Monday, April 30, 2012

Still Here....Barely.

Hi all! Just wanted to let you know I'm still here. It's been a rough couple of weeks. Eden had a horrible stomach bug and now im laying here too weak to move. Needless to say there was lots of Tangled going on today. I promise to catch up..I have a Project 52 to post and an invite I designed awhile back. For now here is a few photos from Instagram!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

19 Months


This was my attempt at getting a half decent photo of Eden. It is SO representative of her stage in life right now...Miss Independent. I tried to take her out of her bike for a few shots and she just threw a fit and then ran back to her bike and climbed in. That's exactly what she is doing in this photo. 

Five more months until you are a 2 year old! There's no doubt about it, you certainly are growing up at a rapid pace. From reading so many blogs I knew you would have a HUGE growth in personality and the things you would learn during your 18th month and were they ever right. Wow. You are such a great talker now. Your words amaze us each day...in fact there are very few words that you cannot say now. You know most of the alphabet by sight, but forget K and Z sometimes. You are such an imitator. You repeat EVERY SINGLE THING we say. I have found that I said, "okay" "alright" and "honey" much more than I ever realized. I do love hearing you say "honey!" You are so very loving and compassionate. Your personality is starting to come out more in public...it's apparent that you are comfortable around almost everyone. I just cannot believe how much you have changed and yet you still have your signature "Eden" personality. 

Things You Love

Dance Parties
Splashing in your bath
Sidewalk chalk
Talking about baby "HeHe"
Helping mommy in the kitchen
Backyardigans
Dora the Explorer
Elmo (still "MoMo" around here)
Playing with your babies
Your buggy (vintage stroller)
Animals
Apples
Being outside! 

Things You Don't Love

Getting teeth (one more on the bottom!)
Being sick
The sun in your eyes
Being dirty
Dirty houses (she will say "UH OH!" until it's clean)

We had a BIG event in our house. Just as promised, the pacifier got taken away before she was 19 months. We made 18 months the rule because her pacifiers specified only being suitable until then and she finally was at an age where we felt like she could understand what had happened, but also forget about it rather quickly. Well, for those wondering, here's how it went down. Josh left out of town for the weekend. So, on Friday, I just never gave her the pacifier. She had been sick the week before and had used it 24/7 (we usually only left her have it for sleep EXCEPT when sick). So I was so surprised when she never even asked for it that day...and it was even sitting on the counter where she could see it. I put her down to sleep and although she fought it she never once asked for the "bink." I should mention that Eden fighting sleep is not something new, it happens almost daily so the pacifier didn't cause this necessarily. She finally slept and at 4 a.m. I awoke to SCREAMING. I pick her up and she is stiff as a board. It took 20 minutes to console her (I think she mostly wanted daddy), but she still never asked for it. Yes, I wanted to grab it knowing that she would settle down instantly, but I promised myself I wouldn't touch it. Saturday went the same way. She has since seen pacifiers with other babies, or even in pictures of herself, but the most she says is, "BINK!" and then moves on. I did not expect it to go this way at all. I assumed we would have to fight it. I'm so glad we went with our instincts as her parents and waited until we felt she was ready (but not tooooo long). It's a great reminder that for the most part, we were made to be able to know our children and how to help them. So, don't be scared about taking away the pacifier, the results may just surprise you. Or not. And then I'll just say, "I'm sorry!"

Dancing with her bear

"Colors!"


A future mommy-in-training


*This is actually something for her 19 month post, but since I am late in posting it and WAY too excited I had to mention that Eden went potty on the toilet! Of course it was when I was out of town. Apparently she asked to go "pee pee" and sat down and went. We are still not pushing it, but we are so excited that she is that excited about it! 

Friday, April 20, 2012

Project 52:16 | Independence


It seems that the moment that Eden turned 18 months she suddenly became quite independent. Obviously she still needs Josh and I, but she is in a "let me do it myself" phase (a phase that I think will last the rest of her life). Honestly, I have no problem with this. I love watching her learn and grow. She puts herself in her own carseat (no need to fret, we buckle her in!). Every time I open the dishwasher she is right next to be pulling out each dish for me to put away. She picks out and puts on her own shoes...usually 7 or more times a day. It just amazes me how she went from being a completely dependent newborn to a semi-independent toddler so quickly. I hope to continue to foster her independence while always showing her that I am right here if she needs me. 

So...this was my first Project 52 post without my beloved Picnik. There was a definite learning curve trying to figure out how to maneuver the new program I finally found to somewhat replace Picnik. After a whole lot of searching iPiccy ended up being the winner. While I actually prefer the look and feel of PicMonkey for editing, until they get the collage feature that they are promising, I am going to be using iPiccy. It had most of the same features of our dearly departed program, but had a lot less "extras". There were some features that, dare I say it, were better than Picnik. No matter what I am HORRIBLE when it comes to change and prefer to stick to my old ways thankyouverymuchgoogleforgettingridofmyfavoritefreeeditingsoftware. Good for you if you could actually read that. 

Anyway, I am off to get some beauty rest. I have a VERY early day tomorrow. One in which I have to be AWAKE, COHERENT, and HALF DECENT looking by 6 a.m. I honestly haven't seen that time much in a very long time. Well, not willingly anyway. Curious why I am getting up at such an indecent hour? MOPS leadership summit. I am actually pretty excited about it! MOPS was something I always dreamed about being a part of before I had Eden and I have really enjoyed getting to participate this year! Alright, for real, I'm getting some sleep. 

Oh wait..maybe I should mention...I have become completely obsessed with Instagram. I have had the app for quite awhile, but never really understood the social networking aspect. I just want to edit my photos in peace people! Then I started realizing that it's kind of fun and now I can't stop. My name is malmal3 if you want to find me. See you there. 

For more Project 52 goodness, check out these fine blogs:



Let me know if you want to join in on the fun! It's never too late to start your Project 52 :)


Thursday, April 19, 2012

Lovely Ladies And Jewels

This post is over a week overdue. Whoops. So remember how I mentioned the Stella and Dot event that was happening at Limeberry last week? Well, it happened...and it was so fun! I really enjoyed getting to work with a longtime friend of mine, Jamie, with her new business venture. It was the first event I have been a part of at Limeberry so it was fun actually feeling like an owner for a day ;) Yes, there are actually employees there that do not know who I am, it's rather embarrassing. Anyway, the event went well...neither of us knew what to expect, but we got to meet a whole lot of new faces and that's always a good thing. 

For those of you that were wanting to attend and were unable, but still wanted to support the Women at the Well Grace House you can click here and head to my trunk show where 15% of proceeds will go to their efforts. Seriously meeting the ladies who are a part of this great organization was inspiring. I love to give to people who are doing wonderful things in our community. It is great to see such love and devotion to the women of Salem. Oh and the pretty jewelry doesn't hurt so head on over and check it out. I *THINK* you have a little less than a week to place your order. And your shipment comes FAST. So think about upcoming bithdays, Mother's Day, or just a little something to spoil yourself with. We all know you deserve it. 

Monday, April 16, 2012

Chicken And Broccoli Fried Brown Rice

Well that was a bit of a mouth full. Good news is my mouth really was full of this for dinner tonight and because I am oh so nice I am sharing it with you. Hold the applause.

This is one of those meals that you make when your husband is complaining that he is hungry, the toddler is clinging to your leg, the dog has to go outside for the 1,091 time and you just realized its past dinner time.

Not that I would know.

Chicken and Broccoli Fried Brown Rice

Ingredients:
Some chicken*
Rice (instant or precooked makes it quick)
Egg
Broccoli (I used frozen)
Peas (frozen again)
Soy sauce
Sesame oil
Spices (ground ginger, garlic, pepper)
Squeeze of lime juice (only if you have it)

Assuming your rice and chicken are ready..

Heat up a skillet on medium heat until hot, add 1 T of oil or butter (for all things that are good please only use avocado oil or coconut oil if you choose to use oil..the other stuff is bad). Throw the egg in, turn down to medium-low, use your spatula to break it up and scramble until heated through and set. Put egg in a bowl and set aside.

Throw the broccoli and peas in and heat up (I happened to steam mine but using the same pan keeps you from having to wash another pan) until they are soft enough (to your liking). Once heated add rice, chicken, and egg. Then flavor with about 1 T soy sauce and 1-2 tsp sesame oil (this was for 3 servings so adjust accordingly). Add in spices as desired. Serve hot.

*if you are lazy like me you buy an organic free range whole chicken and cook it in the crockpot and portion it into individual servings in your freezer. Then when you forget to plan your dinner ahead you just grab that chicken and heat it up. Only reason we have food on the table...seriously.

So I realize I am a horrible recipe writer. I babble, over explain everything, and have no idea how to measure ingredients so I use terms like some, a bit, to your liking to just let you know that there is no science to it, I just throw things in.

If I completely turned you off from this meal due to above reasons I apologize. It really was easy and tastes divine. Maybe one day I'll get un-lazy and actually post all of my lazy timesaver tips and tricks. Maybe.

Now off to make some pretzels cause Eden asked for them (aka mommy was craving them and begged Eden to say she wanted pretzels).

Friday, April 13, 2012

Project 52:15 | Resurrection


I love traditions. We are starting to step away from traditions that we did as children due to feeling like we wanted an even greater focus on the reason why we were celebrating. Jesus. We definitely continued doing egg hunts. Honestly it was so fun to see the pure joy Eden had from hunting for her "eggies." I love seeing happiness radiate off of her little face. We chose to read the story of Christ's death and resurrection from a wonderful book we found at a thrift store of all places. It has 13 pages filled with the story in a way a child can understand. We also loved the questions after each story to help the child reflect on what they just read. We actually did read those questions to Eden...obviously not expecting an answer...but for us to answer. I find it important to never limit her understanding. She may not be able to answer the question, but soon enough she will start to understand and then she will be the one answering the question some day. I love children's ever growing brains. 

This was Eden's second Easter and it was my second time of truly being able to feel the pain that God must have felt when sending His son to Earth knowing that He came here to sacrifice His life for us. I can't imagine doing the same thing with Eden, and thankfully I don't have to. The true love I have for Eden is something I have never experienced before. Can you imagine how God feels about us, His children? Amazing.

For more Project 52 goodness, check out these fine blogs:



Let me know if you want to join in on the fun! It's never too late to start your Project 52 :)

Thursday, April 12, 2012

A Hipsters Birthday Message

Today was this man's 26th birthday!



Due to an unusually hectic week we didn't get to celebrate with him nearly as much as we had hoped for, but thankfully we will get to see him for a bit tomorrow morning. I did, however, make a baked apple french toast for him this morning and was it ever delicious if I do say so myself. Yes, I am quite proud of that one. I'm sure I'll be sharing the recipe at some point. 

Hubsters...you are extra special in my book. I mean, look at you, you always know how to strike a pose. You make a lot of jokes that you think are funny...one day you'll get me to crack a smile, I'm sure of it. Your daddy skills are top notch. You are a pro cloth diaper changer. You take the dog outside to do her business in the middle of the night EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT. You find articles that relate to my crazy eating habits and then cheer us on (while secretly eating Panda Express) each day. You let me experiment all sorts of crazy homemade concoctions on you just to see what will make your skin extra soft and smooth (maybe you didn't want that known to the public? Eh, too late). You love me each day even though my moods most often resemble a roller coaster. Yes, you are absolutely a keeper. 

Love you babe.


Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Easter...The 2012 Version

This Easter was purely wonderful. Honestly, we enjoyed every last bit of Easter weekend. For those of you in the Northwest can I get an "AMEN!" to that beautiful weather we had?! Nothing like some gorgeous sunshine to really highlight the resurrection. This post is going to feel like picture overload, but I can't help it..I actually had my camera with me and used it everywhere I went and I am so proud of myself that I want to share. 

On Friday night we dyed eggs. We chose to go the natural dye route...I mean honestly, is there any other way?! Paas you just aren't my friend with your icky chemicals and smelly scents. While our first experiment with dying eggs didn't go perfectly as planned, we will most definitely continue dying eggs this way each year. It was fun to experiment and see how different foods reacted with the eggs. Our favorites? Tumeric and beets. I think the greatest part is knowing that back in the day when Jesus was walking around here they actually used food to dye linens. AMAZING. Oh and the fail part of our experiment? Following instructions saying to put in 1/4 cup of vinegar. Next year its 1 Tablespoon...that's it. You'll see why.




Yep, the vinegar ate the egg. I think it made for some fun looking eggs though. Lesson learned. Oh and we also experimented with blueberries, spinach, and red cabbage. 


Saturday morning was Eden's first time at our church's Easter egg hunt. We knew she would rock it, but WHOA we had no idea that we were going to have to tell her to "stop cleaning up the eggs so other kids could get some." Moral of the story, the girl loves eggs.



After the egg hunt we took a side trip to take our newest favorite baby her little Easter present. This was also Josh's FIRST TIME meeting "HeHe" (Eden's name for her cousin). Obviously he fell in love just as predicted. Sadly, I haven't been able to get my arms around her since her second day of life. My arms ache, but the idea of giving her my sickness is just too horrid to bear. So I just keep waiting. 


After a little rendevous at home for Eden's nap time, we decided to do a quick stop at the Capitol to take some photos of the ever famous cherry blossoms. We did this for Josh's birthday last year, so we figured we should probably do it again this year. As always, it was absolutely beautiful. 


Thank you random lady for totally rocking the camera...it was her first time using a dSLR and it was on MANUAL

Looking at that building makes me kinda sorta miss working there every day. And when I say kinda sorta I mean they are nice memories and boy was I ever lucky, BUT I am so very much happier and content at home. I am most certainly where I was meant to be.


Sunday morning we got up and let Eden open up her gifts. We are actually trying to shift the focus off of presents when it comes to Easter and Christmas so the gifts were small and useful. Eden was quite content with her new Easter book, sippy cup, and sidewalk chalk. She is easy to please. I can't wait to start up more traditions next year to ensure that Easter has a bigger focus in our house. 


Despite being terribly sick, I made sure we could all be at church together. When I say terribly sick, I mean that I was the one who was sick...so for those of you who are worried that Eden exposed your kids, I promise..she was all better! Felt like I needed that disclaimer. Anyways...we had a wonderful church service, got to see many lovely and friendly faces, and then had an impromptu photo sesh with my twin, her husband, and Eden's boyfriend. I love that Kirsten and I are pretty much the same person. It really is quite scary. Good news is she isn't really blood related (well we haven't been able to prove it yet) so it's totally okay that we are forcing our children to marry one another. When they are 40, obviously.

Thank you Ashley for letting us use your photography skills for free for our totally random photo session in front of the very crowded church.

I'm choosing to be humble and post a photo where everyone looks good, but me. Um, cheesy smile much? 


The rest of Easter Sunday was spent at my parents house. Eden is always guaranteed a good time with her uncle and aunt's...they treat that girl like the superstar that she is.





Obviously egg hunts are super exciting, as is the money that comes out of the eggs. Favorite moment? The fact that Eden ran around the yard shouting, "EGGIES!" the entire time she was hunting. My girl has some serious personality. Wonder where she gets that from...

We hope you all had a wonderful day of celebration! 


*****************************************

Shout out to the LADIES!

If you live in or near the Salem area, I wanted to let you know of a fun event that is happening tomorrow! Limeberry and Stella & Dot are partnering up for a Ladies Night Out event. Some of each purchase is going towards a fabulous ministry called the Women at the Well Grace House. We really want this to be a success and we think it is going to be F-U-N so we want you all there!

Where: Limeberry Frozen Yogurt
            525 Taggart Drive
            Salem, OR 97304

When: 6:30-8:30 p.m. (come anytime!)

Why: Because you will have fun and there is yogurt and jewelry involved. Most importantly? You are supporting a great organization!

Please don't be shy...just come. And if we haven't met yet, introduce yourself. I would love to meet readers in person. See you all there!




Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!


Just stopping in really quick to say "Happy Easter!" to all of you fine blog readers out there! We hope you are enjoying spending time with family or doing whatever it is you do on this very special day. 

I had to leave you with a photo of Eden and her boyfriend after Easter service...ummm, hi...cute much? 




He is RISEN! 

Saturday, April 7, 2012

18 Months


Well my big girl, you are almost 19 months and your mommy is just now posting about your 18th month. Whoops. As mommy and daddy have taught you to say, "FAIL!" Well, here I am trying to remember what happened last month versus this month...

Things You Love

Giving bear hugs
Watching Dora the Explorer
Dancing..with or without music
Playing outside (win! You used to despise it)
Talking to every single person who walks past us
Playing ball
Playing with your blocks


Things You Don't Love

Going to bed


You have started to say two word sentences! Unfortunately, most of them aren't nice words, but we will get there eventually. Your favorite sentence? "Go away!" It started by saying it to the dogs and now you say it to mommy and daddy. No thank you. You can repeat numbers 1-10 in Spanish...but when I ask you to do it in English you just say "cow" after every number. No idea why. You have become more and more cuddly as you grow older. Honestly you give the world's best hugs and you do your best to squeeze me as hard as you can. I love the cheesy smile you have while you squeeze me. You still ask to go "pee pee" and "poo poo" on the potty, but haven't been successful yet. No worries, we are in no rush. You are learning how to play with our kids and we love watching you. You absolutely LOVE babies and you talk about them all the time. You haven't added any new teeth in awhile. Your eating habits have only gotten worse. We can still get you to drink your "every veggie and fruit and fat we can possibly fit smoothie" every day for the most part. 

You are halfway to being 2! We have loved watching you grow so very much. You are a wonderful and loving daughter and we can't wait to see what the next months have in store. Love you bug!

Friday, April 6, 2012

Project 52:14 | Perfection


Yeah so in case you haven't noticed I am flat out obsessed with my new "niece" and can't stop talking about her, let alone blogging about her. I mean, hello...she is adorable. My other two beautiful nieces live in another state so I haven't gotten to love on them as much as I wish I could. So, Hayley is getting to deal with me now. 

I was a total camera happy crazy auntie at the hospital (would you expect anything less??). I even got to be there while the proud parents were taking little Miss Gorgeous home. As I was snapping away I started to think about how babies are so untainted by the world. I mean, look at her. She is so very innocent. She doesn't yet know about the scary things in this world. It would be so easy to protect our littles from evil, but in the end I know that keeping them from ever seeing evil means they will never know how to help others. I do absolutely want Eden to stay innocent and young as long as possible. I want her only concerns to be what color crayon she will color with next. And then...when the day comes for her to step out in the world and witness those that are hurting, those that are not kind...I pray that she will be able to imitate the love of Christ and strive to be like Him. And when the temptation to be "perfect" in the eyes of the world arises, I pray that she will always see herself as beautiful, a child of God, that will always be loved IN SPITE OF her imperfections. True beauty is within and I pray that all children can see that as they face the criticism of the world. 

For more Project 52 goodness, check out these fine blogs:



Let me know if you want to join in on the fun! It's never too late to start your Project 52 :)




Project 52:13 | Leadership


In times past I found it scary to put my trust in someone. How could I believe that they would want my best and would not hurt me? I did find a way to trust and in walked Josh. He has been such a wonderful leader in our family. I know he is still learning...just as I am still learning how to be lead. I love watching Eden put her trust into those around her...I hope that no one ever ruins that for her. 

Sorry for the delay in getting this one posted. It's been quite a hectic week around here. You know...like a trip to Washington, a baby being born, and then sickness overtaking our family. We are all looking a bit ragged, but despite all that it's been a great week! Week 14 will be posted shortly! 

For more Project 52 goodness, check out these fine blogs:



Let me know if you want to join in on the fun! It's never too late to start your Project 52 :)

Thursday, April 5, 2012

She Is Here!

Our "niece" and "cousin" made her debut on Monday night! She is absolutely beautiful and I am so ridiculously in love with that girl. Sadly I'm the only one who has met her in this household cause the rest of the family is sick. It's seriously an infirmary in here. Anyway here she is! All 9 lbs 6 oz and 21 inches of her.