Rainy Days, Stained Glass Leaves, Candy Land and Ice Cream

Some rainy Fall days just have to be satisfied with cuddles and a good book. 

I snapped this picture of Addy in our rocking chair. She has affectionately come to call it, 

"snuggle rocking chair." On this particular day, she gathered some of her favorite books, her favorite bear, Alice and a few blankies and planted herself in the chair while I folded laundry. 

She was simple adorable. 

She read to Alice her new favorite book, 

"If you give a Moose a Muffin." 

"Alice. Moose Muffin. Okay?" she said. 

And some rainy days you attempt a walk in the midst of a break in the weather. 

And get caught in the rain. 

Nevertheless, other rainy days, you make pretty things to hang in your window. 

This craft project began with tracing the biggest leaf I could find on our walk. 

Before I cut it out, we glued on different fall colors of squarely cut tissue paper. 

I placed a dot of glue at different places throughout the leaf and let her pick what color she wanted where. 

Josh came home from work to help us finish it up. 

When we had it covered, I cut it out. 

Rainy days are also great for learning how to play a new board game: Candy Land. 

She beat her Daddy more than once...just sayin'. 

I hung the leaf in our window and it looked like a stained glass window 

when the light shined through. 

And finally, a few pictures of some Adventures with Josh and Addy: 

A Daddy date to the library. 

They both wore camo. 

Josh opted out of the pink accessory color. 

And lastly, sometimes an after dinner trip to the store for ice cream is nothing short of a necessity. 

Thank you Josh and Addy. 

Days of Red Plaid, New Boots and Pesto Steak Pizza

Rainy days make me want to curl up surrounded by candles and do some writing or read a good book. Sometimes those days are just a fantasy in my mind and no matter how much I dream about it, it's just not a reality. But Addy and I have been enjoying being home a lot more these days. I'm trying to venture out a little less and group our errands together or do them on days I'm already out with work, etc. Addy has also mentioned she just wants to stay home too, which is pretty cute. 

So this particular day called for red plaid for me. 

I was happy. 

And for Addy, it meant wearing her new pink boots she got for her birthday. 

I love this girl. 

These boots were made for walking...

So we walked. 

And she enjoyed throwing rocks in a formally dry pond. 

These days the weather is changing all the time...

This week, I made another batch of basil pesto which inspired a meal at the bottom of this post. 

And speaking of inspiration, we were inspired to whip up a taco pizza, inspired by Pioneer Woman in her latest Food Network episode. 

No regrets here...it was fantastic! 

And the second half of the dough went toward our Basil Steak Pizza (below). 

This week, I received a new cookbook I ordered in the mail. 

I'm super excited about Lisa Leake's work on her blog first and now in her first cookbook. 

The goal: cutting out processed foods from her families diet in 100 days. 

I've learned so much about how our food is made, food labeling, the food industry and some surprising culprits that have given rise to many health problems and diseases. 

Eventually, I'll share some of those revelations here on the blog. 

For now...here's the cookbook in all of it's pretty glory! 

Josh and Addy have had some fun times together lately. 

They took a walk to a park while I was at work one day. 

Addy is loving going down the BIG slides by herself these days! 

And her and Josh headed out with our friends for a double daddy/kid date, their first ever! 

I had such high hopes and excitement for this adventure for them...

I took a shower and decided to spend a little extra time straightening my hair...it's the little things these days. And then I went to a coffee shop to read (also a simple luxury...). 

But after about an hour there, I found myself distracted. I use to look forward to those moments to myself in a coffee shop, journaling, writing, reading, sipping on a hot mug of coffee. 

These days, I get so excited for those moments and when they come, I feel lonely and can't focus. 

I saw a little girl walk in, Addy's age, and she was wearing the same sweatshirt that Addy has. 

I saw Mom's juggling two, three, four kids. 

I saw friends walking together and stopping for coffee. 

I saw families hanging out. 

It just made me feel out of place, in a weird way. 

And then I got a text from Josh: "Guess who got car sick?!" 

And that was it. 

I texted back and didn't hear anything. 

I assumed the one who got sick was Addy. 

Since she had just finished a week of being tummy sick with me, my first thought was, "oh goodness, it's back." But Josh was convinced it was just car sickness (a first for Addy). 

I gathered up my stuff and ran home, thinking they were already home but they hadn't made it yet. I quickly changed my clothes, thinking she would be covered in vomit, pulled my hair back and made sure the bathroom was cleared so I could throw her in the tub and hose her off. I grabbed towels and watched for them to get home. Don't you think I could work in the ER???

Well they arrived a few minutes later, Addy and her car seat weren't covered in vomit. She was calm, the dad's were calm. I guess they had already gotten things cleaned up. It wasn't as bad as I had expected. Josh wanted to take them to the park so they did. 

Finally, a new family favorite recipe to share after all of that excitement. 

I shall call it: 

Pesto Steak Pizza. 

We grilled up some steak in a simple rub. 

I grabbed a few tomatoes from our garden that is still producing many of those beauties! 

I zested some lemon and lime and squeezed the juice in along with some cilantro. 

We had some leftover homemade pizza dough in the fridge I needed to use up. So I very rustically rolled that out and added some homemade pesto with melted butter. Then I baked it at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes until it bubbled up a bit and was cooked through. 

Josh sampled the steak. 

My jealousy grew as he made this face and ooo'd and awed...

Josh sliced up the very delicious and very tender steak. 

And pause for a commercial break as Addy would like to show you her latest empty spice jar from mommy. She loves using these in her kitchen for "cooking." 

And now back to our regular broadcast...

Steak...mmmmmm 

When the crust was baked, we topped it with strips of steak, tomato mixture and spinach. 

Oh

My

Steak

SOOOOO delicious! The crust was kinda like a soft pita. 

It was a quick dinner to throw together and we all loved it! 

And the fact that Josh and I cooked it together I really loved!