Our sweet baby

Alyssa is a very affectionate baby and her newest trick is kisses! She loves to give them in that great way baby's do - with her tongue sticking out.

Chicken Pillows Recipe

1 pound chicken breast meat, boned and cubed
3 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp oregano leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 pkg phyllo pastry (find this in the freezer section, and thaw out)

Combine all ingredients, except butter and pastry. Marinate overnight. Cut pastry sheets in quarters. Wrap chicken pieces in pastry brushed with melted butter to resemble bite size pillows (start on one end, start rolling up the chicken, fold over the sides, and continue rolling till end). Once they're all on the baking tray, brush tops of pastry with remaining butter.

Bake at 400F for 15 minutes. Or freeze unbaked on trays and bake as needed at 400F for 20 minutes from frozen. Serve with tzatziki dip or plum sauce.

been spending some time in the kitchen . . .

I've been taking a forced break from the sewing room to get some food ready for tonight. When you have a Mom that used to be a caterer, you learn a few recipes along the way.

Teriyaki beef kabobs, cheese spread, meatballs, rocky road ice cream cake, and chicken pillows.

Health update

Just an update on our health issues:

-Brad's been scheduled for surgery to fix his hernia and is going to be off work for three works. Thankfully we have insurance for this and that it's winter and not the busy summer months at his job.

-Elayna has an appointment scheduled with a specialist to get tubes put in her ears. Antibiotics did not clear up the fluid and she still doesn't have her full hearing. It's frustrating but after two months, we've adjusted to her louder singing and having to get in the room with her when we're calling her for something.

-Alyssa has had a 100% turn-around with her congestion. I used a health store product called Coryzalia the last time she had a bad cold. It's pre-measured doses three times a day for five days. It's especially recommended for repeating colds. It seems to have done the trick!

baking cookies

Well I let the girls bake cookies this morning. They decided on smarties and mini marshmallow cookies and away we went. They did mostly everything but use the beaters (Elayna even did a great job on cracking the egg) and when we were done, they wanted to keep going with lots more ideas on what to make. I guess I'll have to add aprons to my sewing list for them this year and encourage this helpfulness in the kitchen (might come in handy as they get older).

Alyssa just discovered puff snacks for toddlers and she could literally live off of them - she loves them that much! (and the Heinz brand is on sale at Safeway this week so I bought 3 of the 4 flavours for her - should last a little while).

happy birthday to me!

Just had to share the beautiful flowers my hubby came home with today for my birthday.

girls "New Year" gifts

Well, I meant to finish these bible covers for the girls for Christmas but it didn't happen - so I'm calling them New Year's gifts instead. They came with a new bible inside for each of them since their old ones were looking a little rough. And the best part? I got to use up some more fabric from my stash - slowly the pile will shrink. I'm trying to avoid buying fabric for awhile and using up what I already have, and see how long I can go without renewing my Fabricland membership.