Picking Apples at Nana & Grandpas

Can't beat free apples, so when my mom offered to have us over to pick off their tree, we jumped on it. The tree was packed with bunches of apples. I was surprised by the amount after the wacky weather we've had this season. 

Mom & Ron's backyard - heading to the apple trees.

Sienna helps with the picking.

And filling her own bucket.

After a few minutes of hand picking and contemplating a ladder, Justin got his truck and parked it right underneath the tree. It was much more efficient to stand on it and quickly fill our buckets with apples. We cleaned the tree in no time.

The buckets of apples after picking.

We didn't take home all the apples but filled up a few grocery bags. These apples aren't great for eating, but awesome for baking. So far we've made a big batch of apple sauce that maybe used a quarter of the apples. If you have good apple recipes send them my way!

Cooking Club XII

Another Cooking Club for the books. This time we traveled to the other side of the world and experienced Vietnamese cooking. It was quite a treat and I discovered a way that I actually like tofu! I never thought that would be possible, but that's exactly why I love Cooking Club so much. It expands my horizons to foods I would never try at home. The teams were: Justin & Cran, Cari (subbing for Brent) & Jenny, and Jeff & I.

The cocktail we tried to make was bubble tea! I think half of us liked it but it was a lot of work and very different from the bubble teas you can buy. The bottom of the recipe even recommended just going to buy yourself a bubble tea and save the trouble of making it. 

The first course was a Beef Faux Pho. I have always wanted to try a Pho so I was very excited for this course and it didn't dissapoint. The base soup has noodles and beef. Then it was topped with bean sprouts, cilantro, radishes, lime and Sriracha sauce if you dared.

The main course consisted of: 

Spicy Lemongrass Tofu. I really liked this. The tofu was crispy on the outside and creamy in the middle. It was a very spicy dish. Jenny & Cran declared it too spicy for them. Jeff, Justin, and I thought it was great that way. I even spooned the toppings onto my rice so I could eat it all. I'm not sure I could eat tofu as a main dish but it worked well with the others.

Sweet and Sour Shrimp & Pork Crepes. This dish was the winner of the night. The crepe filled with sauted shrimp and pork, topped with herbs and a sauce and then wrapped in lettuce. Almost everyone went back for seconds. It was definitely the one that took the most work too but worth the effort. 

Beef and Green Bean Vietnamese Stir Fry. This dish was ok. The beans had a good crunch to them, but I thought it was a little bland.

For dessert we had Mango Coconut Sticky Rice. This was very good, but heavy and we were all pretty full by then. The rice was very sweet and went well with the mangos. 

Great night. I loved the theme. Thanks Lindners!!

Meet Our New Little Girl

Yep, you read it right! I was wrong again. Baby Jovle 2 is a girl!!! Can you believe it? It's starting to sink in more. I have to say I was really nervous going into this appointment. I knew how badly Justin wanted a boy and that there was still a good chance we could have a girl. Justin reassured me that either way he would be fine. And so we headed to the ultrasound.

The tech right away said she thought she knew what it was but wanted to get us a good picture to be sure. As she was poking around she called the baby sweetie and I knew it was a girl. She showed us THE shot and asked if we had a guess. I didn't see any boy parts but it was hard to tell what we were looking at. Then she labeled the screen with "It's a girl!"

Baby girl was very active. She jumped all over the place while we were looking. She also kept swallowing, opening and closing her mouth. It was very cool to see. The tech even made us a little video of it!



I am so excited for Sienna to have a sister. I don't think we could be giving her a better gift. Baby girl we are so excited to meet you! Now comes all the fun stuff like nursery decorating and picking out names.

Little Ballerina

Ever since I found the book Best Ballerina Ever, Sienna has been talking about being a ballerina.  She loves having us turn on music so she can dance around. I was very excited when I found a Tiny Tots class for 2-3 year olds. It's a Mommy (or Daddy) and child class, half hour, once a week. Perfect! Sienna was so excited to buy a tutu and ballet shoes. Although every time I asked her if she wanted to wear them she said no. Luckily come the day of the class she was ready to put the outfit on.

Modeling her new leotard and tutu before class.

Showing off her ballet spins.

Despite not feeling great, Sienna was still excited for class. We got to the dance studio and she was ever so eager. Even willing put her ballet shoes on. We met the other little girl and boy in her class. As soon as we stepped into the dance room she froze. She was very scared and clung to me for the first 10 minutes. She wanted nothing to do with the mat activities we were doing. After the mat was put away each kid was given a spot to stand on and we learned a little duck dance routine. She didn't cling to me but wouldn't move at all; just watched everyone else. Finally we were given some free style time and she warmed up. The last part of class we she did everything and had a blast. She will still tell you she loves her dance class and can't wait to go back. 

Posing at the end of class.

Showing off her sticker that we all got at the end of class.

After dance class we had to head to the Drs office. While we were waiting for the Dr to come in I was distracting her and asked if we should do our dance routine. She knew all the moves and did them all with me. It was so cute to see. Tonight she came up to me, started doing the first ducky move and wanted to do the routine. I can't wait to see her next week at class!

Big Girl Bed

One thing on the checklist before baby was getting Sienna into a big girl bed. Ever since she turned 2, we have been playing up that she's a big girl now and this was her first big girl transition. Sienna has always been a great sleeper for us, plus she's very cautious about everything so I wasn't too worried this would be a hard transition. And I was right. We let her do some furniture shopping with us and help pick out the bed. We also talked about the bed for a couple weeks. She was so excited to sleep in it. The first night it took her almost an hour to fall asleep but she never tried to get out. She mostly laid there and played with her stuffed animals. We only had to go in there once to retuck her in. Even better the next morning we had to wake her up after 8! She's done great ever since, although hasn't slept nearly that late again. 

Her new dresser. Once she's potty trained she'll get a mirror with it.

View from the doorway to the right.

New bed!

Showing off her Minnie Mouse pillow case and sheets.

Loving her new bed.

Belly 20 Weeks

 Here's the latest belly pic! I'm 21 weeks today. (T minus 1 week and 1 day to the ultrasound!!) Sienna didn't get in these pictures but she sure knows there's a baby in Mommy's tummy. She loves giving my belly kisses and hugs while saying, "I love you baby! Sooo much!" I hope she keeps saying that once this baby is here.

Baby Pool Reminder

As I posted earlier, we were supposed to have our ultrasound today. Unfortunately we had to reschedule the date for some work conflicts so the new date is next Friday the 14th. This means you get one extra week to put your guess in for the baby pool! Keep those guesses coming!

2 Years

Sienna,
2 years old!!! How did you get to be so big? Now that you are 2 everything is about being a big girl. Being a big girl means doing things by yourself or at least trying. Of course that also means some big girl tantrums and stubbornness. But even more it means big girl cuteness. You are still so sweet and loving to everyone and you constantly make us laugh or smile.

Coloring is your all time favorite thing to do. You prefer markers, but will take crayons if that's that only thing around. We gave you an easel for you birthday and that's pretty much all you play with now. If you aren't coloring you're usually playing with your kitchen, cooking up some food. You also love anything with Minnie Mouse. You've started to play with your dolls a little more. I overheard you talking to your Baby Stella the other day. You was asking her what was wrong and if you could kiss it. You take your owies a bit to the extreme. If anyone (especially Conner) even brushes up again you, you'll run over and say you got an owie and want ____ to kiss it.

More of your imagination is coming in. Somewhere you picked up that monsters are going to get you. You like to talk about if they are in the room, if we scared them away, or if they are going to get us. Conner has proven to scare them all away so we keep him close by.

Next week you start your dance classes are you are sooooo excited. You love to talk about going to dance class and being a ballerina, even though you don't really want to put on your tights, leotard and ballet shoes. I am hoping we'll get through all that with minimal tears. :)

Your communication skills are definitely your strength. The Dr. even said you are talking at a 2.5 - 3 year old level. It's been great for us because you can tell us your needs and what is wrong. We feel very spoiled to be able to communicate with you so easily this early. My favorite word that you say is "Uey" for Zoey. You also have the cutest expressions. My favorites: "Oh my goodness!" "Conner's Crazy!!" (when he's running laps around the living room) "Oopsie Daisy!" "You love me?"

Your teeth are still coming in very slowly. You still need your bottom eye teeth and all 4 of your 2 year molars. I would guess those won't come in for another 6 months. I am so looking forward to the days of teething being done!

We also got your official measurements. Still staying on the smaller side expect for that head. No wonder those shirts are so hard to get on.

Height: 33 inches (27%)
Weight: 25 lbs 13 oz (38%)
Head: 19.5 inches (92%)