My beautiful daugther

Ain't she cute? Never mind the lunch on her face and shirt. She's such a camera hog. If she sees someone with a camera, she will smile and pose for picture after picture. When the photographer moves on, she cries! What a diva. Ever watch America's Next Top Model? Sometimes the judges tell the models that they are too "pose-y", that they need to loosen up. I imagine that is what they would tell my little M when she takes a picture like this.

Sometimes she gets so excited about the camera, she does these little drunk faces. I have about 10 more just like this.

Little M is the healthiest eater in the family. I've been trying to learn to like veggies but M is doing much better than me.

Her lunch the other day was green beans, zucchini and mushrooms. She must not really be related to me because I HATE all those things!

Like most babies, M is very interested in other kids. She likes to play with her cousin, Jo Jo, but gets a little jealous when Grandma is holding Jo Jo instead of her. I'm not sure Jo Jo always likes Little M either.

After 9 months of lugging Missy around in her carrier, my mom FINALLY got her own carseat. Hooray!

I think she likes it.

I love baby toes!

Little M is really good at getting around now. She's a speed demon when she crawls, she's starting to cruise along furniture, and now she's an expert at stairs too.

She climbed up the entire staircase at Grandma's the other day (don't worry, I was right behind her the whole time).

Grandma Lori must have made sure M got some of the musical genes because Missy loves to play the piano!

Especially with her Auntie Olga.

New Craftiness

I've seen a couple of tutorials for felt flowers lately so I tried one out this morning. Herm... More difficult than I thought. You can see a lot of hot glue between the petals and such. A little disappointed.

 Last weekend Jessica and I got together to make these cute Halloween wreaths (sorry, can't remember where I got the tutorial).

 Super inexpensive and easy but MESSY!

Sorry, Jess.

While at JoAnn's to get the necessary supplies for said wreath, I got a few other things that called my name. It proved to be a dangerous trip. I've been wanting to do something for Madi's room with her initial since before she was born but couldn't find anything I really liked/fit my price frame. But at JoAnn's I found a cardboard letter for $4! Add a little Modge Podge and some scrapbook paper and Voila!

I LOVE IT!

Teeth!

Finally, some pictures of Little M's chompers!

The bottom two have been in for a little while but it's very difficult to get her to let me take a picture of them.

The top one (on her left side) is a recent addition. You can't see it very well but it's there. The one next to it wants to be here badly but just hasn't made it out yet. (Please ignore the boogers in my child's nose. We're getting over a cold). I told you it was difficult to get teeth pictures- notice she is upside down!

Canning Season!

As part of my effort to eat less commercially processed food, I've been helping my mom can a bunch over the last couple of weeks. She has an apple tree and a peach tree and we also bought a couple boxes of tomatoes from a local farmer since my dad at all of the ones she grew. :) Olga has been helping us as part of a personal progress goal.

This was the hardest part. Our apples weren't in the best shape, and neither was the blade on the apple peeler so we ended up doing about half by hand. And it took FOR-EV-ER!

Before we filled the jars with fruit, we had to sterilize them.

The entire process reminded me of my cousin Ali's wedding. Her sealer likened the canning process to eternal marriage. First, you must purify the jars and lids (our bodies), then the food going inside those jars (our spirits). Then the jars are sealed. If there are any impurities inside the jar the food (marriage) will go bad. But as long as the jars and their contents are pure, they will remain pure.

 We did apples first and they were definitely the hardest most labor intensive. I'm not huge on cooked apples but they turned out delicious.

Next we did tomatoes. Sorry, no pictures. Those were the easiest but very messy. I can't wait to make some chili with them! Yum...

Today we did peaches.
Side note: Olga has the spunkiest fashion sense. She loves the 80's. She's wearing bright blue skinny jeans, a comic strip belt, white suspenders and a ninja turtles t-shirt. Gotta love her.

Little M loves, Loves, LOVES peaches so we will be sure to take advantage of her grandmas peach trees (Al's mom had one too).

Ta-Da! A yummy treat and an expensive way to build up that food storage!

Dreams

Have you ever had a dream? Not like "I dreamed I danced with Elvis and Priscilla, but they were Lego's" (commonly known to some as the Lego Elvis Dream) but something you really wanted to do? I've had a lot of dreams over the years: being an actress,an artist, a dancer, a photographer, a make up artist, singing on Broadway, being the most renowned Speech Language Pathologist in the world. As I grew up most of these dreams crashed and died as I realized I can't act, I'm too big boned to be a dancer and I'd actually have to go to graduate school to be an SLP. But there is one dream that I've never really discarded. Deep down, there is a teeny part of me that thinks it's actually obtainable. I fiddle with it every now and again but I've never really pursued it. Until now. Want to know what my secret dream is?

To be an author.

I love to write. Seems strange to say that given how rarely I actually do it. But even these little blog posts bring me joy. I would love writing talks for church if I didn't ever have to give them. There's something about choosing just the write words to bring an image to mind that makes my semi-clogged heart sing. Every once in a while I start working on something and remember how happy it makes me. It could be something simple. My family's Christmas newsletter. Or something a little more important, like the talk I gave at my brother's funeral almost a year ago.
At this point in my life, there are only so many dreams I can chase after. I can't leave my little family to train and dance on the stage or quit my job, which is sometimes our only means of income, to go to beauty school. But this I can do. After my beautiful daughter is in bed, I can sit at my computer and type. Type the words that paint a picture, tell a story and maybe even inspire you or make you laugh.
And so, here I pledge to you, my very few readers, that I will continue to write. I will put more thought into my blog. I will keep a steady journal, instead of writing every month or so. And I will write whatever comes into my head. I'm working on something right now. Maybe someday it will be at a point where I can share some of it with you all.

So let's share. What are your dreams?

Easy One Pan Chicken Cordon Bleu

I had a request for the recipe for the Chicken Cordon Bleu so here it is:

Easy One Pan Chicken Cordon Bleu

8 chicken breasts, cut in smaller strips

Thinly sliced ham (deli style)

Thinly sliced Swiss cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup sour cream

Lay chicken on bottom of glass 9x13 inch pan. First, lay a slice of ham on chicken, then lay a piece of Swiss cheese. Mix the soup and sour cream and pour on top.

Crumb Mixture:

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 cup saltine crackers (crumbs)

1/2 tsp parsley flakes

Mix well. Sprinkle crumb mixture over soup mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Notes: 

We used mozzarella because that's what we had. 

I thought there were too many crumbs, I didn't use all of them. 

Also, I used packaged bread crumbs that I bought at the store and keep in my freezer. Yummy. 

This recipe is really easy to halve which is nice since it's just Allen and me and we aren't very good about eating leftovers.

Enjoy!

More Yummy Meals

Introducing tonight's dinner: HOMEMADE LASAGNA!
I had never made lasagna completely on my own before (my mom's helped me/I've helped her make it a couple of times). I actually used the leftover cheese/spinach mixture from the stuffed shells that I'd frozen so it was quick and delicious!

Last week I made Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu. It was kind of the cheater way to make it (didn't thin the chicken or roll it up, just put everything in one pan) but it was super easy and quick and pretty tasty.

Throw in some steamed spinach and we're golden!

Fat Arm Syndrome

Over my life I've made an observation. People who are fat have fat arms. And those arms are very prone to bruising. I've seen it many times. But never has it made me so sad than when I saw it in myself.

Can you see that bruise? It's fading a little but still there. So is this one:

And this one!

I have become yet another victim of fat arm syndrome! Time to hit the gym!

Feeling Crafty!

I was in the crafty mood the other day so I tried something a little difficult for me. I have this dress:

 I bought it right after Allen and I got married, so about four years ago. It's been a good dress but I think I've worn it MAYBE twice in the last year. And the last time I wore it I thought "I'm bored with this dress. I wonder if I could do something with it." And then I saw this tutorial on Make It and Love It where she used an old shirt and some scrap knit to make this dress:

So I found myself an old shirt that was a little tight across the mid section (thank you, baby)

and had a few holes in it.

And proceeded to rip apart my old dress. I took out the seam that separated the skirt part of the dress but I should have just cut it. The dress is old enough/has been washed so many times that the knit just ripped and got lots of little holes in it.
My dress does NOT look like Ashley's, nor will it hold up to even a little scrutiny but from afar it looks pretty good.

I was pretty proud of myself. :)
When it was done I thought it looked a little plain so I used THIS tutorial (again, Make It and Love It) to add a little pizazz to the collar.