Nut bread weekend!

I went home to The Woodlands the weekend of December 13-15 to make nut bread with my sister and mom. It is a tradition in our family to make this bread every year at Christmas time. But, believe it or not, in the almost 30 years I have been alive I have never participated! This was mine and Erin's first year. We were nut bread virgins!

Making this stuff is incredibly labor intensive as you'll see in the pictures. The dough has to be kneaded for at least 30 minutes, allowed to rise for an hour and a half, then rolled out really thin - we used a round table and rolled it almost out to the edges. After it is rolled the dough is brushed with butter, a combination of walnuts and pecans is put down, then a layer of sugar. The bread is then sprinkled with milk to keep it moist. Of course, being the family that we are we changed the recipe a bit. Instead of milk, we used Bailey's. It's my mom, of course we used Bailey's! Next step is to roll it up into one long log and then curled around into a cinnamon roll shape. It is allowed to rise again and then baked. And we did 10 loaves!

This year our bread turned out awesome! So sweet and delicious and you can really taste the Bailey's! Check out our work below (I apologize for how terrible I look - we knew it was going to be a long and dirty process so we didn't get dressed up):
Of course we finished off our day with some Guamanian slushies. Mmmmmmm!

We realized that it had been a long time since just the girls had gotten together to do something. We had a lot of fun. I think the guys were probably glad they weren't around.

That was also my first weekend away from Olivia. John did an awesome job although he did say that he was not at all interested in being a single parent. I was only gone for two nights! I missed them both very much and was glad to get back home.

My friend Renee, whom I have known since 7th grade, stopped by for a visit and just this week I found out that she's pregnant! Congrats Renee! You and Travis are going to be awesome parents.

Holiday parties

I am way behind on my postings. Things got a bit crazy about a week and a half ago and I haven't really been near a computer until today. We had a couple of Christmas parties a couple of weeks ago. One was at one of John's co-workers homes. It was great to have a mini date night. We dropped Olivia off at the babysitter's house and then went out. It was a lot of fun and really nice for me to be able to put faces with names. Unfortunately we didn't want to leave O until too late and we had to get up super early the next morning to get me to the airport to head home for nut bread weekend (separate posting to follow). Here is our Christmas card photo:

The following week we had John's all-staff party at Jobing.com Arena. Some of the players and their families even showed up. They had a little buffet spread set up with make your own cupcakes, etc. It was nice to show Olivia off. She was in a great mood and smiling at everyone. They all loved her pierced ears! The blurry guy behind John is the Coyotes' goalie, Ilya Bryzgalov.

Rest in Peace Busha!

In loving memory of Violette Glomski.


March 27, 1920 - December 18, 2008


We love you! Say hi to Dzia Dzia for us. =)

Convertible car seats

We finally got Olivia a new carseat. It is long over due, and though it hasn't been installed yet, I'm sure it is going to work great. The infant carseat we are using right now is good up to 22 pounds, and since she is already 21lb 6.5oz, it was definitely time to bite the bullet and get her a new one. In hindside it probably would have been easier to get a convertible one in the beginning and then we wouldn't have had to worry about getting another one, but I wanted the travel system. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE the travel system, but in the interest of saving money it probably would have made more sense to start with a convertible seat. You live and learn. At least now I have what I need for the next child!


Of course it took me f . . o . . r . . e . . v . . e . . r to decide which one I was going to get her. I had picked an Eddie Bauer one out online and had every intention of picking it up at Babies R Us last night. It had a weight limit of 100 pounds so it would last a long time. Well, I get to BRU and find the seat and it does not feel comfortable as all. It was really hard, and I was not going to put Olivia in that uncomfortable hard seat. So I didn't get it. But I did end up picking up the one right next to it. It's an Evenflo Triumph Advance Deluxe, rated up to 35 pounds rear facing and 50 pounds forward facing, so it'll last a long time. It is soft and tan so it won't get burning hot in the Arizona summers. This is what it looks like:
Well, this picture doesn't really show you the colors very well. It is not pastel like this picture. It is a tan color, very neutral. I really hope O likes it because I get totally stressed out when I have to buy safety items for her and I don't want to have to go get another one. Plus, I got a killer deal on it.

6 months old!

Olivia turned 6 months old last Friday! I can't believe it! Part of me looks back and it seems like it took forever but most of me thinks it has just flown by. She also had her 6 month check-up and she is 27 inches long and weighs 21 pounds 6.5 ounces. That puts her in th 90th percentile for height and the 95+ percentile for weight. She is still mainly on breastmilk but is eating rice cereal too. We are slowly introducing veggies and fruits will come later. She DOES NOT like sweet potatoes (she literally gagged when we fed them to her), but she doesn't mind carrots. Green beans and squash will be next. The nurse practitioner is not too concerned about how big she is but she did suggest feeding her the vegetables that are lower calorie. Looks like the poor girl is going to have my metabolism.

Olivia did get a new toy for her half birthday. An Exersaucer! She really seems to love it. And I think that Mom and Dad love it even more because it allows them to get a lot more done. =)
We also finally got her a highchair. I can't really tell what she thinks about it, but she does like that fact that she can bang her hands on the tray and make a bunch of noise. I never thought that, with her size, something would make her look small, but the high chair does.
I got an early Christmas gift on Sunday when I took O to get her ears pierced. John didn't want to do it so he didn't come into the store with me, but she was awesome. She screamed for a minute or so but only because I think it scared her more than anything. She lets me touch them and turn the earring so she's not having any issues with pain or infection. She looks so pretty. I wanted to get them done before her 6 months pictures were taken, so it worked out well.

I have a coworker who is a season ticket holder for the Arizona Diamondbacks and they put out a monthly magazine. He always gives his to me when he's done so I can read it and take it home to John. Olivia enjoyed it as well - both reading and eating it.

On Friday John and I get to have a mini date night. We are going to a Christmas party and leaving Olivia with a babysitter. We don't get to do this much so I'm sure we'll really enjoy it. Then next week we have his all employee holiday party at the arena. We'll take her to that one and show her off.