christmas will come...

A very close family friend of ours would always say the title of this post, "Christmas will come" and I remember how it would always make my mom laugh. Now I understand why... as everyone stresses out if the shopping, cooking, baking, wrapping will be done for the 25th you have to remember if you don't finish something Christmas will still come. It is ok if you only bake one batch of Christmas cookies or decide to shortcut a recipe for Christmas dinner Christmas will still come and you should enjoy it. Well... I am trying to keep that mantra alive while I attempt to get everything done in time for Christmas. Gavin is sick, really snotty, coughy and fever sick. Ugh. And I am trying to bake baby as I posted last time. Well, for everyone who is trying hard to get ready for Christmas to come here is a VERY easy recipe that you can make for a dinner this week.

Real Simple Shepherd's Pie (From Real Simple magazine)

1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey
1 1.2 ounce pkg. chicken gravy mix (such as Knorr)
1 10 oz package frozen peas, thawed
1 20 oz package mashed potaotes (such as Simply Potatoes)
1/4 to 1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano (I am generous with this)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. I a large skillet, cook the turkey until it is no longer pink. Add the gravy mix and 1 cup water. Stir frequently until the sauce comes to a boil; cook 1 minute. Lightly coat a 9 in. square baking dish or 4 16 oz baking dishes with vegetable cooking spray. Spoon in the turkey. Top with the peas, then the mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with the Pecorino Romano. Bake 20 minutes or until heated through and the top is golden.

Yield: Makes 4 servings

Good Luck!!

to triage we go...

So the title of this blog is The Bowers in Pursuit... well I am going to title this post as In the Pursuit of Baking, and I don't mean Christmas cookies! I mean baking baby. We are in the pursuit of baking baby!!! Mark and I spent about 2 hours last night with me hooked up to monitors after I had a contraction yesterday afternoon. Everything is fine now, but what a scare. I went into pre-term labor and then bed rest during my pregnancy with Gavin and I am determined to stay off the couch this time. Especially with my adorable toddler running around! The trip to the hospital was a good reminder that I am approaching my third trimester and I have got to take good care of myself and that little girl. It also made me think how our motherly instinct kicks in so early to do anything we can to protect a little person that we haven't even met yet. I am so happy being pregnant right now. As I type this I feel her little kicks telling me she is here and is ok. I just want her to chill out and be more patient than her big brother was!!!

Three fun things did happen while we were at the hospital last night! Mark and I laughed after we enjoyed two quiet hours with no dogs, baby, telephone or any other interruptions. Someone was there to take care of us and we talked and relaxed. It was heaven! We joked that we should go to the hospital more often!! The second thing was Mark told me a story that made me laugh SO hard I could not stop. The monitors on my belly were bouncing all around and the computer machine was going crazy!! I couldn't stop laughing as I thought of the nurse coming back in and reading the monitor and wondering what was going on with our baby!!! I guess you always have to find a laugh in any moment! And the last thing is the best. For any parent out there who has ever had to clean out a babies nose you know how important a good nasal aspirator is. Well... Gavin has a nasty cold right now and what good mom couldn't help but notice (even while be monitored for signs of labor) a well stocked labor and delivery room with hospital grade snot suckers!!! I screamed to Mark to grab one and have already happily used it today! Mark said it was worth the trip!! Probably so... with the addition of spending quiet time with my hubby and listening to my little baby girl's heart beat and movement for a couple hours. It was all worth it!

gavin is two...

I can't believe Gavin is now two! He even says that he is two and he tries to show you on his little hand, but ends up making some freakish claw!!! I told Mark yesterday that on his first birthday I felt more of an accomplishment that we had made it through the first year. This year I feel much more sentimental. Yesterday, his actually birthday, I watched the clock and thought back about how I was in labor, until the moment he came into this world. I thought about our first day and night together and how Mark and I watched him nervously to make sure he was ok. I think we were more in awe and wonder. I can't believe how much he has evolved over these past two years, and I can't believe how much I love that sweet little soul.

On Sunday we threw Gavin a birthday party. It was a lot to get together, but he deserves it and seeing him enjoy everyone and everything SO much made it all worth it. Here is a little peek at how we celebrated our growing little boy.

Gavin LOVES Elmo so we chose that much loved little monster for his party. I knew most of the guests were adults so I wanted the decorations to be tasteful. I started with what is the focal point of our house right now, our Christmas trees. I feel bad for the boy that he has his special day so close to Christmas so I transformed our trees into Elmo trees with the help of my printer and scalloped edged scissors.

I knew the majority of our guests were adults so I divided our great room into two areas, adult seating and Elmo's World with toddler friendly activities, but chairs for adults to sit in and partake in the action.

I used a box from a mirror we have and filled it with balls and covered the edges with paper for the ball pit. I also filled this block/activity table with rice and added Sesame Street characters and cups for a rice table. Both were a HUGE hit!!

 I added some blue polka-dot pillows to our couch to compliment the color theme of the party...

 Covered the gift table and the food table in cheap fabric...

 And made these Elmo toothpick decorations to adorn the food. All I did for these were print, cut and then hot glue the circles to toothpicks. Mark even helped glue!! :)

I found the Elmo buckets in the $1 bins at Target and bought the red and white polka-dot napkins months ago on sale!

 I made favors for both the adults and kids to thank them in celebrating the day with us. The adults got fish spritz cookies that I made with my cookie press... because Elmo does love his goldfish Dorothy. I added a special message to each.

 The kids got a bag including a book, crayons, play figure and more goldfish. I again found the books and figurines in the $1 bins at Target!

But do you want to see the best part of this party?

This face... :)

that fuzzy red little fellow...

While most people are busy getting ready for the man in the red suit to arrive I have been busy getting ready for THIS fuzzy red guy to come to our house!

Here is a small peek at some of the things I have been collecting, creating, and... cutting LOTS of cutting!!

Can't wait for the big day and to share the finished products with you!

too many hats...

In my life I wear many hats. I attempt to juggle these hats successfully one day at a time, but boy are they weighing me down lately!! Here are some things I have been juggling...

I have been working on trying to get all of this up...

I actually spent all Saturday decorating our tree. Of course as I tried to juggle taking care of all of us and trying to watch a toddler underfoot. And did I mention all three of us came down with colds on Friday!! :)

I also have been trying to work on this...

Gavin's second birthday party is this Sunday and this week is crunch time!

And all the while I have been still trying to work on this...

Getting the books for the businesses updated is kicking my butt!! I also had to try to help Mark with a design, which he ended up finishing... sorry Mark, and help with a bunch of other random stuff.

I also need to work on Christmas gifts, Christmas cards, my mother-in-law kindly asked me to send pictures of the boy months ago, (I think she has given up on me), I have to take Fisher to the vet, call a friend, plan Gavin's new room to figure out what he needs for gifts, write a few thank you cards... yada yada yada. Whew... wish me luck. I have a plan though!!! The dogs have already had a good walk, I have organized my book work for the day and Gavin is not even awake yet. Yay!!

Good luck for me and good luck to all of you!!