I heart DC24

I would like to introduce everyone to my newest best friend. I'm not a believer in buying friendship...especially friendship that costs this much money. But in this instance, I feel as though it was completely worth it. You see...I had to buy this "friend"
to take care of these friends...My allergies being the way they are and Alli sneezing all the time...we felt it was best to spend the money on a product that would WORK and LAST. We LOVE it. The next item on the agenda is this bad boy:
This...my dear friends...is the greatest thing on earth! This is an attachment that goes on my Dyson that grooms/brushes the dog and then sucks all the loose hair up...which means less hair int he air and all over my house. Can I get a hallelujah?! HALLELUJAH. Yeah, we're excited.

To be honest...I've never been so excited to vacuum in my life. That is saying a lot. If mom and dad had invested in one of these many years ago...then maybe dad wouldn't have said to me over and over again, "slow and methodical." :) Happy vacuuming everyone!

Summer will be gone before we know it

What!? It's July already! Well, Ben had his interview on Tuesday. He said it was really quick! He had heard that the other shifts had 30 minute interviews but his only lasted maybe 5 minutes. Not sure whether that means they already have someone in mind and are going through the motions or they just had a lot of guys to get through that day and were in a hurry. Who knows, honestly. Ben is ok with it however it turns out. He would LOVE to be promoted and get to go through more training...but even if they don't pick him, he will continue on pursuing his bachelors. He lacks 13 classes.

Alli's birthday is in 2 weeks. OH MY GOODNESS....I have a 2 year old. She is a lot of fun and her communication is improving each and every day leaps and bounds. We're still working on some things...like "F" sounds. Phone, Fan, Fry.....to her they are Pone, Pan and Pie. HAH Today she said phone and it actually sounded like phone...awesome! We are excited about her birthday party. It will be a small intimate group of kids and the Jumpers Playhouse and she just loves it there so I know she will have fun!

Ben and I had a very busy work schedule in June and July is shaping up the very same way. I'm so thankful to parents and aunts who are so willing and able to watch Alli to make it possible for me to work on days that Ben is working too. Alli loves being with family and we love being able to leave the house knowing the person Alli is with loves her like their own!

Alli has recently become incredibly obsessed with movies...but especially The Incredibles. No lie, she wants to watch it all day long....I love the movie but if I watch it that much I might go crazy. I'm trying to introduce her to other disney movies but she will say "NO" and go run and get the Incredibles movie jacket. She did sit and watch the most recent Shrek movie at Nana's the other day...so she might like my Shrek movies. We'll see. I don't necessarily want her "glued" to the tv watching shows and movies but she doesn't like to play independently with her toys, so if I need to get some cooking done or some work on the computer, then the movie is a good outlet for distraction and entertainment.

We hope everyone is enjoying their summer. We would enjoy it a lot more if it wasn't so hot. Oh well, such is life in Tennessee.

Tuesday

Ben's driver interview is this coming Tuesday. We'll see how that goes...Every week seems to bring a new adventure for him. It could be an interesting year.

We're gonna be famous....

Ok...maybe not really famous but....

The sleep center's new marketing brochures came out.

So now all the marketer for all three labs will be distributing

these bad boys throughout the mid-state....

check us out....

I felt like a big goof ball in the above picture. The photographer was asking me questions about a study on the screen to try to get the picture to be more natural...still feels goofy.

Below are pictures of the new pride and joy at MTMC. They took the opportunity to talk about our work with pediatrics in the photo of little miss Alli! I should get paid royalties! Oh well.
Anyway, been promising to put those up and they just came in so there ya go. We're famous...kind of.

OOOhhhh DIY projects I want --- I need!

Ok...sitting here at work listening to the drolling sounds of snores and I decided to browse through my craft blogs that I follow. I decide to check out one blog that is discussing a major DIY blunder that she had and at the bottom of her entry I see a link on her blog that said if you like this entry then you may be interested in this.... The THIS is what I AM interested in. Check out how she organized her pantry. Oh my goodness the ruler idea is so so so cute! I hate my pantry every time I look in it. I would love to snazzy it up. She went a step further in snazzying it up when she did THIS. Love LOVE lOvE!

Experimenting with whole wheat flour

I really enjoy baking and trying new things. I have found that I don't do it as often as I would like. I see a lot of other people trying new things and then this spurs me on to start baking some more. I follow a few coupon blogs very religiously and the lady that hosts one of them does a lot of homemade baking. This is the same lady I posted about earlier when I made the freezer breakfast burritos. Anyway, she uses a lot of whole wheat flour. This is perfect for me because it gives me a way to experiment with using our wheat. I absolutely LOVE the attachment for my kitchen aid mixer that grinds grain. It keeps me from having to buy a grinder. I ground up some whole wheat flour the other day and tried these whole wheat chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.They were heavy on the butter but I felt the oats, whole wheat and protein from the peanut butter made up for it. :) Every one of us liked it. If I can sneak in whole wheat and oats by giving Alli a cookie then by golly I'm giving that girl a cookie. hah.

Tonight I had some nearly over ripe bananas and decided to make a whole wheat banana bread recipe. She adds chocolate chips (she's addicted to chocolate) but I left that out. I'm anxious to see how it tastes compared to my banana bread made with white flour. The recipe was completely different with ingredients I've never put in banana bread before so we'll see how it turns out!

Next I plan on trying out a whole wheat pancake (another one can be found here) recipe which is also great for making up a large batch and freezing for a quick breakfast for my little one!

**UPDATE** Oh my goodness, I just pulled these bad boys out of the oven and I am PLEASANTLY surprised. The new recipe had a sweetness to it unlike my other banana bread recipe and all the whole wheat did was add a little grit to the texture! Ben and I both really like it! A++ for the whole wheat!

Jumpers Playhouse

Ben and I have been trying to figure out what to do for Alli's birthday. We wanted to do something fun but July is SOOO hot! I refuse to do outside parties but I was almost tempted to just do sprinklers and water slides for the kids to play in while we hang out inside...but we had one other idea too. We've wanted to check out the Jumper's Playhouse for a while. We went today to see if Alli would like it. I think the screaming fit she through when we said it was time to go home was a good indication that she had had a good time.
Took pictures on Ben's iphone because I didn't feel like lugging my camera to the playhouse.





So I think we will probably do a party at the Jumper's Playhouse for many reasons 1. Alli loved it first and foremost! 2. We can have the place to ourselves for a private 2 hour party so it will just be the kids we invite in there. 3. It is indoors in the A/C!!

Lastly, just a picture of Alli being helpful! :) Enjoy the A/C everyone...this summer is beginning to look like its going to be bleak!