Salsa Verde (Crock Pot) Chicken Soup

I cannot even remember the last time I posted a dinner recipe, remember when I used to post one crock pot recipe a week? Yeah I think that was pushing two years ago so if you don't remember, no hard feelings.

I planted many herbs and vegetables when we got home from Japan and though everything almost everything has started to thrive (replanted some stuff), nothing holds a candle to my large terra-cotta pot of cilantro, I mean WOW! Ironically I've never cooked much with cilantro so the fact that I picked the biggest pot to plant it in doesn't make sense; chalk that one up to pregnancy brain. However, since I now have so much I've been challenged to get creative and explore some new recipes and flavors! It appears that cilantro is most often used in Mexican flare dishes which thankfully has not made it onto my food aversion list the entirety of this pregnancy, SCORE!

Mom Lovin Hop No.57

The Lovely hosts of the Mom-Lovin Hop have decided to take a 'summer hiatus' from the Hop! With two of us having babies we all would love to spend some time focusing on our families! We love this link up and the community we have built and will definitely be back hosting in September! We hope that throughout the summer you'll all still stay connected with the mamas you have met through the hop! 

35 Weeks Pregnant- Camping at Lake Wenatchee

Pregnancy is quickly progressing towards the end result- I'm feeling it more and more. It's getting harder for me to keep my hormones/emotions in check, thank goodness for a wonderful husband who picks up the pieces while I am falling apart!

We've moved Gabriel into his room so now the nursery is open and I'm slowly organizing it with Gabriel's Newborn through 9 month clothes! I pulled out the most gender neutral items I can find, we'll see if I'll go back for the more boyish items or if I'll be needing to go out and buy some girly pieces!

We have so many more things on our to-do list to knock out but my anxiety levels are getting higher and higher (and energy levels getting lower and lower) so I'm needing to limit my commitments in order to keep that in check. What that means is I'm starting to keep a lower profile with slower days at home. I'm trying to be better about doing what's best for Gabriel and I rather than doing what I feel like is expected or desired of me from others. Having people over hasn't seemed to be an issue but venturing more than 15 minutes away visiting others is a little more challenging since more often than not it means I lose Gabriel's nap time. Nap time is more precious than gold and more valuable than any item of worth on the planet right now, no exaggeration.

Mom Lovin Hop no.56

Okay, how come none of you ladies stopped me from booking a tent camping trip this weekend back in February? Yes, at 35 weeks pregnant I'm camping for three nights and four days and oh, it's supposed to be about a bazillion degrees out high 90's low 100's. Call me crazy but I am still excited! 

No Guest Co-Host this week! 
If you're curious to experience hosting a hop, now is your time! We make it super easy for you- all you need to do is copy and paste the HTML into your post, upload, and mention it on your social media! TA-DA! Let us know if you're interested. Oh, and it's FREE!

Infant Floral Headband Tutorial

Lets make this clear, we do not know what the gender is of our baby, don't want to start rumors! However, since the day we knew we were pregnant with number two we've been under the strong assumption that we're having a girl. Not sure why the hunch, and do hunches really matter, but that's where our head is at!

The whole not knowing hasn't been an issue besides not knowing which kind of name we need to be set on. We've had our girl name settled since before getting married but with the increase of people we know starting to have children, that name was chosen by someone else. Chris isn't bothered but I'm having a harder time with it since the name has felt so unique to me for years now. We've gone back and forth on other girl names but nothing has resonated as deep. When push comes to shove who knows, we'll probably keep with the name we've loved so dearly since we started talking about the kids in our future.

With my nesting and maternal emotions starting to kick into overdrive, the idea of having a sweet headband for our potential darling daughter to sport after birth sounded like a fun project! Please believe that we WILL NOT be disappointed if we have a boy- the idea of having another boy so close to Gabriel's age sounds AMAZING and since both boys would be born the same time in August all clothing hand-me-downs would match up PERFECTLY! 

Kitchen Chalkboard & Measuring Cup Rack

So this project has been in the works for about 9 months now because of our trip to Japan when it should have been an afternoon, or MAYBE weekend sort of thing.

I wanted to free up one of my kitchen drawers as well as have my measuring tools more accessible so an in cupboard rack is what resulted! The chalkboard wasn't necessary, but sort of was at the same time- I love the hidden character it give to the kitchen!

Originally I planned to use the chalkboard for something practical like writing up conversions I'm often googling but how could I pick practical over a saying like, 'if in doubt bake a cupcake'? I don't know about you but those are definitely words I live by!


To transform this cupboard we used:
half round molding
saw
finishing nails
hammer
drill
wood glue
clamps
chalk

Mom Lovin Hop no.55

I feel like I've dropped the ball on you guys this week on the blog, I seriously have totally spaced on it! It's been a fun but busy week- Monday night I hosted a lady's craft night which was so therapeutic! My pregnancy nesting has actually been focused on driving myself crazy over outside projects. I really needed a wheelbarrow today (ours is broken) and I thought to ask our neighbor but pretty sure he wasn't going to let an almost 34week pregnant woman use it... Come on people! I really want a fire pit, like super bad, like almost drove myself to the store yesterday to buy bricks. Have you had crazy ambition this week? I'll gladly share! 

Our Guest Co-Host this week is Tiffany from Crafting a Fairy Tale

Tiffany was our featured mama last week and this week she is guest co-hosting with us! If you were around last week you saw that Tiffany is a mama to be! She is 36 weeks with her little man Kingston! Honestly I cant wait to see this baby! Just look at that gorgeous couple! There is no doubt this baby will be handsome! :) Be sure to pop over and wish Tiffany well in her last few weeks of pregnancy!