Friday, September 19, 2008

Flowers in a Box

What is it about flowers when they come in a box? I just think it makes them all the more romantic. Now don't get me wrong. I love it when Matt comes home from work and brings me flowers, but there is just something so romantic about having flowers delivered to my door in a bright red box with a note from my hubby telling me how much he loves me. I'm so thankful for my husband and for the fact that he is still romancing me after 6+ years of marriage!


Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The Week's Pictures

Not a whole lot new going on in the Benjamin department. He continues to keep me on my toes with his constant activity and curiosity. He is trying to talk more and more and says a few words here and there when he wants to. Not on demand of course. Here are a few fun shots I've caught this past week.
Rolling on his toy container (also known as an old cheese puffs container given to us by our friends.)
Posing
Little Ham
Benjamin LOVES balls
It's not really sweater weather, but this sweater was hand made by Benjamin's birth grandmother and I wanted to get a picture of him in it before he gets too big.
Love this face!
Silly!
He loves his books - sometimes he likes to read, other times he just pulls the books off the shelf.
A little washed out by the flash, but still cute!

New Recipe


I have been doing a lot of reading lately about healthy eating and it's been pretty inspiring. I love the feeling of putting a healthy meal on the table for my family, so I love finding out more about how to do that. But I also LOVE to bake. We have been having some cooler weather lately and for some reason, that always puts me in the baking mood. So today I decided to make a little treat for Matt to have while he studies tonight. Of course, it will be a treat for me as well. :) I'm calling these the "semi-healthy cookies." I can't really say healthy, because I'm not sure there is such a thing, but for a cookie, they are not too bad.

1/2 c coconut oil - non hydrogenated (or use real butter)
1/2 cup natural peanut butter (again, non-hydrogenated)
1/2 cup sucanat (a more natural sweetener than refined sugar)
1/2 cup honey
1 egg
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1 cup +2 Tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 t. vanilla
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. sea salt
1/3 c chocolate chips
Mix oil (or butter), peanut butter, and sweeteners together. Add egg. Add oats, coconut, baking cocoa, flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix well. Add vanilla and chocolate chips. Spoon onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 11-13 minutes. Yield: 20-24 cookies. Yummy!

I actually made half of this recipe and just put in half the egg. That's my trick for not eating more cookies than I should. :)

If you try my little experiment cookies, let me know what you think!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

What a Silly Willy

Benjamin really wanted my shirt over his head this morning, so I finally just put it on him. He was so tickled by it that he got giggly. Such a silly boy!

Loving the Library

This morning I took Benjamin to Toddler Time at our library. I took him once to Storytime at a different branch when he was about 6 months old, but he was not really interested. Then when I tried to get back to it this past summer, I found that it was not being held again until the fall. It started up again last week, but we missed it because we were recovering from our trip to the coast. So we started today. It was so much fun! We did little games with motions and songs with motions, then they read some books and had an activity and a craft. I was pretty impressed. Benjamin just loved it. They had these big balls out when we first got there and he marched right in and started playing. He didn't do super well sitting still in my lap when it was time to read the stories, but hopefully he will get better at that. I wish I would have thought to take my camera to the library with me, but here is a picture of what we colored while we were there. Benjamin hasn't quite gotten the hang of coloring and would much prefer to eat the crayons, but he's learning and he did do some of it by himself.
OK, well no matter how I turn this picture in Picasa, it won't come out right side up here, but it's his first masterpiece none the less. :)

I was trying to get him to hold up his picture, but it didn't work.

Then he held it up, but wanted me to take it. :)

Not What You Expect to See!

Benjamin loves the toilet. We have to keep all of our bathroom doors closed now because he loves to lift the lid and play in the water. I guess we must have left the door open at some point because here is what I saw when I lifted the lid to clean the toilet today. Good thing he isn't flushing the toilet yet. I imagine we will be needing to find a good plumber here soon!

Monday, September 8, 2008

I am a runner (or at least a jogger)

Somehow I have managed to go this entire week without taking any pictures. Benjamin did manage to climb up on a kitchen chair and then proceed to the table, but I was too concerned with his possible falling to remember to get the camera. Other than that, it's been a pretty ordinary week. Except that I ran nine miles last Saturday. I was on the treadmill this morning running and it suddenly dawned on me that in the last 3 months I have run over 200 miles and that in the next 2 1/2 months I will run about 240 more. I have never considered myself to be a runner, or even really a jogger, but I guess for the time being I get to qualify for that title. yay! Matt and I went downtown Saturday night to drive the route for the Rock N Roll 1/2 marathon. I' m pretty excited! I'm so amazed by the body's ability to adapt to exercise. When I first began training for this, I thought I was going to die after running 4 miles. Then I thought for sure I would never make it to 6, and this past week, I was sure I would collapse on the pavement after 9. But I'm excited to know that in two weeks, I will be able to run 10, and on November 16th, I will run 13.1. Then it will be over, and I will no longer be a runner or jogger because I'm ready for something new. :)

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Labor Day Fun

We are so blessed to have good friends! This past weekend we traveled down to Corpus Christi with our friends Brian and Katie and their son Cale. We rented a minivan so we could all ride down together, which made the trip really fun. We also got adjoining rooms in our hotel, so the boys went to bed and we stayed up late playing monopoly.
We took our sons to the beach to experience the ocean for the first time and I was quite surprised that Benjamin was actually terrified of the waves. Up to this point he has been so curious and seemingly afraid of nothing. But the movement of the water was too much. Despite his dislike of the water, we had fun playing in the sand and doing a little walking along the shore. And as long as Benjamin was being held, he was OK with being us being in the water. It was amazing because we drove out onto the beach on Sunday night and there was plenty of beach. But when we went back on Monday afternoon, the tide was so high that all of the access roads were closed off and the part of the beach we had been on was covered in water. The waves were huge and the undercurrents were powerful. We didn't go very far out in the water, but even still we had trouble staying upright with the pull of the water. I'm always so amazed by the ocean and how quickly it can change.
Our boys were VERY tired by the end of the day, but it was so much fun to get away with friends for the weekend.
Benjamin's first sight of the waves
The daddies and their boys
Hugging Daddy tight
Getting out the beach toys
Playing in the sand with Daddy




Precious little footprints
Beach walking with Mommy
The Whitaker Family
Fun in the hotel
Cale and his Mommy


Our boys in their matching onesies keeping each other company in the van
Awwww! Riding in the back of the van together
The sunscreen spike
All tired out!
Riding Home