In a nutshell

Have you ever been so far behind on something you thought you'd never get caught up? And then you continue to put off said project because you don't know where to start? That's how I feel about the blog. So I'm going to try to get you caught up on what we've been up to the past couple of weeks without writing a gazillion words or boring you to death.

I tend to have a love/hate relationship with computers. It's usually love. But right now it's hate. Here's why:

Two weeks ago we went to St. Louis and Columbia for a long weekend getaway, and I came back (last Monday) to find my hard drive on my main computer had crashed. I had worked on it Wednesday evening before leaving for St. Louis Thursday morning. It was working perfectly fine. I shut it down because I was going to be gone for four days (I usually leave it on all the time), and when I turned it on the following Monday it was just... dead.

Sadness.

Lesson #1 (of 1) people: Use a back-up.
This is the computer I use for work, and fortunately I had all my bookkeeping and business files backed up. What I didn't have backed up was all my music, pictures, videos and documents that I had also saved to this computer. While it would have been a pain to lose the business files, at least those are replaceable. What I can't replace are the thousands of photos I have taken of Lola throughout the first two years of her life. Luckily, I do have some of the pictures in other places... but not all of them. To make a long story short, my hard drive just quit working ("this is not uncommon," said the nice lady at the computer store). So I had to get a new one. In the meantime, the local computer repair store I went to wasn't able to retrieve ANY data from my old hard drive, so it is now on its way to "Geek Squad Central" somewhere in Kentucky (via Best Buy) in *hopes* that some computer whiz in a white coat can extract all or some of my data... for a reasonable price. I'm waiting for my "quote" as I write.

Enough feeling sorry for myself.

A lot of really GREAT things have happened over the past two weeks. As I mentioned earlier, we took a trip to St. Louis and Columbia a couple weeks ago and had a blast. The Blackburns also went, and we all bunked up with the Werners. Here are the four girlies (from left: Keaton, Chaney, Lola, Regan) at the zoo:

After spending a couple nights in St. Louis we headed to Columbia Saturday morning. Matt, Lola and I had lunch at Flat Branch then spent the rest of the afternoon tailgating before the Mizzou-Arizona State game. Lola and Regan enjoyed the tailgate snacks:

We also went to our annual county festival last weekend: Hootin an Hollarin. Lola enjoyed seeing the parade and riding the train (all by herself!):

We finished Lola's new room, and since Monday she has officially moved in and started sleeping in her new bed - a queen-sized bed! We hadn't planned to make the switch Monday night, but right before bedtime she insisted that she wanted to sleep in the "big girl bed," so we said, okaaaay. The first three nights were a little rough (up and down several times throughout the night), but last night she slept all night without getting up one time. So. Awesome. Here are a couple pics from her new room (many more to come, I promise):

And last but not least, I am now 34 weeks pregnant with baby boy Wade:

And that's what we've been up to the past couple of weeks. In a nutshell. More soon!

Ham & Cheese Quinoa Bites

So easy and sooooo delicious. I made these for Lola's birthday party, and they were a hit! This is just an example of what you can do with this recipe - you can substitute any ingredients you want. Spinach, asparagus, broccoli, different types of cheeses... the possibilities are endless!

Source: iowagirleats.com

2 cups cooked quinoa

2 eggs

2 egg whites

1 cup zucchini, shredded

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 cup diced ham

1/4 cup parsley, chopped

2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

2 green onions, sliced

salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix to combine. Liberally spray a mini muffin tin with non-stick spray and spoon mixture to the top of each cup. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the edges of the cups are golden brown. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before removing from the mini muffin tin. These are good hot or at room temperature. Enjoy!

Grasshopper lovin'

We're gearing up for a trip to the zoo, and Lola keeps asking if we're going to see grasshoppers. Hmm... 

A little update

It's been a while since I've written an actual update, so here goes...

As you've seen in previous posts, Lola turned 2 on Sept. 3, and we celebrated for several days with family and friends. She is becoming quite the little person - so sweet one minute and ornery as heck the next. She has been throwing some impressive fits lately. When she does this, she cannot be reasoned with. So we ask her to go to her room, close the door and come out when she's finished. And most of the time she does!

Operation: Get the Wade House Ready for Baby #2 is in full swing. After Labor Day we really got to work on cleaning out the spare bedroom and preparing for baby boy's arrival. We're planning to move Lola to the spare bedroom - a HUGE room that will easily house all of her stuff, including a queen-size bed, dresser and vanity that used to be mine (and actually originally belonged to my great-grandmother). We had the furniture painted white, and it turned out really cute! I'm working on finding new knobs and will post pictures soon. Matt painted all the trim and the walls and hung new blinds. We're getting there!

Something unexpected happened the past two years on Labor Day weekend (two years ago Lola was born 26 days early; last year Matt had pneumonia and was on bed rest). This year was no exception. A couple weeks prior I started to wonder what this year would bring, and that's when Isaac showed up. It was starting to look like a good chunk of the weekend would be a wash out - even though we desperately needed the rain, the timing was terrible. And then my uncle Dan (my dad's only sibling) was put in the hospital. He had been struggling with multiple health problems for years, and he passed away on Thursday. Aug. 30. The visitation was held on Sunday and the funeral on Monday (Labor Day/Lola's birthday). What a bittersweet day it was.

I'm now 32 weeks and starting to feel a little sluggish. I'm still eight weeks from D-Day, but since Lola was early, I'm expecting little man will be, too. I know every pregnancy is different, but we'll be ready at 36 weeks just in case! He's probably well over 3 pounds by now and will continue to pack on the weight in the coming weeks. Oy.

The stray pup we took in about a month ago is still hanging around. A couple weeks ago he let me pet him for the first time and put flea and tick medicine on him. He's wearing a collar and sleeping in our driveway (instead of the woods) now. We still need to get him to the vet for shots. He desperately needs a bath. I tried to give him one on Sunday and again yesterday afternoon, but he is not interested! Yesterday we named him Bo. :)

And that just about sums it up. More soon!

TWO years old!

Today was Lola's 2-year checkup. She was very cooperative, and she only had to have one shot (thank GOODness), and it wasn't even that bad. She is now in the 95th percentile for weight (32 lbs, 5 oz) and the 110th percentile for height (37 1/4 inches). Wowzers! If she stays on the same curve as she has been thus far, Dr. Mai predicts she'll be 5'10". (Matt is 6'2", and I'm 5'9".) Basketball, anyone?

Birthday morning (one week ago today)