And.....she's on the move!

Well, PC officially began her four legged adventures a few weeks ago. She originally started with the army crawl, using her arms to move around and kind of dragging her legs behind her. But now! All the things on the floor have had to be picked up....I mean I'm already kind of a clean freak, so now it just requires extra tiding.

We don't really have a storage place for her toys, well I do have some places in mind, but she can't really access them yet. So....I just store all her toys under her exersaucer. I mean they are out of the way and within reach for the little Miss. Win Win right?!

Well, now that she's mobile she can just crawl right over and grab what she wants......or....you can do this.......

But, then this happened............

She can get under there no problem....but that's where the adventure stops.....do you like how my child is crying, but I have to snap a picture....don't wanna miss a sad/happy/excited/frustrated/angry moment EVER! Thank goodness for camera phones!

A New Healthy Snack

Roasted Chickpeas....mmmmm......

There's a restaurant here that makes fried chickpeas with a lemon pepper. Soooo yummy! Plus, chickpeas are high in protein, of course frying them makes them a little less healthy. They also have iron(which I need), folate, phosphorus and dietary fiber.  We don't own a deep fryer- if we did it would be game over! I'd try and fry everything lol, so it's really good that we don't! But....you can roast chickpeas and they still get crunchy and delicious.

You can coat them with anything, make them sweet, make them savory, make them salty.....We all love to pop something crunchy and these are a lot healthier than potato chips. Full of protein! Bring on the Chickpea!

I'm a big fan of spicy, so of course I made my first batch was a chipotle garlic.

Drain and Rinse

 Spices:

 Before Roasted:

After Roasted: Definitely ~*SpIcY*~

Ingredients:
2  tablespoons olive oil
2 cans Garbanzo Beans, drained, rinsed and patted dry(so the EVOO sticks to it)
1 tsp paprika powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
salt, to taste

Preheat Oven to 425 degrees.
Combine the mixture and stir gently
Spread the chickpeas in a single layer on the baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes until brown and crunchy
Make sure you check on them and stir them up gently - you don't want them to burn! (I stir like every 10 minutes)

Next batch is gonna be garlic parmesan! 

Wordless Wednesday-Baby in Baltimore

We love visitors!

Who doesn't love when friends come over?!

Who doesn't love when people love your little one?!

Well, Auntie Meg came to visit(this post is a little late, but better late than never!).  Meg and I have known each other since 3rd grade! That's a long time ago! So we've probably known each other for 21 years! We went to elementary, middle, high school and college together! Oddly enough though we didn't become besties until college! 

Anyway, she came the weekend of the Race for Hope, yes I know weeks ago! If you know her, you know she loves brunch! And of course.....DC has no tons of wonderful brunch places! I mean how do you choose? Do we pick the unlimited mimosas/bloody mary place? The all you can eat? Fancy? It can get totally overwhelming!  We ended up going to Clyde's for brunch. It's a family favorite.  

Besties! 

PC pretending to be a big girl!

Auntie Meggie- the lion seems so tame! ;-)

Whatcha looking at Auntie Meg? My cuteness?!

Homemade!

I'm Sally Homemaker! Haha, kinda.....

Well, I attempted my hand at homemade baby food. I have no idea if I "did" it right.  I mean can you screw it up too badly? We've been purchasing the pouches of food to send with PC so that the nanny doesn't have to worry about her choking(you know with the whole baby led weaning, or as the doctor called it, feeding the baby table food).  Apparently she does not care for the baby led weaning idea.  At least that's the feeling I got when we went.

The pouches are definitely a lot more smooth than the peas and sweet potato that I made.  I boiled the veggies(not together), then I blended them up using my hand held cuisinart blender. I liked it because it was a lot easier than busting out my ridiculously loud blender and having to take out all the parts and assembling and then cleaning that all up.

I then froze the veggie "mush" in ice cube trays.  PC tried the peas today, she didn't seem to love it. Maybe it was the texture, it wasn't so smooth, or maybe the taste. I feel like peas, on their own blended up like they were, were kind of bland. I do mix the purees with pear, banana or apple, to give an extra sweetness, as well as some texture.

 I wanna help feed myself!

She does love the butternut squash with a hint of cinnamon, that will be the next batch of food I make. I will also try carrots and green beans.  I just don't want to make more than my freezer can handle. Although, poor baby girl is just having a lot of repeats, peas, sweet potato, peas, sweet potato, repeat.... I guess she can't complain, she's been having the same meal many times a day for the last 8 months lol!

All in all, I am pretty proud of myself. It's also pretty easy to get ready for her.  I take out a cube, put it in a glass bowl, microwave for 15 seconds, stir up, then microwave again for 15 seconds, then add some water. Badabing Badaboom!

Does anyone have any favorite baby food that they make? 

Any fun blends?

Race for Hope 5K

This past weekend, Sunday to be exact, I ran a 5K. This "Race" is one that is especially close to my heart. It was The Race for Hope, proceeds going towards The National Brain Tumor Society and to Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure.

In October of 1997, my father, my daddy, passed away from a brain tumor.  He had been diagnosed a year before, but it was inoperable and treatments at that time did not work.  He was strong until the end!

I run in memory of him, in honor of the man that he was! PC will never know him and neither will my husband, but I hope that parts of him(the best parts), will shine out in me so that they can know a little bit of him!

One of my best friends came into town for the race. We've run it together for the past three years and I love traditions and hope that we will continue to carry it on, as long as we can! <3 I was so proud of her! She didn't run prior to and yet she ran the whole thing with us! I mean there were times I thought she was gonna pass me and keep going(we did run together).  We even stayed with the hubs for most of the beginning, as there were SO many walkers we had to dodge and dive(not really). What made it even more fun is that PC was on her first run in her fabulous BOB stroller.  Love how that thing maneuvers and how smoothly it goes up and down the curbs.

We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather!

Before the Start

I mean, you of course have to stop in front of the Capitol for a photo op.  It wasn't like we were gonna win the race. My hubs doesn't like to call it a race, at least not for us, more like a jog. LOL!

Loved all the dogs running! Maybe we'll bring Pepe next time, although I should probably train him before hand! Go, Dog, Go!

It's always a little emotional to see the survivors run/walk, especially the children. They wear the yellow race bibs and carry the yellow balloons.  It's also WONDERFUL to see those yellow balloons and race bibs! I pray that someday we will be able to find a cure for Brain Cancer, as well as the other numerous cancers! 

PC and Daddy- so many walkers!

 Action shot of bestie, hubs and PC.  I had to "sprint" ahead to take the pics- whew!

 After the race we enjoyed the freebies, water, bagels, bananas, popsicles, pita chips...gotta love the freebies!

 Since it was such a beautiful day(and also because we were a block away)we also decided to visit the said known house in the background.  You may have seen it in movie before! ;-)  As you can tell, PC is less than impressed. Paper is more exciting to her!

I LOVE and MISS you!!

Running this May

So I have two 5Ks coming up in May. The first is The Race for Hope, which I have been doing for the last 4 years, this will be my 5th.  I've had the joy of running with my husband and two of my besties. Last year I ran with PC(in utero) and this year, I will run with PC in stroller! I run in memory of my dad who passed away in 1997 from a brain tumor.  I wish PC would be able to know her grandfather, but hopefully she'll see some of him in me!

3 years ago 2012 with my girls and my hubs

Race for hope 2013- baby in utero 4 months 

I hope the third bestie will come back and run it again with us next year and with her newest edition too!

So, this weekend was perfect running weather.  I took Pepe out on Saturday for a 3 mile run and had to drag the pup along at several points.  Apparently I'm more in shape than he is. HA!

Then on Sunday, the hubs, PC and I went for a run.  Clear skies! Slight breeze.....Purrrrfection! We also christened her jogging stroller that PC's grandparents bought for her.  It rides soo smooth.

We love the trail that is right by our house....a fun discovery when we moved!
It does start off a little bumpy though ---------> Yay for the shocks on the BOB!

The trail runs along the Anacostia river.....not the cleanest river, but at least it is scenic and there isn't the hustle and bustle of the city.

I have to say that I was way proud of myself because I was able to keep up with the hubs! Maybe it's because he was just getting used to running with the stroller, or that he was being nice, but I like to think I've gotten better.

The only problem is, she's such a petite little thing that when she fell asleep her little head just lolled off to the side, soooo we need to remedy that. Guess it looks like I'm going to have to roll blankets and put them on either side of her head.
<------ She woke up, somehow she knows when we get home. She always wakes up when we get home in the car or in the stroller. It's like her 6th sense!
 Does anyone else have that problem?If so, what do you do?

The second 5K that I am running is the Girls on the Run 5K. I am running with our girls running club, Sole Sisters. Unfortunately GOTR was not part of the spring season in our county, but I hope that it will return....if not, we will continue with our Sole Sister running club.  I will be running with 20 wonderful young girls. We have some wonderful runners, some better than me! Ha, that doesn't say much does it? We are really trying to work on pacing with the girls because they do really well sprinting off in the beginning, but then end up walking, then sprinting off again.

If anyone has some good tips for teaching young girls how to pace, I'm all ears!!

Will post later about how we all did! 

Did y'all run this weekend? How far did you go?

Spring means flowers!

Spring is definitely in full bloom here in DC.  

We spent the day cleaning out our garden of dead plants and weeds.  We had a couple of plants that just couldn't handle the polar vortex this winter so those bad boys had to come out. It's ok, I didn't really like any of them anyway, but felt bad getting rid of perfectly healthy plants.  It's like the winter knew!

We walked over to the outdoor market that's a block away in the parking lot of RFK.  We bought a bunch of plants there last year and they did pretty well.  We decided that vine dwelling veggies were not such a great idea so we purchased, tomatoes, red peppers and banana peppers.  We also purchased some herbs, basil, peppermint, rosemary and cilantro. I never really used to be a huge fan of cilantro, but I think that it's grown on me, much like asparagus and brussel sprouts.

Flower wise for the front garden we bought gerbera daisies, zinnias, salvia portulaca and a knockout rosebush.  The knockouts are apparently very hardy and disease resistant.  The front garden gets a lot of sun and so we needed plants that didn't mind heat or lack of water. I decided the the front garden this year would be mainly yellows and reds/oranges.

I also bought marigolds for the front porch, as well as the herbs. I am also hoping to buy a citronella plant and catnip.  I hear that all three of those plants are natural mosquito deterrents. Mosquitos tend to be awful here, but there are also just "pocket" areas. I'm really hoping because of our crazy winter that there are sooo many less. We love being outback or on our porch, but not with the skeets!

For the back garden we purchased more marigolds and erysimum(those are the tall yellow plants) . If marigolds work my gardens will be full of them. Even though they aren't my favorite I dislike mosquitos even more! The back gardens already have some flowering bushes, knockout roses, the daisies are growing back, as is the hydrangea I like perennials.

We also got another stepping stone.  I know, one! But last year we purchased 4 and I thought we needed one more so that I didn't have to "leap" from one to the next (call me crazy).  I mean they aren't that close together....5 is perf!

We also bought some extensions for our drain so it didn't wash out and flood the one garden and we bought some garden edger.  The mulch will wait until the next trip! Our goal was to spend no more than 100 and we came in at $99.45! Pretty proud of us! Can't wait to drink some mojitos and moscato on the front porch! 

PC didn't help much, just sat on the front porch and looked cute while I blogged, she mostly napped during our working outside times.

Things that I never experienced before I became a teacher...

Usually I post about PC, or about running(sort of), mainly PC.

But, did you know?! I am a teacher! It's true. I'm in my 9th year and have mainly taught first grade.  When I was little, I never thought I would be a teacher. Both of my parents were teachers and I swore I would not do the same. HA! Apples don't fall too far from the trees.  My dad was a high school physics teacher and my mother was an elementary art teacher turned college professor.  I can't say that it was in the genes since I was adopted, but I guess I saw the importance of education? 

I teach outside DC in a low-income, high need elementary school.  That being said, I grew up in a completely different situation, both living and schooling.  The school where I teach is quite diverse, where I was 1 of the few minorities in my school growing up.  

So a few "firsts" that I have experienced since teaching here:

1) My first cockroach- crazily enough all my students know what they are and often I can yell out "Who wants to kill it?!" and many a student responds!

• The song, La Cucaracha- why would you write a song about them? They are NOT cute!!!!

2) My first experience with students with head lice (I remember being screened in elementary school, but never knew anyone with them)- let's just say that when a child gets them my head immediately starts itching and you better believe that my hair goes up in a ponytail!

3) First view of a bed bug- You know the saying, "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite." Supposed to be this cute little saying that I remember hearing when I was little.  I guess I didn't realize that bed bugs were real things. Not so cute anymore!

4) First Ringworm- I remember the wrestling guys in high school would get it, but I never saw it, not until the other day. The nurses response, "That's a big one!" Awesome! (Again I immediately started feeling itchy and washed my hands and arms and then Cloroxed everything!)

These are just a few of the fun things I've experienced as a teacher thus far. I suppose almost everything is a "first."  These were just some of my "fun" ones!

I thought about posting pictures, but they would be kind of disgusting(my opinion), so if you are interested in what they look like(in case you haven't actually seen them, feel free to google them :-) )
Have you had any firsts in your work environment?