Jen's Day

I got a ladies day on Friday:) (Can you imagine the smile on my face?)

My cousin, Steph, came to town for a day of consignment shopping in Rochester with my mom and I. We plan two shopping days a year when we hit some of our favorite consignment shops in Rochester for some great deals. Usually my Aunt Ruth, Steph's mom, tries to make it too, but she is enjoying a winter get away to Texas right now.

The day was wonderful all around! The sun was shining (albeit cold and windy), we met at our favorite consignment shop in town, Kismet, made our way to Refashion, had lunch at Canadian Honker (one of Steph's favs), Steph and I shared a piece of Canadian Honker's Peanut Butter Pie (AMAZING!), next we took on All In Vogue, and finished out our day at TJ Maxx. Yep, we know how to make the most of a day of shopping!

I'm sure you're dying to know what I found and I'm even more excited to share:)

The picture below is most of my purchases:

This makes me think of What Not To Wear's "What She Got" segment at the end of the show:) Check out the deals!

Kismet

Heels ~ $18

Dress Pants ~ $16

Necklace $10

Refashion

Dress ~ $10

All In Vogue

Jean Jacket ~ $10

Tank ~ $10

TJ Maxx

Belt ~ $15

Tank ~ $15

2 Hand Towels ~ $8

Handheld Shower Head ~ $9

A Few Unmentionables ~ $26

I brought home 14 items for about $150. Now that is my idea of shopping: finding great deals!

I'm already looking forward to our next shopping day:)

Bowling with the Beckmanns

I don't know that I'd call it a "ritual" yet, but we've gone bowling two Februaries in a row in with my family. Last year it was just something fun to get out to do in the winter, but this year it was part of Luke's birthday celebration with the Beckmanns to go bowling again. It was so fun to see how much Luke has physically changed and developed over a year in an activity he only does once a year:)

February 2010 ~ Showing off his bowling shoes at his first bowling experience

Even the small ball was quite large for him to lift and he certainly didn't use the holes for his fingers

His bowling "form" involved putting the ball on the floor, then pushing it down the lane. Not exactly bowling, but it got down the lane...very s-l-o-w-l-y.

Our 2011 bowling experience was completely different though. He was able to fit his little fingers into the holes on the ball and even pick the ball up with his fingers in the holes. He also got the hang of throwing the ball mostly with one arm, and after a few frames, he was able to get a running start to throwing the ball down the lane. I was quite impressed! (The ball still moved slowly, but much faster than last year:))

Cute little fingers in the ball:)

The good news is that this year I was able to get a video of his bowling skills so you can share the full experience.

You may or may not be able to catch this on the video, but after he bowls and we cheer for him or acknowledge how he did, he gets a shy grin on his face and covers his mouth with his hand to hide the sheepish grin. Oh, our little introvert, not enjoying the attention:)

I wondering if it will be another year before we bowl again or if Luke will ask to go again sooner???

A Glimpse of Luke's Heart

I have so much fun watching Luke and seeing his personality come through at each age in a slightly different way. One thing I particularly enjoy about his current age is his sensitive and nurturing nature and I've gotten to witness it a few times in the past week.

Last weekend, we celebrated his birthday with his friends. (Check out pics from February on Kodak Gallery.) I was surprised last month when we were planning the party that he wanted to invite even the "babies" from daycare. (Babies to him are actually a 1-1.5 years, I guess I see them as toddlers:)) As we were shopping for his birthday getting supplies and goodies for his friends, he was always thinking of the babies that were coming. He's say things like "I can help Zoe with this since she's little". The day of his party, we hid dragon eggs in the basement for the kids to find and he was very intentional about hiding some eggs in easy to reach places so the babies would find them. When the egg hunt began, he took one of the little girl's hands and led her in downstairs to find an egg. I just love his thoughtful, sensitive heart:)

We've also had Audrey with us a couple afternoons in the past week and Luke just loves having her over. (Audrey, nearly two, is a friend's daughter we watch once in a while when her mom and dad's work schedules overlap.) He'll talk about things throughout the day before she comes like what toys we can't have out when Audrey comes because they aren't safe for babies, etc. Last week, we discovered Audrey's love for the "Zacchaeus" song, so today Luke wanted to turn it on for her all by himself. He is also very in tune to Audrey's needs and desires. Today we were all reading together and she wanted her bunny which she had left in Luke's room. I pointed and directed her, but she was confused. Luke asked me to stop reading the book, hopped off the couch, and said he was going to show Audrey where her bunny was. Such a helper:) I also got a kick out of his reaction when he heard Audrey crying when she woke up today. We could hear her in the monitor and Luke immediately asked if he could go check on her. I told him to give her a minute because I thought she might fall back to sleep, but he couldn't stop watching the monitor every time he heard a peep from her:)

A sweet video of Luke and Audrey together:

I consider myself blessed to have both a son and husband with such sensitive and loving spirits.

We Have A Five Year Old!

Happy Fifth Birthday to our sweet boy:) We're spending the weekend celebrating with family and friends, mostly to the theme of How to Train Your Dragon, Luke's current favorite movie.

One of the funnest birthday memories we have through the years is Luke's aversion to being sung Happy Birthday. It all started on his second birthday when he sat still as a statue while we all sang. The song ended, his lip started quivering, and it was all over. Poor guy, he doesn't know what to do when an entire room full of people is looking at him and singing on his behalf:)

The aversion has stood through the years, but at least he doesn't anticipate being sung Happy Birthday with fear any more. Today when his friends were over to celebrate, he got a dear in the headlight look when I asked "Should we sing Happy Birthday?" He, of course, said he'd rather not, so we all just wished him happy birthday:)

Join me for a trip through Luke's five years of birthdays...

Five Years Old

Enjoying cake with friends

Four Years Old

Trying out his first big boy bike

Three Years Old

Showing off the cookies we made for his birthday to share at daycare

Two Years Old

Traumatized in the midst of being sung Happy Birthday

One Year Old

"So Big" enjoying his birthday cake

*******************************************

Lukey you light our lives with silliness, exploration, learning, and pure joy. We look forward to learning and growing along side you for many years ahead!

The Many Faces of Luke

Luke's been wearing glasses since he was twenty months old and he is now on his fourth pair of glasses. Check out the many faces of Luke:)

First day with his glasses, 20 months old

The first pair: Worn from 20 months - Nearly 3 years

These glasses finally just wore out and got too small for his face.

(Photo credit to Kristin Knudson)

January 2010, nearly 4 years old

Second pair: worn from 3-4 years

These glasses were a fun replacement for the first pair. I thought they brought a different personality to his face with the rectangular frames:) But, when we saw the doctor last year he recommended larger frames so Luke had a larger range of vision.

June 2010, 4.5 years old

Third pair: worn from 4- nearly 5 years

These were the larger frames we chose that seemed to fit his face better. But, this month, the doctor recommended rounder glasses, again to provide a larger range of vision through the lenses.

January 28, 2011

Fourth Pair

We went with Silhouettes this time. You choose the shape of the lens and the color for the nose and ear piece. The lens are rimless so the glasses should "grow" with Luke by simply replacing larger/wider lenses as his face grows. One very nice feature of these glasses is the flexibility of the ear pieces. I can't remember what material they are made of, but they can be bent and go right back to their intended shape!

Now, to adjust to another new face of Luke:)

Quotes of the Day

I've been really enjoying Luke thoughts today so I thought I'd share a few quotes:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I love hot pants" (After I gave him some pants to wear right after they came out of the dryer.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luke: "Mom, I'm doing a great job making my bed."

Me: "Awesome" (from the other room)

Luke: "Mom, you should come in here when I'm done to see how awesome it is"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luke and I were chatting about something from Brent's basketball game and he started walking away toward the bathroom while we were still talking. He then said, from the bathroom, "Mommy, we'll discuss it later." Pause. "That means we'll talk about it later. I need to go to the bathroom now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I realize this isn't a quote, but I also caught him dancing all over his room to a Taylor Swift song on the radio. He loves Miss Taylor Swift:)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These are the days:)

A Healthy Treat!

One of my goals of meal planning was to create a book of recipes that were approved by our family so I would remember to return to those recipes. I had always remembered that I loved this Orange-Cranberry Scone recipe from my Betty Crocker Eat & Lose Weight cookbook (a hand me down from a woman I used to nanny for). So, this month, I planned a few breakfast treats into my meal plan so that I would have easy breakfast items to grab on the way out the door (friends, you know I'm not a morning person:)). I made the Orange-Cranberry Scones again tonight, two batches I might add, and they were delicious as I remembered!!!


Check out these tasty treats...

I only make 8 scones per batch...but I just had to try one before taking pictures:)

I don't typically share recipes on here, but I love this one so much I think you might enjoy it too.

Ingredients

2 cups Basic 4 cereal or other whole wheat flake cereal with cranberries, slightly crushed (I used Post Great Grains Cranberry Almond Crunch)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup firm margarine or butter

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup fat free cholesterol free egg product or 1 egg, slightly beaten

1/4 cup orange low fat yogurt

Orange Glaze Ingredients

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon grated orange peel

2-3 teaspoons orange juice

Heat oven to 400. Slightly crush cereal; set aside.

Mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, orange peel, and salt in medium bowl. Cut in margarine, using pastry blender or crisscrossing 2 knives, until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in cereal, cranberries, egg product, and yogurt until dough forms.

Place dough on lightly floured surface. Gently roll in flour to coat; shape into ball. Pat dough into 8 inch circle with floured hands. Cut circle into 12 wedges with sharp knife dipped in flour. Place wedges about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 7-9 minutes or until edges are light brown. Meanwhile, mix all Orange Glaze ingredients until thin enough to drizzle. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool 5 minutes; drizzle with Orange Glaze. After glaze is set, store tightly covered.

Calories 170, Fat 5g, Cholesterol 30mg, Sodium 220mg, Fiber 3g, Protein 3g

The recipe is quite quick, but it is a little messy to make. At least when I make it...

I had extra fun making the scones tonight because I got to try out my new heavy-duty pastry blender and wooden spatulas that I got at the kitchen store at Medford Outlet this weekend:)

Here's to scones for breakfast for the rest of the week!