7 Months Old

This time last year, we found out we were having a little girl, and we chose the name Noelle.  It was a magical Christmas season.  And now we have our little miracle:)

Christmas time seems to make the joys more joyful and the heartaches more painful.  I feel so lucky to be at a happy place in my life right now, and my wish is for everyone to feel true happiness.  It is my prayer that with all the joys and sadnesses that can come with this season, we may all have peace through our Savior.  He is our Redeemer, our friend, and the giver of peace.  May we accept His gifts this Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!

Breckenridge, CO

Paul surprised Noelle and I with an overnight stay with a beautiful view and a sleigh ride in Breckenridge, CO.  It was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo beautiful.  

Noelle enjoyed everything except the sleigh ride.  It was 8 degrees (wind chill in the negatives) so we bundled her.  heavily.  So her little face was freezing, and she couldn't move her body at all.  It was a long 45 minute sleigh ride trying to keep her from screaming the whole time, but definitely a memory.  The next day we spent in downtown Breckenridge, checking out all the little shops.  Oh, so fun.

Big Day

Rockin' the high chair!!

Twelve/Twelve/Twelve

Happy 12/12/12 Everyone!  In case you were wondering, I was using a public restroom at 12:12 pm today.  Yeah, depressing.  I returned to the table at the restaurant and my sweet husband told me I missed it and it was already 12:13.  Ugh.  I guess life will go on.

Paul's work had a smashing Christmas celebration.  We took some family pics that turned out really cute, especially with the sparkle of the Christmas tree!

Oh my goodness, how much I love Christmas.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We went non-traditional and extra classy this year and had our Thanksgiving meal in Denver at a Golden Corral.  It was really crowded and actually fun!  The turkey and stuffing were pretty dang good, and the desserts were pretty dang bad.  :) 

 We spent the weekend in Denver where we hit up a nice mall for some SANTA action!  Who knew Santa was so expensive??  Good thing we did our Thanksgiving meal cheap;)

**Please note that Noelle is NOT crying in the Santa pics.  :)

You Should Make This Today.

I grew up in Chelmsford, Massachusetts until I was 11.  We had some good friends, the Tolmans, who shared this recipe.  It's a pretty basic cookie recipe but for some reason the extra ton of oatmeal, the shortening instead of butter, and the cinnamon sugar make for some GOOOOOOD cookies!  They have a hearty taste to them and people go gaga over them whenever I share.

Tolman House Cookies

3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. shortening
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs
2 2/3 c. flour
2 3/4 c. oatmeal
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
Chocolate chips (sorry I never measure the amount... just whatever you normally put in your chocolate chip cookies:)
Cinnamon sugar just for rolling

Preheat the oven to 350.  Mix the sugars and the shortening.  Add the eggs and vanilla.  Beat until well combined.  Add all dry ingredients (Some people combine them ahead of time.  I hate getting 2 bowls dirty, so I always just kind of stir the dry ingredients together on top of the wet ones before combining.).  Stir it together and add the chocolate chips!  It's a really thick dough.  Roll into balls and roll in cinnamon sugar.  Bake for 7-8 minutes.  The cookies will retain their shape, but the bottoms will be lightly browned when they are done.  Don't overcook- better to have these slightly underdone than overdone.  Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Half Birthday

Noelle on her half birthday:

She is 13 pounds, 13 ounces, and she is healthy and growing as she should be!  Yay for doc appointments that make you feel like maybe you are doing something right.  She has started solid foods and doesn't love them- they only thing she will eat so far is oatmeal combined with banana.  She is almost always smiling.  Love her:)

Purples

 I love these purple mommy/daughter pictures:

Meeting Tennessee

Noelle met Tennessee for the first time at the beginning of this month.  It was so heavenly that we ended up staying an extra week.  The only thing missing was Paul.

Go Giants!

Baby Swap!!  With Danielle and Everli

Rockin' uncle 

Hand made doll by Valeri.  Beautiful!

Grandpa with the babies

Human/Dog Interaction

Hat shopping

Perfect Picture.

You Should Make This Today.

This is Paul and I's favorite winter dish.  It's our comfort food.  We make it all winter long.  I got it off my favorite food blog that Diane introduced me to: Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  Yummers.  It's the perfect recipe- but I add carrots.

Chicken Tomato Curry

2 pounds chicken breast, cut into chunks
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 1/2 t. paprika
1 1/2 T. oil
3 medium red potatoes, chunked
4-6 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. curry powder
3 T. sugar
1/2 onion, sliced or diced
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (14 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, Italian style
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk

Season the chicken with the salt and pepper.  Heat the oil, curry, and paprika in wok or saucepan for 2 minutes; don't burn.  Turn up the heat to medium and add the onions, carrots, and garlic.  Cook for about ten minutes.  Add the chicken and cook another ten minutes.  Add potatoes, coconut milk, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and sugar.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 30-40 minutes until the vegetables are done.  Season to taste.  Serve with rice.

Additional notes:

* This is really good frozen and reheated.  Sometimes I will double it just to freeze a bunch.
* Brown rice is my favorite with this, but Jasmine is good too.
* I use McCormick's red curry powder that you can buy anywhere, and I haven't dared try a different one!  I just bought a giant supply off Amazon to cut costs:)

Enjoy!

First Snow

It's been snowing for a few days, and since we missed the first snowstorm here, this was Noelle's first experience with the white stuff.  I took her outside to see it:

The snowflakes were melting on her chubby little cheeks.  Oh, I am the luckiest.  

She woke up this morning with a stuffy nose and cough:(  We are just focusing on staying warm today!

Guess it's officially Wintertime with a baby!  

You Should Make This Today.

Another one of my mom's recipes that I'm making for book club tonight...  Mmmmmmmm...


White Bean Dip

3 cloves garlic
3 cans (15 oz/can) white beans, drained
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
1/3 c. olive oil
2 1/4 t. ground cumin
1 1/2 t. chili powder
Salt and Pepper to taste.


Throw it all in a food processor and process until smooth:)

Serve with pita chips and veggies.  Carrot sticks and bell peppers are my favorites.

*Additional note #1: Garnish with cilantro if you want.
*Additional note #2: You can use any white beans.  I use Great Northern usually but sometimes some Garbanzo.

5 Months Old

We celebrated Noelle's 5 month birthday this past weekend.  She is adorable and I feel like she is HUGE all of a sudden.  And she is made of 100 percent milk.  Weird.  

She is rolling around, laughing, doing high pitched screams, trying to grab anything in front of her, sleeping pretty well (some glitches due to trying to wean from the swaddle), and, after working very hard on their relationship, loving her daddy.  

We celebrated her birthday by going to baby hour at the library.  It was baby signs day, and while Noelle did not actually do any sign language, she couldn't stop smiling the whole time, and she was in some sort of I-just-spent-half-an-hour-with-twelve-other-babies-and-there-were-amazing-toys-and-so-much-to-look-at-induced high.  I took these pics right after and she was so exhausted but so happy lol:  

I don't know who's more excited for Baby Hour at the library next week- me or her.  Probably me:)  

Anyway, here are some exciting pics from her fifth month of life.  She sure is a cutie.  Pause button, anyone?