something to waste some time on your lovely Christmas Eve...

My house has been ground zero for the past two weeks.

Like please-don't-touch-anything-or-you-will-get-a-disease-apocalyptic-type.  I told my kids there is no way Santa comes to messy houses.  Which is more like, I'm not doing ANYTHING tomorrow, so we'd better do it today.

So what do I do when I clearly need to finish folding laundry....?

I check my email to distract me from Mt. St. Oh-My-Heck-These-Have-Been-Clean-And-Not-Folded-For-How-Long? pile....(yes, there have been piles of clean laundry in my room that long that I have named each mound...)

Not my proudest accomplishment of this month.

Back to my distracting emails--I subscribe to a little blog that you may have heard of...

Young House Love

They only have a book out and are quasi-famous in the blog world and I secretly hope they would come to Boise so I can only partly creepily stalk them.  Just partly.  I think John and Sherry are pretty super :)

They have a fun little post out there right here and it's about linguistic diagnostics done with a quiz online thrown on by some smart people from Harvard.

They must know their stuff because this is what my map looked like after I was finished:

Pretty accurate considering I live in Boise.  Glad to know I could make it in Spokane and Grand Rapids.  Looks like I would kinda stand out on the East Coast...

So if you need something to kill a few minutes, I'll pass it on here and take the How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk quiz.

Have fun.

And MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!

I'm very excited for Santa to come tonight!!  More excited to have my house back.

much love,

-a

i love the terrible three's...said no one ever.

This month has been a whirlwind of finishing up my first semester back at school, finals, trying to get caught up on Christmas orders at work, battling my perma-messy house, a birthday, Christmas shopping...

(cue Celine Dion)

the list could go on.  And on.

What I find myself struggling with most is the battle with my brand-new, just-turned, three-year-old.

I know that she is just doing what three-year-olds do best, i.e. trying to get on my nerves, but lately I've been threatening to sell her to the zoo.  I told her she could live with the zebras for all I care, I just want her to listen me.

Like that went over well.

Today was tough as I was clearing out my over-neglected email inbox since I don't know where in the heck to start with my (GROSS!) house, and I was reading through blogs that I have subscribed to while they were crying, yelling, yanking on my arms and legs and any other part of my body that was available to badger.  I read a post about a gal that just lost a baby 9 weeks in and it brought up a lot of emotions for me--

I lost my first pregnancy about that same time and it just hurt me.  I hurt for her loss, I hurt because I was yelling at my kids to give me a break to relax and enjoy something for 10 seconds, and it hurt because it became so real to me again.  How fast you could lose something so dear to your heart.

Not sure why today of all days it seems I've been bombarded with stories of struggle from others and I honestly am so blessed.

Somedays it's just harder for me to remember it.

My kids are healthy, beautiful, intelligent and I have a home that I love, (and am already writing down ideas to change for 2014) a hard working and dedicated husband that gets to come home to me each night...so why do I let myself get so frustrated?

                        __________________________________________________________

I'm not going to propose a million and one Pinterest proven ideas of ways to "be better", but one word does come to mind, especially having to do with this celebratory season of Christ and that is simply, LOVE.

With LOVE you can do so many things.  I know I would feel completely lost without it.  And yet sometimes it is so hard for me to remember how to be an example of it.

The holidays are so stressful.  So stressful.  It seems everyone is in a bustle, and busy, and running here and there.   I guess why I'm writing this post is to express what I'm feeling so passionate about at the moment and that is to just simply take the time, even if just a moment to remember to LOVE.  LOVE one another.  Whether what religion you have, LOVE is the one constant that we all have on this Earth. Everyone needs it and everyone needs to receive it.

So in that light,

To everyone special in my life near and far I wish to send you my LOVE on this day and through the rest of this season.  I have many blessings I call friends and family in my life and I truly am grateful for each of you, no matter how insignificant you think your impact is on me.  I do think of each of you often, I'm just very horrible about expressing it- calling, texting, messaging, going to visit...  Simply horrible.  Something that I need to be better at.  Maybe Pinterest has a post about that... if so, be a dear and let me know?

I'm not going to promise more posts out of me until I can get the reins called my life back under control.  I don't know when that will be.  I have people look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them the load I have and maybe I am.  Maybe that's why I forget to remember so much, but for once in my life I feel like I'm doing exactly what I need to be doing.  Which is so stupidly funny to me.  I'm happiest when I have a plateful plus a mouth full of food that I'm trying to che... it's ridiculous.

I LOVE you, my readers.  Whoever you are out there.. I think you're awesome sauce and please know this blog will get awesome one day.  One day...

I have super big plans and I intend to go through with them, it's just going to take time, so again, please be patient with me.

I'm crying like a boob, just FYI... not sure why.  Maybe it's finally a release of all the stresses that I've been under, but I'm just letting it go.  Pretty attractive mental pic, right?  You're either laughing or crying with me at this point, but know that I do LOVE you dear stranger, who ever you may be. :)

Carry on and don't care what a three year old thinks of you when you don't let her watch Mickey Mouse's Three Musketeers for the umpteenth time...

(sigh)

That's my advice to you.




Can I just tell you she can jerk out some real legit alligator tears in like 5.3 seconds?   It's unbelievable.   Gosh dang.  Seriously if you have some advice on how to get through the next 351 days, please let me know.  It's not that bad, but  I need a freakin' bone thrown at me here.

Maybe to get me through it, comment something funny to me so I can laugh.  One liners, movie quotes, jokes, whatev.

Now I'm just rambling and I have a Mt. Everest of laundry to fold and my kitchen stinks so bad from my days old dishes.

If you know my husband tell him I just want a cleaning lady for Christmas.  And some socks.  He has stolen ALL of my socks and stretched them out and ruined them.  My feet are cold.

K.  Ramblings over and out.

Merry Christmas.
Happy New Year.

Much love,
-a

a little fall cleaning today...

What I'm doing today instead of shopping the sales:

Source: iamthatlady.com


Not really in the mood to fight the crowds today.  It's a stay-at-home-in-my-pajamas-kind-of-day ;)

What are you doing on this BLACK Friday?

much love,

-a

a little black Friday deal...

A little post plug for ideclare! charms today...

Great Black Friday deal on their very cute Christmas bracelets!

Head on over to ideclare! and take a peek!

the one where i really, really miss my kids...and my husband too

i was looking at my sil's blog and found some pics from our family reunion that we had in june and stole some of her pics...

 aren't they cute?

we take awesome pictures together.


they made me miss my family.

which made me think about my week alone drawing to a close.   i am half way relieved and the other half aggravated that my list didn't get close to being done.

BUT!

i learned a far more important thing....this thing called:

resting

ever heard of it?

resting and taking it easy is never a bad thing.   especially when you're eating two and a half meals in your car and stuff keeps getting piled on and on and on and you have papers due and yadda, yadda, yadda...

post pregnancy with my first, everybody and their dog kept saying: "rest when they rest" and i usually succumbed to being a bit more lax with everything. maybe even allowing myself to take a snooze once and a while.
after baby two seventeen months later i felt the need to, of course take my time with baby, but when they were sleeping it was rush, r-ush ru-sh rus-h rush to get everything done. while i had a min.  and i'm not talking about dusting my blinds, or wiping down baseboards or walls.

heck no.  

my spider-cobbed walls and dust bunnied floors don't need any of that fancy spit shine.  who has time for that?!

i need a maid.

but for reals if anything i got to soak in hot tubbys.  alone.  go to the bathroom.  alone.  eat my diner.  while still hot.

a marvelous vaycay at home i must say.


but for reals i don't think i can stand another day apart from my babes...

i mean really,
check out this cute girl and this poor "killy", as Ev says it.

bet he'll be happy she's in my arms as well.


i really hope that i can keep up this writing momentum (like i've been meaning to from day one) from here on out.  i don't want to bore you with how busy i am.  but i'm kinda really busy.  doesn't make me want to stop this though.  i've thought many times just to call it ka-put, but ya know?  i kinda like it.  it's kinda fun to me and eventually i'd like to get better at it and the only way to do it is keep going, keep learning, and keep blogging.  hopefully it will grow even more fantastic when i can start putting up my printables shop.
and oh.
it's gonna happen.
i've gone too far to let it all slip away.

and don't say one semester of school and one art class is not too far in.  it's way far in.

completely all far in.



probably not.
you're right.
bold text isn't selling it.

darn.


well, look at the time.  it's late and i'm needing a little bit more r&r before i say hello to my thing one and thing two who like to wake up daddy in the middle of the night.

i laugh a little inside when my husband says he's worn out.  proud that he's been a super dooper awesome dad taking them on this week, but it's nice to make them feel like the mom sometimes, yeah?

totally.

much love,
-a

a merry little christmas to you!

i really need to do a post about the fabulous job I have...

TADA!!!

j/k.  but for reals, i declare! is having a huge sale that is today through tomorrow.  i realize i should have been a little bit more proactive and shot this up earlier but it's like I was there working on loads of orders until 8p tonight or something.

weird.

get your orders in and have it shipped to your doorstep and have one less shopping trip to do.   they make great gifts for all of those special people in your life and what a great thought to say "I love you", "Thank You", "Happy Holidays" or "Happy Birthday!" 

They also have a great deal on their November special:

PLUS adorable! necklaces and bracelets for the up and coming holidays (at great prices) AND...

...you should see their new snowman stamped charm.  

oh.

my.

goodness.

go on over and take a peek!

now if only they could wrap all my presents too...

34 days until Christmas

(no pressure;)

yeeowza!

much love,

-a

the one where I have big dreams but am already pooped...

I had a dream once.  I had a dream that I would get so many activites done in one week while I was home alone.

It's Tuesday night and I'm already to throw in the towel.  This is what I've done so far...

• managed to find an old LBD perfect for an upcoming Christmas party.  Just saved $60 thanks very much.  Now to accessorize... I may need professional help.  And someone to help me with accessorizing.

• finished reorganizing my closet...

oh look a rainbow!  oh wait.  it's just my clothes mimicking the color wheel!

Kissy selfie for the worker at hand. (I got bored)

This is Spunky's side so people take note....

THIS WILL NEVER LOOK LIKE THIS AGAIN.

Until I reorganize it again.  ugh.

• deep cleaned my room.  even vacuumed under the bed. wowza.
•  changes to come.

(hunter green accent wall you have been warned.)

• did the same to my kiddos closet. purged and put away summer clothes and realized...

we'll have to fix that.  guess i shouldn't hold my breath until my husband goes out of town again with both kids for a week..   (ah man)

Now for the fun part!  choosing colors for my TV stand:

• cream
• white or my favorite...
• eggshell

This is what I want it to look like one day:

cool huh?  not sure if I want two white bookshelves on either side with a light gray tv stand, cream tv stand, or just white tv stand..  Thoughts?

Any fun projects in your midst?  I hopefully will get to more.  I've been completely content to take long hot baths, get school papers done, watch the tube...

I'm not going to lie.  I miss my midgets TERRIBLY.  

But I am enjoying myself :)

Maybe too much.

Much love

-a

the one where I have a week with no kids...

I'm not going to lie to you and say that when my husband told me I would get a kid-free week I probably almost fainted with delight.

No cleaning up poopie panties?
No wiping up spilled milk that the dog is trying to lap up?
No waking up in the middle of the night with size 6T tootsies kicking my face?

It was almost too good to be true.

And it came true.

At the expense of my MIL having to get knee replacement surgery   Don't worry she's doing great.  Especially with a gaggle of grandchildren at her house.

And me?

I have an empty house.

Boo.

Don't worry.  I cry every night around their bedtime since that's one of my favorite parts of the day.  And not because I can do go the bathroom by myself and I have a chance to put away last Thursdays dishes or (finally!) catch up on my Nashville after they're in bed.  It's my is my favorite part of the day because that's when we unwind with our nighttime routine.  Taking tubbies, drying little tushies, combing hair, brushing teeth, slathering their baby soft skin with lotion, getting jammies on, reading books, watching a conference talk, saying prayers, tucking in and singing songs.

But once I get over that I go to my to do list and do a dance that I have the means AND the TIME to try to do it all.

Pretty sure that I won't get to it all, but it's worth a try.

#1 blog.... check!  (I'm trying to be better.  Family in my book comes first so you can tell where my head has been lately.  Along with school and blaa blaa blaa...)

#2 Paint tv stand.  It's black and I want it off white-ish gray.  Still working on the color in my mind.

#3 Cover couch pillows.  Fun.  I'm excited for this one.

#4 Clear out and reorganize closet.  In the works for both me and Spunky, but for the children as well.  They still have summer clothes that obviously aren't being worn right now.

#5 Garage.  I laugh at this one.  I need a backhoe, a uhaul, and a paint gun for this one.  (slightly exaggerating but you get the idea ;)

#6 Plan and design my flower and vegetable garden for next year.  I have sequentially killed my gardens every year since I've tried planting anything green.  This next year is THE year. Spring bulbs are needing to go in ASAP

#7 Last mow of the season and bring everything outside in.  I tried to do that on Saturday, but it's kinda hard when it rains and hails all day :(

#8 Various put off sewing ventures like, fixing my skirt and hopefully making Ev a skirt... I just gots things to sew man!

#9 Clean out my hutch.  It's gross.  I cry inside every time I look at it.

#10 Plan out Christmas and a birthday.

Phew!  That was a task in and of its self to remember that all...  Think I can get to it all?

Stay tuned to find out :)

Much love
-a

The one where I have a goal...

November.  I can scarcely believe it's come this fast.  Just a little shorty today about a new month and a goal that I've been wanting to implement into our family's everyday todo:

 100 days of Real Food.

 I've started to follow Lisa on Facebook and have been hooked on her posts and what she's been feeding her family.   Real foods while on a real budget.  I figure before the anxiety of the holidays begin to creep up-it will be a good start to implement so by the time the new year comes I can have a huge push of momentum built up to keep going.  Follow me on Instagram and FB to keep track of my progress.]]]]]]]]]]]]\\\\\\

And switch...

Say hi little man. Someone is finally happy to take his turn getting snuggles in. Love you dooder-man. 

And then he's off...

Much love,

-a

The time where I wished there was two of me...

Today for little E is a sick day. There should be a law against not feeling well on such a beautiful (and warm) fall day. 

Right now I'm holding her in my arms while she snores...like a rabid bear, and my other one is waking up from his nap--wailing for me to come get him. He only took a 45 minute nap-not quite enough to make it worth it to hurry too much. 

I wish I had two of me today.  So one can hold my sicky while my other self could rock and soothe the other one. I don't want to let her go since this is the only real time she lets me just hold her without her protesting and squirming her way out to do her thing.  She's at that age you know. Where "I do it m-seeellff". "No I do it".

Hurray for snuggles but boo for being sick. If I could only just freeze this moment and keep it like this for the rest of my day---that would make one happy mama. 

Much love,

-a

the one where i open a twitter account...

 So.  Not sure why I need it but now I have Twitter.  I have made fun of people being on this particular social network and here I am jumping on the bandwagon. 

Look at me now. Thank you karma. 

My life is over as I know it. 

But for reals -go follow @aeborn32 on twitta

I have funny/awesome/insightful/rarely useful things to say sometimes. 

Honest. 

Go check out today's post!!

Much love,

-a

the one where i open a twitter account...

The one about yummy oatmeal cookies...

Yummy cookies and a glass of cold milk.  What more could you want outta life?  For me not much more...

Stumbled upon this delish treat and they were gone in almost an instant.  I had to force myself to take a picture so I wouldn't gobble down more.

They are very sweet and also healthy with just brown sugar, almond, and oat flour.  Among a few other  cookie goodness

The one about a genius idea...

Sometimes I amaze myself on how genius I am. 

Groan.

Blasted jury duty has me on edge this week. Do I go in do I not? Good thing it's not like they purposely chose the busiest two weeks of the semester yet. Only midterms next week and midterm reviews this week, but whatevs.

Boo to you!

i declare has a fun and festive "boo" necklace (made by yours truly)  that is only $19 smacks-for the whole month!  Click to go take a peek....

If you dare.

Today I learned...

Today I learned that I'm not able to watch the Jungle Book and change my son's diaper simultaneously.   I was singing away and...

On a stormy, rainy day...

I had me a small(-or rather a tall) Caramel Apple Cider before class today and it was so goooooood.

Eat yellow paint and die

Sometimes I wish that someone could just follow me around all day and watch all the weird stuff I do. I know those of you who know me personally would probably agree that I do funny things sometimes and it's almost a waste of entertainment for the world for me to be the only one to witness my epic fails.

Millions of peaches

It's peach season (yay!) and my lovely mother-in-law brought me over an entire box of peaches-more than I knew what to do with.  I frozen a ton and kept a few which I'm glad because I had the most scrumptious breakfast featuring those Georgia gems and thought I'd share.

What doin?

I'm out for the night with the pre-cold sniffles and sore throat (ick). Usually in a situation like this I would go on with the rest of my day, make dinner, finish the laundry-yadda yadda yadda...But I've got a race on Saturday (just a 5k-but still!) so I'm resting my weary bones and it feels great--other than my drippy nose and inflamed throat.

Keep Calm, Be Less-Than- Perfect, and be ok about it.

It seems like these past two weeks have been non stop craziness at N. Sunbird, but we made it through the first two weeks of the school/work/home/kids -ness.  So for that I took a P-day from church.

But I really did have a headache...

School:

School is fantastic!  It's jut like I remembered it only now I have two kids and I'm about a decade older than most of the students there.  It's nice not to feel like the baby anymore and be "more mature .  But on the flip side I feel so senescent!

Some overheard convos make me laugh inside and I think..

Oh you poor dear...

If you only knew

And talk about relaxing!  It took me a while to realize that I didn't have to "hold" it when I needed to use the bathroom.  I had no one pulling at my legs, looking where my pee was going, and had no fingers under the door.  If so, I feel I would find that extremely creepy.

I ended up dropping down to part time, so only 6 credit which I figured would make me a saner person (if that's possible).  One class on campus and one online and it seems to be working out better each day as I am creeping towards that thing called BALANCE.

(Which if any of you know the secret of achieving that word, please message me!)

Work:

I enjoy it.  I actually am working mornings and evenings (evenings helping spunky with airplanes) twice a week.  If you'd like to see what I do head over here. 

Home:

And did I mention fantasy football has started?  Call me crazy, but I think it's going to be fun.  I play Spunky this week and so far I'm losing.  But it's something that I've always wanted to do with him to bring me a little more insight as to why guys drool over pigskin.  Also the smack talk and "bets" make it worth it.  Even if I lose the whole dang thing.  But I'm just sayin' now...

                     

                                                             I've got an awesome lineup

                                                              Just call me Mrs. Luck ;)

(IF only I would have started him today!! Curses for being unfaithful!!)

Ahem.

Moving on.

AND!
It was my birthday!  More coming on that ;)

Kids-

Some insight on parenting:

*While working part-time,
*While going to school,
*While trying to do an online course at home,
*While potty-training

*While dealing with the terrible two to three transition

Are you crying for me yet?  I've done plenty of that.  Believe me.  This is not easy, at least not for me.  I am one that has to have even the slightest degree of perfection in her life other wise I throw a tantrum like my daughter at the library who wants to bring home 6 movies when we can only check out 2 and then I decide to take away all of them because of the scene she was creating.  Let me tell you ladies and gentlemen, it's not pretty.  

It's been a long road these last 16 months to 33 months trying to "do it all", but I'm ever slowly realizing most times I can't and shouldn't have to.

Here are some great, great articles and tips that I've been reading to stay positive to keep my motivations going and my expectations always too high--which I'm trying to change.  

5 Things you can do with your baby to make it easier to potty train them later 

Potty training for children who "take their sweet time"

10 Ways to stop the whining

-Mommy Shorts has some other awesome posts that I've been digging into if interested

Dear Less-Than-Perfect Mom

-a dear friend sent me this and it made me cry (in a good way)

-For more ideas on such follow me on Pinterest!

It may feel nice to have it all "under control" and to those who really know me i.e. Spunky, he really knows that I don't. 

 I freak out when there's an 

empty box in the pantry 

and the dog pooped on the floor-again, 

and I've cleaned poops in the "undawears" for the umpteenth time today, 

and (breathe) 

the little Dood keeps climbing on the kitchen table....

the chapter for my class hasn't been read, 

I have a paper due today...

I don't think my kids have had a vegetable all week, 

I have a headache-I must have a wheat allergy...

GAAGH!!

But at the end of the day.  I can lay down in my bed and KNOW that I sure did give it my best.  Course there a a million things that need worked on, but I am not perfect.  

But, gosh darn it...

I'm the best non-perfect mom there is.

And I'm ok with it.

(now if only I could remember that throughout my day...)

Much love,

-a

Ways to make life easier, thoughts, comments that you have?  I'd love some input from you less-than-perfect friends!

Follow on Pinterest
Instagram @spunkyandme
Facebook- Spunky and Me

Just BEE Happy

It's been a week.  Actually the last two.

 My brain is fried and I need a vay-cay. 

Crazy week up in here

Normally I would have posted a little bit more this week, but things got crazy up in hizza.

Garage-sailing we go!

After a week and some change of going through all of our "stuff" in our garage, baking a ridiculous amount of treats, and putting on our first garage sale... 

Can I just say...

I have the cutest naked baby ever.

Much love, 

-a

I see the light!

So not only are we working on the month-long challenge over at Fun Cheap or Free Queen

BUT! we are simplifying our lives in our Simple Life series.. thanks to the inspiration from the The Vanilla Tulip

Killing two birds with one stone!  Woot! 

Who seriously paint their garage that green...?! Don't look at it.  It on "the list".

Just got finished collecting all our "stuff" we don't need any more and am having a garage sale this weekend.  

I am very nervous and excited as this is the first one here on N. Sunbird Ave... I'm stoked to let you all know how it goes.  And the fact that I can (almost) see my garage floor gives me goose pimples!! Guess who gets to park in it this winter??

I do.

  {insert cheesy grin [here]} 

**In the mean time whilst I go grab me some lunch to calm my munchies, tell me about what you do for your garage/yard sales?  What works well, what doesn't?  What's your favorite part about hosting one-what do you hate about it?  Give me some nitty gritty to work with!

And seriously Spunky and Me fans...many thanks for stopping by.  The more I work with this blog and {try!! my hardest} to get things figured out, the more I'm falling in love with it.  I seriously hope you will too.

Again, I'm still working out kinks-I'm not a computer-genius-guru AT ALL! So if you have some helpful bloggy hints, I would love you FOREVER!! :)

Much love,

-a

More money saving adventures

Who doesn't like more money?  As I have mentioned here, the Fun Cheap or Free Queen will do anything to save a buck and here I am to tell you about a few more ways that I have saved a few more extra smacks!

Our story is now updated!

take a looksee....

Simple Living is the Life for Me. Part 1

When Spunky and I got married we both had enough stuff to fill a one bedroom 900 sq ft apartment just fine.

Fast forward a year and this thing came into play.

Let us make it an even 100, shall we?

Who wants to be numero 100-0? ;)

Follow me on Instagram: @aeborn32

Awesome Blueberry and Banana Pancakes

I love waking up to a great morning.  Sun is streaming though the window after a nice nights rest.  There's nothing better to start your day on the right foot than a great breakfast.

Keep Calm and Pigskin On.

For those of you who don't care about football...good for you.  You have something going for you so don't give into all this silly nonsense!

Spunky is a complete football nut and I had to grow to love him for that.  

As I recall being married to him that first football season of our marriage I almost flipped a gasket as to how much football one could possibly watch.  But as they say, "If you can't beat them, join them"....  

Making memories and applesauce

Happy Challenge-Accepted-Birthday Spunk!

Alright people!  

Let's get down to business!

  It's a few days into the month but I am feeling good and am up for accepting a challenge!

I have been following (ever so not creepily) Jordan Page aka the Fun Cheap or Free Queen for ages now and I love her enthusiasm and her drive to strive for a better ways to live for you and your family.

This month she has a challenge that she has extended to all of those in the blogosphere and I wish to take it on as well.

Hello, Hello!

Welcome to the new blog!

Whether you are coming from theeborns or truliescrumptious I warmly welcome you to my new digs.
I started this in frustration at having two separate blogs that I obviously wasn't keeping up on and could not decide which to focus my time on.

So in comes Spunky and me!

Oh, thank heaven for little girls

My little girl is darling.  I'm sure everyone says that  and everyone is certainly entitled to say that since their child is the absolute best.  But mine really is.  She is two-and-a-half now and boy is she a firecracker!

Everlie has such an effervescent vocabulary right now and this is definitely one of my favorite time frames thus far in her life.  I'm going to have to have a notebook with me at all times so I can have something to always make me laugh where ever I go. Even on the cloudiest of days this girl is a ray of sunshine for our family.  She is so awesome!

Here are some "had to be there" moments to bring a smile to your face.

#1
Sunday Morning:
Spunky graciously let me sleep in as I (we) were still trying to recoup from our late night adventures rafting the Payette at midnight Friday/Saturday morning.  He got up with the kids, got them breakfast and they had all parted the breakfast table to find a nook in my house to destroy (after spending all Friday cleaning...Grrr.)  I walked in drowsily trying to focus my groggy brain as he was clearing the table and I moseyed into the kitchen to find something to eat.

Several minutes later Spunky and I were both in the hallway and Everlie comes up to us just devastated out of her gore and exclaims,

"MY FOOD!!?!!  MY FOOD!!

My food--table...where go?"

Mind you, her body language is what said it all.
She stomps towards us eyes wide and throws her arms down in disbelief- like we just sawed her favorite blanket in half.  She was mad.  We both busted up uncontrollably because of the drama in her sad little two-year-old voice.  If she's anything like this in twelve more years, we're in trouble.

#2

#3
Nap Time:
Ev is awesome at putting herself down for naps.  She recognizes when she's tired and most often goes right down.
Before her "snoozer" she had a bunch of toys on the floor that she brings with her to bed.  She is in mommy/baby phase with everything so she grabs a "baby" pony and the "mama" pony, superman, which of course is the dad, then she proceeds to include the following family members in her "they're going down for snoozer too, right?" Because she has to be reassured that she's not the only one that has to take a nap...

Her: Harvey?
Me:  Yes

Her: Elie (Everlie)?
Me: Yes

Her: Mama?
Me: Uh-huh

Her: Daddy?
ME: Yup

Her:  Grandma, Gra-greeaat (Grandma-Great), and Justin, Grumpa....Peter Pan?  MegaMind?
Me: Yes babe.  Even Peter Pan and MegaMind.  I'm sure have to take snoozers too.

Glad they could be apart of our family.  It's like she watches them everyday or something...



*Other things about her that makes me smile...

Poop = nugget  "Have nugget in diper.  Change it?"
Bat = boogie     "Ooh, yook!  Bat"  (As she shoves said "bat" in my face)
Elie Mazellllle = Everlie Moselle
Ducklin Duck = Donald Duck


Favorite songs that she loves to sing...
I a child a Gooood  - I am a child of God
Horsey= Horsey, Horsey on your way

Just a little silly fun

Came across a cute little idea on the Pinterest the other day and thought it might be a little fun activity for the little ones.

Pantry Oatmeal Cookies

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Was in the mood for some cookies the other day, and (call me crazy) I didn't want anything too sweet.  Just something to get me over the 4 o'clock hump that wouldn't spoil my dinner and wouldn't let me have a sugar hype-then-crash later in the evening as I sneak some before bedtime.  (Who does that?)  

Ahem...

Totally not me.

This is a great recipe, very versatile as far as ingredients go so it can be customized to what you and yours love.  Mine is filled with coconut flakes, white chocolate chips, chopped pecans and craisins.  MMMMmmmm! 

If you are a oatmeal and raisins kinda gal and hold the rest, you got it!  Put in it what you Like.  How much??  I put a handful of each in and the ratio turned out perfect-about a cup or so.  I a Rachel Ray kinda gal-a dash of this a scoop of that-whatever looks good.

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printable recipe (caption)

Dry Ingredients 1 cup flour  (I used 1/4 cup whole wheat and 3/4 cup white) 1 cup old-fashioned oats 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon cinnamon Addins Handful of craisins Handful of coconut flakes Handful of chopped pecans (or nut of choice) Handful of white chocolate chips Wet Ingredients 2 tablespoons coconut oil (or other healthy oil, such as safflower) 3 egg whites 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1/2 cup honey Directions In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients and addins. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients together. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry mix, and blend well with a wooden spoon. Place on greased or parchment lined cookie sheet . Bake at 350° for 8 minutes, or until barely golden brown. Note: If these cookies seem hard after baking, simply pack them away overnight in a plastic bag, and they will be quite soft in the morning.  Best with tall glass of milk and friends to share! adapted by: skinnyms.com

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Splendiferous!  And guess what?  No sugar!  And a great snack for the a.m. as well.

Gluten free option: Substitute regular flour with almond flour.  *Some oats are cross-contaminated with wheat and are not gluten-free so check what you have to make sure.   

Just good quality stuff for your 'lil tum tum.

Betchya can't eat just one...

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Tell me:

What to you do to get past that afternoon glug?  Have any favorites snacks that help get you through?  

Do share!

Much love,

spunky & me.

coming soon....