Brooklyn,

You are so cute. You heard me sneeze this morning and told me "bless you."

I love how you are growing and learning every day. Your vocabulary is increasing in leaps and bounds. You can sing several parts of the ABC song. Sometimes you surprise us with the things you say.

You are amazing, little girl.

Love,
Mommy

Ching!

My friends and I toast our glasses to many occasions...new jobs, birthdays, pregnancies, graduations etc. Even a home remodel project well done gets a 'cheers' from all.

Seeing this, Brooklyn wants in on the action and will thrust out her sippy cup to have someone 'ching' her glass with theirs. It's quite funny when we are sitting at home having dinner with no particular celebration going on, to see her out of the clear blue, sitting in her high chair, announce "ching!" while holding her cup out. And of course Daddy and I oblige.

Another funny thing she does (thanks to her Aunt Sarah) is eat whole olives off of her fingers. I'd love to have a picture of her cute little fingers wearing olive caps.

Well one night she and Daddy were sharing a snack of olives. He put one on his finger and when she saw it she yelled "ching!" and they had to toast their olive fingers. Here's to cuteness!

Valentine's Day

My valentine is a fantastic man, husband, father and friend. We are starting our 8th year of marriage and I would not change one single thing.

So my valentine and I decided to have dinner at the same seafood restaurant we had our first date so long ago. We chatted about the first date and the mystery surrounding that night...were we even on a date? *shrugging* I don't know. I thought we were just friends. What does that even mean, by the way? We talk nearly every day. It kind of feels like a date. Are we dating? What does that even mean? Okay, so let me get this straight...we are dating then? Yes, that's fine with me. After all, I DO like you. A lot.

Teeheehee. Good times.

Happy Valentine's Day!

(made these sweet bean bag hearts for Brooklyn and the other kids in her daycare class.)

Spreken zie sassy?

Why yes, yes I do speak Sassy!

Recipes I want to try...

Okay, so I love finding blogs written by first time parents. It's so neat to see how similar our experiences truly are. But when I find a parent blog that also has cooking tutorials with great pictures and instructions....WIN!

I was going to post a few recipes that I found on Four Lease Ranch blog here, here, and here but then I realized she has another blog dedicated to just her cooking. You had me at chocolate cake.

Lisa and Krissy, if you are reading this...I call dibs on the tortilla casserole for small group.

New Posts

Every now and then I'll find some photos or remember something that I forgot to post.

So that my blog stays chronological, I'm post dating them so they will show up as if I posted them when the memory happened.

So that you don't miss any new posts that happened to be tucked back in an old folder, I'm listing the new articles here. Enjoy!

How we manage until Daddy gets home.

Pictures from the Day

Play Date with Markers

How to eat your first ever Oreo

18 Month Check Up

Pigtails and Bacon

Just an average heart warming Tuesday

Brooklyn,

I know you won't remember this but yesterday when I walked into the toddler room to pick you up from daycare, you were playing happily with your little friends. I love watching you interact with other kids. Then your friend Savanah got on the bouncy zebra and jumped and jumped. This prompted you to go to the bouncy horse and jump and jump. Your teacher and I clapped and cheered at how fast you both were bouncing. This got the other kids excited and soon everyone was clapping and cheering. I felt like we were having a party! It was hilarious to see the huge smile on your face. I love watching you have a good time.

Then you and I walked out to the car but rather than get right in, we took a walk. It was a brisk sun shiny day. We walked along the fence between the property and a pond, looking at the birds and scanning the ground for bits of anything you thought was interesting.

You found an acorn top and considered it precious. You would throw it down the sidewalk and then run to pick it up. I just enjoyed being outside with you. Then I found a rock and threw it. You would run to pick it up. This went on for several minutes. Finally, I noticed all the acorns on the ground around a small oak tree and pointed them out to you. You love collecting 'akins' and picked out as many as you could fit in your little hands.

Then I showed you the pockets on the front of your shirt and how well they would safely hold your little treasures. You gently put each acorn in your pocket. You are such a joy to watch.

After walking back to the car and buckeling you in safe and sound, we drove home. You manage to get your shoes and try so hard to put them back on. You'll get it eventually. I love how eager you are to learn and master new things.

Once home, I gave you some cereal for a snack and opened some cinnamon applesauce for myself. You showed great interest in my applesauce so I sat on the kitchen floor with you in my lap and we shared it.



You won't be small for very long, my precious baby. These are the moments I want to remember forever.

I love you,
Mommy

We did it!

We are notorious for eating out basically every night and honestly, it gets old. Then when we do finally shop for groceries, we get bored with the idea of cooking so we put it off until the food spoils. It's not that we hate cooking at home. I actually love it. It's the shopping and clean up afterward that is a major PITA.

Anyway, the food we waste is a disgusting habit that I want to break.

So last week John came home from a farmer's market with a bunch of fresh delicious veggies and cuts of meat. I think he spent around $40. Immediately we sat together and planned out dinner for the week using up all of what he bought.

Monday - Fajitas
Tuesday - Meatloaf
Wednesday - Pizza (Not us cooking but it was a frantic day so give a girl a break.)
Thursday - Home Group where meals are provided
Friday - Ate out with John's parents
Saturday - Steak, corn on the cob, baked potato
Sunday - Burgers and I even made a CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday - Spaghetti (sauce was leftovers we had in the freezer.) What? We ate leftovers?! YES.

We win at cooking this past week! The only thing we threw out were the leftovers from Friday night (resturant food.) Not my fault. It wasn't that great a meal to begin with so the remnant should have never come home with me.

Tonight we will use up the last of his farmer's market run: Chicken marinated in a mandarin orange maple sauce with asparagus. Woot!