stay at home mom gone punk rocker?

Goodness GRACIOUS!  People please help me with my hair!

What part of "NO GOLDEN TONES PLEASE?" could have possibly caused her to do my hair in such a way that has already caused people to comment on my golden highlights?

Next.What part of this picture...

Made her cut my hair like this picture?

Okay, so that might be an exaggeration. I do feel like I've turned punk rocker... it is SO. NOT. ME. AT. ALL.  Plus it straight up just doesn't look good.

At least I didn't cry this time. 

Five Important Steps for a Successful Play Date

I host "play dates" on occasion.  Usually, I prefer to go to other people's houses for playdates because my kids and I all get stir crazy by about 9 AM.  However, I do love that I have been given a house that I am fortunate enough to be able to use for showing hospitality to friends (and their kids).  So, with ALL of my experience.  Let me share with you THE VERY ALL INCLUSIVE (slash not inclusive at all) list which I compiled in less than two minutes.  Five steps.

1. If you must clean your house, clean it the night before... no need to be ignoring your children while you clean the guest room toilet.  Plus, if you are cleaning the toilet the morning of your play date, your kids will likely find something to destroy while you are ignoring them. Or you could just not clean your toilet because really, who are we trying to impress?  Plus, chances are if they have a potty trained child there will be poop and pee all over the seat before the date is done anyway.  (Or your two year old will squeeze his brand new tube of toothpaste ALL. OVER. THE. BATHROOM. - not that it's ever happened to me.)

2. If you care about showering and looking pretty, go ahead and shower and blow dry your hair the night before too.  I usually skip the shower and the looking pretty, wear no makeup and put my hair in a ponytail.  This also works.

This would have looked much cooler on Instagram.

3. You MUST make these amazing blueberry muffins (recipe shared below).  Unless of course your guests have celiac disease or lactose intolerance, and then I have nothing for you.  There's a section in the grocery store for those people.  You must NOT make these muffins the night before the play date because your house needs to smell like freshly baked blueberry muffins when your guests arrive.  (Although I'm sure Bath & Body Works sells a good alternative.) But who wouldn't want warm muffins? You can, however, organize and prep the ingredients the night before so you aren't making a huge mess the morning of your play date (and so you aren't ignoring your children and so they aren't making an additional mess).

4.  Coffee.  There must always be coffee.  And get some creamer - don't be offering your guests skim milk for their coffee.  It won't cut it.

5.  And, if you REALLY want it to be a successful play date, hire a babysitter (or a grandma).  Then the mommies can actually talk, which is the point of the play date anyway, right?

Step 5 is a joke. Kind of. Now to the good stuff.

Blueberry Muffins - A recipe I adapted and healthified from a friend who adapted them from Alton Brown at foodnetwork.com.  Gotta give credit where credit is due.  Alton's recipe is linked, and I will post both my version and my friend's version for your pleasure.

Blueberry Muffins (Leah's healthier version)

1/4 C butter (half a stick) softened (since I didn't use a mixer, I almost completely melted it and it turned out fine- And you know I couldn't cut ALL the butter, I just couldn't do it.)
1/4 C unsweetened applesauce
1/4 C sugar + 1 TBS Honey (I prefer more sugar, but I was being healthy)

1 egg

1 C vanilla yogurt (I would use whole milk yogurt)

Zest of one lemon (I have found this to be the deal-maker with these muffins)

1 and 1/4 C all purpose flour
3/4 C whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 C blueberries (or as many as you'd like)

Preheat oven to 375, spray muffin tin. In mixer, combine the first ingredients - waiting

until each are incorporated before adding the next. In a separate bowl, combine the dry

ingredients and mix. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones in 3 parts, waiting for each

addition to be absorbed before adding the next. Lastly, add the blueberries, folding them

in with a spatula. Bake for 20-25 minutes, increasing the temperature to 400 during the

last 10 min of cooking time.

And the first adaption courtesy of Amber (who has abandoned her blog)

The Best Blueberry Muffins

**modified from Alton Brown – FoodNetwork.com

½ C butter (one stick) softened

½ C sugar

1 egg

1 C vanilla yogurt (brown cow, whole milk is the greatest…)

zest of one lemon (if you’re feeling fancy)

2 C all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

¾ C blueberries – fresh or frozen (frozen ones will sink to the bottom of the muffins

though, making the fruit distribution disproportionate… if that bothers you…)

Preheat oven to 375, spray muffin tin. In mixer, combine the first 4 ingredients - waiting

until each are incorporated before adding the next. In a separate bowl, combine the dry

ingredients and mix. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones in 3 parts, waiting for each

addition to be absorbed before adding the next. Lastly, add the blueberries, folding them

in with a spatula. Bake for 20-25 minutes, increasing the temperature to 400 during the

last 10 min of cooking time.

*These are so quick I love to make them in the morning when I first wake up, then take a

shower while they are in the oven. When I get out the house smells delightful and I can

have a hot muffin, with butter…

little bit of this, little bit of that

So, I was making dinner tonight for one of our friends who just had a baby.  I decided to go ahead and double the recipe so that we could have the same dinner... Anyway, it was a pasta dish that called for tomatoes... and butter... and a lot of other stuff.  Anyway, I had chopped up these tomatoes for the pasta, put some butter in the sauce all while Henry was entertaining himself with the water faucet.

So I'm just cooking away when I look over and see that Henry has dumped just about half of the tomatoes into the disposal.  Fortunately it was only half, so our friends still got tomatoes in their pasta... we, on the other hand, went without.  A few minutes later, I noticed that Henry had also dropped almost an entire stick of butter down the disposal too (minus one or two tablespoons).  I guess that's what I get for buying organic butter?

And while we are talking about Henry... He is huge!  He is like a little person - just talking and having conversations all the time.  Recently I thought to myself that I need to write more on here about what he's doing because (even though most of you do not care), when I come back in a year or two, that is what I will care about reading.  That being said... I'll do it soon.

And because I really can't think of much to write, I am going to just add some recent pictures to finish up this post. ;) You're welcome.

Sam had a play date with Allison!  They had a staring contest.

I love these e-cards.  I will soon devote a post entirely to these. 

I ate peanut butter banana chocolate chip pancakes from Kerby on my birthday.  And I guess you can see the queso sitting there in broad daylight.  Matt ate it ALL. Promise. ;)

Blue Bell loves me.

Word.

Sam gets up on all fours ALL.THE.TIME!  He is gonna be crawling in no time.  I actually look forward to this because right now he gets angry when Henry and I leave the room without him.  Yes, Angry.

This (also courtesy of Pinterest) made me laugh out loud.  Hilarious.

Sin is building your self worth on anything other than God.  From Matt Chandler's book "Explicit Gospel."

Henry playing at the Hurt's house!  He loved the sprinkler so much he had to sit on it.  Yes, he is wearing a diaper.

This is me.

My sister brought her kiddos in town for the day on Father's Day weekend, and Sam and Laura (or Lou-a as she is affectionately called) had a blast, as you can plainly see.

Henry got another haircut.  Chick's nails are only a little scary...

Two of my favorite things... This is what I did on my birthday!

Yes, he watches TV.  He loves it.  Judge me.

We went to the Backyard. Oh yes, oh yes we did.

I love this picture for a million reasons.  Look at my sweet HAM!

Henry got a hold of the iPhone.  Look at those baby blues.

I also did this on my birthday.

Nothing like a snow cone in June.

Rockin and rollin' Sammy Sam Sam Sam SAM!

Isn't my niece just beautiful?  And isn't it sad that I spelled niece wrong the first time I typed it out? I before E except after C, Leah. Come on!

10 years ago today

I wrote this in my journal on June 20, 2002. I love that this prayer is recorded because the stuff written in that prayer is stuff that only God could have made my eyes see. Namely my own depravity and God's holiness. This prayer came straight from my heart onto that page...and that may have been the very first time that the reality of the gospel truly overwhelmed my soul! I love that it is also SO 18 yr old of me. (namely the "Love, Leah")

1 out of 30

Matt and I became true Austinites last night. And yes, I can officially cross one thing off my 30 before 30 list. We saw Gavin DeGraw, Colbie Caillat, and Andy Grammer at The Backyard. It was a perfect, breezy night! Way fun.

psychopath face... i applied makeup at 9 am yesterday and never reapplied. i regretted that decision.

we were really there.

Gavin DeGraw... I think I liked Andy G the best. I'm really not a music person, unless it's like... Phil Collins.

we tend to dress on the casual side. and those sandals of matts are the same ones I found on the side of the road about 6 years ago (after they had fallen off of his car because he forgot to put them INSIDE the car).

Thirty before Thirty. Two Year Edition.

Yours truly is 28 today!  You read it right, today is my birthday, and I'm hoping I can remember how old I am over the next year.  So I've seen some of my older, wiser friends creating their very own "thirty before thirty" bucket lists.  Most of them do this on their 29th birthday, but I am going to be a trendsetter and give myself two whole years to do complete my list.

Yes, I put things on here that I was already planning on doing anyway. :)  Is that cheating?  Don't know, don't care. Here's the list.

1. Run a half marathon.
2. Memorize Romans 6-8
3. Go to the dentist and leave without a single cavity.
4. Take a kid-free vacation.
5. Go one week without eating out at all.
6. Complete 50 consecutive push-ups.
7. Go to the Austin Children's Museum.
8. Learn to mow the lawn.
9. Take a day at the spa.
10. Sponsor a Compassion International child.
11. Go to a concert at The Backyard.
12. Go to a concert at Stubbs.
13. Complete a "do it yourself" project that I would be glad to show off.
14. Complete the Austin Stone Institute's Women's Development Program.
15. Learn about a different culture.
16. Go to a Hill Country Vineyard.
17. Eat at Uchi.
18. Go stand up paddle-boarding on Town Lake.
19. Read a book that's classical fiction.
20. Read a book that's fiction, but not classical.
21. Take a vacation to Gulf Shores Alabama.
22. Go one week without any caffeine at all.
23. Start my "dream" blog.
24. Disney World!
25. Eat at Gordough's.
26. Learn to garden (like flowers, not vegetables).
27. Write a Bible Study
28. Go to a workout class at my gym.
29. Go rock climbing (like indoor).
30. Host a guest at my house who I don't already know.

I plan to expand on some of these later, but time is not going to allow me to do that today.

Much love to my bloggy friends.  I am thankful for YOU on this 28th birthday.

17 Pounds of Ham!

Our sweet Ham had his six month check up yesterday!

 

 He would not be a second child if we didn't compare him to his brother, right?  So, it appears Sam continues to be smaller than Henry in every area. At 6 months, Henry was 19lbs, 7oz.  Sam is 17 lbs.  Henry was 28 inches, Sam is 27.  And Henry's head was in the 95th+ percentile.  Sam's is nice and average.  Sometimes I wonder if I just don't feed him as much... or maybe I fed Henry too much?  Or maybe this is just how God designed them?  Okay yeah, that seems right.

 

Forgive the ugly bib, but I figured what bib would be better to get baby peas smeared all over it? Ham is lovin' the food.

 

Bang bang bang! I. WANT. MORE!

 

 I want to cry, but mom is holding up the camera, so I think I'm supposed to laugh.  This is so confusing!!

SO, Sam kind of sits up, but not really.  He is, however, very mobile.  The other day he was on one side of the room... I left, and when I came back, he was on the other side of the room by the toys, trying to pull Henry's Fischer Price Helicopter off of the shelf.  He mainly moves by rolling and scooting, but he has gotten up on all fours a few times, which is only a litttttle scary.

Anyway, his nickname continues to fit him quite nicely.  He is definitely a little Ham.  The kid wants to party.  Love my man!

6 months?

Sam turned 6 months old last Friday the 8th! He is such a joy and loves all people but especially loves Henry. We go tomorrow afternoon for his well check- so they can give him shots and prolong this getting back into a routine thing. Perhaps I will bore you with stats after the appointment, but for now... Look at this cutie!

I hear children crying...

I've started using about 10 noise machines during nap time, including the white noise app on my phone.  I now put my phone in the hallway between the boys' rooms as a buffer... they can't hear each other, they can't hear me, and I can't hear them. Right now they are both asleep.

The thing is, when this app is on, I would bet my left foot that I hear my children screaming. So I've gone to check on Sam about five times in the last ten minutes because it sounds like he is screaming, but he is fast asleep.  The kid screams like nobody's business when he goes down these days (which I am blaming on a little sickness of sorts that he's had to deal with).  So, I think my kids have created a permanent "scream" that replays in my mind and doesn't go away even when they are actually being quiet.  It's lovely.

On the crying note... when Henry cried it out at around 9 months of age, he had the saddest, sorriest cry.  I mean, he seemed legitimately hurt and sad.  It was reheeaally hard to listen to him cry cause we just felt sorry for him.  Sam, on the other hand, well when Sam has to cry it out he doesn't seem sad, he seems legitimately TICKED OFF! So he has this angry cry... and well, honestly it would be kind of easy to ignore except that it's so loud it makes you want to pop your own eardrums.  Plus he usually does it when Henry is sleeping and he doesn't give up.

Anyway.  I'd like to say Sam is the only kid in our family who cries, but alas Henry has re-entered an extremely fun new stage of separation anxiety (isn't that supposed to end when they are like 18 months old?).  This kid is a homebody and an introvert and a xenophobe (okay that's an exaggeration).  I love every little ounce of him, but man oh man, Mom needs some patience.

Lest my realness makes you think I don't like my life these days, let me confess that I am actually LOVING this stage.  Fo-real... both boys are so fun right now!  Henry's communication is just 100% funny.  Let me share some conversations even though they are way cuter when you can hear him saying it...

Leah: "Henry do you want some milk?"
Henry: "NO! CHOCA MILK, MOM! I want choca milk!" (That's chocolate milk.)
Leah: "No, we can't have chocolate milk for breakfast on a Monday morning.  You can have regular milk.
Henry: "Maybe have chocolate milk later!"

Henry: "Uh Oh Mom, Sam spit up!  Poor guy!"

Henry: "Mom, ha please have apple juice please."  (Ha = can I)  (Anytime I tell him to ask nicely, he says please twice.)

Mom: "Henry, child, I hate to break it to ya, but it's not all about you."
Henry: Cocks his head to the side and stares with a confused look on his face. 

I mean, I could bore you with 100 million other things he says and does, like singing Frosty the Snowman at the top of his lungs at the swimming pool or in the Target cart.  BUT, I will spare you and only share the most exciting which is that he has started going pee-pee on the potty, and this was ALL HIS IDEA!  Really, he just started talking about it, and I went out and got him a toddler potty, and now he can do it when he wants to.  So I'm hoping we have an easy transition to potty training, but that might just be an oxymoron.

And they are awake... till next time, friends.

...or I'm brilliant!

This pic seemed to get a lot of attention on facebook and instagram, so I figured why not put it on the blog for the remaining ZERO of you who haven't already seen it?  Actually Allison suggested I post it on the blog.

So maybe I'm an airhead, but I'm also very, very smart.  Ya see, Matt had Henry out of the house, and I knew I had limited time to sneak in a quick "at home" workout (courtesy of Ashley).  Of course it also happened to be time for Sam to eat, so... duct tape it is.

so I'm an airhead...

Haha. Guys. Thank you so much for the pity comments.  No really, I love when some of you come out of the woodwork like that.  It's amazing.

On that note, I will resume posting about normal things like how I am an airhead.  Particularly in that last post, when I made Matt read it (like I do with all my posts since I tend to think I am hilarious).  So he was reading my post, and he quoted it, "Now you've really lost me?"  I said, "Yeah."  He said, "I think you mean, 'Now I've really lost you.'" Dang it.  I am almost as smart as I am funny.

And on that note, I'd like to tell you that my friend told me that she heard or read an article that your IQ drops after having children.  She felt offended by it.  I felt justified.

And on THAT note, I'd like to tell you that the same friend also told me that pregnancy happens to be really hard on your TEETH.  So, feeling like now I have an excuse for my bad teeth, I begin this convo with Matt.

"Hey, Ashley told me pregnancy is really hard on your teeth."
"Really?" (In sincere tone.)
"Yep."
(Without hesitation.) "So is candy." (Bada boom!)

Dang it.

And on that note, we are trying to teach Henry that he's not allowed to say "Dang it."

Happy Wednesday, folks.

so I've noticed a pattern...

Pretty much all I post about anymore is my kids, how I lose things, how Matt loses things, my kids, how I am an airhead, how Matt loves the weather, my kids, how much junk food I eat, my kids, my hair, and how Matt loses things.  So I need to change it up before I lose my three remaining commenting readers. Haha. No but really, I'm not kidding.

I'd truly truly love to write posts that point people to Jesus, but I've kind of set a tone on this blog, and well that tone is dry, sarcastic, and (might I add) HILARIOUS.  Okay, I'm just kidding.  Not really though. JK.  Okay, now you've really lost me, huh?  (It is past my bedtime.) The truth is, I have trouble doing both... while in real life, I am truly dry and sarcastic and hilarious (you've got to humor me and laugh)... I am also serious about JC and I love Him and want others to love Him too.  Problem is, I've never been able to bring those two "tones" together very successfully in the blog world.  Forgive me for thinking out loud for all of you to see... and with that I'm down to two commenting readers. Sa-weeeeet!

I think I'm gonna go to sleep before I lose any more of you.  You are all so precious to me. Muahaha. No really, I mean it.

I am my husband..

It's humiliating for me to admit this, but after searching high and low (we are talking, on top of the fridge, in the trash can, in the drain of the sink, in the couch cushions, on my bed, on Henry's bed and everywhere in between), I found my mouth guard... and this time it wasn't anywhere cool like inside the VHS... nope, this time it was just laying out on my bedroom floor in plain view.  So yes, I have become my husband and no, I am not okay with it.

Next.  I should tell you that my dentist appointment was about as terrible as I could have planned yesterday, and I think it's because my dentist's office is really good a guilt trips, but anyway... This snapshot of my texting with Matt afterward sums it up nicely...

 

I know you can't see it very well, but that picture is a bulk package of toothpaste and floss I bought at Costco right after my appointment... I had to go there to get diapers - bad timing.  And yes, we have toothpaste and floss at home, but somehow this purchase helped me feel like I was doing something for the health of my mouth.  Rational mindset.  If I buy nice workout clothes maybe I will want to go to the gym.  If I buy crafts, maybe I will want to be crafty.  Thankfully ONE of us is rational... maybe the other one of us will regain her ability to not lose things and together we can be a fully functional adult?

Happy Friday.