good eats and back that "thang" up

can i tell you how happy i am that MARCH is this week?!! there is just something so indescribably wonderful about seeing the word MARCH on my calendar. february has always been a slump...but march brings sunshine, spring, flowers, grilled food,  and hopefully no more snow. i am so DONE with snow. after running 10 miles on black ice this weekend... i am DONE. 

anyways... lets talk about food. last week i fell head over heels with chocolate chip cookie pie. i may or may not have eaten it. every. single. day. cue the 10 mile run on saturday. that was by far the best part of our menu last week. oh - and did you know how amazing ricotta is on pizza?!! just big dollops - not as a sauce. we ate it on the white pizza and it was amazing. like chocolate-chip-cookie-pie amazing. we will definitely be making it again real soon. maybe i'll take pictures and post the recipe. maybe.

here's what's cooking this week:

Monday: white chicken lasagna Carissa's green beans (didn't happen last week)

Tuesday: Chicken Piccata (another carry over); roasted veggies with feta (roasting not grilling)

Wednesday: French onion apple soup with sourdough bread

Thursday: leftovers 

and now on to the best part...

so why the reference to a crude Juvenile song? (and yes, i went with the PG version...wouldn't want to offend anyone.) i am a closet rap fan. my husband is totally embarrassed by this...but i love me some rap music.  i know you are totally shocked. i don't really know any "cool" rap songs. i didn't even know will.i.am was a black eyed pea until the super bowl. (and i might be the only person in america who enjoyed the half time performance. don't judge) even my rap hatin' husband knew that. i just know the old school ones that remind me of the old days. i can actually rap every single lyric to regulators. you should be very impressed. Okay tangent...my love affair with rap is best saved for another post. 

 i thought i'd leave you with a few pictures of my favorite little backward crawler backin' that thang up. {I know, i know mom, I'm sorry - don't worry we don't sing it to her. at least not the real version} 

anyways she backs it up and winds up in the most unusual places...and seems to love every single minute of it.  

and just an fyi on crawling. my pediatrician friend emily informed me that there are something like 46 recognized forms of crawling. who knew? i've decided that my child must be gifted. she clearly thinks outside the box and is not a follower, but rather a trendsetter. and seriously...who wants to read a post on normal everyday hands/knees crawling? backin' that thang up is much more interesting.

*and please excuse the cruddy pictures...these things just happen at the most random times and all i have handy is my phone*

and no, i don't leave her in these spots....well just long enough to snap a quick picture.

{embrace} the camera: spring fever!!

   Spring has sprung! 

Well, kind of.

 Around here it feels like spring every 4th day or so.

Then we have a blizzard or an ice storm.

But anyways - we rock these spring days like they are going out of style.

this is my new favorite picture...

Is it bad that I've prayed that C won't be too much of a girly girl?

I mean...obviously I'm all about bows, cute clothes, ridiculously adorable shoes 

and I do look forward to mommy daughter pedis {just being honest}

but I want her to like bugs, and sticks & rocks.

I want her to go exploring 

and look for tadpoles

I want her to play sports,

 go on fishing trips with her daddy

speed down double diamonds {again...with her daddy}

so you can imagine how happy I was when she loved the mud, grass, leaves & sticks yesterday...

in her jeggins & zebra bow.

that's how we roll around here.

good eats...and some napping advice

So I'm a day late with this posting BUT in my defense it WAS president's day yesterday AND my husband and I got to go on a date. Yeah we were THAT excited about President's day. just kidding. You see date night doesn't happen much around here. I can literally count on one hand the number of dates we've been on since C was born. We swore up and down that we'd go on one date a week. Well... that hasn't happened. It will eventually. I hope.  ANYWAYS we got to head to Lawrence for some Big 12 basketball. KU v OSU. We were the couple divided. I knew it wasn't going to be good for the pokes, but it was still fun to get some game gear on, head to lawrence with mat and pretend like we were in college...burgers, beer & all. In the words of two fellow poke fans next to me, "this place {allen field house} is ridiculous...they're herding us around like a bunch of chickens {in trying to find their seats}...they would  never squeeze us in like this in Gallagher Iba" Ha! Loved it. (And yes I do love allen field house, but not like I love Gallagher Iba.) 

Anyways, the pokes lost, but it brought 4 years of memories of being season ticket holders.

Oh, and I still miss Eddie. 

Remind me to tell you the story of when I met Eddie. In Allen Field house. true story.

On to the menu!

Sunday: blue cheese hamburgers, roasted veggies (squash, mushrooms, zucchini, red peppers)
Jami's chocolate chip cookie pie. OMG. 

Monday: date night! I may or may not have had another cheeseburger. yum.

Tuesday: White pizza with tomatoes and basil, asparagus, Caesar salad

Wednesday: Chicken Piccata with Carissa's green beans

Thursday: flank steak with avocado/corn salsa  & grilled tortillas

(I don't really know the recipe...Mat makes it and it is AWESOME)

Can I just say a few words about Jami's chocolate chip cookie pie. Seriously amazing. unreal. I've been fantasizing, dreaming, lusting excited to make it since she posted it last week. Do your self a favor. Make it tonight. Run a few extra miles if you need to. Your family will be singing your praises. In the words of my husband, "that Jami sure does have some amazing dessert recipes for a skinny girl!"

And my nap questions:

Okay my child aka the "nap striker" ...who has NEVER been a good napper (hence the name) has recently dropped her 3rd nap of the day. We are on week two of this. My hope was that one of her naps would get longer. well no. Instead of two 45 minute naps a day, we are currently averaging two 30 minute naps. 

How can I make her take longer naps? Any thoughts out there? 

This same child...aka the nap striker.... does a really good job of sleeping at night. She goes down between 6:30 & 7:00 (when she is tired...not by the clock) and sleeps straight through until 4:30-5:00... when she is wide awake. I've tried ignoring (she will cry until 6), I've tried feeding, I've tried soothing... none of it works. She's basically awake the rest of the morning...until her morning nap. Shouldn't she be sleeping longer than 10 hours at 8 months? Especially with such short naps during the day? My goal is that she sleeps until 6. I'm not just shooting in the wind, I'm basing this off of healthy sleep habits/healthy child. 

Any thoughts?

So 1) how do I get longer naps 2) how can I get her to sleep a little longer in the morning? 

If this is perfectly healthy, that's totally fine. I've learned how to get things done around the house with her "help" or crazy fast during her short naps... but I just feel like she needs more sleep.

{embrace} the love

i love valentines. seriously love it. not the cheesy teddy bear - hallmark - overly - commercialized version. but the actual "celebrate the ones you love" version. this year was exceptionally fun to celebrate as a family. we grilled some steaks and enjoyed a tasty dinner...as a family, well kind of. it's not like C chowed down on any steaks or anything.

SPEAKING of embracing love....go check out my friend Rachel's give away. She and her family are in the process of adopting a baby. Adoption is definitely something that has a special place in my heart. I love that people open their lives and family to other children, either from the US or from around the world. Seriously.... go check out her giveaway. She's got some super cute stuff in her etsy shop and ALL PROCEEDS go directly to the adoption fund. Even if you don't enter the giveaway...you should definitely buy some of her super cute stuff.

ANYWAYS.... go to http://loveisrising.blogspot.com/ to enter this fantastic giveaway!

last year's crackle is this year's hammered metal

so before i had a baby i thought life would be very different. i envisioned workouts, lunch dates, crafternoons and an immaculately sparkling house. i imagined cooking amazing dinners every night and greeting my husband at the door with a cocktail. every day. oh and pedicures, too. seriously i'm not sure what i was thinking. i also thought my baby would take long naps each day. well let's just say that most of those things don't happen and it's fairly amazing what i can accomplish in 30-40 minutes.

last year, in my "life with baby" delusional state, i was obsessed with crackling. i crackled everything in sight: picture frames, lamps, alphabet letters, a trunk (yeah that didn't go so well. it's currently in the garage waiting for big item trash day this spring...)

so anyways, this year i discovered hammered metal spray paint.  uhm, it's amazing. I am already planning on getting my hands on quite a few items around the house and having my way with them. You know those super cute zinc letters from anthropolgoie? yeah I made my own. jealous? you should be.

so today during "nap" time 

instead of cleaning, folding laundry or cooking

 i crafted. 

an old lantern i found at the river market. 

not bad at all...but the glass was ugly 

and the metal was rusty. 

and i had a plan...

 some cute candle sticks i found at hobby lobby for $3 each 

better, huh? i'm pretty proud of myself.

cute too! 

Let me be clear.... the candlestick is CUTE.

The baby is freakin adorable.

so while I was crafting my little heart out i looked up and saw something that happened last spring.

when i was about 55 weeks pregnant. 

and doing a photo shoot.

apparently, a fire hydrant ran into my car. oops.

i know right?!

so i'm wondering if my little hammered metal could work some love on the bumper?

maybe mat would never know??

what do you think.....?

good eats & 8 months

good eats

I don't know about you but last week was an absolute whirlwind. I kind of found myself relieved to start a new week...one without too many things on the calendar so that we could play catch up from last week. 

Speaking of last week, Heather's brussel sprouts were amazing. I might just have to add bacon to all vegetables. YUM! ALSO, remember my roux catastrophe?? Well my friend Alayna channeled her inner pw and graciously posted step by step instructions with photos. Thanks Alayna!! I will definitely be remaking the full moon tortilla soup!!

On to this week:

Monday: surprise dinner from Mat & c (all I know is that it involves filet mignon. yes please!)

Tuesday: PW's tequila lime chicken

Wednesday: spaghetti

Thursday: friends over for dinner - taco bar

Friday: take out

8 months?!

It's 100% cliche and it's 100% true: the first year flies by. I can't believe it's been 8 months. It's also 100% cliche, but it really does keep getting better. We don't have any "big" changes like teeth or crawling, but she has changed so much in small ways I can hardly stand it. She is into everything....she LOVES getting to play in the tupperware shelf in the kitchen. She can pick up my cup and drink out of it...all by herself. *this was a pure accident and mama learned her lesson. just glad it was only water*. she thinks she "needs" anything that her daddy or i are using...diaper cream, the remote, our phones...anything. she pulls up on everything. she can pull to standing on us, but only makes it about halfway up on everything else before she sits back down. she can use her sippy cup all by herself and can feed herself her bottle (yeah, I'm going to admit - this was a hard one for me....it really makes her seem too old) As for crawling, well, we aren't yet. I went all tiger mom on her for awhile and had her doing all kinds of tummy time using my laptop, phone, toys & People magazine to try to entice her. She goes backwards, does a beautiful 360, but that's about it. It'll happen when it's supposed to happen. And as one of my best friends frequently reminds me, no one asks when your child hit certain mile stones on their future job applications. One of our all time favorite moments of the day is when mat gets home from work. she looks up at him and lets out the biggest squeal you've ever heard.

It's safe to say that we are having the time of our lives with this little lady!

current loves: squealing, her sippy cup, standing up, bath time, mangos, pictures of herself, the dogs, other kids, her Opposite book (it's more about the chewable pages and less about the topic)

{embrace} the apple geeks

my husband  our family is totally geeky about all things apple.

it's kind of ridiculous.

apparently, so is our child...

And for those of you who are judging our parenting style right now, 

I'll have you know that not only is she spending 

quality time with her daddy, 

she is learning

vocabulary words,

basic reading skills,

BUT she is also learning to 

read EKGs

and build websites.

 

Not bad for a child who isn't allowed to watch TV!

I bet you're sorry you judged us, aren't you?

On a completely DIFFERENT note:

You will DEFINITELY want to check back next Thursday for a 

giveaway I'm promoting through the

love is rising 

etsy shop.

Oh my goodness is this stuff just absolutely adorable or what?!

AND anyone who buys something between

 now and next Thursday will be automatically entered 

into the giveaway. 

We will release all the delicious details next  Thursday.

HELLO?! Go right now. Click on link and get your shop on! 

{embrace} your inner shopping mojo.

AND if that's not good enough motivation...

all proceeds go to support a very, very good cause: adoption. 

Go. Click. Shop.

baby c: newborn pics {sneak peek}

remember this beautiful prego? well she finally had her baby. and if you know her birth story you totally understand the finally part of this little guy's arrival! i thought he was never going to get here!

can i just say how incredibly handsome this little guy is? he is absolutely perfect. i am totally, completely smitten with him. and his beautiful blue eyes. and his teeny tiny little features. 

peter & lindsay you are already amazing parents. i can't tell you how excited we are for you. i am so impressed with both of you and how you have embraced parenthood. i can't wait to watch this little guy grow up! and i look forward to loading our babies up in their BOBs and heading out on some runs. 

ps: and just so you know, lindsay's eyelashes are REAL and amazing. and i'm totally jealous. 

and now....meet baby c. 

 

good eats & a case of the mondays

oh mondays. when i taught school i dreaded sunday nights. sunday nights meant monday mornings. and mondays were always wacky. now i absolutely love mondays. mondays mean a fresh start. clean clothes, grocery shopping, new menu, fresh sheets & empty trash cans. on mondays the keurig stays on all day long. i amaze myself at what i can accomplish on a monday.  no idea why i couldn't be that productive on mondays when i taught...

anyways. a recap on my menu from last week. apparently with the blizzard came my desire for comfort food? and cookie dough. i need to keep warm, okay? goodness knows i'm practically wasting away. (ha! yeah right.) by the way, I might have managed to go all week long with out any fruits or veggies. oops.

Home made pizza. bought the wrong dough. crap. bought the glutten free dough at WF and it was SO not the same. we both agreed that won't be happening again. stick to the real deal. (frozen section and it's like $2...can't make it for that price folks)
BBQ pork sandwiches: Oh my yumminess! We paired that with some highly processed velveeta shells and cheese. folks, we had to survive the blizzard. yum yum yum.
Mushroom/Swiss chicken with Heather's brussel sprouts didn't happen. don't remember why, but they are on the menu for tonight.

Here's what's cooking:

Monday: Mushroom/Swiss Chicken, brown nutty rice, Heather's brussel sprouts

Tuesday: Shredded Beef Tacos, broccoli

Wednesday: Greek meat balls, orzo, spinach salad with garlic vinaigrette

Thursday: Denise's soup, cornbread 

(Nope, I don't know denise. But this soup comes highly recommended)

Hope you all stay warm and dry as we wait for the next winter storm. And for all my friends and family in oklahoma on their 43 snow day...hang in there. i'll be thinking of you while i'm at the pool in july and you (or your kids) are still in school....

Baby K: 4 month pics {sneak peek}

i have no idea how it's at all possible that this little lady is already four months old. i can't believe how much she has grown since her 3 month pics. we're talking chubby cheeks, rolls and smiles...lots and lots of smiles. cute cute cute!

k & g - it just keeps getting more and more fun! (speaking from all of my 7 1/2 months experience)