Catching up in March

16. Read 50 books (5/50)
I finally finished reading "Under the Dome" by Stephen King. I started it in November....and I just kept taking breaks from reading it. I really enjoyed this book. Here is the plot in a nutshell - On a perfectly ordinary fall day, an invisible, impregnable barrier surrounds the small town of Chester's Mill, Maine. Nightmare ensues. This is the first Stephen King book I've ever read, I was impressed by the complexity of the characters and their stories. Really fascinating read.

70. Invite the Kruders over to see the house
We had Brenda, Chris & the girls over to the house this month. They have hosted us for dinner & fun countless times, and it was nice to play hostess for once. We enjoyed Chinese food & played some Wii. The evening was cut short due to a sick baby, but we'll definitely do it again soon!

83. Do 20 art projects with Caleb. (1/20)
This is a new goal I added. I recently started following this toddler craft blog and its been inspiring me to get creative with Caleb. My mom stocked us up on tons of craft supplies for Caleb's birthday so I want to be motivated to use them! Last week we cut out a tree trunk out of brown construction paper, glued it on a large piece of paper and finger painted green leaves on top. Caleb had a blast, made a huge mess and I love looking at his tree hanging on the wall. Success!

84. Take him to a park 50 times (29/50)
Caleb & I visited Marsh Creek Park last week. It was a lovely Spring day and it felt great to get out. This was a fun park - can't wait to play there again!

9. Go to a concert

On Friday night Glen & I went to see the Blue Man Group in concert. Glen has always wanted to see them, I was interested but not sure what to expect. The show was AMAZING! Every second was fun and captivating, I didn't want it to end. One of my favorite aspects of the show was how it involved people of all ages. At the end of the show, they had everyone stand up and shake their booty. There were young kids dancing and older men in their 3 piece suits! Hilarious! I would love to see them again next time they are in the area.

Johnny Depp and other delicious things...

29. Bake something once a month for a whole year (8/12)

Last month I attempted to bake a banana pumpkin chocolate chip bread. :) Try to say that 3 times fast! I had a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip bread and planned to add bananas to it. I added 2 bananas, and about .5 cup extra pumpkin. Then I threw in some oats to help absorb the extra moisture. This bread smelled SO good while baking, but it was just too much for one pan. The edges cooked up nicely but the center was still raw & gooey. Glen (aka, the human garbage disposal) ate it anyway. I would like to attempt this again, but I will probably use a real recipe!

Yesterday, I made Glen a birthday cake! It was a box mix, so of course it was delicious. I made a strawberry cake with vanilla icing, and decorated the top. It was enjoyed by all!

18. Try 25 new recipes (7/25) AND 77. Have 10 "at home" date nights (1/10)
Glen & I have been trying to have more date nights at home. One of my online friends recently blogged about a six week date challenge, and it inspired me!

Anyway, I decided on a movie theme night around "Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." Our dinner for the evening, was of course MEAT PIES! If you've never seen the movie, the sinfully delicious Johnny Depp plays a barber who slits peoples' throats and then makes them into meat pies. Tasty huh? I followed Pillsbury's recipe for Beef Empanadas and it was awesome! The crusts were perfect, the filling had a nice spice....totally making this again!

61. Have ten date nights (5/10)

In late January I accepted a promotion at work to come back full time. We have mostly settled into our new routine and finally took a night to celebrate. Glen planned the location and wouldn't tell me where we were going! I pestered him all week with questions and he never caved. So last night we headed out for a surprise date night! Glen took me to the Babymoon Cafe in Morrisville. Zomg the food was SOO good! We had eggplant rollatini for appetizer, penne a a vodka for dinner, and cannoli for dessert! It was one of the best meals we've enjoyed in a long time.