Sorry for the long break in blogging, but things around here have been a little challenging lately. William is now just about 16 months and has entered the toddler phase complete with saying no and throwing temper tantrums! Anyone with any tips on how to discipline a 16 month old…please leave a comment! He is the most strong-willed and determined boy I know! Although he is quite the challenge lately, he is also increasingly adorable. He loves to talk and some of his favorite words (besides “no”) are: bird, dog, done, and Jado (our cat’s name). He recently even said “Katie” when we were visiting his Aunt Katie! He thinks that all cats are called Jado and all other animals, besides birds are called dogs. When he sees a pig in a book or on TV he snorts in his own little way. He is almost completely off the bottle and drinking out of sippy cups now. When we go out to eat we now have to order off the children’s menu for him. Unfortunately, he hardly ever eats enough to justify spending the money on the extra meal. Oh well! He still isn’t walking on his own, even though we believe he can do it, he is just too darn stubborn to try. He loves walking around holding onto our hands though and pulls up next to everything. His favorite spot? The TV stand. He is an expert on how to turn the TV on and off, the volume up and down and even setting the child lock so Mommy and Daddy can’t use the TV! I can’t believe how much he is growing and developing every day. Where did my baby go?

By now you are wondering what in the world the title of this blog has to do with an update on William. Well it doesn’t. Nine weeks ago yesterday I was told by my doctor that I would be welcoming home a little pumpkin this coming Halloween. Yes, you read that correctly….Baby #2 is on it’s way! I am officially due on November 5th, but will be having a scheduled cesarean section on October 29th. Jason and I have been slowly telling people the last couple of weeks, but I decided that it was about time to let everyone know that we don’t see very often and have been unable to tell in person. This pregnancy has been quite different than my first. With William I felt mostly good my first trimester. There were maybe five weeks in the beginning that I had on and off nausea, but nothing too bad. This baby on the other hand, has been making me feel miserable for about 7 weeks now. I’ve had severe nausea most days, headaches every few days, and overall feel pretty lousy. Last week I had a few days in a row that I felt fine and thought I was out of the woods…but this week hasn’t been so great. I am hoping I start feeling better soon! So not feeling well on top of having to take care of a demanding toddler has been challenging to say the least, but I am so excited to be pregnant again!

Hopefully, I’ll be able to get back to blogging regularly and give William updates along with pregnancy updates more consistently.

Our church has been in the news a lot lately the past few days.

Check out a video from the CBS6 News here.

There’s an article and video on Capital News 9 here.

And two articles in the Berkshire Eagle here and here.

Check them out!

When we were in Maine last week, we picked up our favorite local paper, The Northern Forecaster. We used to get this every week when we lived in Freeport and would immediately open it to the Police Beat column. Last week was no different…we immediately opened it to that section and here is what we read:

3/1 at 4:02 p.m. A friendly Canadian goose, perhaps the same bird that has been spotted all over the area during the past couple of weeks, refused to move from a parking lane at Shaw’s. But by the time the animal control officer responded, the goose had flown off, last seen heading southwest.

Understand why we would turn to that column first? Every week we would read about the neighbor who had called the police because she believed the sheep next door needed shearing, or the boy that was riding a lawnmower down a residential street, or the the mysterious noises someone heard. Some of you may be thinking that this column is a joke….but it isn’t! It’s right along side the people who got arrested for drunk driving and all the fire and EMS calls they received. These are real police reports. Living in Maine, we learned that things are a little different there then elsewhere we have lived – not bad, just different.

South-of-the-Border Oven-Barbecued Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

3/4 c. BBQ sauce

1 (4.5oz) can chopped green chilies, undrained

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1/2 cup shredded Colby cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place chicken in a greased 9×13 baking dish. Brush chicken with BBQ sauce.

2. Bake, uncovered for 15 minutes; sprinkle with green chilies and chopped green pepper. Bake 15 more minutes or until chicken is done.

3. Place chicken on a serving platter, reserving drippings. Stir drippings until smooth and pour over chicken; top with cheeses. Serve immediately.

Our varations:

I usually just use whatever shredded cheese I have on hand or buy the Mexican blend shredded cheese. I have found it impossible to find shredded Monterey Jack and Colby cheeses. We always serve this with Black Beans and Rice. I know its not as healthy, but we usually buy the bag/box of pre-seasoned black beans and rice.

I got this recipe from a Mr. Food cookbook we got as a wedding shower gift from my grandparents and have made this numerous times in the past 7 years. I am excited to make it again this week!

So I was informed tonight that it has been quite some time since I have written on this blog. Sorry for that. I’ve concentrated so much of my blog energy on www.hartsreviews.com that I’ve neglected our namesake blog. Anyway… here is a quick William update since it’s been a while!

• The last couple weeks have been tough as his molars are making their first appearance.  Two have come in so far (on his left side) and we are eagerly awaiting the other two.  The last couple of weeks have been full of the heartbreaking looks of anguish followed by him grabbing at his cheek with his little hands.  So sad to know what he’s going through and be able to do so little.  
• He started walking… sort of .  William is one of the most stubborn people I know and has refused to attempt walking if we try to help him.  As soon as he gets the notion that mom or dad want him to try taking a few steps he’ll lift his feet or just plop down on his butt.  Enter last weekend when the weather was nice enough to have some outside time.  It must have been the change of scenery but William decided it was finally time to let dad guide him through a few steps.  Now the little dude walks all over the place (while holding our fingers, the coffee table, or his crib) and loves it!  
• Someone needs to market “Toddler Earplugs”.  Not for the toddler of course but for the parents of said toddler.  William discovered recently that it is loads of fun to scream at the top of his little lungs for no apparent reason other than that it is fun!  I guess it’s known as the “toddler scream” but I’ve come to know it as the “holy #@&^” I didn’t know that sound could come out of an 18 pound kid!  
• The boy has got rhythm!  Today he was caught “dancing” to the rhythmic sound of me scrubbing one of our cutting boards!  He loves do dance!  He has been known on several occasions over the last couple of weeks to crawl up to our iPod docking station or our iPhones, point at it, sign “more” or “I want” and start dancing.  When you turn on the music he starts bouncing his little body to the beat.  Very cute!
• Swim Saturdays!  Over the last several weeks it has been our routine to go to the YMCA swimming pool for some daddy / William swim time.  The water is a bit chilly but he can usually last a good 20 minutes before getting too cold.  He loves to splash, scream (loves the echo), kick, and smile / flirt with the occasional baby girl taking a swim with mom or dad.  Most importantly it is great bonding time for him and I since we usually follow up pool time with a stop at a local coffee shop for lunch.  I love Saturday’s with Will!

I’ll save the rest of the updates for another blog.  To see some recent pictures of our little guy just send us a quick note and we’ll connect you to our flickr site!

I made this for the first time this week and it was an instant winner.

Chicken in a Pot

2 carrots, sliced

2 onions, sliced

2 stalks celery, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 whole chicken

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 c. water, chicken broth, or white wine (I used wine)

1/2 tsp dried basil (I accidentally grabbed the oregano first, so ours had oregano and basil and then as a last minute decision I added some garlic powder too.)

Put carrots, onion, celery in bottom of crock-pot. Place whole chicken on top of vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and add liquid over top. Sprinkle basil (or other herbs) over top. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours.

Well, its been 2 years since we stared this blog and in celebration of our 100th post, here are our top 5 most popular posts…

1) Product Review…Newton Running Shoes

This is by far the most popular post with well over 2,000 hits! It’s popularity spurred Jason to create a new blog for his reviews and ramblings about everything triathlon at www.hartsreviews.com

2) Fulfilling  a childhood dream!

This was Jason’s post about going to his first Packers game.

3) Southwest Vacation Day 1

We are amazed at how many people have searched for jack rabbits on the web and were led to our post about seeing jack rabbits outside our hotel in Las Vegas last summer.

4) With Arms Wide Open

This is by far our favorite top post – William’s birth announcement!

5) Updated house pics

We have no idea why this one is so popular….just a few pictures of our house being built.

Thanks for checking our blog out! We plan on being much more consitent with our posts so keep checking back and leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you!

This is one of our favorite vegetable side dishes. I think we have it at least a couple times a month. I have no idea where I got this from, or if I invented it myself but it is my favorite way to eat broccoli now!

Lemon Broccoli

1 pound fresh broccoli

1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 tsp.grated lemon rind

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1/4 tsp. salt

1 minced garlic clove

Steam broccoli until crisp-tender. Combine all other ingredients. Drizzle over broccoli and toss well to coat.

Move closer!

I know it’s selfish, but I love living where we live. We have a great house, great neighbors, great jobs, a great church, great friends, but we are missing something……family!  So please consider it…move closer 🙂

If you are reading this blog chances are we’ve discussed our church with you at one time or another.  Hopefully these conversations or at least brief mentions have stirred a bit of curiosity as to what our church “experience” is like.  The following two videos are a great sample of what Northway Church is like on any given weekend.   The first video is from our Christmas Eve service which is absolutely phenominal!  If you like Trans Siberian Orchestra you’ll love the first 5 minutes of this video!  The second is a short clip from last weekends service.  You’ll definitely get a taste for what worship is like at NC from these videos!  If you want to see more please check out the churches website here.  God is definitely at work here and I hope you join in online!  

Christmas Eve Service from Northway Church on Vimeo.

Freedom Reigns / Healer from Northway Church on Vimeo.