thankful for every moment

SO thankful!

2012-01-27T13:29:00.000-08:00

For our precious gift from God- Asher Liam, 9 lbs, born at 1:03 am on Wednesday.

Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Psalm 127:3

Just a little update...

2012-01-23T16:01:00.001-08:00

Well, we've reached 42 weeks with little Mister, so I'll be induced tomorrow evening. I would appreciate your prayers for a natural delivery and a healthy baby who's a good nurser! :) Thankyou friends.

38 weeks!

2011-12-27T08:20:00.000-08:00

And Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

26 weeks and growing!

2011-10-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

Here I am at 26 weeks, enjoying a bit of cooler weather, thankfully!! I've been feeling good lately, just tired and strangely, my feet hurt alot! Not sure why this is, but I have to be really careful about what shoes I wear and make sure I rest my feet during the day. I'm up ALOT at night, but I know that's just God's way of preparing you to be up MORE when the baby comes! Evangeline is so excited about baby Asher and often kisses my tummy and will bring him toys or snacks :) I have my diabetes test and RhoGham shot next week, that is surely one of the least fun parts of pregnancy... But I'm still thankful for it, and for my wonderful midwives.

Fun at the Zoo

2011-09-07T18:28:00.000-07:00

We have been so blessed to have beautiful weather here the past few days. It's been just lovely in the mornings, so we decided to take advantage and go to the zoo. We haven't been in a couple of months, it's been so hot and unpleasant here!

She really liked the "Fingos" aka Flamingos!

Inspecting a butterfly close up.

She was so brave this time, running all around the butterfly house and having a great time. Last time we were there she was terrified of the butterflies!

Evangeline just loves, loves, loves her Gigi! And I am so thankful for such a wonderful mother, what a blessing!

Baby Boy's Nursery

2011-09-01T19:47:00.001-07:00

We are so blessed to be expecting a baby boy! Here's the beginnings of his nursery... mommy made! I had a lot of fun at Hobby Lobby and Joann's, picking out the fabrics. Can't wait to start sewing, but I really have to wait until we get Evangeline's big girl room ready, and that is going to require a bit of work. Hubby is going to make her a bed, and we need to paint the room, and make curtains, and clean out the closet, and lots of other things... eek! :)

A little sewing while we wait...

2011-08-14T15:55:00.000-07:00

Lord willing, our ultrasound to find out what we are having is happening this Friday. Can't wait. Until then, here's a little project to share. My sweet friend sent me this pattern and I absolutely love it. Evangeline recently decided she wants to sleep in nightgowns, and all the ones in store seem yucky. So I let her pick out fabric from Hobby Lobby and she just loves the finished product! (She's a little pink cheeked from a day of swimming at the pool) The fabric is brightly colored butterflies and I added a big ruffle to the bottom. I ended up moving the pattern pieces to make it a bit bigger as the last one I made her was a size 2 and was a little tight. I guess the pattern runs small? Here she is all clean and ready for bed!

And a sweet bonus picture. The chair she's sitting in was made by hubby's grandfather when he was young. He was a miner in Colorado and made it out of the boxes the dynamite was shipped in. It's very sturdy and Evie thinks its perfect!

Little Miss turns Two

2011-07-09T18:53:00.000-07:00

We just celebrated sweet Evangeline's second birthday. It's hard to believe she has grown up so much- it feels like she's always been in my life, but on the other hand the time has flown by! The week of her birthday, her Uncle Charlie came to stay with us. He is my husband's youngest brother and to say Evangeline ADORES him is quite an understatement. She barely left his side for a moment the whole time, and was always calling, "Charlie, come! Charlie come!" He is very sweet to her and played with her non-stop. Here are a few pictures of his visit and her family party.

Opening a present from Gigi and Pawpaw before the party.

Hanging out with Charlie. If he sat down on the couch, she crawled right up there with him and would snuggle right up.

Reading with daddy and Charlie. About two minutes after this she was sprawled in Charlie's lap.

Playing with one of her presents.

Helping her open presents.

Family shot after the party!

I haven't been feeling any better yet, but I'm hoping and praying to turn a corner this week (14 weeks, Lord willing, on Tuesday).

Praising God...

2011-06-10T07:38:00.000-07:00

for new life! We got to see our new little one yesterday for the first time. We are SO thankful and SO happy to be expecting! Praise God!

Isaiah 44:2

Thus saith the Lord that made and formed thee, thy helper from the womb: Fear not, O my servant Jacob, and thou most righteous whom I have chosen.

Beach Trip

2011-05-26T19:22:00.001-07:00

We went to the beach last weekend and had oh-so-much fun playing in the sand and waves, enjoying God's creation!

Evie really enjoyed walking on the beach with pawpaw and daddy.

It was SO windy, which made it perfect for kites!

She definitely preferred swimming in the pool to swimming in the ocean. The first words out of her mouth when she woke up Saturday morning was, "Momma... pool... wet". It was adorable.

Daddy and pawpaw not only had their kite, but even braved the dangers of the dunes to rescue two very nice kites that had been long ago lost. So we now have three kites :)
This was Evangeline's favorite way to enjoy the waves... from a safe distance on mommy's hip.
We can't wait to go back!

Evangeline in some pretty dresses!

2011-04-10T18:52:00.001-07:00

A long time ago on my old blog, I posted photos of some of the dresses my Momma had made for me that we were saving for future babies :) I'm so blessed to see my own sweet daughter in these beautiful creations.

My Momma and I have now decided to try to make some new ones for her, working together! :) Lord willing, we'll pass these down too!

Some Much Needed New Kitchen Sheers

2011-04-05T14:19:00.000-07:00

Are finally done! I got these sheers, meaning to use them in our front room, last year sometime when a locally Pottery Barn closed. They were clearanced out to very inexpensive, so after lots of digging through bins, I found the right ones. Well... weeks later, when I opened them... one had a hole. One was mismarked size-wise. Sigh. I was so frustrated, I put them away for many months! But we needed some new kitchen sheers, and I finally drug these back out and with much size adjusting, here are the lovely finished products! I'm very happy with how they turned out. I also finally found the right pillows for this seat. It only took me 2 years :) Well... slow and steady wins the race! Hee hee.

A couple new things...

2011-04-02T12:58:00.001-07:00

I haven't been sewing as much as I should be, but here's two things!

A big toddler-sized blanket for Gigi's house :) Gigi picked out the fabric.

And new blackout curtains for Evangeline's room. Blackout curtains= very expensive! Blackout fabric= very cheap! :) You can't see them very well, but they are inside the sheers.

A little picture of me and the little Miss at the Botanical Gardens- such a pretty time of year to go- perfect weather and beautiful flowers!

Hubby Becomes a Deacon

2011-03-07T19:16:00.000-08:00

I was so blessed to watch my amazing hubby become a deacon at our Church this Sunday. He is truly an inspiring man of God, and I am so thankful for him. I love him more and more every day. Here is a picture of our little family after the service.

New dress and Blankie

2011-02-18T11:42:00.000-08:00

Evangeline really needed a new BIG blanket... a toddler sized one :) I found this adorable bird fabric and coordinating polka dots... I love polka dots. So here is little miss snuggled up for a nap. She loves the blanket and cuddles with it all day. Evie's baby got a matching blanket too!

I made her a little lounge wear dress to go with it. Super soft and cuddly! I want to make her matching ruffled pantaloons, but alas, I ran out of fabric. Honestly, I want to make myself some matching ones too. I love this fabric, lol.

Here she is accessorizing with my shoes!

Thank you so much, Tilly, for sending me the pattern! I just love it- it's going to be a summer staple for sure.

Minky Dot Tutorial Blanket

2011-02-07T19:45:00.001-08:00

One of my sweet friends is having her third baby any day now, and since little Mister is supposed to come a wee bit early, I figured he needed something extra cuddly for his welcoming present! When Evangeline was born one of my friends made her this *wonderful* giant minky blanket that I'm constantly stealing, so I thought I would try my hand at making one for Cohen. A man a few neighborhoods over monograms things beautifully (he did Evangeline's reading chair) so I got him to monogram the fabric before I made the blanket. I was kind of worried about sewing minky, so I googled a bit, and found this tutorial- which helped a lot. I think the most important thing though was take. it. slow. REALLY slow. For some reason when I topstitched it, my thread broke 9 or 10 times. At least. Whew. But when I slowed waaay down, it did fine. Here are some pictures! I made it a bit big so he can still use it when he's a toddler. Most of Evie's baby blankets are too small for her now, so I need to make her some new ones. I used a Michael Miller cowboy print and black minky fabric.

Here's a close up-
I can't wait to see him all snuggled up in it!

January Projects

2011-02-04T17:22:00.000-08:00

I had an idea, about mid January, that every month I would sew one thing for the house, one thing for Evangeline, and one thing for me. Well... come January 28th I had made two things for Evie, and nothing else! It was just the inspiration I needed.
So I finally got out the quilt I bought last year (with our tax refund! Really! a year ago!) and got to cutting. I bought the clearance quilt on purpose to make pillows- when my grandmother gave us these purple couches, she also gave me a huge bag of gold pillows. Really pretty, but not my style. However, pillow forms are so expensive, so I kept them all to hopefully recover. They had some gold braid on them that would show through any normal fabric, so I thought quilted fabric would be just the thing. Quilted fabric is also expensive though... so when I saw the quilt I was thrilled. Here is the finished project. We have two identical couches facing each other, so I made four pillows.

Here is Evangeline's reading nook, which is just to the right side. The rug was hubby and my's Christmas present to each other. We love it, it's so snuggly!

I was able to use the pretty bound edge of the quilt for the opening on the back of the pillows. I don't know if it shows up well in the picture, but it was a nice effect, and made sewing these pillows ridiculously easy!

Well, four pillows later... I needed to make something for ME...

A zebra headband to match Evie's skirt. Ha. :) Maybe next month I'll make myself something better. Hey, it counts...

And today we had snow! For the first time in many years... I was 13 months old last time snow stuck to the ground here. Our back deck looked so beautiful! It shut the entire city and all our highways down, so we were very blessed to have hubby stay home all day with us. Yay!

A new Skirt

2011-01-24T20:05:00.000-08:00

One of my sweet friends made Evie this fun and funky bow. However, she owned nothing those colors! So a quick trip to one of my favorite stores (Hobby Lobby), and a little sewing time later, a fun skirt to match. This style of skirt was SO easy to make- and looks adorable with leggings underneath. Perfect for my little active gal... I hope to make more of these in the future!

Big Bibs for a Little Gal

2011-01-20T19:40:00.000-08:00

Miss Evangeline was in desperate need of some Very Big Bibs. She has recently begun to be fascinated with the idea of feeding herself, which usually involves some pretty heavy damage to whatever adorable outfit mommy has picked out for her. Normal sized bibs will just not cut it. Plastic bibs are firmly refused by the little lady. As such, mommy was forced to bring back out her sewing machine, after an 18 month or so hiatus, and get to work!

I used a bib given to me by a friend as a pattern. I enlarged it a tad, and lots of flannel leftovers later, we have 5 new bibs, double layered flannel, bias tape ties, with heart stitching on the middles. You can kind of see the disappearing pen in the picture, which will hopefully be disappearing soon!

Here is my little model, enjoying her new bib. So much so that she wore it all afternoon, and never wanted to take it off. This mommy is quite satisfied. Who knows, this may lead to more projects! I had kind of forgotten how much fun it was to sew. And well... I've got enough fabric to supply... one... or two projects maybe... :)

New Year 2011

2011-01-04T18:50:00.001-08:00

In Bright Colors New Year's

Create custom new year's invitations with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

New Bed

2010-12-18T17:08:00.000-08:00

Hubby built us this bed and nightstand set. He is TRULY amazing and SO talented!! It is such a blessing to be married to a man like him. It turned out beautifully. I helped a teeny tiny bit with sanding and painting, but 99% of the work was his. Evangeline loved to watch daddy work. It's a good thing someone in this house is still crafty :) I am so thankful that God provided me such a wonderful husband.

17 months

2010-12-09T12:59:00.001-08:00

Here's a little update of Evangeline at 17 months...

-She is very busy all the time, and loves to push carts at the store. Just about everything catches her eye, and she wants to go over and explore it!
-She signs mommy milk, cat, home, dog, outside, bath, more, eat, water, all done, more, airplane, helicopter, train. Her favorite is definitely helicopter.
-She says "up" and "mom mom" alot. She sometimes says, "baby", often says "this" or "that". And she sure does "talk" alot :)
-Her favorite game is peekaboo and she often hides in the shower curtain and waits for me to say, "Where's my baby!?!" :)
-She wears pigtails most days since she doesn't have enough hair for bangs, but has too much hair to be down!
-She loves cheese, yogurt, and anything chocolate. I'm trying to get her to expand her culinary habits... it's not working that well....
-She nurses probably 6-7 times a day. If I let her, she would nurse 12 times a day, lol.

An almost 16 month Update on Sweet Evangeline

2010-11-02T20:12:00.000-07:00

I really need to start writing some things down, otherwise I know they'll be forgotten. It's been a really, really long time since I blogged, but what better place to jot down my thoughts? :)
Some of Evangeline's favorite things at sixteen months include...
1. Tiny chairs... she was given a little plastic lawn chair at a birthday party, and she totes it around everywhere, sitting in it or putting her baby doll in it.
2. She signs alot! Mommy milk, Eat, Airplane, Bath, Outside, Want. But she doesn't say anything besides, Momma! yet. She sure does talk alot though, and that's recently changed to include lots of L sounds, beside just the Na na's, Ma ma's, and other consonants.
3. She loves helping mommy. I pray that God blesses this helping spirit she has and increases it daily. She will gladly stand at the washer and put every little piece of clothing into the dryer, one at a time. It's adorable. And she loves to press the buttons at the top.
4. She adores purses, bows, dresses, and all things girly.
5. Her favorite foods are most definitely mommy milk, cheese, Luna bars and fruit. Getting her to eat most anything else is... not easy. Oh, and sweets, of course! :)
6. She is so fast. One trip to Target is all you need for a good workout. She clings to me like glue at home, but put her in a store, and she's raring to go!
7. She loves to "read" and be read to, she'll always bring you a book and jump in your lap if you ask her to.
8. She loves the intro to Veggie Tales, and some of the songs, but won't give the TV the time of day for anything else. Since we don't have cable, I think she thinks the only thing that comes on the TV is the news, lol :)
9. She loves being outside, and all animals. She does this funny little barking noise when she sees or hears a dog.
10. She is terrified of noises- loud ones, soft ones, funny ones... you name it! She throws her little hands up in a "WHAT WAS THAT!?!" gesture, and if you don't answer lickety split, you'll have one upset baby on your hands. It's pretty cute.

I really want to get back into blogging, since I'm so inspired and challenged by a handful of other women who so freely share their triumphs and struggles, but we will see :) I find myself quite busy just with taking care of my family. And I am so blessed to be so. I'm learning alot more about homeschooling, and I really want/ need to implement a little more schedule into our day. I know we'll be the better for it. This might sound silly at Evangeline's age, but I want to have a little "school" time each day. Many blessings on you, friends!

Tea with Michelle

2010-07-10T19:43:00.000-07:00

I was so blessed to be a part of making this video as a thank you for Michelle Duggar. She is such an inspiration to me! The Lord has truly used her in my life in many ways. I'm the first one in the video.

Thank You Michelle Duggar from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo.

I can't say how much I enjoyed going to tea with Michelle. I didn't get a chance to speak with her, but I loved the Q&A session. I also met some wonderfully like minded ladies that I was so blessed to fellowship with at our table. Here is a picture of us afterwards.

One of the ladies I sat with was Tonya, of Fruitful Vine Creations, where we ordered this lovely wall scripture from.

Our darling baby girl turned one year old. Here is a picture with Mommy after her birthday party! I am so blessed by God to have her in my life. She is a preciously sweet child, who loves all kinds of jewelry, will take anything and make it into a bracelet and then smile up at me to show me. She is sleeping through the night now (we are so thankful for this blessing), but still loves to nurse quite a bit during the day. I love that special time we spend together. In the morning when she wakes up, I go and get her out of bed, and she plays between me and hubby after she nurses, while mommy and daddy slowly wake up :)

Evangeline's Nursery

2010-06-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

Since Evangeline has made the move to her own room, I've recently felt the need to make it more lovely and welcoming for her! :) So here are a few of the new changes.

This cross was above my baby crib.

Evie has gotten quite a bit faster at nursing, so I've moved her glider into her bedroom. Also, now that she's so much bigger we can pretty much nurse anywhere!

We put her name on the wall... and some butterflies too!

New curtains... these were two different lengths since one was an old one of mine, and I found another one on ebay. I wanted to keep the pretty bottom, so I made new casings at the top to adjust them. I'm so thankful that worked! :)

Can you believe my baby girl has enough hair for pigtails!? I'm so excited!!!

What a blessing. There are just no words!!

And for good measure, here is a random picture of our kitchen that we have decorated a bit more.

Bow Board

2010-05-08T09:53:00.001-07:00

I was making a bow board for Evangeline! I followed... more or less... this tutorial HERE. I love the Sew Mama Sew blog- so many fun projects I want to try. I had hubby cut me a 20x20 piece of plywood, which I covered (using a staplegun) with batting, flannel, then this butterfly fabric- it was an old pillowcase of mine which I cut up. So I actually only had to buy the ribbon and a bit of tulle. I used ribbon with little loopy things on the sides, so I could be sure the bows wouldn't slide down or around. I also basketweaved the ribbon. I used painter's tape to secure the ribbon and make sure it was properly spaced. I may have gone a little bit overboard with that step (as you could see in the other post) but I wanted to be sure it was right! I then stapled the ribbon to the back. I added the tulle bow as a "faux" hanger. It's really hung by nails. It made a really fun project, and a great way to organize a whole lot of bows for a little girl with not a whole lot of hair! :-D

Evie enjoying the sprinklers!

2010-05-04T08:53:00.000-07:00

First, a sneak peek of my new project...

We have been doing the No Cry Sleep Solution... so far, so good, and I've really enjoyed having my nighttime crafting time back! I didn't even know I was missing it until I got it back :)

Evangeline discovered the sprinklers. She got so muddy and wet, but she had such a great time!

Her little face is so wet in this picture!

Last night she crawled right over to the sprinklers, and seemed both confused and disappointed that no water was coming out. Too cute!!

Homemade Pizza

2010-04-05T16:25:00.000-07:00

I have a homemade pizza addiction. I think it's the best thing in the world! And it makes me happy to know that for just a teensy bit of work, I don't have to worry about overpriced pizza takeout places or nasty chemicals that are in frozen pizzas. Here's another recipe cost breakdown... And this another recipe from Tammy's Recipes. I just modified it a bit, since I've made it so many times.

2 1/2 c flour (I use 2 c all purpose, 1/2 c whole wheat) 0.51
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp yeast
1 c warm water
1 tbsp olive oil
Oregano, Thyme, and Garlic
I'm thinking for all this it might be 50 cents. I hate to estimate, but I haven't bought these things in a while, so I don't have them on receipts!
2 c pizza mix cheese 2.00
turkey pepperoni 0.42

So total, the pizza cost is 3.43. Approximately 4 servings, so 85 cents per serving! Not bad :) And so, so yummy.

With Mommy in Cibolo

2010-03-27T11:58:00.001-07:00

I have no idea how to turn this picture, but I thought it was cute :)

No, no, please darling... wear your sunglasses!

This picture is funny because Miss Evie loves to use my hair as a handy handle to hold onto. I'm often brushing out tangles from this spot... lol :)

Gigi bought her sunglasses since her sweet little blue eyes are so light sensitive. Sadly, she will not wear them for more than a moment! Here I am giving her a rock to try and distract her from them...

She's learning how to wave!

We are loving this weather.

Bluebonnets in Bloom!

2010-03-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

No fuss Lasagna

2010-03-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

I really needed a new "go to" easy recipe for lasagna. I tried a new one tonight, and it got good reviews all around :) I also want to start keeping track of how much certain recipes cost total and cost per serving so I can be more budget conscious with my cooking. Here it is all out...

Frozen chopped spinach... 0.55
Mozzerella (16 oz)... 4.30
1 egg... 0.21
Pasta Sauce... 1.89
15 oz Part Skim Ricotta... 1.67
No Boil Noodles... 2.00 (guessing, since I had these on hand)
Oregano and Garlic Powder... 0.10

Total Cost... $10.72
Approximately 8 servings... $1.34

Here's the link to the recipe! (I added the spinach for more punch)

Evangeline Pictures

2010-03-13T18:52:00.001-08:00

Playing with blocks... she loves to take things out of boxes!

I think this face is SO cute, I just had to put it up :)

With the Bluebonnets... there's just a few so far, but she loved picking this one apart!!

Chicken Tetrazzini

2010-03-02T15:47:00.000-08:00

Here's another favorite, all out...

1 pkg extra wide Egg Noodles... 1.53
1 pkg pimento stuffed olives... 2.78
1/3 stick of organic butter... .33
Italian Seasoning... .05
Chicken... 2.37
Parmesan Cheese... .50

Total... 3.78
This will serve us twice, so that makes... 1.89 per serving.

Cheap Healthy Good

2010-03-02T14:35:00.000-08:00

Hubby sent me this, and with his help, I think I'll try it!

I'll need hubby's help because as a person who doesn't eat meat that often, and has never, ever (maybe not even seen?) dealt with a whole, uncooked chicken, I might have problems. Also, as I told hubby, as a reformed vegetarian who struggles to touch meat, picking all the meat off of a chicken might make me not want to eat it... and might make me gag/ die inside a little bit.

Here's to trying new things and having wonderful understanding hubbies! :)

Baby Shower!

2010-02-20T15:42:00.000-08:00

Some friends and I from church were so blessed to throw our friend Lisa a baby shower for her first born son, Josiah. They live right near us, so Lisa and I are very excited about future playdates! It was my first time to host a shower, and we had such a lovely time! I wish I had taken more pictures but alas, I was a busy girl. :)

Can you tell I'm really excited here? Lol!

We were trying to get a picture of the babies together...

My adorable friend Jenny with Miss Evangeline.

A baby bump makes a perfect baby rest :)

Hanging out after the shower with mommy!

I'm so thankful for...

2010-02-14T16:51:00.000-08:00

Little fingerprints on my computer screen. Just one of those things that make you sigh and smile, and thank God for your blessings.

I thought I'd be able to put up a bunch of zoo pictures from my brother's trip here, but alas, I can't find them. They are apparently in computer never never land. Maybe tomorrow they'll appear! For now, an updated family photo!

Another bout of sickness...

2010-02-04T11:14:00.001-08:00

Has come and hopefully gone. We are very ready to be well here! In teething news, Miss Evie now has 3!!! Very hard earned teeth I might add. She loves tapping her brand new top tooth against her bottom two. Its very sweet!

Hubby has been very kind and recovered all our kitchen chairs since I can't stand staplegunning. It really hurts my fingers!! Here is the old kitchen view...

And the new kitchen view! I love the new colors. They "flow" so much better. I need to set the table and take a picture from the same angle to have true before and after photos. But I suppose this is a "sneak preview" :)

Some Yummy Recipes

2010-01-27T16:45:00.000-08:00

I am not a very good cook, but in my desire to become a better cook... and therefore a better wifey... I've been trying some new recipes. Here are a few of my absolute favorites.

Chicken Gravy and Drop Biscuits

I made this for dinner tonight, with organic veggies and chicken broth. Hubby loves it and calls it an inside out chicken pot pie. Perfect for cold days!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

This is to die for :) Just like Great Harvest Bread, but not 7 dollars a loaf! *eek*

Italian Cheesy Bread

Perfect side dish, and I use the bread recipe for our homemade pizza too.

And I love making homemade bagels... chocolate chip is the best! I haven't made them in a while though- very time consuming :)

If anyone has any good recipes that are semi-easy for a beginner like me, I'd love it if you would share them!

Menu Plan... Tuesday?

2010-01-26T18:15:00.000-08:00

Well, better late than never :) We are happily recovering from the sinus yuckies, and little Miss Evangeline is the only one who seems to still have the sniffles. I can't wait for my baby to be all better! Here's my plan for the week...

Monday... Spinach Quiche with fruit
Tuesday... leftover Quiche with cinnamon rolls
Wednesday... Chicken and Drop Biscuits
Thursday... Same :)
Friday... BBQ chicken, Best Biscuits, Broccoli
Saturday... Homemade pizza and salad (We would normally do this on friday night, but we are having some friends over who have lots of littles, and I thought this would be a fun dinner to do with them!)
Sunday... leftovers from Friday!

And here is a picture of Miss Evie in her new high chair. So far this is used mostly for play time :) Though tonight she did begrudgingly swallow a bite or two of organic pears. That's the first time I've really seen her reeeeally swallow baby food, even though she made the funniest face while she did. Too cute.

We just got our window seat recovered... you can kind of see it in the background. I love the new colors!

So sick!

2010-01-23T17:23:00.000-08:00

So sick that I used one of these guys. I'd heard alot about them, and if I were any less sick I probably never would have tried one. If I weren't such a weeny about taking any medication, I would probably never have used one. But so far, so good... it was a weird sensation to be sure, but I've been able to breathe for the last 30 minutes through my nose. Which is 30 minutes longer than I've been able to breathe for my nose for the last week.

My Favorite Books for Evie

2010-01-16T17:53:00.000-08:00

I think it is so important to be mindful about what books we read to our babies. You are what you read, after all... so here are my current favorites for book time. These all have beautiful illustrations with modestly dressed young girls and great messages- which is sometimes hard to find even in "Christian" books.

This book is SO sweet and really encourages little girls as mothers and home-keepers. Very touching and vintage, and just lovely. It follows a little girl throughout the day as she takes care of her home and "babies" when "daddy" goes off to work.

A wonderful story of purity before marriage. It would be impossible to say how great this book is!

This book has little rhymes about character traits of God's little girl. It loosely follows Proverbs 31, and is almost everything that you could want in a book for your daughter. I have to admit, sometimes even these children's books are convicting to me- they are very busy little girls :)

Yummy Spinach Soup

2010-01-07T18:45:00.000-08:00

I promised some friends I would post my favorite soup recipe... here it is! This is very yummy, very hearty, and you can make it as frugal or as fancy as you like by making everything organic. It's got a few of the "dirty dozen" (spinach and potatoes) in it- but I honestly only regularly use organic chicken broth and organic butter. Organic potatoes and spinach are harder to come by- I think I'd have to go to a special store for that, and well... that's just probably not going to happen anytime soon. I may stock up on some organic spinach next time I'm at Whole Foods though, since that's frozen and can keep for a Long Time. I make this with either bread bowls (I make the dough in the breadmaker then make round bowls in the oven) or drop biscuits. Hope you enjoy- someone shared it on a sewing board I'm part of a few years back, and it is SO delicious!

2 medium/large potatoes peeled and sliced paper thin
2 carrots peeled and sliced pretty thin (I usually do 3 med/large carrots)
1 box frozen chopped spinach
46 oz chicken broth
chopped green onions (I use two bunches, but this is really to taste)
1 large can evaporated milk
1/4 cup rice (I use a bit more to make it stew like)
3 TBSP butter
the original recipe calls for salt, but I've never felt the need for it.

Saute the green onions in the butter until they are tender. Add all the chicken broth, bring to a boil. Add the evaporated milk, stir to blend (honestly you can do this at anytime... since I have forgotten at some points to add this until the end) Add the potatoes, carrots, and rice. Boil 15 minutes. I do this at a pretty low boil, nothing rolling or crazy. Add the frozen spinach (just unwrap it and put the frozen block in. Continue to leave on the original heat for another 15 minutes. Serve in your bread bowls or with biscuits :) It makes alot- serves 7 approximately. Whenever momma or I make it we usually share... because no one wants *that* many leftovers. Someday I hope to have enough babies to eat it all in one night, Lord willing :-D
You can cut up everything the night before while your baby sleeps... your potatoes will be a funny color the next day, but they'll taste just fine!
Also, Hubby likes his sprinkled with crispy chopped turkey bacon, leftover fresh green onion and some cheese.

Ebay Link

2010-01-07T18:00:00.000-08:00

As requested, here's the links to the Ebay Auction!

Thanks for the sweet comments about the kitchen decor. I'll miss the cherries too. Some small part of me will always thrill when I see anything red and aqua :)

Kitchen Redecorating!

2010-01-07T08:21:00.000-08:00

Here's a little glimpse at the new kitchen colors! These are the new plates. Yellow trim with blue grey butterflies... I think they are just right.

A little decorative honey pot... and my poor ivy that has survived so much abuse and neglect it deserves a medal.

Here's the calendar that inspired it all! My momma got me this for Christmas, and when I put it on the wall, I just knew that I needed to change the kitchen colors. This made the wall color and the cabinets really flow... as opposed to the red and aqua, which I think detracted from the colors.

I found this plate hanger at Hobby Lobby for half off.

I got this tin print when I was about 15 I think! It was in my room growing up, and my momma had found it a while back in the house. I put it up in the laundry room since it didn't really go anywhere, but now it matches perfectly. Evie loves to look at the colors and hear me describe all the different kind of butterflies.

I got these when I visited my brother in South Carolina when I was pregnant. My momma had read about Mrs. Bush decorating the White House with this artist's work, and we went to go check it out. We both got some- they were very inexpensive and so pretty! But I didn't have a place for them until now.

This is such a fun project, and I think "hunting" for a good deal and getting different little pieces at different times is so much more fun than just going in a buying a set of something. And an added plus... Hubby likes this theme SO much better :)

New Year... New Blog!

2010-01-04T18:46:00.001-08:00

I'm so excited about starting a new blog. My old blog was mainly about crafting, and I want to continue that, but I don't have much time for it anymore, which is a great thing! Being a wife and mommy takes up most of my time, and I am so thankful for that. I kind of gave up blogging since I wasn't crafting at all- my poor sewing machine hasn't made it out of the closet since Miss Evangeline went 10 days over her due date and pretty much all I could do was sew the whole time. Mostly I'll be blogging about what I jokingly call "wife college"... menu planning, trying to learn how to be a better cook, and generally striving to glorify God in my calling as a wife and mother. So I hope you join me on my journey! Hubby has finished his kitchen remodel, and I'm starting to redecorate the kitchen.

In case you haven't seen it, here's my old kitchen theme:

I adored this retro, fun look. It was SO cute, and SO me. But, the new kitchen just doesn't lend itself to this theme at ALL. Our cabinets are very shabby chic, and I picked a lovely light grey/lilac color for the walls. It looks beachy and sweet, but it just clashes with the red and aqua. I'm selling all the old cherry things on Ebay, and hopefully using that money and some Christmas gift money from my grandmother to redecorate with a botanical/butterfly theme. I'll be posting pictures of my few slight changes that I've made soon! Blessings!