"These Are a Few of My Favorite Things" {January, February & March}

In 2014 I set out to do a photo journal, and was so pleased with it's results that I contemplated how I could capture something similar for 2015.  My goal through the years is to remember our day-to-day life; I just think looking back years from now that I'll want to know what that looked like.  So these are some of my favorite moments in time from our daily ins and outs for the past few months.  I figured I could manage this on a quarterly basis (I originally thought I'd do it monthly but mid-February came around and I knew that ship had sailed!).

Precious Moments

Carly: The most precious moment from this quarter came early in January, right after I had gotten eye surgery.  The kids had been troupers going to follow-up appointments with me and to reward Carly I told her we would stop for a treat.  Being it was before 11AM, ice cream wasn't an option, so I pulled into Planet Smoothie.  We ordered a generic banana/strawberry mix and went on our way.  Carly took one drink and said, "I don't yike it, mommy."  I was heart broken.  Visibly.  Here she had been SO gracious as I was recovering and not even three yet and the treat I had gotten just for her she spit out.  I apologized over and over again and she gave me a hug and said, "It's okay, mama, accidents happen!"  Heart melted.

Luke:  By March Luke was finally willing to sit through us reading to him.  He will grab a book and bring it to us. His favorite is one of lots of young faces, and happens to have a mirror on the final page.  One read through he began giving kisses to all the faces, and of course to himself in the mirror. I told him how sweet that was to be giving kisses and he turned, looked up at me and plopped a wet one right on my lips.  After our smooch he gave me a big grin and asked to read the book again.  It feels so good to be loved.

Healthful Living

I've been on a pretty strict diet for 6 months now; in part to lose weight but also to feel good day in and day out.  I've been trying tons of new smoothie recipes and have been replacing 2 meals/day with nutrient-packed frozen goodness.  I feel really good.  However--it means I haven't been super adventurous in trying new dinner recipes; something I had originally thought I'd write about in this segment.  One thing I've been trying to focus on is getting the kids some variety in breakfast/snacking that is still healthy.  I found this highly dense banana "cake" and they really enjoyed that.  It served as a really filling breakfast that could also be on-the-go.  It was NOT good enough to be something I would serve to Guests in my home, but this recipe also squeezes 5 bananas in an 8X8 pan; so it's not a treat: it's a breakfast meal replacement.

Breakfast Banana Cake
Wet Ingredients
1 tbsp ground flax (+) 3 tbsp water--let soak for a few minutes
5 medium ripe bananas (mashed)
1/4 C maple syrup
1/4 C coconut oil (I didn't have this on hand so used olive oil, instead...coconut oil would be way better)
1/3 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 C quick oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 C whole wheat flour
Preheat oven to 360 and prepare like you would any baked item and stick in your oven for 20 minutes (ish)

I also thought I would share my favorite smoothie recipe!!

Chocolate Kale Smoothie
1 1/2 cups of packed frozen kale (I buy a fresh big bag of raw kale & plop it right in the freezer)
1 frozen banana
2 tbsp cacao powder (you could use cocoa powder but I use cacao as it is organic & has no added sugar)
2 tbsp chocolate chips (or cacao chips if you want to spend a lot of money on a bag of chocolate)
1 tbsp hemp seeds (optional)
1 C almond milk (or of course just use regular milk)

This is such a healthy way to get your serving of kale for the day but feel like you just had chocolate ice cream! Well...that's how I feel, anyway!! ;)

Places & Spaces

The kids have really enjoyed playing in their sandbox.  This is something I purchased for $5 at a garage sale that was filled with super soft sand by Grandpa.  This has been part of our daily life for 6 weeks now and I think I've mopped and vacuumed more sand off our floors than ever before! But of course that is just fine.

Carly loves her play doh. Just loves it.  She talks about it all the time and plays with it everyday.  It's home was located on the kitchen table for months before I just couldn't stand looking at it another day.  I cleared out a space for her in the closet under the stairs, laid down some tarp, got a little table and she ADORES her new space.  She can keep it hidden from the play-doh eater in the home and she can escape to have quiet time; which she has proven over and over again she desperately needs each day.  She dresses her princesses in play doh, makes cookies and is sometimes MIA in her closet for a half hour at a time.

And finally, the place Carly asks to go most is Puggles.  She loves her friends there and really enjoys that Brian & I are her teachers.  She really does talk about going to Puggles every single day.

Growing Minds

I've seen a lot of great activities to do with kids on Pinterest, so this segment was designed to share the things we've tried out and our official rating.  Because the kids have been so busy playing with sand and play doh, I haven't had to turn to creative ideas all that often the past few months; so instead I suppose I will highlight what Carly & I have been working on during Luke's naps: puzzles & games.  Although the matching game, go fish, and doing puzzles on her own are a bit challenging, she does a great job when we do them together and I can coach her through them. So we spend a good amount of time on the floor working together.  Sorry, that's not super exciting....hopefully we will try more adventurous activities over the next few months! If you have any raving fan activities for 3 year olds--send them my way! :)