After months of planning, Michael and Megan’s baby shower is over. It was what I had envisioned, and hopefully what they envisioned. Fun, festive, and not too baby-ish. There were washers with baby teething rings, Bean bags game with diaper bean bags, and bbq. Although the day was hot, the tent provided great shade and most of the guests wanted to enjoy the outdoors. 

The food was delicious (Thanks to Nana Jill),the drinks were cold (Thanks so Bama Carol), and the meat was hot (Thanks to Andrew and Dr. Walker)

Here are some pictures of the event.

Individual size portions of Michael’s favorite: Gooey Butter Cake (in mason jars) and Megan’s favorite: Cookie Cake

Veggies and Pesto Dip in Bamboo holders

Sophie, “yeah. I’m standing in the washer box….what are you gonna do now huh?”

Big Sister Bella….yes, she had a shirt.

Obviously, Megan’s family

The spread of bbq themed food

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Ellie came out during nap and said she just couldn’t sleep! She was bored reading books, and she didn’t want to play quietly (basically every option I gave her)

I said, “fine you can play outside”. I was already working out in the yard, so what the heck? One day of not resting won’t kill her right?

It was so quiet in the backyard…..and I found this….. Look who wasn’t tired.

Here is Sophie shopping at Trader Joes. Can I just say? I’m beginning to love that place. In our month of healthy eating, they offer really great options for real foods and their prices are really comparable or cheaper than a big grocery store.

Pros:

1. Healthy Food

2. FRIENDLY, FRIENDLY, FRIENDLY employees. The check out guy asked me what I was gonna do with my hummus and after I gave him a confused look (I only knew you could dip it) proceeded to list like 5 ways to use hummus. Who knew! So helpful. I then asked if I could stay and hang out awhile and just listen to him talk to other customers and take notes….he looked at me weird.

3. Small store. Everything is crammed together in a pretty small space, but it’s only a few aisles to navigate.

4. Kid carts. GENIUS!!! Sophie loves pushing hers and has managed to steer better and better everytime. Although, this last time she did tip over her whole cart of items. Note to self: Produce prob’ly shouldn’t go in her cart.

Cons: 

1. There isn’t really a location too too close to me. They’re about 30 minutes away.

2. There are a lot of items produced around peanuts/tree nuts, so I can’t buy them.

We hung with the bison yesterday

Laura took me to get pedicures! and we picked the same color. :) What a thoughtful sister!

It really is Mommies and Muffins, but Laura renamed it and I think it’s actually kinda funny. and true. (muffin tops)

I spent the morning with my sweet, cuddly Ellie at school. She sang me songs,we  made a craft, colored, and went to chapel together. It was a really sweet morning. She’s been looking forward to it for weeks. It makes me feel really loved. Even though I know that’s just how kids are, they love their parents. I just think about how one day she may not want me to even pick her up from school, let alone hug me in public, so for now, I’m gonna soak it all in. I’m gonna let her sit on my lap at school, I’m gonna hold her hand when we walk down the old, familiar hallways, and I’m gonna drink in the love from her smile at me. 

Yesterday morning, Ellie came running into my room around 6:30am. “Mom!!! There’s a mouse!!!” Not exactly the first words I wanna hear when waking up. I’m not a morning person to begin with, so as I more quickly than usual came out of my morning fog, I finally understood her words. There was a mouse in the window well. Well, that was sort of better than the alternative right?

The basement window well was last year, the home to about 12 frogs or toads or some hopping creatures. It was sort of like a built in terrarium, which the girls loved. Soph was a bit more hesitant of the mouse. “I no like mousie”. Ellie on the other hand spent the better part of the day checking on it and quickly named it sweet pea. What a great mouse name !?! (My suggestion of Ralph didn’t get anywhere)

After work, Ben climbed into the well and got the mouse out, who didn’t really even move….that’s not a real good sign. He didn’t seem “quite right”. The girls and I carried Sweet Pea down to the end of the street into the woods (don’t worry, it’s just a construction zone) and released the little beast. The whole time I was saying, “dont. touch. it.” and the whole time, Ellie was begging me to keep it as a pet. Ew. Farewell Sweet Pea. Don’t. Come. Back.

Some of you already know this, but our family has embarked on a dietary adventure this month. Last month we tried a “cheap meals” menu. That included lots of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, hotdogs, and highly processed foods that were, well,  cheap. Unfortunately, our family is a big fan of all those things. I think we could eat mac n’ cheese every week….and we did last month. I’m not sure what happened, but I hit a breaking point. I was so disgusted with all the yucky, not fresh foods.

So, I happened upon a website called 100 Days of Real Food. It inspired me. I couldn’t stop reading it and looking at all the recipes. I talked to Ben and he agreed to give it a try for a month. The website has 4 weekly menu plans that you can try, one for each season. I tried the spring menu and then I made my own for this week. I haven’t lost any weight, but I feel so much healthier. I was worried about my girls not taking to it. Sophie has a history of not eating any veggies, and not trying things she doesn’t like to look at. Surprisingly, they have been eating everything. They are eating more than they used to. Soph has been trying things. Even weird looking things. I just feel so much better knowing that these kids are eating healthier.

Here is our PBJ Smoothie. (frozen berrries,banana, sunbutter (nut-free), apple juice, milk, ice and spinach)

A typical lunch may look like this. It doesn’t look like much, but is actually really filling.

(PBJ Smoothie, cheese and crackers, dried blueberries)

The fun part will be when my garden starts producing. It’s growing slowly. So far, I’ve gotten lettuce. I can’t wait for the tomatoes! I highly encourage you to check out the 100 days website. It’s so yummy!

Here’s me harvesting the lettuce!!!

The bounty

The strawberries have been sooo amazing. I wish we had a whole patch…next year…

My squash in the container is doing really well. The leaves are huge and it has a flower!! Can’t wait for a squash to grill!

ps. If you’re wondering, yes, I do have to spend a bit more money to each fresh, healthy food. However, I have tried to keep down the costs by buying lots of the produce at Trader Joe’s and Aldi. I don’t follow her plan exactly, in that I normally don’t buy organic, to save money. I buy it where I can though.

Recently I saw a cute idea on Pinterest (obviously). I made myself actually do it instead of admiring it and not doing anything about it. I LOVE how it turned out. Ben and I are realizing that our house is more of a home when it’s fun and functional, not perfectly set up like a magazine. First of all, we all know it’s not set up like a magazine, and it won’t be for awhile, at least while these two munchkins are running around. Second, I’m not sure that’s what we want right now. It’s more fun this way. We love our chalkboard wall and now we love our yarn letters! Check m out!

First Ben helped me print out a giant template to fit the space above the closet door in the breakfast area.

Then I put nails in all the corners and around the U. I took off the paper and then wrapped the yarn around the nails.

I’m so proud of my brother and his recent accomplishments….read about them here.