Mama needs a new pair of shoes

 And by need I mean want. I'll be looking for some black shoes this weekend..here's my inspiration.

All pictures here

Daytime TV

Growing up I can always remember my mom and Granny watching their "stories" AKA daytime soap operas. It seemed to me that it was some kind of Mom thing to start watching soap operas when you had children and stayed home with them. This week I haven't been able to get into work much for several reasons and so I began watching The Young and the Restless and Bold and the Beautiful which conveniently come on during Molly's one nap.

I am officially hooked on my stories...if you are a stay at home mom, get lots of time off, or have TiVo...start watching. It's terrible but oh so good.

Christmas Recap

Merry Christmas!! Here is our weekend recap in pictures...

 

Here is little miss Christmas morning before we went to my Grandparents. The picture is terrible because she wouldn't stand still.

 Checking out her new Elmo books. I think we have an Elmo lover for sure!

Until Molly is officially walking, which I don't think is too far off, her main form of movement is still crawling. We had to tie up her pretty dress with a hair band, because she kept getting stuck up in it.

My Dad's sister gave Molly this little sleeping bag and as you can see it was a huge hit. Also note that we have completely ditched the sweet dress for a onsie. Much easier to move in.

And finally here is Molly in our living room chair...

 And here is Molly in that same chair one year ago...

 It's so hard to believe these little things can change that much over a year. It really is amazing.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!



Christmas Dinner

This Christmas I am fixing dinner for my dad's side of the family, which is about 15 people. I am all about simple, because it feels like when I try to get to creative everything gets away from me. It's not the most traditional Christmas Dinner food, I am not even close to being able to attempt baking a turkey yet, but hopefully it will fill everyone up!

Pork Tenderloin is pretty much my go to when I have to cook meat. Even when I ate meat I just never did well preparing and cooking it. I have made a similiar pork tenderloin in the crock pot before, so I am going to kinda of mix the two recipes together. Since we will be running around all day, I am not going to brown it first, so instead of using that as the liquid I am going to add chicken broth and a packet of french onion soup. We'll see how it turns out!

When I decided on the  main course and then picked some sides I didn't really include anything healthy so I searched for what goes well with Pork and here we have, Wild Rice. This one is a crock pot recipe, but I am not sure if I have another crock pot to use so we may be improvising AND I forgot the mushrooms it calls for. The forgotten mushrooms may have happened because I chose to go to the grocery store TODAY, Molly was a little wild and I ended up carrying my 20 pound child down about 3 aisles and got a "hurry the hell up" look from a woman while searching for wild rice. If mushrooms is all I forgot, we are good.

I found these little guys on Pinterest and they are my wild card. Since I am going to have to double the recipe and they have to be timed well to serve hot, these could be a flop. I am also switching out the gruyere and using asiago.

All of my aunts are bringing things and we will also have salad, so if there isn't something for everyone to eat then I will be shocked. Happy Holidays everyone!! 

Molly pictures are coming, I promise!

New daily read

I just came across this new blog Fern and Feather and I love it. My favorite post is about her first month with her second son. In the post she really captures how I feel about having a second child and how the dynamic of a mother's relationship with her first born changes. Of course there is always room for more love, but juggling two babes can be all consuming I would imagine. Geez, one is all consuming for me, as I experienced yet again today trying to run last minute holiday errands. Coming soon: day 1 of Molly's holiday outfits

Growing Up

photo: zulily.com

I think it's safe to say that little miss Molly has out grown her Baby Bjorn, so much so that her little legs kick me anytime we walk. I have been wanting to try out a sling like this and they finally had one on sale on Zulily, and I am sure it will arrive in approximately 2 months (I am exaggerating but, the one downside to zulily is that anytime you order something it feels like it takes FOREVER to get to you!) Hopefully this will be better for my back and allow me to have free hands. That child is all over the place now and I feel like I am the woman people look at in the grocery store whose child is backwards in the cart. Problem solved...well at least I think it is.

Just one year ago

Tonight I was searching through photos for some new frames and spent a good chunk of time just looking back at Molly's first year of life. On a side note, I sometimes still look at her and wonder to myself " Just where did you come from?". So I thought I would post a few from this time last year, which was just over a month after she was born (aka the blur, since brandon and I are convinced that's how people decide to have more children).

Exactly one year ago, funny since she was absolutely not having any part of napping today.

Just hanging out with her buddy.

Napping in her crib, which was extremly rare back then.

Long time no write

Things have just gotten away from me the last two months, but I am going to try to be better. Starting tonight with a must try recipe from my favorite recipe finder...Pinterest, duh.

Photo: Smashed Peas and Carrots via Pinterest

1 cup oatmeal

1 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/3 cup honey

1/2 cup chocolate chips (it calls for minis, but I had regular white chocolate)

1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients then place in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Take out and make into balls.

Seriously, I made these last night and ended up with about 12 and Im pretty sure half are already gone. So good!