International Day of the Girl

Yesterday was International Day of the Girl.  And though I'm a day behind, as a mother of two girls I want to celebrate my girls and girls everywhere.

The International Day of the Girl was established by the United Nations last year in recognition of the importance of investing in girls and the unique challenges girls face in accessing education, health care, and economic opportunity.  The Day of the Girl is about highlighting, celebrating, discussing and advancing girls lives and opportunities across the globe.  Girls have made significant progress in recent years; however, the fact remains that in many societies, girls are still valued less than boys.  Worldwide, two-thirds of the 130 million children who are not in school are girls; more than 25,000 girls under the age of 18 are married every day, and in the developing world, one-third of girls are married before they turn 18.

So here's to my girls.  I love you both...All the way to the moon and back.

Happy Birthday GiGi!

Happy Birthday to GIGI!!!

Today GiGi, my grandmother and my children's great grandmother, hence the name GiGi, turns 87 years old.

Here is a picture of four generations of my family.  Gigi, my mom, my sister and I, and John David.  He was around a year old in this picture.

Here is another four generations picture.  This time just the girls.  Gigi, my mom, me, and Ella.

We are celebrating tonight with a family dinner.  Mom is in charge of dinner and I took dessert.  Homemade flan. I must give the credit to husband and Natalie Morales from the Today Show.  I saw a segment last week where Natalie Morales had made her homemade, low fat flan for everyone to try.  It sounded easy and looked delicious.  After looking up the recipe husband and I decided we needed to try it out and Gigi's birthday bash gave us the perfect opportunity.  It truly was very simple.  If you want to check out the recipe click here.  Husband did all the work last night while I supervised so I give him all the credit.  I can't wait to taste it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIGI. 

WE LOVE YOU!

A Few Exciting Things

So this week we actually had a few exciting things happen other than the basic school, carpool, run errands, kind of stuff.

First,  look who's back.

Yep...the Little Professor.  Harrison with glasses.  No, we didn't find the ones he "misplaced,"unfortunately. He got new ones.  And this time the frames are blue to match his eyes.

Isn't he handsome.

This one is cruising.  Nothing is safe anymore.  Plus she has started climbing stairs.  YIKES!!!  Time to get the baby gates out of storage.

She looks like she is plotting her next move.

A surprise package on the doorstep.

The Cincinnati crew, aka John Robert, Anna, and Jessica, sent the children a back to school package, complete with sticker books for the three older ones and a new board book for Ava.  It even included the cutest note with original poem for the kids.  I give Jessica all the credit for the poem.

Family dinner night with Grandma, PaPa, GiGi, and the six of us.  I cooked.

Yummy chicken and white bean chili (see below for the recipe) served with our favorite cornmeal cheddar scones that I blogged about here.

Peach & blueberry cobbler made from the peaches and blueberries we picked over the summer.  Before the crust.

Rolling out the crust

Looks delicious!

White Bean Chili

(This recipe is taken from the all-new ultimate Southern Living Cookbook)

1 Medium Onion, chopped

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil

2 Garlic Cloves, minced

8 Skinned and boned chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

3 Cups water

1 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Ground cumin
1 tsp. Chili powder
1 tsp. Dried oregano
4 (15 oz) cans Cannellini or great Northern beans, rinsed, drained and divided
1 (14 oz) can Chicken broth
1 (16 oz) package frozen shoepeg white corn
2 )4.5 oz) cans chopped green chiles
3 Tbsp. lime juice

Saute chopped onion in hot oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat 7 minutes; add garlic, and saute 2 to 3 minutes.  Stir in chicken pieces, and cook, stirring constantly, until chicken is lightly browned.  Stir in 3 cups water and next 5 ingredients; reduce heat, and simmer, stirring often, 10 minutes or until chicken is done.

Place 2 cans of beans in a blender; add brother, and process until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides.

Stir bean puree, remaining 2 cans of beans, corn, and chiles into chicken mixture in Dutch oven; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring often, 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated.  Stir in lime juice just before service.

I have made this recipe multiple times and everyone loves it.  It really isn't hard, is low calorie and low fat, the recipe makes a lot, and it freezes well.  When I make it we usually eat about half of it and I freeze the rest for one of those winter days when I just don't feel like cooking.

For the peach & blueberry cobbler I really didn't follow a recipe.  But here is basically what I did.  I defrosted about 2 cups of sliced peaches and another  1 1/2 cups of blueberries.  I placed these in a large sauce pan with about 1/2 to 3/4 cups of sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla, a "good shake" of ground nutmeg and a smaller "shake" of ground cinnamon, as well as about 2 teaspoons of cornstarch to thicken the mixture.  I cooked the fruit for about 10 minutes, until it started simmering slightly and the blueberries started to pop.  I just made a single crust cobbler so I just poured my cooked fruit into the square pan and topped with an easy pie crust, cut slits in the top and baked at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes or until brown.  You could use a store bought pie crust if you prefer but I honestly believe homemade pie crusts taste SO MUCH BETTER.  If you have never made a pie crust before here is the simple recipe.

Pie Crust

1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup shortening
4 to 5 tablespoons cold water
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

Stir together flour and salt.  Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are the size of peas.

Sprinkle 1 Tablespoon or water over the mixture and gently toss with a fork.  Push moistened dough to the side of the bowl.  Repeat using 1 tablespoon water at a time until the dough is moistened.  Form dough into a ball.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a circle (or in this case square) and transfer to pie plate or pan.

That's all there is to it.

Hope you have a few exciting things happen to you this week.

Teddy Bear Picnic

If you go down to the woods today you're sure of a big surprise.

If you go down to the woods today you'd better go in disguise.

For every bear that ever there was will gather there for certain

Because today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic.

HAPPY TEDDY BEAR PICNIC

A Recipe or Two

So we have settled back into our daily school year routine.  Carpools, naps, library visits, morning walks with Ava, ballet classes, errands, the list goes on and on.  It means we are certainly busy, but it doesn't lend itself to exciting blog posts.  I doubt you really want to hear how far I walked this morning (about 2 miles) or what errands I ran (grocery store) or how many loads of laundry I have done (lots), or the start of school cold that husband, Ava and I are all fighting (surprisingly the older ones have been spared).  In my spare time, between carpools, errands, etc. I have been trying some new recipes.  The heat has finally broken and although it isn't cold by any means, at least it isn't 100 anymore.  In homage to the break in the weather, I have made some soup.  Delicious soup!

Back before Christmas last year when I was pregnant and on bed rest for pre-term labor with Ava, our church family rallied around us and provided home cooked meals for our family for months.  They definitely went above and beyond.  I will be paying it forward for years to come.  In fact, so many people brought meals that the older children turned it into a game, they titled the Ding Dong Game.  To play the Ding Dong Game one of them would get a basket, bag or bucket of some sort and stand outside of the room, usually the bedroom, with the door closed.  That child would then knock or better yet say "ding dong."  When the door opened the child on the outside would say, "Hi...I brought dinner.  I made chicken and rice."  Chicken and rice is what they usually have when we have Chinese (chicken fried rice) and is one of their favorites.  It was adorable.  Anyway, one friend brought us a delicious pot of soup, hereafter known as Ashley's soup.  It had carrots, white beans, spinach, and turkey sausage.  Delicious.  Everyone loved it and I have wanted the recipe since our very first taste.  Well, in perusing Pinterest the other day I came across a "pin" with a link to "101 Healthy Soups" recipes.  I checked it out and low and behold there was a recipe for North Woods Bean Soup that sounded just like Ashley's soup.  I decided to try it and was rewarded when it tasted just like Ashley's.

Doesn't it look yummy.
(This isn't the actual soup I made.  I copied this photo from the original recipe posted here http://www.cookinglight.com/food/quick-healthy/healthy-soup-recipes-00412000070018/page52.html)

Copied from www.cookinglight.com.  Photo by Randy Mayor

Here is the recipe copied from www.cookinglight.com

Cooking spray

1 cup baby carrots, halved

1 cup chopped onion

2 garlic gloves

7 ounces turkey kielbasa, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

4 cups fat free, less-sodium chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 (15.8-ounce) cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed

1 (6-ounce) bag fresh baby spinach leaves

Heat a large saucepan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat.  Add carrots, onion, garlic, and kielbasa; saute 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Reduce heat to medium; cook 5 minutes.  Add the broth, Italian seasoning, pepper, and beans.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes.

Place 2 cups of the soup in a food processor or blender, and process until smooth.  Return the pureed mixture to pan.  Simmer an additional 5 minutes.  Remove soup from heat.  Add the spinach, stirring until spinach wilts.

To go with this delicious soup I made Cornmeal Cheddar Scones.  These are some of husband's favorites.  I am not a fan of cornbread.  I just don't like it, but I like these. I found this recipe in the 2010 Christmas with Southern Living book and make it quite often.  These go great with soups and chili.

Here is the recipe copied from 2010 Christmas with Southern Living.

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup stone-ground cornmeal

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. ground red pepper (I don't always have this in my pantry so I just substitute black pepper)

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks

1 cup (4 oz.) shredded extra-sharp Cheddar cheese

1 large egg

3/4 cup buttermilk (Another item I don't usually have on hand so I substitute regular milk, usually skim since that's what we drink)

Parchment paper

Unsalted butter, melted

Sea salt

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Place first 7 ingredients in a food processor.  Add 3/4 cup butter; pulse 3 or 4 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Place flour mixture in a large bowl; stir in cheese.  Whisk together egg and buttermilk until blended.  Make a well in center of dry ingredients; add egg mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.

2.  Turn dough out onto a floured surface; knead lightly 3 or 4 times.  Pat dough into a 10- x 7-inch rectangle.  Cut into 15 squares.  Place squares on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Brush tops with melted unsalted butter, and sprinkle with sea salt.  Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden.

These didn't last long enough to get a photo and I couldn't find a photo on the Southern Living website.  Sorry.  But I hope you try them and enjoy!

Ballerina Baby

It has begun.  The years of being a taxi service for the children, their friends, and their after school activities has started.  Boy does it start early!

John David has played T-Ball for the past 2 years and since Harrison will turn 4 before May 1st, he will be old enough to play this year.  To be fair, that meant Ella needed an activity too.  She can play T-Ball with Harrison if she wants, but ever since going to a friend's dance recital last spring, she has been dying to take ballet.  Of course, the former ballerina in me loved that she was asking to take ballet.  Watching the gymnastics this summer during the olympics put a slight wrench in the desire to take dance class.  Once she saw the gymnastics she really wanted to do that instead.  I must say, I seriously thought about gymnastics instead of dance.  We may change our minds in future years.  Ella has ridiculous upper body strength.  She could go all the way across the monkey bars on the playground at school before she turned 3.  Ballet won out in the end though.  The studio where she is taking classes is right around the corner from our house making it super convenient, always a plus, and is extremely reasonable price wise, as in half the price of gymnastics each month.  As she gets older, we may change our minds and switch to gymnastics but at this point she is really excited about dance class.  It is very low key.  Only 30 minutes a week.  Technically it isn't even called ballet but creative movement, but to her, it is ballet and she is a ballerina princess.  She's happy.  Mommy's happy.  And actually the boys are happy.  So far they have really enjoyed watching Ella's classes through the windows.

Here are a few shots of my ballerina baby at her first class.  She was a little hesitant at the beginning but warmed up quickly enough.

She's listening intently.

A slightly closer shot.  Still listening intently.  Love how you can see me taking the picture in the reflection from mirror .

Tiptoe

Boy can she jump

Picking out her sticker at the end of class.  This might have been her favorite part of dance.

All smiles after class is over.

1st Day of School

The day we have all been eagerly waiting for finally came.  The first day of school 2012.

We made it through one very long, very HOT summer.  Hooray!  

They met their teachers.

The twins and Mrs. Dona

All smiles

John David and Mrs. Beth

More Smiles

They found and explored their new classrooms.

They readied their backpacks.

They picked out clothes for the first day.

They bathed, brushed teeth, read bed time stories, said prayers, and were kissed goodnight. 

It was time.

First day smiles!

Their birds on the wall.

Bye mom!  See ya!

Like I said we were all looking forward to this day.

So why did I cry?  Because, no matter how much trouble they get into, no matter how exhausted I am at the end of each day, and no matter how I yearn for quiet...they are my babies.  I miss them when they aren't here.  I wasn't worried they would miss me, or not have fun, or cry, or want to come home.  I didn't cry for any of those reasons.  I cried because they didn't cry.  They didn't look back.  Bye mom!  See ya!  They are growing up.  They are growing away from me.  I know they are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing.  I know I am doing what I am supposed to be doing.  I am preparing them to leave home and make their own way.  I know I have years until they really do leave home and are out on their own.  But I still cried.  I went home and Ava and I got to work cleaning.  That's what I do when I'm sad...I clean.  The first day John David went to Mother's Day Out at a year old I cleaned and cried the entire 6 hours he was gone.  And I cried and cleaned every time I took him for months.  So Ava and I cleaned and I cried until she went down for a nap.  And then...it was quiet and I stopped crying and enjoyed the quiet.

All three had a FABULOUS first day of school and were ready to go back the following day.   And Ava and I, we have truly enjoyed our quiet mornings of one on one time.  Mommy is even getting in some much needed exercise time.

Yeah for the first day of school!