Weekend at the Beach

Saturday morning we packed up the family & headed down to the beach to spend the weekend with my mom & dad. My mom wanted us to relax while she was able to spend some one on one time with Cam. The two of us were even able to go to Guppy's for a fantastic dinner out which is so rare. After dinner, we sat on the beach & had some wine. It was great!



Cam had such a great time on the beach!







It was extremely hot outside but everything was so vibrant & colorful & the water was beautifully clear. We really felt like we were on vacation.







I decided to sit down with Cam & enjoy the waves & we ended up laughing hysterically as I got tossed around.





Daddy & his boy.



Sometimes a weekend away is just what is needed to recharge your batteries. Unfortunately the weekend did go by too quickly but we'll be making a longer weekend at the beach later this month. Check out Cam's blog to see pool pictures with his grandma & grandpa!

Happy Summer!

My Kindle!

I was so shocked when I opened my birthday/Mother's Day gift and saw that Mike had gotten me a Kindle. I had wanted one for a while since I absolutely love to read. I seriously think Amazon should put me on their payroll as an advertiser since I seem to promote the Kindle so much!



It seems that about half of the people I discuss the Kindle with tell me that they prefer actual books; maybe because of the smell, the feel & the idea of being able to see them stacked upon their bookshelves.



Others seem very interested in the Kindle or another e-reader such as the Nook or even the iPad & want to know how I like it & what I like about it.



So, this blog post is to tell you the things I like or don't like about the Kindle.



The only thing I've found that I dislike about the Kindle is the fact that it's really hard to go back & find a part that you may want to re-read. It can take a while to click previous page over & over again if you don't know what chapter you may have been near.

But what makes me love the Kindle so much?

• It can store an endless amount of books in one small package. Perfect for times when you may be taking a trip or even going to the beach & you don't want to pack multiple books.
• I absolutely adore the cute little case that holds my Kindle.
  
• Perfect for a spur-of-the-moment buyer such as myself who loves instant gratification. I'm the type who is in need of a book, hears about an interesting one & immediately wants to run out & purchase it.
• You can enlarge or minimize the print to your liking. I've found this most useful at the gym when I'm on the elliptical or treadmill and would normally be unable to read the print of an average book from that kind of distance. And since you don't need to open the book, it stays in place on whatever piece of equipment I happen to be working out on.
  
• The pages don't need to be turned & you don't need to hold the book open which makes it so much easier to get comfortable in bed while reading.
• There's a dictionary right at your finger tips. All you have to do is move the cursor right next to any word you may not know the meaning of &, poof, there's your answer!
• Long battery life. In the the 2+ months I've owned my Kindle, I've only charged it twice. And I read a lot! I keep the wireless off unless I'm searching/buying a new book which definitely helps conserve the life of the battery.
• Very easy on the eyes since it's not back-lit. I have a book light for it so I'm able to read in bed at night while Mike is sleeping. And since it's not back lit & has a non-glare screen, you can easily read it in bright sunlight.
  
• Very user friendly. By no means am I a techy person & I'm easily able to navigate my way through the Kindle.

But what do I love most about the Kindle? The fact that Mike is now also the proud owner of one so we're able to spend our nights reading in bed, side by side, like an old married couple!

Life Simplified

There's no doubt that I can reasonably be considered neurotic & a bit of a control freak & I wouldn't deny it. I'm definitely a Type A personality who likes to have a sense of control over things. Since weekdays can be very hectic with working full-time, having Cam in daycare & trying to get to the gym as much as I possibly can, it can be tricky to keep up on things. And since I want our weekends to be fun, I try to get as much done during the week to keep things free.



I would much rather my mornings be calm & my evenings be hectic so there are a few things I do each night before I go to bed. We set the coffee pot to brew at 7am since I'm out the door a few minutes after 7:30. Our travel mugs are typically washed & ready to go as well.



I also try to keep my purse & gym bag at hand so I'm not scrambling around packing things up in the morning.



I have Cam's clothes, socks, shoes & diaper waiting on the bookshelf so when he's up & drinking his milk, I can get him changed & dressed for daycare. And if I leave before he's up, Mike doesn't have to worry about choosing his outfit which could result in Cam looking a bit dorky. Just this week when Mike picked Cam up from daycare his teacher laughed as she let him know that he'd been dropped off with his shorts on backwards. Nice!



Cam's sippy cup of milk is ready to pop in the microwave for the morning & his cup with 1/2 juice & 1/2 water is ready to go for daycare.



Other things I do to keep things easier is to have 2 laundry baskets in our closet & in Cam's room so whites and darks are separated & ready to throw in the wash. I also try to keep up on laundry so I do a load at a time & I'm not stuck with five loads on a Saturday. Kind of like I was this past Saturday. Not fun!



And even though our house is only one story, I try to keep a stash of diapers, wipes & lotion throughout the house so I'm not constantly running back & forth.



And most nights when I'm not totally drained, I spend about ten or so minutes tidying up & putting all of Cam's toys where they belong. This helps keep my sanity since I can't stand clutter & it also keeps Cam's toys from getting lost.

You might be thinking that I'm a little obsessive but these few things just help me stay on top of things so our mornings can be smoother & our weekends can be free of cleaning & laundry. By no means does it always work out this way; there are many of nights that I go to bed with the house looking like a tornado swooped through. I guess all of us have our thing... the need for order just happens to be mine!

What's For Dinner?

Whenever we have friends over, I prefer to prepare a make-ahead meal so I can relax & enjoy my time with my guests instead of being stuck in the kitchen cooking. Saturday night after Cam went to bed, I put this lasagna together in anticipation of Sunday's dinner.

We've had this lasagna before, a couple of years ago & it's utterly delicious! As a dietitian, I have to tell you that it isn't exactly the healthiest recipe, but you know what they say about moderation! What do they say? And who are they anyway? Well, that's neither here nor there, so we'll worry about that another time. You could technically make the recipe healthier by using turkey Italian sausage & pepperoni, but what fun would that be anyway? Lets just live on the edge & clog our arteries a bit, eh?

Click here for this lasagna recipe; I can assure you that you will not regret it!



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And tonight, I made a Rachael Ray 30 minute meal which also happened to be delish! This was a Greek inspired shrimp & pasta dish & it was super easy.

I would recommend this dish for when you're entertaining on a weeknight. You can be in the door at five & seriously have this on the table by 5:30 & it will be sure to impress your guests. They'll think you're super woman. Trust me.

Click here for the recipe.



Serve with a glass of white wine & viola, you've got yourself a nice meal!



And why do we prefer to eat after Cam goes to bed?? Here's your clue; I'll give you one guess. It starts with a C, ends in an M and has an A in the middle.

Twenty-Two Months Old!

My not-so-little guy turned 22 months old today! It's seriously hard to believe that he'll be two years old in two short months. Where has the time gone?

Today we started the day by doing laundry & hanging out before we headed to the mall for some playtime and lunch with Kelly & Leah (since Matt was out of town this weekend). Check out Cam's site to see some pictures from this afternoon.



Cam thought it would be fun to relax in Romie's cage as I started the wash. We're watching Romes this weekend while Lauren & Josh hit Miami.



What a goofball!



Now that Cam's 22 months old, we have him doing plenty of chores. If you're living under my roof, you're going to be earning your keep!



I figure that once he's 2 years old, he can start mowing the lawn, cooking dinner and scrubbing the bathrooms. We'll start slowly.



We decided to purchase this little laundry bag to use when washing Cam's socks since a few weeks ago, our washing machine started to make a very unhealthy noise. After calling in a repair man, it turned out that one of Cam's little socks was lodged in the machine. Luckily the repair ended up costing less than $100. If you have a little one, consider getting one of these sacks for the washer/dryer for a few dollars at Walmart. It was actually nice to have since it kept all of his socks together, making them easier to fold.





Part of Cam helping fold the clothes included wearing Mike's underwear on his head!



Cam weighs about 32 pounds, wears size 5 diapers, size 6 1/2 shoes, and will likely be a linebacker in the NFL at this rate. Not sure how he's as big as he is since getting him to eat is as easy as swimming with piranhas & not getting bit.

Cam's talking up a storm & his new saying is, "Not nice fill in the blank." So, if I do something he doesn't like, he waves his finger at me & says Not nice, Mama! It's absolutely hilarious. His favorite things to watch are Finding Nemo & any Baby Einstein video. And since he's in the process of getting his final baby teeth, his second molars, he's been a tad cranky here & there.



He may be moving from baby to boy, but he'll always be our little baby!

Tot Time!

Since Cam's grammy headed down to Sarasota for the day until she flies back to Chicago tomorrow, I took the day off work to spend with Cam. It is a rarity that I'm able to spend a weekday with Cam, so I wanted to take advantage of it & do something fun & out of the ordinary.

Since I heard about Tot Time which is an hour of open gym time at a place near my work, I decided we'd check it out!



Cam had such a blast climbing, jumping & watching the older kids practice gymnastics. It felt strange to be out of work & interacting with stay-at-home moms... it was a very nice change.













Cam decided to brave the mouth of the alligator! And he was even gutsy enough to climb his way to the top of the gator & slide down all by himself. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a picture of that.



I'm so grateful to have the day of with my little man. We hit Target on our way home for some shopping, had some lunch & now I'm enjoying a bit of downtime as Cam naps. Happy weekend to all!