Time flies

Boy does it! Four years ago, right this minute I was trying to hold off asking for an epidural to dull the pain of my stubborn child who flipped backwards and didn't want to join the world. I didn't know if I was having a boy or a girl, I had no idea that the next nine months would hold NO sleep, or that there is no feeling in the world like having a child who holds your heart.

Over the years he's been a tyrant toddler, a precocious preschooler and now a little boy. He's growing fast and we are so very blessed to have been given this gift from God to raise and call our own.

Since I'm in a nostalgic mood, let's take a walk down memory lane! LOL

Birth to One Year

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One to Two

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Two to Three

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and Three to Four is on it's way. Check back later for updates!

Snow cones, Contractions & and Gifts

What a weekend!

I can't remember the last time we had a truly lazy, do what you want, nothing HAS to get done, spur of the moment weekend. I'll have to schedule more of these for sure! I had funny moments, fantastic last minute one on one activities with Alex and best of all a few quiet solo minutes to enjoy being pregnant and feeling the baby squirm. Since we're only 17 days out the kicks and hiccups are limited and it was lovely to slow down and enjoy everything.

Alex and I hit up a local snow cone stand! I've been craving snow cones for oh, 9 months now, but unlike where I grew up there aren't stands on every corner. I finally spent some time on Yelp, found the one snow cone stand within 20 miles of my house and Alex and I loaded up and hit the road. They were delicious and we'll be headed back soon!

A funny moment when I saw Princess and the Frog! LOL Around my house that's not a movie it's a random moment caught with a blurry camera.

Also on the schedule this last week, Alex started swim lessons. Other than one meltdown on a bad day, Alex has really enjoyed his lessons and is rapidly learning how to swim like a fishy!

We're 17 days out from July 1st, Baby's anticipated arrival date and the closer we get the more ready I am! The contractions have started, random, but enough to be the first warning signs that A Baby Is Coming SOON!!!! Bags are packed and waiting by the door, her bed is ready, and I know family and friends are just as ready we are to meet and greet our little Princess. I can't wait!

Working with children at home

I have to admit, 2 weeks ago as we approached the end of the school year I was very worried about how to keep my kiddo busy while I worked. Working from home is probably very tough for a toddler to understand. Mom is home, available and should be ready to play right?

Normally I would have arranged for a summer camp, but none will take a three year old, even a potty trained, articulate, just finished Pre K one. Too bad cause this little guy hums with energy and I would gladly hand over some green to find the soccer came that would wear him out! Since there were no takers on a short camp option over June, Camp at Home began.

Week One: Getting in routine. Learning the ropes took about a week. There were a few tantrums, not a lot of TV and a good bit of "but Mrs. Pack says" (his teacher and the end all authority figure in his book). Not a lot was accomplished other than my learning that Alex has a terrific memory and amazing talent and love for puzzles.

Week Two: Camp out week. We had mini sub sandwiches made from hot dog buns, turkey, cheese,and fixings. Spritzers with juice and sprite, set up a tent in the playroom and napped in it, and set up our earning system for TV and computer time. So far things are going great and without jinxing myself I find that I'm optimistically looking for additional things for him to do.

I checked out a great book called "When the Kids are Home from School" and it's filled with advice and ideas that have inspired me to plan a little ahead and ensure he has lots to do during the day.

Adventures in Telecomuting ...Day 2

So yesterday was the first day my son was out of school and home with me. He's on summer vacation, ready for the pool, playtime and never ending fun, and I've got work to do! I've adjusted my hours, am working hard and fast and spending time in the evenings plotting out things to keep him busy. It's just to bad his attention span is so short.

I have to admit though, so far so good! I'm able to work a steady 7-3 with minimal interruptions that I like to think of as "Smoke Breaks" since I don't smoke by my old office mates do. I know they take those every few hours so I don't beat myself up about mine!

With 29 days to go before Liv's due date, my maternity leave and a whole summer of fun with two kiddos before me I'm working to clear the decks and it is taking organization like I've never had to have before!

Shout if you have any suggestions for self-entertaining, not wrecking the house kind of activities for little ones! I'm looking for anything I can get my hands on!

27 weeks tomorrow

This pregnancy is flying by! I'm so excited about the upcoming "sprinkle" (a mini shower...get it! :)), getting ready for our little girl and getting Eric in pink mode after 3 years of blue.

A quick pregnancy update for those who've been asking. I'm doing pretty good, but have had a few high blood pressure readings so they are watching that closely (next appt tomorrow). I'm still having all day long, never ending, yeah right first trimester only my rear end sickness. This has led to a few unfortunate episodes in public, once again making more thankful than I can ever say that I telecommute! I recently adopted Eric's gluten free diet and am happy to say that has kept the pregnancy weight gain to a minimum, safe level since it was out of control with Alex. Alex is super excited, wants to know when Olivia is going to be here and if she is going to arrive ready to go ride bikes with him.

Alex is doing great, although we are having daily meltdowns over next to nothing. Today has been a great day with no volcano like eruptions so I was not surprised at all to find that he actually napped today. Although as I type this he's going into whiny toddler who needs a nap mode. It really stinks that by the time his neighborhood friends are home to play he's not in any condition to be a good friend since 5-7 is the witching hour in our house. On a good note though he is sleeping through the night much better. So good in fact that when we wake him up at 10 to go potty he generally falls back asleep on the toilet. One of these days I'm going to get a good video of his "sleep talking" during this. :)

I am really looking forward this upcoming weekend. It's hard to believe it will be our 5 year anniversary. :) Now if only I knew what to get Eric to celebrate!

Life Happens

Ever wonder where the time goes? It has been chaos central around here.

We are currently dealing with:

• The ongoing drama of a Tyrant Toddler (I'm waiting for a publisher to offer me a life of easy with a huge advance to chronicle my journey trying to parent this crazy tyrant :))
• The exhaustion that hasn't quite gone away this whole pregnancy
• The morning sickness that made an uninvited return after only a month on vacation
  
• The daily drama of meal planning and keeping our household running...why oh why does that take so much work???
• Scheduling showings and keeping our other house ready for a buyer to swoop in any minute and take it off our hands

Add that to a full time job, a husband that travels and the general day to day stuff that comes out of nowhere and time just flies right by.

I can hardly believe that we're already 6 and a half months along with baby number 2. We can't wait to meet our baby girl and I'm so glad I can take a few solid months off to spend some time with her and Alex. These moments are so precious and they fly by so quickly!

It's a gorgeous day outside and Alex is "helping" aka telling Eric how to clean out the garage. I've had more laughs from him lately. We are really clear on the kind of language he should use and "Oh my God" is not something you hear in our household. Alex, however, doesn't hesitate to correct anyone who crosses his path if he hears those forbidden words. Add that to some gender confusion over boys with long hair, his general "by the book" attitude towards all rules and my kiddo is kind at heart but bossy to the core. It's going to be an interesting few years ahead.

Now off to figure out something yummy to make with Beef Cubed Steaks and then some fun in the sun...Thank you very much Daylight Savings Time!! :)

A bit of this and a bit of that

So I've been pretty MIA here on TTT lately unless you count my HVAC rant and a couple of random latte postings :).  Life's been crazy. Between the early pregnancy symptoms, my favorite little tyrant toddler and general daily life there just hasn't been the time I want to escape into cyberspace.

So to catch up a little here we go!

I'm roughly 17 weeks pregnant and finally starting to feel good instead of sick constantly! Thank the good Lord for small mercies!

I've rediscovered my love of the crockpot! :) There is nothing like complete five o'clock exhaustion to make you so proud and happy that you made dinner at 8am. (Tonight was Pork chops and potatoes with a side of broccoli-delish and took all of 15 minutes to put together!)

I've fallen in love with a few new blogs that do both gluten and corn free baking, discovered a great GF/Corn Free pound cake recipe that seems to be on the menu every week, and am still experimenting to try and find that perfect bread recipe.

When I have time I like to take my favorite new Christmas present (an external flash for my Olympus E 410) out for a test drive. Here's a few of my favorite pictures from today's impromtu photo shoot of Alex.















Enjoy!!! More to come soon! I promise.

Southern Folks take on the Snow!

A few of my favorite pictures from our weekend playing in the snow!

We spent a few amazing days in a gorgeous winter wonderland surrounded by our wonderful family!!!!

The most wonderful time of the year!

I love the holidays! From hanging with family over Turkey, to shopping for gifts and decorating the house, this whole season just fills me with joy. Alex has declared himself in charge of turning on all the lights each night and I just love seeing his face when everything lights up. His imagination abounds and I'm so looking forward to our first season where he "gets" all the Christmas traditions.

A Fireman's Real Job

Alex was in fine form last night and was having a blast rough housing with Eric. At one point he got frustrated with Eric pinning him and told us he was going to call the police. Of course I grabbed the camcorder! :) (password to view it is alex)

Dad's Fired! from Traci Synatschk on Vimeo.

If you need it, build it! :)

We have "market days" coming up at Alex's school and we needed to create a "farmer's market" style stall for the kiddos. We have a table and are going all out on the table cloth but I wanted a neat attention getting sign, so I called my Dad, asked his advice and headed off to the nearest Lowes.

On Dad's recommendation I got PVC pipe, connectors and end caps, came home, measured, sawed and voila...$11 and 15 minutes later I had the frame for my sign for this and many future projects.

Here is a quick do it yourself, step-by-step tutorial!

Assemble your items. I had the saw, tape measure and sharpie already, but everything else here cost $10.24. That and a little time and we have a very multifunction piece that should work for the preschool for a while!



Measure your PVC pipe and mark the height and width you want your stand to be. I did 7 feet high and 7 feet wide, so I cut all three pieces of my PVC pipe to seven feet.


Use a hack saw and cut the PVC pipe at your measured marks. The PVC pipe cuts easily, just be sure your cut ends go into the connectors so you don't scratch yourself.


Get your connectors ready. From here on out it's like putting legos together!


Use your short brace pieces and connect them to the sides of your T connector. The top of the T will hold your tall stand pieces.



Add your elbow connectors to connect your side and top pieces:



Alex helped put the finishing touches on. Here he is adding end caps to our stand:


The finished product! We're going to wrap it in brown crepe paper to make trees and decorate it with fall leaves, and hang a Shoreline Market Days banner across it, pictures coming soon!

Ready, Set, Go....

The Holidays are almost here which means it's time for PARTY PLANNING!!! Yeah! :) I volunteer at my son's school to help with parties and really enjoy seeing the kiddos get a kick out of everything we pull together. This year we're doing a Fall Fun Day for the preschool and it amazes me how much coordination goes into something like this. I've been working on volunteer rotations, donations needed, and just general planning for what will amount to one morning for 60 kids. I CAN"T WAIT! There will be awesome pilgrim pictures, hayrides, a farmer's market and more. I want to give a special thank you to the great folks at www.volunteerspot.com which is making organizing volunteers and donations so much easier! :)

Needless to say, between a few friends getting married in Oct, our own fall entertaining, travel for both myself and Eric and Race for the Cure on the horizon, this is shaping up to be a busy month!

Time Flies

My birthday is coming up soon and it's causing me to ponder... :)

I've never been to upset about getting older. Let's face it we all want to rush to those first big milestones, 16 so we can drive, 21 so we can drink, and then reality hits. Work, responsibility, getting dinner on the table, you know what I'm talking about. Nope getting older isn't bothering me, it's that weird sensation that time has gone so fast I've missed something. Cliche as it sounds, it feels like yesterday that I got married, and only a short while ago that we had Alex.  Today I looked at him while we were waiting at the doctor's office, really looked at him (he was quietly pretending to read a book so I grabbed the 30 precious quiet seconds :)) and saw a little boy. Not a baby, not a toddler, but a little boy like the ones you look at in the store and think "they're old enough to know better."  There have been so many warning signs lately that I should have seen this coming. He's refused to hold my hand recently on the way into school, "It's not the parking lot Mom...," He can full dress himself head to toe (who cares if his underwear are on inside out, he's darn proud), and most telling of all he asked us to cut the strings off Puppy. 

A little background on puppy :).

Here's what Puppy looked like when DeeDee and Dad gave him to us at our baby shower.

And here is a "before and after" 3 years as a constant companion to Alex shot :).

From the time Alex became attached to puppy, the strings that should have been used to tie him to the crib were held in or near his ear as he went to sleep, any time he was scared and finally just out of habit. I caught him putting them near his mouth one to many times and threatened to cut them off which resulted in a major tantrum.  So imagine my surprise last Thursday when he calmly came and repeatedly asked us to cut the strings off Puppy.

Fair warning for later in life I guess...if I don't cut the apron strings my son will do it for me!

Random thoughts

We hung out with some friends tonight and seeing my kiddo running around with their kids brought me an amazing amount of joy. I grew up in a great neighborhood with a good bunch of friends, and together we spent every afternoon riding bikes, racing around, and generally just having a great time. Maybe it's just my quiet neighborhood but I haven't seen any kids running around playing like we used to. I hope as Alex continues to grow that he'll see the fun in turning off the TV and heading outside to play!

End of Year Party and an Incredibly Moist Cake Recipe

Alex and I had a lot of fun whipping up some super yummy snacks for his end of year bash. I'm just getting around to posting this since the start of Preschool has kept me so busy, but this recipe deserves its five minutes of fame and then some!

I always love a new recipe but a new healthy recipe is just great! Recently there was a lot of discussion in one of my Mom's groups about the "Sprite Cake." This cake was a huge hit with my weight watchers crowd back in the day since it cuts all the oil and eggs out of the recipe helping to keep down the calories and fat content.

The added bonus is the INCREDIBLE moistness of these cakes. Seriously...you won't believe it until you try it.

Are you ready...

Take one box of cake mix (any kind) and mix it with 10 ounces of regular soft drink (I used Coke with a chocolate cake, and Sprite with a yellow cake). Add two TBSPs of sour cream, mix it up and bake as a cake or cupcakes. That's it! :)

For the frosting I like to buy regular frosting, whatever happens to be on sale for the week, and make my own lighter whipped frosting. Just put a can of frosting into your kitchen aid (or a bowl and use a hand mixer), add any flavorings you might like, and whip the frosting on medium to high for 4 or 5 minutes. Voila, yummy, light, whipped frosting.

Since this recipe didn't involve any eggs, or oil, Alex got to do the honors of pouring in the coke and turning on the mixer. I handled the sprinkles, only because of a previous Easter cookie incident that involved having to re-sweep and mop all the floors! :)

Hope you Enjoy, the kiddos in Alex's class sure did!

Alex is Starting School...

Ok Preschool, but still I have to drop him off, he has to take himself to the bathroom, he has lessons with weekly tests to see how he's doing...sounds like school to me!

Things seem to be changing so fast that days like today when I get a chance to step back and really look at what all has happened recently I'm just amazed.

A month after ordering it, Alex's new bedroom furniture is in, delivered, installed and finally incorporated in his room! I happened to stumble across the exact bedding I wanted for his room on clearance at Target today so Thank you very much Aunt Christine, Alex loves his birthday gift from you and Derek! See how wisely momma spends his gift cards! :)

Alex is super excited about the newly decorated bedroom.





Tomorrow's our first "First day of school photo!" How bittersweet!

The Beach Cake

I loved this cake! Not only was it right up my ally being pretty simple and yet impressive looking, it tasted fantastic! I'll be the first to admit that I typically go overboard with my son's birthday parties, but I did make an attempt this year to keep myself in check with everything but the cake.

Our decor consisted of a few inexpensive banners and one beach bucket full of snacks, some paper plates and napkins and we were set. We did go in with most of the family and get an inflatable water slide for Alex's birthday present this year. Throw that in with a regular kiddie pool, and the inflatable soccer goal Alex got last year for his birthday, and my backyard became a kids inflatable land dream. :)

Then there was the cake. My brother joined our decorating team this year and made such notable contributions as the teddy graham chicken fight, and the bouy. My sister carefully crafted a kayak, helped with the bouy and served as general managing director of the decorations, and I was the brains behind the surfer, the beach babes, the lifeguard and the tree. All together we got a nifty cake that served the 50 or so people who came with very little leftover.

I used 3 boxes of funfetti cake mix to make the 11 x 15 cake, a thin 8 inch round and two cupcakes so I could test the results before the crowd. :) Once both cakes were cook, I put them in the fridge over night to lock in the moisture. The day before the party I brought them back to room temp, arranged the 8 inch round in pieces to create the beach and added a crumb coat to make frosting it easier. Once the crumb coat had set for a bit I tinted store bough whipped white frosting with orange extract (colorless) and did a white layer over the entire cake. I quickly added finely blended graham crackers (they were powder like consistency) all over the beach by patting them into the icing. Then I tinted another can of whipped white frosting blue for the water and mixed it with the white to create white caps in the water. Then came the fun with the teddy grahams and gummy drops rolled and cut up into shapes. Here see for yourself!

Prep Day

We've been prepping for Alex's party all week. We always use entertaining as an excuse to get the house in tip top shape. And I entertain enough that we get a good deep clean once a month or so. Between, cleaning, decluttering, shopping, baking, and more cleaning you would think we would be exhausted...but nope I love this!

Last night Alex and I made his cake. An 11x15 funfetti cake, and an 8 inch round funfetti cake, and two funfetti cupcakes. There's a method to my madness! :) I always recommend making a single cupcake out of any cake you make. Just use a small spoonfull of the batter. that way you get a preview of what you're going to serve. :) The 11x15 cake will be a beach cake, and the smaller 8 inch round will be carved on the corner to give rise to the actual beach portion (pictures later today).

Ever year this is one of my favorite parts of Alex's birthday. My sister comes to town and together we spend far to much time making his birthday cake. I love the time with my sister, love knowing I made Alex's cake when I see his face the next day.

Here's the last two years...



plus about a zillion of these


Then the next year...

And a ton of cupcakes decorated in boats, planes and cars. (We did a Planes, Trains and Automobiles party :).

This year it's surfs up and a beach cake. And I promised no cupcakes...so I did brownies instead. I really just can't help myself! :)

Three Years Old Today

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEXANDER!!!!

Hard to believe that three years ago today we were in a hospital room in Dallas, anxiously waiting for Baby A to make an appearance. We didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl, how little sleep we were going to get, and I asked Eric yesterday if he could believe it had been three years and he laughed and said Yes. men are so funny that way...

Alex was 7 lbs 6 oz when he was born and 21 inches long.

Two Months

Six Months

Nine Months

One Year

By two he was thirty pounds and 34 1/2 inches

and now he's hovering right around 35 lbs and 37 inches tall.

Growing, growing, growing! We had the first of three celebrations planned last night and had a wonderful time celebrating with some golf, some pool time and some cake.


For those of you checking back in, here's a walk down memory lane and an absolute OVERLOAD of pictures from the last year. I snuck in a few sneak peaks of our family photo session for those brave enough to watch the whole montage! :)

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