Just life

So, what have we been up to so far this week? Pretty mundane stuff that most people won't find interesting. For Jeff, most of his off hours have been spent on the phone with Panasonic, trying to get them to repair our 22 month old TV. If they don't cover it, I feel bad for them. You will soon see a very anti Panasonic blog. Hopefully, they will do what is right and will be less expensive for them in the future.

Sarah has been doing a little shopping to prepare for our trip to Chicago this weekend. We are heading up with some friends for a nice dinner and then a night out on the town. We will have a camera with us, so we might have some funny pictures on Sunday night.

On to the photos and videos:

Sarah and Reagan (check out the new doo)


All of us on Sarah's B Day

Reagan with Grandma Candy and Poppa Bob

Reagan and Mimi

Hey - I have hands!

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Sarah,

Just think, it was just under 3 years ago when I asked you to be my wife. I am so grateful that you took me up on the offer, happy that we are on this journey together and blessed with the happy and fulfilled family that we have started. I cannot wait to see where the rest of our lives takes us, the challenges and joys that it will bring and the strength and love that we will continue to find in each other. You are an amazing wife and mother who I respect, love and cherish every day.

Happy Birthday!

And now for something completely different:

To keep Reagan entertained on her changing table, Sarah often makes a cute noise by pursing her lips together. Today, we saw Reagan start to imitate by pursing her lips together and making the same noise while blowing bubbles.

My Valentine, My Mini-Van

Well, the family trio had quite an exciting week last week. Let's review, shall we?

It all started with a call on Monday evening (the 11th) when we almost walked away from the mini-van deal over $23/month. Yes, that's right, we drive a hard bargain. Once we ensured that we got the payment we wanted, we found out that our van would be ready for pick-up on Tuesday instead of Thursday! I (Sarah) think it is the best car I've ever owned! I am now officially a mini-van mom and I love it. Jeff and I feel it's luxury at it's finest (in the mini-van category) but Jeff can't understand why younger kids don't stare at it when we drive down the road. :)

Moving on, Reagan had her first Valentine's party at Ms. Shirley's house last week! Mommy made cookies for her to take. I decided that the best way to make it look like she signed the valentines was for me to sign her name with my left hand. Remarkably, I was pretty good at it after 21 valentines. Needless to say, Jeff and I raided her valentine stash that evening while she was napping. I can't wait for Halloween...

To celebrate our own personal Valentine's Day, Jeff and I spent a night away from home at the Chateau! Grandma Margie watched Reagan overnight so mommy and daddy could spend quality time together. We had dinner at the hotel and then went downtown to a local hotspot. We quickly realized that it's not quite our scene anymore and decided to go back to the hotel. Luckily my dad was in the area and gave us a ride back to the hotel! What a lifesaver! In the end, Jeff and I had a great time reconnecting and rekindling the spark that got us married in the first place! :)

Oh, but the weekend wasn't over, no it wasn't. We got home around 7:30am and found that Grandma Margie and Reagan had a pretty decent night! Reagan can be unpredictable at night but it seemed as though all was well! We went to church with Grandma and then headed out to the lake to see Grandpa and Mimi! After the lake we came home and spent time with Grandma Candy and Poppa Bob. You could tell by the way that Reagan just stared without any expression on her face, that she was people'd out for the weekend.

And to round out the week (although it happened today), Reagan received her SSN card in the mail! Hooray! Mommy and daddy can now file taxes!

Reagan and Grandma Margie...

The new ride...

Indescribable moments

Around 6am this morning, I realized that I needed to wake Reagan up so that we could get our day started. There were so many more things to do: change diaper, put new clothes on, play a bit, get coffee, get in van, etc. When I walked into her room, she still had her eyes closed but I had a feeling she was not really in a deep sleep. I leaned into her crib and said "wake up baby girl, I love you" in a soft mommy-like voice. What happened next melted my heart. With her eyes still closed, she smiled and kicked her legs in excitement. She then opened her eyes slowly and gave me the most beautiful toothless grin I've ever seen! That is one of those moments that I will remember for the rest of my life. Even when she is married with her own family, I will remember that precious moment. It was so special that I had to share! Have a great weekend everyone!

Another beautiful smile

About food.....

As you may have read on our twitter, Jeff was extremely excited about a new dish that I tried this week. It's called Biscuit Pizza and let me tell you it was indeed spectacular. That is, if you enjoy pizza as much as we do. It was simple to make and extremely easy on the budget. Here is the recipe for your eating pleasure:

2 cans Pillsbury biscuits (I used golden layers or something like that)
- 8 in a can
1 can pizza sauce (or more if you prefer)
Pizza toppings of your choice (we like sausage and pepperoni).
One bag pizza cheese.

Cut biscuits into quarters and layer in bottom of greased 9X13 pan.
Pour pizza sauce evenly over biscuits.
Add toppings and cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes.
Enjoy the party in your mouth!

As a side note, I'd like to add that the pizza was so good that it made up for the two other crappy meals I made this week. Cheesy Hamburger Macaroni which tasted exactly like it sounds, without the cheesy. And Turkey cheeseburgers. Jeff said they tasted alright, but he had to coat it with ketchup before he said that. No feelings hurt here....I couldn't stand them myself! For those of you that know me well, you know that I prefer to bake cookies, cakes, cupcakes, etc. If Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory was real, I'd be painting my face orange and dying my hair green just to get in....

Big week for the Fam!

Short month but a lot going on in February. We spent some time with the Great Grandparents on Wednesday night having a great dinner. They also surprised Reagan with her very own high chair that she loved and a new toy that she played with the entire time, and by "played with", we mean "kept putting in her mouth".

Then Reagan seemed to be a little off during the week. Nothing major, just changing as most babies probably do. She wasn't sleeping as much as she normally would so on Friday Sarah went to the doc for a quick check up. Turned our she was a little stuffed up (which we already knew), but that seemed to be the biggest issue. So what else did we get for our co-pay? Well, we found out Reagan now weighs in at 12 pounds 9 ounces.

On Saturday morning, Reagan spent time with Grandma Candy and Poppa Bob while Jeff cleaned house and Sarah shopped. We then went to test drive a mini van...just test drive, no intent on buying. Not planning that for a while, why rush into it, we need to save money. Well, after a while with the 2009 models, Jeff mentions that we should shop around for a pre owned car since there was a little sticker shock. After that, they asked where we needed the numbers to be, the came back right on the number and offered a great deal that would have been foolish to pass up. So, we signed the paperwork on a new Honda mini van. We should pick it up this week just in time for our big Valentines day plans (Grandma Margie is coming down so we can head out to dinner and then a night out at a nice hotel in town).

This weeks quote of the week goes to Grandma Margie who stated "Now that I have a granddaughter, I am no longer obsessed with getting a monkey". It's a long story and has to do with my brother spending time in India.

And now on to the pictures and videos:



Weeee...


Tiny Smiles


Saturday mornings with mommy...

Super Bowl

Happy Super Bowl everyone! With any luck, your favorite team (of the 2 playing) has played well. Worst case, you have enjoyed some decent commercials and look forward to the mindless summer blockbusters (Fast and Furious and Transformers).

We have had quite a weekend. On Saturday morning, we ventured up to Grandma Margie's since it had been almost 3 weeks since she saw Reagan. Sarah hit the brand new Babies R Us and Jeff hit some of the larger camera stores in town. From there, we ventured over to Manuel and Marci's to see their new daughter and spent time with Kerry and Shannon and their girls. It was so great to see everyone and spend time catching up, although Reagan spent the whole time asleep. It was 15 years ago we were all in high school talking about college, 10 years ago we were wondering what post college life held, 5 years ago talking about mortgage rates and now we all have beautiful families of our own. Life has a way of sneaking up on you. I should also mention we spent time on Skype with Todd and Jen in North Carolina discussing our yearly vacation. Jon and Devon, we were thinking about you guys and the upcoming addition to your family.

We had a pretty lazy Sunday morning, heading out to brunch around 1. I was a little nervous, since the last time we all headed out to brunch, I had a minor fender bender (once everyone was out of the car). Luckily, on this trip I lowered my brunch accident percentage to 50% for 2009. Reagan slept through the entire meal, and gained plenty of stares and smiles from the staff and diners.

I almost forgot, this week we are going to start adding a "Quote of the Week" - just a little quote, when taken in or out of context should make you smile, nod your head or at least scratch it inquisitively. The first weeks honor goes to Sarah for:

"This pizza is not sitting right, I need a brownie"

And now for the pics...

Almost the whole gang:


Sarah and Reagan...


Reagan in her new chair...