She Turned Her Dreams Into Plans

Hello Lovely Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 11:59:00 +0000

Hello lovely friends and followers! I have recently started up a brand new blog and will now be posting on that one instead of this one. If you wish to continue to follow that would be awesome! Come on over and check out my new blog here: Superheroes in Jammies

Thanks everyone!!

-Stephanie

A First Haircut

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 13:00:00 +0000

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Ours was full of errands and little things like that that kept us running around and busy. Little man even got his very first real haircut! We were so worried that he would be scared and cry like he does with the doctor, but he did great! No crying at all. Of course the sucker and Micky Mouse on the TV helped a lot with that I'm sure. He's getting so grown up and handsome!

I actually got a lot of cleaning and organizing done too. There's still quite a bit more to go through down in our basement, but it's been a good start! I'm just doing a little bit at a time so it's not so overwhelming. I also got some new jeans yesterday that I'm pretty excited about. Super comfortable so they aren't always falling down plus they are a size smaller than I had before I was pregnant, hooray!

Now for some cute pictures of the babies eating pancakes:

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Fitness Friday!

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 12:27:00 +0000

How's everyone doing with your fitness goals for the new year? My overall goal for the year is to get my stomach back, start running and lose 15 pounds. I'm going to be making monthly goals each month to follow that will bring me closer to these! For January I have a goal to do my Quick & Easy Workout at least 4 times a week. So far I have reached my goal!

I'm also doing the 21 Day No Junk Food Challenge which started on January 1st, so I'm on Day 10 of that. It's going great as well. Feels good not to be eating Christmas cookies and other sweets all the time. December really wasn't the greatest month for healthy eating.

Since I haven't really been doing good about working out in the last couple of months, I decided to start small. Next month I think I will be doing Jillian Micheal's 30 Day Shred video for my goal. After that I'll have to see what else I can do. Once the weather gets nicer outside I'm going to start running! I can't wait for spring to get here!

What goals have you set for the new year? I'd love to hear about them!

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Top 5 Delicious Recipes from 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 13:00:00 +0000

2013 was a great year of many many changes for our family! We've been crazily busy with two new babies and our first baby turning one. I started this blog in May so it wasn't around the entire year, but here are the top 5 recipes I've posted that you all have loved the most:

1. Parmesan Roasted Green Beans

2. The Best Pumpkin Bread Ever

3. Snickerdoodle Bars

4. M&M Cookie Bars

5. Tater Tot Taco Bake

So if you haven't seen these yet, check them out! You might want to try them, they are all very yummy and your family will love them! I can't wait to keep trying new recipes in this new year!

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Crock Pot Cheeseburger Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 13:09:00 +0000

It's soo cold here this weekend. I haven't even left the house since we got back home from visiting my family on Wednesday! My husband's work was cancelled today because of extreme cold. Right now it's -22 degrees with a wind chill of -46 degrees. It hasn't been this cold in a long time!

After being gone for a couple of months during the holidays, I am now back to working on the blog again. I'll have to make an update post on my boys, they are all getting so big and growing up too fast.

With these cold temperatures it's the perfect time to make soup in the crock pot! So that's what I did yesterday. It was something new I'd never tried before: Cheeseburger Soup. It was really good! We had salad with it and it was the perfect meal. My little boy loved it as well. I'll definitely be making this again soon!

Crock Pot Cheeseburger Soup (adapted from The Recipe Critic)

1 Pound Ground Beef
3/4 Cup Carrots, diced
3/4 Cup Celery, diced
1 1/2 Tablespoons Minced Onion
Pepper and Salt to taste
1 Teaspoon Italian Seasoning
4 Tablespoons Butter
3 Cups Chicken Broth
4-5 Potatoes, peeled and diced
1/4 Cup Flour
16 Ounces Velveeta Cheese, cubed
1 1/2 Cups Milk
1/4 Cup Sour Cream

1. Brown ground beef and drain.

2. Saute carrots, celery, minced onion and seasonings in 1 Tablespoon of butter.

3. Combine the chicken broth, ground beef, vegetables and potatoes in the crock pot. Cook on low for about 6 hours. Mash the potatoes to your desired consistency.

4. Melt the remaining 3 Tablespoons of butter and add flour to it. Stir for 3-5 minutes and then add to the crock pot.

5. Add in the cheese and milk. Cook for another 30 minutes.

6. Before serving, stir in the sour cream.

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The Update Post

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 21:39:00 +0000

Wow! It's been awhile since I've posted. I feel bad about that, but I've just been so busy lately, ugh. The babies are getting bigger and more active. They are so much fun and also so much work! They are sleeping much better at night, usually only waking up once each. They are now 4 months old. I'll post some recent pictures and some Halloween pictures at the end of the post!

Let's see, what's been going on this past month...the boys had their 4 month appointment and we found out how much they weigh. They are both still tiny boys, height isn't even on the charts and Connor's weight isn't either. Hunter is almost a pound more than Connor and he is in the 2nd percentile. Connor was 11.9 and Hunter was 12.7! They have excellent neck strength and are rolling over from front to back all the time. Connor likes to scoot around on his back and ends up going all over the place.

Jaden has been a little sick these past few days, I'm not sure what is wrong. Probably a stomach bug. Hopefully he gets better quick! So far today he hasn't thrown up yet. He is saying lots of new words and turning into quite the little parrot when he wants to. He has also learned how to climb up on the couch on his own now so he is having lots of fun with that.

I've been doing lots of baking, as usual. I have a couple of awesome recipes to share in the next couple of days! I had a nice productive day yesterday and got a lot done. I'm also doing a fitness challenge this month and so far it's going great! It is crunches, leg lifts and planking. I'm excited to get to the end of the month and see if there is any changes! I've also been doing my easy workout a few days a week. The good news is I am down to my pre-pregnancy weight! Just need to do a little work on stomach muscles still.

I have been working on getting the babies on a nice schedule these past few weeks. Of course the time change last weekend had to throw that all off, but I'm hoping they are getting back to the routine now. Pumping is still going great and my goal is to stop at 6 months. Maybe I'll change my mind and keep going, we will see what happens. I'm excited to start posting again!

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Parmesan Roasted Green Beans

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 12:25:00 +0000

Today I have been married for two years! So much has changed since then, it's crazy. Tomorrow we are going out to dinner and having grandparents watch the babies for the first time since they were born. I'm a little nervous because they tend to act up when we try to change things. Like this last weekend we tried to go to a birthday party for my niece and ended up having to leave early because little Connor would not stop screaming his head off! I'm sure everything will be fine though...

We have a ton of apples that I've been working on getting ready to freeze. I also made my first ever apple pie completely from scratch last Friday! It was delicious and I learned a couple of things for next time to make it even better. Today I'm making apple crisp in the slow cooker and I'm guessing it will make the house smell awesome! Perfect for this cold fall day.

Today I am sharing this yummy recipe for Parmesan-Roasted Green Beans. They are so good, whenever I make them it's hard to stop eating them! They are also a bit spicy with the seasoning that I use, so if you don't like spicy things, you might want to just use regular salt and pepper. They are super easy to make as well, which is always a good thing. Recipe adapted from Budget Savvy Diva.

Parmesan-Roasted Green Beans

Ingredients:

8 ounces Green Beans
Olive Oil
Garlic Salt
"Hot Shot" Black & Red Pepper Blend
Parmesan Cheese, grated
Parmesan Cheese, shredded

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Trim off the ends of the green beans. In a medium bowl, mix the green beans with just enough olive oil to coat them lightly. Lay the beans out on a cookie sheet in a single layer.

3. Sprinkle garlic salt, pepper blend and grated Parmesan cheese over the green beans. Sprinkle a little bit of the shredded Parmesan cheese on top.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

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16 Month Update!

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 20:56:00 +0000

Today my oldest little boy is 16 months old! He's growing up so fast. I had to give him about three haircuts already his hair gets so long and curly in the back. He's walking better but still trips all over the place of course. Just the other day he tripped over something and fell on his forehead and almost instantly this huge bump popped up. That's the part I hate about him learning to walk.

He has also turned into quite the little parrot. It's so cute! He's learning some new words. I usually know what he's saying but I doubt if anyone else would yet. He's also loving his Curious George show that he gets to watch when I pump during the day. He loves his little brothers and always tries to help when they are crying or spitting up by shoving their pacifiers in their face. He tries so hard but is just too rough for them still!

He is also jealous of any attention they get at the same time. I'm hoping he gets better about this soon. I try to spend as much time with him as possible. Oh and one of the babies just rolled over from stomach to back for the first time today! They are also getting so big so fast! I was comparing pictures of my oldest when he was about the same age as them and they look nothing alike. Little man looks exactly like me (or so I am told) and the babies look like my husband. What do you think? The one in the middle is my oldest.

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Slow Cooker Corn Chowder

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 20:17:00 +0000

Today has not been a great day. It's gloomy and rainy and the children won't stop crying. My little man has suddenly developed a fear of any loud noises, even motorcycles driving by or airplanes and this is just in the last two days. He will cry and cry about it and I'm not sure what to do to help him. It probably doesn't help that he decided to get up at 5am this morning either.

Hopefully this evening will get better. Probably after they all go to bed! But until then, I will have to try to figure out how to get him to stop crying. Last week I promised a recipe for the delicious corn chowder I was making and so here it is! (It's rather hard to get a great picture of soup...) We are actually having the leftovers from last week tonight. Rainy days are perfect weather for soup, don't you think?

Slow-Cooker Corn Chowder (adapted from The Crockin' Girls)

Ingredients

6-8 potatoes
1 can Creamed Corn
1 can Whole Kernel Corn
2 cups Chicken Broth
1 pound Sausage
1/4 cup Butter
2 cups Half and Half

Directions

1. Peel and dice the potatoes. Brown the sausage and drain the grease.

2. Add potatoes, both cans of corn, chicken broth and sausage into the slow-cooker.

3. Cook on low for 7-8 hours.

4. Mash the mixture into your desired consistency and add the butter and half and half.

5. Cook for an additional 30 minutes on high.

It's very easy to make and tastes so yummy! I just have to make sure I get it started early enough in the morning. Oh, and the leftovers taste just as good later on. Hope you like it!

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Sunday Currently

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Sun, 13 Oct 2013 23:07:00 +0000

Currently I'm...

READING: The General Discussion forum for World of Warcraft...I'm such a nerd, I know...

WRITING: This post.

LISTENING: Normally I have the radio on, but right now there is no music. I can hear dogs barking and kids playing outside though. And of course my babies playing inside.

THINKING: Of posts I need to write for the week and how I haven't posted much lately!

SMELLING: Clean baby smell after they just took a bath.

WISHING: That The Walking Dead was starting already!!

HOPING: That the boys sleep better tonight and only wake up once to eat.

WEARING: I'm actually wearing clothes for once. Well, that sounds like I run around naked, but really I just wear pajamas most of the day.

LOVING: The roasted parmesan green beans that we had for dinner just now! They are awesome and addicting.

WANTING: Some of the yummy banana bread I have in the fridge. It's my third time making it because it's so good. Plus the first time it turned out perfect, second and third times I can't get it to cook all the way in the middle for some reason and I'm trying to figure out why.

FEELING: Like I need to work out more! All I've been talking about is food here...

CLICKING: Pinterest! Looking for recipes for the week. (Food again!)

Linking up with Lauren for The Sunday Currently!

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How to Customize Your Facebook Page

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 15:03:00 +0000

Do you want to know how to customize your Facebook Page to make it look attractive, professional and awesome? Here are some things that I learned when I was working on mine. If you want to see what mine looks like check it out here!

There are basically three sections of your Facebook Page that you should focus on: the profile picture, cover photo and your apps section.

1. Profile Picture: Best size = 180x180 pixels. I would recommend using a square image here for best results. If your logo isn't already square, consider making a square version for this. Otherwise it will end up being cropped and part of it won't show or it might look fuzzy from Facebook scaling it. Instead of a logo I just used a regular photo of myself here.

2. Cover Photo: 851x315 pixels. This is the very first thing people will see when they go to your page so make sure it is kept up to date and reflects your style. I would avoid enlarging an image for this. use one that is already this big or it will appear grainy and blurry. You can add text to this image as well if you like. Facebook guidelines say that up to 20% of the cover photo can be text.

3. Your Apps: 74x111 pixels. You can easily customize the images that come with your apps that you have installed on your page to make them match everything else. Create a graphic that is the specified size and save it. Then click on the down arrow next to your row of apps.

Hover over the app you would like to change and click on the pencil icon that appears in the top right corner. Click "Edit Settings" on the menu that appears.

A pop-up window will show up on top of your Facebook Page. Click on the "Change" link next to "Customize Tab Image."

A new page will open and you will need to hover over the app image and click "edit." Choose your file from your computer and save it!

Check back and see how your new lovely Facebook Page looks. Do you have any other tips or suggestions for customizing a Facebook Page? Let me know in the comments!

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Apple Cheesecake Crumble Bars

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 23:06:00 +0000

How does the weekend go so fast? Or the entire week for that matter! It feels like I can never keep up with everything. I've been slacking on posting lately, but today I have this super delicious dessert. (Again with the desserts!) In case you can't tell, we have an awful lot of desserts around our house all the time. I love baking and trying new things and figuring out what works and what doesn't!

Today I've been making a yummy corn chowder in the crock pot all day. It's going to be fantastic when we have it for dinner tonight. I'll post the recipe next week, because I know you all will want to try it! Okay, here's the recipe for my Apple Cheesecake Crumble Bars.

Apple Cheesecake Crumble Bars
(adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything)

Crust:

2 cups of Flour
1/2 cup packed Brown Sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) Butter, softened

Cheesecake Filling:

2 packages Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Apples:

3 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
2 Tablespoons of Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

Crumble Topping:

1 cup packed Brown Sugar
1 cup Flour
1/2 cup Quick Cook Oats
1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter, softened

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 9x13 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Press evenly into the bottom of the pan. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

3. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir to combine and pour over the warm crust.

4. In a small bowl, stir together chopped apples, 2 Tablespoons of sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture.

5. For the crumble topping: In a small bowl combine all ingredients and sprinkle over apples.

6. Bake 40-45 minutes or until filling is set. Let cool before serving. Serve cold.

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Day Two: Favorite Song Lyrics

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 14:17:00 +0000

Day two of the October blogging challenge! This is the prompt for today: Get a certain or favorite lyric/s from your favorite song, and tell us how it inspires or describes you. Well, this is rather difficult since I have way more than one favorite song! Here is one song that I absolutely love, though. I liked it before I had children but now I love it even more.

(Find Your Wings by Mark Harris)

I pray that God would fill your heart with dreams

And that faith gives you the courage

To dare to do great things

I'm here for you whatever this life brings

So let my love give you roots

And help you find your wings

It's not living if you don't reach for the sky

I'll have tears as you take off

But I'll cheer as you fly

I love this song because this is exactly what I want for my boys. I hope they have huge dreams that they follow with nothing holding them back. I also want them to know that no matter what happens I will always love them. This song makes me tear up every time I hear it. (I know, I know, I'm such a baby!) I have plans to make a poster with some of the lyrics, along with all my other projects I want to do..! Anyways, I just hope my boys grow up knowing that I want the absolute best for them in life!

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The October Daily: Blogging Challenge Day One!

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 14:53:00 +0000

Can you believe it? It's already October 1st today! Pretty soon it's Halloween and then shortly after it's Thanksgiving (and I turn 30, yikes!) and practically Christmas already. I love this time of year, except for the fact that it goes by so fast! I'm so excited to be participating in a blogging challenge this month. My first time ever. I mean, sure I'll probably miss a few days here and there, but it will still be lots of fun!

Today's prompt: Share at least five reasons why you blog.

I remember back in April or so of this year I was bored and looking for something to do to occupy my time as I waited impatiently for the twins to be born. I came across a couple of awesome blogs and I loved the design of them and I thought "that's so cool, I wonder if I can do that too?" So I started this blog in May without really knowing much about what I was doing and have been learning more about blogging ever since.

This is why I blog:

1. To give me something to do. Back when I started I was really bored, I am not so much now. In fact I am super busy all the time! (It feels like it at least.) I still love blogging though and do not want to give it up even if it takes lots of extra time. I just don't always have as much time as I used to.

2. To keep me motivated. For example when I do my fitness challenges and I blog about them, it gives me motivation to stick to them. If I didn't write about it I would have a much harder time sticking to it! I also wanted to stay motivated to finish some of my many projects I have half completed, but that hasn't been the case. Not enough time...(hopefully that will change as the boys get older.)

3. To meet new people and make some friends. I don't get out of the house much. I love reading about other people's lives and it's awesome when people comment on my posts! Lately I have been terrible about keeping up with comments and reading other blogs. I need to get back to that.

4. To work on my writing and maybe get better. I wish I was a better writer. I guess that's part of the reason I started this blog, to practice. I would love to get better at it but I don't think I work at it as much as I should! (If I ever was granted one wish it would be that I didn't need to sleep anymore, I'd be able to get way more things done that I want to do!) My little sister, however, is an awesome writer. I'm so proud of her! Check out her blog here if you want to see what I mean.

5. To work on my design and tech skills. I love designing things for my blog. You might have noticed how often I have changed the design in the past few months. I have also had to learn a lot about HTML and other simple tech things as I updated my blog. Still learning, of course. There are still lots of things I need to figure out how to do!

6. To share my life with anyone who wants to read about it. It started out with sharing about my pregnancy and now I get to post lots of cute baby pictures! That way friends and family can see what's going on with the boys. (I actually don't think very many of my friends or family read this blog, so it's mostly sharing with strangers I guess. Hopefully you all like to see lots of pictures!)

So that's why I blog. I wasn't sure when I started if I would continue very long, but it's already been 5 months now and I still love doing it!

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Green Bean Tatertot Casserole

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 13:31:00 +0000

I hope everyone had a good weekend! They go by so fast it doesn't even feel like a weekend to me anymore. The weekend for us is when we do all our errands and grocery shopping. It's interesting walking through the stores and pretty much everyone has to stop and look into our double stroller as we walk by. Most people don't say anything, they just stare, it's a little strange.

Today I have a nice, family-friendly meal idea. I've been posting desserts for a long time now, it's time to switch it up a bit! This tatertot casserole is super easy to make and it's also delicious. Your kids will love it! Actually, everyone will love it! It's the perfect easy meal when you have to make a quick dinner.

Green Bean Tatertot Casserole

1 pound Ground Beef
2 cans French Cut Green Beans
2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 pound bag Tatertots
8 ounces Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Brown the ground beef and season with spices to taste.

3. Add green beans and cream of mushroom soup to the meat, mix well and heat until bubbling.

4. Transfer the mixture to a 9x13 inch baking pan and smooth out.

5. Cover with tatertots.

6. Cover with cheddar cheese.

7. Cook in the oven until the cheese is melted and the mixture is bubbling on the edges.

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September Fitness Update

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 12:00:00 +0000

It's been awhile since I updated on my fitness progress. Sadly I haven't been able to work out quite as much as I wanted to this month. We just run out of time at the end of the day and on the rare occasion that everyone is taking a nap at once in the afternoon, I usually decide to take one as well. It seems like these boys are getting worse and not better as they get older as far as sleeping at night goes and little man has started waking up once or twice a night. It's very tiring!

So I came up with this quick and easy workout that I can do wherever we are even when everyone is awake still. I do it once or twice a day depending on how motivated I am. It's getting harder lately because little man thinks I am playing with him every time I try to do push ups or crunches and comes to jump on me! Once these boys start sleeping better at night and I'm not as tired, I'm hoping to be able to start doing more during their afternoon nap. For now I am focusing on doing this easy workout when I can and the elliptical when we have time in the evening.

How about you? How did your fitness/workout plans go this past month?

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15 Ways My Life Has Changed

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 14:30:00 +0000

The other day I was thinking about everything that has changed since I had children. Pretty much everything is different, of course, but I decided to come up with a list anyways. Can you believe I've only been a mother for 15 months and yet I have 3 kids? That sounds insane to me. Next month will be our 2 year anniversary, too. These past two years have been pretty crazy as far as changes go, that's for sure!

1. I spend more time picking out clothes for the kids than for myself. It is not unusual for me to forget to get dressed until right before my husband comes home from work in the afternoon!

2. My car goes for weeks on end without being started. (We don't have carseats for both vehicles and mine wouldn't work for all three anyways since one of the back doors is broken and doesn't open...someday soon I will get a new vehicle)

3. I don't mind picking someone else's nose (just my babies, let's not get too crazy here!).

4. I've pretty much forgotten how to interact with real life adults.

5. Three hours of sleep in a row sounds heavenly.

6. I get to be entertained on a daily basis by three cute little goofballs. Life was never this interesting before.

7. I don't really have anything in common with my friends who don't have children anymore.

8. The smallest things make me tear up. Especially anything having to do with children or babies.

9. I identify more with the parents than with the kids on TV shows and movies.

10. If I do actually get to sleep for a few hours in a row, I wake up and worry that something is wrong because I haven't heard anyone crying.

11. Sometimes I miss my little boy when he goes to bed...that's probably really strange, isn't it?

12. I wonder every day how did I get so lucky.

13. Everything I do is planned around nap times.

14. I would rather go to bed early and get more sleep than go anywhere on the weekends.

15. I have to wash out my "clean" plastic containers and measuring cups before using them because they are scattered all over the floor.

I'm sure I could go on and on but I think 15 is a good number. What are some things that have changed since you had kids?

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Mint Chocolate Brownies

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 13:06:00 +0000

Today I have another dessert to share with you. These Mint Chocolate Brownies are one of my favorite bars that I've made. I love mint chocolate anything! It's actually very similar to the Marble Cheesecake Brownies, except it's even easier to make because it uses a box brownie mix.

It has been kind of a long night waking up with all three boys. I need to start some coffee! I have promised myself that I would be better about posting this week, since last week was kind of a lazy week as far as that goes. So here's to a more productive week!

Mint Chocolate Brownies (adapted from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen)

1 box Family Size Chewy Brownie Mix
Eggs, Oil and Water needed to prepare the mix
8 ounces Cream Cheese, room temperature
2 Eggs
1 Tablespoon Peppermint Extract
1/3 Cup Sugar
Green Food Coloring

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 9x13 inch baking pan with non-stick spray.

2. In a large bowl, prepare the brownie mix according to the package and spread about 3/4 of the mixture into the bottom of the pan.

3. Mix the cream cheese, eggs, sugar and peppermint extract together in another bowl until smooth. Add some green food coloring.

4. Spoon the cream cheese mixture over the brownies. Spoon the remaining brownie mix on top of the cream cheese mixture randomly. With a knife, swirl the cream cheese and the brownie mix until marbled.

5. Bake for about 40 minutes. Cool completely and then refrigerate until chilled. Cut the brownies and enjoy their delicious yumminess!

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We Have Our Bedroom Back!

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 23:07:00 +0000

Yay! Little man is walking! It's so cute to see him walking around the house by himself and getting better everyday at it. He just turned 15 months yesterday and it seems like he is growing up so fast. Having two little babies also helps make it seem like he is older than he really is sometimes. Plus he is such a big boy wearing 2T-3T shirts and 24 month pants and weighing almost 30 pounds.

This past weekend we decided to move the babies out of our room finally. We have a four bedroom house with two upstairs and two downstairs. We are in one upstairs and we have two cribs in the second one for the two babies but of course little man still has to sleep in one of them for awhile. He also wakes up too easily to sleep in the same room as them right now.

So the first thing we tried was putting the two pack and plays downstairs in one of the rooms for the babies. That's what they have been sleeping in in our room anyways. This ended up not working out very well because going up and down the stairs in the middle of the night to keep giving them their pacifiers is no fun. I also couldn't hear them very well on the monitor we had down there.

This wasn't working, so Monday night we decided to take one of the regular cribs apart and bring it downstairs for little man to sleep down there. Then the babies would share the second crib in the upstairs room for now. So far it seems to be working okay. Little man is still getting used to sleeping in a new room and the babies are still working on sleeping in their bed all night instead of the swings, but overall I think it will be a good arrangement. It's so nice to have our bedroom back again!

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Marble Cheesecake Brownies

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 10:00:00 +0000

You know anything with cheesecake AND brownies together is going to be delicious and these bars are no exception! They were so good and my husband ate about half the pan in one sitting. Good thing he's around to eat most of what I bake, I don't like having temptations sitting around all the time!

You definitely won't be disappointed if you make these yummy marble cheesecake brownies! The recipe makes an 8x8 inch pan of brownies, but you could double it and make a 9x13 pan as well.

Marble Cheesecake Brownies (adapted from Just a Taste)

For the brownies:

8 Tablespoons (1 stick) Butter, melted
1 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/8 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon White Vinegar
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Flour

For the cheesecake:

8 ounce package Cream Cheese, softened
3 Tablespoons Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Egg

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease an 8x8 inch baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine the melted butter, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla and salt. Then add in the vinegar.

3. Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl and then add to the brownie batter.

4. Fold in the flour until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan leaving out 1/4 cup of batter for the topping.

5. Blend together the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and egg.

6. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the brownie batter in the pan and then top that with dollops of the remaining brownie batter. Use a sharp knife to swirl the cream cheese together with the brownie dollops.

7. Bake for 25-30 minutes and let cool completely before cutting and serving.

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Mommy Moments Blog Hop

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 01:30:00 +0000

Hey mamas!
Welcome back for another great week of Mommy Moments Link Ups! Thank you for linking up and for spreading the word last week! We love all of the great posts!

This week's most viewed link belongs to Gabrielle from MamaGab! Her post To The Discouraging Mom was one of my favorite posts that has ever been linked up here! I love Gabrielle's heart for her children even in the midst of chaos.

I hope I always choose to encourage other mothers and not point out the negatives of motherhood. That's one of the whole goals of Mommy Moments...to encourage one another!

Our guest host this week is Stephanie from Dreams Turned To Plans! Make sure you stop by and follow along with her today!

Now it's time to link up your posts! All you have to do is...

1. Follow Host: The Life Of Faith

Co-Hosts: The Not Quite Military Wife, Beautiful Family Affairs and The Mrs.
Guest Host: Dreams Turned To Plans

2. Link up your post!
Post can include anything related to mommy-hood, children, homemaking, pregnancy etc. If you aren't a mom yet, feel free to link up your preparation for motherhood, your journey as you try to conceive, or even a post that would be encouraging to the other moms in the party!

3. Add the Mommy Moments button to your post or blog so everyone knows where you are linking up!

4. Explore some of the other posts in the link-up and say hello to some new blog friends!

5. Tweet or Share the link up on Facebook so we can all make even more friends!

<div align="center"><a href="http://the-life-of-faith.blogspot.com//search/label/baby" title="The Life Of Faith"><img src="http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k537/faithkonrath/mommymomentsbutton.jpg" alt="The Life Of Faith" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

P.S. We will be having a new guest host every week! Want to be a guest host of the Mommy Moments Blog Hop? Send Faith a message at farmprincess14{at}gmail{dot}com. We would love to have you!

What is Baby-led Weaning?

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 18:23:00 +0000

I’ve been reading a lot about Baby-led Weaning (BLW) lately and I wasn’t really sure what it was. So I decided to do some research to see if it’s something we might want to do with our boys.

So what exactly is Baby-led Weaning? Basically it is skipping the pureed foods and not feeding your baby with a spoon. From what I understand, you offer your baby soft-cooked, age appropriate foods and your baby feeds himself. The baby is in control of what he eats and you don’t put the food in his mouth.

From what I’ve read it works for some people but not for others, just like anything else of course. With my first little boy we started with cereals and purees and he has never been a picky eater (yet) and it has worked just fine. He is just now learning how to feed himself more, so that’s been nice.

My little man when he first tried out his high-chair. He is such a cutie!

One advantage to BLW would be not having to guess or wonder if the baby is done eating or what they are doing. With Jaden, I never know if he is turning his head from the spoon because he is full or because he’s just being difficult (he can be a very stubborn boy, I think he gets that from his mother). With BLW the baby supposedly will only eat what they need to and no more. That is why you do not place food into their mouth for them with this approach.

Other advantages to using BLW that I can see:

It will be easier at meal times than trying to spoon feed two babies at once.
Easier and cheaper than buying pureed baby food (although I plan on making it myself this time around).
It is said to prevent weight problems by giving the baby complete control over the amount of food he eats.
The babies will learn independence and be able to explore lots of textures and flavors at an earlier age.

Some disadvantages:

It sounds like it will be extremely messy at meal times for everyone.
A lot of food would probably end up being thrown away and wasted.
It will take them a long time to eat by themselves, it would be quicker to spoon-feed.

Babies are ready to start eating solid foods when they start showing these signs, generally this happens around six months:

They start showing interest in what you are eating at meal times.
They can sit without support.
They lose the tongue-thrust reflex.
They are ready and able to chew, even if they don’t have teeth.
They can pick up items with thumb and forefinger.

Have any of you used this method for your babies? How has it worked for you? At the moment I’m thinking that we will use kind of a combination. I’ll probably give them some cereals and purees along with other foods as well. I do want them to learn to feed themselves sooner, so maybe I will just give it to them and let them figure out what to do, and be prepared to clean up huge messes! I guess I will see what happens. We still have a few more months before they will be ready, but you know how fast time flies…

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What's Your Personality?

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 17:30:00 +0000

This writing prompt is from Blogtember, even though I'm not really doing all of them, just the ones I find interesting...and technically it's the one from yesterday. It's all about psychology and personality. I absolutley love psychology. They were my favorite classes in college, especially the abnormal psychology ones. It's fascinating to me.

The prompt was to take the Myers-Briggs personality test and write about the results. Well, I've taken it before, and I've always been surprised at how accurate the results are. At least they are for me. What about you? Have you found them to be pretty accurate?

ISTJ is what my personality type is according to this test. Almost everything I read about this type is pretty much spot-on. Here are some of the things I've read about ISTJ's:

"ISTJs are quiet and reserved individuals who are interested in security and peaceful living. They have a strongly-felt internal sense of duty, which lends them a serious air and the motivation to follow through on tasks. Organized and methodical in their approach, they can generally succeed at any task which they undertake."

"ISTJs are very loyal, faithful, and dependable. They place great importance on honesty and integrity."

"ISTJs are likely to be uncomfortable expressing affection and emotion to others. However, their strong sense of duty and the ability to see what needs to be done in any situation usually allows them to overcome their natural reservations, and they are usually quite supporting and caring individuals with the people that they love."

"ISTJs usually have a great sense of space and function, and artistic appreciation. They are acutely aware of their senses, and want to be in surroundings which fit their need for structure, order, and beauty."

(From personalitypage.com)

"They rely on their past experience to guide them, and are most comfortable in familiar surroundings."
"They are usually more enthusiastic about sharing factual information than exploring abstract concepts or unproven ideas."

"They are practical and no-nonsense, and rarely call attention to themselves."

"Resoundingly logical and can be stubborn once they've decided on the best course of action."

"They usually like things done their way. Often the "proper" course of action is self-evident to the ISTJ, who may have little patience with unconventional approaches."

(From knowyourtype.com)

All of these quotes describe me very well. I am reserved, people probably think I am a bit stuck up at first, but that is far from the truth. I am very dependable and loyal with a huge sense of duty. I always have to follow the rules. I hate being late for anything. I have a very hard time expressing my feelings out loud, but that doesn't mean I don't have strong feelings. I am stubborn, especially when I think my way is the "right" way to do something (just ask my husband about that one!). I have a very strong sense of right and wrong. I am always very aware of other people's feelings and I have a fantastic memory for detail.

I did read something about speculation on Sheldon Cooper's (from the Big Bang Theory) personality type and how they believe that ISTJ would be accurate for him. The funny thing is I was just telling my husband the other day that sometimes he reminds me of myself. Sadly, I am not nearly as smart as he is.

Some other fictional characters that can be classified as an ISTJ personality type:

Bruce Wayne (Batman)
Eeyore (Winnie the Pooh)
Darth Vader (Star Wars)
Puddleglum (Chronicles of Narnia)
Adrian Monk (Monk)
Dana Scully (X-Files)

P.S. Guess what!? This is my 100th post! How exciting it that!

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Best Pumpkin Bread Ever

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 15:00:00 +0000

I have been on a baking kick these last couple of weeks. I've decided it's my new favorite thing to do. Last week I wrote about my Chocolate Butterscotch Banana Bread, which was awesome by the way. This week I'm posting the most delicious pumpkin bread I've ever had and it's really super easy to make. I must admit that I haven't had very many pumpkin breads before, but even if I had, I'm guessing this would still be the best.

You might remember some of my posts where I admitted to being a big nerd/geek such as my Geek edition of things I love or my little man's birth story where I wrote about playing World of Warcraft when my water broke. Well, I haven't really had any inclination (or time) to play this year, but here's my confession: I activated my account again this past weekend. I know, I know, it's probably a bad idea and I really don't have that much time to play games, but I'm sure I can find some somewhere...

This past weekend I also got a food processor! It was pretty exciting, I was finally able to grate up my zucchini. I had tried to do it in my blender, but apparently that doesn't work all that well...I learned something new for the day. Now I can try some new zucchini recipes! Now back to the real reason for this post: the recipe for the best pumpkin bread ever (adapted from That Skinny Chick Can Bake).

Best Pumpkin Bread Ever

1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of oil
2 eggs
1 cup of pumpkin
1 3/4 cups of whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of cloves
1/4 teaspoon of allspice
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/3 cup of water

1. Combine the sugar and oil and then add the rest of the ingredients in order.

2. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

See what I mean, super easy to make and even better to eat!

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Update on My Babies (Two Months)

noreply@blogger.com (Steph Carver) — Sun, 08 Sep 2013 13:48:00 +0000

My little boys are growing like weeds! Well, technically they are still very small for their age, but they are much bigger than when they were born. They are still wearing a few newborn sized clothes, but are fitting nicely into 0-3 months finally. They are also wearing size 1 diapers. So far we haven't had to buy any diapers for them because of what we had leftover from little man and from what people gave us, which is awesome (since we still have to buy diapers for little man).

At their two month checkup they weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces and 9 pounds 10 ounces. They are still around the 5th percentile for height but I'm not sure what the inches were. Pumping is still going great (although I hate it). I am pumping every 4-5 hours and still getting enough that I can freeze some every day. Which surprises me since they eat every 2-3 hours during the day. At night they generally sleep 4-5 hours. Usually one of them wakes up twice during the night and the other one wakes up once. But they do like to wake up bright and early at 530 every morning just like their older brother used to do.

When they wake up in the middle of the night, one of them usually does not want to go back to sleep. So we usually end up moving out to the living room so that they can sleep in their swings and I can sleep on the couch. I hope they get better about this soon because I don't want them to get in the habit of sleeping in the swings too much. We hope to get them moved to their own room downstairs soon because then we will all sleep a little better I think.

Little man will be 15 months old this month, so he will have his checkup soon too. We will get to find out exactly how much he weighs and how tall he is. Last time we checked he was close to 30 pounds. He's still not walking on his own yet, only when we sit right by him and have him walk between us. He does walk on his knees everywhere, which seems like a lot more work to me.

Here's some cute pictures from the last couple of weeks. If you follow me on Instagram you've probably seen most of them already. I still don't know how we got such adorable little boys!

We were able to take a family picture for the first time since the boys were born:

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