Way Back When-endsday: Tiny Baby Ziva

Wow! Thanks so much to everyone who commented about my garden post yesterday! I had no idea people would be that interested. :P

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It seems to me like I've featured a lot of Anya pictures lately. I think it's because I'm a little bit jealous of the way she's become so strongly attached to Hubs lately. When Anya is upset, she wants her Dada. And no amount of Mama soothing will work for her. It can be pretty frustrating since Hubs is a day sleeper and usually it's me or nothin'. So Anya and I have had a difficult few weeks of her screaming and my hugs and loves not being quite what she wants.

As a result Ziva has claimed me for her own. I won't complain, she's extremely sweet. She's a great cuddler, when she isn't identifying body parts by poking me in places I'd rather she wouldn't (like my eyes for example). So it's really fun looking back to the days when all she would really do was gaze at my face and then fall asleep in my arms.

This picture was obviously taken in the NICU. I don't exactly know how old she is here, but we took them home at 2 weeks old so that gives you the approximate age. For some reason looking at this picture reminded me of Hubs and I sitting around in their room, me working on a jigsaw puzzle and him on his computer to pass the time between feedings. Every once in a while one of them would make a noise in their sleep, and we would play the game "which baby made that noise". It's amazing how quickly we became good at that game!

For more Way Back fun visit Cheryl over at Twinfatuation!

How Does My Garden Grow?

It's been a while since I've showed you my garden, and since one person actually asked me about it I thought I should share my progress.

WARNING: I am not a master gardener! In fact, this is my very first garden EVER! So please do not feel the need to follow in my footsteps in any fashion because I may be completely wrong. The only thing I really do know how to do is read a book and do what it says. I'm pretty good at following instructions... and that's about it.

(Feel free to click on the pictures to ENLARGE! Some of the little things coming up are pretty tiny.)

So this is my little raised bed garden. It actually has a lot more green in it now because since I took these pictures on Sunday I've also planted my starts that I seeded in the house back in February. They'll make an appearance in a few minutes.



These are my snap peas. I planted 2 squares of them, plus 2 more of snow peas. One of my next tasks is to build vertical supports for my peas, tomatoes, and cucumbers. I'm hoping to do that next weekend, we'll see.



I tried to do nasturtiums in the house back in Feb. too, but they ended up too gangly due to not enough light. So I decided to just throw some seeds in the ground and TA DA! I now have nasturtiums. I don't think I'll try starting them in the house next year. There's actually a 4th one in this square, it's leaves are just a different color.



So The Book says that you should always have nasturtiums and marigolds in your garden because they have natural pest deterrent properties. But it also suggested planting other flowers as well just for fun and to enhance the beauty of your garden. So I picked up a few other flower seed packets at the store. One of them was zinnias. I only see 2 coming up so far, so we'll see. :)



And what's a garden without carrots??? So of course I planted a bunch of them. Get it? A bunch! Ha! I crack myself up...



And I planted 2 side-by-side squares of cilantro. We LOVE cilantro in this house so I wanted to make sure I'd have enough. :)



And then there's my radishes! Aren't they lovely!



My romaine is just starting to come up. I was kinda hoping it would come in faster, but I'll take what I can get. :)



And here's my lovely tomatoes & chives. As you can see I bought 4 tomato plants, and they're all different varieties. One is an heirloom, one is Early Girl, one is Sweet 100 (a cherry tomato), and the last and final one is a yellow pear shaped variety!



And it wouldn't be a garden at my house without some lavender! I bought 3 tiny little lavender starts, all different varieties, all culinary. I thought I'd let them get a good start in my garden, and then I'll probably move them to another spot in my yard once they get bigger. Here they'll get more attention.



Next to the lavender, 2 squares of spinach. I love to put raw spinach in my "green smoothies" every day for lunch and those boxes of organic spinach can get super expensive super fast.



And here's one you might have to click to enlarge! I decided to plant some bok choy. Ain't they cute?!



I also planted some herbs (although I'm sure you gathered that already based on the chives and lavender). Here's my little start of dill.



And here's my varigated thyme. I also have another more traditional thyme planted, but isn't this one pretty?! You'll also notice the edge of my mesculin square, I forgot to take a picture of them. They're also coming in nicely.



And here are some of the things that are now also planted in my little square foot garden. Ignore the stuff in the box... I know, it's hard to (and yes, that is a dwarf climatis! Cool, huh?!). See those strawberry plants? Those are now in my garden. I dedicated an entire 4x4 foot spot to strawberries. The lady who sold them to me said they are 'Evangeline' strawberries. They are not ever-bearing, but she said she gets a bountiful harvest from hers each year, so hopefully there will be enough to make some jam with them or some killer shortcake.



These are what's left of my February starts. From left to right you'll see bell peppers, marigolds, and parsley. The parsley looks pretty sad and pathetic, I don't think I'll start them in the house next year. Especially since the squares where I planted parsley seed ARE coming up. The bell peppers are long and skinny, but I've read other places that if you bury part of the stem that new roots will form along the stalk, so that's exactly what I did when I transferred them to the garden. The marigolds are probably the healthiest of the three. They're actually already forming buds, so I'm sure they'll be fine.



More pathetic parsley.



Depending on how the harvest goes (and if my peppers produce anything at all) I'm thinking I'll just buy starts of these plants next year rather than try to do my own in the house. I just don't have the setup for it and they don't get enough light and heat. Plus they take up a LOT of space on my kitchen counter! lol Just wait, come next February I'll be getting out the soil pellets and lights again trying to make a go of it!

So that's my garden! But stay tuned! I'm planning to share the progress on the rest of my yard on Thursday, and it's possibly even MORE exciting!

Mystery Spice Monday! Pan Seared Mahi-Mahi with Cajun Spiced Maple Glaze

I am not a fish fan. Never have been, never will be. Unfortunately I married someone who LOVES anything that comes out of the water. So on occasion I'll indulge him by touching fish, cooking it in my house, making my house smell super nasty, only to end up with something to eat which I pretty much would rather feed to the dog.

But I'm nice. Mostly. So I will do this once in a blue moon. To prove my love.

And then if he's feeling particularly nice after eating such fine fish, he'll go out and pick me up something from MickyD's.

I will say though, I actually did eat this fish. I didn't savor it. I didn't relish it, but I ATE it! That's really saying something!!!

Mahi-mahi is a VERY mild fish. It doesn't have much in the way of fishy smell and it really has no fishy flavor at all. And if you cook it right it absorbs whatever flavors you cook it in. So if you're like me and have a strong aversion to fish, this might just be the fish for you... if you must!

For a fish lover's opinion: Hubs said it was delicious and hopes I get up the nerve to make it again sometime soon.





Pan Seared Mahi-Mahi with Cajun Spiced Maple Glaze
Adapted from Recipezaar.com

2 mahi-mahi fillets
1/8 cup maple syrup
1 Tablespoon Cajun seasoning (Mystery Spice!)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

- Mix all ingredients except the fish in a small bowl. Marinate the fish in this sauce for 15 minutes up to 3 hours.
- Spray skillet heavily with cooking spray, or use 2T of olive oil. Heat pan until your hand can be held over it for less than 2 seconds or until oil reaches smoke point.
- Add fish to the pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes on the first side and 2-3 minutes on the second side. You may add more of the syrup mixture if you like.
- Best served with rice.

If you would like to share your very own Mystery Spice recipe link up below!

Prayer Answered!

Thank you so much to those of you who prayed for my Dad yesterday! I went to the hospital last night to spend some time with my Mom and see how Dad was doing. He came out of surgery just shortly after I got there, and after about an hour in recovery he was moved to his room and we were able to see him. He looked GOOD! Seriously good! He was pretty funny on drugs though. He made a comment about the clock being upside down and he said, "Amy! You're here!" three times, but he quickly became more lucid and was soon begging for ice cream and candy. That's my dad! lol The doctor talked to my mom and said that they would have him up on his feet sometime before midnight last night, and that he'd most likely go home late this afternoon.

National Day of Prayer

Hello there! I'm Amy, and these are my fraternal twin daughters, Ziva & Anya. They're 22 months old and exploring new territory every day!

I'll get into my original blog plan for today in just a moment (the National Day of Prayer). But I'm hoping some of you who are reading this are visiting my blog for the very first time! That's right, I'm the featured blogger today over at Multiples... and More! I'm so excited!!! I've never been a featured blogger before so I really don't know what to do! I'm not sure what will be posted over at MaM about me, I sent them a pretty huge long list of links and pictures that they might wanna use. In true Amy fashion I couldn't decide which ones were good! And then when I went back to read some of my old stuff... well, I liked all of it so I sent them all of my best entries. Not hard to do since I've only truly been blogging for 5 months.

So for those of you who are interested in what's happened in my life over the past 5 months, here are some of my BEST posts! I thought about doing a Top 10 sort of dealie but that would require some actual decision making on my part...

Recipes:
Introduction to Mystery Spice Monday
Lemon Chicken & Artichokes with Dill Sauce
Heavenly Pork Roast
Cook Once, Eat Twice! aka Taco Dip & Italian Turkey Meatballs
Totally Yummy Brownies

My Girls:
Tiptoe... Through the Tulips...
Twin Expectations
Our Birth Story
Picking an Unusual Name for Your Baby(ies)
A Day in the Life
Mother of Multiples Groups

The Infamous Other:
Beautiful Like Me
The Boys
This Morning a Year Ago
My Bissell Steam Mop
Looking for an affordable house??? READ THIS!!!

Like I said... indecisive! I hope that doesn't scare you away from my blog forever. :) You will come back and see me again won't ya?!

Anyhoo...

So back to my original plan for today's post. The National Day of Prayer. If you are a church going sort at all you'll know that today's the day to pray! (Ok, I realize we're supposed to pray every day!) Specifically I think it's important to pray for our country, for our leaders that they make wise decisions, for our economy, for our soldiers, and of course for our friends and families who are going through tough times.

I thought it might be fun to do something a little interactive today, especially since hopefully more people will visit here today than usual. If you have a prayer request, about ANYTHING going on in your life, or even going on with someone you know and care about, please share it with us. Just post a comment, you can do it anonymously if you like. And then if you have any time today, please read other's comments and pray for them. Lift each other up in prayer. And pray for those who visit this blog for the first time today, that they will be encouraged and blessed.



And if you think about it, I have my own prayer request today. My dad has stage 3 prostate cancer and he's going in for surgery to remove his prostate today. Somehow I don't think it's a coincidence that such an event is taking place on the National Day of Prayer. Everyone I have talked to about my dad's surgery has told me that they knew of someone who had the same surgery (apparently 3 out of 4 men end up with prostate cancer at some point in their life) and it completely cured their cancer. So I'm feeling pretty certain that my dad will be ok. However, I saw him yesterday, and I could tell he was worried. So pray for peace for my dad. That his nerves are calmed, that everything goes smoothly and according to plan, that God guides the surgeon's scalpel and that my dad will make a quick recovery. Amen!

If you would like to post on your own blog about your prayer request, or to encourage others to participate in the National Day of Prayer, please feel free to link up!

Way Back When-endsday: Anya's Sweetness

My mother-in-law took this picture of me and Anya, I'm guessing she was about 3 months old here. My mother-in-law is a very sweet lady, but a photographer she is not. So it's downright miraculous that we even have such a sweet picture of Anya. Whenever we think "what is the best picture of Anya" this is the one we think of. I love it so much!!!

For more Way Back fun visit Cheryl over at Twinfatuation!

Fun Things to Share and a Giveaway!

I think my luck has officially changed as far as winning blog giveaways are concerned! If you're interested in some of the fun things I tried to win, feel free to peruse my giveaway blog linked on the right.

So I thought I should create a nice big ol' THANK YOU post to some of you who out there who donated items to blogs I visit and made the giveaways possible. :)

First up, Brooke! She has a terrific blog called Smart + Strong = Sexy! She's been training for a 5k race for a while now and completed her goal this past Saturday! I really admire her perseverance and willingness to challenge herself to do something new. Anyhoo, she had a contest a while back for a coupon for a free 12 pack of Mountain Dew, and I won! I'm not really much of a Mountain Dew fan, so I'm planning to redeem it and then donating the Dew to our church's food pantry. The food pantry provides grocery items to families in my area in need. They don't often get "fun" foods, so I'm hoping this Mountain Dew will bring some smiles to someone who's been hankerin' for a Dew!



Next up, I won a children's book from TwinHappy.com! Jen has a great site dedicated to her identical twin girls, and she actually wrote the book! It's super cute, and I can't wait until my girls can handle books with actual pages as opposed to the cardboard type because I think they will really enjoy this book. :)





And finally, I won the book Multiple Blessings through the Multiples... and More! blog network! I love this site so much!!! They feature other mom's with twins or more, and generally create a very welcoming atmosphere for Mothers of Multiples. The book I won was donated by an online store specializing in books about multiples, DoubleUp Books. After checking out this site I can safely say that if there is a book about multiples out there, they have it! I'm super excited about winning this book by Kate Gosslin! I often watch their show and take notes. :)



So those are the prizes I've won recently, this whole blogging giveaway thing is so much fun!!!

I thought I'd also share some of the other fun stuff I've gotten in the mail. No... I won't show you pictures of our bills. That would be boring.

Instead I thought I'd share with you my Mother's Day present, from me, to me. lol

It's a necklace made by Magpie Designs! I've been looking for a piece of keepsake "motherhood" jewelery for myself pretty much ever since the girls were born. I really wanted something that I could wear on a daily basis that would remind me of them every time I saw it. When Magpie Designs was featured on Multiples...and More! I knew that I had found it! It's casual enough to wear every day, yet nice enough that I can wear it for a night out with Hubs. Plus it has my girls' names on it, and their birth stone which is a pearl. I got it in the mail on Saturday, and I've been wearing it every day since! I could not be more thrilled with it, so THANK YOU so much for making me such a beautiful piece!





Next up, I have a friend of the family who is a painter, Roger Cooke. He paints mostly western/scenery art and he's been going strong for 40+ years developing his craft. Recently he was diagnosed with cancer, and has put the word out that he needs to sell more paintings to cover his medical expenses. So please, if you are at all in the market for buying a painting, go check out his site!

And last, but certainly not least! I have been selected as a mom blogger for the Real Beauty Dove Campaign! Recently they sent me this pretty package of Dove Ultimate Visibly Smooth anti-perspirant deodorant in lovely wild rose scent.



I've been using it for a week now and I'm really enjoying it! Every once in a while I catch a whiff of rose and think "oooh, that's pretty, I wonder where... Oh yeah! That's me!!" Yeah, I'm a little slow. lol The cool thing about this deodorant is that it contains a unique Pro-Epil Complex that over time will reduce and soften your underarm hair. Since I haven't been using it for that long I can't say I've noticed a huge difference as far as hair is concerned, but time will tell and I'll report back if I notice anything. I will say that this stuff WORKS as far as odor control is concerned! I pretty much chase 2 year olds for a living, and I'm often sweating up a storm before 9am. So I can confidently say that I can wear this all day without any problems. And like Dove says, confidence IS beauty!

As a wonderful bonus, Dove has given me some coupons for $2 off this deodorant! Even better! Each coupon actually has TWO coupons inside! One for you, and one for a friend.

So if you haven't already guessed, I'm giving away TEN of these lovely coupons!

GIVEAWAY

To Enter:
- Comment once about anything on this post.

Extra Entries (one comment per entry please!):
- Follow my blog publicly or subscribe to my RSS Feed.
- Blog about my giveaway and link back here.
- Follow me on Twitter.
- Blog your very own Mystery Spice Monday recipe and link up!

Yup! FIVE chances to win a fabulous $2 off coupon!

This contest will end on Monday May 11th at 10am.

To answer Kelly's question below, I just got word from Dove that the coupons are only valid in the US. So sorry!