Nasty Pancakes and Good Bread

One of the things I love about the Fall season is the flavors and food.  One of my favorite autumnal ingredients is pumpkin.  I had a HUGE can of pumpkin leftover in my pantry just waiting to be used.  While I could have waited until November since the expiration was far, far away, I just had to bust it out.  I had good intentions of making pumpkin pancakes for breakfast this weekend.  I used some pancake mix and added the usual suspects, eggs and milk.  Then, I thought I would add some pumpkin, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves.  Sounds good right?!  Wrong!  I made like 3 pancakes and thought to myself: "This is weird!"  The flavor was great but the texture was disgusting.  Rick of course didn't care and ate them anyways but I was not having it.  I HATE to waste anything.  I was determined to use all that batter.  I poured it into two baking pans and made pumpkin bread!  It's not the perfect texture of what I would normally make but it was pretty good.  This pumpkin bread was like a metaphor for life.  While things might not turn out the way we planned (mushy and disgusting pancakes), God shows us His own plans for our lives.  He somehow changes us and molds our lives into something good, sweet, and delicious (pumpkin bread).

Rick and I try to go on dates as often as we can.  It can get expensive to do this so I am always scoping out deals.  Groupons are my best friend when it comes to dates and presents for local friends.  I found a Groupon for Pilar Restaurant and that's where we went on Saturday night.  It's an American restaurant and it had pretty good food and great service.  We drank sangria and had good bread to start.  Rick ordered the Asian braised short ribs with bok choy and sticky rice and I had the skirt steak with Chimichurri sauce and garlic mashed potatoes! It was good.  Rick always has to have dessert (and I pick at it), so he got a flourless chocolate cake and a cappuccino.  We headed off to a movie after dinner too.  We had a nice time just the two of us.

This was a cute picture I had to share of Fiona from our recent Birmingham trip.  Isn't she beautiful!?

This is Fiona's first ponytail.  It reminds me of my side ponytails from the 80's and early 90's when this was in fashion.  :)  Look at all her hair!

We went to the park a couple of times this week.  While we were there having lunch with Rick one day, we let Fiona go out in the grass to play.  She decided to stand up on her own!  She has been standing and cruising the walls and furniture for 4 months, but has never stood from the ground up unassisted before!  Go Fifi!

Birmingham Trip

We went to Birmingham a week ago and spent some time with our friends and family.  It was a whirlwind trip and a short one, unfortunately, but we had a lot of fun.  We got to meet our sweet nephew Garrett.  We wished we had gotten to see him more.  It's hard to live out of town when the family starts expanding.  Babies are a wonderful, precious addition and Garrett is just beautiful.  He is growing well and his parents, Lea and Russell, are so happy to have him.

We also got to go to our brother-in-laws band's, Act of Congress, CD release show.  We had a wonderful time at Bottega Cafe for dinner beforehand with my Dinner Club friends and their husbands.  They are incredibly funny, smart, beautiful, and entertaining.  :)  I miss those girls so badly.  They are the best friends a girl could have.  We then migrated to Workplay Theatre for the show.  Act of Congress was fabulous and the house was packed.  There was standing room only.  Jessica, my sister, was nice enough to reserve a booth so we had a place to sit and enjoy the show.

We stayed at my sister's house and one night decided to have a movie night.  The DVD player was in Fiona's bedroom and she was already asleep.  We didn't want to risk waking her so they had a good idea to hook up Adam's computer to a projector Jessica had for work and project the movie on the wall in the sitting room.  Adam finagled the equipment and even got his amp out for the sound.  We moved their couch to face the big wall and it worked!  It was so fun!  It was like having our own personal movie theatre.  Rick told them they should do that every time they watch a movie.  Although, Adam was sweet to go to all that trouble, I'm not sure he would want to do all that work all the time.  It was really fun.  

Fiona was a champ on the plane rides.  She is such a good traveler and a sweet girl.  She's been getting teeth in.  She is getting her third tooth in now in a month.  Whew!  She is talking so much more and repeating new words and sounds.  She's just developing at a rapid pace these days.

Rick was very busy this week with the Children's Musical at church.  He had a few late nights rehearsing and doing the shows.  Last night he came home and had a rose.  Two adorable little girls (sisters) that were in the  musical gave him the rose and a cookie as a thank you.  It was so sweet and you know he ate that cookie.

We are gearing up to start a new semester of Young Adults home group this week and will be starting the slue of social events for the summer now that college students are coming home.  It's always fun and very busy.  Never a dull moment at the Barnes house.

Birthday Pictures!

These are some pictures from Fiona's party and the shoot that we did in the park with Jessica. I had a lot of fun making and drawing the decorations. Fiona looked so cute in her T-shirt I customized on etsy.com. I thought it would be fun for Rick and I to wear themed T-shirts too. :)

Jessica is good at baby shoots. She knows they can't pay attention too long, so she gets all the shots in no time. She did a wonderful job in getting Fiona to smile and getting the best moments. I ordered so many prints. I can't wait to put them in her baby album. I also got a couple to frame and put in her room.

Easter has come and gone. Rick did a fabulous job on the Good Friday concert and Easter services! He works so hard on that music for months ahead of time. The choir and musicians did really well too. It was very reflective, thought provoking, and uplifting. We are both glad it's over even though we enjoy the worship part of it. It is an exhausting process for both of us. It's been nice for Rick to be home more this week. We missed him at home very much. Here's a clip of the song the band and choir did to close the service this past week:

Even more exciting news, we have a nephew! Garrett is here! He is a healthy 8 lbs 12 oz and 22 in. We are loving being an aunt and uncle. Mommy and baby are doing well. We can't to meet him and love on him. Congratulations, Lea and Russell. You are starting the roller coaster ride of your life. It's pretty fun and wild.

1st Birthday Party

It's been a while since I've posted. We've had so much going on. Rick is getting ready for his big Easter concert. The couple of months before are usually packed with extra work time and rehearsals and that means more mommy and Fiona time too. There doesn't leave much time for writing!

Fiona is about to turn one year old! She is such a big girl and a sweet one too. I had been planning her Dr. Seuss party for a while and working on gathering supplies, recipes, and making decorations. It was really fun and I enjoyed it. My sister Jessica and my friend Stephanie came down and stayed with us for a whole week! It was so much fun to have them. They were a huge help to me in cooking and setting up. I think Jessica washed my dishes for me about every day she was here. I have such sweet friends.

Rick babysat one day they were in town and the three of us got to hang out. We went to the beach for a while and went out to dinner that night. I chose a French Oyster Bar and Bistro in downtown Hollywood called Sage. The food was good and they had this funny singer there. He kept coming over to our table and serenading us. Oh goodness....We went to my favorite bakery afterwards and got pastry. Yum! We got to just walk around for a while, enjoy the live music on the street, and enjoy each other's company. It was so nice.

The party was fun and relaxed. We had lots of food and sweet friends. We love Dr. Seuss and had that theme going. Fiona was great and definitely enjoyed her cupcake! I made Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes and gave her one to eat. She picked up the whole thing and shoved it in her mouth! It was adorable. It was a sweet time to see her have her first birthday party!

My sister is a wonderful photographer and she was gracious enough to take photos of this event. I am blessed to have her around to take pictures periodically of Fi because I am a terrible photographer. My pictures aren't the best and I always forget the camera! With her around, I get beautiful, memorable moments caught on film and they are quality too! I am lucky for sure. I am looking forward to seeing pictures of the party and I will post them soon. Jessica also did a brief shoot in the park of Fiona by herself. We love that girl.

The girls were nice enough to babysit Fiona one night of their visit so Rick and I could go to my friend's wedding. It was at night in Miami at a Spanish Monastery. It was beautiful! It was the perfect place for a wedding. It had a gorgeous courtyard all lit up that night with good food and sweet friends. Soon thereafter the girls had to leave. It was sad to see Aunt Jessica and Aunt Stephanie go. We will all miss them dearly. I know Fiona had a wonderful time visiting with them too.

Rick's 29th Birthday

Rick's 29th Birthday is today! Happy Birthday to Ricky. He had to work of course, but for the rest of the day his wish was to play golf. So he got a buddy from church and they golfed all afternoon. He had a great time. He had birthday brownies and blew out his candle when he got home. :)

Like most people, we try to go to a nice restaurant for birthdays. Rick's favorite food is Thai food so that's what he chose this year. We went to Oishi Thai two years ago on his birthday as well and it was as good as we remembered. Rick is a creature of habit, if he gets something once and likes it, he gets it every time. He repeated his order this year and got cashew salmon. He loved it and ate it all, which is rare for him. I got a filet mignon with Thai basil sauce. It was tender and spicy. Our food was DELICIOUS! We will definitely be back.

We went to Baskin Robbins afterwards for Rick to get his free birthday scoop. I get emails from them every month and they send me coupons for a BOGO ice cream flavor of the month. We love our desserts.

So, Rick had a good, relaxing birthday. Woohoo!

My Valentines

I love my two Valentines, Rick and Fiona. We got to celebrate this week together. Here are a few recent pictures of Fiona first:

Fiona was given a balloon at Publix during our shopping trip that day and loved it. She played with it a long time.

She's so pretty in yellow.

Picnic in the park with Daddy. This is my favorite T-shirt she wears. The color shows off her eyes and it has a panda with a pink mohawk playing an electric silver sparkle guitar. :)

She started walking along the walls this week! She is going to be walking in no time. I heard her coming into our room and when I turned around, I expected her to be crawling, but she was walking into our room! And yes, it is that warm in February that she's wearing that onesie by itself.

My other Valentine and I went out on a date this weekend to celebrate Valentine's Day. We went downtown to a fun place we went to last year, Lola's on Harrison. We had a fun time.

Rick got the lamb neck with polenta. He wasn't a huge fan but was glad he branched out.

It got the ricotta gnocchi with mushroom sauce. Yum!!!

The view from our seat. Not a great picture but it was nice. We could see the bustling street outside.

There is a bakery just a few blocks away that we really enjoy on a special occasion. After dinner, we walked over and enjoyed some pastry. I would never guess in a million years Rick's favorite thing at this bakery would be anything involving fruit, but he loves the fruit tart at Chocolada. Rick has even said to me, "If a dessert doesn't have some kind of chocolate, what's the point?" Yet, there he was eating that tart. I got the vanilla eclair and we shared. It was delicious. Meanwhile, right outside the bakery, there was a live performer, as do many restaurants downtown. Fortunately, south Florida has outdoor seating about 10-11 months out of the year because of the very warm weather, so the music never stops. :) We had a wonderful time together.

Our Life This Week

I, Stacy, with two other women (mothers and also good friends of mine) head up a Mothers of Young Children group at our church through our Women's Ministry. We started recently and decided this year in 2012 to do an achievable "resolution" every month for every mother in the church with a child 6 and under. This month, since Valentine's Day is coming up and February is known as the month of love, we did a challenge for the moms and kids. The kids are making a valentine and sending it to one home-centered member of our church. The moms are doing a love challenge. :) They are all married so we decided to do something centered around love and marriage. One of the moms on the committee said she has a "craft" that she's done before and she and her husband enjoyed it. You get red and pink paper, ribbon, and envelopes. You cut the envelopes in half to make a sleeve. The colored paper gets two holes punched in the top of each slip and ribbon tied through the holes. There are 14 slips of paper with 14 sleeves to hold them. You write something on each slip that you and your spouse have to do that day and put it in the sleeve. For example, tell each other 5 things you love about each other today, play a game together, watch a movie, have a picnic, etc. Numbers are written on the sleeves and you can put them anywhere. I chose to tape them with painter's tape on the wall in our room so we would remember to do it every day. It's easy, fun, and quick to make. Against all odds, I finished putting it together yesterday just in time to start this with Rick this morning. I think it's going to be fun.

We had some friends over this weekend for dinner. We had a nice time together. We always enjoy entertaining and spending time with people we really like. I always end up making something for dinner I have never made before. Not smart, Stacy! So it's kind of hit or miss which is not a good idea when you are entertaining guests. This time, Rick grilled an apple bourbon marinaded (I got the pre-marinaded kind this time) pork loin, and I made a stewed apple and butternut squash side. It was good! Success! I saw the recipe on Food Network one day. It sounded so good so I got the recipe off their website. It was surprisingly simple and cost effective. It is good for any day but also tastes like a holiday dish. One of our friends that frequents our home is allergic to gluten so we always make our meals gluten free when she comes over. That can be a challenge but one that is fun to take on. So, every thing was free of gluten for this meal. I also made a flourless chocolate cake and whipped cream for dessert. Food Network website, of course! It actually turned out well and tasted really good for having no flour. It wasn't that complicated either and I made it during Fiona's nap time. Now that I'm a mom, I have to make it snappy and simple or it doesn't get done. Rick, myself, and our friends always enjoy playing some kind of game after dinner. It gets rowdy and funny. We had a great time.

Our little girl is growing and changing before our eyes. Here are a couple of pictures of her from the past week:

MLK and Christmas

Today is MLK day. Growing up teachers and television specials educate you about what this day means to us as Americans. While I understood that information, it has become more and more meaningful to me over the years as I ponder what it truly is. Themore I see and read about civil rights movement, the more horrified I am at the hate that was present during that time and the more proud I am that people like MLK stood up peacefully in the name of God with courage. It is our firm belief that when Christ died, he died for all. MLK said that all men are created equal under God. We are all created in His image and it makes me so proud and humbled to say that MLK believed that and stood up for it. I am thanking God today for men and women like him who stand up for what God has for them and for His people.

One of the things I love about today as well is the reflection of these things and thinking about how I love our church. Our church is multiracial and multicultural. There are people from every economic level and ethnicities. Sometimes I look around and it gives me joy in the thought "this is what Heaven must look like." South Florida is an interesting place, some things good and some bad, but this aspect of our lives is definitely one of the good. MLK and others helped make it possible for people of all races and walks of life to have the freedom to worship together. Our church was built out of that! What a cool thing!

Moving on from civil rights and backtracking to Christmas...We actually had Christmas day here at home this year! We haven't done that since we moved 3 years ago. Since it was on a Sunday, of course, Rick had to work the service that morning so we got to stay. We got up and opened presents with Fiona and it was so nice. It was slow, relaxed, and uneventful. That's just what we wanted. We didn't get Fiona a ton of stuff since we knew she would be showered with gifts from relatives.

We went to Birmingham the day after Christmas to see family. It was extremely busy and there was a lot of love. Rick and I appreciate that we have so many people that want to see us and spend time with us. Sometimes I think our lives could be the opposite and we could have no one. But we have so many people we can't even see them all! While it feels good to be loved by family, when you have kids, it feels doubly good when others love them. Fiona was showered with visitors, hugs, kisses, and presents. That made me happiest of all that all these people want to invest in her in that way. Here are just a few pics from Christmas morning at home and then the following trip:

Our First Christmas as a Family

Fun and Good Food

Rick and I go on a what we call a "splurge" date. We love to eat at new restaurants and to eat new foods that we never have before. There is a celebrity chef here in Miami, Michelle Bernstein, who we like. We have seen her as a guest judge on Top Chef and we watch a PBS show she hosts called Check Please South Florida that reviews local restaurants. We still haven't been to her restaurant here yet. So, we headed to Michy's this Friday night for a nice dinner.

Butternut Squash Risotto with Saffron

Fresh Yellowtail Snapper for Rick

A yummy Mango Mojito!

We had a great time. Rick got the Yellowtail Snapper that had Jasmine rice and curry plaintains. He really enjoyed it. He usually gets seafood on our splurge dates since it's so fresh and tasty where we live. I got the risotto which I had never had before. It had butternut squash, chantrelle mushrooms, and saffron. I love butternut squash and risotto is such a classic dish that I had never tried. No meat in it, but it was filling, and I really enjoy vegetarian dishes. Hooray for creative and delicious food.

Fiona also turned 9 months old this week! She had a cold and I always get nervous when she's sick. It's the mama in me, but she is a great baby even when she's sick. All of a sudden, when she hit 7 months, she just started getting sick a lot. I think she and I are ready for her to be well. I feel so sad for her when she has a bug.

She's such a big girl and is rapidly changing. She is starting to be able to stand up while holding onto something without us holding her up. She is pulling herself up from the floor into a sitting position by herself. She is still talking and talking. She is crawling like a wild woman. She just took off this week and is into everything at a much faster rate than before. Her hair is getting longer every week. Rick and I noticed her hair curling up at the end now. She is also doing better about feeding herself little rice puffs on her own.

She is so funny. We love her dearly.

At her 9 month check up

Sitting in her rocker like a big girl...

One Crazy Month

This month has been nutso. Yes, that's a word I use. Lots and lots has been going on. Fiona turned 8 months old. She is still just as happy, energetic, and silly as ever. She's not really crawling but scooting with her arms. But don't be fooled, she's fast. She especially loves the curtains. She still loves to talk and yell. She is saying "ma-ma" and "da-da" and that's really fun. Oh, and look at all that hair!

Just a couple of weeks ago I found out my grandfather died. I was sad and was very sorry to lose him. I was especially sad for my grandmother and her loss. They were married over 60 years. Rick was not able to travel since he had to work and we had already scheduled a Christmas visit just a couple of weeks following, so Fiona and I hopped on a plane. I was a little nervous about traveling by myself with her but she was great. I thanked God for that later.

I attended the funeral and got to see family. It was very sad and we all mourned for the loss of my grandfather and celebrated his life together.

I decided to have a little bit of an extended stay since I don't have a job to get back to now. Unfortunately, while we were there, Fiona picked up a stomach virus (which she had had only 3 weeks earlier as well) that landed her in the ER. I was so upset. I was away from home, without my husband, and my precious, tiny baby was very sick. My heart was saddened to see her that sick and I will admit, I was a little bit of a wuss. I guess that's just a mother's heart. I was incredibly thankful to have family around to help and be a support.

Thank goodness, and to our mutual delight, Fiona recovered quickly and we were able to travel on the designated day of our ticket. Needless to say, we were both exhausted when we returned home.

It has continued to be busy since. This is Rick's crazy time of year (along with Easter) so he works a lot. We happily decided to decline plans on Saturday and go to the beach to spend time as a family. We haven't been to the beach in so long since we've been busy and it's been so hot. Now, it's in the low 80's and cool enough for us to go with Fiona without melting. She's never been in the ocean and I wanted that day to be the first time, but the water was so cold I didn't think she'd appreciate that. I put her feet in for just a second and she was unhappy, rightfully so. We really had a relaxing time and were able to decompress a little bit. She loved sun bathing in her lady bug bathing suit.