menu of the week

this is what we are having for dinner this week...

store bought rotisserie chicken, side salad- 'citrus salad', and multi-grain rice

lemon fusilli with arugula - this recipe is so good. it's light and tasty. we love it. it makes a ton. so i usually half the recipe. serving it with rolls.

chicken lettuce wraps lettuce cups, and fruit salad.

italian fish and veggie pockets - i dont even like fish, but this recipe rocks. you can use any fish you want. so i use halibut and it's yummy. i don't use the white wine, and i just add a little bit of water and a little extra lemon juice. and it's still so good.

and check out last weeks menu right here .

happy eating.

images - marthastewart.com

20...

this spunky, fun loving, vivacious, sweet, tender-hearted, adventerous, limitless energy, happy, little bear is 20 MONTHS old today!

it has been the best 20 months of our lives. and it only gets better.

xoxo

ice ice baby...

this is just one of the honker huge icicles hanging from the side of our house. makes me think of the movie 'a christmas story'...you know, where Ralphie gets his bb-gun for christmas and he takes it's out into the backyard to shoot it and "shoots his eye out", aka breaks his glasses and blames it on the icicle hanging from the garage. bahahaha. that's a classic!

well no bb-guns were involved today, just merely showing off the size of how big these bad boys get. kinda crazy how big they can get. brody thinks they are pretty much amazing and fun to touch.

happy wintery saturday from ohio. brrrrrrrrr.

You've got mail...

(love this picture...and YES his eyes are this blue!)

my friend Jamie gave the best idea a few years ago about getting your kid(s) an email address and emailing them. i totally did that for brody about a year and half ago, and i think that it's one one of the best ideas ever!

i write him letters to say hi, tell him how much i love him, tell him things he did, jot down things he's up to, adventures we've had etc. i especailly like going in and reading them and remembering some of the stuff we've done. it's fabulous. it's a nice way to keep a journal other than a blog, plus i am always checking my email, so it's so easy to hurry and write him a message.

so tip/suggestion of the day...EMAIL!

happy weekend!

momma bird...baby bird...

momma bird - baby bird - baby shower!

two of my fabulous friends and i got together and threw a really fun baby shower a couple weekends ago for our friend Kendall. she's about to have her first baby and it's a girl - and we are sooo excited to meet her!
























(nancy, kendall, jamie, me)

i feel so lucky to have such amazing friends and this was such a fun shower and i was so happy we got to celebrate kendall before her little bundle of love comes!

so now... let's bring on the baby!!

yum!

Okay, Okay...so i realized that in the past week, pretty much every other post is about food. seriously it's winter, people! give me a break. plus at least i share yummy food ideas, right? and then i had that great post about running! ha. i was talking with a friend last night about running and i was telling her how i ran 6.5 miles on saturday and then went home and ate cookies, please note it wasnt just 'a' cookie...it was COOKIESSSSS! AWE-SOME! what can i say, i run to eat! :D anywhos happy wednesday - it's hump day friends!

so without further a'do...

YUMMY LEMON BARS

crust:
1 c. butter
½ c. powdered sugar
2 c. flour
cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. add flour. press into a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden. [do not overcook].

filling:
3 eggs
2 c. sugar
8 T. lemon juice
zest from 1 lemon
4 T. flour
1 t. baking powder

beat eggs, sugar, lemon juice, and zest completely, making sure not to over beat. gradually add in flour and baking powder. pour filling over crust. bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, until edges are golden brown. cooking time will vary depending on your oven, altitude, etc. let sit for about 5 minutes, then sprinkle powdered sugar [using a sifter] on top. cut once cool.

happy yumminess!

tuesday...

happy tuesday!

menu of the week...

this is what we are having for dinner this week...

ham and cheese sliders, with green salad and fresh fruit

ginger peanut chicken lettuce wraps, this recipe is for salads, but i've tweaked it and make into lettuce wraps

taco soup, garnish with sour cream, cheese, fritto's and serve with corn bread muffins - this makes enough soup for us to have for left overs

lemon ricotta pancakes, breakfast for dinner is the best! if you can't find meyer lemons you can use just regular lemons, we will also have eggs with chives, grapefruit and turkey bacon

image 1,3 - martha stewart food image 2 - just cook already

say...CHEESE!

this is what happens when i tell brody to...say CHEESE....

i literally have hundreds (no joke) of pictures of brody's cheese poses. i love this kid. no really LOVE LOVE LOVE him. if i could eat him i would. good thing i cant. i think brody is pretty freaking sweet in all areas of life. i have no shame bragging about him... obviously. but he is SO FUN and happy and is the entertainer of our family. he makes me smile and laugh every single day, multiple times a day. he hangs with me at the grocery store, target, in the car, when we go to our mommy and me classes, when i clean and vacuum, while i'm cooking, while i read and snuggle with him... i mean we are pretty attached and i'm so happy about it!

"Look at me!

Look at me!

Look at me NOW!

It is fun to have fun

But you have to know how."

— Dr. Seuss (The Cat in the Hat (Deluxe Edition)

need something uplifting? read THIS

Chuck E Cheese...

where a kid can be a kid!


pretty much brody's face cracks me up! his look is like , 'mom seriously we are at chuck e cheese do we really need a picture?' yes, yes we do!!

so that's right, a saturday night at chuck e cheese! we were lucky to meet up with some good friends eat some card board pizza, play on fun germ infested rides and play tons of fun games, and have a really good time! it was brody's first time and he LOVED it. he was on the go for 2.5 hours straight and was in heaven!

some cheesy highlights of the night...


brody hanging out with his good friend Izzy


flying fighter jets


ohhh...gotta do that game next guys!!!





and pretty much the rest of the evening was spent playing basketball.

the bear loves basketball!

The 'Chuck' aka 'Chuck E Cheese' even made an appearance, but there were like 500 kids that wanted to crawl all over him. so we just waved and kept playing. good times!

thanks Leavitt's for a really fun evening!!

POM-POMS...

most of my friends know that i am pretty much obsessed with making POM POMS. i've heard that they are kinda 'over-rated' now and bunting banners are the new 'in' thing. but really i think you could use both at a party and it would be super cute. oh wait, i dont just use them for parties, i use them for holiday decor too. yup, i told you obsessed!

i am pretty sure i will always love my POMS! the last time i made them for a party, i was asked by quite a few girls on how you do them. i kinda wish i was the cool person who came up with this idea, but alas Martha Stewart had to come in and come up with it. okay, maybe she didn't come up with it, it was probably someone who worked for her and she claims the idea as hers. maybe? doesnt matter, thanks to her tutorial i feel as though i am a pom-pom pro. and you too my friend can be a pro as well! i just helped a friend make some tonight. so i figured nows the time to share it with you.

so let's make some, shall we??

How to Make the Pom-Poms

You'll need:
tissue paper and floral wire.

Step One:

1.Stack eight 20-by-30-inch sheets of tissue. Make 1 1/2-inchwide accordion folds, creasing with each fold.



Step Two:

2.Fold an long piece of floral wire in half, and slip over center of folded tissue; twist. With scissors, trim ends of tissue into rounded or pointy shapes



Step Three:

3. Separate layers, pulling away from center one at a time. take your time, so the tissue paper won't rip.



Step Four:

4. take the floral wire end and bend it to make a hook shape. get some fishing line or string or ribbon to hang pom-poms.



so so easy!! always make more than you think you'll need. because really in my book you can never have too many. just saying!

happy pom-poming! :)

*images - http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/article/pom-poms-and-luminarias

i look out my window and what do i see...

(a look from the kitchen window early this morning into the back yard - there's about 8+ inches now)

snow...snow and more snow that's what i see!

it's been a snowy day - so this evening before dinner we took advantage (before the temps get really cold) of all the fluffy stuff and put on our snow clothes and went out and played.


the brody bear

brody was wearing sweat pants and a long sleved shirt, thermal socks (yes they make thermals for little kiddies) his halloween bear costume, his beanie, his snow suit and winter coat, gloves plus bear paws and frog boots. he stay nice and TOASTY warm. he could barely walk. ha!





















brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! it was cold but we had so much fun! now i think it's time to plan a trip to the caribbean islands! :D

C is for Cookie...

or maybe it should be D is for Dough...cookie dough!

we went swimming the other night and then came home and whipped together some yummy chocolate chip cookies for a little snack before bath and bed time.

while the cookies baked, what's better than eating the dough, right? YUM! brody throughly enjoy the dough!


what?

do you have a favorite cookie recipe? this chocolate chip cookie doesn't disappoint and we think it's pretty much the best!



Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 cups chocolate chips (I use 1/2 white or butterscoth chips and 1/2 milk chocolate)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

Sift(or fluff with a wisk) together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

Bake for 12-15 minutes (depending on size of cookie) in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Eat and Enjoy!