from the garden

i never, ever, ever thought i would enjoy gardening as much as i have. and what’s most surprising is that i actually enjoyed the laborious parts of it-weeding, thinning, weeding, pruning, weeding, watering. there were many nights this summer that brian yelled from the house how about you come help me put the kids to bed. you can’t stay out here all night!  i certainly never thought i’d be lectured about spending too much time in my garden. ha! And the garden has been equally fun for the kids. they have a little area that is their spot to dig, make mud pies or veggie soup, and it’s really their favorite thing to do outside.

of course, the best part of all is the food. this year we had: lettuce (oh, so much lettuce) carrots, green beans, cucumber, peas, and 3 varieties of tomatoes. our tomatoes are currently going CRAZY so we’re eating lots of caprese and bruschetta. because heaven knows there is no better combination than tomato, mozzarella, and basil. right? right! actually the tomatoes are really delicious straight from the vine.

this year i learned a lot, so i’m already dreaming about next years garden…

treats

i saw these little pretzel treats on pinterest and we’ve made them a couple times lately. not only are they tasty, they are so easy even little adalaide can help. in fact, the only thing they need my help with is the oven.

first, you lay the pretzels out on a cookie sheet.

then put a hershey kiss on top.

of course, sneak one for yourself.

don’t worry if you have a little chocolatey drool. it’s to be expected.

lick your lips in anticipation.

why not even sing a little song about how much you love treats.

sneak one more, or five.

 but watch out for that wrapper!

after baking them for a few minutes on low heat we top them with a reeces pieces-for a little bit of fall color.

and lastly, try not to eat them all before daddy gets home.

the night i tried to eat my way into labor…

 

date nights. we’ve never been good about making them happen regularly, but with so much family close by, it’s certainly a lot easier-thanks Grandma! last night we went out to a nice dinner for the first time in FOREVER. nice meaning-price, deliciousness, and the fact that we savored several courses. my clothes were busting at the seams before we went, but i seriously thought brian might have to cut me out of my outfit after we ate. a {possibly intoxicated} man at the table next to us inquired about how i possibly had room for my large plate of food, and also wondered if i was carrying more than one baby. nope. just one. along with some spinach and artichoke dip, bread, blue cheese salad, steak, vegetables and potato pancakes. if anyone ever went into labor from stuffing themselves full, it would have surely happened to me last night. but i’m here, still pregnant and actually still very full. unlike my husband who left the restaurant complaining that he was ‘stuffed all the way up into his throat’, and then proceeded to come home and start eating again.

a day in the life…

i’ve seen a few different people do this, and for some reason i think it’s entertaining to read.

so, here is our really thrilling day…

3 am: awake to pee. check to see how much snow we got. lots! power has been out for hours. brrrrr! cover adalaide with extra blanket.

6:30 am: brian kisses me goodbye. being slightly awake makes me realize i need to pee. again. oh, pregnancy!

7:55 am: hear finley calling for me.

8:00 am: get finley out of bed. inspect snow. decline her invitation to go outside right now.

8:10 am: get adalaide up. take note of how stinking adorable she is when i go in her room in the morning. she squeals and kicks her legs and i love it.

8:11 am: walk into kitchen and see dirty dishes from night before {power was out}. think how much i hate, hate, hate starting the day with dirty dishes.

8:30 am: make our usual breakfast of oatmeal. add toppings like apples, craisons, and nuts inspired by McDonalds commercial i saw yesterday. yes, i said ‘inspired’ and ‘Mcdonalds’ in the same sentence.  finley adds her own toppings and says, ‘this is the best idea, meg’.

9:00 am: bathtime. the girls favorite activity. i love it too, because they are contained in one spot, for a significant amount of time, with minimal clean up. except for today, because adalaide peed on the floor in the 5 seconds between removing her diaper and getting her in the tub. plus, i can sit on my butt, which is becoming a favored activity for me these days.

10:00 am: naptime for adalaide. finley sits on my lap while i brush her hair. minimal screaming today! catch her wiping a booger on my pants. and incase i didn’t notice, she tells me so. i note how disgusted i am, but also note the fact that i am not disgusted enough to get up, direct her to the kleenex and lecture her about it. also note how lazy i’ve gotten.

10:15 am: dishes. by hand. i am the only dishwasher in this house. sigh…

10:30 am: snack for finley. look over recipe for dinner {anyone else obsessed with pioneer woman?} remember that we’re out of chicken, even though i KNEW we were out. We’ve already been to the grocery store TWICE this week, and i’ve forgotten BOTH times. curse my pregnancy brain!

10:45 am: since it has been deemed necessary to leave the house {brian would faint if i fed him a meatless meal}, i put forth minimal effort to look presentable. change booger pants. brush teeth. reassemble hair do. check email and google reader.

11:15 am: hear noise from baby’s room. think: she better not be waking up already! phew, she’s not. grab load from dryer to fold. also, see that i left a load in the washer overnight. oops. check to see if clothes smell musty. nothing a little bounce sheet can’t handle. collect enough nails and screws out of the washer to build a small house. note for the hundredth time that one of us really needs to start checking his pant pockets.

11:18 am: finley asks to do art. i tell her no, and remind her that her art caddy is put away for the day because she didn’t clean up her mess yesterday. quickly realize that this also punishes me because art keeps her busy AND quiet for long periods of time. drats.

11:50 am: wake the bambino up. note how very wrong it is to wake a baby, but decide we must get this show on the road. plus, if she sleeps too late her afternoon nap won’t coincide with finley’s. and i’m just not down with that at all. dipe change. coats on. hats on. make conscious effort to turn off lights, per husbands not so gentle request after reviewing electricity bill.  preemptively pop two tylenol because my ‘pelvis’  is on the verge of hurting, and i know it will be full-blown after running errands. oh, pregnancy! 

12-1:00 pm: post office and grocery store. girls sat nicely in the cart. no one asked how old my ‘son’ is. stuck to my list. grabbed coffee from in-store starbucks. good news all around. sang along to taylor swift in the car and wondered if adalaide’s first words will be from a taylor swift song.

1:00 pm: lunch time. chicken quesadilla, banana, and carrots for finley. rice, lentils, carrots, and green beans for adalaide. watched adalaide perform her ‘tricks’: so big, waving, and playing the drums. note that i need to capture it on video.

1:30 pm: doll house and princess puzzle.

2:00 pm: put adalaide to bed. start finley’s naptime regime: potty, water bottle filled, blankets and stuffed animals arranged, 3 kisses, and 3 hugs, door closed-but not latched.

2:02 pm: check email and google reader, while finishing coffee. make and devour a toasted sesame bagel with the works. spend several minutes deciding whether or not to relax or be productive during naptime. decide to split my time.

2:15-2:57 pm: do dishes from lunch, empty garbage and recycling, tidy playroom and living room. fold laundry. decide against putting away the clean clothes, because that would just be too much. instead, leave laundry on floor where it will most likely be trampled on by little feet.

2:57 pm:  lay down and attempt to take nap. coffee gets the better of me, and i can’t fall asleep. thoroughly enjoy laying in bed anyway though.

4:26 pm: hear adalaide and realize that i fell asleep. ponder how one falls asleep moments after finishing a coffee. oh, pregnancy!

4:30: get baby up. enjoy some rare time with just her.

5:00 pm: visit from cousin/neighbor.

5:15 pm: finley wakes up. time to start dinner. on the menu tonight: pioneer woman’s pasta with tomato cream sauce, grilled chicken, bleu cheese iceberg salad, and crusty bread. for the babe: mashed avocado, tofu, yogurt, and wheat germ.  turn on music. finley takes the c.d. out of the stereo and replaces it with taylor swift. not sure if i’m more annoyed or impressed.

6:00 pm: brian gets home early!  he feeds adalaide. i finish dinner. i catch him eating the baby’s food. seriously?

6:30 pm: dinner time. yummy. note how much i love pioneer woman.

7:00 pm: clean up. get really excited when i see that we’ll get a second meal out of the leftovers. less cooking tomorrow night!

7:25 pm:  finley builds a fort.

7:45 pm: bedtime routine-potty, jammers, dipe change, bottle for the babe, brush teeth, devotional, 1 song, prayers. prayers briefly interrupted so that finley could inform me ‘she tooted’. 3 kisses, 3 hugs. blankets and animals in place. door closed, but not latched. put adalaide to bed.

8:10 pm: collapse on couch with brian. baby goes crazy in my belly, like every night at this time. note how much i love it. watch modern family. hurt myself laughing so hard. seriously.

10:10 pm: to bed we go.

bliss

have you ever had a cranberry bliss bar from starbucks? they are, well…blissful.
a couple years ago my mom found the recipe and we’ve been enjoying these treats every holiday season.

recipe:

  • cake
    3/4 c. softened butter
    1 1/4 c. light brown sugar
    3 eggs
    2 Tbs minced candied or crystallized ginger
    1 1/2 tsp vanilla
    1/4 tsp salt
    1 1/2 c. flour
    1/2 tsp baking powder
    3/4-1 cup diced, dried cranberries {i get them from trader joes}
    4 oz white chocolate, chopped {good quality white choc. chips work fine too}
    bake in a jelly roll pan, lined with parchment paper
    at 350 for 14-17 minutes

frosting
8 oz cream cheese
6 tsp fresh orange juice + orange zest from whole orange
1 tsp vanilla
4 c. powdered sugar

sprinkle additional chopped cranberries on top of frosting.
this makes a ton of frosting, so feel free not to use all of it.

{three}

Our first baby turned THREE on friday! We celebrated her birthday with 7 of her friends, and their families, at Jubilee Farm. If you live in the Seattle area, you know that the weather this weekend couldn’t have been more gorgeous. Hallelujah! We had lots of fun going for a hay ride  out to the patch, picking pumpkins, doing a hay maze, and having a picnic lunch in the sunshine.  

finley had lots of fun helping me make these delicious treats for the favor bags.

party hats!

gifts

party favor bags

my proudest accomplishment, and finley’s very favorite element of the party

kid’s lunches

boxed up and ready to go

i’m sure i’ll think this every birthday, but i CANNOT believe she’s three!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dLPhVgi1cI&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&hd=1]

teeth, tabbouleh, and a lot of pictures

This post is going to be really random, i can just sense it…
……..
The big news around here is that the babe got two teeth {bottom front}. 
Bless her heart, she was really only fussy for about 24 hours.
But, boy was it a doozie of a day/night!
perhaps, now we won’t have so much of this..
{drool & chewing on lip}
she is very pleased to be sitting on her own.
……
i’m having the same pregnancy craving that i did last time.
tabbouleh.
lemon + salt = yum.
have you ever had it?
you need a lot of parsley. and i mean A LOT.
This picture is after brian had already picked for a few hours.
luckily, i had this cute picker to help me.
it makes a HUGE bowl.
but, between brian and i, it only lasts a few days.
ok, just took a break to have my third serving of the day.
thank goodness it’s healthy!
……..
you know how you have those parenting moments where your child
does or says something really inappropriate…
and you know you shouldn’t,
but a teensy, weensy part of you wants to laugh.
we’ve been having a lot of those moments lately.
sometimes it’s really, really hard to keep a straight face.
especially if Brian is there too.
normally we’re really careful about what we listen to and watch.
but, i needed a break from listening to the same baby praise cd’s over and over and over. so for about a week we listened to lady antebellum in the car.
I hadn’t paid much attention to the words of the songs,
and all the sudden i heard little miss finley sing…
“it’s a quarter after one,
 i’m all alone and i need you now.
and i said i wouldn’t call,
 but i’m a little drunk and i need you now”
absolutely shocking to hear come out of her mouth.
so very wrong.
she’s been repeating other stuff too. some stuff she’s picked up from us,
and some stuff she hears from older kids {like the word fart, and kill-oh dear}.
it’s good, because it’s forcing us to watch our words,
even with things that don’t seem that bad…like country music. 
……
i like this picture of adalaide,
because she is laughing at her big sister.
that’s pretty much her favorite thing to do.
and i like this photo of finley that i took on my phone,
because, well she’s so stinkin’ cute.
i love my girls.

cheap wallart

I had two little helpers in the kitchen this morning. Surprisingly, there was some batter left to bake with!

…………….
I’ve been trying to think of something to do with this odd shaped canvas we’ve had sitting around. I just used some pink and green papers and came up with some art for Finley’s room. It was super easy-probably took 45 minutes total. Cheap AND easy…my favorite kind of project!

i love her

finley and i did some baking this morning. can i call it baking if it’s from a box? for some reason she was full of smiles and hamming it up for the camera. maybe it had a little something to do with the sugar she was consuming.

finley pretty much could spend hours playing in our new stroller. it’s sort of her version of a fort, i guess. at any given time you will find it jammed with multiple babies, bottles, blankets, burp clothes, and so forth. this girl is READY for her sister.

granola

so, a while ago i stumbled upon this recipe for granola. this recipe is soooo good that i really had to convince brian that I in fact made it. it is so good that we don’t just eat it for breakfast (with yogurt) but also for dessert too. I think that if we’re going to continue eating it like it’s going out of style, I just might have to tweak the recipe slightly to make it a smidge more healthy. or not. cause it’s sooooo good. oh, and easy. here’s the recipe:

6 cups oats
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 Tbs cinnamon
2 Tbs vanilla
1 cup coconut
1 cup craisins or raisins (we do craisins)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped nuts (both almonds and pecans are yummy)
1/2 cup flax seed (if you want to make it healthier)

all you have to do is throw it all in a big bowl. mix it really good. spray a cookie sheet and bake it on 375 for 10-15 minutes. I do 10 minutes because i like it chewy. and it’s that easy.