Celebrate!

Sloane turned 1 year old on 11/29.  We had a birthday party for her over Thanksgiving weekend.  I went with an owl theme...they are so cute!

Invites

My sister made owl cupcakes and a cake

I had a mask and tiara decorating area

 Davis and Sloane

 I purchased little felt owl ornaments from Etsy for each guest to take home and put on their Christmas tree

Sloane with her Great Grammy

 sloane enjoying her cupcake

Still here?

** I started this post on 12/12...where has the time gone?**

I've had some people tell me I need to update my blog...and I agree!  I used to love blogging and would see so many opportunities to blog about...then we had another kid and we moved and my poor, poor sewing machine has remained in its box.  You see...I would blog a whole lot more if I felt like I had some beautiful things (besides my kids of course) to show you and right now I don't. 

Maybe I need to make some room for my sewing machine and get back in the game!  Until then, I need to update you on Sloane's 11 month picture.

This was taken in October!  Since then B and I went away to San Fran to watch the Ducks play Stanford.  We stayed in the City and enjoyed some great downtime, great food, and some fun in Napa!  It was our first time to Napa and we loved it.  We even joined the Chandon wine club.  Our first shipment arrived last week:

 

Sloane is now 1 year old!  I will update soon with her birthday pics.  We recently got a Mac and I have my pics split between this computer and the mac....basically I'm unoranized with my pictures and desperately needing to get it together.  I'm on Sabattical the end of January so that seems like a perfect time to me.

2 more months & CL goodness

2 more months of washing bottles!  Sloane just turned 10 months.  I realize she will still have a bottle before bed for awhile, but I'm really hoping she will be done with bottles throughout the day shortly after she turns 1. 

She is cruising!  Pulling herself up on everything and wishing she could walk around like the rest of us.  She'll be there before she knows it.  Yes, we keep asking ourselves if we should have another...whats this crazy talk you ask me?!  And from ME?! I know....we most likely won't, but we do play the 'what if/should we' game quite often. 

And here is another Before/After from my Craigslist purchases.  I wish I had thought to take a better before picture...but you get the gist.  We bought these Bella Casa chairs from an adorable couple in LO.  160 for all 4 chairs...with a little bit of lovin' these suckers came out HOT!  I love them.

Another!

One of my BF's turned me on to a great new cookbook, Peas and Thank You.

When I got it, I dogeared alot of pages.  I have been wanting some meatless meal ideas to mix in so I figured I'd try one while B was out of town..just in case.

First up...Spanish Quinoa.  Not only was it easy, but it was delicious.  Not sure I'll cook Spanish Rice again.  Instead of making something to go with it, I added cheese, black beans, tomatoes, olives, avacado and a little sour cream.  Kind of reminded me of a spanish Yum bowl.  It was sooo tasty and easy.  Just my style.

Spanish Quinoa

[Peas and Thank You]

I don't love the picture on her website, but check out the book.  You'll love it.

Serious Goodness!

My girlfriend turned me onto a new food blog...Food 52.  I tried a recipe tonight after the kids went to bed and I just had to share it with you all.  Its delicious.

One Pot Kale and Quinoa Pilaf

[Food 52]

I didn't have walnut oil and I only had a regular lemon.  Didn't matter one bit.  Still delicous and healthy.  B is in China..again, so I ate it as my dinner.  I guess if he had been in town I might have added a little bit of meat to it. 

Go on, don't let the greens scare you ;) 

Before & After

I have alot of "Before & Afters" with this new house.  I'll start working on them.  First up, is a chair that I found on Craigslist.  Ok, lets be honest for a minute...I hadn't thought to look on Craigslist. Shame on me.  But I have someone helping me with the house on a few things because I'm a bit short on time these days.  I fell in love with this style of chair at Mitchell Gold and a few other fine establishments.  Little did I know I could find it on CL for 75.00!!! 

We had a campout last month...in the backyard! Tent and all.  It was so much fun, and Davis did great.  Can't wait for the real thing someday.

And of course, Baloney turned 9 months!

Life is good :)

I was told..

that I needed a blog intervention.  Its not that I haven't thought about all the things I could blog about:

• the "before" and "after" of my craigslist purchase
• the "before" and "after" of the house rehab
• Sloane 7 month picture (which I didn't even take but thought about it the days around her 7month)
• A few fun excursions
• Girls weekend in CDA

I mentioned I forgot to take Sloane's 7 month picture, but I did happen to snap her looking so stylish in her bathing suit 4th of July weekend!  Ummm yes, that is a one shoulder swim suit with a polka-dot flower...gosh I love having a girl!

And here is Lil' Miss right after she woke up.  She is happy most of the time and she has got a set of lungs on her.  I found myself wondering if I yelled alot while she was in the womb...I figured I must have done something for her to think it is ok to be this loud.

Whats that you say?  You want to see my cute craigslist chair transformation and hear about my girls weekend triathlon?  I'll be back to share...after another intervention :)

Six

Sloaney B turned 6 months!  Can't even believe it.

I think she looks huge in this picture.  I'm trying to find all 6, errr 5 pictures I have of her in her chair.  Its clear I need to take more pictures of her and of Davis...who is a fantastic big brother.

I did happen to snap this one the other day when she was sleeping.  It cracks me up!

Grill On!

Hi friends!  Our weekends are busy getting the house in order...you know changing out light fixtures, mirrors, finding furniture, playing with the kids.  I finally tried a new recipe last night.  It was so good!

Give it a shot, you won't regret it. And not that I have to tell you this...but it was easy.

Perfect Turkey Burgers

[Food Network]

Whew...

Its sure been awhile.  I've been contemplating the purpose of this blog lately.  I started it for sewing projects and well...lets just say I don't have time right now for sewing and I don't have a spot for my sewing machine in the new house.  So either turn off the blog (is there a way to archive my posts?) or keep it up and have it all about the fam and food and travels and ??? Ohh boy, that sounds kinda boring, I mean is anyone reading this anymore?

I need to back track to 4/29, Sloaney turned 5 months! And in keeping with tradition here is her 5 month picture.

5 months

 Sloane started rice cereal and baby food this month.  She loves it.  I have decided to make her food.  I didn't do this with Davis, but I'm loving it and surprised at how easy it is.  My girlfriend bought me the Baby Love book and the recipes are the best!

Mothers Day! 

I don't have alot of pics of either of the kids right now. 

I think the move has taken a toll on me, definitely my picture taking skills.

Davis is hilarious these days.  All he talks about is Baseball.  The kid really loves it and I have to say (unbiased) that he is really good at it.  I'm bummed he can't join little league for a few years.  If anyone knows of a Tball program for kids under 5 let me know.  I'm not joking when I say its all he talks about...ie; "what did you dream about last night, Davis?"  "Ichiro and hitting home runs".  

New house?? Its great but its taken alot longer than I had planned to get settled.  Furniture/rugs are ordered for most rooms and we are slowly coming along.  I'll post some before/after pics soon.

Soo much

So much going on these days.  Just trying to keep my witts about me and not stress out.  You would think one in their right mind would not plan to have a baby, put a house on the market, sell a house and buy another, pack up a house, start a remodel, start their baby in daycare, return to work, all in 4 months....RIGHT!  A bit much right now.  But...it will all come together, at least thats what I keep telling myself.

Speaking of 4 months...this little sugar muffin is 4 months as of the 29th.

And since this is now a recipe blog (not really) I'll leave you with a great roast recipe.  Not sure if I've mentioned it but we buy part of a grass fed cow each  year.  I highly recommend it, you'll never eat beef from a grocery store again! 

Giadas Stracatto (Pot Roast) with Porchini Mushrooms.  I don't have to tell you that its easy, afterall I made it and I only make easy recipes.  Its delicious with a capital D!  Seriously your husbands will swoon over you...and lets face it who doesn't want that.

Packed away..

I was starting to second guess myself and my counting abilities early last week.  I kept thinking I had until 4/11 or 4/19 to go back to work, after all Davis was 4.5 months when I went back.  But something wasn't adding up so I called HR....sure enough I have to go back on 4/4.  I'm a mixed bag of feelings right now...excitement, sadness, anxious, nervous, and bummed I won't be able to hang with my sweet girl everyday!  She really is a doll.

I had wanted to get a few sewing projects done before we moved.  Brandon talked me back into reality and all my fabric, sewing machine and tools are packed away, bummer.

Since I won't have any sewing projects to share for awhile, I thought I'd share another recipe (what is this a recipe blog now?!).  I made this lasagna the other weekend, it was great and my meat loving husband liked it too.

Butternut Squash Lasagna

[Giada via Food Network]

P.S.  use Trader Joe's already cut/package Organic Butternut Squash, so much easier.

Stewing

Everytime I close my eyes at night all I can stew over is what I want to do to the new house and the area's that need tackled but I have no clue on what to do with them.  So there's been alot of stewing over the new house lately. 

I'm one of those types that would like to move in and have it all done from top to bottom, decorated and family pictures hung.  Kinda like those design shows....guess thats unrealistic ;)

I also wanted to share with you a VERY tasty stew recipe that we've been using for the past year.  I always hesitated to make stew because growing up my mom would make stew and I have to tell you....it was so gross!  No taste, chewy meat, soggy carrots, etc.  Sorry Mom, I know you read this, but it wasn't one of your better recipes.  I like to use good quality meat for this because I think it makes a huge difference.

Classic Beef Stew

[real simple]

Pass along any of your favorite design websites, furniture stores, lighting stores, etc.

Thats a record!

I updated this blog once in February! HA, what a joke.  Ohh well.  Lots has happened since my last update.

• The house went on the market and came right back off the market 5 days later.  2 offers later it was SOLD.  Bittersweet really.  I love this house, I love that we had our kids here, and I love the neighborhood.  But all good things must come to an end.
• We started the house hunt....that was interesting.  Instead of getting into it, I'll leave you with this.  Whoever says there aren't buyers out there are LYING.  There are, and the good houses get snatched up quickly, whats left on the market are crap houses that nobody has updated nor taken care of.  Catch a clue people (not you people) and put a little TLC into your houses.
• We purchased a new house in LO.  Great area and cute little house.  Its a bit 80's so we are going to do some updating before we move in.  The good news is the kitchen and baths were updated, so we'll just take care of the rest.  I can't wait to do before/after pics.  Should be fun.
• Brandon is in China for two weeks.  I'm lonely, I love having my buddy around.
• Davis went to Reno for 5 days,I miss him tons!
• Sloane and I are BFF's! Love this girl and she turned 3 months today (well technically on 2/29, which doesn't exist).
• Sloane decided it was time to sleep all through the night 11 hours...ok, that makes it sound luxurious...we've been working hard on this the last few weeks.  It finally clicked, now if I could just sleep through the night.

I thought I should take some pics of her nursery before we move, and because I had said I would have done that before I had her.

 

I want to take pictures of her in her chair each month.

Here is month 1...don't look for month 2, it doesn't exist ;)

Month 3

Just a few fun shots

 She recently discovered her tongue!



I'm here..

Just a bit busy with this

and this

I'd much prefer to be busy with the first one.  She is so sweet! I can't stop kissing her and snuggling.  Overall she is a great baby.  If you don't know me too well, I will admit that I'm a bit of a crazy woman about sleep and teaching my children healthy sleep habits.  Not sure why, but I am. I hired a sleep coach for Davis at 10 weeks and by 12 weeks he was sleeping 12 hours at night and napping like a champ.  Sure enough I hired a different one for Sloane, one a little less hardcore and its been working well.  Last night she slept from 7:30-2:30 and then woke up again at 7!  Thank you little lady, I needed some uninteruppted sleep.

Davis has been hilarious lately, sometimes I can't believe what comes out of his mouth...too much and always a good laugh (well the funny parts, not the sassy parts).  Three years old is a tough age, throw a baby sister into the mix and well...it can make for some difficult moments.

{Erica Cunningham Photography}

As for the house....welll we want more room and I think we want to move to the Westside.  Not deep into the burbs but somewhere a bit closer to work.  Its a hard decision for me, I LOVE the Eastside.

I thought I'd cover a few of my favorite things, since babies and house stuff is what I'm immersed in right now thats what its about!
FAVORITE THINGS...at the moment

I am a bit obsessed with headbands at the moment.  While browsing Etsy I found Lou and Lee.  I ordered one to see how well they were made.  It came yesterday...dangerous! They are awesome, can't wait to order more.

While on the subject of headbands, I also love these from Blooming Bows.

Ohh and these by Zuzii. 

These are my new favorite workout pants! So comfy and they make your tush look good (as good as it can be with baby weight on it).

Nike Dri-fit Be Bold Slim Fit Capri

(thats my body ladies!) J/K!

We received this for Christmas, we were using a $5.00 Mr. Krups before this (I'm cheap about certain things) and I gotta say, other than having someone from Barista in my house making me coffee every morning, this is the next best thing.  I can't drink coffee (sniff, sniff) but the hot chocolate is amazing!

And lastly I have to give some love to Marsha Podd. She is the sleep consultant we used. I just think everyone knows someone who could use one so why not share her details. No, they don't come into your home at night and take care of the baby, they use techniques and tactics to help your baby get on a good routine, sleep schedule and basically tell you how to do it instead of trying to figure it out yourself.    You can call me crazy, I really don't mind.  A happy, sleeping baby is a happy Meghan.

Got any favorites to share?