Charlotte - 4 Years Old

Eeeeekkkkk, I still can't wrap my head around the fact that my baby is 4 years old!  For the first few years it has been all about keeping her alive and thriving.  Now, I feel like it's becoming more about molding her into a lovely young lady.  And that is exactly what she has become.  She is full of personality, spunk and has a heart full of gold!  I could not be more proud of the little lady she is blossoming into.

Now, we all know I love some milestone photos!  We had so much fun getting her pictures taken.  Of course I took her to ole trusty....... JC Penney - where else?  I thought they came out so cute.  And can you believe it?  She let me wash, dry and curl her hair.  I was in little girl heaven!!!  I have been dreaming of curling, crimping, braiding this girl's hair for years.  She prefers to wear her hair down with headbands most every day, so curling her hair was such a treat for me.

I can't wait for all the little girly things we get to do as she grows older!  What a blessing she is to us!

Ugly Dip Recipe

UGLY DIP

2 cans white shoepeg corn drained (do not use yellow corn - big difference in taste)
2 cans black beans drained and rinsed (Goya brand)
1 cup Feta cheese
Green onions sliced (I used around 4)

Sauce: 1/3 cup each of apple cider vinegar, sugar, canola oil (make sure it's canola)

Mix corn, beans, feta cheese and onions in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, mix the vinegar, sugar and canola oil.  Pour the sauce mixture over the bean mixture.  Mix and refrigerate over night.  Serve with Tostitos scoops chips.

Enjoy!  Highly addictive!

I got this recipe from my cousin Ginger.  She brought it to a family function over the holidays.  Needless to say, it was delicious!  I have since made it twice.  It is the perfect dip to make for any party.  I LOVE IT!  However, it is highly addictive.  Beware!

Interview With a 4 Year Old - Lottie

1.  What is your favorite color?

Pink

2.  What is your favorite toy?

 Train Set

3.  What is your favorite fruit?

Strawberries

4.  What is your favorite tv show?

Sofia the First

5.  What is your favorite movie?

Frozen

6.  What is your favorite thing to wear?

Frozen Dress

7.  What is your favorite animal?

A horsie

8.  What is your favorite song?

Frozen - Let It Go

9.  What is your favorite book?
Sofia the First Look and Find

10.  Who is your best friend?

Blake

11.  What is your favorite snack?

 Chips

12.  What is your favorite drink?

Chocolate milk

13.  What is your favorite breakfast?

Oatmeal 

14.  What is your favorite lunch?

Fish, fruit and a lunchable 

15.  What is your favorite dinner?

Hotdog

16.  What is your favorite game?

 Leap Pad - Repunzal Learn to Read and Hi Ho Cherry O

17.  What is your favorite thing to play outside?

Slide, Swing, Go Into Tunnels, Play Soccer "football"

18.  What is your favorite holiday?

Christmas 

19.  What do you sleep with at night?

Goofy

20.  What do you want to be when you grow up?

 A Doctor

21.  Where is your favorite place to visit?

Janet's house AKA Jeanette's House 

22.  What do you love best about mommy?

 She feeds me, gives me juice, takes me to paint pottery and puts pictures up of our family at home

23.  What do you love best about daddy?

He gives me junk (sweets), takes me to hockey and his office, brushes my hair 

24.  What do you love best about Stella?

I love hugging, kissing and playing with her

25.  What is your favorite sporting event?

Hockey


Today, my first born turns 4 years old!  I have never loved anyone or anything more than I love this child.  Words can't possibly describe the love Steve and I share for her.  She is smart, beautiful, selfless, caring, funny, etc.  It has and continues to be an honor to be her parents.  If you missed my little interview with her last year, you can see it here - Interview With a 3 Year Old

These little interviews are so much fun!  She sits with her serious thinking cap on to answer.

We are celebrating Lottie's birthday with a party on Saturday!  I can't wait!  

V-Day Weekend 2015

It was the PERFECT weekend!  Date night with Steve on Friday at Beef N Bottle (Amazing), a friend's daughter's birthday party on Saturday and a whole day to myself on Sunday to clean and put my house back together.

Here's a look back at our weekend...............

I have been wanting to try Beef N Bottle for a very long time.  We had a blast!  We ordered apps, ate great steak, lobster, dessert and managed to polish off 2 bottles of vino!  The place had a great old timey feel with Johnny Cash playing in the background.  It was a truly memorable date night, one that I hope to repeat next year!  :)

On Saturday, one of my girlfriend's daughter turned 5.  Look who showed up!  Elsa and Anna!

These two were amazing.  They read the book version of Frozen to all the kiddos, sang songs, did a craft with the kids, etc.  It was a lot of fun.  

On Sunday, Steve took Lottie to the doctor.  It turns out she has an ear infection. :(  He then took the girls out for most of the day so that I could deep clean and get our house back to normal!  They had a blast.  It sounds like he just let them run wild at Toys R Us.  Good Daddy!  :)  After they got home, I told them they needed a nap.  I heard Lottie secretly telling Stella that she had a spot for her in her bed.  They both snuck off to Lottie's bed.  All I could hear were giggles and Lottie reading Stella a book.   It was so freaking sweet.  I had to get a pic.  But as you can tell, there wasn't a whole lot of napping going on.  Girls!!!!

Hope you all had a great v-day weekend!

Under Construction - Phase 1

Hallelujah!

We have floors again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  For over a month now, we have been living in only half of our house.  The girl's bedrooms were non existent!  There were NO FLOORS!  You could literally see the ground!  I just knew I was going to get attacked in the night by some critter!  Then, there was a large red dumpster in my front yard for 3.5 weeks!  Straight WT!

But, the foundation has been repaired, the floors have been re-laid, the walls/ceilings have been re-painted and after an 8 hour cleaning session on Sunday, we are back to normal (for the time being).

The girls could not have been more excited to get back into their rooms, especially Lottie!

Here's a look back at how 2015 started out for us!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Almost ready to move back in!  :)

I don't know if or when Phase 2 will happen, so for now, I am just going to enjoy a little time out b/c someone is turning 4 this week!!!!  :)

Slow Cooker Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb ground chicken
1 red bell pepper, chopped fine
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
4 oz. sliced water chestnuts, finely chopped
1 cup cooked rice (I used brown)
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1 head Bibb or Romaine lettuce (I used Bibb)

Saute ground chicken until chicken is no longer pink.  Drain off liquid and transfer mixture to slow cooker.  Crumble chicken with a wooden spoon and stir in bell pepper, onion, garlic, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, ginger, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp of pepper.  Cover and cook on low until chicken is tender, 1.5 to 2 hours.

Stir in water chestnuts, rice and scallions.  Let sit until heated though, about 5 to 10 minutes.  Serve with lettuce and hot sauce, if desired.

Thank you Pinterest for another delicious, super easy recipe that took no time to prep! It's no secret how much I love my crock pot!  Click HERE for original recipe!  Also, I pretty much had all the ingredients in my pantry other than the chicken, water chestnuts, hoisin sauce and lettuce.  All in all, it ended up being a relatively inexpensive meal!

Charlotte from Charlotte / Conversations with Lottie

Lately, a pretty frequent conversation between Lottie and myself has been about her name, where she's from, where she lives, etc. 

While Charlotte is commonly referred to as Lottie by us, friends, family, etc.  She is only known as Charlotte at school and by her grandparents.  I like the fact that she goes by both.  Lottie is such a playful name while Charlotte is more of a beautiful, classic name. 

This past week, Lottie and I were listening to the governor's state of the state address.  I walked out of the room for a few minutes and when I walked back in, Lottie was glued to the television.  She then asked, "Mommy, why does this man keep talking about me?"  It stopped me dead in my tracks!  I busted out laughing and tried to explain that he was talking about Charlotte, the city in which she lives.  This turned into a lot of questions about not only Charlotte, but about the governor's take on schools, the economy, transportation, etc. 

While I found it almost impossible to answer her questions and explain that politicians tend to make lots of promises they rarely keep, I so enjoyed our little chat.  She literally had me rolling with some of her comments about schools, etc.  It is so funny how kids can say the simplest things and make so much more sense than adults who have years of education under their belts. 

Lottie is becoming such a little person.  It blows my mind!  She has a very bright future ahead of her. 

Stella & Her Ears!

Yesterday morning around 10:00 a.m. I received that dreaded phone call from day care.  It was the director advising me that Stella's eye was draining and gooing some icky stuff.  With that said, they said someone had to pick her up and take her to the doctor to confirm whether or not she had pink eye.  

About three weeks ago, Stella's right ear was draining some brown / whitish liquid.  It definitely took me by surprise because since she had her tubes put in, we have had no further ear issues.  Turns out, she had an ear infection.  With the help of antibiotics and ear drops, I thought the infection cleared.

Yesterday, her doctor said the right ear was still infected, thus causing the eyes to drain.  I asked the doctor if her tubes were still in both ears.  She stated the left ear tube had fallen out and the right ear tube was about 90% out.  Ugghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!  I was hoping the shelf life on the tubes were going to buy us at least 2 years or so with no ear problems.  Instead they only lasted a little over a year.

The doctor also stated that Stella was wheezing a bit so we might want to start Albuterol breathing treatments at least once a day.  Awesome!!!

In any event, thankfully Stella's mood hasn't changed much throughout the last three weeks.  She has seemed overall very happy and content.

Since I was unexpectedly off work yesterday and construction is under way at my house, I had to find something for Stella and I to do away from the house.  We ended up going to Ruby Tuesday (hello, salad bar) for lunch and took a nice 3.5 mile run / walk through the Greenway.  While loading Stella into my jogging stroller, she spotted her Minnie helmet in the back of my car.  She insisted upon wearing it on our run / walk.  She looked comical to say the least, but she was HAPPY!

Yes, my dad put me in a Christmas shirt this morning!!  Ha, of all days for me to have to pick her up and take her out in public, she is dressed like Christmas!  :)

Hilarious!!  I got a lot of stares!  People were probably wondering why on earth I would put a helmet on a child when we were just strolling!  

Every time, I would slow down to walk, Stella would scream at me to, "GO!"  I think I ended up running about 2 miles total.  Today I am SORE!!!!!!!!  Seriously, I can barely walk!  And my knees HURT!  I am never this sore after leaving 9Round!  I am getting old!  

Towards the end of our stroll, we stopped and talked to the duckies!  Stella is so sweet!  She was blowing them kisses and telling them, "Bye, See You Soon!"

I pray that Stella's little ear heals and is rid of infection over the next week!  I feel so bad for her.  Thankfully, she has been pretty upbeat and happy for the most part!  :)