An evening at the park

The twins second nursery...

This room came with MANY challenges and in the end, I don't love it but this is a very temporary space. The challenge of creating a boy/girl nursery was a big one. It was hard in Cincinnati where we brought them home but it was really hard to make a room for 9 month olds... not really newborns but not really toddlers. I wanted to go SUPER girly or SUPER masculine with a nursery but to have a shared space, you cant really do either, so then you just feel stuck. If newborns, I could have gone more elaborate since they are tiny babies who are so angelic it wouldn't really matter if you went to feminine but lets face it, Jack Henry is playing with cars and trucks now, it just felt wrong to be too frilly. Their first nursery was gray so I didn't want to repeat so we decided to go aqua and gray. The plan is to keep them in this room until they are in their big boy/ big girl beds.  When that will be, I'm not sure. Part of me wants them to room together forever. They have so much fun together in their room and they have always been together. The thought of separating them makes me very emotional but when we have our next baby, they will need that nursery, so until then we will keep these sweeties together. My thought is we will probably give them their own big boy and big girl rooms when the next baby comes and then room that baby with whichever gender matches one of the twins when it is time. 

The popcorn ceilings need a serious scraping and need to be painted a fresh white (we'll probably do this before future baby number three) and the cribs really needed to be painted white for this space but If we have a boy in the future, I am not sure if I want to commit to that. Thats the theme of this nursery, un-sure and compromising. But it's okay, its still a sweet little space where my babies get to spend lots of their life. 

This room was an AKWARD layout. One wall has the closet door, as well as random drawers built into the wall. Another wall is taken up mostly by a window, while another wall has an attic door on it (we just painted it the same color as the wall to make it blend in more (pretending it wasn't really there) and the only wall that is free space, is the wall the your back it to when you walk in, making a focal space. It was such a challenge, and adding not one but two cribs to the mix and an oversized chair made this a challenge that kept dragging out until finally, I had to accept that it was what it was and I didn't want to put a lot of money into it since they won't be in there long. The cute numbers and bedskirts are now gone as the cribs are in the lowest positions. The room needs a rug badly but again, I want to spend money on rugs that will work with the next baby, or in their future rooms, and I just didn't find anything that I was happy with to commit and make that happen. It's a cute little space but I am really looking forward to not making a unisex space :)

There is a play room right off of the babies room (perspective shown here)

Wall color: Barely Teal by Benjamin Moore

Curtains: Pottery Barn Kids  

Glider: Pottery Barn Kids

Changing table: Craigslist

Cribs: Jenny Lind

Shelves: Ikea

Chandelier: Ballard Design Outlet

Side table: Used to be my great grandmothers (painted)

 Canvases from a dear friend/family

Clock: used to be my niece's. Babies R us 

In search of a lamp for the side table and a rug.

Two new favorite snacks...

We have two new favorite snacks in our home that I had to share. They are super healthy and are baby love and approved. Here they are...
Peanut butter banana carob smoothie...
What is carob? It is my new favorite health food! It's a nutrient dense replacement for chocolate. Will I still eat chocolate, HECK YES, but this is great to add to smoothies where you would normally add coco powder because it is PACKED with nutrition. Carob contains lots of vitamins and minerals and has been used since the biblical times. You can learn lots about it here. 
The smoothie is awesome. It feels like you are having a serious treat and my babies could not get enough of it!

Put the following ingredients in a blender and combine until smoothie consistency is reached. 
1.5 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
6-8 ice cubes
2 bananas 
2T peanut butter
1T carob powder (you can get this at your local health store)
You gotta try!

The second recipe is roasted chick peas. This came to us as mistake. I was making white chicken chili and accidentally opened a can of garbonzo beans (chick peas) instead of great northern beans. I now had an open can of beans and didn't have everything for hummus so I roasted them instead. They are delish and packed with protein and fiber. They kind of remind me of my childhood road trip snack of corn nuts. 

Take a can of garbonzo beans, strain and fully rinse them with water. Lay a paper towel out, add the beans and take another paper towel and pat until dry. Add the beans to a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Distribute the oil by rubbing the beans around in the oil. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes until crisp and no longer soft. Take them out of the oven and sprinkle with sea salt, cumin and paprika. 
I hope you and your little ones enjoy this yummy and healthy snacks! 

Catching up: November iPhone pictures

A look back at 2013 in photos...

I know we are a few days into 2014, but I can't help but to be overwhelmed with thanks for 2013...

Christmas Card 2013 and some resolutions...

Hope ya'll had a very Merry Christmas! Sorry for posting this so late, but better late than never, right?

2013 was a great year and while I am not a huge New Years resolution fan, I do think it is fun to try to clean up your life a little for a fresh start of the year! Here is what I am going to be working on...

1. Walking closer with Jesus. This is always my deepest desire so I will take advantage of any opportunity to focus on this goal. I want to live every moment, spirit led. Help me LORD to do this.

2. Get more organized. I am a fairly organized person, but since having the babies I find my self having many airhead moments. This has to stop. Hopefully more will get accomplished on the house and more blogging will occur when the organization falls into place.

3. Clean up my eating. After weaning by babies I have put on about 7 lbs which is fine, but what isn't fine is all the yuck I consumed at every Christmas party I attended. I have been training for a 15K next month since september so I get great cardio every week but I'd love to add some toning up workouts for 2014. 

Thats all for now. Hope 2014 will bring you readers, great joy and my ultimate prayer is for each of you to intimately know our Great God.