Not burst all of your bubbles

I know you all read my blog daily and wonder where I have been (I hope you can hear the sarcasm in my voice) but I started a new blog and I actually blog around 6 days a week:-) http://realifemotherhood.wordpress.com/

'Member that time?

'Member that time in fifth grade when I was sick with a stomach bug but some how convinced my mom I was not sick and that I needed to go to school. And 'member how I was sitting in class thinking I was going to throw up and ran out of the class room and stood in the hallway trying to decide which restroom was closer. Then how I threw up all over the hallway floor because I was could decide if going down three stairs would take less time than going up three stairs. And then remember how I was so embarrassed that I thought about never going back to school and convinced my mom to keep me out of class for a week. And then when I went back to school all of my friends thought I really had transferred?

If you want to join in go to http://teamvanvoorst.blogspot.com/ and do your own!

Meatless Monday

Grass. That is what I thought I was eating. It was lemon-basil pasta with cannellini beans. It was too grass-like for me. Garrett liked it though! Since Garrett liked it I will post the recipe in case any of you would like to try it:-)

10oz pasta

1 can cannellini beans rinsed

1/2 cup lemon juice (you will need to zest the lemon as well)

2 TBSP olive oil

1 cup fresh basil

salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta and add rinsed beans. Next mix the remaining ingredients in a food processor. Finally, enjoy your grass on a plate!

Who do they look like?

I think Cooper looks like me - he definitely has my pointy nose. Eden looks like her daddy, at least to me she does. Her eyes disappear when she smiles and in the morning she has Garrett's sleepy eyes. But then I think Coop and Eden look a lot alike with the exception of Coop being a little chunker. I guess it is not for me to decide who they look like. No matter who I think they look like I think they are pretty darn adorable:-)

Meatless Monday

I suppose I should get more creative with what I make for my Meatless Monday but hey, this lady is a mother of two who sometimes just doesn't have inspiration and I recycle recipes that I know my family will eat. So, what did we eat? We had broccoli cheese soup (http://teamhufford.blogspot.com/2011/01/meatless-mondays.html) and homemade bread. Nothing too special but still really good.

Piggy Tails

Meaty Monday:-) on Wednesday

It wasn't the success but the enchiladas I made were all right. The recipe that I was following (to be honest, I don't follow a recipe exactly when cooking so that could have been part of my problem) was from Pioneer Woman (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/01/sour-cream-enchiladas/).

Next time, if there is a next time, I will buy a different enchilada sauce. Hy-Vee brand was not as good as El Paso. And I would buy an extra tub of sour cream to top so we would have some to top them with. Oh and more cheese. But I love cheese. And at the request of my husband I would serve it with chips and salsa - I had spent the past 5 days eating nachos for lunch so all the chips were gone:-)

Now, a question for all of you would make your own beans (dried). What is the easiest way to cook them? And do you have any good pinto bean recipes to share?

Sometimes you just need a different perspective.

What do you do with a sick child?

Okay, so we have "the crud" in our house. Nothing to serious. Just a low grade fever, congestion and a case of the crabby pants. I am seriously running out of things to do with Eden. She is well enough to want to play but not well enough to play without a fit. She is well enough to color but not well enough to have an attention span longer than 5 seconds. She is well enough to sit and have books read to her but again, her attention span is less than 5 seconds.

So far today all we have done is watch Veggie Tales and Word World because watching tv (aka netflix) is all she will be content with. Oh, I did get the vacuum out and chase her around with it in hopes of brightening her spirits. She liked that a lot but once I put it away it was meltdown city.

What do you do with a sick child?

Meaty Monday:-)

Meatless Monday will be moved to Wednesday because today is Valentine's Day and I am making one of Garrett's favorite meals which means meat. No way around it! This is the recipe I use for meatloaf (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/old-fashioned-meat-loaf-aka-basic-meatloaf-recipe/index.html) and it is a hit all around. And with some fresh bread and mashed potatoes, it is a dinner any man would want:-)

Is it bad?

Sometimes I wish I could use Windex as a body spray because I love the way it smells. Either that or lemon pledge.

Helpmate

As Valentine's Day approaches I am continually reminded of just how blessed I am. I do not need fancy things or flowers (although I do like them) but I need a lover who loves on me in ways he knows I will most appreciate. So when I came home today to an empty sink and no dishes left by the sink air-drying, all I could say was thank you over and over again. Not only am I Garrett's helpmate but he is also mine.

Meatless Monday

I tried this recipe out and it was a success! When my hubby says it's good and that he would like me to make it again I know I have a winner:-)

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-recipes/NU00463

Thanks Angie!

Efficiency

Being a mama of two (and hopefully, one day a few more) means craziness when trying to leave to go somewhere at a certain time. But I have come up with a surefire way - most of the time - of getting out of the house and to our destination on time.

It all starts the night before. When I get the kids ready for bed, I lay out a pair of clothes for each of them with a diaper and shoes. This eliminates the frustration of finding a clean outfit for them and makes it easy to get them dressed from head to toe the next day. I also pack the diaper bag and set out anything extra we need to take with us (snacks, pack'n'play, etc...). If I can I load them into the car so it is one less thing that I have to do the next day. Since it is cold right now, I lay our coats, hats and mittens by the door just so I don't have to scramble to find them.

Then comes the important part - set my alarm a half-hour earlier than I normally would. WHAT?!? Yep, getting up early in the morning allows me to get myself ready and have a quiet time before the chaos begins. Most days I get up before everyone, just because I like the peace and quiet and can really focus and not enter the day in stress.

If Eden and Coop aren't up an hour before we are going somewhere I get them up. I get Eden dressed first and get her breakfast and then get Cooper ready and nurse him. Once all of this is done, we hopefully have not had any catastrophes (I do allow time for that as well). Then 10 minutes before go time we get our coats on and get in the car and off we go!

The funniest part of all of this is that on the weekend none of these things seem to work. You might think that with an extra pair of hands this wouldn't be the case but it's not. It might be that there is one more person to get ready who takes their sweet time ****cough, Garrett, cough****. Or the fact that Eden likes to play with daddy or that daddy likes to read lots of books before breakfast. The list goes on.

But this is how we efficiently get ready and get out of the house!

Meatless Mondays

I only go grocery shopping every other week on Monday or Tuesday. Since I randomly started my meatless Mondays without really thinking about what food I had on hand, I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel to make a nice meatless meal. Looking in my fridge we find lots of cheese, salsa, sour cream, milk, almond milk, bacon, turkey pepperoni, romaine lettuce and two eggs - it is looking pretty bare in there...it always does every Monday morning (we have plenty of food in our house just nothing that doesn't require a little preparation on my part).

I was going to make a black bean burrito recipe a friend sent me but I used my black beans in a soup I had to change up because of a dead crock pot (don't get me started on how sad I am that my crock pot has died a random, tragic death) and I didn't have three of the other ingredients the recipe called for. So, last night I was stuck with a dilemma, or so I thought, do I suck it up and go out and buy supplies for today's meatless Monday or do I figure something out with what I have in my pantry? Since I am cheap, and hate going out Sunday nights after the kids are in bed, I chose the latter.

What did I find that I could make? I am going to make bean burritos made with a can of refried black beans, mexican rice, cheese, and canned tomatoes. I am sure these will be super filling! No special recipe, just cooking the rice up and mixing in some salsa and then putting all the ingredients into tortillas and baking for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Should be yummy, should be easy:-)

When one member hurts, we all hurt.

"If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together." 1 Corinthians 12:26

Two and a half years ago I witnessed the marriage of a high school friend and the love of her life. They promised to love each other in sickness and in health until death parted them. Now, her husband is fighting a battle with cancer and I am sure she is fighting with all of her being to be strong for him. But it looks like cancer is going to win this battle.

The thing is, when you hear him speak, you hear a man who is sad that he will be leaving his wife sooner than he ever planned. You also hear a man of great faith in his Savior. Why? Because no matter what happens God has won. God has won the bigger battle. He has won the most important battle. God sent His Son to overcome sin and He reigns victoriously! And he realizes that even at the end of the day if there is no miracle cure that God is still good. But that doesn't stop the ache of knowing he will be leaving his wife a widow at age 25...

So, I am hurting with her as she prepares for what lies ahead. I am hurting with him as he will most likely be leaving his beautiful wife he adores too soon. As the body of Christ, we hurt when one part is hurting. I weep with her. I weep for him. I weep because they are weeping. And I rejoice with them knowing that God has a plan for him and has a plan for his life. And that God has prepared a place for him...

My heart is heavy for my friend. Please pray for her and her husband and their families. Pray for peace and pray for a miraculous healing if that is God's will because God is bigger than all of this.

Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul

Dear refuge of my weary soul,

On Thee, when sorrows rise

On Thee, when waves of trouble roll,

My fainting hope relies

To Thee I tell each rising grief,

For Thou alone canst heal

Thy Word can bring a sweet relief,

For every pain I feel

But oh! When gloomy doubts prevail,

I fear to call Thee mine

The springs of comfort seem to fail,

And all my hopes decline

Yet gracious God, where shall I flee?

Thou art my only trust

And still my soul would cleave to Thee

Though prostrate in the dust

Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy face,

And shall I seek in vain?

And can the ear of sovereign grace,

Be deaf when I complain?

No still the ear of sovereign grace,

Attends the mourner’s prayer

Oh may I ever find access,

To breathe my sorrows there

Thy mercy seat is open still,

Here let my soul retreat

With humble hope attend Thy will,

And wait beneath Thy feet,

Thy mercy seat is open still,

Here let my soul retreat

With humble hope attend Thy will,

And wait beneath Thy feet

Maybe if...

...I bake our garbage men brownies they won't run over our trash lid again.

Meatless Mondays

I am not much of a meat person. I like it but I don't feel I need it to make a filling meal. And meat is expensive and takes up a good chunk of my grocery budget. So, Garrett and I have decided to go meatless on Mondays. Nothing crazy. I am excited to see the benefits it will have on my grocery budget.

I will admit that I was a little nervous about suggesting this to Garrett because he is a meat man. It didn't take any convincing at all!

So, if you are looking for a way to shave a dollar or two off your grocery budget or just want to stretch your dollar even more, try going meatless one day!

Here is what we had for our first Meatless Monday:

Broccoli Cheese Soup and homemade bread

Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe

3 medium sized carrots

1 bundle of broccoli cut into florets

1/4 onion

4 TBSP divided

3 cups of chicken stock

2 cups of milk

1/4 cup flour

1 garlic clove chopped

2 cups cheddar cheese

In a large sauce pan, melt 2 TBSP of butter and then saute carrots (chopped into small bits), onion, and garlic. Add chicken stock and broccoli florets and bring to a boil. In another large pan, melt the rest of the butter and whisk in flour. Then add milk and stir to combine. Let it thicken for about 2 minutes and add cheese. Then dump everything from the first pot into the pot with the cheese and stir to combine and serve! Voila! A yummy, meatless dinner!

Soooo big!

Almost 6 months ago I was holding this sweet, small little boy...

Buff

This is a picture of Garrett and I. As you can tell we are buff, but we want more. We want more buffness. Lots more buffness. So we have enlisted the help of Tony Horton and the power of P90 (pre-cursor to P90X). Just wait until you see how buff we are AFTER:-)

'member that time?

'member that time I was cleaning out our apartment before we moved in and my hands were disgusting. And 'member how I had no hand soap or soap of any kind so I used toilet bowl cleaner to wash them? Yep, I am classy!

If you want to do a 'member that time? Monday go to http://teamvanvoorst.blogspot.com/

P.S. I posted Christmas pictures but they showed up below my last post, so check them out!

The HoJo

Now, I have stayed in some pretty awesome hotels in my life. I guess they were motels but I don't like to get caught up in the details. Just like on our honeymoon in Florida when we couldn't find our hotel because the little detail that it was a Ramada Inn and not just a Ramada Suites seemed to escape my new husband and we were literally driving up and down this one street going into EVERY SINGLE Ramada there was. Needless to say, it was a night that I will never forget!

This past summer Garrett and I, plus a couple of awesome friends, got to experience some luxurious stays:-) The first was a Days Inn. Now Days Inn's aren't that bad and this one was decent. But the last night of our stay we walked into our lovely room just before midnight to find a gaping hole in the wall. And when I say gaping hole, I mean I could have jumped out of our window (we were on the second floor). The maintenance people were apparently replacing all air conditioning units and they never brought us a new one or even our old one back. I am guessing they thought we wouldn't even notice that it was missing. It wasn't as humorous at the time but when I look back it was pretty darn funny:-) (A shout out to our friends who stayed with us in the lovely room - "G-night erbody!")

But I think the hotel, I mean motel, stay that was the most memorable was our little stay in July. We were driving to the beautiful state of Colorado but were going to take a break in the middle of nowhere and sleep the night. We wanted something cheap and that had a continental breakfast - so we got a room at the Howard Johnson. Now, I have stayed at motels like Budget Inn, The Hub (yes, that was the name), The Motel, but this was by far the best-worst motel ever! We later found out that it was nicknamed the HoJo - lesson of the day: if you ever hear that a hotel has a nickname that has Ho at the beginning beware. The beds were lumpy, you were not sure if you should take your shoes off, taking a shower made you wonder if you were getting dirtier and sleeping under the covers meant taking a risk. But it served its purpose and some of us slept a few hours. Even though I will probably never stay at a HoJo again, it was definitely a hilarious stay and a trip that I will never forget!!!!

One thing I have learned in my life is that sometimes cheap things are cheap. But friendship and people are what make things memorable. I wouldn't trade the memories for anything and the price was just right!

A little late but still just as great!

Here are just a few pictures from our Christmas in Ohio and even these don't do our Christmas justice! We spent more time enjoying the holiday than actually taking pictures. It's okay though because the memories are abundant!

Garrett's favorite childhood toy - Egg Bird!

Can you guess why the picture above makes me laugh?

We spent 10 days in Ohio and it felt like the shortest trip ever! We love and miss our family more than I think they even realize!

Let today always be remembered as...

The day Eden pooped in the potty! Yep, you read that right. Eden sat on our toilet and pooped!!! There were lots of praises being sung and even a chocolate chip for her accomplishment! I am not sure if this will be a regular thing yet but she is definitely getting interested in using the potty and I am all for using less diapers (or in my case, washing fewer).

This brings me to how our family saves money. We use cloth diapers instead of disposable 90% of the time. The kinds of cloth diapers that are my favorites so far are Kawaii, Flips, and fleece covers (we only use these in the summer). I would say my whole stash of cloth diapers cost me around $200. I also have cloth diaper wipes and surprisingly our pediatrician was the one to recommend using them! I make my own wipe solution (water, a couple drops of baby soap, and small finger tip of coconut oil) and just spray it on their bums. I joked around with Garrett that I love cloth wipes so much that I thought about making cloth toilet paper - lets just say he did not find it funny (I, of course, did).

Washing cloth diapers is pretty simple. I have a reusable diaper pail liner (my pail is just a garbage can with a lid) that I collect all the diapers in. Every other day I empty everything into the washer, including the pail liner. I do a 15 minute oxy clean soak and then do a heavy wash with two rinse and spin cycles. It really is effortless in my opinion. Once a month I try and strip my diapers of soap residue so they won't have absorbency problems (I do everything the same before but instead of washing with Tide, I put in two drops of original Dawn and do an extra two rinse and spins).

Cloth diapering is not something for everyone. And I will admit that I don't enjoy washing diapers (it's not gross to me, it is just a little bit of work) but the money saving, plus the bum saving they have brought to our family are both a big plus!

And don't worry if you come to visit, we will forever have regular toilet paper in our bathroom!

The Well-Behaved Child

Eden is a strong-willed child by nature (we are honestly not sure where she got it) and if she wants to do something, by-golly she will do it! She is also a sweet little girl who is sensitive and girly as all get-out. My job as a mom is to make a disciple of her (and Coop) and lead her in obedience. I have really struggled with how to implement good discipline (root word of discipline is disciple) with her because she is strong-willed and I seem like the nice flaky mom to her but with the help of my wonderful husband (and TONS of prayer) and tips from other parents and a good book that I am currently reading ("The Well-Behaved Child by John Rosemond), I think I am getting off on a good foot.

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:11

"Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

Thank you Garry for being a leader and reminding me that our ultimate goal isn't to have a child who is good at the grocery store but who has a heart for Christ.