What the boys are loving right now!

Leggos

mom: "Owen, what do you want to do today?"

O: "Pway wif toys"

Lately those toys have been Leggos. Caeden built this blue truck all by himself.

There is a fun, creative and challenging component to leggos that is sometimes a little much for me, but I am getting better at it. I enjoy seeing the kids create!

When Daddy gets involved, the creations are much more magnificent!

sometimes, when mom helps, i hear: "that's NOT how Daddy does it"

and i try not to be offended, because Dad should be able to do all things perfect in his eyes

First Day of School

Our humble montage of Caeden's first day of pre-school.

It is a big deal around here!

Hope and Todd's engagement photo's

A must see

check out Ashley Brockinton's Blog

to view my sister and Todd's engagement photos

they are so great. I love them all, but the train ones are my faves!

Sunny days

This first picture made me laugh so i wanted to share it.

A new day is dawning, I am so thankful that God cares enough to take care of my physical body as well as my spiritual body. I am feeling about %50-60 better overall since the new medication, plenty of vitamins, eliminating wheat, and changing me eating habits.

I am also excited that 2 sunflowers out of the 20 that we planted have actually bloomed. They are gorgeous! Now, if the rest of the weed-filled yard would just follow suit.

I have never seen a lizard laiden with dew before until this morning. He is so sparkly!

It's too bad that the shadow on half the flower was from me standing in front of it and blocking the sun. These flowers just make me SMILE! To think that i actually planted something that didn't die!

The Gift of Time

Someone asked me what my husband gave me for my birthday.

My answer was, "He rode bikes with me."

To some, that may seem like no gift at all, but for me, it is exactly what I wanted..... 2 full hours alone, in the quiet of the morning, my hubby and I watching the sunrise. Sure, we were cruising at about 15mph and at various times my left foot would go numb, my neck and back were cramping, but through it all there was delight and a real sense of connecting. Delight that I biked 26.5 miles on my birthday, but more so because it was spent with the man I love. He indulged my desires to ride 34 miles on my 34th birthday. I didn't quite make it that far, but nonetheless, he encouraged me despite it not being much of a workout for him. (he did mention that at that pace, he felt like he could ride all day) :)

This is us during our 10 mile break. We left just after 5:30 a.m.

This is us at my birthday dinner the night before.

Time is a gift I am cherishing more and more. It has been 14 years since he and I first started dating. It seems like just yesterday that we met, in Wal-Mart where he worked:)!

Time slips away so quickly which is most of the reason I love to blog. I can look back and see how the kids looked and what activites we did and what they were in to. My creative memories, without all frilly pages, and corny stickers, and money spent in the craft store. Sorry, if i just offended anyone.

These pictures of the kids made me take a second glance at just how old they are looking now. C starts pre-school next week and O and I are left to fend for ourselves. I am looking forward to some one-on-one time with him. Can anyone say desperate for potty-training?

I wouldn't trade what's happening now in our lives for any money in the world. I want to cherish what has been, engage in what is happening now, and look forward with anticipation for our future. That is why the Gift of Time is so special.

boys Aug. 2008

Boys Aug 2009

Almond Crumb Cookie

A cookie of the day on Martha Stewart Website

A delicious treat served with Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
• 1 1/2 cups finely ground (5 1/4 ounces) blanched almonds
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch springform pan; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk almonds, flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly. Work in butter until completely incorporated with no dry crumbs.
2. Transfer all but 1 1/2 cups of mixture to pan. Press mixture into pan to compress dough. Sprinkle with reserved 1 1/2 cups of mixture; transfer to oven.
3. Bake, rotating pan two to three times, until cookie begins to turn golden, about 25 minutes. Reduce temperature to 300 degrees. bake until golden brown and fairly dry, 15 to 20 minutes more. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Remove from pan. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Homemade Salad Dressing

I get the weekly updates from Goop, which is Gwyneth Paltrow's blog

This dressing is so yummy i had to post it on here.

Dressing:

• 1 small shallot, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 teaspoons real Vermont maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons champagne vinegar
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• coarse salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Combine all the lettuces together in a large serving bowl. Arrange the onion, carrots, peas, fava beans and radishes on top. In a small bowl, whisk together the shallot, mustard, maple syrup and vinegar. Slowly whisk in the olive oil and season the dressing to taste with salt and pepper. Drizzle over the salad and serve.

Best Friends

We received a package in the mail from my college roomate and one of my dearest friends.

Inside was a children's book called Gossie and Gertie.

She said it reminded her of my boys.

The story is about two little ducks who:

Wear Boots

are Best Friends

Follow each other everywhere

and

Love each other very much.

Reminds me of two others i used to know

Sara and I circa 1993

and again circa 1997

Sara, my life has forever been impacted by you. At times you have been my conscience, my helper, my shoulder to lean on, and have always remained my friend even though I may not have deserved it. We are one in the same and I am so thankful that God has blessed me with friends that still know me after 16 years. I pray that my boys will experience that in each other.

p.s. we need to see each other soon:)

Safari Jeep

I guess you could say that This book has been a daily read and an inspiration lately to our animal lovers. It has sparked the interest of Safari's, and Wild animals in Africa, and Game Trackers.

So when I mentioned to C that he could be a Safari Tracker for Halloween he asked if He could drive around in a jeep costume.

The kids have been playing with packing boxes in the living room lately for hide-n-seek and as a garage to park their Leggo vehicles. We decided to turn one of the boxes into a jeep. I looked for ideas online but couldn't find any except for a small blurb of instructions on a VBS website. However there were a few websites about Jeep Costumes for sale that are adorable.

We had alot of fun thinking up how it should look. Of course this always happens during Owen's naptime, so he misses out a bit. It was a very Green Jeep. Green as in earth friendly and Green as in Creative Talent:)

We trimmed all but one flap off of the box. In the remaining flap we cut out a rectangle for a windshield. We made the tires, head lights, and steering wheel out of paper plates. The grill and license plate were from scraps cut from the box flaps. We tried stapling and we tried craft glue, but what worked the best was hot glue.

For the straps we used his jumprope, strung it through two holes that were cut in the back of the box, the ties them around the windshield.


Of course, when it was complete we went on safari. All the animals from the toybox were spread out through the house and we took binoculars to go search for them. Then when daddy got home his safari with the boys involved a play rifle. HAHA

See, boxes can make for enjoyable days of fun at home.

In other news, i just bought this book to read about parenting. It looks great!

Homemade Granola II

It is time to revisit this Granola Recipe. It was one of my first recipe posts and still one of my favorites to make. The kids are digging it even more as they get older. Miss Betty, the one who made this recipe, is alive and kicking and close to 90 years old. Maybe it contains the secret to longevity of life, I am not sure, but it is mighty tasty.

Where are our flowers?

Dear Sunflowers, we have been watching you grow and follow the Sun, but where is your fruit? I pray that as we keep growing and following the Son, people will see our fruit! For what joy and beauty is there in looking like a tall, overgrown weed?