With a new season upon us, I thought I'd share a few things/routines that are making my life a little more joyful. I'm always so grateful for snippets of wisdom from girlfriends that help jolt me out of a parenting rut, so here are a few I've discovered recently...

Or more appropriately, ideas I stole off Pinterest.

Pom Pom Jar

I'll be honest, this concept originated out of the fact that the girls are on a current trend of using "potty words." To say this drives me BONKERS is an understatement. They essentially believe they turn into little mini Seinfields when they bust them out ("You're a poopy bottom head!" "No YOU'RE a tooty tinkle head!"). Followed by intense bouts of giggles. Like this one. 

Aaaah, I have a love/hate relationship with you, age four.

So the pom pom jar evolved out of a marble jar concept I saw on, none other than, Pinterest. Only I had these little Pom poms in abundance from crafts we had done, so I improvised. 

Basically, they get to put poms in for "nice things" and they have to take them out for "bad things." I failed miserably at chore charts with them, and this is has been the easiest thing to implement. Since we just started this a few weeks ago, we have yet to get a "reward" for having all the poms in their respective jars, but I've told them they get to go get a little toy or go on a special date with daddy or me when this happens. Here are examples of nice/bad things.

Nice: completing morning routine (getting dressed, brushing teeth, getting shoes on, taking breakfast plate to sink), sharing a toy with a sibling or friend without being asked, picking up toys, saying something nice to someone, volunteering to say the prayer (something both are still hesitant to do), or basically anything not mean or animalistic they do without being asked.

Bad: USING POTTY WORDS, hitting/fighting, disobeying or being asked more than twice to do something

Future academy award nominees right here 

 I can't imagine why I felt the need to implement a behavior system since they are aaalllways doing what I ask.

Yes, they are in swimsuits because they just arrived in the mail today, and it was clearly way too exciting for them to wait.

I got the little glass jars at Hobby Lobby, and each girl has a designated color of pom (Sophie: purple, Campbell: pink and blue).

So far, so good on this. Hopefully we will be a potty word-free household in the near future? I poopy tooting hope so.

After school questions

So here is how a typical convo goes with the girls when they get in the car after school:

Me: How was your day?

Them: Good!

Me: What did you do?

Them: Lots of stuff!

End scene. Cue girls staring out the window in an exhausted, delirious gaze.

I think every parent has struggled with pulling details about the school day out of their kids, me included obviously. I read a list recently of better questions to ask your kid after school that has been really helpful. There were lots of suggestions, but a few stuck out that I've started asking the girls.(Burke oddly enough will talk foreeeever about what happened at school). So the big ones I ask are, 

"What is something/someone that made you laugh today?" 

"Did anything or anyone make you upset?"

"What was the most fun thing you did today?"

"Who was wearing something pretty today?" (these two are obsessed with fashion currently)

It's amazing the stuff they say that I never would have heard otherwise! Most of the time it's silly little things that made them laugh or something one of their friends said, but a few times they've said something about feeling left out of playing with friends or someone saying something that hurt their feelings. And they have only shared those events when I ask the specific question. It's easy to forget that while they may try to act like big girls, there is still so much swimming around in those little four year old heads of theirs that needs help getting out.  

Hopefully one or both of these are helpful to you! 

What are some small things or routines you've implemented lately that have been game changers?

xoxo

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warmth + sun

This past weekend, Kyle and I ventured to Scottsdale for a kid-free getaway (score!). It was warm, sunny, desert-y, filled with gorgeous cacti (which I have a small obsession with). Basically everything opposite of what we left behind in Oklahoma. And as added bonus, we somehow brought spring back with us. You're welcome. :) I hate to be one of those people that complains about the weather no matter the season, but it is just undeniable that there is a certain happiness the warmth after the cold brings. Like I didn't quite realize how soul suckingly awful winter can be type of happiness.

Amen and amen.

Escaping for four days just the two of us, plus watching the kids play outside these last few days without coats and hats has been so good for our souls.

Here were a few things we did in Arizona if you'd like to see...

Took awkward airport selfies because we are old and too embarrassed to take normal ones

Stared far too long at this view from our room every morning

Took pics next to my beloved cacti

Took more pics with my beloved cacti. I would have snuck these massive aloe plants in my suitcase if they fit. Kyle kept making fun of me for taking pictures with plants, but good heavens how could I not?!

Ate the most heavenly food on earth. Every meal we ate was better than the one before. This watermelon feta salad I had at the golf course was truly one of the best things I've ever eaten. I will be trying to re-create this in the near future.

Since I was a pretty serious golfer in high school and have a golf pro as a dad, I think Kyle envisioned a life of us playing countless golf rounds together. In reality, we've played less than ten times together since being married. Sorry babe. I only play to win. And those three little people we created keep me from being able to practice enough to beat you to a pulp. However...

                   

I could get used to yummy drinks and you finding my shanked shots. 

                                   

We drank pretty drinks poolside (and I finally finished Gone Girl!)

Had races back to our room late at night (Kyle won, as pictured. And the next morning discovered maybe pulled something in his knee. It's a good thing neither of us are competitive...or ever have too much wine at dinner.)

                                   

Dressed up in real clothes and jewelry multiple days in a row. And got to wear this insanely amazing new Stella & Dot piece courtesy of my sister.

                 

And appropriately left this glorious state that doesn't recognize daylight savings on the day of the time change.

It was lovely and so needed.

 And this is how our family kicks off pool season...on March 11th. Who needs spring when you can pretend to skip straight to summer?

Cheers to making it through winter!

xoxo

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Podcasts

So I'm assuming the majority of the people reading this have either listened to, or heard of the Serial podcast. And I'm sure most of you would agree that you would maybe have never listened to a podcast ever in your life if it weren't for this insanely amazing and gripping whodunit series. If you haven't yet ventured into the rabbit hole that is Serial, consider this your official recommendation.

In case you don't know the basics of it, journalist Sarah Koenig dives into a murder trial that happened in 1999 in Baltimore, Maryland. Seventeen year old Adnan Syed was convicted of murdering his high school girlfriend (Hai Min Lee) by strangulation. The crazy thing is that there is zero physical evidence, and shaky circumstantial evidence tying him to it. As you listen to each episode, your mind will SPIN. One episode you are certain of who did it, the next you are in disbelief that this poor kid (now man) is in prison for murder. It's like Law & Order meets CSI on steroids.

It. Is. Awesome.

And I may have moderately ignored my children and husband for large chunks of time when I was in the deepest. Sorry I'm not sorry.

But for those of you who are currently mourning with me that it is over, perhaps I can offer you some encouragement in the podcast grieving department.

1. Apparently there will be a season 2 of Serial (YESSSSSSSSS!) 

and

2. I have another one to maybe fill the void for you in the meantime.

NPR Invisibilia

I am only three podcasts in, but if you are in the mood to nerd out to psychology-ish type topics, then this is for you. It's easy to follow, super fascinating, and will make you think so much about what makes us human and why we do the things we do. For instance, the first episode was about categories and how we, as humans, have this intrinsic need to put people and things into categories. They interviewed a man who would flip into what he referred to as "guy mode" and "girl mode" on a daily basis. You may think that this would mean he is transgender, but as you listen you will find out that it is so much more, and make you realize how crazy and difficult it would be to not have a gender category you felt like you fit into. Another episode discusses how some people believe computers are changing how we function as humans and how perhaps several decades from now, humans will be so drastically different because of technology that we might be unrecognizable to people today.

Am I complete nerd for loving to listen to this? I don't even care.

I was also psyched (pun intended) to see Lauren Conrad's recent top 10 favorite podcasts. A lot of these look so good!

While none of these can fill the Serial hole in my heart, I'm excited to dig into a few of these until it's back. And maybe you too?

xoxo

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Quick Dinners

Since we are all cooped up inside during these cold winter days, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite go-to, easy dinners we've had lately. Emphasis on easy. These are also picky husband/kid friendly. 

Peanut Sauce Pasta and Chicken

Original recipe via 

I dumbed this way down for my family's dislike of veggies in pasta. And in order to get my kids to try it (they ended up loving), I called it "peanut butter noodles." Peanut butter? Good. Noodles? Good. See ya, pasta. I also like adding steamed broccoli to this, while my non-food-touching children eat it on the side.

2 cups boiled linguini (I use whole wheat but you could use regular)
2-3 chicken breasts
crushed peanuts (I put in a ziplock and pound lightly with a mallet)

For the sauce:

2 T peanut butter
2 T sesame oil
2 T soy sauce
1 T brown sugar
1 tsp sesame seeds

Directions: Boil noodles, set aside. Chop up chicken and grill in a skillet pan with a splash of soy sauce, olive oil, sesame oil, and salt/pepper, then add to noodles. Combine all ingredients for sauce and pour over/toss in with the noodles and chicken. 

Grape, Avocado and Arugula Salad

Original recipe via 

If you aren't following Gimme Some Oven on Instagram or reading their blog, do so immediately! Incredible recipes and some of the best salads I've found to date. I realize this one may not fall into the easy shmeezy category, but it's fantastic for lunch the following days after you make it! Which makes me feel better about making my own dressing (which is totally worth it). We also add rotisserie or grilled chicken to this to make it more filling.

Salad:

• 6 cups fresh arugula, loosely packed
• 2 cups halved seedless grapes, red or green or a mix
• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
• 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts or pecans
• half a small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• balsamic vinaigrette (ingredients below)

Vinagrette:

• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 Tablespoons white balsamic vinegar (or traditional balsamic vinegar)
• 2 Tablespoons honey or agave nectar, to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper 

Slow Cooker Honey BBQ Chicken

Original recipe via 

Our favorite way to eat this is over baked potatoes with cheese on top! But can also be eaten on a bun with or without coleslaw. 

3 chicken breasts
1 18 oz bottle honey BBQ sauce
1/2 C Italian dressing
1/4 C brown sugar
2 T worcestershire sauce

Throw it all in the CP for 6-8 hrs on low or 3-4 hrs on high. 

In case you couldn't tell, my way of beating the winter blues is eating my feelings in carbs and girl scout cookies (not pictured).

Happy cooking!

xoxo

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Keepsake Bins

For my dear mom friends reading this, you don't need me to tell you how much crap adorable projects and drawings you accumulate from your little darlings. Whether it be from daycare, church, MDO, school, doodles at home, kids are never at a loss for ways to express their creativity on paper. While I've thought about politely telling their sweet, sweet teachers that I truly don't need to see *daily* proof that they didn't sit and stare into space all day while they were away from me, I can't help but think that they may instantly throw me into the "bad mom" category for expressing such opinions.

Enter: cute, colorful file boxes. 

This little project I recently completed falls under the category of "Things I've Been Meaning to Do for Five Years" (like most other non-urgent projects around here). However, I feel a giant amount of mom guilt lifted off of my shoulders now that I can put their umpteengajillion creations into a pretty box. Which means these will no longer be sitting in a giant pile on my laundry room folding table that's been steadily accumulating since 2012. Woohoo!

Now before you go putting me into hoarder status, I do NOT keep every single doodle, scribble, or project they bring home from school. Here are the things you will find in their box:

1. Pretty much anything with a handprint or footprint. Because dangit they just get me every time.

2. Since the girls learned how to write their name this year, a token written name for the Pre-school folder.

3. Any type of drawing that "feels" sentimental. Now this can be dangerous, and a time for me to use the very difficult ability of filtering my highly sensitive sentimental gene (I come from a long line of sentimentalists). For example, a few at-home drawings I have in Campbell's (my most frequent picture creator) file: a picture she drew of our backyard at sunset, several drawings of our family she made, and a picture she drew of my dad's driving range. This is progress, people.

4. Anything from school that involves any of them answering a question. For instance, the girls' teachers asked each student how they bake a turkey at Thanksgiving and then copied their response word for word and laminated it. They were too hysterical to toss! And also, they copied 18 pre-schoolers' wordy responses onto construction paper with a sharpie. I love those angelic beings too much to toss their blood, sweat and hand cramps into the trash.

5. Any seasonal pics of Easter bunny, Santa, etc. Their personal birthday invitation and Christmas card for that year.

And in case you were wondering, I DO, in fact, feel that I am a better person than you for having printed, labeled files for school years that haven't happened yet. Winning. There is no current research I know of that proves this, but I firmly believe that printing file labels boosts the body's productions of endorphins by at least 47%. I dare you to prove that wrong.

And if that's not enough of an endorphin booster, Office Depot has these colorful bins on sale for $8 a pop currently. Woot!

Have any other winning overachievers already done this? Am I years late to the organizing game on this one?

If so, let me be blissfully and arrogantly unaware.

Happy organizing :)

xoxo

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Guest Posts Wanted!

Hey friends!

So starting this new blog has been a funny thing. I bet I have had at least ten friends or so say something along the lines of "I've been wanting to start a blog forever!" or "You should write a post about ________!"

Which has been so fun to hear. So I started thinking about this. And I wonder how many of you out there have maybe wanted to start a blog, but don't feel like you have enough content to fill it (like me!)? Or maybe have an idea or thought about motherhood, wifehood, friendships, home decor, food, life, something awesome I have never thought of? A recipe you can't get enough of and need everyone to know about? Or maybe you already have a blog and would just like to do a guest post?

Tell me! I know I have enough fun, talented, interesting friends out there that have something to share with the world.

If I have enough interest, maybe we can turn this into a series of some sort?

If this sounds like something you're interested in, message me on Facebook with a rough idea of what you're wanting to write about, and we can go from there. :)

xoxo

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Finding the Food Balance

First of all, thank you so much to those of you who expressed excitement that I'm blogging again. I halfway feel silly for starting up another one and it's never easy putting it all out there.

Awhile back, I had written about the journey to my happy weight. Or in other words, my journey of losing those last ten dang pounds of baby weight. Which feels like, let's face it, one hundred pounds. While I was successful in doing so, and have managed to stay at a happy weight (will I ever not want to lose "just five more pounds"?), I still deeply struggle with finding the balance. How can I enjoy fun foods without feeling guilty? And why when I seem to enjoy these foods, can I never have "just a little"? After losing the last of the weight this last time, I seem to have fallen back into my old habits of using food to fill a void or treat myself. Too often. And I'm frustrated. Frustrated that it consumes too much of my thoughts, frustrated that the day after a weekend or days of bad eating I feel the need to consume less, count every calorie, feel guilty about that fun size snickers. It's gross.  I have three amazing kids, a husband, and great friends who would be worth so much more of my thoughts and energy. So as a new year's resolution to myself, I've vowed to work on finding this balance.

And this got me thinking.

If I'm being honest and a little too over analytic, I'm sure I have this obsession with food because I am a stay at home mom with too little adult interaction during the day, and my brain needs something to work on, so it turns to food. Perhaps I should just get a job and not turn this into something it's not? Perhaps...

But for fun let's look at the alternative.

At the beginning of the year, Kyle and I decided to do the Daniel Fast. In a nutshell, it's a sugar, caffeine, and alcohol-free (GASP) vegan diet. No meat, no dairy, no desserts, no coffee, no alcohol, or basically most things I consume on a daily basis. Super fun, right? But it was only 21 days, so we told ourselves, how hard can it be? 

It turns out, 21 days is like basically A YEAR. I mean, CRAP. 

While the main purpose of this fast is to deny ourselves foods we would normally eat to gain a better spiritual awareness, I was also really excited to take food guilt out of the equation. There would be no guilt over eating bad things since there was nothing I would want to "indulge" in (except there were days that hummus started to taste like a banana split). And sure enough, it was incredibly freeing. If you take away the first three days where Kyle and I almost killed each other and our children, had pounding caffeine withdrawal headaches and would have butchered a cow if it wandered into our front yard, the duration of the fast was nothing short of incredible. 

For the first time in our lives, we were forced to fill our bodies with really nutritious foods. Nothing processed, no caffeine, or caffeine crashes, and tons of fruits and vegetables (and did I already mention no alcohol? Waaaaaahhhhh). After 5 days, we both agreed we felt a high like nothing we had ever experienced. And my meat loving caveman of a husband actually said he "didn't miss meat that much." I mean what?? The same man who prior to this didn't believe a meal was complete without a dead animal as the main course. If that wasn't the holy spirit moving, I don't know what is.

If you look at the diet of this fast as a whole, it makes perfect sense why we felt so good. The best of the best nutritionally going into our bodies, and literally none of the bad. I mean, DUH. And although we have created some lasting habits (think veggie smoothies and tons more salads) and now really feel free of needing meat the way we did before, it will never be a permanent lifestyle for us. I really just need wine, cheeseburgers and desserts in my life to feel like a whole human being. Sorry, Jesus. You made me this way.

So where is the balance?

In the midst of the fast, I came across this book:

Since I was, you know, completely and totally at food peace and felt like I could conquer the world and become a hippy dippy vegan for the rest of my life, I thought I'd read it. As of right now, I'm about 3/4 of the way through it, and it's totally fascinating! I would basically describe the concept of the book as food therapy. She talks a lot about what our cravings mean, why we crave certain things, and most importantly (for me), how you use food. Do you use it to avoid feeling certain feelings, much like alcoholics use alcohol? To feel better after a long day (hello, me)? Are you not getting enough "physical pleasure" (yes that means what you think it means) and this is impacting what you're craving?

It will really get your wheels spinning. 

I have to admit, for the first part of the book, I was kinda annoyed. I mean, come on lady, sometimes I just need a chocolate donut and don't want to analyze what scars from childhood I'm trying to cover up at the moment. But all in all, this book along with what I learned through Daniel fast makes me feel like I am making some steady progress towards finding the balance.

So I'm curious. Those of you who feel like you have a good food balance in your life, what's your secret? Do you struggle with this like me? I'm dying to know you healthy food minded fit girls' secrets! 

xoxo

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