Breakfast tart

I had fun trying a new recipe this morning. I found it in my Williams-sonoma catalog. It was simply called the Breakfast tart. This picture doesn't really do it justice.
I had fun trying out new ingredients I had never used before. Such as creme fraiche, which is a fancy kind of sour cream.
To make this you would need:
1 sheet puff pastry dough
4 eggs
3 oz. creme fraiche
2 oz. Gruyere cheese, shredded
Salt and pepper to taste
8 bacon slices, cooked till crisp
10 fresh chives, cut on the bias

Check out the recipe at williams-sonoma.com it was really easy and fun, and made breakfast this morning seem special.

My sweet girl

Jade and I just got back from a lovely walk and play time at the park with friends. When we got back I decided to wash Jade's sheets and do some light cleaning. Jade asked to sit in bed with her books. So I let her. Well, I just went in to see how she was doing (since it was so quiet) and found her sound asleep in her bed, with her blankie, with a stack of books next to her. So sweet.

Patting myself on the back

In MOPS today we had a speaker who talked about being "guilt free moms" and who encouraged us (among many other helpful topics) to not always put ourselves down and to stop focusing on what seems to be our Mothering failures.

So, in honor of that topic, I figured I'd do a "pat myself on the back post" since I feel like I'm having a bit of a SuperMom moment.

So today, with my 3mon old little guy that I Nanny for and my little 2 year old daughter, I've been able to get dressed (with makeup) feed kid(s) breakfast, clean up after breakfast, get everyone to MOPS on time, run errands at the grocery store, come home, feed everyone lunch, sit and watch 20min of a show on tv. Email people, skype my Parents and my sister. Feed baby, read and play with Jade...and now I have them both down for a nap AT THE SAME TIME, and I'm about to go iron my husbands shirts. And...to top it all off, I don't feel tired or stressed! Perhaps it's a bit of the floridex and Emergen-C that I'm taking that's giving me the extra energy, but whatever it is...I'm feeling good and feeling happy.

Mostly I'm just excited that both the kiddos are sleeping and I have time to iron shirts and maybe even get some dinner prep done...and maybe...I'll get to finish watching my show on tv! Do I live the charmed life or what? hee, hee

The speaker lady was right too, after you praise yourself for awhile, you do start feeling better. hee, hee. So, to all those Moms out there who may be having a "I'm a failure" moment, type up a blog post on how amazing you are...even if it's just the amazing fact that you were able to get out of bed today. Woohoo!

What I want now

Jade is two now, I think I assumed by this age I wouldn't be worrying about or even thinking about still wanting to buy her bibs. But the older she gets it seems the messier she becomes. Especially since two of her favorite foods (to feed herself) are applesauce and yogurt. I must admit, she really does pretty well...but still...she needs to wear a bib.

The thing is, the bibs you can buy at your local Target and/or Wal-mart, are not only ugly, but usually don't last longer then a few weeks. Who thought velcro was really the best idea for baby bibs? Velcro and bibs should never be combined. If you wash a Velcro bib not only does it snag everything in your washing load (even if you close the tabs first) but it also seems to slowly tear apart the velcro and once washed...it never holds the same again.

So I've been searching for bibs with snaps. I found one at a cool baby store downtown. But it was $15 and not that cute, then a found a super ugly one at Walmart for $5. I bought it, but I hate it, it's ugly.

The one below is $16. But isn't it pretty? It's pretty and it snaps and its organic. And you can buy it at Ja*lu I want to go to this store and buy their pretty bibs.
And then these bibs. How cute are they? However at $26 a pop at the Land of Nod I doubt I'll be buying these any time soon.

Perhaps, these are a better option, they are only $12.95 and you can plop them in the dish washer. Kinda cute in a space baby sort of way. hee, hee. Also from the Land of Nod.

Anyway, if any of you moms out there have a favorite bib, I'd love your tips. I want to know where to buy, if they have cool snaps and how much. It's time for me to be smart and invest in a bib that will last, stay on the baby, and not ruin the clothes in my wash!

Birthday get together and bowling!

To continue celebrating JB's 28th birthday (that was Wednesday) I invited some friends over for a tasty lunch and a yummy cake ordered from "Wagners" bakery (boston cream pie, yum!)

I couldn't help but take these two pics of all the kids eating on the floor, since we ran out of chair space. hee, hee.
And I must admit, I think the talking/eating pic of Cristy and Sarah is pretty funny too:)
After lunch we headed to the bowling alley for some fun! Check out the kids tiny bowling shoes!
I think they are rolling 8lb balls. They did end up finding ones that were 6lbs, but even those were heavy for the little guys.
This pic I had to crop funny, because the bottom half was messed up, maybe my finger was in the way or something.

Hee, hee, don't I look great with bunny ears? (Dani, is a goofball)

Much better pic of these two...though the eating pic is my favorite.

Me and the birthday boy, we did wear matching blue sweatshirts on purpose. Why? Because we are cute like that.

I thought this was a cool shot of Kameron

Me and my friendie Kris!

Oh, and lastly, I had to take a picture to prove I broke my all time record score of 60points. The top one is me...I scored 91 on my last game!! Hurray for me!!

Bowling parties are fun!

New Outfit

Jade got this adorable lollipop t-shirt from a friend for her birthday this week. It was so super cute I had to run by gymboree and get the matching pants. As soon as I got Jade dressed she wanted a "pitcher". So I pulled out the camera so she could pose.

Ta da!

Just some birthday pics

I can't believe my little girl is two! Just two years ago this is what was happening
What an awesome two years this has been. I love my life, I love my baby girl, I love my little family!

Birthday Boy, Birthday Girl.

Yesterday was JB's 28th Birthday. I meant to take a million pictures but only ended up taking these two of Jade watching Daddy email on his super new, super cool phone.
And today is Jade's 2nd birthday. I hope to spoil her lots and just play and play. I love her silly face in this picture. I said "Make a silly face" and this is what she did. Hee, hee.
Happy Birthday boy, happy birthday girl!! Love you two!!!

I love this girl of mine

Here are just some snap shots of Jade from the past couple days. This was in the evening a few days ago after Jade's bath. Her favorite thing to play with right now is a princess castle with all the toys that go with it. Here she is holding the toy prince which she fondly calls "daddy!"
Playing with her princess castle some.
Okay, I did take this picture to show of my daughters bottom. hee, hee. At night she wears a special cloth diaper that has double padding in it (for extra absorption) However, it makes her bottom SO big! It cracks me up every night. hee, hee
It's never to early to teach your kiddos how to make dinner. Jade looks bored, but really she is just very serious, because she begged me to let her "help!"
Here we are mixing up hamburger meat to make mini burgers for dinner. She was a big help!

This morning (Sunday) I put Jade in her special dress from Grandma Mangione. Jade just wanted to twirl and dance in it. She is asking daddy to hold her "Blank" (blanket) so she can show off for the camera

My little baby model, she stood over in the corner and asked for a picture. Of course, I could never refuse.

Prayers

I had my ultrasound today. And what I most feared was told to me. They couldn't find anything and I was told that I had a miscarriage. There is a super, super slight chance that they missed something or I'm not far enough along for them to see anything. But I thought I was having a miscarriage last Sunday, so I'm sure they are right.

I'm bummed, I was really hoping everything was okay and that I was still happily pregnant.

I know God is in control and has a wonderful plan for our lives. During the ultrasound all I kept thinking of over and over (and this was before they told me anything) was
"count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. And let Patience have it's perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."
James 1:2-4

Right now I do feel like I am lacking, and life does seem pretty gray. But I also know that God will get us through this small family trial and our lives will be richer for it if we trust Him and praise His name.

I have some News!

Hello everyone in my blogger world. Many of you already know this, but I'm sure there are still some who don't. Guess what? I'm pregnant! Hurray! lol

I'm posting this now for two reasons,
1. I'd hate for some of you to feel "out of the loop" and
2. While I am pregnant, I am very newly pregnant and there is a small chance that I may have some complications (I won't go into details).

I'm going in for an ultrasound tomorrow morning to see if everything is "alright", but I've been told even the magic of ultrasounds can't always show us everything we'd like to know.

I'd love prayer that everything is fine and that I have nothing at all to worry about. But if, for some reason, God has other plans for this tiny life inside me, I'd also appreciate prayer for that.

On a happier note, I'm doing really "Good" physically, not throwing up or anything like that. Just eating lots and wanting to sleep all the time.

When I told Jade I was having a baby I pointed to my belly and said "there is a baby in my tummy". Jade promptly laid down, pulled up her shirt and stuck out her belly and pointing at her tummy said "Baby!". hee, hee. If all goes well, this is going to be a very entertaining nine months.

Jade

Just a bit of cute-ness

A new picture of Jade and an update

I know this is a grumpy picture of Jade but I hadn't posted a picture of her in awhile. lol. She was really in a pretty good mood the day I took this picture I'm not sure why she is mad...maybe she just wanted a snack I wouldn't give her or something. lol

Well, life is starting to return to some form of a routine now that the big holidays are over. I took on a Nanny job of sorts. I say "of sorts" because the baby is being brought to me and I'm just watching him at home, apposed to actually going to someone's house to watch their kids.
Today was the first day of that new job. I think I'm going to like it. The baby is a doll and the convenience of getting to work out of my home, again, is wonderful.

Bible study also starts up again this week. Again I get to host it at my house so I don't have to try to be on time somewhere early in the morning with Jade. MOPS returns tomorrow after a month absence and we will be making Growth Charts as part of the craft time (I do the crafts).

Next week will be JB's and Jade's birthdays, can you believe that Jade will be two?

Our weekends seem to be filling up with running errands and doing things around the house, not to mention football games. Go Cardinals! lol Sundays is church, of course, and I get to start teaching in the Two year old class, now that Jade is two. That should be loads of fun:)

I think I have something going on every day of the week for the next couple weeks, but I don't mind. I like to keep busy and have something to look forward to, even if it's like today and my "To do" list consists of finishing laundry and washing the floors. Hope everyone else is settling into a nice, post-holiday routine, and everyone is having a lovely winter so far.

Shopping with Jade

Shopping with Jade is so much fun, it's always been an entertaining experience but ever since she started talking more, she always has me in stitches. Or at least keeps me amused.

I've taught her a few fun phrases that she now says over and over, one of which is putting the word "pretty" in front of a sentence or another word. So shopping today in Target went something like this.

Mom: Okay, we have to hurray!

Jade: Momma, ook, pretty dress!

Mom: Yes, that is a pretty dress

Jade: I touch?

Mom: No, not right now

Jade: Oh, pretty shoes!

Mom: Yes, they are

Jade: I a, boots, off, pretty shoes!

Mom: No, Jade you have to keep your boots on, we aren't trying on shoes

Jade: Pretty toys!

Mom: ~Keeps walking~

Jade: I walk? I help?

Mom: You want to help push the cart?

Jade: Ah, huh

Mom: Okay, but be careful

Jade: PRETTY wheels!!....

....You get the idea:) lol! We did end up trying on shoes and clothes, no dresses, but in the dressing room she gave her opinion saying "pretty momma" when I tried on a new, soft sweater. Or when I made a funny face in the mirror thinking the top I tried on was hideous she'd say "funny Momma". lol

If you are ever bored, call me up and we'll take Jade shopping together. She is becoming quite the convesationalist.

Home again, Home again

We arrived home from our vacation early Saturday morning. It seems life since then has been really crazy until today.
Jade caught a cough and fever yesterday and so we are spending down time today drinking soup (well, we will soup for lunch) and watching cartoons.

We had a wonderful time with all our family and are sad we couldn't stay longer, but it's always good to be home after a trip. Plus, with Jade being sick I know she is happier to be in her own bed.

I don't have anything huge to post about today, just wanted to let you know we are home and happy. Pray Jade gets better soon!

Just a bunch of pictures from our trip

I have so many pictures of our trip it was hard to even decide which ones to post. I think one of Jade's biggest highlights about visiting the Bechtle's in Indy, was the fact that Aunt Autumn kept bringing over dogs for her to play with. I only have pictures of Jade with Oreo and here is one of my favorites. Right before I took this pic the dog was starring right back at Jade.

Here is Jade with her Aunt Alicia and Aunt Autumn right before nap time.

A favorite past-time was playing piano with Grandpa

Before we left Indy Jonathan and I took advantage of the free babysitting and went out on a date.

While out on our date we picked up a Colts hoodie for Jade. It's a bit big, but it will work. Go Colts!

Another fun thing we did while there was visit the largest Children's museum. I love this pic because all three of them are bending over to try to see inside the very authentic doll houses.

My favorite picture from the whole vacation (I think) is this one with Alicia and Jade. They look like they are in a cartoon!

Here is Alicia and Jade playing with soft dino eggs

A $1 ride on a merry-go-round. She may not be smiling in this picture, but she loved it, and began to cry when I told her we had to get off.

Waiting in line to go down the winter wonderland slide. I think it's getting near Jade's nap time.

Jade and Daddy coming down the long slide

After Indy we drove over to Michigan to visit with my family. The evening we got there we had a second Christmas and opened lots of presents. One of those presents were fancy dresses for all the little girl cousins. So then, of course, we had to do a photo shoot. Here is Jadey with her Uncle Isaac (and my baby brother, he is 8)

Jade saying "cheese" for the camera

All the cousins so far!

Me and my sisters (Nic, Li, Jo and Me)

On Monday night Jonathan and I joined the some of the family at Tony's basketball game. He is the guy in the picture with the basketball;)

Joanthan and I at the game

I have many, many, more pictures. But this is all I felt like posting for now. Maybe later I'll post some New Years pictures.

Hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and Happy New year!