This Week's Menu {Mar 27} + Soccer

So much for trying something new each week. Mark called me on Thursday to tell me that during his lunch break he passed by the Baltimore Blast pavilion and they were having a contest to win tickets to Friday's game. They had a wooden goalie set up in a goal and if you could do a single kick of a soccer ball through one of three holes in the wooden goalie you'd win tickets. Well, Mark was brazen and asked one of the players nearby to choose which hole he should kick the ball in. The player chose one and, sure enough, Mark made it in. And won the tickets. And was super happy that he did after being so cocky about it.

All that to say that we didn't have Pioneer Woman's Mini Meatball Sandwiches on Friday. But we will have them tonight. Here's the whole week's plan:

Monday - Pioneer Woman's Mini Meatball Sandwiches
Tuesday - Tuna Casserole
Wednesday - Stuffed Chicken with Rice
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Sleepover with the girls (so whatever we happen to pick up)
Saturday - Chili & Cornbread


The whole story about Mark's big win reminded me of some photos I took of him as part of a photography class I took a few years back, and subsequently made a scrapbook page about. Just thought I share to point out how interesting it is that styles and hobbies can change so much. I don't scrap anymore and am not sure what prompted me to do the page this way.

Valentine's Day

Our V Day was very low-key. We had planned to make a morning trip to IKEA (no real reason for the trip, other than free breakfast), but Charlotte was up most of the night before, so an early morning trip was not going to happen. Instead we hung out at home for most of the day before heading to Wal-Mart in the evening.

Everyone knows that I loathe Walmart. The very thought of going there gives me heart palpations. My hope was that everyone would be out celebrating Valentine's Day with their sweetheart and the aisles would be empty. I was wrong, but it wasn't an altogether horrible experience.

We picked up curtain tiebacks for Charlotte's room (planning to post all about her room soon) as well as a couple cute tops for her. We also nabbed a new digital scale (for our Thursday night crew's Biggest Loser competition) and some groceries. And, Charlotte got her first sippy cup. Yay baby!! We'll see how she does with it later today. She's been holding her own bottle for a while, so I have high hopes that the sippy cup won't be too difficult for her.

All in all, a quiet, peaceful and entirely unromantic Valentine's day. Just my style.

Oh, and I made another page about Charlotte (and Aunt Mandy) a few days ago. That'll be the last of pages about her until I get some work done on baby Raymond's album.

Wild Thing

I finished another layout about Charlotte. This one focuses on the fully awesome hat she wore in Animal Kingdom.

Several people commented on its adorableness, to include our Kilimanjaro Safari driver, who was quite taken with her. Here are some pictures from what was quite possibly the greatest safari ride ever:

Creepy buzzard things. I find it so odd that they sit there with their wings spread.

Ankole cattle. Don't you wonder what he's thinking?

What a poser!

Cute baby twiga!

Twiga and friends.

Elephant bum.

A researcher. I thought it was hilarious when a lady in our jeep asked her husband if he was audio-animatronic.

Kinda looks like he's winking at me, doesn't it?

Babysitting.

And some other animals we saw (not on safari):

Hungry gorilla heading my way.

Chowing down.

A Komodo dragon. Just chillaxing.

I loved the bat area. The others in my group... not so much.

Look, it's a Nemr.

And another.

Quite the little tiff between these two.

Don't walk away when I'm talking to you!

And my favorite... the mullet bird.

They Call Her Chuck

After eight months, I've finally completed my first scrapbook page about Charlotte. I had a plan in mind for a while and am happy to say that it came out as close to what I'd envisioned in my head as I think is possible. The scan is a bit blurry, but that's it pictured below (click to enlarge).



The journaling reads: I really find it quite amusing that even with those cute round cheeks, those pretty blue eyes and that adorable pink tutu, the nickname that has stuck most is Chuck. I’d always envisioned calling her Charlie, and while some people do, it’s never seemed quite right to me. Chuck just seems to fit her somewhat contrary personality so much better, much to Gramma’s chagrin.