Spring has Sprung!

Wow, again it has been over a month since I last posted anything! Where do I start...what have we been up to? Not that we have had a ton of nice weather as of yet, but I can honestly say Jade and I will be outside ALL summer long! My little girl loves the outdoors! They only way I can even make her think of going inside is to get a snack and/or watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She loves watching other kids play, taking me for walks, walking through puddles, going to the park, playing fetch with Duke, and the list could go on. For my sake, I hope it's a nice summer. Jade will go outside in rain, wind, cold, etc. I would really prefer to play inside on rainy and cold days, but how do you tell your 1 year old that you don't want to go outside when her baby blue eyes are staring up at you as she's standing at the door with her shoes in hand saying "pease?" So, out we go...rain or shine! Thankfully Nate has done a great job with the yard this year too so, we have a nice place to play. It is finally starting to fill in and get thick. It only took 4 years! I can't wait to pull out the pool, but that doesn't like it's going to be in the near future. This spring has been filled with rain...and it looks like we will getting more of that before we feel the "heat" of the summer.

Here are a few pictures to share of what we've been up to this summer...

I guess I forgot to post this a few weeks ago, so will post this anyway...even as I sit down to write another blog entry.

Christmas in April?

I wish I could post some fun outdoor pictures of Jade at a park or playing with the dog or even eating grass...but unfortunately there is still snow on the ground! And, I'm not talking about a little bit of snow...I'm talking feet of snow with snow drifts. In fact, Nate had already changed the oil and run the gas dry on the snow blower only to have to go buy more oil and gas because the 10 inches of snow we recently got was too heavy to shovel. We have yet to hit 50 degrees and still have snow from the winter snow storms. So, instead of sharing pictures of warmth and sunshine, I'll continue to share some of the snow and cold.

This "spring" we have discovered Jade's love for swimming! We were able to stay in Bemidji for a weekend and take Jade swimming a few couple times there. She got to go down the slide like a big girl all by herself and would sign "more" when she got to the bottom. I think it's just as much fun for us to watch her as it is for her to go down the slide. This past weekend we were in Mankato/Alexandria and got to take her swimming again...4 times in 3 days! She loved it so much that when we got home, she found her suite in the dirty clothes, brought it over to me and then sat down like she was ready to get changed and go swimming again! Then the hard part, how to explain to your 1-year-old that we don't have a pool. I think I should get on her Dad about that!

Spring weather is supposed to finally show it's face this weekend...for everyone's sanity, lets hope it does! Out with the snow, in with the green grass and flowers. We are ready to hear lawn mowers instead of snow blowers, motorcycles instead of snow plows, and chirping birds instead of silence!

Crockpot Scalloped Ham & Potatoes

I am finally posting my first recipe! I love using the crockpot and am always looking for easy and delicious recipes.  Here is one my family loved...including Jade!

Ingredients:
3 pounds potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup cooked ham
1 (10.75 oz) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:
Place sliced potatoes in slow cooker. In a medium bowl, mix together shredded cheese and ham. Mix with potatoes in slow cooker.

Using the same bow, mix together condensed soup and water. Season to taste with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Pour evenly over the potato mixture.

Cover, cook on high for 4 hours. I set my timer on my crock pot and then had it warming for an additional 1-2 hours and it turned out great! I might try cream of celery or mushroom soup too as Nate wasn't a fan of the mushrooms.

Seriously...could it get any easier? or more delicious? Jade and I ate it for a few days.  I was really happy to find something Jade liked that wasn't grilled cheese, mac n cheese, pizza, etc. She liked a "grown-up" meal for once! Jade also got to help me make it by sprinkling the cheese on top (which she loved doing).

Jamaica Man!

After 1 year, 1 month, and 12 days I had to leave my baby girl. Not only were we going to be gone for a full week, we were going out of the country for a full week. We were jumping a plane to Negril, Jamaica.  Thankfully my Mom could take care of Jade for the week to ease the separation on my part! We had a little scare in getting my Mom here. In the height of the flu season, my Mom happened to catch it just days before she was supposed to board the plane to Fargo. My parents had actually called to warn me that I might need to find someone else to care for Jade. Yea right! I wasn't about to go out of country and leave my baby for the first time with just anyone! Long story short, Erik came to help out for the first couple days she was with Jade and by the time he left, she felt pretty good. Leaving Jade was hard on me, but I knew she was in good hands...look how well I turned out. This was also the first time a vacation really felt like a vacation!

On to Jamaica! I absolutely loved Jamaica and recommend it to anyone looking for a tropical get-away. The people are very polite and fun, the water was great, the food was good, and the Miami Vice's went down smooth. We were going to be a part of Lee and Jenna's wedding. We met up with the party of 16 in Minneapolis, flew to Atlanta, and then finally Montego Bay. From there we had about a 2 hour drive to Negril.

Looking out from our hotel lobby.

The swim-up bar...where we spent most of our time.

In Jamaica, we spent a lot of time in the sun of course! There were many activities to do in the area, but you also had to drive to a lot of them. The off the resort fun Nate and I did was go down the road to Margaritaville, took a catamaran with the entire party, and Nate went fishing while I went shopping. The catamaran ride is a must!! We sailed off into the ocean with a 3 man Jamaican crew drinking rum punch and red stripe. We got to see the coast line of Bloody Bay and 7 Mile Beach. We were able to get off the boat and swim and snorkel at one point. We didn't see a whole lot off fish, but it was still fun. Then we headed onward to Rick's Cafe! This is a tourist attraction and a must see in my book. You could cliff jump here while many people watched you take the plunge...super fun!

On the catamaran.

Boating up to Rick's Cafe

Me jumping!

Nate jumping!

Our Captain

Then of course there was the wedding day! Lee and Jenna chose a sunset ceremony right on the water. Very beautiful! The ceremony was followed by drinks and a dinner.

Us at the wedding.

Bride and Groom with their parents.

After the wedding...cocktail hour.

By Sunday, Nate and I were ready to come home. We were not only missing our little princess, but we missed our bed, home cooked food, and our normal routine. I guess we're not good travelers. We are good for about 5 days, but after that gets long. We said goodbye to Jamaica on February 5. We got back late Tuesday night to snow and cold and finally got to wake up to our blue eyed beauty on Wednesday! My Mom flew back Wednesday as well. I think Jade had a great time with Grandma. We had to break her of a few habits from Grandma spoiling her, but it sure was nice to have a free babysitter! We wouldn't have wanted to take Jade after being there. It would have been hard for us to do the things we wanted to do.

Christmas/New Years

This blogging thing is harder to keep up with than I thought it would be! It has been over 2 months since I posted a thing! That means we've had Christmas, New Years, Nate and I left Jade with my Mom and went to Jamaica, and Jade is 2 months older. Here is my best attempt to recap our lives the last two months starting with Christmas....

Jade visited Santa before the Holiday festivities began. As you can see she LOVED Santa!

Once again, we were fortunate enough to be able to spend Christmas with both sides of the family. My parents were up from Wyoming and my brother came from Mankato. We spent Christmas Eve at my Uncles with my Grandparents there too. We ate lutfisk as always for Christmas Eve with the Elgin side. Nate actually said it was decent this year and Jade tried it without spitting it out! We opened our gifts there on Christmas Eve. It got to be a late night for Jade so she wasn't totally into the gift opening, but then again she was only 1.

We did not plan the color coordination, but it did make for a nice picture!

Are all these mine?

Jade's pony that Grandma had to let her open...even before dinner!

Christmas Day was spend with the Noland side. We enjoyed opening what Santa left over night. I guess we were all good this year as Santa left something for everyone. Great Grandma Peterson was able to join us for Christmas dinner too.

Helping Daddy open gifts.

Playing with her new toys.

After Christmas festivities came the New Years Party! We met up in Bemidji with Mike and Jean, Lee and Jenna, and the entire Aube family. It was a packed house full of games, drinks, and laughter! During the day, Jade and I made it into town to see Denae and her new little man Samuel. Jade thought the baby was pretty cool! Denae and I spent the afternoon catching up on our busy lives that now consists of a child! Our conversations have definitely changed over the last 2 years!

Jade really wanted to help Denae with Baby Sam!

Possible love connection? Time will tell.

For New Years itself...we were duds. Nate wasn't feeling well and I had a headache, so the 3 of us went to bed at 8:30. We didn't even wake up to the "New Year" shouts coming from upstairs. We probably should have just stayed home, but it was still nice to bring in the New Year with friends and family. This also marked 2 years in a row that we didn't make the count down.

Happy New Year!

The whole Aube/Noland Family! How many additions to this picture will there be next year?

I will post this now and then hopefully get a recap of our Jamaica vacation up soon! Stay tuned...

Happy 1st Birthday

Happy Birthday banners, balloons, presents, cupcakes, food, family, friends, and baby sitters filled our home this past weekend as we celebrated Jade's 1st birthday. I can't believe our little 7lb 14oz bundle of joy is now a crawling, "waking," babbling one year old! We couldn't be more in love with our little girl or more excited to see what the next year has in store for us. She truly has been the best addition to our lives. Things have certainly changed around our house in 1 year too.   Lazy nights/weekends of laying on our comfortable couches TV and movie watching no longer exists. We can't just randomly choose to go out with friends, we have plan and find a baby sitter.  If it wasn't for DVR, I would never see any of "my" TV shows. Our DVD's are no longer alphabetized, in fact we are lucky to have all of them in the DVD stand. All kitchen drawers at Jade's level are an unorganized mess. Our bathroom doors are kept closed so Jade can't "play" in the water or show us all the amazing things she finds in the garbage. Just in-case we forget to close the bathroom door, our garbage cans now sit on top of our toilets and the toilet lids are always shut.  Our blocks that we had in the basement that used to say UND SIOUX now say something along the lines of UN SI  X. Where are the missing blocks? Your guess is as good as ours. We've searched the house and they are no where to be found. There are little finger marks all over the bottom of the TV screen because Jade thinks it's cool that she can turn the TV on and off. We are lucky that she hasn't changed the language on our phone or ordered anything on the TV yet, as she LOVES electronics. The sliding door to the deck is full of drool, along with the full length mirror in our bedroom. Even when our house is "picked up" and clean, it still looks messy because of the explosion of baby paraphernalia. These are just a few examples of what has changed over the last 12 months. I'm sure the next 12 will bring even more change and we are excited to continue to watch Jade change and grow. Here are a few pictures of the birthday girl...enjoy!

The rocking chair Daddy got her. She gets into it all by herself!

Her baby sitter got her a drum set. So far she hasn't been too bad with the noise, but I'm sure that'll change!

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to..."

I would like to take credit for her CUTE birthday outfit too! She had the skirt from the wedding she was in in September, I found the leggings online, and I made her shirt!

And She's Off....

Our tummy's are still full and the pounds have been packed on thanks to a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. We enjoyed a 4 day weekend out at the "Noland Ranch." The new and improved "ranch" was the host to it's first, of I'm sure many, Thanksgiving dinners. We enjoyed food, drinks, stories, and hunting with Nate's parents, his brother Lee and his fiance, and his Uncle Mark and Aunt Barb. Hunting was unfortunately unsuccessful for all of us, although Nate put up a good fight as he was out driving the minimum maintenance roads of 2L much of the weekend. I was even able to get away for a night cruise. We saw a handful of deer, but either not for long enough to get a shot off, on posted land, or 300+ yards away. As they say... better luck next year! Here is a family photo of Jade's first Thanksgiving!

Sunday morning we were all ready to head home. Our little girl seemed a bit homesick, I was ready to decorate for Christmas, and I think Nate was just sick of unsuccessful hunting and wanted to watch some football. Jade was busy walking her walker up and down the hallway as she often does when she decided to ditch the walker and try walking all by herself! Nate was sitting on the floor ready to catch her fall, but she didn't need Daddy's help and walked all the way across the living room to Mommy who was on the couch! I'll have to admit...this brought a tear to my eyes. I don't know if it's because my little girl is getting so big already or because I was so proud of her. Probably a little of both I guess. Here are a couple video's of my BABY walking! She is so interested in the camera that it's hard for me to get good video, but here is what I managed to capture. 

She still isn't "cruising" after figuring out she can walk on her own, but I'm sure we're not far from her being EVERYWHERE! She's growing up so fast, but it's so much fun too. She has such a personality!