Thoughts on...Target

While I was on maternity leave, I took some time to do some comparison shopping. I began making a few different stops to pick things up from different stores.  We use Target for formula and wipes, as well as a huge number of household goods. So we are there weekly. And since we just had a Walmart Supercenter put in just 1/2 a mile up the road from our house, I let myself do some shopping there as well.  I also have a few staples I just can't get any cheaper than Aldi's.  So all in all I end up doing some shopping at all three places. Knowing I have headed back to work...I am once again battling for time to get through one shopping trip, much less three different places for groceries and household items.  I needed to find a happy medium between price saving and time saving.

Target to the rescue!  Recently our Target began renovating the store.  It was a welcome and necessary update for the look of the store, but I'm also excited because during the rennovations they added a grocery department.  To say I was stoked was an understatment!  My favorite household store combine with the Walmart convenience of grocery. YAY!

**So a little side note about me, if I could, I would spend WAY too much money buying expensive, specialty items at places like Dierbergs and Schnucks every payday whether we needed them or not. That's just me and my I-could-rock-at-being-rich attitude!! To help our budget, I often I forgo the speciality-type stuff (I know whoa is me...there are little kids starving in other countries who would kill for the shoes on my feet and the bottle of water I let go warm and subsequently poured in the dog's water bowl)***

BUT the point is, as Target began adding items to the store, I started browsing.  I have found delicious looking mole sauces in the mexican food section.  In the pasta aisle I bought some Giada marinara sauce I mentioned in my last post.  They also have a blueberry granola cereal that I think I MUST have!  And lots of other little items that have that specialty feel...but that won't break the budget.  I haven't done any major grocery shopping yet, but I am slowly begining to price compare with Walmart and Aldi's. Because while I want to save time, I don't want to spend an arm a leg doing it. My ultimate hope is to not only regain my time spent in shopping centers, but also once again pick up a few speciality items here and there too!!

Do you shop at a Target with grocery?  What have you found that's great? Anything super overpriced??

Thank you Target for adding groceries! I heart you even more than I did before...and that's saying something!!

Happy shopping!

Meeting Miss Peyton!

This past week we had the pleasure of meeting this amazing bundle of joy!  Meet our newest niece!!

Peyton Olivia

7lbs 5oz

18 1/2 inches long

Born Wednesday October 19 at 10:15am

Congrats go out to our best friends, Steff and Bryan, two awesome people who have waited for this miracle for a long time!!  We're over the moon for you and can't wait for all the fun Linoski fun that lies ahead of us!  Adventures they await :)  We love you all so much!!

Welcome to the world Peyton Olivia!!

Channeling my inner-chef!

I don't have a state of the art kitchen...or super expensive equipment...or even fancy ingredients. In fact I usually curse my kitchen size, shape, storage abilities...you get the drift.

BUT...I have:

These wooden utensils. They let me channel my inner-Paula Deen.

I bought this pasta sauce.  

And mixed it with my favorite seasoned hamburger.  I even cooked it ahead of time for the next night ;)  I'm no Giada...but stirring it in my pan on my stove helped me feel more inspired!

I often drink out of these wine glasses while cooking.

They are perfect because they hold a wonderful size glass of wine AND they won't tip because there are no stems. Smart!

I used these crocs for the first time the other day.  Putting tomato soup in them and cutting up my grilled cheese on the surrounding plate made me feel just a little bit fancy.

Any time I want to feel classy, I whip out these pasta bowls.  It can be a random Wednesday night and pre-filled cheese ravioli from the freezer, but in this dish...it's kind of like a little bit of Italy in my kitchen.

I have this beautiful pottery that is the perfect addition to any table of appetizers I make for a get-together. I also used my favorite heart-shaped one to make rice-crispies for Owen. I can't wait for him to be old enough to have fun doing this sort of thing with me!

I sat some of my favorite cookbooks and cooking magazines within easy reach.  And any time I need a little inspiration, I open these pages and soak it up.

I watch this.  This.  This.  And this all on Food Network.  All of them help me get creative.  Oh and I love this too.  I heart Food Network!

I have my Mom's phone number on speed dial. I learned to cook from her.  Anything I know about meatloaf, cooking temps, portion sizes and just about anything related to being smart in the kitchen...it's because of my Mom. Thanks Mom!

So I may not have a state of the art kitchen. I certainly don't have french cuisine culinary cooking experience. And I may even be able to enter a contest for small kitchens (though I know there are smaller ones around!) BUT I have lots of wonderful things surrounding me each and every time I cook.  Paula Deen on my utensils, Pioneer Woman's cookbook at my fingertips and my Mom's common sense and delicious cooking know-how engrained in my fibers.

Every time I remember these things and step into my tiny little kitchen big enough for two, I am transported to another place...perfect for me and whatever culinary wonder I decide to cook up!!

Thank You…

To my husband for so many things.
For:

Owen

And Cooper

For the lanterns you put up in their nursery

For taking the middle of the night shift when I’m too tired

For making me laugh

For that night in Puerta Vallarta where I tried to drink you under the table…and I ended up under the table.

For your silly made-up songs

For your goofy dancing skills

For telling me you love me…every day

For supporting me and always me…first

For the diamond ring you worked so hard to buy me

For the paint, blood, sweat and tears you put into our home and yard

For the night that you took me ice skating and asked me to marry you

For helping me till all hours of the night…any time I have a big something to do

For telling me that you loved our children spending every day with me while I was on leave

For reading our blog

For helping me proof my posts whenever I ask

For boogey boarding with me on the beach in the Dominican.

For not calling me a chicken when I thought we were going to die in our kayak in the Domincan

For answering my stupid sports questions that I ask EVERY time we watch football
For your love of cookies

For loving to help pick out clothes for the boys

For late night conversations...the ones where we laugh till we cry
For late night conversations...the ones where I cry till I laugh

For being such a big part of our kids lives

For sending me links to songs in my email

For that Yahtzee game on the condo deck at the lake

For your black leather jacket and Tommy Hilfiger sweatshirts…the ones that made me swoon in high school
For how smart you are...and you don't even know it

For building me a scrapbook table

For watching the Notebook with me

For liking movies in general and being willing to give lots of them a try
For your great big bear hugs

For helping me cook

For being honest

For always trying to be fair

For your kind heart

For the family we’re building
For the things that only you and I know

For everything I’ve mentioned here and all that’s in-between

Happy Anniversary.  Here is to 6 amazing years of marriage…and so many more to look forward to.

Trying a little something new

Chances are when you opened up my blog today, you saw that the layout might look a lot different.  Blogger has lots of new layouts to offer...and I've been playing with the idea to change ours for awhile now. I stumbled onto these options called Dynamic Views.  The dynamic views are kind of neat because you can change the main layout to other ones.  I like the magazine, flipcard and mosiacs as well. These can be found at the top under the title bar.

So anyway, I'm giving it a try for awhile.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Which layout do you like best??  Is this too much change?  I don't want it to be confusing to find my latest posts or anything else.  So please be honest!! I'd love to hear from some of you who read but haven't left me a comment before!

Thanks for your thoughts!!

Getting back into the swing…

I’m still not 100% sure I’d say were back in the complete swing. But we’re off the park bench , in the seat and pumping our legs.

This week was interesting. This week was successful. This week was also completely exhausting!  After 10 glorious weeks away, getting used to all of the changes is tough. Between working during the week and balancing home chores and our kids after work hours, my body is in shock right now.  My shins and calves are killing me from wearing heels again for the first time in FOREVER.  My eyelids are heavy by noon.  And once I sit down at the end of the day…I may as well not get back up because it makes me completely crabby.  I feel like I’ve run a marathon by the time I’m leaving my parents house in the morning…and my day hasn’t really even started yet!  All the while, my laundry is piling up by the second.  My household and grocery lists are mounting as I type. I also am watching the dirt collect on my bathroom sink, and my kitchen floors are laughing at me for trying to do a deep cleaning on them last week.  Like I said…I’m exhausted and my work hasn’t even really begun!

Through all of the changes mentioned above though, I haven’t even mentioned the most important and difficult change.  I’ve missed those two little creatures who I call my sons something terrible.  I woke this morning (Thursday) so very thankful for my part-time schedule.  So thankful that tomorrow…I get to snuggle in my sweats till whatever time I want.  I get to have kisses all morning long from Owen, feed Cooper his first, second and third bottle of the day and just enjoy being home!  It’s going to be wonderful and marvelous and I just might bust out into song!  And no amount of laundry, dirt or household anything else is going to stop that from being my only job tomorrow morning!  I get to be Momma in the AM…and it’s going to be blessed!!

Thoughts on...Downy Unstopables

Have you seen a commercial for this stuff?? 

Here is a video. This lady is cute and makes me laugh.  

So here's my two cents...for what it's worth.  I was skeptical.  In fact, when I saw my first commercial,  I believe the thought that went through my head was..."Well that seems like a big waste of money.  I already spend a bazillion dollars on detergent."  Now don't misunderstand me, I'm a high maintenance laundry-doer.  I swear by my liquid Tide and Downy.  I also use a Downy dryer sheet because liquid alone just isn't fresh enough.  BUT...it's expensive.  And buying detergent is no cheap affair.  I could buy cheaper options, but laundry is hard work.  And I like a return on my efforts.  

At any rate, with my last purchase of Downy I got a lovely little packet of these Unstopables.  I liked the scent and made a mental note to be an educated Debbie Downer of the product before writing them off without trying them.  Plus...what could it hurt?  Free is free.  I threw the whole pack into the wash as instructed.  One of my favorite fresh clean items out of the laundry is sheets...and I always wish they would smell fresher longer.  This was the perfect test-load to try them on.  

Well my dear blog readers, I'm here to say...without admitting to the exact length of time I go between washing our sheets (Oprah says everyday, I think Dr. Oz says once a week...since I am my own maid we're somewhere around Dr. Oz's recommendation on a good week!) I can truly and honestly say, they do what they say they do.  When I was removing Owen's sheets to wash them after using the Unstoppables, I could still smell that fresh laundry scent on his sheets. It wasn't fresh out of the dryer, first night you sleep with them type smell, but it wasn't sweaty, little boy smell either.  And our bed sheets, also faired nearly as fresh smelling as Owen's!!

While shopping last night I purchased a bottle of the Unstopables and began doing my laundry with them.  I am not sure how far they will go...but I would like to keep track and post another post on my thoughts after using them a bit more!  Stay tuned...more to come on this :)

Cooper's Two Month Checkup!

Yesterday we took Cooper in for his 2 month checkup.  Here are the stats:


Weight: 12lbs 3oz.
Length: 23 1/2 inches
Head Circumference: 39cm

He continues to be perfectly proportioned and happily growing at the 50th percentile for his age!

This checkup brought Cooper's first round of shots.  He was such a big boy with them that he was smiling before we even left the exam room.  He did spike a fever later in the evening and his poor little legs were very sore to the touch, but after a little Tylenol, he perked right up, ate 6oz of formula and crashed out from exhaustion!!

Way to go Coop!  You survived your first round of shots :)  We go back December 2nd for his 4 month checkup...we get to start trying out solid foods at that time and he will be getting ready to start rolling over!  Until then, we'll just be keeping up the good work!!

One more Week...

Today marks my last official Monday of maternity leave.  Holy cow has this time gone by so fast...

I will not lie and say I'm ready.  Because the thought of going back to work...it makes my stomach upset.  A lot.  But, I'm also trying to keep perspective.  Going back means good things too.  It means Cooper is growing.  He's nearly 10 weeks old and healthy and happy and wonderful.  The holidays are quickly approaching.  Me going back signifies that we're almost to Halloween, Jer's birthday and trick or treating, Thanksgiving and my favorite time of year, Christmas!  We also are anticipating the birth of our newest niece Peyton and cannot wait to meet her!  So while all of those things would come if I didn't have to return to work, I guess what I really mean is that I have things to look forward to.  To keep us moving through the transition of me going back.

One day, I do envision staying home.  But for now, working is what I need to do for our family.  Luckily enough, it's part-time and it's flexible.  That also makes it easier.

Anyway, there really wasn't much point to this post today other than to begin the count down.  One week and counting!  I'm hoping to soak up as many hugs, smiles and lovin' from my two boys this week I can get.  Jeremy and I also have a few fun family days planned - all they consist of is spending time together.  I'm envisioning some pumpkin getting, park visiting and living room dancing till bedtime!  I'm also envisioning that when Sunday rolls around it'll hit me like a ton of bricks...but I refuse to let it tarnish the rest of my week!

Here's to soaking up the remainder of an absolutely amazing 10 weeks of my life!!

Wee-Squeaks!!

Owen recently got a new pair of shoes for the fall/winter.

I picked them up at a neat little boutique in Alton.  I thought they were adorable and liked the option of velcro so we could work with Owen on dressing himself.  But I got an even better surprise when I got home and tried them on him.  THEY SQUEAK!!  And he LOVES them!  He has asked to put them on just to play around the house in.  Don't worry...they come with plugs in case we are going somewhere he needs to be quiet.  But...I could not be more excited about his new shoes!!

Here's a link to the website.  They have lots of cute stuff for boys and girls :)  Enjoy!!

Happy Two Month Coop!!!

As crazy as it is...Cooper turns two months old today!!  Yay for another wonderful month together!  Yay for more healthy reports about our ever growing little guy.

This Month Cooper:

**Is still working on this wonderfur hair of his. The top of his sweet little head looks and feels just like a peach with brown fuzz.  In the back, we're working on a mullet.

**Has transitioned to size 2 diapers.  We are a Huggies lovin' family and they run a little smaller than Pampers...so we're movin' on up!

**Doesn't cry much during a day, except around feeding time...and holy moly do we make up for the rest of the quiet throughout a day.

**Speaking of eating, he has begun to eat 4 to 5oz of formula every 2 to 3 hours, except at night when he will stretch for longer periods.

**Continues to be a sleep champ.  We had our first full nights sleep last Saturday.  This hasn't happened since, but I can say this much, he continues to sleep in nice full blocks at night.  His nighttime feeding is peaceful, fast and he goes right back to sleep.  So nice!

**Continues to smile...A LOT!! If you talk to him, sing to him or pretty much put your face in front of him and smile...he smiles back.  He is almost going to full out giggles if you tickle him and I LOVE it! It just brightens your day every time you hold him!

**Continues to love baths and this special time together.

**Has begun to purposefully grasp and bat at objects he sees

**LOVES the ceiling fan in the living room.  I mean...so does his Momma so he comes by it honestly ;)

**Slow dances with his Momma at the end of many days together

**When Owen comes into a room and starts talking and playing, Cooper lights up...I adore this.

**Has grown into most everything of Owen's clothes. He will soon be growing out of the sweat pants and many of the 0 - 3 month onesies we have!

**Went on his first walk-a-thon for charity. Well we ate a bottle in the car because the timing stunk, but we went all the same!  This event was also his first event with Jer's company.

**Let his Momma and Dadda go on our first night out with adults only since his birth :)

**Got a visit from my good friend Colette and her son Brennan.  We all had such a fun play date together!  I loved playing cars with Brennan.  Brennan, come back soon and bring your Momma so we can play again soon!

**Got a visit from my good friend Cindy.  Cooper smiled a lot for her and we all went to McDonalds for lunch!

**Had a fun Linley family dinner celebrating Grandpa Mike's birthday.  We got lots of face time with Isabel...so fun :)

**Is growing like a weed and changing everyday!

Dear Cooper,

Another fun month has come and gone. You continue to make us laugh and smile every single day!  I am cherishing every smile and snuggle more than ever as I prepare to leave you a few days a week and go back to work.  I can't believe this time in our lives has almost past already!  I have loved slow dancing in our living room, your late night baths in the kitchen sink listening to music, snuggling you up for the night, getting you dressed and ready for each and every day, listening to your grunt and stir as you settle in to a sleep and so many more things I can't even put into words. You are growing and changing in so many ways big boy.  I never want to forget this time!  

Thanks for a wonderful second month. I'm very excited to celebrate the holidays with you and your brother this year.  It'll be your first of so many fun times to come!

Love Momma (and Dadda too)