Dear Baby Girl (9)

Dear Liza,
You were a rockstar when you slept for 7.5 hours straight last night!  Even though you were wide-awake at 4:47AM, I didn't mind because your sweet smiles are awesome.  But I have to tell you that when you cry as I walk out the door to head to work it makes my heart break a little.  I love that you know your momma and you don't like it when I go (a feeling I'm sure I'll wish for when you're a teenager and I'm so not cool anymore), but it sure does make it hard to walk out the door.  Anyway kiddo, hang in there for 2 more work days.  Then we get to play in sunny Florida for a week.  Your dad and I can't wait to show you sandy beaches and an ocean of salt water (though I'm pretty sure you'll like our unsalted Burt Lake water better)! 
Love,
Your Momma

p.s. we've been slacking on our 40 posts in 40 days...but hopefully we can make up for that soon when that whole Masters/Doctorate thing slows down.

Snowshoe Sunday (8)

Doesn't it look like Candy Land with white icing??

Yesterday JW and I had a change to get outside and enjoy the lovely foot of snow that blanketed Northern Michigan late Friday night and early Saturday morning.  It was gorgeous and it was nice to have some time to spend together (Liza hung at Grandma and Grandpa's since it was pretty chilly out). 

Tunnel of Trees...

My mom wrote this earlier that day when they had hiked the same trail!

Naan naan naan naan (7)

Yesterday was glorious: a snow day for me and a bonus day for Liza and I. My baby girl is growing up and seems to be doing something new everyday. It's amazing. She's also seemed to kick her cold and was smiley, chatty, and giggling a lot of the day. It made going back to work tough today. The countdown is on to spring break...30 days till Florida. Anyyyyyyway, I wanted to share with you a quick dinner that we frequently fix during the week.

But first let me tell you that weeknight dinners at our houses would be skittles and ice cream if we didn't plan ahead. Ok maybe not skittles, but there's always room for ice cream. In order to keep ourselves healthy and prevent being avid supporters of local takeout, we rely on a meal plan and meal prep on the weekends.

Since I was home yesterday and had time, I threw a frozen bag of chicken in the crockpot with a jar of spicy cherry BBQ sauce and a cup of water. The plan was to make shredded BBQ chicken and freeze it. However, the house smelled too good not to have it for dinner and therefore we pushed our stirfry back a night. I didn't want BBQ chicken sandwiches though.

Thankfully I had picked up some naan at the grocery store earlier in the day. If you haven't tried naan, you should soon...and with butter...and on the grill in the summertime! I digress. Anyway, we've discovered that naan makes a great, quick pizza crust.

Therefore, we made this quick pizza of BBQ chicken, red peppers, bacon and mozzarella cheese. We baked it at 400 for about 5 minutes and had dinner. Anybody else have a great, quick izza recipe out there?