Happy Birthday!

Today is my baby's 2nd birthday! Wow, I can't believe she is two. It seems like just yesterday we were taking her home from the hospital!


Youngest curly girlie has brought our family so much joy and love these past two years.

She is a pure bundle of excitement with lots and lots of energy. She is quite the little adventurer, always looking for something to explore with her hands, feet or mouth.

And yet, in her most quiet and calmer moments, she is our little snuggle bug, giving sweet kisses and big teddy bear hugs!

She enjoys taking care of her baby dolls, reading books, and doing things all by herself, without any help.

She also really really loves her big sister and is constantly watching her, looking up to her and following in her footsteps.


They are already forming a sweet little friendship, even amidst the bickering and fighting that daily takes place in our home.


Happy 2nd Birthday to my youngest curly girlie! I love you so much and am so thankful the Lord has blessed our family with you.

Recipe Twist

Since having children, I strive to cook healthy and to have a veggie with every meal. Do my curly girlies always eat the veggie?? Definitely not!! But, I do offer it to them at most mealtimes.

I have Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook Deceptively Delicious and I really like the concept, but I don't always have the time to prepare the veggie purees. So, I've been buying baby food and "sneaking" it into recipes. Squash baby food is really easy to hide in creamy dishes because of the bland coloring. I hide it in corn casserole, mashed potatoes, quesadillas and macaroni & cheese. I've hidden carrot baby food in several different soups, meatloaf, Mexican dishes (mix it in with the salsa) and in spaghetti sauce.

This recipe is for Poppyseed Chicken:
5 cups (4-5 breasts) chicken, cooked & chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup Ritz crackers, crushed
1 tsp poppyseed
1/2 cup butter, melted

This is my "twist" on the recipe:
5 cups (4-5 breasts) chicken, cooked & chopped
1 can cream of chicken HEALTHY REQUEST soup
1 cup light sour cream
1 jar/container squash baby food
1 1/2 cup Wheat Thins Baked Chips or any type of multi grain crackers, crushed
1/4 cup flaxseed
1 tsp poppyseed
2 TBSP butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Combine the chicken soup, sour cream and squash together in a bowl. Add chicken and stir. Pour into a baking dish.
In a separate bowl, stir the crackers, flaxseed, poppyseed, and melted butter. Sprinkle over the chicken and bake 30 minutes or until the top is brown and the sauce bubbles.
Serve with multi-grain rice and a green veggie.

Your kids will eat this up and you will have given them an extra serving of veggies!

House of sickness

Our little house of curls has been a house of sickness this week. We've been doing a lot of resting, puzzle making, sleeping, coloring, and movie watching. Needless to say, curly girlies (mommy too) are a little stir crazy from spending so many hours trapped inside the house. So, today we ventured out to Learning Express (on Roswell Road in Buckhead) because we had a few birthday presents to purchase and because I thought it would be fun for the girls to play in their newly renovated store. Boy was I wrong! It was a complete disaster and I have never been so embarrassed by the behavior of my curly girlies.

Youngest curly girlie kept pulling everything off the shelves and when I told her no, she would scream. I mean, seriously screaming crying. But, I was determined to get a gift so I ignored her crying and all the stares from other MOMS. She then found a stroller to push, which she liked for about 2 minutes, but once she decided that she didn't like it anymore, she began throwing it, multiple times. Then another little girl picked up the stroller and of course, youngest girlie just started screaming even louder. Meanwhile, oldest curly girlie was shoving whatever she could find into a rolling backpack and then kept pulling it all around the store, placing random toys in random spots. She then found the silly bands display and when I told her she could not have any, she slung it around, making a big mess. She then began crying and pitching a fit.

With tears beginning to fall from my own eyes, I quietly picked up both girls and walked out of the store, without even making a purchase. Once we got buckled in the car, I took a deep breath, prayed and cried a few tears. I reminded myself that this was yet another "trial" that the Lord was using to make me more like Him. I am slowly growing in patience and self-control and it is because I am relying on His strength to carry me through tough moments like today. He alone gives me the ability to speak gently to my children, to love them unconditionally, even when they are screaming uncontrollably, and to forgive them for their own wrongdoings. I can't do this on my own but "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13).

So, after the drama, we went home, had a quick lunch and both curly girlies actually took a nap at the same time. Thank you Lord for the quiet moments and thank you for my precious curly girlies!!

I've been wanting to share this nursery rhyme - what a perfect ending to this post:

"There was a little girl and she had a little curl,

right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good, she was very, very good.

And when she was bad, she was horrid!"