A Wonderful Life

Lanae is 3!!!

2014-11-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

So on September 28th, Lanae turned 3! Happy Birthday. I know, I'm late. What's new?

I just wanted to remember some of the highlights of her birthday. At first we were just going to go camping and do the whole family thing. I had been feeling pretty sick for several weeks and just decided that I couldn't handle trying to do a party or get together.

But Lanae kept begging and begging for her friends to come over. So in the end, we decided we would just invite a couple friends over for dinner and cake and ice cream.

Lanae was ecstatic. She wanted to make pizzas and have her friends over. That's all she cared about! So we that's what we did... Lanae loves helping to make the pizzas and having ownership of her own pizza. I love that she loves it, so I encourage it! Ha ha...

And she was in heaven. Dinner was great. Playing with friends was great.

Then it was cake time. She watched me frost it and put the candles in earlier in the day and she was super excited. She has actually been practicing blowing out matches for me whenever I light a candle. I always tell her when I'm lighting it and have her hurry over to blow it out before I get burned, so I was hoping that this year she might be able to handle blowing out the candles on her own.

She totally did. It only took her three tries. I guess we'll have to work on it a little more for next year. Or maybe I should be more considerate and place the candles right next to each other!

After cake, she got to open her presents from family. Grandma Smith sent her a cute little kitchen set of wooden plates, forks, pots and pans, as well as a wooden pizza making set to match. She loves them!

Grandma Fawcett sent her Frozen stickers and some cute Winter clothes, which she was in desperate need of... She loves her bright pink jacket! Says she looks just like mommy!

Scott and I got her the tools and supplies to make some homemade jewelry... bracelets and necklaces. She has been kind of obsessed with jewelry lately and was so excited to make her own.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! We love you!!

Hodges Farm and Pumpkin Patch

2014-11-09T18:07:00.001-07:00

I have been kicking myself for weeks. The last two months have been extremely slow for me and well I have had a really hard time keeping on top of things. But I know I will regret down the road not sharing more over the last several months.

Man! I wish pregnancy wasn't so hard, sometimes. I know in the end its worth it, but hey! I feel like my normally motivated and highly capable body has been completely taken away from me and I'm just trying to survive.

That being said... At the beginning of October (and parts of September) there were days that I didn't get out of bed until 10 or 11 because I was so weak, tired and just plain sick. I'm so lucky to have such patient and loving kiddos that would cuddle me for a second and then destroy every thing they could get their hands on in my room, occasionally coming back for another hug or kiss. And I just let them, because I didn't have the energy to say "no!" and actually mean it.

Despite being sick, Scott dragged me out of the house a time or two because he knew that we all needed it. One of these such occasions was to visit a pumpkin patch. Because you have to do that in October. It's one of the rules of Fall.

So we drug ourselves to the pumpkin patch and the kids were so happy to be free. They loved every second of it. We invited some friends and Lanae loved that we were able to go out and be with friends at the same time.

One thing that I love about having two kids and two different personalities is that they help each other to be excited about things. Back when it was just Lanae and us, she would be excited about something, but you wouldn't be able to tell because she just didn't show it in a normal way. She is much more subdued in general.

Owen on the other hand, squeals, jumps up and down, claps his hands, makes funny noises and runs around trying to get our attention when he's excited. He is starting to rub off on Lanae and I love it! Now there are occasionally times where she actually gets outwardly excited about something!! It's great!

The animals really got Owen excited. He loved every new animal and could hardly contain himself. He also was excited to kiss the pumpkins. He kisses everything right now. Silly boy!

Lanae really wanted to ride the horses, but we didn't get there in time to buy tickets. Oh well, maybe next time. I think she actually would have freaked out if we had tried to ride the horse, so I think it worked out for the best. But who knows, maybe I'm wrong.

The wagon ride was a pretty fun back up choice though! Both the kids loved it. So I think the pumpkin patch was definitely a positive experience this year.

We ended up going to Walmart to get our pumpkins though. Pumpkin patch pumpkins are just way too expensive for us! Good thing Walmart has big pumpkins that are affordable....

I'm so glad that we took the time to make these memories this year. I love my family!!

Camping Trip for Lanae's Birthday

2014-10-19T09:58:00.001-06:00

Last year we headed to the beach to celebrate. This year, Lanae was super excited to go camping. We camped very briefly on our trip to Nauvoo and she begged us constantly after that to go camping again! So we decided that we would plan a trip... and it ended up being the weekend of her birthday! It worked out perfectly.

The second we got there, Lanae wanted to help set up the tent. After that, both Lanae and Owen were just excited to explore. We had the cutest little campsite with a small hill and it was surrounded by thick woods. It was very small and nice.

We got to work making the fire, which turned out to be a challenge since all of the wood we had bought ended up being damp. I was nervous for about 10 minutes, but Scott being the outdoorsman that he is restored my confidence almost immediately!

Actually, Scott pretty much packed and got us all ready for the trip and everything. It was the weirdest thing because usually I plan for several days and take stock of all the food and have a very detailed plan of what we need to bring. But since I was feeling kind of sick and not even sure I wanted to go... Scott took care of everything! And I just trusted that he grabbed everything we needed. Good thing he did!

We roasted our hot dogs and snacked. We sang some songs and danced around the campfire. Scott climbed trees and then helped the kids climb trees. And by 8 o clock the kids were begging to get inside the tent and play...

We figured we should probably hold out a little longer so we roasted some marshmallows and then sat and watched the fire for a bit. The kids took turns throwing sticks and twigs into the fire. It was actually very relaxing.

The kids were surprisingly good about going to sleep. But Owen woke up around 2 and freaked out. I had to take him for a walk. Which was fine, since I actually wasn't able to get any sleep at all. Pregnant women don't sleep well on the ground. Owen was up off and on for the rest of the night.

But the morning was nice. It was cool and we built up our fire again and put together some delicious tin foil breakfasts to cook on the fire! They were super delicious. After breakfast, we packed up camp and drove up to a lake and some trails.

I was tired, but I didn't want to give up and go home so early. So we walked down to the lake and played in the sand for a bit. And then we caved and let the kids wade in the water... And then sit in the water... Ha ha! We brought a change of clothes, so why not? They had a blast playing with Scott and I just sat and watched them play. So it was a win!

Scott drove us home and the rest of us slept. I was so grateful to finally get some sleep. I'm really glad we went, we had a blast. But next time we go camping, I would prefer to not be tired and pregnant :) Next time we'll just have a wee baby instead!

Playin' Catch-up in July

2014-09-21T16:16:00.002-06:00

I just went through 2,000 pictures from July and narrowed it down to 72 pictures that I would like to blog about... Oh boy! I've got my work cut out for me. The big problem is that it's September, which means, I also need to go through August's photos and do the same thing! Yikes! How did I get so behind???

This summer has seriously been a whirlwind. We didn't do a whole lot, but it feels like we did a ton! Mostly because I was desperately searching for some kind of job opportunity and working my tail off trying to learn more about what I can do as a stay at home mom to support my family. Hard work, I tell you! But that's not the point of this post (although it does explain a few things)...

So I'm gonna be realistic with myself and make this a picture update--with a few words!

One of our favorite activities this summer was library day Tuesday. Every Tuesday, we would pack up our library books, drop Scott off at work and go to story time. Lanae was really shy at the beginning of story time, but the library does such a good job of helping the kids feel comfortable. After a couple weeks, she was counting, singing and doing the actions to all the songs and nursery rhymes. She also listens intently to the books that are read. She loves books. Owen, on the other hand, was not so easily engaged and I debated not going a couple times because he had been a terror the week before.

After story time we would pick out a few more books and head to the park.... which is right by the library! How convenient... On very special days we would ride the little train around the park before heading home.

And of course, we played at the splash pad a lot this summer... Not as much as we should have though! There were too many cloudy days and I got busy with work in the afternoons and just didn't go :( Oh well... there's always next summer to make up for it!

Another train ride...

A couple evenings this summer we ventured out to play disc golf. I love that this is one of Scott's favorite things to do and it is something that we can casually enjoy as a whole family. Although I think Lanae enjoys it a little differently than we do.

At the disc golf course, there is also a little park with a pond. We always walk over the bridge on our way back to the car and if the kids were good... we stop and see the turtles.

Lanae has started having fun lessons... inconsistently! I did really well for a while, but for some reason got stuck on the letter G. But... we are gonna get all caught up here soon! Anyway, for lessons, we make fun crafts or activities, some that she can pull out and play with again... like here sensory bins!

We definitely missed family this summer! So we made sure to keep in contact... I had to include this picture because Owen is hilarious!!!

As I mentioned before... this girl loves books! This is a typical morning around here...

And our afternoons generally include some sort of dress up in mommy's clothes! With me working a lot more, the house looks a lot more like this then it used to... Until I start going crazy and we clean up a bit!

Date Night... We had a lot of fun date nights in July... You can read all about them on our other blog ( ). But one activity that we did that I didn't blog about was Chocolate Checkers!! It had been a long time since we had played checkers and Scott dominated at first until I learned a tricky strategy! Then I won every game... and it was no longer fun! Ha ha... just kidding!

I don't know how many favorite activities you can have, but this summer we got into a pretty good habit of playing tennis every Saturday morning. The kids are so good at staying off the court and playing with each other. The picture below is of one morning when we were also babysitting some other kiddos while playing tennis! So fun!!!

The kids just love being outside. And now they can go outside a tad bit more often than we used to. Although our yard is pretty small and not fenced, so I still don't let them go out too much because they need pretty close supervision. This picture is from one day when they just sat for 30 minutes and watched the trash trucks drive up and down the street.

We had a busy, busy July. But it was a lot of fun! We definitely created some fun memories... :)

The 4th of July

2014-09-21T15:55:00.001-06:00

The Wednesday before the 4th of July, we went to a symphony in the park... It was a spontaneous decision and it was so fun!

The kids had so much fun dancing to the music and playing in the grass.

We went with our new friends, the Erbstoesser's...

Here's some more pics of our goofy Lanae...

And of course, Owen clapping to the music!!

And Lanae sitting on Kennedy's lap. Kennedy is only 1 week younger than Lanae... But Lanae is super tiny and Kennedy is super tall!

They really were having so much fun... even though there faces are straight.

For the actual 4th of July, we had a bunch of families over. One friend brought their pool and we filled it up with water... and frogs! The kids had a blast.

We had a Cafe Rio style pork salad for lunch!! Mmmmmm.... It was so fun to just relax with some friends!

After such a great day relaxing at home, we decided to forego driving somewhere to see fireworks. We didn't want to deal with the crowds or the kids after dark. Plus, we had already seen fireworks... but we had promised Lanae some fireworks.

So we did a little make believe fireworks on the driveway with sidewalk chalk and imagination! How fun! :)

Our Spontaneous Trip to Nauvoo

2014-09-14T19:27:00.003-06:00

In January, my mom told us she applied for the Nauvoo pageant again (kind of out of the blue). We debated whether we could go with them, but in the end reality told us that Scott had way too much research to do this summer and couldn't afford to take the time off. We thought about visiting, but in the end, decided that probably wasn't going to happen either.

Then my parents were in Nauvoo and I was feeling sad we weren't able to go see them. I don't know why I'm such a baby. I get lonely pretty easy and this summer hasn't been the easiest for me. I really thought moving back to Kannapolis would have been easier since we were already here once. But the truth is, moving and adjusting is hard! It's been a very long time since I've felt like I truly belonged somewhere. So I was feeling a little down when my mom called and she was SO excited. They were having so much fun and she was sharing all the fun stuff that was going on in Nauvoo, including the new British pageant that they were doing this summer. As she was trying to explain what it was all about, she said that she just wished that we could see it.

My brain started working over time. I was homesick for my family, I love Nauvoo and I really wanted to go. So I was like, well maybe we'll come this weekend... I brought it up with Scott and we debated for a couple days. We knew it would be a very short trip with about as much driving as time with family. But we decided to go ahead and go.

Because it was so spontaneous, I didn't really plan out what we would do once we got there. Which ended up being a good thing. We were extremely flexible and had zero expectations which meant that we were pretty happy with how everything turned out.... This is totally not normal for me, so I count that as a huge accomplishment.

We drove all night and got there early in the morning. When we got there we set up our tent and then went to find Oma and Ompa! Lanae was so excited about both of those things... ;)

The trip was exactly what we needed. I love the Spirit of Nauvoo. There is so much love, faith, courage and compassion there. It is a very uplifting place. One of my favorite parts of this trip was just walking the streets with my little family in the evening. It was pretty deserted and we just strolled along...

Even though we have trials today that are very hard for us, I can't imagine what the early saints went through and I'm so grateful for their sacrifice. It strengthens my faith to hear the stories of the countless sacrifices that the men and women of Nauvoo went through.

We also made sure to walk up to the temple and got some missionaries to snap a picture of all 4 of us!! Woo woo! That never happens.

Lanae had a blast visiting Oma. She loved the carriage ride sitting on Keana's lap and the fun children's games at the country fair.

My mom showed Lanae how to play graces and helped her make a stick puppet. We did a stick pull and walked on stilts... It was so fun!

Owen never really warmed up to my parents, he was kind of ornery the whole time from lack of sleep. He did take a little nap on my mom's lap while we were waiting to go see the young performing missionaries perform Anna Amanda. My mom loves snuggles, so I think that definitely helped!

We saw a lot of the shows that are put on by the missionaries in Nauvoo. While we were waiting for one to start the Nauvoo brass band came by and played us a song and we danced in the street! So fun!

We also went and got our traditional fudge and custard on main street! A must-do if you are visiting Nauvoo. Oh and... you have to go see the Mississippi River up close--at least 3 times.

While my parents went to a meeting on Saturday, we headed to Carthage. Here we encountered some major difficulties that come from traveling with young kids who haven't gotten much sleep. Lanae threw a major fit before we even got in. I don't know exactly what her problem was, but I ended up carrying her screaming and thrashing from the bathroom. It was kind of embarrassing. After her tantrum continued for another 5-10 minutes in the car, we got her to calm down. We headed back in to try again. We jumped on the back of a tour that was going in. Scott was holding Owen and halfway through, Owen started freaking out. He ended up throwing his bottle on the floor in the jail and the milk splattered everywhere. Beyond embarrassing...

Pretty sure it was because of exhaustion. We got back to the tent and Scott set Lanae down for a minute in the drivers seat. He came back and she was passed out!

Needless to say, it was a little hard for us to feel the spirit in Carthage. But despite all of that, we enjoyed our trip. We watched the British pageant on Friday night and the Nauvoo pageant on Saturday night. They were both great and the kids did pretty well. We wore them out so hard during the day that they slept in the tent with no problems at all. They even slept in the second morning until 8. Which is not normal at all for our kids!

It was actually pretty fun getting all cozy in the tent! It definitely made Scott and I want to go camping again soon!

Date Nights in June

2014-08-10T10:31:00.005-06:00

We have loved being in Kannapolis this summer. Even though Scott has been very busy with research, we have still managed to get some fun dates and family outings in. One of our favorites was visiting Patterson farms and picking strawberries.

It didn't work out exactly the way we had planned though. We arrived and about 15 minutes later it started raining really hard. We debated trying to wait the rain out... but in the end decided it would just be best to call it a day. When I have my heart and mind set on something, its hard for me to see it not work out. Oh well, there's always next year!!

There are a couple parks nearby with disc golf courses. We have only been to one of them so far, but we have really enjoyed getting out and playing disc golf again. After we played once, I had an idea to do a disc golf treasure hunt date. This was an absolute blast that I am definitely looking forward to doing again.

One of our other favorite things to do in the month of June was play Chocolate Checkers. Yeah, kind of nerdy. Neither one of us had really played checkers very much before. So there was a huge learning curve for both of us. At first, Scott won. But then I came up with a surprise strategy and won several times in a row. Then he started winning again and then we stopped playing... ha ha!

During the month of June, a lot of our evenings were spent working on our new blog. I love that Scott is excited about helping me design it and make it the best that it can be. We had a really neat opportunity to review so blow dart guns in June and together created a really fun date night called the Airforce Blowguns Games. We had an absolute blast with this date night and I'm sure we'll have plenty more fun nights revolving around these nerf-like-guns.

Now I'm desperately needing to get caught up on July, too!

June Update... Say what??? I started a BLOG!

2014-06-22T10:19:00.001-06:00

So every second of every day seems to be filled with some kind of responsibility or activity. I've been swamped. It's pretty much my own fault, though. So there's no complaining! In fact, I love the crazy busy feeling for the most part. At the beginning of June (or end of May), it's all running together, Lanae and I started doing daily lessons.

She loves them. She loves learning and she loves the one on one time that it gives us. She is always excited about the next big project we're working on which acts as a great incentive for good behavior. The transition from Raleigh to Kannapolis has been harder on her than any other transition, I think. Besides the one where she had to adjust to a brand new baby taking her spotlight.

Owen is one of the brightest and best. I know that for a fact. He fills my heart with love whenever I see his little face coming towards me, trying to slop on a big fat wet kiss. Lately his hugs and kisses are becoming more and more frequent. There was one day that I was feeling a little bummed out (because this transition has been harder on me than I expected). I was in our big bean bag reading and Owen would crawl up, give me a huge hug and kiss then get down and go play. Then about 5 minutes later, he would do the same thing. He gave me kisses in 5 minute intervals for almost a whole hour. And he was so happy to do it!

When I see him walking around, though. I'm reminded that I don't have a baby anymore and that makes my heart ache. My kids are growing up too fast!

Lanae taunts Owen... all the time! They both love to play outside. But sometimes I only let Lanae out to play with the sensory bin because I can actually trust her not to run away. When she's confined to the concrete slab, she actually stays there. She's such a good listener!

So the reason I am so busy is that I started a blog. I mean, a more professional blog. I miss teaching. A lot. I miss doing something productive to help support our family (financially). And to be honest, there are not a whole lot of jobs that you can get paid for to do from home. Believe me, I've been trying to find something for over a year now. So I decided to start a blog for two reasons. One, it will give me an outlet to share what I've learned as a mom to hopefully inspire and motivate others to strengthen their families. And two, to help me develop some skills that will help me find a job from home and maybe open some doors.

Learning new skills and developing them, takes time and effort. And consistency. So I have been crazy busy trying to do those things while still balancing my time with the kids and Scott. It's been great to have lessons to give me one on one, quality time with Lanae. We also love to read books together. And I love to take breaks to go in and have tickle wars and bounce on the bed with them.

We also try to get outside a lot. We have been to the splash pad 4 times, the library every week for story time, the park, running, play dates as much as possible. We definitely want to make some good friends here because we are going to be here for a while. We are so grateful for the friends we already have!

poor kid. he is jealous again.

The reason Owen has to be locked inside is that he requires a constant eye on him. So if I'm making dinner, there is no way I'm letting him outside. He would be in the street in less than 5 minutes. We need a fence.

For Father's day this year, I made a picture frame with the kids wearing daddy's shoes that he can take to his work space. They are constantly playing in his shoes and he thinks it's cute, so it was a great present. I also got him some grill tools because we love to grill and he's been begging for some for over two years now. I figured it would be best to get him some before he burned himself for the 50th time.

Happy Father's Day

Owen and Lanae have become really great friends lately. The last couple times we have gone to play tennis, they will walk right next to each other and explore the whole tennis court. They take turns following each other. It is the cutest thing. The picture above is from a day where I let them out to play while I was sweeping. They were tossing the ball around and chasing it and then I heard the garbage truck go by and looked up and saw them sitting right next to each other watching. They sat like that for a good 10 minutes just looking at everything. If you've seen Owen, you know that is a substantial amount of time for him to sit still.

This cute girl got a hair cut and now looks a little bit older. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. I love her guts!

And I sure do love my boy! I'm so grateful for my family. I'm hoping that things will start to settle down a little bit, but if they don't, we'll keep trudging along.

Owen's First Birthday

2014-05-25T17:24:00.000-06:00

At 1, Owen is definitely a handful. He has so much energy. He fights off his sleepiness way longer than Lanae ever did. Unfortunately for him, he can't hide it very well, so he still gets 2 naps a day. I will hold on to both naps for as long as possible.

Owen loves to play games. Right now he has a couple of favorites. The first is where he lays down on the ground and starts rolling towards me, then as I roll away he giggles and continues to roll towards me. Sometimes I'll do tricks and roll over the top of him (lightly, of course) and he thinks its so funny. The second is where I get down on my hands and knees and start crawling towards him and he will get on his hands and knees and come charging towards me like a bull. It's crazy! But he thinks its the best.

So far, Owen has been a lot harder to 'train' than Lanae ever was. Like I said, he loves to play games. He thinks when we tell him 'no' we are playing games and so he does the exact opposite and starts playing harder. He has started getting time out for pulling Lanae's hair. Whenever she gets put on time out, he will crawl over and start pulling on her hair... that's what you call 'brotherly love...'

About two weeks ago, Owen took a real interest in walking. He started really slow, but he has gained his confidence really quickly. He still has to really concentrate while walking so that he doesn't lose his balance. Walking is quickly become his preferred mode of transportation. That being said... I really don't have a baby anymore.

It's time to face reality, Owen is a toddler!

opening presents

Lanae received a LittlePeople house for her birthday last year. It has seriously become one of their favorite toys. Often we will see them both sitting in front of it playing with the different features, mostly independently. Sometimes Lanae has a really hard time sharing the house, but she is getting better. We rarely buy toys... But we decided to get the LittlePeople farm for Owen's birthday so that they can still play by each other, but hopefully they can be a little more imaginative now.

he is happily playing

To celebrate Owen's birthday, we wanted to have a little get together with some friends. Scott and I made some cupcakes... Coconut Lime and Devil's Food with a creamy filling. After a big move, it might seem weird that we were baking so much. Baking calms my nerves a bit, though. So it was nice. Eating the delicious cupcakes also calmed my nerves.

rewarding the help

YUM!

he almost caught the fire

he definitely enjoyed the cake

the face of joy

I love this boy!!!

Happy Birthday

Moving in to our New Home

2014-05-18T20:51:00.000-06:00

Have you ever known someone who doesn't like to ask for help? I used to be one of those people who would never ask for help from anyone (besides my parents and a few select others). But then I got pregnant and was sick all the time. I had to start really relying on my husband after that. Then I had my first child and I went back to work. This was one of the hardest times in my life trying to juggle all of my responsibilities. I had to start asking for help all the time. I had to ask for help at work and at home and I had to ask neighbors to help with Lanae... a lot! I learned a lot from that year. I am still not perfect at asking for help, but I have gotten a whole lot better.

Apparently Scott still hasn't learned how to ask for help. He wanted to empty our truck at our new house all by ourselves, just to prove that we could, I guess. And we totally did. It took us all day. By the time we got to the boxes at the back my whole body was screaming at me and I turned to Scott and I said, "You can finish up, I'm going to go sit and organize something inside." I was spent.

they were sooo good!

almost done....

Then I went inside and set to work on the kitchen. I took the time to pack in a way that would make unpacking super easy... because I hate being surrounded by boxes and not knowing where stuff is. I had already been surrounded by chaos for 2 weeks. I wanted to unpack my kitchen and make some cookies. So that is what I did!

Scott finishing up while I "worked" on the kitchen

That night after we put the kids to bed we sat down on our messy bedroom floor (it was seriously complete chaos) and pulled up a spare box. Then we had a celebration. We were celebrating a lot of things...

Scott completed his coursework for his Ph.d.

We packed, moved and unpacked all of our stuff (at least we got it out of the truck...)

We moved into our first house

We will be staying here for a while (at least 2 years) and will hopefully make some good friends here...

Sunday was a day of rest. We spent most of our time downstairs because it was organized. Our bedrooms and everything upstairs was not. This way I wouldn't be tempted to clean and organize. It was so nice.

Then Monday it was back to work. We got our office set up and our bedrooms organized. We made a trip to Wal-mart to get a few odds and ends that would help us get everything in order. Then we had a dinner and a movie family date night. We made homemade pizza, cookies and ice cream and we finally watched Frozen. It was such a fun night. I love how good food and company makes you feel at home.

she was seriously so excited for ice cream, cookies and a movie

this is a typical "Owen hug"

By Tuesday morning there were only 3 boxes left. The funny thing is that those 3 boxes are in the exact same spot that they were back on May 6. I don't know when I'm going to get to them. The rest of the house looks great, so it might be a while... The truth is that they are children's picture books and I have no idea where to put them if I open the boxes, so for now, they will remain shut and sitting in the middle of Lanae's room.

the last 3 boxes

Getting Ready to Move

2014-05-18T19:46:00.001-06:00

Getting ready to move with two kids is a lot of work. This was our third time moving in less than a year and we were pretty smart. We left most of the fragile stuff boxed up... Thank heavens! This time I also did everything pretty much on my own because Scott was finishing up his finals, papers, presentations, etc. He was very busy. We were very blessed to get everything done on time.

I started doing little projects to get packed up about 3 weeks before we were going to move. With 2 kids, I knew it was just going to be crazy that last week (and I was right). All the little projects I did definitely helped. However, about a week and a half before we moved I felt the chaos taking over. I absolutely hate not knowing where everything is and having boxes everywhere.

we had to keep up with the only routine that we could... bedtime

she must have been coping with all the change when she asked us to tickle her feet

The most annoying thing was when I would finish packing a box, but not tape it up yet. Then I would turn my back for a couple of seconds... When I would turn back around Owen or Lanae or both of them would have the box completely unpacked. Ugh! It would take me forever to pack it and in just a few seconds all of my work was completely undone.

One of the greatest things was watching Owen climb up on everything. Lanae would even move boxes so that he could climb up even higher. He is a daredevil. She is a facilitator.

this was the first time, but not the last time I turned around and saw him way higher than he should have been

Right after Scott finished his last final, I picked him up and we went to get the Uhaul. We came home and Scott sat down to send one of his professors his final presentation. While Scott was still working on that some of our friends came and asked if we needed help loading our truck. I was so surprised and grateful for their kindness. We weren't quite ready for them and they were totally patient and willing to help. After we got started several more people came and the loading went pretty quick.

the last time Brenton came to visit

We have awesome friends who were willing to watch the kids while I finished cleaning the rest of the apartment. It took us about 5 hours to pack up the truck and finish cleaning and then get on our way. We were so glad to arrive safely at our new home.

he looks exactly how I felt that whole week...
"can't we just be in our new home, sleeping soundly, please?"

The kids were very patient during the whole process. It was very tiring and confusing for them, but they seemed to handle it fairly well.

they are the sweetest

A Trip to Ireland

2014-05-18T18:18:00.000-06:00

Its been a while since we actually had a travel date. I planned this date in March, but we didn't actually have our date night until the end of April (about a week before we moved).

Ireland is known for its beautiful landscapes and scenery. There are many famous gardens that are large tourist attractions. We had a hard time finding a good time to do this date because I really wanted to go see some gardens and we wanted to make sure there were some good flowers to see before we went. We got ready and drove to the gardens and about a minute before we get there, it starts to sprinkle. I thought we were ruined for sure, but we didn't let the rain scare us away. We enjoyed the gardens for over an hour. There were so many pretty flowers and art sculptures to look at. It was so fun to watch Lanae and talk to her about what she was seeing.

one of her favorite flowers was the Lamb's ear

We came home and had a "traditional" Irish dinner... Meatloaf (wrapped in bacon) and Irish Colcannon, which is basically mashed potatoes with cabbage. Scott absolutely loved dinner! Which is good, since I planned dinner for him. Ha ha. I'll be honest, this definitely wasn't my favorite dinner that we have had on our travel dates. I'm not a huge fan of meat and the cabbage was too overwhelming. Scott said that he would definitely want me to make it again, though. Maybe next March for St. Patrick's day or something.

After dinner we had a delicious surprise called Apple Amber. Again, Scott loved it. It was a very different dessert. I've never really had anything like it before. It was like an Apple tart on the bottom with a Meringue on top.

Apple Amber

don't worry, I didn't really let her lick the pie...

As I was trying to think of something unique that we could do on our visit, I thought it would be really fun to learn a traditional game. I found this game called "Plainy Clappy." Its a game where you bounce a ball against a wall and do different tricks. There are rules for how you catch the ball and you have to say a little chant and keep in rhythm. The first person that does it correctly, wins. It was actually more challenging than I thought it would be. It was really silly and a lot of fun!

one of the most difficult tricks involved standing on one leg and catching the ball with your elbows

After our silly game, we sat down and looked at different attractions in Ireland and talked about some of the places we would like to go and visit someday. This has become one of my favorite parts of our travel dates. I must say that when we first started doing this, it felt kind of silly to sit down and look at pictures and talk about where we would like to go and what we would like to see. Now, it is really fun... I look forward to hearing what Scott is interested in and showing him all the fun facts and beautiful places that I found in my research.

Easter in Kannapolis

2014-04-25T09:27:00.002-06:00

Over Easter weekend, we headed down to Kannapolis for our last short visit. Saturday morning we had a meeting to walk through our new home, get the keys and set up utilities, etc. We decided to make good use of this trip and took a load of pictures and other fragile items that are a pain to pack. Since we were in our new home, we were able to visualize what we want where and it made us SO excited to move. Hopefully the work we did on this trip will decrease the stress of packing and unpacking.

We spent the afternoon at Ikea looking for a couch. It will probably take us a while to find a decent couch for a decent price... Why are they so expensive??? Ha ha! Then we went to an activity in our soon to be new ward. It was a family dinner and dance. Owen loved crawling out on the dance floor and bobbing his head (and the rest of his body, too). It was super cute.

Lanae was so excited to see all the other little girls dancing. She looked longingly at them and kept trying to get included in their little dance circle. Then she would come back to us crying after a couple minutes when she still wasn't included. We tried to go out and dance with her, but Lanae didn't want to dance with us... She wanted to dance with the other little girls. I felt a little helpless. Finally she was able to find a little friend to hold her hands and dance. I got a little teary-eyed when she finally found a new friend. Scott and I enjoyed dancing and getting to know a few people in our new ward.

Sunday morning we had a little Easter Egg hunt with different symbols from the Easter story. Then we opened each egg and talked to Lanae about what Jesus Christ did for us. It was actually really neat. I think she understood parts and parts were way over her head. We did have a few eggs with a little chocolate.

Monday morning we decided to spend a little time at the park before heading home. It was nice to be back at our favorite park. Both Lanae and Owen absolutely love being outside. Lanae still climbs to the highest point possible before looking down!

tippy top of the playground, no fear... looking down!

this kid was loving the freedom on the playground

crazy playground hair

making 'cakes'

our cute friend Eva

Jillian and Eva

the face of joy

Lanae loves Ms. Jillian

Marbles Day Date

2014-04-24T15:00:00.002-06:00

Last Monday, we had a family day date to the Marbles Kids Museum here in Raleigh. We have loved visiting all the different museums and parks that Raleigh has to offer. We are going to really miss visiting these places after we move to Kannapolis.

I had a really great opportunity to write a review for the Marbles museum. You can read it here.

The Gift of a Body

2014-04-13T10:44:00.002-06:00

For family home evening the past two months we have been teaching Lanae about our bodies and what a special gift they are from Heavenly Father. We have been teaching her the importance of being modest, in giving others privacy and space, and showing respect to ourselves and others. Some days it seems like she gets it... and some days I really wonder!

Our nursery leader takes the time to put together some really neat family night ideas for each of the nursery children to take home to their families. One activity that was really successful and meaningful to Lanae was getting a paper cut out that she could put together and dress. She put clothes on and decorated them and we talked about how important our clothes are because they protect our bodies.

I am a child of God

Scott and I have also talked about how important it is for us to be good examples and take care of our bodies. We need to make sure that we are giving them the fuel that they need to grow and work hard. And not overload them with junk. In talking about our bodies and taking care of them, we decided it was time to try something new. We decided to cut out sugar and processed foods for a whole month to see if it would make a difference in our lives.

We learned so much from this experience that we will continue to apply to our lives. I need to round up all my thoughts and ideas and write them all out in a separate post.

Conference Weekend

2014-04-13T10:23:00.002-06:00

One of the first things we did over conference weekend was make a little sensory bin for Lanae, so that we could actually enjoy some of the inspirational talks. We made a little nest with several different types of grass. Lanae still loves playing with different textures and colors. Then we placed chicks and a couple of plastic eggs in the bin. She enjoyed stuffing chicks and grass into the eggs.

Between sessions on Saturday, we took a nice long walk. It was such a beautiful day and we decided to take out Lanae's little tricycle. We soon learned that she still isn't big enough to get it to go without getting super frustrated, so I ended up running back to the apartment with her bike and then we continued walking.

Lanae and Scott had a lot of bonding moments

On our way back we stopped at the swings. Both Lanae and Owen love swinging and getting outside. It was a nice way to relax and just soak in all that we learned.

Since we just finished up our 30 days of no sugar/processed food, we had to make some delicious treats. I decided to make some Peanut Butter & Chocolate Caramel Popcorn to snack on. It was so delicious.

We were also planning on having some friends over after Conference on Sunday, so Scott and I had a little Cupcake War competition. He made these delicious Coconut Lime Cupcakes (he followed a recipe). I did what I do best and found a couple of different recipes and pulled things that I liked to come up with a Salted Caramel Cupcake. I had a couple of different visions and ideas and in the end, I didn't trust myself enough to pull off a delicious cupcake, but it was still pretty good. I have several ideas for how to improve my cupcake in the future.

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

Salted Caramel Cupcakes with Homemade Caramels

Unfortunately, we ended up spending Sunday night in the hospital and didn't get rid of these cupcakes with our friends... but have had to eat them ourselves.

11 months and another hospital visit

2014-04-12T12:05:00.001-06:00

We are starting to pack to get ready to move for the 3rd time in less than a year. We moved 2 weeks after Owen was born so all of the clothes that we bought on sale for him before he was born (to try and save on costs after he was born) ended up in a storage box somewhere. As I started packing up baby stuff, I pulled out a box from storage and found all of these adorable clothes size 0-3 and 3-6 months. I was so sad. We had to try everything on our 11 month old, Owen, just to say that he wore it once. I guess in the stress of moving so many times, we forgot about all of our preparations. So much for saving on baby costs.

I guess we'll just have to have another baby boy soon.

The funny thing is... a lot of the 3-6 month stuff still fit him. I guess that's a perk of having small babies.

he's grown out of this stage... but we still had to try it on

Owen is so much more fun to interact with every day. He actually plays with Lanae now. He is teaching Lanae a lot of things (patience and sharing) and motivating her to learn how to do other things (throw and catch a ball). I find myself wanting to get down on the floor with Owen more and more to play with him. He giggles whenever I get close to tickling him, even if I don't touch him. He loves to climb all over me which is so fun. It reminds me of when I was little and climbed all over my dad.

tea party

he looks so innocent...

...but this picture proves that he is not

Since its warmed up, we have spent a little bit of time outdoors. Owen loves to eat dirt. And sticks. And rocks. He will sit outside in the dirt and be happy forever. He hates being strapped down in the stroller now, which makes it hard to go on runs lately. But I love that he loves to play outside. Last week when he was being ornery I would just open the door and let him crawl outside for a bit. It cheered him up immediately.

Owen has been battling this obnoxious stuffy nose/cough off and on for about a month. Last week we noticed he had a little sore on his hip. It didn't heal up and we started to watch it. On Friday we noticed that the sore looked infected. The area around it was getting red and swollen. I was immediately concerned because we had already had an experience with a bad infection and I didn't want to have another repeat. I wanted to go in to the doctor immediately, but we decided I was overreacting and that we should just continue to watch it. Saturday morning when Owen woke up the area was redder, harder and much more swollen. He was in a lot of pain and just laid on the floor crying. We decided to go into urgent care as soon as they opened. The doctor put Owen on two different antibiotics and said that it should start looking better by Monday. We were so grateful and really thought that we had taken care of it.

Saturday morning

We went about our weekend plans... enjoying conference and making cupcakes. We kept watching Owen. The red ring around his sore seemed to be getting better, but the rest of it seemed to be getting worse (harder and deeper, darker red, more painful). We didn't get a picture of it at it's worst, but it was 7 cm long and 2 cm wide and very, very deep. Owen was in a lot of pain and we had to hold him constantly to help soothe him. He wouldn't eat and hardly slept. Sunday afternoon we realized it was getting much, much worse. We went back to urgent care and the doctor confirmed that it needed to be taken care of immediately, but that she couldn't do it. So we headed to the ER. I don't know why we went to the ER seeing as nothing gets taken care of immediately there... 6 hours later, we were admitted and they lanced and drained what they could. We were admitted overnight so that Owen could have an antibiotic through and IV and the pediatric surgeon could look at it in the morning.

The surgeon looked at it and said that it was still deep and he would need to have a minor surgery to finish draining it and cleaning it out. They sedated him, but he was not completely knocked out when they started and he cried out in pain. I was able to be with Owen through the whole thing, however I had to avert my eyes once the surgeon pulled out the little knife. It was awful to watch. It is so hard to see your baby in pain and discomfort. When the surgeon finished, I went and sat by Owen and waited for him to "wake up." While he was still sedated he whipped his head back and forth and arched his back and cried out on and off. It was so hard to watch and nothing I did comforted him. I was so glad when he finally pulled out of it.

getting ready to go to urgent care for the second time

Owen throwing a fit after they took the IV out, he was so ready to go home

After the surgery, Owen was a mess. I couldn't get him to calm down for quite a while. Then all of a sudden he fell fast asleep and slept for almost 3 hours. My arms were so relieved. Thankfully the surgeon thought he looked good enough to let him go home. So we were able to bring him home late Monday night. He was so much more comfortable and happy at home then he was at the hospital. Now he is healing up quite nicely. We are so grateful for this sweet boy in our lives.

healing up at home

A normal week.

2014-03-30T14:26:00.002-06:00

Last week we went out for family night. Lanae filled up her second sticker chart (like 4 weeks ago) and we still hadn't had a chance to take her out for it. We got all dressed up and ready to go. The kids were so cute, I just had to stop and take a couple of pictures. It was starting to get pretty dark, so the lighting made for some blurry pictures. (I blame the lighting, but it might just be me.) But they are still adorable.

its hard to get her to hold still long enough to take a picture

the first thing he went for... a stick

Owen gives kisses now!

This week was SO busy. Scott was working super hard on his research proposal and finally got it finished Thursday night. I was working on all kinds of things this week including the normal balancing act--cleaning, cooking, working, entertaining children, lessons with Lanae on numbers, a packing and cleaning plan because we are moving in four weeks, and blog ideas because I'm gonna start a "real" blog. I love blogging. I love sharing things that work for me and my testimony of forever families and how to strengthen them. So I decided, why not? I'll start a blog and if it helps at least one person out there, awesome!

While I was working this week, I was surprised at how independent my little ones are getting. They are starting to play with each other. And they play really well independently when the other one is sleeping. Owen's favorite thing this week was banging his head against the wall and then giggling. Lanae's favorite thing was dumping every single bin of clothes out onto the floor in her room. Nice. She has been fighting naps off and on for the past three weeks and I'm about ready to throw in the towel. I guess we'll move bed time up to 6.

play time

banging his head against the wall

Friday and Saturday we spent car shopping. We told Lanae we were going shopping Friday morning and she said, "Let's go shopping, girlfriend." Then while we were car shopping, she kept saying, "shopping?" She didn't get that we were shopping... for cars. After a ton of research and two days spent at dealerships, we made a tough decision and we are now a 'van' family. We bought a used Honda Odyssey (2011). It's pretty exciting. We traded in our tiny, red car, which was a huge relief. Now our family can grow!!!

Up to no good...

2014-03-24T10:24:00.002-06:00

It is so crazy how strong a child's personality is from the very beginning. Owen is the funniest, most persistent, happiest little boy I have ever mothered. This morning he started fake laughing just to get everyone else to laugh. Then he continued to fake laugh pretty much all morning, until he was fake laughing and rubbing his eyes from exhaustion! Oh man, I love this kid!

A couple of weeks ago, his favorite play area was underneath the desk with the computer cords. Then Scott blocked off the cords with a big pillow. He couldn't figure out how to get past that pillow, so he decided to figure out the pillows blocking the end table off. These were much easier for him to move. Now his new favorite play area is underneath this table with the lamp cord. He can also take the outlet cover things out of the wall. What good is an outlet cover if your child is fascinated with pulling them out of the wall?

he looks so innocent when he's up to no good

Lanae has been so much more communicative lately. She is still throwing tantrums frequently. But less often than before (it was almost constant). I was worried that we had the whiniest 2 year old that ever lived. She will ask for help about 15% of the time now before she throws a fit because she can't do something by herself. So now we just need to work on the other 85% of the time.

this is one of her favorite things to do

She loves to play with the bunnies and dominoes and push them into the playdough. I didn't come up with this activity, it was all her. This is one of the few times she can have two "special toys" at the same time. It keeps her entertained for a good 20-30 minutes, so I'll take it!

she is finally making cheese faces when I tell her I'm taking a picture
before she just didn't care

my other little helper

This week for our date night, we did some science experiments. Some worked... some didn't. We will probably revisit the ones that didn't and try again, so I think I will wait and give more details later!

more cheese faces
she's starting to get a kick out of being goofy! :)

A busy trip to Kannapolis

2014-03-24T10:04:00.001-06:00

Over Spring Break, we went down to Kannapolis to look for housing. We are really excited to be moving back and to be able to finally settle down in one place for a year or two... There were not a lot of great options for apartments and so we were thinking about looking for houses to rent. We started researching and watching trends back in January. When we first started watching, there were a couple of homes that looked like perfect options, but they were snatched up pretty quick. Over the past couple of months we vacillated between the pros and cons of apartments and homes. We would get really excited whenever we talked about homes, but as time went on, it seemed like there were fewer and fewer options that seemed like a good fit.

When we got to Kannapolis we checked out an apartment complex where some of our friends live. We also dropped off Lanae so she could spend the day with friends instead of trapped in a car. We're so grateful for awesome friends who are willing to help us out!!

Lanae shopping with Jillian...

and washing Jillian's dishes

We then drove by a home that we thought might be an option that was super close to the research center, but after stopping we realized it was a complete dump. We then drove to another home and met up with a realtor who was going to show us a couple of homes. The first one was nice and we had some hope... then she said, "I think you might be interested in a home that might pop back up on the market this morning, its the same price as this one." We decided we might as well look at it.

looks pretty nice, right?

As we parked in front we were both like, wow! It was quite a bit bigger and completely updated. It had a fairly decent yard. It was a little further away from the research center, but Scott could still bike and the bike ride is fairly scenic. We were almost sold on it right then and there. Then I realized that we crossed into a different ward boundary. We were hoping to go back to the same ward we were in last summer... We had only looked at homes within that ward's boundaries. For this reason, we kept looking. We looked at houses all day and again the following morning. We found some other options in the ward that were okay, but most were more expensive and not as nice as the one above. We were so torn... But in the end, we realized that our friends from the Kannapolis ward will hopefully still be our friends and we will make new friends in the Concord ward. This home definitely seems like a good fit for us! Hopefully for the next two years (and then Scott will be done with school!!!)!

chalking the sidewalk during daddy's meeting

this guy is just glad to be out of the car

Friday afternoon, Scott had his first "official" committee meeting. During this meeting, he found out some of the policies and procedures that he has been asking about since we first moved here. Some were a little surprising and frustrating (long story)... But he is working super hard to make sure that he is getting everything taken care of this week so that his committee is all on the same page and supportive of him finishing in just two more years. Please pray that they will be supportive!!! Scott has a lot of work to do to finish on this current timeline. But he is super excited to start researching full-time this summer.

Taste of Spring

2014-03-17T15:29:00.000-06:00

We heard that North Carolina had great weather in the winter... But we haven't been too impressed thus far. We have had some really, really nice winter days in the 60's and 70's, but then out of nowhere it gets freezing cold and dreary for days. Today is another dreary day and I'm kind of getting sick of it... However, we have really enjoyed those nice days. Its been like a little taste of spring. We know its coming soon! I just wish it would come a little quicker.

To keep us busy in doors, we have done a lot of cooking and baking (also for our month of real food you have to make a lot of things from scratch to avoid all the processed foods--more on real food later). Lanae has loved helping in the kitchen. In fact, she has become an expert salad shredder.

this might look familiar if you saw my mom&pop culture
Whole Wheat Bread recipe

We've had some arts and crafts and a sensory bin or too to keep Lanae busy while I work. I've actually gotten a lot of work done lately. So I guess being trapped indoors is kind of a good thing.

we've been learning about colors and shapes
and some counting, too

and this is how we keep Owen busy...
I'm a really great mom, ha ha!

The kitchen cupboards were discovered by Owen and have now become the new favorite hangout. In fact, Lanae likes to climb in the tupperware cupboard and Owen likes to close the door on her. For some reason both of them think this is the greatest game ever. Until someone's finger gets smashed (then they start to cry) or Owen spits up in all the tupperware (then I start to cry).

you can see some tupperware on the ground in the background,
that's pretty much a constant thing these days

Owen's becoming quite the skilled cruiser and can walk with some help

some days they even play nice together

On those good weather days, Scott has been so good at encouraging us to get outside. I love him so much!! He knows exactly what I need. We have gone running a couple times up to Shelly Lake and then spent an hour or so at the park there. Owen loves the swings. He actually smiles sometimes when he is enjoying himself. Instead of the constant straight-faced stuff Lanae would pull, even when she was having a blast.

we love the trails here and will really miss them

Owen is a little bashful sometimes...

huge smile

We have also played tennis a couple times. We've started doing some drills to hopefully improve our game... but mostly we play for fun. Lanae and Owen love to be outside and really enjoy playing on the tennis court. This last time was the first time Owen was actually not content sitting in the stroller and watching. He doesn't understand that he is supposed to stay outside of the lines as well as Lanae does. But we were still able to get a couple of games in before he took over the court.

our tennis faces

Lanae knows that while we are playing she's not allowed on the green...
so sometimes she paces on the white line

this is his first taste of real freedom outside

Coming to Ourselves...

2014-03-17T14:26:00.000-06:00

We have had a lot on our plates recently. And I guess the hardest thing has been seeming like we are going it alone. I guess instead of saying we, I should say I... I think that everyone probably has those times when they feel alone, like no one in the world remembers them. It can be really hard. It takes a lot of work to get out of a slump like that. I'm grateful for Scott and his patience and understanding as we navigate this thing called life.

It is important to have someone that can help you and remind you of your worth. For family home evening a couple of weeks ago. Scott shared parts of a talk by Elder Robert D. Hales entitled "Coming to Ourselves" that really touched my heart and has helped me to overcome some of the challenges. Although I must say that it is a continual work in progress...

Elder Hales says that "throughout our lives, whether in times of darkness, challenge, sorrow or sin, we may feel the Holy Ghost reminding us that we are truly sons and daughters of a caring Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we may hunger for the sacred blessings that only He can provide. At these times we should strive to come to ourselves and come back into the light of our Savior's love.

These blessings rightfully belong to all of Heavenly Father’s children. Desiring these blessings, including a life of joy and happiness, is an essential part of Heavenly Father’s plan for each one of us. The prophet Alma taught, “Even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you.”

As our spiritual desires increase, we become spiritually self-reliant. How, then, do we help others, ourselves, and our families increase our desires to follow the Savior and live His gospel? How do we strengthen our desires to repent, become worthy, and endure to the end?

We become converted and spiritually self-reliant as we prayerfully live our covenants—through worthily partaking of the sacrament, being worthy of a temple recommend, and sacrificing to serve others. As our desires to learn and live the gospel increase, we naturally seek to serve one another. The Savior said to Peter, 'When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.'"

As we were discussing the article and how we are working together as a couple to become spiritually self-reliant I was reminded of the Savior's love for me. Scott was able to remind me of my great worth and the importance of my role as a mother to teach and strengthen my family. As I focus on serving my children and my husband, I feel an outpouring of love for them and in turn, that helps me feel the love my Heavenly Father has for me and my family. Then I don't feel so alone.

what a blessing to have an eternal family

This is something I need to be reminded of often.

Healthy Homemade Granola

2014-03-01T16:58:00.003-07:00

As a mother, I think it’s easy to put yourself on the back burner and focus on your kids, your husband and all your other responsibilities. I believe it’s important to find a little bit of time to take care of yourself!!! I have been working hard to get back into shape after my last pregnancy (almost 10 months ago) and I just can’t seem to lose those last 10 pounds. However, for me this isn’t just about the weight, it’s about being healthy, happy and feeling great about myself.

This month, my family is doing our first “real food” experiment. We are cutting out processed foods and sugar for a whole month! I’m excited, but I’m also nervous. I love, love, love my one sweet treat a day. I also love to eat good, healthy meals, too. So we are going to do a month of real food, with real delicious food. That’s where the granola comes in!

this is what you call:
doing something good for the whole family, yourself included!!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It gets you going and provides energy so that you can get things done! This granola recipe is great because of its versatility. You can take it and make it what you want. Plus, it is super simple and packed with protein and vitamins. Not only is this granola simple and healthy, it stores well too. Make a great big batch and you can store it anywhere from 2-4 weeks… if you don’t eat it all before then!

This recipe has an oat base and then you can choose from a variety of goodies to personalize your granola. This way you can make it different each time if you like variety, or just figure out what your favorite combo is and make that every time!

Granola Base:

3-4 cups rolled oats (personal preference here—I like a high oats to goodies ratio)
3-4 cups “goodies” (this is very customizable)
1 cup wheat germ*
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg

wheat germ was a new thing for me...
so just in case you don't know what it looks like

Goodies List:

Almond slices
Pecan pieces
Cashews
Shredded coconut
Sunflower seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Flaxseed
Raisins
Dried cranberries
Dried fruit (apples, peaches, blueberries, etc.)
Vanilla chips
Mini chocolate chips
Peanut butter chips
Other spices (ginger, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, etc.)

Liquids:

¼ cup oil
1 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp salt

Directions
1. Mix oats, wheat germ, spices and the goodies of your choice (3-4 cups total) in a large mixing bowl.

I chose 1 cup sunflower seeds, pecan pieces, almond slices and unsweetened coconut

2. Combine the liquids and salt, then pour over oat mixture. Stir together with a spatula until everything is coated evenly.

I like to put the oil in first,
then when I measure the honey, salt and vanilla
stir it up and pour it out, it doesn't stick

3. Spread mixture onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 325 for 30 minutes. Stir every 10 minutes to bake evenly.

4. Let it cool and pour yourself a bowl of Granola. Or sprinkle some over your yogurt and fruit… or just grab a handful to snack on!!

YUM!

my assistant cook and I enjoying our snack

my picky eater does a little test taste...

and she loves it!

Granola needs to be stored in an airtight container. If storing in the pantry at room temperature, it will last up to 2-3 weeks just fine. I sometimes store mine in the refrigerator and it lasts even longer…

*Note: Wheat Germ is the heart of the wheat berry. It has a nutty flavor and is packed with nutrition. Wheat germ adds dietary fiber, folic acid and vitamin E as well as protein to the granola.

For this granola, 1 serving (about 3/4 cup) is around 235 calories, 13 g fat (the good kind, because it comes from nuts and seeds), 26 g carbs, 4 g dietary fiber, 6 g protein

Green Smoothie Monster

2014-02-26T19:44:00.001-07:00

In October, we finally got a blendtec. Thanks mom!!! I was immediately so excited to try a green smoothie now that I had a decent blender that could really blend up all the greens. I had heard a lot of talk about how great they were. So we loaded the spinach into the blender to give it a whirl. And I seriously had to gag it down... The texture was too much for me. I decided to stick to plain fruit smoothies and chocolate milkshakes.

All that changed a couple weeks ago when my sister-in-law told me about this site that is all about green smoothies. I decided to give green smoothies one more try. This time I used the proper ratio of liquids, greens and fruits and I blended everything in the correct order. Who knew that would make such a big difference? I guess I might just be a little slow... everyone else probably already knows all this.

The amazing thing was, I loved the green smoothie. And so did Lanae. She has been a pretty picky eater since she was about 2 months old. She officially gave milk up last June. She's a tough one. But after we convinced her that the liquid in her cup was not green slime, she gave it a try and she has enjoyed every smoothie I've made since.

she's our little green smoothie monster

Just in case you want to try out our recipe, we have been blending...

2 cups almond milk (with a dash of vanilla)

2 cups packed spinach

2 bananas

1/2 cup frozen blueberries

1/2 cup frozen mango

The secret for having a good textured green smoothie is to blend the liquid and the greens first until it's smooth and then add the fruit. I still can't believe how big of a difference that made and I'm really glad that I learned the secret. Now I can enjoy green smoothies all the time. These are the perfect treat to help us gear up for a month of no sugar!!!

Olympic Games Date Night

2014-02-24T09:43:00.001-07:00

We had this really fun date night idea before the Olympics started, but just barely found time to do it this last weekend. Scott and I each came up with a couple of our own Olympic games that we could make and do from home (after the kids went to bed). The results were very simple, but very fun!

You could definitely put a lot more time in and set everything up really cute, but we just used our date night to create the games with what we had laying around the house.

Our first event was Bin Ball created by Scott. We grabbed Owen's ball bin and put a bunch of random containers inside and gave each container a number value, based on how hard it would be to get the ball to bounce in the container and stay there. Then we set that at one end of our table and bounced/tossed the balls into the container. I guess I am super skilled (lucky) because I totally dominated this game.

our awesome bin

I totally need to save these results for forever

Next we played some table hockey. We used some tape and desk drawer organizers to make the little goal at the end. We used baby jar lids as pucks and baby puff containers as our sticks... We had to use all of our skills to try and keep the puck on the table because if it went off we got a penalty. We tucked the chairs in tight on the sides and could bounce the puck off the chairs. It worked pretty well actually! My luck continued...

I dominated 4-0

Great minds think alike... or maybe this was just an easy game to come up with. Both Scott and I thought about Curling as our third event. This was super easy to make. We took a piece of paper and two different size bowls and drew a small circle and a big circle. Our inner circle was worth 10 points and the outer circle was worth 5. I have no idea how they really score curling, I haven't actually watched the Olympics for years... (we don't have a TV). Again we used clean baby jar lids to toss toward the target. This event required some serious skill...

and as hard as Scott tried...

he just couldn't compete with me...

I don't know how I got so lucky that night. Scott says he needs a rematch. And I'm totally game, I really enjoyed our mini Olympics. To top off the night, we made some chocolate fondue to use with a bunch of leftover treats we have collected since Valentines. I know this is not the best way to prepare for our month of real foods. But I couldn't let all these treats go to waste. They just had to be enjoyed. This fondue seriously took 5 minutes to prepare.

two kinds of leftover cookies and angel food cake, with a handful of pretzels
YUM! YUM!

The great thing about the fondue is that the leftovers basically turned into fudge, which I can totally eat with a spoon. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if I can go a month without sugar...