My sweet baby girl turned one yesterday.  She had a great day and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

We started the birthday celebration early in the week, by meeting Daddy for a dinner date at McAlister's Deli (our favorite place in the whole wide world).  It was Family Night so Katherine scored an awesome monkey balloon animal, which she loved despite the picture.

Monday and Tuesday gave us gorgeous weather, which we took full advantage of.  We went to the park, where Katherine hit the swings for the very first time.  The swings changed her life forever.  She's such a little daredevil.


Of course after two days of temperatures in the 70's and sunny skies, it snowed.  And got cold.  This didn't ruin Katherine's big day.  We started the day off with a donut breakfast.  It was Katherine's first taste of the "sweet life" and I think she was impressed.
She opened a few birthday gifts, with the help of Callie who loves "helping" to open gifts at any holiday.  We got her a Bitty Baby, not knowing if she'd even like it.  When I took her to the American Girl store a while back, she could only focus on playing with the seat belt of her stroller as I jumped around like an idiot showing her all of the cool doll displays.  To my surprise she loved her baby.  She reached for it immediately after Jason took it out of the box and then proceeded to give it kisses.  Melt.  My.  Heart.



For lunch, we gave her what she loves the most:  mac and cheese.  The absolute best place for mac and cheese is Noodles and Co.  So that's where we went.  
We followed that with Jilly's cupcakes.  It turns out, Katherine's not that impressed by cupcakes...yet.  I'm not giving up on this.  

She played in her cupcake for a while, then she was over it.

{New soccer ball from Uncle Zach}

{Love for baby}

{First birthday family photo}

{Our new ride}

It was a perfect day and a perfect first birthday.  We're so blessed.  

Birthday week won't be complete without Katherine's first birthday party this weekend.  I'm so excited for her to be surrounded by friends and family to help her celebrate her first birthday!  

  

When I found out I was pregnant, I documented my pregnancy with this chalkboard.

{March 8, 2013}

{March 8, 2014}

Since the day after Valentine's Day, I've been going green all over the house.  I made a St. Patrick's Day glitter paper garland (DIY here), and I've been putting green sprinkles on just about everything we eat.  Anything to take away the winter blahs.  It's also Mardi Gras week and I've been making themed snacks because, well, why not?!

{St. Patrick's Day garland}

{Hot cocoa complete with Mardi Gras sprinkles}

{Mardi Gras popcorn}

In the spirit of all things green, I decided to make a homemade version of the "Shamrock Shake."  It's basically a vanilla milkshake with green food coloring and a little bit of mint.  I used this recipe.

{Homemade "Shamrock Shake"}

In other news, guess who is on the move!  Now that she's figured out she can get around, especially on the hardwood floor, Katherine is constantly on the move.  Bring on the child proofing!  


I can't believe my little baby is about to be one.  Her birthday is a week away!  Where did the past year go?  In the meantime, we'll enjoy another snow/cold day because winter is back with snow, sleet, and frigid temperatures.  Awesome.

Holy stomach flu.

You may or may not have noticed my recent absence from the blog, and social media in general.

Last Sunday night, I started feeling sick.  I credited it to eating too much too close to bed.  Over the next several hours, I was convinced I had food poisoning.  For the next two days, Jason and my mom helped take care of Katherine while I was bedridden.  Seriously.  Thought I was dying. 
On Wednesday I started feeling better, but was still weak and dealing with dehydration.  On Thursday Jason came down with the same symptoms I had had, leaving him quarantined to the spare bedroom with a laptop and Netflix.  On Friday, my mom fell victim to the illness, leaving me to care for them both, as well as Katherine, all on my own.  While everyone else was in bed, Katherine and I actually got to enjoy a nice warm day.  It's amazing what some fresh air can do.
To say it has been a rough week is an understatement.  So far, Katherine has not gotten sick.  Thank goodness.      

This week is looking a lot better than last week so far.  While on a t-shirt run at Goodwill, I scored this Tory Burch sweater (in my size!) for $6! 
I'm hoping there's no more sickness in this house.  Katherine's birthday is only a couple of weeks away and there's a lot to do!

This week has been lovely, complete with a Valentine theme throughout the house.  (See the Valentine's garland here.)  It was Katherine's first Valentine's Day and she loved it.

{Valentine straws}

{Heart sprinkles on hot chocolate}

{Heart shaped red velvet pancakes}

{Chocolate Valentine cookies}

{Valentine's for my little Valentine}

{Checking out the goodies}

{Nothing like a relaxing afternoon of Mickey Mouse}

{All smiles for my first Valentine's Day}

Katherine had a great first Valentine's Day.  It's her last "first" holiday, which makes me a little sad.  I don't have time to be too sad because I'm in full birthday planning mode.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Oh winter. 

This year our first snow storm came the first week of December.  I feel like we've had a winter storm every week since then.  Normally, I like winter.  I mean, I don't hate it.  Winter is usually a welcomed change from the summer heat and autumn allergies.  Most years, I enjoy a nice snow day or two.  This year I can't count the number of snow days we've had.  I literally lost count. 

{There's a pond under there somewhere.}

Once again, St. Louis was blanketed with several inches of snow this week.  Each time it snows, it's been too cold to actually go outside and enjoy it.  I'm beginning to think we'll never get over this cabin fever.  Ever.  The snow barely melts before we get covered with more.  But when life gives you lemons.....actually when life gives you snow, make snow cream.

There are many different snow cream recipes online (Pinterest).  This time I used about 1/2 a cup of half and half, about 1/4 a cup of sugar, and a splash of vanilla....give or take.  I added snow until I got the consistency I wanted. 

{Fresh snow}

{Snow cream}

At this point, we've had enough snow for me to open a snow cream stand in the front yard.  It's a tempting idea. 

Saying I'm ready for spring is an understatement.  Until then, we'll stay inside counting the days.
 

Normally I like winter.  I welcome the cooler weather and don't hate the snow, but this year I'm definitely having a case of the "Winter Blahs."  Lately it's snowed almost every other day, it's too cold to go outside, and just about everyone has the flu, leaving me unwilling to leave the house.  This particular winter has been more blustery than usual, causing a mad case of cabin fever.  I've been lacking the motivation to get anything done lately, making me feel even worse.  I could really use a nice warm(er) sunny day, but until that happens I'm trying to stay busy with crafts and scarf making. 

This week the polar vortex returned, as did Katherine's Christmas cold.  Awesome.   I spent the week making drip beef sandwiches, potato soup, and flat apple pie.  It's true what they say about winter:  cold weather causes the "winter munchies." 

In addition to eating everything in the pantry, I started working on some Valentine's Day crafts, including a Valentine's paper garland.

I used a punch cutter to cut hearts out of glitter paper, then I sewed the hearts together using my sewing machine.  Basically, I just started a thread going, then attached the hearts one after the other.  Super easy. 



Hopefully I can keep the productivity going.  On another note, all fashion scarves are now just $12 at the etsy shop!  Get a cute scarf to carry you into spring.  Ahhhh spring.  I can't wait.

This week Mother Nature dropped an arctic blast on St. Louis (as well as a majority of the northeastern part of the country), which included 10+ inches of snow and temperatures in the negatives.  Monday the high was literally -1 with wind chills in the -20s.  It's times like this that I'm thankful I don't have to get out and go to work. 

It wasn't all bad.  We had a warm house, lots of groceries, and no reason to brave the frigid temperatures (except Jason had to go to work, poor guy). 




On Sunday morning I made chocolate gravy.  Every time is snows, I always make chocolate gravy.  Since moving to St. Louis, I was surprised to know how many people here had never heard of chocolate gravy.

Chocolate Gravy

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 stick of butter

What To Do
Mix the sugar, cocoa, and flour together in a saucepan with a whisk.  Slowly whisk in the milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Remove the pan from the heat when the mixture is thick like pudding.  Add the butter and vanilla and stir until completely melted.  Serve over biscuits.



So good on a cold day!  Happy "Polar Vortex" Week!  Stay warm!

I'll always remember 2013 as a great year.  Our lives changed so much last year and I can't even begin to count all of the blessings.  I don't believe in New Year resolutions, but I plan on making 2014 the best year yet.

For Christmas, I got The Pioneer Woman Cooks:  A Year of Holidays cookbook.  I love it for two reasons.  One, I love The Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond).  We're best friends in my head.  Second, I love that this cookbook is divided into holiday chapters.  Recipes with holiday themes?  Yay!

On New Year's Day, I made a few traditional New Years items from the "New Year's Day" chapter.

{Baked French Toast for brunch}

{Black-Eyed Pea Salsa for lunch}

{Hoppin' John with Loaded Cornbread, and Collard Greens for dinner}

I'm a little sad to see 2013 go.  Normally I'm eager to usher in a new year, but a lot of great things happened for us in 2013.  Katherine's birth was by far the greatest thing that happened in 2013.  I'm so excited to see what 2014 holds!