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.