Carroll Family 3.1

It's been awhile since I have written anything. Sure, I stick around on Twitter and Facebook, but the urge to write has been missing. I miss it though. I write mostly for myself, but for some sort of record of the goings on in my life to have forever and to keep to share one day. So here's the latest from the life of Becky Carroll...

Allyson turned two in December and has been more and more fun every day. She's also developing some of those glorious Terrible Two Traits that I was hoping she'd skip. No such luck. The "no's" have arrived along with the whining when she doesn't immediately get what she wants. I thank goodness for a husband with much more patience than I have at times because I can just look at him with pleading eyes that say “if you don’t take over I’m going to muzzle her” and he jumps right in. Don’t get me wrong, we have very fun days. The last sunny weekend we had we played outside for hours, throwing the ball for the dogs, learning to ride a tricycle and making “lunch” in her little play house. I’m thankful for each one of them because they get this family through the days when we can’t get to bath, book and bed soon enough.

It could be the fact that work has been kicking my tail on a daily basis. The credit union where I work just announced a “mega merger” (Credit Union Journal term – not mine) with another like-sized credit union. When this will take place remains to be seen, but the ball has started rolling. Who will I work for? Will I still manage a team? Will I still manage my team? Will I even still have a job once the merger is complete? Who knows? Only time will tell and I’ll just continue doing my job well and hang on for the ride. I think managing a team makes it that much more stressful – especially for this still fairly new manager. Not only am I dealing with those questions myself, but I have to help seven other people work through those emotions themselves. I hope that getting through this makes me a better/stronger manager.

And then for the biggest (and best) news…we’re expecting! Baby #2 was not in the 2010 plans of the Carroll family, but life ends up working in strange ways and things just happen. I always wanted kids 2 ½ to 3 years apart and had resigned to the fact that it wasn’t going to work out that way. Well…somehow it was decided that my plan was to be – one way or another – and here comes Allyson’s little brother or sister.



I’m almost 12 weeks along and my due date is September 27th, 2010. In the throes of morning sickness that is different from the first time but sucks just as much, I’m trekking along in my second pregnancy. This one still feels a bit unreal. We planned on having Allyson – the surprise factor for this one has just thrown me for a loop. Either way, I can’t wait to meet baby number 2 and kiss all those adorable fingers and toes. And I know that Allyson is going to LOVE having a sibling. I know I do!

The other kicker? I’m a bridesmaid in my brother-in-law’s wedding on September 25th. (Mike and Morgan - I’m still SO very sorry for the timing!) So…will I be there in some maternity dress trying not to look like a hippopotamus? Will I be in the hospital after having just had a baby? Will I bring a couple-day-old baby to a wedding? Or will the worst thing possible happen – “does anyone have any objection to this marriage? Um….I think my water just broke”? Mike and Morgan have been so awesome. Mike’s take on it is that it’s going to be a story to tell no matter how it turns out. He’s such an awesome uncle – and looks forward to having another niece or nephew. I am so thankful to have these two as family. I volunteered to refrain from bridesmaid status, but they’ve both said that we’ll just play it by ear. So we’ll just see…

So…life is a little crazy right now like it is for everyone. We have to figure out things about our house. Do we stay here with two kids? Do we try to buy something else? Do we rent out this one and rent another? Lot’s of decisions to make. So stay tuned for another edition of the Carroll Family.

~Becky

Birthday Cake

I know that I'm the worst blogger in history. It's been over a month since I last wrote, but when you add the holidays, Ally's 2nd birthday and crazy work stuff into the mix, blogging becomes last on the list. So now begins the catch up. There are quite a few things I've been meaning to write about and share (I'll save you the groans and not head back to December and Christmas craziness) and Ally's birthday cake is one.

Last year we had Ally's ultra-ridiculous first birthday. Complete with custom invitations (which were super-cute by the way), designer birthday cake and 50 people. This year was much more low-key.

But we couldn't go the year without some sort of birthday cake. She's been really into suns lately. I don't know what it is. Whether its the first thing I drew when I started coloring with her, or just something she got stuck in her noggin, but the kid loves 'em. Whenever we sit down to color it's "sun?" When we go out to eat and get a kids menu with crayons, "sun?" "Ma-maw, sun?" "Poppa, sun?" "Daddy, sun?" We, of course, oblige and now we have suns drawn all over the house (and grandma's houses too.)

So when I thought about what kind of cake we should make her it came pretty easily. What I didn't realize was that my husband would get so into and eventually take over. For those of you who know Steve, not real surprising, huh? What did I end up doing - even though it was ALL my idea - baking the darn cake. That's it! Oh - and mixing the frosting. The rest is all Steve. He did a phenomenal job, and now I have to brag. Hey - maybe I've got my very own "Ace of Cakes."

He started out by taking three rounds and carving the sun.


Next, I made a really bright yellow frosting. Gotta love the KitchenAid mixer!


Steve frosted the cake on the stand and then transferred it to the board. (Which we made up out of plywood and foil - it was New Year's Day, there was no running to the cake supply store.)


And then the final product. There was so much cake we could have fed 50 people, but we only has a small family party. Everyone got HUGE chunks.


And here's the birthday girl enjoying the cake. She was way more into it than last year.

Let me know what you think. I think it turned out great!

~Becky

THE Cookies!

I'm not much of a baker. I can follow directions with the best of them, but I don't know that I ever turn out anything fantastic. This recipe, however, is awesome! I up the amount of almonds and chocolate I use. Feel free to use the original recipe, but the nuttier and chocolatey-er the better in this house. Hope you enjoy!

Almond Roca Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 package toffee bits
1 cup coarsely ground almonds (I usually use the whole 12 oz bag instead)
4 ounces milk chocolate (again - the whole bag for me)
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil


Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend sugars together on medium speed. Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste. Add eggs and vanilla and mix at medium speed until light and fluffy. At low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and then the toffee bits. Mix until just blended; do not over-mix.

Place ground nuts in a small bowl. Using your hands, roll balls of dough into 1 to 1 1/2 inch balls, then roll in the ground nuts. Place on cookie sheets several inches apart.

Bake approximately 22 minutes and then transfer cookies to a cooling rack.

Melt the chocolate with the vegetable oil in a double boiler. Drizzle melted chocolate over cooled cookies. (I like to dip mine in the chocolate instead.) Place cookies on a cookie sheet and place in freezer or refrigerator until chocolate is firmly set. (Overnight on the counter in wintertime usually works just as well.)

Two batches later we're off to my parent's house for Christmas Eve and then the in-law's house tomorrow. YUM-MO!

Merry Christmas everyone!

~Becky

Hippo's for Christmas!

Love this song! Can't wait until Ally and I can sing it together. For now I just dance around annoying my colleagues and husband.

Merry Christmas and I hope you enjoy!

~Becky

Date Night II

Over the weekend Steve and I went out on a much needed date. The last time was in August – I know – WAY too long. We have both been working crazy hours. Family events and holidays (decorating, gift buying, party attending) have been taking up so much of our free time and we were living like this old married couple, not one that had only been married for a little over four years. We had a conversation earlier in the week and decided that we needed to make a conscious effort to spend more time together. More quality, alone, adult conversation-having, adult beverage-drinking, kid-free time.

Don’t get me wrong. We adore our daughter. She’s a good girl – so good a girl that we take her everywhere (insert awesome-child Mom brag here). She eats at restaurants happily. She shops with us. She loves being in a stroller or shopping cart or walking along side us. We have yet to have any “that is not my child” moments (remember she’s not quite two yet – I know I’m jinxing myself). But taking her everywhere means not being without her.

And then there’s the working Mom guilt. That evil and nasty bitch. (That’s another blog post in and of itself.) I hear it – in my head. “You’re not with Allyson thirty-six hours a week. How dare you take an evening off away from her? What kind of a mother are you?” I’ll tell you what kind. One that needs to keep the spark alive in a marriage that created the little darling in the first place. As my parents have shown me, kids will only be around for a portion of the marriage. If you want to stay in love and remember the reason you got married in the first place it is imperative that you focus on the relationship as well as the child rearing. (And I listen to them. They’ve been married for thirty-two years.) Time away means relighting the spark. And let me tell you – we’ve got some spark!

Saturday night, we succeeded. I went to dinner and a movie with my handsome husband and two very good friends. A double date – who would have thought we’d have so much fun? We had dinner at Paul Martin’s in Roseville, a pricy but excellent restaurant. Halibut for me, Brick Chicken for Steve – YUM!


And then we went to see “The Blind Side” which is the best movie I have seen in years.

It was everything you could ask for: a great storyline, great acting. I’d watch it again in a heartbeat (which is odd for me cause I’m typically a “watch it once and give it away” girl) and will recommend it to everyone I know. Hope you get a chance to go out on a date night with your hunny and see this movie. It was a perfect ingredient to a wonderful night.

So – what have I learned?

1. I’ve learned that you can’t wait four months between date nights with your husband.
   
2. That it’s okay to let your kiddo spend the night at Gramma and Papa’s house (cause they love it as much as she does).
   
3. That you shouldn’t wait five years to go on a double date with good friends. (G – this time we made it through without food poisoning!)
   
4. And that you should take the time to focus on your marriage. Better to focus on it now than watch it slip past you. Steve – I love you more today than I did four years, two months and six days ago.

~Becky

How Pumpkin Pie is Made

WARNING! Not the most pleasant picture - but still flippin' hilarious!


Mom - Thanks for sharing the pic!

Happy Thanksgiving!

~Becky

Random Stuff We Love

It doesn't take much to make us happy. If Ally's happy, then Steve and I are usually (baring any major work stressors) happy parents as well. Because of this reason I wanted to share the first of a couple posts of things in the Carroll house that make our world go round. None of these items are major, mind-blowing or earth shattering. These are just the necessities that help this family of three make it through the days.

We have used Johnson & Johnson No More Tears baby shampoo since we got home from the hospital. Thanks to some dear friends that sent us their leftover supply (thanks Michele!) we have yet to run out of the original yellow bottle of baby shampoo. Up until a few months ago, I never really thought about the smell of the stuff. It was always familiar and not always pleasant but it never really dawned on me what I was smelling. Well, a few months ago I realized that for the last year and a half of my daugther's life she smelled like wet dog. More specifically, our wet dogs.

Let me explain. We were told years ago that the best shampoo for dogs like ours, Australian Shepherds, was baby shampoo. So, that's what we used. And that is why, after so long, I realized the smell I was relating my freshly cleaned daughter to was dog. Poor thing, it's not her fault...her Mom's just slightly crazy I think.

To my delight, Johnson & Johnson makes a line of baby bath products in lavender scent. I can now take Ally out of the bath, take a deep breath and not think damp canine. I think beautiful, clean baby girl. ~Lovely~

Ally has also loved her Baby Cozie. (I can't for the life of me remember who got him for her - if it's you - speak up!) We call him, disgustingly, Road Kill Kitty (or RKK for short) because he's flat, but kiddo hasn't seemed to catch on to that one yet. Ally loves him, even as she moves on to more "sophisticated" toys like Winnie the Pooh and Goofy (or Foofy as Ally says). She has always loved her kitty.

One of the favorite snacks in our house, that Steve and I have to refrain from polishing off, are Nilla wafers. Ally loves them. Most definitely not the healthiest snack on the shelf, but one of the cutest when Ally says "Nilla peeese."

Found this lunch bag at Goore's on a shopping trip shortly after Ally started eating baby food. Up until then, I would pack her milk in bottles in a thermal bag and her baby food in a paper bag. This lunch bag was exactly what we needed and now Ally loves carrying it in and out of daycare. The line is called Sugarbooger, which just makes me smile, and is made by ORE Originals. It's thermal, fits two sippy cups, breakfast and lunch every day without issue. Love it!

And for this "work from home on Fridays" mom, Playhouse Disney is a blessing. Just enough amounts of fun to keep my daughter entertained when I need her to be and education to get her to stand up and count the number of dancing elephants or "pat, pat, pat" to get Rocket to fly. Her four favorites are below - Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, My Friends Tigger and Pooh and Jungle Junction (her new favorite).

And last for this list is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. This was the first book Allyson really showed an interest in and the one that she will always sit still and listen to me read. It's a wonderful story and I hope you all get it and share it with your children. This little cardboard book (that's getting torn up from repetitive use) will always hold a special place in this household.

Hope you find that you love this stuff as much as I do!

~Becky