Yeah. This looks real inviting.

I guess I won't spend this afternoon on my porch after all.

My favorite room in our house . . .

. . . is outside our house. Oh, I love my porch! I sit on it in the summer evenings when the street is quiet and just enjoy the breeze. With an Arnie Palmer on my side table and a great book or magazine, I can really enjoy the simple pleasures of life.


So, come on over. Take a walk up my sidewalk,


pull up a chair and sit with me. You are all invited.

Nearly done with the CranioCap!

Amelia had her 11-week appointment for her CranioCap today. The therapist thinks its done all it can do, so now we can phase out the cap by having Amelia wear it only overnight. No more daytime! I think that will be so nice for her since the weather will be getting warmer. She has her final appointment on May 9. See how excited she is?


Mira had her Kids in Motion class today. They brought out the parachute, which is always a bit hit with the kids. Other than that, a rainy day. Hope you are all well.

New recipe: Honey Pecan Pork Chops

I'm a big magazine reader. And I have this habit of tearing out any recipe that looks like it might be an interesting meal or dessert for my family or for any get-together, like my monthly Bunco night or one of my book clubs. So today I was looking in my cookbook cupboard and saw this huge pile of ripped out magazine pages and online recipes I had printed out. Obviously, once they left the magazine, the recipe never really made it as far as my oven or stovetop. I decided to put an end to that today. I'm now on a mission to cook or bake one new recipe a week in an effort to cut down on the clutter these pages have created. If you know me, you know I hate clutter.

I'm happy to say my first recipe was a huge hit and can now officially be entered in my cookbook. It was so good, I had to share it with you:

Honey Pecan Pork Chops
You need:
4 boneless pork chops, pounded thin
1/3 cup flour
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Mix together flour, salt and pepper. Dredge pork chops in mixture until completely covered.
Melt butter in a frying pan and add the pork chops. Brown on both sides, transfer to a plate.
Add the honey and pecans to the pan drippings. Stir well until heated through.
Pour mixture over the pork chops. Delicious!

No photos to post. We did take the kids to the park and even remembered to bring the camera, but the battery was dead. Bummer!
Michelle

Cold weekend

What a bummer weekend! Cold, windy, crappy. It was me and the girls, and we were pretty sick of the house by this afternoon. Mira did take the opportunity to go outside and play on the deck a little:



And here are a couple of cute photos from Easter of the girls with their Easter bonnets. In the first one, Mira looks a little over-excited, while Amelia just looks really annoyed.


Oh, how I wish this one wasn't blurry!

Hope you all had a great weekend. We are really looking forward to spring officially coming and staying! We'd better enjoy the slow pace of April because May is a crazy month for us: Our 7th wedding anniversary, Amelia's 1st birthday, Mother's Day, Mira's 4th birthday, Memorial Day. Tiring! June will be a welcome month!

True story.

The following events actually occurred as I have written them.

Chris: Mira, what do you want for dinner?
Mira: Broccoli. Just broccoli. Broccoli, please.
Chris: So, what else besides broccoli?
Mira: Nothing. Just broccoli.

Ever wonder how I do it? Well, 2 teaspoons olive oil and a little minced garlic into a saute pan. Add broccoli. Saute for 3-4 minutes. Add a little chicken broth to soften just a touch. Add a sprinkle of kosher salt. It's a recipe I serve at least twice a week. Also works great with sugar snap peas.

Now your kids will ask for broccoli too!

Random stuff

After a nice lazy weekend, I thought I'd post a few happenings.

I finally got a photo of Amelia's upper tooth. It's a good 1/2 way through, so she's trying more solid foods now.


We also got the go ahead to start Amelia on whole milk. Connie at her daycare tried it for the first time today . . . no go. Amelia was not at all thrilled with the change. Maybe it was the temperature. We're going to warm it more and see what she thinks, or we'll try some bottles of 1/2 milk, 1/2 formula and see what that does. Either way, she'll be on whole milk completely soon. Here she is showing her exitement!


Chris's dad came by yesterday to visit. He read books to the girls, which they love!


And here's a photo of our "hockey girls!" They both were very interested in the hockey stick Chris was taping.


I think Amelia has taken a strong interest in my stability ball. I've been exercising with one lately, so Amelia did a "move" with Mira's hippity-hop.


Hope you are all well!

2 kids + 2 ear infections = 4 crabby people

Uggh. BOTH Mira and Amelia have ear infections. Amelia was tugging on her ears the past couple days, and last night Mira woke up and said her ear hurt. I took them to the doctor this morning and, yup, both had ear infections. They are both on a 7-day course of antibiotics.

We used the money we were going to use for my sister Kelly's birthday present on copays and medicine instead. Sorry, Kelly! Maybe next year . . .

Two more teeth on the way!

It looks like Amelia has 2 more teeth on the way! Her two bottom teeth are starting to poke through. She's nearly 11 months old already, crawling like crazy, and pulls herself up to a standing position on furniture. It seems like her motor and physical skills are growing by leaps and bounds lately. She even signs "more" now when she eats.



And, for some reason, it suddenly seems like she "gets it." Do you know what I mean? She smiles at things she didn't used to smile at, like she's just now making the connection. It's a wonderful thing to see!

Hey, blue eyes!



Mira is doing great too! She's really loving all the things she's been learning in day care and always comes home with a new story or fact to share. She's discovered audio books and listens to "The Cat in the Hat" and "Green Eggs and Ham" before bed. Trust me, you haven't really heard "The Cat in the Hat" unless you've heard Kelsey Grammar read it to you. I found a great version on iTunes. It's worth the $2.95 I paid!

Correct that: We have TWO teeth!

Just minutes after my last post, sharing that Amelia had an upper front tooth 1/2 way through, I noticed her SECOND upper front tooth poking through. It's just starting, but it's on its way. It was enough for her to try pancakes this weekend, which she really enjoyed. Congratulations, Amelia! I have yet to get photographic evidence though. It's much easier to get photos of the bottom teeth.

We have a tooth! (oh, and Chuck E. Cheese)

I am proud to announce that Amelia's first tooth has poked through! It's her upper front tooth. I think we didn't notice it for so long because we kept assuming one of her bottom teeth would come in first. So, here's to Amelia's first 1/2 of a tooth! Hurrah!


Also, we took Amelia to the doctor Thursday to see about her Craniocap. We were hoping for one more appointment, meaning the cap would be off in two weeks, but the therapist wanted to see if we could get her through one more growth spurt, so it looks like she'll be done with the cap on April 24, before her first birthday! It will be a nice day when we are done with it. Although, it's part of the routine now and Amelia has always been wonderful about wearing it.

And we went with two other of our neighbor families to Chuck E. Cheese tonight. It was a fun time for the kids. Mira gave Chuck a hug and rode on so many rides. In the end, she had 130 tickets and opted to buy 5 mini toostie pops and 8 mini plastic fish. Quite the selection!



Here's Mira "crashing" a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. So much fun . . . but sorry, not invited!

Happenings in the night

I had put Mira to bed at her usual 7:30 last night. After a long story, tooth brushing, a drink of water, a song, and and extra hug and a kiss, I thought she'd go to sleep considering she hadn't taken a nap during the afternoon. Wishful thinking. Usually Mira finds an excuse to get out of bed (needing to use the bathroom, needing another book, coming to my room to tell me I'm invited to her tea party the next day, etc.). So around 9:30, I heard the sound of jingling money coming from Mira's room. I went in there, and she had nearly emptied out her piggy bank and was trying to shake the rest of the change loose. Here's a picture of the lovely mess:


Oh, and she'd also changed from her pajamas into her pink tutu by this time. Kids. You never really know what they will do next, do you?

Amended to add: when I went into Mira's room in the morning, she had changed her pajamas yet again! This kid loves to wear lots of different clothes.

Happy Easter, again

We just got back from Chris's dad's house for Easter. It was a nice, quiet affair with delicious food, great lemon cake, and a yearly tradition of an Easter egg hunt! Since it had snowed so much lately, the kids didn't have to brave the steep hillside this year, but instead found the eggs laid right on the top of the snow and around the deck. Here's to wishing it's this easy every year!

Happy Easter!

We want to wish you a very happy Easter today! The girls woke up and spent the first few minutes of this morning searching for their Easter baskets. Amelia found an Easter hat, 2 books, and a chocolate bunny in hers. Sidenote: don't you love Amelia's Halloween pajamas? Guess I wasn't thinking when I got her ready for bed the night before!




And Mira finally found her basket tucked between a chair and an ottoman. The Easter bunny brought her an Easter hat, some chocolate, a t-shirt, and a cheerleading outfit for her dress up trunk. We think the Easter bunny made a good choice!





And I caught the most precious photo of Amelia sleeping last night. How sweet!

Long and lazy weekend

While Chris was busy winning enough money to pay off our mortgage in Las Vegas, the girls and I had 3 lovely days at home together. Considering it snowed two of the days and it was hard to leave the house, we did have a good time. We watched "Bee Movie", went to see "Horton Hears a Who", made frosted Easter cookies, and had 2 Target runs and a Best Buy run. Plus dinner out with friends. It was a nice girls weekend.

Since we are still waiting for Amelia's teeth, I bought her these mesh bags that you can put food in. It's odd, but she sucks the food out through the mesh bag. Amelia seems to like it. Peaches, pears, and bananas = good. Carrots = no good.


Mira played some dress up, as usual, in her child bride attire. She did her hair herself. Pretty!


Mira proudly shows off the Easter cookies she helped to decorate. We'll be bringing some to her daycare tomorrow.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Mira and Amelia would like to wish everyone a happy St. Patrick's Day today. They celebrated the day at daycare by making St. Patrick's Day hats, and Mira got to have green milk for breakfast!



And for the craniocap news: Amelia had an appointment last Thursday and the therapist said her head has not gotten any wider since she started wearing the cap, and the back is rounding out nicely. She's very pleased with the progress. I asked how much longer she'd have to wear it, knowing we had about 8 weeks to go. The therapist thought that 4 more weeks will likely do it! Yay!

Amelia says "hi"

Amelia decided to say her first word this week: Hi! She says it and waves at you. It's so cute! She's crawling everywhere and into everything now. All doors are shut on the main level and if she's not underfoot, she's crawled off to see the sights in another room. Always exploring. She loves to make her way to the bathroom!


I think all the crawling she's been doing has worn her out, for she's slept so wonderfully this week! When she is tired, she whines a little so we know it's time for her to go to bed. I've never seen a baby so excited to be put to bed as Amelia is when she's tired. She'll start giggling and kicking her legs. We give her a pacifier and tuck a blanket over her. She pulls her blanket up to her nose and that's all there is to bedtime! Easy!

Mira has taken an interest in exercising with me lately. She'll do a little kickboxing DVD with me, then roll herself up in my floor mat. Makes it hard for me to use!


I saw some cool rain boots at Target.com a couple of weeks ago. They had about 80 choices, so I finally narrowed it down to these cool green apple boots! I take the bus to work 3 days a week, so knowing my feet will be dry this spring and summer is nice! Mira took the time from her busy schedule to model them for me.


Hope you are all having a good March. Spring is almost here. Can you feel it?