Baked Spaghetti Squash Pizza Recipe

About a year ago, I made up this recipe for Baked Spaghetti Squash Pizza and I thought I would share.  To be honest, this is not truly pizza. If you're like me and love pizza, do not consider this a substitute.  Eat the real thing!  However, this is great for an easy weeknight meal and healthy to boot.  I modeled it off of baked spaghetti with pizza toppings.

Baked Spaghetti Squash Pizza
1 medium spaghetti squash, cooked and cooled slightly
1/2 c sour cream
3/4 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1/4 c Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 jar of spaghetti squash or the equivalent homemade
1-2 c Mozzarella Cheese
Your favorite pizza toppings (I chose black olives, turkey sausage, peppers and onions)

Shred the squash with a fork and put in a 9x13in pan with Parmesan, salt, pepper, egg, and sour cream. 

Stir and spread it evenly in the dish. Pour on your spaghetti sauce and top with cheese and your toppings of choice.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  

One of my life goals is to actually learn about food photography.  I'm not terribly interested in photography but I want my food to look good enough to eat. 

Things I'm Lovin'

Despite my months and months of blogging silence, I thought I'd pop in and record some of my favorite things right now as much for my sake as for yours.  So here goes in no particular order.

• Sleeping at night.  Sounds strange, I know, but my baby miraculously only wakes up approximately twice a night.  To some moms this may not be a big deal, but my last son woke me up 4-6x/night for 6 months.  I love waking up at decent time (I do sleep in a little) and still being able to function and feel like a human.  
• Snuggle nap time.  I've been getting a power nap nearly every day.  For the most part, it looks something like this.  Newborn baby snuggles are the best!  Especially cause they can't kick you or accidentally whack you in the face.  
  
• Coffee and tea.  I love good coffee or a cup of tea.  Before the baby was born, I broke my addiction to caffeine and only had a few cups of iced coffee a week.  I hate feeling like I need caffeine to function and I also wanted to cut out the sugar involved in a daily cup of coffee.  However, now that the baby is here as well as cooler weather, I have a hard time resisting the urge to drink something every single morning.  Most days I don't "need" the caffeine, I just love the taste.  I love to froth up the half and half with some kind of flavor (usually vanilla) in a little blender and then add it to my tea or coffee.  So yummy!  I should probably break my obsession so I can loose the extra baby weight but right now I'm still lacking the motivation. 
• Talking about baby weight, I love being skinnyish! I'm not wearing my pre-pregnancy pants or anything but I love being able to sleep on my stomach, bend over, sit up, hug my husband, wash dishes without getting my belly all wet, etc.  Such a nice feeling!  Hopefully, in another week or so I can start working out again at least a little bit and work on getting back into my skinny jeans in time for my annual Holiday weight gain.  I was out at the store the other day and for the first time in my life I seriously considered buying jeggings.  I'm kind of an anti-leggings person and I used to laugh at jeggings.  However, they might be a nice alternative to hiking up my maternity pants constantly.  Anyone have experience?  
• My kindle.  This one is kind of a love/hate relationship.  Often times reading for too long on the kindle will give me a headache since I don't have a Paperwhite.  However, it works amazing when you are trying to breastfeed and fend off two toddlers as well.  The past few days, I've been forcing myself to take it easy one thing that is saving me from extreme boredom is obsessively reading this series.  It isn't the best book ever but it is super addictive and easy to read kind of on the level of the Hunger Games. Feel free to comment and let me know of your favorite addictive books.
  
• Song on repeat: Saints Out of Sailors by Flannel Graph.  I just randomly stumbled across this song on Spotify and now it is stuck in my head all the time and I can listen to it on repeat more than any other song I know of right now.  
• Cooler Weather.  I've been taking the kids outside nearly every afternoon lately.  Levi and I just curl up with a book on a quilt and the big kids ride their bikes.  It is still in the 70s just about every day but there is no humidity and a beautiful cool breeze blows nearly every day.  

Freezer Cooking and Summer

Sometimes I'm sad when some of my favorite bloggers don't update their blogs for a while...and then I remember that I haven't written on my blog in a month(s).  Unfortunately, I've also been neglecting my personal journal.  So here is a quick update on my life.

I recently potty trained Will.  I noticed that he seemed somewhat ready to train but he was also super young at only 24 months.  Fortunately, he got the hang of it mostly in just a few days and after another week, he improved his rate of getting number #2 actually in the potty.  Now we've been going strong for 2 1/2 weeks and haven't had an accident in 4 days and he actually has been waking up dry the past few days!  It is so nice to have it over and done with before baby #3 is born.

Speaking of baby #3, did I mention that I'm due next month?  Today my sweet friends hosting a little shower which helped me to get some of the random things I need.  There are a few more things I want to pick up such as a nose frida but I currently have 3 packs of newborn diapers so I should be good for the first week, right?  Another thing that I've been doing to prepare is making freezer dinners.  With baby #1, I don't think I made any freezer meals.  I knew people from church would bring me dinner every other day for 2 weeks and I love to cook so I was happy to get back into it as soon as possible.  With baby #2, I think I made a couple of freezer meals but not much.  It was much harder to get back into cooking as 5 pm seemed to be the magic hour when the toddler and the baby meltdown at the same time.  But it was still possible to cook especially if I planned ahead.  This time around, I'm not taking any chances.  Since 28 weeks or so, I've been trying to make 1 freezer meal a week.  I just try to double whatever I'm cooking and stick in the freezer so it doesn't overwhelm me or our budget.  I thought I'd share with you a few things that I've frozen.

Here is what I have so far:
Lemon Garlic Chicken  - this cooks in the crockpot!
Philly chicken Cheesesteak - another crockpot meal!  Notice a theme?
Korean Beef - there are so many recipes for this online.  Super simple and super yummy!
Chicken and veggie parmesan - I'll just cook up some spaghetti and heat this in the oven
Healthy Indian Butter Chicken -  I cooked up a double portion and stuck half the freezer to be reheated
Chicken pot pie filling - All I have to do is muster the strength to make a pie crust and we'll be good to go.
This week I also plan throwing a bunch of chicken drumsticks in a marinade and then freezing so Aaron can throw them on the grill as well as some of these addictive sweet potato and black bean burritos. 
I would love to do some soups as well but it has been sweltering here so we haven't been wanting to eat any for dinner. There is a good chance that enchiladas or a lasagna will also end up in my freezer in the next few weeks.  What are your favorite meals to freeze?  I'd love to hear your suggestions?
There are so many freezer meal tips and tricks online but here are my top three tips.
1. If possible, place the meal in a freezer bag, press it as flat as possible and freeze on a baking sheet.  Flat bags of food stack so well in the freezer.

2. If you plan on freezing several different things, start an excel spreadsheet listing every meal, what "extra" ingredients are needed, and basic directions.  

3. Don't be afraid of freezing meals that are marketed as a "freezer meal."  Seriously, I have frozen several delicious meals with success that were not labeled as a freezer meal.  Most freezer meals tend to be casseroles so I'm looking forward to pulling out a super comforting curry.  Just be sure and read a few tips about what types of food don't work well in the freezer before you get too carried away.  

Birthday Dessert

Last year I decided that if no one was going to celebrate my birthday, I was just going to do it myself especially by making the best, most decadent birthday dessert imaginable.  Hey, if I want a birthday dessert, I usually have to do it myself so I might as well do it in style, right?!  This is what I came up with last year. The bottom layer was devil's food cake (homemade), middle layer was cheesecake, the top was raw (safe to eat) cookie dough and of course it was topped with ganache.

My birthday is in less than a week and I have yet to pick this year's winning creation.  Here are a few ideas: 

NOTE: My heart is currently broken because I wanted to share some pictures of these amazing desserts with you but for some reason blogspot is insistent that I NOT post them.  Be sure and click on the links as they really are super beautiful! 

1. Creme Brulee.  I don't have a specific recipe but I just remembered that this dessert existed.  The only problem is that we don't own any ramekins and we'd have to buy an appropriate attachment for the propane torch.  But still, I've never seen or heard of anyone in Owensboro making Creme Brulee or selling it so it would original. 

2.  I love carrot cake!  And I love cheesecake!  What would happen if you combine the two?  How about a carrot cake cheesecake topped with coconut whipped cream!

3.  I also love chocolate.  What birthday would be complete without dark chocolate?  Salted caramel is my other new crush so perhaps a salted caramel chocolate fudge cake is in order. The only problem is that I'm super picky about cakes and I only like a few.  I also stink at assembling and decorating them. 

4. Homemade donuts.  I think that is all I have to say.  There are so many amazing looking recipes out there!  I love the idea of creating or trying out some more unique recipes and flavors.  

What do you think?  How would you decide?  Or perhaps you have a different suggestion entirely.  Nothing is decided yet so go ahead and submit your favorite desserts! 

A Word About the Somalis

Before we ever met our Somali friends, we wondered what they would be like.  What sort of food would they eat?  How clean would their house be? What would they wear? We've officially known them for several months now so I thought I'd write a brief post about what they are like.  This isn't meant to be critical or even a generalization of their entire culture.  This is just things that we've noticed since meeting them.  We are currently friends with three different groups of Somali refugees.  The first is an educated family that speaks decent English.  We still get stuck on certain words when talking but you can communicate with them on a fairly basic level.  From the little we know, both parents were educated and even taught their 5 children some English before coming here.
The second family has 8 children and came from the worst refugee camp in the whole world.  From the little we've gathered, they only had enough money to send their firstborn son to school so he is the only one that speaks any English besides basic greetings. They do not know the birthdays for any family members except for the last few children born.
The last person is a single young man who is probably 18-22 years of age.  His English is the best.  He currently works in a factory and is working on his GED.  We just met him so we know the least about him.

Both families are extremely hospitable.  Whenever you go over to their apartments, they immediately hand the kids glasses of juice or chocolate milk as well as biscuits, cookies or cups of pudding.  They give Aaron and myself tea, juice, bottles of water as well as whatever they happen to be cooking for dinner.  It can get kind of tricky because we usually try to visit both families in go since they live in the same apartment building.  This means that we go to the first house and get plied with all sorts of sugary treats (which are impossible to refuse because they don't ask if you want any before giving it to you) and then we visit the next family where this same kind of treatment is repeated.

As far as clothing goes, the women of both families always wear dresses and head covering.  They do not cover their face and their clothes are often colorful but they still adhere to a Muslim dress code.

Both families have served us what seemed to be the same sort of dish.  We've seen them eating it at other times so I guess it is traditional.  It starts with spaghetti noodles covered in a tomato sauce that might also have tiny bits of potatoes in it.  The sauce isn't thick like an Italian spaghetti sauce and it doesn't seem to have a ton of flavor.  They did serve us lamb ribs with it once and they were deliciously seasoned.  I could have eaten a whole plate of just the ribs.  They top the spaghetti with chopped bits of iceberg lettuce, chunks of banana and bits fresh of tomato.  I don't really understand the banana to be honest.

We know that both families are Muslim.  We are not sure of all the details of their faith.   A lot of the books and websites that we've read suggested that a lot of Somali Muslims are more of folk Muslims and combine traditional African spiritualism with Muslim beliefs.  I can't really speak to this as we have trouble communicating more philosophical concepts.

 One of the first things both families purchased once they found a job was a new tv.  The tvs always seem to be on though they are not necessarily always watching it.  We just about dying laughing the other day when we went to visit them because they started off watching soccer but by the time we left, they had switched over to professional wrestling.   Our kids were mesmerized and wouldn't stop staring at the screen.

They always seem to be cleaning their houses and in general things are quite tidy.  However, they seem to not understand how germs work.  The one time we used the bathroom, there was no soap in it at all but there were a lot of cleaning supplies for mopping the floor and such.

That is all I can think of off the top of my head.  If you do not have any ethnically diverse friends, please try and make some.  It is kind of hard where we live to find ethnic diversity but it is so worth it.  I want my children to know that not all people think, act or look just like us and that is ok.  While I really want these Somali friends to be saved, I also want to appreciate their culture and respect their heritage.

Going Green (Literally)

Lately, I've been trying to clean up my diet.  I usually eat pretty healthy anyways but I'm tired of not being able to find comfortable underwear for my pregnant body.  That was probably TMI, but sometimes you take the little things for granted.  Last night I tried something new for dinner and it worked surprising well so I thought I'd share.

As you probably know if you've been reading my blog, my husband luvs muffins.  Some days when I crave something sweet, I'll ask him if he would like some cake or cookies and he responds that he would prefer muffins.  Muffins are his love language.  Since we have them relatively often, I usually try to make a "healthier" versions.  I love the rich, sugary, bakery style muffins as much as the next person but I figure that I might as well be eating a donut.  Last night I got the crazy idea to throw some pureed spinach into the banana muffins and they turned out surprisingly well.  The kids chowed down on them and Aaron and I couldn't really taste the spinach.  Since they do have a fair amount of sugar and I'm trying to be healthy, I only had one.  Here is the recipe that I adapted from this blog.  

Banana-Spinach Muffins (If you're feeding them to a bunch of boys, just come up with a clever name like Alien Muffins or something)

Ingredients:

• 8 oz of frozen, chopped spinach, at least somewhat thawed
• 3 medium-large bananas
• 3/4 c sugar
• 1 egg 
• 1 t vanilla
• 1//3 c butter, melted or very soft
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• Optional mix-ins such as nuts, chocolate chips, craisins 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and either spray muffin tins or use liners

2. Put the spinach into a food processor or good quality blender and puree. 

3. Add banana and repeat. 

4. Add all of the wet ingredients and pulse until combined. 

5. Add the dry ingredients but try to mix until just combined. 

6. Fill muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

7. Watch your kids chow down and laugh because you know that they are stuffing their faces with spinach. 

In other news, I'm not a huge fan of graphic tees but I seriously want this t-shirt.  I do feel a little vain getting it for myself though.  

Two Free Things That I'm Digging

I thought I'd share with you 2 free internet finds that I'm currently enjoying.  I'm not getting paid or anything to write a review, I just happen to like them.

1. Regularly App.  When it comes to phone apps, I have....um, just one: Instagram.  I've thought about getting other apps but they all want too much info.  For instance, I want to get the Kroger app so I can check on my digital coupons when I'm shopping, but they want to know my location.  Seriously?  Why is it a necessity that they need to know my whereabouts at all times?  I guess I value my privacy too much.  However, I really suck at cleaning.  I can tidy up ok or even do the dishes at least once a day, but things like mopping, vacuuming, dusting, etc are lost arts in my house.  I decided to try and become more regular in my cleaning approach.  I've printed off paper copies of chore charts and made lists but they never seem to last long in my house.  They'll help me for a week at most and then I loose track of them.  I decided that it was time to upgrade and get a fancy schmancy phone app.  After looking at a couple, I chose the Regularly App.
Pros: I can set it to remind me to do whatever task I want at whatever intervals I choose.
I love to mark things off my list so I've actually been sticking to it for several weeks now.
I set tasks to do in the very distant future such as deep clean my closet only a few times a year.

Cons: For whatever reason, it doesn't organize my tasks based on the time that they need to be done.  For instance, the first item on the list might be wipe the glass due in 3 days and the third item on the list may be vacuum due yesterday.

If you stink at regularly cleaning but love to check things off of lists, this could be the app for you.

2.  Greetingsisland.com  Aaron's birthday is next week and to celebrate him turning really old, I decided to throw him a party.  I never, ever do invitations but I decided that I wanted to this year.  I searched the internet for free customizable invitations.  I looked at several different sites and this was the best one by far.  I ended up choosing these bicycle invitations since I felt that they fit my husband's personality best.

Get them here

You can change all the text, font, font color, and font placement except for the top part that says, "Birthday Party invitation."  You can either print them off for free at home or buy them from the company.  If you do choose to print them off for free, they will attach their logo to the invitation.  Fortunately, it is super tiny.  Here is the one I did and you can see how small it is.  

Here are some other super cute invitations and cards you can print for free.  

I love finding little handy things that make life easier, don't you?  Any good freebies you know about that I'm missing? 

My Go-To Foods

Sometimes people ask me what sort of food I like to cook.  I'm never really sure what to respond.  I'm that sort of person who tries 1-3 new recipes per week.  A lot of things I make once and totally forget about and never make again.  So ya, we don't really eat the same things over and over.  This week though, I made my in-laws some roasted chicken legs, potatoes and carrots.  Thanks to a tick bit, my father-in-law is currently allergic to dairy, pork and beef so chicken and veggies roasted with olive oil was the perfect option.  As I was eating it, I realized that I do not like bland-ish food.   I mean I'll it eat it and it is fine but I'd take a good curry over that meal any ol' day.  I particularly love acidity so balsamic vinegar and lemons are some of my favorite flavors.  
Today, I thought I'd assemble a list of some of my go-to recipes that are on the internet.  Even though we don't eat the same food day after day, we do find ourselves coming back to a few recipes over and over.  So here is a list.  Perhaps you'll find something that you like off it.  I will say as a word of caution, I probably change at least one thing on every recipe I'm about to post.  Even if I cook the same thing twice, I always mix it up based off of personal preference or what I have in my refrigerator/pantry at the moment.

• Bread: Lately, I've been dabbling in sourdough so my bread preferences are changing.  But up until the past few weeks, this has been my main sandwich bread recipe: Simple Whole Wheat Bread.  To be honest, we eat lunch meat about 2-3 times a year.  We do enjoy our fair share of PB&Js and a few tuna melts.  We also love this bread as toast.  
• Light and Easy: These P.F. Chang knock-off chicken lettuce wraps are super easy and very light.  They cook up in one pan on the stove and you feel super healthy stuffing these yummy wraps in your face. 
• Casserole: For some people, comfort foods mean things like mac 'n' cheese or fried chicken.  While we like those things, curry is one of our comfort foods.  I don't cook a lot of casseroles but these are two casserole type dishes that we love.  The best thing about this Pakistani Kima is that I almost always have everything I need to make it one hand. It is a good one to serve to large crowds and even people who have never had curry seem to like it. I also really sweet potatoes so anything with those magical orange bits of goodness really speak to me.  Give this Moroccan Shepherd's Pie with a Sweet Potato Topping a try for twist on a classic casserole.  Both of these recipes are gluten and dairy free so they are perfect for serving to guests with allergies. 
• Comfort Foods: Some days you just need meatloaf with mashed potatoes.  This is my main meatloaf recipe. For those days when I want a meatloaf type dish with some real flavor, I make up these kofta kebabs and serve with homemade pitas and tzatziki sauce.  Killer, seriously killer.   
• Soup:  We eat a lot of soups in the fall.  One of our favorites is this vegetarian Sweet Potato, Carrot and Apple soup.  Yes, it does look like baby food but it is so sweet and yummy!
• Bachelor Party Food: This is good for women too, but I've sent this Seven Layer Tex Mex Dip to two different bachelor parties (for the record, I was invited to neither).  Both times I got rave reviews.
• Fancy: One of the easiest and cheapest "fancy" company dinners to make is a whole roast chicken.  I love this Roast Sticky Chicken - Rotisserie Style and Ina Garten's Engagement Roast Chicken. 
• Vegetarian: I know I've mentioned my love of sweet potatoes probably 10 times already, but this Roasted Veggie (SWEET POTATOES, PEOPLE!) and black bean bowls really knock it out of the park.  You can add meat, but why?  
• Pizza: Because we all agree that pizza deserves its own food group.  I always do the Pioneer Woman's Pizza crust.  It is just the right amount of thickness with a crusty bottom.  Aaron loves it grilled.  We eat all different types of pizza.  Sometimes we top with roasted garden veggies, other times it is more tradition like sausage and black olives, and other times we really crank up the flavor and go for BBQ pork with fresh mango or pineapple drizzled with some sweet Thai chili sauce.  

Whelp, there is my list.  I'm sure there are about 10 others I'll think of later but thanks to the fact that I eat all of these yummy things in large amounts, I know have to go work out.  

My Maternity (un)Style

To be honest, I'm not a very stylish pregnant woman so this post is really about my lack of style as opposed to tips on being a super hot preggo lady. As I'm well into summer pregnancy #3, I'm quickly realizing one thing: I'm tired of being super frumpy preggo mom.  Seriously, though.  With number #1, I was so desperate to get clothes that I found a bunch of things that were "ok" at consignment stores and garage sales.  I did find a few things that I love and the rest of just "worked."  I did get a few new things but I felt so limited by my options and the incredible prices on them that I didn't buy much.  Before I even became pregnant with #2, I started to shop for new maternity clothes.  Whenever I was in one of the few stores around here that actually carry new maternity clothes (I think we have 3 total), I would scan the clearance racks to see if I could score anything good.  Same if I happened upon a garage sale that had maternity clothes and on my semi-annual trips to Goodwill.  I scored a few pairs of decent (as well as a few pairs of just "ok") jeans for around $3.  I also found a few tops and dresses.  When I was actually pregnant with #2, I felt like I starting to figure out what I liked and what I didn't  Now with #3, I feel like I'm ready to invest in some decent clothes.  My plan, which I've already started on, is to get rid all the things that I don't love (except for a few shirts that are good for exercising and cleaning), and fill my closet with a few things that I can wear everyday and feel beautiful in.  Here is what is on my to-buy list and how I plan to find them for affordable prices.  

• Tank Tops.  To be honest, I'm not really a tank top sort of person.  In "real life", I hardly ever wear them unless they are more dressy and even then I think I have maybe 1.  I scored one navy colored tank top at a garage sale for I think $2 and I wore it non-stop.  The summers here are really hot and humid and overheating is a serious problem especially as I swell up like a watermelon the second I start to get hot.  I noticed that if I wore a pair of shorter shorts and a tank top, I stayed significantly cooler than a normal t-shirt and a pair of capris.  I would wear this one lone tank top on walks and also with skirts and nicer jewelry for a dressier option.  This time around I've already ordered 2 more more of the same brand since they were on super sale for only $4 a piece. 

My poor over-worked tank top

• Shorts! At the same garage sale as the aforementioned tank, I also scored a pair of shorter gray shorts.  I wore the life out of those suckers.  I wish they were just an inch or so longer to hide more of my upper thighs but they were so comfy and cool.  One thing that I loved was that they were the under-belly type of elastic.  So much cooler and less hiking up!  They were also my go-to post partum pants as I found I couldn't into my regular shorts and I quickly got tired of hiking up huge swaths of elastic over my flabby post-baby belly.  I definitely plan on getting at least one more pair.  Since it is still a little too early to need to wear shorts, I have been super picky about trying to find a cheap pair.  If I can't find anything in the next month or so, I will up my price range and get something new. 
• T-shirts.  This probably sounds really dumb, but I really want to get some new t-shirts.  I have a few that I like pretty well, but no "perfect" ones.  I want to get a couple of plain colors and at least one with a graphic design of some sort.  Oooh or maybe some striped ones! I want something more fitted and probably with ruched sides.  I already feel so huge during pregnancy that I'm not a fan of loose fitting maternity tops in general. I also like t-shirts as compared to blouses simply because they are knit and stretch with me.  

  

  Buy here

I'd love to look this glam though it might also require actually styling my hair which I just don't see happening.  

Buy here

• Swim suit.  My parents put in an in-ground swimming pool last summer so a bathing suit is definitely on the "need" list.  I scored a supposedly never been worn tankini top on eBay for less than $5.   Note: I would never buy a used pair of bottoms.  So gross. I'm hoping it will fit but I figured that it isn't much of a risk compared to the store-bought prices. 
• Skirt.  I also just purchased a skirt off of Old Navy. Last summer I found myself wearing my one maternity maxi skirt constantly.  The one I found to add to my collection is a knit pencilish skirt.  I just bought it on Monday (not on clearance) and it is already down from their website so I can't post a picture.  I found that stretchy knit skirts are one of the best post-partum pieces of clothing to own.  I was so tired of wearing sweat pants and slightly too large maternity pants but popping on a stretchy skirt made me feel a lot prettier and it was just as comfy.  

I am currently scouring ebay nearly every day for good maternity clothes.  So far I've only found my bathing suit.  I also plan on listing my used items on ebay since they generally have a quicker and more profitable return than consignment stores and garage sales.  At the end of the day, I'd rather have 10 really good pieces that I wear over and over instead of 30 only so-so ones.  

I have also checked some online consignment stores but I either didn't find anything I loved or I was currently unwilling to pay the prices as listed including shipping.  

If I can't find the items I want over the course of the next few weeks, I plan on probably getting something from Zulily.  They have a lot of good options that cycle through and good prices for new items. 

I also try to check online with big box stores and watch for items to go on good sales or clearance.  

Where do you get your maternity clothing?  Any hot tips or items I really need to add to my closet?  

Sweet Spring Moments

Spring is such a beautiful time of year.  It is hard to feel sorry or down.  Here are a few sweet moments that I've been enjoying lately and I don't want to forget.

• Our grass looks like a jungle.  Seriously.  We pulled out the mower and it wouldn't start.  I've been trying to convince Aaron to get a new one anyways since I can't start our current one and it is very heavy.  I'm the primary mower in the house because I love to have the peaceful time alone outside just walking around the yard and Aaron hates it (primarily due to his extreme grass allergies).  We're seriously considering getting something like this.  We just need to research and make sure that it actually works.  
  
• I love my sweet baby boy.  Mostly he is 100% pure boy but then sometimes he surprises me with sweet little moments.  This morning I went into his room to get him up and he was sitting in his bed snuggling with a baby doll.  Hopefully, he won't someday kill me for posting this.  And then at breakfast, he was singing one line of the Doxology over and over in his high-pitched little voice.  Aww shucks.  I'm glad to be his mom...most of the time. 
• Speaking of breakfast, this morning we had eggs with chunks of fried potatoes probably also known as a hash though I was completely out of other veggies to put in it.  We also had a few breakfast cookies (oats, bananas, coconut, etc) leftover.  The kids surprised me by asking for 3rds of their eggs and barely touching their cookies.  They are so egg crazy.  
• One thing that cracks me up about my  husband is when he buys  me flowers.  He hardly ever does but he always tries to make them a huge surprise.  He either has them delivered or he goes someone and hides them and arranges things with a manager so that I'll conveniently find them.   Remember that time he mortified me by hiding a giant bouquet in the manager's office at Hobby Lobby?  Well, this week he left work a few minutes and stopped by the restaurant we had decided to go on a date at and left a bunch of tulips on the table. The waitress tried to seat us in a different part of the building and Aaron had to redirect her.  I guess flowers are just too boring.  In addition to the flowers, he brought me some pecan caramel cookies from a local bakery that were pretty much to die for.  
• Kira is very much looking forward to Easter this year.  She has requested to have curls in her hair and I know she'll love everything about the day.  We'll probably have 100 photo opportunities and I'll end up only taking 2 of the whole day.  I guess you win some and you lose some. 

Spring

Wow.  So apparently I haven't written anything on this blog in nearly two months and my personal journal only looks a little better. I've started a dozen blog posts in my head but I've either never gotten around to writing them, decided they were stupid, or thought that I was probably more qualified to read blog posts on said topic instead of trying to write it myself.  I thought I'd pop in and do a little spring check in just so I can say I haven't completely abandoned this here blog.  Here a few things about this season of life that we've been doing.

One of the kids' favorite games right now is run away from the _____________.  Their favorite things to run away from are dragons and pretend lawn mowers.  As Will tells me, they are "scaredy."  The funny thing is that we have yet to mow our lawn this year and the kids haven't really seen one up close and working since last fall.

I wish I could share some cool DIY projects with you but I've barely done a single thing since Christmas.  I've pulled out my quilt and worked on it a tiny bit here and there but that is about it.  I also put together a quick spring wreath for the front door but it is nothing worth sharing on the blogosphere.

I just want to go on record as saying that one of the saddest things you'll ever see is a toddler limping.  Seriously.  You know that there is no way they are faking it and just about breaks your heart.  Will twisted his ankle the other day and is just finally getting over the limp.  It is like having tiny Tim follow you around in your house.

Since I haven't been writing or crafting, one thing I've had plenty of time to do is read.  I made a goal on goodreads to read 26 books this year (or one book every 2 weeks).  So far I think I've read 16.  Of course, 3 of those were Kira's bedtime chapter books but I think they count.  The only problem is that I've read a lot on my "to read" list and now I need new ones.  I have just a couple of more left to read but they are either already checked out from the library or I'm saving them until closer to my book club so they'll be fresher.  Do you have any suggestions?  Right now I want to read either good fiction or some Christian non fiction to encourage my soul and encourage me.

We are getting excited about herbs, flowers and Easter.  We've been trying to eat a few paleoish meals a week in order to cut back and increase our veggie intake.  Today was supposed to be one of those.  We're going to have balsamic shredded pork over sweet potatoes topped with slaw and a side of salad.  Well...then I found this lovely recipe for a loaf of artisan sourdough bread stuffed with olives, rosemary and garlic.   I think I could have held off except for the fact that I was asked to bring the bread for Easter and I wanted to test it first since I'm a real sourdough newb.  There goes are gluten-free dinner.  I suppose we'll just have to rejoice and be glad in it.

Last question and then I'm done.  Is it possible to convince a 20 month old boy to keep a fedora on his head for any length of time?  I saw the cutest straw fedora at Target for only $3 and I really want one for Will.  I'm just trying to decide if he'll leave it on for more than 30 seconds at a time.  Moms of boys, any tips?  I really need it in my life.  Especially since the blue band on it matches his blue eyes.

A Perspective on Poverty

This is a picture of  Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya.

As I was scrambling to get the kids to an 8:15 well child appointment, my mad scurry was interrupted by a ringing cell phone at the early hour of 7:30 am.  After wondering who in the world would be calling me that early, I rushed to answer the phone.  The director of the International Center in town was calling to let me know that the young child of one of the refugee families we recently met had just been been taken to a children's hospital 2 hours away.  The mother was able to go with him but the dad was at home still working night shift and trying to care for the other 4 young children at home.  As far as we know, they only know one other Somali family here who is able to help them while trying to care for their own 8 children.  He encouraged me that this would be the perfect opportunity to try and help them.  Unfortunately, I was already completely booked up yesterday and unable to do anything but today I got my act together and made them some food.  We plan to visit in just an hour or so to see if there is anything else we can help them with.  As I was preparing the food this morning, I was struck by some very obvious contrasts between our families and situations in life.  I was struck overwhelmingly by just how rich our family was.  I decided write up this list of comparisons to help us take off our blinders and realize the truth of our situation.

This is their 3rd hospitalization in the past 2 weeks.  Even though we were sick last week with cold/flu type symptoms, none of us have ever been hospitalized and we do not regularly take any medications.  We are rich in health.  

When a member of our family gets sick, we know how to get to the hospital or the doctors office and we can understand the directions for medications and the explanation of our health.  Even though it drives me crazy at times, we are rich to have such a good health care system.  

We have cars to take us to the hospital, grocery store, school and anywhere else we need to go.  Even though we recently discovered that minivans cost and arm and a leg, we are rich with adequate transportation.  

Even though we may not have money to eat out all the time or buy things like steaks and fresh seafood, we can still buy all of our favorite ingredients and familiar foods at any number of nearby grocery stores.  There are no Somali or African grocery stores here.  We are rich in food. 

When a we need help, we are surrounded by friends and family who are always ready to lend a hand.  This refugee family needs help and they literally only know one other family.  That's it.  And apparently they aren't even particularly close friends.  We are rich with those who care about us.  

Our houses are overflowing with clothes, furniture, and stuff.  At first I thought that their apartments would be super crowded with 10 people living in one small space but I was surprised to find out that this isn't true.  When you don't have enough clothes to warrant a dresser or enough toys to need a "play room" or even a toy box, you'd be surprised at little room 10 people can take up.  We are rich with more stuff than we really need.  

One family was only able to afford sending one son out of their 8 children to school.  There is no question that each and every one of our children will have an education though we may feel gypped because we can't afford to send our children to the fanciest of private schools.  We are rich with education. 

Though we are tempted to think of these refugee families as poor, really they are the lucky ones.  They have escaped death, rape, pain and suffering in Somalia.  They have left behind the crime, overpopulation and squalor-like conditions of refugee camps.  For the first time in their lives, they have plumbing that provides them hot water whenever they need it and a washer and dryer of their very own.  

At the end of the day, we are so, so rich.  Is there anything that we truly need and lack?  Have you ever gone to bed hungry or wish that you had been able to go to school to learn how to read or wish that you could speak the language of the people around you just so you could complete basic tasks? The best part is that we not only are blessed with physical riches, we also have so much more! 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich."  And Isaiah 55:2 tells us to stop looking for stuff delight ourselves in the rich food that is Christ's body shed for us!

"Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?  Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food."

As we think about poverty vs. wealth, especially as it concerns helping others, we need to approach it with an attitude of gratitude for the all the physical and spiritual blessing that surround us.  We need to give with hearts that overflow but also keep in mind that our new friends don't just need things they need Christ.  

Between Busy and Bored

Right now I'm feeling stuck between two extremes: Busy and super bored.  Do you ever have those moments?  On one hand, I'm doing and planning a ton of things.  But then the all the other times I have no clue what to do with myself.  Here are the list of the things that I'm actually working on now.

• Starting a ladies' fellowship/Bible study thingy at church!  I'm so excited about this little project.  Our plan is to only meet once a month in the style of Titus 2.  Each time we'll have a different "older" woman speak about topic.  We'll also have snacks and coffee because well, who doesn't love snacks and coffee.  I'm also hoping to get enough volunteers to provide free childcare each month.  
• Legalizing backyard chickens in our city.  This one is actually going decently well.  I'm on hold while I wait for the Mayor to make his proposal to the other commissioners though so I'm not actually doing anything for the time being besides researching chicken poop. 
• About 6 months ago, we watched a movie called A Good Lie. While it wasn't the best movie I'd ever seen, it was definitely informative on refugees who have been relocated to America.  This inspired us to contact our local refugee center.  We found out that on average we have 130 refugees come into our city every year from either Burma or Somalia.  Due to some things out of our control, it has taken us a long time for the stars to line up.  Finally, last week we were introduced to two families.  Our job is to act as "ambassadors."  We'll befriend them, teach them how to ride the bus, how to use basic appliances that they might never have seen before, and the like.  The best part is that our local director is a Christian and so he is excited for us to show and tell them about the love of Christ.  My favorite part about this ministry is that it is something that we can do together as a family.  There is no need for us to find a babysitter and our children can get a front row view of how to serve and also what a different culture looks like.  Hopefully, I'll someday have some amazing stories and helpful insights to share. 

When I'm not working on one of these projects, I almost don't know what to do with myself.  I've been reading a lot and randomly working on quilt squares but I feel like I need a project to really inspire me. 

I guess that is all I have to say.  I just wanted to update my blog so it wouldn't look so dead. 

A New Year, A New Style

I don't know if it starting a new year or maybe just too many episodes of Fixer Upper, but I'm ready to declutter and restyle.  Out with the old and in with the new!!  High on the list are getting rid of junk, redecorating and organizing Kira's room and finding a new bookshelf.
Kira's room needs a makeover.  Every time I look at it I just think it looks so blah and cluttered.  Anybody have any amazing tips for organizing kid's toys?  I have know a few tricks but the room still seems perpetually messy.  I'm also kind of tired of the paint/furniture scheme.  Something needs to change.  I'm trying to a little research on pinterest to see what I like before I really dig in.  We don't have the money to throw out all the furniture and start over so I'm going to try rearranging and painting.  I'm trying to go gender neutral because the plan is to have Will move in with her when he is big enough to sleep in a toddler bed.  I'm still lacking inspiration though. What are your favorite decorating blogs?  I've seen things that I like but nothing has really stood out to me yet.
I'm excited because this week I get to go with a friend to a flea market type place and search for new wooden bookshelf.   Ours are super old cheaply made ones leftover from early in my grandparent's marriage.  Change is long overdue.
The other project I've been working on slowly deep cleaning different sections of our house.  I don't really like cleaning but I always feel super productive while working on it.  One long forgotten section of my countertop has been cleaned off and it is actually capable of being used now.  I love it.
Other than thinking very organized and clean thoughts, I've also been trying to care for super grumpy and sick children, make my own sourdough starter, trying to eat a lot of vegetables and stay away from sugar to make sure I lose those extra pounds I brought home with me from Florida, snatch up a few Christmas clearance items, organize a chicken petition, and start a women's Biblestudy thingy at my church.