Beware: We Have A 2 Year Old Amongst Us.

This post is not as menacing as the title leads to believe!  :)  I'm merely here to share a piece of our lives from the past week.  Sesame turned two last Wednesday.  TWO!  I can hardly believe my little girl has gone from this:

to this:

In two years!  Goodness gracious.  She is so much fun!  :)  The Lord has truly blessed our family with Sesame's vivacious personality.  I can not wait to see who she grows into!  :)

We had her 2nd birthday party on the 15th.  A small gathering at our house with family and honorary Aunts and Uncles.  : )  No need for a ginormous celebration at age two - family was overwhelming enough for her!

I saw this awesome rainbow cake on Make-and-Love-It and knew it would be perfect for Sesame.  I gave a talented young lady a call to see if she would help out with the cake and away we went!  Jane (note: she is 12 years old...TWELVE...and an awesome baker!) and I were up until 1 am making this fabulous cake.  We had so much fun and Sesame loved it!

How awesome is that?!  It tasted fabulous too!  : )  We ended up with half the cake left - so we fed it to the Middle School kids at church.  : ) They are so reliable to eat up the sweets we have leftover!  : )

Sesame was in rare form - so excited about the presents she could hardly contain herself.

Related much?  I think so...

Loving her cake.  : )  She is soooooooooo my daughter!

I heart this photo for so many reasons.  First of all, it contains all of my grandparents - a very rare photo op.  :)  Secondly, they are all reading one of the books Sesame received for her birthday.  Remember the "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Little Miss Naughty" books?  My George gifted them to Sesame.  Love.  :)  Yes, well, my awesome grandparents are reading those books.  :)  It makes me smile.  :)

This photo is great because it shows:  The girls I nannied for playing ring-around-the-rosy with my daughter.  Yes, I baby sat for them.  I'm playing my old card here.  Not only do I think of them as sisters, but my daughter ADORES them.  I"m pretty certain, if given the option, she would live with them forever. Afterall, when you build tents and pretend to be in a battle zone taking cover under the kitchen table, how could a 2 year old not love you.  :)

Awesome day.  Awesome food.  Awesome family.  I heart birthdays and can't wait for more memories!  :)

The Orchard.

So.  Since I was a wee lass of three or so, my Daddy's side of the family has made a yearly trek down to the Apple Orchard every September.

(That's me in the pig tails.  I do, however, now look like the lady behind the pigtailed damsel.  Moving on...)

This year my Aunts, Uncles, Parents and Brother were unable to attend again.  Sesame ate enough apples for all of us though!

And, can I just say, when I'm 85 I hope I'm spry enough to navigate through a minefield of apples on the ground!  My grandparents are in their mid 80s and leaping about like yesterday's spring chicken!  Grandma even picked Sesame up at one point.  My baby is sweet, but she is hefty!  I don't know how she did it!  Hs'e super woman I tell you, super woman!

 

This shot is, by far, my favorite of the day.  Sesame is riding on my Pop's lap in the front seat of the van.  We were driving over a couple rows so don't call CPS too fast!  She was so giddy and I'm fairly certain he enjoyed having a squirmy worm Sesame on his lap too.

Look at the triumphant waving of the apple.  She picked it all by herself.  She kept saying "Ap-uh.  Big Gul" (aka "apple, big girl.")

Being a good sharer.

Love the orchard.  Love being with my family even more.  : )

Note to Self...

1. When a nice lady in the Aldi's parking lot offers you her cart and then hangs around like a bell hop waiting on a tip, you should put down the three bags for your groceries, put down the unruly 18-month-old on your right hip who keeps repeating "Hi, Hi, Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii," wrestle the stuffed dog and baby blankie in your left hand to find your purse, then proceed to dig around the bottom of your bag until you find a quarter 15 minutes later.  After all, carts aren't free.  And it wouldn't have been faster to get your own cart.

2.  When being a smart shopper and hitting up a few different stores, do not, I repeat, do not, purchase milk at the first stop.  Especially whole milk.  In 98 degree, Indiana summer weather.  Ew.  Gross.


3.  When the jovial post-mistress offers your 18-month-old daughter a sucker, do not allow her to hand the sucker directly to your daughter.  Your daughter might eat the wrapper off and promptly swallow it, proclaiming in a loud, gratuitous manner "MMMMMMMM!  MO! (aka more)."  Awesome Mom bonus points for that one.


4.  Upon returning home, do not allow said child to "help" put away the pop-tarts.  They will end up in dog food bowl.


5.  Do allow daughter to help put away dishes.  The tupperware might end up all catty-whompus, but who cares.  She's occupied, "helping" and not destroying the kitchen.  Or eating wrappers.  Or axle grease.  Or Comet.  Or anything else that might cause you to call poison control.

My First Giveaway.

Come one, come all, come win the most fabulous of fantastical cookware items EVER! :) Okay, so I might be exaggerating a teeny, tiny bit, but I really do LOVE these fabulous items Cookware.com has so graciously donated to moi, to giveaway to you, the reader. :) Can you say, 'yay'?

Again, this site is connected to several others that offer everything from kids beds to sweet wine racks to bar stools and, my favorite, globes. That's right. I said it. I have a thing for globes. Not just any globe, mind you, but the kind you might find in a Beauty and the Beast Library kind of globe. You know, the kind of regal library with books that span floor to ceiling, and you need a ladder on a rolling track to navigate through the room and read the special dewy decimal system?! sigh. THAT is the kind of globe I want. Moving on...

The giveaway includes the three items above in the depicted color (Caribbean Blue). It's such a happy color. I must say, while I do not have the items in Caribbean Blue, I do have them in Flame and use them ALL THE TIME. That is, I did use my small spatula all the time, until Homer ate it. Which is another post entirely. The 9 x 13 dish is fabulous for Ham Loaf, Roasting veggies and Carrot Puff Casseroles for church events. Mine cleans quickly and looks unused after being tested for three years. And, trust me, it has been used. The small spatula is just the right size for scraping gooey pie filling out of a can and into a pan or spreading a mix in tight corners. The spoon spatula. Oh. The spoon spatula. I cannot tell you the love affair I have with this item. It's a rubber scraper and serving spoon in one. GENIUS I tell you. BUT, the best and most fantastical part of these spatulas - the scraper part pulls off the wooden handle for cleaning. This means, the silicone heads can be dropped in the dishwasher on hi-temp wash whilst you hand wash the wooden handle. After the dishwasher is done the two can be re-united in sanitized blissdom. Sigh, and all will be right with the world again. :)


Okay. So. Enough about my creepy love for all things Le Creuset.


The giveaway rules:


1. Leave a comment answering this question: If you could re-paint/decorate your kitchen what would the color be?? (I'm secretly gathering ideas for my dated mauve-counter-topped kitchen...)


2. Leave your email or a way to contact you in the comment as well.


3. If you want another entry, become a fan of emily's eye photography on facebook, then leave me a comment again so I know.


4. If you want another entry, write a blog post linking to this giveaway post, then leave me a comment again so I know.


5. If you want a fourth entry, become a follower of my blog and, wait for it...leave me a comment again so I know. :)


6. The giveaway is open starting now until April 8th at midnight. I will select the winner using random.org and make the announcement promptly (or not so promptly if you know me) the morning of April 9th.


7. If you've stuck with me this long - you are awesome. :)


If you have ANY QUESTIONS, or found a BIG HOLE in my giveaway guidelines, PLEASE TELL ME. I am a giveaway virgin, and don't really know what I'm doing! :)


P to the S - email me at lettersmoving@gmail.com


The end.

Book Worm and Tube Watcher

So apparently Nells Bells is too good for Momma and her silly voices during book reading. Apparently at the age of 14 months one becomes capable of pulling books into one's crib and doesn't want Momma in the morning, just some privacy. Apparently, crying will ensue if Momma disturbs said happy morning reading time. So, here I am, posting to you all about this phenomenon instead of cuddling with my dear Sesame. Because she doesn't want me. Doesn't even want me to read to her. She can do it on her own. Apparently. :)

In other news: I'm gearing up for the aforementioned giveaway!! :) SO EXCITED! :) The website doing the promotional offers numerous items and sites to choose from. They carry kids beds, bar stools, and my favorite, COOKWARE!!!

Which is why I am giving away the best of cookware items. :)

A 12" x 9" Le Creuset Casserole dish in Caribbean blue. The LOVELY dish also comes with my two favorite rubber spatulas/scrapers in the matching Caribbean blue. Love. My next post will be a review of these items (which I already own and ADORE!) and details on the giveaway.

But until then - here are some photos of the REAL reason ya'll tune in. :)

Sesame discovered the beauty of TV. And standing too close. Jesopete. What kind of Momma let's her 14 month old watch TV at a distance of 1.2 inches!? Someone should do something about that. :)

This is her newly acquired "Mom you're in my way look." I also received it this morning from the crib as I attempted to pick her up.

"No, really Mom. Stop. You're cramping my style. I'm trying to discern whether Discovering Sonya is going to find the vowel 'o' or 'a' and I can't think with you this close to me. Go away."

We also broke out the frozen Go-gurt. LOVED. She didn't do too bad eating it alone. Homer tried to help. I shooed him away. He found some old crackers on the floor that were just as good.

This went so well I thought to myself: "Self, she could totally feed herself yogurt at dinner!!"

Wrong. it was EVERYWHERE. When will I learn!? She did clean out the container though!

She even put a green bean in the container for a snack later. yum. Vanilla green bean. MMMMM.

The Post In Which I Reveal A Recipe And For Which I Cannot Think Of A Creative Title So I Just Wrote An All Caps Run-On Sentence Instead.

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, for your reading and salivary gland pleasure, the recipe. (dun dun dun.)

Salmon with Wild Blueberry & Rhubarb Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 T. Canola Oil (I used EVOO)
• 1 small onion, cut in half, halves sliced (I used half a red onion since they are more potent!)
• 2-3 thin stalks of rhubarb, cut into 1/2 in. slices (Again, I just chopped the suckers...looked good to me!)
• 1 1/2 c. frozen blueberries (Don't forget to thaw them first. I of course forgotremembered to thaw mine before hand and definitely almost ruined the recipe made the recipe to perfection.)
• 2 T. blueberry or wildflower honey (Um...who has $9 for a jar of honey...not me. I used just plain 'ole, teddy bear jar shaped honey)
• 1/4 t. wasabi powder or paste (Every time I see the word wasabi I have to say it out loud like I'm in a kung- fu movie -- Wa-SABI!!!!! Wow...I shouldn't have typed that out on the interwebs for everyone to read...)
• 1 lb. wild king salmon fillet, cut crosswise into 4 equal pieces (OR two 5 oz. fillets that are pre-cut, wrapped in cedar and on sale at the grocery store! (: )

So...looking back on the ingredients...I didn't really make the recipe that's on the page...it was more of an outline! :) But on with the rest...

• Heat oil over med-high heat, add onion and saute' until lightly browned (4-5 min.)
• Add rhubarb and cook until bottom of pan looks syrupy (3-4min.)
• Add blueberries & honey.
• Lower to simmer until rhubarb is "tender and collapsing" aka "soft and squishy."
• Remove from heat ans stir in wasabi. Remember to touch your eyes immediately after this step. It will keep the kitchen interesting.
• Transfer to a bowl and cover to keep warm (because, really who wants a cold sauce on their hot salmon!?)
• Heat a dry nonstick frying pan over medium heat until hot (Or just reuse the pan you just used. Duh. Save on dishes!)
• Sprinkle fish with salt (I used kosher salt because we have a small love affair) and freshly ground pepper.
• arrange salmon in pan and cook until browned and crisp on bottom (4 min.)
• Turn salmon and cook until, you guessed it browned and crisp (3 min.)
• When the fish is done it will flake off easily. It should still be translucent in the center, so don't freak out about e-coli when you go to eat it and middle looks different. It's fine. You won't die. Look, ours was "translucent" and we're still alive. Conrad has a new little tick, but it's cute. :)
• Divide sauce among plates, and place fillet on top.
• Consume yummy goodness making excessive "mmmm" and "ooooooh" sounds at the table.

And there you have it. :) I do love me some good food. :)