little bitty

I feel like I've been out of touch with some of my closest loved ones....  I use this blog as a way for family and friends far away to see Eli and his happenings as well as a way for Andy and I to remember for years to come.  Here are some little bitty snippets from the Roeder Happenings.

1.  A few weekends ago we went to Casino Night which is a fundraiser for Mom's of Twins in Milwaukee.  We usually go with our good friends P&J and pay $20 and get $500 dollars of play money to gamble with.  At the end we enter a raffle and we all won prizes.  It's going on about 5 years that we've been doing it and every year is a blast. 

That same weekend we went to a Milwaukee Bucks vs. Chicago Bull's game with another set of friends.  We did dinner, chatting and cheering at the game.  It was great to see C&M, friends we don't get a chance to go out with very often.  We both forgot to take pictures of that night.  But thanks to Grandma Barb for babysitting Elijah for us!

2.  Elijah is really starting to get too smart for his britches.  It's hard being a working mom, and then coming home and realizing your child has learned something amazing and we weren't the one who did the teaching.  On the other hand, it is great that he is learning!  He now knows all his colors, can say some numbers and is aware of the alphabet.  He is repeating every word now and can now say mini sentences ("I got Thomas!" or "I want it")

3. I got creative last week.  I made a quinoa salad from scratch.  I made up the recipe and the neat thing is that it never has to be exactly the same. I can use any veggies that I have around the house.  Next time I would like to add some chopped green pepper.  I used edemmame (not sure how to spell that), cucumbers, corn, carrots, green onions, quinoa and some seasonings with lemon juice/vinegar/oil light dressing I made.  Quinoa is a new grain I am learning to use more of.  Obviously (as you can see below) I need a little work learning how to get the lighting correct for taking pictures.  I also made an egg bake that I was able to use the leftovers for breakfast for a break in the boring rice chex cereal every morning. I also made a gluten free broccoli quiche which turned out but was just ok.  (No pictures)

4. In lieu of my recent post "The Pile" and me being creative-I have to admit that I am actually not super positive about being gluten free this weekend.  I just need to complain for a bit.  I just really miss going out to eat.  I know it's do-able and it's ok but it's hard for me because I LOVE LOVE LOVE (and that is an understatement) food and eating.  Today we went out for lunch and it was a bomb.  We had a gift certificate so at least we didn't spend a lot on it.  My meal came out late because they put sauce on the first one.  The second time, the chicken was sitting on 2 pieces of white bread.  Ugg.   I decided not to eat that part but it just frustrated me as Eli was eating homemade macaroni and cheese with caramelized apples and Andy was eating this beautiful Reuben type of sandwich and french fries (all things I couldn't have).  With Eli's meal he got a cookie which Andy ate while Eli was napping-a big M&M cookie.  It looked delish.  I ate part of my chicken and a few bites of mashed potatoes and pouted.  Yesterday I did enjoy a lettuce wrap sandwich from Jimmy John's but Andy informed me they too cross contaminate as they have their mayo in one container and use a spatula that goes in and out and on the bread etc. Normally I'm not big on mayo, but if I'm not going to have the bread I wanted a little mayo.  They wrap it tight so it's easy to eat so there was no way for me to add the mayo later from a packet.  Ok...that's enough complaining. No wait-I totally sat through a family style Italian dinner too where everyone had appetizers, pasta and dessertw hile I had my own sepearate dish.  Lonely...  Ok now I'm really done. (for now!)

5. I'm getting excited for Easter.  Every year we do something different.  Holidays are just more fun with Eli in tow.

6. Eli has been sick all weekend.  We have been wiping his nose every 2 minutes (literally-seriously -literally).  It's hard to keep up with.  I finally caved and bought a real box of Kleenex instead of using toilet paper and paper towel on his sweet little nose. 

7. I've been to some pretty good baby rummages lately.  I've bought a few clothes items but also some new toys.  Eli got a new Thomas the Train track and a big mega blocks track with cars.  The last 2 mornings he has woken up asking for "track?" before even getting a good morning kiss.  He also got a bin of play fruit and veggies that velcro togetherwith a fake plastic knife.  Eli has already spent a good hour on 3 different occasions practicing cutting his fruits and veggies. 

  

Do I have to mention how grateful I am to have a husband who will build this with E?  Also-how darn cute is Bailee sitting under the bridge. She sat there the whole time. She wanted to play I think.

8. Life is good when you are reading a good book.  In the last month I've read 3 or 4 good ones and I feel like I'm on a roll.  Maybe that's why I haven't been blogging as much.

9. I've been feeling sad lately because I haven't had another chance to get my hands on this:

Sydney in a totally adorable Star Wars T-shirt-picture provided from Syd's mom

But in May I will spend 2 whole weekends with her and I already cannot wait!

10.  I did my first "Opening Day" and it was amazing. Even though the Brewer's did not win I had SO much fun. It went incredibly fast. It was cold-almost like being at a Packer game. We promised not to post any pictures on Facebook or Blogs but here is 1 good one.   (Ps thanks to my In-Law's for helping with E at the last minute!)   

11. I have split pea soup brewing on the stove.  I used a ham bone and made my own recipe.  I've always wanted my brother in law's recipe-but he has yet to share it :)  Some day.  PS Ed I'm also craving one of your famous Bloody Marys!!!

That's all for now.  Just short snippets of what has been going on with us.