Painted Picture Frames

Last weekend we finally got a big piece of furniture to keep toys, books, etc. in for our living room (yay!) and also moved our TV above it. So naturally I've been obsessing about how to decorate it. I don't want it to be too cluttered, but I knew I wanted to put a few pictures on it. I was perusing Hobby Lobby's selection of frames (which happened to be %50 off-shocker), and these two caught my eye. I wasn't crazy about the pattern, but I really liked the shape of both of them. The first one resembled this cool one I saw on pinterest. I thought that I could paint it a different color (which even I couldn't screw up) and have a pretty frame for our sideboard. I knew pretty quickly that I wanted to paint the square shaped one in chalkboard paint, especially after seeing this cool chalkboard frame from pottery barn. 

So, a few coats of paint later, voila! Although I love the chevron stripes, I don't like the colors in our living room as much as I had hoped. This was also about the 4th and 5th coats of paint on here since I couldn't make up my mind on which color looked best. I may have to donate this one to my sister and get another one to paint. I do really love the chalkboard one, though. It'll be fun to change out the sayings throughout the year. 

{excuse the small size/bad quality of the iPhone photos and lack of pictures in frames :)}

P.S. This isn't the one I used, but you can find a printable chevron pattern here. 

Ten Months

We made it to double digits! WOWZA. Is all I have to say. I've finally come out of my cave of denial (somewhat) and at least set a date for the girls' 1st birthday party. I also have all sorts ideas of how I want to decorate (via pinterest), but of course will wait until the week or two before to hastily assemble all of those (procrastination is more exciting). It's just nuts that it's almost already been a year. Since I tend to be longwinded with these, I'm going to attempt to keep it short (especially since I'm not sure if anyone even really likes these, except me). I'm also very tired and not sure I have the energy anymore for long-windedness.

Yay! With the exception of it being a tad off-center, I managed to capture a shot of both girls looking at the camera with a somewhat pleasant expression on their faces and not moving. I was sweating after this 3 minute photo shoot, in case you were wondering. And 100 extra bonus points for me that they have headbands on. Below picture is what transpired seconds after this glorious shot.

Campbell Jane

Here are some of my tricks:

-crawling everywhere

-pulling up onto everything 

-I love pushing up onto my feet and moving objects around on the floor like baskets or big toys.

-trying to sneak a taste of Teddy's dog food before Mommy rushes in to stop me.

-laughing, laughing, and more laughing (mostly at my sister). I also have this really funny "fake" laugh I do whenever I hear someone else laughing (more like a mocking laugh), but very funny.

-I can now officially say "mama", "dada" and "baba" (bottle) and sometimes I even say them at the right time/to the right people. :)

-getting pretty good at using a sippy cup. even better at eating table/finger foods. Mommy is excited that the end of baby food/bottles is in sight!

-I also now despise having my diaper or clothes changed and try my hardest to roll off the changing table or wiggle away. Mommy says this almost drives her over the edge sometimes, but I have places to go and people to see.

-recently I've also learned how to do this "pointing" thing and randomly point at things all around me. 

-I can also sometimes wave bye bye to people.

All in all, our little CJ keeps us on our toes and full of smiles!

Sophie "chubs" Kay: 

Here are some of my tricks:

-a few weeks after my sister started crawling, I got sick of people saying they wondered when I was going to crawl. I guess this is something that is expected of me at this age? While it requires a lot of energy, and I am really rather content just laying down or sitting up and playing, I showed everyone that, I too, can do this crawling thing. In the last few days I guess I've been doing it a lot more. Campbell just seems to find cooler stuff to get into when she moves. Mommy and Daddy also say they hope I continue to do my "fish out of water" move where I just lay on my stomach and thrash my arms and legs around like a fish. 

-not too crazy about this pulling up onto things business. I mostly just let sister pull up onto the coffee table, wait for her to sit down, and then take whatever cool thing she found up there. She doesn't seem to mind me taking toys from her all the time. Although I guess she did pay me back the other day when she used my head as a step stool to get up to the coffee table. Ouch. 

-I also say "mama" and "dada." Mommy says I've become quite the "mommy's girl" lately and I always want her to hold/snuggle me and say her name whenever I wake up from naps or get upset. She's a sucker and always falls for the tears and "mama."

-I'm getting pretty good at baby sign language. The only one I do consistently is "all done" because I get sick of being in that stupid high chair. I also do the sign for "more" (randomly).

-still love shaking my head back and forth, and love doing it when Mom tries to feed me pureed peas. 

-slowly getting the hang of the sippy cup, but don't love it as much as sister does. Maybe Mom should try putting something yummier in it besides water. I'd really like to try some of this "margarita" stuff Mommy says she always wants after we go to bed...

We are pretty sure Miss Soph-a-loaf has the most personality of any 10 month old we've ever seen. She continues to crack us up on a daily basis!

I wish I could say that things are "getting easier", but right now, I feel more exhausted than I did in the early days. While the girls are getting better and better at entertaining each other and playing with each other, they still demand loooots of attention, get extra cranky when they don't get a long enough nap, and crawl all over me like a jungle gym, pull my hair, clothes, and get into lots of things they shouldn't. While this is such a FUN age and I absolutely love playing with them, I'm also twice as exhausted!

Ok, I think that was still maybe a little long-winded, but I tried. :) Here are some other pics of our last month...

snackin' on some rice cakes

hangin' with our bff, charlotte

happy girls

on the move!

how sophie prefers to spend her days :)

mommy trying to get creative with our bath toys

being silly with papa

hi gracie!

cards and gift for papa's 60th birthday

campbell taking a snooze on nana

breakfast at nana and papa's

sippy cups and lawn chairs :)

daddy, the human jungle gym

The count down is on to 12 months!

xoxo

Shut the Front Door

Shut the back door, shut the window, shut the door to the garage. Shut all the doors. Ladies and gentleman (yes, man, because Kyle is probably the only male that reads this silly blog), it is actually possible to make PUMPKIN SPICE LATTES IN YOUR CROCKPOT. In case you didn't know, my crockpot and I are lovers. I'm nearing the point where pretty much 75% of our dinners are made in one. However, I let out a yelp of joy when I discovered I could (attempt) to re-create my favorite Starbucks beverage of all time without leaving my house. Eureeka! Maybe now I don't have to put whip cream on my coffee in the winter and pretend it's a fancy coffee drink. 

Who wants to come to playgroup at my house?? ;)

Ingredients

--2 cups milk (I used 1%)
--2 T canned pumpkin
--2 T white sugar
--2 T vanilla (not a typo. it asks for tablespoons)
--1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
OR: 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp cloves, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, and a teeny tiny pinch of ground ginger
--1/2 cup brewed espresso or 3/4 cup strong brewed coffee

--garnish with whipped cream (optional)
The Directions.

This will make enough for 2 people to have a big mug with a bit leftover. If you are having friends over, adjust the recipe accordingly. I used a 4-quart crockpot, but as small as a 1.5 quart will work with these amounts.

Add the coffee/espresso and milk to the crockpot. Whisk in the pumpkin, spices, sugar, and vanilla.

Cover and cook on high for 2 hours if everything is cold. Whisk again.

Ladle into mugs, and garnish with whipped cream and additional cinnamon. I added a cinnamon stick to be fancy.
(if I rinse it off, can I re-use it? It seems wasteful to toss.)

The Cookie Monster

While my husband, Kyle, is not always a fan of every dinner dish I cook (usually due to a lack of "meat" in  a dish or too many vegetables-yes, he's twelve in case you were wondering), he is pretty easy to please when it comes to the sweets department. To say he has a sweet tooth is putting it lightly. He is worse than I am PMS style. Since I have a mild addiction to pinterest, and especially all of the wonderful recipes I come across on it, I have accumulated quite an impressive amount of cookie recipes that I have had grand intentions to make for him (but haven't because who needs a couple dozen cookies laying around when you're desperately trying to get rid of those last few stubborn pounds of baby weight?)  However, I was just telling him tonight about these frozen banana bites recipe I found, and what was his suggestion? That we have a "cookie weekend." That's right, my very masculine/un-creative husband came up with a "theme weekend" for us. When I asked him what that meant, he explained to me it was a weekend where we would make cookies for each other. I'm fairly certain he meant me make cookies for him, but I guess that's at least a little bit sweet that he attempted to make it sound like he would bake for me. So if we ever get around to having this "cookie weekend" (I personally think Labor Day weekend would be a great weekend for this. ie. no more swim suits), here's a few I might whip up.

No Bake Cookies

Ugh. This would be a completely unselfish recipe I would make for him. Am I the only person on planet earth that is not a fan whatsoever of no bakes? Unfortunately, Kyle is the biggest fan on planet earth of these. I'll allow him one major fault I suppose.

PS. I feel quite certain I do not need to post this recipe since everyone seems to already have it.

Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies

Two of AKN's favorite things in life are lime and coconut (cue music). Maybe his most favorite thing ever in this life (maybe even more than me) is sugar cookies. Put all three together and you have these little yummies. I think they sound delightful; and although I like to believe I have a fair amount of feminist in me, I still derive a pretty good amount of pleasure out of cooking something my husband looooves. ;)

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups white sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of one large lime, finely minced
3 tbsp lime juice
½ cup unsweetened toasted coconut
½ cup sugar for rolling cookies

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. If you haven't already toasted your coconut just put a layer of coconut on a cookie sheet and bake it at 350 degrees for 5-7 minutes. Watch out. It goes from white to burnt really quick if you aren't watching closely.
2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. Using a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and very fluffy.
4. Beat in egg, vanilla extract, lime juice and lime zest.
5. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients and toasted coconut. 
6. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and roll in sugar. Place on lined cookie sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart. I made mine too big and they ran together. These do spread quite a bit.
7. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned.
8. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (modified slightly from the New York Times)

Everyone's making a big fuss about these on pinterest. They look pretty delish, so I think we'll add these to the line up.

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt (I used kosher salt)
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into chunks
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, grated
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
sea salt

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Stir all chocolate into dough using a wooden spoon. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. The original recipe recommends using 3 1/2 ounces of dough per cookie and baking six cookies per baking sheet, but I thought that made for an entirely too large cookie. So I dropped the dough by tablespoonfuls on to the prepared cookie sheet, then sprinkled lightly with sea salt and baked until golden brown, but still soft, 10-12 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 3-4 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day.

Sugar Cookie Truffles

You may think that two sugar cookie recipes for one weekend may be too many. But that's just how much Kyle loves them. The only woman (other than Kathy Ireland, which is another story) that he might divorce me for, is Eileen. These bear a striking resemblance to cake balls, which are on my top 5 list of favorite things in life. As a bonus, I might add red sprinkles to these which would make them "OU colored" sugar cookie truffles, which might make me the best wife in existence to Kyle since football season starts in less than a month (insert gag noise here), and maybe, just maybe, he won't notice a couple hundred dollar purchase from pottery barn next month...

1 16 oz. package of sugar cookie dough

1.5 oz room temp cream cheese

4 oz white melting chocolate OR 1 cup white chips

1 T. shortening

sprinkles for garnish

Bake cookies according to package directions...BUT baking until cookies are crisp, but NOT burned.

Cool cookies completely on wire rack before moving on to the next step.

Line baking sheet with wax paper or silicon baking mat. 

Crumble the cookies into the food processor.  Process until the cookies are a fine crumb.

Add the cream cheese and process until the mixture starts to hold together.

Don't worry it won't be too sticky.

Roll mixture into 1" balls placing on prepared baking sheet and chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour.

* or freeze for 10-15 minutes.

Melt white chocolate and shortening on medium power in 30 second intervals until just melted, stirring well after each interval. 

Dip each ball into white chocolate with a fork tapping off the excess.  Return to baking sheet to set.  Sprinkle with sprinkles while white chocolate is still wet.

Let set and enjoy!

And since we have almost 10 month old twins, that's probably all the baking this mom can handle in one weekend. Feel free to join us (or more practically, just swing by our house and take your pick) in our "cookie weekend" to celebrate the upcoming cooler temps/no more swimsuits/more body-concealing clothing. 

Sweet dreams. :) 

xoxo

Fertility Fridays

Are you confused why I am writing a post called "Fertility Fridays" on a Monday night? Me too. You see, after having babies, my brain has no capability of remembering to post a blog I wrote earlier in the week on the day I was supposed to (you wouldn't believe the things I've had to set an alarm for on my phone to remember) Anyways, it's going to be a little goal of mine to do some type of fertility post each Friday (or whatever day of the week I remember to do it. Alliteration is more fun though, right?) This week, I'd like to share a book I came across on Amazon. I'm very tempted to buy it. It chronicles the journey of 18 couples and how they found their happy endings in various ways. This would have been a great read while we experienced our journey. I love that it also looks like there are many different happy endings to infertility struggles (getting pregnant, surrogates, adoption, "taking a break" or just realizing that maybe you're really not ready for a baby). I remember right before we got pregnant feeling a really calm sense of peace about whatever our outcome would be, and knowing that somehow, someway I would be a mommy, but that I was OK with however God chose for that to happen.

In case you're wondering, there are lots of great books on infertility. Including one titled, Dear God, Why Can't I Have a Baby? (made me tear up just hearing this question). I think it's great to have resources in all forms while going through this difficult journey. 

Perhaps one or more of you might find this helpful. :)

xoxo

M.O.M.s

AKA...Moms Of Multiples. Aren't you jealous we get our own cool/cheezy acronym? Probably not. You're probably, actually, thanking your lucky stars you don't fall into this category. Nonetheless, I am a member of the club, and am so incredibly blessed to have found other moms that are in this crazy journey with me. While I do actually think the bulk of my baby questions can be answered by other normal, singleton moms, occasionally questions arise that just need to be answered by a mom who has been in my shoes (namely, how I can teach my girls to sleep through each other's crying like most other sets of twins are able to do. I have yet to find a solution to this problem, by the way). Before I had the girls, I was put in touch with 2-3 moms of twins, and my oh my how they have been such a tremendous help to me. One of them even sold me our current stroller insanely cheap. I e-mail mainly 2 moms now that have provided me with wonderful insight and solutions to issues that have come up. However, since having my girls, my friend, Stephanie Coy had triplets (6 months ago), and I was introduced to a new friend, Megan Gaines, who just had twins (8 weeks ago). We joke that we are going to form a "multiples club" that unfortunately may not have room for any more than 3 members! Although any of you moms with one baby, feel free to stop by if you need reassurance that your life really isn't that tough (I kid) ;) I can't even explain what a relief it is to have girls I call friends to now share in this journey with me, and how exciting that both of them had girls and hopefully future friends of S & C! I also like to take any and every opportunity to encourage moms who are on this rollercoaster ride of multiples. I still believe that one baby is a LOT of work for any mom, but we M.O.M.s really do go through a bit rougher ride at times juggling the demands of more than one baby (as if I need to persuade any of you reading this). These 2 women I am blessed to call my friends are such an encouragement to me and inspirations as moms. So M.O.M.s, here's to you and keep being the superstars that you are!

The Nevels twins and Coy triplets (Emily, Avery, and Camdyn)

The Nevels twins and the Gaines twins (Harper and Tatum)

Double and Triple the love! ;)

xoxo

Angry Birds Swaddle

I know at least 90% of the people who read this have probably played a level or two of Angry Birds. How appropriate that they design a swaddle blanket dedicated to this insanely addictive game! I, personally, would be tempted to rope the girls into a sling shot and knock over some ice cubes. Wouldn't it be a cute gift?

The Beauty of Motherhood

"A mark for every breath you took, every blink, every sleepy yawn. One for every time you sucked your thumb, waved hello, closed your eyes and slept in the most perfect darkness. One for every time you had the hiccups. One for every dream you dreamed within me. It isn't very pretty anymore. Some may even think it ugly. That's OK. It was your home. It's where I first grew to love you, where I lay my hand as I dreamed about who you were and who you would be. It held you until my arms could, and for that, I will always find something beautiful in it."

So if I were really brave, I would put a picture of my own stomach here instead of this brave and beautiful woman in the picture. I normally kinda gag at cheezy stuff like this, but for whatever reason, my eyes welled up with tears when I read this. As you can imagine, my once supple and very normal looking mid-section went through quite an ordeal carrying my girls for 35 weeks. I knew at the beginning of my pregnancy that stretch marks were pretty much inevitable, so I wasn't crazy with the coco butter (I happen to think it's all a big marketing scheme anyways. Oh but my friend that had triplets escaped her pregnancy stretch mark free! Steph, you're my hero) And boy oh boy was I right. Obviously I realize and often tell people when talking about the fact that my stomach looks like a wild animal attacked it, that it was "totally worth it" and I truly mean that. However, it never stopped me from being pretty grossed out catching a glimpse of my tummy in the mirror, and simultaneously wondering if my husband really still thinks every part of me is beautiful. And having been pretty OK with my physical appearance most of my life, it's not a fun feeling to really dislike looking at yourself in the mirror. I put off really trying to get rid of those last 10 pounds for quite awhile because I felt that even if I did reach pre-baby weight, what was the point? A two piece will never be a part of my summer wardrobe again anyways unless I want to frighten small children. I think that's why I felt so emotional reading this. Before I always just thought of it as the price I paid for my babies. Now I look at it as a daily reminder of how beautiful it really is. No, I will probably never wear a bikini again in my life (if only everyone thought my stomach was "beautiful"), but my now very scarred stomach held my girls until my arms could. And I'm thankful for whoever wrote this for giving me this perspective on what our bodies go through to bring life into this world, and who are we to feel ashamed of that?

While I still don't feel like Gisele when I look in the mirror (and totally wouldn't pass up a free laser surgery stretch mark removal), I would sincerely urge any mom reading this to take it easy on yourself, don't ever feel ashamed of the extra stretch marks/cellulite/flab, and realize we are all super heroes for what our bodies go through and the craziness we still endure daily as moms. And remind me to take my own advice the next time you talk to me. :)

Cheers to us!

xoxo

Animal Art

While I understand that some people enjoy having once living animal heads adorn their living room walls, it's not for us. Not that Kyle is a big hunter or has ever put up a fight to have one of his slaughters displayed in our home (his ginormous Babe Ruth picture is another story. I won that battle, by the way and it's currently sitting happily in the garage). Recently, however, I came across these darling little book ends on etsy that are, I believe, the only way a deer would live in our home.

I really want to get them to hold photo albums on our soon to be sideboard in our living room. Aren't they cute? And no animals were harmed in the making of these.

And then I came across one of my blog idol's apartment tours and noticed she had a cute little guy on her living room side table.

And while I'm not sure if our humble living room could pull off one of these, but I actually think these faux animal heads are so fun in the right room. My sister is contemplating one for Canon's room.

aaah, love the chevron stripes here, too.

Are you as terrified as I am looking at this? Who in the world puts this thing on their wall? Do they have kids? Do their kids wake up in cold sweats having nightmares about this thing chasing them? To each his own I suppose...

Happy Hunting :)

xoxo

More recipes...

Since you all make me feel so special and tell me that you have really enjoyed recipes I've posted on here, I thought I'd give you some more. By the way, I promise to only put easy simple recipes that are able to be made with two 9 1/2 month olds tugging on your leg simultaneously (unless they contain pumpkin, in which case you all know I would go to the ends of the earth to make a good pumpkin-containing recipe). So here are a few I've made (and have currently in the slow cooker) recently.

Cheese Dorito Chicken

(Thanks Lauren Warn for this one!)

4 chicken breasts ( bake for an hour 300 degrees) I drizzle olive oil and salt and pepper in foil.

1 can rotel
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom
Small onion chopped
1lb cheddar cheese ( half goes in mixture other half on top) 
1 lg pkg cheese doritos or any flavor of your choice

Cut up chicken and mix all ingredients except chips and half of cheese. Spread chips on bottom of casserole dish. I crunch them pretty good. Spread mixture on top and top with other half of cheese. Bake for 30 min @ 350.


P.S. This was a big hit in our house! And it reminded me of the delicious Cool Ranch Dorito chicken salad that Susan Ingham used to make for volleyball tournaments. I subsequently think I will now make this salad next week. :) 


Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin (In the crock pot)


(I love that this recipe sounds fancy and hard, but requires little more effort than making a PB & J sandwich. BTW have I mentioned how much I love throwing things in a pot to cook all day?)

1 (2 pound) boneless pork loin

1 teaspoon ground sage

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 cup water

Glaze

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions:

Combine sage, salt, pepper and garlic. Rub over roast. Place in slow cooker with 1/2 cup water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. About 1 hour before roast is done, combine ingredients for glaze in small sauce pan. Heat and stir until mixture thickens. Brush roast with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last hour of cooking. Serve with remaining glaze on the side.

*After an hour of smelling this deliciousness cooking in the crock pot, I would try to not be home during the day while this cooks to avoid constant stomach grumbling/mouth watering)


Happy cooking!


xoxo