birthday girl gets a new outfit!

today is my baby girl's birthday! and to make her feel extra special i decided (yesterday... typical) to make her a new outfit. 

i used a tutorial from one of my favorite sewing blogs, Make It and Love It. i love the step by step, easy to read instructions and photos she provides. it makes it easy for me to follow along, especially since i wouldn't consider myself an advanced sewer. i've really learned a lot from making things off her site. for this one i used her "little girl romper" tute. i also really love that she has a lot of boy stuff on there. 

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i've had my eye on this super cute romper i found on pinterest for a while, and i happened to have a similar red polka dot fabric laying around.

i love how it turned out. the only changes i made to the original tutorial is that instead of making the chest area pleated, i added eyelet ruffles. i also added cuffs on the shorts with coordinating tiny polka dot fabric and a matching headband. 

she loves it too. i had it hanging up and when she came down stairs for the first time this morning she saw it right away and said, "thank you for my beautiful outfit mommy!". 

love her. 

Amalya, happy birthday sweet girl! you are growing up so fast. it really does seem like you were just a toddler, running around and jabbering words only we could understand. but now your favorite thing to do is "chat" at the table with us and carry on long discussions about your favorite things. you have so much personality, you are so animated and add drama and flair to every dance or song you sing. i see you changing, and understanding the struggles in your heart more. i see you working hard to obey and learning how to ask for things with words and not being so quick to throw a fit. i'm so proud of you for that! i prayed for you and you are a gift to our family, the perfect fit. God did not make a mistake on you, and i hope that as you grow you will learn that beauty comes from within, not from your outward appearance. i pray that God would capture your heart, even now, so that you will spend all the days of your life giving him the glory. i pray He will reveal His will for you to us and to you early on so you will never wander, and that you will use your gifts to bring him honor. 

you are so dearly loved, sweet girl. what a joy it is to be your mommy. 

xoxo,

mommy

gluten free chocolate crepes

probably one of my favorite things to do is cook. i've always loved it. i can remember experimenting with my own cookie recipes as young as 8 or 9. standing in the kitchen adding a dash of this and a sprinkle of that. it was just so relaxing, and exciting. the difference now is that back then my food never turned out very good and now i have kids that either want to help or just cry while wrapped to my ankle because they are "starving"... which, in turn, makes it very stressful. but then my husband comes home and saves me so i can claim that time to myself again. Saturday mornings are nice too because my husband is home and i can get up while everyone is still snuggling and cook in the quiet of the morning.

i recently came across the most beautiful picture of chocolate crepes on pinterest and had it set in my mind to make my own version. we eat a paleo "template"" diet, but almost every Saturday i like to have a cheat breakfast to make fun memories with the kids. this morning we had gluten free chocolate crepes. 

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my "cheat" version is made from gluten free flour... which is made out of fava beans and potatoes or something. makes me feel like it's better than straight up wheat. some people would beg to differ, but whatevs. i also sprayed these suckers down with whipped cream... FROM THE CAN. then sprayed it straight into my mouth. oh yes. i'm a paleo rebel. (under regular paleo circumstances i usually whip my own whipped cream and sweeten with honey or stevia.)

really, no one cares. because it's my muffin top that really suffers. and the sugar coma i head into directly after consuming such ridiculous foods. (please catch onto the sarcastic tone, i don't need any haters!)

this was not my first time making crepes. i do it pretty often actually. Big A's favorite crepe is filled with Nutella and banana slices. little a's fav is lemon curd with blueberries. i prefer a blueberry and sour cream crepe myself while the hubby likes almond butter and banana in his. for this recipe i took my ushe and added cocoa powder... easy peasy.

now for the recipe.

{GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE CREPES}

1 cup bob's redmill gluten free all purpose flour 

1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1 egg

1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder 

whisk all ingredients til there are no lumps. spray your nonstick pan down with cooking spray (the healthy kind!) and add 1/4 cup batter, swirl around pan til thinly coated. wait a sec then flip it. donezo.

what did you have for breakfast?? do you have any special Saturday morning food traditions? i'd love to hear about them. 

if you hurry, you can still make this for tomorrow. go now and run to the store! 

love, 

tara

new dinnerware + linen napkins

guys, my table is super fancy right now! and for no special reason.

i know, i know... you're all... whoa, what? you can't just be gone from blogging for more than a month and then be all up in our face with a fancy table! we're not your booty call, that you can just show up whenever you want and expect some love...

sorry guys, i totally understand. i guess i'm just struggling to commit to this internet relationship. but you know what? i do like you, a lot. just trying to figure out if i want to be married or just date you occasionally. it's not you. it's me. 

haha. 

wow, there are a lot of awkward relationship references going on right now. sorry. 

anyway, like i said. my table is fancy. before i took my long break from blogging (which was to join my husband in San Diego for 4 weeks of summer camp at Hume SD), in an effort to find something unimportant to take away the stress of packing my entire family for 4 weeks, i decided it would be a good idea to make a dozen linen napkins... that we wouldn't be using for over a month... just because... it wasn't like i had anything else to do... like pack....

and a few weeks before we left i went garage selling with my good friend and scored on some white dinnerware! i don't know if you remember how much i've been wanting white dinnerware, but here's a reminder. i used my new napkins and dinnerware as an opportunity to set my table up all fancy. 

and the best part was that the kids helped! they loved joining in the assembly line and layering all the pieces. after i took pictures we enjoyed an equally fancy lunch of hot dogs, carrots, and cottage cheese with apple sauce. CLASSY. they were excited and that's all that matters. 

the dishes are Centura by Corning and i hear they are actually real vintage. i looked up purchasing a couple bowls and one bowl is running $15 to replace. i got 10, 6 piece place settings for.... $10!!!! so excited. 

for the napkins, i purchased several yards of linen in the color Lake (its a deep teal if you can't tell in the pictures) and used this sewing tutorial to make 10 mitered napkins. the latte bowls are from Anthro, and my silverware and water glasses are from Ikea.

i love my table this way. the kids want to keep it this way "FOREVER!!!"... now i just need to host a dinner party so other people can enjoy it!

xoxo,

tara