Week in Review

Well, let's start this post off right--with food of course. We, I mean I, have been finding must-have recipes on pinterest and trying them. Just thought I'd introduce you to this week's choices:

 Autumn salad from espressoandcream.com (not my picture, actually none of the food pictures here are mine).  I liked it and followed it to a T, except I halved it for my family. We enjoyed it with that yummy potato soup I've already posted about.

 Matt made this lemon and garlic pasta from imonthings.com one night earlier this week while I was out shuffling kids places. He did a great job with it. I thought it was real lemon-y at first, but my second helping (shhhh!!) was a lot less lemon-y. And leftovers were good too.

 I started this crock-pot Sesame Chicken from kendallandkeith.blogspot.com before ballet on Monday, and Matt finished the sauce for it. We paired it with some steamed broccoli and rice. Matt left off the green onion and sesame seeds, though I would have put them on there for sure. He's not an onion fan, but I think that would've taken this dish from ok to yum!

One night I decided I was tired of leftovers, but I wasn't about to forget them either. So we ate leftovers and these tastey little boogers--chicken taquitos from mommyimhungry.blogspot.com. Yes, they were good--and we made the creamy avocado dip to boot (this is included with the recipe).

Okay, now that the important stuff is done, you can either choose to continue reading or decide you've had enough. The rest of this post is just cute pictures and what we did!

I posted to the blog this week, but as usual, I posted about the previous week. I left off with Scrunchie turing 9 months on Monday. So here's an abreviated version of the rest of our week!

TUESDAY:

We saw Santa (the real one, I swear!!!) at a special MOPS activity on Tuesday.

 The two-yr old wasn't so sure of the jolly man with a beard. Can you tell by the look on her face?

 She wouldn't go on his lap forever, but with a promise of getting to tell him what she wants (a Mickey guitar, or as she says it so cutely "a Mit-ee De-tah") for Christmas, she hesitantly approached his lap. And then sat of course, and quietly said what she wished for for Christmas this year. 

 Oh, this one? She was good!

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WEDNESDAY:

 When we got home from preschool and playgroup on Wednesday, we ate lunch and then we hit the trails. There's a little park near by that has a nice little sidewalk trail. I told the girls we'd go for a nature walk if they ate well and behaved! 

 Bug found a pine cone right off the bat. Proud indeed!

 And we can't be outdone by little sis! So here's Brownie's pine cone.

 Trees with berries. I didn't touch the things. We had these bushes in our yard when I was a kid, and every time one of our balls or some other toy wound up in there I'd have to fetch it. And I'd always come out in hive rashes all over my body where I'd touched the dang bush. Ick!

 She's just posing!

 This one is giving me her goofy smile. Man, this girl can rock a cheese smile! Boushka seemed to have fun exploring the woods by our house!

 What I call, itchy berries! Thankfully, none of my kids had any reaction to them. 

 Yep, more berries! You'll see that it became a thing--for lack of a better word-- for us to find these!

 This one just rode along and stuck out her tongue--quite frequently, I might add! What can I say? She's good at it!

Bouska was excited to find these... what are they called? I don't know, but she was happy.

 And these two were thrilled to find that nature put a heart on a tree... yes, I let them think that. It's okay, they won't go to college thinking hearts on trees are part of the norm! But it will drive their imagination wild at this age. So the white lie wins!

 See, more berries! I had to break the news that they were not edible! HA!

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THURSDAY

 

 We ventured off to Festival of Trees. The girls loved this tree. Can  you guess why?

 This one didn't get the memo that dream catchers are not necessarily worn as jewelry. But who cares? I thought her fashion statement was awesome! By the way, YES, she asked for me to put this on her as you see it pictured here!  She won it by throwing a super tiny ring on to a peg that was on a spinning Christmas tree. WOWZA, this kid is lucky!

 Brownie also brought home a cute Advent Calendar from preschool. You pop the bubble (on the bubble wrap backing) each day. How cute is that?

 Thursday night was craft night for some MOPS mamas and myself. I went to PTO first and then grabbed a coffee bev and conversation with my friend, Heather. And then we crafted the night away--literally! It was after midnight when we shut down.

Thursday was also our first day with our home Advent Calendar. We had an easy activity since it was almost impossible for us all to be in the house together more than 6 minutes. So we shared our favorite Christmas memory.

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FRIDAY:

I went to bed early Friday morning feeling rather icky. I had a horrible head and stomach ache and was convinced I was the first victim of our annual December stomach bug. I spent all morning in bed (thanks to Matt for staying home) and felt a little better around noon. Matt made me some chicken noodle soup for lunch and I was able to perk back up rather quickly. THANK GOD!

 Brownie and I went to a birthday party for a sweet friend on Friday night, while Peach went to a drop and shop at her school.  (SIDE NOTE)To give you an idea, here's how much Peach has grown in the last few years: In her first year at preschool, my girl was totally shy. She wouldn't even sing the songs at song time. Now, she's begging to go to her school's drop and shop and when I ask Well, do you know anybody who will be there? Her reply was I don't know, mom! But I know I'll make friends! Plllleeeeaaaasssseee can I go?! PLEASE!!!! Yeah, I couldn't say no to that little confidence booster (SMILE!!)

 But we all finally gathered 'round our Christmas tree and completed Day 2 on the AC: Enjoy your slumber around the lights of the Christmas Tree. I was on pinterest, but everybody else slumbered.

Well, Daddy and Mommy eventually went to bed in our real bed. No floor sleeping for me, thanks! But we watched them pass out while watching their holiday favorite The Grinch. Fun memories!

When I come back to give a review of this next week , I'm going to have a lot of stories about Nutcracker rehearsals. We've been rehearsing since October every weekend, but now we'll be doing so everyday! There are some late nights in our future (like, leaving the house when everybody is already in bed) this week, so cross your fingers there are no major tantrums from my tiny dancers. Thanks!