Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Tortilla Soup

Just wanted to give a shout out to The Pioneer Woman!  I love her blog.  I love her recipes.  And I think she is about the cutest thing ever when she's on The Today Show cooking up some treat in under 3 minutes.  One of these days when I'm less concerned about calories, I am going to make her cinnamon rolls, because... ummm... they look insanely good!  

Even though it's February, so many of the days have been so warm that I almost believe it's summertime.  It makes me crave swimming pools, margaritas and salsa, and tortilla soup.  I LOVE a good bowl of tortilla soup.  With all of that cilantro and avocado, it's so fresh and yummy!  But the sad thing is that Todd doesn't like it AT ALL, so it's pointless to make it.  I have to just settle for ordering it at On The Border.    

But last week I decided to try out PW's tortilla soup.  Just look at it.


Scrumptious, right?  I followed the recipe exactly like it said here.  And let me just say, Todd was converted :)

Monday, February 7, 2011

Snow Day

Growing up in Houston, we rarely saw snow.  Hurricanes and flooding and heat waves were more our thing.  Occasionally though we would get the tiniest of flurries- beautiful little snowflakes that would melt as soon as they touched your skin or tongue or the ground or wherever they happened to land.  I remember my third grade teacher leading our class out to the playground so the kids who had never seen snow before could touch it, taste it, and dance in it.  I can't remember EVER having an actual snow day in Houston, where school and work were cancelled and we were able to dash outside to enjoy the pretty snowfall- and then the feeling of cozying up inside after a morning of playing.  Since I have lived in Waco, I've been blessed with a handful of snow days.  Last year, it snowed several times- and work even let out early because of the weather!  I remember Todd and I raced home to make a big pot of football soup and an even bigger snowman.

This was us last year (and I was pregnant here, but didn't even know it!)


Last week, we had rumors of snow for the end of the week, so I was feeling hopeful for another fun snow day.  Imagine my delight when Todd announced that the snow had started falling on Thursday night and that work would be canceled for him on Friday!  Yippeee!  Friday morning we woke up to a beautiful blanket of perfect white snow covering our yard.  I could hardly wait to bundle up and head outside to show Cooper!  

  



Obviously, the kid loves it!  Actually, he was pretty quiet the whole time. Eventually, I felt bad that I didn't put socks on his hands for warmth and we went back inside to enjoy the snowy view from the living room.  But don't worry, as soon as nap time rolled around, Todd and I went outside for snow angels and a snowball fight. He won, only because I throw like a girl, but nevertheless we both had fun!  Our afternoon was spent napping and reading, and later that night we had some friends over for chili and Catan (our nerd game).  Clark and Mel also brought a fun game called Dicecapades, which could be my current favorite game.  Please ask Todd to do his John Travolta/ Michael Jackson/ BeeGees dance the next time you see him.  What a fun end to a great day!


On Saturday morning, the snow was already melting, but it didn't stop me from bundling up my little baby bear for one more round of photos.  He's so sweet, I could just eat him up!


Seriously, Cooper!  Stop it with those baby blues!  How am I ever supposed to put this kid in time out?


I'm keeping my fingers crossed for one more snow day before spring rolls around!