From the Weekend

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Hi friends! I hope you all had a great Easter weekend! Ours was filled with lots of sunshine and smiles, so I’m sad to see it come to an end. Stupid weekends and going by so fast! No fair 😉

Friday: Pancakes to start the day. I threw Wes in the forward facing carrier while I whipped these up so that he wouldn’t start the day on a grumpy note. PS: It worked!

Once breakfast was digested, we headed downstairs so i could squeeze in my workout while Wes jumped in the jumperoo. He ended up falling asleep in it when I only had my cool down left, so I was able to easily transfer him to his crib then hop in the shower and get ready for the day.

I headed over to the store really quick since I had some clothes on hold for Wes from when we went there the day before and their registers weren’t working. After Wes woke up and had lunch, we all got dressed and headed out to run a few errands.

Then it was time to see the Easter bunny! I was shocked that no malls in the area do the Easter bunny like they do Santa, but Alison texted me a few days before saying he was going to be at Bass Pro (of all places!). The photo was free and all we had to do was wait in a line for about 30 minutes. Not too shabby.

No smiles, but no tears either. I call it a win. We lucked out and caught a couple of snaps with Wes once we got home. I didn’t want to take him out of his cute Easter outfit!

We had a FILLING lasagna dinner then watched some TV downstairs before calling it a night.

Woof, I’m full just looking at that photo!

Saturday: I opted to start of the holiday weekend with a yummy and healthy breakfast- Shakeology! I just mixed this one with almond milk and it hit the spot. Not to mention, it kept me satisfied for hours. (Food RARELY does that for me!)

We had a great, lazy morning before we hit the road! The Canmore dream home opened and we wanted to take a sneak peak. We stopped for a little fuel- gas for the car and coffee for the mom 😉

On the way up, Wes got a bit antsy for some snacks then promptly fell asleep mid-nosh.

Our intentions were to just go to Canmore and have lunch there, but since Wes was sleeping we decided to go further on to Banff for a lunch at Park Distillery. The menu looked great and we thought we picked winners, but unfortunately Tyler’s fish was not cooked at all. Even worse, the waitress wasn’t even that great about it. She didn’t charge us, but she also didn’t seem very sympathetic at all. Just….nothing. It bothered both of us that she just couldn’t seem to be bothered by the situation.

At least it didn’t phase Wes! He was happily munching on all the food I brought him, plus some grapes from my salad.

We walked around for a bit before heading back to Canmore to check out the house then back home!

Once we were home, I stayed in with Wes while Tyler went out to run some pre-Easter errands. The little crawling machine was having so much fun with a sleepy Layla. Then even more fun when he got naked and played peekaboo with one of his favorite blankies.

Wes went down really easy..mostly because he had a eventful day out of the house + he was expending so much energy all afternoon! Phew.

We had turkey meatballs for dinner then watched the first Star Wars movie. I fell asleep before it was over and ended up having one of the best sleeps in a while! Love when that happens.

Sunday: Yay for Easter! I was a klutz and left Wes’s basket in his closet before he went down, so I wasn’t able to put it all together until he woke up! Not that an 11 month old is going to know, but I still felt bad! haha.

Tyler even picked up some flowers, chocolate and PROSECCO for me. YASSS

He had also picked up cinnamon buns the day before (is it snooty for me to say I only really prefer the homemade ones? Doesn’t mean I didn’t eat one!) and I bought him some Easter egg fudge while we were up in Banff. Ummmmm delicious.

We enjoyed eggs benedicts for breakfast. I could eat it every darn day.

I wanted to take some Easter photos of Wes, but the little bugger is too quick for my camera! He finally (sorta) fits into a pair of knit shorties that Tyler’s grandmother made.

Tyler spent a good portion of the day tending to a smoked chicken which turned out FANTASTIC. The flavor was just so so so good. I contributed our favorite potato salad and then we cooked some veggies.

The rest of the day was pretty laid back- I walked the dogs to the library to return a book, then finished off with a big loop around the neighborhood. We tackled some house stuff. And of course, we played with this sweet little guy- who was more interested in the dogs than us.

That’s it from our end! How was your weekend??

Weekender

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Hey guys, happy Monday. I’m in need of a GIANT cuppa joe today (thank God I jumped back on the coffee wagon. PHEW). I managed to get 8+ hours of sleep each night, but all the fresh air from the weekend has me wiped. Not many eventful things happened with us, so here’s some highlights.

Friday: Wes and I walked over to the library to pick up the current book for Brie’s book club. After we grabbed it, we continued to walk around the neighbourhood for an additional 45 minutes or so. There was still a bit of snow on the ground from the day before, but it was sunny and quickly warming up as we were outside!

We had a quick and easy sausage dinner then Tyler played video games with his brother (do they ever grow out of that? Seriously!) while I watched Room then hit the sack.

Saturday: Tyler brought all our empties to the bottle return just as Wes went down for his morning nap. He brought me back a Nutella donut from Tims so I was a happy lady! Later in the day, we went to Costco0 – the usual. One of the most exciting purchases? Stemless wineglasses.

I helped Tyler with some of our en suite demo before quickly getting bored of it and opting to take the dogs for their walk instead.

We ended the day with some pizza and watched The Hateful Eight. Holy hell was that a long and boring movie. Waste of a Saturday night in my opinion!

Sunday: Morning play time is getting a bit more fun with Wes crawling around. Although, I do have to be super careful to keep on eye on him and what he gets into.

He had some leftover pb toast from breakfast and kept having ‘drive-by” snacks. (a bite each time we lapped around the table).

We headed over to Glenbow Ranch for a nice walk after lunch. Turns out, mister Wes was still hungry from not eating most of his food, so he was a bit of a grump. Luckily, I was able to hold off the whining with some snacks I packed. That, and he just didn’t want to sit in the stroller.

Wes enjoyed some leftover pizza for dinner. He is his father’s son and loves the pie! And I am just about finished the book club book already. Enjoyed with a beer of course 😉

I think I have to blame my lack of pictures on my latest love for snapchat. Are you on it? Add me!

How was your weekend?

Weekender

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Well that went by fast! Faster than usual actually. I blame daylight savings?? And Happy Pi Day! Backing it up from the weekend:

Friday: While Wes was down for his morning nap, I did a quick T25 Beta workout then whipped up a batch of Easter M&M cookies. (balance, right?)

Afterwards, we headed to the mall in hopes of exchanging some socks my parents sent to Wes for a larger size. They didn’t have any, so I’ll just have to hold on to them until we make it to a different location! We did a quick lap around the mall then headed home.

It was a pretty uneventful day, and we didn’t do much except hang around the house for the remainder of the afternoon.

Dinner was a quick meal of chicken burrito bowls (we forgot to put CHEESE on them. WHO DOES THAT!) then Susie came over for a girls night beer tasting. We each contributed 3 beers, but we only opened 3….and didn’t even finish them! I feel like such an old lady sometimes.

Saturday: Here’s some exciting news- I spent the morning doing laundry! Actually, I took a nice bath first then got some laundry done. And Wes helped us make the bed 🙂

After lunch we headed out to check out some flooring options to redo the main level of the house. We think we’ve narrowed it down to a particular one, but it might not get done RIGHT away. That’s ok, it was nice to get out of the house and Wes loved sitting in all the different shopping carts! And snacks. Snacks are always fun.

Oh, and I was dead set on getting a nutella donut from Tims while we were out. Mmm, so good! I haven’t had one of those since the day Wes was born- aka: the day I most deserved a donut.

We ordered pizza for dinner and watched The Other Guy and Concussion before going to bed.

Sunday: After my beloved BAE breakfast, I took Wes for a nice long morning walk. It was early enough that there was still a nip in the air, so he got nice and cozy before we headed out.

He managed to fall asleep while we were out and I successfully got him in the entryway of the house (in the stroller!) and he stayed asleep for about 45 minutes.

A little afternoon play time to be had:

Then we decided to try to go to a nearby provincial park for a long walk. Once we got there though it was way too windy, so we tried heading to another park. Same problem…WIND! Almost immediately after we strapped Wes back into the car he passed out and we ended up driving out to Airdrie to check out some show homes. There were some really nice ones, but then there were also a lot of overpriced homes that didn’t even have nice finishes. Womp.

Wes was a trooper for the FOUR HOURS we were out, and even stayed all smiles for the rest of the evening! He ate a humungous dinner, splashed the heck out of us during his bath, then easily went down at 7:40pm.

Unfortunately for me, since we were out so long during the day and Wes didn’t have a proper nap in his crib, I still had to take the doggies out for a long walk and do my workout afterwards. I hate to admit it but I think I’m becoming a morning worker-outer! Nothing better than just getting it done first thing.

Speaking of workouts, I just wanted to share a photo I posted on Instagram. I really have to attribute a lot of my post-baby body success to my two favorite programs: T25 and 21 day fix EXTREME . Both programs enabled me to get in great workouts in under 30 minutes and there is no better feeling than the feeling of accomplishment- especially when I can see these results AND I feel like a million bucks.

If you’re interested in learning more about these or any other programs, please feel free to email me! jennifer(dot)l(dot)linton(at)gmail(dot)com

Before heading to bed, I whipped up a batch of baked breakfast protein cookies. I’m really hoping they turned out..and if they do, I’ll make sure to share the recipe!

How was your weekend??

Weekender

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Man oh man, that weekend went by fast. There was about 20597235 things I’d love to have done, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Plus, we kinda have to accommodate the little guy…you know naps, meals, snacks, … Continue reading →

Weekender

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Yay, it’s Monday! (not.) Ugh, so not. I crave weekends so hard…and I don’t even know why! Maybe for the slightly extra time with Tyler? Or…yeah, probably that. Here’s to hoping for another good week in the books. Backtracking a few days:

Friday: Spinach pancakes. So yummy. Wes was up before I made them, so I ended up sharing some with him and he LOVED them. I think he mostly loved the maple syrup- which is pretty much my favorite part too.

It was really great weather out, so I opted to take Wes for a nice long morning walk. The fresh air felt pretty great and he enjoyed all the sights. Even if he doesn’t look overly pleased.

On a side note: If you have a front load washer, I recently found the best way for cleaning the dang thing! Mix 1/4c baking soda + 1/4 c water and pour where the liquid detergent container is. Throw 2c vinegar in the drum, then run a HOT normal cycle. Man oh man, the washer is clean as a whistle and the clothes come out actually smelling like the detergent now! No more mildewy smelling nastiness!

I gave up coffee *moms around the world gasp* because I was becoming way too dependent on it…BUT, I did splurge and have a New Grounds Food Coconut Mocha coffee bar as a pick me up while Wes had his lunch. (more on these bars later!)

We lounged around the house for a bit and Wes decided to practice a little magic with his rabbit and hat.

Around 1pm we FINALLY made it out of the house to run some errands. I returned some stuff and bought some small goodies for Wes’s Easter basket. But mostly, we just had fun walking around all the stores. Wes seems to really love being in the shopping cart, which makes for a much more pleasant shopping experience 🙂

Last week, Tyler had ordered a carpet shampooer and he messaged me saying he got the confirmation email that it was delivered to our house. I looked on the front porch (we have two doorbells on the front since previous owners used our downstairs space as a separate living suite and often delivery people press the wrong doorbell) and there was nothing. It’s a pretty big expense, so I took Wes around the block checking out our neighbor’s porches and still nothing. Lovely! A few hours later, a woman messaged Tyler on Facebook asking if we were expecting a package and it turns out it was delivered to her- in an entirely different neighborhood. Once Wes went to bed, I went to pick it up. Thank goodness for nice people!

I also picked up another package that arrived for us…from wee nation!

They totally killed it this month with more of a clothing theme. The beanie from Charlee Dee is super soft (even though it’s not really slouchy on Wes’s head haha), the bandana bib from MawdsleyLoves is super cute and I’m absolutely loving the tee from Vagabond babe– I’m hoping Wes will get to wear it more than once. I’ve used the Sauce for Skin balm on this one tiny little dry patch Wes has on his back, and it seems to be doing the trick! I love that it isn’t sticky either.

Tyler had brought home a new to us beer (good husband). I was excited to try it- but it was entirely too sweet to have with dinner. I think it would be perfect for an outdoor winter fire pit, but not mixed with leftover shepherds pie haha.

On a bit of a downer note, the button on the side of my Fitbit Charge HR broke off. I started hyperventilating since I seem to be really good at breaking technology lately. Luckily, I was covered under the warranty and they’re sending me a replacement. PHEW!

We watched Amazing Race and In the Heart of the Sea then called it a night. (Chris Hemsworth <—heartthrob).

Saturday: The day started just after 7am and Wes was a whiny mister. All day. Woof. It really is a good thing babies are cute to make up for the worlds most annoying sound!

We did our usual Saturday Costco trip. With all the wonderful crap that Costco has to offer, how come they don’t sell any bulk baby/toddler snacks? I don’t get it. Maybe it’s just the one we go to? That stuff would fly off the shelves if they carry it.

We tackled the rest of the afternoon with attempting to keep Wes happy. Thanks to the suggestion by Brie, I even put Wes in the back carry position in the Ergo. He really liked it…until he started pulling all of my hair out, so I had to call it quits. And snacks. Always snacks.

I lucked out and caught a happy baby moment!

Can we just stop for a moment and talk about how my 10 month old fits (barely) into size 2T pajamas? Granted, they’re Carter and everything from there runs small. But still!

PS: Tyler always does home projects/PAITING in his pj pants and pretty much every pair has crap all over them. Oof.

Wes helped Tyler make fajitas for dinner..

And then I was granted the pleasure of sitting down AT THE TABLE to eat my dinner in peace.

It was a really early night for me..I was in bed by 8:30pm and got just over 10 hours of sleep!

Sunday: Mornings are SO much better when you’re well rested. Can I get an amen?!

I sorta failed in the photo taking department. Boo. And without photos, I tend to forget what the heck happened. Let’s see…

There was breakfast. And laundry. And a workout. And a walk with the dogs. And we shampooed the carpet! Ahhh life is so exciting.

The dogs sure can do a number on carpet.

Wes took two naps- a 45 min one in the morning and a 2 hour one in the afternoon. He always has great afternoon naps after taking a bath!

We had skip-its for dinner (that’s what we call it when it’s every man for himself). I took some of the leftover fajita mixture and made it into a quesadilla. So delicious.

Just before Wes went down for the night, I threw together a batch of no bake protein bars. I’ll share those later this week…assuming they turn out to be tasty 🙂