WEEKEND FUN

Ya'll - we are back in the land of the living.  This winter has been rough for sickness, and I am so thankful to be back in the swing of things today.  I know we aren't through it all yet, but it feels good to drop the babies off for therapy, go workout and go grocery shopping with just one child.  These are all such good things.

This weekend we took advantage of the beautiful weather and healthy bodies to enjoy a late afternoon trip to the zoo.  I love when January gives us these unexpected gifts.  Lily kept saying, "How can we go to the Zoo in the winter?"  And I just kept explaining that sometimes we get a brief reprieve from the cold and can enjoy time outdoors.

We spent a long time visiting the penguins and even got to watch them being fed.  This was our first trip to the zoo where the babies could actually identify that we were seeing animals, and they loved it.  They really are getting so much more fun all the time.

Many of the animals were out enjoying the sun, just like I would do if I lived at the zoo.  I would lounge in the sun and roll around and wait to be fed.  Sounds pretty great, to be honest.

(I have no idea how children fall into zoo exhibits.  I think parents should just pay much closer attention.  Have I mentioned lately that we are awesome parents?  It took me a minute to even realize Bella was climbing.)

We rounded out our visit by enjoying the playground, much to everyone's delight.

I love family time.  Really, I do.  I'm so thankful for these moments, and I do not take them for granted - especially after the last several weeks of illness.



This Monday is certainly a beautiful one where we live.  I'm hoping to soak up some sunshine while we can.

15 ON 22: A DAY IN THE {SICK} LIFE

Something that has come crashing home into my heart this week is how glad I am for our normal routine.  I was not made to spend every moment with my precious children.  I adore them, but the space that we end up getting most mornings is good for all of us.  That said, I decided to document a day the twins and I spent completely together - yesterday.

8:30ish: We returned home from dropping off big girls to school and Mother's Day Out.  They were pretty sweet through this outing.  It probably helped that I kept slipping them cereal bars.  William did flip out when he realized that he wasn't getting dropped off, and I wished he could understand how much I sympathized with that feeling.



9:30ish:  I tackled random projects around the house - like gluing together broken piggy banks.  It is glued back together now.  It will never be the same, thanks to our "Bulla" in the china shop of life.



10:15ish:  These two had been following me around looking for things to cry about.  The crying abated a bit with drinks, which I was very grateful for.  Sick toddler twins are just hard.  Fact.



11:10ish:  I tried to squeeze in a very quick grocery store trip before picking up Bella.  As a general rule, I rarely shop with the babies in tow and this trip reminded me why.  I resorted to opening an unpurchased bag of Goldfish to feed to them so we could make it through without anymore meltdowns.



12:00ish:  We ran through the CFA drive-thru for lunch, because the thought of "making" lunch at home seemed so overwhelming.  And it's a free lunch - so there's that.



12:30ish:  Bella likes to mix up her meal options for CFA with one of her current favorites being a side salad.  She gives me the tomatoes, but other than that - she eats it up!

1:00ish:  I do love cuddling this girl while we read before her "nap" time.  Only recently did I dispense with the ruse of "tucking her in," because we both know that she does no sleeping.



2:00ish:  Here's a look at my Winter 2015 Uniform.  If I've got just about nothing going on (this entire week), this is my go to outfit.  A cozy tunic from Gap Body, black leggings and Uggs.  It is SO COMFORTABLE.  And cozy.  And did I mention comfortable?  The only draw back is that there is no pocket for me to carry my phone around in and listen to audiobooks.  I have actually considered sewing one in.

3:15ish:  Biggest girl came home from school and immediately wanted a snack.  She has come home starving this week from boycotting her sandwiches, because they have Sunbutter instead of Wowbutter.  Kindergarten is so hard.

4:00ish:  Lily's homework was to "produce" something, and we chose to do cookies, because everything was already out.  The girls had a lot of fun.  There were sprinkles everywhere, and Violet kept trying and succeeding at eating them.  

5:00ish:  I worked on getting Taco Night ready to go.  I do love how colorful it was.

6:00ish:  We had a friend over for dinner, and he definitely got some good cuddles from V.

6:45ish:  Even when picking up dinner, this is what William looked like.  He and V spent much of the day tugging on my shirt and whining.

8:30ish:  Kiddos all in bed, and it was time to work on cookies.

10:00ish:  By this time, the cookies were all finished, and we were wrapping up our night of working and jamming to Pandora.

I have enjoyed some of the slow pace of this week and been thankful for the extra cuddles, but I am so thankful that we normally have more going on.  We definitely need it - especially me.  Wednesday morning, I got an amazing text from a friend asking if she could come and help in anyway.  I immediately said YES, and she met me at my house.  She folded laundry and did anything else that she could to help all morning long.  It was such a neat gift from the Lord, and I am so thankful that she took the time and initiative to help us out.  I needed it!  I'm hoping this weekend brings some relief and healing!

ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH (& A FEW OTHER RECIPE LINKS)

I've been wanting to share this recipe since Tuesday of last week, but, other things have happened.  Mainly, my life have has been commandeered by having sick children and/or being sick myself.  Probably like many of you.  From what I understand, this winter has been particularly brutal - at least where we live.  Anyway, here's to the road to recovery being swift.  (Please, God.)

Earlier this month, I decided to try some new recipes.  I love trying new recipes and often do it as much as twice a week.  I've found a couple of new winter favorites that I will definitely return to.  First up - Roasted Butternut Squash.  I made this for our D-Group last week and everyone wanted the recipe - so yummy.



I long ago realized that I am not going to become a famous food blogger or photographer, which makes a lot of sense.  So - that is a very unstyled, just re-heated look at this tasty treat of a meal.  To me, it still looks good and like something I would eat, even on my every day dishes that are nearing the 10 year mark.  I hope you agree.

I used this recipe and then tweaked it.  I used all of the things she suggested.  For my grain, I used quinoa for the first time ever, and it was delicious.  I knew that a lot of guys were going to be eating this, so I added cooked ground sausage.  When I mashed up the baked squash, I added an entire log of goat cheese, because how could we possibly go wrong with that?  I think the beauty of this recipe is that you can change it up based on what you have on hand or what sounds good.  It was a crowd pleaser and quite healthy as well.  Double bonus.

In recent weeks, I've also tried this Crock Pot recipe for beef and broccoli.  We all liked it - even the kiddos.  Next time I will probably use chicken, because John prefers it to red meat, but overall, it was a hit.

Also a major hit at our house - this Crock Pot Coconut Chicken Curry.  We really like curry, but I've never loved the hands-on nature of making it.  This fixes that problem and is really tasty!  I skipped the jalapeño and added cauliflower to ours at the end.  This curry thickens up quite nicely with the corn starch.  Serve over coconut rice with some Naan bread, and I felt like I was in Thailand.  Well, maybe not quite, but I did have vague recollections of our time there while eating this.

I hope this gives you some recipe inspiration!  Happy cooking.

FYE: JANUARY

Are ya'll sick of our ER stories yet?  Because I am.  So I'll keep the most recent one short.  We went back to the ER yesterday morning and spent about 5 hours there.  They basically told me that Violet could be really sick at the hospital or at home if I was committed to following their instructions.  I picked home, and though she is still icky sounding and cranky, we are on the road to recovery.  Praise be to King Jesus, because cranky twin toddlers are absolutely no fun.

At a low point yesterday, I was suctioning William's nose and getting a fair amount of blood, when I looked over and noticed that Violet's nose was also bleeding.  They were both screaming, and I started sobbing.  It was ugly.  My clothes looked like I lost a bad fight.  But, we all recovered, mostly.

Enough of that.  The weather is beautiful - truly.  Sunshine does good things for my soul.  We had a delicious lunch from CFA.  I managed to finish up some cookies at nap time.  I am dressed and my bed is made, so really, life is good.  The truth is that God is good, and I am so thankful that he is sustaining me right now.

Since I'm sick of blogging about sickness, I've come up with a few fun things.

We are major Parenthood fans at our house and mourning the end of the series.  I really enjoyed this clip of Dax Shepherd on Ellen talking about their new child.



And - this video is an old one - it's his wife, Kristen Bell, talking about the time he brought a sloth to their house for a birthday.  So funny.  I totally understand her emotional scale, because I have tears in my eyes very quickly at both good and bad times.

Last night, John and I were listening to Pandora and decided to watch the video for The Cave.  Some songs really resonate somewhere much deeper than my ears or even my mind.  This one does that.  This song rings with a deeply held truth, and I love it.

This last video is back from Lily's birthday.  She honestly cannot blow out candles, and its pretty hilarious to watch.



I hope your Tuesday is a beautiful one.