project life–week 7

nothing overly exciting this week – although we have appearances by shane! shocking.

on thursday, my mom and I went to the showing of RISE at bella botega in redmond. I had brought my camera along, and thought I might get someone to take a picture of us at the theatre by a poster or something. but there were no posters and we were almost late, so that didn’t really happen. but on the way in, the ticket girl handed us each a little post card sized card with the infamous picture of the u.s. figure skating team, posing by the plane. it annoys me that I have to put it in sideways because of the way it’s oriented, but it was the perfect thing to go in the book for that day.

and that is week 7!

meal plan monday

• monday: leftover tacos
• tuesday: tater tot casserole
• wednesday: shane has an early soccer game, so likely OUT.
• thursday: spaghetti; salad; sourdough
• friday: pizza; green beans
• saturday: gone to rochester
• sunday: breakfast burritos

I would post my spaghetti sauce recipe, but I don’t know if I’m allowed to. it’s dave’s family recipe and I feel like I’m barely allowed to MAKE it, let alone, share it! LOL!

2011 week 7 in pictures

sunday:before heading back to the airport in oakland, we went to church and then had lunch with gramma jackie at olive garden.

monday:shane, practicing his trumpet. gotta be comfortable.

tuesday:shane demonstrating “the cocoon” method of watching tv.

wednesday:just a few loads of laundry…

thursday:

no picture, but my mom and I went to see the showing of ‘rise’ in the theatre, so I have the little postcard thing they gave out in the slot.

friday:poor sophie hates getting a bath.

saturday:dave bought me a shiny new wheelbarrow! micah wanted to help him assemble it.

that’s it. nothing extra this time.

white wine marinated pork chops recipe

this recipe comes from the weber’s REAL GRILLING cookbook and is my family’s recent favorite way to have pork chops. shane thinks these are the best food he’s ever eaten, and will generally eat 2!  i think layla asked for seconds as well, and micah pretended they weren’t on his plate… which is typical.  we’ve made them on the grill, or broiling in the oven, and both are equally good.

• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh thyme (I have used dried as well, and it works fine)
• 1 tbsp minced garlic (think I used a clove, maybe two)
• 2 tsp kosher salt (this was a little much. I think the second time I made them I reduced it to 1.5 tsp.)
• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
• pork chops (4 or 5)

whisk ingredients together in a bowl. place pork chops in a large ziplock and pour in marinade. seal and turn several times. refrigerate for 2 hours, turning once or twice.  allow chops to stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before grilling. remove from bag, wipe off most of marinade with paper towels and discard marinade. grill over direct high heat until barely pink in center of meat. (the time on each side will vary depending on the thickness of your chops and if they are boneless or bone-in.)

there’s a grilled red pepper salsa recipe that is supposed to go with this, but I’ve never made it. I think the chops stand alone pretty darn well. we usually just have them with salad or a rice side dish.

enjoy!

light n’ crisp waffles recipe - everyone's favorite!

i got this recipe from my dad. i have no idea where he got it, but these are the waffles i’ve been eating as long as i can remember. they are so delicious, easy, and HEALTHY! OHMYGOODNESS, i cannot help but go on and on about them because they are so incredibly fabulous! if you want to see my picky eaters eat, come on waffle night! i think last time I made these, layla (all 33 pounds of her) put away 4 quarters of a waffle. that’s one WHOLE 10 square inch waffle. (and yes, i did just pull out my waffle iron and measured it!)

anyway, here it is, without further ado…

• 1 cup flour (I usually do 1/2 white, 1/2 whole wheat)
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 2 tbsp baking powder*
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 3 cups buttermilk

put all dry ingredients into a bowl, break in the eggs, add oil, then stir in the buttermilk.

*the amount of baking powder is not an error, but is the secret of the crisp, tender result!

let the batter stand for a short time (15-30 minutes) to allow the baking powder to work. it should be of a bubbly-thick pouring consistency. bake waffles until they are a light golden brown.

if you have leftovers (i often double the recipe to ensure that i do), refrigerate or freeze them. they reheat wonderfully in the toaster.

we top them with butter and syrup – either maple or boysenberry (my personal favorite), but they’re good with jam as well, or fresh fruit, or plain even! enjoy! (how could you not?)

whole wheat buttermilk pancake recipe

this is a recipe I’ve adapted from my better homes and gardens cookbook, and makes a healthier alternative to bisquick pancakes (my personal fave). add fresh or frozen blueberries and i’m in heaven!

• 1 3/4 cups flour (you can make them as w/w as you want here. I usually do the 1 cup w/w and the 3/4 cup AP.)
• 2 tbsp white or brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (as i recall, this isn’t enough liquid… probably closer to 2 cups – depending on how dense you like your batter.)
• 3 tbsp cooking oil

in a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. in another bowl, use a fork to combine egg, buttermilk and oil. add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. mix. cook on a hot griddle until golden brown.

beef stew recipe

another taken from the betty crocker cookbook, but i mess with this one so refer to the disclaimer…

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic, pressed (or some good shakes of garlic powder)
• 1 lb. stew beef
• 3 cups of hot water (I probably use closer to 3.5 or 4)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 3 medium carrots, cut in thick coins
• 2 stalks celery, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1-2 medium potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 bay leaf
• *optional: 1/2 bell pepper of your choice; 1 turnip; 1/2 tsp browning sauce (whatever that is)
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1. heat oil in large pot. cook beef and garlic in oil about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown. add hot water, 1/2 tsp salt and the pepper. heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. cover and simmer 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until beef is almost tender.
2. stir in remaining ingredients except cold water and flour. cover and simmer about 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. (put the potatoes in last – otherwise, by the time the carrots are done, the potatoes have disintegrated.) remove bay leaf.
3. stir flour into cold water; gradually stir into beef mixture.  heat to boiling, stirring constantly. boil and stir 1 minute; reduce heat to low.
4. enjoy with bread, biscuits, or even dumplings!

creamy ‘italian’ chicken recipe

i don’t use my crock pot nearly as often as i should… probably because I don’t have a lot of slow cooker recipes that i really like. but this one is a winner (winner chicken dinner – literally)! i don’t know the original source of this recipe, since my aunt sent it to my mom and my mom sent it to me…

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (squeeze more in if you can)
• 1 envelope italian salad dressing mix
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened (this is important, or it will be chunky!)
• 1 can cream of something soup
• 1 can mushroom stems and pieces, drained (yuck! I never do this, but it’s in the recipe, so I thought I’d include it for the fungus lovers out there.)
• hot cooked rice or noodles

1. place chicken in slow cooker. combine salad dressing mix and water; pour over chicken. cover and cook on LOW for 3 hours.
2. in a small mixing bowl, whisk together cream cheese and soup until blended. stir in mushrooms. pour cream cheese mixture over chicken. cook 1 to 3 hours longer until chicken juices run clear.
3. serve over rice or cooked noodles.

obviously, this is not a low calorie dish! i use low fat cream cheese to help with that a little, and serve with whole wheat noodles or brown rice to up the healthy factor…

enjoy!

chicken parmesan recipe

i’m not sure where my dad got this recipe… i think it was in a magazine or newspaper back in the early 70’s. no matter. i’ve always loved it, AND, big news, you don’t even have to refer to my recipe disclaimer on this one, because it’s so wonderful the way it is, that i actually FOLLOW the recipe!

• 6 chicken breasts
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup fine dry bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 8 oz. cans tomato sauce (Actually, I do deviate a bit here, because I buy my tomato sauce in 15 oz. cans, so I use 2 of those. It makes a little more sauce, but that’s okay because we like to serve this dish over pasta and more sauce is better than less)
• 1/2 tsp. dried basil
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 6 slices mozzarella cheese

beat egg with water in a shallow dish. dip chicken in egg mixture and then coat with bread crumbs.

in a large skillet, heat oil; add chicken and brown on both sides.

mix tomato sauce, basil, oregano, and thyme. spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 glass baking dish. place chicken over sauce, overlapping slightly. cover with remainder of sauce. sprinkle with parmesan.

bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 30 minutes (or until chicken is done). place a slice of mozzarella on each piece of chicken and return to oven until cheese melts – about 5 minutes. serve at once.

as i mentioned, we like to have this over pasta… usually some whole wheat fettuccini or linguini.

enjoy!

homemade pizza dough (+ toppings) recipe

so, we’ve always been devoted papa murphy’s pizza eaters. a number of things drove me to the point i’m at now, of making our own, from scratch pizza. yes, it’s a little more work, but it’s healthier, cheaper, more convenient (no, really, friday afternoons are C.R.A.Z.Y. during the school year and picking up a pizza wasn’t the easiest thing to do with kids in tow), and we like it better.

the base for this recipe came from the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (a book that is interesting and useful, but I can’t really recommend it since I didn’t finish it after having my intelligence insulted a few too many times for not believing in macro-evolution, but that’s another story).  but, of course, i messed with it, pared it down a little, added some stuff, etc. to get it to the right amount of dough and the way we like it. 

here is MY recipe:

2 tsp. yeast
1 cup warm water
2 tbsp. olive oil
2/3 tsp. salt
2 cups AP flour
1 cup w/w flour
several good shakes of garlic powder and italian seasoning (or the spices that are included in it that you like – basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, sage – or whatever of that you like/have).

dissolve the yeast in the warm water, mix in olive oil and salt. Pour into a large bowl. in a separate bowl, combine AP flour, w/w flour and spices, then pour into the bowl w/ the water mixture. mix well with spoon/hands until everything is combined and dough is smooth and of a good (not too sticky, not to dry) consistency. i sometimes find that I have to add a little extra water at this point. if you are new to making bread dough, it will take a little while to get this part down just right until you know when the dough is how you want it to be. if it’s too sticky, add some flour. too dry, add some water. just a tiny bit at a time.

when the dough is right, form a ball, place in a bowl, cover with a cloth and place someplace warm to rise (40-60 minutes). turn out on a lightly floured surface, knead some, stretch out and roll into whatever shape you will be making your pizza in.  i use either my pampered chef stoneware bar pan, or my round pizza pan.

top however you like. i really like trader joe’s pizza sauce, but would love to find a good recipe to make my own, for canning or freezing. anyone have one they love?

when your pizza is all assembled, bake at 425* for 15 minutes or a little longer. watch for when the cheese is melted and the crust is starting to look golden brown.  slice up and enjoy!

SO YUMMY!!!!

homemade mac&cheese recipe

this was one of my FAVORITE dinners as a kid, although my mom now claims that she made it differently than the recipe she gave to me… I’ll try my best to make this recipe ‘usable’, but you’ll probably have to refer to my recipe disclaimer and accept my apologies, once again, for ambiguous measurements!

in case that won’t actually cut it for you, allow me to try and translate.

1. cook 2 cups of macaroni according to package directions. drain. put in 2.5 quart casserole dish or 9x13 pyrex dish. (I only use whole wheat pasta and actual elbow macaroni can be hard to find – although a friend recently alerted me that whole foods sells it. i use shells, rotini, bow ties, whatever the kids choose.)
2. in a separate bowl, combine 1 can of cream of something soup (I usually use celery), 1 can of milk (meaning you measure your milk in the soup can you just emptied), and several good shakes of the following spices: parsley, celery seed, onion powder, garlic powder, and basil. mix WELL with a whisk.
3. pour over cooked noodles.
4. cube cheese (I do this while the noodles are cooking). the amount of cheese is kind of hard to specify. i’ve been making this for years and I just kind of eyeball it. maybe about a cup? maybe a little more?
5. stir in cheese, making sure to get it well distributed throughout. this is also where I like to add some diced ham, if we’ve had it recently and have leftovers, but it’s just as good without it too.
6. sprinkle parmesan cheese and paprika over the top.
7. cover and bake at 350* for 30-40 minutes, until bubbly and all cheese is melted. remove cover for the last 5 minutes of baking.
8. allow to set for a few minutes before serving.

enjoy!

project life–week 6

okay, this is my most non-traditional week yet. I had some stuff that I really wanted to go in and I was trying to figure out how to make it all work.

but first, the beginning of the week is pretty normal:

my tuesday shot is of layla’s messy desk, as is. I have one from november or december of last year as well. it’s just kinda fun to see what she was busy with at the time.

on friday of last week, dave and I went to california for a wedding and a visit. we left the kids with my parents, and I left a detailed ‘itinerary’ for them. yes, it’s even color-coded! LOL. I can be excessively organized when I want to be. after we got back, I was going to recycle this, but then I thought it would be kinda funny to put it in the album. so into a page protector it went:

yes, it was two sided.

my next dilemma had to do with friday. I had a LOT of pictures from that day. pictures from the plane, pictures from breakfast with grandpa dick, pictures with nana, and of course, pictures from the wedding. I knew what I wanted for a POTD. I didn’t want to do a collage for it, because there were so many, and they were all from different, and unrelated stuff.

so I decided to do 2 big collages for the day. one from oakland in the morning:

and one from the wedding that evening:

costco doesn’t print 8.5x11 pictures, so I did 2 8x10’s. then I took a page of the 12x12 cardstock included in the kit, cut it down, and mounted one of the collages on each side of it. I put this in a second page protector, behind the itinerary.

and then went on with the week:

LOVE it. can’t wait to do more of this kind of thing!

and that’s week 6. Done! I’ll see you next week for another installment!

project life–week 5

back to typical:

but I love the things I’m finding to photograph. the picture of micah on the exercise bike is almost identical to a picture of me around that age on an exercise bike. I remember how much fun it was to try and make it go.

the latter half is kind of layla-heavy. is this typical of all 5 year olds? or is it just mine. she’s constantly doing something photo-worthy. maybe she’s just flashy. I’m aware of the fact that there are very few pictures of shane. this is not because I don’t try. for whatever reason, he’s reached the ‘don’t take my picture’ phase of life. every time he’s doing something photo-worthy, I grab the camera and he does something stupid to ruin it. I have a lot of pictures of him running away or ducking. maybe I’ll have to start using those. and then just journal about what it was he was doing that I was trying to photograph!

and that’s week 5.

project life–week 4

this is my first deviation from ‘the norm’. there was an incident that happened on tuesday of this week, that had quite a story, but no picture. you can read about it here.

so, I had layla (the culprit) draw a picture on a 4x6 index card to ‘illustrate’ the situation. I copied my blog post about he incident into a word document and then adjust the font and the spacing to make it fit on two sides of a sheet of printer paper, stuck it in a 8.5x11 page protector and stuck it in the binder.

the rest of the week is pretty standard:

and that’s week 4.

project life–week 3

nothing too exciting here:

and yes, that is a picture of project life! I find myself taking pictures of things I would have found very weird a few months ago, but when you have the ‘daily life’ thing in mind, and stuff your grandchildren might enjoy seeing, it puts a different perspective on things.

the latter half of the week:

I LOVE wednesday’s picture… layla walking home from the bus. we do this EVERY day, and this is what it looks like now. I’ll have to remember to take one in the spring, and again next fall. I also have one of the pull-out double size journaling cards, which I used to tell the story of layla’s new bedding, which used to be mine.

and that’s week 3.

project life–week 2

another pretty traditional week:

I have another collage for a little trip we took on sunday.

and everything else is just day-to-day life around our house:

and that’s week 2.

project life–week 1

so there will be a little backlog of these posts, but after this, I plan to do it weekly. most of the pictures in these, you will have already seen, either here or on facebook, and if you’re not remotely interested in project life and/or my progress with it, feel free to ignore this and any further posts on the topic.

this is the title page :

I had to start week 1 on this page because the first day of the year was a saturday, and although this kinda drives me nuts, it would drive me more nuts to either leave it off altogether (especially since it’s my husband’s birthday), or to waste the whole next week’s slots waiting for saturday to roll around again, and there’s NO WAY I was starting the week on saturday for the rest of the year. yeah, I know, I have issues.

the official start of week 1 -  nothing very unusual:

the latter half of week 1:

first off, I LOVE the picture for wednesday. every time I bake a casserole, sophie is my pre-wash cycle. no crusty casserole dishes around here! I HAD to include that. the other thing I want to point out is the picture for friday is my first (of many to come) collage. mary turned me on to the collage maker function in picassa. LOVE IT. I can officially say that this feature alone has completely saved my sanity. and not just for this project. I recently finished a more ‘traditional’ album for 2010 and used a TON of these. otherwise the album would easily have been twice as thick! it allows you to take the possibly many pictures you have from one day or event and neatly put them all in one 4x6 print.

so that’s week 1.

meal plan monday

• monday: leftovers
• tuesday: leftovers (we had a lot of leftovers)
• wednesday: mac & cheese w/ ham; peas & carrots
• thursday: not sure. soccer is at a weird time. may go out?
• friday: pizza; green beans
• saturday: tacos (if we’re home – might not be)
• sunday: breakfast sandwiches (or scrambles for those who prefer their eggs mixed together w/ the sandwich fixings); hash browns; oj

2011 week 6 in pictures

sunday: my little daredevil who is never intimidated by the fact that something might be out of his reach…

monday: ipods galore.

tuesday: the current state of layla’s desk.

wednesday:without any warning, or having ever been taught, micah suddenly announces, “mommy, a made my letters!” and he did.

thursday:micah likes to play hi-ho cherry-o, but I think his favorite part is identifying which one of us is which kid on the box. the boy with the hat, that’s him.

friday:dave and I flew down to california for amy and adam’s wedding. tons of fun, but such a long day. I finished the evening by falling asleep, sitting up, in a bar.

saturday:hanging around at the hughes house with a bunch of sue’s family that was in town for the wedding. jordan taught us all how to play a new card game.

there are also some 8x10 collages of shots from our trip, and one of the extras from the week.

just call me cinder*bleepin*rella!

hopefully you recognize that as a pretty woman reference, and don’t just think I’m being profane.

I know I should be packing and cleaning and tackling all of the 400 things on my to do list today, but I just have to take a quick break to write this down. I just had the most hilarious experience. I’m still chuckling.

about a year ago (give or take) one of my pearl earrings popped off its post. I have no idea why. I just opened the box one day and instead of being attached, it was not. so I’ve been meaning to get it fixed for awhile, but I’m a procrastinator. this would require actually DOING something about it. or worse, making phone calls.

dave and I are leaving tomorrow at o dark thirty for california, and I really wanted to be able to wear my pearl necklace (and earrings) to the wedding.

so I bit the bullet this morning, and called marci jewelry in bellevue, because that’s where the box says they’re from. (they were a graduation present a million years ago, which is why I have to rely on the box to tell me where they’re from.) so I called and explained the situation to the guy on the phone. he said he could fix them. he could fix them on the spot. and it would be FREE, because they were from that store.

seriously. why do I do this. so many times, when I get around to doing something I should have done years ago, it’s the most painless experience EVER, and I can’t figure out why I’ve been putting it off. some day I’ll learn, right?

so anyway, I grabbed the earrings, and micah, and jumped in the car to drive off to bellevue and get this taken care of before layla got out of school.

this is where it gets funny.

I parked my dirty minivan in the parking lot, grabbed micah and walked in.

I immediately felt underdressed.

severely underdressed.

so there I am, with my 3 year old, feeling very much like julia roberts in pretty woman when she goes into the first shop on rodeo drive.

well, except for the being dressed like a hooker part. unless hookers now wear warm up pants and ratty old college sweatshirts.

it’s not even that I was not looking up to snuff for bellevue jewelry store standards. I’m not even looking good for ME, and I don’t have very high standards! my jeans are all in the wash, I grabbed a sweatshirt out of the clean laundry pile that is on my bed. it happened to be oldest sweatshirt I own. it has holes and paint and numerous coffee stains on it. I washed my hair in a hurry this morning, before taking shane to band, and never got around to drying it. I did manage to put a bobby pin in it to keep my bangs out of my face, but that’s as much ‘personal grooming’ as I did this morning.

so I walk in and there’s a receptionist! I’ve never been in a store of any kind that has a receptionist! this lovely young woman was obviously well-dressed and well-groomed, and had more makeup on her face than I have collectively worn in my entire life! I had to chuckle. there was little else I could do.

BUT, she was very nice. she helped me right away, asked me how old micah was, asked me about my other children, etc. of course, my appearance has probably cured her of any desire she may have had to have her own children… the man, named john, whom I had talked to on the phone, was also very nice, and took care of my earrings right away. on the phone, he had said that I may have to wait 10 or 15 minutes for the glue to set, but instead, he brought them out to me, set in the box, and just told me not to wear them for 24 hours. I was in and out of there in 5 minutes.

I can’t help but wonder if they were so speedy because they didn’t want me in there any longer than absolutely necessary! LOL!

but based on my experience, how friendly they were, etc., I can definitely say that, should I ever happen to find myself in possession of enough money to afford anything in their store, I will definitely go back! I’ll just make sure to dress and groom myself appropriately!

my little genius

okay, just to warn you, proud mama about to brag. a lot.

micah surprised me this afternoon. I wasn’t paying close attention to what he was doing, until he suddenly said:

“mommy, I write my letters!”

I look at him, and sure enough, there he was on the floor, with a pen and a piece of paper, and he points to it:

“see? T. E. I.”

I about fell over. then I about cried.

then he says,

“I’m gonna write more letters. H. H. H. H. I. I. I. I.”

oh! I love this kid.

no one TAUGHT him how to write letters. a month or so ago, I thought it would be fun to teach him to write his name, or at least make an M. nothing. he just scribbled. I figured his fine motor skills or interest was just not there yet. no biggie. he’s 3.

really, up until now, he’s not done a lot in the drawing/writing department. about a month ago, he suddenly drew a bunch of smiley faces on a piece of paper. but other than that, not much that is recognizable as anything.

and then this.

oh, and btw, he did them left to right as well.

a very ferklempt moment for this mommy!

meal plan monday

I’m moving this over here. I don’t know what the plan is with the other blog. I am finding it kind of extraneous and annoying at this point. I’m a freakin’ idiot if I think it’ll ever make me any money, and, aside from that, why the heck do I need two blogs?

so anywhoooooo…

• monday: chicken cordon bleus; linguini; green beans
• tuesday: white chicken chili; sourdough
• wednesday: not sure. shane has soccer… we may go out after.
• thursday: beef stew; rolls
• friday: pizza; green beans
• saturday: hash brown casserole
• sunday: waffles; sausage

dave and I are taking a little mini-vacation this weekend to attend a wedding in california. we leave on friday, and my parents will be staying here with the kids (aside from various playdates I have arranged for outsourcing purposes). I’ll pick up a papa murphy’s pizza for them on thursday, and make the hash brown casserole ahead of time, so all they have to do is bake it. the waffle recipe is my dad’s anyway, so he could easily handle it, but I may throw, at least, the dry ingredients into the bowl so he doesn’t have to be scrounging around in cupboards, looking for things.

hopefully it’ll be pretty painless. I’m looking forward to the trip. not looking forward to flying. I HATE flying. makes me very nervous… I’m also feeling torn about the excitement of a weekend away (even if it’s not a super-exciting weekend away) with dave, and my guilt about not taking the kids with us… I’ll miss them.

2011 week 5 in pictures

sunday:there’s something in my hamper!!!

monday:layla’s new BIG kid booster seat.

tuesday:micah, trying to ride the exercise bike at my parents’.

wednesday:toby was eating and shane put this down over the end of his tail. he didn’t even flinch, just kept on chowing down.

thursday:typical layla. I’d been working on albums and had all my pens and stuff out. I found her in there, humming and doodling all over a piece of paper. happy as a clam.

friday:layla pinched her finger or something and needed an ice pack. I was fixing dinner, so I told her to go snuggle up with daddy, who was reading in the other room. when dinner was ready, this is what I found.

saturday:layla dressed up her fingers in polly pocket dresses.

my personal shopper

today, my family and I were in jcpenney getting our family pictures retaken (since certain little boys refused to smile last week). earlier, I had been asking dave if he knew what he was going to wear to amy’s wedding this weekend, and mentioned that I had no idea what I was going to wear. while we were waiting for our appointment, he suddenly said, “you stay here with the boys. I’m going to take layla to do something real quick.” so they disappeared for a little bit and came back with a dress on a hanger. “layla picked this out for you to wear to the wedding. do you like it? if not, you can go pick something else out after we get our pictures taken.” it looked like a nice dress to me, and it appeared to be the right size. and, he said that it was 50% off because they were having a doorbuster sale that lasted until 1:00. awesome, except our appointment was at 12:40 and there was no way I’d be able to go look at and try on dresses by then. so, on a whim, I said, “just buy it. who knows, it may actually work.” so he did.

we got our pictures taken and headed upstairs where I tried on the already purchased dress.

it fit perfectly.

I can’t believe she just pulled this off the rack!

I love it.

don’t you?

and btw, as I was walking around in the dress department, I was totally wishing I had a good reason to wear dresses on a regular basis. SO MANY CUTE DRESSES!

now I just need shoes… and maybe a bag… and jewelry…

okay, I’ll stop now.

my 33 pound waif

well, layla is a happy little girl. she has her very own GIRLIE, big kid booster seat.

we had a little bit of a dilemma. the car seat that layla has been using was a traditional 5 point harness CAR SEAT. you know, ages 1 and up. it had the little seat belt guides in it, so you can use it as a booster for kids over 30 lbs. that’s all fine and dandy, except when you’re 5 years old and a BIG kid, you don’t want to be see with ‘baby buckles’ in your seat. the other problem is that the arm rests on the seat were so high, she couldn’t reach the buckle to fasten or unfasten her seat belt herself.

so a couple of weeks ago, I put her on the scale. I wanted to see how close she was to the 40 pound mark. the magic number where you can ride in a backless booster seat. this is only magical because we happen to have THREE of these seats floating around. I did not want to have to buy another booster seat.

33 pounds. it’ll be awhile.

so, out of curiousity, I put micah on the scale.

32 pounds. hahahaha!

I happened to see that target had the graco full-backed turbobooster on sale, so I decided to just go ahead and do it. she was with me, and as soon as she saw the box that had the PINK seat in it with the pink and purple flowers and butterflies on it, she was IN LOVE. she begged for it. it’s non-girlie counterpart was BORING. tan. with tiny blue polka dots. blah. and I justified it with the logic that micah is only 3 and he already weighs 32 pounds. by the time he’s old enough for this sort of seat to even be an issue, he’ll be way past the 40 pound mark, so can bypass this kind of seat completely. so the hand-me-down thing was not really an issue. besides, layla will probably still not be heavy enough to NOT use it! haha!