This is for you Chris and Weronika. Remember all those hamburgers we ate this summer? I was so happy to never have another one ever again!…..or apparently at least a for a few weeks. 🙂
Author: Alexis
Thanks for visiting! I'm a happy mom and wife who loves the smell of books, traveling and food. I like dreaming about alter egos, snuggling with Emma and going on dates with hubby,Travis. Pretty much anything creative I'm into.
I hope you enjoy my rants and raves and come back soon. Oh, and I love comments so please feel free to let me know what you think!
Home Tour: Master Bedroom
OK, here is our bedroom. There are always things we are planning on changing but who knows when that will happen.
We got the hand drawn picture on our honeymoon. It’s uncanny of how exact it is of Travis. Me- not so much. The books are all ones I’ve read and are my favorites. The pink frame will be spray painted silver.
This Narnia series is the one I grew up hearing my mom and dad read to me. I’m kinda really sentimental. We moved a lot growing up and I’m amazed it survived. I am so happy I have them and have already started the tradition of when Emma gets sick, we snuggle and I read to her from them. Special.
Next is a special beautifully bright picture I found at Goodwill. Love it and plans on spray painting frame are in the near future.
Above: The polka dot and white one were given to me by two close friends for my birthday. I have a scarf obsession. No plan of quitting.
Below: Travis’ side. His beloved orchid plant surviving alongside his books. I know you can mainly see me in the picture frame but it’s pretty much on of his most treasured possessions. It’s a picture of his dad and him when he was obviously a babe. Pretty special.
Next is my special quilt my mom made me as a child. I absolutely it, along with our comforter.
And the guitar was Travis’ dad’s. Very special.
That’s it! 🙂
Everyday Events
The ‘everyday events’ with Emma are the most precious to me. The dressing up and singing loudly in her closed room, her getting out ALL my Tupperware and making a birthday party for me or her playing with my hair with her plastic curlinig iron and blow dryer.
There will be a time when I won’t be able to get her to wear those princess dresses or hear her sing Sleeping Beauty using the wrong words. She will not want to immediately involve me in everything she does…
aaahhhh! Just thinking about that is making me cry. But I think this is EXACTLY the perspective I need DAILY. I need to remember this a special precious time we are living with her.
I want to wrap my hands around this time and release the need to say ‘no’ because something will be messy or inconviniant for me. Because this time is not about me.
And, there will be a time when I will have time for myself. When I will have things to do and Emma will have her own. But right now, our two lives are intermixed and…I absolutely love it. Molding a little babe to be an independent, confidant person who is constantly questioning and learning is the best job I could ever ever ask for.
These pictures are a perfect example. When she took out her ‘Molding Clay’ I said she could play with one color.
Woopie.
How could that be fun to a 3 yr old?! Well, obviously I wasn’t thinking of her but I didn’t want the colors mixing….right?!! Heck, I spent good money on those! ($1 store)
I then had this out of body experience and saw my controling-ness and what I was saying to her. I quietly sighed and let her go to town with the colors. All of them.
She mixed colors and made many animals, princesses and even poop! hahahaha
Playing with her, mixing colors and knowing they would forever be blended, I grew up just a little bit.
Chicken Broccoli Casserole
This is for you Laura…
I have had no real desire to make casseroles, but as I’m asked about my casserole recipes, it challenged me. Which I loved. I love being challenged.
Here is a basic in our house. And one I’m sure you had in other people’s house or growing up. Switch it up to add your own flare. Just scroll through the pictures to see how I put it together.
Basic Ingredients:
Cream of Chicken (mixed with water)
Canned Chicken (for the lazy days)
Broccoli (cut up then froze for dinners just like this)
Pepper and Red pepper flakes for heat
Brown Rice (remember to make more for another recipe later on in the week, like chili/fajitas)
Shredded cheese (for us salt lovers)
Just Cream of Chicken/Water/Canned Chicken and Spices
then broccoli….forgot to take picture of the rice and shredded cheese too….but it’s in there.
I didn’t have breadcrumbs. So I improvised with crushed up oyster crackers. Wouldn’t do that again. Just tasted weird.
And here is Emma’s reaction to me saying she had to take ONE bite. She later ate 5 bites for the promise of a treat with a friend we were hanging out with that night. Poor Snow White.
Enjoy Laura! 🙂
Cream Biscuits
Any biscuits I attempt to make turn out to be awesome hockey pucks. Yes, perfect for hockey. And no matter what recipe I try it was always the same result.
So I eventually resolved to buy Pillsbury ones and not worry about it. But, my friend Sarah told me she had a recipe that was good….and after looking at it- it looked quite simple…so I forced myself to swallow my bad attitude towards biscuits and try again.
Here are the ingredients: minus Belle.
Mix the dry together then add the milk. I substituted the heavy cream for some half and half and regular milk.
I had to add a lot more flour than the recipe called for- it had the consistency of oatmeal. And the saddest thing about this is that I ran out of regular flour and substituted the rest with whole wheat flour. Thus the color and eventually the taste. (not terrible, just wheat-y)
Just knead, cut and place. I used to worry about not having a biscuit cutter- back when I was actually trying to make them. My cutter has since been retired to play dough time. If you don’t have a cutter just use a glass rim.
I made these thinking they would take forever to make but it took maybe 5-10 min….the rest of dinner wasn’t ready so they sat and waited to be cooked. So when you try this- make them just before you are finished with dinner.
I served them pipping hot- not because I’m nice- but because I was nervous they would harden to rocks once they cooled. They didn’t and turned out OK. They were actually eatable, although very dense. Trav and I agreed they would be best with chili or something to dunk in.
Once they came out I spread butter on top and sprinkled with garlic salt. Everything is better with garlic salt. Amen.
Out of 5 stars, Travis gave it 3 1/2 and I gave it 3 stars. It would taste better if it was made wholly of white four. (But that is my un-healthy taste buds coming out). I’m not big on the wheat flavor plus the dense-ness is very intense. As I picked them up I was shocked at how heavy these are. I told Trav these would stick to your ribs and wouldn’t be bad in the cold wintertime.
However, these don’t have butter/oil/crisco in them. So how could I expect any light flacky-ness?!
Cream Biscuits
2 C Flour, 2t Baking Powder, 2t Sugar, 1/4t Salt
1 1/2 Heavy Cream
Mix dry ingredients together then add cream. if needed add extra flour till a dough consistency forms. Knead, roll out and cut in whatever shapes you would like. Place on baking pan and cook for 15 at 425’F.
***Try these and let me know what you think!!!******
Strength and Peace
I came across this verse by my friend Crystal and it spoke perfectly for today. Hope it touched you too.
“How do you teach Emma Preschool?! Isn’t she too young?!”
Some of you have asked me what I do for Emma and preschool.
“She’s so young, what could you possibly teach her?”
I use these people for a reference and go from there. So here it is, check out what I’m doing this week. (I section everything off usually into categories that make sense to me)
Our focus is week is the letter B. Here is our Week Curriculum:
To Read: Babar the Elephant (L.O.V.E him), Good night Bear, a Polish book for beginners, Care bears
To Eat: Bananas, freshly picked Blackberries (from our local trail)/ bread & butter/blue pancakes for the weekend
Art: Painting Bird picture Blue with feathers, Wet chalk Bumble Bees/Bubble painting (blowing bubbles onto tissue paper)/Paper Butterflies
Play: Buses/balls/Balloons with B’s written on them/ Beauty and the Beast dolls/Blue play dough/Blanket fort
Movies: Beauty and the Beast/ Angelina Ballerina/Care Bears
School: Learn sign language letter, ZOO field trip and see the Bears,Baboons and whatever B named animals there are/(sing) Wheels on the Bus, Baby Bumblebee and obviously the ABC’s.
*** We are also going through a preschool book I picked up at the Dollar store. It shows her how to trace things, follow directions, tracing letters, accomplishments, and eye hand coordination. She already finished her first book and we’re on to the second!!!
*Important: When she is painting for example, a few birds we count how many there are. Everything is not based off her learning her letters. Not only am I trying to improve her math skills, but she goes to church twice a week. Social interaction- check.
So here’s the deal. My goal is for Emma to finish 2 pages every other day. If not, OK, on to the next activity. However, today Emma was stalling her nap time (shocker) and chose to do some school work instead of sleep- the only other option. We reviewed the letter A and the sign language sign. She also(with no guidance) wrote her own A on her chalkboard. (I yelled, ‘YAY!’ and gave her a HUGE hug! She’s 3 and writing her own A’s!)
Then finished her book. (she really didn’t want to sleep so she finished about 5-6 pages. Most of it was tracing and drawing lines to matching colors and objects.
When she wakes up we are going to start with the letter B.
We’re going to read a book, sing a song (Bumble Bee) then have a snack: Bread and butter. In which she can spread the butter by herself. She feels so independent that way.
For artwork, she’ll color a picture of a Bumble Bee with wet chalk. (done outside) If I can get her to trace the letter B then score!
When we go grocery shopping, I’ll make it a game to see who can find the letter B, winner gets a blue popsicle…guess who will win. 😉
Weekends are school free and when daddy comes home, it’s party time! Daddy time is always more important than school. Amen.
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Hope this helps and let me know what YOU do! I am always open to new ways of teaching- I love it!! 🙂
real life
***********************written by emma**************************************
i am so glad some of you like my pictures my mom posted yesterday. i wanted to look pretty. 🙂 i even asked mommy if i could have purple eye shadow and she said yes!!! first time EVER!
but most importantly, i wanted to show you how pretty i look EVERYDAY. instead i get to chose what i wear. inside the house at least. so here is what you think i wear…
THIS is how i dress most days:
ah, yes. my beautiful jewelry and fairy princess dress.
once again, just in case you missed it:
don’t i look WAY better dressing myself?! 🙂
do you wear jewelry or flowers in your hair?
Photo shoot- Emma
I don’t pretend to be a professional photographer. I do not have the equipment or the education. But as I was looking at some photo shots, I thought, ‘I could kinda do that.’ So here is my attempt.
I kinda only had one model. And she’s too young to say no. 😉
and lastly,
I am limited with the photo editing I have now but I think it may be changing soon. (*cough, Travis)
What do you think? They’re not the ‘professional amazing quality’ but I’m pretty happy with them!
Happy Monday everyone!
placki z jablkami : Polish Apple Pancakes
This next Polish recipe is from our friends who stayed with us for a while. ( Hi guys!)
This is super great and simple too. I think the thing that took the longest was peeling the apples. I used this recipe for the cake batter and placed apple slices in the pan.
I added cinnamon to add just a bit more flavor. But next time I’m going to sprinkle them with powdered sugar first. Didn’t have a chance this time- they were all eaten too fast. 🙂
Hope you make them!
