September Resolutions

The Recap:

January - read through the bible in a year. 

February - use the cash envelope system.

March - watch internet time.

April - walk whenever possible.

May - stockpile the freezer. OAMC style.

June- have a healthy baby and try to stay sane.

July - ban high fructose corn syrup from our house. 

fail. Next time I will make sure to read the ingredients on my whole wheat crackers. doh!

August- try one "deceptively delicious" type recipe a day. - I'm pretty sure I didn't do one EVERY day, but there were also several days that I did more than one, so I think it balances out :) It was fun! I'm not a huge fan of her recipes I must say because she uses margarine instead of butter and egg whites instead of whole eggs, and she doesn't offer much technique to improve her recipes. However, it was a good starting point with which to learn from. I've got a bunch of puree's in my freezer now so I will do my best to continue to pop them into foods at random.

This Month and Onward:

September- journal pray. daily.  I haven't consistently done this since college. It's time to get back in the habit.

Simple Things that make me Happy #7

I love this stuff. Seriously.

what makes you happy today?

cuteness

Look at That!

Simple Things that make me Happy #6

having white flip flops on when I take off my black ones.

what makes you happy today?

Miss Lotte's 2 month stats

Happy 2 month birthday, Lotte Lu! I know, it was last saturday, but I can't quite keep up with how fast time is passing us by. So better now than never. :)
We went to the doctor yesterday, he's really happy with how well you're doing!  Your head circumference is 14.76" which is the 17th percentile, but about 50th percentile for your adjusted age. Your height is 21.5" which is almost the 17th percentile (about 50th adjusted) and you weigh 10lbs 13oz which is the 47th percentile, but nearly the 75th for your adjusted age! You jumped up quite a bit from last month! It makes your growth chart look funny :) I guess all that eating is doing you some good.  I'm so happy to have a healthy baby girl, attached to me all day long or not. :)
You got your first vaccine and you had a miserable day yesterday because of it.  It made me realize just how happy and calm of a baby you really are.
You're holding your head up so well, and we're still waiting for you to really smile at us.  For now, we'll just keep smiling at you.
Your favorite place to be is in the moby wrap, but you're sleeping great in your crib too. We put you on your super fuzzy blanket, usually with something of mine near by for you to smell, and you're sleeping 6 or more hours in a row at night! This morning, i woke you up at about 10 hours! That i believe was the vaccine's doing, however. :)
I'm positively in love with your big squishy cheeks.  I can't stop kissing them or the top of your head all day.

I think your brother agrees. :)

sugar free & flouride

Lord, come quickly.

August Resolutions

The Recap:

January - read through the bible in a year. Catching up, but still not back on track. Pluggin' away.

February - envelope system. I did pretty well last month, didn't totally stick to it. I'm terrible at this one. Seriously.

March - watch internet time. Internet time has been nursing time. Some days I feel like I could be doing something else while Lotte's nursing, like catching up on my bible reading, but other times I think, why not? It's not like I can get up...

April - walk whenever possible. I've been doing quite a bit of walking the past few weeks! yeah! keep it up!

May - stockpile the freezer. OAMC style.  N/A again! Though I did freeze a bunch of berries, and two loafs of sandwich bread. :)

June- have a healthy baby and try to stay sane- n/a :)

July - ban high fructose corn syrup from our house. easy peasy. I think I only had one recipe that I had to alter (cheesecake, see anniversary entry!) but nothing I bought had HFCS in it. Nice. I did really want a coke one day though. I will miss my occasional coke treat :)

This Month and Onward:

August- try one "deceptively delicious" type recipe a day.  Not necessarily from the book, but hiding veggies in our every day meals just to get as much nutrition in as possible.  So far, I've made black bean brownies, spinach/carrot brownies, macaroni & cheese w/ pumpkin & tomato purees, guacamole (guess the avocado's not technically hidden in there,) french toast with pumpkin & flax meal, saute'd fish with sweet potato coating, and.... maybe that's it. It's fun so far! Don't know if I can do something every day, but that's my goal.  I want Rowen to eat his veggies for what they are and will continue to offer whole veg's with every meal. This is in no means a replacement for real food & good habits.  I just think it's a good idea to get in any extra nutrition wherever we can. Wish me luck!

random photos from the past couple weeks

snuggles

Why Charlotte, you've grown.

helpin' Momma make bread. He said "around and around!" while watching the mixer work. haha

go ahead, help yourself.

babywearing

tummy time = luvin' time

little lady! 8 weeks and a day.

6th Anniversary

Last year was our 5th anniversary, and Matt planned an uber romantic date for us.  This year I wanted to plan more of an adventure date. You know, switch it up a little.  So I decided we should try geocaching.  We've wanted to for a long time but never gathered up enough motivation. So, this was the time.  My brother-in-law is a big time geocacher, so I got lots of help from him, including borrowing his GPS and his PDA full of hints and info for each cache!  Possibly a must for first timers. ;)
(Thanks, Trev!)
We went up to cooper mountain nature park, which is right here in Beaverton. (who knew?)  It was about a three mile hike through prairie and forrest, and we found five out of six caches.  (the last one we thought was right behind some poison oak and blackberry bushes- we decided it wasn't quite worth it. haha!)  This is a picture of our first find. That tiny thing in my hand is the micro cache!  It was so neat to find!  We could be hooked. Nerdy or not ;)  We would have enjoyed the hike anyway, but it was neat to have a "purpose" to it.
After our hike we went home for a shower and to make a picnic dinner.  (california rolls- yum!)  We went to waterfront park and enjoyed our dinner, and these mini-cheesecakes which were fabulous.  I made a graham cracker crust instead of the nilla wafers (HFCS alert!) but everything else was by-the-recipe.  I will be making them again. And, again. :)
When we finished stuffing ourselves, we went to find one more cache near us, and it turned out to be right where we parked! But, we couldn't find it. (later at home, matt went online and discovered that no one has found it yet. So I dont' feel so lame.) Then we were off to ComedySportz for two hours of laughter!
Overall, I think it turned out to be a fun date.  What an amazing 6 years we've had!  I can't believe how fast they've gone, and can't imagine how much faster the next 6 are going to go.  I'm so blessed to be a part of this marriage, to feel so loved and cared for, to be covered by the Lord so completely, to watch my husband be an amazing father day after day- I could never sum it up with words.

Simple Things that make me Happy #5

Left over coffee, and left over whipped cream.  

They make me so happy, I thought I'd share this tip with the world! Did you know you can save brewed coffee that you didn't drink? Just stick it in the fridge and warm it up the next day for coffee-lightening-speed.  It's even better cold, so mine usually doesn't make it to the next day. It becomes 3:00 iced coffee almost every day. lol.  But, it's a nice treat to not grind beans, measure water, and brew a pot in the morning when it happens to last that long.  

Also, if you whip too much cream, you can save it in the fridge as well.  Tried that before you say? It got all soupy and nasty you say? Well, that's because you didn't save it in a fine mesh strainer.  That's right, folks. Put it in a strainer, and it'll be thick and luscious the next day. And the next. Make sure you put the strainer in a bowl though!