This Week

Here’s what’s been going on this week!

Another potty training update: Elodie has only had 1 accident this week. We even bought her some big girl underwear, which I’m sure are more comfortable than those plastic things she had been wearing. We are so proud of her! We are handing over the remainder of her diapers to her babysitter, who hopefully can use them on other babies. The only problem we’ve noticed is that when she’s out in public, she’s uncomfortable using the toilet with no potty seat, so she just holds it. It’s great that she’s able to do that, but we don’t want her to have to hold it & be uncomfortable. So, we ordered her a portable, travel potty seat. We haven’t gotten it yet, so we’ll see how it works! She’s growing up too fast.

Big girl underwear!

On the same note of Elodie growing up too fast, we rearranged her room this weekend. I want to get rid of her changing table, since it takes up too much room & we haven’t used it in weeks. There were other things I was getting sick of too, and we needed to clean up so we can make room for all the fun things she’s going to get for her birthday/Christmas, so we finally moved things around. We moved her bookshelf that was standing up vertically and by her door/closet over in front of her window laying horizontally, so she can reach all her toys/books and we could use the top of it to store things/get stuff up off the floor. We pushed her crib over more and put the rocking chair in the corner by her crib. We also moved the dresser to where her bookshelf used to be, and the changing table stayed in the same place. That will be easy to disassemble when we decide to either get rid of it or put it in storage. Here are some pictures to clarify what I was talking about.

We rearranged Elodie’s room

It was a much-needed change and I love it so far.

On another note, this week was homecoming week at my school. Since I teach Freshman, they don’t get too involved in spirit week so it’s up to us teachers to get them motivated! This is one of the craziest weeks because there’s so much going on: dress up days, parade/block party, pep rally, game, and dance. I didn’t go to all of these events, but we definitely did dress up & chaperone the dance.

The Freshman Academy math teacher ladies all dressed up

In addition to spending the weekend recovering from the busy week, we spent our morning at the park.

Fun times at the Park

In the meantime, between work  and Chris being in school, we are planning Elodie’s 2nd Birthday Party. It’s going to be a the park again like last year on November 17–the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Come on out and join us. Invitations will be sent out soon, so let me know if you’d like one.

Have a great week!

xoxo

Ash

A random update

So here’s a little of what’s been going on with the Watson’s:

• Potty Training update: If you would have asked me about potty training yesterday, I would have said I still don’t think Elodie’s ready. She’s been doing alright at our babysitter’s, having 1 or two accidents a day. Our babysitter tells us that Elodie will always let her know when she needs to go, but she never really does that at home. We put her on the potty at home and she cries or hops right down, only going a few times a week. Today however, something has clicked in Elodie. She went right when she got up, ran to the potty a few hours later saying “poop,” and proceed to go poopy on the potty, and when we came home from running errands, she ran right to the potty and used it again. 3 times in one day & she told us every time. I’m so proud and honestly pretty shocked. If she keeps this up, she’ll definitely be wearing big girl underwear at her 2nd birthday party. Way to go, kiddo.

Cheeeese!

• We’ve been enjoying the start fall through some football. While the weather still has highs in the 80s, the crisp, cool mornings give us something to look forward to. We went to the kickoff game at Chris’s school a few weeks ago and this past Friday night, we watched my school do awesome in some football! This upcoming week is another fall favorite: Homecoming! I should have some fun pictures from all the silly things we wear for homecoming week.  I also get to chaperone the homecoming dance on Saturday, which should be fun too. Oh, the joys of HS teachers 🙂

Chris, secretly representing his school on our way to a “blue out” at my school

School Pride heading to a football game

• We’ve been hanging out at the park, like usual. Chris got the bright idea to sign us up for another 10k on Thanksgiving, the Gobble Jog. Needless to say, we’ve been back out running & training and letting Elodie enjoy the lovely weather, of course. We’re going to earn that turkey this year.

Roooarrring on the swing

Spinning at the park

• We’ve been spending some quality time with friends. Watching football, celebrating birthdays, etc. My BFF Jessie and I just celebrated our 12th anniversary. We’ve been friends since 7th grade when we met back in 2000. Yes, we have an anniversary, Sept 21–3 days before her bday & 3 months before mine. We’re fun, we know 🙂

BFF & I celebrating a friend’s bday

We try and have a life other than work work work, but it’s difficult sometimes when our apartment is a wreck by the weekend and there’s 10 loads of laundry, lesson planning, and toddler entertaining to be done.

We are going to try and go to an air show next weekend and are really looking forward to October: pumpkin patches, apple picking, corn mazes, hay rides, & etc. It’s a great time of year!! Hope your busy schedules allow you to begin enjoying fall as well!

xoxo

Ash

Foody Friday (a few days late..): 3 Bean Turkey Chili

This week, with the weather starting to cool down (you know with highs in the 80s rather than 90s), I was jonesing for some delicious, hearty chili. We had plenty of ground turkey in our freezer after our recent Costco trip, so I simply perused Pinterest for some crock pot turkey chili.

I found this recipe for Crock pot 3 bean turkey chili. The website the recipe was on, SkinnyTaste, is one of my favorites anyway, so I knew this would be a good one.

Topped off with sour cream & cheese

I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out great! Easily my new favorite chili recipe. Not too spicy, but could be easily spiced up if that’s your preference. It makes enough for a small army, or lots of hearty leftovers for days.

A perfect addition to your recipe repertoire for fall!

Try this out out soon!
xoxo

Ash

We’re not dead… I promise

Hey… is anyone still there? Haha, it’s been quite a while since my last post! We’ve been busy and I’ve been feeling sick. I just dropped in quickly to share a video of Elodie we took tonight at dinner. She’s eating pasta with broccoli, and loves it.

 

 

We’re heading to a football game at my school tonight, but when we get home I’ll try & post a Foody Friday recipe I made this week: 3 bean turkey chili. Easily my new favorite chili recipe. Check back later 🙂

Also, I’ll try and write an update about potty training 3 weeks in.

xoxo

Ash

 

Potty Training: Part 1

Let me preface this post by saying Elodie is our first child, and this is our first attempt at potty training.. we are the opposite of experts on the subject. I’m still not even entirely convinced that she’s ready to start potty training, but I don’t hate the idea of her being out of diapers before she’s 2. Our babysitter, who has trained dozens of children, is the one who thinks she’s ready & suggested we start. So here we are. So far, it’s been relatively painless for all of us.

Sitting on the big girl potty

What are we doing exactly? Good question. The method our babysitter has used in the past is pretty much just a cold turkey no-more-diaper method. We bought her some plasticy training pants, to wear in lieu of diapers and basically just sit her on the potty every 30-45 minutes and let her sit there for as long as she wants to–usually no more than 10 minutes. The training pants are supposed to make them more aware that they wet themselves, rather than the diaper just absorbing it all and the kiddos not even noticing they used the bathroom. She wears a pull-ups at naptime & bedtime and will supposedly be in those for a while during sleepy time.

How’s it going? Well, Sunday was really the first day we started. She used the bathroom a big ol’ ZERO times on the potty on Sunday. We didn’t have big messes to clean up, because the trainer pants keep most of the mess contained. Not so successful first day, but that’s okay. Today, while she was at her babysitter’s she went THREE times on the potty! She sits on the potty for much longer over there because the other kiddos running in and out of the bathroom keep her entertained. Since she’s been home she hasn’t used her potty again, but we’ll keep trying!

Snacks & songs to keep her entertained

So now we just stick it out and wait… I’m hoping as she gets more used to using the potty she’ll start telling us when she has to go, because sitting on that potty at home is hardly her favorite thing to do.

Needless to say, we have a long way to go, so that’s why this post is “part 1.” Wish us luck!

xoxo

Ash

Foody Friday: Barbecue Chicken Cobb Salad

The grocery store where we shop, Publix, always has a featured recipe of the week (maybe more often than that?). Generally, depending on what time we go grocery shopping, there is someone cooking the featured recipe so you can sample it. Right next to where the recipe is made, they set aside all the ingredients you will need so you can conveniently grab everything. We love Publix!

More often than not, the featured recipe has something that we like–usually there is a main dish, a side and often even a dessert.

Many of our dinners come from these Publix recipes, including this one!

Barbecue Chicken Cobb Salad

This week I made a Barbecue Chicken Cobb Salad.

Like usual, I didn’t follow the recipe exactly, however I didn’t change much. I added avocado to my serving (Chris doesn’t like it) and we changed up the dressing a little. I covered mine with barbecue sauce, (is that weird?) and Chris used the ever popular and his favorite, Italian dressing. I didn’t lay it out all pretty with the ingredients separated, like they say to in the recipe, frankly because it’s a salad & much easier to eat without worrying about aesthetics. Also, since I didn’t cover the lettuce in bbq sauce like the recipe calls for, I didn’t have to worry about mixing it all together and it getting soggy, so we could munch on it for a couple of days . So, keep that in mind 🙂

It was super easy & quick, too. A great weeknight dinner.

Give this one a try!

xoxo

Ash

Warrior Way 5k (aka: We saw, we ran, we conquered)

This morning, Chris and I ran the 4th annual Warrior Way 5k, sponsored by my school’s cross country team. There were about 350 runners out there today, which is nothing in comparison to the Peachtree Road Race we ran over the summer, but was still fun nonetheless. This year, the race was the kick-off event to Acworth’s Love the Lake Festival.

There’s nothing like running with a bunch of high-schoolers who are on the cross country team to boost your ego about your athletic ability (cough.. sarcasm.. cough). We held our own for being a couple of old 20-somethings. The course was through downtown Acworth and was super hilly. Afterwards Chris and I both commented on how tough it was because of the hills.

He finished the race in about 22 minutes and I finished in just under 33 minutes. We left before the official results, but we think Chris finished first in his age division & I finished 2nd in mine, so that’s cool.

Post Race

We will probably run a 5k sponsored by Chris’s school later in September. No half marathon on Thanksgiving like we were planning, due to our busy schedules & lack of training time, but we may do a 10k on Thanksgiving instead. We’ll see.

Have a safe & wonderful Labor Day Weekend! Here’s to getting outside this long weekend & sweating a little bit 🙂
xoxo

Ash