stuff about wednesday.

i walked into the front room to find this sweet little horse kissing scene on my coffee table last night. definitely brooklyn's work. it melted my heart right onto the floor. i asked her what they were doing and she said they were doing butterfly kisses. then i asked her why the horses on the far left weren't doing the same. her reply was simple, they didn't want to. 

these cheap little horses have been her favorite gift from Christmas. her imagination runs wild when she has her hands on them. sometimes they're all lined up in a row. sometimes they're all laying down sleeping. and sometimes they are in her death grip while she's sleeping. i've loved watching her grow so attached and fall in love with these horses.

love is in the air at cream gables i guess.

i love to cook and feeling good enough to do it again has been so good for me. it's serious therapy for me, but i mostly enjoy eating it. i wish i liked to bake more. but a bread pan of rice krispie treats will have to do for now.

tonight, i made one of my all time favorites.

my favorite start to any recipe is having a pan/dish/bowl full of cut up fresh veggies. so pretty and so yummy!

i think i've posted the link for this recipe on this blog a couple times before, but i will post it a million more. i love it that much. so here it is. Black beans & rice with chicken and apple salsa. I usually don't make it with the rice and I've always made it with fish until tonight. that apple salsa with the fish is bomb!

for young women's, a super talented photographer in our ward had the girls over to her house to take their pictures. the girls were in heaven! how cool of an activity is that for them?! she had a back drop and flash set up. the whole nine yards. these pictures are high quality and totally awesome. emily bailey does amazing work. you can check out her finished products on her web site here. and believe me, you'll be wanting an appointment with her five seconds into viewing the galleries on her site. she's so good at what she does. 

and it's almost thursday and i'm seriously wondering where the heck the week went. january is flying by. i still have so much to do on my house to catch up for being off my feet for a month. but slowly and surely, it's starting to get a little more clean and a little more organized. and you know i'm loving it.

whatever she wants.

remember those muffins i made a little while back? well, i made them again yesterday. more of them this time. also, with more nuts. some of them were lucky enough to even get a chocolate kiss shoved right in the middle of them. oh they're good. seriously. they're good. 

our monday was pretty normal. the laundry was done, the floors were swept and vacuumed, and brooklyn took care of messing them all up again. such is life with a toddler. she ran errands with me and then was content to play with the vacuum parts while i did a few more things around the house. i love when she can be content like that. 

she also got away with anything and everything for the whole day. mostly because she is getting some dental work done at primary children's today and i know it's going to be a rough day for her. not only does she not get to sleep in like she does every other day of her glorious life, but she'll be poked and prodded, and then have to wake up after anesthesia. i'm nervous just thinking about it. 

she wanted to be out in the cold wind to watch her daddy mow the lawn, and i let her. normally i would make her stay inside with me, but i couldn't resist. she wanted chicken nuggets for dinner and she got those too. we didn't grant her wish of ice cream just yet. we'll wait until after all the 'fun' stuff is done and over with until that. 

her last request of the day was to wear her pink snow boots around the house. she loves pink and she loves boots. she was thrilled.

here's to hoping everything goes well and that our life can get completely back to normal by wednesday. please oh please. 

those muffins.

last week on one of my favorite blogs, she shared a recipe for muffins that looked super good. so i thought, hey, if her picky toddler will eat them... maybe my little picky palate-ed child will eat and like them too.

i rummaged through my cupboards to see what ingredients i already had and what i needed to get. luckily, i had most of it. happy to have flax seed meal in my house now. 

these muffins have chocolate chips in them, so i was counting on those bad boys to make brooklyn like these muffins.

we gave her one and let her dig in. 

but the muffin holder gave her some issues. so mommy had to step in and help with that part.

she loved them. they were a total success. she finished this one you see her eating and then she asked for anther. she then went on to have them for dinner that night and breakfast the next two mornings. she's hooked and i'm out of apples and bananas.

 but heavens to betsy, she loves them! they're{pretty}healthy so that's a plus in my book. praise those muffins! 

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*haley took all of these pictures of the girl and her muffin while i finished cooking the rest of them. thanks hay!

* i made these with 1 apple and 1 banana instead of the 2 apples. i think they'd be super awesome with some zucchini in them. 

*and maybe a tad more chocolate chips... it couldn't hurt right?

Curiosity and Chick Peas

Brooklyn decided she'd get into some mischief today. It was rainy and we hadn't been outside and therefore, she was bored. I think. I'm pretty sure. So, she decided she'd use her new purple beach chair from Grandma and Grandpa Ruesch as a stepping stool. She loves bright colorful things and wants to touch them with those chubby little fingers. My SPRING blocks in the windowsill are an example of this. And she wanted them. So she figured out a way to get them.

She thought she was big stuff. Queen of the world, on top of that purple beach chair. You should have seen the humongous grin on her face when I caught her. Oh that girl. But of course, the camera came out and the grin went away.

 (my little mischievous girl)

The sun came out almost immediately so we opted for sunshine and grass. Brooklyn knows we're going outside as soon as I open our door that leads to our stairs that then leads to our door to go outside. She smiles and starts slapping my back and kicking her legs. She's pumped. Once we get outside, she wants to get down and explore on her own. Already trying to be independent. It makes me happy that she's so curious.  It also makes me nervous because she's not afraid to crawl, climb, or eat anything in her path. I have to put my mommy goggles on and be on super mom duty. Tough work. But I too enjoy the sunshine and watching her explore.

Our cupboards have been bare due to the fact that we were on vacation last week and I've been trying to get back into the swing of normal life. Grocery shopping has not been a priority (don't worry we went last night). I wanted a snack and we seriously had nothing. I remembered a can of garbanzo beans in my pantry. I also remembered a recipe from Studio 5 I'd seen a few weeks earlier. I had all the ingredients and decided to try this tasty HEALTHY snack.

Roasted Chick Peas (Garbanzo Beans)

You guys, these are good. You have to try them. My husband even liked them. I didn't even feel guilty about eating a whole bunch of them. I seasoned mine a little differently than they suggested. I used garlic salt, cumin, seasoning salt, and a little rosemary.

This weekend will be spent at my in-laws and at my brother-in-law's cabin. I can't wait. Relaxation and family time. The best recipe for a good weekend. I'm pumped. Now to get packing!

h a p p y  w e e k e n d i n g !

Tonight for dinner we had the following:

Spinach and Feta Pasta

(source)

and

Rosemary Foccacia Bread

(source)

Both recipes came from Our Best Bites.

I love their recipes! They're easy, explanatory, and so delicious. Not to mention, I like knowing that they are tested and true! It gives me more confidence going into making dinner. I really want the actual recipe book, but for now, reading it online is working just fine.

(James' plate)

Aside from making dinner, it was a pretty productive day.

The flannel sheets are on and ready for the chilly weather coming our way.

Uncle Dev's paper chain finally came to be.

(43 days!)

Laundry, dishes, and all the rest of those daily things that are no fun but must be done were also tasks accomplished. I only had one load of laundry to do so I can't complain at all. If I stay on top of it then it doesn't bury me at the end of the week.

Brooklyn slept through the night and then had an awesome nap later in the afternoon (that's how I got dinner ready). This was the third night in 4 that she has slept through the night. I really hope it'll become a trend! I was reading on Baby Center the other day and they claim that 'through the night' is 12 AM - 5 AM. That sounds good and all, but to me, sleeping through the night is asleep before 12 AM and up AFTER 5 AM. Either way, she's doing it. Keep it up Brookie!

I also found this video today. It's so touching. Don't watch it unless you have a kleenex, but it definitely provides a good cry. enjoy.

Black Beans

These little bad boys graced our dinner plates,

(Black Bean Enchiladas - recipe here. I used no meat. )



along with a green salad

cottage cheese & mandarin oranges

and some lemonade (i'm addicted right now).

Good and filling. We used the energy and nourishment to organize some more. We have a lot of crap stuff. James started organizing our storage room and office Saturday morning and by early evening, we had mounds and piles all over the place. It was a lot. But I am grateful for a husband who likes to organize and is willing to head up big projects like that.

We still have a lot to do before b a b y gets here.

So until then, we'll keep eating lots of black beans and stuff to give us organizing/cleaning ENERGY.

Right now James is off using more energy playing some ball. Hopefully he doesn't come home with more battle wounds like this one:

(poor boy)

Me?

I'm going to bed.

Happy 200th Post!

I probably should have reached this milestone a long time ago...

but

here

I

am!

Post

#

200!

To celebrate I F I N A L L Y made those pancakes I said I was gonna make a long time ago. I ended up eating them alone because James was playing basketball with some friends. I thoroughly enjoyed those pancakes. They're hearty and healthy (except I ate them with butter, syrup, and whipped cream).

So if you're looking for a new pancake recipe or just a new recipe in general, this is a good one to try!

In other news: ULTRASOUND TODAY! We'll see if baby girl is still in fact a baby girl, ya never know!