G-O Let Me Hear You Say GO!

We have a cheerleader in the house now. Lo is cheering for 4th grade tackle football. It's really a great program, she has one practice and one game each week and she has been having a lot of fun! I just love watching her-giggling with her friends and having no clue what's going on in the game but cheering her little heart out. 

Noa can't cheer until next year, but that doesn't stop Lil' Miss Sassy!

We even got to make a run-through. It's what the football team "runs through" before the game. Each girl gets to make their own and design it how they want. Lucky for Lo her mama's crafty so we had everything we needed already! It was so much fun and really brought back many fun high school memories of making posters and run-throughs with my cheerleading squad.

She even let Noa have a turn.

So proud of her finished product!

I love that she's having a good time and trying something new. Despite the fancy uniforms and the twice a week commitment, it's a pretty low key activity which suits us well. I love that she's being active and she loves that she gets to be silly with her friends. It's a win-win situation! 

Chicken Piccata

Since I've been on my maternity leave I've had much more time to cook and try out recipes new recipes. Earlier this week I made one of my favorite dishes growing up, Chicken Piccata. I just love the lemon-y-ness and tangy capers in this dish. It was super easy to make and even tasted good reheated the next day. The girls "chopped" me on this one, mainly because of the capers, but they did like the chicken plain so it's still a dish my whole family can enjoy (and means more of the yummy sauce for me and the hubby).

Chicken Piccata

Source: Ok. I'll Eat That

Ingredients

• 2 large lemons
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds), rinsed, dried thoroughly, and trimmed of excess fat
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 unbleached all-purpose flour
• 4T vegetable oil
• 1 small shallot, minced or 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1 cup chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
• 2T small capers, drained
• 3T unsalted butter, softened
• 2T minced fresh parsley leaves

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, set large heatproof plate on rack, and heat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Halve one lemon pole to pole. Trim ends from one half and cut crosswise into slices 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick; set aside. Juice remaining half and whole lemon to obtain 1/4 cup juice; reserve.
3. Sprinkle both sides of chicken generously with salt and pepper. Measure flour into pie tin or shallow baking dish. Working one cutlet at a time, coat with flour, and shake to remove excess.
4. Heat heavy-bottomed 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until hot, about 2 minutes; add 2 tablespoons oil and swirl pan to coat. Lay half of chicken pieces in skillet. Saute cutlets, without moving them, until lightly browned, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Turn cutlets and cook until second side is lightly browned, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes longer. Remove pan from heat and transfer chicken to plate in oven. Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil to now empty skillet and heat until shimmering. Add remaining chicken and repeat.
5. Add shallot or garlic to now-empty skillet and return skillet to medium heat. Saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds for shallot or 10 seconds for garlic. Add stock and lemon slices, increase heat to high, and scrape skillet bottom with wooden spoon or spatula to loosen browned bits. Simmer until liquid reduces to about 1/3 cup, about 4 minutes. Add lemon juice and capers and simmer until sauce reduces again to 1/3 cup, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat and swirl in butter until butter melts and thickens sauce; swirl in parsley. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve immediately. 

Enjoy!

Make Over Your Monday

Ahhhh the last Monday of August...does that mean fall is just around the corner? I love fall. I love the scarves, soup and boots it brings with it! 

How did you do on last week's challenge? Did you find some time to do something for yourself? Lil G didn't think I needed to do as much sewing as I had hoped, but I did find some time this weekend to sneak away for a lovely pedicure! My poor feet desperately needed it. The cost of being a runner is not so pretty feet. My favorite part is when they rub the hot stones and my legs and put them between my toes. I could have stayed in the chair for forever!

The challenge this week is to do something you've been putting off.

It's a rainy Monday here in Indy and the perfect kind of day to get things done...and boy to I have a L-O-N-G list! 

Have a great last week of August and we'll check in next week,

Mommy Time

The hubby took the girls to the pool and G is sleeping. If you need me you can find me here...in heaven

Happy Saturday,

Cloth Napkins

We do our best to be green around here. We started small at first, focusing on the 3 Rs, reduce, reuse, and recycle. The girls are very interested in all things related to nature so it wasn't difficult to get them onboard. It's been a fun family activity to come up with ideas on how we can show the earth how much we love it. One of Lo's suggestions was to stop using paper napkins. Such a great and easy switch for the family, plus I get to make adorable cloth napkins! I took advantage of the having some alone time with G this week and got down to work.

These are for NoJo's lunch box. She only has school three days a week so she only needed a few. 

I love the colors she chose, they match her pink princess lunchbox perfectly!

They are super easy to make. All four were cut and stitched together during one nap-time (with the little one, my projects are measured in how many nap-times they will take to complete). Each napkin is double-sided. I chose to make both sides out of the same fabric, but you can mix it up however you'd like!

To make them I took two 10" x 10" squares and placed ride sides together, then I stitched around all four sides leaving a 2" opening. Then I flipped them right-side-out and topstitched all the way around to close the opening. They make the prefect sized napkins for the little ones. I think it would be fun to embroider them with the days of the week or your child's initials, so many fun choices! 

Next going "Going Green" project is matching reusable snack bags. G and I hit Jo-ann Fabrics earlier this week and now I'll I need is for him to take a nice LONG nap!

What does your family to to be green? Shout 'em out! We're always looking for inspiration!

Melt Your Heart Smiles

This week Lo is at school and Noa has been at camp. That means I've been able to spend some quality time with my lil' G. Originally I thought I'd get a lot of crafting and cleaning done, but how can you do anything but stare at this adorable face all morning long?

I call this one the "Joey"..."How you doin'?"

Home State Home

If you've been following me for awhile you know that the hubby and I have moved a few times in the past twelve years. It's always a tricky question when someone asks us where we are from. Where are we from??? We used to call Cali home, but we haven't lived in that "home" for over 12 years. While we LOVED Boston, we never really considered it "home." Indy was supposed to be a two year pit-stop, but 6 years later we're not sure we're ever going to leave. For us, home is truly where our hearts are. When I found {THIS} from The Vintage Lemon I knew I'd found the perfect way to express how each "home" has found a special place in our hearts. 

To start I needed to print out each state. The website states that they are formatted for 11 x 14 prints but I could not get them to work, the photo printing site kept telling me they were not formatted for that size and the quality would be low. In the end I did 8 x10 prints which fit my space much better. For me, Costco was the most cost effective place to have my photos done (BTW, they have fab-u-lous prices on large poster prints and canvas. Just something to keep in mind for your future projects.). I also had the sheet of hearts printed as well.

I already had two of the black frames (from Target), lucky for me they are a stock item and I was able to pick up another one! I love when the crafty planets are aligned! I used the hearts to mark the city that we lived in in each particular state.

Now all I needed was to find the perfect spot in our house. 

The corner of our entryway has looked like this for quite awhile...

And now it looks like this...

I LOVE it! 

(Of course now I think the table needs to be painted! Ha! That's how it goes around here!)

Not only do these make great decorations but they would also be a unique gift for a wedding or anniversary, marking where the couple met, fell in love or got married. Lots of opportunity to be creative!