Just a Typical Saturday Night....

After attending a FABULOUS Women's Conference this evening with some of my favorite women, I walked into the living room to find this:

LOVE! I LOVE LOVE sunflowers. And what a perfect fall addition to my home!!! Thank you Otto!!!!
If that hadn't kept him busy enough... he also had made THIS:

Homemade strawberry cheesecake ice cream... yummy!!! Recipe courtesy of my cousin Janssen, and this random person's blog:
http://www.perrysplate.com/2008/07/brownie-cheescake-ice-cream-with.html
.... though we don't know her personally, we thank her.

And finally, he somehow still had time to scrub my fridge (which I spared you a picture of) and go and buy these:

... for my darling baby who outgrew his newborn suits and has nothing to wear on Sundays. I know... we are poor students. So Otto informed me I only get to keep one.... what's your vote?

Wow. Flowers, ice cream and cute new little clothes. And all in three hours! Is he the best or what? 

While eating ice cream, we enjoyed a rousing game of Mexican Train Dominos with our good friends Dave and Melissa.

Eli won (of course) with his sharp mind, keen intellect and gift for strategy....

A night out with the girls, flowers, ice cream, new clothes from my sweet husband, and games with good friends. What could be better?

..... I'll tell you what. Coming home from a night out with the girls just to see this:

.... and do this....

3 hours away was plenty. Ah, it's good to be home.

Kids and TV

Here's an interesting article about kids and TV.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/09/12/spongebob-in-hot-water-from-study-4-year-olds-behavior/?test=latestnews

In our home, we are the proud owners of a TV... without the ability to watch TV. I actually love this because I know if I had TV, I would spend WAY too much time in front of it. I do enjoy an occasional movie in the evening, and once in a while we'll get excited about a TV show and watch it day after air on the internet. (Although that happens less often now that LOST has ended. Sob). I love the idea of not having TV as my kids get older. At the same time, I see value in certain educational programs that are available to us. We had a grand total of 3 channels growing up, so needless to say we didn't spend a lot of time face to face with the screen, but we LOVED watching Mr. Rogers and Seseme Street. While there is plenty of good to be found on television, there seems to be a lot more that I don't want my children exposed to. So the question is, at what point can television aid us in our quest to provide children with opportunities for quality entertainment, growth and development, and at what point does television slow their development, shorten their attention spans, and/or expose them to the very negative influences we are attempting to keep out of our homes? While I recognize that not every episode of Seseme street has to turn our children into baby geniuses, the dilemma is clearly cost vs benefit.  

What research have you heard about letting kids watch TV? How much is acceptable at what age, and what kinds of programs are acceptable to allow/not allow etc?

What are your TV policies in your home, and why?

What are your thoughts on Baby Einstein/Baby Genius/Brainy Baby videos?

Forever Families

Here is an all time favorite of mine, and very Sunday appropriate.

Enjoy. :)

http://lds.org/pages/mormon-messages-gallery?lang=eng#families-can-be-together-forever

Quality Entertainment

Last night, Otto and I had our first night out without the baby. I was really proud of myself when I realized how easy it was to walk out the door. Then I spent the next three hours convinced he would not still be alive when I got back. Ah well... little by little. :)

The good news is, we shared an amazing evening full of some of the best quality entertainment I have seen in quite some time. We saw "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" put on by the Hale Center Theatre. You can find them here:
http://www.halecentretheatre.org/

I can't tell you how much I recommend Hale. I told Otto on the way home last night that I am amazed at how often Hale amazes me. Coming from one who has seen countless Broadway productions, and been around music my entire life, I know how to recognize quality when I see it. These tickets only cost $26 a piece, and the quality is often similar to what I've seen on Broadway. WOW!!! The acting, the voices, the costumes, the set design, ALL of it is top quality. When Joseph sang, "Close every door to me" I was pretty sure I had died and gone to heaven. And then he did an encore. AWESOME. This guy was incredible tenor, and even put Donny to shame. So much fun to be a part of.

I have always loved the musical "Joseph." In fact, the first week after Otto and I met, I spent a good amount of time convincing him one night that he needed to see it. We even spent time looking up clips of it on youtube. Lucky for us, as we continued to google it, we found that there was a local production of it being done that weekend, and thus Otto found a GREAT excuse to ask me on our first date. Here we on our first date and our first production of "Joseph" (Aug 1st, 2009)

One of the things that made our experience last night so enjoyable (besides that we were reliving our first date by going on our first date without baby) was that our neighbors and dear friends, Dave and Sarah Martin both had substantial roles in this show. I was blown away by how good they both were. Here is a picture of the four of us after the production:

 Dave was one of the brothers, with a big solo number, and Sarah was a wife of one of the brothers, and also Potipher's wife.

And then of course to document, here is one of Otto and I outside the theater. One of the things I love most about Otto is that he goes to musicals with me, and enjoys them ALMOST as much as I do. How could he be more perfect?

I asked Otto if he would be mad if I paid another $26 to go back and see it again next week before it closes. Oh yeah... that whole we have no incomes thing again. Dang.

I love musicals, and always have. I was raised on them. I see great advantage in raising kids to appreciate classics that most people don't because they are not accustomed to them. But I seem to have rediscovered them lately in a new way as I have sought after good quality, clean, wholesome and uplifting entertainment to bring a good spirit into my home. I have found since becoming a mother, I am much more sensitive to language, sexual innuendos and violence than I ever was before. I want more than anything for my home to be an uplifting place for my children to grow up. And let's be honest, I can't watch anything violent or frightening anymore... I have a hard enough time not freaking myself out about every little thing as it is! So lately, we have been exploring all the oldies but goodies. If you are looking for some clean, uplifting entertainment for your families, here are some of the Shill's suggestions. These have been our favorites in the last few months. You can buy most of them on
www.amazon.com
or rent them at your local library.

Hello Dolly (Barbara Streisand)
7 Brides for 7 Brothers
The Music Man
Kiss me Kate (Howard Keel)
Annie get your Gun
Sound of Music
Brigadoon

Must see plays (if they come to your area)
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Ragtime
Scarlett Pimpernel (the musical)
Les Miserables
Phantom of the Opera

What are some of your favorite classics? What are ways that you provide good quality entertainment for your children and families?

Running in circles..

 How many of you ever feel like you somehow accomplish motivating yourself to go for a run and spend the entire workout feeling as if someone put lead in your shoes?

That was me today.

If I could go back and change one thing about my growing up (and it's pretty much the ONLY thing I would change) I would have participated in more athletic opportunities. I feel strongly about running and staying in shape, but I wish I would have established those habits younger. Since becoming an adult, I have gone through several phases of athletic ups and downs. Before I got pregnant, I was running a couple of miles a day and feeling pretty good about it. I vowed that once I became pregnant, I would continue to run through my entire pregnancy, so that recovering from pregnancy would be a piece of cake.

That lasted two weeks. Morning sickness and running... yeah right.

So now I am back in the saddle and training for my first 5K. (November 12th, 2011) I'm sure to many of you, that sounds incredibly easy, but I will be honest, I have never actually felt as though I was capable of running one. This is a big deal for me. For anyone interested in training for a 5K, this is a workout schedule I have found very helpful:

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Today I finished week 4!

Here is the link to the 5K my friend Bree and I will be running in November. Anyone in the area (or anyone who wants to come visit the area :)) is welcome to join us on 11/12!
http://pinnaclesecurity.com/securinghope5k.php

I am still learning all the strategies I can to successful running, but the two things I HAVE learned are these:

1. Invest in good shoes. I got mine here:
http://www.runnerssoulspokane.com/
They have made a world of difference for me!

2. Pace yourself. I often times use a treadmill, at least when I am starting out because I have found I am horrible at pacing myself. I seem to keep increasing speed, which only leads to a (very) fast burnout.

Tell me your suggestions on successful workouts. What does your workout routine consist of? How many times a week do you try to exercise? What alternatives to running do you enjoy? What successful ways have you found to pace yourself better? How do you find motivation on those inevitable days of lead feet? What other tips do you have for making running/exercising easier and more enjoyable?

I am excited to hear your suggestions!

Recently...

As stated before, I want this blog to serve as a sharing ground... from me to you on the things I am discovering, and from you back to me on your feedback, suggestions, and thoughts for further discoveries and improvements on my discoveries. Feel free to add suggestions, or your own experiences in these areas.

In the future, I want to have several different categories that I will post about. They will include but not be limited to, Photography, Home Decor, Recipe triumphs and failures of the week, What we are reading, Did you know... Medical adventures of a medical family, Parenting 101, Classic literature and entertainment, Creating, Learning, and discovering, Shill adventures and many many others.

To kick off, I thought I would do a brief summary of some of the things I have discovered and created in the past year.

Last year at this time (September, 2010) We looked like this:

... man I miss those jeans. (I ripped out an entire seam when I tried to get them on four months pregnant. Ah lessons learned.)

We were at the Denver aquarium celebrating 6 months of being married. For our 6 month anniversary (September 12th, 2010) Otto made me this: (I have to give him some props for creativity on this blog as well.)

 

It was a book including every text message and instant message we had sent each other from the first day we exchanged phone numbers and email addresses to our six month anniversary of being married. Yes, somehow he had EVERY SINGLE ONE saved. It has been so fun to have that as a part of our history. What a fabulous (and creative!) gift!

The following summer, early one morning our paramount, most prized, and cutest creation arrived. He came to us on June 15th, 2011. He is the joy of our lives, and the one all our creations and discoveries are now based around as we work to build a home worthy of such a perfect little spirit. (If you don't believe me, here is proof of how perfect he is) 

(This photo is courtesy of Sarah Shill. To see more of her beautiful photography, go here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.453518248306.250015.613318306)

... and here is proof that he looks like his daddy...

9

and here is proof that he just keeps getting cuter... (7/15/11, 1 month old)

and cuter... (8/15/11, 2 months old)

and cuter! (9/15/11, 3 months old)

Happy 3 month birthday little Elijah! 

While Eli is my favorite little creation to look at, talk about, discover and learn about, I have been busy with a couple other things in the last year..

For Valentine's Day, Otto bought me a beautiful Nikon camera along with photoshop and a zoom lens, and even free classes on how to take better pictures. I am FAR from knowing what I'm doing, but I have been taking a billion pictures and trying to learn all I can. All you photographers... I welcome any advice on what I can do to improve my pictures! Here are a few samples so far. 

In May, I took my brother-in-law's engagement photos. (Don't ask how I got roped into that, but it starts with an O and ends with a tto.) I may have lost sleep over it, but in the end (while not professional) Josh and Amy were happy with how they turned out and that's all that matters. Here is the one they put on their announcements:

and here are three of my favorite Eli pictures to date:

The last one is my favorite... he looks like he is up and excited to go places... in true Shill style. (He gets that from his daddy!)

Part of the fun of being home is trying new recipes for dinner. It helps that Otto doesn't get home from class until 8:30 at night, so I have a little more time to experiment. Here is our all time favorite new recipe as of late. (Courtesy of my sister Laura) Cornbread with ham and fresh peach salsa. You can find the recipe here:

http://desertculinary.blogspot.com/2005/06/cornbread-shortcakes-with-ham-and.html

I used my own cornbread recipe which is:

1 cup flour

2/3 cup white sugar

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup butter

1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking soda

Cook about 30 min or until it passes the toothpick test (what is the official way to say that?) at 350. 

Yum. We are the Shills, and we approve this recipe. 

My favorite project lately has been making little books for different family members on different occasions. I made one for my sister-in-law Sarah for high school graduation. Here is a quick excerpt out of it... (excuse the quality of the pictures)

I also made a book for Otto, full of letters from family members and friends the night before he took the MCAT. The cover looked like this:

and I made a book for my sister Robin before leaving to spend a semester in Jerusalem with the BYU study abroad program. Here are a few excerpts from her book:

The book consisted of a large letter on the left page to a description of that letter on the right. Some examples are:

B is for...

                                                                                           E is for....

N is for...       S is for....

.. and so on. The first one was hand made and hand bound. The second two I used power point, printed everything out, glued it onto colored paper and spiral bound it. It has been such a fun creative outlet for me. 

Here are a few of our new fall decorations around the house: 

 Wheat that gives me a little piece of home in my new home...

 I LOVE sunflowers but am still trying to find the perfect place for this piece.. (right now it's by my front door)

 My fall wreath (base and supplies came from Michaels... I put it together last fall)

 My cute little fall people. I picked one up at Smiths last fall, figuring I'd save money by just buying one, but Otto decided I needed them both and picked the other one up for me a week later. I love them!

All other items came from http://taipantrading.com/, one of my happy places. Now that we are headed to med school, it looks like I'll only be window shopping there for a few years. Goodbye incomes... you were nice while you lasted. 

Another adventurous attempt: growing tomatoes on our balcony that does not get much sun because it is blocked by a huge pine tree. Not to mention... it's a covered balcony. 

At the end of the day... we have two incredible plants that grew approx. 4 beautiful tomatoes that cost us about ten bucks each. But MAN did they taste good!

Finally, one of my newest adventures has been this:

My fellow domestic friend Breanne and I have now made peach jam (and we made 8 jars with a box of peaches that cost us 3 dollars!) dill pickles (my grandma's recipe, yum!) and salsa. We are having fun, and our husbands are in heaven. Win/win.

FYI for anyone else who is thinking of getting into canning, we found a great deal this week on steam canners and all the accessories. You can find it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-400A-7-Quart-Aluminum/dp/B0000DDUCJ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315944467&sr=8-1

This afternoon our next attempt will be homemade whole wheat bread. (Complete with grinding our own wheat! Assuming it turns out, I'll post the recipe. :) 

So now, a year later, we look like this:

... and life is good!

Check back for more experiments, adventures and creations. And don't worry, not all posts will be this long. :)

Creating, Learning, Exploring

My purpose for this blog is not only to document the life happenings of my family, but to motivate myself, and all of us to continue creating, learning, and exploring. My hope is that all those who review this blog regularly will benefit from the things I am learning, as well as sharing your insights and experiences with me. The possibilities to create, learn and explore are endless! So welcome! Welcome to an insight into my world. As far as I'm concerned, it's a pretty happy place to be. :)