Granola

There is a heavenly aroma coming from my oven. It smells like maple syrup and almond and vanilla and deliciousness. Like a gourmet pancake feed. Except better. It is seriously divine. And I haven't even eaten any yet.

One of my favorite friends gave me this lovely cookbook for my birthday...




and it was kinda like love at first sight. You know how you look through some cookbooks and you think, "looks good... but I wouldn't make it." Well... I kinda just want to make everything in this cookbook. Everything. Homemade granola. Yogurt. Butter. Fruit roll ups. Crackers. Dressings. Mixes. Everything.

I've just been waiting to tackle my first recipe, and today, my first day as a full-time stay at home mama, was finally the day.

It took all of 10 minutes, had very little cleanup, and is making my house smell... well... heavenly. I wish I could capture the smell and post it on my blog. Scratch and sniff style. It would make you want to make some. Even if you don't like granola.

Thanks, sweet Ranelle! :)

What should I make tomorrow??

My cynical heart

I'm feeling all cynical today... my heart needs an adjustment. So here are some things I love/am feeling thankful for:

- Emberly drinking freshly juiced vegetables (like kale, cucumbers, and all sorts of other things she'd never actually eat)

- Mamas who come over early in the morning to watch Em so I can get to work on time while my husband is out of town.

- Comp. days that allow me to be at home.

- Packages delivered to my front door so I don't have to shop.

- A best friend who sends a sweet, thoughtful, amazing cookbook gift for my birthday.

- Coupons

- Big hugs from tiny people.

- Mini M&Ms, that serve as the perfect bribe/reward for good behavior and help to save my sanity.

- Trail mix with salty raisins. My newest pregnancy addiction.

- A child singing happily in her crib.

- Cool weather when the air conditioning hasn't been installed yet.

- Toothpicks for my child who is a picky eater, but will try just about anything she can poke with a toothpick.

- Lunch boxes and the discovery that E will eat a peanut butter sandwich if it is creatively presented.

- Cake sprinkles. Because again, with the right decorations, E will try just about anything.

- Cardboard. Makes for hours of fun in the form of a tent.

- Being able to watch Em's imagination blossom right before my eyes.

- Living by a school so Em can watch the school busses bring kids home each day, one of the highlights of her day.

Cribs and Nesting and Stuff

So I had all these grand ideas about what my "almost two-year old" would be up for before this new baby came. The big two items being a big girl bed and potty trained.

Yeah. Except suddenly this baby is due in 8 weeks and I'm realizing that she seems to be nowhere near ready for that.

So what's a mom to do?

Panic, naturally.

And then blame it all on my pregnancy hormones.

So this week after a minor breakdown and the desire to start nesting like none other, my kind husband just says, "let's just go buy a new crib. It's worth our sanity." (Translation: Wife, chill out.) And I'm totally in.

So we look for an economical option, but the crib we like is still $200 and that seems like a giant chunk of change to spend on something we already have. Cribs are expensive, and as much as I try, I just can't feel good about craigslisting it up and wondering if the crib is safe and all that jazz.

So we walk into Bed Bath & Beyond with our 20% off coupon and tell ourselves that $160 is still worth it for the extra sleep this will provide us in the form of not having a toddler on the loose.

We tell the lady we want the crib in white and wait patiently for her to bring it to the front. She comes around the corner and tells us the best news of all-time... they have the exact crib we want, in perfect condition, but in a damaged box. And she'll sell it to us for 50% off. Plus we can still use our coupon. The only problem is that it is in mocha, not white.

Don't care! We suddenly have wanted mocha all along. Especially to the tune of "brand new crib for $80."

And that is when we do a happy dance. Thank you, Lord!




Next up... potty training.

Who wants to borrow my toddler for a week and work some potty training magic?

Gifts

Have you read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp?

It is wrecking my heart. In the best of ways.

And tonight after complaining about what felt like an eternally long day, I started naming the gifts instead, and God spoke to my heart.

- Em's delight in something as simple as rocks and dirt
- sun that warms
- wind that cools
- the sweet smell of a clean, slippery child fresh out of the tub
- extra time for allowing sweet E to try new things and explore
- cuddles in the rocking chair before bed
- songs from the lips of a babe
- Em asking to pray together after waking up in the night
- watching Em lay her head down on the table just like mine, only inches from my face, staring into my heart with a beautiful, sweet smile

Because "to name a thing is to manifest the meaning and value God gave it."

So tonight I choose to name the gifts instead of the grumbles. And my heart feels right again.

"God gives gifts and I give thanks and I unwrap the gift given: joy."

Shoes

This afternoon I worked up the best attitude I could muster to take Em to get some new shoes. Taking a toddler shopping is probably on my list of least favorite activities of all time. But she needs some summery shoes something terrible, and they have to be tried on.

So we literally got as far as the garage. Despite my best efforts to explain we were going in the car and NOT playing outside, my sweet {almost 2-year old} child threw a tantrum about getting into the carseat. Great start.

We drove to Kohls. We talked the whole way there about holding Mommy's hand in the store. We talked about how that's what big girls do. We talked about trying on shoes. We talked about listening to mommy. We talked about what to do when we saw things that were interesting. We talked about looking with our eyes.

{Yes, I do recall she is only 20-months... but the more we talk, the more she understands, and the more she learns to obey. I realize she doesn't have all of the skills yet, nor do I expect it to go perfectly. That's why we practice.}

Anywho - lots and lots of me trying to be patient, trying on shoes, trying to be a "yes" mom and allowing her to explore some, several tantrums and screaming sessions later, we found a pair of sandals that fit.

Except she didn't want to take them off.

So I walked up to the counter and looked for a patient looking cashier that might be willing to scan the shoes while still on her feet. {I was feeling a little desperate. And exhausted.}

We got to the counter. I sat her on the counter and unzipped the diaper bag.

No wallet.

Seriously?! No wallet?

Nope. So I explain to Emberly that we have to take the shoes off. I don't have money. I am fairly certain it is not even in the car. It's still in my work bag (at home), not the diaper bag.

Tantrum.

Bribery with fruit snacks.

Long drive home.

Sulking mama. So we play outside because I don't want to fight with her anymore.

Tantrum to come inside.

Won't eat dinner.

Poops in the tub. For the second time in a week.

Bedtime. Early.


That was my day.

But then as I tuck in my sweet girl she says to me "nigh nigh mama, wuv you" in the sweetest little voice.

And I melt. Because who wouldn't?

Aren't you thankful for grace? And those little reminders and visions when you are so blind to it? I am.

Kale Chip Recipe

Kale Chips

Cut Kale into leafy pieces and lay out flat on a cookie sheet.  Spray with a little bit of PAM or other cooking spray.  Sprinkle with seasoning salt, regular salt, or sea salt... whichever your preference.  Bake in a 350 degree oven until crispy.  If Kale is rather dry, 8-12 minutes, and if quite wet, even longer.  SOOO delicious!

School

Have I mentioned that I resigned from my job a few weeks ago?  I guess that news kind of fell by the wayside in the midst of all of the other chaos.  Although it sure wasn't a small decision.  It felt scary and like a huge deal. 

But now it just feels right.  By God's grace it feels absolutely right. 

I won't go into all of the details, but there were several deciding factors:

1. Jordan was accepted into flight school.  If the NDANG gets actual aircraft again, we will be moving away from sweet Fargo for about 2 years.  If the NDANG does not get aircraft, he will still attend a shortened version of flight school to be able to fly UAVs, which will take us away for a year-ish.  This may seem confusing considering we just moved into a new house.  It is.  But don't worry - we have considered that.  :)  Either way, he will be gone for trainings 6 weeks here and there and so forth, and that means that it just does not make sense for me to be working half-time.  Especially because he is rockstar-daddy-daycare while I'm at work.

2. We are having a baby in July.  I wanted to take a year of maternity leave like I was able to do with Emberly.  It was sweet and perfect and an absolute luxury. 

3.  I love being an at-home mama.  I feel torn each and every day that I am waking up early to get to work and then coming home feeling behind - like I've missed important things at home each day.  I hate that I don't want to plan things in the afternoon and evenings with people I truly care about because I feel like that is my time with Jordan and Emberly.  I hate feeling like I am compromising on things I truly care about because I don't have the time or energy. 

And there are other things too... but I promised I wouldn't go into detail, and I already have.  :) 

So now you know. 

But speaking of school... today is my last day of seeing my students.  The rest of the week we benchmark every student in the entire school.  Every.single.student. 

Then the last two weeks of school are filled with paperwork, makeup tests, meetings, paperwork, and more paperwork.  Yikes!

   

30 weeks

Just in case you lost track, I am at 30 weeks with this sweet baby girl growing inside of me. Can you believe that? I can't in some ways, and in other ways feel kind of sorry for myself that I have 10 weeks left. Ha. Just being honest.

I can't wait to meet this sweet girl, but I'm almost too distracted by Em to feel mentally prepared yet. So maybe 10 weeks is good. I will have time to feel ready to meet this baby and get really good and sick of being pregnant.

School countdown is on. Just 14 contract days left. Then I can officially think about baby too without feeling like going into hyper panic mode!

"Normal"

Normally Emberly throws a tantrum when it is time to come inside. Tonight, she climbed the stairs, stood by the door, said "milk in there" and walked right in to get a drink and didn't even ask to go back out.

Normally she eats fairly well. Today, she hardly ate a thing.

Normally she does not poop in the tub. Tonight, she pooped in the tub.

Normally she wants to play and play until we make her go to bed. Tonight she crawled into my bed and read books and snuggled with me for 30 minutes (way before bedtime) and then asked me to put her to bed.

Normally I'd think my child was ill under all of these circumstances. Tonight I think she is just completely wiped out from the chaos of moving and the extra fun of being able to play outside again.





We had a "nic-nic" outside on the steps for lunch today. Emberly reminded me of this when I asked her about the fun things we did today as I was tucking her into bed. "Nic-nic! Mommy! Daddy! Out-ide!" :) Yup. The little things.

Seeds of Worship

Emberly LOVES music.  Her #1 request throughout the day is "mu-yik?" 

 

So have you heard of Seeds of Worship CDs?  I discovered them through a mom-blog a few weeks ago, and then completely forgot all about them.  I finally downloaded the first volume yesterday and Em loves it.  It is their Seeds of Courage CD.  (There are six more - Seeds of Faith, Praise, Purpose, Power of Encouragement, Character, and Character of God.)  It is straight up scripture set to music - planting "seeds" so-to-speak of God's truth and promises.  I think they're kind of awesome too - of course it is little kid music - repititious and not the most amazing musicallity of all time... but whatever!  I think of all of the verses that I have memorized over the years and so many of them are set to jingles or music.  Deeply planted in my heart.  And I love that, because they just pop into my head when I need truth most.  Plus I'm just bad at memorizing scripture... but I can remember song lyrics like nobody's business.  So I'm selfishly looking forward to memorizing more scripture myself.  :)

 

 

You can order them online through their website for $13 - and that gets you two CDs - one for you and one for a friend (or one for your house and one for your car if you're not feeling as generous or organized!).  OR you can order them on itunes for $10, which is what I did because we currently have no way of getting them from CD to our iphone/ipad/ipod electronics, which is what plays all of our music in our house these days.

 

That's my story! 

More Moving

Woot!  Yesterday was another day filled to the brim with moving our "stuff."  Man you really don't know how much "stuff" you have until you start to move it.  We have a lot of stuff. 

But the happy news is that the only things left in our house are a desk, two paintings, a shower curtain, and the food in our fridge/top freezer. 

Other than that, only the garage needs to be moved... and that will mostly be completed this afternoon.  Yikes! 

Now the fun part begins... unpacking the boxes.  That part feels a little bit heavy.  Like I'd rather take a nap.  :)

Moving moving moving

We did it.  We closed on our new house yesterday and pretty much killed ourselves to get as much moved in one day as we possibly could.  Why did we do this?  Good question.  We have until the 23rd of May to be out of our current house.  I think we're crazy.

BUT.  We slept in our new house last night and I must admit, it was pretty comfy cozy.  Minus the fact that someone dropped the ball somewhere and forgot to flush out our water-lines before we moved in, therefore our water has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad sulfur smell.  Not just a "pregnant nose" bad either.  It's really bad.  When we called we were told to run as much water out our hoses in the back as possible and it would go away.  It hasn't gone away.  So they are coming to check on it today.  I would like a shower.  Yes. Please.

Other than that, I've just been oogling over our new appliances that were delivered yesterday.  It seems awfully shallow to oogle over things like refrigerators and microwaves.  But I totally am.  They are kinda beautiful.

Oh and snuggling that sweet bambino of ours.  It was a stressful day yesterday, but she handled it just swimmingly. (Minus the extra tantrums and the fact that she couldn't handle a "no" answer like she usually does.)  But she slept all night long in her cozy crib and it was a beautiful thing.

Sigh.  And now I am furiously typing away on my prep at work... instead of "prepping" for the week like I probably should be.  But I just can't keep my mind away from home sweet home. 

We wouldn't have survived yesterday without the help of some fantastic friends who not only watched Emberly while we were signing papers, but who also helped move a giant trailer of stuff.  And my parents, who came back from the lake yesterday and helped with Em and moving stuff and organizing the millions of boxes of things in the kitchen and so forth.  And today some of Jordan's coworkers are coming to help with the big heavy things like the washer, dryer, freezer, couches, etc.  It really "takes a village" - if you don't mind my cheesiness.  SO thankful for everyone that has stepped up to help.

That's all!  Time to see kiddos.     

Sleepy

I am so tired I could literally fall asleep on the floor of my office.  My green shag rug looks so indredibly inviting.  This is a problem for three reasons:   

Problem #1: I went to bed at 8:00pm last night (yes, on my 26th birthday).
Problem #2: I felt like death when I woke up at 6:00am (10 hours later).
Problem #3: We close on our house today and haven't even started moving and unpacking boxes.


Lord, please help me.