Next time, I'll just try to stay home.

Since we are leaving for San Diego on Sunday, I tried really, really, hard to spend as little as possible on groceries this week.

I even avoided going to Costco.

Costco, people. My little home away from home.

Yesterday, I realized my wheel cap had come off. The wheel cap on the wheel on the tire that came from.....Costco.

Hey, sometimes you want go where everybody knows your name....and they're always glad you came....

Since I was going to be there, I might as well pick up one more gallon of milk, and some cheese, oh, and I was almost out of half & half, and those avocados look so good, and those waffle fries would go perfect with dinner tonight.

$45.00 later, I left.

Moving on to today. Ashlynn's shoes are hurting her feet and Gage's are actually Ryder's and are way too big. What's a girl to do?

Did someone say "Target". Cute, cheap shoes, right?

While Gage walked out in his new skater shoes and Ashlynn with the cutest polka dot shoes ever, my bag contained a lime and cilantro (hey, those avocados were just crying to be made into guacamole), four pairs of 2 for $5 flip flops....for the kids, oil and sour cream (wouldn't tacos go good with the guac?) and ice cube gum.

Next time, I'll try to take care of wheel business over the phone, cut the toe portion out too small shoes and stuff the big ones with bigger socks. I might save a buck or two.

My Olympic Champs

The boys were totally enthralled with the snowboard half-pipe the other night on the Olympics and decided to make their own ramp. First, they grabbed the storage bin lids as snowboards and used the sofa cushions for the jumps. Gage begged me to get their skateboard out of the garage, but I figured one person in the house on crutches was enough for this week...

Ryder put his game face on.

Gage declared himself the gold medal champ.

The doctor says....

....it's going to be five more weeks for Randy.


I think the sunshine and good company will definitely speed the recovery!


San Diego, here we come.

She lost them, both of them.

Her teeth. Her two front teeth. Our baby is growing up.

Way. too. fast.

Addie loving her apron!

Valentine's day is big around here, so when we broke out the heart molds for pancakes, the kids came running to the kitchen. Each one donned their apron and Addie decided to wear hers the rest of the day:



The big tie on the back made Randy laugh...

My budding designer.

Every time I venture in to my sewing room, Ashlynn is hot on my heels. The girls loves to dig through my stash of fabric and beg for anything I might not need. Last year for her birthday, Auntie Paula picked up a cool kids design kit from the fabric store. It has this little mannequin and Ashlynn loves using all of my scraps to design dresses for her barbies.

Yesterday, she hit the jackpot.

There were several large pieces of fabric I told her she could have and she went right to work. And, instead of her mini mannequin, I let her use the real life size. I'm thinking we might have found some of her natural talent!

Here is her work (she made the necklaces on the pink and multi-colored dresses too)....and....I did not help her at all.








She wants me to wear the pink one for Valentine's Day, I'm thinking the snow and 26 degrees might disagree :-)!

Chocolate Chip Cookies...revamped!

Most of you know, I am the cookie monster. Rather, the chocolate chip cookie monster. I'd really like to think of myself as a connoisseur, but monster is probably more applicable. I love them. Everywhere I go, if someone or someplace is selling a chocolate chip cookie...it's mine. If we've gone more than three days without making some, you will promptly smell them in the oven. So, in my effort to make things as healthy as possible with all kinds of nutritional goodies inside, I tackled my last hold out...er, recipe, here is the makeover:

Lizzie's Really Good, Somewhat more Healthy, Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup Flour (you can use whole wheat, all-purpose, spelt, gluten-free, whatever)
1 1/4 C Oats
1/2 t Salt
1/2 t Baking Soda
1/4 c Shredded Coconut (I used the unsweetened organic coconut)
1/4 c Flaxseed Meal (ground finer in my coffee grinder...I cleaned it out first)
1/2 c Butter (you could also use a vegan substitute like yummy Earth Balance)
1/4 c Almond Butter (you could use peanut butter or any other nut butter)
1/2 c Brown Sugar (you could use maple sugar, sucanat, agave-use less, etc)
1 egg (or egg replacement)
1 T vanilla (cuz I like it)
1/2-1 c Chocolate Chips (or you could break up a dark chocolate bar..or two....mmmm)

Preheat oven to 365 degrees.
Pulverize the oats until fine (or however you like it) in the blender. Mix the flour, pulverized oats, salt, baking soda, coconut, and flaxseed meal in a medium bowl, set aside. Cream butter, almond butter and brown sugar in a mixing bowl. Add vanilla and egg to butter mixture mix until blended. Slowly add flour mixture until blended, batter will be thick. Add chocolate chips and stir. If you and any little hands around you don't eat all of the batter, place rounded teaspoonful on cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Try it and let me know what you think, or any other alterations you made!!

The trail.

With Randy still on the mend from his torn muscle, my schedule has become a bit discombobulated. The cold, cloudy, snowy weather has taken my motivation level to an all time low. It reminds me of a conversation I had with my cousin a couple of months ago when we were discussing her job. See, she works for the parks and recreation in her state and spends her days maintaining, building and clearing the public trails. It's beautiful for her to see God's awesome handiwork and fulfilling to make these trails as close to nature as possible.

But.....

It's back-breaking work. Each day, with a heavy load of tools (nothing can be motorized) they journey to their destination. They labor all day and just when they feel worn out and ready to collapse, thy must hike uphill back out of the trails. "I love my job, I don't want to complain, but some days that hike really gets you", she told me.

As I listened to her I had one of those light bulb moments. " That's it!", I thought. "That's motherhood and life. You love it so much, but all day you labor and when you think the day is almost done, there stands the big hill. You have to muster all of your strength and climb back up....knowing you will be starting over the next day."

Just like my cousin, I have the tools I need to help me in my work. Each day I can choose what I will use and how much time I will dedicate to these "tools". Mine, also, are not motorized, they take elbow grease and diligence. How easy it is to skip getting up early to read the Bible or take the time to pray over my day and my family.

Sometimes it seems there is no progress, the trail is so long, you don't see an end to it. But then, you turn around and look back to see beauty, to see a way was made. Rough and narrow it might be, God is guiding each step and leading you to the next path that must be cleared.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

James 1:2-4

How are your trails coming?