Autumn Time...Again

It looks like Chapel Hills Farm is starting to be an Autumn tradition for our family! Can you believe how much she's grown!?Autumn 2009

Autumn 2010

Growing Girl

Olivia is turning into SUCH a big girl! She is talking more (possibly thanks to us taking away the binky except for nap time and night time...oh, and church...). Some of her favorite words are "Daddy", "no, no, no", "oh, cool" (sounds like "oh, ghoul"), "yummy nummy", "doggie", and "hi" (used for "hi" and "bye").

She loves to wear her shoes, eat with a spoon by herself (though this is still messy), and "help" around the house. She throws her own diapers away, picks up toys (with encouragement) and helps set the table, among other things.

Jon has been so busy this semester with work + school that there are usually a couple days a week when he leaves before she's up and gets home after she is in bed. This is turning her into quite the daddy's girl. When he's home, she wants HIM! It's so sweet!

Today is a perfect, crisp, fall day, and we decided to go for a walk and gather some leaves. Olivia had a GREAT time! I didn't get any pictures of the fall colors (gorgeous!) but here are some of my girl (also gorgeous...in my humble opinion). :)

Leftover Makeover

I have been trying really hard lately not to let any food go to waste. So in my weekly meal planning, I've been checking out the refrigerator to see what's there, and planning around that. For example, the pork roast I made two Sundays ago for carnitas has also become pork burritos, pork paninis, and toasted pork cheesesteak. I still have one more meal's worth of pork waiting in my freezer. This past Sunday, I made WAY too much couscous to go along with our yogurt-marinated chicken skewers, so I had to get a little creative. After a bit of online browsing for inspiration, this is what I came up with...

Couscous & Feta Stuffed Peppers

1/2 recipe for curry couscous

2-4 bell peppers (I can't usually bring myself to pay twice as much for red, so I go with green, but this week red were on sale for the same price as green, and were bigger!)

1 yellow squash

1 small onion

1 tomato

1/2 lb. ground beef

3/4 C feta cheese

salt & pepper

I cut the tops of the peppers, and boiled them.

Chopped up all the veggies (including the tops of the peppers).

Pulled out my leftover couscous

and feta cheese.

Browned the ground beef and seasoned with salt & pepper,

added the veggies and sauteed until they were tender

Added the couscous and feta, and mixed it all up.

Then stuffed my peppers, and added the extra filling to the bottom of the pan!

I did this during nap time and covered it in foil. It's in my fridge waiting to bake tonight. I'll probably serve it with rice, but it would be good as a stand alone meal too.

What are some of your favorite things to do with leftovers?

The BEST Salad!

I didn't even take a picture, because, well we ate it so fast. And we eat this all the time recently. But I can't stop thinking about how good dinner was. While we were eating, Jon asked me, "Is is normal to get this excited about a salad?" I don't know, but I just thought I would share.

My sister Maria adapted this recipe from one on Allrecipes.com and shared it with me. We LOVE it. Here's how it's done...

Asian Chicken Salad

Dressing (ESSENTIAL for the salad to be so good):
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 Tbs. sesame oil
3 Tbs. rice vinegar
1/4 C. vegetable oil

mix up all dressing ingredients and chill for at least 30 minutes

Salad:
lettuce, about 3 cups, chopped (I use romaine)
1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded
1 can mandarin oranges
1 green onion, chopped
1 Tbs. sesame seeds, toasted (don't leave these out!)
1 cup or so store-bought won tons

toss all ingredients EXCEPT won tons. Serve those on the side to top your salad once it is on your plate (so they don't get soggy). Serve with dressing.

Okay, so it is totally worth going out and buying the "special" ingredients for this salad. You will want to eat it again and again, so you will totally get your money's worth! Yum!

Why My House May Never Be Clean Again (at least for the next 5-10 years...)

No one ever tells you that cleaning with a toddler in the house is next to impossible. Could that be because it is just my toddler? Let it be said that I am absolutely wild about Olivia...couldn't love her more. However, she is the reason that my house will probably never be clean again. Let's have a quick recap of the cleaning attempts from the past couple days...

We went upstairs to fold some laundry. I got it folded, but while I did so, Olivia did this.
Then we went downstairs to fold some laundry (for the second time...Liv had already unfolded it as fast as I could fold it once). While I did that, she opened all my craft drawers and started dumping beads everywhere. (This is a repeat offense...I think our vacuum is sick of crunching on tiny beads that this pregnant lady does not have the energy to pick up.)

And lest you think, well, at least you got the laundry folded, think again. She managed to re-unfold it before I could put it away.

I load the dishwasher, she pulls everything out and throws it on the floor.

I put away her clothes, she pulls all the books off her shelf.

I pick up her toys, she pulls all the shoes out of the bench where we store them. I'm starting to think the floor is a really good place to "store" all those shoes instead.

And here's my favorite. Everyone knows that a house with a toddler must be swept several times a day or be subject to bugs of every kind. Lately, whenever I get out the broom, she either dances in the dust pile (ahem, crumb pile) and tracks it everywhere, while fishing out anything that looks edible and trying to eat it, or steals the broom and "helps" by pushing the dirt around the house.

One thing she does have going for her though...I know lots of little kids are terrified of the vacuum cleaner. Liv is only mildly afraid. This morning while I vacuumed the living room, she stood absolutely still against the wall until I was finished, and then approached the vacuum and started poking at it timidly.

So great. I got the living room vacuumed. But don't worry, she left this little surprise for me in the carpet after her post-lunch-sweep-dancing-and-tracking escapade.
By nap time, I am so exhausted from chasing her around all morning, I can't even think about cleaning.

Sigh.

So I'm giving up. No more clean house for me. By the time she grows out of it, I'm sure the next one will pick up where she left off...what's a mom to do?

29 Weeks

I have been a slacker about posting belly pics this pregnancy, probably because by the time Jon gets home to take a picture, I have been chasing Olivia around all day, and am not looking anywhere near ready to have my picture taken. So at last (on a Sunday...much more do-able for pictures) here is my 29 week belly. This little girl has definitely been letting me know she is in there...she's a little mover like Liv was!

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My "Problem"

So here's the scenario...I'm teaching a night class at the local community college, and right as I'm starting class (it's the first day), this old guy says "can I ask you a personal question?" I'm a pretty open person, so I say, "sure", and he asks, "Are you going to make it through this course?" (Obviously looking at my growing belly.) I explain that, yes, I am quite sure I will make it through the course, but should anything happen that would make it so I couldn't, a substitute would finish the class.

A few minutes later, it turns out that the guy was actually signed up for an Italian class, and has been directed to the wrong room. As he gets up to leave, he grumbles, "Well good. Maybe my next instructor won't have a maternity problem." A what? I should probably be offended, but I started laughing. Wow.