Monday, January 31, 2011

I made Risotto tonight!

I had bought arborio rice a few weeks ago with high aspirations to make some tasty risotto with it. And...I never did.

So today, I decided I'd go ahead and make some. I've never made it before, I was scared off by people telling me how time consuming it is. I no longer had the ingredients needed for the original recipe I wanted to try

so I used this Red Wine Risotto with Peas recipe and just didn't add the red wine, the onions or the fresh parsley. LOL
it still tasted really good. Cutter loved it, Jade loved, I loved it...Jonathan liked it. hahaha! And, I found the 40min it took to cook, I was able to make Italian chicken and a tasty salad, and still spent my usual amount of time cooking dinner in the kitchen. I will be trying new risotto recipes in the future!
I don't think I ever really thought I'd be that Mom who could only post pictures of her adorable children and the life that only seems to revolve around them. And yet, almost all my blog posts are about something precious and adorable that they have done (or someone's birthday, lol). It's not a bad thing, I just am surprised when I see that I really am "that" mom. *grin*

So in attempt to show myself I can post about my children AND myself. Here is a picture of one the many activites that make my life so much fun. I am apart of "Christian Fiction" book club. We meet once a month to "talk" about the book we have read (or I have attempted to read) and play games and eat food. Back when we started this club (was it in May?) We started a tradition to cook food for our get together that was talked about in the book. In some cases it has made coming up with food difficult. This last book we read, "The Shape of Mercy" one of the only foods discussed (well...I guess there was some fancy brie and thanks to Julie we were served delicious baked brie at our party) were eggs. So our meal was devils eggs and baked brie and an egg casserole
I love that I have this group of ladies, who most of which, love books, love God and love to read. I haven't been a fan of all the books we have read, but it doesn't even matter. Just hanging out makes it all worth while. (Oh and this last book was really sweet. Sad, sweet, interesting...I liked it, very cute)

I'm still apart of a women's bible study that meets on Wednesday mornings. Our last study forced us all to analyze our hearts and lives and I found nearly every meeting either I was in tears or someone else was. While it was a very good study, I'm REALLY enjoying doing a bible study on the book of Hebrews. I haven't cried yet! LOL

Tuesday's I attend MOPS. Love my ladies!

Jade enjoys going to AWANA and I'm teaching her Cubbies class:)

So I can't post without adding pictures of my kids. Here is a picture of Jade from a few days ago playing with her "magnetic" wooden paper dolls.
Cutter, from a few days ago, crawling rapidly after me as I tried to snap his picture before he ate the camera
Mornings when we are at home (so maybe 2-3 days a week) I spend doing school with Jade. We have an hour from 9-10am where Cutter usually naps. We work on her AWANA bible study verse, we say the pledge of Allegiance then we spend 20min working on spelling words the alphabet and whatever else I feel we should cover. Next is Math. Jade LOVES math "One more page Momma? One more page?"
Thursday morning's Jade goes to a friends for science class. And Mondays or Tuesday I teach a little craft class. I'm changing the theme of the craft class to art. We'll start working on more drawing and painting skills with some crafts thrown in. I'm very excited about that!

My husband brought home some flowers for me on Friday. They are unique enough I had to take a picture. I'm not sure what they are, and neither was he. But I love that they are so unconventional. I wish I had more tables and shelf space, I'd love for my home to overflow with beautiful plants.
Speaking on plants, all my little tulip bulbs think that spring is coming early. While I'm sure it's not coming any time soon, I can't help but get excited with the thought.
I've planned out my planting schedule for my little square foot garden and I'm anxious for the months to change so we can get planting.

Today is just a laundry and cleaning and errand running day. I do love my Mondays:-)

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Birthday fun

So my birthdays for this month were lots of fun. For Jonathan's birthday, on his actual birth day, we went to dinner and then a movie. Then yesterday (Saturday) we met up with some friends at Gameworks in Seattle and had fun playing like kids in an arcade.
Jade got to have a fun, monkey themed, party, where she got to invite "four" friends for her fourth birthday party. She also had a lot of fun...most likely a little movie of her special day will get posted on my blog:)
in other news, my homemade marshmallows turned out pretty yummy. They don't look like anything spectacular...but the pretend "foodie" in me, thinks I'm pretty amazing for having made them:-)

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Jade is 4 today!

my baby girl is four today! (no, we didn't buy her a boy bike for her birthday, just a cute pic). She had a monkey party and got to invite "four friends".

Can't believe it's already been four years! To see the post from the day she was born go here

Friday, January 21, 2011

It's my husband's birthday today!! Oh...and I'm attempting to make homemade marshmallows

My man is 30 today. Look at him, all grown up. Just makes you want to look at baby picture albums doesn't it? Or post pictures in black and white? Here ya go
Look at us, our little family minus Cutter. This is us in Michigan at Christmas time...so long ago, back when my husband was only 29 *grin*

In other news...tomorrow is Jade's 4th birthday and I'm preparing some yummy snacks for the occasion. One of which is my first attempt at making homemade marshmallows. Apparently they have to sit overnight to dry out properly. So far I can tell you the batter tastes...A.MAZING!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

You really should call before you come over...

...because you never know if my kids will have clothes on or NOT! hahahahaha!

do you wanna come over and eat them yet? LOL

My little bunny

Aunt Vicka brought Jade this adorable bunny hat, back from Russia with her. Gj and Vicka had a layover in Seattle for about 12hrs, and we were able to spend some time with them...and also be given some presents! At first Jade wasn't to keen on the hat...but now it's all I can do to keep it off her head! LOL
here my little bunny is outside near our little garden. Can you seem my garlic growing? I get to harvest it in March, I can't wait!