Peanut Butter Rant

I love peanut butter. I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch every day from kindergarten until 12th grade. Even after all those years of PB&J's, my passion for peanut butter has not diminished in the least.

We've been in the habit of eating Jif peanut butter for the past few years at the Hammond house. I've never been too picky about brands - my only distinction is: the crunchier the better!

Recently, several of my coworkers have mentioned that Skippy Natural is the BEST peanut butter (interestingly enough, the topic of peanut butter has come up on several occasions in the workplace).

Andie and I tried it and completely agreed! Skippy Natural is really good - nutty and delicious!! So, we made the switch. Hello Skippy, goodbye Jif.

Then, several weeks ago, Andie came upon an article in Consumer Reports rating the best peanut butters. Of course, we had to read up and do a taste test on their number one. According to the magazine, the best peanut butter is... (drumroll, please...) Smucker's Organic.

So, I bought it (and I had a coupon - score!).

And I tried it.

It was good.

I don't know if it was great, though. I still had Skippy on my mind. The Smuckers was, for lack of a better way to describe it, kind-of dry tasting. I don't even know if that makes sense, but with Skippy I just wanted to grab the biggest spoon I could find and dive right in. With Smuckers, it just tasted like spreadable dry roasted nuts. It lacked pizzaz. It lacked personality.

Clearly though, other "consumers" do not share my opinion.

Now, this is where my real problem starts. So, after the initial tasting is complete, I look on the side of the label for instructions about storage. We don't typically buy the peanut butter that requires stirring, so I wanted to make sure that I followed the directions.

I see at the top right it says "Oil Separation is Natural. Just Stir & Refrigerate".

So, that's what I did.

When it was time for my next PB&J (days later), I opened up the jar to find a crumbly mess!

This was not spreadable!

The cold peanut butter could not be stirred - it was just hard and crumbly! Was I supposed to microwave it for a few seconds? Surely heating and cooling the jar every time you wanted a sandwich was not the answer. Was I supposed to let it sit out on the counter for an hour before I made my sandwich? I don't have that kind of time when I'm trying to make lunch in the morning and get out the door as fast as I can!

So, Smuckers Organic, our short-lived relationship must end here. You just don't fit my lifestyle. I'm welcoming back my dear friend, Skippy Natural. He has been greatly missed.

65 degrees in February

The weather last weekend was BEAUTIFUL! After being cooped up in the house all winter, it was nice to have the opportunity to go outside and play for a bit.

Luke still really likes to put things into his mouth (grass... rocks... anything he can get his hands on!). So, Andie learned a little trick - if Luke has something in his hands and it looks like he might be tempted to taste it - simply say, "Throw it!!" It works like a charm. I think our kid has some sort-of built in throwing reflex. He doesn't even stop to think about it... he just throws...

Anyways, the nice weather got me thinking about this summer and how it is going to be so different than last summer. This time, Luke is mobile! Yesss!!!

I'm gonna have to start thinking about some fun summertime activities that we can do! Number one on my list is to locate and purchase a big wheel!

Group Photo of the Kids

It is not easy to take a group photo of an 8 month old, an 18 month old, and a 25 month old.

(I should also mention that it is a pet peeve of mine when people refer to kids over the age of two in "months". I just did it here since it went with the flow of the sentence. I felt that I needed to justify my action.)

Luke and I made a quick day trip to Huntsville this past weekend to meet sweet Logan (my cousin Erika's baby) for the first time. While we were there, we also got some good quality time with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Ben, Aunt Sally, and cousins Ronin and Maeve.

I think it was Sally's brilliant idea to try to get a group photo with all of the kids. Let's try to re-live that experience with photos:

First kid gets into position.

I'm explaining that Luke needs to be good and sit still for the photo session that is about to take place.



Add one more kid. Hi, Maeve!

Luke, get your finger out of your nose!



Add final kid to the mix.

Ronin, don't push your sister!

Luke, get your finger out of your mouth (especially since it was just in your nose)!



awww, good smile, Ronin!



LUKE - do NOT hit Maeve!!! (check out Maeve's face)





Ronin decides to exit the scene to go play under the coffee table.

Now a photo of just Maeve and Luke! They look like twins in this one!



Ronin makes a quick appearance to deliver a couple more blows to Maeve. Poor girl! She needs to be rescued from the mean boys!



The last kid standing.



Ummm... ok, bye guys! I'll be over here if you need me for any more photos!

Snow Day... again!

Man, what a year for snow! I think this is the third "big snow" we've gotten this year! Crazy! The first big snow really wasn't that big (just big enough to screw up traffic). The second big snow turned into a thick layer of ice resting on top of the beautiful snow (so we really didn't get to play in it). But the third big snow... well, it was just right!

This afternoon the snow really started coming down - huge flakes - it was so beautiful! Luke and I had been observing the action from the window all day, so when the GIGANTIC flakes began falling from the sky, we took the opportunity to go play!

Luke is kinda particular about things on his hands and head... meaning... he's not a fan. So, I dressed him in his warmest fleece pants, put on his shoes, put on his hat (this is the ONLY hat that he will allow on his head), and tried to put on mittens...

Yeah, so, he didn't like that very much!

We continued to bundle and I grabbed his mittens to put them in my pocket (just in case he changed his mind once we were out in the cold!). But as I grabbed the mittens, he stuck out his hands and was totally ok with it! Second time's a charm, I suppose.

Anyways, we had a great time out in the snow! Luke was just in awe the whole time.

My Valentines

Luke playing with his Valentine's Day goodie from mom and dad:

New Floors!

Ok, so we aren't COMPLETELY done yet - still have to do a small area in front of our bedroom door, install the thresholds, and attach quarter round to the perimeter. Those things aside, the major installation is complete! We brought all of our furniture back in the house and the new floors look AMAZING!!

Here's a little sneak peak of the living room:





The striped rug in the room is actually the rug that used to be in our dining room. I'm trying to decide if I like it in the living room. We definitely want an area rug in that position and are thinking of using either a dark crimson or a burnt orange as an accent color (which is represented in this rug) but I'm just not sure if those big, bold stripes are a little too much for the room. I'm thinking I'd like it a little more if there was a bit of green in the rug - also, I need to tie in the whole room better with some colorful accent pillows.

The jury is still out on the rug - feel free to weigh in if you have thoughts on this...

For a close up of the floors, check out these two jokers:





I rolled one of Luke's trucks under the armoire, so Andie and Luke proceeded to rescue it. It was pretty cute - as soon as Andie got on the floor to fish it out, Luke jumped right down next to him to "help". Love it!

Bookshelf

As promised, here are some photos of the bookshelf that Andie built for Luke:

And now that we've all "ooooh-ed and ahhhhhh-ed" over the splendor that is Luke's new bookshelf, let's see that thing in action...

First, Mommy organizes Luke's books, stuffed animals, and other random toys on the bookshelf. Yeah, things are starting to look good!!

Luke walks in the room and decides that things aren't exactly in the right place. He was picturing the stuffed animals scattered all over the middle of the floor instead. Let's fix this...





Ahhh, much better!



But wait, I'm not quite done... I seem to have left two animals on the shelf. Let's remedy that...

Now that we've cleared off that part of the shelf, let's also pull out the farm, the red truck, and the tractor...

You know, it is a lot more fun to play with all my toys when they aren't on that stinkin' bookshelf! :)

Ok, now that I've made a big mess, come over here and give me a hug!

Renovations Have Begun

We finally decided that it was time for a few upgrades to the ol' house. We found a good deal on some hardwood floors at Home Depot and decided to go for it! The flooring is really cool - it is super dark (almost black) and the slats are really wide. We love it!

We are laying the floor in the living room and the dining room/entryway. The one thing that kinda sucks is that we already had hardwood in the dining room - but we have to rip it up and replace it with the new flooring since those two rooms flow together. It would just look too weird to have the two different woods together.

Since we are clearing out those rooms, we also decided that it would be a good time to paint the living room!! I've been wanting to paint the living room ever since we got our sectional. Our old couch (and big armchair) were green - so they looked great against our neutral/beige-ish wall color. However, when we purchased the sectional, we decided to go with a neutral/beige-ish color. So, the couch, the walls, and the carpets were all neutral color. It really bugged me!!!

Here's a "before" photo of the living room:



Oh, I should also mention that painting the living room also means painting the kitchen because those rooms share walls. Our kitchen did have two walls that were beige/neutral (shared with the living room) and two walls that were orange! I loved having an orange kitchen, but now we are going GREEN with the whole thing!

And did I mention that all of these renovations are happening with a one and a half year old running around? He has been blocked off from the dining room (with a baby gate) and from the living room (with two tall, heavy stacks of flooring) and has actually been doing pretty well being confined to only half of the house. Just a few minor meltdowns :)

Here are some photos of the progress so far. Our goal is to be finished by the Super Bowl (we are having a friend in town from Dallas and also having a Super Bowl party at our place). And just to reiterate, the Super Bowl is THIS WEEKEND! Lots of work still to do.

The beginning of the destruction of the old hardwood floors in the dining room:

Carpet ripped up and floors being prepped in the living room:

See ya later old floors (back in the dining room):

Bring on the green:

Living room painted (two coats), time to start laying down those floors:

That's where we are so far. More updates to come...