Halloween

Obligatory and super cute sibling photo: 

My little bee and my wizard fairy.

Eliza chose the wizard costume when she was staying with her Nana and PopPop early in October.  It's a costume that Andy's sister wore!  Last night, when it was time to leave for trick or treating, she decided to put her fairy wings on and she called herself a wizard fairy! I loved how creative she was about it. It was so sweet. 

Then off we went to meet some neighborhood friends to go trick or treating together. It was so memorable. I have never gotten "into" Halloween very much, but wow, having kids and watching them (well, just Eliza so far!) enjoy it and get so excited about it... It has completely changed my mind about Halloween. I officially love Halloween as a parent. As a college student? Not so much, but now -- definitely. 

I can't wait to watch this little bee of mine grow up and pick out Halloween costumes!

It was a fun night. And after just one block, Eliza told me she was ready to go home - ha! I think she was so completely amazed at how much candy she had already gotten, she wanted to go home and look at it all (and have a piece or two, which we let her do - yes, before bedtime :). 

Then, today we asked her how she thought we should handle all this candy -- we'd talked about how our family shouldn't eat it all and how it would make our bodies unhappy if we did. So we talked and she decided it would be nice if we chose one piece of candy for dessert for a few days, and then daddy could bring the rest to his office to share with his coworkers. It was SO reasonable of her! I was really blown away. I guess I give her too little credit! She understood that she really should not eat all that candy, and she was even ok with it. So on Monday daddy will bring all the candy left in the house to work with him.

I am so proud of my big girl, and I had a lot of fun celebrating Halloween with her. Can't wait to jump into the Holidays with my two girls! This parenting thing just keeps getting better, doesn't it?

(Random) Picture Post

Eliza, my mom and I went to a little Easter egg hunt put on by the healthcare system my mom works for.  They had a waffle breakfast too.  Eliza loved it.

Eliza loves the poster in my midwife's office showing the growing fetus.  Here she's pointing to how big "her baby" was at a recent appointment.

Helping prime the basement walls.

Eliza and one of her BFFs Emma at the zoo.  These two are the cutest.

THE CUTEST! Right?

Dyeing Easter eggs.

The three of us on Easter (zomg I look tired...)

The girl loves her some Lush bath bombs.

Hugging the new carpet in our newly finished basement!

38.5 weeks!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We woke up this Valentine's morning to this scene:  

If I weren't SO OVER winter, I'd be thrilled.  At least I stopped to snap a quick photo though, right? Even my cold, winter-hating heart was warmed by how beautiful the trees looked.

Oh, and since it's Valentine's day, we got right down to the business of using that as an excuse to bake.  I had already promised Eliza we'd make cupcakes, so we got right to it; nothing like some hard core baking at 8am!  We used a new recipe and I must say, it was the best white cake I've ever made.  And the buttercream frosting was equally amazing.  It would have been absolutely PERFECT if I hadn't over cooked it by like 3 or 4 minutes (that really does make a difference!).

She actually *HUGGED AND KISSED* the mixer... it's her preshus.

What can I say? Buttercream frosting requires a lot of butter. 

Hard at work.

Decorating was most of the fun - BESIDES licking the beater, of course. 

Our V-Day garland; cake that we made from half the batter after a slight cupcake FAIL; V-Day dinner table (in the actual dining room and everything!).

I've decided Valentine's Day is more fun with a kid.  I never really got into it and it always felt forced with just hubby and me.  But now it's sort of fun to get into it and make it a special day where we talk about love and how much we love each other and how we show each other that - not just today, but every day... :)  It was a nice day.

Last year's V-Day was nice too.  But today was special.  Today was an opportunity for us to think back to just one short year ago and how different our life was then - it was right before the first of many changes began for our little family.  We lived in a different house in a neighborhood we were becoming less thrilled about by the day (to say the least!), hubby was at a job he absolutely hated and felt like there was no way out, I was unhappy in my PhD program but not admitting it to myself.   Now things are so incredibly different.  Our new neighborhood has exceeded our expectations in every way - we've made so many wonderful new friends, we adore our new house, hubby has a new job he likes (and even continues to get head-hunted by other companies now that people realize how awesome he is :), I have found immense peace with my decision to leave grad school and am much happier than I was a year ago, we have a second baby girl on the way... and not to be forgotten, our dear girl still brings us joy every day in so many little ways.  We could not be more grateful!

An annual tradition: Lefse! (And, a parenting lesson)

We continued an annual tradition this year when we gathered at my SIL's house to make Lefse.  My mom, my SIL, Eliza and me.

Eliza was eager to jump right in.  She wanted to do it all - roll out the dough, pick it up with the Lefse stick, transfer it to the griddle, and take it off the griddle.  But to those of you familiar with Lefse making, you know that it's a somewhat delicate process and so it was a bit challenging at times.  If I'm being honest, it was mostly challenging for me.  I'll admit it: my patience was running a bit thin that afternoon, and at the end of the day I felt badly for it.  I had been asking too much of her and got frustrated too easily when she would mar the raw lefse I had just rolled out, hit me with the lefse stick accidentally, get too close to the hot griddle, try to transfer a 1" thick piece of lefse to the griddle... you know... act like a 3-year-old.

When I thought about it, I realized that doing those things was the only way she would learn and get excited about these traditions -- by doing, trying, practicing.  I should have been more patient and should have channeled her enthusiasm into a task she could complete.  I need to remind myself of this, especially in my most frustrated moments.  I will do better next time.  I think I have done better since then... trying to let go of the little things, the things that do not matter (lefse, for example!).

Whew!  This parenting stuff can be hard.  Heh.

Anyway.  It was still a memorable, fun day.

And my mom took some great pictures!  Lookit!

Mom, displeased with how the new griddle is acting... cooking unevenly, and not hot enough. 

Lefse makers!  Eliza loved that stick.

Figure 1: lefse I just rolled out, about to get it from that smirking 3 year old wielding a stick as tall as she is.

Oh! And we also made rudolph cake pops that day!

A Shy Smile for Santa

The obligatory pic with Santa happened Wednesday at a gloriously NOT busy Santaland.

Eliza loved it - the whole thing - walking through the "North Pole" beforehand and seeing Santa's elves getting ready for Christmas, then walking through the Claus residence, and finally, getting to sit on his lap.  She was shy (ohsoshy) but seemed to enjoy the experience nonetheless.

We don't talk about Santa very much around here.  I mean, she knows about him, and has gleaned a lot of information from books, grandparents, friends, and some from Andy and me as well.  It's not that we're Santa haters, we just don't focus on him/it as a focal point of the season or as a reason to behave. The whole 'Santa is watching' thing creeps me out.  So we don't connect Santa with "naughty" or "nice".  She knows he'll bring her a gift or two and they will be waiting under the tree on Christmas morning, and she thinks he's a pretty cool, magical dude.  Oh, and he has reindeer!  She loves that.  So, for now that's where Eliza is with the whole Santa thing.  

How do you all do the Santa thing in your house? 

Eliza and the Pumpkin

 It started out nicely enough.  Eliza's first experience carving a pumpkin.  Aww.  Grandma was here to help, and Eliza dug right in.  At first.

Then...

What the...

I'm not so sure about... hmmmm...

Oh dear God, what is this atrocious substance!?

Put it away! Just put it away Grandma! 

And quit laughing.  

You people are not funny.

It started with cream cheese.

I wasn't going to do anything special for valentine's day.  It was turning out to be an average day in our house.  A homemade valentine's card for Dada from Eliza, sure, but nothing more than that.  

And then I remembered I had cream cheese in the fridge.  

Why did I have cream cheese?  Honestly, I can't remember.  We're not big cream cheese eaters around here... but for some reason I bought it the other day at the store.  I think I was thinking it would be a nice addition to a cream sauce?  Or something?  

Anyway, remembering the cream cheese, the thought of making a fruit tart popped into my head.  So, I made a fruit tart.  And then, seeing how fancy it looked, I decided I had to spruce up our dinner plans to match it.  So I made homemade red sauce and meatballs to serve with penne.  THEN, I looked at our table and decided to make it special, too.  Off I went, searching the house for every pink or red or heart shaped/themed thing in our house to decorate our valentine's day table (turns out I don't have a lot of that stuff...).  

It was fun, and made the evening feel really special as the three of us sat around the table to have dinner.

Hope everyone had a sweet day yesterday!

EASY Candied Pecans

I thought I'd share my candied pecan recipe in case anyone is interested. 

It is super easy and they are delicious!  Little jars or bags of these make great gifts for anyone.  It is a relatively inexpensive gifts to make, too, at about $2 per jar.

Recipe:

1 lb pecan halves

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 egg whites

1 Tablespoon water

1 gallon ziploc bag

In the ziploc bag, mix the sugar, salt, and cinnamon.

Beat the egg whites and the water into a froth. Add the pecans and stir to coat.

Toss the pecans into the ziploc bag and shake it around until they are covered with the sugar mixture.

Pour into shallow baking dish (I used two 9x13" pans) and bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Once cooled, put them into six small mason jars, tie twine or yarn around the lid and attach a little gift tag with the recipe on it.  I used store bought tags that I got after Christmas last year, but you can be more crafty than me and make your own tags!  Or, you could print these from the Pioneer Woman... 

Enjoy!

What we've been up to lately.

Making a gingerbread house

Learning to roll out dough... we'll try again next year :)

Making gingerbread men...

...and women!

Making little jars of candied pecans to give out as gifts.

Aren't they cute?

Making lefse with my mom and my sister-in-law.

(SIL learning how to roll out lefse.  It's not easy!)

Making rosettes for the first time.

So, basically, lots of Christmastime baking, and sharing in the buttery merriment with friends and family.
I'm savoring each and every moment.
It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

Creating Memories

We put up the tree today and decorated the house for Christmas.

Even though Eliza was having a day full of some trying little toddler moments... it was so special.

Grandma and Grandpa came over and we trimmed the tree, set up our Dickens houses, shared homemade lefse and a "frosty" (snowman) cookie, and watched as Eliza learned about traditions, the magic of Christmas, and hopefully, about how much her mama and dada love Christmas.

We introduced her to our special ornaments - the one that we had made the year she was born, with my favorite "classic" Eliza picture on it - the one from Nana and PopPop for her baptism, captain kirk and all his ships, the little glass sandal, and the pretty white bird, the stork ornament I got while I was pregnant with her that said "2007", which I used a sharpie to make it say "2009" (hey, it was only $2.50!), the little snowman family my BFF gave us when Eliza was born (I could go on and on!)... it was sweet.

It was the first of many tree trimmings.  I love it, and I love making memories with her - that's what it's about, it's all part of creating memories for Eliza, for me, for our family.  I want to make it magical.  I want to make it special and sweet and something she looks forward to, just like my parents did for me.

And now, I'm sitting in my cozy house with candles glowing (okay they're electric candles.  what?  I have a toddler!), thinking about the fun day we had, and how much I hope it was special for Eliza, too.

To top it off?  It's snowing!