Snow Days

When we went to bed Monday evening we knew there would be a chance of snow on Tuesday morning. The forecast has become more of a possibility than a prediction in my opinion so I was surprised when I woke up and saw an inch of snow with more coming. Ellie slept in until after 9:00 so I stayed in bed late, too. Before my design engineer left for work he told me that he had started a fire in the basement for us. I love our wood fireplace so after I fed Ellie and snagged breakfast we took down my Bible Study homework and Ellie's pacifier and camped out in front of the flames. Ellie enjoyed watching the fire while I struggled to identify my colored pencils in the low light. A small pile of wood is stored in our unfinished part so I took from that supply to keep the fire going.
After lunch I tried to determine if I wanted to drive. After texting Dad I decided to postpone my easy to move lesson that was scheduled for 3:30 to Wednesday and brave the weather for my 4:30 lesson. It probably snowed close to 3 inches, making the prediction of 1-3 inches fairly accurate. I had lined up Mimi to watch Ellie since Grandma and Grandpa were just coming home from Paoli so I fed Ellie before putting her up in the crib. She was fussing a bit so I gave mom the noise machine and said that I hoped she'd fall asleep soon. I went to grab my things and walked out the door. Before I was sitting in my car Mom popped her head out the door to say that Ellie was already asleep. She's a good girl!
Following my piano lesson Ellie and I went home and I put that little girl to sleep in her crib before Jon arrived home. In the mid-afternoon Jon asked if I wanted him to bring home a pizza for dinner so he came in the door with a large pizza: half supreme and half buffalo chicken. After dinner we asked Peter and Brittany over for FIFA and sewing.
Brittany brought her crocheting (she is making a blanket for a Christmas present) and I worked on another doll quilt for Ellie's cousin. Jon proved victorious in FIFA and Peter went home with a new desire to win next time. Although our evening ended by 10:30 I decided to go to bed after Ellie woke up and ate so that I could optimize my sleep time.
Today proved to be a busy day. Waking up at 8:00 I hopped in the shower after Jon while baby was snoozing. I had planned a crockpot dinner so I threw an onion, chicken, salsa verde, and various seasonings into the pot before getting ready for Bible Study. Jon hadn't seen his little peanut of a daughter all day yesterday so he asked to wake her up before leaving for work. He went into her room and started talking to her and she opened one eye, saw him talking to her, closed it with furrowed brow and turned her head to the wall. She's already acting like a teenager!
Jon waited until I was finished preparing dinner before leaving for work and I quickly got ready for study and fed Ellie. We miraculously left the house by 9:05 and arrived at study on time. About 15 minutes into our time I took Ellie into the nursery telling the girls that they should come get me if she gets fussy and that she should be tired. Following study I nursed her before heading out the door.
Our home desperately needed a few staple grocery items so I went and picked up a cart load of groceries at Walmart. The Lord was merciful and Ellie remained content in her car seat the entire shopping trip. Previously I had planned to pick up something for lunch before heading to my 1:30 meeting but we zipped through shopping faster than I anticipated so we had enough time to head home beforehand. The car had been on empty since I left for Bible Study and Ellie fell asleep on our way out of Walmart so I stopped to fuel up before dropping the groceries at home. Since little stinker was sleeping I left her in the car and heated up my last slice of pizza from dinner for lunch. I checked on her and she was starting to open her eyes so I took my lunch and drove to Elverson. Parking at Grandma and Grandpa's house I ate my lunch while baby slept. I surprised myself when I arrived to the meeting 10 minutes early.
Determining the details for the Women's Christmas Social took the entire time between 1:30 and my 3:00 lesson. I excused myself at 2:55 and headed over to Brooke Stoltzfus' house to teach her flute. Ellie watched us the first half of the lesson until Aunt Carol came and took her for the second. Ellie was tired because she once again fell asleep while I was driving home so I once again left her in the car while I packed up half of my dinner for Kelly and Josh and headed to Morgantown.
My lesson where I usually have Ellie with me (where she has been noisy the past few weeks) was moved to a later time today so I asked Kelly to watch Ellie. Since I was making a meal that makes enough to feed a tribe I offered half to her and Josh. I nursed Ellie and told Kelly the last minute preparations for the dinner before running home to teach Kaitlyn piano lessons.
Jon agreed to pick up Ellie on his way home from work so following my piano lesson I had a few minutes to myself. I read Haley & Emily's blog in the first free five minutes before preparing the fresh vegetables for dinner. Jon and Ellie arrived and I put dinner on the table. Ellie obviously wanted her own dinner so I fed her and laid her down before eating. After the dishes were cleaned up Ellie and I left for Bible Study at Brittany's house. It became apparent that she was feeling the effect of being away all day so I took her upstairs after several minutes and tried to put her to sleep. Throughout the first 30 minutes of the study I had to run up and pop her pacifier back into her mouth but she finally fell asleep. We headed home around 10:00 but she was not happy when I woke her up. She cried whenever I wasn't swinging the carseat back and forth and wailed almost the entire trip home, stopping only briefly every few minutes to give her pacifier a few sucks. When I got her out of the carseat at home her eyes were all red and her face was blotchy! She might be like her cousin, Calla! After eating as though she was famished she fell asleep easily and is in a quiet slumber. I am starting to feel the effects of our day, too, and am ready for my bed.

I decided to paste the recipe for our dinner. It's a very easy and tasty meal. Jon and I prefer tomatoes, peppers (I like yellow ones best), sour cream, cilantro, and lime juice with it. So I make rice and we wrap it up burrito style with the chicken shredded. The most important additives are the cilantro and lime juice. This recipe, especially if you eat it shredded and with rice, makes a lot of food. We usually eat it for several days if we have to eat it all.

Green Tomatillo Chicken

6 boneless chicken breasts


1 medium onion sliced


2 cloves garlic, minced


1 tsp cumin


1 tsp oregano


1 tsp salt


1 tsp pepper


1 Tbs lime juice


1 jar tomatillo salsa (a green salsa - I just use what I've found at Walmart)


1 1/2 low fat or fat free sour cream ( you can also sub in plain fat free yogurt)

Place chicken in crock (frozen or thawed, doesn’t matter).
Mix all other ingredients, except sour cream, and pour over chicken.
Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours. Remove chicken and add sour cream into sauce. Stir well.
You can either pour sauce over whole chicken pieces or shred it and serve over brown rice. Sometimes I add a can of beans (whatever kind you like, rinsed to get rid of some of the sodium) to amp up the fiber.

Ellieisms: 

Her cry has escalated from loud to LOUD.

I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures today. Here are two from yesterday: 

Watching the flames

Checking out the snow