Easter picture

I need to weed through and find the best of the rest, but here's our big family photo for this year!

We had a fun Easter egg hunt Saturday and a relaxing Sunday. I am so grateful for my wonderful family and all they have done for me in my life, and I'm especially grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ! 

I wanted to share a link to this video I saw recently that gets you thinking about how Jesus Christ changed the world forever. I have a testimony that God did send his son to earth as part of a plan to redeem us all, to give us hope and the chance(s) to start over, and to let us live again! I am so grateful for the Savior's sacrifice and example!

Little Cutie

Here's my current favorite photo of my baby girl.

I finally blogged about her 1st birthday (now that she is almost 2):
http://makingit-forever.blogspot.com/2013/05/sierra-turns-1.html

Still got to get to Lily's from last year, but I been a bit too busy lately. Feeling overwhelmed. I like to go through pictures and I need to do more stuff that I enjoy and relax more, but when?

Sierra is such a sweetie. She has her moments and has already been in more time outs than I can recall, but she's a sweetheart. I was stressing today over major life decisions, and she knew it and came over to me and gave me hugs and said "I help!" Seriously. So perceptive, just thinking of it now is bringing tears to my eyes.

My daughters can be demanding and dramatic and defiant, but they are darlings too! I did not intend to lump that many "d" words into one sentence on purpose, just for the record. Sometimes things like that just happen.

Anyway, just a couple things my kids have said recently that made us smile.

Sierra makes us laugh every time we tell her she needs to share with someone else and she gets this look in her eye and demands to the other person in a loud tone of conviction "Share!" but it sounds like instead of us asking her to share we were backing her up to get what she wants (like Yeah, share!) We really need to get it on video.

She recently started saying "You're welcome" after someone says thank you, and it is the cutest thing! And she's started this habit of tapping on our shoulders to get our attention, but she just keeps tapping. And she'll say: "Know, what?" and then pause, but you never find out what, because she either just smiles at you or babbles something really quietly that you can't understand.

Today Lily and I were having a homework discussion trying to come up with 5 words that describe her. It was a pretty long conversation, because Lily has a hard time taking anyone's advice. Or maybe it's just my advice. I don't really know...but I hope she does better at school! Anyway, she was saying: "I love Mommy" and "I love Daddy," and "I love Sierra" so Mike and I told her she should use the (one) word "loving." (After rejecting many other suggestions ('picky' and 'whiny' may or may not have been included (Mean Mommy)). She said "I like counting...Numeric?" (I thought that was pretty funny and smart - just like my Lily I'm so proud of!)

Homemade Gnocchi

This was a hit last night with my family (even Lily which is saying something) so since I was typing it up for myself anyway - I thought I would share! I was craving something different and delicious after roughly 2 weeks of scrounging and take out since my little surgery. Finally feeling better on my feet again (though I am not 100% recovered). Anyway, here's the recipe - my own experimental creation! Different enough from the various recipes I referenced to call my own :) Pillowy soft potato pasta with Alfredo sauce. Tomato and Bacon crumbles optional, but definitely a worthwhile addition! And it's a lot easier than the long instructions suggest :)

Gnocchi with Alfredo sauce

for the Gnocchi

2 cups mashed potatoes (do not over mix)

1/4 c. (or 1 large) egg, lightly beaten

1 c. flour or more to keep it from getting sticky

salt to taste

small amount of butter, if desired

Peel potatoes and dice into cubes before adding to boiling water. Cook for about 8 minutes or until fork penetrates easily, but before becoming too mushy. Scoop potato pieces out with a slotted spoon so you can save the water to boil your pasta in (though you can cook in fresh water if you prefer, but it will take less time to get your warm water boiling again). I added a tiny bit of butter to my potatoes and beat them slightly with beaters and then checked for lumps with a fork. Don't over mix. You want a nice fluffy consistency with no noticeable lumps. Let your potatoes cool. Now would be a good time to start your sauce and make preparations for other side dishes.

When your potatoes have cooled off mix in 1 cup of flour, egg, and salt to taste. Flour a large wooden cutting board and gently knead the dough adding flour a little at a time until the dough is moist but not sticky. (Mine were just slightly sticky) It should feel almost billowy. Cut the dough into 8 pieces. Gently roll each piece into a snake roughly the thickness of your thumb. Use a knife to cute pieces every 3/4th inch. Dust with a bit more flour. Make an indentation on each piece with a fork. You can find more detailed directions to shape them online, but my take is it doesn't have to be fancy, but it's nice to have them uniform and have a little texture to catch the sauce. 

Set each gnocchi aside on a floured surface until you are ready to boil them. They may get stickier as you let them sit, so wax paper with flour on top of that would be a good idea, as would grouping them by 20.

With your potato water boiling again, cook the gnocchi in batches by dropping them into the water about 20 at a time. Keep an eye on them - it doesn't take long. They will let you know when they are cooked by popping up to the surface of the water. I let them float there about half a minute more to make sure they were cooked through to the center - you can sample one to make adjustments. Have a large platter ready and use a slotted spoon to fish them out of the water. I sprayed my pile with a little olive oil before I added a newly cooked batch on top to keep them from sticking together. Continue cooking until all are done. Add your sauce and serve!

Homemade Alfredo sauce

3/4 a stick of butter

1 c. heavy whipping cream

1 c. fat free milk

3/4 cup fresh shredded Parmesan (grated works too)

1 tsp. flour

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. ground pepper, if desired

In a medium sauce pan, heat butter until it melts then whisk in the flour and spices before adding the milk and cream. When it just begins to bubble stir in Parmesan cheese. Continue cooking on medium to low until mixture thickens and your pasta is ready.

I cooked 2 slices of bacon beforehand to crumble over this, and also added about a half a cup fresh chopped tomato stirred with a little olive oil and onion powder and heated in a small saucepan. I would have just stirred the tomatoes into my sauce, but I had objections from one of the picker members of my family so I kept it separate & customizable :)

I also served with a side of asparagus. My favorite way to get perfectly cooked asparagus is to cut it into 1 inch pieces and boil for only 5 minutes. Should be easy to puncture with a fork, still with a slight crunch, not mushy, Check with a fork, taste it, and rinse with cool water if you need to stop the cooking process fast.

Mmmm... so good! The leftovers were too. So nice when I hit on something even Lily is pleased with, and I got requests to make this again!

Baby Steps

I loved this article that popped up on my blog list today. Sometimes I feel like I can't get anything done beyond the basics. Just taking care of my kids and keeping up with the laundry and dishes, homework and meal planning and preparation, add in showering and that can pretty much be all my time right there. Throw in a random health problem in the family and I pretty much want to go to bed when my kids do. I know it won't always be this way - I'm a mom to young kids! There's just a lot more hands on involvement in taking care of their needs, and it can be pretty exhausting! We're also very limited on space and $ -so my creativity can be pretty limited a lot of the time too. It's hard to want to get out a sewing project for instance when I don't dare leave it out around my littlest one (not that there is anywhere to leave it out), it takes a while just to get out, and I'm already wiped out by the end of the day...and I know I just have to put it up again before I go to bed! And if I try to stay up too late to work on stuff - I just don't feel as good or as patient with my kids the next morning. I may try and fake it, but if by some miracle my family doesn't notice...I feel the difference - and I don't like it. Some projects just aren't practical for me right now and I don't even make an attempt. But I believe that the more we try to do the more we are able to do. I liked a lot of the points she made in the article. Like how when you loosen your expectations it's a lot easier to try something new. Sometimes I need to downplay the perfectionist all or nothing streak in me to commit to something. It made me feel motivated to attempt a little more with my little bit of free time at night and maybe make a dent in my list of things I want to make and do, however little by little it takes me to actually get one done!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We had a little family party today at my parent's house to celebrate the little bit of Irish in us and just to get together! The little girls were having so much fun I got some cute photos of them to share. Lily is such a party lover, and just loves her cousins so much! She was looking forward to them coming over all day, and yesterday actually - from the moment my mom decided to have the party! I had out some Irish dance music I checked out from the library and she was practicing her steps to everyone and getting some ideas of what Irish dancing was like from me and her Grandpa. ...Making plans for an Irish dance festival in the front room. She said: "Mom, watch this - I know all 3 Irish dances!" and she showed me her three different ways of jumping and kicking her legs out and holding her arms. It was pretty cute and funny - that's my Lily! Too bad she fell and hurt her knee and spent the first part of the party begging to be pushed around in a stroller like an invalid. Aujinay was so sweet to oblige. (Lily felt better and forgot about it halfway through, so they ran around the backyard like wild things and did do a little dancing by the end.) In honor of St. Patrick's Day I thought I would share what is probably Lily's longest Kindergarten journal entry so far. (It's just supposed to be 1 or 2 sentences practice writing.) She comes up with them all on her own and she wrote this one about a week and a half ago. She did ask how to spell leprechaun, but pretty much took it on her own from there. Great job, Miss Lily! (Snuck a video of her reading most of it, even she had a little trouble making out some of it.)

It begins: 6 little leprechauns sitting in a tree. 1 fell out and hurt his knee. Mama called the doctor and the doctor said: No more leprechauns sitting in a tree. 5 little leprechauns sitting in a tree. 2 fell out and had an icecream...Lily can take it from there :)

My two cuties ready to party!

Cousins on the swing

Sierra joining the girls in Hide and Seek "..5,6...Here I come!"

Audrey, Auji, and of course, Bunny Boo!

Hope you all have a great Monday! I do love green!