Savory Goodness

I'm a part of an amazing small group through our church's women's ministry called Dwelling Place. DP isn't in session right now so we have started meeting outside of church. Each time we get together, one of these fabulous ladies will pop in a batch of Trader Joe's caramelized onion, pastry thingies (that's a technical term). They fill the house with warmth and an aroma that lures us all to the kitchen! After a few nights of eating at least three of the twelve that are made, I finally took a peek at the ingredients list. Ah ha! I knew that I had all of these things readily available in my very own kitchen, so today I set out to make my savory puffy pastry dreams come true....

First, caramelize the onions

Next, mix up a glob (another technical term) of sour cream and throw in some feta cheese to taste

Cut pastry into twelve squarish shapes (again with the technicalities)

Butter and flour a mini muffin tin

Assemble as shown: pastry, cream, onions

WAIT...where did that cream mixture go?!

Found it!

Bake until the pastry is crisp and the house smells like a chef's dream....20ish minutes?

viola!

Scrumptious....succulent....goodness.

I also stayed with the pastry theme for dinner....roasted Halibut with tomatoes, caramelized onions, upon freshly baked pastry crust

It was quite the productive day in the McGihon Kitchen!

Spring

Yesterday I made an unsettling discovery whilst cleaning up and clearing out our master bathroom. Perfume. Half used, foul smelling, perfume. This may not seem so shocking to some, but I was utterly offended by myself, by the amount of money I had spent on alcohol mixed with fragrance, thrown in a little glass bottle. Most of them were from the ever enticing Victoria's Secret.....oh.....how my heart longs for silk and lace and all things girly! These little bottles of poison taunt me in the store, they call to me from their displays. "Try Me" they whisper.

I do, and I love, so I buy.

I spend the next few weeks smelling like a flower, until a new little bottle of poison calls to me, reaching for me as I casually browse the lip glosses. "Try Me" it urges.

It's happened like this for years.

My mother was allergic to perfume, so when I was old enough to move out, I perfumed it up like it was 1999. Now that I look back, the real me, the me that the Lord has me discovering lately, the me that I will be for the rest of my life (once I figure it all out) would have been happy with a simple bottle of rose oil from a small and struggling company, not a corporate giant. I'm publicly declaring that I will never waste another hard earned penny on a corporate giant's version of how we should smell. I will no longer smell like half of the women in America who buy Victoria's Secret perfume. I'm breaking the cycle.

Warm weather...polka dotted bathing suits...messy ponytails...bliss.

Sweet, giant strawberries from our local Madison ST Produce

We should all wear our movie star sunglasses...as soon as we wake up!

This morning, I'm particularly drawn to writing about coffee. Yes, coffee. Every morning it's the same, warm and inviting cup of awakening goodness. It calls my body out of it's cozy comforter, my mind out of it's sleepy haze. Yes, it's April, and my mug is certainly an October mug, but my Daddy calls me Boo....so this mug never gets put away for changing seasons. My devotional is even centered around coffee. I've found a writer who adores coffee and much as I do! This ritualistic cup of joy is a little thing that matters to me.....

A New Direction

I've recently stumbled upon a few blogs that I absolutely loved and wanted to devour. These bloggers shared little, everyday moments that make a Mommy's world so amazing, so I've decided to take this approach to my blog. I want to write about "Every Little Thing", because every little thing MATTERS. From now on, I'll also be photographing every little thing...and I'm excited! I hope to make this more of a journal, our life's story in the making...

Park Day

Just a lovely Sunday at the park for my sister Bella's birthday. Aden played, and Ava ate, the entire time! Aden took this first picture of Daddy with my big ol' camera all by himself! I think it's frame worthy :)

The Big Bill

All of Aden's testing at Rady's Children's Hospital came to a grand total of $1,736.

After insurance, we only have to pay $16.83.

God is GOOD!

Strides!

Hi all...we're all still here and ready to blog again :)

December flew by (as always). Ava turned two on December 27th. She is talking so much! I can't think of a single word that she can't say. She's so feisty too. She continues to be the most beautiful little girl I have EVER seen :)

Aden is in preschool now, on Thursdays and Friday, from 8:45-12:00. He loves it! He has a shadow with him while he's there, and that's been great. Miss Emily and Miss Renee are his own personal helpers that love on him and help him to understand the social situations that he's in. He's also at speech therapy 2 times a week. Right now we're working on answering "wh" questions. Who, what, where, when and why. It's not as easy as it looks for a 3 year old! We're working on potty training....it usually takes autistic children much longer to potty train because they are so stuck in their routines. We're not too worried about it, he'll get it in his own time.

I recently spoke at Mom2Mom about Aden's Dx and the journey that's it has taken us on over these last 5 months. We are in such a good place now. I feel such a peace about it all. It took a long time for me to "let go and let God", but now that I have, it's amazing! Aden is engaging us so much lately, inviting us into his world instead of us pushing our way in. He says, "Mommy look at this!" "Daddy watch me!" "Mommy let's go outside!" "Daddy let's build!". He's always asking us if we "wanna play?!" and we are all to happy to oblige. It's so wonderful to have my boy look at me and ask me to be with him! I didn't realize how much of our relationship was me loving on him and making the effort. He is surprising us all.