Orange-ya glad....

....you know this cutie. Kiera LOVES oranges. She was snacking away and then I found her walking around with one in tow. Got just this one photo before she stopped, glad I got it. Enjoy. :D

Snuggie

I usually try to wash Kiera's beloved snuggies one at a time so that she can always have one on hand. This time, it didn't go as planned. Both snuggies needed to be washed DESPERATELY, so I thought to myself, 'self, she doesn't go down for her nap for another 4 hours so that should be enough time to sneak them away from her and wash them'. Yeah, I should've known. That girl knows all. I try to distract her but she quickly realized that the snuggies were not by her side. Next thing I know, Kiera is running around looking every where yelling, "snuggie!" "snuggie!". So, I take her to the washing machine/dryer and showed her that her snuggies were being washed so that they were nice and clean but promised that they would be out soon. Well, I don't know if she didnt believe me or just wanted to keep a close on her precious snuggies (yes, almost gollum like.....) but she stood in front of that washing machine for 30 minutes! And anyone who has had a 2 year old or has babysat a 2 years old, knows that that is some serious stretching of the attention span. I was able to catch her on video and pictures. She is really the most adorable thing ever and can always bring a smile to my face!

Bedtime Story

Every night before bed, we would read her a bedtime story or two, just to calm Kiera and for her routine. That girl LOVES routine! After a while, she became more interested in holding the books while we told her a story and then not long after that, she wanted to tell us the stories. One of Kiera's favorite books is a book of nursery rhymes. So, when we told the story we would actually sing the song. When Kiera took over the bedtime story telling, she did the same. Here is a video of her story time. She seriously is the cutest kiddo on the planet!

New baker in the house

While my mom was visiting for Christmas this year, we baked up a storm! I think that we spent most of our time in the kitchen.... This year was exceptionally fun because we had an additional baker to help us with the grueling tasks of rolling out the dough, cutting out cookie, shapes and the ever hated....taste tester. Which Kiera GLADLY took on that role. :D
She is the cutest thing in the world and absolutely loved being in the kitchen with us making cookies!

Painting

Last month, Kiera visited her Nana and Pop-Pop for a week of spoiling. In preparation, my mom picked up a "few little things" for baby K's visit. One of the items was a painting easel. I don't think Kiera and I had even been in the house for more than a few minutes and she was already pointing at the easel, 'pees', 'pees'. So, my mom got her set up with the cutest little bitty smock and away Kiera went. She was a natural and absolutely LOVED painting. I already knew the Kiera loved to draw and color so it goes to figure that she would love painting as well.....I need to get her signed up for an art class. ;) Here are a few pictures and video of her first time painting as well as the finished product. Enjoy!

Okay, lets be honest, shall we? I have been quite the bad blogger lately. My previous goal was to get a new blog up about the family (Kiera really ;D) each week with a new recipe on the blog as well. Well, that went down the tube quickly when I returned fom Europe and went straight into Clinique's bonus time which has me working 35+ hours a week during nights and weekends. I think I worked 15 days straight at one point. *whew* Anyway, the relief after gift usually comes quickly and is much needed but not this time. We are still short quite a few people on the counter and others wanted to take their vacations as well. So, I am still averaging about 34 hours a week at work and do not see a reprieve coming anytime soon. But at this point I do not care. I need to get this back up and running; it helps me continue to adhere to a schedule and do things that I enjoy doing, which I keep forgetting to do.
So, all that being said, I will be back to one blog post a week with a new recipe post as well. I hope that you all enjoy the posts as much as I enjoy making them. Soooooo without further ado, here is one for this week. ((And so early in the week! *pats self on back*.... ))

Virginia has such weird weather. One day it is freezing and the next it is 75 degrees, so weird. I miss my Seattle weather of: here is September, bring on the rain and gray skies. *sigh* I miss good ol' dependable Seattle. Anyway, when one of these fluke days hit at the end of October, I took Kiera out to Old Town in Alexandria. We walked around and around, window shopping, grabbing a bite to eat and finally ending up at the pier. I brought a few of pieces of bread for Kiera to feed to the ducks. I now know, that really I should bring a whole loaf. That girl was flinging bread left and right so fast we were out of bread in 10 minutes. But Kiera still had fun seeing all the ducks swimming around and she even fed some little birds that wanted to get in on the free buffet.

I look forward to spring coming next year so we can do this more often. The pier is such a beautiful area. And the changing leaves were even better, I so love the reds, yellows and oranges that come out in fall. The east coast does have the niche on beautiful fall foliage - sorry Seattle. Besides, it is always nice to such a satisfied smile on my baby girls face.

Isn't she just the cutest thing on the planet???

And what kind of outing would it be if I didn't take my obligatory tree picture? I love trees!!!

London/Berlin

Well, I haven't done all the pictures, time is short and editing takes a long time. So, I thought that I would at least get a few highlights of my journey. First is London, second Berlin. Hope you enjoy! Hopefully, I will have many more to show along my life. So many places to go, so little time.

October Festival

All my single ladies

Makeup Time

Kiera was waiting around for me to get done with work and this is how she passed the time....think we might have another makeup artist in the works??

Double Tomato Bruschetta

Made this while my mom was in town and we all LOVED it. Was my try at a good bruschetta and have to say, I won't really be looking further. It was DELICIOUS! Only difference I made was instead of using shredded mozzarella I used fresh mozzarella slices and placed it between the bread and tomato bits and skipped step 5.

Yummo!


Makes 12 servings

• 6 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, stems removed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 French baguette
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat the oven on broiler setting.
2. In a large bowl, combine the roma tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes.
3. Cut the baguette into 3/4-inch slices. On a baking sheet, arrange the baguette slices in a single layer. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes, until slightly brown.
4. Divide the tomato mixture evenly over the baguette slices. Top the slices with mozzarella cheese.
5. Broil for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Pirate