Happiness & a little "heart to heart"

     I haven't written in about a week because I've been so crazy busy! My brain is fried from all of this non-stop, end of the semester school work & finals. I still have to write a couple more pages for my "Philosophy of Life" paper and then I'll be done until February! Whoohoo! Jer got in a car accident on Sunday and he's fine but our car isn't. It's totaled :-/  I'm not excited that we're down to 1 car in the meantime & then get to embark on the frustrating task of finding a new (reliable) car... BUT thats not why I decided to blog tonight. Despite those circumstances I can't help but sit back & feel so grateful for the life I get to live! I've been so blessed. I'm married to my best friend, my kids are all healthy, beautiful & well-behaved (most of the time! haha). I have the opportunity to stay at home and raise my babies and we still have the funds to do the things we desire to do (on a budget, of course! ;) AND I can FINALLY say that in a few months our 3 year long foster care journey will come to an END and we'll be able to sign the final adoption papers! The girls will REALLY be ours! I don't deserve to be as happy as I am. It just seems like every day gets better and better. Life isn't perfect and never will be. There will always be something to work on or work towards, but I love the journey that my family & I are on. I love getting to wake up everyday with the goal to try to be a better wife & mom than I was the day before & to look for new ways to make memories with my babies. 
     I have made some terrible choices throughout my life, but have always chosen to get back up and trust that Gods plan for my life is better than my own. There have been days where I had no hope for a happier life, where I felt trapped and like I was "doomed" or "cursed." Like even if life was going smoothly, I had to hold my breath because a tragedy was waiting just around the corner. But I have come to see that those were lies. That isn't the life God wants for me or has planned for me. And even during the hard times (which are inevitable because of the fact that we live in an imperfect world) Jesus has been and will continue to be there throughout it all. Please be encouraged. Please know that you are SO loved by the God of the freaking universe. And please know that His plan for your life is more amazing than you can dream up on your own. Really. It is. 
  

Goodness in my mouth

The winter season always makes me want to drink... hot yummy things, that is! ;) I go to the gym each morning and sweat my little heart out only to come home and sabotage myself with things like peppermint mocha's or my latest concoction, caramel apple cider!

Jeremiah was at school so it was just the kids and I. Joel was sleeping and the girls were cleaning their room so I guess I started to get a little bored. I started having a craving for a nice, hot drink but didn't want coffee or hot cocoa again. I got the bright idea to make hot apple cider! I had about 6 apples (I think they were fuji apples??) just hanging out in my fridge so I decided to juice them. It gave me roughly 4 cups of juice. Then I added about 2 tablespoons of whole cloves, 6 cinnamon sticks (I really like my cider spiced, lol) and half a teaspoon of vanilla. I let it come to a boil & simmered it for about 5 minutes.

While the cider was simmering I had the bright idea to recreate starbucks caramel apple cider. I didn't have any caramel on hand so I found this link: homemade caramel sauce and got started! I was a bit nervous but it actually turned out great! I just made sure to pay really close attention to all of the directions! Haha. After the caramel was done I poured it in a jar for storage and strained the juice into the pot. I added 1/2 of the caramel to the juice and whisked it really well. It ended up tasting exactly like the starbucks hot caramel apple cider! It was delicious! And full of sugar and fat! Haha. Definitely a holiday drink, thats for sure ;) 

Yummy caramel sauce 

Join Me

My sweet friend Jill and her family have been through a lot these past few years. Getting pregnant with Judah James was such a blessing, a beautiful ray of sunshine. Recently, during a routine ultrasound, the doctors found some issues. Jill and her husband Josh were sent to a hospital to have a full work-up. MRI, ultrasound, the whole deal. They found issues with his heart and diagnosed him with Dandy-Walker Syndrome. The doctors told them that with all of the issues he has it is a possibility that he could be a still-birth. If Judah does make it he'll need heart surgery immediately after birth.

That is terrifying news for any parent. But Jill & Josh are staying strong and holding fast to Jesus, believing for a full healing. Please join me and hundreds of others throughout the world as we pray for the Robinson family during this difficult time. My heart breaks for them, but I am excited to see how God is going to continue to be faithful throughout this journey and ultimately be glorified through it.

Here is the link to Jills blog if you'd like to read more: http://jillianmaranna.blogspot.com/2011/11/update-on-judah-112911.html?spref=fb

Tuesday night musings

I love the things my kids say. They have such random thought patterns. For instance, this morning when we were driving to the gym. Alexis had asked me to put on Chris Tomlin's "Our God" album (her favorite song is "Our God" and she sings along so loud... Very cute.) She stopped singing right in the middle and said: "Joel has a penis." I tried not to laugh and just said: "yep, he sure does." Then she proceeds to name off all the boys she knows... "Daddy has a penis, too. And Malachai and Seth and Anthony and Brett and John... Cause boys have penises." I didn't really know how to respond, so I just agreed with her! Then she said: "Can I have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when we get home? And watch Dora, too?" Lol, and that was the end of our "sex talk!" Too funny.

After we got home from the gym (which was *KILLER* since I hadn't worked out in a week and was a complete glutton for 5 days straight) I threw dinner in the crockpot. I've been loving the simplicity of the once a month crockpot cooking! I'm so glad I did it! & I'm wishing I had done it sooner! My whole family is very happy =) Everything we've eaten so far has been delish! A few of the meals have even been big enough for leftovers and we've gotten about 4 lunches from it! So it's definitely worth it. No longer do I blankly stare into the fridge wondering what I'm going to throw together. And no longer am I met with silence on the end of the phone line after I tell my husband what's for dinner! (since I'm usually throwing something together at the last minute) Anyway, tonight we had moroccan lamb w/ brown rice. It was sooo good! & the lamb was very moist & tender! (I was a little worried, because I know lamb dries out pretty easily.) Even the girls liked it! The downside was that it made my house smell like a sweaty mans armpit :-/ I really hope Morocco doesn't smell like that or I will vow to NEVER visit! Luckily I'm not pregnant or I might have gagged all day long. So after putting away the little bit of leftovers (have I mentioned I *hate* wasting food?!) throwing away the crockpot liner & lighting a holiday-yummy-goodness-scented candle, things are back to normal ;)

Here's to another fun-filled, productive week! Hope yours is as well ;)

How was your thanksgiving??

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Mine was very low-key and enjoyable. Usually Jeremiah and I are driving all over kingdom come, and by kingdom come I mean to Pasadena and back. But last year we decided that we actually wanted to enjoy our holidays and so we would be trading off each year. Last year we spent Thanksgiving with my side of the family and Christmas Eve (which is when both of our extended families get together) with Jeremiah's side. This year we switched so we spent Thanksgiving at my Grandmother-in-laws house. She lives close by, so it was nice to not be stuck in holiday traffic, that was for sure! The girls had a great time playing outside with their Papa, Joel had fun being passed from one person to the next (he handled it like a champ!) and us adults even got to play a few rounds of bingo! We all ate too much and the short ride home was a quiet one. Lexi and Joel both fell asleep in 5 minutes!

Once we got home we put Joel to bed and got our "second wind." We decided to have our "2nd annual christmas decorating party." Jer brought the christmas decor in from the garage then ran out to get hot cocoa and snacks while the girls and I started decorating! We had our holiday music playing (Michael Buble's new christmas album, actually) and everything was up in no time! We finished around 10pm and were all exhausted. Luckily we were all able to sleep in the next day. I'm VERY thankful that my kids are all good sleepers. Even Joel slept until 9am!

Hoping you're having a great holiday season so far. If not, then just look at the joy on my sweet baby's face! How can that not cheer you up!? ;)

Talkin' Tuesday

It's funny how much personality oozes out of kids while they're playing "make believe." I mean, I knew Alyssa was bossy... But geeze! Apparently I had forgotten just how bossy she was! And kids take their playtime seriously. They don't mess around! She told me I had to measure three cups of "flour" (aka dirt) into the bowl and I only did two (just to see what she'd do) she totally caught it and politely asked me to add one more cup. I did a huge, heaping, overflowing scoop and she actually scolded me! She said that was way too much, then took the scoop away from me and said I couldn't help anymore, I just had to watch! What the?! She's 6!!! Then there was sweet little Lexi just minding her own business and digging next to us making her own "cake" (which was just a pile of mud) and she very sweetly offered to let me help her. Now, she can be bossy too. She's given Alyssa a run for her money! But I guess she was feeling sympathetic towards mommy at the moment. Gosh, I love my girls. They bring so much joy to my life!

A little later I went back inside to start lunch and one of the neighbors came out with her cute little dog. She's 12 and the girls just adore her.... Why am I even typing these mundane details?! Who freaking cares?! ANYWAY! I've been trying not to let any food spoil like I usually do every month! So I used some left over pizza sauce, turkey pepperoni and light string cheese to make mini pizzas. I used sliced, toasted hawaiian rolls as the crust. They turned out pretty tastey! I went to call the girls inside to eat and this is what I found:

Thats my little lexi-loo singing on her portable karaoke machine. I think it's called "paper jams"??? But she was just standing there singing her little heart out. I thought it was the sweetest thing =) 

I was pretty dang productive throughout the rest of the day. It's amazing all the things you can get accomplished in the two hours that the kids nap! I have to admit, I was pretty proud of myself by 4:45pm when Mr. Wonderful walked through the door. Dinner was in the crockpot, the house was clean, laundry had been washed and all three of the kids were in one piece! Not to mention none of them were crying or fighting with eachother! Haha! Dinner ended up being sooo yummy and we even made homemade ice cream afterwards! I got the idea off of pinterest (duh) for homemade vanilla ice cream in a ziplock bag. (Here's the link: ice cream in a bag). We added mini chocolate chips to one batch. We omitted the vanilla and added a few tablespoons of canned pumpkin, a teaspoon of cinnamon & a few dashes of allspice to the other batch. Both of them turned out so good! We probably should have shaken them a little longer, because they were a little bit runny. But overall it was creamy & delicious! The girls thought it was the coolest thing in the world. They had fun helping shake the bags, too! I decided to make some pumpkin spice whipped cream since I had left over heavy cream and pumpkin. Somehow Alyssa talked me into making hot cocoa and I was surprised at how yummy it was to top the cocoa with a dollop of the pumpkin whipped cream. (...I don't know why I was surprised... I guess it sounds pretty good??)

The best part of the day, hands down, was at about 5pm, when we were all sitting around the living room playing Joel's new favorite game, peek-a-boo. He was cracking up. Like, real, uncontrollable belly laughs! This of course made everyone else crack up and we were just sitting around staring at him and laughing at how freaking cute he is. Life isn't perfect, but in that moment it sure felt like it! 

A solution to my problem!

I have a huge problem with throwing my keys down and losing them! I know that this is an issue many people face, so when I saw this idea for a  picture frame key holder on pinterest I was inspired! I started with a plain ole' rectangle picture frame

I painted it with two coats of my new favorite color (turquoise) and then used a paper towel to rub, blot & wipe white paint over it. Just to give it a different look. I found a piece of cute scrapbook paper and used some letters I had to spell out the word "keys." I had some iridescent rhinestones and glued them to the letters. I screwed 3 white hooks into the bottom of the frame and then put it all together! 

Voila!! 

Champagne bottle lamp

Ok, so this isn't really a lamp. It just looks like one. And of course I got the idea from pinterest! Haha ;) I started with an empty champagne bottle:

and an old, crappy miniature lampshade that I got at the thrift store for like $.75

  I  wrote the phrase: "You and I... For all our days" around the thickest part of the bottle with white puffy paint. This was the same phrase Jer and I had inscribed on our cake knife and cutter for our wedding. It has a sweet inside meaning between the two of us that started when we were dating and I figured it would be nice to bring a personal touch to our bathroom. Lol! I also added some little dots around the bottle neck just for fun. I spray painted the bottle with a coat of white primer and about 3 coats of regular satin finish white spray paint. While each coat was drying I got started on the lampshade. I wasn't sure what I was going to do at first, but knew the fabric had to go. So I stripped it down to the plastic base. I saw a few ideas for lampshade repurposing using fabric, but I didn't have any that would be right for my bathroom so I went to option number 2. I found a page of scrapbook paper that would work, but didn't think I'd have enough, so I found another one similar. I cut them each into think strips like this:

I mixed together about 1/4 cup elmers glue with about 1/4 cup water (not exactly sure because I just eyed it). Then I dipped each strip into the solution and started wrapping the lampshade vertically. I hung it to dry like this: 

After everything was dry I just placed the lampshade on the bottle. This is what it looked like: 

Cute, right?! I'm going for the shabby-chic look and I think this fits perfectly ;) 

Yet another DIY pinterest project

I saw an idea on pinterest to paint the inside of glass jars and thought it was really do-able! (Here's the link: painting glass jars) I was looking to spruce up my master bathroom and was trying to use as many pinterest ideas and repurpose as many things as I could. I had a near empty jar of fruit spread which was tall and skinny and kinda cool looking as well as a few jars and a small votive candle holder that I got from a thrift store. I had a lot of the turquoise paint left so I just poured in about a 1/4-1/2 cup of paint in each glass and rolled it around inside until it was evenly coated. I turned the glass upside down to drain as much excess paint as I could and then just left them alone. It took about 3 days to dry completely. Here is the finished product:

I used them like this:

There are q-tips in the covered jar. 

I'm very happy with the outcome! And the whole project costed me less than $7!! Whoo hoo!

Truth & Turquoise

On one of my "pinterest binges" I stumbled upon this old picture frame sitting in a closet. This used to be a part of a set of three wedding pictures hanging on our wall. 

It's life ended abruptly one day during a fight between my husband and I. Yes, thats right. I said it. WE FIGHT! lol. One day we were blissful newlyweds and the next we were foster parents to a 4 1/2 month old (Alexis was born a week after our wedding) and a 3 1/2 year old. It wasn't easy. That first 2 years of our marriage were HELL. Anyway, on this one particular day the girls were at daycare and for whatever reason Jeremiah and I began to argue. It blew up like craaayyyzzzaaayyy. One thing led to another and something got thrown and smashed straight into the picture. Now, I'm not condoning this behavior at all. Just being honest! (My marriage is full of love, MOST DAYS! haha) But this poor picture frame lived a sad and lonely life in the closet for the next 2 1/2 years until I rediscovered it rummaging for things to repurpose. I found this link to an earring holder on pinterest and the rest was history! This is what I started with:

Thats a roll of mesh screen door liner (or whatever you call it) and the glass-less picture frame. (You can kind of see the dents on the bottom middle-left if you look hard). I sanded the crap out of the frame. Down to the bare wood. Then I Painted it with two coats of turquoise paint. I freaking love love this color. I sanded it down to give it that "weathered look." Next I cut a piece of the screen to fit the frame. Spray painted it white and then stapled it to the back of the frame after it had dried. I used the turquoise paint and a large stencil (one from the Martha Stewart Collection that I picked up at Michael's) in the center and that was it! This was the end result:

It actually looks better in person, and looking at it now I wish I would have left the screen that blackish grey color just to give it a little more rustic feel. I have some earrings to hang on it but haven't gotten around to it yet ;) This is in my master bathroom. 

The best noise in the world

Last night my family (including my in-laws) went to see Happy Feet 2. The kids loved it! Even sweet baby Joel who enthusiastically tried talking to the penguins on the screen and singing along to the songs so loud that I had to take him to the back of the theater! Us adults thought it was pretty cute, too ;) Afterwards we stopped to pick up a quick dinner and head over to my in-laws house. Jer ran into Subway while the kids and I stayed in the car. Alyssa started playing peek-a-boo with Joel and this is what ensued:

As a mom, hearing that playing and laughter is seriously the best thing ever! I don't really remember Alyssa as a baby too much (before you think I'm the worst mom ever let me explain! Alyssa & Alexis are actually my nieces. My husband and I have been raising them for the past 3 years and the adoption should be final any time now!) and it was different raising Alexis as our niece, thinking it was only temporary. But now, hearing the laughter of our baby son playing with the girls who have become mine, it's so heartwarming. It's so fulfilling. All is right in the world when the three of them are happy and smiling and playing. It sounds so dumb and cheesy, I know. But it's true. Oh geeze I love my babies! Last night just reminded me how incredibly blessed I am. I am such a lucky woman. 

Thankfulness from a 6 year old

Once upon a time I had an old, brown, boring picture frame that I wasn't using. It looked like this:

 I think I've mentioned this before, but I hate letting things go to waste. So I decided to browse my beloved Pinterest for some ideas. I found a few really cute ideas but one that stood out was to make it into a dry erase to-do list. Now, thanks to my handy dandy iPhone, I don't need a to-do board. BUT that's when I got another iiidddeeeaaaaaa!! It was the beginning of November so I decided to make it into a THANKFULNESS BOARD!!! Imagine my disappointment when I found other pinterest pins that were super similar :-/ not so original afterall! Anyway, first, I sanded down the frame to the bare wood and then painted it with two coats of white paint. Then I sanded the corners and random places to give it the weathered look. I wanted the picture part to be something with fall-ish colors but nothing with a complicated pattern so that the writing wouldn't get "lost." I didn't have any scrapbook paper that was right and I didn't want to get ready and leave the house and search for the right paper and blah blah blah... So I ended up using plain white copy paper and soaking it in coffee and then letting it dry (like this:) 

Then, I used the cricut (which my lovely mother in law is letting me borrow- SHOUT OUT TO DEBY!) and cut out some some shapes and the words "Giving thanks..."

 I decided that each week one member of our family gets to have the things they're thankful for on the board. Alyssa (my 6 year old) went first... These are the things she's thankful for: 

In case you can't read the picture, it says:

1. We get to ride our bikes

2. Mommy & Daddy love us so much (aaawweee :)

3.We got to chew gum today (can you tell it's a rare occurrence? haha)

4. Mommy takes me to Starbucks sometimes

5. Our family gets to play the Michael Jackson Experience

....Seriously?! She's thankful for the Michael Jackson experience?! Haha... For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a video game on the playstation move (I think theres one for the wii and xbox as well) and you follow the moves on the screen and dance to different Michael Jackson songs. It can determine how well you're following along and thats how you get points. It's a pretty fun game. But I didn't realize it was in the "thankfulness" category?? But I guess thats a 6 year old for ya! Haha. She's too funny ;) Cracks me up... 

Proud moment

I am so proud of myself… I actually had a great idea of my own! (Or so I think! Haha). I’m always looking for new ways to be healthy & feed my family nutritious meals. So I started using almond butter and fruit spread instead of plain ole’ peanut butter and jelly. Now peanut butter and almond butter are pretty similar when you look at the labels (protein, fat, blah blah blah). BUT the big difference is that almond butter is packed with micronutrients (and that’s a great thing!). Fruit spread has less calories as well as less carbs and sugar as regular jelly or jam. The downside is that there’s a small difference in the taste. It’s not super noticeable, but it’s noticeable enough. To someone like me who prefers health over taste it doesn’t bother me, but to kids who just want a yummy pb&j it might pose a problem. SO that’s when I got the great idea!! I decided to make them healthy AND kid friendly! I rummaged through my baking drawers & pulled out cookie cutters. They worked great on the sandwiches and my girls thought they were so cool that they never said a word about the taste! Here are a few:

And because I hate letting anything go to waste I cut up the leftover pieces in little bite sized chunks. I actually used the entire loaf of bread to make sandwiches. I used the high heel, crown, a castle, stars, hearts and a large gingerbread man cookie cutter. I put 2 or 3 sandwiches each in individual ziplock bags and threw them in the freezer. They thaw in about 30 minutes. Once again EASY MEALS!!! Pair this with a sliced apple and a cup of low-fat milk and BAM! You have a great lunch in no time for your little ones (or yourself! haha;) I'm sure someone somewhere has done something similar (if not the same) but I've never seen it, so it's an original idea for me! haha. 

The best idea ever!

A few days ago I undertook a huge project that I was really excited about. Through Pinterest I found a link to Mamaandbabylove.blogspot.com. Stephanie (the blogger) does once a month cooking and it’s aaaamazing! I've heard of this idea before and even have a few acquaintances that do this. But I just never got around to it until now. Basically, you make and freeze a months’ worth of meals at one time so there is no daily preparation for dinner, just pop it in the crockpot in the morning or oven and voila! This is an amazing idea for so many reasons. The biggest one being that I'm a huge procrastinator! I usually go grocery shopping and buy all the fresh ingredients for yummy & healthy meals but then I get so busy during the day and put off cooking. All of a sudden it's 6pm and I haven't even defrosted the meat! I end up throwing mac & cheese on a plate (and maybe I'll toss a salad together) and call it a meal. I don't want to think about how much money I've wasted letting food go bad. So I knew this would be a perfect idea for my family. I didn't want soup every night, so I found recipes that could be eaten over noodles or rice such as chicken cacciatore, curry chicken & the spicy jumbo shrimp (which I toned down because my kids aren't fans of spicy). I used a few recipes I found on Stephanie's site and scoured the internet for the rest. I ended up spending about 5 hours and $300. 5 hours is freaking ridiculous if you ask me! BUT it was my own fault... I decided for whatever reason to start my cooking at midnight and was delirious by the time I finished. I did not use my time wisely! I made one recipe at a time. Next time I will take inventory of all my recipes, chop all of the veggies and all of the raw meat and then just measure everything out into the freezer bags, then add whatever spices & liquids called for. So everything is done at once. I read that the process should usually take about 3 hours. That is much more do-able than 5! Here is the end result:

There's 27 meals in my freezer and three meals were in my fridge... It was hard work, but I'm so excited that my family will be eating great, healthy meals at a regular time each evening! I also use the crockpot bags so I just remove it after dinner. No cleanup! So far we've eaten white chicken chili and the spicy jumbo shrimp. Both meals were delicious and as easy as I expected. Tomorrow night we'll be having the ricotta, spinach & mushroom stuffed shells. Those will be cooked in the oven, so I'm hoping all goes as well as planned! I'll let you know if it doesn't work ;)