Out at the Farm

Uncle John "introducing" Ginny to a horse.

My mom pretty much grew up on a farm, although she always considered herself a city girl (she moved to the farm when she was around 8 years old). My grandparents' farm was not exactly a large working farm, but it did have chickens and cows. As kids, when my sister and I would go to the farm, we might go and play in the barn or in the large yard. Sometimes we would help my grandma pick blackberries (Fresh is best. Mmmm....)

I remember at the time thinking that the farm was too boring. There were times when I would drag my feet. A time did come when I enjoyed the prospect of going out there. Usually when we went, it would mean time spent with my aunts, uncles, and cousins as well as my grandparents. It also meant spending time rocking on the porch swing.

My grandparents both passed away over 12 years now, and the farm has long ago been sold. I had hoped to bring my kids there some day, but that never happened and never will happen. However, my desire to have them visit and spend time on a farm has remained. I finally got my wish.

While my family is currently on vacation in South Dakota, we decided to make a brief visit to my DH's Uncle John and Aunt Brenda. His uncle is a farmer of a large size farm with about 1300 head of cattle and grows corn, soy beans, and some grains.  Uncle John farms the same land that his dad, my husband's grandfather, farmed plus some. This morning, he loaded us in his pickup truck and took us for a tour of the farm. It was great getting to see what a large farm looks like and learn a bit about how it operates.

Ginny petting the day old calf. 

After a while, Uncle John drove onto a field of cows and their new calves. It was immediately evident that the mama cows were quite protective of their babies. I guess all moms are naturally like that, from cow to human. He found one isolated calf and stopped. From there, he brought the calf over closer to us so that our two-year-old, Ginny, would be able to pet it. Ginny was DELIGHTED!! She really couldn't believe her luck. She pet that calf and even gave him a kiss, and he gave her a sloppy kiss back. She didn't seem to mind one bit. Chris's uncle was a bit surprised at how fearless Ginny was. His experience has been that most kids shy away from the animals at first. That was not our daughter though. From there, we went to a different area of the farm where there was a paddock with two horses. We got Ginny out and she was able to pet one of them. Again, she seemed to be in heaven!

Ginny also got to pet a horse

From the farm, we decided to drive up to De Smet, SD. Laura Ingalls Wilder grew up there from the age of 11 on up. She didn't leave De Smet until some time after marrying Almonzo Wilder. Apparently, the T.V. show was not historically accurate.  Ginny lost interest early in on the tour. My DH, who has been on the tour at least 3 times in the past, wrangled her while Grace and I completed it. It was quite interesting. I'm so glad I got to see De Smet.  I hope that we can go there again someday when the girls are older and know who Laura Ingalls Wilder was.

Ginny really enjoyed sitting at desk in the school where
Laura Ingalls Wilder once taught.

Once the tour was done, we got lunch at a local eatery, then headed back to Uncle John and Aunt Brenda's house. Now we are relaxing for the rest of the afternoon, while Ginny gets a much needed nap.

Tomorrow we will be leaving the farm and plan to make a stop in Mitchell, SD at the Corn Palace then on to Sioux Falls to visit other family of my husband.

Murphy's Law on Vacation

Ginny was all smiles when we started off, despite
not feeling well.

Murphy has an evil streak in him. I'm talking about the Murphy from Murphy's Laws. You know, the one who basically says that things will go wrong when you want them to go right.

Yesterday we started our long planned for vacation. Everything was planned, and we were ready. Of course, Murphy decided to make sure our vacation started with a few bangs. First off, on Thursday, the day before our vacation, our lovely two-year-old, Ginny, was suddenly sick. Coughing, runny nose, and fever. I even suspect a possible sore throat. We figured we would manage. We couldn't turn back now, especially since the first part of our vacation involved going to our nephew's first communion. Besides, what else could go wrong?

I shouldn't have asked Murphy that. He has a sick sense of humor apparently. Our car was packed up for us to leave. The girls buckled into their car seats. I forgot something in the house so I ran in to get it. When I came back out, I missed a step and tumbled to the garage floor. My left ankle hurt and so did my baby toe. Not my finest moment, but I figured the pain would subside eventually and all would be well. It didn't. The pain continued the whole drive.

We did have one bright spot that did go well yesterday. We stopped in Davenport, Iowa for lunch. I got to meet up with a Pinkie friend, Katherine, (a gal from a group I belong to on FB) and her family at lunch. It was a wonderful lunch. It was nice breaking bread with friends.

My lovely broken toe
 (please ignore the fact that I need a pedicure).

After lunch, we got back on I-80 and made it to our destination in Iowa. It was then that I discovered why my baby toe was in so much pain still. It was black and blue. I'm pretty sure I must have broken it. My ankle was also slightly swollen. No surprise there. Then, at dinner, Murphy struck again, I started feeling sick. My throat started feeling as though it was getting sore. Oh no. Not now. This morning, it feels even worse. I'm definitely getting sick. I imagine I'm getting what Ginny has.

Things didn't improve in our hotel room. We thought they started off okay. Our sick Ginny seemed to get to sleep without much issue as well as our baby, Grace. Ginny fooled us though. She woke up crying and crying at 11:30 p.m.  We put her in bed with us to see if that would help her out. It did. She thought it was great fun. Instead of settling down, she ended up playing in the bed. We kept trying because there were a few moments where she would lay down and be calm. Unfortunately those moments didn't last. So, we gave up and put Ginny back in the crib. She did end up sleeping quite well after that.

I'm hoping that on this second day of vacation that things improve. Also, Murphy, we have had quite enough of you. Please move on to someone else. Thank you.

Dirty Laundry

Dirty clothes go in the hamper and stay there until laundry day.

I truly believe this, although there were times when I was single where I would sometimes decide that an item of clothing wasn't as dirty as previously believed. So, I would remove the item, after smelling it to be sure, and put it on, along with a touch of perfume.

Now that I am a mother, I strive to keep my daughters clean as well as their clothes. While I'm no fan of laundry, I do it constantly. Between cloth diapers and clothes sizes 9 months to 2T, I have a lot of laundry to do every week. Every day I am washing something. I usually wash the clothes in the girls' hamper at least twice a week. Diapers are washed every other day. Getting my DH's clothes and my clothes washed happens once a week somewhere between the rest of it.

Lately, my toddler, Ginny, has taken an interest in clothes. Not any clothes, but the clothes that are in her hamper. Her dirty laundry.

I do not understand this sudden interest. Perhaps the interest came about because we have hidden all her shoes. I just know that I will go in her room and find her clothes, that were once in the hamper, strewn

Ginny on her bed (yes, that is the position she gets in to sleep)
with the dirty laundry in the corner.

across the room. After naps when I head to get her and change her diaper, I will find her in a pile of her dirty clothes, the hamper empty, or close to it.  This morning, I even found Ginny putting on a pair of pants. Never mind the fact that they were her sister's pants that are much too small for her, being only 6-9 months, or that she was putting them on upside down, with the hem of the pant leg going on first. Ginny seemed so proud that she had accomplished that much.

I'm not sure how I can stop her from getting in her hamper. I guess I will just have to deal with it, for now.

Wordless Wednesday: A Week With My Girls

Ginny playing with her birthday toy. (Note: The purpose of the
toy does not include getting in it.)

Grace fighting sleep by crying.

In the midst of a temper tantrum. I think it had to do with not being allowed
to change her pants or something.

Lots of tummy time! 

Isn't this how you would prefer to watch TV? In a box?

Another tantrum. She wanted me to take her picture. I did.

"Picture, picture," said my 2 year old. Here is that picture.

Helping daddy stuff diapers.

Cherished Personalities

My two little angels!

My girls are two of the best things that have ever happened in my life. I love and adore them. I am so thankful to God for blessing me with them. Heck, I even feel this way on days when they make life challenging, like when my toddler has tantrum after tantrum or the baby decides to only give me 5 hours sleep (not all continuous). They are my little angels on earth.

What amazes me most is how their little personalities continue to develop. Both of my daughters are full of smiles. From the time Ginny, my toddler, was a baby she would break out in huge grins. Her sister is much the same. Ginny is full of energy and movement. I'm guessing this is completely normal for any toddler, but she has always been fairly independent, preferring to play on her own rather than with DH or me although we are occasionally allowed into her orbit of play. Ginny also has an amazing energy that draws people to her, a magnetic personality.  This works well for her since I believe her to be an extrovert because there are very few strangers in her world.

My baby, Grace, is only 5-months-old so her personality is just now coming to be known. The best word to describe her is sweet. Her energy feels much more subdued than her sister, thus far, but not in a negative way, but rather a quieter sense. She seems to enjoy observing and taking things in much more. She clings much more to me than her sister ever did. Strangers seem to startle and scare her at times, depending on her moods (just ask my extended family who saw her at Easter). Grace does have quite the temper. She gets mad quickly and loudly. I just have to ride those moments out while trying to calm her.

One thing that both girls possess is a fascination and love for each other. Ginny absolutely adores her little sister. She loves to give her hugs and kisses. Lately, she seems to be concerned about her whereabouts at all times. If Grace is in her crib, Ginny is quick to find her. I will often hear Ginny talking to her sister. I wish I could understand her toddler ramblings because she seems so earnest in her discussions with Grace. While Ginny does enjoy playing independently, she has moments where she will come and entertain her sister instead of running off with one of Grace's toys (Yes, she does that. She is a toddler after all.).

For her part, Grace lights up around her big sister. Ginny makes her smile. When Ginny dances for her, Grace can usually be heard giggling in response. She adores the attention that Ginny gives her.

Hopefully, my two little girls will grow up as friends, and continue to put smiles on each others' faces. Time will tell. Until then, I will cherish my time with my daughters as I watch them grow up and personalities further develop.

Keeping their eyes on each other! 

Crock Pot Success: Balsamic Roast Beef

Balsamic Roast Beef 

I am in love with my crock pot. It has saved me quite often, especially when I was single. Now that I'm married I think I use it more than I did before. One of my favorite cook books is Fix-It and Forget-It. I go to it often for ideas and quick and easy recipes. However, I am always open to expanding my horizons by finding new crock pot recipes, like the one I tried tonight--Balsamic Roast Beef.

As soon as my husband took one bite, he let me know that he liked it. Normally, I have to ask him so I knew this recipe was a hit. My toddler did not seem to enjoy it, mainly because she never tried it. She stuck with the noodles, thank you very much.

The recipe is beyond easy and basic. You need a 2-4 pound chuck roast (the recipe said 3-4, but I used 2 pounds and it worked). A trick I almost always use is to season the meat with salt and pepper before it goes into the crock pot, whether it says to on the recipe or not. The seasoning adds a bit more flavor to the meat, and you usually won't feel the need to add anymore once it is served. So, season the chuck roast and put it in the bottom of your crock pot. I would encourage you to put a liner in there first. A liner makes it much easier to clean later.

Next, you need to mix together 1 cup of beef broth or stock, 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar, 1 Tbsp of Worchestershire sauce, 1 Tbsp soy sauce (I use light soy sauce), 1 Tbsp honey, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, and 4 minced garlic cloves. Pour this mixture on the roast and set the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours.

Roast is seasoned & in the crock pot; Mixture is ready to be poured on top.

When it is done cooking, use tongs to remove the meat to a plate and then ladle out the gravy into a bowl. The website that this recipe came from, Add A Pinch, mentioned shredding the beef. This concept did not compute. I served it like the picture at the top of the page with egg noodles as a side along with the gravy.

The flavor had a lot of depth. I can't think of much I would do differently. What I do plan to do next time is add a few halved red potatoes to the crock pot with the roast as it cooks. I think this dish would be more amazing with potatoes.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did. Again, another Pinterest success.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Ginny enjoying her pasta!

My toddler, Ginny, loves pasta! It is one food we can almost guarantee she will eat, no matter how it is prepared.  Needless to say, we eat a lot of pasta at my house. Luckily, one of my DH's and my favorite foods is Italian. So, this means that her preference for pasta works for us. Our other favorite is Mexican. Ginny has already learned to love quesadillas, enchiladas, and Mexican rice. So, yay, us!

When I ran across the following recipe on Pinterest, I was thrilled. It is a combination of Mexican and pasta, Chicken Enchilada Pasta. In essence, I looked as it as a given that Ginny would like it. It also holds another of my essential requirements for cooking; it is simple to prepare.

Begin by boiling water for your pasta. You will want to add your pasta once you start simmering your sauce. Cook the pasta to al dente. I used one pound of penne pasta.

All the ingredients added and ready to stir together for the
sauce.

To get the dish ready, I minced up 1 medium onion and 1 red pepper. Following the recipe to a tee, at this point, I heated up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a deep skillet and then sauteed the onions for about 3 minutes. Then I added the red pepper and 2 minced garlic cloves. I let the vegetables cook for another 3 minutes. Once the veggies were nice and cooked, it was time to create the sauce. The recipe called for 1 tsp of cumin, 2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 small can of green chilies, 2 cans of green enchilada sauce, and 2/3 cup of red enchilada sauce to create the pasta sauce.  (This sauce is why you must use a deep skillet.)  Then add 2-3 cooked and shredded chicken breasts. Stir the sauce thoroughly. In the original recipe, the blogger said to shred up the chicken. I did not do that. I used pre-grilled chicken breasts cut up in chunks. I broke up the chicken further once it was simmering.  

I will note, right here, that I found this to be more sauce than I ultimately needed. The next time I make this, I plan on using only 1 1/2 cans of green enchilada sauce instead of 2 cans.

The sauce after the cheese and sour cream had been added.

After the sauce has simmered for 8-10 minutes, you will add 2 cups of cheese, any cheese of your choosing. I used a combination of sharp cheddar and regular cheddar because that is what I had on hand. When I cook this again, I will try it with a Mexican cheese, like Queso Chihuahua, or even Monterey Jack.  Let the cheese melt while you stir, then add 1 cup of sour cream. Stir it in and let it heat, but don't bring the sauce to a boil. 

At this point, your pasta should be ready. Mix the sauce with the pasta, coat it well, and serve.

Chicken Enchilada Pasta

My family really enjoyed this dish! The pasta was delicious, and, as predicted, my toddler loved it. How do we know? She kept asking for more.

Ginny pushing the plate to her daddy saying, "More?"

In My Shoes

I'm one of those rare women who only has around 6 pairs of shoes, and I only wear 3 pair with any regularity. Shoes are not my thing and they never have been. I blame my large size 10 feet. When I was younger, finding shoes in my size was a challenge so I grew a distaste for shoe shopping.

I started to appreciate shoes more when I worked in retail at Macy's; however, I developed drop foot in my right foot and that ended any love for shoes I might have developed. If I don't wear a shoe with a strap or laces, the shoe will fall off. Heels? Forget it. My foot can't point like it used to after I was forced to have a corrective surgery because my right foot was in a permanent Barbie™ doll position. So, shoes are not my thing.

Already my two-year-old, Ginny, has fallen in love with shoes. She is obsessed with shoes. She has been obsessed with them since she was 20 months old. How is this possible? How can such a small child be so enamored with shoes already. I don't understand.

I kept a box of her old shoes on the floor of her closet, saving them so her baby sister can wear them some day. Ginny found the shoes during nap time once. When I went to get her from her nap, she was surrounded by shoes. I thought it was a fluke and put them away. The next day, I found her sleeping with her shoes.

While I am one who loves to go barefoot at all times, my daughter will come to me and say, "Shoes?" She wants to wear the shoes. If she gets a new pair of shoes, her face lights up.

Not only does she love her shoes, she loves my shoes. Ginny loves to put them on and walk in them. She will even go into my bedroom and remove all my shoes to the living room so she can play in them.

It is quite cute and adorable when she walks around in my shoes. I am concerned, though, that her shoe obsession will spell trouble for me as she gets older.

Weather Widow

My husband is a meteorologist for the National Weather Service (NWS), a federal agency under NOAA. Before you ask, because I know many of you will, he is NOT on T.V. He is NOT a T.V. meteorologist. He works for the government. The meteorologists for the NWS are the ones that many T.V. meteorologists go to for their forecasts.  The NWS puts out all the weather watches and warnings too. There are many NWS offices across the country. These offices operate 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They never close.

Before my DH and I got married, I learned that his job as a meteorologist meant that he worked strange hours. In his current position, he works one of three different shifts on a rotating basis: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., 8 to 4:30 p.m., or 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.  He does not work your typical Monday through Friday shift. Sometimes he may have to work seven shifts in a row, other times only three before having a day off. I knew what I was getting into when we got married, and I was prepared for it. When we were first married, it was not a big deal. It has become more of a challenge since having two children. There have been days where I have felt like a single parent, but I make do, and my DH is fabulous about helping out when he does have time off. 

Soon after we married, I was friended by another wife of a meteorologist at my husband's office. She welcomed me to the club of the Weather Widows. We are a special "club" of spouses who know that our lives revolve around the weather. If there is severe weather, it is likely that my husband will get called into work or have to put in overtime. Severe weather includes blizzards as well as thunderstorms.

My baby girl in the middle of her crying fit.

Over the last couple of days, we have had a lot of severe storms coming through. My DH, and those he with whom he works, have been quite busy at their office. They have been putting out watches and warnings, as well as working on forecasts and processing observations. Yesterday was a particularly busy day. My husband had taken the morning off to go to our daughter's two-year doctor appointment. He headed to the office right after, reporting for work around noon. He didn't get home until 12:45 a.m.  A long day. 

Not only was it a long day for him, it was a long day for me. Our toddler behaved great, although she did have a temper tantrum while I was trying to feed the baby. The biggest challenge came when the baby, Grace, wouldn't settle to sleep.  Instead, she screamed and cried for 25 minutes straight, waking her sister, until she wore herself out. It is times like that when I miss my husband the most when there is severe weather.  However, it is part of his job and part of mine as a Weather Widow that I have come to accept. Besides, I know that the work my DH does helps the general public. He takes that of his job most seriously. And, honestly, in the grand scheme it is a minor sacrifice I make in comparison to the spouses of military serving overseas.  

Wordless Wednesday: Terrible Two Tantrum

Last night, my newly two year old toddler noticed a couple of pacifiers on the kitchen cabinet. They were there so they could get washed. She wanted one. We said no because she only gets the paci at nap or bed time. She was not happy with our answer. Dinner started soon after and here are some pictures to show the tantrum that lasted a good 20 minutes.

A pause in tears because I pulled out the camera to document the tantrum.

Working herself up again.

Fully blown tears and fit.

She is too upset to eat.

Well, she was too upset until she realized it was one of her faves, ravioli,
and stopped crying in order to eat.

Dinner done and paci forgotten, she wanted Mommy to take a picture of her. :)

Happy Birthday, Virginia!

The artiste!

Today is my beautiful toddler's second birthday, and I find it hard to believe. How is it possible that she can be 2 already? Time has really started flying since I gave birth to her. My life has changed quite a bit. I am a better person because of her. And to add another cliche to the mix, I can't imagine my life without her. Since it is her birthday, I want it to be a fabulous day for her.

The canvas is ready to go! Notice the little hand reaching for it.

I baked a cake first thing today. It is cooling and waiting for icing, which I intend to put on during Ginny's nap. Then, this morning, after breakfast, Ginny and I worked on an art project for her birthday. We have done a variation of this before. We basically did some finger painting. She has finger painted a few times and seems to enjoy it.

Ginny was eating her breakfast when I started bringing the art supplies into the kitchen to work on. She pointed to the paint and said "colors." I had a heck of a time getting her to finish eating because she was so focused on the colors. She knew we were going to finger paint. Because it is her birthday and I want her to have a more permanent reminder, I planned to have her finger paint on canvas. As she finished her breakfast, I wrote the word "two" in blue tape on the canvas. The plan is to pull off the tape once the painting is dry and see the result.

Ginny happily begins to paint.

Once she was done eating, I put a paint smock on her (basically one of her daddy's old shirts), and prepped the table with newspaper. It was time to paint! Ginny lit up. She couldn't wait. She had so much fun. She was even humming to herself as she painted. Luckily, I got that video taped. Of course, the biggest problem was ending the project. She didn't want to stop. However, we needed to stop at some point. So, we did. She wasn't thrilled.

The birthday girl's reaction to painting time ending.

Now, she is happily watching Little Einsteins, and has forgotten how mean mommy was to stop her painting. Hopefully the rest of her day is enjoyable! I want her to have a fabulous, happy 2nd birthday!

Roly Poly

Just laid down on the  blanket.

Like a dutiful mother should be, I always lay my baby down on a blanket for tummy time. Well, always maybe stretching it. Instead I lay her down for tummy time most of the time or maybe it would be more accurate to say fairly often. Anyhow, despite my short-comings in this area, my lovely Grace has learned how to roll over.

The first time she rolled over was when she was four months old, a mere 10 days from turning five months. Of course I was thrilled as I watched her roll from her tummy to her back. I pulled out the video camera and hoped I could get her to do it again on film. I could not. However, I did take a picture and texted it to her father and grandparents. Naturally the next step was to express my pride on Facebook. What good mother wouldn't do that? (Please note that I am being sarcastic.)

Within a minute, she has rolled onto her tummy.

The next day, Grace topped herself by rolling from her back to her tummy.  This small little roll stunned me. I didn't expect her to do that move so quickly, but she did. From that day forward, she kept practicing her rolls. At first she mainly rolled from tummy to back, but eventually started rolling more from the back to the belly. She has even woken me up a few times because she has rolled onto her belly while asleep. She wakes uncertain as to what happened and gets frustrated.

Now, we have quite the roly poly baby girl! A couple of days ago, she did her first 360 and I actually caught it on video! Stunning. She will now roll herself from one end of the room to the other. She doesn't roll back because as of right now she only rolls to her right. I'm sure left rolling will happen at some point. One amusing thing about her new discovery is watching her get frustrated. There are times that she will be laying on her belly all frustrated because she wants to be on her back. Yet, she rolled herself onto her belly. It is like she doesn't know how she is getting there. I'm sure she will figure it out, eventually. 

After nearly 10 minutes (or less), she has rolled almost the length of the room

I guess this means she may be crawling soon. Oh boy!

Shredded Beef Tacos: Crock Pot Delight

I love Mexican food. Anytime I see a recipe for Mexican food, I am likely to pin it, especially if it looks easy.

Yesterday, I decided to try a brand new pin (I usually go with older pins first), slow cooker shredded beef tacos. My type of recipe, Mexican and slow cooker. It ended up tasting good, but there are a few things I will tweak in the future.

The first thing you need to do is create a rub out of 2 tsp. chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, and 1/2 tsp smoked paprika. I subbed regular paprika for the smoked version because that was all I had on hand. Then you are supposed to rub the spice mixture all over 2 lbs of beef, in my case a chuck roast. 

Notice the large jar of garlic? Yep. That is my shortcut.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I didn't feel that the rub was enough to get over all the meat. If there is a technique I'm missing, please let me know. The rub I had made was only enough to go on one side...barely. So, I mixed up some more rub. The next time I do this recipe I plan on tripling the rub so that I have plenty of rub to cover the meat. I'd much rather end up with a bit extra than scrambling to make more. (If you triple, you would need 2 Tbsp chili powder, 1 Tbsp cumin, and 1 1/2 tsp paprika.)

Once the rub is applied, heat up 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet and sear the meat on each side. Searing should only take 1-2 minutes per side. Put the meat in the bottom of you slow cooker. Add your minced onion (1 small) and minced garlic (4 cloves) on top of the meat.

The food in the crock pot ready to go.

You will then add 1 cup of beef broth or stock to the skillet, deglazing the pan. Add 2 Tbsp of tomato paste to help thicken the broth and 1 tsp of chipolte powder. The pinned recipe says to add a chopped chipolte pepper into the recipe. I did not do that and instead went with her substituted suggestion of the powder. However, the 1/2 tsp did not give the beef much flavor or kick so if going with the powder, I would add the full teaspoon.

The beef all shredded and ready to serve.

Once the sauce has thickened, after 3-5 minutes, pour it on top of the meat in the crock pot. Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. After it is done cooking, take out the meat with a slotted spoon. Shred the meat and serve with flour tortillas (or if you prefer, corn) and all the fixings. Another thing you can do is use the meat to make beef quesadillas.

We really did like this dish. I just want to add a bit more kick and flavor to it in the future. One thought was that I might add cayenne pepper to the rub or even include the chipolte powder in the rub. 

Ready to eat! (The quesadilla was made for my toddler.)

Shredded beef tacos with all the fixings!

Another successful pin! 

My Tiny Dancer

My toddler loves to dance. She danced long before she was able to walk, much less crawl. As soon as she was able to sit up, whenever she heard music, she would bounce to the music.

I take great joy in the fact that she loves music and loves to dance. It brings a smile to my face every time the music motivates her to move. I long ago resolved that as soon as she is old enough I will get her started with dance lessons. Since the majority of places require that your child be at least 3, we have another year of waiting. Until she can start lessons, though, I encourage her dancing.

Ginny usually will start dancing the moment she hears music. Some mornings she will wake up and the first word out of her lips is "dance?" as she points out the radio in her room. Dancing is a daily enterprise for my little girl.

Recently, Dancing With The Stars started their new season. It has been a favorite of mine for a long time. We introduced Ginny to the show for the first time on premiere night. Ginny's bedtime had been 7 p.m until a few weeks ago when we changed it to 7:30 so she had never seen the show before. Ginny was completely enamored. She was more than happy to dance along with the show until she had to go to bed. Last night, I resolved that I can no longer watch DWTS live. Ginny loves the show so much, I feel like it is unfair to only let her watch the first 30 minutes. So, starting last night, I have started DVRing it so she and I can watch the show together the next day. The side benefit of this for me is that I don't have to watch Disney, Jr.

Country Club Chicken: A Little Bite of Heaven

The finished product, ready to serve!

One recipe I found on Pinterest has become a quick favorite in our home, Country Club Chicken. The first time I made it was when my parents were visiting. They fell in love with it. They asked me to email the recipe to them, and reminded me when they were on the road home back to Florida.

Last night, I made it for a second time. Making it was more of a challenge this time around. After all, last time I had 3 additional adults to help keep my children distracted as I made dinner. This time I just had my DH who was holding our napping baby, who is seriously resistant to napping anywhere except our arms. My lovely and energetic toddler took advantage of this situation by staying as close to me as possible, getting seriously underfoot. So, as I prepped, I felt my blood pressure rise. Not the ideal situation for cooking much of anything. However, I did what I could.

This recipe does require a bit of prep work. Unfortunately, instead of paying attention to the cooking description given by Kayote Kitchen (see the link above), I just printed out the printable version and went from there. If I had gone over her actual instructions, I wouldn't have gotten the wrong type of mushrooms. Instead, I looked at the ingredient list and and when I saw 7 oz of mushrooms, I assumed she meant canned. She did not. I had forgotten this from the first time I made it. Seeing as I didn't have any fresh mushrooms on hand, I ended up using canned instead. Lesson learned: read all of the recipe before shopping for ingredients.

The sauteed onions, canned mushrooms (but fresh is best),
apples, and bacon with the soup being added.

Anyhow, to get started you need to mince 1 large onion and 1 apple (Golden Delicious works well), as well as clean and slice your mushrooms. The first time I did the recipe, I used pre-sliced mushrooms from the grocery store, 8 oz instead of the 7 oz she has in her recipe. Not a huge change in the least. Besides, more mushrooms is not a bad thing. While you are prepping these ingredients, you will need to fry 4-5 slices of bacon, then cut it into smaller pieces. Now, the first time I did this, my bacon was bad so I used real bacon bits/pieces. It actually worked nicely in the recipe, although fresh is usually best.

Once the bacon is done, put a couple of tablespoons of unsalted butter in the pan to melt. Then, brown the about 4 seasoned (salt & pepper) chicken breast. Basically, you want it to look brown on the outside, but not be cooked on the inside. After that is done, you put the chicken in a casserole, and add the onion to the pan. I won't go into a lot of detail here, because you can get it more in depth on her page. When the onion, mushrooms, and apple is done cooking you will be adding cream of mushroom soup as well as white wine and the bacon. Kayote Kitchen mentions using Unox soup. I've never heard of that brand nor is there any chance that my small town grocery store (nor our nearby small city one) would carry it. I used her suggested substitute (2 cans of Campbell's), and it worked great. The last thing you add is sharp cheddar. Her pictures show her adding white cheddar. I used yellow sharp cheddar. Stir the ingredients well then pour the sauce on top of the chicken.

Ready to go in the oven!

You will then put the casserole in a 350 oven. Of course, I had to remove my toddler who had crawled between my legs and blocked my oven access. I removed her to a laundry basket she had dragged into the kitchen. Once that was done, I let the chicken cook for 30 minutes.

My toddler in the laundry basket after having to
remove her from blocking the oven.

This recipe goes great with pasta (spaghetti was suggested, but we use penne because that works best for toddler fingers). I would also think it would work with rice.

Another successful pin from Pinterest, and one I highly recommend! :)