Dear blogs, I like you much.

www.thespunkycoconut.com

http://www.foodallergymama.com/

http://allergyfriendlyrecipes.co.uk/

paleoparents.com

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/

..... A few blogs worth mentioning that I visit frequently for recipes! 

Since finding my intolerance to gluten and dairy I've had many people come forward struggling in their own diets. It's hard when you're diagnosed with an allergy or an intolerance all of a sudden. It  like being sent to a foreign country where none of the ingredients in the stores are remotely recognizable or even in the same language! Sorghum flour & xanthum gum????.... I had absolutely NO idea these things existed a year ago. It took me long enough to pronounce them let alone know what the purpose of them were. Not only must you walk into this new territory of endless new ingredients, but you'll also learn that anything that sounds remotely delicious or close to edible and is already made for you comes at a ginormous cost! There's no more dropping by the beautiful cereal aisle and picking out any box you like. In fact there's no more picking up a box at all and just sticking it in the basket. Well, maybe eventually, but first it'll take reading EVERY label. If you don't take the time and just grab a snickers then you may end up paying for it... for days... and days. 

I've never struggled with something as hard as my diet. It's not a choice for me. I can't just cheat for fun. I actually have found that even one bite of  little Miss So&So's amazing homemade cheese this or whole wheat that will leave me in stomach pain or with mouth sores that can last for days. It used to be that I could cheat and have a bowl of ice cream every once and a while and only have mild reactions, but it's just not like that anymore.  

So a question I get a lot is...What is the difference between an allergy and an intolerance?

In simple terms... which is all I feel like doing right now... (if you want a better one, google. you can find anything on the internet!)

allergy: even a tiny bit of said item can cause a VERY bad reaction and can be life threatening. The reaction can happen almost immediately. Intolerance: non-life threatening and reactions can come on gradually. you may even be able to have a tiny bit of the food without a problem at all.

Now I'm not 100% sure I don't have an allergy to dairy or wheat/gluten, but out of my little self diagnosis based on trial and error... well. I'm not dead :) From what I have heard from friends, doctors, and random people I've met with the same diet, trial and error is a much more accurate way of finding out than any blood test anyway. 

A few more questions I hear a lot as well.... How do you live?! What do you eat?! Is your whole family 'forced' into this diet too??

1. I live just fine, just slightly bitter when I see you eat ice cream on a cone from a convenient location bought with pocket change. I'm kidding. Well, kind of. I have found ways to make the things I love and have also opened myself up to trying new things as well and have come to love those things too. It's kind of a give and take. I thought about the things in my diet I REALLY didn't want to let go of... like chocolate and ice cream. I spend a little extra on those things and it make me feel a whole lot less 'deprived'. I've been surprised by how many things I've weeded out of my diet without a care in the world too. :)

2. I eat EVERYTHING. I probably eat a larger variety of things than most people do too. It's not just meat and potatoes for this little lady! I have come to love so many different new dishes and I think I've become more knowledgeable about what is going into every meal I make as well! I'm not afraid of cooking out of my comfort zone as much and my family doesn't get as bored with the same old meal plans rotating every month. It's nice... which brings me to...

3. (nice segue, I know) bahaha... I crack myself up. Wow I'm horrible at this blogging thing! Ah, but I know none of you probably care.

okay... I'm digressing...

so! My family DOES eat what I eat and I eat what they eat too!... most of the time. The thing is I don't want them losing the enzymes in their sweet bellies to break down gluten or dairy though simply because I don't feed it to them. We don't always eat the same breakfast or lunches. I always have yogurt, cream cheese, sour cream, and various cheeses for my hubby or the kids to enjoy with their meals. sometimes I just make a dish dairy and gluten free, set some aside for me, then add some dairy products for the rest of them. It really isn't that big of a deal. I hardly buy anything prepackaged or go to any health food stores and I don't really seem to have a problem cooking things that I like.

I'm not sure if you care about any of this at all, but being that I find myself in conversations with acquaintances or friends regarding my diet at least 3 times a week... it's nice to just release it into some written words.

Can you even say 'written words' when it's been typed?

I wonder if that little phrase will disappear in a few years...

Typed words?

That just sounds lame.

Once again I apologize for the horrible grammatical errors. There once was a time where poor grammar bothered me to no end, but I have 2 children now and talk in grunts, points, and giggles the majority of the time. Poor grammar is the least of my problems. 

If you find that the links up there aren't to your liking and you need help with a recipe, just ask!

I really don't buy too many of the specialty flours and strange ingredients and I do just fine. There's almost always a way to make a recipe you love to taste great and still be gluten or dairy free. 

Welcome Juneau

June, Juneau, Junebug, puppydoo (yes I am even surprised when that comes out of my mouth!), JuJube...

These are the names I call my our,  new puppy :)

Here she is!!!

Isn't she adorable??? I love her soft, little, floppy ears and her kind eyes!

She fits perfectly in the double stroller under the kiddos :)

I've always scoffed at people that dress their dogs up in sweaters... until now. Well... kind of. It's so cold outside, but we're crate training her and she's doing WAY better when we take her outside to potty rather than try to get her to use a piddle pad. I couldn't bear watching her shake in the cold... so now I own a dog sweater. bahaha... Interesting fact: I made it out of an old sweater sleeve!

Grayson adores her! She does have the horrible desire to nibble his sweet ears (I mean who doesn't?!) so I often have to separate them for a little while!

Oh Grayson :)

Of course I had to add one of me and my sweet girl. We definitely spend the most time together! We play all of the time and cuddle even more. I'm attached!

Most of you that know me are wondering how I of all people came to a point where  I  would get a dog.

-Understandable.-

I've been known to have an allergic reaction to almost all dogs and, unfortunately, even this one at times. It hasn't been bad at all though. I feel like it's going really well and I'm hoping that my body acclimates. I've been licked by her and haven't gotten hives, had my face up to her and haven't coughed or sneezed.... the only thing is my eyes get a bit itchy, but I feel like that's absolutely bearable and a small price to pay for the joy of a new puppy! 

Everyone keeps asking me what breed she is... 

Her mommy is a brittany spaniel and her daddy is a boston terrier (not actual picture of them)

Kind of a strange mix, I know, but I've always liked bostons and brittany spaniels are beautiful! I think she looks a lot more like a spaniel right now, but it'll be interesting to see what she ends up looking like when she's an adult. The owners seem to think that she'll be about 20lbs or less... so not too tiny, but not too big! Perfect for our little family! 

There's so much training to go and I have no idea what I am doing, but I'm working with her a lot right now. Any ideas on how to keep her from teething on my children is welcome! :) 

Gluten and dairy free, but not free at all.

Overwhelmed.
I spent most of my day at the Doctor's today. I left my house with so much hope and excitement. I really thought that I was going to find answers. I wanted to know what I'm allergic to, why I feel the way that I do, and get a plan of action to take control of my health so I can start living life and eating without fear or pain. I ended the day  feeling defeated and disappointed.
I've been to doctors before for the same reason... always coming back disappointed or with unnecessary (in my opinion since they never work) drugs. It all started in high school when I was misdiagnosed with an ulcer and given medication to 'fix it'. The medication didn't work so they kept trying new things and nothing helped. I gave up on taking the medication and just started taking action on my own. I became my own little google scholar and started trying suggested ideas that others had done. I began by eliminating things from my diet to see if I could find anything that happened to be upsetting me. It didn't take my long to discover that I couldn't have dairy any longer. I still had stomach issues, but nothing that I couldn't live with. As of recently I noticed more and more issues that I couldn't escape. I don't know if my body just changed after kids, but either way I knew I had to figure out what was going on. I had an endoscopy/colonoscopy and expected to find that ulcer that the doctors were STILL blaming all of my discomfort on. It simply didn't exist. In fact, I have very healthy 'guts' without anything wrong! Definitely something most people would like to hear, but I had almost wished that they would have found something obvious that was easily treatable so I could fix it and move on. Not so much. The gastroenterologist just told me "I can't see anything wrong and I dont know why you're feeling the way that you are. We're just going to diagnose it as IBS, but I'm not sure that that is really what it is or not." She then referred me to the allergist. She did tell me that I should try a gluten free diet for a while and see if that helps... so I did and am now gluten free as well as dairy free. Now when I try to eat Gluten I find that my reactions are far worse than even my reactions I used to have if I accidentally had dairy. Go figure.
The doctor I went to see today was the allergist. You could imagine how excited I was to finally make it to her. It made sense that she would have the answers. I had this vision that she would do a blood test, find out what was wrong, and I would adjust my diet and live it out forever more happily ever after.
My appointment started with me arriving early to fill out paperwork. I did so while holding Grayson and trying to keep Lydia in her seat in the lobby. Not so easy!
By the way... I was still excited at this point.
All of the nice old ladies and gentleman were fawning over my sweethearts and I had actually answered every question on the questionaire without Grayson melting down or Lydia destroying anything in the lobby.
An hour goes by and we're now past nap time. Lydia is playing musical chairs and Grayson is having to be moved around constantly in order to keep him from melting down. I'm exhausted
They finally call me in and let me continue by wait in a little room for another half an hour....

***Thank you Miranda for the idea of bringing crayons to draw on the paper on the bed... it helped!****

I promised trick or treat candy to Lydia if she simply was a good girl and colored... that also helped!
there's nothing like bribing your children when you're exhausted. :/
The nurse came in...asked a few questions
another 20 min.
Grayson is now flailing and crashes into sleep.
I'm wiped. Lydia is now watching Go Diego Go on netflix on my phone
I'm praising God my iphone and praying the doctor will just come in before I start crying and leave.
She comes in and asks me some questions and I share with her everything I'm going through.
I explain to her how hard I've been working to avoid all of the stomach pain.
I share with her my recent visit to urgent care for being in such bad abdominal pain for 3 days that I thought I felt like I my stomach was going to explode...etc....
I told her sincerely told her everything.

Her response:
"Unless you're having serious reactions where your throat is swelling up or your lips are swollen, then I don't find a need to test you for allergies. Some people have 'intolerance'. You may have a lactose and gluten intolerance."
I agreed to that, obviously... except not so excited that she wouldn't even test me to check for any allergies?
weird.
I explained to her how casein also bothers me and how I randomly get even worse reactions even when I don't have items containing either gluten or dairy... she rolled her eyes.

long story short... she made me feel like a complete idiot and gave me 3 little pamphlets on how to eat healthier and sent me off. She said "I think the gastroenterologist did a good enough job and I don't find it necessary to do any more testing"

Defeated. Not only did she treat me like a hypochondriac, told me I couldn't bring my children (despite the fact that Lydia sat quietly without a noise watching Diego without the sound on in a seat and Grayson was asleep the entire time), but she just waved away all that I am going through like it was nothing.

This isn't what I want for myself. I didn't bring this about. I am most definitely not making up my pain. I HATE going to the doctor and have only gone in the past for emergency reasons. I don't just go for fun and make up ailments. It took me a lot of strength to finally try to figure out what was wrong and go to see her. It also took a LOT of time and will be costing me a LOT of money that will be going to absolutely nothing. Money that could have gone to many other things that our family needs. ugh.

Next is an appointment with a naturopathic doctor... I hope this one goes better.

I needed to let all of this out. Writing it down makes it feel like I'm not going through this alone.
I know that the Lord is within me. I know that He has a plan. I know that He has the answer to all of this. I do, but yet I feel like I'm alone? For some reason my heart isn't taking hold of these truths. I'm not TRULY believing and trusting the Lord with this or I wouldn't feel the way that I do right now. Why? :(...  I feel like there's a disconnection between my heart and my mind right now with all of this.

-Would you join me in prayer this week as I continue to give this all up to the Lord?-

(please forgive me for any misspelling and all of the horrible grammatical errors... I don't plan on editing this post. :/ )

A recent Gluten and dairy free recipe I made and loved for those of you in the same boat:
Spinach Stuffed Pork Roast

1 small pork roast
1/2 c chopped onion
2 cups chopped spinach
2 heaping tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon italian seasoning (I used rosemary, basil, oregano seasonings)

I caramelized the onions in a saucepan and then added the garlic and spinach and cooked it just until the spinach wilted. I added the seasoning and cooked another minute. I cut the pork into a spiral, laid it flat, and put the spinach mixture on top of it in an even layer. I rolled it up and secured it with a tooth pick. I cover the roast with a light coating of olive oil and sprinkled it with pepper and salt.
In a small roast pan I spread out some onion wedges and set the pork roast in it. I surrounded it with some little purple potatoes, covered it, and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 2 hours.

It came out super delicious! It would be good with more of a basil/pesto mixture too. I served it with some yummy home canned pears. Let me know if you make it  :) (please excuse the horrible quality photo that makes it look awful.. promise it was good!)

It's been awhile!

A lot has happened since my last post! I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep up with a blog very much, but it
seems I decided to 'break' for the entire summer!

oops!

Life has changed SO much.This summer, Lydia embraced her second year of life and although I couldn't really call her a 'terrible two', she had many of -those- moments. It stretched me spiritually, emotionally, and physically, and taught me more and more about myself as a wife and a parent. She's learning and changing so much that it's hard to keep up! She's now moving out of as many fits and understanding SO much. I'm continually surprised by what she's able to comprehend and how quickly she learns new things. She's into asking us questions now about the world around her. Fun, but also a new challenge for me! I like this little her. This 'little helper' she's become. I'm really enjoying connecting with her, teaching her about everything, and observing her sweet little heart as she makes sense of her surroundings. She's in this new phase where she calls me 'my mommy' instead of just mom or mama. It's probably the sweetest words I've ever heard! Everything she asks me ends or starts with it. "My mommy, I put the bowl in the sink?" "I stay with my mommy?" "My mommy lay by me?". It makes me feel special. That it's not just a name, but almost as if she's chosen to claim me too :). Oh how I love you sweet Lydia Evelyn! You will always be my baby girl.

Grayson is 10 months old now and growing fast. He is so completely sweet, cuddly, and loving. I enjoy his quiet personality and am filled with joy with each kiss and snuggle he shares with me. I feel like I can't get enough of him. He's breezed through all of the little baby stages so quickly and has moved onto a little toddler that it's been quite the whirlwind.At 5 months he was already standing, crawling, and sitting up. At 8 1/2 months he decided he was ready to take on walking. Now at 10 months he signs 'more' and 'all done' and has quickly moved onto climbing everything and making new discoveries in my cupboards. He laughs and giggles at everything, he's not afraid to go head first (literally off of anything), and is always at my heels if not in my arms. One of my favorite things about this sweet boy is his love for his sister. The moment I snatch him out of his crib he's looking for her. He gives my morning snuggle and a sloppy kiss, of course, but then he's halfway out of my arms with his eyes peeled for her. The moment he sees her it's pure glee on his little face! He does that weird inhale squeel and wiggles out of my arms to follow her. They play, snuggle, give kisses, fight, and they even tattle on each other. I love it. This whole siblings thing is amazing. It makes me want more children!

-- don't worry, not yet! ;)--

Grayson's birthday is coming up soon and I just feel so unprepared for it. Not in the whole napkins, plates, forks kind of way... but just that I'm not ready for him to start into his second year. Having two little ones makes your second's first year go by even faster than the blink of an eye. Lydia's first year went by fast, but not this fast! I think that's one of the main reasons I'm not ready for another child for a few years. I'm afraid it'll only make my babies grow up even faster and I really just want to relish every moment of their littleness that I can! I find myself rocking them more, reading to them more, putting off laundry and chasing them more. I just feel like time is going by way too fast and it's so evident when I look at their sweet little faces. Oh Grayson I'm not ready for you to grow up and Lydia please slow down too!

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

- Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

Coconut Cream Pie...Mmm!

So... It's my beautiful mommy's birthday this weekend and I just had to make her her favorite pie! I didn't want to just make a 'jello' pudding pie out of a package... it just wouldn't seem right! So I found a recipe online and tweeked it a bit to my liking to fit what she'd like...If you want to make it... just make sure you have a candy thermometer If you want to make the yummy meringue!

Coconut Cream Pie topped with Italian Meringue 

(serves 12)

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 1/2 cup of dates

1/3 cup of chopped almonds

2 tbsp of warm water

Coconut Cream Filling:

1  cup Coconut milk (skim the cream off the top first and then add up to 1 cup)

2  cups  half-and-half

1 1/2  cups  flaked sweetened coconut

1  vanilla bean, split lengthwise

2/3  cup  sugar

1/3  cup  cornstarch

1/4  teaspoon  salt

4  large egg yolks

2  tablespoons  butter

Meringue:

3  large egg whites, at room temperature

1/2  teaspoon  cream of tartar

1/2  cup  sugar

1/4  cup  water

1/4  cup  flaked sweetened coconut, toasted

You can definitely make this pie with a different crust, but my mom doesn't eat flour so I just made this recipe. Do as you please, but this is the recipe I used... I just put the dates and the almonds into the food processor and chopped them up until they were really fine and added a little warm water here and there until it started to stick together. Lydia loved this part since I let her push the button once! (I guess if you need to get out a little steam, you could smash them by hand too). I spread it into a cute little pie plate. Now if you're baking your crust, make sure to let it cool fully during the next steps.

mmmm... the most important ingredients! Coconut milk, 1/2 n 1/2, coconut, sugar, and vanilla beans. If I could have found some unsweetened coconut or some of the yummy non-dehydrated stuff from the freezer section then I would have used that instead of the sweetened, but unfortunately I couldn't find any this time

So add your coconut milk, half and half, 1 1/2 cups of coconut to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean with a spoon and add those along with the whole vanilla pod into the milk mixture. Heat it slowly to a simmer and then quickly cover it and remove it from the heat.

Now look over at my sweet little boy sleeping in the bouncer on the counter with a death grip on his monkey :]

Now in a large bowl... add 2/3 cup of sugar, your cornstarch, salt, and egg yolks and wisk it all together. It'll be one nice, big, gooey clump, but no worries!  (Make sure to set aside 3 of the whites of your eggs for later!) 

 

Now that 15 minutes have gone by... Strain your milk mixture through a cheesecloth-lined sieve into a bowl. Gather the edges of the cheesecloth and squeeze out the remain liquids into the bowl. Don't burn yourself! It's still pretty hot. Toss the remaining stuff in the cheesecloth into the trash. Now add the milk mixture to the sugar and egg yolk mixture. Wisk it until it's smooooth

Return your mixture to your saucepan and bring it slowly to a boil while wisking it constantly. It'll set up fairly quick, so don't let it burn on the bottom of the pan!

 

Remove it immediately and put it into a bowl over ice. Mix it to cool it down a bit faster. It'll take about 5-7minutes. Now pour that into your cooled pie crust, smooth it, cover it, and put it in the fridge to set for an hour.

15 minutes before my hour was up for the pie to be done, I started my meringue topping. It takes about 2 hours to set so be aware of that to know you'll be able to serve it on time.

Beat your egg whites (room temp), and cream of tarter with a mixer on high until stiff peaks form. Then combine 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of water into a small saucepan and bring it to a boil. Cook it without stirring until your candy thermometer registers at 250°. ( I didn't use a saucepan small enough to keep my thermometer from touching the bottom so I had to keep tipping it a bit to get a reading... just a warning. Choose your smallest saucepan!) Pour the hot syrup in a thin stream over the egg whites and beat on high until it gets thick. Spread the meringue over your pie and make it pretty... then cover the pie and stick it in the fridge for 2 hours to set. Top it with some toasted coconut if you'd like... we opted for a few cute sprinkles on top instead!

Now lick the spoon! It's perfectly yummy and totally safe to heat. The eggs are cooked just enough from the sugar syrup and tastes amazing. YUMM!!

It turned out GREAT! The taste was delicate and sweet. Using real vanilla beans really made a big difference. Maybe I've just had too many pudding pies made from a box.... but this was good. I can't really eat dairy, so it left me a bit sick, but it was worth it :) I'll be working on a dairy free option soon! I know I definitely will be using the meringue recipe in place of whipped cream topping on anything I do make dairy free in the future. It was great! So let me know what you think after you make it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I'm excited to make you your pie every year for your birthday! I love you so much :]

Lydia turned 2!!!!

So it has been a little while since I've posted. We celebrated Lydia's second birthday on the seventh, were struck with the stomach flu for about a week, and just had some of our family visiting this last weekend.

I can't believe that my big girl is already 2 years old! Time has really gone by fast! I feel like we JUST celebrated her first birthday! What's happening?! This year we decided to keep the birthday celebration a bit more low key. My friend, Haley, and I took our girls to paint pottery together. Of course we had to paint something ourselves too! I'll add a photo of our creations.... after I pick them up :\. (hopefully today!)

It was a bit of a mess, but we learned that the paint washes out....and thankfully for little Ava, it's non toxic too if you happen to try and eat it! It's not necessarily the best activity to do in replace of a nap time, but we made it through Lydia's fits and still had a good time. I would've posted photos, but simply forgot my camera on the charger at home!

The evening of Lydia's birthday I came up with the stomach flu. (Thank goodness Haley and Ava didn't catch it!) All birthday celebrations went on hold for that evening, but as soon as we were all well we celebrated a little bit in each day the following week followed by the big bash!

Lydia and I were getting SO tired of being stuck in the house so the moment we were well and the sun came out, we went out. She met loads of little friends her age, I chatted with other parents, we ate a great picnic, and took lots of pictures!

mmm... banana!

I was so proud of her accomplishing the 'Big' slide without a second thought! She just climbed up and went right down over and over again! It's still so sweet how she chooses to go down on her belly welly!

      

Here she is going through the tunnel! It's something else she was nervous about doing this last summer and now it doesn't seem to phase her one bit.  I loved seeing her sweet little face peeking out at me!

Happy girl on the swing :)

I love her little rosy cheeks! It was SO cold outside, but so worth it!

'Mr. Squirrel'

This weekend we had my parent's up and finally threw a little birthday party for Lydia. She was so excited when she woke up and saw 'Nana and Popsky' and a fully decorated house. She got 'big girl undies', dresses, some clothes, and a tricycle complete with a bell! (She's always so spoiled by them!!). Once again... camera on the charger. I really failed at photos for her birthday this year! Thankfully Nana took a few to save the memory. We had a great time. Lydia had her favorite foods for dinner and played on her trike. That evening I let her decorate her own mini-cake with various colors of frosting and fun toppings. I was very surprised by how much she didn't eat! The rest of us had some marionberry pie...yum :) The next day my dad and I fixed some things around the house. We put up pictures, a mirror, and attempted to put up my little ikea thingamajigger. On a trip to Bimart to find screws, we happened across a little sock monkey for Gray like Lydia's.

He'll smile, coo, and squeal at him in excitement when he sees his face. If you run his yarn hair over Gray's hands or face he squeaks and kicks his little legs everywhere. Nana put the monkey on top of him in his bouncer and he chewed his ear for the longest time last night. It's so much fun watching this little munchkin grow and get excited about the littlest things :)

I'm going to miss my family now that they're gone, but we'll be going to visit them in only a few days time while daddy is gone to Alaska. Hopefully we'll visit the ocean, sample some cranberry sweets, and meet up with friends if the weather is good.

We really have been having fun here in the Balint house. So many fun activities, seeing our family, play dates with friends... awesome. Hopefully we can stay away from sickness/flus for awhile and keep this up! I'll leave you with two of my favorite new recipes of the week!

Baked Chicken Taquitos

Preheat oven to 375

Mix up some shredded chicken (I had some leftover from a whole chicken the night before), a can of *mild green chillies, a couple spoon fulls of salsa, a tablespoon full of minced garlic, some chopped green pepper and onion, and roll then inside of warmed corn tortillas. You can also add some shredded cheese, but I do things dairy free around here...Place on a greased cookie sheet and brush with a very light coating of olive oil. Cook for about 15min and then turn the oven on to broil. Brown one side (about 2min) and then turn and brown the other.

These taquitos rival the best I've had! We topped ours with some homemade guacamole :)

Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins

Mmmm... definitely the tastiest, moistest, most delicious blueberry muffins that I have ever made! Don't they look yummy?! I'm making another batch today for the freezer!

I got my recipe here.

Okay okay... enough with the numerous photos, I know! Sheeeesh!

Well I can't leave a post without my sweet little boy's cute face :)

Specially with my handsome hunk of a man in it too!

A Bicycle for 2

I've been working on my friend's baby shower for a few weeks now. It's not that there's that much to do, it's just that it's taking me a long time to get the little things ready and made with two babies around. I tend to Lydia all morning while Grayson takes his long nap (3 hours). Then I put Lydia down for her nap and Gray wakes up. He normally only needs an hour to an hour and a half to feed/change/snuggle before he's ready to play on his tummy, but that's 1/2 of Lydia's nap time over with. I simply can't get too many extra things done in that little hour a day... specially when I'm dying to nap! I'm so excited to celebrate this new sweet little girl arriving soon and I REALLY am enjoying all the fun creative crafts I get to do in the meantime, but I can't believe how long it's taking me to prepare! I'm excited to share photos of all the fun things I've been making, but I don't want to spoil her decor and gifts on here before the big bash!

Oh little Charis... I'm so excited to meet you! You're going to be beautiful like your momma, giving like your daddy,  and as sweet as your sister Ava... I just know it! What a wonderful family you get to be brought up with! (That and you have two VERY cute boys your age waiting to hang out with you too and more little friends coming soon after!)

So Lydia and I took a little bike ride to the scrap-booking shop in downtown Indy a few days ago and I thought I'd share some pictures! She's just too cute with her little helmet and pads on :]
We ended up riding about 2 miles! It wasn't too bad on the ride back, but I really learned how much work it can be with 2 very flat tires and an almost 25lb toddler on the rear! It took me about a half an hour of a killer leg workout to make it to the gas station. I had brought 1.00 in quarters to use to get air in the tires. I must've been a silly sight to see! I held lydia in one arm and tried to fill the tires one handed with the other! She squirmed everywhere and by the time I finally got the back tire filled... the air ran out.

Air is .75... I only had a 1.00. Lesson learned: bring 1.50 next time and ask the attendant for help instead of just letting them watch and laugh at you.

It was a lot easier riding with only one flat tire, but I can't wait to fill up the other! Bike rides might happen a bit more frequently if I do! I guess I need the workout anyhow though ;]

I really like my sweet bicycle, but I'm thinking that Lydia and I both need a bell!

She LOVES riding our bike. She'll sing to me, chat up a storm, and point out everything she sees as we ride around town.

What a beautiful smile :]

...and just because Grayson so cute right now all snuggled up with his ducky!

I'm very excited for spring to finally arrive. I love the snow and the cold, but I want to enjoy riding our bicycles, going to the park, taking the wagon to the farmer's market, and playing outside with Lydia's little friends. It won't be long! Lydia and I just planted fresh starts of veggies in my kitchen window and are watching the green pop up... oh the joy! Spring is coming soon!!!