Explanation

Pete and I received a special picture of Celia dressed up as an angel for Christmas. We liked the photo, but for some reason it looked a little odd to us, not her typical her cute face. We still treasured the gift. Her teacher gave us a DVD of pictures from the school year. We had an explanation for this picture. You can see the trouble that her teacher had taking her picture!

The middle picture was me yesterday evening when Celia decided to fling the entire contents of the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet into the air. I was cooking dinner and I thought she was coloring. She was using a poster size blank coloring book that makes alot of noise when she turns the pages. She likes to turn those pages so I inaccurately assumed that the noises I was hearing were the turning of pages. I just happened to check and freaked out on Celia. You see 2 weeks ago I spent at least an hour or more organizing our files. Picking everything up was not fun and Celia's response was not either. I asked her to help Mommy pick up the papers and she said she didn't want to, so she was sent to time out. She got out of time out and I told her that she was never, ever to touch the filing cabinet- her response "Okay". Pete knows which Okay it was. It is the somewhat mocking Okay that she does now, it is the Okay that means she doesn't really care. Oh she will tell you "I don't care" at times too, I don't like that!!

Pizza dough making, I was born here, and church pics

Whole wheat pizza dough making, with sticky, sticky hands.

Top One is the parking space that she was born. The second one is the face I made when she was born.... Okay, Celia thinks it is her super wide smiley face.

Mommy and Cecelia (aka: Celia, Missy Lou, peanut, boo, monkey..)

Here she is sporting a purple dress from Aunt Susie, summery sandals, and a cute grin. This was at her school's summer get together. Sadly, today is her teacher's last day. We will miss her but Goodluck Miss Jenn in her new classroom!! Although I don't know which I would prefer- middle school versus toddlers...

I was suddenly put in a good mood today as I received good news about some health concerns (remember the emergency surgery last month), not to be shared, but good news none the less.

Of course winning the lottery, hmm, that would be good news too!! But sadly, I don't even buy the tickets. I think we won the lottery anyhow when it came to kiddos. You can't get a more special little soon to be 2 year old.

Please send some thoughts..

I have said before I read blogs as a hobby, I suppose. In anycase, I have been following a blog for awhile about a sweet family. It was a blog that I heard about through another one, etc. In anycase my heart has gone out to this family. They lost their first little girl to cancer and now they are going to lose their second little girl (they have a very healthy son) to cancer. They have fought very hard but sadly she had horrific side effect from one of the treatments and there is nothing more to do. I am so thankful that I have a healthy, happy, and very active little girl.

You can visit the Maxeyweb blog under my blog list.

On another note, I am going to post some pics of Celia helping me make pizza dough and our pics the birth center.

Growing up

Two Years Ago (okay a little less then 2 years ago, this was Sept 2nd)

One Year ago:



This weekend:

No she wasn't talking to her boyfriend, it was grandpa. She took over the conversation that Pete was having with his father and wondered over to her chair. Can you picture her as a teenager??? Last year around this time our neighbor gave us that chair. I said yes to her gift but thought, ugh another big item for our tiny house. I admit now I was stupid and ungrateful. That little chair has been Celia's favorite thing. She loves it still a year later and I imagine even for a few years to come. It is fitting because she loves the family that gave it to her. Some gifts that have been unexpectedly cherished throughout the two years: Her baby stroller from Grandma and Grandpa, her baby from Mom Mom, her turtle (Milo) from Aunt Vickie, and a blanket from a certain neighbor. The last one I cringe about and Pete is probably the only who understands it. Oh and my Mom gave her the Leap Frog activity table that still entertains her 18 months later, she now thinks she is a DJ and makes the music play while she dances. Oh my goodness and how could I forget the trunk of gold coins!! Pete won this trunk of gold coins filled with cash prior to Celia's birth. The trunk looked cool, so I left it out as a decorations. I think Celia was around 6 months when she discovered them. They now entertain any child who comes in the house, go figure!

We took her crib down this weekend, Daddy is having mixed feelings. Celia has mentioned it a couple times but she has been sleeping in her twin bed for over a week now. She started back to daycare today, she will only go 2 days this week and next week, then start back the next week. I wanted to start her out slow. She didn't want to go this morning and it broke my heart. Once we got there, she was okay. I am interested to hear how she does with the potty. I am going to pick her up around 2/2:30 today.

What are my plans with the freedom?- going to home depot, cleaning the crud off the bottom of our shower door, putting in a new shower head, dusting the guest room. You know, fun!!! Oh I might do some sewing, I am back into the groove of sewing- you know, 2 weeks before I start back to work.

Picture shows

Here is a picture show from the Hands On House

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And here is one from our vacation! As you can see, I take the pictures, not in any of them. Of course, considering my sunscreen/sun allergy, that is a very good thing.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Hands On House

We had a great time at the Hands On House yesterday. I will post more pictures from vacation and the Hands On House sometime this week. For now there is a great video.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Freezing and Cooking

Each summer when I go back to work I freeze things. I froze a ton during the summer that I was pregnant, I think it lasted us 4-5 months (with my Mom helping out with meals for the first few weeks). I think about 6 months ago I got into a cooking rut. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy it, because I do, I just wasn't interested in going on searches through cook books and the internet to find recipes. Pete stopped getting excited about my cooking and I don't think it had anything to do with what we were eating or how good it was. I just think he finally was to the point of "okay, my wife can cook". The expectation was there and he was fairly certain that after nearly 4 years of marriage, I really didn't need the cheers coming from him about my cooking. But I think I did. If he is reading this he is probably muttering something like "what the..?" or she knows I like her cooking, just not polenta or fennel, or anything loaded with spinach. That isn't the point, I just got in a rut. So my point? I am really in a rut now as school is approaching, I need to start cooking and freezing. This week I did start and I am ticked at the recipes I picked. They take freaken forever. I did this potpie from scratch yesterday and a zippy turkey bake today. Zippy my A, there is nothing Zippy about that thing. It better tasty ziptastic.

So for the very few blog readers that I have here- any healthy recipes to share that I can also freeze? I can share some of my own recipes. I don't cook casseroles that often but I would love some recipes. Also, if you have any quick recipes that can't be frozen, I would love those too. To make things complicated too, I am trying to stick to a grocery budget. I will do a round of fall freezing sometime in October so soups and stews are welcome. Here are my current ideas for freezing: I am going to add to them throughout the next 2 weeks.

Eggplant parmesan
Freeze turkey taco meat for tacos
Freeze turkey manwich
Cook some blackbeans in crockpot then freeze them in small packets for tacos (and celia snacks)
Lasagna (I have 2 recipes, but could use some other lasagna ideas)
Taco soup


Zippy Turkey Tortilla Bake

INGREDIENTS
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (16 ounce) jar salsa
3/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
8 (8 inch) fat-free tortillas
1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese 1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream

In a skillet, saute onion and garlic powder in oil until the onion is tender. Add turkey, vinegar, chili powder, oregano, cumin and cayenne; cook and stir over medium heat until turkey is no longer pink. Stir in beans. Remove from the heat. Combine salsa and broth; spread a thin layer in a 2-1/2-qt. baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Cut tortillas into 1-in. strips and then into thirds; arrange half over salsa mixture. Top with half of the turkey mixture and half of the remaining salsa mixture. Repeat layers. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Top servings with sour cream.

I stretched this to make 2 smaller dishes, one is a double layer and the frozen one is a single layer with extra cheese.

Old Fashioned Chicken Pot PieFilling:
1/3 cup Butter
1/3 cup Flour
1 Garlic Clove, minced
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
1 & 1/2 cups Water
2/3 cups Milk
2 tsp. Chicken Bouillon Cubes
2 cups Cooked Chicken, cubed
1 cup Frozen Mixed Vegetables

Pastry:
1 & 2/3 cup Flour
2 tsp. Celery Seed
1 package Cream Cheese, cubed
1/2 cup cold Butter

In a saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour, garlic, salt and pepper until blended. Gradually stir in water, milk and bouillon. Bring to boil and stir for 2 min. Remove from heat. Stir in chicken and veggies and set aside.Combine flour and celery seed, cut in butter and cream cheese until crumbly. Work mixture by hand into a ball. On a lightly floured surface roll 3/4 of dough into a 12 in. square and put into 8 in. square pan. Pour filling into crust. Roll remaining dough into a 9 in. square and place over filling. (I have also made this round in a 9" pie plate with no trouble.) Trim, seal and flute edges as desired. Cut slits into pastry.Bake at 450 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until brown and filling is bubbly.

Note:
I doubled this and made 3, 9 in pie plates of it. It was yummy, we had it last night. As for the high fat content, if you know me, you know I adjusted this recipe!! I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese, and put less butter in. I didn't notice a problem. As I was making it though, I realized that during the day I really eat a small amount of fat and Celia doesn't eat very much fat (although she does sometimes put away 2x as much food as I can eat) so a high fat dinner every once in a while is a good thing. As for Pete, well he likes his fat, but tries to be good.

I need to go for a search on the my favorite crockpot website for some ideas too. I wish I had something to offer as a giveaway for recipes submitted. But.. i don't have any ideas for that, maybe it will come to me and I don't think I have enough readers!!

Meanest Mom Giveaway

Okay I want to win this so I am providing a link to the Meanest Mom Contest for free photos from Sears.

But don't anyone else enter, I want to keep the numbers down so that we have more of a chance of winning. Okay, lets face it, if the 5 people that read this blog enter, I suppose that won't hurt my chances.

So if you want to enter just click below

$260 Portrait Studio Package Giveaway

Back from the Beach

This was Celia showing off one of her 6, 7, or 8 swim suits, I have lost count. I didn't buy her a single one- they were all given to us! The beach was nice and relaxing, despite getting off to a very rocky start. I read through my last email and I should have clarified that I was not allowed to swim- I certainly can swim. I was a competitive swimmer for 15 years, I can swim. Swimming was a "no" for about a week after my surgery. Friday I could have chanced getting in and I did, but didn't really swim. I went in with Pete to test out the great sand bars, but discovered that the water was so very cold that my feet were going numb. I did take Celia in with me at one point and we had some fun. But I decided that it really wasn't worth chancing a side effect if I wasn't truely ready to go in the water, especialy if the water was that cold!!

Pete enjoyed fishing everyday and even got in a 1/2 day fishing charter. We were not really equipped to eat the fish, so it all was thrown back. I was tired during the week but got my energy almost back basically by Friday- the last day, go figure! Celia and I enjoyed a long walk Friday morning. I wish that we had been able to do that everyday. We really debated on bringing our BOB stroller with us. It is my favorite baby purchase and I really hate any other stroller, yes I am a stroller snob when it comes to the BOB. We used it more then just Friday, but I as I was walking with Celia and BOB, I thought that it was worth a cramped car just for that walk. It is so smooth that Celia just relaxes and enjoys the trip.

It is back to real, reality for Pete. He goes back to work tomorrow. I go back to work to as a Summer Stay at home mom! I did have a break for a bit as my Mom helped us out tremendously over the past 2 weeks. We really can't thank her enough. School starts back for me in 4 weeks and I am not looking forward to it. I enjoy my little girl tremendously and I really hope she likes daycare this school year as much as she did last year. I am exploring some part time options still but I think I will utimately be going back to work fulltime for the school year.

The trip to the outerbanks was wonderful, I only wish it was a shorter drive!! Now we get to think about next year's vacation. Hopefully Miss. Celia won't have to pee so very often next year. She is doing amazingly well with toilet training- only 1 true accident the whole entire trip, actualy that was the first in 4 weeks.