There are days...

There are days when you have your "big girl boots" on, but you still want to be the baby. Today is one of those days at our house. Man, being a toddler is HARD work. :)

I know I didn't "Meal Plan Monday" this week, and I will do a post later with more details of why I didn't. It isn't because I wasn't planning...that seems like all I have done this week! We started a cleanse that we have done before that is gluten free, corn free, sugar free, yeast free, peanut free, soy free, and more. :) We loved the way we felt last time we did it, and I needed to get off the sugar for a little while...I was gorging myself with sweets every single day, and I felt blah!! Anyway, more details to come. Hope you are having a great week!

Giving Thanks...

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We spent the day in Lavaca with the Gibson side of the family. We decided this year that we were not going to try to be everywhere and that we would start switching off Thanksgiving and Christmas day with our families. Since our families only live an hour apart, it IS possible for us to see everyone in one day, but it is never any fun to have to rush from one place to the next. We want Landry and Collier to be able to spend quality time with their cousins wherever we are, and the only way we can do that is to choose to be one place and stay there. So far, our reasoning is proving true because Landry had A BLAST getting to spend time playing with Jackson (4) and Avery (3)! So much fun that we could hardly get her to go to bed Wednesday night or take any naps...she knew there was more fun to be had! :)

I am thankful this year that we have TOO MUCH FAMILY and too many choices to make it everywhere on the holidays. What a blessing that burden really is!

Cowgirl Landry on Wednesday night. Aunt Emily helped her use her tights as a holster for her gun! Ha!!

Jackson and Landry telling secrets. :)

Landry and Avery..."On top of the world!"

Landry swinging at Gigi and Papa-D's barn...

Woo Hoo!!

Sweet Collier at the Thanksgiving meal. He wanted to be right in the middle of it, and did not want to let Mommy sit down! :)

Our family...
Emily, Jackson, Avery, Kyle, Papa-D, Gigi, Landry, Me, Micah, Collier

 Yes, we are rednecks, and my husband and brother-in-law showed up to Thanksgiving dinner in their camo. That wasn't the plan, but Micah shot a deer that morning, and they were running late. I guess just another thing to be thankful for...fresh meat in our freezer! On a side note, I really wasn't thrilled in the beginning thinking about eating deer meat. Then, Micah used his magic to convince me that I spend extra money to buy organic products a lot of the time, and how much more organic does it get than a wild animal? Ha...he is good!

Daddy with his little man...

The kiddos got cookies as a reward after we took pictures...

Landry was is "Cuuuuuukie" heaven. :)

Today, we are relaxing and watching Razorback football! We did get up and do a quick Black Friday trip to our hair salon at 5:30 this morning to buy half price giftcards! :) We have purchased these the last 3 years, and we have it down where we can get our hair done all.year.long for half the price! In the past, we have even had some extra left on the cards to get a few massages, manicures, spray tans, etc. Hoping that we added wrong again this year!

These two little people...

 These two little people light up my life. They are so sweet, cuddly, and love unconditionally. I love watching their relationship grow. Each morning, Landry likes to have cuddle time with her brother. She loves to hug, kiss, and tickle him. It is so sweet, and Collier is such a sport! :)

Honestly, this poor boy has no time to himself unless his sister is locked away in her crib. :)

Landry is a proud big sister, and I hope that never changes. Little brothers are special...I know because I have one. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! We are excited to head down to my in-laws to spend tomorrow. Thankful that we have family to spend the day with, food to eat, and a warm place to celebrate our many blessings.

Meal Plan Monday and more...

Happy Monday! I hope your week is starting off well! Our's is off to a little bit of a rough start, but more about that later...

A few of you have asked if Landry eats what we have planned to eat on our "menu." Yes, she does. Since she was little, we have tried giving her a wide sampling of different foods. She is not very picky, and will eat just about anything. Here is an example of one of our super simple meals from last week...Spinach Salad and Baked Sweet Potatoes.

My plate...

Landry's Plate {Before}

Landry's Plate {After}

She did a great job eating almost everything! She was not a huge fan of the sweet potatoes because they were hot when she first tried them. She kept blowing on them, but she wasn't able to convince herself that they were okay. :)

This week's meal plan is:

Monday:

Lunch-Black Bean and Feta lettuce wraps {recipe below}

Dinner-Dinner meeting for church

Tuesday:

Lunch-Lettuce wraps (again!)

Dinner- Parmesean Crusted Chicken with steamed veggies

Wednesday:

Lunch-Baked sweet potatoes

Dinner- Pasta Toss with Broccoli

(basically whole wheat pasta boiled with broccoli then tossed with butter, parm, salt and pepper)

Thursday:

THANKSGIVING!

Friday:

Lunch- Leftovers

Dinner- Homemade Pizza

Saturday:

Brunch- Quiche

Dinner- Probably having a bonfire with friends, so hotdogs!

Sunday:

Lunch-Spinach Salads

Dinner- White Chicken Chili

Now...a recipe! 

We eat this a lot. It is a super easy and light lunch or dinner. It is great leftover, cheap, and healthy!

Black Bean and Feta Lettuce Wraps

1/2 cup cooked brown rice

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1 can black beans (rinsed)

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1/3 cup italian dressing

6-10 lettuce leaves

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. I like to put mine in the refrigerator and let it cool completely before serving in the lettuce leaves. You could also just cook the rice ahead of time, cool it, and then mix all together right before serving. I just like it cold, you could really do it either way.

 We seriously love this! The pictures might look a little yuck, but I promise, these are great!

Okay, so here is what is going on at our house today that is making things a little rough...

See that rash?! Landry woke up with it this morning, and we have no clue where it came from. She has had a cough and congestion for about 2 weeks now, and we luckily had an appointment with the Naturopath today. She was running fever on Saturday night, and threw up twice through the night. Seriously, it is like she had a little touch of EVERYTHING that was floating around. Anyway, we had a visit today, and got a few answers.

The cough and congestion is probably just from the weather change and nothing serious. 

The throwing up was either a little virus (bc she did have a tiny fever with it) or was possibly due to us receiving the wrong dosage instructions over the phone for some herbs we were giving her. Nothing dangerous, probably just an upset tummy. 

The rash is kind of the mystery at the moment. It could be from everything else she has going on, could be a carry-over reaction to something she ate, or it could be from pulling her sheet off her bed and laying right on the mattress that I used cleaner on when she puked all over it Saturday. 

Poor girl! :( She acts like she feels fine though, just a little extra clingy to daddy.  

Love that sweet little thing, and hope she feels better soon!

Collier is 3 months old!

My precious little bundle turned 3 months old this week! It is so hard to believe how fast time is flying by. Collier is such a sweet boy...a spoiled rotten sweet boy. :) Not that I wasn't attached to him from the beginning, but he and I have really seemed to bond over the past month. He is getting such a personality, smiles at everything, and definitely KNOWS WHO HIS MAMA IS. He wants to be held as much as I will hold him, loves to nurse to be comforted, and is a huge fan of his big sister! Here are a few things that are going on at 3 months...

• Collier starts the night sleeping in his Moses basket by our bed. He goes down around 9:00 and sleeps until 1 normally. When he wakes up, he moves to our bed to eat and sleep the rest of the night. I fall back asleep almost immediately after I put him in our bed, and I honestly can't tell you how many times he wakes up after that. He will sleep until about 9:00 in our bed if I sneak out and put pillows around him where he still feels snuggled up. We love having him in our bed, and will probably keep him there until the first of the year.
• He still won't take a bottle or a pacifier, but we are working on it. Honestly, instead of getting better, he seems to get worse some days. He is even particular at this point about which side he wants to nurse off of. If he is really sleepy and wanting to nurse for comfort, he only wants to be on my right side. I think it is because I produce less on that side, and he is totally using me as a pacifier. If I try to get him on my left side, he will arch his back and be stiff as a board. Micah and I giggle and say that he is "planking" and we should take a picture. LOL. Silly boy...I know this won't last forever. Taking it one day at a time!
• Collier currently has red hair. :) Landry went through this phase too as her hair went from brown to blonde. I don't see it as much, but total strangers will say, "where did he get the red hair?"  No one that I can think of on either side has red hair, so I figure that it will just end up being blonde like Landry's. We will see! He is also going to get his first hair trim in the next few weeks. That boy has some long random hairs that hang over his ears...I think his hair is going to be thick like his daddy's. Why do the boys always have the gorgeous thick hair!?
• He rolled over for the first time this morning! From his stomach to his back. He loves being on his belly, and his is great at holding his head up.
• He weighs somewhere close to 19 pounds now. He is a big, chuky boy. Wearing 6 months clothes and size 2 diapers.
• Collier naps pretty well during the day. He isn't napping in his crib yet, but he will after we get an additional camera for our monitor at Christmas. He takes around a 2 hour nap in the morning in his swing. This is a great time for me to get showered or several things done for the day if I can get Landry down at that same time. Sometimes in between Landry's naps, I will let Collier lay in her crib and sleep/play. He loves her music machine, and I love that I can see him on the camera. It is a good way for him to get used to being away from us for a little while.
• He loves watching TV. This was kind of an accident, but when he would cry and Micah would pick him up, his eyes would be GLUED to the TV and he would stop crying. He loves watching football, but especially likes Nick Jr. and shows with lots of music. Our TV is a little high for him to see unless he is on the couch, but he layed on the floor at my mom's yesterday for a whole hour playing with toys and giggling at the music on TV.

What a sweet blessing Collier has been to our family! This week has been a little rough for us with several things going on. A young mother that I was in Bible study with passed away from a brain tumor...she left 3 babies (6, 4, and 2) and her husband behind. I also met a girl last night that lost a baby 4 months ago when he was 3 months old...a precious baby boy, just like Collier. A good family friend was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer along with having many heart issues...cancer treatments can be hard on the heart anyway, so that makes their situation extra sensetive. And, a former co-worker of mine and Micah's is in her last few days of a long battle with cancer and will be leaving behind a 4 year old daughter and husband.

Y'all...I am blessed. I am blessed each and every day to be a mother to these babies and a wife to Micah. Let's all remember to count our blessings today and to thank God for the time he has given us with those we love. I don't know that I will be here tomorrow, so I will try today to give my children a little extra love, slow down and enjoy the little things, not worry so much about the laundry and dishes, kiss my husband an extra time or two, and thank God that I have a warm couch to snuggle with my family on. Really, what else matters? Thank you, Jesus, for today!

Where's Landry?!

Where's Landry?!

 There she is!

Silly girl was trying to put on her baby brother's pajamas. She thinks that everything should fit her, no matter how small it is. :) She is constantly trying to squeeze into his shoes, sleepers, hats, etc. Always entertaining! I just love her sweet little personality!

Meal Plan Monday

We have a busy week this week, so our menu is a little bit boring. BUT, the sweet pictures of babies below are NOT. :) Enjoy!

Monday:

Lunch-Black Bean and Three Cheese Quesadillas

Dinner- Baked Sweet Potatoes and Spinach Salad with Carmelized Onions

Tuesday:

Lunch- Chicken Salad on Croissants

Dinner- Having my SIL's family over for dinner so that the guys can grill venison. We will also grill hotdogs for the kiddos.

Wednesday:

Lunch- White Chicken Chili

Dinner- We have a 1st Birthday Party to go to!

Thursday:

Lunch- Leftover Chili or Chicken Salad

Dinner- Mini Apple and Cheddar Meatloaves (we were supposed to have these last week, but ended up eating out one night!)

Friday:

Lunch- leftovers

Dinner- WE HAVE A DATE at Ruth's Chris! :) Thanks to my mama for offering to watch the babies and run Collier up to us if he breaks down while we are gone. Ha!

Saturday:

Brunch- Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Lunch/Dinner- Game Food while we watch the Razorback game!

Sunday:

Lunch- Family Thanksgiving at my grandparents

Dinner- Probably salads because we will be so stuffed from lunch