2011 Christmas Letter

America has voted, and the results are in.  The WINNERS of the Leininger Family Awards for 2011 are as follows…

(cue dramatic music)

The award for DEDICATION goes to…JON!

This year Jon has shown immense dedication as he woke up in the 5 o’clock hour nearly every day to work on his masters degree in Systems Engineering, then head to his full-time job at Lockheed Martin, sometimes commuting to DC, returned home to have dinner, play with his girls, help put them to bed, and then continued to study, often late into the night.  His dedication paid off, and in November, he completed his degree from Johns Hopkins University!  He continues to show his dedication to God, his family, and his job, as he serves with the young men at church, makes time to help around the house and hold regular dance parties with the girls, and work hard at his job every day. 

(cue more dramatic music)

The award for BRAVERY goes to…SARAH!

Sarah has been brave in 2011, doing many scary things like grocery shopping with two small children, potty training Olivia, sleep training Anna, tackling New York City with both girls by herself, and flying across the country with both girls, also by herself!  She also showed bravery by entering the frightening world of counting calories, giving up sugar for two months, and running regularly with the girls and family’s newest addition, BOB (our super-fab double jogging stroller).  It paid off, as she shed all the baby weight and then some! 

(cue even more dramatic music)

The award for INDEPENDENCE goes to…OLIVIA!

Olivia (2.5 years) has declared herself independent this year as she has learned to use the potty, dress herself, and even mastered getting into and zipping up footy pajamas without help!  She is so independent, that if someone helps even a tiny bit with a task she is trying to complete, she will start over.  From the very beginning.  She can feed herself, set the table, call people on the phone, and talk in sentences.  She also loves to open Anna’s bedroom door when she wakes up, to greet her with an enthusiastic “Hiiiiiiii, Anna Boo!”  In addition to her fierce demonstration of independence this year, Olivia loves to collect rocks, wear “pretty skirts”, dance and sing, play with “choo-choo trains”, and be with friends.  She enjoys her nursery class at church, but desperately wants to join the bigger kids in Primary. 

(cue…nevermind, you get the idea…)

The award for GROWTH goes to…ANNA!

Anna (one year on 12/28) has shown tremendous growth this year!  Besides more than tripling in body weight, she has gone from a milk-only diet to eating table foods, is sleeping through the night (mostly), loves babbling and making talking sounds, and has gone from completely helpless, floppy baby to rolling, sitting, crawling, and most recently, walking!  She has grown a head of hair, her eyes finally decided on hazel, and she has three little teeth with plenty more on the way.  She wants to be big like her sister, and loves to play with baby dolls, put on necklaces, and sit on the potty seat.  She has changed more this year than anyone else in the family, and will probably never change this much again in a 12 month period. 

Congratulations to the winners, and thanks for tuning in to the Leininger Family Awards, 2011!  We would like to remind you that the Leiningers hope you and yours are enjoying this sacred celebration of Christ’s birth, and send their love.

Merry Christmas! 

Lentil & Quinoa Stew

I love fall!  Gorgeous colors, sweater weather, and my birthday.  We've been extra busy this fall since we flew across the country to celebrate my 30th birthday with my family.  It was a fantastic trip, and included some much needed sibling and cousin bonding time. 

Now that we're back home, and getting back into the swing of things, I have been back to whipping up my healthy creations for fall.  This Lentil & Quinoa stew is awesome.  Easy and good.  My husband loved it, and Liv, who usually eats nothing but cheese and bread at dinner, tried it willingly. 

I love lentils, and I've been looking for more ways to use quinoa (a super healthy grain from South America), so this cozy meal was perfect. The combination is super hearty, and really delicious.

Lentils: admittedly, not the most visually appealing legume.  Nice fall color palate nonetheless. 

Here's the recipe!


What's in it:
1 lb. bag dry lentils, rinsed
1 C. uncooked quinoa (you can use more if you want!)
1 C. carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 Tb. minced garlic
1 tsp. red pepper flakes (or more, if you want it spicy)
2 Italian sausage links, browned (I remove the sausage from the "skin" and brown it in a pan, like I would ground beef)
6 C. chicken broth
4 C. water
salt & pepper to taste


How it's done:
Combine all ingredients in a crock pot, and cook on high for 4-5 hours until the lentils are soft.  That's it.  So easy.  So yummy.  So healthy.  Just go make it. 


PS  This recipe makes a very large amount of soup.  We eat the leftovers, and I also freeze some for an easy meal later.  You could easily half the recipe, but I like to use the entire bag of lentils at once. 

Apple (Pie) Sauce

It's a rainy day, and Olivia decided not to go to the library, so we needed an at-home activity.  Since we went apple picking last weekend, I decided to make apple sauce.  My neighbor, Megan, gave me the recipe after she taught it to her son's preschool class last year, so I thought I would try it out with my little helper.  It was a VERY toddler friendly recipe, and we both had a great time!  Best of all, it turned out to be absolutely delicious, and had no added sugar. 

Here's what it did have:
8-10 medium apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1" chunks (I actually only used 6 apples.  I'm stingy with my apples.)
3/4 C. water (since I only used 6 apples, I only put in about 1/2 C)
 2 Tbs. lemon juice
1 tsp. cinnamon

Here's how it went down:
I peeled, cored, and cut the apples while Olivia watched.  Then I let her put all the apple chunks into the pot.  She loved this.  So did Anna, who kept trying to eat all the chunks she dropped on the floor.  I had to save that poor toothless baby from choking at least three times. 
 
Then I measured out the other ingredients, and let Olivia dump them into the pot.  She helped me to stir everything up, and then I put it on the stove on high heat, stirring more, until it started to boil.  I covered the pot, turned down the heat, and let it simmer for about 25 minutes. I checked it after 20, but the apples didn't seem quite tender enough, so I left it on for a bit longer.  I think cooking time will vary depending on what kind of apples you are using. 

Liv, in heaven mashing apples. 

When the apples were nice and soft, I dumped them into a plastic bowl, and Liv helped me mash it all up with a whisk.  The recipe said to use a potato masher, but I don't have one, so whisk it was.  This makes a chunky apple sauce.  It you want a totally smooth one, throw it all in the blender.  That's what I do when I make apple sauce baby food for Anna. 


When we were done, we immediately sat down and ate it for lunch.  It was so good it tasted like apple pie!  We even put it on top of ritz crackers to get a little "crust" effect. 

This will be gone by tomorrow.  Yummy!

It can be served hot or cold, but I loved it hot!  I think we'll heat some back up, and have it for dessert tonight!  YUM!

Roasted Butternut Soup

I LOVE butternut squash!  My husband hates it.  If I could change one thing about him, I would make him love vegetables as much as I do.

Anyway, much to his dismay, I am on a mission to make a butternut dish that he actually likes.  And I think I finally found one.  I wanted to make a delicious roasted butternut soup, but I couldn't find a recipe that I liked, so I made one up.

Here's what I used...

1/2 - 1 medium butternut squash (I roasted a whole one, but only used half...will probably use the whole thing next time to make more soup, and enhance the butternut flavor)
one handful of baby carrots
one onion
1 C chicken broth
1 C light cream
1 tsp nutmeg
salt & pepper to taste

Here's how I did it:

Throw your veggies on a tray and roast until soft & caramelized.  About 45 min-1 hour at 400. 

 They should look something like this. 

Scrape the flesh of the squash out of the skin.  Put squash, carrots and onion into a pot with the chicken stock.  Cook, covered over medium heat, about 10 minutes.  Place entire mixture into the blender, and have at it until smooth.  Return to the pot, add cream, nutmeg, and salt & pepper to taste.  Simmer until heated through.  Serve with some crusty bread, and try not to die of deliciousness. 

This one was a double victory, because not only did Jon like it, but my toddler ate it.  And she likes veggies even less than Jon does.  And is more stubborn, and has worse table manners, too.

Enjoy your veggies!!

Zucchini Lasagna

I made some fantastic lasagna the other night.  Only it didn't have any noodles.  So my husband said it wasn't really lasagna.  Even though he liked it a lot. 

So, subtract pasta and add veggies, and lasagna becomes pretty darn healthy. 

And all you do it swap out the ingredients and proceed with your favorite lasagna recipe. 

Here are some instructions for creating zucchini "noodles"...
Cut ends off the zucchini, and then slice the long way into thin slices.  Discard the end slices that are mostly skin.  (I used about 3 medium zucchinis for one lasagna, and could have probably used another one.)

Pat the zucchini slices dry with a paper towel.  All the extra liquid will make your lasagna watery otherwise. 

You can stop there, but if you really want to make sure it's not runny, continue by laying zucchini slices on a greased baking sheet, lightly salting them, and baking them at 350 about 10-15 minutes. 

Then layer up your lasagna and bake as usual!  Yum! 

Burger and Fries: the Super Food edition

You know how sometimes it's just a burger, fries and shake kind of night?  And you know how a burger, fries and a shake are probably the worst things you could put in your body?  The other night, I came up with a super-food alternative.  Not that you should never indulge in the real thing.  But this was fun, delicious, and SO healthy! 

Here's the menu:
Black bean cheeseburgers
Oven baked sweet potato fries
Blueberry-banana smoothie

Super Foods!  Da-da-da-DA-da-da!

Looks good, right? 
And because I love you, here are some recipes...

Black Bean Burgers
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup chopped veggies (I like sweet peppers and corn)
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
salt & pepper to taste

Sautee onions, garlic and veggies until tender.  Add black beans and cilantro and season with salt and pepper.  Mash slightly.  Form into patties, and cook stovetop, or on the grill.  Make sure you use cooking spray, or they will stick!

Melt cheese on top, and add mayo, lettuce, and tomato on a bun (I used a potato roll).  Yum!  And for any carnivorous husbands (or wives) out there, this does not taste like meat!  It tastes like a really delicious way to eat beans.

Sweet Potato Fries
 2-3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into "fries"
2 Tb olive oil
Adobo seasoning

Toss sweet potatoes in olive oil and adobo seasoning (or use another seasoning of your choice...lots of possibilities!).  Spray baking sheet (I always line with foil) with cooking spray and arrange fries on sheet.  Bake at 350 40 minutes or until crispy. 

Blueberry Banana Smoothie
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 ripe banana
2 cups milk
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup agave nectar (optional)

Toss it all in the blender, and blend away! 

Black beans, sweet potatoes and blueberries are all "super foods".  Aka, SUPER good for you.  So have your burger, fries and shake guilt free!  Yum!

Choices

I'm not sure if there is anything more fulfilling in life than watching your children make good choices.  While I am rather inexperienced in this area, Olivia is learning to make good choices more and more.  Usually they go like this: 
-"Olivia, do you want to sit nicely in your stroller, and go to the park, or do you want mommy to carry you, and go straight home."
-"Umm..stroller."
-"Good choice!"

Recently, though, she has made a couple of choices that have made my heart glow with happiness. 

She has a special stuffed "ducky" that she sleeps with every night.  She loves her ducky.  We are also in possession of a run-of-the-mill rubber ducky that both girls like to play with in the bath tub.  The other night after bath time, the rubber duck had found its way to Anna's floor.  As I sat rocking Anna, Olivia and Jon read some stories together next to me.  When they were done reading, Olivia exclaimed: "Olivia's ducky!"  Seeing the rubber duck on the floor, I replied, "That is Olivia's AND Anna's ducky.  You both share the ducky."  After a moment, Olivia ran into her own room, returned with her special stuffed ducky, and gave it to Anna.  She ran back to her own room, and cried softly, but didn't return to reclaim her toy.  I immediately realized my mistake: she had been talking about her stuffed duck, and I responded by talking about the rubber duck.  But I was immensely touched that she was willing to share her prized possession with her sister, even though the thought of sleeping without it, apparently brought her to tears.  It was especially meaningful and surprising since I find myself asking her to share with her sister many, many times a day, usually without optimal results.  We thanked her so much for sharing, and told her that Anna was done using her ducky and that she could have it back.  


The second good choice she recently made blew me away.  Saturday, we made a day of visiting the LDS Washington DC temple, Jon and I taking turns participating in ordinances there, and watching the girls outside.  Olivia loves the song "I Love to See the Temple", and asks to go there on a regular basis.  While Jon was in the temple, the girls and I walked on the beautiful grounds, and Olivia said repeatedly "I go a temple!"  I replied that we were at the temple.  But she persisted, "I go a temple!  Doors!"  Since children are not permitted into the temple until age twelve, that was a bit of a problem.  So I kept reminding her that we were already at the temple, and finally distracted her by going inside the Visitor's Center instead. 
Our plans for that day included a trip to the nearby Cafe Rio for dinner, and then returning to the Temple Visitor's Center to watch a flute performance by our good friend.  As we loaded the car to head out for dinner, Olivia was heart-broken.  Apparently, the distractions had only been temporary.  "I go a temple!  Doors!" she sobbed.  It was then that I remembered that I could take her inside the lobby of the temple, and that she could use the bathroom or drinking fountain there, and sit in a small waiting area.  Desperate to calm her, I promised, "When we come back, you can go inside for a minute, after the concert!"  She was appeased.  But after the concert ended, it was late, and we were very aware of the hour-long drive home.  Some friends had brought cupcakes, and invited us to come share.  So, knowing we didn't have time or energy after a long day to do both, I gave Olivia a choice.  "Olivia, we don't have very much time, so would you rather go inside the temple, or have a cupcake with your friends?"  Upon hearing the word "cupcake", she perked up and said "ohhh...nummy!" (and since having a cupcake is a very special treat for her, I was sure she would go for it) but she paused, and decidedly said, "I go a temple!"  So I took her into the lobby of the temple.  And we talked about what a special place the temple is.  And she never once asked about the cupcakes.  And my heart melted. 

I feel so blessed to have such a sweet daughter who is learning to choose the right, one day at a time.  And since she is two, and fiercely independent, these moments are absolutely priceless. 

Dad's Wheat Bread

Growing up, my parents made all our bread. Thanks to a few lessons in bread-making, and the gift of kitchen mills for each of us, my siblings and I have continued this tradition. I recently had some requests for my bread recipe, so I thought it would share here. (I didn't think to take pictures until I was half way done, but there are pictures illustrating the second half of the process.) This is my dad's simple wheat bread recipe for every day use. It can be modified in many different ways, (ie. white bread, part wheat, part white, artisan bread, etc.) but this is the basic recipe that I have cut down from my dad's six 1.5 lb loaves (I come from a big family) to three 2 lb. loaves (poundage depends of the size of your bread pans...most available now are 2 lb, which is why I make that size).

Ingredients:
4 cups lukewarm water*
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbs. yeast
1/2 cup oil

2 Tbs. salt**
8-9 cups whole wheat flour***
1/3 cup wheat gluten****

Instructions:
In the bowl of a mixer (I use a kitchen aid with the dough hook attachment) or a regular mixing bowl, combine water, sugar, yeast and oil. Allow to sit for five minutes or until yeast is foamy (it's eating the sugar, and getting fat! Kind of like humans).

Add a few cups of the flour, the wheat gluten, and the salt, and stir until well combined. Continue adding flour a cup at a time until you can no longer stir the mixture (always stir in the same direction). At this point, if you are not using a mixer, you will need to turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead the rest of the flour in by hand. If you're using a mixer (faster and easier) just keep adding the flour. When you have added 8 cups, check to see if the dough is still very sticky. If so, add the remaining cup of flour a little at a time (today I used a total of 8 1/2 cups) until it is the right consistency. Make sure you don't add two much flour, or the bread will be very dense and not raise up. A good gauge if you are using a mixer, is that the dough will pull away from the sides of the mixer. Once the dough is the right consistency, continue to mix or knead for a few minutes.

If you are kneading by hand, return the dough to the mixing bowl. Cover the dough bowl with a clean towel, or plastic wrap, and allow the dough to raise for about 30 minutes. It should roughly double in size.

punched-down dough

Once the dough has raised, punch it down, and turn it onto an oiled surface (at this point, you don't want to add any extra flour to the dough...it can make it tough). Divide the dough into three equal parts (for your three loaves). It is helpful to use a kitchen scale to make sure they are even. I don't have one, so I just guess.

One at a time, roll the dough out into a long oval, as wide as the length of your bread pan. Roll the dough up into a loaf, pinching it together at the ends and the seam so that it becomes fairly congruous. rolled-dough formed into loaf. the fingers belongs to Olivia, who loves to snitch bread dough, or "masa"

Rolling your loaves helps create a spring inside the bread that will help it raise. This is especially important for wheat bread, as it has a tendency to turn out dense and flat. Coat your bread pans well with cooking spray, and place the formed loaves inside.

formed loaves in pans

Allow the loaves to raise, 40 minutes to an hour. I like to place them in a warm oven (I heat it to 150, then turn it off) to help the process along. raised loaves

When they are ready, bake them at 350 f (my oven runs hot, so I bake at 325) for 25 minutes.

When they are done, your kitchen will smell wonderful! Pull them out, and turn the hot loaves out onto a cooling rack.finished loaves

*The water should be neither too hot, nor too cold. Too cold, and the yeast won't grow, too hot, and it will kill the yeast. Body temperature is about right...try running the water over the inside of your wrist. When it feels like the same temperature, you've got it right!
**Salt can kill the yeast. The flour protects the yeast from the salt, so don't add the salt until you have started adding flour, but don't forget the salt, or you will have some bland bread! (Believe me, I know.)
***If you are milling your own wheat, it helps to mill it right before you make the bread. I keep some pre-ground for pancakes, etc, but I try to grind it fresh for bread...it turns out so much better! (And helps keep from getting flat, dense bread.) We always use hard white winter wheat. Also, if you don't have a mill, you can use store-bought wheat flour, though I have never tried this. You can use white flour if you want, or any combination of the two flours. White bread is yummy, but not very healthy.
****Gluten is found in wheat. You see a lot of products boasting "gluten-free" but the truth is that gluten is only bad for you if you are allergic. If you are, you probably already know it. Otherwise it is very healthy for you. You can find wheat gluten in the grocery store by specialty flours. Amazon.com sells a less-expensive version. The gluten, again, helps to fluff up the wheat bread, and gives it a more palatable consistency than some traditional wheat breads. If you don't have wheat gluten, you can use a bit of white flour in place of the whole wheat four. That helps too (but again, a bit less healthy).

While you are at it, whip up some strawberry freezer jam and some homemade peanut butter (just grind up the peanuts in the food processor, add salt and honey to taste, and a couple tsp. of oil if necessary for consistency), make yourself an all-homemade PB&J, and see how awesome you feel about yourself!

Also, to modify this into a fun Italian loaf, or artisan bread, use white flour, skip the oil and the gluten, and form into a circular or braided loaf sprinkled with basil, parmesan, etc. Put a metal or glass dish of water in the oven while the bread bakes to form a nice crust. You can use this same technique to make individual bread bowls for serving soup. Lots of fun possibilities!

Enjoy!

Olivia: A Snapshot

Olivia recently turned two. She was SO thrilled to have her "happy day"...she's still talking about it weeks later! I know the two's are supposed to be terrible, but she is at SUCH a fun stage (not that we don't have our moments...) Here are some things about Olivia at two that I don't want to forget!
GORGEOUS: People are always telling me I should put her in modeling. She is such a beauty! Light blond curls, bright blue eyes, full red lips, and a golden tan. Lucky little lady.
FUN: She loves laving fun with friends, and talks about them constantly. "Sunno" (Sumner), "Esesen" (Edison), Addie, Tommy, etc are all mentioned about 10 times a day. It's a sad day for her when she doesn't get to see her friends.
She also loves bubbles! She got a bubble machine for her birthday, and she plays with it every day. I love to watch her dance in the bubbles. Dancing is an automatic reaction from her. Speaking of which...
THE GIRL'S GOT MOVES!: She dances ALL the time! It is SO fun. This morning when I got her out of bed and brought her into my room she immediately climbed up on the bed, turned on the radio on my clock radio and started bustin' a move to the pop song that came on. She dances with such intensity that it's contagious, and we usually all start dancing along. She also recently learned how to jump. She loves it.
TALKER: She is talking so much now. I love that she is learning to communicate so well with language. We are still speaking Spanish with her 3 times a week. She understands Spanish great, but mostly speaks English at this point. However, ALL drinks are called "Agua". I love it. Some of the other cute things she says a lot are "I hold you!" (meaning, "you hold me") and "I help you" (when she wants help). She loves "appy sauce" and "appy juice". She talks about her sister all the time, and is quick to let me know "Anna crying". For a long time she has told us "Amo" (te amo), and she is now branching out to say "love you" (only it sounds like "yuh you"). She also refers to herself as "wivi". We'll have to work on those "L's". She likes counting to ten in English and Spanish, and loves practicing the ABC's, as well as singing loads of primary songs (in both languages). She also recently learned the chorus of Justin Bieber's "Baby", thanks to her Auntie Lauren (who, for the record, decidedly does not have Bieber Fever). She's always singing "Baby Baby Baby Oh". Totally cracks me up!
FAVORITES: Her favorite foods are fishies (goldfish crackers), popels (pretzels...but to be fair, she's actually starting to pronounce it correctly), beies (berries...craisins, strawberries), eggs, appy sauce (apple sauce), noonles (pasta), chokick (chocolate, candy), i-ceam (ice cream, frozen yogurt), cake (as in, her birthday cake), and other "nummies".
Her favorite color is pink (pick) as far as I can tell, but she does talk a lot about her "puple thumb" (she recently smashed her thumb in the car door...it's not purple anymore, but she has a good memory).
Her favorite things to wear are "pretty dresses". But they don't stop her from getting dirty. Which is good, since her favorite thing to throw is potting soil, closely followed by mulch and gravel.
Some of her favorite activities are to "fwing" (swing), dae (draw), and listen to music (and dance to it, of course).
Family is her other major favorite. She LOVES "Papa Joe" and "Gampa". She's nearly as enamored with "Ama" and "Gama". She also does a lot of asking about her aunts and uncles. Today she wouldn't rest until we called aunt "Kissy" (Christy). Pretty sure we woke poor Christy up (two hour time difference...) but she was a good sport.
MISS INDEPENDENT: She likes to do things on her own. She's adamant about getting out of the bathtub by herself (which results in a naked little thing running around until we can catch her in a towel), she likes to dress herself (which requires lots of patience from mom & dad because it is a slow process...and if we so much as touch her or the clothes, she has to start over), she climbs in and out of her booster seat by herself, in and out of the car/carseat by herself, and in and out of the stroller on her own. She hates riding in shopping carts, and always reminds us by saying "I walk!" She also knows how to use our smart phones. She can call specific people, on purpose (usually daddy or Papa Joe), open her favorite apps (bubbles), start and stop episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, etc. She also loves to hold the phone to "Tango" (video conference) with family.

She is such a sweetheart, gives lots of hugs and kisses, and I absolutely adore her.

Enchiladas the Slow Way

My slow cooker enchiladas got bumped from Friday to Sunday because we finally found a great babysitter, and we went out on a date Friday night! But that's a different story.
So the enchiladas...(These are not my enchiladas...I didn't take a picture, so I found this online, but mine looked something like this.)

I had never made them in the slow cooker before, but they turned out FANTASTIC! I think it's going to be my new standard for enchiladas. The coolest part is that you can just adapt your favorite enchilada recipe and cook it slow. Here's how:

Cut the tortillas into quarters (I used corn...not sure how it would turn out with flour).
Put a little sauce in the bottom of the slow cooker, and then layer tortillas, sauce, meat, cheese, tortillas, sauce, meat, cheese, until you fill the slow cooker or run out of ingredients. (I used my small crock pot, but you could use any size...just depends on how much you want to make.) Then cook on low for 3-4 hours. SOO yummy, so easy, and a great option for the heat of the summer!

Thoughts on Food & Cooking

I love, love, love cooking! I love creating and I love eating, and I have recently realized that I ESPECIALLY love those things when they are simple. I occasionally get all fancy schmancy, but more often than not, my dinners are to the table in about 30 minutes (unless it's in a slow cooker, in which case, the total time I SPEND on it is still under 30 min). Lately it has been HOT, and it only took one casserole to realize that I don't want to turn on the oven and heat up the house any more, so I've been planning my meals carefully. Here's this week's lineup:
Sunday: Veggie-infused Sloppy Joes
Monday: Cranberry Meatballs with Rice
Tuesday: Curried Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Wednesday: Carnitas
Thursday: Pink Pasta with Italian Sausage
Friday: Slow Cooker Enchiladas
Saturday: Pasta Primavera
Each of these meals is created either stove top, on the grill, or in the slow-cooker to minimize heat production. Perfect for summer. I may have to get creative to transform more of my oven meals into slow cooker recipes in order to keep this up.
Some facebook friends petitioned me for my carnitas "recipe" yesterday, so I thought I might as well share what I did here too...
Carnitas

Take one pork loin, about 1.5 lbs, toss it in the slow cooker and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Chop up a few small sweet peppers, a small onion, and a handful of cilantro and cover the pork with those. Add 1/2 cup water. Let it cook on... low for about 6 hours. When it is ready, pull out the meat with tongs (it should fall apart) and scoop out most the onion, peppers and cilantro to add to the meat (but leave the liquid behind & discard when cool). Shred and serve on warm corn tortillas with guacamole, sour cream and pico de gallo. My FAVORITE guacamole is just mashed avocado with salt and onion powder to taste, but you can do something fancier if you like that. For the pico, chop up onion, jalapeno, tomato, and cilantro, and add salt to taste. This time I added fresh corn because I had some leftover corn on the cob. It was delicious. Oh, and don't forget a lime wedge on the side! It brings out all the flavors perfectly!

Aren't you tempted?

The other thing I've been thinking a lot about lately is how to keep our family healthy. We went sugar-free for the month of May, and it was such a great experience. Not only did I lose nine pounds, but I felt fantastic! And, as I mentioned in a previous post, I saw a drastic change in Olivia. June 1st we took a trip to Texas to visit Jon's family, and celebrated Olivia's second birthday while we were there. All of that equated to plenty of sugar, and sure enough, the tantrums were back. Since we have been home, I've been really careful, and now that a few days have passed (and she's had the chance to detox) she's an absolute delight again! Suspicions confirmed. We don't plan to stay 100% sugar free from here on out, but here are some of my take-aways from the experience:
-No more sugar cereals! I used to think cereals like frosted mini-wheats and honey bunches of oats didn't count as sugar cereals. I was wrong. Feeding your body sugar is definitely not the best way to start your day, and I have found that if we eat plain cereal (like plain cheerios...still have a LITTLE bit of sugar, but almost everything does) we are more likely to add fruit to it, which is good for us. If I run out of bananas, I add a little bit of agave nectar for sweetness. Still delicious, and SO much healthier, which equals happier.
-Dessert is not necessary every day. Let alone three times a day. And yes, that candy bar counts as a dessert.
-IF we are going to eat dessert, it should be for a special occasion, and there is no need to feel guilty about eating it after the kids go to bed. Sugar can have a powerful negative effect on small children.
-Watermelon can be just as tempting to kids as m&m's, provided the m&m's are not in the picture. :)
-Lots of recipes call for WAY too much sugar. After we ended our sugar-free month I made some banana muffins. I used half the sugar that was called for. They were totally delicious.
-Ice cream and chocolate chips do not need to take up permanent residence in my freezer. If it's not there, it is SO much less tempting!
-There are LOTS of great ways to satisfy a sweet tooth (believe me, we know all about those around here!) that don't actually involve lots of processed sugar. Examples: fruit, whole wheat toast with honey, cereal with agave nectar, greek yogurt with honey or fruit, a fruit smoothie, homemade popsicles. I am also really excited to try out some of the recipes on honey.com. Turns out there are lots of baked goods you can make without sugar. I'm just waiting for the weather to cool off so I can use my oven again. Also, I am falling in love with Agave nectar. And I think I might need to invest in an ice cream maker to make some yummy, healthy ice cream. Recommendations?

If things go as planned, sugar will not be making a major reappearance in our lives. Here's to healthy, happy food!

It's Virtually a Book Club!

Last night I went to book club. Jon was gone at mutual (activity night for the youth he works with at church), and the girls were asleep. I didn't need a babysitter, because book club was in my own basement. But I didn't have to clean up for company, or fix snacks for anyone but myself! Talk about awesome! To make it even better, the other members of the book club were some of my favorite people in the whole wide world! No, not my imaginary friends...my mom and sisters!! We had our first ever book club over skype. We did a four-way video call, fixed our own snacks, and chatted the night away. Our selection was "Parenting with Love & Logic" by Foster Cline and Jim Fay (highly recommend!) and we had a fantastic discussion about the content, as well as sharing plenty of our own parenting anecdotes. Even my not-yet-parent sisters joined in. The only thing that would have made it better is if Diana, who got sick and couldn't make it, had been there. I finished the evening feeling like I had really spent a night with the girls. I can't wait to do it again! Best book club ever!

Friday the 13th

I'm not a superstitious person, but Friday the 13th always makes me a little nervous. You see, 13 years ago, my family was awakened early one Friday morning (you guessed it...it was also the 13th day of the month) to a house quickly filling up with smoke. My then soon-to-be Eagle scout brother heard the alarm we slept through, and ran
through the house alerting the other eight of us, and even getting the dog out safely. As we ran out into the snow on that cold, Michigan, February morning, my sweet sister Maria began to cry. "Don't worry," we told her, "we'll be alright!" "It's not that!" She protested, "I'm not wearing any pants!" Pants or no, we piled into our station wagon and watched as not one, not two, but seven fire trucks pulled up to our billowing home to quench the threatening flames. The radio was tuned to the oldies station, and as "the pied piper" played in the background, my ears distinctly heard the lyric "I'm the fire fighter..."  Luckily (pun intended) the only permanent damage was to the laundry room, where I (yes, I) had put a load in the dryer late at night. The rest of the house was permeated with smoke, though, and we moved, temporarily, to a hotel while things were scrubbed from top to bottom. My sister and I both recall comments about camp fires at school that day, although we thought the clothes we had salvaged smelled okay. I guess "okay" is relative.
So another Friday the 13th is here. And I will go about my business with a touch of nervousness. But not enough to keep me from driving my little family through 5 states to NYC this afternoon. I might just rub my lucky rabbit's foot to be safe, though. Or more likely, offer a silent prayer. Which should probably be a prayer of gratitude. Because that day could have been so much worse. And I'm pretty sure it was more than luck that kept us safe.
Happy Friday the 13th everyone! (And for the record, I don't own a lucky rabbit's foot).

Munchkin off Sugar

This little munchkin fell asleep during dinner the other day. I think she's getting tired of watching the rest of us eat. Time to start rice cereal, perhaps?
In other news, Jon and I are not eating sugar for the month of May. It's been a bit easier than I thought it would be thanks to loads of fruit, but the side effects have been astonishing! Not only do Jon and I feel great and have lots of energy, but Olivia (who still eats the occasional grahm cracker, but by association eats MUCH less sugar than before) seems to have emerged from her premature case of the terrible twos, and has been an absolute delight! I admit that I always thought that people who didn't let their kids eat any sugar were demonstrating nazi tendencies, but I have been humbled to discover that they just might be on to something. I am now very interested in researching the effect of sugar on children, and I think this change might become a semi-permanent one. Thoughts?

Just giddy about turning four months old...

Anna is four months old today, and couldn't be happier about it!

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Sad babe

Today we were having a lovely morning. I was feeding Anna and Olivia was calling daddy at work. But when the conversation was over, I guess Liv was upset, because she chucked the phone. Right at Anna's head. Poor baby has a little goose egg. And Livi lost her "phone privlidges". At 22 months. What is this world coming to?

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Adding Injury to Insult

Yesterday was horrific. My all-time parenting low (to this point). Olivia has been sick with a terrible cough and a high fever over the weekend, which made for one extremely irritable toddler. Poor thing didn't even know what she wanted. She would demand to be held, not letting me put her down, but at the same time screaming and pushing me away. Anna was pretty much an angel, as usual, but since her sister refused to let me take care of her, she did put up a bit of a fuss in response to neglect. Add a trip to the doctors (sinus infection and antibiotics for Liv) and potty training on top of that, and it was, well, horrific. I felt like everything went wrong, including my reactions to what was happening. So when Olivia was finally in bed, I laid down on my bed and indulged myself in a nice long cry. It wasn't so much feeling sorry for myself as feeling completely inadequate and bewildered as to how I would handle tomorrow.
When I was done with my cry, I did feel better...except that my nose was completely clogged, and my ears had the plugged up feeling and wouldn't pop. Jon sent me off to take a nice, long, hot shower, which also made me feel better, except that my ears still wouldn't pop. Completely exhausted, I finally went to bed anyway. Only to wake up at 2 am with clogged and painful ears. So this morning, I headed to the doctor to see what could be done. I confessed my problem and its cause, she took a look, and said my eardrum had nearly burst, it was bulging and bloody from the pressure of all the crying and buildup in my nose and sinuses, and whatever I did, not to blow my nose (or the eardrum might actually burst). She prescribed claritin and antibiotics, and I won't be able to hear from my left ear for a few days. Lovely.
So, cryer beware, if you need to have a good cry, do it sitting up so things can drain properly.

California

We had an amazing trip to California for my cousin Emily's wedding. We took advantage of the trip to party hard with all my siblings and parents who were also in town for the wedding (the Okas already live there). Thursday we went to dinner with Maria and Shane so we could get some good Mexican food (hard to find in Baltimore). The carnitas were SO delicious! Friday the rest of the family rolled in, and we got to work making the traditional Haynie taco feast (if you know what I'm talking about, you know what I'm talking about). Yum! Then that evening we went to Emily and Joey's rehearsal dinner where we got to hang out with lots of cousins and eat (gasp) more Mexican food! It was so great to chat, albeit briefly, with Crystal and Emily. The three of us have always been close, and it has been way too long since we have all been together. Saturday morning was Dad's waffles and family pictures, which, considering there are now 13 adults and 6 kids in my immediate family, went incredibly smoothly. I'll post those when I get my hands on them. Saturday afternoon and evening was Emily's wedding and reception, which were beautiful, as was Emily. It was great to see so much family, and fun to dance with my girls and Jon. Sunday we went to church, had a great family home evening where we discussed the importance of the family, and how we can protect its sanctity in this day and age, and then finished the evening with a cook out and camp fire on the beach. It was so fantastic to sit around the fire as the sun set, singing hymns with the people I love most. That is always my favorite part of family get togethers. Monday morning about half the family took off, but Joseph, Maria and I, with our respective families, headed to Disneyland. We were a group of 11...six adults and five children (oldest age two), but we ended up having a magical time. Had to be magic that we all had fun with that many babies involved! We didn't get home from the park until after midnight, so it was all we could do to get ourselves out the door by noon today to catch our flight home (a flight on which I now sit, and on which both my children have been angels, thank heaven). I feel both rejuvenated and exhausted, if that is possible, and tomorrow it will be time to face reality again. Thanks, Maria and Shane, for being amazing hosts, and everyone for loving us and our babies.

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Return of the Poopmeister

When Olivia was a newborn, I dubbed her the Grand Poopmeister. I should have known it would come back to haunt me when it came time to potty train. The other day she had to go "poo poo". It was morning, and she was still wearing footie pajamas and a diaper from the night before, so I stripped her down and sat her on the potty stark naked. But she didn't want to go on the potty, she wanted to go on the toilet. I put a potty seat on the toilet and sat her down there and she went! Success! Cleaned her up, flushed, and washed my hands. While I was washing, she went and sat on the potty and went some more! Success! So I cleaned her up again, and was cleaning out the potty chair, only slightly flustered from all the moving and pooping when she came back to the bathroom somewhat upset. She pointed at her feet, and when I looked at them, they were covered in "poo poo". We cleaned off her feet, and then I asked her to take me to where the poo poo was. She took me to the kitchen. And there was a big pile on the floor that looked as if it had been danced in. Accident!? At least it wasn't on the carpet.

Dos Meses

My little Anna girl is two months old today! She is such a sweetheart! Other than the fact that she has had a cold for going on for weeks now, she is a pretty darn easy baby. She is starting to sleep through the night, and she takes great naps during the day. The car puts her right to sleep, so getting out of the house is pretty easy. She is starting to talk to us and smile so much, though I have yet to get a good picture of it. I feel like I should be saying "I can't believe it's been two months already", but the truth is that it feels like she's always been part of our family. I just love my Anna!

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Princess Potty

I currently find myself with a clean house and two sleeping children. A rarity, obviously, as noted by my lack of posting. And while there are piles of laundry I could attack, I would much rather blog.

Today I took Olivia to Target and we picked out her very own potty chair. I in no way did this intending to potty train her now. I just wanted to get her used to having it around. When we got home and opened the box, she sat down on it, and without much dialogue from me on its purpose, started saying "pee pee...poo poo". And then she said "poo poo" again and went "poo poo" right on the potty. Of course, she was wearing her diaper, but still. I was very impressed. So what do you think, moms? Should I go for it now, or wait awhile longer?

Invincible

Anna is six weeks old and still has been waking up every 2-3 hours at night. Until two nights ago. We had her sleep in her car seat because she was so congested the night before that she could hardly breathe (or so it seemed to her parents), so we wanted her to be more upright to help with her breathing. And a miracle happened. She slept 5 hours straight! And then, after a feeding, slept another 3 hours till morning. Equaling 8 hours of nearly continuous sleep for mommy. She did the same thing last night, and it's made such a difference that today I feel invincible. Here's what I did today before nap time...fed the girls, got them dressed, cleaned the house, went to the gym, showered, hosted a playgroup, fed the girls lunch, and went grocery shopping. No promises that I'll keep this pace, but it is really incredible what a good night's sleep can do for a girl!

Anna's Birth Story

This is a bit overdue (kind of like my babies), but I'm finally posting to story of Anna's birth

December 28^th, 2010 started out quite peacefully, though I had a bit of a headache, which made me nervous. I tend to develop migraines, and I thought that a migraine on top of labor would be much less than desirable. I had been to the doctor the day before and was already dilated to a 4, and she had also stripped my membranes, so I felt confident that this labor would be much faster than my first.

We headed to the hospital for our scheduled induction, having passed my due date the previous day. My sister Diana and her husband Jon were staying with us (yes, both of our husbands are named Jon), so we left before Olivia woke up, totally confident that she would be well taken care of, which was a huge relief to me, since that was the one thing I had been most concerned about. We left for the hospital at 7:44 am, but had to pull over a minute later to scrape the windshield, because it was just a little bit too frosty.

By 8:09am I had been checked in, and just over an hour later, I was hooked up to my IV and ready to start pitocen. I had had come fairly serious contractions the night before, so I was hoping to be dilated to at least a 5, but when they checked me, I was still at a 4. Jon and I passed the time by playing 20 questions and updating the world on my progress (or lack thereof) on facebook, while we waited for over an hour to start pitocen, which finally happened around 10:45 am. Dr. Rogers allowed me to eat popsicles and Italian ice, which was fantastic, and Jon and I put on a movie (North and South) to distract me from the pain. Around noon, the contractions were getting really hard, and the nurses told me they thought I was progressing very quickly, and that if I wanted an epidural, I should probably order it. So even though I was still coping with the pain quite well, I went ahead and ordered it. An hour later, I had my epidural and felt much more comfortable, but when my doctor checked me shortly thereafter, I was still at a 4, and she seemed to think that since I already had an epidiral, things might not progress as well. I was frustrated with the nurses and with myself, but just kept hoping that things would move along.

After three long hours, my doctor checked me again, and I was finally at a 5. She decided to break my water, and it was the most hilarious sensation! I laughed and laughed, which made the gushing even stronger. Even the nurse was surprised at how much fluid there was. The breaking of the water must have done the trick, because an hour later, I was at an 8. The epidural seemed not to be working on my right side, and the nurse was going to order another dose. I could feel every contraction, and then felt the strangest sensation of burning and movement. I asked the doctor to check me again, and I was at a 9. I said I was sure the baby was coming very, very soon, and told the nurse not to bother with the epidural. I was in SO much pain, but I just wanted the baby to come, and I didn’t want anything to slow that down. Seconds later I felt the most amazing(ly painful) sensation, and told the doctor I was ready to push. Sure enough, I was at a 10. I pushed 3 or 4 times, and literally, within 5 minutes, Anna was born, at 5:18 pm, weighing 6 lbs 9 oz. She came out screaming her head off, but it was the sweetest sound to me. They laid her on my chest immediately, and of course I was crying with joy and relief.

It may sound strange, but I am actually really glad that my epidural stopped working, because it was the most amazing feeling to feel what was happening. Not sure I’m ready to commit to going through labor completely on my own, especially since I don’t think my body knows how to go into labor, and I may have to be induced every time (pitocen contractions are painful), but I really loved experiencing the pain with the delivery. There was something special and magical about it.

A couple hours after Anna was born, Jon and Diana brought Olivia to the hospital to visit us, and it was so sweet to see the two sisters meet. I absolutely adore my sisters, and I am so excited to watch their relationship develop and grow. Olivia gave Anna a kiss, and was really excited about the “be-bi”, which made me so happy.

We enjoyed our peaceful time in the hospital with Anna, but wanted nothing more than to take her home, and were so blessed that she was healthy enough that we could bring her home just over 24 hours after she was born. When she came home, we put her under our Christmas tree, our perfect Christmas gift, just a few days late.

New Toy

We had visitors last night...my aunt, uncle, and cousin, Eva, Wade, and Tim stayed with us at the end of their trip to DC. It must be the Haynie blood in him, because Tim wanted to check out an East Coast thrift store. Jon went along and picked up this beauty for Olivia for $4! She is totally delighted!

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Anna Girl

Anna turned one month old on Friday. She is such a sweetheart! She is starting to sleep better at night...pulling three hour stretches instead of just one, which is a welcome change. Olivia is a sweet sister, helping get diapers, giving kisses, and making a very concerned sound whenever Anna cries. Anna is just getting cuter and cuter every day. Today she wore a dress that Liv wore when she was tiny, and it was so fun to remember. They don't look much alike, but they do look like sisters! Here's Anna today, and note the new side-by-side one-month photos on the side bar. Happy Sunday!

Oops...

Today I gave Olivia some m&m's in the car to keep her quiet. In the future I think I'll stick to smarties when I resort to bribing my children.

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Moments like this...

make it all worthwhile.

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Home Alone: Week Two

We had a great weekend together. I am so enjoying Jon's time off school between semesters. It is fantastic to have all day Saturday to spend together!

Week Two of being home alone with my babies started with a vengeance. (Don't worry, I still love my job.)

Anna has slowly, but surely, been sleeping better, but last night the poor thing was so congested that her breathing sounded awful and she kept waking herself up. After being up with her for 2+ hours, and trying my old tricks (saline nasal drops and a bulb syringe) with no success, I finally called the after hours pediatrician. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a call-back within 10 minutes, and the doctor I talked to recommended making our own saline solution at body temperature (1/4 tsp salt in 1 C. tepid water), putting it in her nose with the bulb syringe, and then suctioning her nose out after a minute. I felt terrible squirting the stuff up her nose. I would put it in one nostril and it would squirt right out the other. But she didn't seem to mind it too much, and it actually helped. The doctor also suggested putting a steamer in the room to compensate for the dry air caused by having the heat on . We followed the doctor's orders, and after more than three sleepless hours, we finally all got some rest.

Jon saved the day by getting up with Olivia and letting me sleep in until 8am. I was still pretty exhausted, but it could have been worse!

Juggling my own tiredness, Olivia's excessive energy, and Anna's constant need to eat and be burped (the girl has a hard time burping, so it is quite the process), we weren't dressed for the day until after 10am.

Somehow we made it through the morning to lunch, and through lunch to what should have been nap time. I was nursing Anna so she would be calm while I put Olivia down for her nap when suddenly I got a nosebleed. I never get nosebleeds, so I was pretty shocked. I scrambled to the bathroom to get a tissue, but didn't get one before I bled all over my nursing bra and my baby. Yuck! Then I couldn't get Olivia to come upstairs for Anna and I to change, so I ended up having to haul her up kicking and screaming.

Speaking of screaming, we had to run to Wal-Mart after nap time, and poor Anna woke up hungry while we were there, and screamed inconsolably for 15 minutes. Totally broke my heart.

But the miracle of it all is that the day flew by, and I felt relatively calm through it all.

I love my girls, and days like today only make me love them more.

Also, bless those freezer meals I made back in December.

Home Alone with Two Babies

As of Monday, I'm doing this thing on my own...

Day 1:
Surprisingly peaceful day. We ventured out into the cold to go grocery shopping. The girls were incredibly well behaved. Only thing of note, besides the huge box of whole grain goldfish crackers I got on sale, was the lady who asked me if Olivia was adopted. What the?
While I nurse Anna, I let Olivia make a disaster of the living room. Books off shelf, onto floor, shoes out of bench, onto floor, toys out of bins, onto floor. But neither girl is screaming, so I call it a success.
Miraculously, both girls nap for two hours simultaneously. Unfortunately, it doesn't occur to me to nap until five minutes before Olivia wakes up. But boy was I productive during those hours!
Dinner time rolls around before I know it. Back to cooking, and I'm easing my way in, so it's chicken quesadillas, with leftover chicken. But I do throw a few veggies in my new food processor and make a fresh salsa, so I guess that counts for something.

Day 2:
We religiously visit the library on Tuesday mornings for "Baby Boosters Story Time". Whatever will we do when Olivia turns two and is too old? I had others take her while I was out of commission, so she hasn't missed a week, and even had Jon call to sign her up while I was in the hospital in labor. You've got to be on top of it, because you have to sign up one week in advance, and they fill up in ten minutes. Anyway, this was my first time taking both girls on my own. I signed up for the 10:30 slot instead of our usual 9:30 because I thought it might be tricky to get both girls out the door on time, but by 9 am, Olivia was antsy, and kept bringing me my "shoosh" and pointing to the door. So we left a bit early, and I took Olivia to the library playroom to kill some time before the program started. I had to nurse Anna while there, and while nursing in public isn't my favorite thing to do, it's better than a hungry, crying baby.
Later, at home, we kept the peace with lots of snacks, including a small taste of bread dough for Olivia. Umm, yummy?
Naps didn't overlap quite so neatly this time (Olivia talked/cried to herself for 1.5 hours before actually sleeping, which always stresses me out), but I did zonk out on the couch for about half an hour with Anna. Much needed. She's still waking up every 1-2 hours all night.
And I managed a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs (sauce and meatballs were frozen), salad, and fresh bread (remember the dough?). Definitely yummy. It feels good to be cooking again. Even if I'm taking baby steps.

Day 3:
We laid low and stayed home all day today, though Olivia was disappointed. She brought me my shoes several times. Sorry Liv. I want to go to Barnes and Nobel to use my gift card on a slow cooker cook book, but I still don't have a double stroller. I spent a good part of the morning checking some out online, and almost took the plunge on the BOB Sport Utility Duallie, but Jon talked my out of it by reading horror reviews of strollers with fixed front wheels. I'm now seriously considering the BOB Revolution, but it's over $100 more. I may just have to order that cook book online. Ah, well.
Mess making was punctuated with snack eating, and that got us through the morning. Lunch was a mere formality, for all the snacks Olivia had leading up to it. But maybe all that digesting made her sleepy, because she took a 3.5 hour nap! Which left Anna and I to hang out with my friend Stephanie and baby Lily (three days younger than Anna). We had a great time chatting and catching up, as we hadn't seen each other since we had our babies.
When Liv finally woke up, the peace was over for awhile, as both girls decided they needed my attention at the same time, but we survived somehow. And thanks to my slow cooker and yesterday's bread baking we had some yummy bbq beef sandwiches for dinner. And for the record, Olivia did not fall for it when I tried to sneak some broccoli into her sandwich. She promptly spit that bite out. I don't know how she knows...
Being Wednesday, Jon went to mutual, leaving me to get Olivia down for bed while caring for Anna at the same time. And with the tantrum that was beginning right as it was time for a bath, disaster seemed imminent. Blessed Anna saved the day, though, by conking out, and allowing me to practice my dad's tried and true parenting technique of "confuse and conquer" on Olivia.
Now Olivia is out for the night, and I am actually nursing Anna while typing. If you're gonna be a mom, you have to learn to multi-task!

And it is SO worth it!

Milestones

We had a few milestones today. At two days away from three weeks old, Anna attended all three hours of church, lost her umbilical cord, and had her first blowout. Fortunately the blowout happened after we got home from church.

Tomorrow is another milestone of sorts. Jon is going back to work, and I will be on my own with my girls. He has been working half days from home for the past two weeks, so I've been on my own some, but mostly two or three hours at a time, as opposed to the eight or nine we will face starting tomorrow. Overall, though, I am optimistic. The past week has been sweet and peaceful, interspersed, of course, with a few chaotic moments. But I think I can do this. Wish me luck!

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Resolutions

2011 is here, and life is changing for me in a big way. Read: mother of two. Babies. Yikes! People ask me how it is going, and I say, I have NO idea...I still have Jon home from work and my mom in town, which equals TONS of help. And I love it. But the true test will be when all the family goes home, and Jon goes back to work. Thankfully, that won't happen for another week and a half. I am so blessed.

I thought, though, that to make myself more accountable, I should share my New Years resolutions with you all. Feel free to check up on me.

#1- Train for and run a 10 K. I plan to do this in the spring/summer with my sister Diana & friend Stephanie, both of whom also just had babies. In preparation for this, I asked for (and received, THANKS honey...err, Santa) a TREAD MILL for Christmas! I am also on the hunt for a good double jogging stroller, but it has proved difficult because I have the world's smallest trunk, and I'm not quite ready to upgrade to a mini-van. Anyone know of a super compact, affordable double jogger? Anyway, 10 K, here I come. Did I mention I am not a runner?

#2- Don't miss a day of Scripture study. I think this will keep me sane, and keep the blessings coming.

#3- Learn to be a mother of two. This is going to require patience, organization, and a lot of other things I'm sure I don't know about yet. But some of my plans are: make sure I have plenty of diaper changing supplies on all three levels of our house, shower at night when Jon is home, keep making freezer meals on occasion, and use my slow cooker often, and help Anna learn to SLEEP! Other suggestions are welcome!

That's it for me. Happy New Year! May it be blessed!