penelope's hair

enter penelope's hair:

it is long
it is beautiful
it curls at the ends
it is a rich brown like her daddy's
it is my nemesis

penelope has always been well blessed with hair. penelope loves her hair. she get's so many complements on it. i don't mean to make anyone in our family feel bad...
but penelope does have nice hair and everyone loves it. everyone but me. The Hair has it out for me. i would like to cut it. shhh. don't tell anyone (bryan or penelope) or they might burst into tears. i am thinking of taking the sheers to The Hair in the middle of the night when they are all fast asleep...

the combing and the washing and the brushing and the doing of the hair, along with the weeping & wailing that accompany all of these steps will bring an end to this mother. and if i can't have her's cut, i may just do something drastic.

weekending

i hope you had a good weekend. i always wish we had 3 day weekends, but doesn't everyone.

we went to the beach with some friends. penelope likes to wear a swimming suit to the beach even when it's 60 degrees out... isla likes swinging a whole lot and also wears dirty clothes 90% of the time. here's to a new week.

 

posters vol.II

 found here

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found here

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

english muffins please!

penelope's favorite breakfast at the moment is english muffins with a banana. she calls the english muffins round toasts and she always comes to me saying, "hey mom, i got a deal (i have a plan). we can have round toasts for breakfast." we make lot's of deals at our house :).

in my bread book by peter reinhart there is an english muffin recipe and i decided to give them a try. i bought the crumpet rings like 3 months ago and i FINALLY made them yesterday. they are seriously good! i will definitely be making them again. i may want to get more rings though, because i can only cook 4 at a time and they take 24 min... so making 2 or 3 batches can take time- not a ton of work, but time.

here is the recipe i used from artisan breads everyday

2 t. honey

1 T. vegetable or olive oil

1 1/2 c. milk

2 2/3 c. bread flour (i used all purpose and they were great)

1 1/4 t. kosher salt

2 t. yeast

1/4 t. baking soda

3 T. warm water

cornmeal for dusting

add honey and oil to milk. in a bowl whisk flour, salt and yeast. add milk to flour mixture and mix until flour is hydrated. scrape down bowl and mix for a few more seconds. scrape down bowl, cover with plastic and store in fridge overnight or for up to 4 days.

on baking day take dough our 2 hours before you plan to bake. preheat your griddle pan or cast iron skillet on medium-high heat or 300 degrees. to right before baking mix baking soda and water and fold gently into dough.  mist pan and the insides of your crumpet rings with spray oil. dust pan and the insides of your crumpet rings with cornmeal. pour 1/3 c. of dough in each ring filling it 2/3 full. cook 12 min on each side. wait 30 min before cutting and eating.

 

i have seen a lot of people using this recipe from peter reinhart that does NOT require crumpet rings. 

i am off to eat an english muffin and then we are off to the library. we will have story/singing time and then i am going to pick up A Tale of Two Cities, a book i haven't read since high school. i'm excited. have a good thursday!

still crocheting

i am still crocheting. i like telling people that i'm a hooker...i like to hook. bryan doesn't think it's funny. ANYWAY, i still have to take pics of my progress on my new afghan, but i wanted to post some crochet work to show that i'm still hooking up in here.

 here are a couple of goodies i made for tira.

AND i made this ombre cuff for april.

 

she's a mover

well our little isla was a little slow, but she is now a moving baby. i can't say that she crawls... but she can inchworm/army crawl pretty much anywhere. this new development has cause panic in our older child. her sister is now able to get to the toys that she strategically places far enough away that a less mobile little sister could not reach. i knew this stage would come and the little miss is surely more content playing on the floor now that she can get to things. let the baby proofing begin...cheers. 

 she also does down dog

 

posters

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found here

yesterday

excuse me while i ramble...

yesterday was a hard day. isla wouldn't nap and i was totally exhausted. i don't know how i got to this state of exhaustion, but every single part of me wanted to curl up and sleep until bryan came home. when the day did came to an end (or rather, when the girls were in bed) i sat down and completely zoned out for probably an hour. i wasn't emotionally, mentally or physically overwhelmed, but i was overwhelmed...somehow. i needed to be still. some days are like that.

being a stay at home mom is a lot of things, it's rewarding, enjoyable, funny and educational even, but it isn't easy. a lot of the time it feels monotonous (but i think all jobs are like that at some point) with all the laundry, cooking, entertaining little people, attempting to educate said little people, cleaning little monsters, grocery shopping, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. the worst is when i start feeling guilty for doing something i want to do (hmmm, like blogging or jogging). i know i shouldn't feel guilty for giving myself a little time...the feeling still creeps in. OH and while i'm ranting i should mention how lonely it gets and how i long for adult company.

ok, let's go back to when i'm sitting on the couch with a completely blank mind after a particularly trying day. when i came out of my haze and started thinking about life before kids and how easy things were-school, work, married w/o kids-CAKE! BUT i couldn't think of one thing that has brought me more true happiness than my children. i know how lucky i am to have them.  i am so grateful that bryan is supportive of my desire to stay home with our two littles. i guess love is sometimes hell, but most of the time heaven.

valentinesing

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

we have been doing out valentine's thang. i have been sick for the last week and so not all of my plans actually happened, but i'm feeling good today! hopefully we will make up for lost time and make magic happen. i can't say how grateful i am to have so many people i love.

 

our v-day breakfast: pink buttermilk pancakes, strawberries and buttermilk syrup.

 p making some valentines last week.

 bryan knows his way into my heart-yum.

i hope you all have a great day with people you love.

isla is 9 months!

here's my 9 month old.

we went to see dr. H today. and everything looks great with our little lady.

fun facts on isla may:
she's in the 75% in height and the 25% in weight.
isla has 4 teeth on the top now, so 6 teeth altogether!
she's scooting backwards and can get up on all fours, but has yet to crawl.
chatter box- ba ba ba. ma ma ma. da da da. mmmmmmmm. ah.
she loves blueberries, oranges, rice cereal and oatmeal.
penelope is the one who can make her laugh the hardest.
loves going jogging and on walks with mom.
likes bubbles and swinging at the park.
she loves to take baths with p and she can sit up all by herself.
i love having little conversations with her.

 

 diy valentines ideas

cute cookie packaging idea via @bh (pinned by kami bigler)

heart wands (pinned by alicia ilievski) in jars with crocheted covers

valentine arrows (pinned by sophie mccurley)

xoxo garland-for sale here (pinned by mariah baddas)

shall i give you a kiss

i put together these little valentine's day bags for penelope to give some of her friends...i will probably give some to my friends too, because who doesn't want a kiss?  we've been watching and reading peter pan at our house a lot lately and peter and mary's little kiss confusion gave me this idea. i bought the cello at target and they are 4 1/2 inches wide and maybe 6 inches tall. i printed these labels 4 to a page. i folded down the top and then stapled the label to the top (you could also stitch it shut if you are into that). i am sharing the file for the label with you here.  

happy anniversary to us!

it's our anniversary! wahoo! 

i still remember this day well.

 we had a beautiful ceremony. 

it was freezing, it was snowing! 

we were surrounded by our closest family and friends. 

we had good food (i know- it always comes back to the food with me). 

it was perfect. 

i love you bry.