When You Smile, I Smile...

I continuously feel this way....but Matthew just keeps getting cuter, sweeter and funnier every single day. He makes me smile so much whenever I am with him, and I love weekends with no plans so we can enjoy him and his humor even more. This weekend, there were a couple of stand out moments.

My little boy making a MESS out of dinner

Saturday morning as I was getting Matthew's breakfast ready, he let out a big "toot" and started laughing. I think I rolled my eyes and said something like "oh nice" and Rob asked me "Do you feel like a princess?" because I like to joke around that being the only girl in the house makes me the princess. I think any mom of only boys knows that this is not the case :). Matthew proceeded to pretend to do more toots and continue to laugh about it. As I picked him up to put him in his high chair, he patted me on the back and said "good luck Mama." Where in the world does he come up with these things?! 

Ready to go outside!

On Sunday, we went to a street fair that was right up the street from us. It was really fun and a great way to spend a sunny June day. We walked around the fair and took a detour on the way home to a playground. Matthew, who was once scared of the swings and the big turtle there, was fearless. We spent over an hour swinging, climbing, jumping, sliding and playing. He was his adorable self, waving and saying "hi" and "bye" to people (and objects). At one point, I went over and gave Rob a hug and said "I love our life" as we watched Matthew play. At that exact moment, Matthew came running over, arms wide open and gave us a big hug, one arm around Rob and one around me. It was the sweetest thing.

I know there will be a time when him "tooting" and making an insane mess out of dinner won't be so cute. And as much as I don't want to admit it, there will probably come a time when he won't hug us out of the blue (especially in public), so I'm going to enjoy every second of it now while I can. Because Matthew, when you smile, I smile! 

(Thank you to Justin Bieber for the song lyric).

Recipe #11 - Avocado chicken salad!

I found this recipe on Pinterest and thought it sounded great. I have made shredded chicken in the crock pot twice in the last couple weeks and decided to try it today. The original recipe didn't have measurements, and I would adjust them a bit next time. I would use an additional avocado and chop the cilantro a little finer, but for the first try - I was very impressed! You could make and shred the chicken another way, but this is a SUPER easy recipe.


Avocado Chicken Salad

• 5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs 
• 1 medium onion quartered 
• 2 celery stalks 
• 2 cups of chicken broth 
• 1 avocado 
• juice of one lime
• 1 TBSP mayonaise
• 1/4 cup of cilantro 
• sprinkle of salt and pepper

Place the chicken, onion and celery in a crock pot. Cover with chicken broth and cook on high for 4 hours. Shred the chicken and cool. Combine chicken, avocado, lime juice, mayo and cilantro and sprinkle in salt and pepper. Mix together to combine. I served on a multigrain sandwich thin and american cheese and a side salad. Definitely a great, easy and healthy summer recipe I would try again! (Sorry, I forgot to take pictures...) This amount of chicken made enough for four - five sandwiches.