It's a...

girl! Yes, just over two weeks ago at our 20 week ultrasound we found out that we're going to be having a little girl! We are so excited. Benjamin's heart is already melting at the thought of being Daddy to a girlie, while I've already begun to collect frilly, flowery little clothes during my thrifting outings and making "pretty girlish" things (as Little Man says).

When we told Little Man that he was going to have a new little sister, he thought about it for a minute, and said: "That sounds good." He's actually old enough to understand a bit of what's going on this time and is a lot of fun. Just a couple of days ago, he started rubbing my belly and saying that he can feel Sweet Pea. Brother, on the other hand, still responds with an emphatic "huh-UH" or "no" when we try to talk to him about the new baby and about being a big brother. He'll come around eventually, though, and join the rest of us in our excitement. : )

sweet brothers

The week before I left on my trip (wow, that seems like a long time ago!) I had the perfect chance to capture some great brother photos. The boys were happily and spontaneously hanging out together in a natural-light-filled situation. Naturally, I grabbed my camera to try to capture a quick photo of the sweet scene before they caught on to the fact that I was photographing them and turned silly or ran away. Much to my surprise they actually stayed where they were and posed naturally for the camera! It's an opportunity that comes once in a blue moon, and I was so thankful for my nice camera. The following are a few of my favorite shots from out impromptu photo session.

[serious]

[a wee bit silly]

[just plain sweet]

[a new favorite]

monday menu

fancy dark chocolate from Grenada

a gift from one of Benjamin's coworkers

after a recent trip to the Caribbean

I'm having a hard time menu planning this week after having a little break. I'm just not in the swing of things. After some research, though, I've come up with a couple of new recipes and a menu I'm happy to be making. Here's what I'll be cooking:

M-creamy chicken casserole, corn and green beans (picky ones can choose which)

T-steak, orzo with parmesan and basil, broccoli

W-tacos

Th-tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, fruit

F-Brazilian shishkebabs, beans, rice

Tonight I'm also going to make blueberry muffins just because I want them so badly. : )

All three of the linked recipes are new to me. I'm hoping they'll turn out satisfactorily, and you'll probably be hearing about them soon.

What are you making this week?

(insert clever title)

home is a lovely place to be

especially after a trip

i left two tuesdays ago

on a 2,000 mile round trip road trip

and returned last wednesday

it was a lovely journey

(as little man would call it)

i have so much to talk about

so many projects and pictures to share

but i've been tired

and simply haven't felt like writing

today

however

the word floodgates are opening

the gears are turning

prepare for a deluge

of catch up

posts

:)

finishing touches

This week I finished my log cabin quilt.

We splurged on professional quilting since this quilt was too huge for me to do on my machine, I was short on time, my parents were willing to chip in and make the quilt a joint gift, and we found a good deal. Though I must admit to feeling nervous about entrusting the quilt to a stranger after all the time and care I put into it, it was a huge relief to not have to worry about the quilting! My fears were unfounded, it came back beautifully quilted with the perfect-colored thread.

After the break from working on the quilt while it was away being quilted, I was actually excited about sewing on the binding. (Yes, I do sew on binding the cheater way with my machine instead of by hand...)

I am so proud of how my design turned out! It turned out so beautifully that I'm having just a tiny bit of a hard time thinking about giving it away after all. I can't think of someone I'd rather give all of my beautiful green and brown scraps to than my friend Martha, though. : ) I know she and her new husband will enjoy it and treasure it, and in the long run, I'll never regret the gift.

Oh bother I just now realized while looking at the above photo that the hearts are not centered. Sigh. I won't cry over it. After all, I knew that after it was all sewn together I'd see mistakes for which I checked and double checked but still missed. I guess the asymmetry gives it a cool, modern-y look?

It was very rewarding to fold it up to fit in the gift bag.

There were two extra quilt squares when the quilt was all done, so I made them into quilted pot holders. That way if Martha can't fit the big quilt into her tiny first home, she'll still have something that I made for her to use.

monday menu

Here's what I'm cooking this week. What are you making?

M-chicken parmesan, roasted asparagus

T-tomato-vegetable soup, grilled cheese sandwiches

W-roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, veggie

Th-French dip sandwiches (in crock pot), salad

F-chicken pot pie

S-bring brownies to small group potluck dinner

Su-crock pot roast

extra sunshine

extra sunshine

from Benjamin

on a day that I very much needed it

I heart him

recipe reviews

Today I finished sewing together my log cabin quilt top, ironed it, pieced the backing, and ironed it. If you think that's not very impressive, you've never tried ironing a 113 inch by 98 inch rectangle of fabric before. It's a very worthwhile pain. I'm so pleased to have that part of it done! It was incredibly satisfying to fold up the quilt and backing and bundle them up to go to the quilter.

In celebration, I decided to write recipe reviews! Yes, it's a little random, but it I find that if I over-focus on one project it becomes stale, and what better way is there to distract myself than by thinking about yummy food? : ) No, not really. But food is delightful, and I've enjoyed trying a couple of new recipes lately.

. Enter the Cream Cheese Brownies:

The recipe: I have never had good success with making brownies from scratch. I have even managed to make brownie brittle (it was just like chocolatey peanut brittle without the peanuts!) while I thought I was following a brownie recipe. That being the case, I generally stick to making the cheater box kind of brownies. A few days ago, however, box brownies were just not going to cut it, so I thought I'd give it another shot. Enter Cream Cheese Brownies.

The mods: For once I didn't mess with the recipe (guess I was too scared of another brownie brittle incident) other than to half it for fear of making a little brownie piggy out of myself. ; ) I think I may also have not swirled the top two layers as much as I was supposed to.

My impression: They turned out! And they were everything I dreamed they would be...sigh...salivate...sigh...

The recipe: The other recipe I tried recently was Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Vinegar (sorry I have no photos for this one). We have been buying a lot of asparagus when it has been on sale lately, and I was getting tired of my usual steamed asparagus.

The mods: I added a grating of fresh Parmesan which was just lovely.

My impression: Yum! Roasted asparagus has a nice texture as well as more flavor than steamed asparagus, and the balsamic vinegar added the perfect, simple extra touch that was needed to finish it off. I'll definitely be making this again!

quilt in progress

Two Saturdays ago, I finished sewing together the last of my log cabin quilt squares. (There are 80 of them! Well, actually 82 because I miscounted.) And last week I trimmed them into predictably even 11 3/4 inch squares.

It's so rewarding to reduce the uneven blocks into a piles of little scraps and perfect squares.
When that was done, I recruited my mom and an artist friend to help me the squares for the first half of the quilt.
And I sewed them together. I opted to work with quilt halves for a couple of reasons. The first is that one half of a large quilt fits much better in my modestly-sized living room than the whole, and the second reason is that I need to have the quilt blocks sewn together and off of the floor before the end of nap time. : )

Today I laid out the other half and sewed it together. It is looking even more beautiful than I imagined it would! Now all I need to do is press the halves, sew them together, piece the back, get it to the quilter (there is no way I can quilt a queen-sized quilt on my little machine!), and bind it. It's still quite a process, but the end is in sight. And that's a very good thing since we leave for my friend's wedding in two-and-a-half weeks...

monday menu

M-chicken-fried steak, gravy, biscuits, fruit

T-stew and rolls

W-chicken based on this recipe, rice, corn

Th-chicken tacos (made with leftover chicken)

F-grilled T-bone steak, garlic-lemon roasted potatoes, salad