GO ILLINI!

We (especially Hubs) are die hard Illinois fans. Hubs was in Orange Krush (the student section for basketball) all through college. We even did Bean's room in an Illini theme!

We have been TRYING to get season basketball tickets for the last few years without much luck. The waiting list is hundreds of people long...they do a lottery-type drawing for so many season tickets a year and we always put our name in. This year, Hubs's name was drawn!!! WOO HOO! We are now the proud holders of season basketball tickets! YAY! And the best part is that the majority of the games are before Baby Bub is due! Now to find a babysitter....

*Bean is about 3 months old in this pic! Soooo sweet!

WFMW: Baby Bouncing

When we had Bean, he was a snuggler. He wanted to be held, rocked, cuddled...all of the time! We discovered a great and comfortable way to keep him happy, bouncing! We purchased an inexpensive large exercise ball and bounced away! He loved it when he was itty bitty. Now the ball still roams our house and is used as an extra chair and Bean LOVES pushing it around (it's as big as he is!). You could also use it for...ummm...exercising?!?! :-) This is what worked for me! For other awesome ideas go check out Rocks In My Dryer!

Punkin Patch

It has been sooo HOT here lately! We had planned on going to the pumpkin patch/apple orchard this weekend for quite some time. When this past weekend finally rolled around, it was 92 degrees outside!! We decided to tough it out and go anyway. It was a good decision. Bean had a GREAT time and absolutely loved the goats & chickens. (Which made me realize that we have got to get this kid to a zoo!). We melted our way out to the pumpkin patch, only to find ourselves surrounded with rotten, stinky pumpkins (they don't care for the hot weather either!). It was really unpleasant, but I did get some cute pic's of Bean in the pumpkin patch.

The best part of the entire day there was the apple cider slushes...oh my! They were absolutely amazing and worth every single penny! A great alternative to hot apple cider :-)

Faaancy!

Last night we ate our dinner on our china. We hardly EVER use our beautiful china (anniversary, fancy dinners...) but last night was a rare night. We were out of dishes! Yup all of them were dirty (even the tiny desert plates!). I debated serving dinner in bowls, but I figured I might as well use 2 of the 12 extra plates sitting in our china cabinet! Did we dine on steak? or fancy Italian food? Nope. We had leftover pizza and quesadillas. AND water in our awesome Illini cups...now that is fiiiiine dining!

Fried Ice Cream

I did it!!! Tonight I successfully made fried ice cream!! I never EVER thought I could master this at home, (it is soooo good in restaurants) but tonight I did it! And guess what...it.was.easy!! I am still amazed at how stinkin' easy it was! This recipe is NOT mine, I definitely found it online (and if I could remember where I found it, I would give them props). However, for the record: this is NOT my creation!

Fried Ice Cream

Make ice cream balls (fist size or smaller)
Freeze 'em for an hour

Meanwhile...
Beat 3 egg whites until frothy (next time I am going to add honey to this)
In a separate bowl: crunch up corn flakes and cinnamon (use common sense on how much you need...I don't have the recipe in front of me...you guys are smart)

Take frozen ice cream balls out of the freezer. Roll them in the egg whites, then completely cover them in corn flakes! Put them back in the freezer for 3 hours. *I just put them on a plate and didn't even cover them.

Heat up a pot of oil until it is 375. (I did not check the temp. I let it heat up for about 8 minutes and it was fine).

Drop your ice cream balls into the hot oil for 10-15 seconds, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. SERVE IMMEDIATELY!

*I drizzled chocolate syrup over ours tonight! Caramel would be good too!!!

YUM YUM YUM!

It's a....

BOY! I am so excited and I was soooo surprised! I had convinced myself we were having a girl!! It was so fun finding out that he is a HE! I will now be referring to him as Baby Bub, or just Bub. We are going back for another sono in 2 weeks because they could not get him in a position to check out the chambers of his heart and one of his kidneys is slightly dilated so they are going to check on that (anybody with experience or know anything about this???). They told us that it's no big deal and that it will probably clear up on its own.

It has been an awesome day! I'm going to go throw Big Brother Bean into the tub and then sit down with Hubs and eat pizza and watch TV!

WFMW: Big Boy Bed!

This week Shannon over at Rocks In My Dryer has decided that this week instead of posting a tip we are all asking for advice! Here is what I'm seeking advice on: How do I transfer my 15 month old into a twin bed? How did you do it? What worked? What did NOT work?

The fact that he is going into a twin bed right now is not negotiable so please do not suggest purchasing another crib, this is not an option for us.

I can't wait to hear all of the sweet little tid bits of wisdom! Bring it on!