Catch up and Recap

So aside from the occasional recipe, I've not been the best at posting lately-- other things keep calling for us, namely doing the life that we want to post about, but I would hate to forget some of these things so here is a quick recap in pictures and little funnies!

32 Weeks Pregnant with Girl #2 on Christmas Day!

Our little girl became a big girl when she celebrated Christmas by becoming potty-trained (yay!) and getting a new pink tricycle! What a Christmas it was and we enjoyed every minute of it!

 Lucy and I have celebrated many girl's days out over the last couple months, one of the most memorable was her first movie: Beauty and the Beast. She wore the Belle costume and enjoyed a Coke Icee-- it was a perfect day!

My little princess

 I spent some time "nesting" after being inspired by Pinterest a long time ago to actually do these things. The ones up top are for a couple of sweet baby boys I know, and below are a few for Abby!

Today we are 38 weeks along and are set to see our little girl next week-- I'm so excited and yet a little anxious for sure. I have enjoyed SO much my one on one time with Lucy lately just doing fun things like painting nails, baking, PLAYING, reading books for way longer than usual and just simply enjoying my growing girl. I cannot believe in 4 months she will be THREE years old. The time has really flown by but I'm so excited for this next stage as our family grows!

Black Bean & Corn Salad

After yesterday's scone post, I'm redeeming myself a bit with something healthier.
This is a super quick, yummy side dish to anything Southwestern-- tacos, enchiladas, etc.

Black Bean, Corn and Avocado Salad 
One can of Black Beans, drained and rinsed
Half of a 17 oz. bag of frozen corn, slightly thawed. (I used a mix of yellow and white corn--yum!)
Half an Onion, diced (red onion would be great but we only had white.)
2 tsp. Red Wine Vinegar
Juice of one lime
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
One ripe Avocado, diced
Pinch of Salt and Pepper (to taste)
Pinch of sugar


Mix all ingredients together. Allow to sit for 10 minutes for flavors to meld. If you are making far in advance, add the avocado right before serving. Serve as as salad or with tortilla chips.

Warm up with Cranberry Orange Scones

I know it's January and we are all supposed to be behaving ourselves, nutritionally speaking-- but it's also COLD outside and in the midst of all the yogurt and salads we are enjoying with a new love lately, here is a scone recipe I came up with over Christmas-- it would be great for any chilly morning or afternoon with a steaming cup of coffee or tea. If they seem a bit complicated, know that they come together very quickly.


Cranberry-Orange Scones
Makes 8 large or 16 small scones


2 cups of Flour
1/4 cup of sugar (I used raw, but regular is fine too)
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt 
Grated Zest of one Medium Orange

Pulse the above ingredients in your Food Processor several times to sift and combine.

Add 5-6 Tbs. of Unsalted Butter, cut into pieces and pulse again.
Add 2/3 cup of sweetened, dried cranberries and pulse again 2-3 times to incorporate.

In a small glass measuring cup, add one egg to 1/2 cup of Heavy Cream and whisk with a fork. (Now here's where I feel the need to explain-- I have ALWAYS made these with Half and Half instead of Heavy Cream even though the original recipe calls for cream. Always. Then, over Christmas, I found myself with cream and without half & half. So I bit the bullet, and can I just say--- WOW. It made a HUGE difference in the texture, and the fact that these scones lasted for days without drying out. However, I will say that the half & half is fine and makes a nice (though not quite as flaky) scone. So do whatever you wish. :)

Add liquid/ egg mixture all at once and pulse a few times to ensure it comes together. Your scone dough will be kind of crumbly but moist.

Dump out the dough directly onto a lightly floured surface or wax paper and pat it into a circle (divide into 2 circles if you wish to make small scones.) Form into a circle as best you can and then use a sharp knife to cut into 8 wedges. Move wedges to a Parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 425' for 12-15 minutes until just beginning to lightly brown.

Before Baking-- they are a bit flat

 

 They plump up nicely in the oven

Remove scones to a wire rack to cool for about 7 minutes and prepare glaze. These are perfectly yummy before the orange glaze, but it does add a whole other level of deliciousness! 

Orange Glaze

1 cup of Powdered sugar

1-2 tbs. of fresh orange juice (from the orange you zested. If your child ate the orange while you were making your scones, plain ole' OJ is fine too.) 

Mix the two together in a bowl until you get a nice thick-ish consistency. 

 Glaze consistency

Set your wire rack of scones right back on the pan you baked them on (so the parchment catches your excess glaze) and drizzle glaze over them. They will set up a bit in just a few minutes and be ready to eat! 

The finished product

Contentment Lessons from a Toddler

It's nothing new that children as small as Lucy can hear something you say once, and then repeat it at the appropriate (or inappropriate!) time. But during the last few weeks, God has used her to remind me of a very important lesson just with the simple fact that she has been repeating something I say.

Often when we are grocery shopping together and we get ready to finish up and check out, I say, "Okay! We have everything we need.. we can go now!" I never realized how often I say it or how much she is understanding.

A couple of days ago, I was sitting, making a list of the gifts that we had bought and the ones we still had yet to buy while she was playing in her playroom. I must admit, I was slightly stressing over all that we still "had" to do on the budget we had. Don't get me wrong, we drastically cut back this year... mostly out of necessity.  I was worrying that by making a simple Christmas budget this year, we would leave someone out or hurt someone's feelings... I worried that I wasn't doing enough for my own parents and in laws when they have all done so much for us... I was thinking that maybe we should buy Lucy another small toy...

Enter Lucy with her pink shopping cart and a purse on her shoulder.
"Mommy! Look! I have EVERYTHING I need! I have everything I need, Mommy!" 
I look down in her shopping cart and I see her sippy cup of milk, her favorite doll, and a book--and a hot dog bun from her kitchen set.
At first I just smiled at her in disbelief, knowing she couldn't possible be reading my mind but still knowing that the One who made her did.
Luckily, I recovered and said something like, "You sure do! are you having fun?!" to which she replied, "YES."
And she wheeled around, happy as can be, and went about her playing in the other room.

In the past couple of days, she has said this phrase several times and each time, I try to really HEAR her and be reminded, that "YES, she does."  SO DO I. SO DO WE ALL. This year, we have enjoyed several new, fun experiences with Lucy since she is a bit older and more able to understand--but even with all of this, I realize, "Enough is enough." Meaning, we have enough. What we can afford to do is enough. Praise God, she is not quite at that point where enough does not feel like enough. But she will be soon, because she is human. My prayer is that we will continue to reinforce the fact we are happy and healthy and loved with what God chooses to PROVIDE for all of us. And we have enough. And if we were to be totally honest, enough is kind of an understatement. We have more than we NEED.

Because massive amounts of stuff or not, (preferably not!) we have Everything we need!

Thankful Thursday

 

Giving Baby Sister a Kiss...

or maybe trying to talk to her, I'm not sure. Lucy thinks she is literally inside my belly button. So she has started poking her finger in any time it is exposed (which is NOT very often.) :)