I'm a big boy now

Drew drove my car to work last week and he had to take some of his employees with him so he took the car seat out to make room. When it came time to put the seat back in we decided to turn it around to be front facing. I was planning on doing this later, maybe after Kylie arrived, but I figured I might as well just do it now while its out so I don't have to hassle with it again later.
Conrad loves it. The whole first ride he had front facing he kept pointing at everything asking "whats that?". I was worried he wouldn't sleep in the car anymore but he fell asleep no problem. The only downside so far is I can't sneak my morning starbucks anymore. He can see me drinking it and he yells "MY MY MY" the whole time! :(

Sunday funday

We took Conrad on his first trip to the San Diego Zoo last Sunday. It didn't go as planned but I guess it was a good day. We only did one half of the park, turns out it was the boring half, because we left early. It was too hot and way too crowded. I think next time we go back will be in cooler weather on a weekday. Conrad wasn't really excited about anything except his chicken nuggets we ate at lunch. He may still be a little young for something like this. I thought for sure he would be excited about the petting zoo, I was wrong. He didn't even pay attention to any of the animals he just wanted to run around and play with the other kids. I think Drew did most of the animal petting. Any who... here is a slidshow of the pictures I got. Enjoy!

Make a Free Flash Slideshow

Daddy decided to take a dip in the pool when we got home that evening and of course Conrad decided to jump in too.

And into the jacuzzi too.

Stuffed Bell Peppers!

So here is another dinner I made this week that turned out great! I am just sitting here thinking about eating my left overs... mmm. Definitely going to the recipe box, in fact it might become a regular. It was so easy to make and it really was delicious. I know it was good because my picky husband ate the whole thing. Then he burped like a pig and informed me that in India that is how you tell the chef you enjoyed your meal, I took it as a compliment but told him it was not allowed in my kitchen( like he will ever listen to me). Conrad devoured the filling and even demanded seconds. I just love living with boys :)

Looks delicious!

Daddy liked it!

Conrad asking for more :) he loves to boss me around.

Sausage stuffed bell peppers

3 orange bell peppers, tops cut away and seeds removed
1 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup finely chopped yellow onions
1/2 cup finely chopped green bell peppers
1/2 lb ground spicy Italian sausage
1/2 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Pinch red pepper flakes
2 cups cooked long or medium-grain white rice
8 ounces tomato sauce, plus more to fill bottom of dish.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling water, parboil the peppers until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and dry on paper towels.

In a large saute pan or skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and chopped bell peppers and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the sausage, garlic, parsley, fire roasted tomato ,salt, black pepper, and pepper flakes. Cook until the meat is browned, stirring with a heavy wooden spoon to break up the lumps, about 6 minutes. Add the rice and tomato sauce and stir well. Remove from the heat and adjust the seasoning, to taste.

Pour enough tomato sauce to cover bottom of baking dish, about 1/8-inch deep. Stuff the bell peppers with the rice mixture and place in the baking dish. Bake until the peppers are very tender and the filling is heated through, 25 to 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

toys toys toys...

So I have noticed that Conrad has been a little restless and frustrated as of late and I just couldn't figure it out. Then I realized that he hasn't been spending much time in the play room. Hmm... I think it's because it was a little cluttered and he just had so many toys laying around he had no idea what to play with. So I decided to clean it up a bit and start recycling his toys. Recycling toys?? YEP, I take out some toys and put them in a box in our downstairs closet leave them there for a few days. Then I take out some more toys and stick the previously taken ones back in his toy bins. This way there are always "new" toys to be played with, hopefully this will keep him interested in his toys. also there aren't as many to overwhelm him, and this means I have less to clean up. :)

here is a picture of his play room. (It's actually supposed to be our dinning room but no one ever comes over for dinner so we just use it as Conrads play room.)

Here is his toy bin after I recycled out some toys. It was full and over crowded with toys before.

After I sorted through all his toys and chose which ones to recycle for the week I realized that they were all toys that didn't challenge him mentally or spark his imagination. I also think there were a lot of toys in there for younger children, I put those in a separate box in a closet upstairs with the rest of his baby things ready for when Kylie gets here. I have decided to only buy toys that will challenge him from now on instead of just things to amuse him and keep him busy. He is a smart kid and I know he needs to be challenged more then he has been.
Later that day I went to the store and there happens to be a kmart next door. I have been wanting to get him his own little pool and kmart is probably a great place to find an inexpensive pool for him I thought. In I go to search for a kiddie pool and as I am walking past the toy sectionI thought I might as well just look. Well I found a pretty cool little toy from Vtech. Its a video game of sorts especially for babies! Only $34.99, I was sold! It's not exactly what I was thinking when I said I was going to get toys to challenge him but it will work for now until I can do more research on what I would like to get him. Plus we have recently decided to keep the TV off while he is awake and this will give him some healthy visual stimulation. The kid loves TV so its been kinda ruff on him, he will love this!

It came with its own game cartridge but i purchased a few more. They had all kinds from big brands like Baby Einstein and Disney. I can't wait to get them all! It also has a mode where it can be played without the TV.

Here he is playing with his new toy in self play mode without the TV. He loved it!

Here he is playing the video game mode. I don't think he understood the connection to the TV just yet but he will get there. He had fun either way.

What's for dinner?

I decided that I am kinda sick of eating out all the time and perhaps eating at home would be a healthier and less expensive alternative. I also decided since i love to cook but am often just too lazy to make things from scratch that that would be one of the factors of the dinners this week, everything from scratch! So I made a list of the dinner I was going to make each night of the week and decided to try some stuff I haven't made before. I usually like to stick to simple and fast things when I cook dinner like beef stroganauff, meat loaf, steak & potatoes... the usual and I have been getting bored with that. So I went to the store with my list of groceries and when i walked out with everything I went in for I ended up spending close to $200!!! I guess I was wrong when I thought eating at home was cheaper then fast food every night, but the upside is that it is healthier and I will have left overs for lunch the next day.

So on Monday I made grilled steak and a grilled veggie salad. I give it 5 stars and a place in my recipe box. Tuesday I made chicken fajita tortilla soup, mmm. It was really good but i think i will leave out the extra jalapeño I threw in just in case it was too bland because it was almost to hot to eat. I think it gets a 4 because I want to modify it just a bit, but definitely it gets a spot in the recipe box. Well it was also really pretty in my soup bowl so i thought i would take a pic and post it in a blog. Funny how since i started a blog EVERYTHING inspires me to blog, I hold back though and just try to post the important things... like deciding to making dinner every night. :)
So sad I didn't get a picture of my grilled veggie salad, it was gorgeous and delicious too.

Chicken Fajita Tortilla Soup

1/2 or 1 lb Grilled chicken, cut into strips
1Tbs Olive oil
1/2 Tbs Coriander
2Tbs chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 large onion thinly sliced
1 bell pepper thinly sliced
1 jalapeño, seeded & thinly sliced
28oz canned fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 c fire roasted red pepper(from jar) sliced
1 can black beans
1C frozen corn
1/2c frozen diced carrots
1qt chicken stock
S&P

Heat olive oil in large skillet or sauce pan over med-hi heat. Add coriander, thyme,S&P to taste, onion, bell pepper & jalapeño cook 8-10 mins stirring frequently until tender. Add Chicken stock, chicken, fire roasted tomatoes, fire roasted red pepper, beans and frozen veggies, heat through.

Top bowl of soup with Fresh tortilla strips (I fry a corn tortilla in some veggie oil and cut into strips), avocado, pepper jack cheese, cilantro and some black olive slices.

A little summer fun

I finally decided to buy Conrad some water toys for the back yard because I am kinda sick of taking him in our pool. He just isn't content to sit in his floaty or my arms and he constantly tries to swim away from me and obviously he can't swim on his own. I get kinda tired of struggling with him to stay still and he doesn't have any fun that way. He LOVES water and he has so much fun playing in it that I decided my water baby needed some kind of fun new way to get wet. So here are some pictures of our fun day in the sun with his new toy. He had so much fun I am thinking about buying him his own little blow up pool to play in.

Who are the Jorgensons?

I guess you would say that we are just an average American family living the American dream. We are a young family, I am 22 and my husband is 28. In saying that I think we have reached a point of stability in our short lives that most people don't reach until they are well into their thirties and therefore we are very lucky. My husband makes this all possible with his hard work and dedication to his Business. I am so great full that he works so hard to make it possible for me to stay home with our son.

We have been married since April 2006 and we became pregnant with our first child shortly after. Conrad Von joined our family on June 5th 2007 and life has been a wonderful whirlwind since then. Conrad has enriched our lives so deeply that I can't imagine life before him. He is the perfect boy, he is smart, funny, curious, driven, loving, happy and handsome. Those are just a few choice words to describe Conrad, although I could go on all day.

I am now "baking" the second addition to the Jorgenson clan, we are expecting a little girl, Kylie Marie, early this fall. We are excitedly waiting to meet our little girl and enjoy life with our newly expanded family. Conrad is still too young to understand that he has a sister on the way but if he could I am sure he would be just as excited as Mommy and Daddy. I can't wait to see them play together and become the best of friends.