Happy Father's Day

"Any man can be a Father but it takes someone special to be a dad." -- Anne Geddes 

We love you both! Happy Father's Day!

Our week in pictures: 6/12 - 6/18

Sunday, June 12: Project complete! Michael finished his two work benches.

Monday, June 13: Happy 1st Birthday Jacob and Happy 90th Birthday Grandma!

 Tuesday, June 14: I paid the price for not having a blood test in 2 months; I got stuck 3 times, ouch!

 Wednesday, June 15: I got a great walk/run in until it started raining. I was dripping wet by the time I walked home.

Thursday, June 16: This is why I don't buy expensive sunglasses! Thank goodness they were only $12!

 Friday, June 17: Jacob having lots of fun with his Uncle Michael, too cute!

Saturday, June 18: We celebrated Father's Day and my Dad's birthday all in one day. Here's to you, Mr. Sunshine!

This week I'm...

Loving: That I lost 3 pounds this week!
Disliking: All of the restrictions on medical records; they are MY records, why do I have to jump through hoops to get them?!!
Craving: A BLT with home-grown tomatoes; too bad its gonna be a few months!
Hoping: I get the approvals I need to move on.

Reading: Lots of magazines this week, hoping to find some new recipes to try!
Watching: I am so happy Anna and Kristina's Grocery Bag, I love their show! They crack me up!
Listening to: The voice on my Couch to 5K app tell me when to run or walk.
Looking forward to: Celebrating Father's Day with our Dads this weekend.
Hearing buzz about: Loving that the dirty Canucks got beat by the Bruins and the Heat got beat by the Mavs!

Four

I saw this on another blog and thought it was fun so I thought I would do it too.

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1.Worked at the Community Wellness Center at my high school
2.Worked at Linens-N-Things
3.Worked at the ice arena at University of Illinois
4.Now a Marketing Manager

Four movies I would watch over and over:
1.All of the Harry Potter movies
2.Never Been Kissed
3.Live Free Die Hard
4.National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Four places I have lived:
1.Chicago, IL (where I was born until 1st grade)
2.Lockport, IL (where I spent most of my life)
3.Chicago, IL (I bought my first condo on my own)
4.Hanover Park, IL (where Michael and I live now)

Four TV shows I love to watch:
1.Vampire Diaries
2.Every show on Bravo
3.Pawn Stars, American Pickers, Storage Wars (I love all of these new shows!)
4.Grey's Anatomy

Four places I have been on vacation
1.Orlando, Florida (The place I have visited the most)
2.Riviera Maya, Mexico
3.California (San Francisco, San Diego, Anaheim, Monterrey)
4.Lake Geneva, WI

Websites I visit daily:
1.Facebook
2.Google Reader
3.Blogger
4.Old Navy

Four of my favorite foods:
1.Pizza
2.Sushi
3.Cucumbers
4.Raspberries

Four places I would like to be right now:
1.Hawaii
2.Paris
3.Tahiti
4.Even Lake Geneva would be nice!

Wordless Wednesday: Make a wish

New recipe: Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Marshmallow Brownies

I saw this recipe on my Google reader this week and wanted to try them for an upcoming party we have. I'm glad I did try them first because I would make a few tweaks next time. I would double the amount of marshmallow and peanut butter chips and I would maybe only bake it 25 minutes the second time around. Other than that, these are delicious!

Ingredients
3/4 C sweetened condensed milk, divided (fat-free or low-fat is fine)
1/4 C butter, melted and cooled (1/2 stick)
1/4 C non-fat milk
1  box devil’s food cake mix (18.25 oz)
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
cooking spray
1 7 oz jar marshmallow creme (about 1 3/4 C)
1/2 C peanut butter morsels (not gonna lie, I used a very “heaping” 1/2 cup :)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With an electric mixer, combine 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk, milk, butter, cake mix, and egg white. Mixture will be very thick.  

Spray 9×13 pan with cooking spray.  Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of the pan.  Use either floured hands, or spray your hands with cooking spray in order to press it down without having it stick to your fingers. The layer will be thin.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Combine 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk and marshmallow creme in a bowl and combine until smooth. 

Stir in PB morsels.

Remove brownie layer from oven after 10 minutes.

Spread marshmallow layer over brownie layer in pan.  

Carefully drop remaining brownie batter by spoonfuls over marshmallow mixture.  Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.  

 Remove from oven and cool before cutting into squares.

Happy First Birthday Jacob!

Jacob, it seems like it was just yesterday that we got a call late on a Saturday night in June. You were coming, and we would be an aunt and uncle by morning. We were so excited to meet you and finally after waiting what seemed like forever for the hospital visiting hours to start, we got to meet you. We were all instantly in love with you. 

You have literally grown in front of our eyes. We have seen you almost every week of your life this first year. We are so lucky to get to spend so much time with you. We've also baby-sat you several times and you've always been an angel for your auntie and uncle.

One of my favorite things this first year has been celebrating all of the fun holidays with you for the first time. From apple picking, to your first Oktoberfest at our house, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter too! It's been so much fun!

It is a joy to be around you little man. You are so much fun and are developing the funniest personality! You have also helped Uncle Michael and I so much. Every time we would be down about having trouble making you some cousins, we spend time with you and you only further reinforce that we are willing to do anything to have a family of our own.

Happy 1st Birthday Jacob Thomas. We can't wait to watch you grow up, just try not to do it too fast!

We can't forget another special person today as well. Today is Michael's Grandma's 90th birthday! Her and Jacob are date twins and only 89 years apart. We are celebrating with her tonight and I'm sure we will be toasting with a VO shot!

Weekend Recap

We had such a nice weekend. On Friday I worked from home and then when Michael got home he wanted to start on a project for the garage. He's been wanting to build some higher benches for his workshop in the garage. He went and got all the supplies and started working away. It actually came together pretty quick and he got one of them done.

He finished up around 7, we went and grabbed some dinner and came home to relax.

On Saturday, we got up and went to breakfast. After breakfast we came home and Michael went right back to work on his benches. While Michael worked on his benches, I cooked a tray of mostaccioli for Jacob's party and wrapped his gifts.

Michael finished his second bench and was very proud of himself. He just needed to add the countertops and they were good to go.

After the benches were done, we both showered and got ready to go celebrate Jacob's big day! We were so excited to celebrate his first year! Tif and her mom did a great job with all the little details. They had really yummy food too! I took a ton of pictures, but here are my favorites from the day!

We had such a good time at the party, I still can't believe our nephew is going to be 1 tomorrow! After the party, we just came home and relaxed the rest of the night. 

Today we were up and out early. We headed to breakfast at Wildberry, which was super yummy. Then we stopped at Whole Foods to do or grocery shopping for the week. We had to run a few other errands at CVS, Lowe's and Costco. Our next little project is going to be doing something with the master closet that collapsed last week. It will look something like this picture below. It will also be wider since our closet is 12 foot long. Hopefully we can start working on it in the next couple of weeks.

After running all of our errands we came home and Michael was out in the garage again. He wanted to get his new benches in place and top them with the counter tops. They came out nice and they are nice and tall for working on drills. 

Tonight we are just going to relax and watch some tv. We have a really busy week ahead so we need to rest up now! I hope all of you had a great weekend and a fantastic week ahead!