Swimmin'!!

Our little Peachy has turned into quite a little fishy. While she is still not the biggest fan of getting a face full of water, she loves everything else to do with it. We were able to go swimming two times lately, indoors of course, and both times she had a blast. She will actually squeal with delight at the mere prospect of going swimming.

Playing with her buddy, 'Bel. (Thanks for the pictures, Lisa!)

Our first swimming outing was to small indoor waterpark that is connected to a hotel in the area. She loved being in the wadding pool and went down the small slide a few times. The bathtub toys I brought along kept her busy for literally hours.
Last night we joined members of our church at an area middle school's indoor pool. I was a little worried that she would be disappointed that there wasn't a wadding area and there weren't any slides. She was just happy to be in the water whether in here floating ring or being held by mom or dad.

She wasn't too sure about getting splashed int he beginning, but by the end it was a hit.

Even though both occasions ended with purple, quivering lips, she wanted more. I can't wait until the snow melts, the weather warms up, and our outdoor wading pools open. (Yeah, maybe in July!)

A Snuggle Up Kind of Day

We got a nice wintery blast again last night. I use the term "nice" loosely. Oh well. It is totally what you can expect around these parts.

Just when the deck was finally snow-free.

The fresh blanket outside coupled with this little girl being sick enough to be sad and clingy, but not sick enough to really need anything has led today to be a snuggle up and watch a good movie kind of day.

She insisted on having pig-tails today and then proceeded to cry and try to get away while I was trying to finish the job. Yup, one of those kind of days.

Sure there is sewing to be done. And this house is never perfectly cleaned. But today seems to be the kind of day to cozy up and ignore the to-do list.

Spring Fairy Fun Day

I bet you didn't know that yesterday was Spring Fairy Fun Day. Well, according to my Google sources, it was. It also happened to be the day that I led the monthly music class for our the moms group I belong to. So surrounded by wands, crowns, wings, and tulle skirts we sang, danced, and played our instruments.
We made simple crowns with two pipe cleaners and ribbon accents for the girls and triangle pipe cleaners for the boys. Wands were made with a pipe cleaner sandwiched between two foam sticky stars. So simple and so fun.

I think I will have to focus on yesterday;s touch of spring as we are predicted to get snow and freezing rain over the next day and a half.

Foodie Friday: St. Patrick's Day Meal

While I don't have much of the Irish in me, I have enough to celebrate the big green day with the rest of America. (And having a red-headed daughter has to count for something, right?) As usual I served up a yummy dinner of corned beef with cabbage. This year I also added Irish Soda Bread from Brown Eyed Baker. It was super easy and we all enjoyed the results, a dense, biscuit like round bread. Of course, those of us who could imbibe washed it all down with a Guinness.

We also attended our area's Celtic Festival. While I didn't find the acts as good as previous years, it was worth the trip and free admission seeing Peachy enjoy the music and dancing so much. I wish  I had brought a camera along to capture a moment or two of that joy. Whenever there was a break in the music she would yell out, "Music!" And her little feet couldn't stay still while watching some young dancers perform Irish steps. While watching a small quartet perform in an open area she showed off some moves of her own and organized her grandma, grandpa, mom, and dad into a sort of line dance. (She  even took off her shoes and made grandma take hers off as well.)
Since we enjoyed our St Patty's Day meal over the weekend, I served up our buffalo chicken sandwiches on green buns last night that I picked up in a last minute run to the grocery store. I will have to post the sandwich recipe another day, but here is the picture.

Spring Ahead

I may be the only mom in the United States saying this right now, but daylight savings time actually has gone well for us . . . so far. We put Peachy to bed at 8 on Saturday night her usual time and hoped that she would sleep in. She didn't so she was a bit crabby for church, but otherwise had a good day. I am sure that it helped having grandma and grandpa here.Last night we decided to pretend like the clock was the right time and put her to bed at 8, what would normally be 7. I don't know if it was because she was still catching up from sleep on the weekend or what, but she slept until 8:30 this morning. She hasn't slept over twelve hours at night for many months. It was wonderful! Here is hoping that the time change continues to go well here and well for you as well.

Foodie Friday: Brunch Pizza Casserole

One of the ladies at a church I attended when I was first out of college made this delicious dish for many a pot-luck. Everyone liked it so much that I don't think she could have gotten away with making anything else. When I had to bring a dish to a recent brunch I knew just which recipe to go to.

This picture really doesn't do this dish justice. Just look through the ingredients. How could you go wrong??

Brunch Pizza Casserole
Ingredients:
-1 lb. frozen shredded hash browns
-8 eggs
-3/4 c. milk
-1/2 lb. bacon
-1 ham steak
-onion (as much or as little as you like)
-mushrooms, sliced (as much or as little as you like)
-1 lb.shredded  cheese (any variety)
Directions:
1. Mix together hash browns and two eggs and spread in a 9 x 12 pan. Salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 20-30 minutes at 350.
2. Whisk together 6 eggs and milk. Cook in the microwave for 3 minutes, stir, and cook for 3 additional minutes.
3. Cut the bacon into bite sized pieces and fry until done.
4. Fry or microwave the ham steak and cut into small pieces.
5. Cook the mushrooms and onions together.
6. Mix the eggs, bacon, ham, mushrooms, and onions together and evenly spread over cooked hash browns.
7. Cover with cheese and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

22 Months of Peachy

I love this little girl. I love the little person that she is turning into. Her personality is coming out more and more everyday. She is a little sponge right now soaking up all that is around her in the world. Her father and I are constantly amazed by what she knows and can do all on her own now. She has been working on going potty since Christmas, all self led. I think that the novelty is starting to wear off, however, since she has not been asking to go as much in the previous few weeks.
While we are still in the thick of winter here, she has started to talk about swimming all of a sudden. The other day she actually found her swim diapers, put them on, and proceeded to wear them around the house for the next few hours. I have told her that it is way to cold out to go swimming, so now she says, "Swimming? Cold 'side."

Her vocabulary is growing faster than I can keep up with it. She will say something that I don't quite understand but know that I should. I guess it is kind of like learning a foreign language. She is experimenting with stringing two and three words together, as well.
Peachy's imagination, one of my favorite traits in children, is emerging, too. The other day while I was doing the monthly grocery shopping, she was quite content to play that her waded up hat was Baby Jesus. I did have to stop her from sticking baby Jesus down my shirt a few times, but otherwise it was good harmless fun.

 I became the parent I never thought that I would be when I actually bought my less than two year old daughter an MP3 player. It is very toddler friendly and although you can plug in ear plugs we haven't gone that far yet. She loves music and this way she can listen to her own music without me having to turn on the tv to the music station or put in a cd for her. Her current favorites are "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep."

16 Weeks with Number Two

For a while this pregnancy was so different from my pregnancy with Peachy. I really didn't miss a beat while pregnant with Peachy. This time around though was a little more challenging. The month of January was rough around here. I spent lots of time on the couch being miserable while Mr. Cherry and Peachy listened to me sigh. I got the basics done around the house and that was about it. Thankfully February was much better and now that I am in the second trimester I am really feeling good. I even have completed a few sewing projects and made a menu
It is so true that the second pregnancy goes so much more quickly than the first. We already have our ultrasound scheduled, people! (As with Peachy we are going to wait to be surprised with this little one's gender.) In addition to time going more quickly, so does the growth process. While I wouldn't say that my bump is all that much bigger this time, it didn't take long for my hips and bottom to spread out. I haven't been able to wear my pre-pregnancy pants without modifications for quite some time and now am almost completely in maternity bottoms.
We are so thankful that the Lord has blessed us with another miracle. We are all too aware that many out there are not able to achieve this dream and our hearts and prayers go out to all those struggling. We pray that the Lord continues to bless this babe that he or she  may continue to develop fully and normally.

Sorry. I don't know why this is so fuzzy. That is what you get when you use the self-timer.

PS Mr Cherry's sister came up with the winning in-utero name for this little one. She suggested Little Cream to go with Peachy. So we will have Peachy and Cream.

Fun at the Fest

This past weekend I was able to participate in our area's first indie craft fest. While I was lacking in the body art department in comparison with my fellow sellers, I had a great day. The crowd was thick and steady and willing to spend their money.

When I originally had signed up to enter I was too late and the 40 spots were already filled. However a few vendors backed out and that left an opening for me. We were encouraged to have fun setting up our six by six foot booth space. I had all kinds of ideas rolling around in my head. However, I never sat down and figured out how small a six by six foot area really is. Thankfully Mr Cherry stepped in with his engineering head and helped me figure out an arrangement that would work.

I raided the entire house for creative ways to display my merchandise. A shelf from here, a mirror from there, the crates we are currently using to store Peachy's toys. Needless to say, I have my work cut out for me this week in getting everything back to its normal location. Whenever I do a show I am always amazed by the amount of merchandise I actually have stashed away in our basement. Let me tell you, when it came time to set up, that space was filled and then some.

After a full day of selling I am down some merchandise and up some cash. Just where I wanted to be. If you want to check out what I was selling, you can go over to my Etsy shop, kiki b omi designs, and take a glance.Now I need to work on filling it up again.

Spring Is Coming!

While we still have plenty of snow. (No grass is visible in our yard yet.) And the temps are still on the very frigid side. (I am seriously dreaming of the day we can leave the house without full winter gear.) Today, I caught my first glimpse of spring and it came in a lovely purple bag. A bag containing little pieces of chocolate heaven.

Image Source

Ah, the Cadbury Mini Egg is back! Yum!