Reminiscing

I've got baby girl on the brain this weekend. Our friends had their baby girl, Sydney Grace on Saturday. They delivered at the same hospital that we gave birth in almost a year ago. It makes me think about what they are and will be experiencing over the next few days. Such a precious time.

Also on Saturday, my sister Lindsey got to see her little one through ultrasound. They found out that they will be having a little girl. So Sophi is very excited to meet her cousin Ruthie in March (maybe even February). :)

This picture, first of all, is the clearest ultrasound picture I have ever seen. Also, it makes me fall in love a bit. I am so excited to have a new little niece. And she already has a whole wardrobe just waiting for her to be born.

Much love!

Can I just say it was ridiculously hard to pick out these photos. There were so many good ones to choose from. Once again, Emily did a fabulous job.


I love our little family.


I love seeing my wonderful husband become a wonderful daddy.


I love our beautiful baby.


I love seeing her explore her world (and think it over apparently).

I love her many expressions.


And I love that scrunched up little nose.


Somehow, she even made me love pictures that I'm actually in. Maybe it's just the accessory.

More house pictures

Guest room (not yet painted - we did not pick that color!)
Dining room with our awesome huge table that seats eight.


Dining room again...
... with the awesome piece of art that my brother, Matthew, created. Who, coincidentally, had a birthday today! (You can see more of his work here.) Happy birthday! Too bad you don't read my blog or you might see this shout out.

It is amazing how much work we have done on the house and how much is still left to do. I don't mind so much that there are projects left - I guess that comes with owning your own place - but I'm ready for all the half finished stuff to be complete. One of these days. :)

Crockpot cooking

I love, love, love cooking with my crockpot. My friend Miranda, posted about crockpot cooking and inspired me to share some of my favorite recipes. Most of the ones I use involve chicken & sauce served over rice or noodles. But now that the weather is turning cooler, I may branch out to some soups. My favorites come from this cookbook (and I've only tried one that we didn't really like).

Cream Cheese Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 T. butter, melted
1 (10 oz) can cream of chicken soup
1/3 c. cooking sherry
2 T (1 pkg) dried italian salad dressing
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese

Place chicken in sprayed, slow cooker. Brush (or drizzle) with melted butter. Add remaining ingredients. (Mix first, for a smoother sauce.) Cook on Low 6-7 hours. Serve over egg noodles.

Apricot Chicken
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 (12 oz) jar apricot preserves
1 (8 oz) bottle Catalina or French dressing
1 pkg dry onion soup mix
1/4 cup water

Place chicken in sprayed, slow cooker. Combine remaining ingredients and stir well. Cover chicken with sauce mixture. Cook on Low 5-6 hours. Serve over rice.

Creamy Salsa Chicken
4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 (1 oz) pkg dry taco seasoning mix
1 cup salsa
1/2 cup sour cream

Place chicken in sprayed, slow cooker. Add 1/4 cup water. Sprinkle taco seasoning mix over chicken and top with salsa. Cook on Low for 5-6 hours.

When ready to serve, remove chicken breast and place on platter. Stir sour cream into salsa sauce and spoon over chicken.

Review: Venom & Song

You may or may not remember that I received a book to review through Booksneeze. I am very excited to write my first review (and add a new book to our collection.)


Venom and Song
The Berinfell Prophecies: Book 2
by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper

This is the second book in a series about seven, elven lords of Allyra. Returning to Allyra after 13 years of taking refuge on earth, the young elven lords are thrown into training and battle preparations. Still coming to terms with their new future and struggling to master their special powers, the lords must conquer challenges from without and within. They must unlock the key of the Rainsong in order to prevail over the evil Spider King and time is running out.

The story had adventure, suspense and humor. I was drawn into the world of Allyra and had trouble putting it down a few times. Allyra is created well. There is enough similarities to our own world that it is easy to picture with enough differences to get a feel for somewhere completely foreign. The characters have realistic flaws and the authors did a good job showing their growth through the story.

My biggest issue with the story was that the number of characters was hard to keep up with. There are seven main characters in the elven lords, plus the adults who are their protectors, plus the main characters on the enemy side. It was hard to keep straight sometimes. This book is number 2, but even after reading the first book I still got mixed up. The character index in the front did help, but when you're in the middle of a chapter you don't want to have to flip back to it all the time.

I wouldn't call it a must read, but if you are a fan of fantasy fiction you would probably enjoy this series.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com bloggers book review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission.

My little rockstar

A little woolgathering

• Baby bed-head is so cute. (Much more fun than my crazy morning hair.)
• I can't decide if I am glad that summer is hanging on so long or not. But if this means fall is non existent I will be very upset.
• I'm aware of a lack of anything deep on my blog. I would like that to change, but in some ways it is a reflection of my life right now.
  
• I finally got around to doing those dishes that I planned to do on Tuesday. Can I be proud of myself for that?
• Little girl's pajamas are way to expensive. I think I need to go yard-saling soon.
  
• I have not been a good girl when it comes to eating this week. But so far I have lost seven pounds! I really need to go grocery shopping so I can actually cook a meal sometime.
  
• I've been enjoying some much needed time with friends this week. Girl's night on Tuesday, lunch today, breakfast tomorrow. Sometimes it's encouraging just to have some girl talk.
• Excited to find out next week if I'll be getting a niece or nephew. (One of each works for me too.)
• Confession - I used the thesauras because "thoughts" seemed like too boring of a title. However, the definition of woolgathering is "indulging in wandering fancies and purposeless thinking". The second part is right on.
• Week of TV premier's. Wish I didn't love it so much, but I'm most excited about NCIS (and LA) and Survivor.
• We had gotten way to comfortable just mostly unpacked. I am soooo not motivated to finish painting, organizing, and emptying boxes. But one day it will happen.

This whole post is pretty pointless (aka purposeless). But I don't want you to feel like it was a waste of time or anything. So I am sandwiching the randomness between two cute pictures of Sophi. See? That's better.