egg rolls

I really love baking/cooking/etc...and slowly am getting better with each meal I prepare.  One night I decided to be quite adventorous and came across these to make:

http://www.emilybites.com/2013/03/chicken-egg-rolls.html

here is what mine looked like:

putting the inards together (I didn't use sesame oil, ginger, bean sprouts, or hoisin sauce...I did use light sodium soy sauce and canned mushrooms)

putting the inards on the shells

wrapped/packed and ready to bake

they sure turned out yummy and knowing me and my girls we dipped ours in RANCH...Paisley my 10 month old even at the inards and LOVED them which may be an under statement...we will be making these again but maybe use the hoisin and sauce and dip them in sweet and sour sauce to see what the difference it would make.

many faces of Paisley

everyday I just can't get enough of this precious lil' face.  On Saturday she finally said 'mama' and of course it melted my heart and I got all happy and warm feeling inside.  She knows who I am and can associate me as her mommy (every mommy's dream)...such a special day.

Anyway.  She has been working so hard on trying to feed her self.  Exhibit A:

VICTORY....

followed by just a few of her many cute faces she makes...sometimes it is extremely hard to capture some on camera so for now you get these:

she kept squinting at the camera almost as if she was smiling ya know what i mean?

I just LOVE her eyes and I wonder if they will stay blue or if they will change

gotta love that tongue...and her raspberries and slobery kisses

and then I just love her tiny fat piggies and baby feet...they are so small and just PERFECT:

hard time keepin' secrets

so my precious Paisley turns 1 in like two months and it is bittersweet.  even though she was born premature and spent quite some time in the NBICU (not as long as some but longer then others) she is doing really well (maybe a little bit behind but since I don't know if/when I will get to have more sweet babies I will soak it all up thats for sure).

anyway I have been thinking hard "what do you buy a little girl for her first birthday when you already have one little girl that has so much..." and one day it occurred to me...a water/sand table to play with outside during these hot spring/summer/early fall days...and it would be a gift both girls can play with together and share and not fight over (oh how I am just waiting for those days but hoping we don't have too many please...).

But it all boils down to...DO I REALLY HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL JUNE 29...who is more excited me or my girls when they actually get it.  so I started searching online and at Toys R Us and Target and wasn't pleased with what I was finding and then thought maybe I should find something else.  Well I was at Walmart the other day and decided to browse in the toy section and came across the PERFECT table well within in my price range so what do I do (it being the last one)?  I snag it and buy it and get it home and surprise the girls with it (I know two months early...but hey we have already had so much fun playing in it...well worth my money spent and look forward to the years of fun down the road and don't worry I will still have a few small things for the birthday girl to open on her actual special day)

the pictures do justice of how happy they were/are and what we did immediately...although I still need to pick up some sand for now we will just play with water since its FREE...

Burlap wreath

so this little website I found on pinterest inspired me:

http://indulgy.com/post/hM9niL71F1/burlap-and-felt-wreath-love-it#/do/page/1

so of course I headed on over to Hobby Lobby (seriously one of my top 5 favorite yet dangerous stores...) and picked up some supplies.  But for those that truly know me know I don't do things exactly the same as someone elses so I added a little bit of my own creativity.

Here are the supplies that I used:

I cut and twisted and glued to create another masterpiece:

I personally love it...what do you think?!

first time cookin' with ground chicken

so once again I found a new recipe to try found on pinterest.com.  it is called chicken parmesan meatloaf an and it was so yummy...even my 3.5 year old loved it and wanted more.  I have never cooked with ground chicken before and i can say this won't be the last either:

it may not look super pretty but looks aren't everything...just sayin'

anyway. I am trying to be healthy and this was found off of searching for weight watchers recipes.

http://www.emilybites.com/2012/08/chicken-parmesan-meatloaf-muffins.html

of course i did mess with the ingredients and didn't use as much ground chicken and i made my own red pasta sauce using seasonings and tomato sauce.  also after they cooked for 20 minutes which was exactly right on with the recipe...i did not put them back in for the cheese to melt.  they were so hot they melted on their own.

this too is a recipe i am more then will to try again.  we ate it with baby corn and ranch and peaches and a glass of water.   so all in all a pretty healthy balanced dinner.

p.s. i even let Paisley my 9 month old try ground chicken and she too liked it so this was definitely a win win recipe choice...

West Jordan Park

This weekend has been wonderful.  I am really trying so hard to ignore my to do list and the computer while the girls are awake and make memories with them doing things they want to do.  Like yesterday after noon during one of Paisley's naps Adey and I made a barbie house with blankets and used her squishy blocks as the walls and put her barbie furniture in the rooms and filled the barbie pool outside the play house, and put the tent and playground away so they could go camping.  it was just so much fun and to be a kid again with my lil girl.  When Paisley woke up we had tickle fights and played with their toys and blew bubbles and snuggled and just had a great weekend.

Today after church we went to the really big park in West Jordan.  It was a beautiful day finally and I had been promising Adey I would take her as soon as the weather was nice.  Well...today it finally was and we went to a new park that we haven't been to.  This place was huge and a nice walking trail around it and lots of green and there were like 3 or 4 parks all around...WE WILL DEFINITELY BE GOING BACK!

SO MANY SWINGS...and this was Paisley's first swing (i think)

look behind Adey and the massive playground..this was just a small part

checking out the bark...we may or may not have eaten it..yum?!

leavin' on a jet plane...this is for you Uncle Jay

chillin' in the stroller and i actually think i lost that necklace she was playing with...guess i just have to buy another at the Women's expo

soggy french toast

so one of my friends told me about this yummy soggy french toast recipe where they used french bread...but i didn't have french bread so i just used the bread i had which was potato bread.  it still tasted super yummy and i intend to make it again...both girls loved it!

the first step is you put your first layer in a baggy with the eggs, vanilla, and either nutmeg or cinnamon (which ever you prefer to use) and let it soak overnight.

step 2 you preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and melt butter in the bottom of your baking dish.

step 3 place the soggy over night soaked layer on the bottom first and then place another layer on top and pour another round of eggs, vanilla, nutmeg/cinnamon on top and bake.  i baked mine about 15 mins.

once i pulled it out i let it cool and then we ate it with powder sugar...hope you enjoy.