The Sailboats are Sailing Away

I began making the Sailboat mobiles for all of you that have boy babes and didn't think a bird mobile would work for your little dude's room. {Birds work for everyone, you just gotta pick the right fabric... in my humble opinion.}

They've been so fun to make for you, especially the custom ones.

But alas, my time is hardly my own anymore {I'm hoping little Bridget will soon start sleeping more hours in a row!} and these sweet mobiles take a LOT of time to make. Since no one would buy them if I priced them to cover my time, I'm sadly having to pull them from my offerings.

The Sea Life mobiles are still up for grabs though, and talk about fun with the custom orders!

 Jump on in!

.enjoy

molly

Balsamic Cremini Mushroom Side Dish

We had some extra cremini mushrooms in the fridge tonight so I turned to my new favorite oracle - Pinterest - for recipes and asked what I should make. What came up was simply delicious!

The original recipe was from "Dinners & Dreams" {"A Moroccan Recipe Journal"; a blog I hadn't seen before but I am definitely intrigued by it now} and suggested portobella mushrooms marinated in harissa, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and dried oregano, then skewered and barbequed. 

My version was cremini mushrooms marinated at room temperature for about 30 minutes in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and dried oregano {no harissa in the house} and then sauteed in more olive oil on medium for the first bit, then lowered to low to allow the juices to cook out a bit. The result... yum!

Paired it with flank steak and roasted broccoli with whole wheat pasta. The mushrooms added a fantastic sweetness such that I found myself rationing them out so that I could have some with each bit.

I can definitely see these in sandwiches, mixed in with some carb side {quinoa, cracked wheat}, and on top of cottage cheese with a bunch of other veggies. Next time, I'll make extra, and try not to eat it all that night!

What's your favorite mushroom side dish?

enjoy.

.molly

It's the Little Things

Do you ever have one of those days when you notice all "the little things". Well, today was one of those days. And thanks to our pastor's most recent sermon on Phillippians which talked about God's desires for the local church {be united; be joyful; be gracious; be humble...}, I had a fresh heart of appreciation and grace. 

Little Thing #1.

Do you even try to go for a run with your newborn who has an 0/4 record for sleeping soundly in {or even just politely tolerating} the stroller while you run, or do you try it just one more time... and thank God for the peaceful run as she sleeps.

Don't you just want to stick your finger in that Soothie?!

Little Thing #2. 

Do you ignore {or better yet, give dirty looks to} a dad when he brings his super hungry {read: very loud} baby into the {over-crowded} Cry Room at church as your baby sleeps, or do you give him kudos once he single-handedly {literally} prepares his daughter's bottle and rocks her sweetly in the glider next to you. 

Little Thing #3.

Do you return a stranger's vicious attitude and behavior when she points something out to you that could have just been a simple comment but instead gets thrown into an ugly attack, or do you return her remarks with graceful kindness and hope that she's just having a bad morning {or hope that your response will help her to think about how she chooses to communicate with people}. 

Little Thing #4.

Do you rudely send your {overly} affectionate daughter {I call her "The Leech"} away from your baby who desperately needs to nap, or do you allow her to "tuck her in" and have "the best time of [her] life" and then thoroughly enjoy her incredibly warm smile while your baby miraculously coos herself to sleep. 

Little Thing #5.

After dropping your kids off at a friend's house who kindly offered to watch them along with her own two kids while she makes dinner just so you can go to the grocery store by yourself {yahooooo!}, do you quickly nab the parking spot closest to the store, or, because you aren't lugging a carseat and two young kids, do you take a parking spot further away and hope that that front spot goes to another mom or an elderly person. And when you discover it was a young college student driving a Boxster {what?!} that took the spot, do you choose to get your feathers all ruffled as the cold wind blows on your loooong {not really} walk to the store, or do you smile in your heart and say, "Oh well." {Maybe she was in a real hurry. Maybe.}

Little Thing #6. {And we've all been here...}

Do you quietly whisper under your breath that someone else besides you finally took the kitchen garbage out, or do you genuinely make a big deal and thank your dear husband for being so sweet and taking it out.

Life is full of choices. What we do not only affects our own life, but those around us as well. What are you going to do with "the little things" today?

.molly

Incredibly Delicious, Super Easy Apricot Oatmeal Bars

I ran across Six Sisters' Stuff when searching Pinterest for ideas on how to organize all the craft and home-school goodies that line pretty much every area of our home. {More on that later.} The blog is six sisters who have moved away from each other, but use the blog to stay in touch. They are all very talented ladies, each with their own specialties - hair, craftiness, FOOD, etc. Great blog - Check it out.

Well, upon my searching I ran across these incredibly delicious, super easy apricot bars that looked amazing, and now, as I munch on them, I can confirm that they are indeed superb! I'd advise having a sweet little helper to make sure everything turns out perfectly...

I didn't change up their recipe too much - I don't usually do that on the first trial just to make sure it actually works as written. The only thing I did with this one is use 1/4c less all-purpose flour and added in 1/4c+ ground flax {my fav.} and I used Trader Joe's Low-Sugar Apricot Preserves. The result was a fantastically moist, perfectly textured oatmeal/apricot bar that took about 5 minutes prep {25-30 min to bake}. It's at the top of my list of go-to ideas for a quick dessert to share with others.  

Action shots:

The dough

Packed into the pan

The Final Product - Delish!

All the while, she slept... Thank you!

The sisters suggest having them for breakfast! They are a little high in sugar for my liking for a breakfast item, but they're so sweet with the apricot preserves that I bet you could omit some of the brown sugar and pair them cottage cheese, eggs, or whatever protein you prefer to balance out the meal. I'll probably add them in the lunchbox for a treat snack at school from time to time.

BTW, apparently they have a "Healthy Meals Monday" tradition so check out their blog for some more suggestions on family-fun recipes!

enjoy!

.molly

She's Here!

I had this grandiose plan to quickly write a gorgeous and giddy blog post about our new arrival - Bridget Molly Trapp - but then life hit me and I haven't had time for sleep let alone blogging!

So, I write to you today with the "short" version of how our wonderful "Bridgey-Bridge" {known to her family} joined us on June 16th. There is a very tender back-story to her arrival, but I will save that for another day.

I had a feeling on June 15th that the 16th might be "The Day", so I snapped one last shot of my incredibly uncomfortable belly before going to bed. Yeah, it was as uncomfortable as it looks.

"OUCH!" is all I can think, looking back on this

The morning of the 16th I came to my hubby in the kitchen at 5:15am - he gets up at 5am every morning {nuts!} - and said, "Well, I think today might be the day!" He replied, "Really? Have you been feeling contractions?" I explained I'd felt them off/on since 3:30am. His reply, "So should I go for my bike ride now?" {Insert grumpy-about-to-pop-pregnant-mommy face.} By the way, you should all know that my husband is quite possibly the best husband and dad ever, this just wasn't one of his best moments.

I took our firstborn {our pup, Ellie} for a walk and returned at 6:30am with very infrequent contractions so yes, I gave my sweet hubby the green light to go for a ride.

Contractions became consistent around 10:30am and by noon I realized it was going to happen within 24 hours! {I was in labor for 29 hours with my first; 9 hours with my second. Word of advise: WALK as soon as your contractions start. It shaved off 20 hours for me!}

My friend Jessica came over and walked around the block a few times with me, then I called my mom to come up from Santa Barbara. I told her she didn't need to rush, but it'd be good for her to leave as soon as she could.

Fast-forward 2 hours and my mom arrives when I'm madly pacing in our backyard, "strongly encouraging" my kids to pack up their overnight bags for their first sleepover, all the while trying to not bite their heads off. My husband was attempting to take a nap. {This blog makes him sound horrible but we agreed he should nap since we didn't know how long the process was going to take and I needed him to be strong. Little did we know how fast things would go...}

By 3:45pm I decided it was time to go to the hospital. With my second, I was in the hospital for 48 minutes before she was born and I didn't want to cut it too close with my third. {Ha!}

4pm is the last time I recorded a contraction on my phone as we headed out our front door. {"Full Term" is an awesome app, btw!} Jessica came and got our kids right as my hubby and I were heading to our car. Mom followed quickly behind. {She was at my first daughter's birth by accident almost - it went so quickly no one had a choice - but I definitely wanted her in the room for this one.}

I made my husband pull over at the high school so I could walk through my contraction and my water broke! This freaked me out as with my second, as soon as my water broke I HAD to push. Fortunately I didn't feel that sensation with this one but I wanted to get to the hospital fast!

Of course we hit every possible red light on the way there, the last of which I made my husband run it {after stopping for on-coming traffic, of course} and as we pulled into the hospital driveway I kindly yelled out the open window, "Oh for Pete's sake just ride your bike!!!" to a clueless young man riding slooooowly across the driveway.

I'll spare you the details of everything that happened in the hospital. I'll just leave it that they rushed me upstairs, and the nurse who drove me in the wheelchair announced, "Third baby, water broke, urge to push!" which brought on a swarm of nurses. I was told I was 7cm and not allowed to push so I had to "hold it in". {Ya, that's quite possibly the worst feeling ever.} Minutes {seconds?} later I was 9 1/2cm and very soon I was able to push. Two or three pushes later, Bridget joined us as 4:28pm.

Gnarly. Elated. Peaceful. Thankful.

I had "the shakes" after her birth, thus all the blankets on me.

Our "biggest" baby at 6 lbs. 13 oz.

I love her!

More on that back-story soon. Oh yeah, and Cookie+Curly business. ;) For now, with a grateful heart, I sign off... For bed.

.molly