Happy New Food

All Recipes Pad Thai
This year I would like to make some new recipes. In my mind it would be wonderful to have a designated day of the week be "New Recipe Day"... that would be 52 new recipes for 2014. That is not going to happen. But I would like to make it a point to try a few new things a month.
Yesterday the kids spent the night at Grammy and Grandpa's which made for a perfect opportunity to use the peanut sauce that has been waiting patiently in my pantry. I've linked a recipe for Pad Thai from allrecipes.com which is my favourite site for recipes. I used this recipe for inspiration only which is sort of what I like to do. I didn't use bean sprouts but I did use carrots, celery, sugar snap peas and green onions. I didn't make my own sauce because I had the peanut sauce which needed to be used. I looked at a few other recipes and then through my own together. First new recipe for 2014

Happy Nothing New Year 2014

      As each year comes to an end, in preparation for the New Year I like to make a list of what I would like to do differently. I guess you can call them resolutions. Some of them are typical like loosing weight, which after a month of turkey dinners, Christmas cookies and chocolates really shouldn't come as a surprise. Mostly it just seems like a good time to evaluate how things are going and how one might make some improvements.

      This year I've made a list but there is also something different we are trying. We have committed as a family to buying Nothing New for the entire year of 2014. So, we are now in the middle of our first week. I have to admit, my first trip to COSTCO was hard! And Jonathan has already had to remind me once that it still counts even if it is 50% off. Even though we are only 4 days in we have already come across a few things that we would normally set out to buy. The kids use small glass cups for drinking out of and being that they are kids they sometimes get broken. I've broken a few myself. We buy them in a pack at ikea for a reasonable price. They fit nicely in the dishewasher. They match. I think we lost a few over the month of December and with 4 kids drinking out of them we seem to be out of clean cups before super. I was tempted to just go to Ikea and pick up another set. The other thing is our Brita has had a crack in it for probably more then a year. Some unfiltered water leaks through as it is running its course, not really a big deal but we just finished our last filter and so it was time to say good-bye. We decided we can live with just drinking tap water but it makes for lots of trips to the sink during meal times. So we used a juice jug to bring to the table when we eat. This works fine but I would prefer to use a glass pitcher. So, I made my way to Talize and found 6 matching glasses (49 cents each) and a glass pitcher (2$) for our water. Now I can feel good about saving money and reusing.
      Another Resolution for this year is for Jonathan and me to go on a monthly DATE. That makes for 12 dates a year which probably doesn't sound like much but I think it is about 9 more dates then we had in 2013.
    So, Happy New Year to you and Happy Nothing New Year to us.

"Bekah"... 17 months

Rebekah is 17 months old today. We certainly noticed some big changes in this last month as she journeys from baby to toddler. Firstly she is no longer nursing and subsequently not "needing" mommy as much. She is expressing her  independent spirit as she explores new things she can do on her own. She likes to practise undressing herself but usually only manages to get her pants and shirt half off. This makes for an interesting fashion statement and also a tripping hazard but it is cute none the less. She is using her words more and managed her first sentence "Angie did it!" Her most common words are her siblings names "Dayday, Angie & Mara"... Mama, Dadda, all-done, water, cheese & chocolate are also used often. I can't forget "Gunnar"... Grammy and Grandpa's puppy. When we spent the night at their house the first thing she said in the morning was "Hi Gunnar." She is often singing and dancing. Here are a few recent pictures of her from Christmas. Can't believe our "Baby" is almost 1 1/2!