She gets the best seat in the house.

Chicken Soup with Escarole and Beans

On the way to the grocery store this morning, John suggested I make soup this week for dinner. "Damn!", I thought. I suck at soup. Now, I consider myself to be a better-than-average cook. But soup and I just don't agree. I've tried twice to make "home made chicken soup" and it just hasn't turned out well for whatever reason. Well, I stumbled across this recipe on the back of a chicken broth box and according to my husband, I knocked it out of the park. I can honestly say it tasted just like the one my mother-in-law made while we visited in December. It was so good, I felt proud enough to run a bowl over to my Papa, who just got out of the hospital.

2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cartons (32 oz. each) chicken broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion (1 medium)
1/2 cup diced carrot (1 medium)
1/2 cup diced celery (1 medium stalk)
1 cup crushed tomoatoes (from a 28-oz can)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 dried bay leaf (I just sprinkled in some crushed)
1 cup uncooked pastina pasta
2 cups escarole (I added it to the bowl and then poured the hot soup in so it was just wilted enough)
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (again, just added a handful atop the bowl of soup)
***I added one can of white cannaneli beans--drained and rinsed.***

1. Place chicken in 12-inch skillet. Add 1 carton of the broth. Heat to boliing. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 20 mins. or until juice runs clear.

2. Meanwhile, in stockpot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, celery and carrot; cook 8-10 mins., stirring occasionaly, until veggies are tender.

3. Drain chicken, reserving broth; set chicken aside. Strain broth; add to veggies. Stir remaining carton of broth, tomatoes, salt, pepper and bay leaf into stockpot. Heat to boiling. Stir in pasta. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes.

4. Shread chicken; add to soup. Serve and enjoy!!!

Chicken simmering--
Veggies cooking---
And the final result. Delicious!

My chef's assistant is never too far. Here she is, sampling the chicken.

Pretty White Shoes

Lola & I headed up to Northbrook today so Mommy could go shoe shopping--not the kind you may be thinking, though. We went for new ice skating boots. I've been wanting to get back on the ice for awhile, so we headed up to Rainbo Sports so I could get fitted, since I seem to have outgrown the last pair I bought 5 years ago. The fitting took almost an hour (it's a little involved to ensure the right fit) and Lola sat happy and content in her stroller the entire time watching. So to thank her for being so perfect, we went to the Kohl's Children's Museum and ran around there for an hour.

The best part of the new boots is that I get to keep my original blade. My dad bought these blades for me over 15 years ago and to this day, they're still one of the best the industry offers. My mom commented that I seem to want to get back into skating every time the Winter Olympics come on. She's right. It reminds me time and again how much I love that sport. I look forward to hitting the rink at 6 am on Saturday mornings again. Yes, I know I'm nuts.

Happy Lent

Well, it's Lent. If you asked me my favorite part about Lent, it'd be the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday. My second favorite. Fish Frys, of course!

Years ago, I used to hang with my Bragie & Papa alot! I loved being their third wheel. I had more fun with them then I did with my friends sometimes. I knew my time with them was limited and I cherished every moment of it. Often, we'd "Go for fish." with their good friends, John & Alice, at the VFW in New Lenox. Well, I quickly grew to love John & Alice and formed a friendship of my own with them. And then through our Pre-Cana, John did, too. Unfortunately, we don't get together with them enough, but tonight we did--at our favorite spot for Fish.

Mrs. Ficker (Alice) gave Lola two gifts--a little red Corvette (that she loved!) and an awesome new board book about Shapes (our favorite topic.)

80 years old. Almost 60 years married. 7 children. Countless Grand-children. And their first Great Grand-child on the way. To be this blessed...
Take this kid anywhere and she's a perfect angel--the entire meal.
A new favorite, french fries.
Hugs for John before we leave.
And a happy little monkey on the way home.

Seriously Simple Salad

We eat alot of salad at dinnertime in this house--so sometimes we get sick of lettuce. This is a great, healthy and, best of all, easy alternative on nights we've got a taste for something different:

1 can of garbanzo beans/chick peas, drained & rinsed
1/4 red onion, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
balsamic vinaigrette dressing, to taste

And I love how a Tupperware bowl and a spatula will entertain a toddler long enough to get dinner somewhat started. Can't imagine that will last forever!

Ice Cream & Love

Enjoy the new videos of Lola--it's been awhile!

Video 1: Lola taking a taste of Daddy's ice cream. The look she gives him is priceless.
Video 2: Mommy & Lola practicing "I LOVE YOU". The silly thing with her tongue at the end of the clip is what she kept doing after we gave her tastes of the ice cream!

18 month stats....and ouch!

We just got home from Lola's 18 month physical--she's in perfect shape, despite a bad case of eczema. So, to rule out any food allergies, we had to get a blood test done, on top of a shot in the thigh. Double ouch!

She cried so much during the blood test my arm was soaked with tear drops by the time it was over. Thankfully I brought along a Bink, so she recovered almost immediately. She's good like that. Because she was such a trooper, she gets to keep the Bink as long as she wants for the rest of the day--which is special because now it's strictly for nap/bedtime (and that's made for some interesting car rides!)

She's 50% on the height, weight and head charts.
24 lbs. 2 oz
32 in.

Playdate with Preston

On Monday, my friend Tiffany and her adorable son Preston came over to play. We had so much fun coloring and sharing toys--and us Mommies enjoyed catching up and chatting the usually Mommy Chat. Tif is one of my dearest friends from high school--we were cheerleading buds and spent so much time together over the span of 4 years and have some great memories. It's so great that now, we get to experience this fun part of life together too, with our beautiful babies being only months apart--and still living in our hometown!

Tif captured all these great pictures of the kids--and this one might just be the best Lola smile EVER caught on camera.

Oh, she adored Preston--And this Mommy loves his mohawk!
They were very lovey to eachother :)
Preston knows what to do with Crayolas. Lola, however, has decided to experiment.
Aw, shucks.
There's nothing better than a Melissa & Doug chunky puzzle.
Preston braking it down on the Elmo Mic.
Taking a break to read.
And cuddles on the rocker before it was time for "bye-byes".

The Dog Whisperer

Super big CONGRATS go out to our sister Brittany, who landed her "dream" job today! She has been wanting to work at PETSMART's PetsHotel for quite sometime, but had to wait until she turned the big 1-8 to apply.

She was offered the job on the spot and it's really no surprise--she's been whelping puppies since she was 4, has been volunteering at P.A.W.S. for the past few years, has made several trips to Missouri to help out a friend on her Great Dane farm and never met a 4-legged friend she didn't LOVE. The sound of excitement in her voice is so genuine--we couldn't be happier for her!

A love of books.

Lola is so in to "reading" at the moment, that she will sit in her room for long stretches of time just thumbing through all her books. I was very hesitant to let her be somewhat unsupervised with the non-board books for fear she'd rip the pages right out, a la Ellie from "Up!"--thankfully, she hasn't even attempted it.

So here's our adorable girl, how you might find her on any given afternoon, hanging out in her room, surrounding herself with her favorite stories. Lucky for us Auntie Leah is a Kindergarten teacher and Mommy gets to order from her monthly Scholastic order! We already have a great collection started thanks to Auntie Leah's awesome gifts!

*Lola also added a new word to her vocabulary today: READ. Fitting :)*
Here she's looking at "Bubbles, Bubbles" so she'll make the "B" sound. For "Princess Pigtoria and the Pea", she'll make the "P" sound as she reads...
I LOVE this series "The Night Before..."
"Llama Llama, Mad at Mama" just might be the best book ever written. But be careful, your toddler may want you to read it to her over and over and over....again!