Bow Holder

Little girl has lots of bows.  I had started them off in a box, but had to dump out the box each time I was getting her ready.  I had seen a lot of these bow holders on pinterest, so decide to make my own.  This was a cheap project!

You'll need:
*a Frame
*ribbon
*paint
*hot glue
*cup hooks

 I bought an unfinished frame from Hobby Lobby and painted it the same grey that 3 of her walls are.  If you have a frame already, you would save on a bulk of the cost.
Then I cut the ribbon to fit the opening of the frame and used a dot of hot glue at the top and bottom to pull the ribbon tight and glue it down.

 I had a letter "S" in my craft drawer, so I added it to the bow holder.  Then I screwed in the cup hooks on the bottom (some went in really easily and some were tough..this step tried my patience).  The good news is that once the cup hooks were in, I was finished.  I just added a picture hanger on the back, added the bows and hung it up.

 The bow holder is a perfect decoration for her closet and makes accessorizing so much easier!

Sadie's school

Sadie had her first day of school last Monday.  She did a wonderful job!  Tears were shed when we left, but not by her.  We had a few night time sleep adjustments.  She had previously been sleeping in an 8-10 hour stretch to begin with, but last week she had quite a few more wake ups during the night.  It got better as the week went on.  I'm hoping we can get back to normal nights soon!

In the beautiful dress my mom made for her first day (the adorable monkey has its own backpack to go to school too!)

This is one of her teachers

I adjusted as the week went on as well, but could not wait until the weekend to have time with my baby girl.  It was so weird to have someone else responsible for her.  I missed my Sadie!
Just as I was inundated with guilt about fulfilling my roles as mother and teacher and feeling inadequate in both arenas, a friend passed along this wonderful blog post.  I am focusing on the quality of time with my Sadiebug and not the quantity.

Crockpot Cheese Tortellini

I was looking for easy and yummy meals so that I could keep up with my cooking as the school year began.  I tried this one out the other day.  It was delicious and made A LOT!

Crockpot Cheese Tortellini

from Little Fellows

Ingredients:
1 (19oz) bag of frozen cheese tortellini (I couldn't find frozen, so I used boxed cheese tortellini)
1 small bag of fresh spinach (I used about half of a 5 oz package, but more is better!)
2 (14.5 oz) cans of Italian style diced tomatoes, drained
1 block (8 oz) of cream cheese or neufchatel (less fat)
1 lb. of ground sausage or chicken/turkey sausage browned
4 cups of chicken broth 

Brown the sausage and put all ingredients in crockpot,
chunking up the cream cheese.
Cook on low for 4-6 hrs.

Serves 4-6 

Working

When I was still pregnant with Sadie, I made the decision to go back to work after having her.  I knew it would be difficult, but had not idea how difficult.

Teaching is my calling.  When I was a little girl, I would line up my stuffed animals and teach them who knows what.  I also stood up on the stage at a dance recital when I was little and started telling the other girls what to do...  So I guess bossy people are made to teach? : )  Seriously though, I've always wanted to be a teacher (aside from a small lapse of time when I wanted to be a lawyer).  I started teaching out of college and have loved it enough to want to get my masters that I spent my last 2 years completing to one day take on a different administrative role in education.  I love working with children, I love helping them learn new things and seeing the "lightbulb" go off when they get it and are proud of themselves.

And then my Sadiebug came.  And I love her more than I could have possibly imagined.  More than teaching, more than chocolate, more than running or diet coke.  A LOT.  

And then people started asking, "Are you going back to work?"  Which obviously, my answer was "yes" to the question.  What a mixed "yes" I am giving.  Yes, I am going back to my sweet students to love on them, teach them and try my best to share the love of Christ through my actions.  To be their stability, their consistency and to have someone to believe in them when no one else does.  But this means that my sweet baby girl will not be with me all day which kills me.  She will be loved by her teachers.

I've been told its not the quantity of time that you spend with your children, but the quality.  So although I am losing hours with her each day, my time with her will need to be more intentional.

Please pray for me tomorrow as I take my sweet baby girl to be cared for by others, as I lose time with her each day and as I adjust to being a working adult once again.  Please pray for the students who will come to school in one week, that they may have my full focus when I am with them.

Date Night

Cody and I had our first date night in about 3 months thanks to these sweet friends babysitting!

The next night I got to go out for girls' night!

Such great breaks and quality time, but I am ready to stay home with my little one and soak up every last second we have together before schools begins again!

Southwestern Quinoa Salad

I've been intrigued by Quinoa, mainly because it is not pronounced at all like it looks.  When I see the word, I think Quin-o-uh, right?  But that's not right, it is pronounced "Keen-wa" (our box has the pronunciation on it, that's why I bought that box...).  Via Pinterest, I found a recipe to try.

Southwest Quinoa Salad
from Clean Eating

Serves: 8
Makes: 8 cups

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
• 1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted, or 1 tsp ground cumin
• High-heat cooking oil (such as sunflower, safflower, peanut or grape seed oil), as needed to lightly coat grill grate
• 2 cobs fresh corn, husks and silk removed (or 1 1/4 cups frozen corn, thawed)
• 1 cup cooked black beans, drained
• 1 plum tomato, diced
• 1 zucchini or yellow zucchini squash, diced
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a small bowl, whisk lemon juice, olive oil, cilantro, salt and pepper; set aside.
2. In a saucepan, bring 2 cups water to a boil; add quinoa and cumin. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until liquid is absorbed, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Uncover, fluff with a fork and let cool for at least 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, heat an outdoor grill to medium-high and lightly oil grate with cooking oil. Add corn, close lid and grill, turning once, until tender and lightly charred, 10 to 15 minutes. (Alternatively, boil cobs in a large pot of simmering water. Cover and cook until tender, 6 to 10 minutes.) Let corn cool, then cut kernels from cob.
4. In a large bowl, combine quinoa, corn kernels, beans, tomato, zucchini and onion. Pour lemon-cilantro dressing over top and toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate salad for at least 1 hour to allow flavors to meld, or up to 2 days.

Also, look at this delicious pulled pork the husband made this weekend

3 months

Sadie is 3 months old

 

 

At 3 month she:

*weighs 12 lbs 7oz

*constantly has her hands in her mouth (see above pictures)

*grabs on to most things she sees and puts them in her mouth (please have clean hands around her : )

*goos and talks more and more

*has found the yelling volume on her happy voice

*better head control

*can roll to her back from her tummy (but not all the time)

*sometimes likes tummy time, other times hates it

*sleeps 8 hours at a time at night

*loves playing tickle games

*gets excited about a lot of things

*loves music whether toys or singing

*likes sitting up with us

*could stare in a mirror all the time

*the fan obsession is at an all time high

*likes to hold hands

*eyes are turning green in the middle

*hair is starting to grow back in, this time a lighter brown