12 in 2014

I'm joining HouseUnseen for a link-up of 12 photos in 2014. This was my first year blogging, and I loved going back through the year and remembering all the fun we had this year. It was an incredible year, and I'm truly blessed. 

We started January with a new (to us) minivan so that we'd be able to fit our third baby, who would be arriving in the summer. We sold my old car in our first experience using Craigslist, and everyone was excited to make room for a new baby. We spent the rest of the month enjoying snow, and independent Belle turned 3. 

We spent February surviving more snow (and I was slightly dramatic about it). Our cheerful little Bug turned 2, and we had a Magic School Bus birthday party for both girls. 

March was a low-key month with some more snow and a lot of toddler illness. 

April is always my favorite month.  The Officer and I celebrated our 4th anniversary weekend at a beautiful resort and were both so grateful for this wonderful marriage. We spent my spring break visiting one of my sisters and had a prefect Easter. 

We had a hot May, and the Officer was able to refinish our  front porch. May was a big month, because my preschoolers had their last day of school, and then I became a SAHM. 

We spent June doing all kinds of fun things before the baby came. The Officer and I took the girls on an incredible weekend get-away to the beach, and we enjoyed some ice cream trips, time at the mall splash park, and lots and lots of outdoor time. It was a fun month to end our time as a family of 4, and it was topped off with some beloved family moving back from across the country! I honestly thought baby number 3 was going to arrive in June, so I spent the end of the month waiting and waiting.....

In July our third baby finally decided to make an appearance 10 days past her due date. It was a crazy, exciting day, and then we spent the rest of the month soaking in our newborn. She was a cute, sweet, happy newborn. July was a perfect month.

August was a month of firsts for our little lady. She went to her first wedding, she made her first day trip to the beach, she went on her first airplane, and she attended a 90th birthday party. The highlight of the month was when she was baptized and joyfully welcomed into the Catholic Church.

September was another busy month. The Officer finished our powder room renovation, we met a new baby cousin, we spent lots of evenings at the tennis court, the Officer had a birthday, the girls went to Frozen on Ice, we all enjoyed Oktoberfest, and everyone else went back to school, but all the Mik girls stayed home and played instead. 

I thought September was busy, but October turned out to be even crazier. The Officer and I went on a ziplining date, the Officer demolished our Master bathroom. That renovation got put on hold, and our schedules got out of control when I went back to work as a long-term sub, and the Officer and I juggled watching the 3 girls and working. We finished the month with a fantastic Halloween, and the girls loved their Frozen costumes their Aunt made them. 

Things calmed down with a pretty quiet November. SuperDad held down the fort easily while I worked part-time throughout all of November, and the month flew by. We were so happy that we got to visit all of our family for Thanksgiving and met another new baby cousin. 

December was fast and fun. In a desperate attempt to figure out the food allergies of my baby girl, the Officer and I started off the month deciding to go on the Whole30 diet (today is our last day!!!). We fit in all of our favorite Christmas traditions with a trip to see Santa, the tacky light tour, numerous Advent calendars, and a school Nativity play. I finished teaching and became a SAHM again, and we had a magical Christmas with both our families (and yet another new baby cousin!). 

Preparing for Christmas

One week until Christmas, and today was my last day of school! Our Advent has been pretty hectic, but wonderful, and hopefully the girls are feeling the great anticipation of Christ's birth. Today our beautiful Nativity finally made it out of the attic, and the Advent candles arrived last week, so it's looking a little like Christmas at our house. I love all of our Christmas traditions, and the girls seem to be enjoying them too.... 

We started Advent with a fun family evening decorating the tree and listening to Christmas music. This year the girls were old enough to really decorate the tree with only a few directions from me. I did the fragile ones and they took care of the rest with some reminders that it usually looks better when there aren't 3 ornaments on the same branch. I have so many fond memories of tree decorating with my family growing up, and I hope that my girls will some day too. 

Of course St. Nicholas arrived on his feast day with a few pieces of candy for the girls, and my mouth watered while they ate their Reese's. 

Then we made a surprisingly successful trip to visit St. Nicholas. Last year neither of the girls would sit on his lap, but look at the picture we got this year! I made a huge deal about them showing their baby sister how to do it, and man did they deliver. They happily walked up, sat on his lap, said cheese, and walked away. This is our 4th year going to this Santa at Bass Pro Shop, and he is the best. We also go on a weekday afternoon when everyone is in school... there was 1 person in front of us in line, the whole thing was free, and then we got to go visit the fish afterward. 

Some women collect shoes or purses, but I collect Advent calendars. Every year the Officer has to remind me that we don't need another one, but I always find an excuse to get a new one. We currently have 4 in our house that the girls get to do each morning. This is our new magnetic one that the girls like to use as a backdrop for their Nativity.  I'm obsessed. 

Another of our favorite traditions is the tacky light tour in our city. Every year after dinner we load up the car and spend 2 hours driving to different houses on the tacky light tour. Last night we got to do this with the girls, and they loved it! 

Tonight I'm taking the girls out individually to buy presents for their sisters, and then we are visiting family, wrapping presents, and relaxing until Christmas. It's the most wonderful time of the year!!

Whole 30

 I started my first real diet ever last week, so hopefully it won't be all I ever talk about now.  For the last 3 months I've been trying to figure out my baby girl's food allergies. I've had to cut out milk, soy, and peanuts, which has seemed to help her, so I'm hoping we don't have any more issues.  Since I haven't had milk, soy, or peanuts for 3 months, I figured why not go all the way and do Whole30 (click away if you aren't familiar with it yet). Because I'm crazy. I casually mentioned it to the Officer, because solidarity, and because I definitely wouldn't be cooking any extra meals for my family. Once the Officer read about it and decided he was interested we started the next day, because once the Officer commits to something he does it 100% immediately. Which means that our 30 days will go through Christmas.... so that was well planned. Okay, enough about why I have taken this uncharacteristic turn to a very strict diet, and let's move on to how it is going....

I have some really cute helpers in the kitchen

So far it's going well. We just finished day 10, and we are still going strong. Last week was definitely hard as we got used to buying all these new groceries and got all the sugar out of our systems. I was exhausted and grumpy last week, which was probably from the diet, but now I'm much better. I've heard a lot of people find new energy on this diet, which I haven't found yet, but I'm feeling good.  I can tell that I have definitely lost some weight already, and I do feel a little tiny bit more alert once I'm up in the mornings (don't get me wrong- I still desperately want to push snooze 9 times every single morning). The groceries have been expensive, and we've spent tons of time in the kitchen cooking, but we are getting used to this change of eating, and the food has been delicious! So far the experience has been much easier than I thought it would be, but we are about to go out of town for the weekend, so we'll see how we do then. If you've considered doing Whole 30 I would so far encourage it, but please wait until after the Holidays!!


Of course my awesome husband has made this whole experience so much more enjoyable....
(A text I got on day 1) "One meal down. 89 to go. How was your breakfast?"
"I'm going to pick up another 6 pack on my way home..... of bananas"
"Did St. Nicholas leave some celery in our shoes??"
Thank you Officer for keeping me laughing even when I can't stop thinking about eating sugar ;)


Here are a few of the recipes we've enjoyed:
Sweet potato hash: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/19886925277/sweet-potato-hash-with-fried-eggs - this has been a great breakfast and the hash is my go-to for a yummy side dish (I don't have a food processor, so I- or my daughters-  just chop the potatoes with the pampered chef chopper)

Pork chops: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/77596713058/bacon-apple-smothered-pork-chops -umm this is amazing, but it does take a bit of work and time to prep. I skipped arrowroot powder and fish sauce, and I used coconut oil instead of ghee, but it was still so good.

Mango Avocado salsa: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/56076300574/mango-avocado-salsa-on-pan-seared-salmon -I was struggling without my condiments, but this salsa is delicious on salmon or grilled chicken, so I've made it twice already... yummy

Paleo Nachos: http://paleogrubs.com/nacho-recipe -I loved these... the Officer isn't the biggest fan of sweet potatoes, so I don't think they were his favorite thing, but he swears he liked them.

7QT starting Whole30 and getting ready for Advent

Linking up at This Ain't the Lyceum.....

Thank goodness it's Friday! This was a long, exhausting week. I always think that I'm "busy" taking care of 3 little kids and teaching part-time, but I'm going to spend my 7 quick takes recapping my "busier than usual week".

1. We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving with family, and it was as fun as I had anticipated... complete with a freezing cold Christmas parade and the Mockingjay. Of course, just like every good holiday weekend, I returned home to a messy house, 4 loads of dirty laundry, and zero energy to tackle any of that. The Officer went back to work as soon as we got back, and I headed off to Patient First to end my Thanksgiving weekend with toddler ear infections. This week was off to a promising start.

This kid never has a bad week

2. Continuing with our Doctor trend I managed to fit in 2 more trips to the Doctor for the girls, so that was fun, but everyone is healthy now (I think). On a positive note, I got to enjoy some alone time with my Bug at the Doctor's and learn that she is so much more mature and tough than I ever give her credit for... it's so nice to have alone time with one of the kiddos sometimes.

I'm so proud of the little girl my Bug is becoming. She is funny and charming, and always wants to give "nuggles".

3. We started Advent, but I was about 4 days late in getting any of the decorations out of the attic. We finally got them out, and started getting them put up throughout the week. Of course, we have an Advent wreath sitting on the table with no candles in it, because why does no local store ever sell purple and pink candles!?!?! I finally ordered some on Amazon, and they will be here soon, so we should get to light some Advent candles before the end of Advent.  The girls are so forgiving of my lack of organization, and they were nothing but excited about the decorations. The Officer has been leading the girls in the Angelus 3 times each day for Advent, and every night Belle reminds me that we need to pray the "Angels", so I guess our Christmas prep hasn't been a complete failure.

2 of my little beauties

4. The Officer and I have joined the Whole30 world. I had already cut out so many foods for baby girl's food allergies, so we figured we would just take the plunge with this intense paleo for 30 days, and maybe I'll even lose the baby weight during it. So we started the Whole 30 this week, which has meant many trips to the grocery store. When I'm not eating Whole30 food or cooking Whole30 food, I'm online looking up Whole30 recipes. So wow Whole30 is kind of taking over my life for the time being, and I'm sure I'll be blogging all about it, because seriously, I'm such an emotional eater, and food has been all I've been thinking about this week.

so tired I can't even make it to the bed for my nap. I totally understand.

5.  So far I'm glad we are doing Whole30, but 30 days seems really long right now. We very wisely planned our 30 days to go through a trip to a wedding out of state and of course through Christmas. We will end it on New Years Eve, and we will definitely enjoy some drinks that night! We're only a few days in, and I'm pretty sure I would have already quit, but I'm married to the Officer who only does things 100%, and I'm too competitive to give up if he doesn't, which he won't. It hasn't been too hard yet. I've been craving a soda big time every day, and I think I'm drinking about a gallon of water a day, but the recipes we've tried so far have been delicious. Everyone talks about having so much energy when they do Whole30, and so far I'm just completely exhausted, but I'm hoping that will change soon... I could definitely use the energy. We can do this.

I'm terrible at taking food pictures, but it was delicious, and I'll post recipes of my favorites sometime

6. Ok I will briefly stop talking about Whole30. This week should be much better- I mean I'm daring to hope that we don't spend 3 days at the Doctor's. We also have plans to take the girls to see Santa this week, and I have unrealistic expectations that they will happily sit on Santa's lap for a decent picture. Our candles should arrive, so it looks like our house might actually be properly decorated before Christmas day.

Christmas tree, fire, footie pajamas, happy girls... this is the good stuff.

7. The long week definitely had its magical moments. Listening to Christmas music while decorating the tree with my little girls was a wonderful memory. Then tonight the girls left their shoes out for St. Nick and were walking upstairs to bed when Belle heard a noise. She turned around and in the most excited little 3-year-old girl voice said, "Is that St. Nicholas knocking on the door????" Oh the magic of some leftover Halloween candy being stuffed in shoes while kids sleep. I have a wonderful "busy" life.

Lumbertactical

I'm sure you've seen the new "Lumbersexual" trend in fashion, which I think is quite funny.  The Officer and I have never been very trendy or stylish, but the Officer's love of plaid, guns, and the outdoors would mean that a lumbersexual trend would make him pretty close to stylish. Of course, the Officer always likes to wear O.D. green, so I've named his style "Lumbertactical", and I think everyone will be wearing it in a few years. Here is a picture of lumbertactical....

Of course this was after he spent the afternoon renovating the bathroom floors, so I'm not sure he'd wear this outfit out to dinner or anything. I do think it goes well with my "dressy sweats" style. The look is also much more attractive when the man is doing the dishes after cooking us dinner =) Sorry ladies, he is all mine! 

Board Games and Great Dads

1. Today was a long hard day... I was just a tired grouch after a long week, and I spent 5 hours this morning taking little baby girl to 2 back to back Dr. appointments, only to find out that I still must continue my diet of no good food, until forever. Dramatic, I know, but that's how I am when it comes to food. The Officer went to work as soon as I got home, so we're on day 3 of not seeing each other for more than 30 seconds. Being a Law Enforcement wife can be tough. Enough of the whining... now for my happy takes....

2. Being a L.E. wife can be really tough, but it also has it's perks. The Officer was supposed to work Thanksgiving this year, but he was able to get the day off, so next week he is going to have 6 days off in a row, which is going to be awesome! I can't wait for next week!

I should never complain about anything.... I'm so lucky! 

3. Thanksgiving is going to be great- we get to spend one day at his parents' and one day with my family. Both houses will be full of great food, lots of cousins playing, football games that I will ignore, tons of laughter, and hours of board games after the kids go to sleep. I'm just a little bit excited for Thanksgiving, even if I can't eat the mashed potatoes or desserts.

4. Speaking of board games- Our new favorite board game is 7 Wonders, and wow it is so fun. My bro-in-law always introduces us to the best nerdy board games- Dominion, 7 Wonders, Thurn and Taxis- don't consider how nerdy this makes me until you have tried these awesome games.

5. The Officer and I love playing board games with both our families, and we have recently started playing games with the girls. They ask to play games all day- their favorites are chutes and ladders, candyland, and memory. We played Uno once, and they did okay, but they are still young to understand skip and reverse and all that. So I've been trying to find a good board game to get them for Christmas, and my friend Lauren sent me some great ideas. Here are my top choices right now.... Let me know if you have ever played any of these games, or have any other game ideas for preschool-aged kiddos.

Sneaky Snacky Squirrel

Hoot Owl Hoot

Discovery Garden Game 

Bingo Pongo

6. The Officer has made slow but steady progress on our bathroom remodel. Remember when he did the powder room reno in a week, and then immediately started remodeling our master bathroom?! Well, then I went back to work, and he has had very little time to work on it, so it's been slow moving. As with all DIY projects, there is always more work to be done than you thought. He does work hard on it whenever we both have a day off, so he is making progress. At least he has some really cute girls cheering him on!

7. One more take about SuperDad, because he is just that awesome. There is seriously nothing that he doesn't do. He's a tough guy who renovates bathrooms, shoots guns, and arrests criminals, but he also dances with his daughters, changes diapers, and does their hair! The man does their "pretty hair" while I'm at work, which I think is pretty impressive, but a few weeks ago Belle requested a braid like Elsa, and he didn't know how to do one. That day when I got home from work he asked me to teach him how to braid. I taught him, and now he braids Belle's hair when I'm gone. He's such a good Daddy.

This is his first braid at the end of the day, and of course Mr. Perfectionist told me that he "needed to practice some more". 

Linking up with 7 Quick Takes at This Ain't The Lyceum this week

Connected at the Hip

Sisters. Life would be so boring without them. I am lucky to have so many sisters and sisters-in-law, and they are my best friends. It makes me so happy that my daughters have sisters. They already love each other so much, and I know they will always have each other. 

Belle and Bug are only 13 months apart and they are inseparable. They spend every second of the day together. Belle takes shorter naps than Bug, so when she wakes up and Bug is still sleeping she always asks me, "When is Bug going to wake up?" "Can we go wake her up now?". They do not like to be apart. If they are in different rooms for more than a minute, Bug starts wandering around saying, "Where'd my sister go???"

bicycle built for one

They fight over toys, and they argue about who gets the green plate at lunch (or blue, or purple...). Sometimes Belle hits her sister, and sometimes Bug bites her. Mostly though, they laugh together, they read to each other, they share toys, they help each other find things, they pretend together, they stay up late talking together, and always they want to spend time together. I know it will change. There will be times when they have big fights, and there will be times when they hate that they have to share a room. That will change too though, and when they grow up I hope they love each other as much as I love my sisters. I hope they love each other as much as they do now. Thank God for sisters. 

Here they have literally tied themselves together and then tried walking around the house like this. Must. always. be. together.

4 months

Last week my sweet little baby girl turned 4 months old! How did that happen? These 4 months have been perfect, and I can't believe we ever were a family without her. She is such an easy baby, and I'm already scared of ever having another baby, because no baby could ever possibly be as easy and happy as she is.  She barely ever cries, she sleeps for 11 hours straight a night, and during the day as long as she can see someone (anyone) she is happy as can be.

her cheeks are as kissable as they look

Of course the poor little girl has had one difficulty... I guess just to remind me that she is human after all. She was allergy tested, and unfortunately is allergic to dairy, soy, and peanuts. This has been difficult on her pathetic, food-loving, breastfeeding Mama, but I would do absolutely anything for her, so boring disgusting diet it is. I'm already daydreaming about the feast I will eat when she grows out of it or I stop nursing her. I do hope she grows out of it, because I don't want my little girl to have to worry about food allergies.

She looks a lot like Belle did as a baby. Bug looked different (she lacked the chubby cheeks)

Happy 4 months to my sweet little lady. You live in a house full of people who all adore you and love to hear you laugh. Thank you for bringing even more joy to our house!

Baby snuggles

Tonight after bedtime I sneaked back into my little baby's bedroom and picked her up for some late night snuggles. This is very unlike me. I'm strict about my babies' sleeping routines... I always put them to bed awake, and I certainly never mess with a sleeping baby. Then I had a third baby, and I learned that babies truly don't keep. They grow up so quickly. My little baby who was just born yesterday is 4 months old today. Don't even get me started on my older babies. Today my big sis and best friend had a baby, and I can't wait to meet that little baby, because baby snuggles are just the best thing ever. Today I had a long day of teaching and Mommyhood, and I needed some extra snuggles. So I sneaked in my baby girl's room and picked her up to tell her at least 10 times how much I love her. Then I walked back out thanking God for my little blessings, and thanking God for this time right now, when I get to hold them whenever I want.

She did show off her rolling skills for me all weekend... she's so kind =)

Missed Milestone

Today I finished my 2nd week back to work as a long-term substitute teacher. I talked here about my thoughts before going back to work, and so far it has all gone pretty much as I thought it would. It has been painfully difficult to be up at 6am and out the door at 6:45, and the girls agree completely. I feel like I'm packing my entire life the night before and still barely get to work on time. Then I get to work, and I love it. I teach the sweetest group of 4-year-olds, who give me about 37 hugs a day. They tell me that my tummy looks fat (yep seriously), they proudly show me their perfectly written letter "G", and they hold my hand as they walk in the hallway. Teaching is wonderful. Then I get home and feel guilty if my girls were sad or difficult. Being a Mom is pretty much just an exhausting roller coaster of emotions. All. the. time.

so photogenic

This week was especially exhausting. The Officer and I worked the same 4 days, so we never saw each other, and did some crazy juggling of children. During all that, I had to take the girls grocery shopping, voting, the Doctor's, and had to deal with the continued diaper issues of my sweet baby. We survived, and now it's my weekend!! Hopefully, this was the hardest week for juggling work schedules. I do enjoy teaching, but this is all confirming for me that I love being a SAHM, especially today. Today I got home from work and the Officer told me that my sweet little soon-to-be 4 month old baby had rolled over from her back to her tummy for the first time. While I was at work! Seriously kid, I'm home the first 3 months of your life nonstop, and now I work a mere 20 hours a week, and you decide to roll while I'm gone?! I wasn't actually sad about missing this little baby milestone, because she'll do it another thousand times for me, and I know my time at work is brief, and then I can be home for all of the rest of her milestones- she better not learn to walk while I'm in the shower or I'll stop speaking to her. I'm so glad that I can be a SAHM, even if it's a choice our President doesn't want me to make ;)
Now, I'm off to spend the entire weekend coaxing my baby into rolling again

She makes everything in the world all better

A Halloween worth melting for

We had such a fun Halloween this year... majorly improved from last year's Halloween when I failed in every way possible. Last year I planned our family's Pumpkin Day, and we drove 45 minutes to a fabulous pumpkin patch, only to find that it was closed for field trips during the week, and my two toddlers did not count as homeschooling.  Then on Halloween the Officer was working, so I took the girls trick-or-treating by myself. We walked out the front door, and I realized I had forgotten their candy baskets and (much more importantly) my keys to the house. I frantically called the Officer, who had to leave work and drive 30 minutes home to unlock the door for me. The girls were also wearing second-hand lame costumes that I chose for them. So last year Halloween was kinda not so great, but this year... this year was perfect.

this year the girls were old enough to help clean out their pumpkins

The Officer's awesome Papal flag pumpkin. Just in case anyone in the neighborhood was wondering how much we love being Catholic....

The week before Halloween we went to a really fun pumpkin patch 10 minutes from our house. We enjoyed the hayride, moon bounce, pumpkin launcher, straw maze, perfect weather, and found 5 good pumpkins. Then we easily drove 10 minutes home in time for lunch and naps. Pumpkin Day this year was a success! 

"Hi, I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs"

For the first time in years, the Officer was off for Halloween!! Weeks ago (right after we watched Frozen on Ice) the big girls asked if they could be Anna and Elsa for Halloween, and their Aunt Mantha delivered. Oh boy did she deliver. She sewed them beautiful dresses, and made a little Olaf hat for their little sister. She also made homemade costumes for all 4 of her boys. She is superwoman. I'm going to have to do an entire post just on the 7 costumes she made, because they were all awesome.

homemade Anna, Olaf, and Elsa costumes on some very excited little girls

We joined the Mikboys (Aunt Mantha's family), our friend Miesha, and a lot of other friends from our Church Mom's group at the Little Sister's of the Poor nursing home. I don't know who thought of this fantastic idea, but everyone with little kids needs to do it. We donate some candy a week early, and then we bring our children in their trick-or-treating at the nursing home (indoor, not dark, not cold, no streets, minimal walking...). The sweet elderly residents get hours of adorable little visitors, stopping by their rooms, saying "trick-or-treat", and showing off their costumes. It is perfect, and I hope we get to do it every year.

Then we went over to the Mikboy house for some dinner and some neighborhood trick-or-treating.... their neighborhood gives out the good candy. You know... king size bars, snickers, skittles.... only one pack of pretzels and no candy corn. I got to watch Belle run through the yards holding hands with her Godmama singing "Let it go". I got to watch Bug smiling from ear to ear in her pink cape that she waited and waited to wear. I got to push a chubby cheek Olaf in the stroller all night, and she never cried once, even though I didn't let her have a single piece of candy :). I got to watch so much joy from my girls, my nephews, our "frezins", and every little child I saw along the way. Oh I also saw an incredible Transformer costume on a friend (complete with sound effects as he "transformed")... it was worth remembering! Then we had a big sleepover and were ever so thankful that the Mikboys moved back from the West coast.

The girls are blessed with some incredible "Frezins"

This Halloween was a good one. Holidays can't always be magical, but this one was.