are you happy?

"Mommy?  Are you happy?" is the most popular question asked by Bella lately.  "Of course I am!" is my usual reply.  Bella then asks, "Mommy, are we mad at Penny?" 
Poor, poor Penny.  She's really not bad, but she has a way of getting in the way.  She knows it's her job to clean up fallen food.  Instead of waiting in her 'spot' which is a 3 x 5 foot rug beside the table, she crouches down beside our feet, half under the 2 foot tall table.  She's supposed to wait until we're finished eating before 'cleaning', but she often forgets and starts early.  She's just too close for comfort and we shoo her to back to the rug using our firm or 'mad' voices.

Bella's Happy Face

things are really looking up

Things are really looking up in 2012.  Bella loves her pink car that Santa brought and her Mickey Mouse mini-coloring pages and markers.

in need of new camera

Over the holidays, our trusty little, red point and shoot died.  It was on it's last leg and certainly was a good camera while it lasted the last 3 years.  We would like to replace it with a step up but nothing too fancy or anything that we would have to hold with 2 hands.  If you have suggestions, please let me know.  Until then, our pictures are going to come from our phones and look mostly like this

Pinteresting Recipes

I have discovered Pinterest and found a recipe that looked both healthy and involved macaroni - so I know Bella would eat it.  Here's the picture and link.  This picture was enticing!

I've been waking up at 5 am...and laying around until 6 am.  This morning I decided to make these mostly because yesterday we ate out all three meals.  I worked a half day on Saturday so it was easier to go through the drive-thru at the Kolache Factory, stop on the way home at Freebirds and order Papa Johns after exhausting ourselves grocery shopping.  Here's how my Skinny Macaroni Muffins turned out at 6:30 am.

I didn't have the exact ingredients for the recipe and it suffered to the point that it wasn't that good.  Quite disappointing, but expected.  Instead of flour, I used whole wheat flour.  Instead of skim milk, I used almond milk.  Instead of Gruyere and sharp cheddar cheese, I used colby jack and part of the mac n cheese powdered cheese.  The "muffins" were certainly edible and they tasted healthy.  I think the key missing ingredient was the Gruyere cheese, but I couldn't find it easily yesterday with the mobs of people picking up dips, chips and beer to watch football.  Oh well.  Bella and I moved on to canned croissants with nutella.  Those definitely hit the spot!