Our V-day

We are not huge on celebrating Valentine these days but back in the day my hubby was quite romantic. I remember our very first Valentines day together. We had been together for about 5 months and he made me a 3 course meal, got me a single rose, made me a "mix CD" of some special songs, and then after dinner we went to a cafe and talked for a looong time. It was the best date ever. And I know that is the day I fell in love with my husband!! Since Valentines Day has been kind of special to me but time goes on and kids come in to the family and we just don't really celebrate it any more. Not like we used to any way. This year was nice though. I woke up to these tulips! When we were first together I told Peter my favorite flower was tulip because I really didn't know what my favorite was. Tulips are nice but they are def not my favorite, so now its kind of a joke that tulips are my fave. It was sweet. Then he got a little mini one for his other Valentine, Noni girl! She loved it and is so excited to take care of it. We did go out to a Sweetheart Banquet which was nothing super romantic or anything but it was an outing and dinner with no kiddos which is always nice. It was nice to focus on our marriage and the love that we have that sometimes we take for granted. I am so thankful for my Valentine!!

Dinner time

He is still cooking! The past few days he was not feeling well and hasn't made dinner and man I miss it. Since he makes a meal plan each week I know whats coming and look forward to it! He enjoys all the tediousness of the recipes he has been making which is what I can't stand right now. Since he has been cooking we have been eating more "real" food. I must say I was getting pretty lazy and we would have at least one freezer meal a week simply because it was easy but not any more. He is doing such a good job at making a variety of different foods. Yes some meals are quite heavy but some meals are not. Heres some of the most recent dishes... -Ham Steak with Peters homemade sauce, Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Corn- -Grilled Pork Adobado with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Guaijollo Salsa- -Italian chopped Salad with Prosciutto and Parmesan- -Cornmeal crusted Chicken stuffed with sausage and goat cheese, Pommes Anna potatoes and Creamed Kale- (sooo yummy) -Avocado Mango Salad with Blue cheese, Bacon and toasted pumpkin seeds- -gluten free Crab cakes and Carrot Slaw- (He wants to try all different versions of crabcakes which is fine with me because I never can order them out since they always have bread crumbs in them. Noni actually ate one too!) -Chicken Pad Thai- (one of my favorites)

Winter days

Well we are surviving winter but its been a rough few weeks. We have passed around atleast two viruss to each memeber of the family and a cold. We are doing much better now but it seems like somebody always has something going on. A whiney teething mamas girl does not help these winter days at all. We have been staying home quite a bit in order to avoid getting sick and getting others sick and the girls (including me) don't handle the cold too well so the less outdoors the better right now. So we play! We play dress up, baby dolls, "resteruant", we do lots and lots of coloring and crafts and although I do not cook right now I have done some baking. I have been able to complete some sewing projects and scrapbooking which I really enjoy. Oh and I have watched quite a few old movies that I haven't watched in a long time. The winter days have some benefits to them. :) I am not trying to rush it because in about 8 weeks baby #3 will be joining us and we will have lots of changes going. I will do my best to savor these winter days as best I can!! ....................................................................

Pretending to go swimming...while its snowing outside. :)

This was a "princess castle" we built in the living room!

Having fun in the snow...for all of 5 minutes. Evey hates being out in the snow.

*dress up*

32 weeks tomorrow!

More foodies!

So hes still cooking!! And I am still loving it. He has made all kinds of things and some are fantastic and some are not but it is all good and edible. He has even made and eaten vegetables that he usually will not eat. (I am very proud of him) He makes a meal plan on Friday night for the week ahead and we go grocery shopping as a family either Saturday or Sunday. Which may not seem like a fun family outing but for this time of the year its as fun as it gets. We have been eating a lot of potatoes here of late because Peter got me a potato cook book for Christmas called "One Potato Two Potato". He got it for me because potatoes are my fave food. Seriously I could eat potatoes every single day. Love them! So although I am not using it right now Peter is and I couldn't be happier. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Cheeseburgers, Potatoes roasted in salt and corn

~Red Chili Chicken, Rice and Black Beans

~Salmon and Cucumber, Caper Potato Salad

~Smoked Turkey, Tomato, and purple cabbage sandwich with homemade frenchfries (these french fries may not look like anything special but they had to be cut then soak in water in fridge for 2hrs then fry for only 2 min and sit then fried again, it was alot of steps)

~ Fettuccine Alfredo with Sweet and Sour cabbage

~Potato and Rutabega Soup with Fried Leeks on top

~Grilled Chicken Salad with Fresh Guacamole

~Teriyaki Beef Sandwiches with fresh Guacamole

~Chicken Banana Curry and Rice with Sauteed Broccoli and Tomato ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sick days

It all started last Monday in the middle of the night. My Noni girl started throwing up at about 4am and continued to throw up every half hour or so until about 9am. It was our last day to see my in-laws while they were here visiting and we had to change plans a little.

Noni did so well with it, she just kept saying "I don't like being sick" "this is not fun" and "I don't like throwing up." So cute and so hard because there is only so much mama can do for her and she just doesn't understand why she feels like this. She gets really mellow and sweet when she is sick which is kind of nice.

She started doing much better by that night but the next morning she woke up with a stuffy nose. Which then proceeded to be a soar throat and then a full on cold. More change of plans and days at home. Being the close family that we are it was inevitable for Peter and I not to get it and by the weekend we both had it full on. Uhg. And it is lingering like crazy. Today is the first day that I feel good. Its still not 100% gone but I feel better. Its been an entire week and Noni is still coughing and sniffling. I think Peter is better but definitely still sniffly.

It has been 10 days in a row that I have been home. Now I have run small errands like grocery store, library, midwife appt, the necessities but no outings for pleasure. This is a big deal for me. Although I am beginning to crazy I have enjoyed my time at home. Forced or not. At the beginning when I wasn't sick I got a lot done. It's been good to have these days at home with my girls even though we are sick and a bit cranky at times, they find joy in simplest things.

Me and my sweet sweet girls!!!

New House Chef

So 2 weeks ago my Petey came home and after me 20 questioning him about what I should make for dinner he says "I would cook dinner every night if I didn't have to touch a single dish." And I said "DEAL." I will do dishes all night long if I don't have to cook. Cooking dinner has been such a stressful thing for me lately. I'm indecisive as it is and then being pregnant makes me pickier. I don't eat just for the sake of eating, I want to eat something I am hungry for. My cooking has gotten very boring these past few months and although my husband has been kind and not complained he has offered to make dinners here and there in order to have some variety. We used to cook dinner together every night when we first got married and we would be in the kitchen for a good 2 hours or more just cooking and being together, but now a days that is not possible. The less time in the kitchen the better.

{Noni seems to enjoy daddys cooking. She is his little helper in the kitchen} He got out our cookbooks and wrote down a whole list of dishes he wants to make, made a meal plan and a grocery list and all last week and this weekend he has made dinner. I do the dishes and load the dishwasher although while he is cooking he does keep up with them and puts stuff in the dishwasher when hes done with it. I also help set the table and entertain the girls while he's cooking and get things done. It has been wonderful to not have to cook and he has fed me well. Petey is an amazing cook. Everything he makes is delicious! Here is what we have had so far.

Chicken with a Tarragon Cream sauce and creamy polenta

Sausage Gravy, Scrambled Eggs and home fries

Mexican beans with Chorizo and greens

Sauteed Chicken with Fennel and Rosemary and Roasted Potatoes and Turnips

Shredded beef sandwich with French dip, Horseradish carrots and Perogies (him and Noni had the perogies but I had left over turnip and pot)

Kung Pau Chicken and Rice

Chicken salad with Greek Yogurt dressing and Gratin Dauphinoise Yumm! We have eaten alot of chicken because we love it and because we have a chicken cookbook. That is one thing he said it is hard to come up with variety. It is a sweet deal and will not last forever I am sure but I am going to enjoy it while it lasts. :)

My resolution.

I decided I wasn't going to do the whole resolution thing this year. With 2 almost 3 babes to take care of and entertain, a hubby and a house to take care of I have a lot of things to "DO" so adding any more specific goals to my to do list would just stress me out right now. Plus there is going to be a lot of changes/adjusting in the year ahead so who knows what all of that will hold. That being said, this morning when I was journaling and talking to God I felt Him say, SMILE! You need to smile more!! Yes it is a very simple thing but for me it is huge. I am not always a smiley, cheery, person and I let things throughout my day bother me and get me frustrated and not happy. And although I don't thing God wants me to change who I am completely a little smile is only going to brighten my day. I need to let "things" go quicker and not let them bring me down. And I need to *smile.* :) A little side note... when we were in Toronto at the School of Ministry we had a speaker who talked to us for an entire session about smiling and how it releases endorphins and by smiling there is something going on chemically inside of your body and it really can be powerful. Our homework was to smile for at least one minute straight. Go ahead try it... SO instead of looking ahead and making a big plan for my year I am going to take each day as it comes and give it my best effort. And I am going to *SMILE* more!