Magic Moments

When I was rocking the Sage to sleep tonight Aiden was laying in bed singing this song. I couldn't have chosen a better one myself! I hope you all had a blessed Easter!   Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Savior,  waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord! Up from the grave he arose; with a mighty triumph o'er his foes; he arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lives forever, with his saints to reign. He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose! Vainly they watch his bed, Jesus my Savior, vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord! Death cannot keep its prey, Jesus my Savior; he tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord!

This week didn't really go as planned. I had many Easter activities I wanted to do with the boys and we were very much looking forward to Grandmommy and Grandpa spending the middle of the week with us. But alas, Tom and I woke up around midnight on Monday night to the sound of Aiden and the stomach flu. I'll spare your the details. Before morning hit, Tom and I also had a horrible case of the stomach flu. It should be considered capital punishment to have the stomach flu while also cleaning up after someone else with the flu and chasing a baby. The silver lining is that Sage had a very mild case, for which I am so thankful. Babies dehydrate so easily and NEVER puke in a bucket, so I am counting my blessings. Anyway, our flu caused us to miss out on Grandmommy and Grandpa spending a few days at our house. Aiden was devestated to say the least. So was Tom. So was I. We did recover in time to see them for a little while on Thursday morning and we get to go to Auntie Amy's ho...

 Finally we made it to the end of our sicknesses and boy, were we happy to be out of the house! We spent a little time at the mall last week and the boys rode the carousel. On Friday we were super excited to spend the day at the Children's Museum with my cousin, Cara, and her two little boys. Cara and I were roommates in college and it has been way too long since we've spent time together. The boys had tons of fun playing together and Cara and I got to catch up. By the time we went home both the boys were exhausted. I think I carried both of them into the house and plopped them on the couch. On Saturday we went to Tom's brother Joe's Power Lifting Meet. Joe was lifting for Hope Kids and raised more than $16,000 (over $100,000 by the entire team) to benefit Hope Kids. We all watched Joe bench press 633lbs. Wow. Can you imagine? We came home pooped at the end of the day and we didn't even lift anything. :) Sunday brought church and a little bit of rest. Today we a...

Step aside Cinnabon. You have met your match! Yesterday at the mall the boys and I could not resist the smell of Cinnabon. So we indulged in the ooey, gooey, surgary, syrupy, calorie laden, carbohydrate mess. The problem is that while we did enjoy eating it, it left our bellies unsatisfied and craving more sugar. Fast forward to today when I was still wanting more Cinnabon and planning dinner. We are having a meatless Italian Fritata for dinner and I thought, "what better side dish than cinnamon rolls." But, you can't in good conscious serve up cinnamon rolls when you are having a healthy fritata with a side of green smoothie. Thus, enter the Paleo Cinnamon Coffee Cake. I haven't even added the maple drizzle yet I'm already in love. It's packed with protein and nutrients and is grain-free and sugar-free. You will thank me later. This recipe is easy. I followed it pretty much to a "T" since I'm new to using alternative flours. Here is the link if ...

Aiden seems to ponder life's biggest questions when he's trying to fall asleep at night. My slim Science knowledge is rarely adequate to satisfy him. Do eyeballs have bones? Can Stars burn out? Can you touch a star? Can you touch the moon? What is the moon made out of? How does the moon light up if it's made out of rock? Can new stars appear? Do testicles have bones? Why are testicles so small? How big is Mexico? How much time is a minute? Why don't animals have souls? Did God get tired when he made the earth? Are eyeballs squishy? Why don't eggs have chicks in them? Are stars the only balls of fire in the sky? If stars burn up can they be fixed like light bulbs? How can you tell the difference between mushrooms you can eat and mushrooms you can't eat? And finally....the most important questions of all.... Where do the Lost Boys live when they aren't in Neverland? Tell me Mama, Since Peter Pan is real, does Neverland really exist? Whe...

Earlier this week Aiden asked how Jesus could be God and God could be Jesus.  I honestly didn't have that fabulous of an answer for him because the concept still boggles my mind. So, when Auntie Carol stopped by today with a Shamrock as a "get-well, I love you gift" it was perfect timing. Come to find out the boys are a little bit Irish so she stayed long enough to tell us the story of the Shamrock. As history goes, St. Patrick was a Scottish man who was kidnapped by pirates and taken to Ireland where he worked as a slave. He escaped, however, he ended up going back to Ireland because he wanted to share the Gospel with the Irish.  The Irish were having a hard time understanding the Trinity, thus St. Patrick explained it using the Shamrock....there are three petals yet all are a part of the same leaf, a perfect picture of the Trinity. There you have it. The history lesson for the day. I learned something too. Contrary to common belief St. Patrick's Day is not about g...

Tom and I have spent a year and a half watching what became our favorite T.V. series, Monk. We started it on Netflix one night on a whim, and ended up loving it and watching all eight seasons. On one of the episodes one of the main characters had a health ailment and was drinking what he described as, "some kind of organic hippie concoction from Hell." Tom thought this was HILARIOUS. I guess he could relate or something. Consequently there are a few things in my kitchen that Tom has coined "some kind of organic hippie concoctions from Hell." Mostly I just roll my eyes and make him eat it anyway. He'll thank me someday.  However, this last remedy I made, despite the fact that I do think it works, I had to agree with Tom.  Aiden was sick first and shared it with Sage. Aiden recovered quickly but Sage, of course, got an ear infection that landed us in Urgent Care on Sunday afternoon. We walked away from Urgent Care with an antibiotic prescription that I was deter...

We are all a little under the weather so I thought I'd just quickly catch up on videos for the grandmas and the grandpas. 011 from Jenny on Vimeo . 023 from Jenny on Vimeo . 019 from Jenny on Vimeo .

Trying to come up with "kid free" posts is difficult since I spend everyday all day with the littles. But, a couple months ago I realized that if I was going to spend all day everyday with the littles then I needed to figure out some way rejuvenate myself. Thus, I picked up a book. It's been so long since I've really read anything and it feels good to be back in the saddle. I don't usually like to read more than one book at a time, but I'm in the middle of three right now and enjoying all of them, so I thought I'd do a bit of a book review. Tramp For the Lord by Corrie Ten Boom This book really doesn't need me to say anything about it. The name of the author says it all. Thank goodness God doesn't compare because my faith wouldn't even be a small spark of light held next to Corrie's faith that shone brightly all over the world. Read it. Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe by Sally Clarkson and Sarah Mae I kind of think ...

I'm really into bunting right now. I just think it's super cute! I may or may not have been coveting this Easter bunting on Etsy. But, alas I couldn't justify the price tag especially because I put a bug in Tom's ear that I would like this Easter decoration. So, I made my own. It's not quite as cute, but it's the best I could do. I would have loved to use fabric letters but I don't have the time or skill to cut them out and sew them on, so I just used stickers and tacked them down with glue. I used burlap on a roll so it was really easy to just cut 11 rectangles that were each 14 inches long, sew a seam, cut the flag at the bottom, and glue on the letters. Easy peasy. It took me less than an hour and by a miracle I didn't even have any sewing machine sna-foos. I'm going to try to non-kid related posts for the rest of the week. Wish me luck! I think we have a life outside of our kids, I've just forgotten what that was like!

The boys and I went up to the Cabin last weekend with Pappy and Marme. We did absolutely nothing the whole weekend which was great. Cabin Magic worked like a charm and we all got some rest and the boys had fun.  I will probably forever pinch myself when thinking about our dear Cabins. They almost seem too good to be true. Reading with Marme Popcorn and hot cocoa with Marme Sage wanted so much to be a big boy and walk on the lake. It's so hard to walk in the snow with his big snow suit on. He gave it his best shot but he mostly just fell down on the lake and didn't do that much walking. priceless. Sage was not happy in his sled. He wanted to walk like a big boy! Bucket heads. These two are quite silly.

I love our library. Since it's too cold to walk to the library right next to our house, we have been going to one that is a little bigger and it's a great way to spend the morning. They have a little kitchen, a bus, a garden, and a little nature center for the kids to play in along with a picnic area and a Cafe that we can't wait to check out this Summer. Plus, if you time it right, they have a dog you can make appointments with to read stories to once you are five years old. Aiden is excited for this, but for now both boys LOVE to pet the dog. It's a sweet library and we stop by frequently. However, this coming week we are going to the Mecca of libraries...the St. Paul library is HUGE and has classic library architecture. I'm sure we will love it!  Anyway, our library has these great things called story bags.  In a bag comes a couple books and a prop centered around a theme. A couple weeks ago we brought home the Shark Bag. At first Sage was a little scared of the...

Sage turned 15 months on the 28th! Where did the 15 months go? Actually, I know exactly where they went. The last 15 months we were hermits. We've been staying at home and swimming is a sea of diapers and setting our clocks around naps and feedings. Dare I say we are starting to come up for air. Sage is still a baby. He may be running around, but in many senses of the word he is a baby. However, he is becoming more flexible, more independent, and more grown up everyday. It's not the end of the world if he stays up a little past bedtime, we can take him to a restaurant and not feel like we are losing our minds, and he is communicating more and more everyday. I enjoy every age my kids are at, and I feel sad about my sweet baby growing up, but it has a good side too. Sage and Aiden play together more and more everyday.  It's funny because they fight sometimes too.  Right now I think it's pretty funny but I'm sure it'll get more annoying. I laugh because Sage know...