Tales of a Peanut

Recipe Wednesday - Cinnamon Bites

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:30:00 +0000

My Mom made numerous breakfast options for us when we celebrated Christmas morning with them and one of the things that she made were these wonderful mini cinnamon rolls. They are made with crescent roll dough and are wonderful! I especially love that they can be made ahead of time and just rewarmed or you can serve them right after adding the icing. Either way, they're great and easy!

Bite Sized Cinnamon Rolls

1 can of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
4 T Brown Sugar
1 t Cinnamon
1 T Butter
1 T Flour
1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
2 t Milk

1. In a small bowl mix together a tablespoon of slightly melted butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, and flour.
2. Open crescent rolls, taking half of dough, and separate at the vertical seams. Press the diagonal seams of dough together so that the dough is smooth. (keep other half of dough in the fridge)
3. Spoon half of the cinnamon mixture onto dough. Roll short side up then continue with the remaining dough.
4. Cut 2 inch slices and place all the rolls on a cookie sheet.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
6. When rolls have cooled, mix powdered sugar and milk. Add more sugar/milk to get frosting to the consistency of your liking. Drizzle the sugar over the rolls and then serve or let dry.

From Life's Too Short to Skip Dessert via Pinterest

James at Five Months

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:39:00 +0000

Jamesy-boy,

I can't believe how old you're getting! This has been a BIG month for you! We were on the go and you were knocking out milestones left and right!

We still don't have any teeth but we're guessing they're coming SOON because you will only take your hands out of your mouth if you have something else to go in it. We think we can feel your top left tooth but nothing has shown up yet. The amount of drool that you're producing though and your recent fussiness has told us that teeth are on their way. Sophie the Giraffe has made her appearance this month and you love her!

You started rice cereal a few weeks ago but even after repeated feedings you still aren't a fan. We even tried oatmeal too since Sissy liked that much better than rice cereal but you didn't like it either. We'll keep trying and I guess try baby food in another month if you don't warm up to the cereal!

Your jumper came out this month and you love it. You are great at bouncing and love spinning yourself around to look at things on all sides of it.

We went to Tuscaloosa for the National Championship celebration. Since you are awake much longer these days you enjoyed yourself more than the football games.

You have developed quite a personality this month. You are all smiles most of the time unless your teeth hurt (and even then, it's a very mild fussiness). We love interacting with you and watching you respond to us. Some of your favorite songs are "Pop goes the Weasel", "Soft Kitty", and "Jesus Loves James". Most times when we change your diaper we have to sing so you don't get upset. Singing can calm you down quicker than almost anything.

You have definitely found your toes this month and it's very common to see you in this position when we get you up from bed or when you're on the floor!

The winter weather has been so mild that we've been able to take walks and you have really enjoyed seeing the world. You aren't a fan when it gets windy but love watching the trees go by.

It was a big movement month for you. You started rolling over from your front to your back, but you prefer to not do it most of the time. You have rolled over a handful of times without our help at all (Daddy was watching you and Sissy one night and he was helping her and heard a thump and turned around and you had rolled over!) but you just don't really like doing it. This picture might show why. You started sitting up! This is very recent (only last weekend) and you need help getting into position but once you find your balance you are able to sit for a minute or two by yourself. It will be very nice when you can master this totally by yourself but we are so proud that you're already trying!

As far as schedule goes, there have only been slight modifications. As of last night, we dropped your late evening nap. So right now you are eating at 7:30, 10:30, 2:30, 6, and 8. You sleep from 9:15 - 10:30, 12:15 - 2:30, and 4:15 - 6. You definitely decreased your eating amounts to 10-15 minutes total instead of twice that long. I guess your four month growth spurt ended and you realized you didn't need to eat so much. You are a growing boy who is wearing 6 month clothes. There are a few 3-6 month things that still fit but not very many of them. And there are a few 6-9 month outfits (like the elephant outfit from your monthly picture) but, again, not many of them. You're still in size 2 diapers and I don't think we'll change soon, but we might!

I also updated this on the 8th after I took you to the doctor for a possible ear infection. You weighed 13 lbs and 12 ounces! You are a growing boy!

James, you are a joy in our lives and we are so thankful that you are here. We can't imagine our life without you! You are so happy and full of energy. You make us smile every time we see you. You are ticklish and quick to smile. You are somehow all boy already and we can't wait to see what you're doing in a month, a year, and many years from now. We love you sweet boy! Happy 5 month birthday!

Love, Mommy

*James at months one, two, three, four, five

*Charlotte at months one, two, three, four, five, six

Picture Perfect

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Our little man is growing and growing and sometimes I just can't get over it. I had a few extra minutes without Charlotte one day and decided to set up an impromptu photo shoot. I love this little boy!

Valentine's Craft - Heart Stained Glass Window

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Charlotte came home from school last year with a "stained glass" art project made from construction paper, tissue paper, and contact paper. I knew that I could recreate it very simply but it's taken me almost a year to get around to doing it! You can modify this for any holiday or shape, I just chose to do our first one with hearts for Valentine's Day.

Heart Stained Glass Window

Materials:

Construction Paper

Contact Paper

Glue

Tissue paper

Scissors

1. Freehand a heart on a piece of construction paper. Cut it out.

2. Freehand a smaller heart inside the first and cut out the middle.

3. If you want a second layer, using the larger heart's opening as a guide, draw a heart that will cover the edge of the larger heart's inside heart. Cut it out.

This is what both of the hearts on top of each other should look like. The smaller heart overlaps onto the larger heart.

4. Trace the heart pattern that you want on contact paper.

Notes about this step:

- You can find contact paper with the drawer liners at the store

- Make sure you cut it with the sticky side to go ON TOP of the larger heart so that the sticky side is facing the back.

- Be careful to avoid guide lines that you've drawn on the final piece of contact paper because if you don't have a smaller piece to cover the edges of the contact paper you'll be able to see them

5. Cut tissue paper into small shapes. You can use as many or as few colors and pieces as you want.

6. Peel the backing off of the contact paper and stick the paper to the large heart, covering the opening.

7. If you cut a smaller heart for the front, use glue to glue it on top of the contact paper.

8. Once the glue has dried, set it out for your child with the sticky side up and let them go!

It's not required, but much more fun if you have a cheering section!

9. Once it's finished press it onto the window to let it stick! If you don't want it on the window you could cut two pieces of contact paper and seal the tissue paper in so that there is no sticky part.

Recipe Wednesday - Chocolate Chip Cookie Delight

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:30:00 +0000

I needed to bring a dessert to Thanksgiving and so the weekend before when we were in Tuscaloosa I gave Jason, Charlie, and Dad a choice of three desserts. They chose the one that included 'Chocolate Chip Cookie' in the title and now having had the dessert I'm glad that they did! This was so good but wasn't overly sweet with all of the Cool Whip mixed in that it made it the perfect Thanksgiving (or anytime!) dessert. If you go to Taste of Home's website their picture shows it much higher than this. I'm thinking to achieve that look they probably put it in a smaller pan or something to cook. If you make it in a 9x13 pan it has much thinner layers but it is still so good!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Delight

1 tube refrigerated Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
8 oz Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup Confectioners' Sugar
12 oz (1 carton) Cool Whip, thawed, divided
3 cups cold 2% Milk
1 package (3.9 oz) Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix
1 package (3.4 oz) Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix

1. Let cookie dough stand at room temperature for 5-10 minutes to soften. Press into an ungreased 9x13 baking pan. Bake at 350 for 14-16 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
2. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Fold in 1 3/4 cups Cool Whip. Spread over crust.
3. In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mixes for 2 minutes; let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Spread over cream cheese layer.
4. Top with remaining Cool Whip.
5. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight until firm.

From Taste of Home via Pinterest

A slice of life

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Since I like to do the 356 projects (what I call One Tale a Day) I often have a lot of extra pictures that don't make up their own blog post. So that I can share them with y'all I'll thinking I'll do a post near the end of the month with some miscellaneous pictures from the month. Here are January's!

New Years Day 2012

Charlotte loves snapping an animal into her coat to take to school, church, etc. Thankfully she loves them enough that telling her that she can't take them out of the car because they might get lost or might get dirty and need a bath helps us keep them contained to private places!

Memma and Papa got Charlotte furniture for her dollhouse and she loves sneaking up to play with it when she can. This dollhouse was mine when I was little and was given to me by Gramme and MyPapa. It's so special to see her playing with it.

It's definitely a different time nowadays. Charlotte is fluent in face time and likes to relax on the couch now while chatting with her peeps.

Fancy Charlotte showing off her purple reindeer that she painted almost 100% by herself at the paint your own pottery place. She loves that reindeer and checks on him almost daily. He lives in the bookshelves in her room.

Jamesy has been teething this month. While most babies get bottom teeth first the one that we could feel first was his top left one. He drooled for a while but once we were able to feel it he started biting on anything he could get!

James is growing so fast we're having a hard time keeping him in pi's that fit. So he's still wearing Christmas jambes in January but I don't think he minds!

This girl still loves watching her birds. And one day a really big bird came to the feeder. We tried to stake it out and get a picture of it but ended up just having some fun Mommy/Daughter time.

James is already over our constant pictures. Oh well, he'll get used to it!

Charlotte loves pockets!

One night after dinner Charlotte pulled a chair over to James' pack and play and started playing with him. She was showing him what all was on his activity gym and talking with him. She is a great big sister!

Dogs are Charlotte's favorite animals and this puppy dress makes her so happy!

The Copy

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

It's funny the things kids can get attached to. When Charlotte was born I tried to make sure she had multiple little pink elephant headed blankets because I just knew she was going to get attached and I didn't want to have to find one in a hurry if we lost one or one got dirty. Alas, she was never very interested in anything until she got an Elmo doll around her first birthday.

That plush Elmo that I bought randomly for a little happy turned in to something that Charlotte loved and I ended up buying a second in case of loss or grossly dirty. She loved on that Elmo for months but eventually moved on.

I always thought that Charlotte would turn to dolls but so far, while she has dolls and occasionally plays with them, she isn't really attached to any. What she is attached to are her animals. She calls them her babies and even though her favorite is a different one every week, she loves them so much. She sleeps with maybe 20 animals and that's only after we've pulled a lot out of her bed without telling her and before she adds more in.

Recently something else has garnered her love. The Copy.

What's "The Copy" you ask? Well, it is literally a copy of a card that goes with a Dog Bingo game that Mom bought. Charlotte didn't want to give up her favorite card...the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel...and so Mom got creative and stuck it on our copier and made Charlotte numerous copies of him. Now she loves The Copy and he sleeps on top of Big Barkley when she sleeps.

Since she got the original copy she has conned my parents into making additional copies of other cards but it remains that The Copy is her favorite copy.

I look forward to seeing what her favorite is next week and whether her brother follows her penchant for a new favorite every week or sticks with one favorite for his entire toddlerhood!

Quattordici

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

It started many years before I was born. When my father chose to make his way to Tuscaloosa instead of his father's Mississippi State. When my mother chose to make her way to Tuscaloosa instead of her father's Tennessee. Somehow when those things happened our family started a very steadfast tradition of pulling for the Crimson Tide.

Growing up there was never a question who we cheered for. We just WERE Alabama fans. Just like others ARE Auburn fans or Ole Miss fans or Tennessee fans or Florida fans or any other kind of fans. That's just who we were.

I learned the fight song when I was three. Well, I've always said three but my two year old learned it right after her second birthday so it could have been earlier. We have pictures from Tuscaloosa all throughout my life. My aunt was in college there when I was early elementary school and we went down to see her and visited the sorority houses. At that point it wasn't a question or if I was going to go there but what I liked best about it.

(And for those of you familiar, while sitting in the dining room of the Alpha Chi house with all my aunt's sorority sisters and my future sister's they asked me what sorority I wanted to be in when I got to Alabama and I told them I wanted to live in the round house. You can't filter what kids say!)

I remember going to school the day after we won our twelfth National Championship and being ridiculed. For some reason, it wasn't really cool to be an Alabama fan at that point in time. But that never really bothered me. I just kept on keeping on loving my team.

When I got into high school I was tired of my town. Tired of growing up in a small town where everyone knows everyone and there's so much competition. So I looked elsewhere for college. Explored options like North Carolina, Rhodes, Furman, and others. I was die hard enough that everything sent from "that other school" got put straight in the trash but I did explore options out of state. But while the pull of those places seemed nice it always came back to whether I really wanted to miss out on four years of school in Tuscaloosa.

Obviously, the answer to that question ended up being no. I struck out for Tuscaloosa which only solidified our families allegiance. At this point there is only one of my cousin's who didn't attend Alabama (and she didn't stray for Auburn but for a smaller school). Charlotte has been to 18-ish games (Jason, what's the actual count because I know you're keeping up!) and James has been to three. We are a family died in the wool of the Crimson Tide.

So it was no surprise when we headed to New Orleans for the game. And I'm not sure any family unit could have been happier than our family and extended family when Alabama destroyed LSU. And we got back to town and waited patiently for the celebration to be announced. See, we're not only the kind of fans that go to all of the games that we can, we even go to the events where we're not even playing a game!

We headed down to Tuscaloosa on Friday night and enjoyed a very calm weekend in town compared to game weekends. We headed over to the stadium for the Championship celebration with a lot of other fans and enjoyed the celebration.

We were given some foam fingers at home and brought them down to Tuscaloosa. I can't stress how much Charlotte loves hers. We wanted to leave it at the condo but she insisted that we take it to the game. She got so excited about it but didn't really want to cheer with it.

Possibly during the fireworks? Charlotte didn't get upset or anything during the celebration. She loved seeing the band, cheerleaders, and sparkly cheerleaders. She loved seeing the football players and Coach Saban. Actually, the "football players, band, and cheerleaders" have all been playing at our house since then. Charlotte "plays" with them all the time! But after we got home she told Mom and Dad, "I didn't like the celebration. It was too loud. Tell Coach Saban it was too loud." I think the fireworks must have startled her but she didn't say anything until we got home!

I went and got a bag of popcorn for myself but Charlotte confiscated it. As soon as she started eating it she looked up at Mom and said, "I was hungry for some popcorn!" She ate the entire bag and asked for more but we forgot to get some on our way out.

We attempted dinner out that night which was kind of a disaster. I think we've reached the point where we're going to have to curtail our eating out until James can sit in a high chair and eat table food while we eat because he's not content to be in his car seat anymore. But despite that it was a fun weekend with family and in celebration of Alabama's Quattordici (#14).

Words-nerd

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

As most of you probably know, I love books. I have always been able to devour a good book and being able to block out everything around me, including parents, got me in trouble a few times growing up. One of the benefits of nursing is that I have two and a half hours every day where I simply sit in a chair. And the way James' schedule is working now only one of those thirty minute segments has me in charge of both of the kids by myself while feeding. This means that I get a lot of reading done on my phone since if I look at James he starts smiling at me and gets distracted.

Enter my love for electronic readers! I was adamantly against them when they came out and pitched a fit about how nice it was to have an actual book and how I liked to be able to re-read and see what I had in my library. And then my iPhone came along and I downloaded the free Kindle app. And then Charlotte came along and I had a lot of time feeding her. And before I knew it I was hooked.

To be honest, I still prefer a physical book. There's just something about turning pages and bookmarks and the feel of a book in my hands that's special. Plus, when I'm reading an actual book Charlotte knows I'm reading a book and doesn't think I'm checking twitter or Facebook. But these days I'm doing most of my reading on my phone since it's so much more convenient and, with free books out there to download and prices less for the download, cheaper.

And this long-winded introduction was just to introduce you to a new piece of my blog. I've added a page in the header at the top of the blog that links to my Booklist. It is listing of books that I've read since December 2011. I'm updating it as I finish books and giving a quick setting description and a rating. I also include a link to the book in case you want to see the cover so you can buy it or if you want to download it. Most links are going to Barnes and Noble but just because they are the only brick and mortar bookstore near me and I don't want them to go out of business.

You might not be interested but I just wanted to alert you in case you're looking for a good read. Maybe in the future I'll categorize by something other than the month that I read them but for now that's all I've got. And in case you want my hands-down favorite book that I've read since I started this I'll show it to you....

The Hunger Games

If you haven't read it you should! Be prepared for suspense and sci-fi and fighting and hovercraft and a survival for her life. Katniss is awesome and I'm waiting on the edge of my seat for the movie to come out. That will be one that I definitely make in the movie theater. Maybe even opening night!

Recipe Wednesday - Baked Mozzarella Sticks

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

One of the earlier recipes that I saw on Pinterest was a recipe for mozzarella sticks in egg roll wrappers baked instead of fried. I pinned it and when I was looking for an appetizer to take to Christmas I decided to try it. Mine didn't turn out exactly like the picture but they were really good.

In getting all my ducks in a row for this post I found that the person who uploaded the picture on the pin that I repinned basically uploaded a picture of fried mozzarella sticks and said that she would bake instead of fry them. A little confusing, but I'm glad that she wrote that because this is really easy and even though they don't look as awesome as fried mozzarella sticks they are still great!

I'm modified the recipe to give you the best non-fried approach but if you want the fried version check out the link at the bottom of this post.

Baked Mozzarella Sticks

Egg Roll Wrappers
String Cheese
Water
Salsa

1. Lightly spray a cookie sheet with sides with cooking spray.
2. Lay out an egg roll wrapper. Place a string cheese near a top corner point and begin rolling the wrapper up. Halfway through fold the outer corners in and continue wrapping. When you finish rolling moisten the edge with water and seal.
3. Continue with as many wrappers as you have and place on your cookie sheet with a little bit of space between the rolls.
4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Keep a watch on them to add or take away time. You want them to get slightly brown but you also don't want all the cheese to seep out.
5. Serve warm with salsa or marinara sauce.

Modified from Taste of Home via Pinterest

Bounce, Bounce, Bounce

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

James had a big weekend the weekend after we got back from New Orleans. In addition to starting cereal we also got out the jumper and let him try it out. He was unsure the first day but since has come to love it. He bounces up and down and has a lot of fun even though he doesn't really play with the rest of the stuff yet.

The jumper is now one of Charlotte's favorite places for James to play. She loves it when he's in the jumper and she's dancing and keeping him entertained!

Yum Yum...Or not

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

I am still totally flabbergasted that James is four months old and that it's time to start introducing cereal. I just don't understand where the time is going! I knew the start of his life would go quickly due to football season but it just seems like it was yesterday that he was born and here we are starting him on real food.

We waited until we got home from New Orleans and then the following Saturday tried some rice cereal. He was, of course, thoroughly underwhelmed and we haven't tried it again but we'll get there eventually. I just wonder how parents find time to feed their second and subsequent kids real food! It seems like it would be easier to just stick with nursing until he can eat what his sister's eating! We'll make time but it's just another adjustment!

Without further ado, here is Jamesy-boy eating rice cereal.

He really didn't know what to do. He didn't stick his tongue out against the spoon or anything but he just didn't really open his mouth. He was a little fussy for the rest of the day so we decided to wait a few weeks to try it again. We'll see if we try again later this week and how that goes!

Roll Over Mo-ver

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

On Tuesday night (the 17th) Jason was upstairs giving Charlotte a bath after dinner and I was downstairs entertaining James. At this age that doesn't take much but we've been trying to focus on tummy time when we can because man is it hard to find time to lay a second child on his tummy! Poor thing rarely gets any time on his tummy on the floor but since he still hasn't rolled over we've been working harder to give him more opportunities.

So he was down on the floor and was kicking his torso up but he couldn't get it. So I started rolling him over from his tummy and then back to his tummy to show him how it's done. His arm started staying under him and I thought he might be close and so I turned my camera on to see. Without even much more prodding he was able to do it once his arm was tucked under his head! Even though it's not totally without a little bit of positioning I'm still counting it as his first roll! Especially since he repeated it a handfull of times after I got the camera off!

Good job Jamesy! (And please excuse my high pitched talking and squealing on the camera. I was excited!)

The Big Easy

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

SEC football fans are a different breed. Some say that they live for football during the fall, but in the South we pretty much live for football year round. All Universities have fans that run the gamut from proper, classy gentlemen and ladies to the more....shall we say...fringe elements. Alabama is no exception but one thing that we all are are optimistic.

We have been discussing whether we would take the kids to New Orleans for the Championship game basically since the last bowl game. There was always a qualifier in the discussion but the fact that we were strong contenders to get to New Orleans was a given. That, of course, wasn't always the case. My parents won two national championships while they were in college. But my college career? Well, let's just say it wasn't pretty and leave it at that. We were besieged by s-t-u-p-i-d coaches and boosters who tried their hardest to run our program into the ground.

And then Coach Saban came. And the tides turned and the future started looking bright. While the majority of the country, and definitely the SEC, dislike him I'm not sure that any can deny the difference that he has made in our program. And from a household of Alabama fans, I will say that we believe that he is a great man on and off the field!

The pride that he returned to Alabama football is the reason that we had multiple conversations before the season even started as to whether or not the kids will accompany us to New Orleans. My answer from the start was a resounding 'NO!' Which meant that when every single domino fell giving us a chance to redeem our November loss, Jason and I were looking at a trip without the kids to New Orleans. It turned out that a trip at this time couldn't have be better but it was very hard to leave James and Charlotte.

Our family before we left

We got to New Orleans around 2 on Sunday afternoon. It was hard to not go until Sunday because we felt like everyone went down Friday after work or earlier but we couldn't get away for any longer so we took what we could. Almost as soon as we got to the hotel we turned around and went shopping. It was really our only chance to explore so we spent the afternoon wandering from store to store.

First time in Pat O's and first Hurricane. The last two times I was in New Orleans I was 20 and then I was pregnant so it was definitely a different experience to be able to drink. But just for the record, that hurricane? HORRIBLE! Tasted like cough syrup and didn't get better the longer I drank it!

We happened upon a book signing with Coach Stallings and some other Alabama players. We chatted for a little while. Ha! In addition to Coach Stallings, I also saw John Lithgow walking through the French Quarter!

That night we went to Commander's Palace for a wonderful meal. It was absolutely one of the best meals that I've ever had in my life. And it was topped off by my favorite dessert: Strawberry shortcake! It was a great night with great company and a wonderful way to celebrate our return to the National Championship game!

Since we have two kids we definitely needed to catch up on sleep so we didn't go out that night. On Monday morning Jason got up and went out with Charlie to look at antique watches but I got a chance to sleep in so I took it! I finally got out of bed at 10:30 and barely got ready in time to make lunch at Emeril's!

It was a great lunch and made even more fun by Emeril himself walking in to the restaurant! He came in wearing a New Orleans t-shirt and carrying his chef's jacket still in it's dry cleaners bag. He went straight to his office (which we could see the door of) and stayed in there until someone set off the fire alarm. He immediately went back to the kitchen. Let's hope no one got fired for that!

After lunch we went back to the hotel and facetime'd with Charlotte and James and got ready to go to the game! I was excited to put on my red Jimmy Choo's that Jason bought me when we went to New York. No better football game for them than the National Championship game!

We headed out at 4 pm to the stadium and once we got there we headed in to the Pantheon Cafe for dinner. It was fun to get to see some people that I rarely get to see so we enjoyed chatting before heading to our seats.

There was a candy bar filled with red and white candy. It was adorable!

We were all tense when the game started but as it continued we got to enjoy it more and more. After so much contention that we didn't deserve to be in the game, the national media crowning LSU as the champion over and over in the lead up to the game, and almost every ESPN analyst wearing purple to the game, there wasn't a better way to win than by shutting them out! What a great way to win a National Championship!

After we got back to our hotel we decided to live large and go to Cafe du Monde. It was 12:30 as we were leaving the hotel and we were so proud of ourselves for staying up so late and heading out again!

What a great trip! We can only hope that we're headed to Miami next year!

Recipe Wednesday - Snickers Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

I made this cake when Jason's family was over for Christmas and it was a big hit. I made it early in the day so didn't serve it warm but it might be better that way because it's still pretty gooey when you pull it straight from the oven!

Snickers Cake

1 German Chocolate Cake Mix
Ingredients called for on cake mix (oil, eggs, water)
1 14 oz bag of Caramel squares
1/4 cup Milk
1/3 cup Butter
1-2 cups Chocolate Chips
1 cup Pecans, chopped (optional)

1. Mix together cake mix as directed on the box. Pour half of the batter into a greased 9x13 baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
2. While it bakes, unwrap all the caramels. Put the caramels, milk, and butter in a sauce pan and melt over low heat, stirring constantly until caramel is melted and smooth.
3. Pour the caramel on the cake as soon as it is finished baking.
4. Sprinkle the chocolate chips and pecans (if desired) on top of the caramel. Spread the remaining half of the prepared cake mix batter on top.
5. Bake for 20 more minutes at 350 degrees.

From Six Sisters Stuff via Pinterest

Feed the birds

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

You know how sometimes the presents your kids love most are the ones that you don't expect? Well, this is definitely such a case! When Charlotte opened up a bird feeder, a bag of birdseed, and a bird ornament for Christmas I knew she would like it but I couldn't fathom how much she would love it.

Ever since Jason put it up outside the windows of our breakfast area, the first thing Charlotte does when she gets up in the morning is ask me to open up the far shutter and move the chair so that she can sit and watch the birds.

She wants to know exactly what each kind of bird that comes is called and loves yelling out when she sees one or two or ten.

An old bird guide that Gramme lent us has been invaluable as we try to identify the birds coming to visit our feeder. So far we have noted chickadee's (Charlotte's favorite), purple finches, and slate colored junco's.

And let me just tell you, those birds are hungry! Jason refills the bird feeder at least once a week and we're amazed at how quick they deplete the food. I guess it is the winter but we weren't expecting to be the life of the bird party!

Thank you Gramme for giving Charlotte and our family such a wonderful gift! She can't wait to show it to you!

Charlotte in her own words

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

I've seen and read about people who ask their kids the same questions every year and spur of the moment decided to ask some questions on New Year's Day. I doubt these will make it into the yearly rotation, and I'd rather do it on their birthday's anyway, but I thought it was cute and wanted to share!

Charlotte - 2012 New Years Day Questions from Talesofa Peanut on Vimeo.

1. What is your name?

Charlotte

2. How old are you?

3. Are you a big sister?

(nods head yes)

4. Who's your little brother?

James

5. What's my name?

Mommy

6. How old am I?

You're 2

7. What's your favorite color?

Purple

8. Do you have a puppy dog?

Yes

9. What's his name?

Luca (she says yu-ca). It's him (points to Luca).

10. What's your favorite food?

I don't know

11. What's your favorite drink?

Water

12. What's your favorite toy?

Him, Butterball.

13. What's your favorite show on tv?

Mickey

14. What's your favorite movie?

The rest of the movie, the one we watched last night. (Mary Poppins)

15. What does Mary Poppins sing?

What she sings?

16. Where's your favorite place to go?

To Memma and Papa's

17. Whose birthday is it on Christmas?

Me....Jesus

Carpe Kairos

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

As a new Mom of two kids I'm struggling to find balance. It seems like every day something new is pulling on me. Kids. Husband. House. Dishes. Laundry. Friends. Workout. Volunteer opportunities. Me time. Travel. Family. Sickness. I could keep listing but I'm going to stop so I don't stress myself out more writing this post.

I have to be honest, two kids is tough! I thought I worked hard and didn't have any time when I had one kid. Well, that's quadrupled with two and James can't even roll over yet! I don't want to think about what it's going to be like with two kids that are mobile but I'm praying that by then I will have made this adjustment and will be ready to handle it.

There are a lot of things that are hard with this time period, but one of the hardest is the people who tell you to enjoy every minute. Or who chuckle at you dealing with defiance or disobedience or spit up on your shirt, whatever. It is hard to hear them say how much I'll miss these days when right now all I can think about is getting myself from one hour to the next. And it makes me feel awful about it.

Everyone says that but no one tells you how to actually do it. And so I live under this shadow that I must seize every opportunity to do crafts with my kids and teach them their letters and numbers and snuggle with them and yet still keep a straight house without piles of laundry or dishes waiting to be seen to with a hot meal on the table every night and good quality time with my husband. That's a lot of pressure.

In the midst of all of this, Glennon wrote a blog post about this whole phenomenon and it spread like wildfire. It's all about cherishing a few moments each day but not living under the pressure that we have to cherish every moment. Her post detailed exactly how I'm feeling. And seeing it all over blog posts and on Facebook and twitter made me realize that this feeling is something that everyone with kids is feeling but no one talks about.

Apparently everyone feels bad that they can't be the perfect mother and have a hard time balancing. Everyone feels like they should be doing more to cherish time with their kids and not spending some days counting down the hours, minutes, and seconds until nap time or bedtime. It made me feel better to realize that I wasn't in this boat alone. And that all those people saying how I need to cherish every minute must have very selective memories about what this time of their life was like!

Jason and I have talked about how we wish someone would have told us the straight story about how adding one child feels like you've added ten. How you never have time to yourself or with your spouse and when you do you have to spend that time catching up on things like finances and vacation planning and how you're going to fix your kids sickness or potty training that there's little to no time for the two of you to be you.

I'm sure no one tells you because it is different for every person. Some people said the transition to two was easy but from most I heard that the transition to two was the hardest. But transitions look different in every family so I guess there's no good way to tell someone, "I don't know about you but it was the hardest thing I've ever done!"

Even simply writing this makes me feel ungrateful but you should know that this time is hard. Very hard. Some days I feel like I'm struggling to keep afloat much less build a raft and excel. I wouldn't trade my two little ones for anything in the world but that doesn't mean that parenting isn't hard.

I know that I'll get to the end of this journey and miss the days when Charlotte runs up to me and asks for a hug and says "You're the best EVER!" like she did in the middle of me writing this post. I'll miss snuggles on the couch and nursing babies. I'll miss fixing juice and cutting up grapes. I'll miss singing at bedtime and sweet prayers at the dinner table.

But right now I simply don't have time to think about all of that. Because I have to fix juice and clean up accidents and do laundry and dishes and pick up. But thanks to the post that's being read around the world, I'm going to give myself a break and not worry about not enjoying every second and instead find a few moments a day to enjoy. I'm going to Carpe Kairos and then move on.

Can you hear me now?

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Ever since we moved over two years ago finding a video monitor that works consistently has been a big problem for us. We finally found a video monitor that spanned the distance only to find 8 or 9 months later that the very expensive solution that we thought we had was short term due to product lifespan. My only conclusion was that since we used our monitor so much the receiver just wouldn't last very long. After replacing the monitor multiple times we decided to look in to a more permanent solution. We figured that it might be pretty pricey on the onset but facing at least 2-3 more years of monitor usage if not more it would probably even out in the long run.

We had some local firms come and give us estimates for installing security like systems. But they were both pretty stumped when I told them I needed video AND audio. After telling me I'd have an estimate in 2-3 days it was a week and a half before I heard back from either of them. They gave me an estimate for a solution that would work but also said that when they were talking to their contacts that they were told about a wireless baby monitoring product that was already on the market.

What the app looks like on my iPhone with both camera's just started.

This is in night mode and both the kids are asleep.

The picture on the app is in color during the daytime.

After being given the link to Wifi Baby we decided to check it out before we committed a very large amount of money to the solution provided locally. We looked at their website which was very impressive. We watched the clips on their website from tv shows talking about how great the product was. We were impressed and beginning to feel like this might be a much more cost effective, less invasive installation, product for us. So then we did the real research: checking it out on review sites, seeing what other bloggers had said about it, etc. Other than seeing that the setup to be able to watch from outside of your house might be difficult everyone praised the product.

We went ahead and bit the bullet and ordered the family pack of cameras. We already had an iPad and two iPhone's so we didn't need to purchase anything else to be able to view the camera. They came in quickly and set about installing the camera's. To be honest, the installation wasn't the easiest that I've ever done, but then again I did have Charlotte looking over my shoulder the whole time wanting to know what I was doing and wanting to sit in my lap so that probably didn't help. It was also the end of the day and I was worn out to begin with.

The instructions provided were very thorough but if you're not comfortable with computers and your router it might take a little help. They do have customer support that can help you with it but from what I've found they only work in the evenings and on weekends. There isn't a customer support number that you can call and that they will answer. This frustrates me a lot but I guess it just goes with it.

We have been using our camera's for about a month and have been pretty pleased with them. They do drop the signal occasionally but almost always pick it back up quickly. One of our camera's was farther away from the router and wasn't getting a good signal so we ended up plugging it in to an ethernet port that we had. Since then we've had no problems with it so proximity to the router is something to consider. We did add a signal repeater to ours though so make our signal spread farther out.

James on the Baby Monitor HD app increased to full screen

The setup for external viewing was a piece of cake as opposed to the reviews that I had seen. It was just a matter of getting my ip address (http://whatismyipaddress.com/) and entering it on the away mode screen. I had to fiddle with the ports that my camera's were using but by logging on to the settings page for the camera's I was able to access that information. I did register a dynamic ip name for free just in case my ip changes but that was easy also. They provide some good information on their support page that helped me with that.

Overall we are really pleased with the whole thing and I would definitely recommend it to anyone that asks. Actually, this whole post is my recommendation I guess! I'm not being sponsored for this and wasn't asked to write this. But I know how much trouble we had finding a video monitor that works and so I wanted to share my information.

As a bonus though, Wifi Baby emailed their customers recently giving everyone a chance to share a 10% discount with their friends. Use the code "WBFAM2012" after you go to their site and click 'Add to Cart' (not Buy It Now). You'll receive 10% off of your total order including shipping, tax, etc. If you're looking for a new solution this might be something to check out!

One final Christmas celebration

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

The night after Christmas we decided to spend the night at Mom and Dad's. That way we could put the kids to bed and not have to leave the celebration with our family early and we could do a belated Christmas morning with them on the 26th. That worked out well except that Charlotte chose to sleep in her new big girl bed (the queen sized one) instead of her old big girl bed (the double) which left Jason's feet hanging off the bed! But I guess as long as both of the kids slept great it was worth it!

We got up and got breakfast going and then started the unwrapping. Charlotte was excited again but tired quickly due to need of cinnamon rolls!

She started strong though helping Char Char open one of his presents...

Jamesy hung out for a few minutes until it was time for him to take a nap. He missed most of the action.

Charlotte got a set of white pom-poms just like the real cheerleaders! She loves them and has given us many B-A-M-A Bama all the way! cheers!

And this is the princesses face when she opened up her bag of princess dress up clothes!

After all the present opening was complete we headed to the media room to watch a movie. We started out with The Fox and The Hound but someone's Mom (me) didn't do a good job of checking plot lines before asking for every Disney movie and this one was too scary for us. So we switched to Mickey quickly!

After a nap we tried to get Charlotte to try on her dresses but it was a no go due to her desire to play with the big green ball some more!

That morphed into rolling Charlotte up in the yoga mat and then letting her unroll herself!

The yoga mat is also her favorite place to have a pretend picnic. This time she kept jumping up saying, "Get up! The picnic is ruined!" and making everyone get up until she could "clean it up" with the big green ball. We must have played this 15 times before we tired of the up and down and made her switch to a new game. Which was that we all sat down and she "made" cookies for us. She decided that this meant that she had to run all over the room to put the cookies in the oven and then get them out. She definitely got a workout!

When we went home later that afternoon one of the first things she wanted to do was play dress up (of course). So she got into her purple Rapunzel dress and loved it but quickly switched to Snow White. Since then she has loved the Snow White dress the most of all. It's like she knows that she looks strikingly like Snow White with it on!

We are so blessed to live close to our family and get to celebrate with so many of them over the holidays. We had a wonderful week of celebrating Jesus' birth. It was so amazing to watch it through Charlotte's eyes and see how much she understood about it being a celebration of Jesus and not just about the presents. We can't wait to continue helping her and James value the true meaning of Christmas as the years go on.

Four month checkup

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:44:00 +0000

I took James to his four month checkup this morning. Other than his distaste for his shots he did great. I just wanted to record his stats since this is my only record keeping method!

He was:
24 1/2" long (30%)
16" head circumference (15%)
12 lbs 11.5 ounces (15%)

This is just slightly bigger than his sister but smaller in percentages, I guess since he's a boy.

We did get the ok to start cereal though so that should be exciting!

Recipe Wednesday - Chicken Fried Rice

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

You would think that something with "fried" in the name of it wouldn't be healthy but this recipe surprisingly is supposed to be. It is also very tasty and satisfied my ethnic tooth on the cheap. PLUS I knew exactly what was in it which made me feel better about eating it. It was also easier to make since I learned that you can scramble eggs in the microwave! Stir with a fork and then microwave for 45 seconds to a minute for every egg. Worked great and a tasted perfect! We'll be making this fried rice frequently!

Chicken Fried Rice

2 cups cooked rice (I used brown rice)
3-4 cups Veggies (I used frozen green peas because I had them on hand)
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken
2 eggs, scrambled
1 tablespoon Sesame Oil
3 tablespoons reduced sodium Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon minced Garlic
1 tablespoon Rice Wine Vinegar

1. Add sesame oil to a wok or frying pan over high heat.
2. In a small bowl mix together soy sauce, garlic and vinegar.
3. Drop a single piece of rice in the oil, if it sizzles the wok is ready.
4. Add rice, chicken, and any thick veggies that you're using. Stir a couple of times and then add the soy sauce mixture. Stir frequently for about 3 minutes.
5. Add in any remaining veggies and eggs. Stir for 2 more minutes.
6. Serve immediately.

From The Joy of Clean Eating via Pinterest

The rest of Christmas Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

After the kids naps we headed down to Memma's and Papa's for fun with Memma's family. It being our first Christmas without Memma's Papa it was a little bittersweet but we managed to have a good time in his memory and we knew that he was singing with the angels at Jesus' feet this Christmas!

Charlotte loved helping everyone open their presents! She was excited to help Gramme open her happy's from us!

And apparently Mary and Lauren are in a contest to see who can get the most pictures with my children. :) Charlotte and James are very blessed to have family who loves them so much!

Sam and Abby received Tempurpedic pillows for Christmas (and were so excited about them!). Charlotte just loved carrying around the empty box telling us goodbye that she was going somewhere!

Charlotte's cousins love her and she loves her cousins!

A celebration of magnificent proportions

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Not to make these Christmas posts more than they are but I couldn't go to sleep on Christmas Eve. With this being the first Christmas that Charlotte understood what was going on and was excited about Santa I was just beyond myself excited for the morning. I couldn't wait for her to see what Santa left her and I couldn't wait to give her our presents. I just wanted her to be so happy and have so much fun.

And through the time spent not being able to go to sleep (honestly, probably only 15 minutes) I kept thinking about Matthew 7:11 which says "So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him." And it was with that thought of how excited God must be to watch us "unwrap" a gift that he has given us because I was so excited to wait and see Charlotte unwrap her gifts from us. An amazing thought!

Eventually, Christmas morning finally arrived and we had a lot of fun. We spent the beginning the morning with just our family and then invited our parents and siblings over for brunch so that everyone could see the kids on Christmas morning and see Charlotte play with her gifts. I think it was a great idea and hopefully everyone else did too!

We started out with our tradition of reading the Christmas story before we go downstairs to see what Santa brought. This year we read the Little Golden Book version. I love this tradition! It is so nice to start our morning focusing on the real meaning of Christmas plus we get to be all snuggly before all of the chaos starts!

Once we finished reading we headed downstairs to see what Santa brought. James went into his bouncer so that Jason and I could video and take pictures!

We checked out Santa's milk and cookies! By the looks of the crumbs left on his plate it appears that he was hungry when he made it to our house!

Both kids got lots of great stuff from Santa! He knew just what they wanted!

James hung out in his bouncer most of the time. He will enjoy Christmas much more next year!

Charlotte was so excited about everything but was most excited about her purple puppy and black kitty cat that Santa brought her! These were the only things that she asked for from Santa so we were glad he didn't forget!

She also loved the puzzle of a family picture that Santa left! What a neat idea! And the 12 piece puzzle has big enough pieces that she can do it with just a little help!

Charlotte LOVED her purple kitty cat tent that Santa brought! Maybe now she'll stop hanging out in an empty kitchen cabinet and play in her tent instead! It even has a door that she can close to keep us or Luca (or her little brother when he starts crawling!) out! She got Daddy to hang out inside it with her for a little while too.

We took a pit stop between Santa presents and our presents for some pictures! And then it was time to unwrap presents!

Charlotte decided mid-December that she wanted to get James a monkey for Christmas. She came up with it all by herself. I'm sad that I didn't get a picture of her, James, and the monkey but he loved it!

Not long after we finished presents it was time for our family to come over! We got Charlotte a breakfast consisting of a Monkey Muffin and a cupcake for Jesus' birthday (the breakfast of champions!) and she invited her grandparents to sit at her coloring table with her. Her uncles and Mommy and Daddy were left out and had to eat at the kitchen table!

After breakfast she took everyone in the den to show them her toys! With everything out there wasn't a lot of room for people to sit down but I think they still enjoyed getting to see her with everything!

Right before everyone had to head out we took some family pictures.

We had a wonderful morning celebrating Christmas! We put the kids down for their naps and waited for them to get up so that we could continue our celebrations with more family that evening!

Scripture as a lifeline

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:30:00 +0000

If you know me (or have read much of my blog) you probably know that I'm a type A personality. I like things to be organized. I'm a rule follower and like things to have a result that is consistent with the effort put in. I like a schedule and for things to be controlled. I like knowing what's going to happen and not being surprised. In other words, I like to be the one in control running my life and for things to not get in my way.

It's hard for me to cut myself slack and hard for me to cut others slack also. It's hard for me to adjust when things don't turn out the way I should. And it's very hard for me to see things happen when I don't feel like there was a just reason behind it. Case in point, my grandfather getting lung cancer and dying when he's never smoked a cigarette in his life.

As I'm sure you can see, this is a big hurdle in my walk with Christ. Giving up control is HARD for me to do. It's even harder the more things mean to me. It's hard to see a plan when all I see is pain and heartache. It's hard for me to adjust my expectations and reality based on decisions that other people make. It's hard to sit back and watch those you love suffer. And it's especially difficult to let those that I love most out of my death grip to offer them to God and let him work his plan in their (and my) lives.

This year was hard for me. In a million little ways that shouldn't have added up to much but did. In big things and little things that tipped me over the edge. Ways that I know shouldn't have added up to an end result that did. I had a great support system in place. I have a wonderful husband who has been there for it all and I have awesome parents and in-laws to help me when I need it. I am truly blessed. But maybe the one thing that got me through it the most was Beth Moore's Siesta Scripture Memory Team.

Growing up I knew that memorizing scripture was important and something that I was supposed to do, but I rarely did it. I would occasionally memorize passages but nothing consistently. I knew all the biggies of course (Phil 4:13, Rom 8:28, Jeremiah 29:11, etc) but more nuanced verses passed me by. I was a Christian and I had a relationship with God but I didn't do a lot of memorization. There wasn't a lot of arming myself with God's word to fight off the enemy's attack when I needed it.

I started reading Beth Moore's blog about halfway through the Siesta Scripture Memory event in 2009. I saw what was going on but didn't really understand since I jumped in in the middle. So in December of 2010 when I read that they were going to do it again I knew I wanted to jump on board. I had decided that I wanted to be able to rely on verses without pulling my Bible out and thought that this would be a good way to do it. As a bonus, if I completed it there would be a free weekend with Beth and Travis Cottrell that I knew would be fantastic.

So I started picking verses on the 1st and 15th of the month. I would write them in my spiral but I also put them in her app on my phone and that is where I referenced them the most. For the first few months it was smooth sailing. I would pick a verse and within a day or two I had it memorized. And then as the verses started getting longer and my life started getting crazier and I felt much worse physically it started getting harder and harder to memorize.

I'd like to be able to type now that I eventually memorized all 24 verses that I chose but I can't say that. I tried and I can probably repeat half of them but not all 24. The amazing thing that I found though was that even though I can't repeat them word for word I know what the verses are about. So if I am in a situation where I need a verse about, say, strength I know I have one and can pull it up quickly or can paraphrase even if I can't get the book and verse.

One of the neatest things that I experienced doing this was how living the Word of God is. I would feel led to a verse one time and then a month or two or six later I would be in a situation where that verse applied perfectly. God led me to verses before I even needed them, knowing that in the future they would be my lifeline. Repeating these verses helped me stay calm when I was stressed out -- I actually repeated all that I could think of in the OR waiting James to be born. They calmed me. They encouraged me. They comforted me. But mostly they assured me that God loves me.

I want to remember my verses so I'm going to list them all here. I started the beginning of 2011 saying that I was going to blog them each time but it got too personal and I didn't want to share what I was going through each time. Don't read too much in to them, scripture has a way of speaking to one person in a totally different way than it speaks to another person. But I really encourage everyone to start being diligent about learning scripture and hiding it away in their hearts. I probably won't try to memorize two verses a month in 2012 but I want to work for one a month and if I find more in the month I'll add them on.

I'm not going to get to go to the celebration in January with Beth Moore and Travis Cottrell. It's a little sad but life just gets in the way and I don't want to be gone for two trips in one month. And while initially that was a big prize at the end of the journey, I'll gladly take a closer relationship with Jesus instead.

Your hand made me and formed me, give me understanding to learn your commands. - Ps 119:73

Therefore, since we have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God with reverence and awe. - Hebrews 12:28

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. - Ephesians 4:32

You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. - Ps 119:114

(She) will have no fear of bad news; (her) heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. - Ps 112:7

How great is the love the father has lavished on us, that we may be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. - 1 John 3:1

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. - Phil 4:19

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him! - Isaiah 30:18

Rely on the Lord! Be strong and confident! Rely on the Lord! - Ps 27:14, The NET Bible

The Lord is near the brokenhearted; He delivers those who are discouraged. - Ps 34:18, The NET Bible

On the day I called to you, you answered me. You made me strong and brave. - Ps 138:3, New Century Version

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 15:13

This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. - Ps 118:24, New Living Version

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. - Joshua 1:9

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. - Proverbs 31:25, New Living Version

Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. - Isaiah 40:31

*This was during the last weeks of my pregnancy, I needed all the help I could get! (:

From the fullness of his grace we have received one blessing after another. - John 1:16, NIV-UK

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. - Isaiah 40:29

The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. - Zephaniah 3:17

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. - 3 John 1:4

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. - 2 Corinthians 9:7

I have created you and cared for you since you were born. I will be your God through all your lifetime, yes, even when your hair is white with age. I made you and I will care of you. I will carry you along and be your Savior. - Isaiah 46:3 and 4

*Papa's verse and I can't find the translation

Let us approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. - Hebrews 4:16

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. - Luke 2:19

*Note: all verses are from the NIV translation unless otherwise noted