My Plains of Peace

True joy lacks the wild ups and downs of an excitement-based life.  It's a peaceful landscape filled with peaceful thoughts and peaceful emotions.  Indeed, it's so peaceful that, to our adrenaline-soaked culture, it looks rather plain.  In fact, I like to think of it as the plains of peace.

~Martha Beck

The small things of life are what give me everyday peace and joy.  It is not very often that I will go back to bed after I get the older girls off to school but this morning I needed a few more zzzzz's.  It was such a peaceful feeling to fall back into a deep sleep and not feel the need to go full throttle as soon as my feet hit the floor.  Kate actually slept until 10:00AM this morning (apparently she needed a few extra zzzzz's as well) and woke me up ready for breakfast.

I enjoyed two of my favorite things of the morning...."Every Kiss begins with K", this is the song Kate sings before she gives me a kiss now days due to the Kay Jewelers commercials they play leading up to Valentine's Day and my coffee along with my favorite creamer....Natural Bliss!

We cuddled up on the couch and Kate asked, "Mommy, can we have a pajama day like I had at school last week?" My response, "Sounds wonderful!"  We watched some favorites on PBS like this and this and talked on the phone to Mamaw Carol for a bit.  One of Kate's daily joys is getting the mail, she can hear that mail truck two streets over.:)  Well, today, she wanted to play a bit after her visit to the mailbox and with this weather I didn't blame her!

Bubbles!

She worked up an appetite outside and was ready for lunch.  I think watching PBS this morning gave her some inspiration because she was ready to create her own lunch.:)

So proud and if you notice one of the "flowers" is missing a petal....she wanted me to taste.:)

This is the CD we listened to this afternoon, take a listen.

Sara Groves is inspirational and Station Wagon is

wonderful, especially for parents, to have in their collection.:)

My lunch was leftover White Chicken Chili from last night with a little reduced fat sour cream on top and some cilantro.  Yes, that is a plastic spoon...apparently every spoon we own was washing in the dishwasher and I wasn't up to eating with a ladle.:)

The recipe I used for this was adapted from my #1 favorite recipe blog Annie's Eats.  I added an extra can of Northern beans, increased the chicken broth to 3 cans and omitted the heavy whipping cream and sour cream that is added at the end of the recipe.  After all, I am currently doing Made to Crave and trying to develop healthier eating habits for me and the Fam.:)  We just add the sour cream on top when served and sprinkle a little dried Cilantro on top.  Good stuff!

Blessings and love to all!