Posts
3 hours ago
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Work Crew
My "new" pantry is thisclose to completion. (Yay!!) Not to worry, I've got the best crew working on it!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Lately
Today you get a list of random thoughts. My brain is too tired to organize words into coherent paragraphs that flow effortlessly into each other.
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Javen got a hair cut. The shortest he's ever been and it looks awesome.
Also? He has a crush (his first) on Miss Kim, the (best stylist ever!!) who cuts our hair. Cute, cute, cute.
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Ladies and gentlemen, we have a lefty...at least when it comes to batting. For everything else he still uses both hands. Pretty impressive if you ask me. :)
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I'm 34 weeks pregnant and starting to feel a little more stressed about the whole not having a boy name picked out issue. And my crazy pregnant brain is messing with me and making me second guess the girl name we've had picked out since the beginning of time.
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My super, amazing, incredible, wonderful, hot husband has been up to his ears in projects around the house. We had an ant invasion in our pantry last week, which led to throwing away chips and cereal and taking out all the rest of the food and wiping down the cans, boxes etc so the "bug guy" could spray the empty pantry.
We turned lemons into lemonade and decided since the pantry was empty it would be a great time to tear out the shelves, paint, and build new, bigger, better shelves. It's a great project to satisfy my crazy nesting organization need. (Not to mention the slew of other projects he's almost completed. That will be a different post entirely. All I can say is, prepare to be impressed with Jake!)
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Photography is starting to take over my life (in a good way) and I'm excited. More on this later. For now I'll leave you with a little sneak peek of a session I just did with some friends. She's due in 10 days!
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Javen got a hair cut. The shortest he's ever been and it looks awesome.
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| I promise I did NOT enhance his eye color! I know they are so blue, they almost look fake. Just caught some good evening light from the window behind me. And the reddish/orange tint in his hair is from the kitchen light. He's not a red head. :) |
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Ladies and gentlemen, we have a lefty...at least when it comes to batting. For everything else he still uses both hands. Pretty impressive if you ask me. :)
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| And if you ask him, he can do ANYTHING Javen can. Just try and stop him. :) |
I'm 34 weeks pregnant and starting to feel a little more stressed about the whole not having a boy name picked out issue. And my crazy pregnant brain is messing with me and making me second guess the girl name we've had picked out since the beginning of time.
***
My super, amazing, incredible, wonderful, hot husband has been up to his ears in projects around the house. We had an ant invasion in our pantry last week, which led to throwing away chips and cereal and taking out all the rest of the food and wiping down the cans, boxes etc so the "bug guy" could spray the empty pantry.
We turned lemons into lemonade and decided since the pantry was empty it would be a great time to tear out the shelves, paint, and build new, bigger, better shelves. It's a great project to satisfy my crazy nesting organization need. (Not to mention the slew of other projects he's almost completed. That will be a different post entirely. All I can say is, prepare to be impressed with Jake!)
***
Photography is starting to take over my life (in a good way) and I'm excited. More on this later. For now I'll leave you with a little sneak peek of a session I just did with some friends. She's due in 10 days!
Friday, August 12, 2011
Babies Babies Babies
I'm 8 months pregnant. Technically, 32 1/2 weeks. I am feeling HUGE. And HOT. And I get kicked A LOT.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
The other day Javen and I were sitting on the couch watching his favorite show (Wild Kratts, if you're interested) and out of the blue he says: "Mama, that's my baby sister in there." (Patting my belly)
I tell him that yes, it could be his baby sister, but it could be a baby brother. We won't know until the baby is born.
He's determined it's a sister. He already has a little brother.
Speaking of a possible new little brother, he has yet to be named. We just can't find the right one. Jake said maybe it's a sign from God that since we landed on a little girl name months ago, we were having a little girl.
Maybe. But I still need to be prepared. A top 3 list in the very least.
(No, we're not sharing our girl name, you just have to wait and see!)
In other baby news, at my appointment this week my OB told me that if the baby doesn't come on his/her own by the due date then we have to do a c-section that week.
Please pray with me that this little one decides to have a birthday on or before Oct 4. I know it's not the end of the world to have another c-section, but if at all possible I'd like to avoid it!
Speaking of praying for healthy babies, there are three sweet baby boys (and their parents) I know that could really use prayers.
A good friend of mine gave birth to her son, Micah and he was only at 32 weeks gestation. (Since she has chosen not to blog about this, I'd like to respect her privacy and not publish any photos). He is doing well for being such a preemie, but still has some obstacles to overcome as he grows in the coming weeks. Please pray he continues to grow stronger so they can take healthy little Micah home!
Another wonderful family, Becca and Adam (and big sister Jayci) celebrated the birth of their beautiful baby boy, Caden last week. Though undetected in the womb, he was born with severe heart issues and at only 5 days old underwent open heart surgery. The surgery went well, but he is still hooked up to many machines and fighting for his life. You can follow his story on Becca's blog "The Stanley Clan" or by joining a facebook page set up for Caden called "Candles for Caden." (You can also click on the "we are Caden's heart" button on my blog in the upper right hand corner that will take you to Becca's blog).
Our friends Jacob and Shanna are pregnant with their first child, Elijah James. During the routine 20 week ultrasound, they discovered that Elijah has a rare skeletal disorder that is always fatal. He will continue to grow and thrive in the womb, but is not expected to live past birth. Jacob wrote an amazing blog post about their story and their faith through it all. I encourage you to read it and please keep this beautiful family in your prayers. Shanna is due early November.
I know all three of these families covet your prayers. Three very different circumstances, three precious little boys, and three ways to see God glorified through their stories and their lives.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
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| Notice the nice soap smudge on the mirror in the bottom left hand corner? Thankyouverymuch for putting a new one there every.single.day., Mr. Javen. (At least he's washing his hands, right?) |
I tell him that yes, it could be his baby sister, but it could be a baby brother. We won't know until the baby is born.
He's determined it's a sister. He already has a little brother.
Speaking of a possible new little brother, he has yet to be named. We just can't find the right one. Jake said maybe it's a sign from God that since we landed on a little girl name months ago, we were having a little girl.
Maybe. But I still need to be prepared. A top 3 list in the very least.
(No, we're not sharing our girl name, you just have to wait and see!)
In other baby news, at my appointment this week my OB told me that if the baby doesn't come on his/her own by the due date then we have to do a c-section that week.
Please pray with me that this little one decides to have a birthday on or before Oct 4. I know it's not the end of the world to have another c-section, but if at all possible I'd like to avoid it!
Speaking of praying for healthy babies, there are three sweet baby boys (and their parents) I know that could really use prayers.
A good friend of mine gave birth to her son, Micah and he was only at 32 weeks gestation. (Since she has chosen not to blog about this, I'd like to respect her privacy and not publish any photos). He is doing well for being such a preemie, but still has some obstacles to overcome as he grows in the coming weeks. Please pray he continues to grow stronger so they can take healthy little Micah home!
Another wonderful family, Becca and Adam (and big sister Jayci) celebrated the birth of their beautiful baby boy, Caden last week. Though undetected in the womb, he was born with severe heart issues and at only 5 days old underwent open heart surgery. The surgery went well, but he is still hooked up to many machines and fighting for his life. You can follow his story on Becca's blog "The Stanley Clan" or by joining a facebook page set up for Caden called "Candles for Caden." (You can also click on the "we are Caden's heart" button on my blog in the upper right hand corner that will take you to Becca's blog).
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| Baby Caden opened his eyes today for the first time since his surgery on Monday! |
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| Shanna and baby Elijah |
I know all three of these families covet your prayers. Three very different circumstances, three precious little boys, and three ways to see God glorified through their stories and their lives.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Bananas in the Kitchen
I normally have to make a milk/banana run to the store midweek. Last week I guess we ate less bananas than usual and ended up with some over ripe ones sitting on the counter.
It was banana bread time.
My friend Jamie, just posted a new recipe for banana bread on her blog that I thought I'd give a try. I'd never seen banana bread made in a bunt pan, but it called for 4 bananas, so I was game!
As I read the list of ingredients I mentally checked off everything I had in my kitchen for the recipe. Then I went through my checklist of what was missing in the recipe.
I'm not a good rule follower when it comes to cooking and baking. 99% of the time I put my own twist on things. I'm also not much of a measure-er. I like to eye-ball it. Keeps things interesting in the kitchen.
So here's Jamie's recipe, I believe she adapted it from the Pioneer Woman.
My modifications are in green. Don't hate me for my estimated measurements. :)
Ingredients:
2 sticks of butter
1-1/2 C + 2 Tbl of sugar
3 eggs
1-1/2 C mashed ripe bananas (this was about 4 bananas)
4 C + 2 Tbl all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
A few shakes of cinnamon
Apx 4 Tbl of flax seed
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 C sour cream I used maybe a 3/4 cup of sour cream, then used around 3/4 cup vanilla yogurt. Basically, I just spooned in equal amounts of sour cream and yogurt. Not really sure the exact amount that went in.
1 Bag of chocolate chips I used a little less than a whole bag so that I had some extra chips to use in the frozen chocolate banana bite recipe below.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Grease and flour bundt pan
Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add mashed bananas and mix together.
Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Add dry ingredients and sour cream alternately into the butter/sugar mixture, beating after each addition.
Stir in chocolate chips
Pour into prepared pan, and bake for 1 hour and 10 min. or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Invert onto a cooling rack or plate and let cool before slicing.
Here's the thing about this bread: it plays with your mind. You know you just made bread (albeit with chocolate chips!), but when you take that bundt pan out of the oven you SEE cake.
Try not to let this deception skew your opinion of how it tastes. If you think cake, then you're going to be disappointed in the sweetness. If you think bread, then I have one word for you: YUM.
After I made the bread, I still had some left over banana. I just whipped up some frozen chocolate banana bites. REALLY easy recipe!
Here's the cast of characters:
It was banana bread time.
My friend Jamie, just posted a new recipe for banana bread on her blog that I thought I'd give a try. I'd never seen banana bread made in a bunt pan, but it called for 4 bananas, so I was game!
As I read the list of ingredients I mentally checked off everything I had in my kitchen for the recipe. Then I went through my checklist of what was missing in the recipe.
I'm not a good rule follower when it comes to cooking and baking. 99% of the time I put my own twist on things. I'm also not much of a measure-er. I like to eye-ball it. Keeps things interesting in the kitchen.
So here's Jamie's recipe, I believe she adapted it from the Pioneer Woman.
My modifications are in green. Don't hate me for my estimated measurements. :)
Ingredients:
2 sticks of butter
1-1/2 C + 2 Tbl of sugar
3 eggs
1-1/2 C mashed ripe bananas (this was about 4 bananas)
4 C + 2 Tbl all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
A few shakes of cinnamon
Apx 4 Tbl of flax seed
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 C sour cream I used maybe a 3/4 cup of sour cream, then used around 3/4 cup vanilla yogurt. Basically, I just spooned in equal amounts of sour cream and yogurt. Not really sure the exact amount that went in.
1 Bag of chocolate chips I used a little less than a whole bag so that I had some extra chips to use in the frozen chocolate banana bite recipe below.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Grease and flour bundt pan
Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add mashed bananas and mix together.
Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Add dry ingredients and sour cream alternately into the butter/sugar mixture, beating after each addition.
Stir in chocolate chips
Pour into prepared pan, and bake for 1 hour and 10 min. or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Invert onto a cooling rack or plate and let cool before slicing.
After I made the bread, I still had some left over banana. I just whipped up some frozen chocolate banana bites. REALLY easy recipe!
Here's the cast of characters:
Even amounts of chocolate chips and creamy peanut butter, bananas, wax paper, tooth picks and sprinkles.
Cut the banana into bite sized chunks. Stick tooth pick in each bite. Lay the bananas on wax paper.
Throw the chocolate chips and peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals until melted. (Stir after 30 seconds before heating again.)
Dip the bananas into the melted chocolaty goodness and place back onto wax paper. Remove tooth picks and cover in sprinkles.
Freeze for at least an hour to set the chocolate. (Bananas will not be frozen at this point, so freeze longer if you want a nice ice cream-like treat.)
Enjoy!
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Unreal
"Unreal" pretty much sums up this past week.
Don't ask me about Monday and Tuesday. They were a blur. I don't even remember what happened on those days. :)
Wednesday was just "one of those days." I was in bed by 7pm and asleep by 7:30. I think Jake put the boys down around 8:30? Not sure, all I know was I needed my day to end ASAP. Then I proceeded to get 12 hours of sleep.
Which was really good timing because Thursday was a doozie.
Javen woke up sick. Jake headed to work and of course ended up working downtown and was stuck there all day. Long story short, after speaking to Javen's pediatrician's office a couple times, they told me to take him to the ER.
NOT what I wanted to hear.
I think I've maybe taken him to the doctor one time due to illness. My kids have never had so much as an ear infection. An occasional cold, yes. But nothing to normally warrant a doctor visit. Anyway...the ER.
I dropped Liam off at our neighbor's house and Javen and I were off to the hospital.
In 3 years of parenting, this was our first trip to the ER.
4 hours, 3 PBS shows, 2 popsicles, and 1 x-ray later we were home and in the clear. Javen was the best little patient. His only complaint was he wanted a sandwich. Poor little guy was hungry, but after a morning of throwing up, I wasn't ready to oblige his appetite.
The next day he was doing MUCH better. You would have never even known he was sick on Thursday. That's how he rolls.
Can't keep a good man down.
On Friday, both boys were asking to go "bye bye" and since I had a week's worth of errands to accomplish, I happily obliged.
We struck gold at the (tax free!) clearance sale at Children's Place.
(Oh, and the baby even got something cute from the tax free sales!)
We got caught in torrential down pours and had to change the boys out of sopping wet clothes into previously mentioned new clothes. (That I bought for NEXT summer, so they were to big, but at least they were dry!)
Side note: I can't believe the clothes I bought for Javen next summer were not in the toddler section any more! He'll be in clothes from the big boy section! How did this happen?!
We came home and had lunch, then they BOTH proceeded to protest nap time. Not a wink of sleep. Oh well.
Can't win 'em all!
Don't ask me about Monday and Tuesday. They were a blur. I don't even remember what happened on those days. :)
Wednesday was just "one of those days." I was in bed by 7pm and asleep by 7:30. I think Jake put the boys down around 8:30? Not sure, all I know was I needed my day to end ASAP. Then I proceeded to get 12 hours of sleep.
Which was really good timing because Thursday was a doozie.
Javen woke up sick. Jake headed to work and of course ended up working downtown and was stuck there all day. Long story short, after speaking to Javen's pediatrician's office a couple times, they told me to take him to the ER.
NOT what I wanted to hear.
I think I've maybe taken him to the doctor one time due to illness. My kids have never had so much as an ear infection. An occasional cold, yes. But nothing to normally warrant a doctor visit. Anyway...the ER.
I dropped Liam off at our neighbor's house and Javen and I were off to the hospital.
In 3 years of parenting, this was our first trip to the ER.
4 hours, 3 PBS shows, 2 popsicles, and 1 x-ray later we were home and in the clear. Javen was the best little patient. His only complaint was he wanted a sandwich. Poor little guy was hungry, but after a morning of throwing up, I wasn't ready to oblige his appetite.
Can't keep a good man down.
On Friday, both boys were asking to go "bye bye" and since I had a week's worth of errands to accomplish, I happily obliged.
We struck gold at the (tax free!) clearance sale at Children's Place.
(Oh, and the baby even got something cute from the tax free sales!)
Side note: I can't believe the clothes I bought for Javen next summer were not in the toddler section any more! He'll be in clothes from the big boy section! How did this happen?!
We came home and had lunch, then they BOTH proceeded to protest nap time. Not a wink of sleep. Oh well.
Can't win 'em all!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Organize!
So I've discovered pintrist. I know it's been around for a while, but I've never been quick to jump on technology or social networking trends. (Yes, I still own/use a "dumb phone" with no Internet. And I'm quite happy with it!)
Anyway, pintrist. It's been such a fun resource to get great ideas for everything under the sun...photography, fashion, home decor, cooking and my latest obsession: home organization. (This works so well with the whole nesting thing!) We've pretty much accepted the fact that we're stuck in our town home for a while until the market picks up, so it's time to get creative with getting the most out of our space.
Enter: closet organization.
The curtains are cute, but not practical for my boys. I don't think they need that easy of access to their closet. It would NEVER stay clean. Right now their closet doors are hard (for even me) to open. I think I'm liking it that way!
I would also LOVE to figure out a way to hang some drying racks in there (maybe on the back of the doors?) Any of you have some good tips? How do you organize your closets?
P.S. If anyone needs a pintrist invite, let me know! I just need your email address. :)
Anyway, pintrist. It's been such a fun resource to get great ideas for everything under the sun...photography, fashion, home decor, cooking and my latest obsession: home organization. (This works so well with the whole nesting thing!) We've pretty much accepted the fact that we're stuck in our town home for a while until the market picks up, so it's time to get creative with getting the most out of our space.
Enter: closet organization.
The boys will be sharing a room sometime starting in early 2012. We found some bunk beds on craigslist and now it's time for me to figure out how to make their closet more kid friendly. A few ideas a'la pintrist.
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Love the shelves, cubbies and low bars so the kids can reach their clothes. My best guess is that only one kid is using this closet though!
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This one is my favorite. Our closet isn't quite as big as this one, but how great are the shoe cubbies and drawers with their names? I wonder how long the closet actually stays this organized?
The other closet in our house that needs some major help is the laundry closet. We have some space in there not being used right now, and I really need to use it! Here are a few ideas I've come across:
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P.S. If anyone needs a pintrist invite, let me know! I just need your email address. :)
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