Moving on Up

I don't know when my baby turned into a toddler,

but all of a sudden, she's this big girl.

My husband and I decided it's time to transition out of the crib...

Right into a big girl bed.

She was so excited while the we were changing the room around.

She just ran around the house squealing.

This transition was harder on me than anticipated.

For the first time in five years, we took down the changing table.

Let me clarify, she isn't potty trained yet, but rarely do I use the changing table anymore.

It was what it represented...a baby in the house.

My little girl taking her first nap in her new bed.

Yes, she has had some tumbles out already.

She is adjusting to the change and

I'm working on it.

Birthday Celebration

Our little princess had a birthday! It brought tears to my eyes last night to see how big she is.

There is nothing more beautiful than watching your children grow,

although a part of me, wishes I could keep them small.

I made her a birthday crown with a lot of bling.

And she was wanting more jewels,

look out for this girl:)

We waited to celebrate until my husband got home from work.

The excitement was unbearable.

My adorable husband surprised my little princess with some flowers.

He knows exactly how to make her feel like a princess!

My oldest made her a beaded necklace and drew some pictures.

Her excitement made him feel so proud.

She opened up the homemade gifts I made for her and loved them all!

She opened up a scarf, leg warmers, and a skirt.

All pink, of course.

Her expressions are so dramatic...I love it!

A thank you hug to end the night with all her presents on.

She was so happy.

I am blessed!

Yarn Along

I'm joining Ginny today for the yarn along.

I found some of the cook books recommended in the Seed Savers Exchange Catalog at my local library so I thought I'd check them out.

The Roasted Vegetable by Andrea Chesman looks great and I'm looking forward to trying the roasted artichokes.  This has a chart in the beginning of the book for people like me who want a quick go to guide for how long and at what temp to roast all the vegetables I could think of to roast.  Lost Recipes by Marion Cunningham is a really great book with mostly real food recipes.

I've been really pleased with the few recipes I've tried out so far. 

The scarf I'm making is called the "boyfriend basket weave scarf."

This is a fast scarf and I did adjust the width by half as requested by my hubby, which sped things up even more.  I started this on Friday night should be done by this Friday. A fun little project that doesn't require much thinking, which is great for a busy week.



What a Weekend

We had my mom (Nana) and dad(Papa) in town this weekend visiting from Green Bay and

had a wonderful time.

We couldn't see Papa without trying one of his famous smoothies.

My baby had seconds and wanted more.

Nana and the older kids playing in the snow.

The snow in the air is from Nana starting a snow fight.

My eldest is retaliating.

I don't know who was having more fun.

What a bobsled team!

My baby and papa having a great time.

My baby tends to have really cheesy smiles when she is having fun.

Thanks Nana and Papa for coming out and making it a great weekend.

We love you and miss you already.

My last meal...

...has to include one of my new favorite recipes,

Maple-glazed winter vegetables out of a new cookbook I found.

I can't describe the flavors because it was nothing like I've ever tasted.

When trying new recipes in my family, it's a risk. 

It tends to be either a hit or a disaster.

This was definitely an out-of-the-park home run!

I've had some squash that needs to be used up and this is the perfect application. 

 It's a little tedious having to peel and dice the squash, but one of my butternut squash yielded four,

 two cup servings.  I froze the three remaining servings to use for next time,

which will probably be very soon.

This was a delightful little surprise.

It's called coconut pumpkin pie. I was a little taken back

because I could hardly taste much of the pumpkin in it. 

The pumpkin to coconut ratio was 2:1 so I assumed it would be just a tad different.

The whole family loved it and it was requested for the my little princess' birthday celebration with my parents this weekend.  It was relatively healthy and only had a 3/4 cup of brown sugar in it.

This next batch I think I will substitute with sucanut.