i know you love me

I read a post by Heather recently that I just loved - she talked about all the ways she knew her adorable daughter, Emi, loves her.  Or at least made her feel like she does.  So I'm stealing.

I feel loved by Dexter when I pick him up and he squeeeeeeezes my neck and gives me the biggest hug (while saying "squeeeeeze!").  I feel loved when he lays his little head on my shoulder, even if it's just for a few seconds.  To me, there's  no better feeling in the world than my kids' heads on my shoulder.  I feel loved by him when he brings me book after book after book after book and he climbs into my lap to listen to a story.  He'll do this for as long as I will and I love the closeness, the stillness, and the cuddles.  Sometimes when I'm bending over to help him with something, he'll reach up to give me a kiss totally unprompted.  I feel loved when he asks me to "chiss" his boo boos.  As annoying as it is, I feel loved when he cries out for me in the middle of the night and my presence is enough to calm him down.  I feel loved when he still lets me rock him in the glider.  I love my little snuggle bug and I'm willing to spend as much time cuddling with him as possible because I know it won't always be this way.

I feel loved by Theo when he asks me to do a puzzle with him.  He's seeking approval and praise and thrives on it.  He wants his mama to be proud of him.  I feel loved by Theo when he asks ME how MY day was.  I feel loved by Theo when he says "mama, you're my best friend."  I feel loved by Theo when he asks to watch a movie and then lets me hold him in my lap the whole time.  I feel loved by Theo when I put him to bed at night and he says "mama, will you snuggle up with me?"  Of course.  (As soon as Dexter goes to sleep.  Otherwise, he'll get jealous and cry, cry, cry).  I feel loved by Theo when he runs to the door every day when I pick him up at the babysitter's and says "MAMA! You're here!" and he hurries to show me or tell me what he's been doing.

I feel loved, or maybe I just feel love, when I watch my boys play together.  When I hear Theo offering to help Dexter. To share a treat with him.  Asking him if he's okay when he cries.  When Dexter asks to snuggle up with Theo in his big bed.  When Dexter follows Theo around all day because he wants to be just like him.  With him.  Near him.  I feel loved knowing how much by boys love each other and hope that they know that they are each other's greatest gift - a gift that only me and their dad could give them.

If you have little kids, you know that they do not always make you feel loved.  It's good to remember how much they really do need and love you sometimes.

love,
~C~

v-day with my boys

Last year, I had big plans for how Valentine's Day would go and I remember that I was disappointed. (Oh, I just have to laugh looking back at that post.  And Dex was sooo tiny!) This year I had no expectations, procrastinated until the day before to buy the boys anything, and the day came and went just about like any other.  With a couple of exceptions -- 1.  Ryan's parents dropped by with bakery cupcakes for the boys.  2.  I did get them each a book and a store-bought, heart-shaped crispy rice treat.  Fancy, aren't I?

The crispy rice treats waited until Friday to be eaten, because those cupcakes deserved top billing for sure.  I'm not saying that I took a bite of Theo's and/or Dexter's.  I'm just saying I bet they were good. Pics!

They polished those puppies off in record time and were not interested in the books I got them at all.  Even though they both about made me cry when I read them to myself at Kohl's the day before. 

For Dexter:

For Theo:

Oh, right. Valentine's is supposed to be for us grown ups, too, right?  But doesn't everything kind of become about the kiddos once you have them?  We did get out for a nice dinner on Friday night by participating in a kid-swap with a couple of friends.  They watched our boys Friday night and we watched their boy Saturday night. I have to say that I enjoyed Saturday as much as Friday. It was just fun to have a friend over and watch the boys interact with their buddy. Must. Do. This. More often!

Hope your Valentine's Day was better than the average day. 

xo,

~C~

PINspiring recipes

I'll admit that I didn't "get" Pinterest at first.  I went to the website a few times.  Didn't get it.

I started working at my new job almost 6 months ago and remember having a conversation with a (now) friend there, who asked me "did you see that on Pinterest?"  Believe it or not, this question dumbfounded me.  I kindly said no, but was thinking to myself "uh...no? Why would I have? Is the whole world on Pinterest?"

Fast forward a few months and here I am. A Pinterest junkie.  If I don't know what's for dinner?  Pinterest.  Need a lo-cal recipe for dieting friends who are stopping by for lunch?  Pinterest.  Decorating ideas for the boys' bedroom?  Pinterest.  It's clearly the place to go for IDEAS.  Duh.  How could I have been so blind?

So I thought I'd share with you some of the Pinterest recipes I've tried recently.

link

link

Looks amazing, right?  Well, I thought so too.  On Pinterest, I saw the chicken teriyaki and the quick note beneath the photo gave instructions to fix the chicken in the crock pot. It wasn't until I threw everything in that I realized this looked, and was going to look, nothing like the photo. I went back to Pinterest and followed the link to the actual page with the recipe (which I've attached) and found that they had marinated chicken and then cooked it in the skillet with totally different ingredients.  Cool. Thanks.  So I went to the store and bought 2 different types of teriyaki sauce, mixed them, and sweetened it up with a bit of honey.  However.  The rice was amazing and the finished product was really good. I'm not ever sure if the boys will eat stuff like this but man, did they gobble it up!  Only regret now is that we didn't have leftovers.

The Pizzadilla.  It was pretty good, but what I really like about this is the opportunity to play with it and change it around.  Any ingredients would make this taste different. I have a quesadilla maker so that made this super simple for me.

Crockpot chicken taco chili. Wow. This was amazing!  200 calories per cup and packed with so much flavor.  I couldn't see eating this with a spoon so we had it on tortillas (with cheese and sour cream) and/or on salad.  This will become a staple in this house!

Skinny Brownie Batter Dip. I haven't personally made this but I've had (lots of) it. My PIN pal at work made it for Superbowl Sunday and brought some in the next day.  We must just remind ourselves that eating this will not, in fact, make us skinny. It's so decadent and you really feel like you're cheating that diet! 

Hubby's Favorite Casserole.  I realize that this photo does nothing to make this meal sound appetizing, but it seriously was so good, especially warmed up the next day.  I think when I found this, I was searching for a recipe comprised of ingredients I already had.  YUM. 

Crockpot Cheesy Chicken and Rice.  This is in the crock pot right now.  Oh.  Did I fail to mention that the crock pot is just about my favorite thing ever?  Hopefully it's good.  It didn't sound amazing just based on the ingredients but the person that writes about it makes it sound like this is the only thing I will ever want to eat again for all of my life, so we'll see.  

Things I want to try soon: 

Perfect Sweet Tea.

Stuffed Zucchini Boats.

So, be honest.  Am I the last person east of the Mississippi to get on board (ha, see what I did there?) with Pinterest?  Sigh, I've missed so much.  I'd write more, but there's pinning to be done...see you over there!

xo,

~C~