Mommy Monday on a Tuesday

I know I didn't post yesterday, but I literally didn't have time. The whole day was filled with running around and if I was home I was making food or sleeping. :) The rest of the week will be a lot of that as well. I have some things I have been learning that I want to share with you, but it will have to wait till next week. Right now I am going to get things done while Aiden is sleeping so when he wakes up I can spend some much needed quality time with him. 

But I can't post without a picture, so I wanted to share one of my absolute favorites with you. Kudos to Dan for taking this great picture. It was on Aiden's first birthday right before bed. :) LOVE IT!

52|08 :: Intentional Living

52|08

I see grace in:

intentional living

Deciding to purposefully involve our 
child in day to day life is a practical way 
to live as the family we want to be.

Recently I have discovered that being a mom to a toddler is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. More on that in Monday's post, but in the meantime, this week I had a "light bulb click". I simply took Aiden down with me to do laundry and involved him in the thing I needed to do. He loves moving things around the house so I thought he would love putting his dirty clothes in the washer. He did! It opened my eyes to start seeing ways to involve him instead of "play with Aiden time" and "Mommy needs to get things done time". I know he is still young, but I think it's good to start now and will help us become a close knit family who are involved in each others lives. We did it again yesterday, and I think he especially likes sitting on the dryer. :)

Iced Mocha at Home - FINALLY!!

If you know me you know how I love-love-love going to Starbucks. The funny thing is though I actually only like about three things from there, but I really like them. In case you are wondering they are...a Mocha Frappucino (with an added flavor like hazelnut, peppermint...etc) or the White/Regular Mocha (with an added flavor and half the espresso). Everything else, I pretty much hate. haha. The other thing is those drinks are about $5. Ouch. I could buy a shirt for that price. Plus add in all the calories and sugar in one of those drinks, I feel sick thinking about it. Over all, probably not the best use of my resources. So, I have been dying for an easy version I could make at home. I have tried a couple, but today I made one that was easy and I LOVED IT! So, I wanted to share it with you. I got the recipe from Pinterest, big surprise, but made a few tweaks.

You start out with ice in a cup, and pour some cold coffee in it. I started with this amount, but later added more and I believe it ended up to be one cup.

Then add one cup of milk, a spoonful of sugar (makes the medicine go dowwwn), a little vanilla extract, and then a long squeeze of chocolate syrup. All along I was tasting it to see what to add more of. And of course it's totally customizable for what you like. Add more coffee and less milk if you like it stronger, no sugar if you don't need it sweet...etc. You know what you like!

My finishing touch, which is not surprising in my house, was flavored creamer. We currently have York Peppermint Patty in our house, so that's what went in. Top it off with a little or big dollop (name that movie) of whip cream and drizzle with chocolate syrup. It is amazing!!!!

Two things I really like about this. No using a blender and you can drink it slow without worrying that all the little ice chunks are going to melt. Next time I will probably make like a ten cup pot of coffee, freeze one cup portions and take them out and thaw them when I want. The only hard part about this is trying not to make one every single day. lol. We may run out of milk fast. :)

Mommy Monday :: Purpose Jars

I recently did a project that I put together from multiple Pinterest ideas and added my own little flair to it. My reasons behind this project was simply that it is so easy for life to just happen, to pass us by. I want to live a life that is purposeful, meaningful and close with the people in my house. Even with Aiden I can feel lost & without motivation or ideas. So, I thought this would help us be more intentional.

If you are on Pinterest you know that some things people pin are like "Cheap Date Ideas" and "101 Things To Do With Your Toddler"...etc. So, I went through a couple of those lists and added some of my own and made two separate lists. One for Dan and I and one for Aiden. I have a TON for Dan and I, but Aiden's list was a little more difficult since he isn't old enough to do a lot of the ideas that are online.

I printed them out and cut them into strips. and of course I needed something to put these strips in. So, I bought two smooth jars and craft spray paint. I used a glue gun to write the words "love" on one and "play" on the other. It was actually a lot easier than I thought, expect for those hot glue strings that are inevitable; they show up. :-/ Then I spray painted the jars and this is what I ended up with. :)

At the beginning of the week we are drawing one strip from each jar to accomplish sometime that week. Obviously some things are weather permitting, so those may have to be put back until warmer weather. :)

This past week was our first week and we had a good time being purposeful. Obviously I can't put "the love list" on here because that would ruin the surprise for Dan each week, but I will blog about some of them. Here is Aiden's list though just in case you want some ideas for your young ones!

52|07 :: Three

52|07

I see grace in:

three

A daddy, a mommy & a son. 

Three people who will forever 

share a special connection.

This picture may not mean much to you, but it means a lot to me. The other day as I was picking up, these three pairs of shoes were thrown together on our rug in the kitchen. I lined them up like I usually do and couldn't help but smile as I walked away. I just love it, I love who we are and these are our shoes. I love that thrown into the pile of big people shoes are those little ones. It just makes me happy. I am thankful for how God blesses.

The Worst Photo Shoot Ever

So, today I decided "why not do a little valentine's day photo shoot with my son". . . great idea that didn't really turn out. And this is why . . . I have a 16 month old boy who goes NON-STOP. He had a short nap today so was a little on the cranky side to start. I decided to take the pictures on the red wall in our China room for obvious reasons, but another BAD idea. Never take pictures on a red wall...ever, ever, ever.

Here's how we started.....

All because I took those books out of his hands. So like a good mommy I gave them back and let him look through the books until he was done, then we started again. He still wasn't very happy with me as I wanted him to sit still. So I had the genius idea of feeding him brownie if he would sit! And that, friends, is how I got any pictures at all. :)

He would get up and down a million times and definitely got chocolate all over that white stool, thankfully I got it out.

Now add into this, me. I am definitely frustrated, trying not to FREAK OUT and also trying to get him to laugh which is really hard when I'm not very happy. :) Then add to that trying to shoot with different equipment, then my flash batteries dying and having NONE in the house, so trying new options. AND my clumsy self tripping over cords after giving Aiden a some brownie then running back to try to capture a smile only to have him already off the seat and having to re-do my set up. It was a nightmare, yet really funny as I think back on it.

Here is a personal favorite. HaHa. As we were recently working on learning eyes, ears & nose. Aiden discovered there are holes in his nose and ears that of course his fingers fit perfectly into. Really fun. Haha I actually am glad I got a picture of this because I wanted one. :)

Eventually I got him to laugh a couple times and we were done! Moral of the story: it really is no big deal if you don't get amazing pictures of your kid on Valentine's Day. We recovered from the traumatic experience and had a fun night together, all three of us!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mommy Monday :: Soup-Soup-Soup

I am always struggling with knowing what to give Aiden to eat, I want him to eat healthy and not the same things alllll the time. Anyway, I end up buying cans of soup every week and he has that a lot. So the other day I thought- why not make a big pot of soup and freeze individual servings for Aiden?! DUH, why didn't I think of it before. Definitely cheaper and without all the preservatives and stuff. So, I went looking for a vegetable soup recipe and I found this one.

Chunky Veggie Soup
1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely

2 stalks of celery, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

1 tbsp fresh thyme

sea salt and fresh ground pepper

2 x cans of chopped tomatoes (14oz)

1 1/2 litres of water or stock

1 cup of pasta (your choice)

In a large sauce pan over medium heat add the oil, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme and salt and pepper and cook until just soft. Add the tomatoes and water and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the pasta and cook for another 8-10 min. Serves 4-6.

So I started with my vegetables and I added some zucchini and fresh greens beans to the mix. Can't go wrong with more veggies.

I only used about 3 1/2 cups of chicken stock since I didn't add the pasta to the cooking and since Aiden doesn't really need a lot of broth.

I just thought this was cool. :)

Now, I didn't add the pasta only because pasta takes up so much space and I wasn't sure how it would freeze, so I'll probably just add some each time I give it to him.

After I took this picture I poured one of these in Aiden's bowl and it was way too much for a serving, so I got two more containers out of it. Yay! I gave him some the next day and he loved it and so did I! I will be doing this again. :)

52|06 :: Friends, Food & Football

52|06

I see grace in:

friends, food & football

Those three things added

together plus a happy kid

makes for one fun night.

This past Sunday we had a great time hanging out with some friends, eating awesome food and watching the Superbowl. Of course I had to buy Aiden a special shirt for the occasion, it's not every year a team from your state makes it to the Superbowl. And he did awesome that night, all the way till after 10pm when we left! I credit it to his amazing naps that day and all the food, including the best chocolate chip cookies ever! Also you can't go wrong with our state bringing home the win, there were some very happy people in that room! :) Hope you all had a good night too, whether you watched the game or not!

Snack Time

Look who has a new favorite spot to eat his animal crackers. :)

Mommy Monday :: Not Such A Fun Activity

If you remember from my last "Mommy Monday" I mentioned to stay tuned for this week's post because I was going to do what I thought would be a fun activity for Aiden. Welllll, not so much. My idea was to let him just play with shaving cream in the bath tub. I thought he would enjoy squishing and spreading it all around (since he likes to do that with his food). I couldn't have been more wrong.

I started by putting Aiden in the tub and squirted a decent amount of shaving cream in front of him. He just starred at it. I put my hand in it to show him what to do, still nothing, so I took his hand and put it in the cream. What happened next I was not prepared for. He got a terrible and scared look on his face and starting crying BIG time. He immediately stood up and wanted out, so I first cleaned off his hand, then his foot hit the shaving cream and he slipped around a little bit. I caught him, but I understand how that would have been scary and so he cried more. I just grabbed him out of the tub and within seconds I was covered in shaving cream. It took him a long time to stop crying and I am still baffled by this. He is not one to be scared easily. Only two times that I can remember; the vacuum cleaner when he was like 6 months and my sister's big dog because she jumped up on the gate. 

He finally calmed down and I tried a little bit more with the shaving cream like putting it on my finger and having him touch it. He would get a little frowny face and shake his head no, so sad and so cute. Needless to say I cleaned it up and just gave him a bath. And Dan will be using some cheap shaving cream for a while. :) I will try it again sometime and hope for a different result, I will also take it a little slower. 

Here is the one picture I took of the whole ordeal.

52|05 :: Sunshine & Warmth

52|05

I see grace in:

sunshine & warmth

Enjoying this strange but awesome 

warm winter and looking forward to

the days of Spring and Summer.

This winter has been the best of my life. We've had like two real snows and uncommonly warm days! This past Tuesday, it was like 50 degrees so Aiden and I definitely took advantage! We went to the rail trail, which if you aren't from this area it is a two mile paved trail for people to walk, run, ride..etc. I went with the goal of just letting Aiden play and explore and basically call the shots. It was for him to be outside and enjoy himself! He played mostly around this house at the start and we walked a little ways, waving to everyone who walked by and stopping to pet every dog (and there were a lot), then turn to follow them. HaHa. It was a lot of fun and can I just say how cute is he in that Wii hat and sunglasses! 

I couldn't help but add captions to these following pictures because this is what I really feel he is saying. :)

"I'd like to come in and explore this building."

"Excuse me, could you please come back with your dogs?
I wasn't finished with them yet."

Aiden: "Can I climb over this into the mud?"
Mommy: "No Aiden, you have to stay on the ramp."