I See You...

Yeah. He's 2.

Lesson learned. Don't leave him alone. Although apparently now I know what his veins look like on the inside. I'm going to assume that's what he was doing.

While coloring, Andrew somehow managed to eat the crayon. Yes. Seriously. He's very two this week. I love that crazy kid.

3 Months

Three months ago, we welcomed a little piece of sunshine into our home. Since then, we have grown to love her more and more each day. We are a lucky to have little Miss Emily in our family.

She can even play games with Uncle Aaron! :)

And What Do We Have Here....

Life is interesting with a two year old.

Obsessed?

Here are a few of the cookbooks I have checked out from the library right now. There are pages and pages of cookbooks you can put on hold. I might be a wee bit obsessed with cooking lately. Whoopsie. But I don't think my family is complaining.

No. They seem pretty happy lately.

Have I mentioned that I feel pretty lucky?

Falling into Autumn....and Cooking

We went on a walk on Saturday morning. There's an apple tree near our house with a sign saying "Free Apples." We grabbed a little one for Andrew, and he thought it was the best thing ever. He ate it, core and all. :)

Doesn't she look adorable? Gotta love that little tyke!

It was a little chilly, so we bundled them up and set out. We had a good time, Andrew most of all!

I love Mike in this picture. He looks like a model or something. :)

Andrew LOVES to help me cook. I was making dinner the other day, and he stood there with a table knife "cutting" up some vegetables and eating apples and oranges along the way. He watched a cooking show with me a couple weeks ago and since then has been putting on his own little cooking shows. It has been hilarious and so sweet.

Don't these fruits and veggies look amazing? I just love the colors.

One of my favorite things about Emily is that she holds onto material when she's sleepy. Is there anything sweeter than a little girl with her blankie and pacifier? I think not.

Further proof.

3 People. Cute, cute, and cute.

Sweet little family.

Love

There is no doubt in my mind. This is my favorite little girl. Ever.

Emily's loves:

1. Mommy and Daddy - She loves to smile at us, to hold our hands, and to just generally be with us.

2. Watching Andrew - She is a brave girl, and has gotten over her (legitimate) fear that Andrew might accidently crush her tiny skull during his playtime. She LOVES to just sit and watch him while he's running around, and smiles like crazy anytime he comes by. I can't wait for them to become buds.

3. Eating.

4. The ceiling fan. It's about her favorite thing. As soon as we lay her on our bed, she looks up smiling. If the fan isn't on, she looks disappointed until we turn it on. She's adorable.

5. She loves to be talked to. She gives huge smiles and talks back.

6. Sticking out her tongue. She loves to do it and have us do it back at her. She also loves when we say, "There's your tounge, tounge, tounge!" I don't know why or how it started, but she's a happy little gal.

We just are absolutely smitten with this little sweetie!!!

New Blog

I've decided to start a second blog. No, I don't think that you have nothing better to do than to read about me and my family all day. The new blog will be what I'm doing in my home to make it more....home-y. Organizing, cleaning, decorating, and cooking. Mostly cooking. I seriously seriously love cooking. So feel free to check it out if you want! :) www.domesticallydorky.blogspot.com

Emily Fix

For those of you looking for your Emily fix, here ya go. The tiniest member of our crew is growing so fast, and we love her more each day!!!!

Face she makes when she gets surprised. Here was her reaction to her daddy sneezing. I crack up every time.

Sitting in a Bumbo seat for the first time! That's her buddy Brady in the background. His little face is too adorable.

Please Sir, May I Have Some More?

Food recipes? Sure thing...

I know, I know. But we've just been eating some really yummy stuff lately.

I invented a little sauce to go with pears. Now, I didn't poach my own pear or anything. It would have been amazing if I had, but I had not the time nor the energy nor the know-how. So I used canned pears. And it was still yummy.

For the "sauce" (or whatever you want to call it) I just put some Greek yogurt (any plain yogurt would do) with cinnamon and sugar, and a dash of lemon juice. That's it. It's a little tart, but the sweetness in the pear really compliments the acidity and tartness. Sorry, I have no measurements. It was kind of weird, but in a good way.

I love asparagus. I mean L-U-V love the stuff. I had never cooked it this way, but I really loved it. It was a little crisp, and the flavors were amazing. I loved this and I will be doing it again this week. The recipe calls for vegetable oil, but I used olive oil. I think you can use any oil you want for this. Delicious stuff.

Sesame Stir-Fried Asparagus

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 tsp Asian sesame oil

1 lb thin asparagus, trimmed and cut on diagonal into 1" peices

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp. sesame seeds, toasted

In 10" skillet, heat oils over high heat until hot. Add asparagus and sprinkle with salt; cook, stirring frequently until tender-crisp, about 5 minutes. Transfer to serving bowl and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

A Thing of Beauty

Cobb Salad? Oh my gosh. Yes, please!!! I had always avoided it for some reason, but when we decided to make it, we were shocked at how much we loved it!! It was GORGEOUS, and the avocado and egg made it creamy enough that you didn't need much dressing. I think next time I will put in some celery and cucumber just to make it a little crunchier. This time we had a bed of romaine lettuce with egg, avocado, cheddar cheese, green onions, tomato, chicken, and bacon. The dressing was Ranch dressing mixed with a little BBQ sauce.

Delicious. Seriously, seriously delicious.

Three pictures of a salad? Yes, yes ma'am.

Cause it is absolutely gorgeous.

Elmo Dancing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zfC_KHgmkI&feature=relmfu

I'm not a huge Elmo fan. This is true, but Elmo dancing on the moon? It made me laugh out loud. Check it out.

I'm in Food Heaven

When you're in St. Louis, you should definitely hit these places. One is Uno's Chicago Grill (obviously you could do that in Chicago also!). This pizza is amazing. The cheese is so amazingly gooey, and there are tons of amazing toppings (or really it's more like fillings because the pie is so thick.) Try it. But know that one piece will fill you up.

Jilly's Cupcake Bar? Heck. Yes. Beautiful, amazing, delicious cupcakes. Amazing.

Gyro Company. This is the absolute best thing you could ever put in your face. This is the Doner Kabob. It's delicious gyro meat with lettuce, tomato, onion, and tzatziki sauce inside a Bosnian flat bread. I'd been craving one of these puppies for over a year, and it only amplified when I was pregnant with Emily. I was finally able to get one this week, and my taste buds have been thanking me ever since.

Fresh, beautiful salads and vegetables. Delicious, flavorful soup. Light, interesting, amazing breads. More please.

And finally, a St. Louis icon. Ted Drewes is the absolute best treat you could come up with. Mike and I shared a Big Apple concrete yesterday. It is the perfect combination of apple pie and custard. You never feel like you only have a bite of JUST pie or JUST ice cream. It's smooth, creamy, perfectly sweet.....amazing.

That's right, folks.

I'm in food heaven.

...and please don't resuscitate me.

A Laugh A Minute

This kid is seriously a laugh a minute!!! Yesterday I was feeling horrible that the poor kid has been stuck in the house all summer, so we went to Lend and Learn and then to get burgers (his obsession - seriously.) He hasn't had fast food very much, since we don't eat out very often anymore. Anyway, I pulled up and ordered him a burger. As I pulled forward to pay, I heard a little voice from the back say, "No fwies?!"

I laughed for about 5 minutes. I don't know why it struck me so funny, but I sure do love that little guy.

Funny Face...

As cute as these kids are (and heaven knows they are sooo cute), they can definitely make some weird faces when the camera is on them. These are just a few of the gems from the last couple weeks.