I Heart Faces - Anything but a face

This weeks challenge for I Heart Faces is a photo of anything but a face! I loved taking these pictures of the little miss in her Sparkly Red Shoes as much as she liked wearing them so I thought it would be an appropriate entry :)

And with this post my month of daily blogging is DONE! It actually wasn't that bad, though I missed one day I still came out of the month with 30 Posts?! I guess I missed writing everyday, and I like the documentation aspect, kinda like a journal of our every day life, can't wait to look back on this a couple years from now and see how much has changed and/or stayed the same!

Menu Planning Monday...

Tuesday - Turkey and Stuffing

Wednesday - Mac and Cheese

Thursday - Eating out - Date Night Astronomy Class

Friday - Grilled Cheese and Soup

Saturday - Stuffed Shells

Sunday - Chicken and Vegetable Gravy over Puff toast

Monday - Garlic Toasted Spaghetti Pie

Yep all three of my trial recipes came from Picky Palate...What can I say she has yet to steer me wrong and its late so I don't feel like doing much searching.

Now I am off to try stuffing some Chocolate Chip Cookies with some Brownies and I promised Grandma Becky I would try this lovely recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Marshmallow Pudding Cookies before the family left for TN so those will get made later this week!

Coloring!

Okay I was going to do a Friday First post with this on Friday, but it was just so cute I couldn't wait to get the pictures up :)

Today we gave Cassie a set of Crayons and a huge piece of paper and set her loose to see what would happen.

Daddy showed her what to do and she took to it right away!

And while yes, the crayons did end up in her mouth about 20 billion times, they were the non toxic variety and those awesome little holder thingys cut way down on how much she actually ingested...

Her's and Daddy's first work of art...

And her first solo work of Art...on mommy's brandy new oven :) no CLUE when she did this but there it is...

All in all, an excellent Sunday Morning!!

29 weeks and all's well

The above photo doesn't really give the full extent of the size of my belly but it's all I have on my iPod and i'm too comfy to get up and go to the computer :) So it's going to have to do!

I had a doctor appointment yesterday day to go and get that lovely RhoGAM shot so I braved the storm and went and got it. Got to hear baby Ali's heartbeat again (in the 140's) and got the results of that awesome 3 hour glucose test.

Looks like everything is going great, sugar is normal (apparently I only failed the first test by 1 point) blood pressure is still going great, and Ali is growing exactly as she should be.

Friday Firsts - A swing of her own

Alright, technically this is the post I wanted to do last week so these pictures are almost two weeks old, but it still works!

We had gotten a lot of snow a couple of weeks ago, but it was snow on top of ice on top of snow and so on. Pretty, but nothing you could do in it activity wise...so Daddy being the awesome Daddy that he is, snow blew a path out to Cassie's playset for her. So we could wander out there and see how she liked it.

And well? I think it was a success :)

And we had another good snow storm come in today and dump another good foot or so of snow on us (so far...it's still coming down out there!) which reburied her set. Can't wait till spring in a few weeks so we can get out there and play more consistently!

Reading Mommy

1. Awakened (House of Night book 8) ~ PC and Kristen Cast

2. Storm Front (The Dresden Files Book 1) ~ Jim Butcher

3. My Fair Lazy: One Reality Television Addict's Attempt to Discover if Not Being a Dumb Ass is the New Black, or, a Culture-Up Manifesto ~ Jen Lancaster

4. Songs of Love and Death - Various Short Stories

5. A Game of Thrones (A song of Ice and Fire Book 1) ~ George R. R. Martin

6. Queen of Babble - Meg Cabbot - Very cute book excellent choice for book club! It's kinda like the Shopaholic series but better :)

Currently reading -

Nothing! I literally finished Queen of Babble today 30 seconds before my last blood draw for the day so I haven't decided what to read yet. Will probably go with Queen of Babble in the Big City or A Clash of Kings (Song of Ice and Fire Book 2) or maybe what ever is on the Nook Free Friday blog tomorrow:)

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child - Marc Weisbluth - Still literally 2 pages into this book...ah its the thought that counts right??

Wordless Wednesday - Sweeter than Sweet

Recipe Review...French Lasagna

Okay, I got today's recipe over at Full Bellies, Happy Kids which happens to be another cooking blog which I am completely enamored with :)

This recipe was called French Lasagna :) (original recipe found here) and while I did tweek it a little it came out pretty good. Not great, but good and I think with a little more tweeking it could be made great for us :).

1 pound hamburg

1/2 pound sausage

1 small can tomato paste

1 tablespoon parsley

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

2 cans crescent rolls (I use the recipe type, with no perforations)

1 cup cottage cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

4 slices mozzarella cheese

Brown meat and drain fat. Add tomato paste, parsley, oregano, onion, salt, pepper and worcestershire sauce. Simmer 10 minutes. Place crescent rolls on cookie sheet, long side together. Pinch edges together. Spread 1/2 of the meat mix down the middle of the crescent rolls. Mix cottage cheese and parmesan cheese. Spoon over meat. Spread remaining meat mixture over cheeses. Place slices of mozzarella over top of meat.

To change the recipe I added a splash of spaghetti sauce since it seemed a bit dry and about 1/4 cup of spinach to the cheese mixture (gotta try and add those veggies in there when ever possible!)... and I accidentally bought Ricotta Cheese instead of cottage cheese (never heard of cottage cheese in lasagna so I thought I had made a typo when I made up my list). I also ended up using 3 tubes of Crescent rolls since I couldn't find the kind she said she used so I had to improvise a bit. The result was still the same.

Next time I make this (and yes there will be a next time) I will probably only use ground beef. We aren't really big sausage eaters here and I think it took away from the Lasagna-y taste.

Okay, that's about it for tonight, I am off now to go try making some stuffed chocolate chip cookies :)

Menu Planning Monday...

Tuesday: Shepard's Pie

Wednesday: Hot Chicken Salad Stuffed Bread

Thursday: Mac&Cheese w/broccoli

Friday: Cheesy Turkey Pot Pie

Saturday: Breakfast for dinner

Sunday: Chicken Ranch and Rice Soup

Monday: Spaghetti and Meatballs

I Heart Faces - Cell Phone Picture

For a while now I have been thinking about trying to enter the I Heart Faces weekly photo challenge...but truth be told I was really pretty much intimidated by all the spectacular photos that people enter on there! But with one little girl and another on the way now is NOT the time to let myself be intimidated by others. I realized entering into this is more about meeting a goal each week and learning from what all of these other photographers have to offer.

So here goes nothing.

This weeks challenge is a cell phone challenge, doesn't matter what the picture is of so long as it is taken with a cell phone and has at least one human face in it. The picture above was taken with my Droid 2 and edited with both FXCamera and Photowonder. I really truly can't stand the quality of Camera on this phone and I got a much better picture using my iPod and editing it with Instagram, but the challenge was for a cell phone picture and *technically* the iPod isn't a phone soooo...

Magic Cookies

Oye so I guess I failed the challenge, I missed posting yesterday, by the time I had a chance to sit down I just wanted to go to sleep...but anyway I had in mind to do this post all day yesterday but I didn't get to try out the cookies till today so I guess it all works out!

So I think that this website...thepickypalate.com ... is absolutely one of my favorites. Looks like I am going to be trying a lot more recipes from her in the near future!

Which brings me to these Magic Cookies!!! Why are they magic you ask??? Well basically because they only have TWO ingredients and cost under $4 for a batch of them...quite a deal in my book...and they taste fantastic! Kinda like a chocolate peanutbutter cookie. Which is what they are I guess :).

So original recipe is here http://picky-palate.com/2011/02/17/reeses-peanut-butter-cup-cookies-literally-2-ingredients/...

Start by unwrapping 24 (no less! If you want some to munch on get an extra pack!) peanut butter cups and get out one egg...

Put all the PB Cups into a processor and chop until blended!!

Then add your egg and keep blending...I don't think I blended enough but they came out good still, they just didn't look like the pictures on the original recipe site...

Then roll into balls...

Flatten a bit...

Sprinkle on some sea salt...(totally an optional step, but it sounded good so I went with it)

Then toss them in the oven, recipe says at 350 for 15-17 minutes, but I found 10 minutes to be plenty since I like my cookies a bit on the chewy side plus I think mine were a bit smaller.

Make sure you have a cute little kitchen helper to watch an make sure they don't burn! (yes I am fully aware she is in Christmas PJs and it is almost March but they still fit her and they were clean and she wasn't going out in them so why not :) ).

And that is basically it...I don't have any good pictures of the finished product since we were outside organizing the garage when they finished and we just dug right in when we took a break :) but if you are looking for a quick easy cheap weekend snack project definitely give this one a try!!! They are basically fool proof!!

Friday tidbits

So I way over exerted myself today and I am just plain exhausted, my back is killing me and I am feeling all 27 1/2 weeks of this pregnancy all at once therefore tonights post will be in bullet format instead of the normally scheduled Fun Friday post...sorry...Cassie pics and Ali in the Belly pics sometime this weekend...

~ Today was an absolutely beautiful day. I think it actually got up as high as 64 degrees AND it was beautifully sunshiny to boot!

~ Got a call from the Dr. office letting me know I failed my glucose test :( so I needed to schedule a 3 hour one at the hospital for next week...great, more nasty sweet drink and more blood work, my favorite!

~ Over the past week I think I unpacked a total of 20 boxes/totes (at least...I lost count yesterday...) working at a good clip, still haven't gotten to any of our stuff that we actually use yet though...its all been boxes of old clothes, craft stuff I have no place to put yet and Christmas decorations. But I suppose it all needs to be gone through, it would be nice though if I could find some of my maternity clothes and shoes! But the good news? PROGRESS is being made, I can see pathways of bare concrete in the garage!

~ Matt and my Grandpa have also been making EXCELLENT progress downstairs in the basement...we decided to switch some stuff around design wise so they are really trucking along, all the outlets are almost wired for both sides, all the lighting is almost in for the Family side, all the wall framing is done for the Family side, framing for Mom's bathroom and kitchen are done AND they are doing the pipes tomorrow. They are doing a SUPERB job if I do say so myself.

~ Mom and I went out today in search of an apartment size fridge and stove for her today so that we could get them delivered and down stairs before we flip the stairs around. What actually happened was we found a fridge for her at Best Buy and they happened to have the Electrolux stove I have been salivating over for a while now on sale for $600 off...soooooo needless to say since I will be doing most of the cooking upstairs we got the fridge for her and the stove for me and she will be inheriting our stove we have upstairs now...win win! Can't wait till it gets delivered on the 5th, expect reviews!

~That's about it right now...I had to cancel going out with my friend tonight which really totally sucked, hopefully we will be able to get together next week sometime. Mama needs some quality grown up time out of the house!! But right now mama is headed for some quality time with her pillow instead...hopefully sleep comes easy tonight.

This mommy reads

1. Awakened (House of Night book 8) ~ PC and Kristen Cast

2. Storm Front (The Dresden Files Book 1) ~ Jim Butcher

3. My Fair Lazy: One Reality Television Addict's Attempt to Discover if Not Being a Dumb Ass is the New Black, or, a Culture-Up Manifesto ~ Jen Lancaster

4. Songs of Love and Death - Various Short Stories

Currently reading -

A Game of Thrones (A song of Ice and Fire Book 1) ~ George R. R. Martin - this book is excellent!! It was recommended by my friend Suz. Didn't know it was going to be as lengthy as it is, but that's okay the story line more than makes up for it. It's going to be turned into an HBO show I think I will tune into the first episode to see it, but won't hold out much hope since what they did with the Sookie Stackhouse books. But we will see maybe it will turn out to be a good show in and of itself regardless of the books.

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child - Marc Weisbluth - Still literally 2 pages into this book...ah its the thought that counts right??

Wordless Wednesday - Awesome Daddy

27 Weeks and I crave rainbows...

Had a doctor appointment today so I thought it was way past time to do an updated post! (don't worry there may not be belly pics with this post, but I hope to take at least one soon!)

I have no idea where the time went, but today I went into have my Glucose test done. I feel like I completely skipped over my entire 2nd trimester...where is the energy burst I was supposed to get? Or the end of the nausea/acid reflux? I think I want a refund on that entire trimester please!

But anyway back to the test/appointment...I swear the cup of that *wonderful* stuff was NOT that big last time :) but I got it down, it's not all that bad like a mini cup of flat super sweet soda.

Everything went great, Ali is growing perfect and her little heart was chugging right along, she didn't appreciate the dopplar though she kept finding a way to kick/punch and/or just move out of range (that is what they get for making me drink the super sugary drink before doing my normal apt :) ). And the vampire nurse I had was able to get all the blood she needed from just one jab! First time ever that happened (including my various hospital stays with Cassie requiring at least one IV each time), usually they need to poke one arm, route around for a vein decide that isn't working then try the other arm repeat the process then move down to my hands where they finally get a vein that drips and drops...this time? Nope one jab and 6 filled vials later I am free to go!

Blood pressure was fine, but I need to go back next week to get my lovely RhoGAM shot. After that it's another 3 weeks till my next apt!

How far along? 27 Weeks

How big is baby? according to my Bump ticker about the size of an Egg Plant...but according to Fit Pregnancy about the size of a small Pot Roast...

Stretch marks? yep on my thighs, but nothing on the belly still, YAY!

Weight Gain? FINALLY...not saying how much though :)

Sleep? Nope not much but that is more because of Cassie...

Best moment this week? the temp got above 50 degrees on Monday!! It felt sooooo nice, sure its single digits with subzero wind chill today, but still there was that shining ray of hope :)

Food Cravings? FINALLY! I craved a nice M&M McFlurry, and then today had an awesome craving for some Funfetti Cake :)...looks like I am craving rainbows...

Gender? GIRL!!!

What do you miss? NOT having acid reflux...and being able to walk a full day with out waddling...

What are you looking forward to? being able to sleep on my back...and or being able to play on the floor with Cassie and not having my back spasm.

Milestone? Had my Glucose test today does that count??

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are some Valentine kisses from Cassie!

P.S. One day I WILL learn how to post decent size/quality videos on here!

Menu Planning Monday...

Looks like we are getting better and better at this :) Stayed on budget and only did a little rearranging but made everything on the list!

Monday: Breakfast for dinner

Tuesday: Beef and noodles with gravy

Wednesday: BBQ Chicken Sloppy Joes

Thursday: Unstuffed Cabbage

Friday: Steak Pizzaiola (trial recipe for the week)

Saturday: Hot Dogs and veggies

Sunday: Chicken with apples and stuffing

Monday: French Lasagna (okay looks like we are trying 2 new recipes this week I need to broaden my horizons anyway!)

Recipe Review...Pineapple Pork Chops

I have been trying to challenge myself to become better at cooking, trying to make dinner healthier and more interesting by adding one dish that I have never tried making before each week to our menu. Bonus points if it involves a meat that I have a rough time cooking and therefore always avoid, extra bonus points if it has vegetable or fruits that I have never tried before!

I technically have two recipes waiting to be reviewed, but I can't find the magazine with the recipe for the Chocolate Parsnip Chili in it so that one will have to wait :)

Anyway...on to the Pineapple Pork Chops...I picked this recipe (found on moneywisemoms.com) mainly because I have a truly difficult time cooking pork chops and the pineapple sounded delicious and perfect for a little variety.

1 to 1.25 pounds pork loin (boneless when I can get it), sliced into chops
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp minced ginger (you can use fresh or just the powder)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 8-oz can crushed pineapple

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Place pork in single layer. In a bowl, combine soy sauce with brown sugar, ginger, crushed pepper and pineapple. Pour over pork chops. Bake uncovered for 25 minutes, basting frequently.

These were so super simple to make and they came out fantastic!!! I don't know if it was the acid from the pineapple or the fact that it was a pork loin cut of meat that I cut up into the chops or a combination of both, but these came out so super tender and juicy I was really quite proud of myself. They even came out cooked all the way through the first time I took them out of the oven, which is unfortunately a first for me when it comes to pork chops.

Bottom line? These will absolutely be made again!

Valentine's Date Day

To celebrate Valentine's day Matt and I had a date day today...date nights are too exhausting and this way Cassie got to spend some time with her grandma Peggy. We went out to the Melting Pot and a Movie and it was the perfect combination. Come to think of it we did the same exact thing last Valentine's day but the movie we went to was really really bad...not so much this time :).

We have been to the Melting Pot several times over the last couple of years and usually we stick to the usual...plain Cheddar Cheese for the cheese course, Caesar salad for the salad, Mojo for the cooking style, Pure Milk for the Chocolate, and Chocolate Fontinis for the drinks (yum yum yummy).

This time we decided to be a little adventurous and stray from the norm. We got the cheese of the season called Fondue A La France - which included 4 cheeses of which we had only ever heard of one (brie) and white truffle cream which we normally stay as far away from anything mushroom/truffle related as possible...however? This was fantastic. Probably one of the best cheese courses we have had there.

AND we didn't get our Fontinis like normal, Matt got himself a mudslide (though that isn't all that different from a Fontini) and I got myself the most wonderful Red Sangria I have ever tasted (I allowed myself ONE alcoholic drink so I made sure to savor it...) of course since I haven't had a drink in over a year I think anything would have tasted wonderful. (though now I am going to be on the search for the perfect Red Sangria recipe :) )

For the Salad and Meat courses we stuck with the normal because seriously they make the best Caesar Salads, and the Mojo style is the only cooking style that appeals to us. We never get the Seafood that comes with the Meat, just get double the steak :) though this time the meat course included Duck. And I have to say never really having had duck before we are not really fans at all. But the dinner was still fantastic.

And then the Chocolate Course...the best course of the night I think :) today we strayed only slightly from our normal path and had them include some Bailey's in the milk chocolate.

It. Was. Fantastic.

Seriously...Chocolate Brownies covered in rich Bailey's infused milk chocolate fondue should probably be illegal :)

After lunch was over we rushed on down to the Movie theater and saw Gnomeo and Juliet in 3D. The Perfect ending to a perfect date day. The movie was cute and funny and really? What is better for Valentines Day than a version of Romeo and Juliet involving Gnomes and a happy ending?

On the way out of the (almost sold out) movie we were following an older couple and the thought just hit me I hope that is going to be Me and Matt some day, in our 70's or 80's going to a Quirky G rated movie on a date then slowly making our way out of the theater together. It was pretty darned romantic if I do say so myself :)

Fun Friday - Imagination!

It is truly amazing watching Miss Cassie grow from a baby into a little person. Not just the milestones lately, but just watching her mind develop as well. Right now I think we are seeing her imagination come out more and more. Her favorite thing? Talking on the "phone" be it a real one or a fake one, or even a remote control. She will have animated conversations with herself, at first I thought she was just copying mommy and daddy, but then she started doing it on her own just picking up anything remotely phone shaped and talking into it, pausing as if getting a response and talking into it again.

Now when I say talking, I mean she babbles in her own language, we havent *quite* gotten the hang of big people words yet, but daddy and I work on it with her every day (and night).

She is also picking up on the copying game, when she sees someone dancing on tv (her favorite show being Yo Gabba Gabba) she tries very hard to imitate what they are doing, then just gets on a role and does her own thing and just goes crazy (which is awesome and encouraged :) we like to have fun in this house, have I mentioned that?). Her newest thing she tries to do is jumping, so adorable to watch her try and do it!

And on top of all that she loves being read to, at least the first two pages of every book she brings out to us. Which is usually her entire book shelf throughout the day. We will sit and we will start reading one book, she will get up run and get another, start reading that...the cycle goes on and on though we are more than happy to oblige her. Her absolute favorite book right now seems to be Brown Bear, Brown Bear. She will actually go all the way through this one, not once but twice. The first time we read through using the words and the second time using the animal sounds. Never thought I would love reading a children's book like this over and over and over...but? I do :)

and the headband in that picture? Yeah she put it on...looks like dress up is just around the corner.