Frying an egg

I love eggs! In fact, we have eggs almost every morning for breakfast.  Because of this I have gotten fairly decent at frying an egg (at least my husband tells me so...) My man loves eggs and will eat a lot of them. We are definitely capable of mowing through 3 dozen in a week (I know, crazy right?) Somehow our eggs just disappear, maybe a little elf comes in and steals them, maybe I make frittata's for dinner alot, maybe I bake too much, maybe we just like our eggs! Sheesh people give us a break!

Now, let's turn our thoughts from eggs for a minute to talk about my best friend, the Iron Skillet (if only I were joking). Do you own an iron skillet? Please say yes. If you don't, don't worry we can still be friends... just go buy one NOW. Of course I am joking (kind of!) Honestly, they are not that expensive and they make everything taste better.  I cook basically everything in my iron skillets, cornbread, pancakes, stir-fry, quiche, shepherds pie,  and my friend the egg.

Granola Bars!

Do any of you have the same problem as me? When you get a chance to sit down with a cup of coffee (if sitting down is ever possible, or if you drink coffee), do you crave a little something sweet to go with it? I do. In fact, it has become a bad habit that I am slowly trying to rid myself of. Admittedly, I am taking baby steps, but trying nonetheless. I have started making these granola bars on occasion that I enjoy and that I can share with my kiddos. (The recipe is also easy enough that they can help make them, too!) The granola bars are not perfectly healthy, as you will see when you peruse the ingredients, but they are delicious and a step in the right direction. I also figure they are most definitely better for me than devouring a cookie, cupcake, or (most) muffins! Why don't you try them for yourself and then let me know what you think and if you have some healthier replacements to add in?

Tomorrow is my (our) Mama's birthday!

My Mama and I

Tomorrow is my Mother's birthday.  I am thankful for her in so many ways.  Some of you may not know my Mother. Let me tell you a little bit about her:

• She gave birth to ten children and loves every single one of her children.
• When I think of my Mom I think of sacrifice. How much my Mother sacrificed for her children over the years. 
• Mom is compassionate, always reaching out to help and serve.  

sisters chat: About date nights

 Esther:  What is your favorite kind of date with your man?

                Eating out? a movie? show? walking? hiking? ect...

 Lizzi:  Well, I love just doing simple things like walks, coffee dates, or sitting at a pretty park with books and talking or all of the above!

 Maude:  I think my favorite date would have to be going to a festival (I LOVE those) or a local football game or something like that.  Something that is different than the regular routine but easy.

 Maude:  Or perhaps checking out a small little town in the area that we've never been to before.  Just parking the car and walking around, checking out the different shops, parks and restaurants.

 Lizzi:  Yeah!

 Esther:  I think my favorite is going to dinner and a show downtown.  Usually we pick a restaurant downtown and then just walk to the show.  But I love parks and coffee shop dates too!

 Lizzi:  ooh... I love shows! that IS fun! Can I just have everything be my favorite?

 Maude:  I think dates with my husband are just pretty nice all around!!

Snow Day!!!

As I have complained about before this has been a pathetic winter for me.  Virginia is hardly known for cold, snowy winters but the one day of half inch snow accumulation is particularly sad (it did snow a little more than that one other day while I was on the O'Brien mini-vacation and, of course, I missed it!).  I love winter and the snow so I've been a little down in the mouth about this state of mine these past few months.

So in the last few weeks of warming up weather I have made a concerted effort to get excited about spring.  We've started our tomato seeds inside and bought several other seeds (determined to have a better garden this year than our first attempt last year!).  We had a picnic at a park on Sunday with some friends (the day started warm, the afternoon was cool and the early evening had several of us wrapped up in blankets on some park benches!).  Then Sunday night my husband and I planned our garden - which is a little tricky because we have two long narrow plots that aren't very big at all.  Of course, I grew up with an enormous garden so my perspective might be a little skewed!

However, this Monday we woke up to the most beautiful snow!  The flakes were falling in large bunches so thick it looked like a snow globe.  It was absolutely gorgeous!!

Let's talk about coconut flour

In August I wrote about my new found love of coconut. (You can read all about that  HERE) Well, guess what? It has continued and spiraled till being deliciously out of control.  Perhaps I ate a whole box of somoa girl scout cookies by myself... in one sitting. I thought I would hate them! I always had... they have coconut and until recently I have hated all things coconut.  But, enough about my somoa eating problems I have something amazing to share with you, two words. Coconut Flour.  You can make cakes, pancakes, bread, cookies, ect. with coconut flour! It leaves an almost somoa like flavor in your mouth, incredible!

A Birthday Celebration

Today my little boy turned three years old. It has gone by so fast, these three years. Unfortunately, as I sit here tonight, I feel like I spent the whole day in the kitchen and not much of it with him. When he woke up, he helped me make his own birthday sign (by his own wishes) and later in the morning we made a birthday medallion/necklace complete with cheerios and stickers. But I was a little grumpy. He and I were both fighting an obscure stomach bug, and I was tired and impatient. Oh, dear! What a way for a birthday to begin!

Memory Monday: A visit to Las Cruces

4 month old Judebug

Almost a year ago today this was my baby. We were in Las Cruces, New Mexico we spent the morning at the Farmers Market then went to a fun Hawaiian restaurant.  We were staying in El Paso, Texas at the time preparing for Andrew's deployment in early March.  Las Cruces is only about a 40 minute drive from El Paso and worth every moment.  It is a great place to visit! Full of good food, sunshine, and those perfect "nook-like" stores I love. But, most importantly Las Cruces has trees! Smallish, kind of strange looking, but trees nonetheless.  After being in El Paso for three months there was nothing I missed more (there is not a whole of trees to be found in El Paso or green for that matter) going to Las Cruces was a nice change of scene. 

O'Brien Mini-Vacation

After the youngest O'Brien's wedding we rented a cabin and, those of us who could make it, spent about 3 days playing and talking together. Mom was there (of course!!). Four of the sisters, one of which brought her husband, one sister-in-law, and eight of the grandkids (plus two in the bellies of two of the girls there!) were in attendance.

Esther and Maude chatting during our O'Brien family mini-vacation.

Maude:  Of course it was lovely to get some time to chat with my mom, some of my sisters and two of my in-laws while at the cabin.  We stayed up late and talked, played games, and watched movies.  My absolute favourite night was before we went to the cabin though when we stayed up and played Mafia - a game I haven't played in years - it was so much fun!!! 

Esther: And crazy! We all tend to really get into Mafia! Maybe those acting genes? I love role playing games. We stayed up so late but it was well worth it! I think we will be talking about that game for years to come :)

Maude: While at the cabin though we got to see Parent Trap 3 - that is a movie that Katharine, Lizzi and I used to act out as little girls.  It was amazing how much I remembered.  I could still quote most of it (we seriously had the entire film memorized as little girls and LOVED playing like we were triplets) but was surprised at a few parts that I had completely forgotten about.

A Little Announcement...

I have a little announcement that I just wanted to share with ya'll...

I am expecting our third little one! 

I am due sometime in August (there is some disagreement with the due date depending on whether you go by my courses or the informal ultrasound they gave me) - but sometime mid-to-late August is sounds like.  I do not yet know whether it is a boy or a girl since I am somewhere in my 14-16 week (it is really frustrating to have a two week disparity in due dates!).