T- Minus 2 days!

Yes, it is only 2 days until my baby boys turn 1 year old!

 

WOW.

 

This past week, Brad and I took a quick trip to Florida for a vacation!!

 

 

 

When we left, we dropped Winny off with brad's sister, and the boys went to brad's parents house for the week.  We told Robin that if she wanted to try, that we would love to work on getting the boys down to just 1 nap a day.  Well, after just 2 days, she sent us a text that they were only taking 1 nap a day, no problem- and she also sent video of them eating off a fork!!

 

We plan to leave them with her for another week in 1 year--so she can potty train them for us ;)  heh.  She did great! We couldn't have asked for a better babysitter for our boys for 5 days straight!

 

 



Back Track and look forward

It's been 10 whole days since I have updated this blog.

Each day seems to get shorter and shorter, and I seem to get more exhausted too!

 

So I left off at the week of January 7th-

Wednesday Jan. 9th, I took the boys to my mom's house and dropped them off for the day!

 I came home and had a LOT to do.  I had do bake and prep for 2 cakes for the coming weekend and I wanted to clean our house from top to bottom!

I ended up getting all of the boys' 12 month clothes all packed up and got their 18month clothes down from the attic. (Sounds easy, but it actually a big project!!)

 

I vacuumed every inch of our house, I moved Blake's crib down to the lowest level ( I can tell those boys are getting very close to climbing out of their cribs!)

I re-arranged their room, so there is more room for them to play. And I scrubbed our windows like crazy.



 

The first cake I had this weekend, was for our neighbor girl's 2nd birthday.

"Cute As A Button"

 

 

The second cake I had was Brad's 27th birthday cake!!

His birthday was on Saturday and also the same day as his company's Christmas party!

So, my mom came over in the early afternoon so brad and I could leave and have an ENTIRE afternoon/evening alone to party and enjoy the christmas party!

It was held at Dave & Buster's and was SO MUCH FUN!

Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Mousse Filling- iced in Chocolate Ganache

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some fun pictures of the boys::

 

- Mommy and Daddy relaxing while the boys play together

And the flour mess.......

 

 

 My babies are so big!!

 

Their FAVORITE toy is their ball pit!

We love bedtime books with Daddy.

 

The boys are growing like weeks, and last week, they were 22lb. each and 30" long!

They have grown 10" in 1 year!!

 

 

 

Getting CrAfTy!!

 

I haven't had much time in my life (since the boys started walking) to bake and work on projects- but here are a few things I have been able to do!

 

MOON SAND

 

I found this recipe on Pinterest (of course) and I HAD to try it!

**It is not like regular moon sand- but is perfect for items you already have on hand!!**

It's so easy and simple too!

 

2 cups Flour

1/4 cup Baby Oil

 

Mix together in a bowl. Viola! Moon Sand!

 

I just made it last night, and haven't gotten a chance to let the boys play with it- but when they do, I will be sure to take pics and let you know how they like it;) But knowing my boys, they will LOVE to squish it  in between their little fingers.

 

 

 

 

Also, I made a Breakfast cookie- which has turned into part of the boys snack time foods- but it's easy and HEALTHY!

 

NO flour

NO eggs

NO sugar

NO dairy

 

 

 

**I got this recipe off of pinterest- but it was linked to::

www.watching-what-i-eat.blogspot.com  **

 

Peanut Butter Banana Oat Breakfast Cookies ~ with optional carob or chocolate chips

makes 16 regular sized cookies or 12 large sized

 

***I have altered the recipe to how I wanted it (Like I always do)- so Below is MY version***

• 2 ripe bananas, mashed until smooth & creamy
• 1/3 cup peanut butter ~ creamy or chunky
• 1 jar Applesauce baby food
• 1 jar Banana baby food
• 1/4 cup FlaxSeed Meal
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups quick oatmeal ~ uncooked (or use old fashioned oats for more oatmeal texture)
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts (OPTIONAL-I didn't use, but it sounds wonderful!)
• 1/4 cup carob or chocolate chips - I put on 1/2 of the cookies and left 1/2 plain

Preheat heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix mashed banana & peanut butter until completely combined then add in the applesauce and banana baby food, flaxseed meal & the extract ~ mix again until all are completely combined.

Add in the oatmeal & nuts to the banana mixture & combine. (** add the optional carob / chocolate chips at this time if you want them mixed throughout)

Let dough rest for 10 minutes.

Drop cookie dough, by spoonfuls, onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet & flatten cookies into circles. (** if you just want the carob / chocolate chips on the top of the cookies, add now)

 

If you like peanut butter, banana- you will LOVE these healthy cookies!

*Like I said, they have been PERFECT for the boys snack time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Starting our 11th month

 

Finishing off the first week of the New Year wouldn't be complete without 1 more sickness!

 

Blake got a nasty fever starting around midnight Wednesday( Jan. 2nd) night.  He was acting totally normal during the days, but kept waking up really early from naps crying so hard. Consistantly had a fever of about 101- so we gave him some motrin.

On Friday he still had his fever, so I called the doctor before the weekend-- of course, they were totally booked and couldn't get us in before 5pm. :(

So, Brad stayed home with Eli and mommy took Blake to an Urgent Care - to make sure there was no ear infection or flu signs.

 

Pretty sure that doctor was a wack-job. But he gave me a 'script for Amoxicillin.  I didn't have time to get it filled before bedtime, so we gave him 1 more dose of motrin and sent Blake to bed.

 

By the time he woke up in the morning, he was totally normal! No fever and was eating solid foods again! So, we have a full bottle of drugs and no sick child to give it too --Oh well, better safe than sorry!

 

Since our lives have been so hectic these past few weeks- we were as lazy as possible this week.

I kept the boys on a super good schedule trying to get their lives as regular as possible.

 

Brad has started our closet/bathroom door project!

We are taking out the 2 doors and putting in pocket doors! I'm SO Excited- but it sure is nerve-wracking having an entire wall ripped out of your bedroom!

After this big project is done, we are only left with small items that we would like to fix in our house! Hoping, hoping to be able to sell/move in 2013- We are out of space in this little house!

 

 

 

Today, Monday, I have a job interview!

Money has gotten incredibly tight in our house. Brad's job always cuts back hours in the winter time and since we have gotten health insurance added on, it's even smaller!

 

So to try to help make ends-meet, I am looking for a part-time evening job.

Today the interview is at a hospital- we'll see how it goes! It's been over a year since i've had a 'normal' job- but i'm pretty sure that my current job has kept me 'in shape' ;)

 

 

 

 

I CANNOT believe the boys are 11 months old already!!

I have been working my booty off for the past month or so, to figure out a lot of details of their 1st birthday party!

What did people do before Pinterest???

It has given me such great ideas and SUPER money-saving tips on throwing an amazing party!

 

I finished their invitations last night and will be mailing them out this week.

And last week, we finalized the location of the party!!

SO EXCITED!

 

 

<3

Holidays. Round 2.

On Saturday 12/30- we drove up to northern Indiana- another 3 hour drive!

My mom's family was having our Christmas.

 

Boys were still sick but still did so great!

 

 

Such a great picture with Great Grandma & Grandpa!

 

After this Christmas get-together, we drove over to my dad's house for the evening.

 

 

We drove back home Sunday morning and the boys both seemed to be over the nasty sickness and were SO happy to be home!!

 

 

Then we got a surprise visit from Uncle Eric!!

 

 

 

 

A lot has happened in this last month.

The boys have become master walkers- just about running now.

They are also masters at mimicking! We can stick our tongue out and they will do it back. If Daddy says 'ho ho ho', they will do their best to say it back. -So cute.

They are really starting to show their personalities- which were really obvious during christmas time being around other kids their age.

They are also trying to hard to talk to us! They are starting to change their vocal noises..like when they are trying to ask a question..their voice inflection goes up.. it's so adorable. They are such big kids!!

 

They are officially 11 months old and I am frantically trying to finalize everything for their 1st birthday party!!

 

I'm pretty sure we are going through a growth spurt right now- Eli is for sure..

He is SO whiny/cranky almost all day long- today Brad figured out his problem! He is HUNGRY.

After we have a meal, within 30 mins he is crying... and won't stop crying until he gets to eat more.

These kids are going to dry up our savings account just with food!

I'm just glad we figured out why he was so grouchy!

 

It has gotten a lot more difficult as they get older, to tell what is wrong with them.

They are so mobile and can play/go wherever they want, so they get distracted when something is wrong- so their anger/whines get delayed which makes it so hard to tell what caused the issue!

 

What a fantastic and crazy holiday season! I can't wait to get to their 1st birthday though!!!

 

<3



Break Between the Bustle.

 

With 3 Christmas events finished, we had 3 days at home to relax, organize, get the boys back on a good schedule and try to get them healthy!

This nasy cold/sinus sickness is kicking their little butts!

 

And on 12/27 we experienced the 'Blizzard of 2012'

We ended up with about 7" of snow. And a day off work for Daddy!

 

Now on to our next travels!!



Holidays. Round 1.

Well, Christmas is officially over and what a Wild and Crazy week it was!

 

Saturday night we drove around looking at Christmas lights with my mom and sister.  One of my favorite traditions!! :)

 

 

 

Sunday we spent the entire day with Brad's family. The boys were just starting their sickness/colds, so we had a little moody-ness starting. But they still did great and it was so nice to see everyone! We drove home that night so the boys would be able to get a good night's sleep in their own bed.

 

-Brad's parents got the boys a HUGE box of toys that are all staying at their house! Doesn't get much better than that! Toys to play with, but they won't take over our hosue! Harley Davidson Hoodies, and shoes!-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday (Christmas Eve) We spent the entire day at my momma's house. Boys still weren't feeling very good- so before bedtime we packed up and went home- again, to get a long sleep in their own beds- hoping they had enough energy to push through 1 more Christmas!

 

-My mom got them some adorable outfits, some super fun 'big boy' toys- a Rock 'n Roll Trike and baseball/bat game, and their very first tooth burshes!! (they both think it is so much fun to brush their teeth!)  Aunt Suz got them lots of awesome outfits too and 5 pairs of shoes EACH! She also got them a super cool Little Peoples Carnival toy.

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday (Christmas Day) The boys woke up around 7:45am- they ate breakfast and we let them open their presents from mommy & daddy!

 

-Mommy & Daddy got them their own little lounge chairs and a HUGE pack of Mega Blocks Legos!

 

 

 

By 9:20am we had everything packed in the car and hit the road for our 3 hour drive to Ohio! We spent Christmas day with Brad's Grandma (His dad's side)  It was a great day!  For the boys still having their nasty colds, they did so good! They at a lot of good Christmas foods- they played hard- running around pulling tissue paper out of bags and took a nice nap :)

We hit the road to head home around 5:30-6pm.

By the time we got home (9pm) The boys were OVER car rides. We asked a lot from them -especially after 2 full days before this long day!

 

To Be Continued........