Shower The People You Love With Love

We are all about love in this house.  We just cannot get enough of it!  There are snuggles and hugs and kisses all day long.  And while we celebrate love and this family year round we really get into it at during Valentine's!  Last year the girls decorated these adorable mailboxes (found in the Target $1.00 bin) and then each day from February 1st-14th a little love note, a chocolate or a little toy was left for them to discover after naptime. This year since no one naps anymore their mail will arrive first thing in the morning.  We picked up some new mailboxes (since last years were looking less than desirable), stickers and tissue paper at Target today and got to decorating after lunchtime! 

Next year, since the girls will be older, I think that David and I will decorate mailboxes too and then we can all have fun leaving love notes and treats for each other!  xoxo

A Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Snow Removal

It certainly has been an incredibly snowy winter!  Easily one of the snowiest of my lifetime.  We have had more snow in the last few weeks than we usually have all winter, and it does not seem like we are going to catch a break anytime soon.  With the rumor of more snow on the way for the middle of the coming week, Dave decided that it was probably a good idea to do some ice and snow removal today. 

After ice removal was done he moved to clearing the snow from the back deck.  First a quick reminder of how much snow there was:

It took a total of three hours to remove all the ice and snow that he wanted to, but once it was done there was clearly a sense of satisfaction for a job well done.  Now we just wait and wonder in regard to what the rest of the winter has in store for us...

{This Moment}

{This Moment} - A SouleMama Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comment section of the SouleMama blog for all to find and see.  Have a lovely weekend, friends!

A Winter Visit

Today we woke up to the world (yet again) covered in snow.  It was easily another foot of loveliness out there making the world look perfectly magical.

The gate to the backyard is burried under all that snow!

Our grill is under there somewhere!

On top of all the excitment of another snowy morning, we were also excitedly getting ready for a visit with Leigh, Josephine, Hannah and Brad.  The girls and I spent some time late morning preparing the ingredients for the soup that we would be having at lunch while we waited for everyone to arrive.

Veggies for the wild rice soup.



And then they arrived and the fun began! I had not seen Leigh and Josephine since my wedding day (eight and a half years ago)!  It was so wonderful to see them again, along with the newly engaged Hannah and Brad!  We got right to catching up,  Quickly chatting as if no time had passed at all.  During all this chatting, soup was made and consumed.  Seconds were had. Toys were played with.  Dessert was shared.  Stories were told and wedding plans gushed over.  Some of us even got choked up at being asked to perform the ceremony (me!) and photograph it (Josephine).  Before long it was time to say good-bye to our beloved friends, and I realized that I had not taken one decent picture ofeveryone.  Such is the way it goes when you are too busy talking, I suppose.  I quickly snapped a couple pictures before they went on their way, all the while wishing I had taken more before our time together was over.

Brad is such an awesome guy that he went to remove some snow from the end of our driveway before they took off. 

It was a truly incredible day!  Many fabulous memories were shared and made today.  Thank you for spending the afternoon with us, dear friends.  We had a most terrific time!

Wild Rice Soup

1/4 cup butter

2 cups sliced celery stalks
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 cups cooked wild rice  (I used two packages of Carolina Long Grain and Wild Rice since w could not find just wild rice)
2 cups water
2 10.5oz cans chicken broth
3 cups half-n-half
2/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted (omit if you would like)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley


In a 4 quart dutch oven, melt butter over medium high heat. cook celery, carrots, onion, and bell pepper in butter about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. stir in flour salt, and pepper. stir in rice, water, and broth. heat to boiling; reduce heat. cover, simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. stir in half-n-half, almonds, and parsley. heat just unti hot, do not boil or soup will curdle.

Serve with bread.
Enjoy!!

"Look, Mama! It's Snowing Again!"

It has been quite a winter so far! If it's not snowing, it's about to, and if it's not about to it's bitterly cold.  No matter how many days it snows the wonder and magic of this ordinary miracle is always a sight to behold!

An Ordinary Day

Today was one of those days where nothing super exciting happened but we had a lot of fun just being in the same space together. Messes were made, yoga class was attended, snuggles were had and beautiful projects were created.

"Look, mama!  I made a rainbow flower!"

Ordinary days are often times the best days!

A Treat For Mama

Last Thursday as usual, my dear friend Sade and her adorable son joined us for dinner.  With them they brought Christmas gifts for us!  For the girls, a Solar Print Kit and for me (and David) a new mixing bowl for our Kitchen Aid Mixer! I have been coveting the glass mixing bowl for sometime and honestly did not think that we would ever own it.  Thanks to Paul and Sade, that dream is now a reality and so it only made sense to whip up a batch of our favorite cookies to try it out!

The clear bowl was a hit!  We all loved to be able to look through it and see the ingredients being mixed. Thank you, Paul and Sade for our lovely gift! It will be happily used for many, many, many years to come!