Reflections

I may be another year older, but I have had such a wonderful year that I don't view it as a bad thing.  I must have really celebrated my 32 birthday because that's about the time I got pregnant with Baby Emma.  Here are some other highlights that made my 32nd year so fabulous:

• Abby turned 2.  My charming middle daughter.  She who is most like me.  Let's hope those terrible two's are about to come to an end.
• Last Halloween was the first year both of my girls walked through the neighborhood trick-or-treating.  Minnie Mouse and Cinderella had such a good time.  Abby was a trouper.  Wouldn't ride in the stroller or let anyone carry her.
• My Aunt married a wonderful man who brings her such happiness, and adds another great personality to our family.
• In November we had so much to be thankful for.  God had already given us two beautiful healthy girls and our third baby was on the way.  
• Grace turned 4.  Wow.  Didn't seem possible.  It felt like I had just brought her home from the hospital not long before.
• Another Christmas came and went.  I love Christmas.  It's my absolute favorite time of the year.
• We found out we were having our third girl.  We were both so excited.  My Dad on the other hand was a little disappointed.  I remember him saying, "are they sure" after the sonogram results.
• In preparation for our third baby we moved Grace into the spare room and gave her a "big girl room".
•  I experienced labor for the first time with our third child.  So thankful I had c-sections.
• I was able to stay home on maternity leave for most of the summer.  I treasure the memories I have from the summer.
• Grace and I got Abby potty trained.
• Emma was baptized.

My 32nd year was a great year.  I have a wonderful husband, happy healthy beautiful girls, and a loving extended family.  Even though I'm another year older, I'm sure my 33rd year will be as fantastic as the last.  God has truly blessed me.

 

3 Days Down 12 To Go

So my parents had this brilliant idea to take off to Italy for two weeks.  Yay for them, boo for me.  Here's why:

1. We have no babysitter
2. My best friend is overseas.  Haven't spoken to her in days.  Ok, so maybe just three days. But, this is the longest I've gone in my ENTIRE life without talking to my Mom.  It's made me a tad bit cranky.
3. Grace is upset.  When are MeMe and PaPa coming home.  In forever Grace.
4. I kind of want to blame Abby's meanness on the change in her routine.  But, I'm sure that's Abby being Abby.
5. For the first time in my life I have to go to the orthopedic doctor alone.  She's gone to every appointment with me since I was an infant.

Yes, some of you may think I'm insane. Most grown women go a lot longer without talking to their moms.  But I have very important things to tell her.

1. Grace went to her first non-family birthday party.  She had a good time.  She wants to have her party at the same place.  Her favorite part was the hot tub.
2. The girls had friends over Sunday night to play in the bounce house.  They had a ball.
3. We didn't get to talk and recap the baptism.
4. My hip hurts.  I made an appointment with the ortho. 
5. Goldie died.  Again.
6. I still cannot find any jeans to fit the girls.  What am I going to do?
7. Grace's twinkle toes are too big.  The 9's are to small the 10's to big.  She's upset.
8. I got Abby scheduled for a screening at Grace's school
9. I ordered hair bows for Abby and Grace for Abby's birthday party
10. It's red apron weekend.  We always go together.
11. My feet grew during pregnancy.  Tried to wear non-sandals the last two days.  They are too small and my feet hurt. I think we need to go shoe shopping.  I think I need shirts too.
12. Grace had library day today and she's so sweet she chose a book for me instead of her.  She picked a Charlie and Lola book because she knows they are my favorite.

Grace's Family, According To Her

I love it when Grace comes home with things she made at school.  Today she came home with this drawing of her family.  I love it when she draws people.  It's so cute.  Somehow in this picture I was the only one to end up with arms, and I am the biggest out of everyone.  I'm not sure how to take being the"biggest."  Maybe it's because "I'm the boss applesauce," or maybe it's because I'm still carrying around some baby weight.

 

Darren didn't get any hair.

 

Emma is teeny tiny.

 

Then there is the cross in the middle of our family.  I asked Grace what that was for.  "Because Mom, we're Catholic."  Like I was dumb for not knowing.  Apparently, she listens even when I don't think she is. 

 

 

Emma's Baptism

Over the weekend we baptized our baby.  In the Catholic church baptism is the first sacrament our children receive.  Catholics baptize their babies to absolve them of original sin.  At the baptism Darren and I, along with Emma's Godparents, promised to raise her in the Catholic faith.  To let everyone know of this special event, I whipped up some invitations over at Shutterfly.  Let me just pause to say, I love Shutterfly.  I am constantly making things on their site.

The baptismal gown is a pretty significant part of the day.  Traditionally, a long white gown is worn and it is symbolic of purity since the baby is being cleansed of original sin.  It is also a tradition for all children in the family to wear the same gown.  If you know me, I'm a traditional person.  Therefore, I dressed all three girls in a very traditional gown made by my mom.

 

Here we all are waiting to be baptized.  Along with Darren, myself and the girls we were joined by Emma's Godparents.  They are my cousins Derek and Cindy.

 

Here we all are at the baptismal font. 

 

Post baptism. 

 

Her Godfather lights the baptismal candle.  It was about this point in the ceremony that my mom is mouthing to me, "your camera batteries are dead."  Great.  I did not replace my extras in the camera bag.  As luck would have it, my Godson stepped up and snapped away at the rest of the event. 

 

I love this picture of Emma and her Godparents. 

 

Here we all are, one great big happy group of us.  My family unit, plus my cousins and their kids.  We're a good lookin group! 

 

My parents. 

 

My family along with Father Tim. 

 

Darren's parents. 

 

This may surprise some of you, but I did not make a cake.  I kept it simple and made white cupcakes decorated with white pearls, chocolate dipped strawberries, and chocolate dipped pretzels. 

 

We had dinner.  Brisket and the fixins.  Yum! 

 

Emma and her Mimi. 

 

Classic Abby.  I love this shot. 

 

We set up a bounce house in the backyard for the kids.  Super big hit!

 

Family socialization shots.

 

Isn't this an adorable shot of the cousins?

 

My Godson.  (He used to call me his Fairy Godmother when he was little.  That's why I still think he's the cutest.)

 

I think she was pretty happy with how her big day turned out.

 

 

We were having so much fun at the after party that we forgot to open gifts.  So, here she is lined up with everything. 

 

From her Godparents.  So beautiful. 

 

Another crucifix.

 

The pictures could go on and on.  Emma received so many lovely gifts.  This truly was a memorable day for all of us.  It was a little emotional for me knowing that this is it.  She's my last little baby.  Last baptism.  But, I know there are many more memories in store for me and my family and I can't wait to create those for my girls.  God Bless!

 

My Initial Wreath

I love wreaths.  Some wreaths I can make myself.  If involves arranging flowers, I cannot.  Thankfully, I have a mother who is an expert flower arranger.  All I have to do is go choose my flowers and "decor", bring it home, leave it in a pile on the dining room table, come home after work and wall-ah a new wreath for my front door!!

 

Once I came home and found this, it got me motivated to decorate for fall.  I've gone around and got a couple of things out here and there.  Just enough to tide me over until I can start bringing out my Halloween goodies.  Have you started your fall decorating, or are you still in summer mode?

Blogging Is Hard

I should have started out with a "practice blog".  But, like everything I do I jumped in head first.  I started blogging while I was maternity leave.  So far I like it, but I hated how my blog looked.  So I started doing some research and stumbled across Shabby Blogs, which completely fit my style.  So I chose a new background, something much less busy because the last one gave me a headache every time I looked at it, and set off on my new look.  Then it came time to test it out.  On my desktop, everything looks great.  On my iPad, not so great.  Now, I'm stuck.  Because I don't really know how to fix that.  And I can't sit here wracking my brain to figure out how because now I'm running out of precious time because thanks to the dog, the baby won't stay asleep.  So what do you see as background when you look at my blog?

Oh, and a new name!  Coming up with a blog name was hard for me, so I just sorta slapped one on there.  Today, I tossed around two different ones:

All Things Jessica

OR

Greatness Achieved Everyday

Obviously, I went with the first one.  The second is an acronym for my girls names (GRACE, ABBY, EMMA) but I didn't want to sound conceited without everyone knowing the meaning behind it.

Well, I'm outta time.  My baby needs me.  Thoughts on my new look???

Tortilla Crumbs

In a Mexican restaurant you can always tell when you got the last of the chips in your basket.  They're all crumbly.  Same thing happens at home, the bottom of the bag is nothing but crumbs.  Well I have a recipe that's perfect for all those crumbs.  You get a fantastic dinner and the satisfaction of knowing that you did not waste any of the chips!!  I tore this recipe out of a Southern Living magazine.  Apparently, that was in May 2008.  It's stayed with me that long, so you know the recipe must be a keeper.

I love On The Border tortilla chips, especially the red corn with a touch of garlic.  I could probably eat the entire bag. . . . . .

 

 

 The mix

 

 

 The meat

 

 

 The dinner

Tortilla-Crusted Pork
2 lb pork tenderloin
1/2 cup finely crushed blue-corn tortilla chips
1/2 cup finely crushed tortilla chips
1 Tbsp coarsely ground pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided

1. Remove silver skin from tenderloin leaving a thin layer of fat covering the tenderloin.  Cut tenderloin into 1 inch thick medallions.
2. Combine chips and next 4 ingredients in a bowl.  Dip pork into 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil and dredge in tortilla chip mixture.
3. Cook pork medallions in remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp hot oil in a large skillet over medium heat 6 minutes on each side or until done.

I made some yummy Mexican rice.  I got the recipe here from PW.  I cut the recipe in half, and didn't have all the exact ingredients on hand but with what I had it still turned out yummy! 

The only thing missing from this was a scrumptious margarita.  Unfortunately, my alcohol is not very well stocked right now.  Apparently, babies don't like margarita flavored milk.  Who knew?  That's ok, we'll get it stocked back up once I'm no longer a milk cow.  Until then, our Mexican nights will be booze free.  Hope you enjoy the pork, it's a winner at our house.