Be still my heart

Besides the fact that chips and crackers have no real nutritional value, they are just plain not good for you. I would be lying though if I said that I never dream about, crave sour cream and onion flavored chips and crackers. Now, I admit, I am weak and if my dairy allergy didn't prevent me from buying these things I would probably 'cheat' on my healthy eating a little bit too often. Enter the Sour Cream & Onion Kale Chip. Girlfriend, you heard me right! I said, "Sour Cream & Onion KALE CHIPS." Where has this recipe been hiding the last 3 years? I found a recipe that looked good on Carrie On Vegan and tweaked it a little to my standards. Be still my heart.

In other baking related news, I've been seeing a lot of dessert recipes in honor of valentines day that call for a can of black beans. Yes, I said black beans. I am having trouble wrapping my head around the recipe for  Valentines Day Dark Chocolate Strawberry Muffins  or Black Bean Brownies (they should really change the name) that call for a can of black beans as their main ingredient.  Which of course means I'm going to have to try at least one of these recipes. Wouldn't it be great if they were actually really good AND guilt free? Hmm, I'm feeling skeptical. This will probably turn out like my dessert hummus.

Today was a great MOPS day even though everything went wrong before hand. BUT I realized something as I was letting people hurl questions at me. I have some secret blog stockers. Leave me a comment people! Don't be afraid, be a lover not a hater. I LOVE comments. Be still my heart.

January

In my head I blog several times a day about all sorts of interesting things. Somehow though I never make it to the computer long enough to actually do it. It is one of my goals to be better about this in 2012 but as you can see I am only just catching up.

Here is a review of January 

Beck: We could never ask for a sweeter baby. Even with a 2 month long ear infection he is a constant joy and light in all of our lives. (except at 3am) I love watching him when I pick up the kids from school. He practically throws himself out of my arms to reach them and loves their hugs and kisses. He is pulling himself up on everything and has just discovered that he can 'play' the piano when it is open. He kind reminds me of a puppy, sometimes he gets going so fast that his body can't keep up and he does a face plant. He also howls along when Tully is practicing piano or Matt is playing guitar or Tessa is dancing to music. He has learned how to respond to "How big is Beck?" and it is just the cutest! We are working on waving and signing "more" and "all done" but whenever I ask him to do any of those he just does "so big." Love. it. 

On Wednesday he got tubes in his ears and his adenoids out. Poor little guy was not happy coming out of anesthesia but was his happy self again soon. Um, and that night? He slept. the. whole. night. Thank you tylenol with codeine. 

Tessa: Can you say Hip To The Hop? Tessa has discovered her love for hip hop dancing and can often be found practicing in the garage. She is usually game to preform for you once she feels comfortable and it is pretty cute. She has started a hip hop dance class and loved it. She's a little.... stiff, but that kind of makes it even more adorable. 

She is thriving at school and it seems like she has finally really hit her stride. She is doing much better on her numbers and letters and loves being in Kindergarten! We are so thankful for her teacher and her unending patience with these little people. I know I couldn't teach kindergarten! 

Tessa and I have a little game we play lately called "All of the reasons I love Tessa," I start listing off all of the great things about Tessa and sit back and watch as her smile gets bigger and bigger. The little girl who used to get mad if you paid her a compliment is no longer. 

She still thinks she is Beck's Mom and Daddy is still the best person in the world. 

Tully: Speaking of Hip Hop, someone else has discovered that he likes Hip Hop too. It is hailarous to watch as T & T stiffly dance together in the garage. You can see that they are feeling all of this energy when the music comes on and they just want to get it out but can't quite figure it out. I have some good video. 

Tully is loving to read, is always wanting to work on his math book (groan, how do I have a child that loves math?) and can't get enough time with his friends. 

He has started golf and looks forward to every Thursday when he gets to go to golf with Jack and Spencer. He is still in constant movement, always playing soccer, basketball, kickball or just running. Constant running. through our house. all of the time.

We had a lot of sickness in January and are hoping that were done for the year! We ended a great weekend with the McCraws with most of us getting the flu after we had just recovered from a round of strep. Come on Elderberry, do your work. 

In the kitchen, January has held an addiction for Kale that I never knew was possible. A ridiculous love of sweet potato smoothies and a desire to make a healthy dessert hummus that Matt will actually eat. I've read several good articles this month on health, reversing autoimmune disease,  vegan eating  Evidence for a Vegan Diet (which I don't do but am fascinated by), and weight loss. 

MOPS also started up again and as we start what is going to be my last semester as coordinator I find myself feeling both extremely nostalgic and strangely grateful. 

I've read a couple of great articles on parenting this month also. Ann Voskamp's article on  What a parent want to say before a child leaves is amazing. I would of read it out loud at MOPS but there is no way I could have gotten through it!

My goals in February are to continue to eat well, and continue to try to send myself into a 'recovery state' where I don't experience any symptoms of my disease. To try to get Tully to actually eat his lunch. To put something other than yoga pants on at least twice a week. 

I was also encouraged when hanging out with my friend Jill (Joy in the small things) today to say a blessing over my kids when I drop them off at school. Numbers 6:24-26, I plan to get to know you well. 

I also want a tattoo but I think I'll wait on that one. 

Reminders

This week is one of those crazy weeks before Christmas. There are Christmas cards to send, gifts to buy, laundry to be folded, holiday baking to do. Not to mention I should probably take a shower and get out of my pj's at some point. I've been feeling stressed and overwhelmed with so many things to do in general, so when Beck woke up early from his morning nap, I admit I was annoyed. I was determined to  get him back to sleep so we sat in the rocker and started rocking. At first he was trying to claw his way out of my arms and I could practically hear him saying "I'm NOT tired!" but as we kept rocking he started to settle down and so did I. We both took deep breaths and started to relax. As I sat there holding him, his cheek pressed against my chest, his chubby fingers on my face, stroking his soft little bald head, I started to remember that I didn't want to miss this. I might never get my Christmas cards out but I know I will never get today back with Beck. He is growing so quickly and as I think back over the last year, I can't believe how much everyone is changing. All 3 kids are getting so big and I feel nostalgic. And humbled. I sat with Beck and I thought of the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus birth. I thought of how I often try to claw my way out of Jesus arms the same way Beck tried to get out of mine. I thought of how thankful I am to have a savior. I  thought of how thankful I am for the little things. Walks around the block in the cold to look at Christmas lights as a family, apple cider after school, my floor being littered with scraps of paper as my kids cut out snowflakes, Tully walking around singing Hark The Herald Angles Sing and reading the Christmas story before bed. I'm also thankful for gentle reminders in the form of a baby. Merry Christmas!

It's been a fun week at school. The kids each had a trip to the pumpkin patch with their big buddies, a costume parade and fall carnival. Yeah October!

6 Months!!

6 months, 182 days, 4,382 hours. In many ways it seems that Beck has been with us forever and in many ways it seems so short. It's hard to remember what life was like before him. But this I know for sure, he brings more joy, more laughter and fuller hearts to our family. We could not have asked for a sweeter baby. At 6 months, he laughs and giggles, but only at Tessa. He rolls all over the place, is about to crawl, has discovered he can stick out his tongue and wants to be around people!! He likes loves food of any kind and try's to grab anything you are eating or drinking out of your hand. He coo's, goo's, ah's and generally just "talks" all day. He is squishy, chunky, soft and bald. And very kissable. And me? I am blessed, thankful and head over heels in love. Happy 6 month birthday Beck!

Tully's Lego Party

Somehow I blinked and Tully turned seven. I'm really not quite sure how this happened.
I like parties, and I like throwing birthday parties for my kids, and I like them to have themes.  This year though, Tully's Birthday kind of snuck up on me. We had a crazy couple of weeks, and had been out of town for Gigi's memorial service last weekend followed by the flu making it's way through our entire family (besides Beck, thank goodness). I had been planning on just taking Tully and a few friends bowling but when I looked into how much it would cost, I couldn't pay so much for so little. So, on Wednesday before his Saturday Birthday, the Lego party was born. I put aside my fears that I couldn't pull off something fun in 4 days and got to planning. I quickly dropped off invitations to some friends, spent the night printing out decorations and making lists. I went to bed Wednesday night prepared to get up and shop  on Thursday for everything we would need. Instead I woke up with the flu. Fast forward to Friday, I was up early, preparing for MOPS, baking and frosting cupcakes to take to Tully's school and trying not to panic about how much I had to do. All the while in heels of course. After MOPS, Beck and I headed out to run a hundred errands, Beck was a trooper! He finally had a meltdown at 5:00 in Trader Joes, and I must admit that so did I. Trader Joes on a Friday night with 3 kids while still in heels was just a little to much for me! But we got everything done and Tully said it was his best party ever! :)
We had a lego relay race, lego treasure hunt, lot's of junk food and a few impromptu games that Matt created.

Tully

This captures Tully perfectly. Love that crazy kid.