little lovelies handmade

Can I really blog from my phone?

You know, this is almost too easy! Apparently I can blog from my phone. Maybe I will actually do something with my neglected blog now that I can do it on the go. Uploading pics is way easier too. How does it look from the readers perspective?

We're a Happy Bunch

 

The top picture especially cracks me up because the kids posed themselves and their hand placement screams Olan Mills, lol! For the record I don't think I have been in an Olan Mills since 1990. The bottom picture is Charlotte and her cousin. They are 2 months apart and Charlotte just LOVES her cousin. It's a happy day when she gets to play with babies her own size.

I think I'll Keep Him

 We have been married for eight years this past July. Here follows a list as to why this man is a-freakin-mazing...

1. He married ME, didn't he?

2. He has a patience that can only be described as God given. I mean, he married ME, didn't he?

3. He is more than willing to entertain whatever wild idea I have from more kids (or not) to business ventures to crazy vacation ideas. He won't always agree in the end to do these things, but he will always hear me out.

4. He lets me hold the tv remote.

5. He truly truly loves me and our kids the way Christ loves the church.

6. He models for me and our kids what a loving, comitted, mature Christian father and husband looks like.

7. He shows me grace every single day.

8. He lets me buy his clothes and only complains a little when he has to wear them.

9. He's cute.

10. He is 110% supportive of my business and everything I do.

11. He is funny (though it did take me roughly two years to figure out his dry sense of humor).

12. He introduced me to Three Amigos. That right there is reason enough to love this guy.

My Little Soccer Stud

Tyler had soccer camp for one week this summer. It was in the evenings from 5:30-8:30 pm (can you say HOT!) but it didn't seem to really bother him. He just loved being out there playing with other kids. The last night he came home and showed me how he could "dribble" down the hallway. He enjoyed the camp, but really isn't ready for organized sports. Makes me glad I didn't sign him up for soccer yet - we can burn him out on sports another year.

Fake Crepes

My kids are definitely MY kids. They expect something sweet at least once a day, and can you blame them? We did have s'mores for lunch yesterday. Someone (I'm not naming names) did set their expectations for sweets early on in their lives.

One afternoon they wanted a treat and we had no treats in the house, but we did have tortillas, chocolate chips, and PB&J, which I used to make yummy fake crepes. I'm sure I am neither the first or the last mother to make treats like this, but I'll just pretend I am.

Fake Dessert Crepes (which are called such only because I can't spell quesadillas correctly according to my spell check, which has no alternative to offer other than "gorillas")

tortillas
chocolate chips (we use dark chocolate)
peanut butter (natural, no sugar added)
jam or jelly (apricot preserves in this case)

Spead PB on one side of a tortilla, spread jam on top, sprinkle chips and fold over.
Cook over med heat until chips are melted.
Eat and try not to get the mess all over you face.

Also try marshmallow fluff. I haven't yet, but it sounds good. So try it and tell me. Also try Nutella. I have tried that and its so good that I know I can't have the stuff in my house anymore - I'll eat it morning noon and night. Not that that's bad or anything...

The Other Half of That Turkey Pasta Salad

So that other bit of turkey from the tacos ended up in this pasta salad. No measurements here. Just add what you like so it tastes how you like it

1 lb of pasta, shells, macaroni, spirals - whatever you have
1 can diced tomatoes
green beans from farmers market
feta cheese
kalamata olives
ground turkey
italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste
olive oil and balsamic vinegar

cook and drain pasta and remove from pan to a large bowl
cook green beans how you like to (either steam them or boil them in a shallow pan in an inch or so of water)
open can of tomatoes and dump the whole can, juice and all in the pasta
chop olives and green beans and add to bowl with feta cheese
add seasonings, olive oil and vinegar to your liking

When I make this, it usually is enough for one lunch or dinner for four and several lunches for my husband during the week. Very precise, I know.

Poor Man's Tacos

This might be a food blog around here for awhile. You all don't mind do you? I have found that being in a tight spot at the end of a pay period yields culinary creativity. For the most part I don't mind the challenge. This week I decided to blog about last weeks food. This is partially driven by the fact that I am trying to eat right and exercise and all that good for you crap.

End-of-the-Pay-Period-Raid-the-Fridge-Tacos
makes about 6-8, with some turkey leftover for another meal.

1 lb ground turkey
1 cup salsa
1 cup shredded cheese
sour cream
salad greens
tortillas

Brown the ground turkey and drain fat, add salsa and cook off the liquid left in the pan. Spread a tablespoon of sour cream on a tortilla and top with a handful of salad greens and cheese and a heaping spoonful of hot from the pan turkey. Wrap em up and eat it. Then make one for everyone in the family and eat the rest sitting at the table like civilized people.

Avoidance by way of Culinary Distractions

There are worse ways to avoid cleaning your craft area, no? It's one of those things where the pile is getting worse before getting better and I had to step away for a bit. And naturally food seemed like a much better idea. It always does...Ty and I made carrot cupcakes and I wanted to share. 

Carrot Cake Cupcakes
1 cup (8oz can) crushed pineapple in its own juice
3 cups whole wheat flour (white flour is fine, though)
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 egg white
1/2 cup safflower oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups coarsely shredded carrots
1/2 cup applesauce

Heat oven to 350. Drain pineapple and reserve the juice. In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add the reserved pineapple juice, eggs, egg whites, vanilla and oil. Beat at medium speed until blended. It will be a dense mixture. With a spoon stir in the carrots, pineapple, and applesauce.

Spoon mixture into muffin tins, bake until a toothpick stuck into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 22 mins. Remove to a wire rack to cool 2 mins. Serve warm. Makes 24 cupcakes.

* I prefer to use whole wheat flour and bagged pre-shredded carrots. This keeps the cupcakes from getting too moist. They tend to completely fall apart if they are too moist. I also like to add raisins and walnuts to the batter (1/2 cup each) but my kids won't eat raisins and my husband won't eat nuts in baked goods. If you have a not-to-sweet cream cheese frosting they are ah-may-zing with a little frosting and crushed walnuts sprinkled on top.

Happy Father's Day!

Hope it was a good one! Aaron had his round of golf while I sat at the pool with the kids reading a book chatting with Amanda and enjoyed the coffee she brought me. I'll skip over the bit where Lily had a meltdown and delightful older lady shot me dirty looks and resorted to passive aggressively yelling "shut up!" while she was sunbathing (she was on her stomach with her head down, but it was clear what she was saying). It was actually pretty funny in its absurdity. I just hope I can remember what it is like to have a three year old melting down in public when I am eighty. Or maybe when I am eighty I will feel like I deserve some peaceful sunbathing on a Sunday afternoon.

We had Vacation Bible School or Summer Camp as my kids like to call it. It is a highlight of the year for Tyler who talks about it for months afterwards and anticipates the fun as soon as the weather gets warm. He is only five but he remembers the last three camps he went to, can tell me what classrooms they were in and the fun things he did when he was there. This was Lily's first year of VBS and she was decidedly less excited about it that her brother. The first day she she very reluctantly stayed with her group and the second morning when she asked what we were doing that day she was horrified to hear she had to go to summer camp again.

By the end of the second day she and another three year old in her group had managed to get two 6th graders to adopt them and carry them piggy back style from one activity to the next. When their high school aged leader came in on Wednesday with braids Lily insisted she, too, have braids and by Friday she was crying and heartbroken that summer camp was over.

It feels like now summer is officially here! We'll be spending all the time we can at the pool or local children's museums and maybe just maybe I'll even remember my camera!

Merry Go Rounds and other things

A lady I know said to me this weekend, "Don't you ever just feel like you are on a Merry Go Round and you just can't get off?" during a conversation on how busy we both feel at times. Aaron caught that bit of our conversation and hollered "Hey you are in charge of the calendar!" (nevermind we were at an elder BBQ because HE is the elder in the family, not moi!)

Our weekends get booked up a month in advance full of things that are fun, but quickly begin to feel like obligations when the time comes. We go to parties and bbqs and flea markets and art shows and craft fairs, committing ourselves for work and for pleasure. We always get there and have a great time and leave an hour later than we intended because we sat around and talked about fun stuff like politics and religion (Really. We do think that is fun. We have family and friends on all ends of the spectrum so these things get interesting, I tell you!) but when we finally get home exhausted and happy we say to each other, "Next weekend. Next weekend we'll stay home." Of course next weekend comes around and if we happen to have nothing planned then we call friends and say let's DO something!

Since having my kids I hear "Oh, enjoy them now while you can, they grow up so fast!" from older parents all the time. This has always been irritating advice to me. Obviously, it is a bit hard to enjoy parenting in the moment or else legions of parents wouldn't be telling the new ones to enjoy it "while they can".

I never truly enjoy and appreciate these rugrats in the moment. It just dosen't happen between fighting over whether or not thet get dessert if they don't eat dinner (not) or wiping runny noses or pulling (non-toxic) chalk out of the baby's grinning mouth. But thirty minutes (and 1/2 a glass of wine) later I can sit here and reflect on a really busy, really whiny, really long day and realise that even though the kids did practically nothing but fight with each other and whine all day long, they are pretty cool kids. Not every night after a bad day am I even ready to enjoy the kids or the life we have, but I can always look back and know this is a good life.

God blessed me with an amazing partner in Aaron and three infuriatingly wonderful muchkins, too. There isn't a day that goes by - the good, the bad and the ugly - that I don't that God for them. Maybe that  all that we need to do to "enjoy them while you can"...just realise how incredibly blessed we are to have them in the first place.