves to stand, but refuses to pull-up!  I think he is now thinking about crawling, he dove out of my lap the other day into the crawling position, and now when we put him down on his belly he will scoot backwards.

    They both now say momma, but only when they are upset.  More than one person has heard Ezra say “Tank,” so I guess that is his official first word.  Matt heard Noah say “Ezra” the other day when trying to get his brother to play with him!

    Ezra now has his first tooth, I would try to get a picture of it, but it is a serious wrestling match just to let me look at it.

    Noah claps all the time and I have been working on high-five with him.  I’ve also been trying to teach them some baby signs, I need to be a little more consistent and I think they would catch on quickly.

    They seem to be self-weaning, they will hardly take bottles during the day, I have tried to get them to drink their formula from sippy cups, but they won’t drink much that way either.  The only bottles they drink regularly are before bed, the middle of the night, and their morning bottle (that one they don’t always drink.)  I keep trying and they do get a decent amount throughout the day even if it is just 1 ounce at a time.

    We are currently dealing with our first stuffy, snotty nose.  I know we are very lucky to have made it this long without it, but the boys are driving me nuts!  They are very cranky and want to be held constantly and don’t want me to hold them at the same time.  It has made for a long couple of days.

  • Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

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    I spent a good portion of morning nap time fixing up the Noah and Ezra photo album and adding more pictures. There are plenty to see of their chubby cheeks, so enjoy!

  • Photo Friday – 10.09.09

    I have been asked by more than one person why there aren’t more photos on the blog, well I could give you two good reasons, but instead I’ll suck it up and try to share more photos.
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    Noah sporting some pants
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    Ezra and his baby legs, yes I am fully aware they do not match, but his pants were seriously hampering his crawling
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    Ez discovering he can now get to stuff on the table
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    and share it with his brother
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    and later cousin Abby
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    hmmmm some sort of barrier?
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    take that stupid barrier!
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    drool!
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    Abby is fun to make a mess with!
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    Showing off my jumping skills

  • AZ Court date

    We received paperwork from our county court to complete our adoption. December 8th!

    It feels so good to think that our adoption stuff will be done this year!!!

  • Wordless Wednesday – 10.7.09

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  • To Crawl or Not?

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    This is what Noah currently thinks of the notion of crawling.

    Since Ezra has been crawling for weeks, I thought we would have a little fun with Noah’s lack of desire to crawl.  Our first ever poll!
    [polldaddy poll=2082021]

  • Cooler weather shocks new mom!

    Fall has finally arrived in Arizona and the mornings and evenings are a bit cool, not too bad, but enough I should put some pants on my kids.

    Long sleeve shirts, check!  Sweat shirts, check!  Jackets, check!  Ummm, pants not so much.

    We do own two pairs (each) in 12 months, and after much digging I did find one pair of 6-9 months, of course, after I had dressed them in pajama pants.  The one pair I found are super cute and totally appropriate for going out in, thank goodness, but we do need to get the boys some more pants so they don’t run around looking like this anymore:

    Exhibit A

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    Matt put Noah in these yesterday after he realized he was cold.  Now these are 6-9 months the correct size, but we are not sure if they are supposed to be pants (on a super short baby) or shorts (on a super tall baby) or manpris as we like to call them.

    Exhibit B

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    Today’s pajama pants, size 3-6 months, a little short and Noah’s are kinda girly.

    I promise I love my kids!

  • Pesto Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

    I recently discovered this blog and was thrilled. I am learning to love my slow cooker more and more every week. It allows me to put meals together during nap-time and it doesn’t heat up the kitchen. When I saw this recipe I had to try it. I love sweet potatoes and pesto! I had never thought of layering a meal in the crock pot and was super excited to try it. Hey its the little things people!
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    The chicken going in, I had some parmesan left over from another recipe so I added that instead of all mozzarella.  Also, I didn’t make her pesto since I still had some in the freezer from last year’s bumper basil crop.
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    The sweet potatoes! YUM!
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    The finished product.

    Overall I loved this recipe and will do it again.  Unfortunately the chicken came out a little dry.  This is my fault, I know my crock pot is a rock star and cooks a little faster than most but I still used the suggested times, and I used small chicken breasts not the breast halves or thighs that she suggest.

    Random Tip:  When chicken comes out dry and I know neither of us will eat the leftovers as is, I shred it up toss it with some lite mayo, little mustard, little lemon juice, cayenne pepper (if I am feeling spicy), and some grapes and/or apples chopped up.  This makes a yummy chicken salad sandwich.

  • Sharing & General Cuteness

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    I caught the boys sharing these Mr. Potato Head lips the other day.  They would take it from each other and then giggle, oh how I wish they would take that feature into toddlerhood and then childhood.

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    His eyebrows always make me giggle!

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    Nothing like chewing on stuff together.

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    Oh the camera!

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    Enjoying the Mr. Potato Head lips

  • Look Mom!

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    I can stand up in my crib!

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    He is also already into the sagging look.  Oh brother!

  • Exciting Times

    When daddy comes home there is a lot of excitement in the house.  I wish I would have grabbed the camera as soon as he came in, but here is a video of the tail end of their excitement:

    Hooray Daddy is Home! from Stephanie Adams on Vimeo.

  • Wordless Wednesday – 9.30.09

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  • Rice Box Fun

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    Sometime during the never ending heat of the summer I remembered an idea I had read online forever ago, an indoor rice box.  This idea was to get through the long, cold winter.  Since we don’t have those I thought I could use the idea to get through the long, ridiculously hot summer.  Rice is better than sand for at least two reason, eating it not so bad and easier to clean up.  Yes the boys still make a giant mess and it goes every where, but not nearly as bad as sand would.  All you need is a tote with a lid, under the bed sizes work great, and rice.  I bought one of the giant bags from Sam’s Club.  The boys like making an mess and it gives them something different to do.

    They have lots of options:

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    eating the rice box toys,

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    playing with the rice in or out of the box,

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    and swimming in the rice,

    not pictured, splashing in the rice, lots of fun for the boys and very messy!