Weekend Wind Down- 13 weeks of summer, week 2 and Big Plans!

Happy 4th of July everyone!!

I hope everyone has a fun filled and safe holiday weekend. I'd also like to thank all of our service men and women who fight for our freedom every day. My brother has made me so so so proud since he joined the Air National Guard. I don't think I've ever been so proud of anyone in my life.

Now it's time for Weekend Wind Down!! Here is this weeks question:

This 4th of July, will you be watching fireworks out somewhere or doing your own fireworks at home??

My boyfriend is actually getting fireworks as I type this. I'd still like to go and watch the professional show though.


We have a lots of plans ahead of us this weekend. We spent tonight grilling and playing outside. It really melts my heart to see Jack and his Daddy playing games outside together. Jack and I are so lucky to have him in our life.
Tomorrow (the 3rd) we are going to take Jack swimming before we bring him to his Grandma's house for the night. We have a pool here at our complex, but Jack is too daring with the running. So, we are taking him to one of those 0 depth pools.

Source: Sioux City Journal

Saturday is Saturday in the Park here in Sioux City. It's free music festival that happens every July. This year is the 20th anniversary. It starts at noon and goes until after 10pm with fire works at the end. I'd say it has more of a blue feeling to the music. They days starts off with acts that I don't usually know. But, the last two performaces are pretty big name performers. My favorite year was when they had Michelle Branch open up for The Wallflowers. Some of the other huge names they have had are: Ziggy Marley, Johnny Lang, Blues Traveler, The Black Crows (love them), The Neville Brothers, BB King, and Counting Crows.

They have awesome food vendors, aka gyros, arts and crafts for sale, a second stage for local bands, a kids zone and best of all....a beer garden! Who doesn't love to listen to free music while drinking over priced drinks? Apparently I do.....lol.

This year, the big name performers are Steve Winwood and Santana!!!! To be honest, I don't know very much about Steve Winood. I have a feeling once he starts playing, I will know a few of his songs. I am super excited about Santana. He is pretty much a legend in the music world. We will be kid free so it should be a decent time.  I'm sure we will enjoy it along with the other estimated 60,000 people that are coming. I actually spoke with someone in Sioux Falls which is an hour from here. She told me that she thinks half of Sioux Falls is coming to Saturday in the Park. We normally end up seeing people we haven't seen in years and just have an awesome time.

On Sunday, we will be trying to recover from the awesome night before and go get our son. I think we are planning to stay up there for the day and hang out with Jeremy's family. We will probably grill and just have a great 4th of July.

Since the 4th is on a Sunday, I don't have to work on Monday!! Whoo hoo for me. No plans except that I may attempt to do some freezing cooking. Notice I said attempt, that could be a whole other post...LOL. Have a great weekend!!!

Potty Training Update and Friday Follows

We are finishing up week two of potty training. I'd say we are doing very good. He is going in the potty two times at daycare and like 4 or 5 a day at home. On most days, he will stay dry from 3pm to when we put him to bed at 7:30.
At daycare, she started using pull-ups to get him used to pulling down his pants. That seems to be helping him learn. We have the most success at home because we wears no bottoms. Once he gives his signals that he has to go, I send him in. I'll stand in the living room to make sure he goes. Half the time I get, "Mom! Go away!"
He had a big day yesterday though. He went poop in the potty at daycare. At home, he stopped playing on his own and went to use the potty. I didn't even have to tell him. I was pretty excited about that.
So, I'm hoping by the end of summer we will be mostly day trained. This little boy will fill his diaper at night, so I think night training is going to be bit of an issue.

Ultimate Recipe Swap

Thursday is Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life As Mom. Each week as a theme. This week is 4th of July. I actually just tried a new cake recipe that I think would be perfect for the 4th. I bought a new cookbook from the American Legion Auxiliary Department of Nebraska. My break buddy is a member and was selling them. I just love these types of cookbooks. To me, I think they are the best because the recipes are tried and true and remind me of my Mom and Grandmother's cooking. This is what I made:

Angel Food Delight
1 step Angel Food cake mix I took this as a mix where you just add water
20 oz can of crushed pineapple
Cool whip (opt)
Fruit for garnish(opt)

Preheat the oven 350 degrees
Pour pineapple and juice into a large bowl
Mix dry cake mix with pineapple
Stir just until blended...do not over stir
Pour into a 9 x 13 pan
Bake 35-40 minutes or until top is nicely browned
Serve with cool whip and fresh fruit if desired

I thought it turned out really well. I've never made any sort of angel food cake before so I don't have alot to go off of. I also didn't serve it with cool whip or fruit and I thought it tasted good without them.

Wordless Wednesday: The Art of Stinkface

Check out more Wordless Wednesdays at 5 Minutes for Mom

What I Meant to Say Wednsedays

I've been waiting for the best day to post this. Today is the day. About a week ago, I mustered up the courage to wear capris to work. I know, they are just capris. You see, I'm pale. But, I was proud of myself for showing some leg.
So, I'm sitting at my desk and the girl across from me says, "Wow! Your legs are really pale!". Here is what I said, "Thanks for the info. I had no idea that my legs were insanely pale." I then turned around and started my work.
Here is what I wanted to say:
Hello! I'm German, Irish, and English. A total mix of all the palest ethnic backgrounds ever! Thanks Caption Obvious for pointing out to me that I'm albino white. I really had no clue. When you have a skin cancer scare at 26 years old, we'll talk. I'm sorry I don't feel the need to lay out in the sun or tanning bed for hours on end. Plus, you are Cambodian! What do you know about being pale? You have a super nice color year around."
I could also put what I really really wanted to say. But, I think I thinks a little mean and I do actually like the girl who was harassing commenting me on my blindly white legs.

I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so.......scared...

Does this ring a bell to anyone? That is a quote from Jessie Spannow on Saved by the Bell. It's the episode where she gets addicted to caffeine pills then misses their big girl group debut. :)

What brought on this flashback you ask? I recently found out some pretty flippin awesome news. Since I started blogging, I've been hearing tons of talk about blogging conferences. To be honest, I'm pretty jealous that I don't get to go. I keep telling myself some day I will make it there. I've almost gotten over it.
But, some things have changed. I'm not going to New York or anything, but I have good news. I recently came accross a tweet from iatraveler.
. She said that she wanted to create a website that promotes travel to Iowa (that's where I live). I thougth cool, I respond saying that I'm from there. A few mentions later I found out that she is speaking at a bloggin conference right here in Iowa!

When I found out, I was about ready to hit the hay. Once I heard her news, there was no way I was going to sleep. This is what I've been waiting for since I started blogging a few months ago.
The event is called I Blog. Do U? It's in Perry, IA which is by Des Moines. It's super doable for me because I'm only a few hours away. It runs from November 5th to November 7th. I already requested that 5th off from work! LOL. I just hope I can go. I probably won't be able to get the funds until September, so I just hope that tickets are not sold out. I really think I will be devasted if I can't go. But, I'm holding out hope that they will not be sold out by then and I can make my blogging dreams come true!

Meet Me on Monday

You can see more responses and link up at Never Growing Old.

1. Are you a collector of anything? Not anymore. I used to collect N*Sync stuff a long time ago.

2. Do you have any tattoos or piercings? I used to have my nose pierced. But, I do have 4 tattoos. I have a Chinese symbol for happiness on my back, a heart/star combo on my right foot, a fairy on my hip, and my son’s name and stars on my left foot.

3. What is your favorite salad dressing? Not a huge salad eater, but I do like ranch.

4. What was the last thing that you ate? I just had lunch, a weight watchers chicken meal.

5. What was the last movie that you saw? In the theatre? I think it was Alvin and the Chipmunks sequel.


Want to play along? Copy the five questions, write a post with your answers and then link up.

Monday Link Ups

Monday is another great day for link parties. I can't say enough about how much I love them. That's where I've gotten most of my followers. Here are the ones I'm participating in:

Why am I so obsessed?!

I hav been sitting here for hours searching the web for the perfect lunch bag for Jack. By hours, I mean 4 hours in one sitting. That doesn't even count the time I spent this afternoon.
Every Thursday at daycare, they go on a field trip to the park and then have lunch. So, we are supposed to bring a sack lunch. For the past couple of weeks, he has been using a cooler that has my work logo on it. How cool is that? It's not. In my opinion, an almost 3 yr old needs to have a much cooler bag. That's why I'm so obsessed.
I want my kid to be the cool kid at daycare. Plain and simple. But, it's not simple. It's actually pretty stupid. His daycare has 5 kids at the most. He is actually the youngest one. Does it really matter that his lunch bag is the coolest? Nobody there is going to know that I spent hours searching for the perfect bag. Nor, will they know that I bought it at Etsy, one of the coolest sites ever.
The other reason I've been obsessed is that I recently read a blog review about some super cute insulated lunch bags. But, I read the post of my cell and didn't mark it in any way. I really need to figure out how to that. So, I've been searching google, swagbucks, and my google reader to find it. I may have even read it in a twitter update. Who knows. That's really frustrating...lol.
I'm bribing offering Jack a new lunch bag for potty training. So, I want him to get excited about it. I'll probably end up buying a Handy Manny or Thomas lunch bag which means my hours were super poorly used.
When he wakes up, I'm going to have him choose which one he wants. That's what it's about, right?