15 Months

So Eden is our her way to 16 months...and I am just now posting about 15 months. Whoops. Honestly I don't remember what she started doing this past month and what she is doing now, so I'll do my best to remember ALL the way back then. 

Things You Love

Screaming

Brushing your teeth

Peanut butter sandwiches

Smoothies

MILK

Cheese

Dancing

Singing

Saying "Beeeeeeeeee!" 

Giving kisses

Playing with Bella

Things you don't love:

Having to wait for anything

Train rides

Eating food

Girl, you and your strong personality are just taking it up another level. We love your independence and your spunk, but it sure does come out when we are in public. You are VERY vocal and talk, sing, and scream no matter where you are. You are saying more and more words..the ones you say the most: cheese, crack-errrrs, Bella, dada, pink, yummmmmm. You also sign "all done," "please," and "thank you" (although thank you is not done correctly, but we'll take it anyway). Sometimes I worry that you don't use as many words as other kids because I am not so good at practicing words with you (I forget how smart you really are sometimes), but I know you are developing just fine. You are always surprising us with the things you understand. You are able to show us what you want. If we ask you where something goes you show us and promptly put whatever it is away. You may not be able to say many words, but you sure do understand what we are saying. One of these days I think your vocabulary is just going to explode. I can't wait until you start talking to me in the car...now if only you were forward facing so I could see you. Oh and you are now up to SIX teeth which is a giant accomplishment seeing as you didn't get teeth until you were a year old. The only time we knew you were teething was with your first tooth, otherwise the only sign that points to teething is you are an even pickier eater. I love that you handle teething like a pro.

Eden, thank you for being the best daughter we could have ever asked for. Your independence just tells us that you are going to be a strong woman when you are grown. We pray that you will seek God in whatever you do. We are having so much fun talking about Jesus and praying with you every night. We also love how great of a helper you have become and can see that you will make a wonderful big sister if God blesses us with another child one day. Your daddy and I think you are the best thing that has ever happened to us and we are so thankful for yet another month with you. 

*I'm still working on getting over the fact that I am back to using my kit lens...but the photo taking has lessened immensely. Its so hard to get photos when its so gray outside. I guess this will just challenge me even more. I have got to get better at taking photos even when the lighting conditions aren't right, otherwise I'll miss out on some great opportunities! 

Merry Christmas!

Well, let's call this a big, fat Christmas fail. I planned on showing you all some of the ways we jazzed up our house for Christmas. That didn't happen. I did take pictures, I just didn't have a chance to show them to you. I planned on sending out Christmas cards, and then we couldn't afford to order them or buy stamps. I then planned on showing you that card on here, but never got a chance before we left on the train for Washington. Oh and did I mention that I slept a total of seven hours in three days because I was so busy crafting away on every single homemade gift we are giving this year? There was a lot of them. I am tired, but oh so excited that it's Christmas day! So, since I pretty much just failed at everything, I quickly threw together another Christmas card for your enjoyment. Yes, I pretty much rock my failures.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and get to enjoy some time with families and friends...and eat lots of food, because that's important. 

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6 

Being Neighborly...And Other Christmas Goodies

We have the greatest neighbors. Really, we do. We actually have experienced a lot of not so great neighbors, so moving to our current location proved to us that neighbors can be nice. Because we love them so much we like to do a little something for them for Christmas (well and throughout the year too). I didn't have a chance to show you what I did last year...or at least I don't think I did, if I did then just think of this as a reminder. We needed something simple and inexpensive, but cute all at the same time. Here is what we came up with.

Aren't those fun? We found the pails in the dollar section at Target. You could always find some at a craft store or Goodwill and decorate them yourself, but at the time (working full-time and had a 2 month old) I just couldn't find a spare moment to DIY much of anything. So pre-made worked for me! The inside is filled with Peppermint Bark from Costco. That is some good stuff! We also found little packets of hot chocolate and stuffed them in there as well. See those cute little Santa socks there? We had found out that our newest neighbors were expecting their first baby so we had to throw those in for fun. 

So, if you need an idea for an easy and inexpensive gift, there you have it. This year I have plans of giving them some homemade popcorn in glass jars. I don't think they actually read this blog so hopefully I didn't just give it away. Not that I gave much away, it doesn't sound all that great the way I described it, but I promise, it will look half decent in the end. What? I am not promising miracles here. I'll try to share photos if I get them done sometime soon! Christmas is almost here and I haven't finished one present. Talk about procrastination! 

One last thing....our Secret Santa struck again! If you remember we had someone drop a tree at our door and make a run for it. Well, we are guessing that same person (the knock was the same anyway!) dropped a little gift box with all of the fixings for hot chocolate and smores. I happened to be standing next to the door when they knocked, but of course had to do the whole ninja thing and quietly creep to the window to see who it was. No luck, I was too slow and didn't catch them! I would have taken a photo BEFORE we ate everything to show you how cute it was, but we kind of inhaled all of it and ended up in a sugar induced coma. Here is a picture of the cute little mugs that were in that gift box. 

Hope you all are enjoying the holidays so far...and hoping that you have gotten a better start on gifts than I have this year. 

Famously Famous

Okay you guys, I have been so anxious to tell you about my little secret and I can finally share it!

Eden's nursery was featured on Baby Lifestyles today! 

Insert picture of Josh and I freaking out and celebrating early this morning when we woke up and saw it. We actually knew it was coming. They had contacted us about  featuring our nursery and we of course said yes. Who says no to such an amazing blog? Not us! I have no idea what rock I had been living under, but I actually hadn't heard of them until they contacted us. Honestly what a great place full of inspiration. I wish I had known about it when I was pregnant! Good thing we plan on adding lots more littles into this house so I will definitely be heading over to be inspired in the future. 

Seriously though we are so thrilled and so honored to be featured on there and I just had to tell you! I felt like it was too good to be true so I had to wait until I had seen the post and refreshed the screen five times (you know, in case my eyes were playing tricks on me) to actually believe Eden's nursery was there. Head over and check it out, its a wonderful feature. I know you all are sick of me talking about her room by now, but seriously they did a wonderful write up about it. 

Also, for those of you who are new here from Baby Lifestyles, WELCOME! We are glad you came by. Now, grab a snack or two, sit down, and enjoy all my random musings. I have lots to say. Feel free to ask questions if you have any about the nursery, but to help you out here are all of the nursery posts for you to catch up on! 

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4,Chapter 5, Budget Breakdown, The Reveal

Thank you dear readers for being so supportive and encouraging as we learn the ins and outs of design and making our house a home. We cherish you!

Bring On The Fat

Lately we have been adding lots of butter into our diet. We use coconut oil in everything. We strive to only buy products that were made/grown locally. In fact we rarely buy anything that has been pre-made and make most everything in our kitchen. We choose full fat and never low-fat food. We like our eggs to come from chickens that have roamed freely. We even buy milk that is not homogenized. I know it looks like we have lost our minds, but let me assure you...our minds are (mostly) intact.

I used to dream of being a dietitian or personal trainer. I loved food and its relation to our bodies and I just wanted to soak up every bit of knowledge and pass it on. Then, I married a man who gagged at the sight of a vegetable or anything else that resembled "healthy food," I got busy, etc. I just kept making excuses. Well, after 9 months of eating whatever food we could possibly buy (usually cheap food means not so healthy food) or that people gave to us, we are finally done with eating poorly.  Literally, we were just eating to survive before and now we want to eat in a way that will help our bodies thrive. Eating good food is the best thing you can do for yourself, and most definitely for your children (whether you have them now or in the future). I think we can all agree that something is wrong with our society...diseases, obesity, etc. I think I am just over it all. I don't want Eden growing up thinking that eating something that resembles meat at a fast food restaurant is actually good for her body. I mean, who else is going to teach her the best foods to eat? Anyone else willing to step in here? As much as I enjoy watching The Biggest Loser, I would rather not have to have my children on the show. Dear Jillian Michaels, don't take this personally, but I don't want to meet you. Well, I want to meet you, but just not because I chose to abuse my body with harmful foods. Is she even on there anymore? I don't even know!

While we venture on this new "real foods" journey I just want to give you tips, tricks, and resources that we find while on this adventure in hopes that it may benefit you as well. Even if you are fine with eating your Big Macs each day without thinking twice about it (coughMYBROTHERcough) you still may enjoy learning just a little bit more about treating your body (and your planet) right. Oh, and Brett, please don't disown me as a sister. I truly do love you, just maybe don't love your food choices..haha. Okay, but seriously I do still want you to claim me as your sister.

So, after that ridiculously long-winded (hopefully not too preachy) post, here are a few blogs that have inspired me so far on our journey.

First, I have to give major props to one blog in particular.

via

100 Days of Real Food

Lisa is one smart woman. I wish we could be friends. I love reading about her journey and boy oh boy can this woman cook. So far we have tried her homemade honey whole wheat bread, whole wheat tortillas, berry sauce, banana ice cream, chocolate sauce, whole wheat crepes, biscuits, chicken enchiladas, pumpkin bread, granola, macaroni and cheese (I know I'm missing some), and used her recommendation for homemade creamer from Deliciously Organic (I made the pumpkin spice one for Josh). We have loved EVERY.SINGLE.ONE. No joke. We are obsessed. 

A few (very) new to me blogs have been providing me with even more wisdom. I am starting to feel the whole ignorance is bliss thing because honestly sometimes it does get a bit overwhelming (you know I always have to state the facts). However, each one of these blogs has broken it down in such a great way. In fact at Kitchen Stewardship, the goal is keeping it simple and doing baby steps. Love this!

The next blog is new to me, but I fell in love instantly. Monica, who writes Oh Sweet Escape actually commented on one of my posts so I went to check out what her blog was all about. OH.MY.WORD. She is gorgeous and super sweet to top it off. Oh and the best thing? This girl can cook. If you want to be inspired in your cooking, go now. You'll love her.

Looking to "green" up your life in all aspects, this next one is sure to give you a great place to start: Frugal Granola

Greats posts and easy to read. Lots of resources on eating and living healthy lives: The Nourished Life

Loving this blog! Another wonderful resource: Simple Organic

Great tips, especially for you moms: Keeper of the Home

I found this blog via Jamie Oliver and love it for planning out healthy meals for kids. Even if you don't have kids you can find some great inspiration: Healthy Meals and Food for Healthy Kids

Now I need to make a little disclaimer here. I am in no way a nutritionist. I know this may come as a shocker (ha!) to most of you. Technically I am just a wife and a mom who is concerned about the state of health in this generation and am refusing to follow that trend. Also all of these blogs that I have shared are just blogs that I have fallen deeply and madly in love with in recent days. Most don't even know I am writing about them (hope they don't mind!).

Here's the other thing. I don't want you to think that I expect each one of you to choose this lifestyle. I don't. We all make our own choices for ourselves and for our families and I expect you are making the best one. I respect that. I am just so over the moon excited about what we have learned and how much better we are feeling these days that I felt the need to share. I can't imagine that we will ever go back to eating processed food. Yes, we let ourselves eat it while on vacation, and we even have a treat once or twice a week. However, our overall food intake is food that would have been ingested on Little House on the Prairie. It's natural and downright good for you.

Please let me know if you have any questions or anything! I love this subject and would love to chat more on it if you would like to hear. Maybe another post will be in order?