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! 

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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?