Happy Thanksgiving, from Iassc the grouch!

This has been a whole family effort! Ben and our friend Jeremy Loyd have been working feverishly to get this whole thing live for us and get us some marketing materials together for next week’s mommy blog conference. Then there is Cortney and I who have slaved away at content, cooking, and daydreaming. And, of course, our sons who have had to suffer through as we are glued to our computer screens the last few weeks.

Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive. I am looking forward to seeing what you think!

Tricia

Seems like Menu Plan Monday was a hit last week! At least with my mother who eats here on Mondays. Won’t she be disappointed when she sees this and sees that she will be eating leftovers. Although, if you ask me, the leftovers around here are just as good as the real deal.

This week is pretty busy for us as we are working to get the new website launched, having a party, and getting ready for BlissDom ‘09 (I need a cocktail party outfit!!!! And I am only 5 months post-partum. Seriously people! I have called in my fashion guru friend Olivia to assist so I am excited along with the shear terror.) So with all of this craziness dinner has to definitely be quick and easy for me.

This is our menu for this week:

Monday – Mom’s eating leftovers because it Restaurant Week here in Dayton, Ohio and we are going out!

Tuesday – Crockpot Beef Stroganoff, Mashed Potatoes, corn (please don’t send the starch police – we know we are addicts!) (didn’t get around to making this last week)

Wednesday – Out to dinner with friend – hubby on own

Thursday – Crockpot Fajitas, Corn, Guacamole

Friday – Having a Pampered Chef Party – making Jerk Chicken Nachos, Apple Tartlets, Tiramasu Trifle, and Spinach Artichoke Bread Dip

Saturday – Feta Stuffed Chicken, Easy Stuffing

Sunday – leftovers and to friends Super Bowl Party (Launch date of onceamonthmom.com – YAY!)

For more great menu ideas check out orgjunkie.com.

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Several months ago when I was on bed rest before Isaac, I got to wandering around on blog sites. I regularly read my cousins website and she did a thing called Menu Plan Monday. I thought that was a great idea and remembered back to the days that I actually had time to plan out meals. Needless to say I got several great ideas from her menus over the last few months.

Now that I have some more time, I am actually doing this. I actually have been doing it for several months but have never posted my menus. This will be a new feature on the new site so I am testing it out here first! The launch of the new site is just TWO WEEKS away. So exciting and so scary.

So here is our menu for the week:

Monday – Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken BBQ sandwiches and Slow Cooker Macaroni & Cheese (yes, I will have two crockpots going! We are taking half of this meal to a local family in need as well)

Tuesday – Macaroni Bake, salad, veggie

Wednesday – Dinner with Girls – hubs having leftovers

Thursday – Smarter Chicken Alfredo with Chicken, salad, veggie

Friday – Potato Soup

Saturday – Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff, mashed potatoes, veggie

For more great menu ideas check out orgjunkie.com.

When I got Isaac up for the morning I did my inaugural finger in Isaac’s mouth (to check for those bottom teeth). This has been a daily occurrence ever since I noticed the two swollen places on his bottom gums (ouch, they really look sore). However, I was in for a nice surprise when my finger grazed something sharp. Turns out the right one decided to finally break through! Okay, so Santa came a little late this year for Isaac (he asked for this tooth for Christmas). The left one is still working it’s way through but we are expecting it’s arrival soon!

Then it was time to start on a vegetable this week. I was going to start it earlier in the week but wanted to start it at the morning feeding (he eats better at this time and less chance of night time effects if there are allergies). However, I also know that Ben enjoys being around for these “new” moments and I try to include him as much as I can. So TODAY was the day. After much debate we decided to start with peas. So here is how it went!

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We dressed him (in the most appropriate bib), made the food, got the camera ready, and braced ourselves for the shower we might soon be experiencing. The verdict: no dice, just plain and simple eating of the food! Really, there were a few funny faces as he was trying to figure out what was different, but other than that it was smooth sailing. Some days I ask Ben to pinch me to see if I am awake or dreaming. Nothing seems to phase this kid! Then again it is food, and he is a Callahan; eating, growing and pooping come with the DNA!

So the first bout of veggies went off without a hitch. He ate 1/3 of the jar of peas (yes, I used a jar, it was free and organic and I haven’t had time to make my own peas yet) PLUS his 2 tablespoons of cereal, and his 3 oz of bottle! Wowsers! We will see what tomorrow brings!

More details and pictures coming with next week’s 5 months old post!

So I have been debating how to fill you in on all of the great things that we have been up to without filling your inbox with a million posts. So I have decided that I will do this really long post with event highlights and set up a gallery of pictures for each. If you are so inclined, you can click on over to the galleries (through the titles of the event) and view the captions for more detailed information about the happenings! So grab a cup of coffee, get in your favorite comfy chair, put your feet up – because here it goes!

Kaiden, Eric and Shanda Party

The Christmas week started with a gathering at my grandparents to celebrate the arrival of my brother Eric, his wife Shanda, and their son Kaiden (18 months). It had been a long time since much of the extended family had seen them so my grandparents invited a slew of us over for a great dinner and time to hang out with one another. This was Isaac and Kaiden’s first meeting. It was so much fun! Kaiden is absolutely adorable!

Please be in prayer for all of them as one of the reasons for their visit is that Eric leaves tomorrow (January 2) for a 6 month deployment to Qatar. He likes his deployment site but is very sad about being away from his family (understandably). And Shanda is way out there in Dover, Delaware on her own with an 18 month old! We will miss him!

Christmas Eve Afternoon

Our good friends Jeremy and Cortney came over with their two boys, Evan and Carter for a little gift exchange and photo session. We took a few family Christmas shots and got great pictures of the boys together! What a blessing to have them around and with boys so close in age to Isaac. Evan did a great job for this boys’ photo.

Christmas Eve

It has become somewhat of a tradition to spend Christmas Eve at my mom’s house. With Eric in town she asked in advanced for us to reserve the evening. She made a GREAT meal (and it was all on the table at the same time)! It was a great evening together but quite tiring. That Kaiden is a fireball of entertainment! And those cheeks are so kissable!

We were really blessed by the gift exchange and grandma made true on the shirt that she bought Isaac that said “What Santa doesn’t bring me Grandma will”!

Christmas Morning

We spent the morning together as a family. This was so nice! Isaac gets up at 8:00 am and we had to wake him up as he didn’t exactly want to go to bed the night before which made for a long night. It was a great morning though. I would say the highlight of the morning included cuddling as a family. My presents from Ben included a new photo printer/scanner/copier which will be AWESOME for the prints that I want to do. I also got a winter coat, which was much needed. And this AWESOME t-shirt!

Christmas Afternoon

We spent Christmas afternoon with Ben’s family. It was a great time with everyone together. Of course Isaac practically slept through the whole thing as he was so warn out from the night before! Isaac got to hang out with his grandparents and Uncle Paul for a while which was so cool! And we got some great musical gifts from Uncle Jesse, Aunt Naomi, and Grace. The highlight for sure was the great wagon that Isaac got and the Garmin GPS unit Ben and I got! (Isaac asked to use the Garmin with the wagon but Ben is insisting it be used in the new Outlander).

Christmas Evening

On to my dad’s house for the evening. This is always a lot of craziness with four dogs (my sister brings her two), a cat, 2 toddlers, and 2 wiggle worms rolling about! We caused everything to be a bit rushed because we couldn’t foresee keeping Isaac out late again as he had such a rough 24 hours already. (Let’s just say I wasn’t sure I had the patience to put him through it again either. There is just something about a fussy baby when you know that you caused the fussiness). At any rate, it was a great time. I got more great items for playing in the kitchen; including a food mill that I will use for making Isaac some baby food. Isaac’s favorite toy thus far from there is this rolling ball from Aunt Sarah, Uncle Rick, Noah, and Gabriel.

Day After Christmas

We headed back over to the Callahan’s as we had the wagon to pick up (did you see the size of that thing)! And there were presents that didn’t get opened by Isaac because he was sleeping so much. And let’s be honest here, Ben and I had forgotten our swimsuits on Christmas Day and were looking for a dip in the new hot tub! Turns out while we were taking our warm dip and Gram and Gramps were watching Isaac, he decided to roll over from back to front for the first time! We were so excited to hear that! He has been trying for several days and was almost there. He has done it in the days to follow which is so very exciting!

Reisert Family Christmas

My mom’s side of the family is still getting together for Christmas and other holidays. I have such an amazing relationship with so many of these people because of all the time we spent together as kids that it is wonderful to get to see them at least once a year. There were quite a few missing that live far away, were sick, or had to work; but it was fun! We ate (of course) had our crazy gift exchange game, played a new card game, and visited with all the new babies. Julie, Jessica and I were all pregnant together (and tried to get pictures along the way) so it was fun to have the 3 babies together for a photo op! This picture by far says so much! Aaron LOVED trying to pull Libbie’s hair – Isaac just looks frightened. But if you ask me this picture is a true depiction of what this whole family get together feels like (not that I don’t love it anyway)!

New Year’s Eve Morning

Ben went into work to sign papers to become Forge, LLC! He and three great guys that he has been working with for some time have decided to team together to become one company. We are so excited about the opportunity to grow with these families. We have been in much prayer over this move and really feel that the Lord has provided in such an amazing way for our family in 2009 through this merge.

New Year’s Eve

Three years ago Ben and I threw a New Year’s Eve party complete with a theme and costume contest. We had no real intentions of continuing it until everyone asked us the following year what the theme was and what time the party was starting! So the tradition began. This year however, we needed to cut back the party as we have a newborn and less space to host people (so if you weren’t invited this year please don’t be offended). It was pretty much a Forge and Family party!

The theme this year was Disney or Disney/Pixar. I pretty much decided the theme because I had a costume already and didn’t want to have to worry about one more thing this holiday season. Ben decided to go along with the theme and be the ship wrecked Prince Eric and Isaac completed the ensemble as Sabastian. The pictures from this event are a must see! The past years (ringing in 2007, ringing in 2008) are great too! (Now that I have posted all this we will likely have to rent space for ringing in 2010.

January 1, 2009

We are excited all of the festivities are over! We are resting and relaxing as a family today! We are looking forward to 2009 and all the great things in store for us ahead. Thanks for taking a trip down memory lane with me. I can hardly believe that all of these things happened in a week and a half!

Happy New Year!