A girl grown up. {plus some recipes!}

Clinging to my leg while I make lunch. This one is a Mama’s girl, for sure.

Guess who’s potty trained?

I really can’t believe it. She’s been interested for about six months or so, but would never actually do her business anywhere but her trusty diapers. Then on Friday I randomly got the idea to have her watch London go potty. She watched, asked to go, and that was the end of the story. No joke, she took one day to train! It took her until today to get, um, #2 all figured out. She’s only had a few accidents, and will sometimes even tell me when she needs to go (I have to remind her about 75% of the time, but she’ll get the hang of it). I’ve been changing diapers for almost seven years. It feels good to give Pampers the brush off, lol!

So, the binky is our last “baby” thing to let go. I’m waiting until the girls get more used to sharing a room before I let that one go. Which, by the way, is going awesome! They talk at night until they fall asleep, and will talk when they wake up in the morning. Every night London acts as though the dream might end. “Can I puh-leeeeeeease sleep with Brooklyn tonight?” as if I might move her out at any moment. 🙂

Now for a recipe! For the past two years we’ve made Peppermint Popcorn, and it is just too good not to share. I found the original recipe on Pinterest, but I’ve changed it to suit our needs.

Peppermint Popcorn
2 bags popped popcorn (can be microwave or air popped; we like Homestyle by Pop Secret)
6 candy canes, crushed
6 squares of white chocolate, melted (I use Bakers brand)

All you do is pop the popcorn, sprinkle the crushed candy canes over the popcorn, and then stir in the white chocolate. It is SO good! You can find the original recipe here, which calls for almond bark instead of white chocolate, uses more candy canes, and also uses peppermint extract. I’ve found that to be *too* peppermint-y, but experiment and find what works right!

And this. Oh my heavens, this is by far my favorite recipe I’ve ever found online. Its called Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin {click on the picture for the recipe}. I am not kidding, it is DELICIOUS, and it must make it to your dinner table soon. It’s crockpot, which makes it even better. It literally just falls apart when its done. I’ve made it several times and it is fool-proof. My only warning is to make sure that you buy pork loin, not pork roast. I made that mistake once, and while it was still good, it wasn’t the ‘melt in your mouth’ experience of the pork loin. I haven’t changed a single thing about this recipe, and that says a lot because I almost always change recipes, lol!

Other than all that, we are just gearing up for Christmas! The kids are SO excited this year. Jackson is really into Star Wars, so I found a tutorial online to make him a Jedi robe. I am less than stellar when it comes to sewing projects, so my awesome friend Jeannie let me come over and helped me make it. I can’t wait to give it to him (and show off my handiwork, lol!). It’s 1,000 times better than what I would buy and only cost $10 to make!

Off to finish up the popcorn. I ate it for breakfast today. And lunch. And midday snack. And…