Granola

Last week I slaved over a mixing bowl and two cookie sheets worth of delicious, homemade, cherry and coconut granola for my family. My daughter turned her nose up and wouldn't eat a bite. She claimed it was "spicy".

This morning she requests Kashi granola over her rice crispy's and LOVES it. WHAT? How on earth? My homemade granola was ten times better then the slightly cardboard-ish, though okay tasting, Kashi granola. That's it, from now on, homemade granola for me, Kashi cardboard for Jade.

Sunshine, you are my sunshine

Here is my little sunshine. Jade made this sunshine mask in church a few weeks ago. But I haven't thought to post it till now. She also made a little clock, she has it hanging in her room and religiously sets it at 2pm for nap times and then to 8pm at bed time. I love my little girlie, she is so smart:-)
sorry I haven't been posting much. Life has been busy but mostly busy with boring stuff not worth posting about.

Today, however, is my Dad's birthday so that is worth posting. And Thursday is Mom's and my birthday. Hurray for us! I hear a rumor that Jonathan and Jade plan on making me my birthday cake on Thursday. I can't wait!

Hope all of you are enjoying the last bit of summer we have left!

and on such a pretty day

Headaches and laundry should not be allowed when one has such a lovely, sunny day. Why? Oh why? Hoping for a better tomorrow!

Summer is here and it's nice and HOT!

Saturday was a fabulously warm day here in the Washington. I was thrilled to get to pull the kiddie pool out and not have to wait a day and a half for the water to warm up. It was nice and warm by noon! Jade had to wear her shades in the pool because it was SO sunny! lol

sticking poses for me. She is so funny!

my little man, I think he was just eating his fist when I took this picture.
the two of us making funny faces. Well...I'm making a funny face at least.
and my man. :) So glad we are having such wonderful weather!!

A good day

It has been a good day. My morning started with happy kids, followed by swim lessons and getting to spend time hanging out with a dear friend.

Home for lunch and nap times. I got to watch "Ugly Betty" while folding laundry and playing with my dear little baby Cutter.

I even found time for a 30min nap and ironing of shirts.

I didn't really have to cook all day today, just ate leftovers. Then after dinner we went to a friends house and I got my two children watched while I went for a 20min run/walk. The weather was warm but with a cool-ish breeze. The sky was blue, my music was up beat...such a good run/walk. When I got back Rachelle had brownies in the oven so her home smelled amazing and Jade and I were sent off with delicious treats.

Now I'm home, 20min till both my kiddos go down for the night, I have "Top Chef" recorded waiting for me to watch and now a yummy brownie to eat while I watch it. Ya gotta eat something when you watch Top Chef after all.

Not that this has anything to do with my day (other then the fact the sun was shining and the sky was so blue it had me thinking along this line...) I spent time reading "All new square foot gardening" I'm hoping to start my own little 4x4 box this Fall or at least get it built so this spring I can start a mini little salad garden. I really hope, hope, hope, I can have a little garden. I think it would be wonderful for Jade to watch things grow (and help plant and harvest) and it would make me feel so domestic. Plus, I want to be like my Mom and Nic who both have gardens. LOL

Anyway, I'm just in a very zen place at this moment and just had to type and tell you all. :)

should I?

If my child wakes up at 6am to eat but then goes back to sleep, do I go back to sleep as well? I've spent the past half hour trying to figure out if I should sleep or stay up. So I have stayed up, but now I'm wishing I had gone back to sleep. LOL

Swim lessons

Jade has started up swim lessons again. I had signed her up for swim lessons last month, but sadly she got very sick and only made it to two classes. Today is day two of classes and I am crossing my fingers hoping we can make the rest. LOL

She loves it, of course, and all I can hope for is some sunnier/warmer weather for her to enjoy the remaining time. She is in a class with two other little boys her age. Her teacher is a young man as well, she asked me if I could get her a girl teacher. She is so cute

That's all. bye.

Up and running

Trying to get back into the swing of things after having a baby can take some time. While I have been working out since three weeks post pregnancy, I've kept my workouts pretty basic. Simple stuff, mostly easy pilates and walking. I keep saying I'm ready for more, but haven't been able to organize my self enough to really do much about it.

As we all know if you want something bad enough you figure out a way to find the time to just do it. I miss working out and the lack of a gym membership shouldn't keep me from doing what I love. Heck, if I can find time to paint bird pictures and watch reality tv, shouldn't I be able to find the time to do a longer, harder workout?

So Sunday morning I could think of no excuse not to go running...so I went. It felt great...all six minutes of it. Throw in about 40min of speed walking and it felt like a pretty good workout.

Todays stretches and running only totaled about 27min but 10 of those minutes was running. Baby steps, that's what it is.

I'm excited to do more with my routine and hopefully gain back some of my body confidence that has eluded me for over a year now (perhaps over three years, but we won't get into that)

Here is to priorities, running and being a stay at home Mom! Cheers *holds up coffee mug*

Tummy time and art

Cutter is spending more and more time playing on his blanket staring at his little play toys. He's just now started to stick is bottom in the air and push his chubby little knees under him, in an attempt to get in a crawling position. Below he is exhausted from his crawling attempts but he did successfully reach and grab one of his play toys. I am very proud of him.
staring at his little toy.
if you read my earlier artwork post...here is the completed bird/flower pic. I can't say I think it's very good, but for a beginner it will have to do. Plus, it's for a kiddie room, maybe people will just assume a kid painted it! LOL!
The colors are fun at least! On to a new project now.

UPDATE: I decide to take a pic of my art next to Jade's. I love Jade's artwork, I wish I had a million frames so I could frame all of them!

FOOD!

After his morning feeding Cutter still seemed hungry. He also kept reaching for my coffee cup every time I took a sip. So I decided to give my little pumpkin pie some rice cereal.

He isn't quite ready, he kept trying to suck the spoon like a bottle...but boy did he like that cereal. Making happy grunting noises that sounded like "aaaYummmmgrrrr aaa" lol you got that right?

My little Cutter bug, has the cutest smile...

Art on a Tuesday afternoon

I was planning on working on my art projects while my kiddos were taking naps today. But...they didn't go down till later. So, instead of waiting I decided to let Jade paint and Cutter scream (well, not the whole time) while I fit in some fun art time. Below is the beautiful masterpiece that Jade created. What is it about children's art that looks like so much fun, full of depth and character? If I were to scribble on a page...not the same thing. :-(

I thought under taking the task of copy this picture would be fairly easy. I knew I couldn't get it to look the same but figured I'd at least get the colors and essence of the picture. Ya...not so much.
mixing paint colors is hard and layering is time consuming. This project is taking longer then I thought...and I have to say I'm a bit discouraged. So...this is as far as I have gotten today on it...maybe I'll do more tomorrow or later this evening.
now, my pottery barn kids art for Cutters room...that is going much easier. I know it's not the same (and I switched the truck for an anchor to stick with my theme)
but close enough. I love my new pics! And I only spent $8 on the canvases!!
I will probably hang them on the big wall, but for now (since Cutter is finally napping) I just put them up so I could take a picture of them:-)
hurray for summer time lazy afternoons and fun art projects!