poor little thing! ...is it bad that it made me giggle???

So, we are potty trained pretty much all day every day now.  During naps and bedtime she still wears a pullup though.  Except for some days when she absolutely insists on wearing panties for her nap.  Like this day...

She woke up with poop in her panties, obviously started to come and get me to help her, but didn't make it very far! She slept at the top of the stairs like this for an hour!!!

It's her 1/2 birthday!

Get this girl some bananas! (she can't have cake yet)

she weighs 16 pounds!

she has no teeth (thank heaven!)

she gobbles up food (my greatest blessing since i started work last week!)

she squeals and yells and giggles with her mommy all the time

the other half of the time she is very solemn

she's almost sitting up 

she's finally growing hair on her bald spot! :)

i love this girl!!!!

Feed me, Seymour!

We started feeding LG solid foods last week and she LOOOOOOVES it!

When her big sister started solids, it took her a while to get used to it and it was a snack here and there.  Not LG! She caught on right away, she eats three meals a day, and she growls at me if I don't shovel it in fast enough!!

Funny girl!

Sunday Dinner, well actually Saturday

I made my sweetheart a yummy Valentine dinner. W requested Alice Springs Chicken like Outback's. I accompanied it with my yummy homemade twice-baked potatoes, a caesar salad, asparagus and bread.  It was very tasty!! 

Sunday dinner at the Tobler's was sukiyaki that Joe made. I don't know how to make that one, so I'll share the Alice Springs recipe that was very tasty!!

Now This is Alice Springs Chicken, courtesy of Recipezaar

Ingredients
1 cup Dijon mustard
1 cup honey
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups sliced mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
12 slices bacon, cooked
3 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions
1.With an electric mixer combine the mustard, honey, and 1 Tbsp oil, and lemon juice for 1 minute.
2.Pour 1/2 mixture over chicken in a gallon ziplock to marinate in fridge 2-24 hours.
3.Chill remaining marinade to serve with chicken.
4.After marinating chicken, preheat oven to 375°F Put remaining oil in frying pan. Heat and sear chicken on both sides.
5.Transfer chicken to oven safe pan and brush with marinade.
6.Meanwhile in frying pan add butter and saute mushrooms.
7.Season chicken breasts with salt and peppers.
8.Stack bacon across each breast, spoon mushrooms on each breast and then approx 1/3- 1/2 cup cheese on each.
9.Cover pan with foil and bake 7-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with honey mustard marinade.

Valentine Ideas

I posted some cute Valentine ideas at the Mom blog I'm on.  Take a peek! 

Sunday Dinner

One of the things I love about living near my fam is Sunday dinner.  It's Tobler day and we almost always have dinner together. We take turns cooking and so now I don't just get to hear about the wonderful food my brothers' families make but eat it too! Yesterday was no exception.  It was so tasty that I'm going to share the recipe, courtesy of Rachael Ray.  You can eat it as a salad or stuff it into pitas. Sooooo yummy!!!

Chicken Greek-a-Tikka Salad with Parsley-Feta Pesto

Serves 4

Flavorful and easy, this is a fast yet elegant meal that everyone will think you spent hours preparing. Much of the prep work can be done ahead of time, so this is a great dish to serve when having company over. Double the pesto recipe or freeze leftover for use later with other meats or fish!

Ingredients
4 flat breads or pitas, any flavor or variety
1 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon grill seasoning, such as McCormick brand Montreal Chicken Seasoning
2-2 1/2 pounds white meat chicken, cubed into bite-size pieces
1 heart romaine lettuce, chopped
2 vine-ripe tomatoes, chopped
1/2 English (seedless) cucumber, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
6 pepperoncini hot peppers, chopped
1 lemon, juiced
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), for drizzling
Salt and pepper
Special equipment: metal skewers

Parsley Feta Pesto:
1 cup flat leaf parsley leaves
1/2 cup feta crumbles
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
3 tablespoons chopped walnuts
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

Preparation
Pre-heat a grill pan to high heat. (we cooked ours on the BBQ) Heat a toaster oven or oven to 250°F. Wrap breads in foil and place in oven to warm. Combine yogurt and next four ingredients. Coat chicken in mixture, then thread meat onto metal skewers. Brush grill pan with EVOO and grill meat 5-6 minutes on each side. Combine chopped lettuce, chopped veggies, olives and hot peppers on a large platter or in a serving bowl. Dress the salad very lightly in lemon juice and EVOO and salt and pepper. Place all ingredients for pesto in the food processor, except EVOO. Turn processor on and stream in EVOO. Remove bread from oven and cut into wedges. Place grilled meat on salad and top liberally with pesto. Place cut flat breads or pita wedges around the platter or serving bowl and serve.

I have a fabric problem

My Grandma Manwaring had a room of fabric.  An entire room.  I remember my Dad poking fun at the amount of fabric she had.  It was in her basement in her second kitchen.  The room smelled like wheat and there were two fridges.  It was the best place to look for almond roca and candy bars in the fridge.  One entire wall was filled with shelves. And on those shelves was yards and yards of fabric.  I come by it naturally.  My favorite quilt was made with fabric that I inherited from her stores. 

I made these bags for a girl in my ward.  I was given the description, "she's a girly girl, anything purple and pink and you're good!". She chose the one below.

And this is the beautiful skirt for M.  I am in total love with this skirt! You can barely see them but her tights are striped with the same colors. My Mom said she looked like the wicked witch of the East, but she was adorable!

And LG has a matching one! Hers is much simpler but she's soooo cute!  

Yes, I have a problem with buying fabric.  which is why it's good that I'm selling my bags and can buy more.... because I just did! :)

Princess J

he is growing up with two brothers.  of course he loves to wear M's dresses when he comes over!

the birthday boy!

In honor of his birthday, here is MY version of HIS 25! Enjoy!

1. he is the king of trivia.  he knows more random facts than anyone i know.

2. he used to be the king of scrabble.  until he taught me to play and now i can knock his socks off!

3. he loves potatoes. any kind

4. he loves any kind of game really.  except ones where you have to act goofy.

5. he will never outlive the time he told me and his sisters that we were winning scrabble by luck, he had skills.

6. he went on a mission to Venezuela.

7. then he went on to minor in spanish in college and it's helped him with every job since to be bilingual.

8. he absolutely loves serving other people.  he loves going on splits with the missionaries and he will drop everything to go and give a blessing to someone or do his home teaching. 

9. he's a clerky kind of guy.  this is the first area where he hasn't been the clerk at our church.

10. he loves his girls.

11. he loves politics.  he majored in it in college.  but he doesn't want to be a politician.

12. he is WJH the 5th! Yes, that's right! the fifth!

13. it took him four months to finally ask me out.

14. he didn't own any jeans when we first met.

15. he was in a bowling league in elementary school.

16. he was in high school debate.

17. he got a parasite at the end of his mission and came home looking like a skeleton.  he does not look a thing like his post-mission pics!

18. he would rather clean the toilet than do the dishes.

19. he does change diapers though.  

20. his sisters are ten years younger than him. they are twins.

21. he has the most wonderful smile.

22.  he loves every sport...except basketball and golf.

23. even then, he'll happily play any sport especially when he needs to root for the Jazz with Jeff or he's coerced into playing soccer with Jake.

24. he gets seasick.

25. i love him!

How to make a Sleeping Beauty-ish cake...and other birthday festivities!

M didn't think Snape would make a good princess for her cake! So we traded him for Sleeping Beauty!

LG was quite horrified at all the pink of the day!

So, first you make two cake mixes.  Funfetti cake is a good one for kids! 

Then you prep your thirty year old fancy, funny-shaped cake pan

Then you bake for twice as long as the longest cake-about 1 1/2 hours.

When you take the cake out, it will look like this. 

Prep your Barbie for the salon and dress studio by putting up her hair with a baggie and rubber band.

Please forgive all the doll nudity. Frost her skirt

Frost her top and let her hair down

Sprinkle skirt with pink sprinkles and put on her crown (shown below)

This is just so you know that LG {does} smile! in fact she's my wide mouth frog, her smiles are usually big grins!

Insert candles, blow them out, and enjoy!  (and make a chocolate cake for the adult birthday boy who thinks he's too good for a princess cake!)

Then enjoy your new trike with matching princess helmet! gotta love January in Arkansas!!!

and of course fly your fairies around with your cousins! :)

I'm sure there will be more to come-we haven't even opened presents from grandparents yet! lucky girl!!