Horse Carriage Ride

Today at the mall they had free Horse Drawn Carriage rides, so a co-worker and her daughter met us there and we did some shopping and were the first ones in line. Thank goodness we were first in line because it was windy out today, which made it really cold. The girls liked the ride, although I think they both wanted to actually ride the horse instead or we were just too cold to talk or anything else, who knows. After the ride we went to Barnes and Noble and got some Starbucks and snacks and they had a school charity going on and the girls got their faces painted and made bracelets will some high school girls that really enjoyed the girls and of course I bought a couple of books and some more x-mas presents. (It was definitely a weekend of spending money for me).

This is the picture right before we left.

The carriage coming to pick us up.

Katelynn and her new friend.

Turkey Leftovers ? Here's a Recipe

I haven't tried this, but will be making it probably tomorrow night for the Vikings game.

Turkey Potato Casserole (or as I refer to them, hot dish)
3 cups scraps, bite-size pieces, or slices skinned cooked turkey
1 cup turkey gravy
2 cups mashed potatoes
1 cup (1/4 lb.) shredded Sonoma Jack Cheese
Salt and pepper

1.Butter a shallow 1 1/2-quart casserole. Cover bottom evenly with turkey. Drizzle 3/4 cup gravy (hot or cold, stirred to soften) over the meat. Stir potatoes to soften, mound onto turkey, and swirl to cover surface of meat. Drizzle remaining 1/4 cup gravy over potatoes, then sprinkle evenly with cheese.

2.Bake in a 450° oven until turkey and potatoes are hot in the center (about 140°), 10 to 15 minutes. If desired, broil 4 to 6 in. from heat until cheese is lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Season portions with salt and pepper to taste.

Rapid City, SD at the Radisson. Everyone is ready for their morning cup of coffee. My parents finally arrived at around 3:00am and of course we all woke up for a little while to visit. I wasn't sure if we would be able to get Katelynn back to sleep because she was so excited to see her Grandma.

Dan

Grandma and Katelynn

Time to wake up Grandpa!

Here we are at a rest stop looking at the maps and wondering which roads are open and what is the best way to take to get to Deadwood. When we got to Newcastle, WY the decision was made for us because one of the roads was closed.

We made it to Rapid City, SD and decided to call it a night, the roads were closed to get into Deadwood and my parents were also on their way, so we stopped here at the Radisson.

Here is me - well, it's not the log cabin in the mountains that I already paid for, but at least I have somewhere to sleep now.

Katelynn and Dad enjoyed some swimming in the pool that night.

Katelynn thought that was pretty cool, we let her swim in a T-shirt and shorts since I did not pack her a swimsuit.

Deadwood, SD

Here are the first pictures we took as we were leaving Colorado for Deadwood, SD. We left about an hour and 1/2 later than we had planned because it was blizzarding the night before in SD and we weren't sure what roads we were going to be taking or that we even open for us to get there. Dan didn't want to leave until Saturday, but I was persistent and said that the plan was to leave on Friday and we were leaving, so be it, we left to drive into the unknown. The weather was not bad or the roads until we got to New Castle, WY and hit our first closed road and had to detour another way, but even go through the Black Hills turned out to be a very scenic drive and the roads were clear. Katelynn even enjoyed it because we saw a ton of deer and got to see these smaller almost ghost towns and such along the way. We made it to Rapid City that night. More to come . . .

Pregnancy Update

Thought I would update everyone on the pregnancy. Today I had my 28 week appt. and as the doctor says "I am gaining weight nicely" - only in her world?! I honestly feel huge, who knew putting on socks every day would be such a challenge? That I guess is one benefit of pregnancy in the summer - flip flops and no socks. Dan and Katelynn came to my appt. with me today and Katelynn got to hear the baby's heartbeat. I honestly thought that she would be a little more excited about it, but Dan thinks that she maybe thought that she was going to get to see a picture or something of the baby instead of just listening to the machine. She did however try to measure me with a tape measure and listened to the baby's heartbeat with her dr. equipment when we got home. I had my glucose test done and all came out well, so that's good. The dr. did think that I am a little anemic so would like me to start taking some extra Iron and then let me know that when I do it might cause constipation and to take a stool softener - oh joy, just what I needed to hear and even worse if that happens. I have "officially" started my 3rd trimester now and am definitely ready to be done, let's finish the room and get this baby out before I get any bigger ( I know I am going to be a lot bigger than I was with Katelynn). Some good news is that Dan's mom is going to be coming out to stay and help us out for 2 weeks after the baby is born and then my mom will also be coming out for a week after her - I am looking for all the help I can get this time, no need to try and figure it out on my own, so anyone else who wants to come and stay and help out you are more than welcome!

Happenings

Tonight it was the night to start to clean out the "spare bedroom" closet, which is now going to be Juniors room. The stuff that people keep and can store is really unbelievable when you decide it's time to clean it out or you just need the space for something else. One thing that I have noticed because Dan and I have done this a couple of times is that, Men are worse than women when it comes to hoarding things, or at least it's this way in my household. I did manage to get him to toss a lot tonight though and have a bag of things to take to goodwill. A friend from work gave me a large bag of clothes for baby boys and we went through those tonight too, it was kind of fun to do. I am definitely happy this time to get some hand me downs and not buy all of those beginner clothes that they just don't wear enough times to seem worth it. Dan has also decided that the room does need to be painted blue and has a friend that will come and spray the room for us, I need to give him a time frame to get this "project" done of his or he won't get it done and the room won't get done, I just need to sit down with a calendar and really start looking at my weekends. When you do start to look there are a lot of holidays between now and February and I don't want to be stuck doing anything the last couple weeks of January because I have a feeling I am going to be big and tired and probably a little lazy.
Tomorrow I have another Dr.'s appt. - oh joy, another weigh in that means as well, I just do not look forward to that part, but then again I always ask what the weight was and have been making the nurse flip back to my old chart and tell me what my weight was on that week when I was pregnant with Katelynn - they probably all think that I am a crazy person (Dan would agree)! I made my appt. late in the day so that Dan can pick up Katelynn from daycare and she can come to this appt. with us and listen to the baby's heartbeat, she is really excited about it, I think it will be a fun, family outing. Then tomorrow night I have an HOA board meeting and we are going to vote in a new president because the current president and secretary are stepping out of the board - bad news for us, but I am crazy enough to be throwing my hat in the ring, it must be a power thing, so we will see how the votes come out tomorrow.
On the To Do List:
Get Katelynn's X-mas dress for pictures - check !
Make appt. for X-mas pics and Katelynn's 3 year pics - check ! This coming Saturday.
Get Katelynn's hair trimmed for the first time - I don't know if this will happen before Sat. ?
Get Dan a new sweater for X-mas pictures -
Decide what doesn't make my face look 10 lbs. heavier for X-mas pics Sat. - ?
Get X-mas list together - at least I did start a little x-mas shopping already, I am hoping to get a majority of it done on the Day after Thanksgiving Sales (yes, again, I am crazy).

Family Photo - Deadwood, SD

Trick or Treat

Trick or TreatMommy & Katelynn ready for Halloween.

Daddy & Katelynn ( I love this picture of them).

The Big Score!

Katelynn did really good this year trick or treating, we went all over the neighborhood while Dan stayed home and handed out candy. After awhile I had to carry her basket because it was getting heavy for her. There were definitely a couple of houses that went all out and she was not liking them, a couple of them kind of scared me. It was funny how quickly she picked up the concept that if the house didn't have their porch lights on then you skipped that house and assumed they weren't home. Once we made our circle Dan took her out to a couple more blocks (the pregnant lady was getting tired and had, had enough exercise for the night). Once home then Katelynn helped hand out the candy to all the other kids, it was really a fun night.

Halloween Pictures

Katelynn and Hailie - the 2 Snow White's!

Here are some pictures of us doing Katelynn's hair in the foam rollers (we all remember those as a kid, right!) getting ready the night before our Halloween party. It was so fun and such a mother / daughter thing that we both enjoyed. I was actually really surprised she let me do this because every morning it is a battle to even run a brush through her locks. This was definitely a moment that I will remember!

My Child is the "Mean Kid"

My child is the mean kid at daycare, crap, how did this happen? Dan picked up Katelynn from daycare yesterday and was told that Katelynn made the other little girl cry. Katelynn apparently told the other little girl that she was "ugly" and then followed up with "and you have ridiculously ugly hair". The other little girl had her feelings hurt and cried and Katelynn could have cared less. How did this happen and where did it come from? Yes, I'm sure many of you are thinking - "hello, you are not the nicest person and would probably do something like that" - true in fact, but that is not what I have taught my child. So last night after voting we had a talk about being nice and having friends and not being nice and having no friends and how disappointed her Grandparents would be in her for making another kid cry. She had strict instructions from her daddy to apologize and hug the other little girl today at daycare, I am hoping that she follows through with this. Mom - was I the mean child when I was little? (I have a feeling I already know the answer to that question, but really at 3 years old?) I guess on one positive note - at least my 3 year old has a really good vocabulary - what other 3 year old says "ridiculously"?