Menu Plan Monday is back...

Monday: Spinach Fandango (requested by hubby) and Carrots
Tuesday: Sandwiches or something easy for Concert in Park night
Wednesday: Flank Steak (marinated in a little ketchup, oil, garlic and onion powder, honey, ginger, soy sauce), baked potato, boiled to death green beans
Thursday: Soy Sauce Chicken, Rice and Cheese Broccoli
Friday: Italian No-Meat Sauce (can of crushed tomatoes sauteed with garlic and oil and spiced) Spaghetti and Boboli
Saturday: Dinner at Family for Farewell to Caitlin going back to college
Sunday: Leftovers

Sweet Moments

Last night as I meandered out of bed and into Angel's room to rock her back to sleep...I experienced a very sweet and humbling moment. Angel was laying on my daily enlarging belly and had her head on my shoulders. All of a sudden, the baby started kicking like crazy. Angel kept squirming and repositioning herself on my lap. I just enjoyed these sweet moments of precious little lives. It was almost as if the two sisters were already either communicating to each other or striving for their own personal time with mom. I felt so honored and humbled to have two little ones so close to me and at that moment I completely forgot how tired I was...life is so precious and they stay little for such a short time I need to soak up all these sweet moments I can get.

Strawberry Shortcake...

I made this this past weekend...and it is too yummy not to share. It is an old recipe from my Mamasan...and tastes so good with fresh strawberries and in the summer. Click on picture to get recipe. Enjoy.

Here come the molars....

Poor Angel (and mom) have been suffering through this past week with the teething stage. She has her bottom central and lateral incisors, and top central incisors and one lateral one. According to this chart, her other top lateral incisor is slow in coming....although it is popping through right now as well. She is right on track with her first molars. Two of them on her right side have come through halfway and the left side are right below the gums.

Not much relief is had while these struggle to come through. She does alright during the day...likes crushed ice and Popsicles...but is a lot more clingy to mom's legs and we have nicknamed her mom's "little shadow". Her nights are the hardest as she awakes quite frequently and just wants to be held and rocked and reassured I believe that everything is alright. Luckily she still nurses so that provides some relief. The homeopathic teething tablets help as well, and sometimes some good old Tylenol at night. I keep telling myself that even through my exhaustion to hold onto these memories and enjoy these times I get to hold her close, rock her back to sleep, nurse her, and have her hang onto me all day long. I am sure that soon enough I will be wishing for these hard but precious days back.

Baby Hartsell is....

..a beautiful side profile...(my favorite shot because you can see the back, leg, arms...almost looks like the baby might have been sucking the thumb...beautiful little nose, head and ear!) ...a nice long leg....(no wonder I can feel all those kicks)

...cute little arms and hands and fingers....

...and beautiful little fingers and nose and eyes....(a front face shot with fingers resting on the belly)

Everything looked perfect....we are so happy!! Oh, and that's right...it's ANOTHER GIRL!!!

Lavender Festival...

Jason and I had a good anniversary. We went to one of our favorite places to eat, Whiskey Creek, and enjoyed a delicious dinner and listened to the live music. (Thanks Meme and Pepe for the good meal!!) We were going to go to Mt. Rainier but the weather wasn't great, so on Friday we went to the Lavender Festival in Sequim. I love this festival and it holds dear memories of our wedding as well....which was a lavender theme to it. The bouquets, corsages had lavender in them, the colors were lavender and silver, the centerpieces were lavender pots, the party favors included lavender sachets etc. Last year we went with my in-laws and my mom and I had way too much fun shopping...missed you this year. Here are some pics...Enjoy!

Our special day...FOUR years ago...

Concert in the Park...

Last night we went to a free and local Tuesday night Concert in the Park in Bremerton. The theme was Hollywood Tunes...it was lots of fun and a beautiful night. They had lots of entertainment for the kids too.

Farmers Market...

This morning we went to a local Farmers Market. It was a beautiful day and right by the water. Angelica loved seeing everything, dancing to the bluegrass band and eating shaved ice!!

Summer time herbs...

In the summer, I enjoy growing all my herbs, then harvesting them, drying them, grinding them up and storing them in jars to use all year round. Here goes round one of the summer....hopefully will get a couple more in this summer.

White pizza...

Thanks to my mom's recipe and cooking tips, I am starting to master the art of homemade white pizza....yummers!!

(Before)

(After)

Picks of the garden...

Picks of my husband's garden and the variety of things he is attempting to grow. He really wishes he had a farm!! Our first produce, garlic!

The last couple of days....

The last couple of days have been so HOT here...mid 90s...so here is how we stayed cool....

I want the big girl cup...

Angelica decided that she would rather drink water from the big girl bottle instead of the sippy cup....since it was a very hot day the other day and I wanted her to drink water, I didn't argue!!

Remembering Angelica's Baptism Day...

Last year on July 9th, our Angelica Rose was baptized. We want to start a tradition in our family of celebrating this special day. Does anyone have any ideas on how to celebrate or what you might do? Since she is still so little this year didn't really matter...we can offer up a rosary for her and she did pick out a Bible book from our local Catholic bookstore. Grammy and Grandpa also sent a special present...thank you!! Angel loves Larry the Cucumber! Here are some pics from her special day. Saint Rose of Lima, pray for her!!

4th of July

We had a lot of fun...Dad bought everyone tickets to the local baseball game...we won in the 9th inning!! Then we watched a great fireworks show afterwards. Angelica wasn't too sure about those or the big mascot walking around the ballpark...

Big Girl Seat...

Angelica is now a big girl with a forward facing car seat!!! Where did my baby go?