Babydoll joins family

Here's a cute video of Taylor caring for her new babydoll. We got the doll and stroller from the yard sale last weekend.

Outdoor progress

Here are a few pictures from two weekends ago when we revamped our backyard. We removed bushes from the area right next to our patio, Mark hacked down our pine tree on the back side yard, Nancy and I planted flowers, and then we had tree removers come during the week to take down our gum tree.

Taylor in her sunhat and SPF shirt

Removing bushes and rocks

Mark's new grill


Gum tree is gone

New blog site and weekend visitors

Finally, our blog has made a full transition. You are now viewing this on Blogger instead of WordPress. I'm sad to see the blue bird graphic go, but our new image is an actual nest in our tree out front which makes pretty special.

This weekend we are hosting Jenifer, Ann, & Jon. We had yummy grilled pizza ala Mark last night and buttermilk Belgian waffles with bananas this morning. For the pizzas, Mark tried to make a marinara sauce more like Papa John's and I think he did very well. Ann has been catching up on some Harry Potter for Wii, while Mark and I obsessively check in with Mafia Wars on Facebook. *If you're not already part of our mafia family, you should be! We need more family members to be able to progress in the game.*

At 9am today we were off to the Ferguson City Wide Garage Sale! Mark and I picked up lots of games and crafts and other kiddie things for Taylor. We bought a baby doll with accessories and a stroller, a light box (meant for viewing slides), 6 child-sized chairs with a large (yet short) craft table, a handful of records, a beer mug and a coffee thermos for Mark, and more. Ann and Jon packed their car full of stuff as well, but Jenifer didn't buy a thing! Shocking!

Tonight we're going to church, then out to eat. Our visitors will be leaving early tomorrow morning.

Up early and busy day ahead

Sadly, the url redirect still is not working. Mark contacted people at our host server place to get our url to forward to this blog and they somehow redirected markandandrea.synowiecs.com to google.com. Why??? Mark said he'll contact them again today to fix it.

I have been awake since 3:30 this morning. Taylor was really itchy and started scratching her diaper rash, so I got up to put her in a new dry diaper and put some hydrocortizone cream on the itchy parts. Then I couldn't get back to sleep. Plus I was very hungry. I've eaten a pear so far, but my tummy is still grumbling.

Speaking of itchy, Mark has a bad case of poison ivy. It seems he came into contact with it during all our yard work this last weekend and the oil got inside a cut on his arm. Now the rash is spreading all over his body. He has been so uncomfortable the last couple of days that he is planning to work from home today. He'll go see the doctor this afternoon.

This morning Taylor and I have our final Parents As Teachers appointment before the summer (they work on a school year schedule) and then Sarah and Samuel will stop by for lunch. I'm thinking turkey sandwiches out on the patio...though I need to clean off the furniture a bit from all the weekend mess. I'll have to post some photos of the progress in the backyard as well...as soon as I get them on the computer.

Then later today I need to do some major cleaning, as we are expecting lots of visitors this weekend! Most of Mark's siblings and their spouses will be driving out for some yard sale fun and play time with Taylor. Thanks to my lovely husband, the kitchen is mostly taken care of. I just need to prep the nursery-guest room, the bathrooms, and the dining room.

Tonight is the season finale of Hell's Kitchen. I'm excited to see which chef will reign. The Biggest Loser finale was a massive disappointment - a sad end to an unnecessarily long three hours. Mark and I were rooting for Mike to win. Oh well, there is always next season.

First post on Blogger

Whew! I finally finished transferring all my old posts (50 total) to Blogger. Now I just need to figure out how to redirect my url. Mark will help me when he gets home.

As for now, Taylor and I are just finishing up breakfast and will head outside for a run with Phoebe.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was my second Mother's Day and it has been really fun so far! We woke up early, dressed Taylor in a cute pink dress that used to be mine (she received LOTS of compliments today), went to church, had a yummy outdoor brunch with Dave, Sarah, and Samuel at Schlafly Bottleworks, and then ran some errands.

Now all my little creatures (well, one big one) are sleeping as I catch up on email and blogs.

Actually, this whole weekend was a celebration for me. Mark's mom came out to help us clean up our yard and break ground on flower gardens. It looks fabulous, though Mark and I have a lot of work yet to do. We set up my new composting bin, my garden hose reel, and have been developing plans for a lovely vegetable garden.

Mark got an early Father's Day present - a charcoal grill - and worked long and hard to prep it for cooking dinner last night. We had salmon fillets, grilled carrots, baked acorn squash, and quinoa, finished off with a tasty strawberry cheesecake from Sam's.

Tonight I think we'll just take it slow and straighten up the house for the work week ahead. Plenty of dishes and laundry and vacuuming to do. Sounds like it's going to rain too... Until later!

Furniture, festival, format change

The estate sale last weekend was a lot of fun! The house was very old and filled with all sorts of antique goodies (lanterns, baby rocking chairs, books) and the weather was fabulous. We hit the jackpot with a beautiful patio furniture set for just under $300. It included a rectangular table with umbrella, 6 chairs, 2 footstools, and a side table. Mark and I are so excited to spend more time enjoying our backyard this spring/summer!

We also found several Disney story records (101 Dalmations, Sleeping Beauty, 3 Little Pigs, etc) and a couple of nice overalls for Taylor to wear next year and get as dirty as she wants.

Today begins the Festival of the Flowers in Florissant (not too bad to say 5 times fast). Despite living in Florissant for the last three years, Mark and I have never attended. But this year will be different! Festivities begin at noon, so we'll head out as soon as Mark is off of work (around 2pm) and Taylor is up from her afternoon nap. There will be a flea market, a plant sale, a beer garden, a carnival, and more (note order of interest).

Our morning may also include Taylor's 15 month check-up with the pediatrician (can't find that appointment card...) and a trip to the annual Ferguson Church of the Nazarene Kid's Consignment Sale. The last couple of times we went to the sale we found lots of neat items for Taylor, like toys, books, and hair bows.

As just a head's up, I am considering switching our blog from WordPress to Blogger. It won't affect the location of the blog (still markandandrea.synowiecs.com), but it will affect the format (i.e. no more birdie, which makes me very sad). The switch would be a pain, considering there is no good way to transfer all my past posts, BUT it would make future blogging eaiser because I can upload photos directly from Picasa and the subscription setup is much more advanced. You could receive a daily digest via email instantly after I write a new post! I can't for the life of me figure out how to make this happen with WordPress...

And, as an addendum to my Earth Day post, here are a couple of articles about toilet paper I found interesting. I hope they make you think a bit more about the environmental impact of your purchases. The New York Times reports that the oh-so-prized fluffiness of American toilet paper comes at the expense of millions of trees, some of them from old-growth forests. The process of turning fresh tree pulp into fluffy, white tp also takes a great deal of water and chlorine. Many other countries do just fine using recycled material for toilet paper, so I think we should make more of an effort to do so. Seventh Generation and Trader Joe's supposedly make pretty good stuff.

According to Consumer Reports, the ultra-fluffy toilet paper brands are heavier on the wallet as well. CP's "Best Buys" (soft, yet much more affordable tp) include Kirkland Signature from Costco and White Cloud from Walmart. While I cannot attest to the environmental benefit of these brands versus Charmin or Cottenelle, there's a good chance they're better because they aren't the front-runners of tp advertising campaigns. Perhaps a good goal, starting fresh this May 1st, is to "save the earth, one toilet paper roll at a time."