On This Day In History (39/365)

• 1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
• 1601 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, rebels against Queen Elizabeth I – the revolt is quickly crushed
• 1692 – A doctor in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony suggests that two girls in the family of the village minister may be suffering from bewitchment, leading to the Salem witch trials.
• 1837 – Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate.
• 1865 – In the United States, Delaware voters reject the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and vote to continue the practice of slavery. (Delaware finally ratifies the amendment on February 12, 1901.)
• 1910 – The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.
• 1922 – President Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio in the White House.
• 1963 – Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration.
• 1971 – The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time.
• 1974 – After 84 days in space, the crew of the first American space station Skylab returns to Earth.
• 1978 – Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcast on radio for the first time.
• 1980 – One of the best big brothers a girl could ever have, Charles E. Rice Jr., was born in Jacksonville, IL.

Ok, so I guess I could have just linked you to the Wikipedia page that I got all of this information from, but what fun would that be? Happy 30th Birthday, big bro. This past year has been a great one, I hope this year is even better.

And what would a birthday be without a video of Alice singing Happy Birthday. Love you!

It Beats Watching Football (38/365)

What it takes to get one good picture of the two of them together.
Please click to enlarge to see the hilarity.

Charles and Erin were in the area this weekend at a geek gathering LAN party so they decided to drop by on their way back to Charleston. Turns out Matt's parents are much closer to where the party was, so we opted to meet up there instead of here at our house. It worked out great for us since that is where we typically spend our Sundays anyway, and I didn't have to clean my house in anticipation of the visit. SCORE! I think they had a good time seeing the girls and chatting with my fam. They both got to experience a typical Bathje dinner, which wouldn't be complete without 140 decibels of noise (right, Erin?). Charles even got to blow out a candle one day early for his birthday (is he really going to be 30?!). All in all it was a pretty damn good Sunday.

Hope you two are safe and sound in Chucktown by now. It was so good to see you.

Like Sands Through the Hour Glass (37/365)

RIP, Alice Horton (Frances Reid).

I spent many an afternoon after school doing my homework on the couch watching you on Days of our Lives with my mother. Though I haven't watched in years, there is a special place in my heart for the show and the cast. Simply watching a Days clip from the 80's or 90's and I'm immediately flooded with fond memories of my mom.

Salem won't be the same with out you (though you haven't actually been on the show in years, but hell, you get my point).

And no it wasn't Stefano's doing, she was the ripe old age of 95.

Bathroom Beauty (36/365)

Click to enlarge.

Gotta love this kid! We gave Alice her own makeup bag for her birthday last year and so far she's colored in the lines (and followed my rules: it must stay in the bathroom, she has to ask first, and if we are going out somewhere she may only use light colors). Tonight was obviously a different story. In her defense she did ask me if she could use the reds and browns and I told her she could, not to mention the fact that she had Daddy in there taking pictures of her egging her on.

Had we gone out in public like that someone would have called DCFS on me.

In other news, I think Alice has finally made a breakthrough in the pooping on the potty department! She definitely knows when she needs to go, it's the convincing her to sit and to try for longer than a minute that's been hard. I'm hoping she'll get it soon as I'm so tired of cleaning poop out of her panties or wiping her after she's gone in a pull-up. She's also starting to wake up dry in the morning, which is HUGE for Alice since she is typically in an overnight diaper plus pull-up at night (and even then she still leaks sometimes), so I'm hoping that means that in another few months we won't have to even buy pull-ups anymore. Ahhhh, I have to say, I CAN'T WAIT!!

Who Knew? (35/365)

Click to enlarge.

Lately Matt and I have been into playing our Wii a lot. We've had it for ages, but we kind of lost interest in it there for a while. I did end up getting a Wii Fit Plus for my birthday so that may have something to do with it. Anyway, Alice has been really big into it too; and as it turns out, she's really good! She schooled me in bowling, and I have since adopted her patented spinning throw which caused me to have a NEAR perfect game (10 strikes in a row, got 9 down on the 2nd part of the 10th frame, then picked up the spare). She's pretty good at just about everything else too. What surprised me the most was what she did tonight, though. I let her play boxing for the first time ever, but before that I had to try it once to remember how the controls worked so I could teach her. I won my fight, but I sure was pooped, especially since the guy kept getting back up again! Anyway, Alice comes in and on the first round gets a KO!! I'm telling you, the kid is a Wii genius!

Haha, Wii genius. See what I did there? No, ok.

Yes, I'm Going Through Vacation Pics - FINALLY! (34/365)

6-24-09: Kaylee at the North Carolina Zoo. Missing you.

On a Day Like Today (33/365)

I'm very thankful I have a husband like Matt.

I don't know if I have a bit of a bug, or if the Cocoa Puffs that I had for breakfast just did a number on my stomach as I am no longer used to eating them, but around noon today I started to really feel quite horrible. Moms aren't allowed sick days, but Matt felt bad for me and came home. Not only did he work from home, but he took care of the girls and made dinner! I gotta say, I sure married a winner!

Be jealous.

Mmmm, I LOVE Fajita Night! (32/365)

Looks pretty appetizing, eh?

Fajitas à la Becky

2 Large Chicken Breasts - cut into bite sized pieces
1 Large Onion, any type - sliced into strips
2 Medium Green, Red, or Yellow Peppers - sliced into strips
Juice of one large lemon (I use bottled, so I typically do one turn of the pan)
Spices of your choice
Extra Virgin Olive Oil - two turns of the pan
Tortilla shells
Sour cream - optional
Lemon or Lime quarters - optional

Fry veggies (salt them slightly to help them release their juices) in oil for about 4 or 5 minutes until the veggies are soft and start to take on a bit of color. I actually prefer to let them scorch the pan slightly creating a nice fond in the bottom of the pan. Now add the chicken and season (I typically use garlic powder and pepper). At this point the pan will be crowded and the veggies and the chicken will start to steam rather than fry. Add a lid if you want to speed up this process. The steam will start to loosen the fond, creating a nice sauce. Once the chicken is cooked through, crank up your heat and add your juice. Keep the contents of the pan moving so they don't burn under the high heat. Scrape the pan while you do this, removing any bits of fond that may remain. The dish is done in 2-3 minutes when the juice has reduced enough that it only coats the food and not the pan. Serve immediately. Build your fajita and squeeze some fresh lemon or lime on it before closing the tortilla.

Serves 4.

Another Day, Another Birthday (31/365)

Happy 65th Birthday, Old Man! It was SO weird talking to you last night on Skype - probably the only time it will ever be my birthday and yours at the same time again. Love you, hope you're having fun with James.

By the way, can you all believe I've kept this up for a whole month?! I know I can't!

So You Say It's Your Birthday (30/365)

The flourless chocolate cake was pretty easy to make,
but let me tell you, that bad boy is DENSE!

So dense in fact that we stopped at two candles
because they were so hard to push in the cake.

Matt didn't really care for the texture, but I know at least one person who didn't mind.

By the way, as of today I OFFICIALLY made more posts in 2010 than I did in all of 2009 on my old blog! Thanks for the Birthday wishes to those of you who made my day special. You make having a kidney infection on a day like today much more pleasant.

Now Face North (29/365)

Guess who started pulling up to stand today (on something other than me, that is)?
She's also cruising now, she was all over the place once she got herself to standing.
She's quite proud of herself, and so are we!

She's also becoming increasingly harder to photograph.
I should have taken advantage of her immobility more often!

Insert Witty Title Here (28/365)

• Alice was all of a sudden very intrigued by her alphabet magnets today. She put them together and asked me why they stick together and why they move. We talked about it and as she walked away from me I heard her talking to the letters.

ALICE: Now you two QUIT MOVING! You will NOT move, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!

Hmm, I guess she really does pay attention to me.

• This morning, for the first time EVER, Alice woke up completely dry and asked to use the potty! She still hasn't pooped in the potty again, but I'll take any move forward I can get!

• And probably the best thing I have to share today, Izzy started saying Ma-ma!! Talk about getting my birthday present two days early!

This is a pic I forgot to share from Izzy's last cardiologist appointment.

We were very proud of Alice as she took this doll house from

completely trashed, to properly put together all by herself!

Now if only I could get her to do the same in our house!

KoolAid Man Sings Kiss (27/365)

Thanks, Tori. Now I have to teach my child what good music sounds like.

Ten on Tuesday (26/365)

• Matt and I are watching, what I expect to be, the terrible movie that is G.I. Joe . It somehow made it's way to the top of our Netflix queue, along with a bunch of junk by Jeff Dunham, and we didn't catch it before they sent it to us. We figured we should at least half watch it before sending it back.

• All of our snow melted this weekend - we didn't even get a chance to enjoy the lack of snow before Mother Nature decided to send a bit more our way. Yeah, she's a bitch.

• I'm making my own birthday cake this weekend. I've been DYING to try out this flourless chocolate cake recipe for ages and I've decided this is the perfect time to do it. If it's any good I will probably make it for Izzy's birthday too, along with another one that is less rich. So if you're going to be at Mom and Dad's house this weekend you'll get to have some leftovers. Sorry, Annie.

• Speaking of birthdays, after years of attempting to pester Matt into telling me what he got me for my birthday, he finally gave in - I'm getting a Wii Fit Plus! Granted, he told me that the only reason he caved was because he didn't want me going out and buying one with out him knowing since we discussed using Christmas money to get one. I'm so excited!

• Wedding planning is in the air - and I'm getting excited for summer and fall to come! I'm SO looking forward to Fred and Kathy's and Andy and Mary's weddings this year!

• Izzy's mattress HAS to get lowered soon - she's well on her way to pulling herself up and the last thing we need is her falling out of the crib!

• I can't believe I'll soon be planning Izzy's first birthday party! It's unreal how fast time goes with baby #2.

• Which reminds me, Izzy's birthday is on a weekend this year, but her party won't be until the weekend after because we are going to be in Indianapolis. I'm meeting up with about 10 or 15 of my friends from an online community I've belonged to since I got pregnant with Alice (we were all due in the same month). It's a fantastic group of girls and I'm REALLY looking forward to the trip.

• We (that means you too, Matt) will be walking in a Race for the Cure event while we are there in honor of those we know who have fought cancer, but especially for one of our own, Ellen, who was diagnosed with and underwent treatment for breast cancer while she was pregnant with her second little boy.

• I just realized how ridiculously trained my fingers are for typing on an iPhone. I just double tapped the space bar on several occasions and wondered why my sentence didn't end up with a period at the end. Oh, iPhone, how I love thee.

What Are Uncles For? (25/365)

Apparently Alice either watches way too much TV, or she's been corrupted by her Uncle Freddy and his love of The Slap Chop (or at least his love of the commercial remix).

Scene 2

MOMMY is at the table getting ready to chop and onion for dinner.

ALICE: Mommy, are those onions making you cry?

MOMMY: No, not yet, but as soon as I cut them they will.

ALICE: Maybe you need a Slap Chop. It will make it so you don't cry.

insert hysterical laughter

ALICE: They have a thing for cheeeeeze too.

ALICE exits stage left, muttering to herself about what The Slap Chop has to offer.

Please enjoy the commercial remix that Freddy is so fond of.

And in other news - Alice had pooping on the potty success today! Hopefully she keeps it up; I'm not going to lie, I don't have my hopes up very high!