True Love

I have a sweet tooth. In fact, it's probably more appropriate- and accurate!- to say that in the plural form: I have sweet teeth, ha ha. With the exception of a few wayward moments, I was able to stay on track avoiding sugar, gluten, legumes, and basically lots more things through Valentine's Day. But I decided that since I could find a healthier option for me for the special day of love, I should! Life is meant to be celebrated, and Valentine's Day without chocolate just doesn't cut it in my book. Here is what I did make. I found the recipe on Pinterest and altered it slightly, so it isn't completely paleo. I replaced the nut butter with peanut butter, mainly because that's all I had on hand. We don't eat tons of peanut butter here, so I don't worry about having it occasionally. I also reduced the amount of maple syrup, and combined equal parts dark chocolate and regular cocoa powder- I know cocao powder is slightly different, and better for you, but...

I loved being read to as a child, and I love it even more as a Mom. With all the beautiful board books out there, and most classics also available as such, there is no shortage of quality books to read with your baby. When Levi was an infant, we gave him several cloth books, and as he got more independent and capable, he mastered the technique of flipping the pages and looked quite proud doing so, I might add. :) This is not going to be an original list by any means- there's a reason these books are so popular and get chosen again and again. They're just wonderful! Simple rhymes, the repetition of certain words, phrases or sounds, and colorful illustrations have always delighted our babies, and we have loved reading these to them. If there's one listed here that you're not familiar with, you should check it out! Our Favorite Books to Read to Baby 1. The Best Mouse Cookie, Laura Numeroff 2. The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper 3. The Backyard...

I haven't uploaded any pictures from today, (oops! it's now super early morning the next day as I finish this...) but when I do, no hats or winter coats were anywhere to be seen, which is not the case from last week and in the photo below. It was GLORIOUS!!! We played outside for a long while, jumping in puddles, scooping snow and just soaking up all the warm, fresh air. Since I basically live at the grocery store, he seems to have made peace about it. Silly boy! You know the French Bread that comes in the paper? Turned my back for two seconds and this one already had a mouthful. #carbjunkie It certainly hasn't been all sunshine and roses here lately. Honestly, it has been SO stressful. College is probably the main source of angst these days, and it seems completely overwhelming. This rising sun really spoke to my heart that morning and reminded me that these things pass, and what's important remains. Speaking of college, things will be so dif...

What a week! In case nobody has let you in on this secret, parenting is hard. Bubble burst? Sorry. Well, now you know. Moving on, ha ha ha. Random question for all of you who know so much more tech stuff than I do: is there a way to add my blog photos to the Google archive in albums like I used to? It was the best system of organizing and keeping track...and now it's all different and the blog photos just pop up anywhere because I can't add them to a particular folder anymore. I mean, really. It takes me forever and a day just to get familiar with any type of tech whatever, and then they go and change it and I just can't handle it. 1. I knew before having kids that I wanted to be the Mom that made a big fuss over Valentine's Day. Not with material things, but with love notes and one-on-one dates and anything that shows them how valued and valuable they are, not just to their father and me but to the One who has loved them since the beginning of time. And special tr...

I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day yesterday. We sure did! You can see some of our favorite ooey gooey chocolate recipes in this post.    I made our Valentine's Heart-shaped Meatball Subs and Brownie Volcano for my crew last night. Delicious! I'm sharing another older post about making basic store-bought t-shirts into something much cuter. Now that Isabelle is older, I don't typically embellish her clothing like this, but when she was little, it was absolutely adorable. You should try it! The easiest method is to attach a single or double ruffle along the hem. If using a knit, don't even worry about hemming the ruffle; otherwise, make a narrow hem along the ruffle edges before sewing onto the shirt. One ruffle was about 3 inches, the other was 5 inches, but you can make yours however long or short you like. Mine was cut from a fat quarter. It doesn't need to be super long because you don't want a really full ruffle. Here I simply cut two sepa...

Ethan was also quite proud of his ginormous spring roll, ha! We've been talking about making our own sushi for such a long time, and this weekend, we finally made it happen. It was actually quite simple, relatively inexpensive, and it was fun to do together. We tried some Spring rolls as well, but those were somewhat of a miss. I'm going to look up some different fillings for them and try again soon. I found the Nori seaweed sheets and rice paper in the Asian aisle at Wal-Mart. I was surprised my local grocery store didn't have them, or if they did, I couldn't find them. I found the packaged smoked salmon in near the specialty fish items- it was expensive, but it went a long way. We made some sticky rice on the stove top (added a bit more water than called for to cook), chopped up avocados, and cut long, thin strips of carrots and cucumbers, like matchsticks, and cut the salmon in thin strips as well. Simply lay the Nori sheets on a paper towel, sp...

Hi friends, just popping in to tell you about the Valentine's Day sale I've got going on in the shop. There are tons of flannel nightgowns, outfit sets, and special occasion dresses there if you're looking for some fun things to get through this last bit of winter, and ALL baby bonnets and bibs ship free thru 2/14! This includes Ready to Ship as well as Custom Order bonnets and bibs! We ended up bringing Levi into Urgent Care at dinnertime last night, and it's a good thing: poor baby has double ear infections and the onset of pneumonia. Must.Get.Rid.Of.The.Germs. This has been a brutal fall and winter season for sure. Here's hoping today fares a little better than yesterday. #fingerscrossed You can visit my shop with this link: Rose and Ruffle