Living the Good Life

Life is so great over here! Here are some things we’ve been up to lately…

We have been doing a lot of cooking and baking over here! My friend, Lisa, is so amazing at providing her family healthy food to eat...so I am trying to become somewhat like her. She's inspiring! We’ve always been pretty good at eating our fruits and veges over here, but now I’m trying to cut out a lot of white flour and some store-bought foods out of our diets. It’s been so much fun! We make low-fat whole-wheat cookies (including even chocolate and sugar cookies! Yum! And I don't feel so guilty giving them to the girls sometimes), homemade healthy granola bars, whole wheat bread, yummy salads (my girls love salads), whole wheat tortillas, and a bunch of other foods for snacks and meals! I definitely am developing a great love and passion for finding and cooking delicious and healthy food! It’s fun – and my girls love it, too!
(This is an old picture, but I like it anyway)

We’ve been having so much fun doing preschool everyday together. Right now Carolyn is obsessed with a Preschool mailbox we made together. Everyday one of her favorite princesses “sends” her a note that she can try to read and the princesses "send" her worksheets, activities, books, etc. to work with me during preschool…Carolyn loves it! One of the first things she asks me every morning is what I think the princesses gave to her to do today for Preschool! What a sweetie – I love how much kids love to learn! And I love, love finding ways and stealing other people's ideas for the girls to have fun while learning!
Here is a picture of Carolyn with a self-portrait of herself and her name written…Cinderella wanted Carolyn to “mail” her a picture of herself :) Notice the long, blonde hair and dress...and her name written so beautifully :)
We've found that we love going to the zoo in the winter! If a day is "sorta" nice and the sun is shining, we figure it's a good zoo day! It's great because the zoo isn't as crowded and the animals are a little more active during the winter.

Last Saturday when we went the tiger was right up against the glass -we've never seen him that close before! He's huge!

Andrew even had Saturday off of work last week and so we all went! We all love him so much! He works sooo hard for us girls and is so fun to be around!
The girls and I always are making a lot of forts...sometimes I wish I would invest in a tent for them for their birthday or something so I wouldn't have to make these all of the time...but, forts are so much cooler and fun, right?
We do a lot of coloring over here...
Carolyn also got her first haircut this week! I love her hair and was so sad to think of cutting off some of her beautiful curls...but it had to be done. Her hair really needed to be evened out...and I knew that cutting her hair would reduce the amount of knots she gets in her hair. So, we did it and I think it looks adorable! It's fun because both of my girls will sit everyday now and let me fix their hair without me trying to talk them into it! It's been so fun!
(Carolyn sitting at "Mom's Salon"...she was quite thrilled about the whole experience)
(The after picture...sometimes I miss her long hair, but I think cutting it was the right choice)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just love my two sweeties!!!!

Here are my 2 favorite pics from our Valentine Photo-Shoot:

...And this was the best attempt at a picture of the girls together :) Oh well.

Angela:

Carolyn:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Angela and Me

Carolyn goes to bed quite early (usually 7:30ish) so there is an hour or so between the time she goes down to bed and Angela goes down (it’s just the schedule that I found that works the best for us). In between the girls' bedtimes, Angela and I have our special uninterrupted one-on-one time together – it’s one of my favorite times of the day! We pull out puzzles, books, quiet learning toys and activities, etc. and have so much fun together. I think she really loves this time, too, because as soon as I close the door to Carolyn’s room after putting Carolyn to bed, Angela bolts to my room (where we have our time together) and goes to our special cupboard with our activities :) I get to play with both girls a lot during the day, but I love when it's just the two of us (Carolyn gets her one-on-one time with me that I love during Angela's nap).

She is quite the puzzle-pro (we do a lot of puzzles around here). The other day I pulled out this puzzle for the first time for her and she did it without hardly missing a beat.
She’s also pretty impressive with her “ABC” puzzle.
She loves doing her shape sorter and does such a great job with it.
Angela loves reading. Her favorite book topics are definitely babies and animals!

I love my Angela!

Carolyn's First Talk

This sweet little girl with the cheesy smile gave her first talk in Primary on Sunday! I, unfortunately, couldn't go listen to it, but Andrew was able to and said it was one of the best moments in his life. She did such a great job at talking in the microphone and holding up her pictures while giving her talk about Jesus. Andrew also said that it was just so sweet how excited Carolyn was that Daddy came into primary to see her. She kept smiling at him all during opening exercises and she did her best to sing out the primary songs. What a sweety. I love this girl. She always says the sweetest things. After I had just finished saying our family prayer tonight, Carolyn opened her eyes and looked at me and said in her little, cute voice, "I'm so excited to see Jesus again." It was so sweet. I am so blessed to have such amazing little girls in my life that help strengthen my testimony everyday. Being a mom is the best.

Whole Wheat Goodness

I love preparing healthy food for my little family to eat. My sister and I often share recipes with each other (she's an amazing cook). Instead of emailing my sister some of my recipes, I decided that I'll post them on the blog.

First, oatmeal raisin cookies. Sometimes my girls (and me) want something sweet to eat. I don't feel quite so guilty feeding my girls these cookies once in a while since they leave out a lot of the bad stuff in cookies. They're delicious, too! The first time Andrew tried them, he didn't know and couldn't tell that they were low-fat cookies cookies! This recipe is from my sister-in-law, Beth. Her diet is entirely plant-based. I admire the way her family eats. I am in love with her recipes. Here it is:

Low-fat Oatmeal Cookies with Raisins (or chocolate chips)

1 cup whole wheat flour (finely ground)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp oil (or substitute one tbsp with applesauce)
1/2 cup plain applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup white sugar (or Sucanat-- Sugar Cane Natural)
1/2 cup brown sugar (or Sucanat)
2 cups quick cooking oats (I don't buy quick cooking oats - so instead I add 1.5 cups of rolled oats)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (or raisins)

Preheat oven to 375F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. In medium bowl, mix dry ingredients. In large bowl, mix wet ingredients. Add flour mixture and oats. Add chocolate chips or raisins just before batter comes together.
Drop by tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 9-12 minutes. Let cool on sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Store in airtight container.
Makes 2 dozen cookies.

And, here is a whole wheat waffle/pancake recipe I got somewhere online (sorry, I don't give credit to where ever I got it). I haven't tried putting squash in my batter yet; instead, I put more applesauce in it. It makes the pancakes/waffles quite sweet with the applesauce - which is a good thing because my girls and I just eat them plain - we don't need to add syrup or anything - they are good enough without.

Whole Wheat Waffles
2 1/4 cups non fat milk
2 TB butter
4 TB apple sauce
3 eggs
1 carton of Gerber baby food squash (this is where I put some more applesauce in it instead of squash)
6 teas baking powder
6 TB sugar or suganat
3 teas cinnamon { more or less, or none if you like}
1 1/2 teas salt
2 TB Lemon juice
About 2 cups whole wheat flour

Directions- Warm up milk, just so the butter will melt in it, and add butter to melt. Add applesauce and eggs, beat lightly. Mix baking powder, sugar, and salt together. Add to mixture. Stir in lemon juice { it will be bubbly} . Add flour a little at a time, mix until wet and blended. You might have to add a little more milk so it is not too thick. Use as you wish, waffles or pancakes.

Not another Novel...

I’m trying to stick to more pictures and less words this post…

Carolyn has been continuing to wear pants…wore them 3 times last week. Here she is posing for the camera in her pants… (I love this girl)

And, our sweet Angela making faces for the camera...

I love how these two love doing just about everything together...
Two of Angela's favorite things to wear: a bow and her silk pj princess top. She gets mad when I take her bow out of her hair (so, yes, she sleeps with a bow in her hair and won't have it any other way :)...and she loves wearing this shirt everywhere! What a little girly!
Andrew has been insanely busy with work (he's so amazing!) Although his hours are cRaZy, he still finds time for the girls and me.




We still love doing a lot of puzzles around here...Angela is getting pretty impressive with them. Her favorites are animals ones :) She loves making her animal sounds...I love when she "meow"s - it's my favorite :)
Last week the girls and I started a new tradition that we all love! I love where we live. One great thing is the stars really shine over here at night! Every night before bed, Angela, Carolyn, and I look at the window, look at stars, and sing Primary songs (or other favorites)...I love it! After Carolyn goes to bed, Angela and I look out her window in her room and sing a few more songs together...I love this new tradition!

Stories, Snuggles, and Songs

One of my favorite times of the day is right before Carolyn goes to sleep. After we do our normal bedtime routine (books, brush teeth, prayer, scriptures, etc.), I tuck Carolyn in her bed, turn off her light and snuggle with her. During this time, we first tell stories. Carolyn loves the little stories I tell her (probably her favorite stories are the ones where she goes on adventures with The Little Einsteins). I love when Carolyn tells me a story (I love hearing her creative little adventures she makes up), but sometimes it’s just me telling the stories. Anyways, after stories – I sing her her “I love Carolyn” song:


(Sung to the tune similar to “I love you, Conrad” on Bye, Bye Birdy)

I love you Carolyn
Oh, yes I do
I don’t love anyone like I love you
And when you feel sad, I feel sad, too
Oh, Carolyn I love you

After I sing her her song, she sings me an “I Love Mommy” song…it melts my heart every time when she sings it…it’s the same song I sing to her, but instead of “Carolyn” she sings to “Mommy.” I love it and it’s always a perfect ending to a day for me. After that, we tell each other how much we love each other and how special we think each other are…I love being a mom - especially to my two sweeties!