Picture Wall

Ever since I was inspired by this wall and this wall, I've wanted to do my own picture wall. So when we moved into our new house, I collected all the picture frames I owned, and tried to put them together. I tried every combination I could think of, but they just wouldn't flow with each other nicely.

And then I remembered that I had a bunch of identical matted frames, so I decided to use those instead. And here's what I came up with:


I think I like it.

Meet Quincy

All this year, I thought the next member of our family would be a baby boy. Turns out, it's a kitten.

This is Quincy.

He's tiny and skinny and has a thing for head scratches.

And he has 3 brothers & a sister, if anyone is looking.

Books and Life Transitions

In our house, we've been fortunate to have the world of children's literature to help us through the toughest of 2-year-old life changes.

Here's Sophie with her two newest books:

Sophie's Big Bed

and

Sophie and the New Baby

We've been reading Sophie's Big Bed ever since we moved into our new house. Sophie has been sleeping in the crib in the nursery, but last week, we finally got a mattress for her twin bed, and she decided one afternoon that she wanted to sleep there. So we read that book every night before bed to remind her what a big girl she is.

And then a couple of days ago, Sophie and the New Baby arrived in the mail, so we've started to read that and learn all about new babies. Sophie seems to understand that our new baby is in my tummy, and will come out some time soon (we'll see if she really gets it next month though). At one point in the book, the character Sophie doesn't like the new baby, and exclaims "I don't want that baby anymore!" After we read that page, Sophie turned to me and said "Mom, I don't want our new baby anymore too." I suggested we continue reading to see what happens in the book before she made that decision.

Dear Old Navy

Dear Old Navy Maternity Shirts,

Why are you the only shirts I own (in my maternity wardrobe) that do this:


Did you forget that maternity shirts are supposed to cover up a belly? Why do I have plenty of regular (non-maternity) shirts still in my rotation that do a superior job of covering my bump? Your only job in life is to cover a pregnant belly for a couple of months. That's it. And you're failing. And I still have a month of belly growth left. What's your deal?

Thank you for your time. I wish I could return all of you.

Regards,
Abbie

A Comparison (part 2)

8 Months, 1 Day

(34 weeks, 5 days)




















Pregnancy #1 .................................. Pregnancy #2
................................................... (today)

Pretty much identical.

Foodie Friday #15 - Fry Bread House

Welcome back to Foodie Friday.

(for an explanation of the ratings, see here)

Fry Bread House
4140 N. 7th Ave. Phoenix

Price: $$

Taste: * * * *
S&A: * * *
Value: * * * *

Jake and I make it to The Fry Bread House about once a year. This is due to the location being far away, and the ability it has to clog major arteries with one meal. But oh, is it delicious. (and owned/operated by the Tohono O'odham tribe, which is down near Tucson).

We each had a fry bread taco, but really came for the dessert (more on that later). I got the vegetarian taco (beans, green chilis, lettuce, tomatoes, & sour cream served in fry bread) and Jake got a regular Indian Taco (very similar to mine, but with beef instead of chilis & sour cream). The tables have bottles of red sauce to add to your tacos. They come folded in half, but unfolded, are the size of your plate. Just huge. We liked both, but agreed that mine was the better of the two.

When we ordered our meal, we also ordered a dessert fry bread to share, with butter, powdered sugar, and honey. They didn't make it until we were nearly done with our tacos, so that it would be piping hot when we were ready to eat it. I would drive to Phoenix weekly for this thing (if it wasn't 115 degrees outside). It is fabulous. This time around, the fry bread is about twice the size of your plate, and thinner than the taco shell. I couldn't find a picture that showed off its true enormity, but it's about the size of a medium pizza. It's crispy, gooey goodness just melts in your mouth and then rests heavily in your stomach for the next several hours.


Overall Rating: 3¾ Stars