Happy Thanksgiving {with a few links}

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving around a table with friends and family, whether few or many. Here are a few links for you to check out between all the family gatherings and and extra time off!


they just don't do that anymore by Steady Mom.

ten true things about the first year of parenthood by Girl of Cardigan

a year of parenting. a funny cartoon from Neatorama

how to raise a pagan kid in a christian home from I.N.F.O


Which side of your brain is more dominant by sommer + sommer


When you are tired and ready for a Christmas Revolution from A Holy Experience

The Real Truth about "Boring" Men from A Holy Experience

5 Ways to Take Back Thanksgiving from We are That Family

imsage from pinterst

Sunday Suppers

Tonight's Sunday Supper included Broccoli-Cauliflower Chowder, and a Price family classic - a fried egg sandwich. I guess it was a little twist on grilled cheese and soup.

The Broccoli Cauliflower Chowder was a recipe courtesy of Diane Sanflippo's New York Times Bestselling cookbook Practical Paleo. It included two cups of broccoli and two cups of cauliflower steamed, and blended with garlic and chicken broth. The chicken broth was homemade, and was unfortunately too strong, because it overpowered the broccoli and cauliflower. I think I may give this recipe another whirl with a different stock. Dare I say, boxed version. Or maybe my brother-in-law will spare some of his chicken broth. I am interested to taste the difference. I think this chowder would be great!

Egg sandwiches used to be a weekly staple in our household. But then I really tried to get my family off of packaged bread. One could argue there's not much nutritional value in it. Even if you do buy whole grain bread, and make sure the fiber content is higher than the sugar content, the nutrients in wheat oxidizes. This makes me question what nutrients, if any, are present when you pick it up off the shelf?

But I digress. We still do buy store-bought bread occasionally.

So here's a look at one of our favorite sandwiches.

While the egg is frying, slather two pieces of bread with just a little mayo and mustard. Next layer on some cheese and bacon. I usually handled the bread, while Mr. Price attended to the eggs and bacon. When your egg is ready, lay it on top of the bread with the sliced cheese. The hot egg gives the cheese melting a head start. Put the sandwich together and place back on the frying pan with a little bit of butter. Brown each side to melt the cheese. This is one good sandwich!

Our daughter had the same meal minus the bread.

What was your Sunday Supper?

I LOVE

You know I am a new(ish) mom when educational toys excite me!

I thought our local library was really cool with its modern architecture and coffee shop, but when I saw these educational toys in the children's area, it suddenly got way cooler.

I guess children don't go to the library to just read books anymore. Now it's also a place to enhance your toddler's gross and fine motor skills. I'd love to have some of these toys for V at home. I also love how they are neatly organized in clear containers. Sorry for the poor pictures, but I was trying to snap photos quickly with my iPhone. I really loved the cloth shape sorting toys, and the lettered bean bags.  I'll have to do some googling to hopefully find some similar, inexpensive toys for home. 

Eight Things I Learned in July

I'm linking up with Emily Freeman of Chatting at the Sky to share the things I learned in July. Most of the things I learned are random and insignificant, but should give you a glimpse into my life last month. Please visit Emily's blog and check out the other hundreds of bloggers who shared what they learned. 

1. Having one of those Rachael Ray garbage bowls for kitchen scraps is really handy. My personal project this month was to try to do a better job keeping the kitchen clean. Now that I am cooking mostly paleo meals, I spend a lot of time prepping vegetables in the kitchen. It's so nice to be able to sweep my trash into a large bowl nearby, and have my area clean for the next task.

2. It is much easier to "clean as you go" in the kitchen when your kitchen sink is not already full of dirty dishes. I don't know why I didn't realize this before, but it makes a huge difference. If my sink is clear at the start of my day, then I only spend about 10 minutes three times a day at the sink instead of 30 minutes, three times a day.

3. Paleo meals are pretty.

4. Obtaining a mortgage makes you the instant recipient of junk mail. Thanks CB2 and Pottery Barn for your 10% coupons, but how did you get our address? We also just received a letter from The Guys in Purple Landscaping that stated, "Our records indicate you are a new homeowner." Um, really?! I'd like to go over and check out their records.

5. You can go on a short hike in red patent leather Steve Madden flats. We took an unexpected hike one weekend to Roaring Run, and of course, I didn't have any hiking shoes with me. It takes about an hour to hike it round trip, and there is very little incline. I looked like I was going shopping instead of hiking. This was also our daughter's first hike, and she was amazed by the sights and sounds.

6. Mr. Price and I are not big fans of the new Arrested Development Netflix series. After watching the original series a couple of years ago and loving it, we were excited to catch up with the Bluth gang. But the new Netflix series just has not impressed us. We have been getting many more laughs watching Parks and Recreation.

7. My daughter can take screenshot photos with my iPhone, but I have no idea how. 

8. I've learned to appreciate the bad days as well as the good days. The bad days make the good days even better.

Melody Makers

Melody Makers is a locally owned business that introduces music and art to infants and children. This year, at the recommendation of another mom, I enrolled my daughter in the Melody Makers' summer program, Gigi Jingle Class. This class introduces music to children ages one month - thirty-six months. It has been a real hit with V! The class is named for the soft-spoken Giraffe puppet, Gigi, who makes her appearance at the end of each class to sing a song with the children. Each child attending also takes a turn petting Gigi. 

Prior to Gigi's appearance, the class sings songs and plays different musical instruments with a few of Gigi's other puppet friends. Drums, clappers, castanets and jingle bells are a few fun instruments children get to play. The class also listens to a few minutes of one classical piece of music. So far V has been exposed to "Water Music" by George F. Handel and "Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Phillips Sousa. For an added sensory experience, both pieces were accompanied by bubbles from a bubble machine the instructor waved across the room. Last week we enjoyed "The Swan" by Saint-Saens, while we threw and blew white feathers across the room.

To encourage gross motor skills, we also sing songs while playing with streamers, bean bags or just moving your body as the music suggests.

As you can tell, each 30 minute class has new and fun ways to experience music. Classes are small in size with no more than 10 children and one accompanying parent. Although, some children bring one parent and two adoring grandparents, or both parents. The joy is contagious, and can be hard not to share with someone else.

The cost of the class is $100, and meets once a week for 10 weeks. I think on some days I have enjoyed the class more than V. On two occassions she seemed reserved, or just sleepy. Her favorite musical instrument to play with has been the drums. She was especially awestruck by the Swan puppet and the feathers last week.

I'm so thrilled that my friend recommended this class to us. I wouldn't have thought to look into something like this. Please check out Melody Makers online to learn about their other music, art and other learning enrichment workshops.

Monthly Review: April and May 2013

here are just a few events from the past two months...

we had one more freak snow the first week of april. the.first.week.of.april! i couldn't believe it. it was so weird - it was bright and sunny one a monday, snowy (four plus inches) on tuesday, and bright and sunny with no evidence of snow on wednesday. talk about crazy weather patterns.

but thankfully it has been slowly warming up, reaching our normal spring and summer temps. it's been nice seeing nature come to life again.

^^^we have wild strawberries growing in our yard^^^

and speaking of nature, we love that our new house provides the opportunity to see wildlife. we have a small herd of deer that frequently visit our neighborhood. and even though we've lived in this house for almost three months, seeing these animals never gets old. i always want to stop what i am doing to watch them.

in early may we took a trip down to georgia to attend our sister-in-law's med school graduation.

on the way to macon, ga we stopped near atlanta to spend a day with close friends we had not seen in several months. it was so fun to catch up on life and see our children play together. they took us to a great little place to experience frozen custard. frozen yogurt has always been a favorite treat of mine, and this custard did not disappoint.

another treat i helped myself to during a date night was this to.die.for krispy kreme donut bread pudding. i am cursed with a sweet tooth!

the year is trucking right along, and our little babe isn't slowing down either. she continues to grow and learn at an unbelievable rate. by the end of the summer, she'll be eighteen months, and that just doesn't seem possible.

i am so thankful that we are homeowners now. because this summer V is definitely more mobile, walking and running all by herself. each day we spend some time outside, and it has been nice to have our own little space to do so. she loves to splash in water.  i haven't broken down to buy a water table yet, so i just fill a couple of bowls and buckets up with water, and she seems to have fun.

here are few other cute things likes to do:
:: wave bye-bye when she closes a book
:: stop to smell flowers, outside, in the grocery store, and even pictures of flowers in books
:: one day she walked in a small circle until she got dizzy and fell down
:: although, not cute, she has walked down the stairs in our house from the living room to the foyer. yes, all by herself, while her mother was not looking.
:: she also likes to give hugs, which are so lovely to receive.

although it already feels like the middle of june, it is shaping up to be a busy month. hopefully i can be a little more prompt with my monthly review postings. but i'm not really counting on it. take care and thanks for checking in!

Scenes from our Weekend

We had an unusually eventful weekend. Most weekends we are very lazy and rarely go anywhere, other than the grocery store or to pick up take-out. But this weekend we ventured outside the house several times.

Friday was my sister's birthday, and we surprised her with Krispy Kreme doughnuts for breakfast. Later that evening we celebrated with birthday burgers at Beamers 25.  The restaurant specializes in gourmet hamburgers. Susana, the birthday girl, and I had bacon cheeseburgers, and Mr. Price had a southwestern burger. And on the side we had tater tots and french fries. French fries are my favorite! Definitely a weakness for me. After we ate our delicious food, we headed home to continue the celebration with cake and ice cream.

On Saturday we headed to the 15th Annual Blue Ridge Kite Festival! It was a wonderful event! There was a little nip in the air, but the sun was shining and the breeze was blowing perfectly for the kites to soar high. I thought it was a beautiful sight. It was our first time attending the event. Now that I know what to expect, next year I will plan to take a picnic and spend more time out there. This year our daughter just wanted to run free, and usually not in the direction we wanted to go! It was definitely a work out just to keep up with her. We didn't take a kite, but V had the best time just looking at all the ones flying over her head.

On Sunday, my sister and husband traveled with the youth from our church to Peaks of Otter to hike Sharp Top mountain! This was her first major hike. Sharp Top is one of the more strenuous hikes in our area, and at times Susana had doubts about being able to make it. The hike is only about a mile and a half, but is fairly steep. Luckily she did make it to the summit at 3800 feet! Woo-hoo! If she can hike Sharp Top, she can hike most any other trail. She says she's ready for the next one.

While Susana and Mr. Price were hiking, V and I had some special mother-daughter time, just hanging out at home. She was in such a pleasant mood, and it was great to just be able to give her my full attention without worrying about chores.

Hope you experienced some adventures during your weekend!

Store Browsing: 2nd helpings

One of my favorite places to visit for an all around great day out is 2nd helpings. I love to first grab a delicious salad, wrap or sandwich in the cafe. Then I stroll through the art gallery, view beautiful art-from paintings and pottery to jewelry and woodwork. Then to make my trip complete, I  peruse through the upscale resale store to find gently used name brand clothing, Orvis goods and fine linens and furniture.

I've recently made a couple of visits to 2nd helpings, and wanted to share what caught my eye!