School = Sadness

Now that I have been primarily staying home with Sophia for the past 19 months, I have seen two school years come and go. Each August I think will be easier than the last on me, but alas, I still grieve and mourn all the teachers going back to school! Why you may ask ... well, b/c I lose some of my closest friends (and sister) to their "day jobs." No longer can I call up so-and-so and meet them at the park or pool! It means the end to our summer bible study at church where Sophia gets to play with all their kids and make good friends! It means the outdoor pools will be closing until NEXT MAY! It means minimal social outings until after 4pm! Worst of all, it means Aunt Sarah can't come over at any time or any day to hang out with us (or give this mama a much-needed break!) So, as "this summer of ten draws to an end", I reflect and continue to be very thankful for the fun summer memories with all my teacher friends, while I anxiously await next May!!

Allyson

Greetings from Sophia ...

Sophia wanted to send her greetings to a few people .... we would have done more however as you can see at the end of the video we had a slight problem!! HA!!

Guess what is why teachers always told us never to tip back in your chair!!

Allyson

Weekend Getaway in Michigan!

For the past three summers, we have headed to Michigan to visit my dear friend Abby and her family! This year was the most exciting, as we both have children!! Sophia thought Abby's little boy Matthew was cute to look at, however, she seemed way more interested in the dog-dog! :)

When we arrived on Saturday, we headed out for a nice lunch at a WONDERFUL restaurant called Marie Catribs. They have a killer menu that is mighty healthy and tasty!! Marie specializes in GF foods as well, so Nate and Sophia were in hog-heaven. Here is a description of my sandwich from their menu ...

Sweet Potato & Quinoa Burger

Our darling of the restaurant! This is made with sweet potatoes, quinoa, onions, cilantro, almonds and spices. Served with fresh greens, ginger-tomato chutney and curried veganaise on your choice of bread.

Every bite was as tasty as the bite before!! After a tasty lunch we headed back to the Sturm's house so Sophia could catch a late afternoon nap! After we all rested, we headed to Pickerel Lake and did a 2.5 mile hike/walk around this beautiful lake. We saw 3 swans in the lake along with tons of lilly pads! It was beautiful!

Sophia with a sleepy Matthew (awaiting our table at lunch)

Getting ready to start our walk ... Sturm family vacation style!

Me and my baby girl! :)

Family picture although Sophia was less than thrilled to be in our arms, she wanted to be walking around the bridge!

Beautiful brown eyed Matthew! Isn't he the cutest thing?

Check out my sweaty-spikes! Thanks Mommy for making me look crazy!

Another family shot by the Lilly pads!

We grilled out Saturday evening and had a tasty supper! Sunday morning we headed over to Grand Haven for a lighthouse and pier tour. After our almost 3 mile walk, we had some awesome chicken and lamb gyros!!

Gotta get a stroller shot!!

Sophia and Mommy before we head down to the lighthouse at the end of the pier!

By 1pm Sunday evening, it was time to say goodbye to our dear friends and head to our next destination: Warren Dunes but not without a stop at the famous Dutch's Farm Market where we purchase our 5 lb box of fresh picked MI blueberries. You can't leave western MI without getting some fresh blueberries. They taste 100x better than any store pints!!

When we arrived at Warren Dunes State Park, we checked in at our campsite and set up our tent! Sophia had a blast "helping" us get the tent up! We put her pack 'n play at the back of the tent, changed clothes, and headed to the Dunes to take a dip in Lake Michigan!! Sophia had a blast playing in the sand and digging holes! She was initially scared of the water, so she would make Nate go fill up her watering can multiple times! She would say, "Wa-wa peeeease da-da!" It was so adorable!! The beach was PACKED on Sunday evening while we were there! Thousands of people were playing in the sand, water, and laying out ....

Sunday evening we cooked a nice dinner on our camp stove, took showers, and put Sophia to bed. Nate and I stayed up and read books and played games. We forgot our bug spray so we got eaten alive -- ok, well I DID b/c I am so sweet!! Must have had 15 bites or more!

Setting up camp!

Yummy GF hot cereal with peaches!!

Monday morning Nate was up for a long run, while Sophia and I slept in (till 7am)! I cooked us both a batch of hot GF cereal with peaches! It was tasty and Sophia LOVED it (as you can see in the picture below!) After Nate returned, we packed up the campsite and headed back to the beach! This time, we were the only people on the beach! (Well, it was 9:20am too). We played hard in the sand and water. Sophia and I took a nice long walk down the beach! I kept trying to teach her that those birds were actually called "sea rats" but she just kept saying "ucky bird!"

Sophia wasn't thrilled with smiling ... she was obviously busy working in the sand!

By 12:30pm we thought it would be best to pack up all our stuff and head home .... Whew, what a vacation! Not much time, but so many fun and awesome family memories!

Since our first night camping in a tent with Sophia went so well, we are planning a 2 night, 3 day camping trip to the Indiana Dunes at the end of this month!! Wish us luck! Anyone wanna join us??

Allyson

ALIVE!!!

Yes, I know it is hard to believe, but we 3 Longs are still alive! My disappearance from the blogger world is multi-fold .... lack of time in general ... lack of alone time (we are down to one nap = only 1 mommy break) ... lack of good pictures ... lack of motivation to type and upload pictures!

I have broken out of my blogging-funk and am back rearing, ready to go ... hopefully you are ready for lots of updates!!!

Since I blogged last, we have been extremely busy trying to soak up the final rays of the summer with all our teacher buddies and teacher aunts! :)

Sophia and I have been taking a Mommy and Me swim class at the Plainfield Parks and Rec Center with our friends Libby and Maeve. We have had a blast! It has been so awesome to see Sophia's LOVE of the water grow with each lesson. She LOVES floating on her back while I sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in her ear. She is mastering the concept of kicking while on her back. Of course my child LOVES to kick and splash the teacher in the face with the water! We have 1 week's worth of lessons left and I am sad to see them over! It gives us something to do each Tuesday and Thursday morning PLUS makes her exhausted = excellent afternoon nap!!

A few weeks ago we were able to get together with my three other dear friends from our old breastfeeding group! These ladies helped me through many rough patches during her first year. It has been awesome to see the kids grow, change, and develop into their own little "person!" This is the first time out of our many play dates where all kids could play together doing the same thing .... aka ... first time they are all eating on their own, walking around, talking, etc. It was so great to see them loving towards one another. I was able to snap a few pictures, however, I am quickly learning it is VERY difficult to take "good" pictures of toddlers!! It always seems that one is smiling, one is crying, one is stoic, and one is trying to run away!! :)

Nathan chowing down ...

Maeve in her adorable pigtails! She loved the egg casserole!

Isaac mid-bite ... what a handsome little guy!!

Nathan and his mama Denise! What a beautiful family inside and out!

Sophia, Nathan, and Isaac! Maeve was the one that ran away out of this picture! :)

Sophia giving one of her many hugs to Isaac! She is quite the hugger these days!!

This is all the time I have for a post! Little princess is calling out from her castle to get "up, up, up!" Stay tuned ... many more posts and pictures to come!! You will really enjoy the pictures from our weekend getaway to MI!!

Allyson

Elmo's Mama!

While I was at work this weekend, Nate was able to shoot this cute little video of Sophia being "Elmo's Mommy!" It is amazing at only 18 months she is starting to remember and emulate our routine with her and that she can understand to do it with her baby Elmo. When I push Sophia in her umbrella stroller, I tip her back (as you will see) and we go "Weeeeeee!" When I am trying to get her out of her stroller, I say, "Up Sophia" (as you will see). When I am putting her down at night, I rock her in the glider for a few minutes, hold her up on my shoulder (as you will see), we sing (sometimes we say, Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, Sophia goes Rocky), and then I tell her night-night (as you will see). Can you believe she knew enough to do the whole routine with Elmo without anyone watching or prompting her!!

Nate also said she was putting the baby Elmo on the potty and in the exersaucer. She also tried to buckle Elmo into his stroller!!! The baby mind never ceases to amaze me!!

Hope you enjoy!! This video melted my heart and brought tears to my eyes!!

Allyson

Sophia and Shotzi

For the next two weeks we have a 5-lb house guest, Shotzi! We are dog sitting while Rhoda (Nate's middle sister) is in Germany having surgery. Sophia has taken a liking to having a "dog-dog" in the house! We are taking lots of pictures with Sophia and Shotzi for the time when she asks for a dog. We can show her the pictures and say, "See, you had a dog when you were a toddler, but it just didn't work out!" Can't deny the proof of pictures, right?

Here is a cute video of Sophia and Shotzi Nate snapped today while I was at work!

Allyson

I'm a Big Sister Now!

..... I am not so sure what Sophia is going to think about being a big sister (when that time comes)!! (I bet many of you just had to close your mouth b/c you thought I was giving a big announcement huh? Ha!! Tricked you!!)

Sophia had the chance to "share" her mommy yesterday when we went to visit my dear friend Apryl's newest addition, Anna Kathleen!! The whole way to the hospital Sophia was practicing saying, "Anna" to which she can say it perfect!! When we arrived, I attended to Sophia and kept her attention! However, I think Sophia was a tad bit jealous the minute I started holding sweet Anna b/c she started acting out. Hum ....an 18 month old toddler trying to get her mommy's undivided attention? No way right? HA!!

Nevertheless, it was so good to finally meet Anna! I thought for sure Anna was going to be a little baby boy, I think Apryl thought the same too! But alas, she is as cute as a button and slept the full time we were at the hospital!! She was 8lbs 4oz and 20 inches long! It was sweet to have a 1 day old baby in my arms again!! I haven't gotten the chance to see Olivia, Anna's big sister, yet, but from what I have been told, Olivia is just smitten with her new baby sister! Olivia said all along that it was a baby sister and no one wanted to believe her!! She kept saying, "I was right, it was a baby sister not a baby brother!" Apryl told me that Olivia absolutely LOVES holding Anna and loves to give her kisses!!

Here are a few shots I was able to snap (with our new camera)!

Sweet Anna!

Perfect skin ... perfect snooze!

Sleep tight sweet pea!

"I am not so sure about this big sister thing.

I will let Olivia try it out first and let me know how it goes."

Allyson

Iron Chef Girls!

Have you ever seen the show, Iron Chef America, on the Food Network? My brother and sister-in-law introduced Nate and I to this show! For the culinary-buff-wanna-be's, it is a great show to learn how to make one ingredient extremely versatile!! The only catch is that you only have 1 hour to prepare 3-5 dishes! Check out their website or DVR a show (they usually air Sunday nights) for more details!

My friend Tracy and I decided to try our own little version of the Iron Chef ... We call it, Iron Chef Tracy and Allyson!! Tracy is an amazing cook and I always learn so much when we are together! :) What better opportunity for a girls night than, cooking, laughing, talking, YUMMY food, wine, and chocolate!!

This week she and I split up all the courses and came up with recipes that had our "secret ingredient" as a main ingredient!! We tried to make the meal dairy free and gluten-free, so that always proposes a slight hurdle when picking recipes!

Without further adieu, are you ready for the SECRET INGREDIENT??

.... BLUEBERRIES!!

Here is the Menu that we came up with .... (links are provided for recipes)

- Fresh Garden Salad (org leaf lettuce, garden basil, fruit (blueberries of course), veggies, and a homemade blueberry balsamic dressing) - Tracy makes the best salad dressings from scratch!

- Rosemary Chicken with Blueberry Sauce - I found this recipe and let me tell you what, it rocked BOTH of our worlds!!! We would both HIGHLY recommend it!!

- Fresh farmer's market green beans (ok, we needed a veggie, but didn't have any blueberries)

- Blueberry Anadama Bread - Tracy found this one and it was awesome! A great bread you could even make GF substituting brown rice flour for the all-purpose flour.

- Dark Chocolate Almond-Blueberry Turtles -- Unfortunately our first attempt with this didn't go so hot. First of all, we both learned that you can't add margarine to chocolate for dipping purposes! Any of you chemistry buffs know why it just makes it hard? Second of all, I learned that chocolate can burn very easily! (Who knew?) I couldn't get the chocolate to melt in a double boiler, so I put it in the microwave ... long story short it burned ... we put water on it ... poured it down the drain .... caused some serious plumbing issues and had to call a plumber! (Good thing one of us knows one pretty well!) Chocolate batch #2 worked much better and provided an amazing end to our amazing meal! (PS. Tracy even had a decaf blueberry coffee -- I was so proud of myself ... I took 3 sips without completely gagging and puking!)

Here are a few pictures journaling our experience! We have already decided we are going to do this again next month! It is my turn to pick the "Secret Ingredient!"

Batch #1 of Chocolate before it burned! Yikes! (At least it still smelled good!)

The blueberry-pomegranate sauce for the chicken simmering!

Tracy cutting up fresh zucchini and squash from her garden for the salad!

The chicken marinating in olive oil, black pepper, and garden rosemary and lemon basil! YUM!

My first attempt at melting chocolate ... after this picture I stuck it in the microwave!

(Bad news bears!)

Something on all 4 burners!

The final presentation .... THE PLATE! It tasted as amazing as it looks! YUM!!

First bite of the amazing turtles!!

After our first edition of IRON CHEF: Tracy and Allyson, I can't wait to cook again! We had such an incredible time together and ate some yummy, healthy, fresh food!!

I am now taking suggestions in the comment section!! Please leave an ingredient that you would like me to use in all courses! I will then blog about the menu and link up recipes!!!

Iron-Chef wanna-be,

Allyson

Save Energy, Save $!!

Cloth Diapers and Dryer Balls

I have been following (ok, maybe stalking) Melinda on her Buddha Bunz FB page. Over the past few months, everyone in my little "Green-world" has been raving about dryer balls. I thought to myself, "how in the world could those really make a difference." I continued to put off trying them until I talked to Erin, and she convinced me that they really shaved off serious drying time! As many loads of laundry I seem to do these days, I thought ... hum ... wonder if saving energy could really save me decent $$$! Once Melinda hit 1000 FB fans, she put her unscented dryer balls on sale for $5/each. I thought .... now is the time to take the plunge and order 2 of them!

Last week I received my Buddha Bunz Unscented Dryer Balls in the mail (not to mention in a compostable shipping bag which is in our compost bin as I type -- way to go Melinda!)! I am officially HOOKED on the dryer balls. I have done at least 6+ loads of laundry and 2 FULL diaper loads! With each load of laundry, I have seen a minimum of 20 minutes saved and a maximum of 30 minutes! Can you believe it? If I do 10 loads/week (including diapers), that is saving 5 hours of drying time! I can't wait to get my next energy bill to see the savings!!

Head on over to Buddha Bunz's facebook page and or website to see the technology behind the dryer balls and how they could save you $$$$!

Plus, she makes them in many scents if you prefer your clothes to have a "natural fragrance." Her scented balls are OK with cloth diapers too (if you are worried!)

Saving the earth and not to mention some $$$ one load of laundry at a time,

Allyson

Elmo LOVES dryer balls too!

18 months ALREADY!

I just can't believe my baby girl is 18 months old!! It just seems like yesterday when we were bringing her home from the hospital! Ok, well, maybe not yesterday, but definitely not 18 months later! It has been so fun to watch her grow, develop, and change into such a beautiful young little girl! It seems like she learns a new word each day! I wrote them all down and I counted close to 50 words!! She continues to run, climb, and talk more each week!! Hummm .... wonder where she gets her non-stop talking trait from? One guess ... and it isn't her father!

Yesterday we had her 18 month apt with the doctor and her stats completely blew me out of the water ....

Weight: 27 lbs (75-90%) -- up 3 lbs from 3 months ago

Height: 35.5 inches (off the charts, >100%) -- up 3.25 inches since her 15 month apt!! Now we aren't talking "just barely off the charts," we are talking an inch above the normal growth curve! Guess that is what happens when your parents are 6'1 and 5'8.5!

OFC: 19.25 (back on the charts again, 95-97%, didn't change from her 15 month apt!

I almost fell out of my seat when she told me her height! I knew she had been growing, but no wonder why her 18 month dresses look like they should be a shirt!! Good thing I started buying 4T dresses for next summer!!

In other news, I was able to reconnect with an old friend of mine on Thursday afternoon! Lisa and I worked together at Meijer pharmacy for many years! She was my role model going through pharmacy school and she moved to AZ over 5-6 years ago. We had lost touch over the years until I saw her name in the Butler Alumni magazine for the birth of her twins, just 21 days younger than Sophia!! What are the chances?? I searched for her on FB and google with no luck. I finally got brave and looked up all of the Lisa ___'s in AZ and found one that "could" be hers! I typed up a letter and mailed it! To my surprise, I found the correct one!!! It just so happened she was flying back for the holiday weekend and had some free time!!

It was so fun catching up and letting the kids play together!!

Here is a snapshot of the kiddos after a few hours of playing hard!!

(Believe me, this was really hard to get!)

Sophia, Christopher, and Lauren

Now we have a new place to vacation and friends to visit!! AZ here we come (in the winter months of course!)!!

Allyson