Friday, December 2, 2011

Random Phone Photos

Everyone has those random phone pictures right? I just wanted to share some of Maylee.
(Some are old, Sorry no particular order)

Wickedly cute

Riding in the truck

Picnic time

The famous "pouty lip" (It's even more cute when she is sad/mad)

Maylee loves giving kisses

Had a blow out at grandma's house. This is how we brought her home.

Just a little exhaust pipe

Thanks Dad...

Thursday, November 17, 2011

What was I going to say?

Tobin and I were up with Maylee for 2 hours last night trying to get her to stop crying and back to sleep. This is pretty typical these days. Anyway, as I was rocking her I thought to myself, its been a while since I updated the blog, I should do that. And I even thought of a blog title and lots of things to say Well, seeing how that was about 4:00 am, I can not remember what it was I wanted to say. Oh well. I guess I can just say I do not like to blog so I don't usually write much, maybe just upload a few pictures and call it good. Maybe I should try writing more about our lives but then again who even reads this blog? Chelsie? I tell her everything when we talk on the phone or skype so what ever I say on here is old news to here anyway. Plus she gets her "daily dose" pictures of Maylee. So...I feel that there is nothing to say! Oh besides the fact that my father-in-law asked "What happened to Tasteful Tuesday?" So, I guess he gets on and checks this once in a while. I have been trying to find new recipes still and that has been pretty fun. One of the EASIEST I have found is for BBQ Mango Chicken. (recipe called for fish, I used chicken) Get a load of this- 1/2 cup bbq sauce, one 4oz jar of mango baby food and a little garlic powder. Mix it, dump it on your chicken and if you want, sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake it at 375 for 20 minutes. I served it with a green salad and wild rice. Yeah, it is going into the "favorites" rotation. Ok so, I guess if I ramble enough then this post may actually turn into something!
Hmmm, what else is going on in our lives....So, Tobin was set to graduate in May. Next semester was going to be his student teaching. The end was SO close! He was going to graduate, and we were hoping to move to Wyoming over the summer for Tobin to find a teaching job. Leave it up to ISU to mess up any plans you have. There is ONE math class left he has to take. They offer it every OTHER fall. He planned on taking it this semester. 2 years ago for an education class he took they had to make this big chart with every class they had left to take and when they would take it etc. So he had everything pretty well planned out. ISU was supposed to be offering it this current semester. Well, because of "staffing shortages" they were unable to offer it. Tobin met with the math department chair, he says "We will offer it next semester" Well, while student teaching, you are not allowed to take any classes. So he wrote an appeal to take it while student teaching and it got approved! (On the condition that it did not conflict with his teaching schedule) Well Mr. Dept Chair pretty much tells Tobin "OK great! It won't conflict, we will work it out" 2 weeks ago, they post the schedule for next semester..... MA 343 MWF 12-12:50. awesome. Tobin meets with the department chair again and he feeds him this crap: "For the past seven years its been offered at this time, I am NOT going to change it for you." OK REALLY?! Why did you not say that in the first place 2 months ago when we talked! So, I looked and looked and looked for an online class that would work. The only modern geometry class online I could find was offered at University of Phoenix. Same class, just SUPER expensive. ($1800 for ONE class) Well, it was worth it to us. So Tobin contacts the department chair AGAIN and gives him the class info. He will not accept it because they do not have proctored tests or prerequisites. OH MY GOSH!!! So, after exhausting all of our options we have come to grips with the fact that we will be here one more semester. frustrating. I know things will work out and one more semester really is not bad. I think the real reason we were so mad is because ISU is pretty ridiculous. Anyway, we also recently decided that Grad school is going to be next for Tobin. We have talked about it several times and for teachers its actually better in the long run to start teaching with only your bachelors. That was the plan, even after being urged several times from family members to look into getting a masters degree. We knew it just wasn't what we wanted to do or what we were supposed to do. Maybe because we were only considering ISU physics masters program. When we found that University of Wyoming has a Masters of Science in Teaching Physics (MST Physics) we were pretty excited. I think there are only 4 or 5 MST Physics programs in the country. After several days of researching it and contacting advisors and professors we decided that is what we are doing! We wanted to go to Wyoming (much better pay for teachers) just not eastern Wyoming. That is exactly where UW is. We can handle it. It is close to Cheyenne and not to far from Denver as well! So, we still might move this summer and just have Tobin do student teaching in Wyoming. That way, when he starts grad school we will only have to pay out of state tuition for one semester (if we move early enough) So thats our story for now... long and rambling but I guess thats what I was going to say. Oh one more thing. I just want to say I am very grateful for Tobin and his hard work. Last week he took the Praxis II which is the big test for student teaching, this week he took the CLEP French test (since he has to take one more class next semester, he is going to take some french too) He passed that with FLYING colors even after 3 1/2 years of being home from his mission. To get 16 credits worth he needed to get 59/80.......He got 72/80 :) He is pretty awesome! Next week is the GRE and then he gets a break from tests for a few weeks!
PS Maylee is pretty darn awesome too! I guess I will devote a post to her here in the next few days!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Pumpkin Patch

We were able to go to our first pumpkin patch as a family last week! I was so excited all week, and just hoped the weather was nice. It turned out to be a sunny, but very windy day. We went to Swore Farms and picked out "our perfect pumpkin". The guy at the patch said "Well, pumpkins down at this end start at 30 lbs and as you move further west they get up to 80 lbs!" Um...ok, we will stick with the 30 pounder. We found one! It was a nice sized pumpkin and ended up being 29lbs. Maylee was so patient while we picked our pumpkin, and had a great time riding in the wagon. For now, its just a cute fall decoration on the front porch, but soon it will be a jack-o-lantern!!
At Swore Farms, they also have a corn maze. So for mutual (combined activity) Tobin was in charge and decided to go to the corn maze. Maylee and I tagged along as well. It ended up being a lot bigger and a lot more fun than we expected and the kids all had a great time.


So excited to go!

So excited to be here!

Maylee helping check out all of our options!

Tobin checking out the pumpkins too




"THIS ONE DADDY!!"


"

Friday, October 14, 2011

Backpacking Trip

Back in August, Tobin and his brothers got to go backpacking! They had a great time together. Here are a few pictures.








Thursday, July 28, 2011

I love black beans and rice

Another new yummy recipe I tried! It was pretty easy too, Vegetarian black bean cakes with orange-basil salsa! I served this over brown rice and with a green salad.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

New Recipe

Week 1 of my Tasteful Tuesday challenge turned out to be pretty good! I will share the recipe, it was really easy! Week 2 was fajitas, which I LOVE and have made before BUT I have never made fajita seasoning from scratch so that was counted as my new recipe. I found a few recipes for the seasoning so I did a little combining to make my own and it turned out delicious, but now I can not remember exactly what it was because I forgot to write it down as I went. Anyway, Creamy ranch pork chops....

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 boneless pork chops, 3/4-inch thick (about 1 pound)
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
3/4 cup milk
1 package (1 ounce) ranch salad dressing mix
Paprika
Ranch-Style Rice

1. Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook until well browned on both sides.

2. Stir the soup, milk and 1/2 package salad dressing mix in the skillet and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the pork is cooked through. Sprinkle with the paprika.

3. Serve with the Ranch-Style Rice.

Ranch-Style Rice: Heat 2 1/4 cups water and the remaining salad dressing mix in a 3-quart saucepan over medium-high heat to a boil. Stir in 1 cups uncooked regular long-grain white rice and cook according to the package directions.

Serving Suggestion: Serve with a vegetable blend. For dessert, serve chunky applesauce topped with cinnamon.

Makes: 4 servings.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Tasteful Tuesday

Do you ever feel like you cook the same rotation of meals? I sure do! The other night, I was apologizing to Tobin for that and decided I need to be bold and try new recipes. Between us both working 2 jobs and mutual life gets a little crazy and our "relaxing " evenings at home together exist only on Tuesday! So, I will be trying a NEW recipe EVERY Tuesday! If it is a good one, I may share it. Tonight, creamy ranch pork chops with ranch style rice... sounds good and easy. Wish me luck because I NEED IT! (Cooking is not really my thing)

Thursday, April 7, 2011

At 12 weeks

At 12 weeks old, Maylee is learning and growing SO much! Here are some stats from her Dr. appointment yesterday:

12lbs 14oz (60th percentile)
24 1/4 inches (90th percentile)

*Maylee is cooing and smiling (pretty much all the time)
*She holds her head very well and turns her head when she hears something
*Now focuses her eyes and follows objects
*Is starting to grasp objects
*Maylee IS the spit-up queen!
*She is not so much a fan of tummy time. She can only handle it for a few minutes at a time.
*Loving to suck on her hands therefore... LOTS of drool
*Loves bath time. She loves to splash and kick!
*She was doing great at sleeping in her bassinet, then we moved her to her crib. She has had a few rough nights... but sometimes she sleeps 8 hours. She is getting the hang of it though.

We sure love Maylee and honestly cant even imagine life without her. She brightens my day and reminds me what really matters. Yesterday Maylee got her shots.... So last night was rough to say the least. She was fussy all night and would wake up every 2 hours! She would just cry and cry and cry. I was NOT happy about it this morning because I am the one who wakes up with her. (Tobin has conveniently learned to sleep through her crying...) Well, I left for work in a bad mood and had a bad day at work as well. I was just being grumpy. But as soon as I got home I saw Maylee and she immediately began to talk to me and smile.
That changed everything.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

NOW I KNOW

I thought I knew what LOVE was....
But NOW I KNOW WHAT LOVE IS




Saturday, March 12, 2011

Life with a baby

Life with a baby is different, thats for sure! We would not change it for anything. Maylee is such a blessing and so darn sweet, we just love her so much! We are adjusting and getting the hang of things now... I think. We have not really gone and done much in the past 2 months but we have absolutely loved being at home with Maylee. A few of my thoughts about parenthood.....
*The first month was way harder than the second month
*Until she is a little older we get to have date night at home, with all 3 of us! AWESOME!
*If you want to go anywhere plan for an extra hour or so just to get ready and get out the door.
* Also, if you want to go anywhere plan on taking a million extra things. Who would have thought a baby needs so much "stuff"
*So much time and effort is put into something so small!
*She seriously gets more beautiful every single day!
*I have a lot more thoughts, but I will save those for another time. Now the past 8 weeks in pictures. ENJOY!


Our little family

Maylee after her bath (she looks like an alien baby)

Sporting her ISU colors

1 month old already!

A ladybug dress for our Maylee bug

Starting to really interact with her toys

LOVES her swing

Maylee still sleeps in our room in her bassinet but she naps in her crib!

Blessing day with cousin Morgann

Beautiful girl

2 months old!!!

Stylish :)

Starting to give BIG smiles!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Little Miss Maylee

Friday, January 7th came and went.... No baby.
Saturday, January 8th came and went.... No baby.
Same story Sunday and Monday.
Monday the 10th I had a Dr. appointment and at that time, He gave us the option of inducing. We were anxious for her to arrive and I felt like my body was ready. So Tuesday, January 11th at 4:00 am, we called the hospital like were were supposed to. They said, Sorry! We are not ready for you, we will call you back. So FINALLY at 10:15 they called back and said come on up! We were so nervous but excited. By the time we got to the hospital, got checked in, and they started my IV it was 11:45 am. So, that was it... labor was started and we didn't know what to expect really. Yeah we took a birthing class, but those mothers shown in the videos are SO dramatic and intense! This was totally different. The nurse told us since I was a first time mom, and I was being induced, we would be AT LEAST 12 hours, but could be a lot more. Well, I guess I did pretty good to have her at 8:45 pm! 9 hours....Take that nurse! Anyway, the point of this is to introduce our sweet little girl!!
MAYLEE ERIS GIRAUD
1-11-11~8.0 lbs~20 inches~8:45pm


We kinda like her! Being a mom is hard but so amazing! I LOVE it so much and couldn't do it without a great husband like Tobin!