little friends

my boys have the dearest friends! we are so blessed to have families around us that have kids our kids ages. mommies & daddies that love their children & love the Lord, they encourage michael & i so much. geez we're blessed. our sweet friends addy & michaiah came over a few days ago. (check out their momma's blog here.)
these 4 kiddos are sooo cute & crazy!
kids are so funny, their quirkiness & silliness.
enjoy the overload of photos. :)

this boy cracks me up. he seriously made these faces
& waited for me to take the picture.

his camera

childhood can wear mommy & daddy out at times... 

but what a blessing & joy it is!!!

to see the world & life the way children do.

i want to be faithful to capture their childhood & 

encourage their imaginations & learning; 

all the while pointing them to our Creator!

al


please vote for my blog. just click the banner then click the owl on the left. thanks!

sweet potato quinoa burgers

these are so delicious! it made a lot so i froze a bunch of them 

& now we have easy lunches in the freezer. :) 

mine look a little lighter because i used brown rice instead of wild rice.

al


please vote for my blog. just click the banner then click the owl on the left. thanks!

the barker super bowl party

our family loves having friends over & making yummy food for them... 

but sometimes you just gotta spend time as a family. we have fun doing different/creative stuff as a family... so for the super bowl we made some vegan "junk" food & stayed home & watched the game together. my husband is amazing at helping me cook & we have so much fun cooking together! 

here's what we had... (it was delicious by the way!)

tempeh hot wings!!!!!!!!!!!


kale chips (i just put salt & garlic powder on them)


roasted sweet potato skins!!!!!! (oh my goodness gracious these are amazing!)
i save the inside of the sweet potatoes to make these!


vegan queso


raw vegan chocolate chip cookie dough bites mmmmm

i've got to make this stuff again soon! ;)
what are some of your favorite "healthy" junk foods?
al


please vote for my blog. just click the banner then click the owl on the left. thanks!

routine is GOOD

my sweet jude & a blessed mommy. 

(embracing the camera here.)

---------------------

i am a mommy who needs routine, to say the least, i just thrive in it. jude is a lot like me in this. ever since he was a baby he needed routine. it's a good & a bad thing for me, because when things don't go as i had planned it throws me off & it's hard for me to adjust. but by the grace of our good God, i am learning. :) mike & i just recently sat down & came up with a new weekly routine for our family. with little ones our routine changes a lot! here's our new "plan" (i'm just accepting it now that things will happen & all this won't happen every week. ;))

>monday- date night

>tuesday- family purpose night 

(mike & i sit down after the boys are in 

bed & talk about our family. 

where we are, where we want to be, etc.)

>wednesday- small group

>thursday- family night

>friday & saturday- date nights with the boys 

or have friends over for dinner

>sunday- family time/relax/watch tv ;)

weekly- 

>in the mornings mike watches the boys so i can have my quiet time. 

(my husband blesses me A LOT!)

>circle time with the boys. about 15 mins of catechisms, scripture memorization, 

songs & finger play, prayer. (a great way to start our day together!)

>i work on developmental stuff with the boys. we use this amazing book!

>nothing else planned in the mornings so the boys can have my attention.

>a couple outings a week in the mornings.

>mike & i workout while the boys nap.

>family worship before bed.

>the boys now share a room so at bedtime we put sammy down first 

& while he falls asleep mike & i get alone time with jude. 

we usually read to him. this boy LOVE books!

>family breakfast on saturdays!

at times i feel overwhelmed wondering if we're doing the best things for our boys. 

praise the Lord that He leads us & ultimately He is in control of their lives.

Lord, teach us to be faithful with this amazing ministry of raising our children!

al



please vote for my blog on top baby blogs. just click the banner & click the owl on the left. thanks!

bruschetta

bruschetta... yum!

all ya gotta do...

>slice some bread 

>brush it with olive oil

>toast it in the oven

>cut up about 4 tomatoes, 4 garlic cloves & 6 leaves of basil
(you can adjust the amounts to your liking)

>add olive oil, salt & pepper to taste

>eat it up

al


please vote for my blog on top baby blogs. just click the banner & click the owl on the left. :)

fort building fun

a few saturdays ago we stayed home all day & built the biggest fort in our den!

we have a saturday morning tradition of "daddy makes breakfast". 

so we ate our yummy pancakes & then daddy conjured up the greatest fort EVER! 

we stayed in our pjs & played under our fort. 

then we watched monsters inc & ate lunch. 

these are the greatest family days. just soaking it all in. 

letting our boys be kids & loving on them. 

i am a blessed mommy & wife.

thank You Father!

what do you like to do with your sweet little family?

al


please vote for my blog! just click the banner then click the owl on the left. thanks!

countin' the ole calories

mike & i have been really serious about getting in shape lately...

>we started rev abs over a month ago & we're loving it! i NEVER thought i'd enjoy working out, but once i got over working all the lactic acid out of my muscles & being achy all day... i started feeling sooo good!

>we did a 2 week juice fast a few weeks ago.

>we cut out processed sugar (with a little splurge here & there).

>we cut out coffee (we had only been drinking decaf for years, but we just cut it out all together). I'M LOVING HOT TEA!!!

>& my favorite new thing... we're counting calories! it may sound daunting, but it's actually quite enjoyable for me. i love keeping track of what i'm eating & when i workout i get to add calories... so it's like a reward for working out. ;) we use this amazing app. it does all the work for us!!! you can tell it how much weight you want to lose, if you want to maintain your weight or gain weight & when you want to accomplish it by & it will calculate how many calories you should eat everyday to reach your goal. so great! 

  -i would say one thing about counting calories... you have to make sure you're eating good whole foods. just because something is low in calories doesn't mean it's good for you. also, if you have a bunch of calories left at the end of the day don't eat something just because you can. & don't eat something bad for you just because you have enough calories. ;)

what are some of your favorite health/weight loss/workout helpers??

al

ps
check out this sweet giveaway from a sweet friend on my cakies.