I love the feeling...

So one day, a while ago, I randomly started thinking about things that I like the feeling of.  It was fun to think about and I started writing them down and created a list.  It's a interesting way to think about some of your favorite things in life.  Here's some of the ones I wrote down, in no real specific order:

I love the feeling...

of being in the presence of God
of loving and being loved by my family
of being unified with Chad
of helping people
of waking up after a nap in the sunshine
of watching my kids learn new things & be excited about new experiences
of crossing a task off my list (but who doesn't... do those people exist??)
of a great idea
of finding someone the perfect gift
of making things clean & organized
of connecting with people through great conversation
of anticipating and getting excited for the next big trip, date, etc
of being really into a good book
of trying something new
of creating new and tasty food combinations, using ingredients on hand
of throwing things away
of repurposing something
of a good back massage
of being efficient
of being surprised with a thoughtful gift or planned event
of making music in a large group (singing or instrumental... yes, I do secretly wish I was part of an organized musical group and just might miss show choir and band from back in high school.  But don't ask me to sing for you... I have a "group voice," not a solo voice, and some might question that.  Beckham may or may not tell me to stop singing on occasion. :))
of being energized and ready to face the day after a good workout
of satisfaction after eating super delicious food
of a morning run while the world is still quiet (although it can be hard to remind yourself of that while still in bed!
of new things... which can get me in trouble... but they're so nice and clean and pretty!


Ok, that list got long... and there are many more I'm sure.  So what are your favorite feelings?

the best kind of friend

College friends are the best.  You know, the ones that are your forever friends that you can go months without seeing or maybe even talking, but when you do see each other you pick up right where you left off and conversation flows for hours.  Always comfortable together, never awkward.  They are special friends and hard to come by.  Something about living together during the life changing years of college develops a deep bond that doesn't change.

So I got to hang out with one of those above described friends of mine, Brandy, and her slew of kiddos.  It's always super fun and a treat to see her and her fam.  I tell her that she is my... oh what is the word... inspiration?  reality check?  at times when I am overwhelmed taking care of my kids.  You see, I have two kids, ages 2 1/2 and 3 mos.  Brandy has four kids, ages 3 1/2, 2, almost 2, and 3 mos.  That makes my two not seem so hard. ;)  But her little crew is so cute and well behaved and she handles it like a pro.  We had a fun and noisy couple days together.  Luckily B and I were able to slip away for a dinner just the two of us, thank goodness for grandmas!

Here are some pics of the kids.  You might notice B and I aren't in any of these... maybe the fact that we hadn't showered, were in our lounge clothes, had been running after kids and probably smelled like spit-up made us not feel very photo ready?!

Beck's little buddy Annaika.  They ran around together and made lots of noise!

Norah has the best cheese face! 

Georgia's growing up so fast and was quite the mother, wanting to help with Creighton & hold him.  It was very sweet.  

gotta see the picture of themselves

Seeley boy (as he is called by his fam) and Creighton.  B and I were both due on 4/10 and both had our boys on 3/28.  Kind of crazy.  Yes, it was a full moon.  So these two little guys are destined to be friends we decided.  :)

Annaika and Beck loving on the boys...

healthy "brownies"

Pinterest.  Oh how I get sucked into pinning all sorts of yummy looking food.  Lately I feel like a lot of what I have pinned has been "healthy desserts."  Food that satisfies your sweet tooth, but cuts some calories.  Who doesn't love that?

It's a funny trend to me.  I've been making "healthy" desserts for a while... before Pinterest made them cool.  But healthy desserts to me meant things like subbing wheat flour for white, adding some flax, using banana or applesauce as natural sweetener, or yogurt for butter or cream cheese.  Not things like beans in cookies and brownies, avocado in frosting, or dates as chocolate.  I was a little skeptical when I started seeing these recipes.  Really?  I mean, Really?  You can't taste the beans or avocado in them?  I'm all about cutting calories, but I still want my sweet things to taste good... not earthy (although I have used beets in a chocolate cake and that was delicious).  So I was a little slow to jump on this band wagon.

But then a friend of mine made some black bean brownies that I thought were very good, so I decided I should give it a try.  The result:  I didn't like mine as much.  I could taste the beans.  Maybe b/c I made them and watched the beans being processed?  So I tried to redeem them and turned them into black bean brownie/chocolate date balls and Beckham thinks they are chocolate.  Fantastic, because I still don't really like them. :)  Something is off with the texture and I think they still taste like beans.

Next I was just too curious about the whole avocado/chocolate frosting thing.  I found this recipe on Pinterest and gave it a whirl.  I halved the recipe and followed it to a tee, except for I accidentally used only 3/4 of an avocado instead of 1 1/2 - 2, so the cocoa was too strong and I had to add more sweetener.  But it still made plenty of frosting, so the full amount of avocado seems like it would be too much.
Overall these are pretty tasty, but lets just say that they should not be called brownies (although the first time Beck saw them he called them brownies :)).  They are really nothing like brownies except for the fact that they have chocolate frosting.. which I am a fan of.  I think the avocado gets lost completely in the cocoa.  The texture of the "brownie" part is nothing like a normal brownie, as the chia seeds add lots of crunchiness.  But overall they were tasty and a fun treat to keep in the freezer.  I felt pretty good about eating them, with so many healthy ingredients and all.  They tasted the best after they thawed out a little bit but were still cold and firm.

the brownie

I ate most of the brownies without sharing with Beck, but then one day he noticed me getting it out of the freezer and had to have some.  He Loved them and instantly commanded control of the fork, letting me have a couple small bites. ;)

So the point of all this?  I'm still trying to decide what I think of this whole new world of healthy desserts.  Some turn out great, but if it's a flop I'm stuck eating a bunch of so-so mock dessert something (or giving it to my kid), which I will likely slather with peanut butter or nutella to improve the flavor... b/c who throws away food?!  I will likely stick to my version of healthy desserts, being more adventurous and trying new things here and there but skip on the beans... I'll save those for my savory food where they belong. :)

And if you are curious, chocolatecoveredkatie.com is a site that posts all kinds of healthy desserts, sometimes using fairly unique ingredients in them.

it's a big deal

Guess who decided to sleep through the night last night?  I'm talking sleep until 7:40 this morning through the night, not just an 8 hour stretch.  Yes, that's a big deal.  Did I go and check on him the minute I woke up to make sure he was ok?  Of course.  :)

Now I realize that because of the fact I'm declaring he slept through the night to anyone and everyone there is a good chance he won't do it again tomorrow, but that's ok.  We're hoping for the best.  :)

happy and proud of himself for finally figuring out the night time sleep thing!

everyday life

Just a post with some pictures as of late...

growing, growing, growing... starting to love to kick his legs & move his arms

laying on Creighton's "tree house" and helping me out by giving Creighton his passy... his favorite thing to do.  sometimes he wants to pull the passy out of Creighton's mouth just so he can put it back in, I think!

anytime is blankie time :)

eating lunch outside on a beautiful sunny day

trip to the zoo with Grandma and aunt Callie

trips to the children's museum (or children's mushouse as Beck would call it, for some odd reason) with our friends Letty & Stelle

lots of time in the sandbox

trips to Chick-fil-A with dad... what seems to be turning into a new dad & Beck tradition when Mom has her own plans

watching out the window to be sure to catch everything that's going on out there... gotta see all the mowers, trimmers, and garbage trucks buzzing about

and working on the golf swing, of course

2 months

The little guy is already 2 months old.  Past the "rough months."  Babies always seemed to be a little more adjusted to life and more content after about 6 - 8 weeks I think.  With that said, I have enjoyed having two boys much more the second month of Creighton's life.  I feel like I was little miss negative the first month, but the second month went better.  Still challenging and exhausting at times, but the older Creighton gets the easier it is.  Partly because I'm just getting used to doing things with two kids and not one, but Creighton is happier and not quite as fussy now.  He will actually lay on his play mat and entertain himself for a good 10 minutes now!  :)  And he's giving us smiles more regularly and even a few "coos"... all things that make you feel more connected to the little guy.

Beckham is getting much more interested and "helpful" with Creighton too.  Wanting to give him is passy, kisses, soothe him when he's crying, lay beside him and "play" with him... he was even helping me burp him today. :)

Here's a couple pics of Creighton at 2 months.  Oh how I love my chubby babies. :)

a bird story

I've told my bird story to several of my friends and family, but I still think it is pretty amazing, so I'm going to tell it again.  Don't worry.  It's very short.

It starts with a robin's nest that was built in a pallet in our back yard.  I sadly did not get a picture of it... I went to take one and the birds had hatched too soon on me.  It had four eggs, and looked something like this:

link to image source

I'm not sure what day the eggs hatched (as faithfully as I tried to watch them ;)), but this picture was taken on May 7th, shortly after they were born:

Cute little things, huh?!  One week later on May 14th, I checked on the little guys again, and much to my surprise, they looked like this:

I think if I would've stood and watched them all day, they would've grown feathers before my eyes!  Who knew birds changed so fast?!  When we would walk over to look at the nest, the birds would startle and put their little heads in the air, beaks open, just hoping for food.  Sorry to disappoint.  We did catch a glimpse of the mother watching over her little ones a couple time too...

And three days later on May 17th, they had plumped up even more and were about to burst out of the nest:

And that is the last picture I captured of our little friends.  We were gone over the weekend and when we came home, the nest was on the ground empty and pallet had fallen over.  We are hoping that the birds flew away and this story did not end tragically.  There weren't any dead birds on the ground, so I'm thinking they must be ok. :)

And that's the end of the story of how amazingly fast birds grow.  It was my first and maybe last time to observe newly hatched eggs turn into little birds.  It was a fun way to kick off spring and Beck thought they were pretty neat too!