Gotta Love the Weekend

Don't you just love weekends?  They're just a nice break from the regular grind.

We enjoyed a good weekend this past one (actually we'll start with this Thursday and work through Saturday evening)...

Thursday we had a language test.  This is what E did while we were straining our brains :)  (and she got her first real bruise that morning when sweet baby fell over and hit her head on a toy before we could get to her).

However, afterwards, we discovered a new coffee shop downtown where we treated ourselves to post-brain-strain shakes...yum.

This one just made the cut because that's a cute lil crab tub toy...and she's cute.  And they're cute in the tub together :)

Saturday post-breakfast (for her) this lil face was all smiles and ready to go...

Then we headed off to Vienna to see Ben in his school performance of "Beauty and the Beast."  Sadly, I was too busy either holding the little one and/or watching the show that I didn't snap any pics, but trust me, Ben did GREAT and the play was good!

On our way home we stopped by a large mall nearby where we found one of these... (Swoon.  Starbucks chai tea latte = a forever favorite)

In that last picture everyone was trying hard to get Elise to look. Ha!

And this is how she spent her time in the mall...all snuggled up to dad.

And speaking of her dad, he's a great hubby.  He surprised me with these rays of sunshine this weekend, too!

But to top it all off we found out that we are going to be aunt and uncle (and cousin) to a sweet little baby BOY!!!!  Marianne and Nate skyped us in for a family dinner where everyone got to have a jelly-filled cupcake at the end of the meal.  The cupcakes were filled with blueberry jam.  Yahoo!

And that was our weekend...a good one at that.

In other news, Instagram and camera phones should be called "real camera killers."  I'm hating that I haven't picked up my Nikon in a few days, er, close to a week.  That's going to have to change.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Thrifty Goodness

Ok, I have to make a confession.

I've lied here on this blog before.  You see, previously, I've mentioned that thrifting here in Bratislava is not good.  Well, what I didn't know then is what I do know now.  I, along with my husband's help, have figured out the thrift shops here....finally.

Actually, the thrift stores are quite smart.  They set aside a certain week each month where they start to purge their current collection for a newer incoming collection.  During this week all items (just clothing...they don't have housing items or anything else) get marked down.  One day everything in the store is 3 euros, then the next day 2,50 euros, the next 2, and so on.  It's smart on their part because they get rid of a lot of their merchandise that way and weed out what is not wanted.

All that to say, if you go on the days when it's a little more "expensive," you can find some good stuff for what I would still consider a good price (it's pretty picked over by the time it gets down to 0,50 euro cent).

For instance, lately I've been on the 2,50 and 2 euro days and found some great things!

This day I got 6 pieces (a dress, two shirts, and three baby outfits) for 11,75 euro (~ $15 US).  Not my best bargain ever, but certainly worth it for what I got!

And no worries, I'm not planning to keep it all for myself...I have some thrifty friends who may appreciate a good bargain or two ;)

Peas, Louise!

Apparently when I was a baby and was given green peas for the first time, it didn't go over too well.  I spit them out and was NOT a fan.  There was a book having something to do with peas and a little girl named Louise (I think) and I was henceforth given the nickname "Peas Louise" by my family.

Needless to say, I was anxious to see how Elise would do with peas.

Let's see if a series of photos will help you determine whether or not she liked them.  See what you think...

"You're kidding, right?  I HAVE to try this green stuff!?"

"It's green and squishy...and..."

"YUCKY!! I'm not swallowing this, I'll just spit it back out..."

(pause for us to clean off the camera lens)

"NO WAY!  You're crazy if you think I'm doing that again!!"

And even though her first go at peas reflected her mama's opinion, little does she know, she's getting them again later this week!  We'll make a pea-liker out of our girl yet....well, at least we'll try ;)

My Take on Cloth Diapering

{Disclaimer:  These are my two cents based on our experience with just one child...maybe a kid or two down the road my opinion will change, but for now...here it is :) }

Jas and I had very big intentions of only clothing diapering before Elise was born.  We were all about it.  Well, Elise was born and reality set in.  The sleepless nights, the many loads of laundry already, etc...it all just piled up (literally) to us foregoing the cloth diapering that we had set our hopes on.

Then came Mr. Major Rash (poor baby).  Still not quite sure of the culprit (squash? new diapers?...ironic) but we were faced with trying to rid our girl of the rash.  Cloth diapers were softer on the tush, so we gave them a whirl.

That being said, here's my opinion on the whole cloth diapering shabang...

(based on our experience with BumGenius cloth diapers)

Pros:
* obviously, they're economical and far better for the environment...love that aspect.
*  soft on the tushy (good material)
*  a lot less expensive!
*  can grow with the baby (due to the clever snaps)
*  cute colors

Cons:
*  non-absorbent  (I realize maybe the whole point is just to change the diaper more often and keep them dry/clean, but hey, they're still not very absorbent)
*  require more loads of laundry and cleaning
*  not as easily portable as disposables (and you have to roll up the cotton pad when you're out to save and bring home to wash...which means STINKIN' up the diaper bag!  We do have a cool lil bag for them....but still.)

Our consensus:
*  I think starting now we'll be doing a mixture of both.  When we're at home and don't have big plans of being out and about, the cloth diapers seem ideal.  However, when we're out, disposables may be the way to go due to their convenience.  Makes some sense, right?

That's our experience so far...we'll see how this combo method goes!  Dealing with what ends up in a diaper is not for the light-hearted, so these things are important, ya know? ;)

And because this post wouldn't be complete without some pics of a little cloth diaper-toting tot, here ya go...

Grammin' It Up

I totally just made "using Instagram" into a verb...grammin'...did you catch that?

But, it's true, with Instagram releasing the Android version of their app, Jason and I have joined the Instagram world.  If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you may have caught on to the fact that I really enjoy all things photography.  And since Instagram = photography + sharing little pieces of our lives here in Slovakia...we decided to take the plunge.

Now you can find us at:

Jason - jandcpalmer
Charity - palmerponderings

Of course a few of our Instagram photos have made it to facebook...

Now get to grammin'...we'll see you there ;)