Baby Shower

This past weekend my amazing friends and family threw me a HUGE baby shower!! They worked so hard on everything that I really want to make sure that this blog post reflects how amazing it was.  I figured I should start with the decorations, since that's what everyone  spent the most time on (I'm guessing). The shower was a jungle theme, which I loved!! Mos of the signs read "Welcome to the Jungle Jacob!" little does Jacob know how true this statement is ;0)

The cake in the middle was the cake that Matt and Kimmy made to make the announcement on the gender of their baby (that will be a separate post, but I am way excited!!) Anyways all the little animals you see are edible!! And of course the diaper cake on the bottom left made my Tori... awesome!

Now let's get to the party part of it.  Of course all the ladies looked beautiful!! We played a couple of games, the clothes pin game which people couldn't say "baby," "boy," or "Jacob." If someone did they got to steal that persons. Surprise, surprise... Jaybee and Cindy won that game.  Both of whom are very competitive and have questionable rule following techniques...lol.  We also played bingo when opening gifts (which there was tons!!) and a memory game.  Which everyone wrote down a memory of either me and Mike and we will read it to Jacob at some point (obviously depending on the stories depends on what age if ever he gets to hear them.)

I was so excited that almost my entire family made it to the shower!! I love this picture!! Tutu with her grandchildren and first great grand child!!

Then of course Gabby, who looks amazing!! It was baby Sweet's 4 month birthday on that day! I can't believe it!!

Then of course the token picture of everyone's generosity... Jacob is one loved little boy!! Obviously!!

Thank you everyone for one of the best days ever!! I appreciate everyone's hard work and generosity! I love you all!!

No Knife required...

With the much anticipated arrival of Baby Jacob and my weeks of time off from work, I have decided to get into the kitchen a little more! (really at all). I have re-found my love for my crock pot!! I love that things come out yummy without even really trying.  For example this recipe... Prep time was about 10 minutes (but it all varies on how fast you can open a can)

South Western Style Chicken in a Crock Pot Recipe (I think I need better names)

2 cans sweet corn (drained)

1 can black beans

1 can hot chopped peppers (or whatever spice level you like)

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts

16 oz of salsa

Cheddar cheese

This is super easy... put the sweet corn, black beans, and some salsa into the crock pot and mix together.  Set the four chicken breasts on top.  Put more salsa and the peppers on top of the chicken and cook on low for 7.5 hours.  Honestly I didn't measure the salsa and just went by what I felt.  When you are about to serve it just throw some cheese on top and let it sit for about 5 minutes and the cheese will melt.

You can pretty much eat this with whatever... make it into a burrito. As for Mike and I, we forgot to buy tortilla's so we made some noodles and mixed everything together so it was like a casserole.  Turned out fantastic!! The chicken is so tender it just falls apart with a fork, no knife required!!

Car Seat/Stroller

Thanks to Chris and Sue our car seat and stroller combo arrived on our doorstep last weekend. It is extremely fancy, the Chicco Fit 30! Whoo hoo! Anyways, as most already parents know, some assembly is required on almost all baby stuff.  Mike is in his nesting mode and was very excited to put it together, which was comical to watch, to say the least. Some of the best quotes from Mike were as follows:

1. "I feel like everything is connected, so how is it supposed to come apart?!?" (this was after about 5 minutes struggling to unfold the stroller after getting it out of the box.)

2. After looking for the directions for  10 minutes..."Oh that's a great idea! What genius decided to put the directions in the middle of the stroller where its all folded up!!"

3. While putting on the wheels..." Wouldn't it look cool if there were spinners on these wheels?"

4. "I am gonna practice folding and unfolding it, so I look like a cool Dad."

Needless to say, it was a fun day to watch Mike put it together... and I tried to show off to everyone about how easy it is to put up and down and of course I had to ask Mike for help... go figure!

Baloo was of course helpful the whole time.  He really focused on the box to help out.

And here is the finished product!! (1.5 hours later) Good job Mikey!!

Back to my Roots...

Mike got sick last night (big surprise...lol), nothing major, just a sore throat and a stuffy nose.  So he requested to have me make him adobo for dinner tonight becuase it always makes him feel better.  Oh, I love when my Italian husband turns a little Filipino :0).  Anyways I thought it would be a great recipe to share with everyone.  I will say this... there are exact measurements but I don't follow them.  Just season how you like it.

Pork or Chicken Adobo

3- 4 lbs Pork or Chicken, cut into bite size pieces (the more fat the more authentic, but obvioulsy not everyone enjoys fat as much as my Dad)

1/2 Cup Vinegar (doesn't matter what kind, just use what you got in the cupboard)

1/2 Cup Soy Sauce

1 Cup Water

2-3 Bay Leaves (whole or crushed, whichever you prefer)

2 Teaspoons Peppercorns (whole)

4 Garlic Cloves (crushed or chopped)

1 Medium Onion (color doesn't matter, whichever you prefer)

3/4 teaspoon Ground Pepper

Secret Ingrediant is sugar.  I add about 6 spoonfuls of sugar, but I also use more vinegar, soy sauce, and water.  The thing about Filipino food, which I learned from Grandma Shadd, is that nothing is exact.  Just put in stuff to you liking.

The easiest part of this recipe is the cooking.  Throw all the ingredients together into a crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours.  Serve over rice.  If you want to be really authentic (which for us is the only way to eat it), chop up a banana to serve with it. The banana may sound weird but its AMAZING!! 

Anyways your house will smell amazing all day too... whenever Mike comes home he always says, "I love when our house smells like Little Manila!"

Pin It

21st Century

First I would like to note that writing a blog everyday is a lot harder than it seems.  I didn't realize that without working life can actually get.... well boring.  Not that I am complaining because I do feel much better.  Even my Dad noticed! The other day he said " Wow, you have color in your cheeks again!" LOL.  So yes getting pulled out of work was the best thing for me.  Anyways, staying at home has allowed me to start a lot of life changes.  While we have been getting ready for Jacob's arrival, I have decided that I needed to step my game up as a mother. Well at least in the technology department.  I am now the proud owner of a fancy camera (16 mega pixels and HD movie capability) and an iPhone 4s! Yup the one that talks to you (which is completely unnecessary, but fun none the less). Everyone has made fun of me for the last year because my phone still had buttons, but I never realized how bad it was until I handed my phone to the Sprint guy and he actually chuckled!! Anyways it is nice to join everyone else in the 21st century... I will see you all on Scramble with Friends, Words with Friends, and Hanging with Friends! (Cause really let's face it, that is why we all own one of these things!)

Another Photo Shoot...

I feel like December was full of pictures (considering that was the primary gift to everyone, we had to take a lot of them).  We tried to get all the "kids" together who go to Sunday night dinner, but that was harder than it sounded.  So we did the best we could, but there were very important people missing obviously! Well here are some of my favorites... (We took them with Tori's special camera, which Mike and I purchased a similar one yesterday!! YAY!!)

Us girls in a tree... oh our natural habitat :0) lol

This picture took forever to get cause they kept competing...weird I know.

The Auntie picture for Jacob... I wanna do something with this picture also, but I just need ideas!! Come on people you know I do not do well with craftiness... so suggestions please.

The beautiful couple...Love this photo!!

Although it took some encouraging to get Kimmy into this tree... this photo was totally worth it!!

Again in our natural habitat... Kimmy looks kind of far away cause she did not enjoy being up there, but as usual she is always a good sport about it!

Christmas Eve

Taking a break from baby posts one more time, to talk about the lovely celebration of Christmas Eve!! We had a great Christmas Eve at Debbi and Dayton's house this year! Everyone was able to come which made it extra special. Also the fact that I didn't have to work on Christmas Day didn't hurt the celebrations ;0) Anyways we had a 22lbs prime rib for dinner which was amazing!! Great job Dayton!! It was just a really good calm night with everyone and their families.  Its amazing how much our family has grown in the last 12 years and to think that we are adding two more for next Christmas is crazy!! Its really exciting!!

It was really great to see Jenny!! She came up from LA to visit for a bit! 

And of course the token pictures of the beautiful ladies... the fashion happening that night was amazing!! Look at Sam color blocking like a champ!!

Nursery Complete!!!

Seven weeks in advance the nursery is complete!! I can't believe it!! The credit really goes to Mike... he worked really hard on putting things together and hanging things exactly where I wanted them.  I feel like we have a lot of stuff already... which makes me wonder where we are are gonna put everything after the baby showers (yes that is plural cause I am blessed enough to have 3 thrown for me). Anyways here are the updated completed pictures of the nursery!

 Here is the crib complete with blankets... the second one from the right is the most special.  Sam's grandma made it!! Impressive I know!

 This is the diaper changing area... Baloo is demonstrating where Jacob will be going.

A close up so you can see exactly whats up there.

The closet went from one of my least favorite areas to my most favorite areas.  Mike did a great job of organizing it and Dayton had the genius suggestion to take the doors off so we have more room. All together I am extremely happy with the way the nursery turned out... now we just need baby Jacob!

Preggers Update

Well its official...I am on maternity leave!!! I can't express how much better my body already feels just a week into this leave.  Granted the pregnancy tiredness is still there, but now its JUST the pregnancy tiredness, not complete and utter exhaustion! So I got to thinking about this time off before Jacob arrives, what the heck should I do?  Mike already did the entire nursery (Yup, he is pretty amazing!) and of course there will be cleaning done, but let's face it I can't clean everyday for 7 weeks! One thing that I am going to do is bust out my Rossetta Stone and learn some Spanish (you know after 3 years of owning it I figured it's about time to open it). But other than that I would love some suggestions.  I also wanted to use this blog to show you some of the new pictures from our photo shoot. I love them all!!!

I love this photo!! I just need a cool idea with what to do with it!

 Saw this sign and just had to take a picture in front of it!! I thought it was just too perfect!!