Chronological Order

Have you ever read through the Bible?  The whole thing?  I am a little embarrassed to say that I am almost 29 and have never read it cover to cover.  Last January I decided to do it this year.  While I have eased up a little on my timeline, I am on track to finish it still , just in 13.5 months instead of 12.  I have always let myself get caught up in the timeline and if I got behind I would give up.  I decided this time that it would be better to finish it in a little over a year, than to stop because I got behind.  It was a good decision.  There have been parts of the Bible where I have been ahead, and parts where I have been behind, but It is happening!  I decided to do a chronological reading of the Bible...I have loved it!  At times it has been a little hard to get through, but It has giving me such a different perspective on the Bible.  I just had a major milestone, I finished the Old Testament.  I am now officially 74.8% of the way through the Bible.  If you have never read through the Bible, I really encourage you to do it.  I consider myself pretty knowledgeable when it comes to the Bible, but I have learned so much.  There are so many passages that we just never get to, or that we never read in context and add in the historical/chronological aspect that puts it all in perspective as far as the historical big picture...I have grown so much in my Bible knowledge this year.  More importantly I have grown leaps and bounds in my Christian walk!  I have been using YouVersion which is great because it gives you what to read each day and it has a phone app which has made it easy for me to read anywhere and everywhere.  Find a way to read that makes it easy for you and do it, I promise you won't regret it. 

Thanksgiving Menu...

Have you guys started your Thanksgiving Menu yet?  Are you hosting or are you guesting (is that a word?)?  I sat down and made my menu earlier this week and I already got my turkeys!  That's right, plural...I am making two turkeys, or rather turkey two ways!  I will be making a traditional turkey with stuffing and I will also be making a bacon wrapped turkey breast!  Yes, I said BACON....WRAPPED...TURKEY!!! 

Check out that hand woven Bacon Lattice!  Mike was drooling!

This was last years turkey.

I made this last year and it was a HUGE hit!  I actually have a friend who had it and he said that no matter where I live or when it is, if I ever make it again, he will be there!  Yes, he is coming too!  Here is the rest of the menu starting with breakfast:

Breakfast:
Homemade Caramel Pecan Rolls


Lunch:
An Array of appetizers including:
Veggie tray and dip
Fruit tray with pumpkin dip
Sweet and sour meatballs
Cheese and crackers
Maybe some mini quiches

Dinner:
Mixed greens salad with pears and feta and a balsamic vinagerette
Turkey two ways :)
Stuffing (turkey sausage and vegetarian)
Green Bean casserole (homemade...ie: not canned soup)
Bacon wrapped asparagus (special request of Mary Kate, and really...when your daughter requests asparagus, you just can't say no!)
Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes
Gravy (both turkey and vegetarian)
Whole wheat rolls

Dessert:
Easy Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie (with fresh pumpkin!)
Pecan Pie

I am so excited!  I think if you love cooking like I do, Thanksgiving is like the super bowl!!!  What is on your menu?  Do you keep it super traditional? Or do you experiment with different flavors and recipes?  I like to experiment with different Thanksgiving recipes, but my family is more purist/traditional when it comes to Thanksgiving.  And since they humored me last time I hosted Thanksgiving, I figured I would keep it MORE traditional.  I think it is going to be DEEE-LICIOUS!   I will post pics from our big day next week, but for now, keep dreaming about my awesome menu and share your menu plans!!!

Some turkey tomfoolery

Today was the last day of school before Thanksgiving at the Preschool I teach at.  We had some fun!  We made these super cute apple turkeys.  So easy, and so much fun!  The kids all colored the turkey face themselves and then we let them stick the head, the gummy worm feathers and the gummy bear feet on.  They were fascinated and loved them.  I love my job and I love my class! 

Bribery...We are not above it!

As the days are getting shorter and the weather is getting cooler and the newness of the school year has set in and of course the onset of cold season, it has become increasingly harder to get MK out of bed in the morning for school.  She is so sluggish!  More and more I am having to pick her up and carry her out to the living room...God is so good to give me an opportunity to do some weight lifting in my busy schedule...I am dead-lifting 50 lbs every morning!  Then once she gets to the living room it takes her a good 20 minutes to wake up and get dressed.  Then breakfast is a whole other issue...deciding what she wants, slowly slowly nibbling away at her cereal.  And don't even get me started on shoes...The girl will have a melt down in the front hallway because she can't decide which ones to wear.  I worry about the teen years!  This is not EVERY morning, however it is at least once or twice a week that it is this bad.  Other mornings she is slow, but not full on meltdown slowpoke mode.  I finally found a motivator...Bribe, if you will...to avoid all of this!  On mornings when I can tell it is going to be rough, all I have to do is lean down and whisper in her ear: "if you get dressed quick and are ready to go in XX minutes then we will stop and get a donut on the way to school!"  IT WORKS EVERY TIME!!!  I try not to use it more than once a week, but man I never see her move that fast!  Decisive, quick...It is like magic! 

In other news, I think we have all finally adjusted to the time change.  I remember loving it when I was a kid, but man, I am not as young as I once was.  I just don't adjust as quickly.  Also, the girls have fallen in love with a new yogurt.  Chobani started making a kids greek yogurt.  The girls LOVE it, and I love that they get a little more protien, esp Bria since it is so hard to get her to eat anything with protein.  The best part of this is that Sams Club already started selling it which makes it more palatable for the budget.  Look for it, Chobani Champions!

http://chobanichampions.com/

Too Much Thanksgiving...NEVER!

Tonight we had the pleasure of celebrating Thanksgiving with some of our good friends: the Andersons.  Dominique and I met when we were both pregnant 3 years ago, our daughters, Brianna and Cheyenne are 2 weeks apart.  They are best friends!  I watch Cheyenne during the week and we got the opportunity to hang out tonight!  The patriots were playing sunday night football and Dominique made some AHH.MAZ.ING food!  Thanksgiving is only one day and usually you only get to celebrate it with your family.  I think everyone should have as many Thanksgivings during the month of November as they can with as many of their friends as they can.  It was a lot of fun!  I am so thankful that God has given us such sweet friends here in Texas!  Thank you Dom and Trey for kicking off our Thanksgiving season right!!! 

Bully Trouble...Sort of

I picked up Mary Kate from school  the other day and I heard the words I had been dreading since she started school:  "Jordan was being a bully to me today."  Now admittedly I did not know it would be Jordan specifically, but I have been dreading this.  I am probably too overprotective, although I am not sure there is such a thing, but I wanted to go hunt down this Jordan person and give her what for...or go talk to the teacher...or I don't know...SOMETHING.

I controlled myself and what happened next is one of my proudest moments as a mom.  A moment that I would not have gotten to experience had I overreacted.  A moment where I saw my daughter not as a little girl, but as a christian who is starting to bear fruit...a christian faithful to the call to tell everyone about Jesus and love your enemies!

As Mary Kate started telling me about what happened, she mentioned that she asked Jordan to forgive her for anything she might have done, but that Jordan kept saying it was too late.  We talked about why it is that someone wouldn't want to forgive.  I told her that she probably didn't know Jesus if she didn't want to forgive.  Almost instantly, something changed in Mary Kate.  She no longer cared that she was bullied.  Her only concern was that Jordan didn't know Jesus.  She was heartbroken and immediately began rattling off several plans to remedy this.  I didn't think too much of it except that she wasn't feeling down about being bullied.

The next day I picked up MK from school and before I could even ask her how her day went she told me: "Mom, Jordan bullied me again, but this afternoon when we were at bathroom breaks and I had a chance to talk I told Jordan that the only people who get to go to Heaven are Christians and that if she wanted to go to Heaven then she needed to believe in Jesus, otherwise she would go to Hell.  I told her it is her choice and that she can go to Hell if she wants to, but she should choose Jesus because He is God! and she said that she didn't want to go to Hell.  And she was nice to me."  Wow....What 6 year old does this?  I know I didn't do that as a child...goodness, I have a hard time doing that as an adult!  It doesn't stop there...

Since that day she hasn't been bullied anymore.  Since that day she has been praying for Jordan to accept Jesus and for her family to find a "good church that doesn't teach bad things" almost every night.  On Halloween, one of our neighbors handed out little comic book evangelical tracks for kids.  They were super cute and me and Mike were very impressed with them.  They broke down sin and the Gospel...they were great.  So, two days ago, I picked up MK from school and she told me "Mom, I took that comic book that tells about Jesus and how to become a Christian to school and when my teacher wasn't looking I snuck it out and gave it to Jordan and started reading it to her some!"  She is consumed with building a relationship with this little girl and telling her about Jesus.

This last part of the story makes me tear up every time I think about it.  We were driving yesterday and talking about Jordan and MK mentioned that she hopes Jordan becomes a Christian soon.  I told her that she might or she might not, but that MK had played a very important role in Jordan's life.  I said that maybe she wouldn't be a christian right now or maybe never, but maybe someday she will remember and think back to when MK gave her the track and she might become one then.  Or maybe she will become one now and God will use her and when she looks back she will be so grateful that you were in her class and told her about Jesus because that got her started on her Faith journey to be used by God.  When I said this last part, MK looked up at me with tears in her eyes, and said "You know what, that makes me so happy that I am crying tears of happines!"  The joy that it brought her to see her friend (yes...i said friend now, no longer bully) start to show an interest in Jesus and the thought that she might become a christian was overwhelming for her!  Amazing!  Have I mentioned how much I love that girl?  How proud I am of her?

On the flip side...how many of you are feeling a little guilty now for not having a fraction of the concern for your non christian friends as MK had for hers....oh, if you didn't see that, both of my hands went up.  To live in such total abandonment to Christ like her that I would "pray for those who persecute me" and "love your enemies", that I would put my desires and hurts and feelings behind me and worry more about the spiritual health of others.  That girl is teaching me a thing or two...For sure!

Confession...

Confession: I am terrified of playdates!!!

Don't get me wrong, my kids have playdates and I love them and they love them...I am terrified of the playdates with kids that I don't know.  One of MK's friends from school wants to have playdates.  Her mom sent her phone number home with MK and I now have given her mine.  I don't have a problem having the girls here.  I am TERRIFIED of sending my baby over to someone else' house that I don't know...I don't know the mom or the dad or anything about them.  how are you supposed to handle this as a mom?  I really don't know how to work this...I don't want to offend them, but I want to look out for my daughter.  Suggestions?  Please...

Control...

*Disclaimer:  I am about to do some combination of rambling/ranting/soap boxing that may give you a little peek into the inner workings of my brain/heart...if you can't handle it or aren't interested, stop reading now*

Control...This word has been weighing heavy on my heart/mind lately.  What is it?  Do we really have it?  Do we even understand it?  

Society would tell us as women, as mothers, that we need to be the master of control.  
Control your family's schedule
Control your household
Control your children
Control your destiny
Control what other people think of you
Control your job
Control your husband
We are told that we can work 40+ hours per week, have the perfect house, the perfect family, the perfect body,  that we can be the PTA mom, and the CEO, and the attentive trophy wife, and have a spotless house.  We are not only told these things, we are expected to fit into this mold.  CONTROL.  And society doesn't handle it well if you don't.  Look at the Duggar Family...They announced today that they are expecting their 20th child.  The Bible explicitly states that children are a blessing from the LORD and yet even fellow Christians that I know would look down on them for their choice to trust God with their fertility.  I truly think that most of the public outcry that is occurring right now has more to do with the expectation that we CONTROL our fertility.  That we be "responsible" with how many children we have and when we have them, that to trust anyone other than yourself is foolish. We are told to make sure we use birth control so that we don't have kids until we are ready (ie: controlled circumstances).  We are told that once we are ready to have kids that it should happen on our time table and if it doesn't we should go see a Dr. to make it happen (ie: controlled circumstances).  I could go on and on about my views on Birth control and believe me, I have already typed and erased several paragraphs, but I want to get into the root of the problem: OUR INCESSANT NEED TO CONTROL EVERYTHING.

I said at the beginning of this post that this has been weighing on my heart and mind.  Lately we have had a lot on our plates and I have been trying desperately to hold it all together.  But as hard as I try, I can't.  I have been confronted with so many situations that I simply cannot control.
-Mike is taking Turbo Hebrew which is a very fast paced intensive language class, and it is going to come down to Dec. to see if he is going to pass and graduate in Dec....I can't pass the class for him
-Mike is just starting to look for jobs as a pastor...I cannot control WHERE or WHEN we get a job
-Our Landlords are planning on putting our rental home on the market, this would be great for them to have it sold, but added stress for me with having all the kids I watch here making a mess everyday and having to leave for showings and all that that entails along with Mike's crazy work and school schedule...I have no control over any of this
-We are ready to have another child, but it hasn't happened yet, but we are committed to trusting God to give us children when he has planned for us and to trust in his plan for our family,  I can't control this.
-My aunt died unexpectedly a month ago, age 53.  I cannot control life and death.
 These are just a few of the MANY MANY things that I have been dealing with the past month.  But it all boils down to this:
THERE IS NOTHING, LITERALLY NOTHING I CAN DO TO RESOLVE THESE ISSUES. 

Except this:
Lamentations 3:25 "The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him"

Isaiah 30:18 " Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.  For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him"

Jeremiah 17:7 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord"

AND HERE'S THE VERSES WHERE I KINDA SAY 'OUCH!'

Proverbs 3:5-7 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.  be not wise in your own eyes" 

Deuteronomy 6:10-12 " And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers. to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you-with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant- and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery"

Just like the Isrealites who were given the promised land and everything in it were prone to forget God and get caught up in their own sense of control and provision, I think we (especially when things are going good) get caught up in all that God has given us and blessed us with and we take credit for it, we try to pretend that we were somehow capable of control.  My friends, my life is living proof that you can't control everything or anything. 

So where does this leave me...Well, God is good.  He has been faithful to remind me daily through different scripture passages that he is trustworthy and faithful and that waiting on his timing and control is more peaceful and profitable than trying to control it myself.  It is a daily struggle having to wake up and pray for God to take control of my life.  One by one, I have to submit my concerns, worries, desires to him and let go.  And Let me tell you, it is not easy.  As soon as you tell God that He can have control, He will take it and push you to trust in Him.  It is not fun.  I teeter between peace and chaos most of the day.  But I find as I trust him more, I am feeling less chaotic and more peaceful. 

John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let them be afraid"

If you have made it this far, thanks for sticking with me.  I would love to hear your thoughts.  What do you think about control?  Societies view of it and what the Bible commands?  Thoughts?  I honestly don't even know if I pulled all of this together into a cohesive post, but it feels good to get some of this out. 

Catch You Up: What we were up to in June

Here is a picture dump of our June/July since I was a horrible blogger and abandoned you all for the past 4 months:

MK and I had the opportunity to go to the Ballet at Bass Hall in June, It was amazing!

We went to Massachusetts to visit Mike's family at the end of June. The girls had their faces painted for FREE at a local furniture store during their weekly kids night event!

Memie and Gaga (Mike's Parents) with the girls at the Jordan's Furniture. Going there is such an event! It is not your everyday furniture store!

We got to catch up with some of our best friends and meet their son David for the first time. Sam and Ashley live in Vermont so we definitely took advantage of being closer for a week to meet their sweet boy! As you can see the girls ADORE him!

I had the pleasure of taking my sweet baby to the American Girl store in Natick, MA with my mother in law and best friend Pam. She got her first American Girl doll and we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the Bistro! She is so grown up!

Me and my big girl at the American Girl Bistro. BTW, I love the booth we are sitting in! I want it for my house! LOL

I will add July soon!

Sick baby

Bria has the stomach bug that is going around...she has been sick now for almost three days.   Today she has spent most of her day sleeping either on the living room floor or in her bed.  She is looking very puny!  Makes me sad :(

That talk....

At what age do you need to start having "the talk" with your daughters? MK is still young, but I think we are going to have to do an abridged version to start giving her more of an explanation for our rules. MK is very innocent when it comes to boy girl stuff and I am so thankful for that, however, we are starting to notice that we are having to give more and more boundaries for boys and while those will still exist, I think it will make more sense to her and she will be able to use more common sense if she understands why we have these boundaries. I don't know if this makes sense, I ramble a lot in these types of blog posts. I am so hesitant to take away that innocence, honestly I am surprised that after 1 1/2 yrs in public (albeit charter, but still public) school she is still as innocent as she is, I thought she would have been exposed to much much more. I don't know. I am not thinking that she needs to know everything, but I think she needs to know something. What do you think? When did you start telling your daughter or son about "stuff"? I welcome feedback!

Yummy in the Tummy

Over the past month I have made several cakes. I love love love making cakes. It has really become a huge creative outlet for me. Check out some of the tasty treats I have had the pleasure of making.

This cake was made for a sweet friend's baby shower

A 5 year old's hot wheels/cars birthday party

A sweet 3 year old's Pinkalicious birthday party,
they match the cupcakes on the cover of the Pinkalicious book

My next cake will likely be Bria's birthday party coming up in December. As of right now, we will be having a candy themed birthday party and I am excited about some ideas I have seen for her cake.

Its been a long time...

It has been a long time. Life has been C-R-A-Z-Y!!! I owe you a lot of posts. However I don't have time to do it today. Part of my lack of posting has been that I was sooooo over the blog design and needed to refresh it with new pics, well, we got new pics done and here is the new blog design. What do you think? I love it and I will do my best to catch you up on the massive amounts of things that have been happening since we last talked in June! For now I will leave you with an oh so lovely picture or two. I have been helping my mom scan in and digitize all of our pictures starting with 1981 or 2 and on up. Oh you know there are some beuts there in the 80's! Is there anyone who is not embarassed by their pictures of the 80's? Well, enjoy, try not to laugh at me too much, you know I could talk to your mom and get some of you!!! JK

Don't hate me for Posting this Mom....Every Mom's hair looked like this in the 80's

Yeah...I am Trouble!

Yup...I am that cool! I find it funny that these sunglasses are coming back!

1st grade seems so big

Today MK had her promotion ceremony. Yes. I cried. Not so much during their performance which was incredibly cute, but after the group ceremony we all went back to the classrooms and her teacher shared a few words and was crying and it set me off. Words cannot express how much I love and appreciate her teacher. Oh, I am going to be a mess as she gets older. Oh and get this, there is a boy in her class who ABSOLUTELY loves her! I mean talks about her all the time, draws pictures for her, loves her. But MK had no clue...she was oblivious. Cute. She loves all her friends! I am sad to see this year pass by, but I am excited for summer and very excited to see what next year holds! I will post pics later, just a pic post!

Waiting for superman...or supermom...

Today was one of those days. You know the days, the ones when you wish you had a secret tunnel like batman to whisk you away to the bat cave and transform you into a hero, or that if you ripped of all your clothes you would have a perfectly fitted superhero suit like superman complete with superhuman strength and the power to make everything right in the world. I was very aware today that I am NOT superman or supermom and that if I ripped off all my clothes the only thing that would happen would be a naked momma scaring people with her naked body...now that's just not a pretty picture. Welcome to my day:

I woke up on time today which was a feat of supernatural greatness. However I laid in bed for 5 minutes too long and my dear husband jumped up and got in the shower before me. Fun stuff...I finally got my shower and get all the kids' stuff together to leave and we are actually on time...Yay. Today was field day at MK's school so we had lots of extra stuff and extra excitement. I met Doma with Chey at MK's school and we all walked in and took MK to her classroom. School started at 8:00 am and field day didn't start until 8:30. I decided to go get some coffee and come back to the school and spend the morning with MK at field day before heading to sams club to run some errands and meet up with Dessa, my co teacher for lunch. About a minute after leaving the Starbucks Drive-through I hear Bria from the back say "Momma, I weally weally hungy..I weally weally hung...bluggghhhhhhh" And she proceeded to vomit for about 5 minutes. Yay...can't go back to the school now. So many things running through my head..."at least she only got it on her and her seat" "why today" "MK is going to be heartbroken if I don't come to field day" "do I need to cancel my lunch plans" and on and on....

I get home and clean up Bria, bath, new clothes and some down time. She seemed to be feeling better, so I decided to go ahead with my day and hope that everything had passed. To keep her separated from the kids i put Bria in the stroller and held Chey's hand. We had fun watching MK do a water balloon balance relay and jump in the bounce house and do some puzzles and such. It was a lot of fun. We left to go run some errands. I went to sams and picked up some cupcakes for MK's class...They are allowed to bring cupcakes on their birthdays, but MK's is in July and she won't get to celebrate with her friends, so we picked today to be her pretend birthday. After that we went to Walgreens on the way to lunch with Dessa so that we could pick up cards for her from me and the girls. Bria had been clingy, but fine so far. Well, she had a repeat episode at walgreens. I kinda felt a little guilty, she puked on the floor and they cleaned it up for me...It was nice, but yeah, I feel like i should have to do that...Anyways, luckily it only got on the floor and her shoes. PRAISE THE LORD SHE WAS WEARING HER CROCS!!! Can I get an amen for easy clean up! So anyways, it is too late to cancel lunch So we just had to go with a sick kid and all.

Lunch was great all things considering...I am so grateful for Dessa...I feel like we are war buddies or something...we are veterans of the war of our 2 year old class and we made it out alive...jk :) But seriously, there is a comradeship there.

After lunch we headed back to MK's school to bring her cupcakes. She was so excited! Her class sang happy birthday to her and it was a great time! While I was there her teacher shared with me that MK is very athletic, which she hadn't realized before until field day...and...she shared that MK is reading at 120 wpm!!! To put this in perspective, when she starts 1st grade next year, she is expected to be able to read at 30 wpm and when she finishes, they expect her to read at 60 wpm. So, my little end of the year Kindergartener is reading twice as fast as an end of the year 1st grader! I just looked up fluency standards and 120 wpm is late 3rd grade level/early 4th grade level. I am not surprised...she LOVES books and always has...she gets that from me!

Anyways, Bria was super clingy the whole time so I decided to take MK home early. It was already 2:20 and school gets out at 3:15. As we were walking down the hall, I stopped to put Bria in the Baby bjorn bc I couldn't carry her and push the stroller at the same time. As I stopped, Cheyenne, who was in the stroller, decided to pull down the shade on the stroller...This would have been no problem whatsoever, but the cupcakes were perched on top of the stroller and stroller shade and all the leftovers went crashing down in the middle of the hallway. I cleaned them up and headed to the front of the school to leave. MK realized she forgot her water bottle, so she ran back to get it and while we were waiting, Bria (from the baby bjorn strapped to the front of me) had round 3 of throwing up...THANK GOD there was nothing in her stomach, most of it was dry heaves and we were able to get her a trash can before the rest of it came out. OYE!

So we get home, and as I am unloading the kids from the car and getting them inside, Chey has a meltdown because a fly was on her. I am talking FREAK OUT!!!!! She refused to come inside because there was a fly flying around the door. I finally get her inside and come into the living room and Bria is refusing the bowl that MK is trying to give her incase she throws up and instead has put a walmart shopping bag that I had given her in the car ON HER HEAD!!! She then tells me "I don't like barfy mommy...dora don't like it too" You can add me into that mix!

I had the best of intentions to mow the backyard when I got home, but right now i am sitting down enjoying a nice cold glass of iced tea while the girls enjoy some Dora. I am not supermom, although I wish I was. And as frustrating as today was, I kind of like these days. They humble me and help me to remember: 1) I can't do it without God's help in my life everyday! and 2)I need to be in God's Word every day so that I can grow more of those awesome Fruits of the Spirit that help sustain us through days like today...you know love (even when they or you are covered in vomit), joy (when you would rather cry), peace (when your 2 year old is whining and crying all day), patience (IN EVERY SITUATION!), kindness (when another 2 year old accidentally knocks down all the cupcakes), goodness (helping the older lady at sams load her stuff in her car next to mine even though I have my own share of things to load), faithfulness (reading the Bible and praying throughout the day and trusting God to get me through this crazy day), gentleness (when I respond to my kids), and self control (not throwing my own temper tantrum even though I want to). I have not mastered all of these today, but I am trying and i am thankful that God uses all situations to help me understand his love for me and how much I need Him! He is my superman...swooping in to save the day!

A day in the life of my ears...

The following are things that I hear at least 100 times a day!

1. I'm Hungry
2. I'm Thirsty
3. I need more more milk (That's a Bria-ism...I think she thinks if she says more 2x I will know she really REALLY means it)
4. I need to go potty
5. I don't like it
6. Momma momma momma momma momma
7. I want that
8. Briaboo hit me
9. Cheyenne hit me (I should say that they both say this regardless of if the other has ACTUALLY hit them)
10. I don't want to
11. NO
12. Hold me
13. What...
14. Yes ma'am
15. WHY?
16. Oh no
17. Uh oh
18. I want to watch Tangle Barbie which is Bria talk for "Tangled"
19. I want to watch Dora
20. I want to play playdoh
21. I want to color
22. I want to help
23. I'm too tired to help
24. (fill in Name) won't share (fill in toy) with me!
25. You're my favorite momma!
26. Where Is (Fill in the Blank)
27. I love you, momma!

Some of these make me want to pull out my hair, but its my life and I love it, and numbers 12, 25, and 27 make it all worth it!

Don't Eat Jesus!

So, I told stories about MK the other day...I figured I should tell a Bria story!

Today Mike had the day off work. He took Brianna with him to pick up MK from school. The radio in his car doesn't work, so they decided to sing songs on the way there. He was singing "Jesus Loves the Little Children" with her as that is her new favorite song lately. After singing it through a couple of times, they paused for a few minutes. All of a sudden Mike hears a "CHOMP" from the back seat. Bria then announced "I just ate Jesus!" Then again, another "CHOMP"..."I just ate the children!" Then hysterical laughter! I go back and forth between thinking this is hilarious and disturbing...It is probably a bit of both. And now we get to add to the list of things I never thought I would EVER say: "Honey, we don't eat Jesus...or children"

Whirly bird

Brianna and the rest of were invited to one of her friend's 3rd birthday party today.  His dad works at a small airport and that is where the party was!  COOLEST PARTY EVER!!  The highlight of the party was the helicopter rides.  I have never been on a helicopter before and it was AWESOME!   Mk went twice...Bri didn't want to go at all, but I made her go with me when I went.  She wont remember it, but it was amazing!  

My Little Rule Follower...

Mary Kate is a rule follower. Ask any of her teachers that she has ever ever had...if she has a rule, she follows it! To a T!!! I will share two stories now from her Kindergarten year that will illustrate this to you without a shadow of a doubt.

1) Back in the Fall, Mary Kate came home from school one day and was sad. She said "Mom, I had an accident." This kinda confused me because it has been literally years since she had an accident. And she was wearing the same clothes as she had been. I asked her, "Oh no, you peed your pants?" The response was no...Confused. OK, well what happened? Mk said "I had to go poop really really bad and I couldn't hold it anymore! and a little came out.." Ok, I asked her why she didn't ask to go to the bathroom and her response.."it was during center time and Mrs. Simmons (her teacher) is invisible during center time (that is when she works with small groups for different subjects) and we are not allowed to ask her ANY questions at all!" OK, I told her that I am sure that she could if it was an emergency, but she insisted that the rules said no. Which they did. After talking with her teacher, she clarified to the students that yes the rule was not to ask anything, but if it was an emergency then they definitely could ask her a question. She had intended it all along, but didn't realize what a rule follower MK was!

2) This happened today. All throughout the week the students can get Early Eagle Tickets from the staff. This is basically a catch you being good thing. At the end of the week they have an Early Eagle Assembly and each teacher chooses two Early Eagle tickets at random who each get prizes. Well, Mary Kate got a prize this morning. It was a certificate for a free ice cream at lunch time. All was good, MK got her ice cream. Well, the end of the day rolled around and they were packing up to go home and MK comes up to her teacher with her lunchbox asking for help. It was dripping everywhere....APPARENTLY she had tried to save her ice cream for later. All of it. She hadn't even touched it. And since it was 4 hours later, it was quite melted. When her teacher asked her why she didn't eat it at lunch, she responded (here's that rule again): "My mommy said I am not allowed to eat dessert until I have eaten all of my healthy food first!" So she saved it for later...While good in theory, this rule backfired. Her cubby at school, backpack, and lunchbox are all covered in melted sticky chocolate ice cream. We have since revised the rule...if she wins ice cream or popsicles or anything that melts, she is more than welcome to eat that first if she likes, but definitely eat it there....don't try to save it. Needless to say, we will be stopping for ice cream this weekend. Poor baby didn't get to enjoy it!

My precious little rule follower! Love that girl! And to be perfectly honest, I would rather have a rule follower to a fault than the opposite!

Long Week!

I am taking a break from working in the yard and didn't want to go too far into the house since my work boots are kinda muddy.  The computer is by the back door, so here I am.  This week has been LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!  Like crazy long!  Mike finished up his spring semester classes last week and this week he did a one week intensive class.  CRAZY!  But it wasn't that bad.  He enjoyed the class and the professor.  However, combine a 40 hour week of classes with a 40 hour work week, and he was gone 80 hours plus commuting time.  Needless to say, I haven't seen him much this week.  On Sunday after church is our Apples of Gold banquet with our husbands and free childcare!  It is also our 7 year anniversary!  So nice of them to arrange free lunch and free childcare for us, LOL! IT will be nice to spend some time with him though!  IT was a rough week at the preschool for me.  We have been having trouble with a child biting over the past month and he maxed out the biting policy this week.  The director had to ask them not to come back.  IT was very emotional.  I love all of my kiddos in my class and it was hard to say goodbye.  Even harder because his mom is probably the sweetest and kindest woman I have EVER met!  I have enjoyed forming a relationship with her over this past year and will miss her terribly!  ANyways, I need to get back outside, I am almost done taking all of the wood from the deck out to the curb  for bulk trash pickup week next week.  My arms are almost dead.  I wish I had a giant scale to see exactly how much wood I have moved today!  I don't even have a guess!  Hope your weekend is going well!

Mothers Day Gifts!

My two favorite Mother's Day gifts of all time:

Seriously love those two crazy girls...my life would be so boring without them!  Mary Kate is so into Mother's Day.  It is super cute!  She made me a Mother's Day Breakfast in Bed Bag at school containing two cards, a green tea bag, and a fiber one bar.  That was brought in to me at just barely a minute after 7am this morning.  I was told I was not to open it myself so as not to lift a finger on Mothers Day.  Then at 8, I was re-awoken (is that a word?) by both girls and given my gifts:  Gardening Gloves, a purple spray nozzle for the hose, and a scale.  It wasnt until later on after church that I realized that it was a digital FOOD scale, which I had been wanting.  I was a little confused for most of the morning though.  NOTE TO KIDS AND HUSBANDS:  THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE SCALE TO GET A WOMAN FOR MOTHERS DAY OR ANY OTHER HOLIDAY FOR THAT MATTER IS A FOOD SCALE!  I really had been wanting one though and I am so so so excited!  Oh yes, and when I finally was ready for breakfast, I called for MK and she ran in and opened my Fiber one bar for me!  I am so blessed!  Really.  The other highlights of my day were lunch and dinner.  I got to share lunch with one of my best friends (and the fam of course) at Fuzzy's Taco Shop (fish tacos, YUM).  She is so special to me and my kids and her and her husband have trying to have a baby for 8 years.  She is pregnant now and just entered her 2nd trimester on her first mothers day!  God is so Good!  That right there pushed this mothers day over the top!  We love you Rena!  Dinner was lovingly cooked by my dear husband.  It was delicious and sweet to watch him try so hard to make the perfect spaghetti sauce...from scratch!  He's a keeper!  How was your mothers day? 

Superfood power pairs...

In this months Everyday with Rachel Ray magazine, there was an article about combinations of foods that have health benefits when paired.   I thought others might be interested too so I will share:

1) yogurt + strawberries= more energy - the dilate in strawberries helps you absorb more of the b12 in the yogurt...and while all yogurt has b12, greek yogurt has the most!

2) eggs + cheese= stronger bones - eggs are a good source of vitamin D which aids in the absorbtion of calcium in the cheese. 

3) sweet potatoes + almonds = lower cholesterol - the beta carotene and vitamin C in sweet potatoes combined with the vitamin E in tree nuts helps lower blood cholesterol and almonds in particular have a special compound in their skin that makes them especially effective.

4) edamame + miso soup = better digestion - edamame contains prebiotics which promote the growth of good bacteria, or probiotics.  These kick- start fermentation in foods like miso giving them their tang.  When you eat fermented foods like miso the good bacteria fights gastrointestinal infections and improve digestion.

5) avocado + tomato = healthier looking skin - the fat in avocados significantly increases the amount of lycopene your body absorbs from the tomatoes.    Lycopene helps protect skin from uv damage which causes wrinkles and age spots.

6) raspberries + dark chocolate = a healthy heart - both contain antioxidants which are more effective when consumed together than apart. 

7) glass of red wine + salmon = a better mood - the antioxidants in the wine help your body absorb the omega 3 fatty acids in salmon which can boost brain health and help stave off depression.  

I am going to have to work out the meal plans to include some of these.  Which one is your favorite?  Do you know of any combinations like this that have mire health benefits together?  I'd love some more ideas!

An Unexpected Surprise...

I am sure the title of this post already has your imagination spinning with what it could be...so let me put your mind at ease...this has nothing to do with babies or moving!  It probably is insignificant to most of you, but it brightened my day a bit (not that it was down at all).  So I put on our morning watching of Tangled for the babies (I don't know why I still call them that, they are 2.5years old and potty trained-clearly not babies, but whatev) and sit down, kind of dragging.  Thursdays are so long for me and they weekly kick my butt!  So as I was saying, I was trying to snap out of my Thursday funk and the doorbell rang.  Totally not expecting anything or anyone and I look like my Thursday funk...I look through the peep hole and nothing.  So I opened the door and there is a package there.  When I opened it up I saw a beautiful gift from my bff and sister Shonda....a gift just because...I love her!  Inside was a beautiful ceramic travel mug with the following quote on it:

I think I could also delete the "coffee" from the quote and put in "Shonda"!  I am truly blessed to have her as a sister and even more blessed to have her as my best friend! 

5x7 Folded Card

Happy Grandma Collage Mother's Day 5x7 folded card

Turn your favorite photos into a custom Mother's Day card.

View the entire collection of cards.

Its been a while...and some things i love!

Sorry...I go through posting stages.  Just went through a dry spell...or maybe a busy spell or maybe a lazy spell...I don't know but I am back for a while and wanted to leave you with a few things that I am recently in love with...ok obsessed with! 

1.  An app for my phone:  myfitnesspal...I love love LOVE it!  I used to use SparkPeople and it was fine, but myfitnesspal...wow...everything I could want in a calorie counter/ food diary/fitness tracker...I can even enter recipes and get the calories and put that into the food diary.  My favorite part of the app is the barcode scanner.  That's right I said barcode scanner...if I need to enter a food into my food diary all I have to do is scan it and press enter!  No searching through a databases for foods...I am in LOVE...anything that makes my life and my daily schedule easier...I am a fan!

2.  Pouches!  Ingenious!  I started getting these happy tot organic fruit/veggie blends for B for her school lunches as an easy way to send a veggie since that is all she wants to eat.  she loves them!  They are so easy to grab and go.  Then I started seeing applesauce ones by other companies: materno makes one that walmart sells, nature made (I think) makes one at target,  and the other night I saw one by sole at walmart.  I have started getting these as quick and easy snacks.  The thing that I love the most about these...how simple the ingredients are: apples, apple juice, ascorbic acid usually.  No added sugar or corn syrup.  LOVE LOVE LOVE! 

3.  My little garden...I am always behind on gardening,   I started the herbs and tomatoes in pots, but I need to get it in the ground.  That being said, I love my little sprouts popping up...I have basil, cilantro, parsley, and tomatoes so far.  Yum!  Mouth already watering for some tomato and basil!   Plans are to plant bell peppers, squash, carrots, onions, garlic, and some other goodies very soon!

4.  chia seeds!  My good friend Dominique introduced me to them and I love them!  Great on salad! 

5.  Love that Bria is 100% potty trained!  Amen and Amen!

What do you love? 

Plagues

So, I think we must be dealing with the plagues.  We have been so sick this year.  Right now we are all battling a cold and pink eye.  Yeah, all of us.  I thought I might avoid the pink eye, but nope, as I write my eyes are getting itchier and gooier.  So much fun.  I would blame it on this being MK's first year of school and that might be valid since it is going around her school, but Mike was the first one to get pink eye and pass it around to the rest of us.  He works at a college though, so it makes sense...those places (colleges) are just hotbeds for insanely contagious germs.  So, we will be hanging in here, hoping to avoid anything else :) and hopefully getting rid of what we all had.  Hope you are all well too!

Shake those hips!

Watch "Mk can hula hoop!" on YouTube

Sweet girls

Just some fun pictures of the girls playing outside this afternoon.   It was a beautiful afternoon!

Cake

Here is a pic of the first cake I made this past weekend.   It was a five tier Fancy Nancy inspired cake.  French vanilla flavored cake with white chocolate buttercream frosting.  It was delicious (from the scraps I taste tested while decorating).  It was a ton of fun to make and from what I hear, everyone loved it!

Yes please!

Doesnt this picture make you want to dress up like Scarlett O'Hara and sip tea on the porch!  I love it!

Moon me

As I was driving home tonight from the grocery store, I found myself mesmerized by the moon.  I mean it was gorgeous!  Almost full or maybe even full, pale yellow, big, low in the sky...breathtaking!  As I pulled it together and tried to ignore the moon and drive home safely I started thinking about my fascination with the moon.   I clearly remember being in the car as a child and driving home with my parents and wondering why the moon always followed us and how it knew where we lived.  There was always something comforting about the moon..always the same always beautiful always peacefully doing its job always quietly powerful...comforting.   When I was in high school my bed was next to the window.  I used to change how I slept on my bed so that I could sleep with the mon shining on me.  It was like it was watching over me while I slept.  Now don't mistake me...i believe in God and not in the divinity of the moon or sun or any hippy crap.  I guess in the same way that some find the beauty and power of God in nature, I see it in the moon.  Ok now you all officially know I am crazy. 

Changes...

So I have been thinking a lot lately about making some changes.  I am notoriously bad at it.  So, I don't know.  Let's discuss...
1) To become a morning person (or as much of one as I can train myself to be).  Oh...this is always  the one that gets me.  I am, by nature a Night Owl.  I love to stay up late...I am more productive after the kids go to bed.  I enjoy relaxing in the quietness of the evening.  Problem:  Necessity has dictated that I need to be a morning person.  I have kids...they get up early.  School starts early.  Work starts early.  Everything starts early.  I am a Night Owl in a world made for Early Birds.  So, what do I do.  I have been doing both, which usually results in me going to bed somewhere between midnight and 2am (Don't judge) and getting up most mornings by 630 at the latest.  This is not ideal.  So, I am thinking it is time to set down some nighttime boundaries for myself and train myself to go to bed early and get up early. 
2)To work out more.  I have been making excuses for a LONG time.  Some of them are legit.  I am busy.  I work two jobs.  I stay home with my kids.  My husband is in school.  My husband works 40 hours a week an hour away from our house.  It is really hard to prioritize going to work out.  REALLY HARD.  I need to get over it.  I am currently mulling through this and have come to a couple solutions that hopefully I can enact. A-Use the elliptical machine in my living room.  Excuse in the past is that I am too tired at the end of the day (cue change number 1-hopefully that will help that one).  This also will require rearranging the living room a bit which will probably happen tonight (SHH...don't tell my husband...he always gives me a hard time whenever I rearrange furniture).
B-I have been thinking about trying out the couch to 5k program.  I just downloaded an app for it on my phone.  I am not a runner.  Never have been.  And the thought of this makes me want to gouge my eyes out, but I know it is good exercise and a part of me wants to be able to run a 5k.  So yeah, most of that is because I am a competitive person and not because I want to run, but still.  I dont' know, still working on this one.  Also, when do i run?  first thing in the morning, 530?  I would have to do it outside because I don't have a treadmill.  Oh, I think too much.  Ok, this one is still officially being thought about. 
C-There is a gym by my house that offers classes and membership.  I don't think we can afford to join right now, but I could possibly afford to pay for some classes.  I think the price is like $40 for 10 zumba classes.  Don't know if it is specific to zumba or any class, but it is worth looking into.   If Mike was ordained already we could get a membership for both of us for $38 per month.  Can you believe it?  that is super affordable...can't wait to get those clergy discounts someday :P
3) To have my house completely organized and have a systematic plan for what to do on what days to keep it organized and clean.  I have always kept up with my house, maybe not as spotless as some, but for the most part it is clean.  But I don't have a system, and clutter is our downfall.   I want to be better organized.  I think this one is going to take some time. 

Ok, The hubs needs his laptop to go to work so I gotta let it go.  Maybe more on changes later.  Feedback...suggestions...

Me time...what's that?

Tonight was Valentine's Day.  In true romantic fashion, the hubs has Greek class.  Boo... Not that he is big on Valentine's Day anyways, but at least we could have taken advantage of the parents night out at our church together.  So I figured I would just chill at home with the girls.  Well, our Assistant Children's Minister found out and wanted me to bring the girls.  They do a big sock hop program and she knew the girls would have fun and that I could use the night alone :)  So....I dropped off the kids and I swear I must have looked like a lost puppy the rest of the night.  I didn't know what to do and didn't exactly have the money to do much, so I decided to go to the mall and walk around.  Get some exercise and window shop.  What else am I going to do.  So, I perused the stores at the mall to get an idea of what is out there for Easter Dresses for the girls.  Do you know what is out there?  Do you?  A big Fat Load of nothing!  Can you believe it?  It is two months out from Easter and nothing.  There were a few dresses at Sears, but nothign that coordinated between big girls and toddlers.  Childrens Place, Justice, Crazy8, Everywhere I looked, there was nothign.  I asked the sales associates that were bored out of their mind because not many people were out shopping tonight and they said they hadn't recieved any yet.  I can't believe it still.  They put Christmas stuff out in August.  4 MONTHS before Christmas...but nothing for Easter.  Crazy!  Oh well, I have heard that Target has theirs out and I will wait a bit and see what shows up in the other stores.  I guess I still do have 2 months.  Happy shopping!  And I did enjoy having some quiet time to myself.  It doesn't happen very often and I almost didn't recognize what it felt like to not have to cater to someone else  needs.  On a plus side, The hubs and I are having a date night tomorrow night (tuesday)...Can't wait...Toscana's here we come...I love me some good Italian food!

Take the Cake!

So, one of my "hobby" or maybe more accurately "interests" is making cakes.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  I don't actually consider myself very artistic, but something about fondant just brings out every artistic bone in my body!  Usually I just make them for my girls' birthdays and if a friend asks.  Lately I have had the opportunity to make a couple cakes for people as a side business.  It has been really exciting.  About a month ago I made a pregnant belly cake for an old coworker and this coming weekend I will be making a 5 tier Fancy Nancy inspired 1st birthday cake for a sweet little 1 year old girl and the same day I will be making a Super Mario Brothers inspired birthday cake for a 4 year old boy.  I am super excited!  And I will post pictures next week.  I am going to leave you with a couple of pictures of some cakes I have made over the past 2 years!  Enjoy!

My first fondant cake ever...a princess cake for my oldest princess!

Made this one for a friend of a friend for her 30th birthday.

Surprise birthday cake for one of my best friends

Swimming Lessons

The RAC at the Seminary offers swimming lessons for kids age 4 and up.  I have been meaning to sign up MK for about a year and a half, but haven't yet.  Call it laziness, call it frugality, call it busy...whatever the reason was, it hadn't happened.  Well, we finally signed her up.  It is a pretty good deal.  She has lessons twice a week for a half an hour for then next 8 weeks.  And all for $30.  We recently moved to a house and there is a pool in the neighborhood that we will have access to all summer long.  So I figured it would be wise to sign her up and get her swimming like a fish so that she can adequately enjoy the pool this summer!  She had a blast at her first lesson yesterday.  One of her favorite parts of the lessons is that three of her best friends from church are in her class!  Ryan and Benjamin are twins and they are 15 and 18 minutes younger than MK! That's right, I said minutes...They could literally almost be triplets!  Their younger sister Madisyn is 11 months younger and hangs right with all of them.  They could almost be quadruplets :)  Almost.  Anyways, here is a pic of the 4 of them playing in the pool!

Snow Days

A couple of weeks ago I was overcome with envy.  I wanted snow just like my friends and family back in Massachusetts.  Not only did I want snow, I wanted a snow day.  Snow days in Massachusetts are truly the most peaceful days.  Lounge around, drink coffee, spend the day together as a family, the to do list out the window-all unexpectedly!  It is amazingly relaxing because when you get a snow day there it is because you have at least a foot of snow on the ground and literally can't go anywhere.  So, I was envious and started praying and hoping for a snow day.  I knew it was a long shot, but you never know.  ONE snow day might be possible in warm old Texas.  Afterall, winter is bipolar here.  80*F one day and 30*F the next.  Little did I know, my wish would be granted.  Last week we got ONE snow day on Tuesday.  Then we got snow day number TWO, followed by THREE and FOUR!!! IN A ROW!!  Where it was a nice little vacation for all of us, I am over it.  Well, guess what!!!!  The weather forcaster tonight said that he would be surprised if the kids went to school on wednesday...2-4 inches of snow and ice predicted.  INSANE!!!  I am so over it.  I am officially done praying for snow days!  I am grateful for the ones I got and now I would quite enjoy getting back to our normal mid 50s weather for the rest of the winter! 

Hypocrite!

I am so bad about blogging.  I always check other blogs I read through my blog page and I always think 'man, I should post something, anything..I am a horrible blogger', but I rarely do.  However I notice myself getting antsy to see what others are posting on their blogs.  I even start to wonder if everything is ok when someone that I know blogs a lot hasn't blogged in a while.  Sometimes I almost get annoyed that I have nothing new to read.  I realized I am a blogger hypocrite!  I have to admit it...I hate to admit it!  So here it is... I apologize for being hypocritical.  I am sorry for expecting you (any of you, all of you) to blog consistently while not doing it myself.  I apologize for justifying my hypocriticalness by saying 'you are more consistent bloggers', or 'you are a better writer' or 'you have a more interesting life than me'.  Finally, I will try to be better about blogging.  I don't actually believe that anyone out there actually is reading this, which should make it easier for me to write.  However, I will attempt to do it more consistently if only to alleviate my feelings of hypocrisy :)