A Long Day + A Long Night + A Long Morning = A Long Blog Post!

Yesterday was a fun (although slightly crazy) day!  My morning started off with an announcement at work for our division's rating for the year.  We all had a pretty good feeling that it had been a rocking year for us but didn't know how good until yesterday!  The best part is that we have some truly amazing leadership and they blessed us with a pretty A.MAZE.ING gift!  Fun! Fun!  So everyone out there reading this...keep up the good work with buying General Mills products and keeping me in a fabulous job!

After that wonderful announcement my day of traveling began!  I started off at building #1 then drove to building #2, then back to building #1, then on to building #3!  After I was done with my day of travel at work I went to pick my dad up from the airport!  WooHoo!  The only thing that sucked was that my traveling time just continued.  First there was an accident that had me sitting for over 15 minutes...then I finally got moving just in time to find fabulous construction with bad signage (this means that of course I took a wrong exit and added an extra 10 min onto my already excruciatingly long drive!)  I finally reached the airport to get my dad and then we headed back home in the heart of rush hour traffic.  Since I had just gotten gas yesterday morning I had reset my odometer and it turns out I drove over 75 miles yesterday!  Craziness!

When we got home Little L was excitedly waiting for her grandpa!  She warmed up right away even though it has been a long time since she saw him in person.  (Thankfully we have ichat which allows her to "see" him on a weekly basis)  I noticed though that she was starting to sound like the runny nose she had for a few days was turning into something more...so after some fun with grandpa we gave her some baby tylenol and put her to bed.  And this begins our long night...unfortunately she only slept for about 1 hour before she woke up and was coughing so hard she actually threw up a little!  We got her out of bed and changed her and the sheets and then put her back down.  She seemed to be doing ok and I thought she was going to sleep through the night when she woke up again around 10:30 or 11 pm.  She was crying so hard that she was really struggling with breathing.  When I went in there she had worked herself up to the point that I knew she wouldn't go back to sleep very easily and even if she did she would probably be up again.  So I decided to just sleep with her in the full size bed in her room.  Which means I didn't really sleep that well but she at least slept through the night until 6am.

Onto the long morning...when Little L woke up she seemed in pretty good spirits even though she didn't sound the best.  We put her down for her morning nap with grand plans of everything we were going to do today.  Then she woke up about an hour later and she was crying and truly grasping for breath!  I was actually just about to jump in the shower before she woke up so I was still in my pjs so I had to throw some clothes on and quickly get ready to take her to the pediatrician's office.  Thankfully we had total favor there and we got in quickly.  Apparently she is fighting off croup right now!  Yuck!  It basically means that her airways in her throat are swelled up so we had to get a prescription for steroids to help with the swelling.  I had to wait for what felt like forever at Target to get the prescription filled.  So the long morning kind of melted into a long day too...

Little L is such a trooper though, and she is definitely fighting the yuckiness!  She just gets a little freaked out whenever she has a big coughing fit.  She is sleeping soundly right now and will sleep all the way through until 7 or 8 am tomorrow morning in Jesus Name!

My dad leaves tomorrow to go up to his lake cabin and the hubby will be filming one of his scenes for a movie he is in so Little L and I will get to hang out together.  We won't get to actually go to church to see Jessie Duplantis but we will be able to watch it streaming at home!  Yea for technology!

Now to cap off this day with what will hopefully be a LONG night of sleep!  :)

Weekly Update - Happy Father's Day!

Sorry I missed posting last week!  Things have just been a little crazy around here!

So first off I have to say Happy Father's Day to all of you fabulous fathers out there!  Especially to my hubby!  What a great dad he is!

Things I love about his daddy-ness:

• always telling Little L how much he loves her, how proud he is of her, how special she is, how she is his princess, etc., etc., etc.!  
• willing to change diapers (even poppy cloth diapers!)  ;)
• loves to hug and kiss his little princess whenever he can!
• reads to her every night before bed!
• prays with her and for her every day!
• tells her about Jesus and how much He loves her!  (even more than daddy loves her!)

I could go on and on about the hubby and his daddy skills but I'll stop here!

To celebrate daddy, Little L and I put together a basket of goodies that he loves!  I also made a t-shirt especially for Little L.  I had seen this idea on an Etsy site and when I realized I had some iron on transfer sheets from some project years ago I decided to give it a shot myself!  So here is the shirt I made: 

I thought I did a pretty good job centering it on when I did it but on Little L it looks a little off center...oh well! 

And here is the best picture I could get of Little L in the shirt...she wasn't interested in getting her picture taken today at all!

We also decided to splurge on some steaks and grill those tonight for dinner.  (I know the hubby will have to "cook" on "his day" but at least he gets steak!)

Now on to the update... 

The last few weeks have been full to say the least!  Full of rain if nothing else!  I'm really glad we got all that rain though since it has really helped our yard.  Little L had gotten a little bit of "cabin fever" though so we took an outing to Como Zoo last Wednesday.  (And so did everyone else in the Twin Cities!  It was so packed...a post on that later!)  

One other fun thing Little L and I did was have lunch with my grandparents and my aunt and uncle!  They were on their way back to ND and decided to stay here for a few days to catch a Twins game in the new stadium.  We were so excited that our schedules worked out and we got to see them for a little bit.  Little L wasn't willing to show off her talking skills in public but she was a good girl and gave GG (great-grandma) and Great-Grandpa kisses!

The hubby is gearing up for his Krav Maga instructors training that will be happening in just a few weeks, but besides that he is also getting prepped for filming this coming Saturday!  He is going to be playing his largest roll yet so he is really excited!  I can't wait to see all of his different movies!  Some are coming out soon so I will update when I know more!

I've had some crazy work weeks since I have been flexing my schedule a lot recently to make it to some meetings.  Thankfully they have been fun ones!  I've been blessed with some really fun "end of the year" gifts at work (our fiscal year ends in June).  I do really love working at General Mills!  (Plus it was just rated as the best large, publicly held company to work for in the Twin Cities and it got second overall the categories!)

Our schedule won't be slowing down at all in the coming weeks and this one is no exception!  The hubby's aunt and step-grandpa are going to be in town this week so we will be doing some stuff with my mother-in-law's family.  Most of them haven't gotten to meet Little L so it should be fun!  Then my dad flies in and after a few days with us he will be headed up to the lake for 2 weeks.  We will join him next week for about 5 days.  I can't wait to see how Little L reacts to the lake!  I'm sure she will LOVE it!

To top it all of we are having our Upper Midwest Faith Explosion Week at church starting on Tuesday night.  Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Crefflo A. Dollar, and Jesse Duplantis will all be preaching throughout the week along with some other great preachers for the youth!  Come and join us for one of the nights if you live in the area!

Again, Happy Father's Day!  And may your week be filled with "Happy Days"!

Things I Love Thursday - Flowers that grow on their own!

Ok, so I know I am REALLY late in posting this but I figured...better late than never right!?!?

Right now I am so loving my day lilies! I planted them last year and they are back this year!  I am so not a gardener.  I wish I was but I seem to have a black thumb...I know I have to water my plants but somehow I always manage to forget (or just put it off until whatever it is I planted that year is withered away to a crisp nothing).  Because of that tendency of mine I have decided to only put "hardy" plants in my yard (and by hardy I mean grows no matter what I do!)

Thankfully we have also been getting lots of early summer storms that have brought plenty of rain to keep my "hardy" plants looking good!  In fact we just had a crazy storm move though tonight.  It didn't bring a ton of rain but the sky afterwards was amazing!  Very greenish tint to it!  So I decided that with that fun color in the sky I wanted to snap a picture of one of my "hardy" day lilies!

This picture is straight out of my point and shoot camera!  Yes, I do have photoshop elements but I didn't do anything to this picture and I just LOVE the colors!  I am certainly not a great photographer by any means but I thought the lighting with the crazy sky was too fun to pass up.  I am sure if I had a better camera (or knew how to work mine better) this could have been even more beautiful or if I play around in photoshop I could make it look even more fun but I am too tired tonight!  

Posts about our trip to the zoo coming soon!  I promise!

Make sure you check out thediaperdiaries.net!  She is the one that hosts "Things I Love Thursday" and she has a really great blog!  :)

Winner of EcoMom Giveaway!

Drumroll please.......


Laura W. won with comment #30 (I used Random.org to get the number and tried to get a screen shot of it but failed...sorry, I am just not that tech savvy yet!)  

Laura W. said...

GFC follower #2 (Laura Wilson)
LauraL444(at)yahoo(dot)com

JUNE 4, 2010 9:01 PM 

Laura, check your inbox for an email from me!

Thanks so much to everyone that entered!  It was a lot of fun and hopefully someday down the road I'll be able to host another giveaway so stick around!

Have a blessed weekend!

ERGObaby Carrier giveaway Ends tomorrow...

I am SO wanting to get an ERGObaby carrier and I am hoping I win this giveaway!  It ends tomorrow so if you are interested get your entries in now!

Know what else ends tomorrow....my first giveaway!  If you haven't checked it out yet there is still time!  :)

Things I Love Thursdays - Our Grill!

I am so loving having a grill!  I still can't believe we went for so long without one!  

We made burgers our first night and they were pretty good (especially for our first try).  Then we decided to grill some thin cut pork chops that I had gotten for a good deal at Cub.  Normally I am NOT a pork person (unless it comes in the salted and cured forms of ham and bacon....ummmmm....baaacccoonnn!) so I wasn't totally thrilled about the pork chops but I knew the hubby would like them.  I figured if I coated them in a yummy marinade they might go down a little easier (boy was I right about that!).  I mixed up some soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, ginger, and garlic and then let the pork chops swim in that for a few hours.   After that we fired up the grill and went to town!  

We also grilled zucchini (thanks to my friends over at the Wharton homestead for introducing us to the yummy goodness that is grilled zucchini!)  I have had zucchini before but never grilled until a few weeks ago and let me tell you...it is fan-tab-u-lous!  Just put on a little olive oil and Lowery's seasoning and you've got yourself a hit!

I almost forgot to snap a picture of our yummies but I got one of my plate just before I finished the zucchini!  And  just look at the beautiful, sugary, glaze on the pork chops!  The last picture is of the hubby shutting the grill down for the night.  I'll have to get ones of him actually cooking soon!

Yea for summer and yea for our grill!  :)

Weekly Update - It's Grillin' Time!

That's right!  We got a grill!  WooHoo!  For those of you that don't know, we have been grill-less for the entire 4 years of our marriage!  Hard to believe it but it was just one of those things we kept putting off buying.  We ended up getting one as an early Father's Day gift so the hubby got to do the picking out.  He decided he really wanted to start with a charcoal grill (for flavor and cost reasons).  We ended up finding a Char-Broiler grill at Fleet Farm and it was even on sale for $100!  The cool thing is that you can use it as a smoker too!  Should be fun trying to figure it out!  We have to prep it this afternoon (it has cast iron grates that we need to season) and then it will be burgers on the grill for dinner tonight if all goes well!  (I'll have pictures soon!)

Little L is starting to grow her vocabulary pretty fast now that she is understanding that words mean something!  She has most recently added "ball" and "bible" to her list!  It is amazing to me how much she knows and understands.  Lately, as we look through her picture books I've been asking her to point to different things (i.e. animals, body parts, food, etc.) and she almost always points to the right thing on the first try!  I can't even believe how fast she is learning and growing!  Seriously, this whole mommy thing is really fun!  :)

Here are some pictures from Memorial Day grillin' with the in-laws:

Nose to Nose with Sparky!Outside with Grandma CarolPlaying with Grandpa GaryGiving Felix some "love"

The hubby is getting closer to his instructor's class for Krav Maga so he has really been focusing on training and learning everything he can.  It is fun to watch him be so passionate!  On Saturday morning he was an extra for a music video that is for some up and coming performer (I haven't heard of him but Hubby says he preformed for them and was pretty good).  The video is for Kidney Research and is supposed to be on MTV and VH1 so we will see!  Next on his list of projects is a mob movie filming here in the Twin Cities.  This will be his biggest roll yet so he is really excited!  Some of the other movies he was in will be out sometime this summer so I will update you when we know more.

As for me, well, it was an easy week at work, which I love!  We had a team offsite for most of one of my days which basically means we ate some yummy food, chatted, drank LOTS of Diet Coke (or at least that's what some of us were drinking!), and played some lawn bowling.  I truly do work for a great company with some awesome managers!

That's all for now!  Don't forget to enter my giveaway!  :)

May your week be filled with unexpected blessings!

EcoMom Review and Giveaway!

WooHoo!  My long awaited first giveaway is here!  Sorry it took so long but I wanted to make sure I did my best on this since it is my first of many (I hope)!

EcoMom was so gracious to send me a Plum Organics Sampler for Little L to try out!  Now, I don't really consider my self to be very "crunchy" or "green" but I do like to make sure that my babe gets the best foods to help her grow (not to say that she hasn't sampled such fabulous food offerings as the pop tart and bologna but lets not focus on that right now...).  Needless to say I was really excited for the chance to try out some healthy snack options for Little L and share my thoughts with you!  The sampler I received had a box of Plum Organics Apple Carrot Fiddlesticks and a couple Plum Organics Strawberry Mish Mash and Plum Organics Peach Mish Mash.

Little L was excited to see what was in the box when I opened it up and the first thing she wanted me to do was open up the Fiddlesticks!  She seemed to like them well enough and I really like the fact that they have veggies in them.  They are shaped like sticks which is fun and not like any of the other snacks I have gotten for her before.  The texture is perfect since they aren't to hard but they aren't too mushy or crumbly either!

What a look!

Next we tried out the Mish Mash, which is basically fruit puree in a pouch.  The first one Little L tried went FAST!  She basically sucked the whole thing down and didn't even make a mess (which I have to admit I was expecting it to be pretty messy).  She has since eaten the other samples we got and unfortunately our no mess run didn't last very long...but I have to say they are super yummy!  (Yes I steal my babe's snacks sometimes...I'm not afraid to admit it!)  I think what I like the most about these is their packaging.  They don't require refrigeration before opening so they would be great to throw in the diaper bag for those much needed snacks-before-a-meltdown-happens moments!  Another bonus is the fact that you can close them up again with the screw on cap in case your little one doesn't finish the whole thing.


About EcoMom
EcoMom is a web based store that helps you take small steps to healthier living.  It was "founded to address the connection between the health of our environment and the health of our children, EcoMom is committed to making eco-conscious living easy, affordable, and rewarding with education, support, tools and products." (from their website)  They don't just carry yummy foods!  You will find everything from high chairs to puzzles at EcoMom!

A new program they are currently offering is called EcoPass.  For a $99 annual membership you get a 15% discount on every order, as well as free shipping with no $75 minimum requirement!


Now onto the giveaway!  EcoMom has generously offered one of you guys $20 worth of Plum and/or Revolution Foods!  This giveaway closes on June 11th at 10:00pm CST.  I will use random.org to pick the winner on June 12th.  The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email I send before I select a different winner!  Make sure to include your email in at least one of your comments so I can easily contact you.

I know you really want to win so here's what'cha gotta do:

Mandatory Entry (This must be done for the extra entries to count)
Check out EcoMom and then come back and leave me a comment letting me know which of the snacks you think looks the yummiest!

Extra Entries (Do any or all of these but please leave a separate comment for each to make sure they all count!)
1. Follow EcoMom on Twitter
2. "Like" EcoMom on Facebook
3. Join EcoMom's newsletter
4. Publicly follow me on Google Friend Connect (2 entries - make sure you leave 2 separate comments!)
5. Follow me on Twitter
6. Blog about this giveaway with a link back here (2 entries - make sure you leave 2 separate comments and the link to your post!)
7. Tweet about this giveaway then leave a comment with the link to your tweet!  Make sure you include @mommyericae and a link back to this giveaway.  You can use the tweet below if you want!  (Tweet once each day for extra entries!)

Win $20 worth of #organic toddler food from @mommyerice!  Enter Here: http://bit.ly/dl4UCu #giveaway ends 6/11


I wish you could all win but I can only pick one!  However, EcoMom is giving you all a 15% discount off your first order!  Just use SBBL352 as your code and it will be good through June 30th, 2010 at
Eco-friendly Baby Products-EcoMom.

The featured product{s} in this post were provided to me free of charge by the manufacturer or pr company representing the company. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. Please view The Elwells' Weekly Disclosure Policy for more information.