Max & Kaylee: March 2012

I feel uninspired and random.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Part of me doesn't feel like blogging today. My motivation and inspiration must have gotten smushed this morning or something. But I have this feeling that if I don't put my fingers to the keyboard, it'll either be days before I open up this 'new post' page, or all the random thoughts tumbling around in my brain will just implode.

I can't stop thinking about bacon. Like, how much I really just want to stuff my face full of the delicious, salty stuff until my stomach aches. I am doing good with the no meat during Lent thing, but the bacon? It's calling my name, in a bad way.

Epic fail. That's how I would describe my feelings as a mama lately. It's been rough around here. Apparently, being a 2-year old is tough business. And being a mama to a 2-year is even tougher business. There are moments that I just want to hit my head against the wall or scream in frustration. Like, when Eliana decides to scream at me, telling me what she wants, after I've already asked her to do something. SCREAMS at me. Not cool. Does not make this mama happy. There are definitely consequences for screaming demands at mama. Or when she shoves her brother onto the ground, steals a toy from him, and beats him with said toy. Also not cool. And also definitely deserves consequences. It's hard work being a mama. I mean, no one ever told me it would be easy, but still. It's hard, and can be frustrating and challenging and right now, with my massive amount of crazy hormones, can sometimes just lead me to tears.

How do other mama's do it? Stay patient and calm and teach their children through tantrum after tantrum, and no after no? I am definitely learning a lot - I know God is working on my heart in big ways. And it's not always easy. Which is probably good. Nothing that is good usually comes from being entirely easy. I want to grow and change as a mama - I want to keep becoming a BETTER mama to my babes, but man alive, it's hard. And sometimes just downright daunting. There are plenty of hard, chaotic, challenging times.

And then there are those little moments, that are like gems. The ones where L takes me hand to go down the stairs, and halfway down, she stops and kisses it. Or when she walks up to Ezra and hugs him, instead of hitting him. Or when she tells us she loves us, without us prompting her. Or when she reminds us we have to pray before we eat or before bed. To know that she is learning and that she is growing, is so worth it. I just pray I can continue to find grace and patience and overwhelming love, because she sure is determined and passionate about what she wants, and it can be tiring.

Mmmm. Bacon. Give me all the bacon.

As much as I harp on Basset Hounds (for those of you who know what I'm talking about, you know...). Or maybe I just harp on Lucy, our goofy Basset Hound. I guess they're not all bad. She sure has her ridiculous moments, where I look at her, wondering where she gets these crazy ideas. But she is getting better, and growing up. There are still things that drive me nuts about her (her barking/chewing on toys/jumping to steal food), but you know, I might kind of like the goofy girl...

There is a Tonka dump truck in my kitchen, and each time I see it, I envision a scenario in my head in which I step on it, and go flying through the air. I should move it. But it's somewhat comforting, knowing that my dear little boy left it there, and it makes me smile. Plus, they'll be up from their nap soon enough, and it'll just get pulled right back out, so why move it now, right?!

To make peanut butter cookies, or not? That is the current question...

Ok, I am going to relish the remainder of nap time and quit having my 'woe is me, mama fail' moment. God is certainly bigger than my feelings and my failures, and I need to trust in Him. Only in Him will I find the sanity and strength and grace I long for and so desperately need.

It's an absolutely gorgeous day out, and I think I'm going to grab Catching Fire and head out to the porch for some reading in the sun. Oh yeah, and dream about bacon...

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Sunday Morning Tunes.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

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The Little Things: Packages & Ice Cream Treats

Friday, March 23, 2012

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Mama vs. Lunch

Thursday, March 22, 2012

There are some days that the kids eat every single little thing I put in front of them, and other days, that they push their meal around for awhile, and declare that they are done. They were both really good, adventurous eaters as babies (they would seriously eat anything I gave them, it was awesome!), but as they have entered the toddler stage, they have both become more and more picky. It can be incredibly frustrating for me, I'll be honest. I LOVE making meals for my family, so when they don't like it or won't eat what I've made, it makes me a little sad inside. Now, I know it's a stage, and they'll grow out of it, so I keep making and serving a wide variety of foods and flavors, in order that they can experience many different tastes. I had a serious lunchtime win yesterday and felt so proud of myself for coming up with something quick and healthy in less than 10 minutes! Enter the quick peanut noodles:

I had some leftover spaghetti noodles from the night before, and L pulled them out, exclaiming that we should have "p'getti" for lunch that day. I was out of sauce, and had a sudden desire for peanut noodles, so I whipped up a quick sauce, stirred it all together, cut up a few veggies, and served it. The kids ate their entire plate, and then asked for more! I was one proud mama!

Quick Peanut Noodles

spaghetti noodles, cooked (I think I had about a pound of it)

1/2 cup warm water

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 Tbsp honey

dash of salt and garlic powder

I simply whisked all the ingredients, minus the noodles, together in a bowl. Once the sauce was mixed, I poured it over the noodles and stirred it up. I had already heated the noodles, so it was ready to go! We had ours with chopped carrots and cucumbers, as well as a wedge of lime (which I squeeze on my noodles...L just likes to lick hers, ha ha!), and some leftover beans on the side. It was quick and easy, and I was able to get the kids to eat some veggies, AND use up some leftovers! Definite win!

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It might be 75º out...

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

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The Little Things of last week.

Monday, March 19, 2012

I snapped pictures throughout the week last week, and then Friday hit, and I had a hard time finding time to sit down and share them. All of a sudden, today is Monday. Max has the day off, but is out running some fish-related errands. Ezra is still napping, and L just woke up. She is watching part of Tangled, for what feels like the 100th time this week. Just kidding - but we sure do love that movie, and I think part of it has been on at least three times in the last week!

Here are the little things that captured my heart last week, and allowed me to stop and take the time to appreciate the small details: the little things that sometimes get unnoticed or taken for granted:

Lighting a candle, just because it smelled good and looked pretty.

Clean, colorful diapers, hanging in the bright sun to dry.

Piles upon piles of clean, folded laundry. I felt like I ~~had been doing~~ have been doing laundry constantly, so it was nice to actually see some progress in the folded, clean baskets.

A new, bright summer sundress.

Mini Peanut Butter Cheescakes - these are SO delicious!

Playful kittens - we got our friend, Amy, a little kitty for her birthday (don't worry, she pretty much knew it was coming, and was definitely ok with the idea!), and they named her Annie. She is such a little spitfire, and the kids LOVE going to visit her!

Uh, yeah, she did her own hair :) I was getting L out of her highchair, and she was flailing her arms and legs around, just because. I told her to be careful not to hit my belly, because there was a baby in there. She proceeded to get a kitchen towel out, stuff it down her shirt, and tell me that SHE had a baby in HER belly too! Ha ha ha!

Lucy, chewing on her own toy, enjoying a quiet afternoon.

Racing up the stairs for nap time.

Getting cozy before her nap. Precious moments where we get to pray, sing songs and cuddle together for a few minutes.

Sweet, rambunctious boy before his nap.

Making a homemade iced mocha, on a warm afternoon, enjoying the warm breeze and "mama" time while the babes took their nap.

Our weekend was good - it went by fast! Friday evening, Max and I were able to drop the kids off at church for a parents date night out (of course the babes LOVED being able to play at church!). We browsed a few stores, and then went out and stuffed ourselves with yummy seafood. It was a fun evening, hanging out sans kids. When we picked up the kids, they were TIRED and very ready for bed. It was super cute, because we walked outside, and of course, it was dark out. L kept telling us that it was dark out, and then she asked Daddy to turn the lights on outside please. We cracked up laughing and then explained to her that we couldn't do that! I forget that they usually are fast asleep when it's pitch-black out! Too cute.

Saturday, I went out on errands with L and Ms. Amy. We had a fun girly morning, doing some shopping. Nothing too exciting for St. Patrick's Day - usually, I would make corned beef, boiled potatoes, cabbage and Irish Soda bread, but because we are doing no-meat through Lent, we passed. Instead, I made cupcakes for dessert and frosted them a lovely, bright shade of green. I walked over to give Max a bite of one, and as I walked back into the kitchen, I caught Lucy stealing my creations. That rascal stole TWO of my cupcakes! For being a short dog, she can stretch out so long and get way too far onto that counter - I was not happy with her, but Max got a good chuckle out of the fact that she practically inhaled two cupcakes in less than a minute!

Yesterday was church, and time hanging out around the house. I did some baking in the afternoon, and then we went for a long walk (with a stop at the park) after dinner. It was a good, quiet day. As I said earlier, Max also has the day off today, and we've already been on a walk, and done some weeding of the front flower bed. Ezzy should be up from his nap soon. And before I know it, it'll be dinnertime and get-ready-for-bed time. My, oh my, how time flies. I am off to watch a bit of Tangled with L, and dream about eating more of those mini cheesecakes!

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A Song: Telling the World

Thursday, March 15, 2012

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Random Thoughts & Snapshots on a Wednesday.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Hey y'all! It's Wednesday and there are, what feels like, a billion thoughts running through my head. I'll be going about my day, and then I start thinking off on some tangent, and away my brain goes. Half the time, I think that I should write half this stuff down, so I actually remember to share and blog about it. Like, how we now own a van! Yep, a van! Can you believe it?! Good thing too, cause in a few months, this little family won't be fitting so well in my little Honda Civic! We are now a 2-car family, and it's a bit strange, but I am totally liking it! I keep trying to convince Max to drive it to work, but he just laughs at me, ha! I might sort of miss driving my Civic...

Today, we ventured out to see "The Commandant's Own" The US Marine Drum and Bugle Corps, and the Silent Drill Platoon.

Although my two, dear children were squiggly and squirmy, I am glad we went. They weren't terribly interested in the performances, probably because we were at a distance, and it was a little slow for their toddler interests. Ezzy was dancing to the music at one point, which was cute. And L kept pointing at the drummers and shouting "drum, mama!".

I hadn't seen either in person before, so it was neat to watch. If you haven't seen the Silent Drill platoon before, you should google a video of them - they do some pretty cool routines and I was definitely impressed!

After the performance, we met up with Max, who happened to have an hour-lunch break. There is a park right down the street from his work, so we drove there and got to enjoy seeing Daddy in the middle of the day, which is a definite rarity. It was especially exciting because he had to work until midnight last night and left again today at 0500. I think the kids were missing him - and needless to say, they were thrilled to play with him for a few minutes!

I know it's been a few weeks since the Lent season started, and I don't remember if I have shared at all about our family's decision to give up meat for Lent. For us, we wanted the days leading up to Easter to be a time that we reflected on Jesus and what He did on the Cross for us. {I like what Ann Voskamp says about Lent - she also wrote the book 1000 Gifts that I have been reading.} So, we decided to give up meat. In the form of land-roaming animals, basically. We eat fish/seafood on Fridays and we still eat lots of eggs - mostly because I knew we needed to make sure we were getting enough protein.

It's actually been kind of fun, and an adventure, to plan and make creative meals. To step outside my bubble, and find other staples, besides chicken or beef. To be honest, we didn't eat that much meat to begin with, but sometimes it was just easier to grab a chicken breast out of the freezer, as that was so usual. We've been eating a lot of beans and nuts and eggs. We've had different quiches (which we LOVE and the Spinach-Feta Quiche I made is my new favorite!), homemade refried bean enchiladas, Melanzane al Forno (I like to call this twice-baked eggplant - it's SO good!), Vegetarian Chili, Lentil Stew with grilled cheese sandwiches, Chickpea Potato Curry, Veggie Stir-fry, Baked Lemon-Garlic Salmon with potato pancakes, Spinach & Ricotta Stuffed Shells, Southwestern-style rice-stuffed Peppers, amongst other fun things. Last night, I made homemade falafel, which turned out really good. I served it with an Israeli couscous mix, strawberries, and of course, a caesar salad :)

Any other good meatless meals y'all recommend?!

How in the world did it get to be 4:00 already?! Holy smokes - nap time goes WAY too fast for this mama! I hear little feet and quiet chatter coming from upstairs. Plus, it's about time to get dinner started, so we can eat when Max gets home from work (I am hoping he actually gets to come home for dinner tonight!). The weather has been absolutely gorgeous today, and I am definitely looking forward to our after-dinner walk to the dog park. Ok, ok, enough of this random rambling... I am off and away to whip up a Southwest Egg Bake and fried potatoes for dinner.

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12 in 2012. March Edition.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

{Image by Dani @ Hard Corps Love}

It's that time of the month again (a day late...) - time to take a good look at my goals for 2012 and see how I am doing. Is it really already March? It's already spring? I feel like summer is going to be here before we know it! Gosh, time seems to fly by sometimes - it's unbelievable sometimes. I think I need to keep working on intentionality, in making the time to appreciate the little things that happen on a daily basis - because if I don't, I am going to blink, and have babies who are no longer babies. And as much work as they are right now, I know I will look back and miss this age and season so much. Anyways, on to the goal accountability:

1. Community Living: We have not made any type of movement with this goal. I don't think we've even talked about it. So that's my small goal this next month - to have some conversations about how we can get more involved in some kind of community.

2. Weight Loss: This is sort of at a stand still, as I am not trying to lose tons of weight right now, being pregnant. I have still been trying to eat healthy and workout 4-5 times a week, so I haven't gained any weight back. And I know that working out helps me have more energy, sleep better, feel better about myself, and will aid in labor (oh gosh, I don't know if I am even ready to think about that yet...). But the majority of the weight loss will have to happen after Baby #3 enters the world.

3. Read 15 books: I am doing great with this goal. I am still working on 1000 Gifts and Crazy Love - yeah, I really need to sit down and get through them at this point! And I started a Karen Kingsbury series and just finished the third book, Found, and am waiting to pick the fourth up at the library. I breeze through these books - they are easy and I can "shut my brain off" and just get lost in the book. I am excited to finish the series and start another of Kingsbury's series that is a continuation of this one!

4. Manual photography skills: I've been messing around more and more, taking pictures on the manual setting, and I am really enjoying it. I think it's time I found some short tutorials online, to help direct me and lend some more knowledge, as I keep practicing. Know of any good ones? And, I just need to keep pulling out my camera and snapping away - that's the biggest part of it!

5. Outside walks/playtime: With the weather warming up and the sun shining a bit more, we've been making more time to hang out outdoors. Plus, with the time change, we have been able to start taking walks as a family after dinner again, and it's been awesome. I love that we can spend time as a family, chatting about our days/whatever comes to mind, we get to move our bodies, and Lucy gets a chance to wear herself out.

6. Creative and structured toddler activities: I need more motivation with this goal. You would think that with the crazy amount of resources online, that I would have initiated some new activities, but I haven't. We've been sticking with coloring and play-doh lately. I need to come up a new activity this month - something fresh and fun - any good suggestions??

7. Journal: I am a fairly inconsistent journal keeper. Some weeks, it's most days that I pull it out, and other weeks, it's hardly any days at all. I don't mind though - it's a great way for me to process and debrief what is going on in my head. When there is a lot going on in my brain, I usually like writing, as it helps me sort through things.

8. Date night: We had a date night in February - we went to local coffee shop and then out to eat at a delicious seafood restaurant, right on the water. It was a fun night, and we had a great time. We have a date night planned for this week and have been excitedly talking about what we are going to do!

9. Grow a garden: As the weather continues to get warmer and warmer, I keep dreaming of the garden more and more. I think we are going to head to Lowe's this weekend, to check out flowers/seeds/mulch/etc and get some work done in our front flowerbed. I am excited to start planting seeds (herbs and a few veggies) and to pick out some flowers to plant! I can't wait to see them growing!

10. Be Still and Know: I will be honest and say that I do not make as much time as I would like. I need to be much more intentional about my time, and about making time to sit and be quiet before the Lord. I know that I need this time, and that a lot of the stress in my head lately has been because I have been neglecting this time. I need to make this happen more.

11. Craft time: The motivation for craft time has not been there. Therefore, there has been next to no craft time. And strangely, I am ok with that for right now. I have some other household projects I have been trying to wade through, so once I complete those, I think I will find more motivation to craft away.

12. Baby #3: The little wee babe is cooking away. I am 13 weeks on Thursday, and feeling pretty good. Tired, nauseous a lot, having strange food cravings/aversions. The usual, you know. I think we eat caesar salad almost every day. I love it that much right now. And I can hardly stand the smell of coffee and drinking it - which is so strange for me!

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