Taking the back roads

It’s as if you are running at full speed sprinting for the finish line and as soon as you cross it you completely stand still. No light jog to slow your racing heart; it all just stops and your suspended somewhere is a blissful lalaland. That is my joys and fears of May. I parent, I run errands, I cook, I spouse, I clean, I friendship all while I work a full time job; life for me is always driven on the interstate with the occasional fast lane and the occasional exit for a bathroom break but what about when it turns to back country roads? How does one even spend all day inside their home? My incredibly wise Mother reminded me once the baby is here its okay to have days when you accomplish nothing. It’s okay to sit and nurse and sleep and sit and just be. How do you just be? With Moses we were young and I was an emotional mess and within two weeks I was thinking about pumping and storing milk and routines and prepping myself to get back to work; but what about when the TO DO list is to just be?

Moses {four}

It’s the legs that got me. They’ve gone from tightened rolls that were slightly bowed out during his first steps to long thick legs made for running. The slim figure that once wore size 3T is now filling out every which way and slips nicely into 4T shirts and pants. The feet, oh the very smelling stinky feet that accompany the size 11 stinky shoe kills me. Who knew they turn into smelly men so suddenly?

 

He gets haircuts more than all of us and his toots will knock you out but his heart is bigger than ever. Boy, can he love. He has a heart for the Lord and I’m always hearing from school or church how well he knows the bible which makes this Mom’s heart swell. He is full of questions and they are getting harder to answer; why did Grandpa die when he was sick? Why do we love God? And his favorite response to me answers, “That just doesn’t make sense”. He’s is a heavy sponge just waiting for the right moment to be rung out like when we pass a distracted driver and he casually tells us “she’s probably texting” and has yet to master the art of when Mom says shhh that doesn’t mean to ask me again louder.

 

Despite my greatest efforts he is all boy and asks me on a daily basis when he turns 5 can he be Spiderman for Halloween. He loves nerf guns, Cars, racing any small cars, exploring with his pirate sword, and playing games. He’s learned how to play Go Fish perfectly and we are currently teaching him Old Maid (or as he always calls Old Navy/ Old Nave) and Crazy 8’s. I’m always telling him he can’t watch Superhero shows (yet) and he’s always reminding me how much I don’t like SpongeBob and how he can’t watch it. His favorite colors are red and purple but most days he throws in a few extra for variety. He is just like his mom when it comes to sweets; shows no favoritism. I blame him for our weekly Starbucks runs as he will always promise me to get ready fast so we have enough time before school.

 

He can successfully dress himself down to socks and shoes, brush his own teeth, buckle himself into his car seat, and ask for breakfast within 3 minutes of waking up. He shows his baby brothers lots of love by wrapping his arms to form a circle over my belly and talking to him; morning belly kisses are a must. He’s a Goober and won’t ever let me forget that.

 

Moses, my four year old.

 

February Playlist {coachella style}

This playlist was about twice the size until I realized I kept skipping over songs to get to the good stuff so I just left the good stuff. Once I created this playlist I couldn’t stop listening to it; sometimes I’ll even listen to it over and over again until I realize half the days gone by and I’m still jamming.  They don’t do together (AT ALL) but there is a little something for everyone and Coachella was the major influence this month. #4 is my cousin’s song off his new EP which I recommend because 1. He’s an incredible worship leader 2. He’s family. And then #7 well it’s just straight up crazy but I love it J

Two Fingers- Jake Bugg

Old Pine- Ben Howard

Call Your Girlfriend (cover) – Ashleigh Brown

With Voices Raised – Jordan Colle

All Your Gold – Bat For Lashes

People Say – Portugal, The Man

I Love It – Icono Pop feat. Charli XCX 

 

 

Like always, the playlist can be enjoyed on Spotify!

Eat your brussels sprouts, kids!

Phew, it feels nice to have the entire list written out but I’m thankful it’s over. Time to share things that have been on my mind for weeks like my sweet baby turning four or a baby update. But today you’re getting a very easy recipe that could possibly change your life.

Ok maybe not that dramatic but it could make you like a vegetable you never thought possible; Brussels sprouts! I don’t remember ever trying one growing up because come on they are Brussels sprouts and eww! I think most southern people boil them so they are a mushy “green” that goings alongside your mushy potatoes and your fried chicken or something but these are the complete opposite. Crispy, crunchy, full of flavor, and wonderful.

My friend Ashley first told me how to do this and now we eat them a couple times a month. Ready?

1. Preheat oven to 375 (if you’re cooking something else on 350 or 400 that’s okay too because they are adaptable)

2. Wash your Brussels sprouts and pat dry.

3. Cut in half or in quarters depending how big they are (think bite size) and toss into bowl.

4. Add a couple tablespoons of olive oil and ground sea salt and pepper then toss covering the sprouts really well.

5. Lay on baking sheet and bake for 10 min then turn over and bake until crispy.

The baking time varies every time I cook them so the key is to watch and make sure the leaves aren’t turning black. You still want green color with golden brown hues throughout. I’ve tried cutting the bottoms off which resulted in the leaves separating too much and burning; the bottoms will get tender so don’t worry!

Can you tell I’m a very loosey goosey cook? Baking is a science and I stay very precise but with cooking it’s always a winging-it game!  Enjoy!

The 25 {21-25}

I challenged myself this past year by completing 25 personal goals...to read the full list go here and to read (and see) the details of 1-5 go here and 6-10 go here and 11-15 go here and phew 16-20 go here.

21. Take a 7 day fast from TV

As I mentioned in #8 I did these two together and basically avoided all media outlets for the week. It was funny how many times in conversation it would come up “oh did you see….” And I would have to remind them I didn’t see it nor do I want you to share it with me. After all if your husband is highlighting everything that happened then I might as well have seen it myself. There were some nights I choose to fold laundry in my bedroom instead of the living room so Davy would still enjoy TV and I wouldn’t be tempted to watch. I read more than normal and spent free time working on a TO DO list instead of vegging out. About once a month I’m tempted to get cable but then remind myself how easy it is to get sucked in with our 10 channels and I feel like with 100 I may never vacuum my house again!

 

22. Jump off the high dive at Wakulla Springs

Between our unexpected move over the summer, my week long road trip, and getting pregnant in August I regretfully didn’t do this.

23. Spend time with my Grandma outside of the holidays

This didn’t happen either. Right after Christmas we found out she had failing health and ended up getting her chest cracked open during open heart surgery. It was scary and made me realize even more why I wanted to spend more time with her; she won’t be here much longer and I don’t want any regrets. We visited her just this past weekend at home where she is recovering wonderfully from everything and it was so refreshing to see her. No excuses I must see her more this year!

24. Color some part of my hair a non-natural color (I’m thinking purple)

Purple hair, don’t care. It’s small because I have a professional job. Sadly it’s faded so much since I got it done a month ago but I love it; it’s my very small revolt against adulthood.

25. Get pregnant

Even with all of our conversations I wasn’t sure if this was going to happen when I wrote this list in 2012. We wanted more children but money and logistics and honestly just being ready kept delaying the process until spring of 2012 when we started to set timelines of removing prevention and actually making this happen. And then it did. And we floated around on cloud nine elated. And we found out I was forever outnumbered in the house. And now here we are entering the third trimester and daydreaming about newborn life. Oh, what a sweet way to end the list.

 

One thing I wasn’t expecting to do over the last year was read so much; 18 books to be exact. I surprised myself because although as an adult I finally enjoy reading but I never felt like I was a book worm. My problem is I start reading a book, it consumes every moment of my free time, and then it’s done a few days later. 

 

I don’t plan on making another 25 list this year because we are already expecting so much change I’m ready to ride the wave!

The 25 {16-20}

I challenged myself this past year by completing 25 personal goals...to read the full list go here and to read (and see) the details of 1-5 go here and 6-10 go here and 11-15 go here
16. Backup all our photos on an external hard drive
Didn’t happen. Why oh why do I do this to myself? The day I boot up one of our old laptops and it crashes and I’m unable to access sweet baby pictures of Moses is the day I will forever regret not taking care of this. I wanted to but after searching for our external hard drive with no luck I simply gave up. Terrible, I know. Just writing this makes me want to go on a cord hunt tonight and take care of this!

17. Vacation somewhere I’ve never been
Technically I was a lot of places I’ve never been before. In July I took a 6 day road trip with my Mom and sister for a family reunion which included driving through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and finally Pennsylvania (phew, I still can't believe we did that drive there and back within a week!). But most of that trip was driving through (not vacationing) and technically I’ve been to the Philadelphia area before so #17 was crossed off when we spent a weekend in Savannah, GA. Good friends of ours were getting married and it turned into a wonderful romantic weekend away surrounded by friends. We stayed in the heart of Savannah on one of the squares that overlooked blocks of shopping, ate incredible food all weekend, and even went on one of their famous ghost tours with the wedding party. This also happened to be the week we found out we were expecting and pregnancy exhaustion had just hit so we would put on happy smiling faces around friends but as soon as our hotel door closed I would jump into the bed and relax until we were called down for the next activity.

18. Volunteer long-term at church
Call it Baby Rabies but I knew exactly what I wanted to do for this one and that was to volunteer in the nursery; basically I wanted to smell babies once a week. Their chubby cheeks and thighs and sweet little faces just melted me and well we all know what happened after that…I was bit by the Rabies.

19. Eliminate meat from my diet for 1 month week Around October I started to review the list and think about things I needed to do before my deadline; this was one of them. I quickly decided there was no way I could pass up Thanksgiving or Christmas meals so my only option was January. January came and I put it off for a week or so until 1 month meat free was impossible. Then I told myself I would try 1 week meat free just to have a little taste of what it would be like…..and it sucked! I’m not a Meat & Potatoes type of girl but trying to come up with quick lunches and family dinners for an entire week with no chicken, fish, shrimp, or red meat was hard! We love eggs and black bean burgers but aside from that it seemed there was salad salad or more salad options. I made it 5 days meat free but when Davy walked in with medium rare steak off the grill for their Friday night dinner I caved! Blame the baby or my lack of preparation or my lack of dedication but I just couldn’t take another meal without meat! Long story short…I don’t plan on going vegetarian anytime soon!

20. Brush up on my French (a class, a workbook, a tutor, ect)
Womp womp. This is still close to my heart so I fully intend to not let 2013 pass without doing this! 

The 25 {11-15}

I challenged myself this past year by completing 25 personal goals...to read the full list go here and to read (and see) the details of 1-5 go here and 6-10 go here

11. Join a women’s bible study

This one was slightly tweaked but yielded the same results so I’m calling it a success. Earlier in the year we were approached to facilitate one of the Home Groups at our church. Basically a Home Group meets throughout the month to discuss the Sunday teaching and dive a little deeper as well as be there for each other and share what’s on our hearts. Being in our mid twenties and feeling very much out of my comfort zone we agreed to be facilitators and ended up with 12 people (5 married couples and 2 singles) we spend every Sunday night with. I was just telling Davy that it’s so cool how there are so many different walks of life and personalities all in one room that would never have befriended each other outside of church yet we keep coming back week after week and have found our groove.

12. Entertain friends/ family at least once a month at our house (12)

6 times, that’s it! We managed to have double dates outside of the home as well as dinner or fires at friend’s houses but I was really hoping we could step up our hosting game. A big factor for not completing this was our big OMG we’re moving midyear crisis and the fact that our house now isn’t even half the size of our old one! Overall I’m thankful for the friendships that have grown this year with couples we truly want to invest in.

 

13 Run a 5k (I’m too scared to say 10k)

Womp womp, didn’t happen. I’m kicking myself (ok not really there is a baby in there) for not doing this over the summer when I was running 3 miles in the treadmill on a random Tuesday night but I kept telling myself I’ll do it when it cools down. Not thinking I hope to be pregnant by then and the unknown factors like having zero energy to exercise for months then being too far along in the pregnancy to feel comfortable running 3 miles straight. I had a quick fleeting thought mid November I could hop back on a treadmill, get back my running pace, and complete a race before the belly got too big but again fleeting thought.

 

14 Wear a bikini in public

I was really looking forward to having some great picture of me on a crowded beach in a bikini feeling liberated but surprisingly once I felt comfortable enough to wear one I only had one beach opportunity. We were on a family beach trip and I wore it on the public beach for a short time but then my arms grew goose bumps and I changed. After that I don’t even think we went to the beach again so yes technically I did wear one but not the ah-ha moment I was hoping for. And no pictures, I’m so very sorry.

15 Compile a memory verse book for Moses

YES YES YES! I kept racking my brain trying to figure out how I was going to use illustrations and words and colors to make it kid friendly all while making it durable enough to last. One day BAM it hit me; Shutterfly books, I love you! I pulled about 30 verses that were short and/or pertaining to kids and collected personal and Google pictures to make the book interesting at every turn. I wanted the pictures to tie into the verses and help jog his memory; I wanted fun colors and backgrounds because he’s four! If I had too hard of time finding a picture then I’d scrap the verse wildling me down to the 25 that made the book. If you want to make a similar book (or Shutterfly book in general) but get freaked out at the $30 price tag then just wait around because they always go on sale! I’d sign up and get started on your project now then save it until a sale comes around. The week I purchased my book Shutterfly happen to send me a $20 off coupon and I checked this past week and Photo books were 40% off!