Fun with Daddy, freezer meals and baby bumps

Some who know me know that I am a huge fan of freezer cooking! I haven't necessarily perfected it and I still think many meals taste better fresh than frozen but when you are a busy growing family, freezer meals make life so much easier! Well, a friend from church texted me early in July that she wanted to do freezer meals together and we made a great team because I felt totally comfortable making the meal plans and shopping list and she felt comfortable doing the massive shopping. It actually worked really well for me, hopefully she feels the same! We planned a Saturday to get together and cook all day until we dropped or finished, whichever came first. The day came and I honestly was a bit worried that I was going to hold things back because I was 25 weeks pregnant and felt like I could only go at about 70% normal capacity. When I arrived, she let me know that she was seven weeks pregnant - hence the desire for freezer meals - and she felt like SHE was going to hold things back because her level of capacity was compromised by the morning sickness she was experiencing. Haha! So, it actually worked well because we were totally sensitive to each other's need for water, food, bathroom breaks, putting feet up breaks... we cooked from about 10:30 to 7:00 and made 42 meals - 21 for each of us! It was amazing and exhausting! We got everything done that we had planned minus meatballs, which we did a couple weeks later. :) So total, we made 45 meals!!! Score!

James is such a good dad and husband and he totally supports my freezer hobby so he and Abi spent the day together while I cooked. They don't get to do that much so it was a treat for everyone! While I was cooking, I got a text from him with the following picture. The caption read, "You know you're striking out on your Daddy-Daughter date if she'd rather be smelling her feet than do what you have in mind."

Smelling her feet

Turns out, they got last-minute invited to a friend's house for lunch and swimming. :) Abi loved the swimming and James loved the socializing. Haha! This picture is cool zoomed in because you can see the splash super well! Yay for Samsung phone cameras!

Swimming with the crocodiles

It's better with no hands

This picture is just because Abi apparently noticed her wrinkly toes for the first time and thought it was weird. But it's also interesting that you can barely see her healed new skin on her big toe. Remember in an earlier post, I explained how Abi kept throwing rocks into my dad's pond and getting in trouble for it? Well, at one point on that trip, we lost Abi; I ran out to the pond to see if she was there and sure enough, she was. She was standing right at the edge of the pond with a big frog shaped fake rock above her head getting ready to throw it in when she saw me. I think she was startled so she half-purposely, half-accidentally dropped the frog rock and it landed on her big toe. The rocks underneath her toe sliced the skin clean off and she started bleeding a bunch! I'm not supposed to be carrying her (over my weight limit while pregnant) but I was so worried about how bad her injury was and couldn't tell through all the blood, so I ended up carrying her up the hill into my parents' home and yelled for my dad who came to the rescue. He cleaned and bandaged her wound in the loving way that only a parent/grandparent can. However, when I explained how it happened, he said, "That's the most satisfying thing I've ever heard!" Haha! She did learn the hard way about throwing rocks (though it didn't stop her completely) and she did learn to wear shoes. It took several weeks for the skin on her toe to heal and still (in September) she will occasionally look at the bottom of her foot and say, "Owie?"

Her wrinkly toes and nearly-healed injury

James's mom found a box of James's treasures from when he was young and sent it to us. Inside were a pair of pom-poms in BYU colors! Yay! He showed Abi how to shake them by creating a game where they kept shaking them in each other's faces. Abi thought it was the best game ever for several days!

Shake, shake, shake!

Also included with the box was one of James's favorite books from childhood that he hasn't been able to find in print anywhere. He loved reading it to Abi!

Reading a favorite from James's childhood

Here is Abi loving on her boy and girl dolls. I hope this helps her learn to be loving to her baby brother and sister coming soon!

Two babies!

Here is probably the cutest bump picture from this pregnancy. :)

25 weeks!

Abi turned three this summer and was allowed to start her preschool class on her birthday. They only had seven days of summer school left but she loved it all the same! It was a wonderful introduction to school before it starts in September.

Summer Pre-K program

My feet just stay swollen so I bought compression socks thinking they would help. Now, I imagine they would help but since I can't even get slip-on shoes on because it's too hard to reach down to my feet, it was a ridiculous thought to think I could pull compression socks up my feet and calves. What a joke! So I haven't actually used them much unfortunately. To be fair, I had no idea they would be THAT tight.

Compression socks never looked so sexy!

I am quite exhausted these days and not as responsive to Abi's request for random snacks during the day as I used to be. So lately, we've just found evidence of missing food. :)

The mystery of the disappearing bananas

I can't even get mad because she's sneaking healthy fruit rather than candy and cookies.

They keep vanishing

This picture cracks me up. James can't get much done anymore at home. He's the cool parent who comes home from work and plays and jumps and runs and tosses and can actually do these movement games Abi loves so when he's home he has to hide if he wants to get anything done. So here's Abi peeking at him from under the door. He's been found!

Zoom in on this picture

I have to allow him the fun parent status though because he's also known as the bedtime parent these days. He gets home, plays with Abi for a bit and then takes her to bed. I guess we didn't realize how routine this had become until one night, James walked in the door, and Abi, instead of her usual excited greeting, said, "Oh no, Daddy!" And ran off to the other room. Haha... he didn't think it was funny.

Let me in!

This cheesy chicken tater tot casserole is one of those yummy freezer meals I made! I loved it! So good!

A delicious freezer meal

James is a sweetheart and knows I need alone time sometimes to get things done - even 15 minutes is nice occasionally. The only problem is that they are so cute together, I don't get much done other than spying on them. :)

Riding bikes with Daddy

Here's another example of Abi's lack of fear. We did not teach her this! I don't know where she gets it but her need for adrenaline will be the death of us I'm sure.