elephant + peanut

(i think the flash startled eli.. haha)

we drove over to a new friend's house for a big chili party and then headed out for trick-or-treating! ivy loved it and her face lit up with each new candy, then she'd run to the next house. it was really cute to watch. eli on the other hand was pretty mellow. we kept each other warm in the 40 degree weather... seriously, i didn't even need sleeves. kinda weird, since everyone else was in puff jackets and scarves. then we came home and had a glow-in-the-dark necklace party. ivy was fascinated. anyway, good times.

ps. i love that when she had a choice, she picked the pencil. then, after dumping out her bag, she went for the pretzels first. haha who does that??

tomato basil soup (with spinach!)

i made this allllllll the time in st. andrews.

because it rains alllllll the time in st. andrews.

and who doesn't want tomato soup when it's raining?

exactly.

this recipe is adapted from my friend kendall.

2 T butter

1/2 onion, chopped

1 carrot, peeled and chopped (or 5 baby carrots)

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup white wine

2 cans whole plum tomatoes

2 T tomato paste

1 cup or so of chicken stock

1 T dried basil

a few handfuls of baby spinach

1/2 c cream (or to taste)

melt butter in soup pot. add the onion, garlic and carrot and cook over medium heat until soft. add the white wine, bring to a boil and reduce by half (3-5 minutes). add the tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken stock and basil. bring back to a boil, lower heat and let simmer for 20 minutes. stir in the spinach and let wilt (1-2 minutes). puree in blender, return to the pot and add the cream. salt and pepper to taste. serve with crackers or goldfish if you have kiddos :)

you honestly can't tell there's spinach.... i throw it in everything!

kiddos

haha

happy friday y'all!

art class

mrs. jones -ivy named her bat-owl-thing cc :) haha

ps. does anyone know how to upload movies from their iphone to the blog??please help me! i don't know what i'm doing

fall oatmeal cookies

oatmeal cookie + whipped cream + pumpkin pie spice

yum!

(our fave is the quaker oats recipe)

applecrest farm

i took ivy on a road trip yesterday to new hampshire (what?!) to go apple-picking! supposedly that's a big deal here. our church organized the event, so several families met at the farm and enjoyed a beautiful new england day. we picked a bag full of apples, listened to a band, rode a tractor, ate cider donuts, ice cream, apple cider, hot dogs etc..... pet the farm animals, and called it a day. who knew we were an hour away from new hampshire? it was hard leaving eli at home for the whole day, but it was great having ivy all to myself and we had a blast! i have one cute, super sweet, precious girl.

two months

two month stats:

height: 24 1/4 inches 90%

weight: 14 pounds, 3 ounces 90%

sleeping 10-12 hours w/one feeding around 3, or none at all.

(majorly shocking improvement!)

you're smiling more and more in your cute squinty way.

of course i just love it.

other than that i must say you are pretty mellow.

and i love that too.

thanks for being you. thanks for being ours!

maud morgan art studio

how cool is this place??

i discovered this open art studio from a flyer at the park. i was so excited about it from the website and was hoping it'd turn out to be fun. we tried it out today and it is awesome! it's a 5 minute walk around the corner from us, in the backyard of a preschool. they have a designated toddler time on wednesdays from 10-12 where you can "drop in" and play. there are 3 or 4 little stations set up with different materials and crafts. ivy made a tiny pumpkin out of tissue paper, painted a paper plate pumpkin and made a paint-dot picture. she loved it and i can't wait to see her creations each week! so cool. i want to open one of these someday!

spinach stuffed shells

here's another no-measuring, no-brainer recipe (the best kind!)

ingredients:

jumbo shells

6 ounce bag of baby spinach - tear off any long stems

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 1/2 cups whole milk ricotta

1/4 cup grated parmesan (+ more for topping)

1 cup shredded mozzarella (+ more for topping)

handful of basil, chopped

good pinch of salt

1 jar pasta sauce (i use prego traditional, duh)

preheat oven to 350.

1. boil about 30 jumbo shells until al dente and set aside.

2. in the meantime, cook yo spinach. in a large saute pan over medium heat, saute the spinach and garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil for a few minutes until just wilted (2-3 min). remove from pan, roughly chop, then place in a medium mixing bowl.

3. add the rest of your ingredients to the bowl (except the sauce) and mix well.

in your baking dish (i use 2 8x8s and freeze one) pour a layer of your pasta sauce to cover the bottom. then, with a spoon, put some of the filling in each of your shells. pour a little more sauce over the top and sprinkle generously with mozzarella and parmesan. bake until bubbly, 20-30 minutes.

enjoy!

hope this made enough sense. by the way, if anyone reads this anymore, i would reallllllly love any recipes too!!

boston common

her little feet couldn't get there fast enough!! the girl. loves. carousels.

and i love her.

wish i had a pic of eli to include but he was in full-on-coma-mode in the bjorn.

morning at the park, lunch at the ritz, and ivy asleep on the train home.

no complaints here people!

happy saturday!

eat-yo-greens soup

OK, this probably won't be the best thing you've ever eaten, but it is good and super good for you. ivy scarfs it every time, so i like making it for her. to me, it's a good thing to throw in your menu every week or so. keep things balanced!

i just threw a bunch of veggies in with some potatoes, boiled it all up and blended it smooth. i tried to write down the measurements last night so i could write a proper recipe, but you don't really need to measure and you can't go wrong!

2 T olive oil

1 leek (just the white and light green part), or an onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

a few springs of thyme, chopped

2 potatoes, peeled and chopped

5-6 cups chicken stock

2 big handfuls of baby spinach

1 head of broccoli, cut the tough stems off, just use the florets

about 8 spears of asparagus, steamed or roasted. (ivy loves to snap off the ends and roll the spears around in olive oil, then i roast in the oven for about 8 minutes.)

in a large pot, saute the leek, garlic and thyme in the olive oil until soft. add the potatoes and stock and boil until almost tender (like 5 minutes). add the broccoli and boil another 2 minutes until potatoes are fork tender. add the spinach, asparagus and basil and let wilt - just a minute.

remove from heat. season with salt and pepper. puree in blender in 2 batches and add back to the pot. done!

my fruit loop