Strawberries

So strawberry season is upon us. Who doesn't love strawberries, and getting them for a buck a lb makes them all the more desirable. Well I stocked up yesterday at the store. I bought 16 pkgs or 16lbs. My thought was I would get some to eat, some to freeze for smoothies and some to make freezer jam with... ha. I went to get the strawberries out of the outside fridge tonight to freeze some and to my shock there were only 7 pkgs left. Could that be right? I realized that within a 24 hour period we had gone thru 9 pkgs of strawberries. Amazing right.. Now I am wishing I had bought more. I am glad that the kids have been getting lots of fruit in their diet.

Yay!

So we really did it, we really did! We bought a van. Several hours and much himming and haing later we settled on one and I really love it! I know its so silly that I am so excited about this but I have wanted a minivan for so long, probably since we were pregnant with Bella, but alas it was never a neccesity. James was so sweet and thoughtful throughout the entire process, even though he didnt understand why some things were important and why it was such an emotional experience for me , he supported me and listened. Lets hope it give us many good years of use.

Here is a pic of the bad boy we picked out. One of the major selling points for me was that it had 8 seats (which was hard to find) and in comparison to the other ones we looked at it was so much more spacious with tons of storage space and just totally family friendly. After we got home and put the kids in bed we just went out and sat in it for a while, so fun! It was like a little mini-date playing around with the different gadgets. Toyota really thought of everything when they made this car. It is complete with a hook to hang my purse on and 16 cup holders, yes we counted, it was like playing hide n seek, we kept finding them all over the place.

Car buying

So we are finally going to do it! Well maybe, I mean we desperately need to James is traveling ever week and our second car is at a point where it will cost more to fix than its worth, but here I am up in the middle of the night sick to my stomach with anxiety. When we got the house it was the same thing. I just had to step back and let James make the final decisions. He really makes up for what I am lacking. Lets hope we just buy one tomorrow so I can finally get some sleep and peace of mind.

kitchen talk

I was in the kitchen making breakfast. Both the kids were in there with me. I was overhearing them talk.
Bella leans over and strokes Luke's hair and in a sappy voice says "I Love you Luca"
Luke "Thank you Bella"
Bella " When we grow old and get big your going to marry me"
Luke "No Bella, someday you will meet a wonderful handsome man and you will marry him, not me."
Bella (Still in a sappy calm voice) "No someday you'll marry me"
Luke " I will meet a beautiful girl someday and marry her and you will meet a handsome man and marry him"
Bella (with a little giggle) "Oh okay"

Favorite Luke quotes from his trip to Utah:

Luke was running around looking for his sock and he couldn't find them. Aunt Sonya jumped into to help. She asked "Where was the last place you saw them?" Luke's response "on my feet".

Aunt Heather asked Luke if he wanted to go to Carl's Jr.? Luke response "Whose that?"

They were watching the Disney Oceans DVD and a baby walrus came on screen, Luke exclaimed "That looks like baby Royce!" Lol!

Bella Funny Quote

I was painting one of the walls in the den red. I asked Bella if she liked it? Her response "It's RED-TASTIC!"

Happy Easter

Easter is an a special holiday in our home. Not only because it is the celebration of the wonderful sacrifice and gift our savior has offered to us which could never be held in comparison, but also for another reason. James asked me to marry him six years ago on Easter morning. I will never forget that day. Its was day of extreme excitement and anticipation of the unknown commitment we were making to one another. James was so sweet, naive and debonair. He got into my apartment while I was at church and set up an Easter egg hunt. Each egg contained a romantic (slightly cheesy) love note as well as a clue to the next egg. I eventually found a basket on my bed which directed me to go to the front door, by this time I was aware of what was most likely going on (we never formally talked about getting married but hints were dropped). I can still remember how nervous I was when I opened the front door! James was there in his suit, he took a couple steps into the apartment, he dropped to his knee and asked me if I would marry him. I dropped to my knees, hugged him and said Yes! I had no idea at that time what an immense blessing this man would be to my life. I am indeed blessed to have such a wonderful eternal companion. I never knew life could hold so much joy. Thank you James for choosing me.

Luke quote of the day

"Mom do they make peanuts from peanut butter?"

Soy Protein Candy

This is a variation on the honey candy I have previously posted. 1/3C Soy protein powder 1/3C Cocoa powder 1/2C Peanut butter (i use natural) 1/2C Honey or other liquid sweetener ex. Molasses, maple syrup ect. Heat Peanut butter and honey in sauce pan till bubbling for 1 min. Add in dry ingredients with spoon till ball forms. Roll out on wax paper let cool. Cut into pieces and eat!

Royce's new toy!

I ordered this off amazon and it only took 2 days to get here! Royce has been standing up and bouncing on my legs a lot recently so I figured he would love it. He is still working on strenghthening his little neck and back so I only let him stay in it for 15mins. I dont think he has quite figured out that it bounces yet. He did love staring at the pattern on the seat (that's what he is doing in the top picture). I realized shortly after putting him in this that it might not be as safe as I thought. NOT because the product isn't safe but because Luke thought it was really fun to spin and swing little Roycie in it, but hey, what are big brothers for?

Whole Wheat Pizza

Pizza Dough (will make to large cookie sheet size pizza's)

1. 2 1/2 C water
2. 2 t honey
3. 3t olive oil
4. 4-6 C whole wheat flour (I like the white wheat flour best)
5. 4T Vital Wheat Gluten
6. 3T Yeast
7. 2 t garlic powder
8. 1 1/2T Italian seasoning

pre-heat oven at 450 degrees, Spray with cooking spray 2 large cookie sheet

• mix water, oil, honey and yeast
• add wheat gluten (important makes dough workable), garlic powder, Italian seasoning and flour (a little at a time till sides come clean)

Roll out dough put on pan and bake 5 mins, top with sauce, cheese, and toppings of your choice (some of our favorites are onions, broccoli, olive, artichoke hearts, pineapple, and spinach)

Pizza Sauce
(this is one you are just going to have to taste test, I never measure I just throw it together but will give rough estimates)

1/2 - 1 minced bell pepper (I throw it in the blender or food processor)
4 cups of spaghetti sauce
2T italian seasoning
2t garlic dried or 2T of mince garlic
1/4C dried onion or 1/2 minced onion
(you can add salt and pepper to taste)

Saute bell pepper and garlic & onions (if using fresh) in a pot on med till soft and translucent, add in rest of ingredients until hot (you will probably have more that enough sauce for 2 pizza's. I use the extra for dipping toasted bread, its one of the kids favorite snacks)

Eggwhite scramble

I am trying to post the foods we regularity eat around here on my blog so I can have a resource of keeping track of the meals we like (sometime I forget about recipes and then am like oh yeah I loved that)

1. 6 -12 egg whites
2. 3T TVP (textured vegetable protein)
3. 1-2T Braggs Liquid Aminos
4. 1-2t Mrs. Dash original seasoning

Good topped with a little hot sauce

Luke Moments

Here are a few memories I don't want to forget.

1- I was dropping Luke off at preschool. As Luke is getting out of the car Bella says in a sweet voice "Have a good day Luke". Luke walks about 10 ft from the car, looks at me, and declares " I need to give my sister a kiss goodbye". He runs back to the car, crawls in and gives Bella a big kiss on the lips and then leans over and kisses Royce on the head.

(The following preschool day I dropped Luke off and got back in the car. Bella is super sad and says "Mommy, Luke forgot to kiss me goodbye.")

2- We were driving home from soccer and Luke was really tired and whining in the back seat. I said "Luke if you want to talk to me you need to use your big boy voice, right now you are using your baby voice." He starts talking agian in his whining voice, mid-sentence he clears his throat and immediately starts using his normal voice. Lol!

3- One of Lukes jobs is to help Daddy scoop the dog poop. Tonight I went out to play soccer with the kids. To my shock Bella was bottomless. I looked at them with a puzzled face and asked "What are you guys doing?" Luke response " Um Bella went pee in the bushes." (which is somewhat normal). Then he adds " and I made a poop on the grass." He points at it (right in front of the swing set). I looked at him with a disgusted face and asked "why?" His response was "I thought you could just scoop it up".
So funny and yet so nasty!

Royce's 2 mos check up

So here are the stats

Weight: 16.65 (98%)
Height: 25 1/4 (100%)
Head: 16 3/4 (100%)

The boy is trooping right along and staying nice n big! We love this kid!
This is currently his favorite hang out spot (besides mom or dads arms). He love this thing whenever its time for a nap I can put him in this and he is asleep within minutes sometimes seconds. He sleeps in his crib at night but during the day I let him nap in this.

It was so hot the other day (you can tell by the flushed cheeks) that we pulled out the kiddy pool and went for a swim. At first the little man wasn't to keen on it (the water was cold) but he soon adjusted and enjoyed himself.

One of those day

We have been sick, well the kids have been sick. It started Thursday morning with Luke throwing up. He handled it pretty well. He was lethargic and just watched shows for 2 days straight. The night of the second day Bella woke up in the middle of the night crying. I went in to check on her and she had thrown up all over her bed. We cleaned her up put her in the guest bed and took it easy on Sat. I am not sure what happened today, I thought it was just going to be an easy going Sunday where we could just recuperated. I am not kidding when I saying Bella has been throwing a tantrum since noon. Its now 7:19pm she is in her bed crying now. Everything is setting her off. She doesn't get to sit by me, she doesn't want that shirt, she doesn't want peanut butter on her sandwich, Daddy took a sip of her drink, I wiped her nose the wrong way, she doesn't want to wash her hair, She doesn't want to take a nap ect. ect. (you get the picture). I have successfully not completely lost it yet. Instead of feeling like I'm about to lose it I just feel like crying. I am at a point where I just don't know what to do with her. Consequences just don't work, loving on her works for about five minutes until I do something wrong again, praying helps. I know she has a strong will and I also know she needs that strong will to be able to deal with the challenges she will face in her life but it is heart breaking to deal with. It kills me to watch her be so sad for such a long period of time. What can I do?

Spring Pics

I finally got it together enough today to snap some pics of the kids. Unfortunately I forgot to change it the setting to the higher pixel so it looks like I will be getting a bunch of 4x6's. Royce was by far the most cooperative a the bunch. I think overall it was successful considering what I was working with. Lots of fun! Hopefully family pics will come soon!

Sour Scream

The other day Bella found the sour cream in our fridge and begged an begged to have some. Finally I said yes. She loved it! Strange little girl.

Zoo Field Trip

We went to the zoo yesterday with Luke's preschool friends. Tons of fun! There favorite parts were the Tiger and the new dinosaurs that move around, oh and of course spending time with their friends!

Luke Quote of the Day

I made tortilla soup for dinner

Luke " Is there corn in this?"
Sara "Yes, corn is good!"
Luke "Yuck I don't like corn!"
Sara "Did you know there was corn in Cheetos?"
Luke "NO? Why do they taste so good?... They must have sugar."


Half way through dinner Luke announces that the soup is super yummy and that he just doesn't like plain corn.

Whole Wheat Tortillas

This is the second time I made these. The first time was a mess I cooked them too long and they turned out to hard and unbend-able. I think I got the hang of it this time. I dont think I will ever buy a store bought tortilla again. Note: Eat these within in 2 days or else they get dried out, at least they did here.

• 2C wheat flour (I used white wheat from the cannery)
• 1t Salt (we dont do a lot of salt so I omitted this, you could add garlic or other seasoning for flavor)
• 1t baking powder
• 4T canola oil
• 2/3 C water

1. combine first three ingredients
2. quickly stir in water and oil
3. when dough can be gathered into soft mass, turn onto floured surface and knead a few times.
4. Form 8 balls of dough cover with a towel to prevent drying until ready to use
5. Flatten first ball into disk
6. Roll out dough on floured surface until 7in or larger (turn over frequently)
7. Place tortilla on ungreased pan (I used a hot plate it made it go faster) preheated at med-high
8. cook 15-20 sec on each side. First side should be pale and sprinkled with brown spots and the other side will be blotched (you cant really under cook but you can over cook. You want them to still be soft when you take them off)
9. Put in a storage zip lock bag or on a plate with a towel on top to keep them soft.
   
10. 
    

Patty Cake

This is Royce's favorite game right now. I have even got a giggle out of him a couple times! He is officially 2 mos now. He is just as sweet as can be. He has aquired a couple nick names. I catch myself calling him Chubbers alot. Luke asked the other day what it meant and I said it means he is a little bit fat. Luke then scolded me and told me not to call him that any more cause it might hurt his feelings. Lol! We also call him Roy, Tank or Tankers. James informed me that Royals Royce made the first tank or tank engine (something like that) so I think the nickname suits him.

Conference Journal For little Ones

I made conference baskets for the kids with a juice box, crayons, a small (quiet) toy and a conference journal. I also got a bowl of Cheetos and told the kids whenever they heard the word apostle they could get a Cheeto. Luke loved it and was watching and listening intently. I think Bella was still a little young cause ever few seconds she would say "I heard the word apostle" and go take a Cheeto.

So I saw this great idea to do a conference basket for the women you visit teach. I put in a notebook/pen, cinnamon rolls, poptarts, conference bingo with jelly beans.

So I was trying to find some cute ideas for little kids to get them more excited about conference and I found a great links. This is a little journal you can print off for them to work on Click Here. My plan is to make them each a "Conference Basket". Hopefully I get around to it this week, I will post pics if I do. Check this out its so awesome! The kids wanted to watch this over and over.

The Prophets and Apostles song Click Here

Soccer and Blackmail

Luke started playing soccer this week. He loves it. His coach is really creative and makes it fun for them. They played soccer red light green light which Luke just thought was the greatest. Poor kid is the only one out there without shin guards, which Luke soon figured out when he got kicked in the shin with the ball (he gave me a little piece of his mind).

I was babysitting a friends daughter and they were playing dress up. Now I have blackmail for eternity!

At the library with her friends Tyson, and Craig

Green Smoothies

We have been on the Green Smoothie wagon for a couple years now. I seriously make these ever morning and feel good knowing my kids have had at least a little bit of nutrients to start the day off with. These are great for breakfast on the go!

Here is how I do it
I fill the blender up about 1/2 way with fresh spinach (Costco has big bags for a decent price)
Add in frozen / fresh fruit the rest of the way up (we get our frozen at Costco. Usually we have whatever is in season for fresh fruit)
I add a little vanilla, ground flax seed (so we can get those Omega 3 fatty acids), and vitamin C
Also if we have it I will throw in some soy milk or juice (apple, orange, pineapple)

And Wah La! There you have it. Usually its green but the blueberries turn it purple. The kids love it and I love starting the day out right!

Steel Cut Oats

I like a website called fatfreevegan.com . She always has super yummy recipes that compliment the way I like to eat. I was reading how rolled oat have been cooked and processed a couple time before being packaged so some of the nutrients have been cooked out, she said that steel cut oats are more nutrient packed. So I decided to try them. I like them so did the kids and James.

Boil water.
Pour desired amount of oats in bowl them pour boiled water till covered. They will absorb the excess. Thats it for the oats.

I like to top them with banana, raisins, nuts, cinnamon, and other fruit depending on what we have (fresh pear is one of my fav). We try and stay away from sugar and honey but I know a lot of people like that. Also we have recently stopped buying Soy Milk so I just add a little extra water to make up for it and no one has noticed a difference.

Fruit Leathers

I try really hard not to buy processed food for my kids. I just don't think it healthy and strongly feel its contributing to a lot of the health issues Americans are facing. Now I am far from perfect. I give in at the grocery store and grab a bag of Cheetos and give it to my kids just to keep them busy so I can finish shopping. The point is I do try.

Its also really hard because my kids will hold out for the junk food. When I say that I mean they will skip entire meals waiting for me to offer animal cracker and then they will eat the entire box. I have over time learned we just can't have that kind of stuff in our house. I saw this recipe and thought hey I think they might eat these. So far Bella loves them and I am still working on getting Luke to try em.

Ingredients:

• Fresh Fruit
• Water
• Lemon Juice
• Spices (such as cinnamon and nutmeg (optional))

1. Cut up fruit (remove core/pit). Place it in pan with 1/2 C of water for ever 4 C of fruit. Simmer covered until tender.
2. Put in blender and blend up until smooth. Add in lemon juice and spices until its the desired taste
3. Use a rimmed baking sheet spray with cooking spray cover in plastic wrap.
   
4. Pour fruit mixture on 1/8-1/4 in thick (make sure none of the plastic wrap overlaps fruit or it won't dry out)
5. Put in over at 150 degrees (I did 170 cause mine wouldn't go that low and it was fine) bake until its firm to the touch and not sticky (took about 14hours for mine over night is good)

Make sure the plastic wrap doesn't touch the over rack.

At first I rolled them up in plastic wrap but that was taking to long so I just cut them up on the plastic they baked in, stacked them, and put them in a zip lock bag. I think they turned out great.

Kids Bathroom

Remember this?
Click here for the whole story

Well its finished!

We actually finished this back in Dec before James mom came. We wanted her to have a place to shower and its nice to have to bathtubs again. This is the kids Bathroom (or guest bath). I still have a couple things to do in there but its good enough for now.

Spring Break

James had a work trip in San Antonio again last week and when we found out his Brothers family were planning to head down to the beach for the weekend we decided to join them! So much fun. I had no idea the beaches in TX were so nice. I really think they are a hidden treasure. The water was nice (not to cold not to hot) and the beaches weren't crowded.
Going for a drive (on our way down to SA James had to stop for a meeting in Dallas) me and the kids hung out in the car. The pic of Bella below cracks me up

The weather was in the 80s so we took advantage of the pool and the large hot tub at the pool.

My dad just happened to be in town this week to so we got to meet up with him and my Aunt Beverly. I forgot to take pictures.

Royce was so cute in his little swim outfit I had to take pictures. This is pretty much his attitude all the time except for when he has a messy diaper or is about to fall asleep. Such a sweet boy!

Poor kid. This is what Royce did pretty much the whole time we were at the beach. I didn't want him to get sunburned or sand stuck in those baby rolls.We got to ride on a ferry on our way to Port Aransas so fun. It was only like 5 minutes long but still very cool!

Behind James and Luke are James brother Joe's (tall guy) and his wife Lisa (red sweater)

This is all she wanted to do the whole ride

Bella really liked this hole.

Daddy taking Luke boogie boarding. He liked digging in the sand and jumping the waves with daddy.

Luke making what he called a "Sand Angel"

Cousin Sadie, she is about 7 months younger than Bella. They were BFF on this trip

Shark shop we got souvenirs at. From left to right we have Royce, Taylor, Hunter, Bella, Luke, Sadie

These birds were crazy! They would swarm you if you had food and fly down and take it right out of your hand. I am just glad we didn't get pooped on.

James being made into a sand Avatar. They later attached a long seaweed tail to him.

Bella said her favorite part was going out with Daddy and jumping the waves. James later told me she just kept kissing him over and over again while they were out in the water.

I went out in the water a little. It was really nice. For the most part James went body surfing and I got to hang out with my babes making fun sand sculptures and search for sea shells.

It was a great trip and I hope to do it again.

He loves taking silly pics and then looking at them! Funny kid.