Homemade Big Mac!

OH-OH!

Yesterday Ayla came running up to me grinning from ear to ear.  I GASPED!  She had gotten into my makeup and opened the mascara...

She fell on the ground laughing, clearly very proud of her makeup application...

I said, "Ayla show me what you did!"

SHOW ME WHAT YOU DID...

The result...

She felt really great about herself.

When I said, "What am I going to do with you?!"  She responded with a really big "OH-OH!"

Uh-oh is right...

Current Obsession.

This is my current obsession, thanks to a friend of mine named Kyle.  He got me hooked and I have been watching episodes in fragments on YouTube.

Today he brought me this:

I cannot wait to get home and dive in!

Baby?

My baby isn't really a baby anymore.  I mean she is.  But everyday she grows up just a little more.  I'll stand up after zipping up her jammies and I'll look down at her stretched out on the floor and just about have a heart attack because she's SO BIG.  I'll watch her carefully studying my face and mimicking my expressions and smile.  I see her carefully organize her toys, pick up books and get lost in every page, and try to put on her own shoes.  I sit on the couch and hear her climb out of her bed and tromp around and the next thing I know she's coming down the stairs yelling "HIIII!", so proud of her independence and her cleverness.  I hear her head up the stairs with her blanket in tow and climb into her bed.  I follow to check on her and find her peacefully sleeping, my little girl putting herself to bed.

She is so smart and so independent.  It kind of makes me sad to watch her grow up and not be my tiny baby any more.  But on the other hand, the more independent she becomes the more she wants to sit in my lap.  The older she gets the happier she is sitting right next to me, laying her head on my arm and watching Tangled.  And when the movie is over and the credits are scrolling she climbs off the couch, grabs hold of my arm and pulls.  I stand up and she starts dancing and giggling.  Bobbing her head, waving her arms, never dropping eye contact with me.  And we dance.  Me and my girl!

Her new fav... Horizon Organic Chocolate Milk.  She feels like a big girl at Starbucks with her parents!

Yummy Cheesy Pesto Pizza

Last night I was in the mood for pesto.  I had recently purchased a delicious jar of it at Costco and I wanted to use it! (Again.)  So while browsing the grocery section at Target, my favorite place ever, I decided on pizza.  Delicious pesto pizza.   With really great cheese.  Here is my simple recipe for a truly divine pizza.

Cheesy Pesto Pizza.

You will need:

1 Can of Pilsbury Pizza Dough
1/2 Cup Pesto
1/4 Cup Grated Gruyere Cheese
1/4 Cup Feta Cheese
10 (ish) Brie Cheese Medallions.  (We bought a brie log and sliced them thin like pepperoni!)
1 Large Chicken Breast.

You will first want to grease a baking sheet.  Lay the dough out to the desired shape and thickness.  Bake for 5 minutes.

Bake/grill/broil your chicken breast.  We broiled ours to save time.  Cut into pieces.

Spread 1/2 cup of pesto evenly onto the pizza dough.

Sprinkle 1/8 cup (we grated right onto the pizza!) gruyere cheese over pesto.  Do the same with 1/8 cup of feta cheese.  Place brie all over.

Sprinkle,or if you're OCD like me, strategically place chicken on top of the pesto and cheeses.

I finished of by sprinkling the remaining gruyere and feta cheeses on the pizza.

Bake for 10 minutes and there you have it!  Thank me later.

Pinterest.

I. Am. Obsessed.

With Pinterest!  Have you seen it?  Are you pinning?  I love that I now have a way to categorize my wants/needs/loves/interests... They are all there so perfectly organized and beautiful.

LOVE.

Ayla's Haircut (2 weeks later!)

 A couple of weeks ago I decided that enough was enough when it came to Ayla's hair.  It was getting so long, which I loved!  But her bangs were constantly in her face.  They wouldn't stay "swooped" because they are so insanely straight.  The back of her hair was extra mullet-ish and the longest parts were really wispy (baby hair).  The thick nice hair was underneath and a different length.

So even though it was painful for me, I decided to chop it off.  Here are the pictures.

BEFORE:

Unruly bangs.

Wispy mullet.

Haircut time!

A movie and fruit snacks kept her occupied.

Bangs went first...

Then I snipped off the mullet.

And shaped it up, layering up the back of her head so it all lays smoothly.   And I of course added a bow because I thought she looked like a boy :(

AFTER:

So pretty!  And it's already grown out a bit...

Some funny things that I would like to remember.

• On Saturday we went to Lauren's house.  I dropped my keys on the floor when I walked in because my hands were full.  After putting Ayla down and sitting on the couch Ayla picked up my keys, picked out a key, walked to Lauren's front door, and tried to put the key in the door.  I laughed and was blown away by the little things that she picks up on.

• Ayla walks around dropping things for the specific purpose of saying, "UH-OH!"  Which actually sounds like "OH-OH".

• When I am sitting down and Ayla wants me she will climb into my lap, wrap her arms around me and lean backwards in an attempt to pull me.  Then she climbs down, grabs my hand, and keeps pulling.  So I stand up and say, show me what you want to do!  And she'll lead the way.  Generally it's straight to her bed because she wants to lay down.

• Ayla loves her bed.  It's so sweet how excited se gets when we walk into her room and she knows that she can climb into her bed.  She's become a great sleeper and continues to be an excellent napper.

• Ayla loves to say "doggy!" and "kitty!" and "ducky!"  She's an animal lover.  Tantrums and tears occur when she can't touch/hold an animal.  I understand, I feel the same way inwardly when I'm not allowed to pet an animal also.

• My girl is loving accessories.  Purses, necklaces, bracelets, headbands, skirts... She is super girly and I ADORE that!  I hear a lot of "oooooh pitty!" from here these days.  She's copying my, "awww pretty!"

• She still refuses to talk much around other people.  I say, "Ayla say doggy!" and she looks at me and shakes her head no.  She's just a little shy!

• And even though she has grown up and moved on to movies like Lilo and Stitch, Finding Nemo, and Shrek, she *sometimes* still gets excited about Elmo!

BULLY.

Yesterday afternoon we took Ayla to the mall.  When we have time off together (which is very rare) we like to take Ayla somewhere fun.  The mall doesn't sound like it would be fun for a 1 year old, but oh boy does she love the mall!  All the people and all the colors and all the noise!  She loves to run along right beside us giggling and swinging her arms.  And when we've looked at all we want to look at our final stop is the indoor playground.  Our little girl loves the playground.  She's sees the slide and before she's even out of her stroller she's saying, "WEEEEE!"

Yesterday we were trying to get Ayla out of her stroller, but with her pulling and squealing it made an easy task into quite the ordeal.  Once she was free she took off running to the nearest group of kids.  She had a smile from ear to ear and her arms were waving, she was clapping her hands, she even said, "HEY!" to a little boy.

Then from the right I see a boy about 3 years old come straight at her and knock her down.  It was clear he did not want her playing with the boys.  She fell back hard, landing on her bum and then finally laying on her back.  Joseph jumped up instantly, saying things that should never be said around children.  I sat and watched in horror as my little girls heart broke to pieces on that playground.  The wail that followed her spill was awful.  I wanted to cry right along with her.  For the first time I watched my innocent and truly happy baby girl be knocked down by a BULLY.  Her excitement and joy, gone.

Joseph picked her up and snuggled her, wiping her tears and bringing her over to her mother.  She reached for me, sobbing.  Her big round eyes met with mine and my heart broke.  Her eyes said, "Mommy what did I do to deserve that?"  I kissed her little cheeks and I laid her head on my shoulder and said, "It's ok baby, you are just fine!"  I smiled at her and I let her know that she was a tough girl and that she could still go have fun.  Once her sobs (and I mean SOBS) quieted I set her back on her feet and said, "OK, GO!"  This is her cue to take off squealing and swinging those arms.  She looked out at the bigger kids, looked back at me, and whimpered.  She was scared.  That BULLY had instilled fear in my happy, confident, friendly baby girl.

I looked straight ahead to the bully and his mother and our gazes locked.  She mouthed, "I'M SO SORRY!" as she was strapping him into his stroller.  I smiled and let her know it was ok.  Her boy was mean.  He hurt my baby for no apparent reason.  Behavior that should not be allowed or accepted.  In my opinion his mom did the right thing.  She was at Ayla's side before Joseph was.  She pulled her son aside and she sternly told him that what he did was bad.  She removed him from the situation, telling him that if he is mean to people then he doesn't get the reward of playing on the toys.  By the time he was strapped in and they were leaving the boy was crying himself.  Most likely out of self pity for not being able to play, but maybe eventually he will learn that being mean to others is not ok.

I took Ayla's hand and we walked to the slide.  I helped her slide down and we finally had a slight smile.  Holding her hand we walked around the giant tree house.  As we rounded the corner a little boy jumped out in front of us.  Ayla instantly gripped my leg and looked up at me.  The little boy said, "Hi, I'm Mason! What's your name!" Directed at Ayla.  I said, "Hi Mason, this is Ayla."  He responded with, "HI LYA! I betcha can't get me!" And he turned away, running, and laughing hoping that Ayla would follow.  She looked at me.  I said, "GET HIM!"  Her face broke into the biggest smile.  She laughed.  She ran.  She chased Mason around the playground giggling and squealing until it was time to go.

This is Mason.  That is Ayla chasing after him.

I'm sorry for the blurriness... He even chased her and look how happy she was!

The moral of my story?  Everywhere we go we will encounter bullies.  Sometimes they will even knock us down.  As defeating as this can be, we can't forget the good.  We can't forget that around the corner there will be a Mason who will encourage us to keep running and keep smiling.

As scary as this world is and as mean as some people seem to be, no matter how much we may highlight the bad, I cannot lose my faith in humanity.  As Ayla's example of a woman I need her to know that it's ok to look for the good.  To be good we need to surround ourselves in good and when a bully knocks us down we need to get back up and find a Mason.  We need to keep our head up, our arms swinging, and keep a smile on our face.

Even though her feelings were hurt she left smiling!