We're featured! NOW

Look who's featured on the creative blog Noodles on the Wall: Creative Moms taking on the Creative. I'm so honored! Enjoy!

A happy, happy birthday!

Piper Lou: The big 6!

ChuckECheese with her favorite girls-Maddie and Tallie-and her BFF Jaelyn. Nana Bethie and pops had their fill of fun too!

Red Velvet Cake (with pink cream cheese frosting and sprinkles) was the birthday girl's request. Click the link from Divas Can Cook (Red Velvet Cake recipe) for this amazing recipe. The coffee, buttermilk, and vinegar made it the most tasty and moist red velvet I've had so far.

And some topless painting to end the day! We didn't want to get dirty; but soon our hands and bellies were covered.

Piper the Gymnst

A Splash of Color

Look at this belated beauty that just arrived. Piper immediately pulled out our "Little Bo Peep" tea set so we can break-in my new gift from JM. Blueberries and organic ginger peach tea from Trader Joe's await us (Thanks Auntie Jess for the tea!)

Baby Boden: Baby Love

Christmas present from Aunt Jess: a new dress!

Three's Company

She can't get enough of the big girls' Bitty Babies. Guess what she might be getting for her 2nd birthday?

The Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

I just finished reading The Pioneer Woman: From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. Thanks to a good friend for recommending the easy read about Ree’s (you know, the famous Ree Drummond who has been featured on Cooking Network and has a gazillion amazing recipes all involving a ridiculous amount of butter and/or oil) transition from city life in L.A. to a ranch with her one, true love. Her humor had me crying and her recipes had my mouth watering. Plus, her love story is inspiring. I recommend the read, but after today, I highly recommend her cinnamon rolls too! The coffee maple frosting is incredible.

And these pictures are using just half the batch of dough!

Butternut Squash Soup with Shrimp

Now that I'm in my second trimester and feeling much better (I've actually purchased and prepared meat for my family again this month and ditched the Crispix and raspberries routine for supper), I have some seasonal cooking to catch-up on. I realize that squash was in season last October, but I have to at least prepare one dish since I missed out on some of the great autumn foods. If you can't get your hands on fresh sage this time of year, you can substitute rosemary or poultry seasoning in its place. The cayenne adds a little bit of bite; the shrimp and diced squash give it a nice texture (as opposed to other butternut squash soups I've had that are pureed and the texture does not suit my family's palette). Enjoy! Butternut squash soup with shrimp

Lemony Pasta with Goat Cheese and Spinach

Thanks to Everyday Food, Martha's ingredients were such a fun splash of color to my grey and so very cold day (low of -11 and high of 10 degrees). I probably won't make this for my family again, but for a group of girlfriends, it will be a go-to.

 

Click here for a link to the recipe: Lemony pasta with goat cheese and spinach.

Dream Boards

It became tradition several years back to gather my good girlfriends over some wine and apps and make 'dream boards' after the start of each new year. As we cut away from favorite magazines whatever captured our attention, whether it be pretty, well-planned, or stream of consciousness, each of us always found some theme emerge on our boards, intended or not. My favorite thing making 'dream boards' was the time chatting with good friends and then, in the end, standing over each others' boards and getting to know each other that much better. I was always surprised by the results, especially mine.

Last year, I began doing this with my two oldest girls-Piper (5) and Natalie "Tallie" (4). Yes! Tallie was 3 when we started, but she's a whizz with the scissors and it's so fun to have them all to myself for several hours (while Madeline naps) as they cut frantically from their favorite "American Girl," "Land of Nod," or my latest home, travel, or food magazines and then watch them as they find something the other would love and pass the picture across the table. (Tallie cutting out a sewing machine for Piper because she knows I've promised to teach Piper to sew when she turns 6 or Piper cutting out a ballet outfit for Tallie because Tallie is an amazing little ballerina, in my completely biased opinion). When we're done gluing our pictures to poster board, we Mod Podge over them to protect them, explain our boards to each other, and display them on our laundry room wall for the year until we replace it with the next year's creations. I imagine the explanations will mature a tad and give me more insight into who the girls are becoming in the years ahead, but for now Piper explains: "...and this is for my American Girl doll (that she does not have) to wear when we go to gymnastics together."

All I Want for New Year's...

So, night number two of tooth-pulling and Piper is now sans her two front teef. Pretty cute.

Top tooth

In exchange for a bribe of Dairy Queen, Piper finally let her mama pull her first of two very loose front teeth.