Easter Weekend

Thursday after I got done teaching we drove to Bismarck to spend Easter weekend with Jordan's parents. I have the best in-laws ever {and I'm not just saying that because they might be reading this!}. Hehe. Our weekend was lovely and relaxing and we called it "vacation" because it felt like one.

Unfortunately our vacation ended rather abruptly in the wee hours of Easter morning with a non-stop coughing baby and non-sleeping everyone. It was a little harsh. We tried church this morning, but without the option of using the nursery thanks to Em's constant cough and runny nose, we didn't have a super peaceful church service. Jordan and I actually ended up just getting up and leaving after the music.

We got back to the Wobbema's, packed up, and ate a lovely lunch... at least it was mostly lovely until Em coughed so hard she puked... Oops. So we quickly ended our lunch, loaded up, and drove home.

Em slept most of the way and was in better spirits, so we stopped at my parent's house upon getting back into town and had the Easter egg hunt we never quite got around to this morning and ate dinner with them.

When we finally got home we drove up to our yard to find water balloons decorating our yard as Easter eggs. I'm very sure some of my favorite lake neighbors (one of which I call "the Water Balloon King") are involved... as this has happened once or twice before while I was growing up. Happy memories!

We finally tucked our sweet child into her bed, and she passed out immediately. We are praying for a more restful night.

It was a big weekend... and here it is, 8:05pm, and Jordan and I are both tucked into bed.

Want to see pictures from the weekend?















It would be easy to think that Easter is all about the cute Easter dresses and egg hunt and candy and family and "stuff," but I hope you see how much bigger it is than that. And by "it," I mean JESUS. Because Jesus IS Easter. He came for you and for me and died as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. The tomb is empty and He is Risen! It's not just a catchy Eastery thing. It's the whole reason we can have life. Thank you, Jesus!
Happy Easter!

Sweet Em

Coloring

She loves to color.

Isn't she cute?

 

A little late to the party...

Ok I'm probably super late to the party, but I just discovered the joy of ordering essential items from Amazon... for example, toilet paper.  I used to just love to go to Target, but as Jordan would say, he'd hear the "cha-ching" of dollar signs adding up with me just walking through the doors.  Target is my kryptonite. 

But since having a sweet little bambino, Target has lost all appeal (unless I am alone) because Emberly is just not into shopping.  Especially for cleaning supplies and toilet paper and mascara and whatever else looks interesting at the time. 

So yesterday when I realized that we had 3 rolls of toilet paper left in our entire house, I decided Target better be pretty high on my priority list this week.  Except I just went last week.  Twice.  Why oh why did I not realize we were nearly out of toilet paper? 

So I jokingly said to Jordan, "I wonder if you can buy toilet paper on Amazon?"  And he said, "I'm sure you can."  To which I responded... "uh... really??" 

And yes, we found a giant wonderful sale of toilet paper on Amazon, compared it to the price I'd be getting at Target, and hit the "order now" button.  We'd never do it if we had to pay for shipping, but we are those people that pay for Amazon Prime because we order stuff all the time, therefore qualifying us for free two-day shipping.  My life has just become a little more awesome.  Plus 48-rolls of toilet paper will be delivered to my front door in two short days. 

Win.

Does this make me old that this makes me so happy?

Fingernails

My 18-month old loves to have her fingernails clipped. She sits and patiently lets you clip each nail, listening for the little "clip!" you hear each time. And when you're done with one hand she hands you the next, and when you're done with both hands she suggests you do her feet. I kid you not. This child is unreal.

Molly

Applesauce Cake

Have you ever had applesauce cake?

It is delicious.

I made one yesterday because it was a snow day, and well... what better way to spend a snow day than baking delicious things with a more than willing to help 18-month old?



I need an intervention.




Molly

Newly Obsessed

Do you have an iPhone? I have no idea if this is specific to the iPhone, but I discovered this nifty little {free} app called "Red Stamp."

You pick a little template, snag a picture off your phone, type in a few words, and "wah-lah" you have a cutesie announcement, thank you note, or any other "just because" kind of note you want to make. Then all you have to do is hit "send" and you can text or email it to whoever {whomever? whoever? grammar people?} you want! For free!

Now, of course they have templates you have to pay for... and duh they are way cuter... but there are also lots of cute non-paid for ones too.

Maybe this means I won't be eternally behind on thank you notes anymore. {Or still be writing Christmas ones in... um... march}. Cuz let's be honest, it's not that I'm not thankful - it is just so hard to find notecards and stamps and get things in a mailbox. So. Many. Steps. And so many possible distractions in between.

So here are two cutesie examples that I made just for fun...

Snow Day

Today was about 53 kinds of lovely. I got to sleep in, snuggle, read books and play with my very sweet (but very busy) little one, sip hot tea leisurely through the morning, take a long hot shower, get a little sewing in, make a pot of soup for tomorrow, enchiladas for lunch, and an applesauce cake just because.

Now I'm caught up on laundry, diapers are washed and dried, dishes are done, toys are picked up and put away for the day, and Em is tucked into bed. Sigh.

Maybe I'll treat myself to a bath, good book, and a second piece of applesauce cake. :)

Molly

Muffins. Delicious, tasty, muffins.

I am not a health-nut crazy of any sort... but I do like to look for healthier options to the current things that we consume/do in our home.  Things that are manageable.  Similar to what we are currently doing, but a step above.  Things that won't break the bank or make me crazy in the process.  Moderate things.  Nothing too extreme. 

So I found a delicious chocolate muffin recipe with no flour, no sugar, no oil, no butter, and just a few egg whites.  What is in this delicious morsel you wonder?  Unsweetened applesauce (of which I made and canned this summer... so it is 100% legit), plain greek non-fat yogurt, egg whites, a little stevia, unsweetened cocoa, and old fashioned oats.  (Along with a couple of other random baking ingredients... but these are the big ones.)  They do not even taste healthy.  Trust me.  And then repeat: 58 calories.  58 calories.  58 calories!

Check out this deliciousness...

 

Does it make you drool?  Because there is currently one sitting in front of me that is making me drool.  Why haven't I eaten it yet?  Well... I'm trying to be moderate, remember???  It's only 7:30am and I have already had one.  I need to save the other one for at least 9:00 between seeing students.  It's going to be hard.

So that's my story.  I hope you liked it.

Molly

P.S. Here is the link for the recipe (so I don't lose it) AND in case I've made you curious...
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/06/low-calorie-triple-chocolate-chunk.html 


Oh... and here is my sweet little helper.  If you don't have one of these, I'd recommend getting one too.  The sweet little one pictured below is already taken (unfortunately for you), but you could probably find a similar alternative of your own if you looked hard enough.  Or I could probably loan you mine for an hour or two.  Maybe. 

Emberly carefully and strategically placed each muffin liner in my muffin tins for the entirety of the time it took me to mix up the muffins.  She would finish and say, "more?  more?  more?  hep?  mama?" until I would take them out for her and she'd do it again.  Yup.  She's pretty awesome. 

"Mommy"

I'm not really a "cry it out" mama, but I do believe some crying is good, healthy, and necessary for a child to "decompress" at nighttime. I feel like I know when Emberly needs something and when she is just a mess and needs to come down from the day. However, it was a lot easier to let her cry before she started crying while calling "mommy! mommy! mommy!" in this pathetic, tear filled little voice. It is not easy to ignore.

So last week I made the mistake of going to get her to have her tell me she needed a snack, and me plopping her in my bed while going out to the kitchen to grab her some milk. Now she wakes up and thinks she needs to get in my bed and eat a snack. Bad mama. Now to undo that...

Funny Child

Papa Juice and Emberly have this special connection. I mean, why wouldn't they? Papa doesn't have to say no to anything. He doesn't make her get her diaper changed, put her to bed, or eat her vegetables. Plus he feeds her ice cream when I'm not around.

Well they like to tease each other a lot, so every time Papa does something silly Em says "papaaaaa" in this low growl voice that is beyond silly. And then he copies her tone and says "Emmyyyy." You just have to hear it to know.


Anywho. Tonight from her crib when she is supposed to be sleeping I suddenly hear "papaaaaa" in this little growl about 10 times in a row and a little giggle.

And then she proceeds to list off everyone she knows, because we name all the people who are sleeping at night, and then all the people that love her. So after I hear "papaaaa" I hear...

Mama. Go go. (Grandma Margo)
Mama. Eeciee. (Grandma Tracie)
Papaaaaa. Ooice. (Grandpa Juice)
Papa. Nack. (Grandpa Mike)
Hadweeee (Cousin Hadley)
Aaaniene (Cousin Adrienne)
Haaa-poo (Friend Harper)
Maw-mee (mommy)
Da-da (daddy)
Nack (maybe grandpa mike again, or maybe uncle mike)
...

And there were more but they trailed off in a quieter voice.

She's funny. I think I'll keep her around.


Molly

For Sale By Owner

Once upon a time, the week before we went to Florida for our little getaway vacation, we were sitting in the living room and said to each other, "hey let's put our house on Craigslist and see if anyone bites."

So we did. With not a picture or a single thing ready and cleaned up in our house.

We had 2 people ask for pictures in the next hour, and 4 people total inquire that day.

So we took some pictures and threw a few online and went on vacation.

While we were gone we were suddenly in high demand by realtors who had seen our listing and wanted to represent us. "No thanks friends," we said, because we had all the time in the world and were not interested in paying a realtor commission. Nope. No thank you to that.

But then individuals started looking, and then realtors wanted to bring some interested people even though we weren't going to pay them, and then suddenly last night we had an offer.

It wasn't a great offer, but it wasn't bad either. So we countered, and they countered, and we countered, and they countered, and 3 hours later we had a fantastic offer and a deal!

Bah!

So... now I guess we have to find somewhere to live!

The end. Or... maybe the beginning!


Molly