2 Months down...10 months to go. I'm still doing OK even with a few challenges this month. One of them is that my girls are starting to need spring clothes. Here in California we've had a couple of short sleeve weather days already and I had to go online and shop for them. I just stayed in the little girls sections as best I could.
I also had to go to the mall twice. The first time was to get Lance new jeans and to get our computer fixed at the Apple Store. Surprisingly, I was OK jeans shopping. I had to stay focused because it was in Lucky Brand and I love that store. But I survived.
The second time we went to the mall was to get Lance new suits. (He's been losing a lot of weight doing his killer workouts at Urban Fitness. He LOVES it!) Macy's had an incredible sale on men's suits. All their clearance suits were buy one at 50% off and get another one free. We saved $900 on two really nice suits. But I digress... I have to say though, I wasn't tempted at all that day. I actually loved getting Lance new clothes and shoes. It was fun to shop for him so maybe that was a vicarious shopping high for me!
I did hate throwing the Anthropologie catalog away without looking at it, but I knew I'd see things I wanted. Plus I've already started making a list of things I want to buy on my shopping trip in April. So far I have these cross trainers, a wallet, a bathing suit, and some workout pants. I'm sure the list will grow in March, but for now I'm still going strong!
Thursday, February 28, 2013
February Recap
I don't know why, but the shortest month of the year always feel sooo long to me! We did a few fun things this month though.
We went back to Monterey for the final week of Lance's training. This time we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. A friend had free passes she let us use (she's awesome) which was good because at this age my kids only lasted there 2 hours.
We went to the beach and Dennis the Menace Park.
Of course we celebrated Valentine's Day. We woke up to a table full of presents from Lance to his little valentines. Every year he gets the girls valentine's jammies. Then we had our traditional heart shaped pancakes for breakfast.
We delivered a few "lovebug" cookies to friends,
and then I was able to go to Oakland to have lunch with Lance in Jack London Square. We had a great meal at Bocanova. The weather was beautiful!
Lance gave me my Valentine's gift...super decadent chocolate from Recchiuti in San Francisco. Exactly what I was hoping for! (You can see there are a few pieces missing from the box already!).
The rest of the month was school, play dates,
appointments and normal stuff like that. I did get a new do...a little shorter.
And now I am ready for March!
We went back to Monterey for the final week of Lance's training. This time we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. A friend had free passes she let us use (she's awesome) which was good because at this age my kids only lasted there 2 hours.
We went to the beach and Dennis the Menace Park.
Of course we celebrated Valentine's Day. We woke up to a table full of presents from Lance to his little valentines. Every year he gets the girls valentine's jammies. Then we had our traditional heart shaped pancakes for breakfast.
The rest of the month was school, play dates,
appointments and normal stuff like that. I did get a new do...a little shorter.
And now I am ready for March!
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Finger Lickin' Good
Here's the recipe.
One package of ground turkey (we used ground beef growing up. Either works.)
One box of macaroni and cheese
One can of cream of mushroom soup.
Brown the turkey and drain the fat. Make the macaroni and cheese according to the directions on the box. I use the light prep version. Mix the prepared mac and cheese with the browned ground turkey and cream of mushroom soup. Add a little salt and pepper if you like and put the mixture in a casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes and voila! Dinner is ready! I served it with green beans for a complete meal.
It makes about 8 servings and only 200 calories a serving! Seriously, you should try this!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
New Year's Resolution Update
Hi my name is Jennefer and it's been 31 days since my last shopping experience. Wait, I think I may have mixed up AA and Catholic confession! Sorry...no experience with either. But I do have experience with sticking to a new years resolution. For 31 days anyway.
So far I've done good. It's been easier than I thought it would be. It even feels a little liberating. I haven't really even been tempted...so far. I think part of it is that I know I've got my birthday shopping day coming up. Part of it is that it's still new. I have a feeling that after April it's going to get a lot harder. But I'll face that bridge when I come to it. Right now, I feel good and am loving actually wearing the cute things I've already got in my closet.
Today I felt a little sad that I had to throw these catalogs away without even browsing, but if I have no idea what's out there then I can't want to buy it! So straight to the recycle they went!
So here's one month down, only 11 more to go. That doesn't sound so bad when you put it that way!
So far I've done good. It's been easier than I thought it would be. It even feels a little liberating. I haven't really even been tempted...so far. I think part of it is that I know I've got my birthday shopping day coming up. Part of it is that it's still new. I have a feeling that after April it's going to get a lot harder. But I'll face that bridge when I come to it. Right now, I feel good and am loving actually wearing the cute things I've already got in my closet.
Today I felt a little sad that I had to throw these catalogs away without even browsing, but if I have no idea what's out there then I can't want to buy it! So straight to the recycle they went!
So here's one month down, only 11 more to go. That doesn't sound so bad when you put it that way!
Fun in January
This month we went on a quick day trip to San Francisco. Lance had a retirement party to
go to in the afternoon. He knew he was only going to stay at the party for an hour,
so we went with him and while he was at the party, we rode the carousel and played at the playground
at the Children's Creativity Museum. Then we went to a favorite French bakery of ours (not Tartine, another one), and got some treats for the ride home.
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| She looks like a little sumo wrestler! I love it! |
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| She loves the carousel! |
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| She's feeling like maybe she's a little old for this kind of fun! :( |
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| The only thing at this playground for little ones is the MESSY sandpit and she managed to get very messy! |
On Sundays, one of our favorite after church snacks is chips & cheese. Simple...melt some cheese on some tortilla chips, voila! This Sunday though, we didn't have chips, so Lance, being the super dad he is, decided to make his girls some! He deep fried some tortillas and melted cheese on them! They were a big hit! Next week, I'm going to not have chips or tortillas and see if he'll make tortilla's from scratch! :)
This month Sophie had her first eye appointment and we found out she needs glasses. She picked out some cute frames (brown with a pink inside). She was quite disappointed when she found out she couldn't take the sample ones home. Every day she asks me how many more days until we pick up her glasses!
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Deep in Thought
18 months ago Riley came home from her 6 week stay in the NICU at John Muir hospital. Life is pretty much normal now, but lately I've been deep in thought about something and I thought I'd share... see what you think.
When Riley was at John Muir we spent a lot of time there obviously and so we became very familiar with all the nurses. One of them was a nurse named Jerry. We loved her and we would talk for hours while I held my baby. One day while we were talking I made the comment to her that I just wanted my life back! She responded by saying, "Honey, this is your life!". That hit me. Here I was exhausted, emotionally drained, and desperate to get off the roller coaster ride of having my daughter in the hospital and seeing her progress only to digress a few days later. It was miserable and difficult but she was right...that was my life. I had to acknowledge that "life"isn't just the good times, the fun times, the times when things go exactly as we want them to and everything turns out just the way we'd planned. Life is well, life. It's every day. It's every trial. It's every ending.
So lately what I've been pondering is how we embrace that. Is it possible to love life even when things aren't how we'd like? Even when our lives take drastic turns from the path we thought we were on? I think it is. Now easier said than done, because (knock on the biggest piece of wood I can find) things are pretty good right now. But I've determined that we can love life regardless of the details if we focus on the overall purpose.
Let me use an example to explain what I mean. As a stay-at-home mom I have HARD days! Previously mentioned little miss Riley, can be the sweetest little thing in the world and can make us laugh like nothing else and then without warning she can become the most difficult, most ornery little girl in the history of little girls! She can be challenging and some days with her are long and hard. Not to mention, some days it seems like cleaning the house is the biggest waste of time ever because it stays clean for only a few seconds before it looks like I've done nothing. That can be very frustrating to say the least. But with all those challenges, I wouldn't trade staying home with my kids for anything in the world. That's because I can see the bigger picture of what I'm doing. I know that changing dirty diapers are not the end all be all of my existence and purpose. I stay home with them because I am raising strong, righteous women who will contribute to the goodness of the world and will fulfill their purpose here on earth and no one will love my daughters or teach them those things they way I will.
I'd like to think it can be that same way on much larger scale with life in general. We will have bad days, months, years or even some things that change the rest of our lives here on earth forever. And I don't think for a second that we shouldn't feel the pain or stress from those things. We should and we will because that is part of being human. I just mean I hope that in those times we can remember why we are here. We know that even hard times are part of the plan of salvation and part of the journey that is taking us back to our final destination, eternal life. And that somehow that knowledge can be an umbrella of joy even when sorrow and pain is raining down around us.
Am I dreaming here? Does any of this make sense? I think it does. I hope it does. I don't really want bad times to come just to be able to try it out. But really I think this is a lesson we can learn in good times as much as bad. Our purpose here on earth doesn't change depending on the circumstances of our days. And I guess that is my point. My "life" is the sum total of all the parts, be them good, bad, happy, sad, difficult or easy. Life is a blessing and some how we need to learn to "come what may and love it".
When Riley was at John Muir we spent a lot of time there obviously and so we became very familiar with all the nurses. One of them was a nurse named Jerry. We loved her and we would talk for hours while I held my baby. One day while we were talking I made the comment to her that I just wanted my life back! She responded by saying, "Honey, this is your life!". That hit me. Here I was exhausted, emotionally drained, and desperate to get off the roller coaster ride of having my daughter in the hospital and seeing her progress only to digress a few days later. It was miserable and difficult but she was right...that was my life. I had to acknowledge that "life"isn't just the good times, the fun times, the times when things go exactly as we want them to and everything turns out just the way we'd planned. Life is well, life. It's every day. It's every trial. It's every ending.
So lately what I've been pondering is how we embrace that. Is it possible to love life even when things aren't how we'd like? Even when our lives take drastic turns from the path we thought we were on? I think it is. Now easier said than done, because (knock on the biggest piece of wood I can find) things are pretty good right now. But I've determined that we can love life regardless of the details if we focus on the overall purpose.
Let me use an example to explain what I mean. As a stay-at-home mom I have HARD days! Previously mentioned little miss Riley, can be the sweetest little thing in the world and can make us laugh like nothing else and then without warning she can become the most difficult, most ornery little girl in the history of little girls! She can be challenging and some days with her are long and hard. Not to mention, some days it seems like cleaning the house is the biggest waste of time ever because it stays clean for only a few seconds before it looks like I've done nothing. That can be very frustrating to say the least. But with all those challenges, I wouldn't trade staying home with my kids for anything in the world. That's because I can see the bigger picture of what I'm doing. I know that changing dirty diapers are not the end all be all of my existence and purpose. I stay home with them because I am raising strong, righteous women who will contribute to the goodness of the world and will fulfill their purpose here on earth and no one will love my daughters or teach them those things they way I will.
I'd like to think it can be that same way on much larger scale with life in general. We will have bad days, months, years or even some things that change the rest of our lives here on earth forever. And I don't think for a second that we shouldn't feel the pain or stress from those things. We should and we will because that is part of being human. I just mean I hope that in those times we can remember why we are here. We know that even hard times are part of the plan of salvation and part of the journey that is taking us back to our final destination, eternal life. And that somehow that knowledge can be an umbrella of joy even when sorrow and pain is raining down around us.
Am I dreaming here? Does any of this make sense? I think it does. I hope it does. I don't really want bad times to come just to be able to try it out. But really I think this is a lesson we can learn in good times as much as bad. Our purpose here on earth doesn't change depending on the circumstances of our days. And I guess that is my point. My "life" is the sum total of all the parts, be them good, bad, happy, sad, difficult or easy. Life is a blessing and some how we need to learn to "come what may and love it".
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Snow Day
Today we drove up to Pinecrest to go play in the snow. It was great. A very long drive for an hour of play, but we had a fun little Saturday excursion.
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