Homemade Popsicles!

I've been on the lookout for popsicle molds for a few weeks, and last week Target came through! Why buy boxes of artificial color, high fructose syrup filled frozen treats when I can make my own much healthier and cheaper from 100% juice that's already in my fridge?! Javen can't tell the difference, and personally I think they taste better homemade. The flavor possibilities are endless...

Flavor of the Day: Orange Juice

Linking up to Frugal Friday at Life as Mom and to Show Us Your Life at Kelly's Korner

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Or at least mine does.

A few examples:

I love you
Last night I was tucking Javen into bed.
Me: Javen, I love you!
Javen: I know!!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar
There is a page in this book that lists a bunch of random food that the caterpillar eats. Javen likes to repeat each food after I say it. My favorite? Salami. Javen says, "Sa-mommy."

Liam
Javen has yet to say Liam's name. I know he can say it, he just refuses to. Instead he usually refers to him as "Buddy" or "My baby!"

The Bath Pool
Recently Javen has decided that when he lays down on his tummy in the bathtub, that the tub magically becomes a pool. He puts his face in the water, pops his head up, kicks his legs and shouts "It's a pool! It's a pool!" Where does he get this stuff?

Life's a Beach
Saving the best for last. We're really trying to get Javen excited about going to the beach this summer. (He's not a fan of sand.) One of his favorite things to do right now is read my Islands magazine. (A girl can dream, right?) It's really cute how excited he gets about the water. Or how he likes to shout, "It's a wawa at the b*tch!" Hoping to remedy that pronunciation before we get there this summer. (I may or may not fall on the floor crying in laughter every time he says it. Because I'm mature like that.)

Some bath, pool? photos...'cause he's just so stinkin cute.

Wordless Wednesday

I Just Stumbled Upon...

Stumble Upon! It's a website where you enter in your interests, download the toolbar and start surfing! Stumble Upon will bring up websites that it thinks you might like, and it works. Stumbling is my new favorite thing to do while I feed Liam. (You only need one hand to stumble away!) Check out some of the cool things I found this week so far:

Etsy: Shop By Color A fun way to shop etsy and all that it has to offer by clicking on the color of the object you're searching for.

Classical Metal A video of a band putting classical music to a rockin' beat!

Transparent Screens Really cool photos of computers and what your desk/work surface would look like if the computer screen was transparent...just check it out!

Piano Stairs A video of...well...piano stairs!

Abandoned Places Photos of modern day ruins. Fascinating!

I'm At A Loss...

...for hair! I've hit that "fun" postpartum time where seemingly all your hair falls out. I honestly don't know how I'm not bald right now. I could literally pull out a fistful at any given time. It's going to be so great when the hair starts growing back in giving me that baby halo of frizz.

In other hair news, the curls are back in town! Javen's hair is getting curly again and I LOVE it! Jake says we need to cut it so he stays cool this summer, but ohhhhh those beautiful curls. It pains me to clip them away.

Liam's hair on the other hand, is as crazy as ever. The hair on the left side of his head is at least an inch longer than the right side. He has 3 or 4 white/blonde hairs that sparkle against his dark newborn tuft. Speaking of the almost black newborn hair, it's falling out. And the hair that's growing in? It's blonde. And red. And all shades of brown. I don't know what it's going to look like yet, but pretty sure it's going to be darker than Javen's. I know whatever the color (or colors), it's going to be cute!

So glad the boys are carrying on the "McGoodhair" tradition! (McGoodhair is what my roomies in college called Jake when we were dating. After we were married they referred to us as "The McGoodhairs" since I had some amazing natural spiral curls going on. My pregnancy with Javen downgraded my curls into a wavy mess. My pregnancy with Liam took even more of the natural wave. So I cut it off.)

Smile!

For the past few months I've been following a blog called i heart faces. It's a photography blog that hosts a themed photo contest every week. It's also a great photo community site where I've been "taking notes" on photography tips and checking out pictures by other photographers in every skill level. (So fun!) I've never had the courage to enter...even after upgrading my camera, because I'm just so new to photography! This week's theme is Smiles, and it just gave me the extra push I needed to step up and compete. I LOVE this photo of Liam. My happy, handsome little man!

 For more smiling photos go check out the rest of this week's entries at i heart faces!

Spill-proof bubbles?

Ummm...I think not.

No really, it didn't even take him 3 seconds to empty the bottle.

Bubbles?! Bubbles go in your hair, of course! I'll go ahead and take my bath now...just save you the trouble later tonight.

Mama, my hands are dirty!

Don't worry though, I'll just wipe them on your leg since you're holding Liam and the camera. Don't bother getting me a towel. Here's good.

Hurricane Javen strikes again!

Bathroom Makeover

Before we had children, our upstairs hallway bathroom was decorated in our old master bathroom decor that we used in our first apartment. Essentially, that means it was the same shower curtain, rug and towels.  There was no paint on the walls, and just one lonely painting above the toilet that didn't have a home anywhere else in our house. Charming, I know. (No windows = no natural light = funky colored pictures. I'm not that great at editing photos yet!)

 Here are the before pictures:

(Shower curtain is a lavender/silver color.)

After:

New toothbrush holder and soap dispenser. Light tan walls.

 To the left of the sink: this wall still needs some help! I'm thinking some cool artwork of famous landmarks around the world, but in bold bright colors to match the shower curtain? Or maybe some old photo art like this? Any thoughts?

New cabinet above the toilet and new shower curtain. I've got my eye on some really cool new knobs for the cabinet at Hobby Lobby. Just waiting for them to go on sale. Also, keeping an eye out for some cute decor to place on top of the cabinet. Maybe a globe? A little trunk or suitcase? Something like this or this. Ideas?

New toy storage in the bathtub. This thing does it all! (Toys, shampoo, soap.)

Sesame Street toilet seat and green reversible rug (other side is blue!) Javen covered his steps in truck, car and road sign stickers.)

The new wall decor designed by me! (The blue hand towel was already in there, the striped ones are new.)

Another look at the letters. :)

And I've got my eye on this baby at Target. I think it needs to hang in this bathroom...maybe on the wall above the shower? We'll see...still waiting for it to go on sale!

Save Some For Me

*** There are a few new posts today, so be sure to scroll down to catch up!

Happy Earth Day!

Happy

Thank you to my new blog friend, Shannon at Webbisodes for nominating me for the Happy Award! (Isn't this blogging thing great? I mean, you meet new friends, read funny stories, get awards...it's a happy little world!) Shannon is a fellow Mommy blogger and has the smiley-est (is that a word?) little girl. She is also one of those women who looks gorgeous 3 seconds after giving birth. Just check out her blog and you'll see what I mean. Try not to hate her for it. :)

Here are the rules:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
2. List who gave the award to you and use a link to her blog (or hyperlink).
3. List 10 things that make you happy.
4. Pass the award on to other bloggers and visit their blog to let them know about the award.

10 Things That Make Me Happy

1. Sunny days. I love to take the boys to the park in the morning and go for walks when Daddy gets home at the end of the day.

2. Traveling. I love getting on a plane and going...anywhere!

3. My garden. (Can I call it a garden if I only planted one thing?) It may only contain zucchini, and the mowers may have weed-whacked 50% of it down, but I'm still hopeful for the last plant standing to give us zucchini in time for me to give Liam his first food in a couple months.

4. Grocery shopping and getting my receipt stating that I've saved over 50% off the original price. Makes me feel like all the time I spend clipping coupons and reading weekly circulars isn't a waste!

5. The beach.

6. Taking pictures of my adorable boys.

7. Spell check!

8. Losing baby weight and rewarding myself with a new outfit. (Still working on the last bit of Liam weight, but I'm excited to get there before summer!!)

9. Baby giggles and belly laughs. Nothing beats it!

10. Chocolate milk. I can't get enough of it!

Passing this award to:

Amanda/The Squibb3's Weblog

Amber/ Dixon Dialogue

Laura/The Recovering Drifter

Katie/More from the Mohrs

Kendra/Soap Sista J

WFMW-Goldfish Chicken

I used to be a menu planner - as in, make a menu for 2 weeks worth of dinners and then grocery shop accordingly. Now I'm a sale/coupon shopper and I just can't seem to merge the frugal shopping and menu planning into one. So I make dinner on the fly now. It's tough coming up with new ideas an hour before dinner, and tonight was no different. I wanted something easy...like shake and bake chicken. Checked the pantry: no shake and bake. No bread crumbs. But there on the very top shelf was an un-opened bag of goldfish crackers, and suddenly Goldfish Chicken night was born.

Here's how it went down:

Defrosted chicken in microwave.
While it was chillin' out in the microwave, I took a couple handfuls of goldfish and put them in a ziplock and smashed them to smithereens. (Poor little guys...they never saw it coming). Then I added some basil, garlic powder and fresh ground pepper to the mix.

I then beat one egg, and added a little milk to make the egg batter go a little farther. (For stick-to-it-ness. Essentially, this was my glue to get the crackers to stick to the chicken.)

Dipped the chicken into the egg/milk mixture, tossed the chicken into the bag and shook it until it was coated.
Popped that chicken into the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes or so, and Presto! Goldfish chicken.

Two thumbs up from the hubby.
Two thumbs up from the toddler.
Two thumbs up from the Mama who is trying to make new dinners with what we've got on hand.

Next week...cheerio and craisin hamburgers!! (I kid...I kid...that just sounds gross!)

For more helpful Works for Me Wednesday tips, head over to We Are That Family.

Weekend Walk

We spent a lot of time outside on Saturday. I think Jake and Javen took a total of 4 walks. (Liam and I were out running errands during some of them.) Javen insisted on taking his "puck" for our family walk.

cute. cute. cute.

focused.

barreling towards Mama

Are you coming, Mama?

Liam's hat is about 2 sizes too big, but keeps the sun off his lil face!

I'm so white that I think I'm actually generating light from my skin.

Can we talk about what's wrong with this photo? I'm not one to judge, but that's one hairy kid you've got there, lady!

(We see them "walk" this dog like this all the time! I'm not a dog person, so maybe I just don't get it. ???? Call me crazy, but I thought the purpose of taking your dog for a walk was so that the pooch could get some exercise.)

Javenese: The Puck

Javen is cracking me up lately with all the words he says...or attempts to say...or just makes up.

For instance, he has this toy shopping cart that he LOVES. (For all you southerners, a shopping cart is what you refer to as a "buggy," which I find adorably hilarious. But I digress...) Javen keeps asking to play with his "puck". I have no idea what he's talking about. Apparently puck= shopping cart. Someone get this child to a hockey game and straighten him out.

While we're on the subject of strange made up Javen words, lets just talk about airplanes. When he was around a year old he called it an "aww pane," which I found quite impressive. For the past 6 months or so "aww pane" has morphed into "alma"????? Not to be confused with "Elma" (Elmo) or "elba" (elbow).

A few other Javenese translations include (but are not limited to)

Doe = Brody (his best bud)
hung = hold (as in, hold me)
bull = bull dozer
ackho = back hoe
har-rey = sorry
cho = cheerio
chi = chair
wuh = run
en nare = in there
gucky = yucky
kinky = stinky (go ahead and laugh, I do just about every time he tells me that his poo poo is kinky.)
fuh = Uncle Jeff, fish, fuzz (like between your toes), pizza and toothbrush. Context is KEY with fuh.
hack = snack
sh-es = yes

So he starts the word "yes" with an "sh" sound, but can't say "snack" with or "stinky" an "s"? A very complex language, that Javenese.

A few pics of him shopping at Kroger with his "puck." (We live within walking distance of the store.)

Road Map to Craftiness

I've been looking for some cool artwork to hang in the boy's bathroom, and since I haven't found any I like, I decided to take matters into my own hands. (And also in the hands of my sister, Kendra, who is working on some custom paintings for their bathroom as well.) On Friday night Heather and I popped The 3 Musketeers into the DVD player and crafted till our hearts were content. Or at least until our crafts were finished.

I worked on beautifying some wood initials. Here's how it went down:

Purchase letters. (Hello 50% off at Hobby Lobby! $3 for both letters!! Booya.)

Pick out cute paper to cover letters. (I chose outdated road atlas from the back of my car. Chose to cover one letter in Maryland and the other in Illinois. ie FREE! Booya x2!)

Gather supplies: Mod Podge, scissors, exacto knife, paint brush.

Ready. Set. Craft.
(Sorry, I got so focused on crafting, I forgot to take pictures along the way!)

Lay letter on top of paper.
Cut paper around letter, but leave enough extra to wrap around the sides of the letter.
Wrap paper around letter (to make the creases in the paper around the edges of the letter) then remove paper.
Paint letter with Mod Podge glue.
Re-cover letter with creased paper
Secure the extra paper around the back of the letter with more glue.
Paint glue over the paper on the front surface to seal the deal. (Just don't do the back and then flip it over immediately to paint the front. Give it about 15 minutes or so to dry between painting the glue on each side.)
Viola!

(Please note, I'm just winging it here. I've never done this before, so it is quite possible there is an easier and/or more professional way to go about this. I'm just letting you in on how my brain worked this one out.)

Here's the "J" wrapped in Maryland.

The "L" wrapped in Illinois.

I went back to Hobby Lobby and purchased a wood frame (which was 50% off!!) to match the bathroom cabinets. I'll hang it on the wall looking like this:

I'll show you the finished product hanging in the bathroom later this week with before and after pics of the bathroom make over!