Resolutions

I normally don't do resolutions at the New Year... they're made to be broken, yada yada yada... like my cookbook resolution (the last one I made... and broke).

For whatever reason I've decided on a few resolutions (goals) for this upcoming year...

1. I'd like to waste less food.  When I was doing my cookbook resolution, I was doing an AWESOME job with meal planning - it was flexible, well thought out, and utilized the small kitchen space we had in our old house.  When we discovered Avery's food allergies, the meal plan went out the window, and so did my resolution.  Now, almost three years later I'm just barely getting back to a meal plan (it's really spotty) - but I feel like if I can plan it out better, I won't find food spoiling before I get to it.  I just feel so wasteful when I throw out perfectly good food.

2.  Blog more - I'm sure my family agrees...  If you look at the 'blog archive' on the right side of the page, you can see how my blogging has dwindled...

3.  Read more - I have always loved reading, but as any parent knows, it's not always easy to find QUIET time to read other than the books I read to the kids - I need to make a conscious effort to read for myself!

4.  I want to spend more time working on my OWN pictures.  I feel like such a picture hoard.  Friends and family think it's great that I take so many pictures, but they NEVER see any of them because they get lost in the abyss that is my time warp... and I always feel like my pictures have to be edited and 'perfect' before I show them to anyone.  So, I either need to suck it up and not worry about them being 'perfect' when I send them out, or I need to do a better job of allocating time to edit them.  (I chose the latter)

Here is an example:  I took this picture of Evan in February 2012...  I hadn't even looked at it until last week...

5.  Print my stinkin' pictures and put them in any kind of album... I was so good at that before the girls were born... and then they were born.  Avery and I were looking through Evan's photo album from his 1st year and she kept asking which picture was of her... when my answer continued to be that's not you, that's Evan, she started to cry.  Then I started to cry.  I need to print some stinkin' pictures of the girls and put them in any kind of album.  (see #4, these work hand-in-hand)

such is life...

I miss blogging so much.....

This image and the story behind it captures so much of why I haven't been blogging... like, at all.


The girls have been resisting naps with every ounce of willpower in their little bodies, and I have been desperately trying to hang on to naps with every ounce of I-just-need-a-freakin'-break-and-oh-by-the-way-I-need-to-get-my-work-done-while-you-sleep.

So today, Avery was practically begging me to take a nap - I figured as much since the girls don't seem to sleep any longer at night when they don't take a nap, and eventually it catches up with them.  About the 4th or 5th time Avery came running out of her room screaming because 'Brynn touched me' or 'Brynn hit me' or 'Brynn won't let me sleep' or 'Brynn slammed my leg in the door' I set her up in my room so she could sleep in peace. 

Brynn was NOT happy.  'I miss my sister' 'I need my sister' 'I promise I will sleep like my sister'  uh... no.  So I left her in her room to play by herself and after it got really quiet for a long period of time... this is how I found her:


So yeah, I really miss blogging.  I miss writing about all the crazy things my children do - but at this time in my life, I'm just managing all the crazy things they do and not really getting a chance to write about it... but this feels good to write... really, really good.

Hawaii :: the Kalua Pork Recipe

I have been sitting on this post for over a year... how sad...  but, I must say - this has become a staple recipe at our house - we make a big batch and freeze the leftovers for continued enjoyment!  Hope you enjoy it too!


Kalua Pork

We had the most amazing pork sandwiches EVER while we were in Hawaii.  They were called Kalua Pork Sliders/Sandwiches, so the first chance we got, we googled Kalua Pork so we could attempt to make our own.  Inspired by this recipe, and a couple changes, here is what we came up with (SUPER easy):

Ingredients:
3(ish) lbs pork butt roast
1/4 (ish) cups of water
1tsp liquid smoke flavoring
1/8 cup Hawaiian sea salt (or other coarse salt of your choosing)

Directions:
Stick everything in a 6qt. crockpot and cook on low for 8-ish hours or until the meat starts to shred nicely.  Serve on toasted buns with melted cheese, tomato and avocado slices, or wrap them in romaine lettuce... probably my favorite.

Happy Independence Day!

Well, they are all looking and mostly smiling!!  I'm making progress! 
Happy Independence Day ~ always remember to be thankful...

I miss blogging...

I really and truly miss blogging... I can't believe it's been (well) over 3 months since my last post... with good reason, it's been a slightly busy around here, and once I got out of the rhythm of blogging, it sure has been hard to get back into it.

In a very quick re-cap of the past few months; we found a house we loved, we put our house for sale, sold it, bought the new one, moved in, moved out, and here we are!  The timing was perfect, and luckily for us everything just fell into place like it was meant to be!

I keep debating whether or not I should try to catch up on all the months of pictures that I have never posted, but it seems like I may never get caught up on my personal pictures... but I do want to share this one of the kids.  I attempted a photo shoot with them, which has never left me happy - but I did manage to get one image I love:

I still can't manage to get a picture of all three of them looking AND smiling, so I will have to settle for this one - I love it because the girls had just given Evan a kiss on the cheek, and this was the reaction.  I think it's so representative of his relationship with his sisters.  I've thought it and said it out loud several times, that he is so wonderful with them.  He really puts up with a lot of grief from them (and of course, he has his limits), but he really truly loves them, and so far this summer I have really enjoyed watching him play with his sisters and including them in his games; playing make-believe, running in circles, playing duck-duck-goose, letting them watch him on the playstation... ;)

I sure hope I can get back in a routine of blogging consistently... here's hoping, right?

Evan's news for the week...

... plus this:  Amen to the author of this post... I totally get it!

Evan had tubes put in his ears shortly after he turned one year old, and last summer was supposed to have surgery to have them removed!!  He ended up with an ear infection after swim lessons which postponed his surgery... but thankfully, one of the tubes came out on its own.  We had decided to hold off on the surgery to remove the other tube (don't want Evan to miss out on school if he doesn't have to), so we just had our follow up appointment yesterday.  Well, the doctor suggested he try to pull it out and see if Evan would let him.  (There are a few reasons they would have scheduled surgery to take it out; 1. kids that age don't hold still very well, 2. if he has a bad experience (ie: pain) with a doctor sticking something in his ear, he may never let another doctor near his ear again, and 3. the tubes have been in his ear for so long, it's possible the hole left in its place won't heal - so there are things with surgery they can do that will help speed the healing process.)

Evan let him, but was beside himself with discomfort after the first failed attempt.  That sucker was in there good.  Decision time for me.  I let Evan know what his choices were; sit there as still as possible and let the doctor try again, or schedule surgery which would involve needles.  Needles.  Possibly his least favorite thing in the ENTIRE WORLD.  He sat there and let the doctor try again, to which the doctor commented that he typically is NEVER given a second chance by a child.  He got that bad boy out.  I asked if I could keep it, and Evan wanted nothing to do with it.

Evan was still beside himself with the discomfort of the whole thing (I can understand the discomfort, amidst all my ear-ringing issues I've had tubes put in and taken out, and it's not fun), but we sat in the office for a few minutes looking at the diagram of the ear, including the tube, and we talked about it and why it was important to have the tube in there in the first place, and why it was important to have it taken out after nearly 5 years of being in his ear.  Then I showed him the tube that just got pulled out, and all the sudden it clicked.  This was awesome!  He was the bravest boy in the whole wide world, and this was the coolest thing that had ever happened!  He told everyone he came in contact with for the rest of the day what had happened. 

Sweet relief for me.  I no longer have a surgery to schedule for the summer, don't have to worry about how to fit it in with all the fun we have planned.  I do have to worry about whether or not it will heal on its own, though.  We'll go back in a few weeks and check the progress, but for now everything seems fine and Evan now has an awesome show-and-tell for next week!

just a post...

No 10 on 2sday.  Just a regular post.  And just 'cause it seems like I should be posting something.  The truth is, I've been feeling rather blah about my blog.  If you visit the blog-site you'll notice I made a few changes.  It looks 'cleaner' to me.  I like clean.

So since I'm feeling blah, I'll just leave you with a few pictures...

I need a nap.......

The little dude.

I realized I haven't posted too many pics of Evan in recent months (not many pictures of anything, for that matter)... so here I am to remedy that.  This is one of my favorites of him lately, and this was taken sometime in mid-December.  tells you how far behind on life I am...

Evan has some lines in his Kindergarten music program tomorrow, and we're all excited to cheer him on! 

Their big day!

Today was a big day in our house... 

I no longer have the ability to say I have 2 2-year olds... and I can no longer blame all the tantrums, misbehaving and general mayhem on the fact my girls are two....

...now I can blame it on the fact they are THREE!  :)

Happy Birthday to my little sweethearts...

I can only imagine life without both of you in it would be unbearably boring...

I love you and all the craziness you girls have brought into my life!

the rarest of them all...

This is the smile she never let's me capture... and I GOT it!