I just realized....

My baby is officially 3.5 years old. Monday was her half birthday. I cant believe it. It went by so fast and yet it seems like forever.  I only vaguely remember life without her and now my every day is consumed with her  ...in the best way ever. That little girl, what a character. She makes me laugh. Boy, does she make me laugh. She went from being this little stranger in my belly to becoming this spunky, super smart person. She's a little person! ...with a mind all her own.

...and she loves me. Boy, does she love me and I love her with a kind of love that I could never have even realized existed until she came along. A love filled with joy and riddled with fear.  Why is this world so scary??  Did any of you realize what a scary place this world was before your little ones came along, because I sure didn't?  Even a springy bed is a scary place!! Would've never thunk it when it was me jumping high in the sky on my mother's bed.  But that protective love makes everything look like a danger.  And now she's 3.5 and she wants to face so many of those things, to try things out, to feel her way, to learn about the world and it's scary ...for me!!!

She's full of stubborness. She won't listen to anyone on the first go round. She will test me, and test me, and test me. But that little girl, in all her freshness and badness and fighting to be her own person and not follow the rules, she still manages to light up the room!! She brings joy to all who encounter her.  A sense of humor like no other. Ever so goofy. So much fun!!

I love her. I love her like crazy. She said to me the other day, "Mummy, I'm thankful for you."  How could I not melt?  If she only knew the amount of thankfulness and humility that live inside of me for just being allowed to be her mother. For being blessed so fully without deserving it. My terror ...what an angel ...and I love her, I love her like crazy. She's my baby.



My baby is three and a half.

Trick or Treat and all that relish...

I looove Halloween.

It is one of my favorite holidays, second only to Christmas.  I celebrate it big every year! I never miss the chance to dress up!! I trick or treated until I was 19!! ...um, *clears throat*, got a little excited there, did I just say that out loud? Well anyway... when ZeeBee was born I couldn't wait to get her all cute for Halloween. Her first year, my mom picked out her costume. I had an identical costume to it a few years back, so she figured it'd be cute ...and it was pretty darn cute!

Avid Tigger collector, here.

The next year, ZeeBee was talking a bit and her favorite word was "puppy". She used it in every gibberish ridden sentence she said and so it was only appropriate...

Unfortunately, this is one of the only pictures I have. I had taken a lot of pictures of her in her costume along with pictures of she, Mr. Moon, and I carving pumpkins together but somehow when I went to look at the pictures, they were all erased. I chalked it up to the ghost in my camera due to me taking pictures in a graveyard the week before 0_o ...but I cried over that little loss. 

Last year, my girl was old enough to pic out her own costume and did she do a good job or what?!

...and now this year, all she kept saying is, "I wanna be a butterfly!" so she's a butterfly :)

Sorry for the crappy camera pic. My Canon is on the brink. Shutter issues. 

To add to the fun, today is picture day at school! We have lots of regular pics (since they take pics twice a year) so now she's going to have one all dressed up like a beautiful butterfly. She wasn't all that excited about the idea of school today, dressed up or not, she just kept saying, "I wanna go Trick or Treating." 

Tonight, baby girl, tonight.

Pumpkin Curry Soup

It was a cold day on my side of town today. Blustery, and dare I say, snowy! Before Halloween has even passed, my baby looked like this.

A little purple eskimo. She just had to go outside and play in the snow and eat it. Yes, eat it. She's been waiting quite impatiently for this first snow fall, just to eat it.  While I'm despising every white flake that falls, the excitement in her face is priceless.

So in honor of the cold and icy day we had today. I am posting my Pumpkin Curry Soup recipe. It was recently featured over at With a Shot of Brandy, but in case anyone missed it, here it is again. Anyone who shared in the cold (blizzard in some parts) snowy day, this yummy soup with warm your tummies and warm your hearts!

❤

* * *

About a year and a half ago, I used to work at a hospital and while we all know how not great hospital cafeteria food is, word around town...well, um, the hospital, that is... was that the Pumpkin Soup was the best.  People waited all year for the soup to be made again. SO!  I had to give this soup a try ...and I tell you what, it did not disappoint!! It was so creamy and delicious and I could taste a slight background of curry in the creamy, savory goodness.

I have not had this soup since I left the job a year and a half ago but with the arrival of fall, I was seriously craving the yumminess.  So I started searching for a recipe and the result of that search is the following (with some little alterations)...

Pumpkin Curry Soup
adapted from Mary Ingram

Cast of Characters:

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons curry powder
4 cups vegetable broth
2 (15oz) cans pumpkin
1 1/2 cups cream
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon white sugar
salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste

Start out by making a roux. Melt the butter in the pan and add the flour and curry powder. Mix with a wooden spoon until combined and cook until bubbling to get rid of the flour taste.  Once done, whisk in the vegetable broth and bring to a boil to thicken slightly.  Then add in the pumpkin and the heavy cream. You can substitute the heavy cream for half and half if you like but I prefer a thicker, richer soup. Whisk to combine and then add soy sauce (believe me, it's good), white sugar, salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste.  I like to add nutmeg to a lot of my cream based dishes. Just gives an extra something ...especially paired with the pumpkin.  Simmer to let the flavors combine and ....tada!!!

Delicious warm and creamy Pumpkin Curry Soup!! This is perfect to fill your belly and get you toasty after a crisp fall day.  Add a dollop of creme fraiche or sour cream for a tasty addition!

Dig in and enjoy!!

I hope you all enjoyed this super simple and delicious Fall recipe!!

While she slept...

This morning, I was just watching her while she slept.

So peacefully.

...and I thought to myself, "She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."

 

When I look at her face, I see the future. I see joy. I see innocence and trust. I see goofiness and laughter. Happiness. I look at her and I see the face of the man that I love. I see the beauty in what a bond between two people in love can create. 

* * * 

When I look at her, I see God's {love} for me ...this ultimate blessing. Undeserving, but endlessly grateful.

I stare at her and all I can say is, "Thank You."

My beautiful daughter.

❤

Wordless Wednesday: Just Dance.

Linked up with:

Belated Wordless Wednesday

First Disney Adventure

Please, Baby, Please

So my little one has a very extensive library at the age of three. We have been buying her books since before she was born.  I've always believed it is really important that I instill in her at a very young age how important books are and to do my best to establish a love of reading in her.  I love to read! I never have time for it but when I do get a chance, I thoroughly enjoy it.  It keeps the brain going. All this to say, books are muy importante and right now ZeeBee has two favorites that she "reads" to me and just about has memorized and I must say, I do enjoy these books myself :)

Every page of this book keeps us giggling with the things this baby does that reminds me of things my little one would get into.  ...and the words of the parents begging, "Please, Baby" are like an echo of my everyday. ZeeBee loves this book and has every page memorized, right down to the last page that asks for Mama to give her a kiss goodnight and I gratefully oblige.

This was my absolute favorite book when I was a kid, and much like the Bee I had every word memorized and would "read" it to my mom over and over again. This is a great book because you can't just read it, it must be acted!  Grover is really afraid of the monster at the end of the book and you MUST NOT TURN THE PAGE!! lol. We just love it and Zee laughs and laughs as I get devastated at every page turn. We always have fun with this book. A definite must-read!

As our library grows bigger and bigger, I'm sure we'll have many more favorites and as she learns to really read them to me, I'll share more of our favorite kiddie reads!

Puddle Jumping

ZeeBee is the owner of a pair of brand new Hello Kitty rain boots and to celebrate are newest purchase, we took part in a little summer puddle jumping photoshoot. Zee was all to happy to take part.

Cakery

So Tuesday was a birthday day for me... it was my Daddy's birthday!! He would've been 63 ...he passed away when I was 6 and still I miss him like crazy! ♥♥♥

It was also my "mother-in-law's" birthday and so I baked her a little cake to celebrate. I have been caking for as a hobby for a few years now. I used to be pretty active in it but now I try to limit the amount of cakes I make, mostly because it takes so much time and there is A LOT of clean up ...and I HATE that part.  But for her, no problem!

In baking her cake, I also had to make cupcakes for ZeeBee. She had been asking to bake cupcakes for awhile and since I was already baking and it was a cool day in comparison to the heatwave we'd had, I figured, oven's already going...why not?  She got to pour all the ingredients in and mix it all up and of course, decorate them with the pretty colored stars she picked out from the store and just had to have, lol.

Pretty sweet day!!

Summery Mother Daughter Day

What a super sweaty, hot but extra fun day we had!! ZeeBee has been asking me to take her to the "new" library. She calls it the "new" library because it's not the one she goes to regularly with her school. So today, being that it was so hot and air conditioning is non existent in our house, we headed to the library. We read books and we played with puppets and other toys and my little munchkin was uber excited about the whole thing.

Next stop, lunch. We headed to Jamaica Plain and had lunch at this great sandwich shop, The Real Deal, The menu is so extensive and there is so much to choose from. After we ate half our sandwichs (because their huge), we headed to the thrift stores. We looked around for a little bit but there was nothing good so it was dessert time!! JP Licks, please! She got plain vanilla and I got oreo mint, extra yum! Didn't get pictures here because we were that engrossed, lol. 

Her ham, cheese, and pickles. She doesnt eat the bread. Not my kid, AT ALL

Proscuitto, basil, fresh mozz, and balsamic. YUM

Ham and pickle sandwich

Thrifting.

Once we got home it was time for little mama to throw on her bathing suit and jump in her pool. She had extra fun running back and forth in the "sprinkler" aka hose, lol. 

Afterward we sat on the front stairs, ate dinner, and sang Sara Tavares really loud in our made up language. By the time we finished all of that, it was time for bed.  My little girl looked at me and said, "Mummy, I had so much fun today." 

It was a great day!!