Yesterday and Today

Yesterday was Easter and we had a wonderful day with Grandpa Kipp and Grammy. Max is getting the hang of "opening" things and loves playing with plastic eggs (and eating real ones). He apparently has a problem with the plastic grass, he doesn't like that it sticks to him.

Today Aunt Kara and Uncle Nick got here, bearing more gifts, even an early birthday present.

My Grandpa Fox passed away today, so Aunt Kara and Uncle Nick got here just in time to drive Max and I to Ohio. We'll be there tomorrow night through Monday, visiting family and friends.

Today Max also turned 11 months old. I really can't believe it. He'll take up to 7-8 steps at a time and is getting increasingly comfortable with walking and climbing. I think he's definitely going to be a climber. He's also a dare devil and will try anything. He's such a happy boy and only cries when he gets mad. I just can't believe in 4 weeks he'll be one year old.

And this is why I had kids, once again, to do embarrassing things to them and photograph it for later blackmail.
So cute, Peekaboo!

Easter Morning (excuse my hair, it was very windy here!)
"I think I'll have this one!"

Last Week
We stayed inside because of this:
And so we found there are lostof fun things in the house to amuse us.
Like this that has a million drawers to pull out and push in (with a few fingers stuck too)

And some blanket surfing around and around

And sticking our tongues out and making funny faces


This Week
But we're glad for this week because today there was this:




The neighbor across the street gave Max a tractor she had for their granddaughter, he loves to sit on it, but even more likes to push it.

We spent the afternoon outside while waiting on AAA to come unlock Grammy's van where she'd locked her keys. We had the new house and our car, but it was such a great day to be outside.

I got an AWARD! (.... uh weeks ago)

Oops, I've been a little out of sorts lately, but I'm getting back in the swing folks, I promise. A couple of weeks ago, I got a little bloggy award. It was so nice of my old pal Brandi to think of me.

It's called the Smoking Typewriter, or the "Premios Dardo" Award. I was curious about this award because I'd seen it somewhere before, and so I kept going back and back in the links to find more information about it. (I really do have better things to do around here people, but I get obsessed about things and have to know the answer.) But search I did until I couldn't anymore and it turns out that it's for bloggers that "acknowledge the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day." Ha, maybe now you'll want to take it back Brandi, but you can't I've already claimed it. :) Somewhere along the line there are rules that get altered for claiming this one and I thought they were fun, so here we go.

1. Post the picture of the award and link back to who gave it to you.

2. Google your name and post what comes up. (I used to google myself all the time, and I haven't in a while, so this should be fun.

Apparently CARA stands for a lot of things. Acronyms all around. Here are the top 5 acronyms that spell my name according to Google anyway.

1. Chicago Area Runners Association
2. Community Animal Rescue and Adoption
3. Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate
4. Communities Against Rape and Abuse
5. California Advancement Researchers Association

LAME!

So when I Google my full name, I get myself. I get my blog, I get a copy of the NEWSY (a shortlived newsletter Adam and I put out while in seminary to keep everyone posted pre-blog), I get my facebook, I get my flickr page, I get comments I've left on other people's blogs, I get my ranking of the 5k I ran a long time ago.

LAME AGAIN!

Sorry guys, I thought that was going to be much cooler....

But on to the last rule of the award...

3. Give others the award and let them know they've been given the award. Some of my favorite bloggers are private bloggers, so it's a little hard to do that, but here are some of my favorite "public" bloggers.
Laura - She's got my cutie pie niece, and she's got a photo blog too!
Michele from Extremely Crafty - She's one of my new favorite crafty bloggers
Megan from Hip Home - I've known Megan for years and admire her for her creativity, her parenting style, but most importantly her faith
Amber from Pizza and Ice Cream - She's a dear friend who lives far away and has the cutest newborn around :)

Thanks Brandi for the award, now it's time for some shameless plugging on your behalf....
Check out Brandi's new Etsy shop!

Musical Monday- Chicks that ROCK!

There are weekly themes over at Musical Monday for April. Check it out and join the fun.

My chick that ROCKS is Ani Difranco. She's a soulful, indie, jazzy, angry chick that I fell in love with in high school and still enjoy on those angry days. She's most amazing in person and I still count the concert of hers that I've attended as one of the best days of my life. I can't guarantee any of these songs don't contain curse words. In fact all of her songs contain curse words. So don't listen if that will bother you. In fact I won't even put my favorite on here because there are too many curse words.

As Is- Kinda a love song that I remember driving around town singing thinking of my hubby (well he wasn't my hubby then, but you know).



Fuel- A great statement on society... As true now as it was 10 years ago.


Next week's Theme: The song you're embarrassed to admit you LOVE.... that should be a good one...

I'm Baaaaack!

It's been a long hiatus but I'm back to my weekly posts. Especially with a new one too! I do this every week so I thought I would share.... It's Menu Planning Monday! Check out orgjunkie.com for others who are participating in this! So that means not one, but two posts on Monday! Can you handle it? I'll see if I can.

I've been menu planning for a while, all in an effort to save money. And let me tell you, it really works. I've tried weekly and monthly plans, but just can't be organized enough to keep a good monthly plan. I try to make out a month at a time purposefully leaving holes so that I move things as I go and weekly work around it based on that outline.

So here's my weekly plan:

Monday- "Fancy" Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup (Fancy means with cheddar and provolone instead of American)
Tuesday- Chicken and Rice Casserole and Broccoli (made with Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken, which I'll then use the chicken for the rest of the week)
Wednesday- Quesadillas
Thursday- Chicken Fried Rice
Friday- Sausage Pasta
Saturday- BBQ pork sandwiches
Easter Sunday- (Brunch) Ham, Quiche, Fruit Salad, Waffles, Chocolate Covered Strawberries, Deviled Eggs
Monday- Buffalo Chicken Wings and Spinach Artichoke Dip

We're having "more" than we normally would because guests will be in town Wednesday through next week.

WALKING!

If you didn't see my twitter or facebook, yesterday Max took his first steps!
He's been cruising and standing on his own for so long, I just figured he'd wait forever, but yesterday we finally conned him into it! He took two steps three times for a total of six. :)
Luckily Adam was home for it as well, I'm not sure he would have believed me otherwise.
And then I think, "OH NO! What have we gotten ourselves into?"

A couple of things....

This is more of a bullet list kind of day.... I don't have much time, but a lot on my mind....

• This week has been a tough one for me emotionally. But it went by quickly and I'm excited for that
• I'm super happy to be planning our next "Disney Vacation" for next year. I get to make reservations today hopefully. I've lovingly started to think of it at Kipp Family Vacation 2.0 since there are officially two kiddos this time around (last time Max was still on the inside)
  
• Tonight is another Youth Group Lock In. I'm tired just thinking about it. Good thing I also forgot about it all week until this morning while I was in the shower. A good excuse to take a nap this afternoon.
• I <3 Knitting. It makes me so happy to understand something new.
  
• We have the happiest little kid in the world. He just loves to laugh lately, especially at himself.
• Crochet projects=this previously mentioned scarf/wrap out of Cascade Wool. Yum!
• Reading The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis (it's the first of The Chronicles of Narnia) and this line struck me (Aslan speaking) "This is what happens to those who pluck and eat fruits at the wrong time and in the wrong way. The fruit is good, but they loathe it everafter." Ahhhh so true.
• Remember this Birdie? I made a couple of them last year. Glad I kept one, Max loves to play with him....