Time for a Little Decorating

I have seriously neglected Ava's room as far as decorating goes.  I put it off because I didn't want her room to be too baby or too grown up.  I knew what I wanted in my head but hadn't found it in the stores yet.  For now, there are 2 pictures on the wall and that's about it.  I don't even really like the pictures that much but I didn't want the walls to be completely bare.  I have a plan to add some white cubes to the wall for her to store some of her smaller things and want to hang a couple more pictures too.  I found this artist and think her drawings are so sweet.  I love them all and think they would look great framed in her room.  Now I just have to decide which ones to get.  I'll make sure to take some before and after pictures of her room as I start to decorate.  Let the decorating begin!!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Thanks for listening, for always being there, for being my best friend, and for being a great mom!  I love you and hope you have a great birthday!

Elmo Everyday

There is no question in our house who the favorite Sesame Street character is...ELMO!!!  When Ava gets up in the morning, she will bring us the remote and ask for Elmo.  When she drinks milk before taking a nap, she wants to watch Elmo.  If she's crying in her crib at 2 in the morning and we go in, she will ask for Elmo.  The little red guy gets lots of love in our house.  She only has a few Elmo toys but she does love them.  This little travel Elmo set is great and she adores it.  She always puts Elmo on the table.  Who knows why.  If only we understood all her chatter, I'm sure she would tell us...in detail.  We've actually had to limit Elmo in our house to only watching him on TV once a day because she would literally watch it all day if I let her.  It's a good thing that I actually like Sesame Street too otherwise I might go a little nuts.  The last shot is of her kissing Elmo.  She's big into giving kisses now which is so cute!!

Chicken Taco Soup

I tried out a new recipe last week and loved it for so many reasons. 

1. It's super easy to throw together.
2. You can make it in the crock pot.
3. It is so flavorful.

I modified this recipe.  Sorry there are no pictures but it was gone before I had a chance to take a few (also a sign of a good recipe!)

Chicken Taco Soup

1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can chili beans
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn
1 (12 fluid ounce) can of chicken broth
2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies (Rotel), undrained
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts

shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)
crushed tortilla chips (optional)

Put the first 7 ingredients in the crock pot and mix well.  Add the 3 chicken breasts and nestle down in the liquid.  Cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 5 hours in the crock pot.  Remove chicken breasts and shred the meat.  Return to the crock pot and cook on high for 1 hour or low for 2.  Serve with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips as a garnish.  Enjoy!!

This was not a kid friendly recipe because it does have a kick to it but my husband loved it.

A New Word and Obsession

After receiving stickers for Valentine's Day from my mom, Ava quickly learned how to use them and how to say sticker.  It comes out more like "ticker" but we know what she means. 

A few days after learning the word we went to the doctor for her 18 month check up and she had to get 2 shots.  The nurse put pretty little band-aids on her legs and Ava proceeds to say to the band-aid, "No, no sticker. No, no."  She was not happy that the sticker was causing her pain.  Poor thing did not like those stickers at all.  Who can blame her!

It's Never Too Early

Ava now prays before dinner.  I say pray but what would be more accurate is that she folds her hands and then watches Steve and me as we pray followed by saying something that sounds vaguely like Amen.  It is the cutest darn thing!

With an 18 month old, you never really know how much they understand.  Praying was something I wasn't sure she was going to catch onto.  I was way wrong on that one.  She and I were reading a book the other day and there was a picture of a little boy kneeling by his bed and praying.  She immediately puts the book down, folds her little hands and looks at me like, "OK mommy, time to pray."  Little sponges, I tell you! 

Book Club: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Last Thursday we had our first book club meeting at my house.  It was a blast.  I know I wasn't really sure what to expect.  I have never been a part of a book club before and come to find out none of the other girls had either.  I think that turned out to be a good thing because we just made it what we wanted it to be.  There were 11 of us that made it that night and it was a great group of people.  Not everyone knew each other and I think that made for interesting conversation about the book we read, The Lovely Bones.  There was also a good mix of people as far as life experiences go too.  It's great to look at things from someone else's perspective and take yourself out of your own little world.  There was plenty of good food and wine to get the party started while everyone was getting to know each other for the first half hour or so.  Finally, we decided we should probably talk about the book!

The conversation about the book flowed really easily because it dealt with such strong topics as rape, murder, infidelity, adolescence, etc.  The funny thing about The Lovely Bones is that while it did provide conversation topics, no one in the group would have recommended it to a friend.  For me, the book was not something that I wanted to read.  The idea of a serial killer walking around in a neighborhood with no one the wiser really creeped me out.  Now that I have a daughter, I view things differently and this book really pointed that out to me.  It was disturbing to be in the murderer's head at some points in the book.  Some might find that interesting but for me it was too much.  There was also a sex incident in the book that we all found a little odd.  It seemed out of place and thrown in for interest that was forced.

We voted for our next book and it ended up being a tie.  We are reading The Happiness Project this month and then Dear John the following month.  I think after the dark book we just finished The Happiness Project was a good choice.  We were joking that next month we will all be so much happier.  If any of you have read The Lovely Bones, I would love to know if you liked it or not.