Complete and utter randomness

I don’t really have much to say, and not really a lot of pictures either. We’ve been pretty busy lately, but I’m not sure with what! Life is crazy like that sometimes, right?

It snowed last weekend and Summer was dying to go out and play in it. Good thing that’s what dads are for! She had a blast, and then promptly got a sinus infection and an ear infection. They tried building a snowman but it was horrible snow for that, but apparently good enough snow for our snowball makers which were thrown at me. (My cousin Amanda sent me the snowball makers…and they are super awesome!)

Summer and Hannah fight like cats and dogs. Seriously, I feel like I am pulling one off of the other all day long. So when I catch glimpses of them acting like they love each other, I have to take advantage of it.

Hannah thinks she’s hot stuff now that she can walk. It was like she just decided overnight that she would start walking and now she never stops. I love the beginning walking stage, with hands up high and the unsteady waddle. It’s already fading, how sad.

She thinks she’s pretty funny, too. I found her like this the other day and then she stayed like that and said “Cheese!” while I took her picture. I’ve decided to try my hand (foot?) at running again. At the recommendation of my friend Tamara I went to Performance Running Outfitters and had my food mapped and videotaped and fitted for a proper running shoe. OH.MY.GOODNESS. I know this probably is no news to you, but what a difference!! All I had ever known was running up and down the aisles at Kohl’s or wherever and deciding that it “felt good”. Turns out I over pronate like crazy—practically running on my ankles! I tried on like 8 or 9 different pair of shoes before finding a super supportive one, and then needing orthotic inserts on top of that! But let me tell you…running is now amazing for me. I feel so great. No more sore knees, ankles, nothing. I literally feel like I could run forever. I’ve always wanted to run a half marathon but thought I just had too bad of knees to do it. Turns out I just had bad shoes! I’m planning on running Crazylegs again in April and then we’ll see how the half marathon plan is looking. Who knows, maybe I’ll be knocked up by then? Anyway, I highly recommend this place. If you’re local and need a new pair of running shoes, definitely go there.   

Latest obsession: Downton Abbey. A few weeks ago it was all over Facebook…practically all my friends were talking about it and I had no idea what it was. Thank you Netflix and now I’m completely caught up and totally hooked. It’s on PBS and I didn’t think I’d really like it but after the first episode I was in looove! Check it out if you like mystery, suspense and intrigue! Ok, not really, but it does have some pretty good drama. And really because I need more people to talk about it with me.

And with that, it’s on now and I need to go watch it!

Bit the bullet

As you know, one of the main reasons I love the state fair so much is because I love to walk through the Expo Center and check out all the new gadgets. And every year I stand in front of the VitaMix demonstrator in longing, nudging Derrick to just let me buy it already. And every year we walk away, Dixie cup of tortilla soup and smoothie in hand, to see the dryer balls and steam mops (which I also long for!) and drink my misery away.

When our Costco opened last year VitaMix was there, doing a road show. Two of my friends have bought VitaMixes in the past couple of months and have been praising its glory, as if all the Amazon reviews weren’t enough for me. And yet my kitchen remained VitaMix-less.

I wanted to whip up delicious soups, smoothies, green drinks, ice cream, sauces and more. I wanted the high power of commercial blenders. I wanted high quality appliances. And so I put it on every wish list I had. Christmas, birthday, whatever. I was going to get my VitaMix one way or another.

And then I went to Costco last Monday.

Blendtec was doing a weeklong demonstration this time. I’d heard of the Blendtec before and my favorite food blogs use it but I’d never seen it in action and besides, what could possibly be better than my beloved coveted VitaMix? One 10 minute demo from Jim and I was totally sold. VitaWho?

I went home to do a little research. Seems like everything Jim told me was pretty much true. VitaMix and Blendtec are probably the top 2 high end blenders out there, and I don’t really think you can go wrong with either, (shoot, if someone gave me a VitaMix, I’d sure as heck take it!) but for me, the Blendtec just seemed like a better fit, and I’ll tell you why.

• It’s shorter. Sitting at 15.5’, it sits well underneath upper cabinets, which are usually 17” from the counter. The VitaMix is 20.5”. This was probably my #1 convincing factor. If it’s not going to fit on my counter, I will never use it.
• It will grind grains such as wheat, oats, rice in the same pitcher. VitaMix requires a separate dry blade container to grind grains, which means an extra $100+. Since I do not already own a wheat grinder yet have pounds of wheat stored in my basement, this was a definite bonus. As a side note, my SIL who is a wheat grinding extraordinaire, said the Blendtec grinds wheat faster than her electric wheat grinder.
• The blade is two-pronged as opposed to 4-pronged. This means that if you are blending sticky or pasty foods you can get it out easier. No more wasted product stuck to the bottom of the blender that you can’t get out.
• The pitcher has square sides with no indentations for food to get stuck on, again reducing waste.
• Preset functions. There are 6 preset buttons with 14 different types of foods that have been preprogrammed to cycle at different speeds and for different amounts of time. No need to turn a dial or increase speed manually. I literally put everything in and walk away and it does it all for me.
• Those buttons sit flush to the base and are sealed with a membrane. No food to get stuck in between buttons or dials. And since I’m a little anal about cleaning in between cracks and crevices this is perfect for me.
• No plunger/damper to mess with and push my food down. The Blendtec does it all by itself!
• The nifty counter. It tells you how many times you’ve used it! Not super useful, but I love knowing stuff like that. We bought it on Saturday and used it 10 times!
• Cheaper! At only $349 at Costco it was a great deal less than the VitaMix I wanted with the three presets from Williams-Sonoma.

So there you have it. Of course they both do an amazing job at blending, especially frozen foods and whole fruits. I haven’t regretted my decision once, and can’t wait to use it even more!! If you want to try it, just come on over and we’ll have a smoothie party!

Summer has definitely been enjoying her “drinks” in the morning…can you tell??

Summer turns 3!

I know this is cliche’, but I can’t believe I have a three year old! What happened to my tiny little baby?

We had a Hello Kitty birthday party with her little nursery class friends a few days before her actual birthday. There were a total of 6 little girls running around, which was pretty manageable with the help of my parents, Ann and Katie, and my friend Lindsey who stayed. All the other parents dropped off, which let me tell you, sure does take a lot of pressure off party entertaining! 3 year olds don’t really care about much other than candy and having fun!

Each girl got their kitty whiskers and spent approximately .8 seconds of the allotted 15 minutes coloring.

We then moved onto “pin the bow on Hello Kitty”, which thankfully used up 2 minutes of the allotted 10.

I’m starting to freak out that we’ll be done with the whole shebang in 20 minutes flat and how am I going to entertain 6 3 year olds for an another hour??

We move onto the pinata, which was a big hit, no pun intended. Seriously, it was a pull string pinata. :)

We had cupcakes and ice cream and opened presents and played and poof! It was over. I was worried for nothing. Summer had a great time and was in heaven playing with all of her new Barbies and babies and Hello Kitty stickers and things.

I must say I think my cupcakes turned out so darling. After a miserably failed attempt at making my own marshmallow fondant I just bit the bullet and bought some at Michael’s. What a dream to work with! I used a Hello Kitty cookie cutter and topped frosted cupcakes with them. I used my new Cricut Cake to cut out the pink flowers (love it!) and then used mini M&M’s cut in half for the eyes and nose and a whole one on the flowers. Oh, and black gel icing from a tube for the whiskers. I don’t care if fondant is utterly inedible I think it looks amazing and don’t care one bit when it’s all tossed in the trash!

My sister in law travels abroad frequently and picked up a ton of Hello Kitty swag in the Philippines on the cheap to use as party bags for her friends.

On her actual birthday, Derrick and my dad took her to open bounce at La Fluer’s (where she takes gymnastics now and loooves it!) and then we had lunch at McDonald’s at her request. She played in the snow for a bit and then she requested broccoli cheese soup for dinner. After dinner we opened family gifts. She loved the umbrella we gave her, the Hello Kitty dinner set from G&G Romesburg, the HK game and plush from Grandma Callister, and the Polly Pockets from Ann and Katie. I think she had a fun day—we tried to make it a good one for her!

Summer, while full of sass and fire, is also very sweet and loving. She loves to give hugs and kisses and wants to snuggle more than she did when she was a baby. She picks up on everything we say and never forgets anything. She’s a pretty smart kid who loves to sing and often likes to make up words to songs. One of her favorite things is to ask us to sing “____ song”. Horse song, chair song, cat song, whatever. We always say, “I don’t know the horse song” and she sings, “horse song, horse song, try it!” She thinks she’s pretty clever. At the doc the other day she weighed in at 30 lbs (43%) and 36” (19%) and healthy as can be. Despite all the headaches she sometimes puts us through we absolutely love this little girl and her spunky personality. Our family would not be complete without her!

I interviewed Summer and here are her answers. I plan on doing this every year and compiling them into some sort of book.

1. What is your favorite color? green

2. What is your favorite toy? Pixie

3. What is your favorite fruit? orange

4. What is your favorite tv show? sesame street

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? mac n cheese

6. What is your favorite outfit? dress

7. What is your favorite game? puzzle

8. What is your favorite snack? fruit snacks

9. What is your favorite animal? seal

10. What is your favorite song? twinkle, twinkle little star

11. What is your favorite book? russell the sheep

12. Who is your best friend? peyton and jocelyn and kylie

13. What is your favorite cereal? cheerios

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play in the snow

15. What is your favorite drink? chocolate milk

16. What is your favorite holiday? (didn't have one)

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Pixie

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? cheerios

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  had broccoli cheese soup

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? flowers (i have no idea what that means?)

G&G come to visit!

My parents drove up after Christmas to come celebrate Summer’s birthday and have Christmas Part 2 with us. We had a great time with them, and the girls of course, loved all the attention. They brought the girls a giant cardboard house that is outlined in black so they can color it how they want. They love sitting in it and playing with their dolls. And while my dad might not have built the house, he did build this: A new table!! He brought it up in the truck and totally surprised us. It’s so gorgeous! And huge. So much working, eating, and playing space. We played games on it every night, all 6 of us were able to eat comfortably WITH the food on the table, and it’s just fabulous. The bench is pretty slick and Summer has fallen off more than once, so if you see crazy bruises on her, no, I’m not beating her. Too much.

We did a lot of fun things while they were here. One night we went on the Jingle Bus, which is a Coach bus that takes you on a 40 minute narrated tour of the downtown Milwaukee holiday lights. It was actually pretty fun and informative. The girls absolutely loved it, and Summer especially loved the face (or arm) painting and hot chocolate and cookies before the ride. And the best part? IT’S ONLY A DOLLAR PER PERSON!! Holla. I think this definitely made it into our yearly tradition!

One night we went to Organ Piper Pizza, which is a pizza joint with a huge Wurlitzer pipe organ. You can put in requests and they usually play Happy Birthday a couple times throughout the night so we got to sing to Summer, which she loved. Hannah was in heaven, and couldn’t stop looking at all the mini organs everywhere. Our favorite was the duck organ that quacked the notes. So fun. Pizza isn’t the greatest, but the entertainment and environment more than make up for it. A really fun place to go.   

Apparently we were too busy having so much fun that I don’t have any more pictures! But just know we had a blast. And I feel like I practically have a new house with all the stuff my dad did for us: new ceiling fans in the girls’ room, he fixed 2 busted drawers, hung the magazine rack in the bathroom that had been leaning against the wall for 2 years, installed a new kitchen faucet (love) and hung my knife strip. Oh, and put in a new overhead light in our hallway. On top of playing with the the kids nonstop!

We were all sad to say goodbye to such fun visitors. Thanks Meemaw and Papa for everything! We love you!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was a little different since it fell on a Sunday and we had church at 9. We didn’t even touch presents until after we got home, at like 10:30. I snapped a quick picture of the girls and (and Derrick) in their Christmas dresses then we all changed back into our jammies and tackled the tree. The girls had a blast opening their presents, especially Summer. She did a great job retrieving and delivering gifts to their rightful owners, and then tried to open it for them!

All Summer asked Santa was for baby bottles for her bear, Pixie, and “Hello Kitty stuff”. Santa delivered, and she was thrilled. She also got a digital camera, which she carries everywhere, lots of games, a Hello Kitty puzzle and DVD, markers, gum (which was gone within 24 hours), chapstick, and books. Hannah got a little pillow pet, which she adores and hugs all the time, bubble bath, a puzzle, a See n Say, and her own little camera. They both had a lot of fun playing with their new toys, and it took quite awhile for us to open everything, which made Christmas seem a little longer, which is always nice. As usual, Derrick did great with the list I gave him. :) I got a super sharp, awesome chef’s knife, and now I look for any opportunity to chop stuff up. It’s amazing how a good knife can make all the different in your prep work! I also got a watch, a laminator/book binder (which I bought for myself, ha), a P Touch labeler (I’ve labeled everything!!), socks (which I seem to always need), and my friend Sara got me a Cricut Cake! It’s amazing! I used it to make Summer’s birthday cupcakes…post coming soon! I got Derrick a new pilot’s case, dress shoes, sweaters—you know, all boring Dad stuff.

The sister missionaries came over to Skype with their parents and then later we went over to the Spencer’s for a delicious dinner with our good friends the Chaplin’s and O’Brien’s and 2/3 of the Woolf’s. It was really a great day overall. Not as loud and crazy as what we’re usually used to with the Callister side, but I think it was just perfect. Having amazing friends that are practically family make living away from blood relatives so much easier. I’m so glad I could spend this Christmas with my Wisconsin family!

Christmas Eve

We usually travel to one of our families for Christmas but decided to stay in WI this year. The only other time we’ve stayed here for Christmas was in 2008 when I was pregnant with Summer and couldn’t travel. And then I worked PM’s Christmas Eve and Christmas so it didn’t even really feel like Christmas anyway. I thought I would be bummed that we weren’t going anywhere, but I wasn’t. I LOVED IT. I loved not traveling with 2 kids during the holiday rush. I loved not having to plan gifts that would fit in a suitcase and plan on brining more home. I loved sleeping in my own bed, and more importantly, having my kids sleep in their own beds. I loved creating our families traditions and memories in our own home.

Christmas Eve we had our friends the Spencer’s and Johnson’s over for dinner. We had a delicious prime rib with sides which we enjoyed while a fire crackled nicely in the fireplace. (Our first fire since we’ve lived here! Totally addicted now.) We did a nativity with the kids, which pretty much meant they roamed around wearing towels while Derrick read out of Luke 2.

After everyone left we let the girls open their Christmas Eve present--pajamas, of course! Summer absolutely loved hers…I’ve never seen her get so excited about anything—she jumped up and down hugging them and exclaiming “thank you SO MUCH!!” Then we put out cookies and carrots of Santa and Rudolph. Derrick totally one-upped me and got pj’s for me too. They are the softest, warmest, pajama pants ever. It’s like my whole lower body is getting a hug. I wish I could wear them all day, everyday.

It was really a magical night, and as we filled stocking and put out gifts I could not have been any happier or more content or more filled with the Christmas spirit than I was that night. Summer’s excitement over Santa coming, her acknowledgment Jesus’ birthday and the celebration of Him, and being in my home with my family and friends was the perfect combination.

Pre-Christmas Festivities

I really feel like we got our share of Christmas activities in this year. We tried to do something Christmas-y every day, whether it was a craft, of some baking, or just driving around looking at lights. Most of the time these activities left me with warm fuzzies and an overflowing of Christmas spirit. Other times, like when I tried to make cookies with Summer, I just wanted to drop-kick her and wondered why the heck I even attempt to do things like that with her. But overall when I look back at December I think only happy thoughts.

Last year Summer was terrified of Santa. This year was the complete opposite, all thanks to one Santa at Bayshore who gave her a candy cane. Ever since then, Santa was “so nice!” We saw him twice at Mayfair, once at Kohl’s corporate, and once at Enchantment at the Park. Hannah, on the other hand, hated him. Every time.  She even hated sweet Mrs. Claus!

We went up to the Washington County Fairgrounds where you can drive through and check out their light display. It’s not the most amazing display ever but it was worth the drive and the bag of canned goods we took as payment. After you drive through you can park and visit Santa in his little village where you can play in the hay and on slides and stuff. It was pretty cold but Summer had a blast and instead of paying $2 for a cup of watered down hot chocolate we made our own when we got home and munched on treats our friends brought us. I love outings like that with my family—so fun. Spending time with them and having fun makes all the crapstatic moments worth it.