Growing up!

Little man is growing up!  It's remarkable what happens to babies around the 16, 17, 18 month mark.  They're not really babies anymore.

I know Fletcher's recent transformation is mainly due to that age, but we've seen him really blossom these last few weeks after he had tubes put in his ears.  He struggled a bit through recovery...

But after that first week, his true inner self has been shining!  He has always been such a good, content baby that I don't think we understood how sick he had been feeling.  He just dealt with the discomfort on a daily basis.  But since the surgery his energy level, playfulness and mischievousness have been soaring. It was sad to realize just how sick he must have been feeling - and fun to see him 100% again.

Last week we had neighborhood friends over for dinner.  Fletcher was released from his high chair to eat at the kids table for the first time!

Overnight it seems he learned how to climb up the ladder to the playhouse and slide.

He loves to go get the mail with daddy (see them in the background) - and walks with daddy instead of running ahead like his naughty sister.

It happens so fast.  He's even cooking his own meals.

Before and After - The Chair

I love when things in your home have stories.  


We have a new chair.  With a great story.


So... my fabulous interior designer friend, Katie, who is also a gifted bargain hunter... calls me up a few months ago and says that I have to go check out a chair and ottoman - at the thrift store.  Uh.  Ok.  I am not a Thrift Store shopper.  Not because I shouldn't be a thrift store shopper kinda girl - but because I have a terrible eye for treasures and it's generally a source of great frustration for me.


But Katie on the other hand.  She has an eye.  And a history.  She didn't steer me wrong with my buffet pieces.  So I trust her.  So I go.  


On the way, I'm thinking - I don't even NEED a new chair/ottoman right now.  There are a lot of things on our to-do list for the house and this isn't included.


I get to the thrift store and find the chair combo she called me about.  Now, if I had happened to go to the Thrift Store on my own (which I wouldn't) I doubt I would have even given this thing a second look.  All faded and dusty.  But now that I'm here and give it a second look, I can see that it seems to be in good shape and I can sort of visualize how it might look recovered.  Sadly, there is a red slash through the price.  This is a sign, I think.  A sign that I didn't need a chair/ottoman to begin with and now it's not even available regardless of it's great price.


A Thrift Store employee approaches and asks if they can help.  I explain that I was interested in the chair but it's clearly already sold - oh well, better luck next time.  "Oh no," she says.  "That slash means it's now 50% off."


Wait!  What?  50% off the already insanely low price?  You must be kidding.  My befuddlement must apparently looked like an invitation to bargain even further because she offered to knock off even more money if I would take the chair right then.


Sold!  For the crazy amount of $80 I bought this perfectly good chair and ottoman.

I then found some super inexpensive fabric and with the help of designer-Katie, found an equally economical lady to reupholster the whole thing.  


Tada!  New chair!  For a fraction (fraction) of the cost I would otherwise have paid for a chair like this.

Do you love it?  We do!  The chair's placement in our home is still currently under debate but I absolutely love the way it turned out.  And it's super comfy - we're all fighting over who gets to sit there - even the cat!  But part of it's awesomeness is that most all of us actually fit in this chair at the same time!


See all that carpet under/behind the chair?  All gone as of today!  Lovely hardwoods are in our future.  More fun before and after's to come!

Rodeo Time!

We hit the rodeo (or "roady" as Syd calls it) this past weekend with the kids.  This was one of our first big outings after we moved to Houston last year and Sydney had such a great time that we couldn't wait to go back.  This year -  although we brought the stroller - was much more promising for Fletcher's involvement.


He looks thrilled doesn't he!

Syd's first pony ride!  She was a little nervous at first but as soon as the horse started moving, she relaxed and let me step away.  Of course, the thing she talks about the most... the pony poo they had to stop and clean up midway through her ride.  Really?  That was the best part of your day?  (Excuse the blurred photos - Pat and the camera are NOT friends.  So I'll take whatever I can get when he is behind the lens.)

Fletcher loved the cows.  The louder the better!

 Bunnies!

I couldn't see his face but I love the girls!

 And finally - the petting zoo!  Fletcher's first real petting zoo experience.  Pat had to hold him back.  I think Fletch would have wallowed in the mulch right alongside the animals if we had let him!

Notice Syd's tense shoulders in the background?  She was a bit more reserved this year.

Yeah, that's close enough thank you!

 Here piggie, piggie, piggie!

They're still a bit too small for the rides and numerous other activities the rodeo has to offer, but we love it just the same.

Valentines/Anniversary Dinner

As I mentioned before, instead of fighting the crowds and over-priced Valentines Day menus, we choose to make a really special meal at home to celebrate the day of love and the day we said our "I do's".  Usually it involves making a dish we've never made at home before.  This year, I decided to make seared duck breast.


I set out on Monday to run a few errands and gather all my ingredients.  The last stop of the day was to get the duck at the awesome downtown Central Market.  Tragically, it was not so awesome that day as they were all out of duck breast!  Oh no - it was way too late to completely change the menu.  Then I spotted this.  I was already charting new territory cooking duck - I wasn't about to butcher the thing too!

Central Market became totally awesome again in my book when they butchered it and gave me the most beautiful boneless duck breasts ever (and a lot of other duck parts too).  I paid a lot more than I would have otherwise - but it was still cheaper than a fancy steak.


I'll cut to the good stuff... here are the recipes I used.


Seared Duck (note - I used black cherry jam instead of currant)
Cheese Grits 
Sautéed Spinach (no recipe needed, but I did use a little of the leftover duck fat to sauté the spinach)


I knew we wouldn't be eating until late (had to get kids to bed first) so I made a little snack to tide us over - some simple scallion cream cheese.

And while selfishly preparing our romantic dinner, I didn't have much extra time or energy to fight with the kids over theirs.  Trust me, there were no complaints.

Back to our meal.  I kept the sides simple.  I was nervous about getting the duck right and didn't want super complicated sides.  Originally I was going to get more fancy with the cheese I used in the grits, but in the end went with the called for sharp cheddar and oh my!  Seriously best cheese grits I've ever eaten!


On the duck, I was really afraid the cherry jam and cassis might end up too sweet but it was puhhhrrr-fect!  My only complaint was that I didn't render the duck quite long enough.  The skin could have used a bit more crispiness - maybe another minute.  It creates a texture issue when there is too much fat and it's not crispy enough on top.  But the flavor was spot on!


And how pretty does this plate look?  I am a seriously harsh critic of my own food but this may be my favorite thing I've ever made.  Delicious!

We even sat in our beautiful new dining room.  And I pulled the crystal out of boxes where they've been for at least two years.  They still had the tags on them.

In case you didn't notice... I haven't mentioned dessert.  That's because while the main course may have been my best ever, dessert was easily the worst.  I decided to do a soufflé.  I did it last year, but it's not like you make soufflé all the time so it's still something special.  I'm not sure what happened.  Soufflé is a very delicate thing and I don't have the most delicate touch.  I used a different recipe but it could have been some other horrific mistake that caused the death of my soufflé.  It never rose properly and I think I over-cooked it.  Terrible.  Just awful.  


Thankfully, our dinner was lovely enough to stand on it's own. And we had plenty of wine and champagne left.  The soufflé didn't destroy the evening.


It was a wonderful celebration of our marriage!


Now to figure out what to do with the rest of that duck.  No seriously.  What do I do with this?

Happy Valentines Day!

Over the weekend, the kids made Valentine cards for their classmates.  Thank the Lord, their school does not allow goodie bags or candy.  Cards only!  Nothing wrong with all that other stuff but the simplicity sure did make it so much easier on me.  So we made it a fun weekend art project.  I cut - and the kids glued and colored and stickered the cards up.

Tomorrow Fletcher will be celebrating at the ENT.  Poor guy has been plain old sick for months.  Sadly, we don't even realize how sick he's been until he begins getting well again.  For a few days at the end of a round of antibiotics, his little personality shines.  But within days he is overcome again by cough, congestion and ear infection.  I think it's time for tubes.


He's apparently a sick/stress eater.  When he doesn't feel well, he soothes with food.  Cause he clearly needs to eat.  Last Friday he weighed in at a solid 31 pounds.  A full pound and a half heavier than he was one week prior at his 15-month/ear follow-up appointment.  Yowza.


Some sibling bonding over Dora.

Valentines Day also happens to be Pat and my anniversary.  We always choose not to fight the V-Day crowds, instead staying in and cooking a really special meal.  Here's a sneak peak at what I have in store for tomorrow.  There will be some serious goodness going on in my kitchen!  Check back later for more details!

Before and After. The Dining Room.

When we moved into this house, our dining room looked something like this (excuse the way too warm/yellow photo).  Why why why do builders put carpet in dining spaces?  I will never understand that.  Anyway, it had carpet.

First, we bought our first dining room table and chairs!  I did this before I discovered the hidden talents of my neighbor, Katie.  I think the outcome was fine but the process was horrendous!  Want to torture me?  Put me in a room full of fabric swatches with no guidance.

We had planned to one day put hardwood flooring down in this room.  And then the Leak of 2011 happened.  And viola - hardwood floors!

So, up until a few weeks ago, this is how our dining room looked.  Pretty table.  Pretty floors.  Pat even painted a pretty picture for the room.  But that was it.  The before...

And now - the after...

Katie and I had a vision of a beautiful, elegant, all-white room. Sometimes I could see it.  Other times I struggled.  Especially when we painted the walls white.  Oh wow.  It just looked so cold and barren.  I really had to keep convincing myself - and Pat - to see this project through.  But then we hung the drapes... amazing what a few yards of fabric will do.  They made all the difference in the world!

By the way, while there are a few nice, new pieces in this room, most of it was pulled together by repurposing a few things we already had and taking the time to find incredible bargains.  For example, we have crazy tall ceilings.  I needed 120" drapes!  I was not about to spend a fortune on custom ones - but I also probably couldn't even turn a sewing machine on if my life depended on it.  Fortunately, we found bargain pre-made drapes in just the right length.  


This buffet was a fun and super inexpensive find too.  Katie found some guy who advertised used furniture through an online yard sale.  We went scavenging through his multiple storage units filled with furniture, looking for a buffet to refinish.  We found lots of treasures - and they were such a bargain, we left with two!  The one I refinished for the sunroom and this one that needed nothing but a little furniture polish!

I pooled some coupons to frame Pat's beautiful canvas painting.

The lamps were the final touch and probably the hardest to find.  We searched high and low.  Bargain hunting generally takes more time.  And a lot more patience.  Found a set of lamps we liked but they were too big to both sit on this buffet.  Plus we decided they would look better in the master bedroom (future project).  We hunted and hunted and hunted.  Then one day this week Katie called me from TJMaxx.  She had been on a little shopping spree and was coming over.  Here is what she found.  Perfect!

I love this space now.  It's so inviting and beautiful.  I want to have lots and lots of parties in this room.  Silly as it sounds, I feel like a grown up!  The pictures really don't do it justice.  You'll just have to come for dinner to see for yourself!