Puzzles and Puddles

We decided to get more challenging puzzles for Rowen to do. We feel he is needing to do more involved stuff if you will. Since they are very much in Cars we got some of those. Of course Corbin had to join in the fun too! He did really well. He is going to be ahead of the game in everything since most anything Rowen does he will be doing too. He already amazes us all the time with things he says. Hopefully being potty trained will happen soon!

When Rowen does something like this he always focuses very much, which is good of course.

Lily so nicely sharing her teething biscuit. She is starting to talk a TON now. She is always babbling something. We have been practicing "hi". She pretty much said it today! She walks around with her mouth open sounding it saying "ha, ha" trying to say it. She also has a specific 'word' she says all the time that means something to her but I haven't figured it out yet. I won't even attempt to spell what it sounds like ;)
She loves to sit at the kids table in the toy room now and can ride the ride-on car we have. We are still trying to get her to drink only from a cup but she has been refusing to drink milk out of it. She will drink juice and water no problem. We finally got her big cups like the boys use because she steals theirs and drink them. She is doing much better now but will still refuses it a few times a day. At night is when she drinks best from the cup, surprisingly.


It got to 54 degrees today so I put the boys boots on and away they went splashing in the puddles. They had a blast! The boys and Lily want to be able to play outside so bad. Since Lily got to walk around outside a couple weeks ago anytime we go for a walk she wants to get out and roam around ( I don't blame her) but it is too wet out right now. She would have one wet butt if she did. I think she is going to be crazy little girl come the time that she can. I am going to be running around chasing her everywhere.

Picture Time!!!

I got the pictures on Sunday! They came out much better than I thought they were going to. I'm not happy with the fact that you can see the boys shoes (since they are sneakers). I went to the store earlier that day and found some dress shoes I finally liked. I got 4 pairs (2 for each) and not one fit them! I forgot to just take off their shoes. Oh well.

This seems to be most everyones favorite, myself included. It was the most uncomfortable pose we were put in. You can see but there was wall right behind me. I had to keep my legs up which is why I'm kind of bending backwards.

Lily was not about sit still at all, unless she was being held.

Corbin likes to make this silly face.

Rowen totally forgot how to smile as you can see.

I will send some out to people once I get envelopes!

Painting fun and more

The boys had fun doing some painting today! They did lots of pictures, as it only takes them about a minute before they are done with the one they are doing.

Corbin inspecting his blue fingers.

All the paintings they did in about 10 minutes.

The aftermath (which isn't that bad really).

Lily when her smoothie is gone. They LOVE their smoothies and ask everyday for one. Little do they know how good they are for them.

Happy she got some more.

Corbin icing a Valentine cookie.

Rowen concentrating very hard on where the sprinkles should go.

Wahooo, icing!

Lily snagging Corbin's binky (he really only has it when he sleeps).

Silly face wondering if she should do it.

Doing a puzzle; a digger puzzle of course!

Boys playing with trains (shocker).

Froggy Corbin after bath (he's standing on the vent to be warmer).

Spinning lettuce is fun!

Yay!

Eating some, Corbin isn't too thrilled but Rowen ate the Kale and loved it.

I vouch for the whole family when I say we are sick of winter. The boys so want to go out and play and need to. Chasing with daddy when he gets home just isn't enough. They aren't using up enough energy sitting around the house everyday. We can't even go out and play in the snow because there isn't any, and when there was it was too cold. Warm weather where are you?

The joys of picture time!

So have you ever thought of the craziness that happens when trying to get a family of 5 ready to get pictures taken? It is a lot of work for 15 minutes of uncomfortable poses, kids who forget how to smile, not wanting to sit or stand in one spot for more than 2 seconds, finding coordinating outfits (and all the right sizes), having everyone rested, happy and full of food at the time of the appointment. This is what we did on Sunday. Nicely placed in the mall was a 2 story carousel right next to the picture place which we (myself, Rowen and Corbin) of course went on. Rowen sat on just fine but Corbin took time to warm up to it (as he does with most things) and by the time he was ready to sit it only went around two more times. They were both pretty much happy the ride was over. I now see why with Rowen.

We then experienced our first panic of needing to go to the bathroom in public with Rowen now being potty trained. Brandon took him to one and when he was done he kindly told me that he "peed on the floor, juuuust a little bit." It was very cute the way he said it, not so much mine. But what are you gonna do? He's new at it.

I have yet to see the pictures as their was no way we were going to sit there and wait for them to prepare them to show us. I will be going back on Sunday to see just how well they came out. I am very interested.

A side note:
Last night after dinner we were all sitting and playing together when Lily and Corbin were playing and Lily was wanting a kiss from Corbin. I told him she was looking for a kiss from him and he lend over so she could kiss him. She likes to just have her mouth open when she gives kisses and Corbin was not fond of it, ha ha. He let her know by saying "no Lily, I don't like your tongue". It was very funny.

Their brains are sponges

It amazes me everyday just how much kids really do absorb. We read books every night before bed for about a half hour and tonight this was one that we read:
We haven't read this book for a good few months but yet Rowen still knew most every word but 2! Brandon would start each sentence and let Rowen finish it. We were in awe of just how much he knew. Every book we read he reads along and knows most all the words of each book we have, but tonight just really hit me how much they really are paying attention and listening to everything, even when they may not show it. I LOVED seeing how proud he was with himself for knowing the book!

What do you do when you break a 133 year old record? Go outside of course!

Today Chicago weather broke a 133 year old record for warm weather, it was 60 degrees. And after being stuck inside for the last few months we of course went outside! The kids were so happy to be out.

She couldn't be any happier!

OK, maybe she can.

Apparently the grass was very interesting today after not seeing it for the winter.

I also got another nice delivery of organic produce today which consisted of green beans, kale, scallions, pears, tangerines, broccoli, tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries, red leaf lettuce, red beets, golden beets and red peppers.

Baker Rowen

Rowen has taken quite an interest in cooking and baking. He loves to help me when ever he can. Yesterday we made delicious and healthy Pumpkin Flax muffins with raisins and Cacao nibs (raw chocolate). We used a whole wheat flour/all purpose flour mix with raw sugar (only a 1/4 cup in the whole batch) and the other ingredients you see here.

The boys gobble these up like they will never have them again. They are a great healthy snack or breakfast. They are a good source of vitamin A, fiber, omegas, antioxidants and protein.

Adding Flax Seeds

Mixing dry ingredients

Scooping into pan

Ready to bake These are SO yummy!

Green Smoothies

I have recently started making Green smoothies. They are green in the sense that you add greens. A combination of about 60% fruit to 40% greens is usually good, as the fruit will over power the sometimes-bitter taste of greens.

Greens are biologically very hardy on a molecular level as they contain cellulose. Nutrients are stored within the plant's cells and their cell walls need to be ruptured to release them. This requires a significant amount of chewing, which humans struggle with, our jaws are not strong enough. Those of us who have kids know that they DO NOT chew their food well or sometimes at all. We also need strong stomach acid, which many of us lack.

To get enough greens, blending them in a smoothie is ideal as it ruptures the plant cell membranes releasing nutrients very easily.

Greens are loaded with amino acids, (the building blocks of protein), minerals, vitamins, fiber & chlorophyll and enzymes that the body needs for proper energy and digestion.

And a smoothie is raw food so you aren't cooking out all the nutrients. Having a toddler eat raw veggies is not possible as I mentioned above that they don't chew their food well enough (nor do adults really) so a smoothie is an ideal way to have them get a super nutrient snack/meal.

I don't have any trouble getting them to eat fruit, but greens are hard except for green beans and they LOVE avocado's. But again they don't chew it well.

This one is purple more so than green because it has blueberries which takes over in color. This smoothie is all organic blueberries, strawberries, banana, spinach, romaine lettuce, flax meal and plain yogurt.

These are some options for fruits and veggies to use.

Fruit- Mango, raspberries, blueberries, peach, orange, pear, apple, banana, avocado, strawberries, pineapple, blackberries, papayas, grapes, pomegranate juice, goji berries.

Greens and herbs- Spinach, lettuce, kale, celery, parsley, mint, chard, asparagus, bok choy, cucumber

Other add ins- Non fat or low fat plain yogurt, spirulina powder, agave nectar or honey, flax meal, lemon juice, fresh ginger, ice.

The possibilities are endless really.

You may find it more economically friendly to find some of the stuff such as fruit frozen. I find Trader Joe's has a nice selection of frozen organic fruit.


Give this simple smoothie a try:
Strawberry-banana-romaine (or spinach):
1-cup strawberries
2 bananas
1/2 bunch romaine or 1/2 cup spinach
Water to blend

Lily's Birthday party!

We had a nice little party for Lily yesterday. I have to say she is the neatest cake eater I have ever seen. I was hoping for a nice mess. I had fun making her cake, I'm not sure exactly how long it took to make the cake but I would guess close to 20hrs. It was neat to sculpt the Lily's and bows with the fondant. You have to work fast with it as it dries out quickly.