I'm baaaaack. Take Two.

I’m doing a great job with this blogging thing that I said I was going to pick back up on.  Haha.

But, as much as I love blogging (I really do!), I love spending time with my family more!  I’m still working with LuLaRoe, too, which is so awesome and fun!

Marshall is growing like a weed! He has been talking so much more--it’s mostly gibberish, but he is definitely very intentional when he talks!  He loves Mickey Mouse and gets so excited when he sees it coming up next on TV.  The Puppy Dog Pals theme song is his favorite, and he gets so giddy and happy when the song comes on and starts dancing!

When I went back to work at the end of summer, Marshall started daycare.  It was definitely a brand new transition for him, as he had never stayed with anyone other than family before.  After that first week, he was a pro!  He’s eager to play and eat breakfast as soon as he gets there, and he always has a huge smile on his face when he sees Matt or me when we pick him up :)

Since going back to work, Friday nights have been relaxing nights for us. What does this look like? Matt’s probably playing Overwatch, and Marshall is in bed with me watching TV and staying up past his bedtime ;)  And I don’t hate it one bit!

I have several posts either written out or planned out in my head (and some that require me taking the time to take pictures from my camera and put them on my computer), so hopefully I really will start posting more.

But we'll see.

I'm baaaaack

It's been a while, hasn't it?

Between everything that life has thrown at us (both good and bad), my blog has been pushed to the burner farthest in the back.  Not only are we chasing a 1 year old around and snuggling with our favorite dog every chance we get, we also started a crazy fun adventure by selling LuLaRoe!  I say we because it is very much both of us now!  In the beginning, it was just me, but now Matt helps with going through inventory, live sales, setting up for pop-ups and events, etc.  He's a huge help, but I love that we do it together! And don't be mistaken...Marshall is very much involved too ;)  When we get new shipments in and before all the LuLa goodies are taken out of their packaging, Marshall loves carrying them from the box and putting the packages in piles while we're going through it.

So here we are, trying to start my blog back up again.  As you may (or may not) have noticed, there's now a new url link and a new blog title, so hopefully this will be more about us as a family.  I still had my original url (malloryloraine) and the blog title was The Noltes, with pictures of Matt and me.  I had every intention of updating that to include a picture of Maple, once we got her. HA. So you know I never got around to making one to include Maple AND Marshall, so here we are.  There's the title image for now, and maybe eventually we'll have a picture of the 4 of us to include ;)  Also, over on the right column is a slideshow of our family Instagram account (@thenoltefam).  There's only one picture so far, but we plan to share a lot!

I hope to finally get around to sharing pictures of Marshall's nursery. hahahaha. I really wanted to wait until after his 1st birthday, because that's when he was getting the final touch to his room.  His room is probably my favorite in our house, because all of the decor was so fun to find and receive! :) We have a couple new things to hang up, but then I'll take pics to share!

So, here's to hoping I get back in to blogging "regularly" and share exciting things with you guys! 

2014 To-Do List: 3rd Recap

It's that time again! Time to check back in with where I am in my 2014 to-do list.  No procrastinating here, so here we go!

#1. Blog more realistically.
Let's see, in my first recap, I had only blogged 18 times in 3 months; in my second recap I had blogged 24 times; and in the past three months, I've blogged 22 times.  Meh,not bad, but could be better. Dear Self, please get better at this.

But, the next recap will definitely top the rest, because that will include December, which will include my 25 Days of Christmas posts--they'll be here before you know it!

#2. Cook more.
I've been helping more, but when I look back, it seems like our summer was so busy that we just did something quick, or we weren't even here!  However, I did try a couple new recipes.  This Loaded Baked Potato and Chicken Casserole was pretty good.  I wasn't a huge fan of the chicken part in it, but the baked potato part was great!

I also made this orzo salad recipe, but when I didn't find orzo in the pantry like I thought we had, I just used some other pasta noodles instead.  Still tasted great to me, and it was really great to take to work in my lunch! Also, in that pasta recipe, I used mozzarella cheese instead of feta cheese.

Without sounding like I'm trying to make excuses, I did honestly have better intentions of trying to cook more, but a lot of the time, it just didn't work for our schedules.  Matt is off Mondays and is always home from work before me, so most of the time if it's a crock pot meal, he preps and starts it on Monday, or starts dinner first anyway. I'm very thankful for him and his love for cooking!!

Within the next three months, especially around Christmas, I know more baking will definitely come :)

#3. Participate in more races.
Well, of course we completed the Spartan race!! But, that's the extent of races for these three months, it seems. Bummer.  However, assuming all gets better -*fingers crossed*- there are several fun races to come for the last three months of the year!!

#4. Read more. 
Since I was off for the summer I really knocked this one out of the park! Here are all of the books I've read since July 1st:

• Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien
• How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
• Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
• Hairspray and Homicide by Cindy Bell
• The Women of Duck Commander by Kay, Korie, Missy, Jessica and Lisa Robertson
• The St. Valentine's Day Cookie Massacre by Elisabeth Crabtre
• To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
• Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg
• Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler by
• Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
• Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy
• Cruel Summer by Alyson Noël
• The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle
• No Place Like Oz by Danielle Paige
• Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
• Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
• A Sixteenth Summer Novel - Pulled Under by Michelle Dalton
• How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles

Boy, am I missing summer and having SO much free time to read, now!! I'm only on my second book since school started!

If you missed my other 2014 To-Do List Recaps, here are those links for you:
1st Recap
2nd Recap

BACK!

I haven't blogged in TWO WEEKS and it's been driving me crazy!!  No, I didn't forget about it or "not have time" to sit down and write.  I didn't have my computer for the past two weeks!! I thought I was losing my mind without it.  Yeah, that's sad.  During the middle of the summer, one of the hinges on my computer broke to the point where I could barely move the screen, let alone even close it.  I literally have no idea how it broke.  It had been fine and then I was working at the kitchen table, went to close it, and realized it wouldn't move! Weird.  On top of that, my computer had been going really really slowly, so two weeks again, my dad's good friend -who might as well be a computer genius- took my computer to fix the hinge and run some updates.  The hinge took about a week to come in.