Home Photography "Studio"

So with the snow day yesterday, I decided to set up a home photography "studio" to take a few snaps of some new dresses I had made for Caiya. I'm pretty happy with the sheet draped over a couple chairs in the dining room!!

SHE PEED IN THE POTTY!!!!

I know; the things that excite us now!!!
So, I go into the bathroom and Caiya comes in with me as usual. Daddy brought down her princess potty because she's gotten in the habit of sayin "Pah" which to her means potty, pulling down her pants and taking her diaper off. So.... she sits down on her potty and reads her book while I'm sitting and reading on the potty. TMI.. but you need to have the whole story here, right? So, I hear the princess music and I'm thinking, no, did she?? AND I check and WOW.. I call to Cary (actually I think I yelled) "Daddy, she pee-peed on the potty!!!". This after Cary said this AM..."She'll never go on that thing".. Hahaha!! This is her saying "yeah" while sitting on the potty:

So, I guess we're potty training now.. wasn't planning on doing that until this summer... boy it's gonna be a loooooonng ride to Maine with a 2 and a half year old who's potty training!!!

Recipe to enjoy...

For those of you reading this on Facebook, this is actually a post on my blog (I've connected them so when I update the blog it appears on my FB page). Last night I noticed I had a lot of apples in the fridge and needed a good way to use them. I thought of a recipe I had wanted to try for a while and it's a definite keeper and VERY EASY!!! Here's a picture.. so pretty!
Apple Phyllo Galette
5 or 6 apples; I used a variety; macs, gala, red delicious, cored, thinly sliced
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon (recipe also called for 1/4 tsp nutmeg but I will leave this out next time)
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. flour
6-8 sheets of phyllo dough (if you've never used it before you will LOVE it!! Buy in the freezer section (it's in a box) and thaw in the fridge in the box. Open RIGHT before using
Spray butter OR 1/4 c. honey melted in 2 T. warm water

Oven to 350.
Mix apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, and flour together.

Coat a 9" pie plate with Pam. Unwrap the phyllo dough, roll out, and take 1 or 2 sheets at a time and lay on the pie plate so that the edges lay over the pie plate. Spray with spray butter OR brush the honey and water mixture over the sheet(s) (this is so the dough sticks to each other) Take the next 1 or 2 sheets of dough and lay in the opposite direction, spray with spray butter or brush the honey/water mix. on the sheet, the next layer it at an angle to the first two layers, etc.
Pile the apple mix in the middle and carefully (or messily if you want) bring the edges up.. it doesn't need to look fancy; this is a rustic dish. I sprayed the top edges with spray butter again and sprinkled turbinado sugar on the top. Would have been great with whipped cream!

Swowin... AKA The White Stuff Has Landed!

Swowin.. or something like that. It's what Caiya is calling snow. It started last night, it's now freezing rain a little. We took Caiya out on the patio late in the afternoon yesterday while the snow was falling and she loved it! Daddy taught her to lean her head back and open her mouth and she was giggling hysterically!! LOVE that sound!



It is beautiful with the ice covering everything but my poor daffodils got confused last week with the 65 degree weather and started pokin' through.. oops!


We went out for a walk an it took her what seemed like forever to step onto the snow. She wasn't quite sure of it first, but gradually "warmed up" to it a little. So very cute!

Cold Weather, Flee From Me!!

I really don't like winter.. I know, shocking for a girl from Maine, right? I grew up snowmobiling and building snow forts and having snow fights with my brothers but as I grew older and grew to love gardening and being outside and being comfortable outside, I grew to hate the lonnnnng, cold winters up North. Following chemo, my fingertips and toes got soooo cold, it was time for a change. I love living in the South, I love gardening 8-9 months a year; I love the slower pace of the South and yes, I do love saying "y'all". It's very cold here right now.. I'm soooo chilled and Caiya says "code" every time we go outside. I long for spring when I can take wee one for walks again in her purple jogger stroller that she tries to climb in eveyr time we get out of the car. She LOVES to be outside, too.. which makes this mommy so very happy! Last week it was warm; in the 60's and my poor daffodils got a little confused and are up 6" and are now a wee bit frostbitten.. oops!
Fly away, cold weather... fly away! Oh, but it would be nice to have a snowday!!! (I'm a teacher). HEe hee!

Lovin' Digital Scrapbooking!!

Caiya had pics taken Wednesday at school so we dressed her in her new ladybug outfit and panda tights! Yesterday we put her new polka dot dress from Target an matching polka dot squeaky shoes and she LOVED it.. kept pointing to the dots! I am home sick today; got bit by a spider, it's infected, neck is swollen and sooooooo sore! So, I am digitally scrappin' today while wearing a heating pad on my neck. Oh well, at least I feel like I'm doing SOMEthing! Enjoy the pictures!

Eight Months with Caiya

As I sat rocking Caiya tonight, my feet hurt from the plantar fasciitis, my neck is burning and sore from the infected spider bite and I was blissfully happy! Happy to have this sweet, loving little girl laying there in my arms letting me rock her. Happy to have her weight on me, happy to have soft blankets laying against my skin and hers. Happy to have little girl hair to brush out of eyes; happy, thankful, and so very grateful that we were BLESSED to have been joined as family. I love you, sweet girl!
Happy Eight Months!!!