Bad Planning Leads to a Delicious Dinner

Friday night I had planned on making a glazed ham with scalloped potatoes, one of my favorite comfort meals.  However, I got busy and completely forgot to start the scalloped potatoes on time.  So I ran out to the garden and saw that I had some fresh thyme and rosemary.  An idea came to me... potatoes with herbs and onions (since I had the onion anyway for the scalloped potatoes).  It was delicious and went great with the glazed ham.  Here's what I did...


4 medium potatoes cut into 1/2 in pieces
1/2 onion diced (about 1/4 cup)
2 Tbsp chopped rosemary
2 Tbsp chopped thyme
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper


Preheat oven to 450.  Once everything is prepped and ready to go, put potatoes in a bowl and toss with the rest of the ingredients.  Put them onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes.  Then broil for 5 minutes at the end to get them nice and brown and crisp.  


The glaze I used on the ham was so good too.  It was orange juice, brown sugar, and dry mustard.  


I wish I had taken pictures to add to this post but I didn't think of it at the time.  I'll have to do that next time!  Everything was so yummy though and as a bonus, it made the house smell incredible!  : )

Weekend Update

What a great weekend it's been!  Saturday, Eric let me sleep in while he played with Avery.  When I finally got up (8:30) he already had her fed and dressed for the day, yay!  After nap 1, we went and ran a couple of errands together and stopped by the pet store to look at the animals.  Avery LOVES the birds!  She gets a huge smile on her face anytime they fly around the cage.  So cute!  That evening, I went to a moms' night out while Eric took care of dinner, evening playtime, bath, and bed.  I had such a great time with 6 great friends from our playgroup!  We had delicious food (I had some yummy seafood fritters, fish tacos, and brought home a dessert of chocolate peanut butter pie) and wonderful conversation!  I love it when you meet women through your child but end up finding really good friends!  We try to get together about once a month without the kids for an evening out.  It's a nice break and always a great time!  

Today, Eric once again let me sleep in (8:45 this morning).  It was his turn to sleep in but he had to leave for a week in San Francisco (he has a conference for work) at about 10 this morning so he wanted to spend some extra time with Avery before he left.  After I put Avery down, we packed up his car and he headed off.  I'm going to miss him so much this week but I know he is really excited about going so that makes it a little easier.  He doesn't have to travel too often, only about once every 3 months or so.  The best part is that my parents are here in town so they always come over and help me out in the evenings.  They fix me dinner and help with bath and bedtime, plus it's nice to have some adult conversation!  After Eric left and Avery was up and fed, we ran some errands, a trip to Target and the library.  After nap 2, Avery and I headed to a friend's house for a barbecue.  It was so nice to catch up and her husband is the best cook so the food was delicious!  Now, Avery is in bed and I am finally able to relax and enjoy a quiet house!  

What a Mess

You can always tell how much fun Avery had by how big of a mess she left behind.  Today, she had fun!  We started out playing in her nursery where she played her favorite game...

Take all the books off the shelf!

After breakfast we played in the living room...

...for 15 minutes.  Oh, the attention span of an 11 month old!  : )

Favorite Food

Avery has her foods that she likes; bananas, ham, avocados, peaches, peas, carrots, and sweet potatoes.  And, of course, she has her foods she hates; broccoli (she is definitely her mother's daughter), asparagus, spinach, and chickpeas.  But she definitely has a favorite food, she LOVES her organic puffs.  She doesn't get them often, only when she eats all of her meal and is still signing for more (so maybe every 3 or 4 days she'll get a little).  I keep them in the pantry and after she signs more I get up and start walking over to it.  As I get closer she gets a big smile on her face like "I think I know what's about to happen."  And when I finally take them out, she literally squeals with delight and starts signing more frantically.  It is so funny and cute!  She totally cracks me up!  I'm going to see if I can get it on film, but it could be a while cause it just happened this morning.  


So, do your kids have any foods that make them squeal with delight?

A Good Plan

Eric and I have decided that there is no point in both of us having to get up early on the weekend.  So yesterday morning, I got up with Avery at 7:30 and let him sleep in and then this morning he got up with her and I slept in.  It was WONDERFUL!!  I slept until 8:30, which a year ago would have been early for a Saturday but today was heaven!  Avery only gets up once a night for a quick feeding (at about 4 or so) but man was it nice to stay snuggled up in bed and get an extra hour of sleep.  We are definitely going to be doing that again!

Hello Blog World!

So, I guess I should tell you a little about me.  My name is Liz.  In July 2003 I married my high school sweetheart (we've actually known each other since kindergarten when we played soccer together).  He is the most amazing man in the world, he is my best friend and the love of my life.  In September 2009, we welcomed our daughter, Avery, into our family.  She is a character to say the least; she is cute as can be, stubborn just like her mommy, a bit of a drama queen, a total mommy's girl, and so stinkin' funny!  She keeps me entertained and on my toes, that's for sure.  Before becoming a stay-at-home-mom, I was a 2nd grade teacher, which I loved!  I miss the classroom sometimes (and other times not at all) but I wouldn't trade getting to spend my days with Avery for anything in the world!  

I'm a bit of a perfectionist, stubborn like I mentioned, opinionated, wear my heart on my sleeve, get upset and mad a little to easily, totally loyal to friends and family, a worrier, and working my tail off to be the best mom I can be.  I love rainstorms, coffee (even though I've only had decaf for more than a year and a half), cookies, chocolate, traveling, reading, taking family walks, shopping (but not for me so much), cooking, to do lists, photography, and, of course, spending time with my incredible family.  

I'm not sure how this whole blog thing will go, I'll probably be the only person who ever reads it.  But that's okay, I'm just hoping to use it as my journal, a place for me to celebrate and vent my adventures as a new mom.  So now I'll end the post with a couple of pictures of Avery!

First day home from the hospital

3 months old

6 months old, playing in the yard

9 months old, doing her famous "scrunchy" face

Almost 11 months old, watching the dogs play in the backyard




***By the way, all of the names are fake names.  Eric asked me to do this, he's a little paranoid about safety.  Avery was my second favorite name to the name we actually picked for her.  Eric and I both picked out our fake names, nothing significant about either of them.  Just wanted to let you know.***