Family Friday

Just something that happened this past week I thought I'd share....


Blake and I were out on a jog yesterday morning, and we were joined by this little guy.  The happiest little dog ever!  I feel I usually have a pretty good situational awareness, but he totally snuck up on us.  I actually felt something brush my ankle, and looked down to see this little dog in between my feet!  Well, after being startled and jumping as high as I could, and yelling something embarrassing like "blablalalalalaaa", I realized he was friendly and in need of help.




He had no tag, just a collar with a half chewed off leash.  It has still been reaching high temps of 100 degrees around here and his feet were caked in mud.  Well, we got him some water and he followed us home a good 2-3 blocks through the neighborhood.  Blake kept shouting "come'ere little puppy, we'll help you!"  Seeing how friendly he was and hearing Blake say that over and over, left me no choice.  We got home to give him more water and some dog food, and called animal control to come pick him up.  It felt good to do a good deed for our four legged friend!  Hope he makes it home safely!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thoughts for Thursday

So for last week's Thoughts for Thursday I had kind of a Ms. Positive thing going on.  It was a little on the "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" side. Well, since then I had a couple of really crappy days!  Nothing major...just a nothing-going-right/bad-mood kind of thing.  I was annoyed with myself that I could write about making the most out of life, and then feel so completely opposite. What a hypocrite, huh?!


Well, today is a new day.  It's not all rainbows and lollipops, but I have pulled myself out of a slump.  I won't go into all the details, but mainly I was just having a lot of mom guilt.  It's hard keeping up with everything and a toddler.  Some new discipline things have popped up with our little one.  Nothing major, just pushing at playgroups, but it's been making me feel down.  I know she's two, it's a kid thing, probably a phase, but it's frustrating!  I'm finding these toddler years are fun and frustrating!  It's a little, or a lot, of both I guess.  Cute they are talking more and all, but it's also a feeling of "so not only do I have to keep you alive and teach you what to do, but I also have to teach you what NOT to do?"  Ha!  Just kidding.  I know it goes along with being a parent, but man, this job never gets a day off!  Well, I got a new game plan.  I'm going to try to stop feeling all crappy about it and just do something else about it.  What I have been trying has not worked, so duh, I'm going to try something else.


Here are a couple of posters that I have seen recently on Pinterest that relate to what I'm talking about.  It's just absolute common sense, but a nice reminder when I am feeling overwhelmed.

Duh.

If only we could just have this attitude everyday.

So that last one reminds me of a quote I hear or see every now and then....

"When I get sad, 

I stop being sad

 and

 be awesome instead. 

True story." 

I looked up the author on this one. Apparently, it is from the show How I Met Your Mother.  The character Barney Stinson has it on a poster in his office.  I haven't really watched this show, but maybe I should start.  I heard it's funny and that quote has caught my eye.  Well, turning this week around now.  Here's to hoping it gets a little more on the awesome side!;)

Wonderful Wednesday

Something I've Found to be Wonderful....
...whether it's a book, idea, website, movie, etc.

If you haven't already heard of Pinterest, you really should check it out.  It's awesome.  When I first heard of it, my first thought was kind of "what now?"  I was wondering if I would have to keep up with something new or if it was tricky to understand.  I'm not a genius with new computer stuff.  I love Facebook.  Twitter grabs my eye occasionally, but I'm not really a tweeter. Ha!  So what was this thing called Pinterest?


Well, you really just kind of have to check it out yourself to get the full picture.  It is a website, www.pinterest.com, and there is an app for your phone.  It's mainly a great source of inspiration, and for me it's a mood lifter.  There are a ton of beautiful pictures and clever ideas that you can sift through and "pin" something that you find of interest. You can create virtual clipboards in a sense. If you see something on the actual website or actually anywhere on the web, you can can "pin" it  and save it for later.  Find a cool living room arrangement, pin it to a "ideas for the house" folder.  Find a mouth watering recipe, pin it to a "recipe" folder.   Making any sense? If you click on the actual pictures themselves, it then links you to their source.  So it is also a great way to find new blogs and cool websites that you might not find otherwise.


It's kind of hard to describe, so just go check it out.  When I first got into it, I kind of wondered why no one had already mentioned it to me.  It was like this awesome little secret.  Well, it's taking over now and you may have already seen or heard about it.  If not, see if it's for you.  I bet you'll find it very Pinteresting!;)

Tasty Tuesdays

Little Pieces of Heaven....that is how I'd probably describe these chocolate chip cookies.  They are almost more like little cakes than cookies because they are just so fluffy.  Chad begs me to make these. Never in my life did I think I could make such good cookies from scratch, but a really good friend gave me this recipe.  I am forever grateful to her because I almost feel like Martha Stewart when I make them, and I am far from Martha. Anyways, my friend got it from a friend who got it from America's Test Kitchen.  I could not find this exact recipe on their site, but their site is loaded with great recipes.  Check them out at www.americastestkitchen.com.  Here's your ticket to making these great cookies....

Big and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Be sure to follow recipe to the tee. They say it is important to have the butter melted and cooled to make them come out just right.  Makes 2 dozen medium to large sized cookies.  Prep time 5 minutes. Total time 35 minutes, plus cooling time.

Ingredients

3 1/3 cups all purpose flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

16 tbsp (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled.

1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1 (12 oz) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (2 cups)
Parchment paper for baking sheets

1. (*melt butter first so it has time to cool off) Adjust the oven racks to the upper and lower middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.

2. Beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until combined, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed.

3. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Stir in the chocolate chips until incorporated.

4. Working with 1/4 cup dough at a time, roll the dough into balls and lay on two parchment lined baking sheets, spaced about 2.5 inches apart. Bake until the edges are golden, but the centers are still soft and puffy, 17 to 20 minutes, rotating and switching the baking sheets halfway through baking.  (I do 10 minutes, switch, and 10 minutes and it has worked every time)

5. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack to let cool completely. 

TO MAKE AHEAD:

The dough can be made through step 3 and either covered tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 3 days or portioned out and frozen. When ready to bake, reduce the oven temp to 300 degrees and increase the baking time to 25 to 30 minutes. 
www.americastestkitchen.com.

Enjoy!

On A Mission Monday

Baby book is done!  Well, 98% done to be exact.  I have a few paragraphs to fill in...a page "about mommy" and "about daddy", and some descriptions of birthday parties, etc.  Not a biggie though.  I will probably have that done tonight.  Honestly, if I wouldn't have this blog and giving myself a true deadline to just get it done, I'm not sure if I ever would have.  I found once I forced myself to sit down and do it, I got into it.  I am more than 100% happy with it.  It may have taken me a while, but it wasn't just slopped together.  I'd share more pics of its pages, but there's such personal info that I get a little nervous to have it out there on the Internet.  So another Monday Mission complete!

Mission 1- Canvas Painting

Mission 2 - Kitchen Desk

Mission 3 and 4 - Baby Book

Feeling good about getting these things off my to-do list.  This week's mission for "On a Mission Monday": Sprucing up a couple things in Blake's room.  There are several little "areas" that could use some work.  I'd shout them out, but not sure if it will be a simple closet clean-up or something new for her walls.  I know it could use a little work in there though.  Next week I'll show you what all I get to.  Happy Labor Day everyone!  Hope you're enjoying the 3 day weekend!

Family Fridays

What We've Been Up to Lately...


Today is a super busy one for us.  We are getting some things done around the house before our family arrives this evening.  I thought I'd end the week with these two cute things Blake has been saying that are new this week, and two cute stuffed animals that she has grown very fond of.


1. Sometimes when I go to get Blake up from either a night of sleep or her nap time, my hair might happen to still be wet from taking a shower.  Well, she does not like me to have wet hair at all.  In fact, she asks that I go dry it before she gets out of bed.  Why?  No clue.  I think it is cute though.  She'll say "you have to keep your hair dry mommy, okay?"  So I'll give her a book to read to her stuffed animals and I then I get extra time to dry my hair and/or put on make-up.


2.  At night, she used to really cry for maybe 20 -30 seconds in protest of bedtime before just giving up and laying down for bed.  She used to cry much longer, but the 30 second thing was our last phase, and I thought that was good.  Well now, magically, she is fine with bedtime as long as we tell her what we are going to do.  For example, if I'm putting her down and Chad is downstairs, she'll say "you go downstairs mommy and go talk to daddy".  I'll agree to do that, and it's lights out and goodnight.  I'm loving this new stage.  She's been doing the same thing for Chad.  I'm sure it will not last long, but I'll take it!

Meet "Her" and "Him".

They go where we go.  Here is Blake and "Her" getting the mail.

Chad got her these two elephants out of a crane machine at the bowling alley.  They are named "Her" and "Him", and they are Blake's babies.  She takes very good care of these little guys.  Not a lot new this week, but with Blake's personality coming out more and more each day, we are plenty entertained!  Have a great weekend everyone!:)

Thoughts for Thursday

Deep thoughts, random thoughts...just some thoughts for Thursday.

September is here!  I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to Fall!  I know it is not technically here yet, but sometimes just a flip of the calendar gives me the feeling of a fresh new start.  Does it feel any different for you or not really?  We all mark certain times of the year as a starting off point, don't we?  New Year's day, our birthday, school years, different seasons, different months....they're all just days on the calendar really, but some feel more significant than others.  


Well, I was just thinking this morning about how everything lately seems to be going well for us. I was out on a jog with my daughter in her stroller.  It felt different because it was cooler and the change felt nice. We are on an up swing, you could say.  Life is all about change.  Good days, bad days, good moods, bad moods.  How often we have the power to make life whatever we want, but we can just get stuck in a rut.  I can be such a homebody at times, but when I start to feel blah, it's good to shake things up.  My daughter and I just started a new weekly Community Bible Study, which I think is going to be good for us both.  I took a two hour long Zumba class last night.  I haven't taken a dance class like that since I was in college.  I didn't feel guilty it was during dinner time either because of the new set-up I have with my friend.  Our new weekly dinner swap had dinner taken care of.  My husband got extra time for a daddy/daughter dinner, and mommy got time to go do my own thing.  We have family coming to visit this weekend.  I do not want to jinx myself, but all is well right now.


I also got to thinking how a couple months ago when I was lying in a hospital bed...I just wanted to have the freedom to go and do these things.  We can all take so much for granted until we don't have the option to do so.  I realize life isn't always completely a go-make-it-what-you-want-it scenario.  Obviously, some things we cannot change.  We may be sick in a hospital bed, have family members sick, have sad situations, or financial troubles.  We may be in a stage where we are not getting enough sleep from any of the frustrating things I just mentioned, or even from something good like the blessing of a baby or young child.  They too can rob us of our sleep and zap our energy.


I get a little lost in my thoughts here because I am reflecting more upon my own life, and not directing this at anyone in particular who may read this.  I don't mean to sound like I'm giving a sermon or something.  We all go through certain stages and problems.  It's just life can really swing back and forth. I know when I was in that hospital bed I almost felt as though everyone should have a picture of what I was looking at somewhere framed in their house.  Just to give perspective.  I have it mentally in my mind.  If you are in a stage where you can't change certain things, I hope you find the strength to get through them and remain as positive as possible.  When you get through that difficult time, you will be able to enjoy things so much more, so please hang on to that thought.  And if all you need for a good change...is a change of perspective or attitude, or a new routine, then by all means...do that for yourself.  Life is too short.  


Man, deep thoughts again today.  Hope I'm not bringing everyone down!  My intent was actually just to say "yay, it's September!" and I got lost in something that had been on my mind from a couple months back.  Haha!  Okay, clearing some tears from my eyes here.  Geesh.  I guess this is what happens when you have some thoughts you kind of want to verbalize, and then you go get your own blog!  Please though, take it from me...if it's not life threatening, just enjoy your days the absolute most you can.  Flip that calendar and say today is a new day, a new month, a new start. I hope you all have the best September ever!  Random thoughts next week so you don't all think I've gone completely crazy!