Nannying in Pictures

First day. He fell asleep on our walk (this is a daily occurrence). 

Learning to push himself up:

Holding the bottle all by himself for the first time!

Trying out the sling for the first time. Alex is totally confused by it.

Best day ever--arrival of the bouncy seat! Little man who likes to stand is soooo happy:

Big developmental day: Alex rolls over! This is also the night he slept through the night for the first time!

Sitting up unsupported!

Bella, who is petrified by the noises upstairs, got herself under the bed somehow.

Alex had a hard time falling asleep one day, so I laid him on the bed with me for some quiet time--then the kid slept for an hour and a half! Couldn't leave him (just in case he rolled off the bed), so I was SO glad I had my phone to keep me entertained:

Playtime with Bella:

I am Betty Crocker

National Pi Day was March 14th. I made a pie to celebrate!

I am pretty sure it was the very first time I have ever made a homemade pie. Hi, my name is Allison, and I made a pie for the first time at age 33. Woot!

The best thing is that it was a stinking GOOD pie!! I used this Pioneer Woman recipe. And then used her Perfect Pie Crust recipe, too. It was awesome.

My favorite baking tool: my iPad!

The BEST part of this recipe? You pour (almost an entire jar of) caramel on the top at the end!

(This looks ridiculous, but Nick doesn't like nuts on his pie, so the right half is mine, and the left half is his.)

Deliciousness!

PinFTW

I have been eyeing this project on Pinterest for a while.

I liked the idea of birthplaces, but wanted it to be more special for Nick and I.

So, I printed out a bunch of the antique-looking maps from the site that she links to. I was going to do our home states, plus where we live now, but it is a little more difficult because Nick grew up in like, 18 different places.

So, I made the maps specific for our relationship only. Yes, that means that I don't get to include Wyoming, Illinois, and Missouri (all places that Nick lived in or was born in), but I get to add a more exotic location: where we met!

So, here's the finished product:

Yes, it is on the floor because I haven't figured out where to put it yet. I'll take another pic once it's in its final resting place. It's also a crummy picture because it was taken with my phone. I'll do better next time!

And what is that state on the far left, you ask? Well, it's not a state. It is China! Yes, that is where Nick and I met. I think I want to outline China in a fine-tipped Sharpie, both because you'll be able to see it better, and because I have a ravenously unhealthy addiction to slight obsession with Sharpies. Why didn't I cut China out? Well, because I originally put Wyoming on there, and then when I changed it to just our lives together, I pulled off part of the black background, and it looked unsightly.

So, anyway. I printed out the maps on my laser printer, bought the frame for $9.99 at Ikea, and cut out the hearts out of scrapbook paper I had around the house. Pretty cheap, cute project!

So from left to right:
Beijing, China - where Nick and I met
Dayton, Ohio - location of our first home, and where we got married
Ft. Myers, Florida - our honeymoon destination
Los Angeles, California - our current residence

If we move again, I'll have to buy a bigger frame!

Head over to Mommin' It Up! to see more Pin For the Windsday posts!

Observations about LA

(I posted this on FB after my spring break trip with Nick, but I didn't want to forget any of these things.)

There are 2 weather reports. One for the valley, and one for Santa Monica.  This is because there is almost always a 20-degree temperature difference between the two places...though they are only 6 miles apart.

Pretty much every restaurant has outdoor seating.  If they don't,  then they have removable windows.

Hopefully I never lose the excitement I feel when I see the Nickelodeon, Warner Brothers, NBC, and Disney Studios buildings.

Cali will cure my Mt. Dew addiction.  It is basically a Coke-only state. The places that do have Pepsi, don't have Mt. Dew on tap.

There are no rusty cars, and the roads are all in pretty good shape.  No salt.

Everyone has gated yards, both front and back.  The niceness of the area determines what kind of gating system you have.

The on-ramps and off-ramps for the freeways are about a fourth of the length of Dayton's.  You've got to make up your mind to merge, and go for it.

Helicopters all the time, everywhere.

If you get in your car in a parking spot be prepared to move.  Someone WILL honk at you for your spot.

You can't get away with going over your time in a metered parking spot. The police will ticket you.

All of the highways are called freeways.  And they all start with The.  The 405. The 101. The 5. Nick pointed out how economical this was for speaking,  until I pointed out that Daytonians only use the numbers. "I'm taking 75 to work." He said "oh, right."

There are several different kinds of palm trees.  Some are very skinny, while some look like woolly mammoths.

Eating healthy will be so much easier here.  Organic only restaurants abound, and whole foods on every corner.

There is a significant lack of overweight people.

All the highways are at least 4 lanes going each way.  And that's a small highway.

It will take me forever to learn all of the different towns and municipalities, because they all blend seamlessly into one another.

The phrase "no worries" is used a lot.

Apparently interrupting a commercial shoot is a pretty common occurrence here.

70 degrees is cold.

Mosquitoes don't exist.  Spiders, snakes, and beetles do.  I can handle that trade.

Pit bulls are the dog of choice.  Waldo will be the biggest dog in the city.

There are escalators for you, and there are escalators for your shopping carts.  They work like roller coasters.

No one drives with their windows down. Everyone uses air conditioning.  Something about smog?

Gaydene and Nick Visit

Nick's mom and her husband Nick (don't get confused!) came to visit for a few days in March. We took them to the sites around LA. The nice thing about this HUGE city is that there really is something for everyone. If you like movie stars, there are plenty of sites. If you like cars, there is plenty to see. If you like nature, there is plenty to see.

Sadly, during Nick and Gaydene's visit, it was kind of crummy and cold. And rainy. But that didn't deter us!  I didn't take a lot of pictures while they were here, but I did take some on the day we went driving around the city.

(Just as a side note: We LOVE visitors. So please come visit us!)

Here we are at the Beverly Hills sign, and Nick is searching for a geocache. We didn't find it.

We went up to the Hollywood Bowl Overlook, one of my favorite places to view the city.

Above the overlook is this house, which is continually being worked on. It is known as the "paraglider house", for its obvious shape.

We also went to another spot where we can overlook the Pacific Ocean and the western coast of LA. It was cool because the whole ocean was covered with clouds.

If you look on the other side of the road, you can see part of the valley, as well as the Santa Susana Mountains.

We went to Santa Barbara for the day, as well. We went to see the Moreton Bay Fig Tree again, which was awesome.

Then we took them to the beach with the dogs. Gaydene got a little too close to the ocean, and then turned her back. Never turn your back to the ocean!!

Pin for the "Win"sday! - Scarf Organization

My friend Jenny over at Mommin' It Up! is having her weekly PinFTW. I did this pin earlier in the week, and thought I needed to post about it so that I could participate.

I have a lot of scarves.

I have never really had a good way to put them in my closet, which makes the OCD part of myself crazy!! I have had all of my scarves on two hangers, overlapping each other, which means I can't see any of them. Grr.

So, after seeing this post on Pinterest, I decided it was high time to do something about it!  This week, while at Target, I finally remembered to buy the shower hooks.

I put them on the hanger, and threaded all of my scarves through. I realized quickly that this is kind of a fail, since all of the scarves slide to one side or the other. Also, the plastic hanger bowed under the weight of all the scarves.  So, I will have to work on this some more--maybe putting some tape or something along the rod, and making it a wooden hanger instead of plastic.  But, this is much better than it was before!

Women's Retreat

I have never been to a women's retreat before. I have either been at a church that didn't have one, or I was busy over the weekend it was scheduled, or I was too young to go. So I was very excited when I realized I would be able to attend Ecclesia's women's retreat.

It was also over my birthday weekend, so I was able to spend my birthday with my best friends here!

I was recruited to be a part of the Hospitality team, and that was a blessing from God, because I was able to become friends with an amazing group of women as a result!  We got together the week before the retreat to assemble bracelets for all of the women at the retreat to have.  The beads were made by women in Africa.

We had a fun night laughing and sharing together, and also serving the women of the retreat in a small way.

The retreat was outside of Goleta, California, which is about 2 hours west of LA. It is close to the coast, but about 7 miles on winding roads up the mountain.  The hospitality team needed to arrive at the retreat a few hours early, so we carpooled together. I had to stop on the drive up the mountain to take a picture of the amazing view!

The crew that arrived early:

Our team was responsible for checking everyone in, and getting their name badges all sorted out.  We started out outside, but quickly realized it was going to be WAAAY too cold to stay outside for several hours! We moved inside shortly after this photo was taken:

Jessie worked on making my nametag covered with green "It's My Birthday" words, so that everyone would know:

On my actual birthday, I was brought up in front of the whole crowd, and they sang to me, and gave me an Irish Princess crown, which I wore all day.

We had some free time in the afternoon, so I taught people how to play Wizard!  We actually decided to have Wizard nights more regularly. Love it!

Anastasia and I were able to hang out a lot over the retreat. She is a special lady with an affinity for Disney songs, just like me!  We went out on Saturday while it was raining, and did a hike. We didn't mind the rain--it was just so nice to be outdoors. Snapped this picture of her taking some quiet time:

It rained off and on all day on Saturday.  Then on Sunday, it SNOWED. It was crazy!  I was not a fan of the cold at all, but it was really fun to see the LA girls get so excited about the snow. Everyone went out and played in it--then quickly ran inside!

As if the snow wasn't enough, it started to HAIL.  Seriously crazy, schizophrenic weather.

Here's how I felt about the whole snow/hail situation:

(Notice, however, that I am not wearing a coat? It really wasn't that cold, considering I am from Ohio, where snow is normal. The LA girls were all FREEZING!! It was pretty funny.)

I needed to serve in the Sunday night service, so we left a little early and came back to the city. I love this picture of the ladies I was so blessed to spend the weekend with! (Marie, me, Anastasia, Jessie, Christy, and Dolores)