Over the last few weeks Seth and I have been frustrated at best as we have looked at the housing market in the DC/ NOVA area. Our tentative plan has been to aim homeward, back to the US for a time. Buy a house…which we have never done. And make it our home. That is still our plan. Not sure even after all of our frugality and saving that we will get very far but that is beside the point. I still want to make my wish list of what I would love in a home. Because it’s fun to dream.

Hardwood floors

A kitchen with windows…since I spend most of my time in the kitchen

bead boarding…somewhere in the house.

Enough space for our family to grow…no hints here. I am not pregnant and likely won’t be anytime soon. After being in this large house I would much prefer a smaller place…much smaller. But still one where everyone can have their own space when they need it.

A room for guests.

Closets….we currently have no closets in our room. My clothes pile builds throughout the week because I HATE having to go down the hall to hang things.

A master bathroom…currently, we are in a house with plenty of bathrooms but our bathroom is shared with the boys. Which means it is filled with all things kid. It works for us now but I wouldn’t mind not sharing that space.  I try to take a bath whenever I clean the tub, before the boys even get a chance to take a bath.

A yard with a garden. My thumb is more sage green than Kelly green. I would love to have a garden but I am also aware that that might fall more on a miracle list not a wish list.

A fireplace with a pretty mantel

A front door step that is screaming for a big pot of seasonal flowers

A dining room that can fit friends and family!

A girl can dream

When I was working, (yes, at one point in my life I was a working, productive in the thinking kind of way, woman) I used this website regularly. I just recently hunted it down again for some new insights into our bustling toddler world around here. Because so many of my friends are dealing with this phase of life or will someday in the future I decided to post a link for you.

Zero to Three

And for your viewing enjoyment here are my crazies just yesterday.

This chair has become quite a source of frustration lately. I love the chair I just don’t love my 13 month old mounting it and thinking it’s for rock climbing. Anyhow, that has been one of our “Zero to 3” behaviors of the week! He has become more stable on it so I am having to fight it less.

and because I took Owen’s picture in this chair Jackson was dying for a turn….so here are a few shots of him entertaining.

this is Jackson acting out a sad face.

We are dealing with all sorts of sibling rivalry, jealousy, lack of gentleness. etc this week. This too shall pass!

One of our most favorite types of food is Tex Mex. It’s probably good we have no access to those endless chip bowls and bubbly queso dip..but every once in a while we just NEED it. I have been on the hunt for some healthy recipes that remind us of back home. I have been googling knockoffs for some time now. The most recent find was a Chipotle knock off for barbacoa beef. I did it in the slow cooker and served it with cilantro rice and lots of fresh toppings. I had always wondered what people used the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce for. This recipe was a way to try them out!   They smell, smokey and warm but are super spicy! I made the mistake of sneaking a little of the sauce after smelling it just to gauge how spicy I wanted out meet. Wowser! It’s hot. Both times I have made this recipe I have made it with less peppers.  The meat never came out too spicy…in fact Seth had to stop the boys from eating it all one evening!

Gina’s Weight Watchers blog is one I have been finding some good finds on lately, including this barbacoa recipe.

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/04/barbacoa-beef.html

I followed her recipe mostly…I used less peppers, added a little beef broth (because I cooked mine on low all day in the slow cooker and I didn’t want it to dry out, and I used the whole roast without cutting it up so I could cook it longer and not have to check it through the day).

When I looked up the beef to add to this post I saw she has a slow-cooked pork as well. We will be trying this soon!

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/01/slow-cooked-sweet-barbacoa-pork.html

Don’t be scared away by the Weight Watchers name. I personally avoid all things Weight Watchers because I know my personality enough to know that if I ever attempted it I would become OCD about the points system. That’s another story altogether but anyhow, I like her recipes because they are lots of fresh, simple recipes. If she calls for reduced fat stuff we normally use regular because Switzerland isn’t on the low fat, fat free craze that the US is on. I prefer the real stuff in moderation than the chemically stuff. But that is just me.

Pappasito’s with the Seckinger clan before coming to Bern.

I think Seth would be lying if he tried to say it’s only worth it to fly home for family. I am pretty sure if I talked enough about tex mex over the next couple of days he would book us tickets home. But that would be super manipulative so I will continue to try my knock off recipes and save the money on flights home.

On Valentine’s Day, the O’Leary chicas along with 2 friends came to visit for the week. We had such a fun time.  The boys got spoiled rotten by all of the attention. We walked by the river, shopped, toured Bern, Thun and a couple of towns in France, ate, laughed hard, and had a wonderful time!

One of my memories of living with Annie was of her making her famous devil dog cookies. They were awesome! So for her visit I made heart-shaped red velvet whoopie pies! They turned our better than expected. I was sure they would look like big blobs. And I had about a 4th of the food coloring I needed. So mine were hot pink and not so red but you get the idea.

here was the recipe I used…

http://annies-eats.net/2010/02/08/red-velvet-whoopie-pies/

Enough about the treats..here are a few pictures from our time. I haven’t uploaded them all yet.

So fun to have Annie, Suzanne and all of the girlies here! Wish we all lived closer! Still having some withdrawl!