Ruthie turns 1

I have a big girl on my lap as I type, and as I muttered aloud, "Ruthie turns one," she repeated in a sing-song voice "Ruthie turns one, and you turn thirty, and I turn *pause* three . . ."  Can't get anything by that one!  (I  also think it's time for a new blog header, especially since one particular word is becoming less true by the day!)

Ruthie's birthday was the day after Christmas, but we had her party on Saturday, which was also my birthday!  I'm going to have to figure out how to plan well in advance for Christmas and her birthday as she gets older, so she doesn't feel glossed over in the wake of the other holidays.  Still, for throwing it together at the last minute, I was very happy with how her party turned out!  We put up balloons and reused garlands, made cupcakes and ordered pizza, and John's best man even express-mailed the birthday outfit and baby book to us in New York so we could have them for the big day!

We did carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for Gemma's first birthday (also here), and I think that will be our tradition for firsts!  

Ruthie got her own baby (it was actually a Christmas gift, but babies are pretty slow with opening gifts!)

She loves it, truly!

Big sister wasn't on her feet yet at this age!  Gemma was just getting up on her knees to crawl around her first birthday.

(I got a new camera for Christmas, can you tell?! It is SOOO exciting and I have soo much to learn still!)

She finally cut her first two teeth!

Time to open some more gifts . . .

It's a homemade sweater from Grammy, and mittens, too!

It even matches her new headband from Aunt Abby.  :)

Happy birthday, singing, stair-climbing, darling, cuddly little girl!  We love you more every day!

New ear pretties

This is kind of a random post, seeing as I've kind of passed over the holidays and you haven't seen any photos of my little darlings lately! But I actually (finally!) remembered to capture this photo, albeit on my phone, and thought I'd share the story of my new earrings.

I don't have many earrings anymore since they were all stolen when our house was burglarized two years ago, but it almost doesn't matter because my ears have become so sensitive! Usually I wear my favorite little posts which John bought me for Christmas last year and just keep them in all the time. Still, back in the fall, I remembered loving these earrings by Lisa Leonard:

http://www.lisaleonardonline.com/cream-freshwater-pearl-earrings-P132C124.aspx

I had a partial strand of freshwater pearls from a Michaels purchase a while ago and figured I could make some myself! So, I went back to Michaels and picked up some earring hooks and head pins. 

That evening I attempted to put them together, and, would you believe it, the pearls would not fit on those head pins! Aargh! So, I found a few crystals leftover from making my bridesmaid gifts and made up the pair of purple and gold earrings in the picture above. They are very amateur! I haven't made any jewelry in at least four years, and at the time of our wedding I was borrowing the tools from a teacher-friend. This time, I was using my husband's tiny needle-nose pliers and another pair of big pliers to hold them still...my wrapped loops aren't very pretty and one earring is longer than the other by a little bit! But they are fun because they are new.

After a day of pondering, I had an "aha!" moment when I thought to try some ordinary pins from my sewing basket in place of the pins that were too big for my pearls. It worked! The wire is kind of flimsy and snapped off as I attempted a wrapped loop on the first one, but it still worked. I am loving them (just can't wear them for too long, or my ears get irritated!)

Can-less Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice

Was your lunch this yummy today? Mine was, but then I'm a leftovers-lady. :) I  mentioned that we'd be eating turkey, broccoli and rice casserole on Monday and thought maybe you'd like to inspect my version of the recipe! 

The old stand-by uses a can or two of cream-of-something soup, as so many of the casseroles of our mothers and grandmothers did. Of course, canned soup is not the healthiest or most natural thing you can put in your body, but it is such a yummy winter meal! Inspired by a few recipes I saw on Pinterest, I decided to try making my own cream base and adding cream cheese for the richness factor. I included some fresh lime juice for added dimension and, of course, lots of freshly ground black pepper! I suppose the original dish was quicker to make, but if you're used to making your own roux base for macaroni and cheese, this won't seem so bad. :) 

Can-less Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice Casserole

1 head of broccoli

Approx. 1 pound of chicken, cooked

Approx. 2 cups rice, cooked (1 cup uncooked, and I usually use brown)

3 Tbsp butter

3 Tbsp flour

2 cups milk

Juice of half a lime

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 box (8 oz) cream cheese (easier if softener!)

Approx. 1 cup cheddar, shredded

1) Cut broccoli into bite-size pieces and steam. Cook rice and chicken, if necessary. Cut/pull chicken into bite-size pieces as well.

2) In a heavy saucepan (I prefer a Dutcj oven), melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and stir constantly for 1-2 minutes until nice and fragrant.

3) Stir in milk all at once and cook several minutes, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens and boils.

4) Reduce heat and season with lime juice, salt and pepper to taste. Stir in cream cheese until smooth.

5) Remove from hear and stir in chicken, broccoli and rice! Pour into a greased casserole and top with shredded cheese.

6) Bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes, until heated through and bubbling a little bit.

I hope you like dairy, because there's a lot of it in this dish! It might be fun to substitute chicken stock for some or all of the milk. Thankfully, my version is heavy on the broccoli, too. :)

Blue plate and sweet potato casserole optional but recommended. :) 

Ruthie's Coat

"My mommy made me this coat!  It's really warm!"

"My grandma found Mommy six skeins of Shetland Chunky at Salvation Army!  She was so excited to try this pattern that she dutifully checked the gauge and carefully made adjustments for the chunkiness of the yarn.  She just couldn't understand why the pattern would call for such short sleeves . . . so she lengthened them to match a size 18 month jacket's sleeves."

"They're so big on me!"

"I guess my sister can wear it for now."

 "The collar needs a little blocking, too.  Ahem, Mom . . . "

Supper this week

It's been a long time, but I decided to share my meal plans for this week!

Monday: Clam chowder

Tuesday: Turkey, broccoli and rice casserole (I made up my own version with no canned soup and it is YUMMY if I do say so myself!)

Wednesday: {Thai}

Thursday: Roast chicken breast and sweet potato casserole (maybe some baked potatoes, too?)

Friday: Refried bean enchiladas 

Saturday: ??

Sunday: Honey-baked chicken and rice

I haven't figured out Saturday yet, but something very exciting is happening this week! A friend from church is bringing us some venison on Wednesday! I'm hoping a long-term agreement will work out, since he's an avid hunter and I would just flip for a venison source! Maybe we will try something with deer meat on Saturday. :)

"O" is still for Overalls

It's been two years since I wrote that sweet little "'O' is for Overalls" post about Gemma.  Two very fast, full years!

Today, Ruth was wearing the same outfit (and she's just about the same age!), so I brought the camera along with me while I was hanging clothes on the line to take a few fall shots.  

The mums are the same, and my rosemary and thyme are much bigger!  Two years ago, I had some basil which was just about done.  I haven't had any since, and I miss it!  But I do have some tomatoes in--just recently resprouted some and replanted them.  The new plants seem happy; we'll see how they do!  

So much less hair . . . and still uses a pacifier.  I'd forgotten that Gemma gave hers up by this time (sort of accidentally--we lost it, and then she wouldn't take one anymore).

She's such a little darling, though!  She's just starting to crawl up on her knees, and pulling up a bit, too.  She loves to stand.  :)  She blows raspberries and babbles a lot.

Big sister, reminiscent of the struggles we had with naps at 10 months, is not napping anymore.  But she IS singing nursery rhymes, as much as she sings!  She loves pretending--she'll nurse a wad of pine straw or her toothbrush to sleep and have her markers go potty.  She finally named one of her babies Cinthia Baby!  And she thinks that "Winnie the Pooh" is "Winnie OF the Pooh."  :)

It's good for me to pause and reflect on these precious moments, because we do find discipline and potty-training very draining much of the time.  Ruth mostly sleeps better than Gemma did at this age, and I think part of it is because we've learned more since then, both through experience and reading.  Hopefully it will be the same the second time around with the disciplining and pottying.  I read a quotation by Elisabeth Elliot today which was very encouraging in this respect.  She said, "Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering.... The love of God did not protect His own Son.... He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process." 

It's easy to pinpoint the most painful episodes of suffering in our experience--a breakup, loss of a baby, bike accident and burglary were some of the hardest things I've been through.  I think others can relate to the nagging question "What is God going to test me with next?"  I've been thinking lately that maybe this isn't the best approach to have toward suffering.  Yes, more tough times will probably come, but that doesn't mean that I should pull up my bootstraps and toughen my heart so that I won't ever hurt like that again.  The suffering we Christians go through is to make us more like Jesus.

I've also been thinking about how the sanctifying work of "suffering" doesn't always present itself in the form of a painful episode.  Sometimes it's just about persevering through another semester with a tough professor, another year with a challenging class of students, another sleepless night with sick children, yet another accident on the rug.  We pray and hopefully learn our lessons along the way, instead of just reflecting back upon them after the trouble is over.  While parenting really isn't suffering (it's mostly joy!), it is sanctifying.  We cannot demand that God make it easy for us just because He loves us, since He is teaching us through the struggles.  He is with us in our storms, and He is also with us when it's just cloudy and depressing for weeks.

I digress.

Happy Fall.  :)

Instagram August

Oh dear, it's past mid-September and this post is quite late! If you don't follow me on Instagram, I hope you enjoy these! If you already follow along,I apologize for the repeat!  And if you'd like to start following, my name is oncottagelane. :)

The month started with a bad cold, which went into croup for Ruthie. :(

We came home from NY to a harvest of tomatoes...and, surprise, they're yellow! (We're still harvesting them, by the way!)

Hand-me-down glasses from my mom. It will be so nice to have a matching set for company!

We really do live in a lovely place.

First time swinging. :)

Almost complete?

I'm back to baking my own bread. :)

And you've already seen our pizza. :)

I think that's it for the month!

Supper this week.

This was our pizza last week! I didn't try grilling it, but I was still quite happy with how it turned out. I received a pizza stone as a wedding gift but always struggled with getting the pizza onto it, so my sister bought me a pizza peel for Christmas! Somehow, this was the first time that I'd used it and had it really work well. It was pretty yummy, too. It probably would have had an even chewier, more authentic crust if I'd used bread flour, but I went with just regular whole-wheat flour this time.

It's looking like an easy week for me, cooking-wise, because we have a party on Friday evening and a wedding on Saturday. Last night, John grilled chicken and I boiled up some teeny fingerling potatoes which my Mom-in-law had dug up a bit prematurely, since they were preparing for a big Europe trip. (They're somewhere over there right now! So exciting!). Dad recently told me that the barbecue marinade recipe which I have from his mother is called Cornell style. It is soo yummy....here's to upstate New York! Of course we had some salad to round out that meal. Gemma is becoming a great little salad eater, and I'm so proud of her! We used to have to really push her to eat the three or so bite-sized pieces of lettuce or spinach I'd give her, but now she happily chows down about twice that amount independently. I've heard that children need to try new foods more times than adults in order to develop new tastes, and I think it's true in her case!

Monday: Grilled chicken, potatoes 

Tuesday:  Pancit

Wednesday: {Thai}

Thursday: Salmon and rice

Friday: {party}

Saturday: {wedding}

Do your kids eat salad? We let Gemma have raisins on hers, because that's how we like ours. I think the raisins do help. :)

8 months old

She's eight months old, and just about officially army-crawling!  (Still not very fast, though!)

Still no teeth, either.  :)

She's a little babbler now!  She has said "ya" and "ga," but she really loves saying "ba ba ba!"

She's sleeping a bit better, too, thanks to some nighttime help from Daddy.  

Other than that, she's round and roly and blue eyed and getting some more very blond hair!  And nursing is still her favorite.  :)

Someone else is still two-and-a-half, as far as she knows (though she's nearly two-and-three-quarters, to be precise!).  She is learning like a little sponge!  I taught her to sing "Happy Birthday" while she washes her hands, and now she goes around the house "singing" it all the time (though "birthday" sounds more like "burping").  :)  John taught her that when she has her next birthday, she'll be three.  So, now, she says "Soon it will be my burping.  I will be free!"  One time, I casually remarked that maybe we will have a Little Bear party, so now--without fail--she addends "we will have a yiyyo Bo burping!"  I'd better follow through on that!

When I say "singing," I don't mean that she has found different pitches yet.  Here's to hoping she eventually does.  :)  But even her monotone singing is darling because she bellows deeply and seriously and still mispronounces most of the words!  Some of her favorites besides Happy Birthday are Holy, Holy, Holy and the B-I-B-L-E, which she learned in Sunday School.  She's also picking up on songs we haven't explicitly taught her, like one of the songs from her Rain for Roots album, and the closing line from the Sovereign Grace song "I have a shelter in the storm"--she surprised John one day by bellowing "take me home to heaven!" for the first time.

She's also turning summersaults!  We have no idea where she learned that!

Gemma would be thrilled if Ruthie would rough-house with her.  Despite these pictures of them sitting calmly side-by-side, Gemma now frequently comes up behind Ruth and puts her arms around her (darling!) and then tries to pull her back and roll around.  As long as she's gentle, Ruth loves it.  There's hardly anything sweeter to a mommy than to see her girlies grinning at each other!

It's gotten a bit easier to take them both grocery shopping now that Ruth doesn't automatically fall asleep when I'm wearing her!  We try to stay home for naps, since she hardly sleeps in her infant seat anymore.  Gemma can sit in the cart and she can be on my chest, and there's plenty of room in the cart for food.  No one wants to lug around an infant seat with an 18lb+ baby in it!

In other news, we're on our third cold of the summer . . . and that's all I have to say about that!

Supper this week

How has another week gone by already? I have half a post started that I meant to finish last week, but here's this week's super quick meal plan:

Monday: Pizza and salad (the dough is already rising!)

Tuesday: Chicken and veggie stir-fry with rice 

Wednesday: {Thai}

Thursday: Hamburgers and sweet potato fries

Friday: Chicken Marsala with cacio e pepe

Saturday: Chicken tikka masala from the freezer 

Looks like a chicken-heavy week! Last week's spaghetti carbonara was pretty yummy but a bit globby, and reminded John of macaroni and cheese. I have some work to do on it, but I'm looking forward to improving it! And the beans I ended up having on Saturday...well, I didn't start them until about 5:30 PM (hadn't even soaked them, so I had to do the quick-soak method), and they were still a bit chewy when we finally sat down to eat at 9:30. John asked me why I hadn't just used canned beans, and while I'm not ready to admit long-term defeat with dried beans, at the moment I was sort of wondering the same thing myself.

I am so excited for fall! (Who is surprised? :)) But for now, I'm hoping we can make the most of the warm weather by doing a bunch of end-of-summer grilling! I really want to try grilling pizza, but I'm a little afraid to. Have any of you tried it?

Supper this week

Well, it's Tuesday and I'm only now getting up my weekly menu post! Yesterday was extra-busy because we had some old friends over for dinner kind of at the last minute, and making blueberry pies and picking some extra things up at the grocery store was just more important than blogging. ;) We had a great time together, though!  Anyway, we just fed them what I was already planning on having for us, only in larger quantities (they have seven children!!). It worked out really well, and here's the rest of the week:

Monday: Oven tacos, Mexican rice, corn, melon, blueberry pie 

Tuesday: Spaghetti alla carbonara (haven't gotten to this yet, so tonight is the night!)

Wednesday: {Thai}

Thursday: Tilapia and rice

Friday: Black beans and rice

Saturday: Macaroni and cheese

We always have some form of salad or veggie (usually broccoli) or both...tonight will be kale. :)

What's in your kitchen this week? 

Fabric Scrap Tutu

I'm filing this post under "sewing," even though the sewing truly is minimal!  A while back, my sister Heidi (aka Hockey by Gemma Grace!) pinned this idea on her adorable "muskrats" board:




Well, a blogger came up with her own copycat tutorial and Hockey picked up some cute fat quarters to recreate it.  She ended up leaving them at our house at Christmas, and I in turn brought them to my mom's in July to use her pinking shears on them!

Though I liked the pointed strips of the original pin, I ended up following the tutorial pretty closely and decided they were fine as-is.  :)

Little one was getting sick when I took these photos . . . poor thing . . . 

"How are you going to keep it from fraying when you wash it?"  Excellent question . . . I'm intending it to be a dress-up tutu and am going to try hard not to have to wash it!  But I suppose you could spray some fray-stop or something on it.  

Another fun thing is that I cut the elastic out of one of my cami's to make it more nursing-friendly, so the entire project cost me nothing!

She loves it, Hockey!  Thanks for the idea and the supplies!

Supper this week

I think it's time to re-inaugurate sharing the weekly meal plans! It's always satisfying to have a plan in place, even though I will happily set it aside when my husband says occasionally at 5 pm, "Let's walk to Moe's!" Here's this week:

Monday:  Refried bean enchiladas

Tuesday:  Not-sagna pasta toss (a Rachel Ray favorite)

Wednesday: {Thai}

Thursday:  Chicken Paprika and rice 

Friday:  Tilapia and rice 

Saturday: Spaghetti alla carbonara (this will be an experiment! I love a good carbonara and plan to consult Southern Living and a recipe online that I pinned).

What's going on in your kitchen this week?

Instagram July

If we're already following each other on Instagram, this post will seem like a repeat. :)  Nevertheless, here are some of my favorite instants from July!

Homemade Popsicles...

And first tastes of cantaloupe...

There's no place like home...or Stewart's :)

She slept through this entire visit with great-Grandma on her bed at the retirement home.

Some of my mother's cooking :)

There are no words...

First "ife peam cone" at Dairy Haus

A very special first birthday party!

...And a very special reunion :)

Some fun new shoes...

Outdoor loveliness.

My mother's beautiful pantry...

Communists make scrumptious ice cream ;)

...And mothers-in-law make scrumptious breakfasts.

A new tutu, and pretty as a princess :)

There were many moments we didn't capture, but it was fun capturing these!