one fish and two snails later...

It's been rainy and cold 'round these parts lately...which is super confusing because it's the middle of May. So that means instead of spending time outside, Jillian and I were confined inside, which lasts all of 2 hours before we're both bored and annoying each other. Sooo Field trip time! I had an errand to run at Lowe's and saw that Petsmart was right next door. With all of the pets they have out on display, I figured it'd be like a mini zoo experience. And I was right! Jillian loved it and freaked out over all of the fish tanks. She even got to hold a few kittens! 

I think we spent a total of almost an hour just looking at all of the critters in their cages. But what fun is going to a pet store if you don't  come home with a pet?! After talking to one of the employees, I realized the easiest pet to take care of would be a beta fish, so home with a beta fish (and a snail just for fun) we went. 

Jillian LOVES it! Unfortunately snail #1 died within about 30 minutes of being home (lame), but thanks to Petsmart 14 day guarantee we just went back and got another one! We did have a bit of a "Darla from Nemo" experience where Jillian kept wanting to bang on the tank, scoop the fish out with her fingers, dump half a bottle of food in the tank, etc. It's a work in progress. 

I've been trying to convince James into getting Jillian a kitten or puppy for her 2nd birthday this summer, so the fish is the first step. ;-) 

Welcome home fishy!  

mother's day

Up until 2 years ago, I always spent Mother's day thinking primarily about my own mom. It's kind of weird when you realize this day now includes and celebrates you. Being a mom ain't no joke. You're tired, your house is often messy, counters sticky, laundry in piles on your bedroom floor, you go through concealer really quickly, sometimes you forget to put on deodorant, or brush your teeth, and mostly you really just want to pee without anyone else coming into the bathroom. 

But you're also grateful, and unimaginably fulfilled. You have a million and one reasons to smile and you laugh when you find a tiny sock stuck in one of your shirts from all that laundry you didn't fold. All of your needs become secondary.

I'm so thankful for my own Mom who put my needs before her own, because now I really understand what that means and sometimes how much of a sacrifice that can be, but also how rewarding it is. 

Happy Mother's Day to all you hard workin' mamas out there- old, new, and soon to be!

april showers bring may flowers

For some reason we have never been to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point until this year. After going, it will definitely become an annual event for us as long as we live here. There were 250,000 tulips! I've never seen so many flowers at once. It was absolutely gorgeous. I told James that I think that's what heaven must look like- flowers, fields, lots of green grass. He said it was missing a few soccer fields.. ;-)

a bitter sweet trip to florida

The three of us finally went to Florida ALL together! We headed out for a last hoorah with Michaela before she left on her 18 month mission to Peru (hence the bitter sweet). I love spending time with my family and especially other friends and extended family back in Lake Butler. It's a good recharge for the soul.

I must say that I'm pretty impressed with Jillian's traveling skills. She only fussed for about 20 minutes on the second flight, about 45 minutes before we landed. It was 11pm, so girlfriend had a right to be cranky. I feel like I should do a "tips for traveling with toddlers" post since we've done it a few times now. There are definitely some do's and dont's. 

But our time there was very well spent. Jillian was thrilled to see her cousins, Milly and Eliza. She wasn't so thrilled when Eliza was equally as excited to see her and frequently expressed that excitement through death-gripping bear hugs. But it was so fun to watch them play together! 

Since we were all together, naturally my mom arranged for some family pictures. Thanks to the wonderfully talented Amy Buchanan, we got some great shots! The behind-the-scenes of these pictures actually includes Ryan making funny faces to keep Jillian from screaming (it was bed time), bribing all the girls with M&Ms if they would sit still and smile, and me singing random songs from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while dancing a stuffed Mickey on top of Amy's head to get them to look at the camera. I can't imagine what family pictures will be like when there are many more kids in the mix. Aye aye aye.  

  

We said adios to Michaela at the airport on Tuesday morning. We ended up talking too long in the lobby, so she had to run through security and to her plane with shoes in hand. She went into the Provo MTC (Missionary Training Center) on Wednesday, where she will be until she gets her visa to go to Peru. It's already so weird that I can't just pick up the phone and call her, or text her something funny I saw on Pinterest or facebook. But I know she will be an amazing missionary that will bring many people to Christ!  

 Wednesday after everyone left and things had quieted down, we went with my Mom and Grandma to check out the butterfly museum. It was so cool! Jillian loved spotting the butterflies, but didn't like so much when they flew right up to her. (Really? Who is scared of butterflies?!)

We came back happy, stuffed, tired, and sunburned. And I wouldn't have it any other way!

me want cookies!!!!

I have a sweets problem. Aka, I want something sweet, like everyday. There should probably be some kind of rehab for people like me. 

Today was definitely one of those days. I purposely don't buy things like chocolate chips anymore just to have around to bake cookies whenever, because even if I don't end up making cookies, you betta' believe I'm still eating those chocolate chips. 

See? Problem...

As I was thinking about my chocolate chip lacking pantry, I remembered seeing a recipe on Pinterest for "healthy breakfast cookies" that only required a few ingredients..healthy?.. cookies?   o_0

 

 

 I found that recipe, but then stumbled across another that had many more ingredients, but definitely seemed more "cookie" than just smashed up bananas. The kicker is that these cookies are still called "healthy breakfast cookies"...someone should probably tell her they are actually just cookies with a lot of stuff in them, and not so much "healthy" or very "breakfast" like. Then again...people eat Poptarts and Toaster Strudels these days and call that breakfast...Some poor sucker is going to eat 5 of these for breakfast and think they're on a great start to their 5th diet attempt this week.

I made several substitutions from the original recipe, to ease up on the butter and also cause I didn't have a few things sitting around, so I will call them the "Happy Accident Cookies". Hit my sweet spot and were really unlike any cookie I've made before. If a monster cookie, macaroon, and oatmeal raisin cookie all had a baby together, a cookie baby, this would be that cookie baby. 

Whatcha need:

• 1/2 cup salted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup plain non-fat greek yogurt
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• ½ cup white sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup of peanut butter, preferably all natural
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
• 1 cup Craisins (dried cranberries)
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut, toasted
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips

How to:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
2. Toast the coconut and pecans on a cookie sheet for about 5 minutes.
3. In a large sized bowl beat together the butter, yogurt, sugar and peanut butter for 2-3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in vanilla.
4. In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and rolled oats. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat just until incorporated (the batter will be sticky). Stir in the nuts, cranberries, coconut, and chocolate chips.
5. Using a small ice cream scoop, drop the batter onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart. Flatten the cookies slightly.
6. Bake the cookies for 8-12 minutes. Let them REST on the baking sheet (preferably baking stone...don't ever use baking sheets, actually) for about 2 minutes before you remove them.
7. Let them cool on a wire rack, or just your counter. :-)
   

My inner fat-kid is happy. And after eating 5 of these actually, inner-fat kid might not be so "inner" tomorrow.

i've had diarrhea since easters!

...Not really...but it's always a good idea to quote Nacho Libre. 

 Easter weekend included shopping for new flowers to plant, Jillian helping water (drown) said flowers with her new Mickey Mouse watering can, homemade carrot cake, and trying to convince Jillian that looking for Easter eggs is both fun and rewarding. Our efforts were mostly in vain.

She didn't really get that she was supposed to "look" for the eggs, so we mostly just tossed them in front of her and she'd put them in her bucket...haha. We also found out she's not one for sugar- jelly beans, peeps, suckers- she spit them all out. She's a big fan of chocolate though (takes after her mama).

I some how made it through the holiday with only buying ONE bag of Cadbury eggs! Truly an Easter miracle. 

it's here, it's here!

The moment in the school year that teachers look forward to more than any other break (excluding summer of course)...spring break! 
 
I started mine on Friday..because those are slow work days for me anyway AND I have the liberty of doing so. Neener neener.

And if yesterday was any indication of the rest of spring break, I'm in for a good one. I think I did almost all of my favorite things yesterday: gym, pedicure, window shopping, park with Jillian, Cafe Rio with the fam, and movie night with the girls. Ahh, love it! 

It's warm and sunny outside and there's nothing to do. Couldn't be happier with all of that!

(why yes, that is the bottom of the closet)

Jillian teething her incisors (those beastly things) hasn't been the greatest, but we take the wins where we can get 'em. 

 

Happy spring break! 

too fast & too soon

A few weeks ago I was reading a blog post about this mom who was emotionally distraught over her 18 month old who decided to self-wean from nursing. She went on and on about how she wasn't ready and it was too soon and she just wanted another baby so she could nurse all the time, blah blah blah.

I literally could not relate, like even a little bit. Don't get me wrong, I'm pro-nursing in the "great debate" of motherhood, but my experience was way past the expected "bumps in the road" for first time moms who nurse. It wasn't the promised bonding experience I'd read about to say the least.

Anyway. I FINALLY have an experience that I can semi-relate to this mother (and probably many other moms) that say they aren't ready for something to happen in their child's life. That it happened too soon.

Jillian is officially sans binky. 

I thought I was completely okay with getting rid of that nasty little thing. So okay in fact, that two days ago I randomly snipped off the end with my kitchen scissors and handed it Jillian while thinking, "There. Take that. Hmph". By her reaction, you would have thought someone in our family had just died. First the look of confusion. Then a quivering lip. And then the real stab in the heart- a wavering, "Fix it Mama!" 

Ohhh melt. I just broke her binky! Right in front of her! I'm a terrible, terrible person. 

Nevertheless, I made a unilateral decision and stuck to my guns (even though there were two secretly stashed binkies ..and still are..just in case of any emergencies). What is usually a very fluid and easy bed time routine was rough. Like, hour-and-a-half rough.

But since then? Not. Too. Bad.

And THAT is why I'm having a hard time. 

All of the sudden she's just okay without this little piece of rubber that was previously in sight at all times? She can't grow up that fast!

 And then it was like all of the sudden I had flash forwards of the future where she'd be okay when she let my hand go and walk into her first day of school, or okay when she decided to go hang out with her friends instead of sit on my lap and beg me to read Piggie and Gerald for the fourteen millionth time. 

She's gonna grow up and she'll be okay. My state of well-being is yet to be determined in this whole process. 

I think that's why people have more babies...because they grow up just too darn fast. 

adios sister

Michaela flew back to Florida yesterday after being here the last two and a half weeks. It was a sad day. 

Over the weekend though, we had a "farewell" party for her with friends and family out here since she's leaving on her church mission next month (already?!)! Good times were had. It was also my first time doing a smores bar...which will most certainly be happening again.

 

 Fortunately I still get to see her one more time before she leaves. We'll be headed out to Florida the week before she heads off to Peru. YAY!

toddler for sale

Toddler for Sale

(inspired by Sister for Sale by Shel Silverstein, nearly plagiarized by me)

One toddler for sale!
One toddler for sale!
One crying, whining toddler for sale!
I'm not really kidding, so who'll start the bidding?
Do I hear a dollar?
A nickle?
A penny?
Oh isn't there, isn't there, isn't there any
One person who will buy this toddler for sale
This crying, whining, messy toddler for sale?!

But seriously. I need a vacation. Or at least an uninterrupted meal.