1. Documenting a birthday blizzard. Possibly a once in a lifetime experience.
2. Adding orange zest to these pancakes for extra awesomeness.
3. That our girl is old enough to have movie nights! She'll actually sit and watch a full flic. She's definitely my daughter.
4. Finding out that my instagram friends are also making dinner at 4 o'clock in the afternoon or earlier! I'm almost always chopping something as soon as Grant gets home from school.
5. Puffy post-nap eyes! Watching the blanket of white disappear. Again. Will this be the last time? For real? As fast as it fell on Monday, by the next day the snow was already sagging, and today there's green grass everywhere! and the promise of 70 and sunny over the weekend!
6. Tossing an alphabet salad. Her favorite letters are A, H, M, O, F, and X.
7. Michael Buble + Reese Witherspoon, doing this catchy little duet. 
8. Late night strawberries and chips+salsa with my man. Talking about mushy relationship stuff and loving it.
9. Cheering about the NFL draft last night. Anyone else watch it streaming live while folding laundry?
10. The last sweet stretch of April before the uproar of busy-ness in May.
11. Finishing this book. (Read the rest of the series first, please!)

Happy weekending, friends! What are your plans?

This week I'm liking...

1. Apples + almond butter. Favorite dessert to grab when I don't have anything baked. Hadley likes to split the apple with me, too.
2. Licorice Spice tea. My sister-in-law introduced me to this sweet and spicy, nectar-like tea last summer and I almost forgot how lovely it is. I don't even like licorice, but I'm a big fan of this.
3. Sometimes I pop Hadley into the dry tub for a couple minutes and she loves it. It frees my hands for a minute and she gets to be reunited with her bath toys- the lack of water never fazes her.
4. Having friends and their babies over to my house for lunch and conversation. Love those girls. I can't believe we're at the stage where lunch is trying to figure out how to eat, chat, and take care of our kids at the same time. (Our kids?!! I don't feel that grown-up yet!)
5. Oh boy! iMac upgrade. Grant was like a kid on Christmas morning. I'm writing this post from our brand new computer! Every key on the keyboard feels so snappy and new.
6. I bought this paintable wooden necklace from The Paperie. How charming is that? I'm going to love changing the colors whenever I feel like it.
7. New look for my shop! Speaking of which, I've been busy designing blog headers for a handful of people this week. I'll show you a peek next week.
8. Staying up late re-telling our dating story to each other. Digging up all of our old pre-dating communication. Being embarrassed about how ridiculous my half of the writing was.
9. Buying plane tickets!!! Yay! We're squeezing in a vacation before Hadley turns 2 and we'll have to start paying for her. :)
10. Friday came so fast! Happy Friday, guys. Have a great weekend.

Happy Friday, guys! What are you doing to get the weekend started? We are taking a big grocery trip when Grant gets home from work (we all go- it's like a family date), and tonight we're making cookies and watching a new-to-me Morgan Freeman movie.

This week I like...






Watercoloring with Hadley. On his way out to work a couple mornings ago, Grant said, "Do you think she'd be old enough to do like an art project or something?" And turns out she is. (It took some courgae for me to hand her that paint brush that first time, but we lined the table with newspaper and she's doing really well with it so far.) We now have a brand new activity for us to turn to during these still-staying-inside winter days. It was brilliant.

Sorting more 50 Promises memory cards. Thanks a million to everyone who has been buying them! It's been hard (and fun) trying to keep them in stock.

The 94 Second app. My sister-in-law texted me the other night and said I needed to get this game and that I would love it. She was right. It's like playing Scattergories against yourself. Grant and I sat and played as a team last night after Hadley went to bed and we couldn't stop. It's so addicting! Go to the app store and get it asap.

My first ever bouquet of daffodils. They look so March-y, don't they? We had our house appraised yesterday because we are re-financing and as we were walking around the house with the appraiser, I noticed these happy things waiting to surprise me. Thanks, Grant.

These deep dish cookies. We made them last Friday night and they're an effortless way to celebrate the start of a weekend. Super fast. And so many delish versions to pick from.

Buying a whole case of these.

It's been a good week. Hope yours was, too!

I haven't sat here at the desk since I wrote that post on Monday. (!!!) So I really wanted to stop in today, despite the fact that blogging on a Friday isn't my favorite. Not because I don't enjoy it, but because it feels so lonely and quiet. Am I the only one who feels this way? On Thursday night we were all as thick as thieves, but come Friday morning I always have this sense that we've detached. Like all of my friends are closing up shop and perhaps already signed off until Monday. Anyway, I'm the kind of person who likes to keep talking to you right up until you are out the door or even getting into your car, so here I am. Still talking to you. I'm so glad YOU are here and I'm not alone!

Here's the story of our week: we've been bombarded with snot. Hadley is being such a trooper while her baby immune system builds. At 20 months old, I guess it is about time she caught a real cold. I've mostly been stationed on the couch with her, doing a lot of nursing and Netflix while she sleeps. It hasn't been bad, but man! I have such respect for all of you moms taking care of sick kids. I had no idea. How do you get anything done?! It takes such constant attention, and even though I've been battling selfish thoughts the past few days (wishing I could be up getting my to-do list crossed off) I'm so grateful that I'm able to be home with her and soothe her like nobody else can.


Other non-sicky stuff happened this week, too.

1. Made Erin King's recipe for curry- my first time ever trying curry! It was so wonderful. Easy and fast and all in one pan. I'm dying to make it again and share the recipe with you guys, if it's okay with her. (You can find Erin writing over here at The Baraza. Erin was my best friend in elementary school and she moved away, and then I moved away, and somehow we reconnected in the blog world!! Isn't that so sweet? She is awesome.)

2. Juicing every. day. For 2 weeks now! We are loving it. I started juicing last year, but Grant has really gotten into it now and our juice has gotten way better since he joined.

3. Toast feels good on a throat that's on the verge of being sore. (Mine, yesterday.) We're enjoying some of this millet toast, which we bought as a treat. It's this stuff. We were able to snag one of the last loaves from the cooler that was fruit-sweetened. It looks like they're not doing that anymore. So disappointed.

4. Ordered yet another batch to keep the 50 Promises cards in stock. Wooohoo! I'm still blown away by this. Thanks for snatching them up, guys!

5. Collard greens are my favorite thing to add to this soup, instead of kale.

6. Family visit to the chiropractor. It felt so good.

This week I like:
1. Listening to the Sleepless in Seattle soundtrack on repeat.
2. That tomorrow the weather forecast for our town is a high of -8*. Brrr! Stay warm, neighbors!
3. Being safe. We had a scare while driving the icy country roads on our way to church on Sunday. Praise the Lord for His safekeeping.
4. The Endless Alphabet app. One of the few apps to keep her attention. Something that she'll come sit (and stay) on my lap for! We love to play this to keep her mind off growing molars. It's free for a limited time.
5. The John Piper Daily Devotional app. For the past few years I've read Spurgeon's Morning & Evening every day, but this year we've discovered this app and LOVE IT. It's really wonderful. The devotionals are short, sharp, and penetrating. I feel like I'm really learning new things, which is a feeling I miss. I recommend it. (Go get it! It's awesome!)
6. It's snowing and blowing this minute. School was 2 hours late because of the roads yesterday.. perhaps more school closings in the near future?? (I'm hoping so hard for this.)
7. Chicken thighs + roasted carrots & sweet potatoes. This meal, all the time.
8. (from Hadley) Monsters, Inc. Oranges. Hugs.
9. Warm banana bread for the cold, dark days. (see recipe below!)
10. Taxes are filed. New stocks bought. Lots of things to discuss at the dinner table.
11. Throwing on my clothes in front of the blasting space heater every morning.
12. NBC's Parenthood. I've been slowly making my way through old seasons of this show with our Amazon Prime. Does anyone know where I can find Season 4 for free?



This recipe is my favorite of the past year, but I tweaked it the other night. I added rice flour to the mix and reduced the coconut flour, making a taller loaf that is slightly more fluffy. That meant I could cut back on the eggs. I also omitted the coconut milk, because my batter looked wet enough without it. It came out luscious and nutty and just way too good. I kept cutting slivers away from the loaf, because I made myself stop after a couple pieces.. but I couldn't stop.

1. Your response to 50 Promises! Thank you guys for being excited and jumping on this with me. How is #1 going? Is it memorized yet? My notecard is in my kitchen window :) 
2. A new project in progress... I'm making memory verse cards for a sweet mum in Brussels!
3. Our Christmas decorations are still up. (!!!) For some random reason January 17th is our day to take them down. (tomorrow! oh noooo!) 
4. Ghee. Yummmmm. I've been dying to try this stuff for a long time because I've heard people rave about it and Grant put a jar of it in my stocking at Christmas! It's. so. good. I fry my eggs in it and they are insane. I even left a video review for them on amazon and got a $25 amazon gift card :) So now there are two more jars of ghee headed my way!
5. Date planned for Friday night. Playdate planned for tomorrow at my house. I'm making lunch! 
6. Being busy. Lately every night as we head upstairs for bed, Grant and I say oh, wouldn't it be so nice if we didn't need sleep? At that point in the evening we both feel we could stay up all night and get things done and it would be so awesome! But of course we go to bed early, because that really is awesome. Anyway, my to do list is brimming. New things are coming at me left and right- I'm so thankful. Thank you guys who contact me with your fun orders and projects!!
7. A new hat with a pom pom.
8. Sense & Sensibility. I'm reading the iBooks version while I use the treadmill at the gym.
9. How Hadley runs everywhere, sorts everything, stacks everything, sits at her desk to "work," and is blissed out when I mention getting a clementine from the fridge. 
10. That Grant's basketball season is slowing down.
11. We're halfway through January! 
12. That it's Downton Abbey season. I love knowing I have an episode on my dvr to enjoy in the quiet evening. It's like dessert- for an hour. 
13. 8 degree weather. (aka staying inside and dressing in many layers)
14. Tazo Passion tea. My friend served me this when I came to bring her dinner. Isn't she sweet?
15. My sister-in-law's yummy handmade soap. Orange ginger!
16. This soup. I've never been a huge fan of how chewy kale is- it takes so long for me to eat it because it's pretty tough stuff. But kale in soup... now that's smart. And soft. I like everything about this soup! I've devoted every lunch in January to it. 

on Jeopardy! guys, it is pretty awesome.

8. the vacuum (or, rather hadley likes)
9. you guys! thanks for the awesome welcome back! :)


happy weekend.