Flu...

Yep...I am recovering from the flu.  Nothing like ruining a 4 day weekend off from work with the flu (or I should clarify that I didn't go to the doc to confirm, but I def. had flu-like symptoms).  It all started with some stuffiness that turned into fever, aches, and chills very quickly.  After checking around with my trusty facebook friends, I sent Michael off to Whole Foods for some herbal remedies.  I emailed my doctor to see what he thought if I needed to go to a doctor or not the next day (this all happened Sat. night...).  The next day the fever, aches, and chills were gone and I was/am back to just dealing with crud in my head.  Yeah for it not lasting long at least :)

SO I thought I would share what all I used in terms of herbal things to fight this bad boy off!  I did take some ibuprofen and dayquil a couple times, but found the herbal things to work better actually.

**Oil of Oregano

**Vitamin C

**Zinc

**Elderberry Extract

**Ginger Tea

**Tea Tree Oil

**Lavender Oil

**Echinacea Tea with Elderberry

That's fun stuff right??? :)  

I really do feel much better and think that these things really have helped a lot.  Well, more than that though I know I had much prayer going up for me.  If you were one who prayed for me, THANK YOU!  Your prayers were heard for sure :)  While it was a bummer to be sick this weekend, esp. right before Michael starts back to classes this week, it did work out well that I didn't have to take off of work and loose that income.

If you gave me recs of herbs to take, thank you too!  I am thankful to the Lord for friends close and far off that pray for me and love me so well.  AND for a pretty awesome hubby who helped out as much as he could with the girls and let me rest.

We did get to go Friday night to the Magic House with some friends and that was fun!  So I will leave you with some pictures from that night :)

SK's first time iceskating!

We had the morning off from nannying and such, so we decided to make it a fun morning for SK and take her iceskating for her first time!  I wasn't sure how she would do with it, but she ended up loving it so much :)  It only took her a few minutes and she was all about trying to do it without her daddy's help.  I was pretty impressed with how quickly she was picking it up.  I had some fun playing with our new camera while sweet Evie slept the whole time...

Now we are resting a bit before we head back out to a fun night with friends at Chick-fil-A then on to the Magic House!!

Top 10 pins

Pinterest has really been a fun place as we are trying to cut out processed foods and do a bit more homemade everything around our house.  It's fun to just start my search on pinterest for ideas.  So in honor of that, I am going to give you some of my favorites lately!

In no particular order...

1---crockpot refried beans! I have now made these twice and have some stored away in the freezer.  SO cheap!  I make 2 one lb. bags each time and have lots of beans as a result that I can freeze and use for many meals.  Plus I know what is in then as opposed to canned refried beans with extra ingredients that I can't pronounce...

2--Shower and Tub cleaner!  I made this about 2 months ago and have loved having it.  I simply use the wand every so often when I am already in the shower and it comes out so clean and without harmful chemicals and really any extra work :)

3--Chicken Enchiladas!  I have found some really great recipes on pinterest and this is definitely one of them.  I have made it multiple times and love it every time!

4--Orange Vinegar!  I have made this one time and hope to make it again soon.  It was really great for using when cleaning and have a nice orange scent!

5--Southwest Quinoa Salad!   By far my most favorite quinoa recipe that makes an excellent lunch and last for a few days.

6--Cheese Crisps!  SK wasn't a huge fan of these, but me and Michael gobbled them up :)

7--Homemade Brownie Mix--so this recipes calls for lots of sugar...so it isn't necessarily healthy, but it beats buying the boxed brownies.  It is so easy, it's crazy to buy the boxed after you try this one time.  And cheap :)

8--Sea Salt Honey Butter Popcorn!  When Michael and I sold our house in 2010, we decided to try and go without buying a microwave.  SO we haven't had a microwave in almost 3 years!  At first, I was good with figuring out how to warm up food and such without a handy microwave, but I missed popcorn...that is, until last summer.  I learned how easy and awesome popcorn is on the stove.  SO cheap and delicious too!  It is fun to make up different seasonings on the popcorn.  We do salt and garlic powder a lot, but I found this recipe and it is delish too, making it more of a sweet treat too!

9--Art Work Tea towels!  SK made these for Christmas for everyone and they were a big hit.  They turned out so cute and were so easy to make.  She had a blast making them too :)

10--Sharpie Coffee Mugs!  These were also made by SK for Christmas gifts for the grandparents.  I think they also turned out so cute and fun :)

There ya go.  I am on a mission this year to cut out more and more processed typed things in our home. Other things we don't buy that I can't remember if I have shared about before or not..
--seasoning packets
--salad dressings
--household cleaners (for the most part...I do buy dusting spray still since I wasn't pleased with my homemade version last time...I will have to work on that one...)
--cooking spray--like Pam.

I am looking into starting to try more bathroom things homemade as well.
It's a fun journey to say the least :)

Off to enjoy some quiet time while the girls rest/nap...
If you have any ideas to share with me on pinterest finds you are enjoying, leave me a comment!  I would love to hear others!

Oh...you want some pictures, is that what you said???
OK :)

Mug Shot

Last week we headed to the post office to apply for Evelyn's passport.  Yep, our sweet Evie has to have a passport to travel to England with us in a couple months.  So we had to get her picture....

Quite the mug shot, right??!!?

Poor kid has to have this picture for 5 years.  I can just see how much she will love this picture when she is 5 :)  Fun times!

While we are at it...here is a couple pictures of SK too.  Can you tell I am having fun playing with our new camera??? :)

 SK really wanted a bow like Merida in Brave...so she got crafty and came up with this one all on her own!  She found the stick outside and tied the string on...creative little girl!

This is what happens when I try to get a picture while the TV is on...

Drink up...

I am going to need more than 1 of these this morning...

Our sweet little Evelyn is becoming quite the night owl.  The last few nights she hasn't been ready to give up and go to sleep till well after 11 p.m.  Then is waking every 2-3 hours.  Not even really hungry, just wanting to do some comfort nursing.  I guess it is partially my fault for letting her nurse to sleep every night, but she likes to :)  And I am so not even trying to make a schedule with her.  But I would like more than a 2 hours stretch of sleep.
At least I have a cute cup to help wake me up this a.m.

Roll Tide and Good Morning everyone!

Morning recap...

not a good morning....
well, I guess it started out all right.  We all got up and cleaned a bit around the apt.  That was all fine and dandy.  Then...
I headed out to run a couple errands with the girls while Michael went with a friend to see The Hobbit. I thought it wouldn't be too hard to just go to Target and Trader Joe's.  Boy was I wrong.  We get to Target and of course SK begs to go to the toy section the whole time until we finally get to the toy aisles.  Then Evie is done riding in her carseat at this point, so I have to get her up, while still pushing the buggie and SK fussing about missing one of the aisles.  We finally make it through Target, then it was off to Trader Joe's.  Evie falls asleep in her carseat on the way (woohoo), so we head in.  I put Evie in the buggie, leaving no room for groceries.  SK wants a little buggy to push, then decides after the first 2 minutes she doesn't want it anymore...we go back to the front of the store to put up that buggie and try to figure out where to shove the groceries.  We then check out and I decide I could handle getting out to the car without taking the help offered from the lady bagging my groceries.  I then have to push a loaded down buggie, carry a carseat, and hold the hand of SK all while weaving our way back to the car.  Get the girls in the car, groceries next, then head home.  Evie wakes before we even head out of the parking lot and starts screaming.  We get home and I get the girls in first then head back to get groceries.  As I am heading down the stairs with 3 bags of groceries, my sweet SK is heading up the stairs to try to "help".  I then get my feet tangled up and begin to fall.  I have my hands tangled up in grocery bags and Sk is right in front of me but I have not way to stop my falling.  Groceries go flying and I fall right on top of SK and we both go on a ride to the bottom of the stairs.  Of course, I might have screamed a bit during the fall (plus it made quite the crashing sound...) so the neighbors come out to check and see what has happened.  I jump up to make sure SK is ok, which she was Praise the Lord.  The neighbor upstairs then gets my groceries for me (including my now crushed up tortilla chips...) and helps me get in the apt.  All of this is going on too while poor EJ is screaming in our apt. waiting on her mommy to feed her.
ugh.
Now I sit on the couch feeding the baby with ice on my leg.  I am hoping it is just bruised and nothing more than scrapes and such.
Oh, lets also add to it that SK went to play with friends (one of the other neighbors kiddos that saw/heard my fall).  She just came in to ask a question and is covered in dirt/mud.  And she had a bath this morning.
Now the groceries are sitting waiting to be put away and I should be getting dinner cooking since we have company coming for dinner, but instead I will sit here and ice my leg and wait for the hubs to get home.
And I forgot 2 things on my grocery list.
Oh and today is January 5th (I realized as I was driving this morning).  Our 2nd baby would have been 3 today.
I want Jesus to come back.  I long for Heaven.

Hebrew and Photos...

Michael is in the midst of an intense Jan-term class.  So what would normally be done in a semesters time, he is cramming into a week and a half's time.  Hebrew.  Fun stuff, right?!?  So he goes to class for 4 hours every morning, then grabs a quick lunch, then heads to study and prepare for the next day.

While daddy is off playing we are trying to find fun things to do while it has been so cold out.  We have made tents, played dress up, watched movies, cooked, and even done some cleaning out/purging!

I am also having some fun playing with our newest gadget :)  We got a camera for Christmas and I am trying to figure it all out :)  

Hopefully this will mean some good pictures will be finding their way to the blog in the coming weeks!   Pinterest has been my friend too lately.  I have found blogs for photographing tips and had some fun with some new recipes.  

First the recipes :)

*I made these Cheese Crisps yesterday, and they were so yummy!

*The day before I made homemade brownie mix.  I made up one bag to save and went ahead and made one batch.  They got eaten up pretty quickly :)

*For dinner last night, I made red beans and rice in the crockpot with dried beans and they turned out pretty great too!

*I am also planning to make Chicken Enchiladas for dinner tomorrow night--a recipe I have done before and turned out very yummy!

*And next week I am planning to make some of these lettuce wraps for dinner one night!

So we have had some fun in the kitchen the last few days!  My goal starting out this year is to try 1 new recipe a week to try and find some new things to add to our normal menu.  We are trying to get back on track with some things as we start out the new year, including SK's chore chart!   Three days in and so far so good!

Ok...now you wanna see some pictures I snapped this morning???

Good, you are going to either way :)

I know I am not a professional and don't plan to become one, but it is fun to play around and have a nicer camera to capture these pretty girls :)