"Ish, Ish, Ish!"

In just the past few weeks Ella has really started getting into books. Before then, she could care less about books, and it almost broke my heart that she didn't want to read them. The first book that she really became interested in was "Bedtime Kiss for Little Fish." She could point out the little fish on each page and she would say "ish! ish!"

When we went to Target tonight, I was looking for Ella some new pjs (she has suddenly outgrown almost every pair of pjs she has), and I couldn't resist the "ish" ones. Ella could point out the fish on the pjs, and even the whale (with a little help, of course!).

Ella also loves her "Eight Silly Monkeys" book. When we read the book together and we get to the part that says "no more monkeys jumping on the bed," Ella shakes her finger and sometimes says "no." It is so cute! She has also started pointing to her head during the part of the story where the monkeys bump their heads.

If you have a toddler, what are their favorite books?

Homemade Baby Food

At some point, you may have wandered upon my blog about making homemade baby food. I tried to document at least a few of my adventures in making baby food when I was making Ella's baby food (she eats table food now, so I don't make baby food for her any more!). I didn't have this blog at the time I wrote about making her baby food so I didn't include it on this blog. I've decided to move all that content over to this blog, and I plan to document more of my experiences making baby food when the next baby comes along. If you are interested in checking out my posts on making homemade baby food check out this link!

By the way, have I mentioned that we found out our baby is a boy! I'm so excited!

Proverbs 31:13-15

I know, I know . . .I'm WAY behind on my posts going through Proverbs 31. But I'm catching up now! I've been doing a lot of study on these passages, but I haven't had much of an opportunity to actually blog about my study. I'm thankful I have some time now. These posts are part of a discussion that Kristen started on her blog, Bringing Up Benjamin.

Proverbs 31:13-15: "She seeks wool and flax, and willingly works with her hands. She is like the merchant ships,  she brings her food from afar. She also rises while it is yet night, and provides food for her household, and a portion for her maidservants."


I've read this passage several times, and the quality that is immediately evident from these verses is that the woman of Proverbs 31 is a very hard worker. She's a hard worker whose purpose is not selfish; rather, she is working hard to provide for those around her. When we look to women in our world today, many are hard workers; however, their hard work often seems misguided and selfish, not focusing on things that are really important.

However, beyond the concept of hard work, as I considered these verses further, the word willingly stood out to me. The woman of Proverbs 31 is not only a hard worker, she works willingly. Dictionary.com defines willingly as "disposed or consenting", or "cheerfully consenting and ready". I see her as a woman who has the proper attitude about the work she is doing. I know that there are many times in my life that I may be working hard, but not willingly, and I'm truly lacking the proper attitude. I want and need to have a better attitude about any work that I'm doing.

Ella and Reeses

Ella absolutely loves our dogs, and I finally captured her playing with Reeses on video. They are so funny together!

Weekly Menu on Monday er Wednesday

In an effort to be more organized and better prepared, I'm going to start trying to plan my weekly dinner menu on Mondays (We had some company the past couple of days, so I'm a little late this week, but I haven't had to cook at home yet!).

I will start this out by saying that I like flexibility and variety when it comes to dinner, and I doubt I'll ever be one of those folks that plans out exactly what we will be eating for dinner on every particular night of the week. Rather, I'm going to plan out 5-7 meals per week, and then make whatever sounds good each night! :) I'm planning on trying out lots of new recipes, so I'll have to report back on how they turn out.

1. Chicken Enchiladas (casserole)
• Layer corn tortillas, green chile enchilada sauce, cooked chicken, and Mexican shredded cheese twice. Top with an additional layer of corn tortillas, sauce, and cheese. Bake at 350° for about 30 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with tortilla chips. Super easy!
2. Chicken Pasta Bake with a green vegetable (either salad, green beans, or broccoli) - I'm not sure where this recipe came from so I can't give credit. I've never tried this recipe, but it looks good. I'll be substituting an Italian shredded cheese mix for the Monterey Jack cheese.
• 8 oz cooked bow tie pasta; 1 small onion, chopped; 1 Tbsp. butter; 2 eggs; 1-1/4 cups milk; 1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning, 1/4-1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper; 2 cups cooked chicken; 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese; 1/4 grated Parmesan cheese; 1/2 cup bread crumbs; 1/2 tsp. paprika, 1 Tbsp. butter.
• Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium skillet cook onion in butter and garlic over medium heat until tender. Remove from heat and set aside. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, seasoning, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Stir in chicken Monterey Jack cheese, half of the grated Parmesan, cooked pasta, and onion. Transfer mixture to a baking dish. Bake, covered, 20 minutes. In a small bowl, combine remaining Parmesan, bread crumbs, paprika, and melted butter. Sprinkle mixture over pasta. Bake, uncovered, 10 minutes more until golden.
3. Chicken and Sausage with cornbread and black-eyed peas
4. "Quick" Lasagna - This is a Rachael Ray recipe, but I tweak it some (for instance, I use whatever pasta I have on hand, use all beef stock instead of red wine, and eliminate the panchetta or use bacon instead). I also plan to use ground turkey instead of ground beef.
5. Grilled chicken, potatoes (not sure how I'll cook them yet), and fried yellow squash

We don't normally eat that much chicken every week (I like variety in the proteins we use) but we got a lot of chicken at the store, so we're eating more chicken this week. I plan to start stockpiling more on my meats, but because we've been out of town so much lately most of my supply has completely diminished.

On a side note, due to Ella's milk allergy, I often have to prepare her alternative dinners or pull parts of our dinner out before I add anything with milk in it.

Play at I Heart Faces

My Ella absolutely loves playing and jumping in stacks of pillows!

Be sure to check out all the great entries at play this week at I Heart Faces.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I really enjoy blogging, and I'm fairly certain I would write even if no one else read it (but I am thankful for those who do read!).  I've been so incredibly busy lately that I haven't had time to write lately (you've probably noticed that my blog has been kind of empty of new posts recently), and it has been driving me crazy that I haven't had the time to write. I've found that blogging (reading and writing) is really a great release and I do miss it when I'm super busy. But this post isn't meant to be a complaint about being busy, but rather a little catching up over the past few weeks.

I'm very thankful for the reasons that I've been too busy to write. The spring semester ended, and we finally had a break from our normal crazy schedule. We took the opportunity to head out of town to visit with our families. We don't get to see them as often as we'd like because we have so many activities going on.  Ella sure does love being with her grandparents! We greatly enjoyed our time with family as well.

Trent and I also had the opportunity during this break between the semesters to take a vacation to Washington D.C. while Ella stayed with the grandparents. We've never been to D.C., nor have we really had much of an opportunity to go on vacation since we've been married. I missed Ella greatly while we were away, but I'm thankful that we have such wonderful family that we can leave her with when we travel. Any time we leave her with family, it reminds me of how absolutely blessed we are! I plan to write some more about our vacation, because it was eye-opening to me in a lot of ways, but for now I leave you with a few pictures of Ella om our entire time away.