Two Plus Three: 2011

Christmas

Christmas is my absolutely favorite of all the holiday's. It's so warm and cozy and such a beautiful family time. It's the only time of the year you hear about Jesus in song all over, whether it be in a department store or restaurant, and it makes me so happy. You can't take Jesus out of Christmas!!! Ruby is old enough this year that she GOT Christmas. She was ecstatic to see all of her cousins and friends and couldn't wait to open presents. She was really easily excited and we had a blast! I'm so thankful for my beautiful family and for all that we've been blessed with. Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

We had a gingerbread decorating night right before Christmas because Zac and Katie were going to New Mexico to be with her family this year. It was so fun to hang out and get crazy with the cookies!

Ruby thought it was the greatest thing and took great pleasure in biting the heads off the little men.

Filled with excitement and looking cute in their pj's

Quin modeling her new attire from Auntie Ashley

Our humble little tree on Christmas morning. This is the first year we've spent Christmas morning at our house! Uncle Jer came over and I made a big breakfast and the girls opened their gifts.

Ruby is now Jessie the Cowgirl!

Day after Christmas we spent time with my mom's side of the family. It was so nice to see everyone and hang out! I don't like for Christmas to end!

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

I am beyond excited about my Christmas present this year. Of course, I was the one who got it for myself, but non the less! Isn't she a beaut? I've been wanting one for years and it's finally mine! I've already used it a ton of times in the past few weeks and it's amazing!

I've been doing a lot of experimenting and baking and cooking lately. I'm really enjoying figuring out new recipes that fit into my diet. I have been missing some of the restricted foods lately though. Mainly Chinese and Mexican. You just can't gluten free, dairy free those with the same results! I told Adam the second I'm done nursing he is taking me to our favorite Japanese food restaurant for a FEAST of soy filled goodness. Another one of those things you can't eat without a restricted ingredient. I'm so incredibly thankful for the knowledge we have now about everything! If I could just add butter and eggs back into my diet I'd be fine not adding anything else. I realized to over this past seven months how much junk Ruby would have been consuming had we not had such a rude awakening with Quin. It's better all around!

This is me with my sisters doing some Black Friday shopping at Target. We waited in line for a couple hours and the item we wanted was sold out before we even set foot in the door. Oh well! It was an adventure! (Can you tell it's midnight by how tired I look??)

We obviously don't get four seasons here in Southern California, but I was enjoying this tree.

My very favorite book and movie series of all time is Harry Potter. I got the whole series of Harry on Bluray! YES! You may not believe it, but I'm a scifi buff. I think it's probably due to the fact that my dad is and I've been watching things like the x-files since I was a wee little child. There's something so amazing to me about things that just cannot happen. I like them and they don't scare me. It's a whole different world and it's so clearly unreal. On the other hand I HATE real life movies that are sad or scary.

Another thing I've been really excited about is grabbing these amazing deals on a site called opensky.com. I got some referral credits and was able to score this fantastic balsamic/olive oil trio and a bottle of olive oil from South Africa! I paid less for both than you would for a cheap bottle of olive oil at the market. SCORE!

The highlight of my month was going to a resort for a "moms" day out. My friend Jackie celebrated her birthday in style and brought us along! Her hubby spoiled all of us to an hour long massage and then lunch of the terrace overlooking the ocean. It was pure bliss! They had a spa and lounge to hang out in and we took full advantage of everything!!!

The next series of pictures are all of my baking delights from the past couple of weeks. These are the pumpkin chip muffins I came up with and created over the weekend. They are DELICIOUS! Seriously, you wouldn't know they are gluten free and vegan!

This is Elk stew! It turned out so good I'm sad it's gone. Adam's uncle Mike went on a hunting trip over Thanksgiving and gave us some of the elk he caught. I did a lot of research before making stew and it was honestly fantabulous!

These cinnamon rolls are gluten free and vegan and turned out pretty good! I am a cinnamon roll fanatic so I'm really hard to please. I'll say that they were good, but there is most assuredly something lacking that you just can't accomplish without butter and flour. Don't be fooled though, we ate the entire tray within two days. (I saw we but really I should say I.)

This is a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread that was FABULOUS! Seriously tasted like real bread and toasted so nicely. Perfect breakfast loaf with some vegan spread!!!!

This may very well be my favorite thing I've made so far. It's dairy free fudge! Who would have thought you could create something so creamy and delicious and chocolatey without ANY dairy whatsoever? It's simply divine. I can't rave enough about how lovely it is.

I've never made candy before, but I was in the mood to try something new and decided on truffles. These are myan spiced truffles, and the flavors EXPLODE on your pallet. They had orange zest, cinnamon, chili pepper and salt. The flavoring is very complex and interesting but incredibly pleasing. They are very smooth and rich yet bright and vibrant! I really like them a lot and am glad with my choice!

My sister bought Adam and I a set of mugs for Christmas along with two Le Creuset dishes. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them all!!!!!!! Now I need to start collecting more Le Creuset pieces. Next up, the dutch oven.

Quin Recap

What can I say about Quin? She is a FORCE of nature and a darn cute one at that. She literally never sits still unless she is right about ready for bed or asleep. She isn't cuddly at all which makes me really sad. She won't even let me hold her facing toward me. She pushes out and flips around so she's facing outward. I guess there is to much to see in this world. She is a mover and a shaker. She started scooting a couple months ago and is into everything now. I cannot keep stuff out of reach! It's so cute watching her crawl around. I really cannot believe she's already nearly eight months! I feel like it's already time to start thinking about her first birthday. Ok, maybe not quite yet, but with how fast time is flying by..... She just this last week had her first tooth pop through! A second one is on the cusp. I HATE teething! My sister always told me that if it weren't for teething having kids would be a whole lot easier! I couldn't agree more. It's really a nightmare. Although she isn't cuddly, Quin is so sweet and always smiling. She is such a beautiful little thing and I cannot get enough of her. Her little hairs are sprouting up and Adam and I have SOME hope that she will get hair earlier than Ruby has. At least her's is dark so you can see what she does have! She is still waking up two or three times a night. I'm wondering when this madness will end and she will sleep through the night. It's been a really trying time since Quinny came, but she's worth every sleepless night. Can't wait to see what she will be like as a kid. She has such a girly air about her and is so petite and pretty. She fills our lives with lots of joy (and spit up and laundry!) and we are so thankful for her!

She sucks her thumb now and it's sooooooooo cute!!!

Here she is dressed up for our nautical themed family picture. I think she looked like a boy, but everyone else insisted she wear the beanie.

Love the baby buns in the air

This face is hysterical to me! She HATED the flash!

Ruby Recap

Ruby's vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds this past month! I literally cannot believe she is only two. Such a smart little munchkin and extremely intuitive! She says things I can't believe she can even comprehend! Quite frankly, sometimes I forget she is TWO and I have to remind myself to not expect more from her! She LOVES her baby sister and I'm so proud of what a good big sister she is. She's always babying Quin and being very sweet with her! (most of the time!) She loves having a play companion around and has really adapted well. Our biggest struggle at the moment is bed time! Ruby has decided she doesn't want to go to bed until we do and she wants to sleep in our bed. Sigh.
Ruby enjoyed Christmas immensely and keeps talking about it still. She will randomly say "IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!" in the most excitable tone, and I keep trying to tell her it's come and gone, but she argues because she doesn't want that to be true. She has such a good sense of humor and totally gets the difference between "real" things and jokes. She is constantly laughing and saying "that's silly!" when something amuses her. It usually ends up being her daddy who is the joker. She thinks he's quite hilarious. She is really into the ABC song right now, but doesn't know all of the letters. It's so cute to hear her sing. She loves to sing and does it all the time and it makes my heart melt. One of my favorite things she says when she doesn't like something is; "Mom? That's creepy!" She weighed in at 30lbs last time we checked and she is a solid little thing. Our little brick. She is a girl after mommy's own heart in that she love, love, loves to eat. She enjoys helping me bake the most of anything else. She thinks it's perfectly amazing that you can put all the ingredients in a bowl and make cookies! She waits on baited breathe until it's time to lick the egg beaters. Lately she's been "reading" books to us (or herself) and it is just the CUTEST! I cannot believe what a good memory she has since she's obviously reciting the books from memory. She really is a delightful little one full of laughter and joy. I wish she wasn't growing up so fast!