Baked Nut Butter, Banana and Blueberry Oatmeal...YUM!

My sweet friend Jeni is pregnant...with her FIFTH baby(!!), and like most newly pregnant mamas she has not been feeling great. On top of being nauseous and being a mom to four kids and homeschooling and on and on, her husband had to unexpectedly go out of town. So, after some forcing convincing, she allowed me to bring her and the kids some dinner. Since mama was having a hard time eating much I decided on some good old oatmeal! Kids love oatmeal and it's easy on the belly, exactly what a pregnant mama needs. Also, this meal is made with good protein: milk and eggs, and good fat: grass fed butter, and nut-butter, so it is a well- balanced meal.

Now I stated before, we try to eat as much whole, unprocessed food as possible and while there are a trillion upsides to this type of diet the one (unfortunate) downside is the cost. So, when planning meals during the week I try to balance our food budget by throwing in some meatless options, like eggs, beans, coconut flour pancakes and oatmeal. And while regular oatmeal with all the toppings is a kid favorite around here, baked oatmeal is a more adult favorite!! It's super easy, in fact you probably have all of these ingredients in your house right now!

Baked Nut Butter, Banana and Blueberry Oatmeal

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 3/4 cups milk (preferably raw or low pasteurized, non-homogenized)
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 eggs
2 bananas
2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen) divided
2 tbsp grass fed butter, softened
1/2 cup nut butter (almond, cashew, peanut, etc)
1/4 cup raw honey

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 2 quart baking pan with either butter or coconut oil. Slice bananas and lay in the pan, top with 1/2 of the blueberries. Mix all the dry ingredients and pour evenly in the pan. Mix all the wet ingredients and pour over the dry ingredients. Top with the rest of the berries and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Top with more grass fed butter and raw milk, eat and ENJOY!!

This recipe has been approved by a six year old, two four year olds and a 2 1/2 year old, as well as some Mamas and Daddies!

May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor!

So if you're a nerd totally awesome, like me, then you're excited and maybe a tad bit obsessed with the premier of Hunger Games!!! (Look out, I feel like there will be even more than usual exclamation points used in this post!!!)

While in attendance last night at a fabulous wedding of two amazing people (well actually four people. The  brides were twin sisters and they decided to have their weddings together!) I about tackled this lovely girl in a teal dress because I spotted her most amazing Mockingjay Pin. Luckily, being obsessed with the books also (i.e. wearing the pin) she totally understood my excitement and why I ran over to talk to a complete stranger. Needless to say she sat at our table, where myself and a few other Hunger Games Fans made quick friends...it's bringing people together!

But I was inspired to look up where to buy such a fabulous pin (yes, I am a total dork. I totally know), and found all this other stuff as well!!

Catching Fire Lip Tint at Theme Fragrance on Etsy

Brass Arrow Bracelet at InGodsHands on Etsy

Everdeen Family Book of Herbs Journal at Creobos on Etsy

Rue's Lullaby at PixyStitches on Etsy

Stay Alive T-shirt at NoseAndWhiskers on Etsy

MockingJay Pin at SpotLightJewelry on Etsy

 Honestly this is the tip of the iceberg of Hunger Games crap stuff! Etsy has pretty much anything you can imagine. SO get your geek on and find something ridiculous to wear! Happy Hunger Games.

The Bow Tie: Because Little Boys Need Tutorials Too!

Because I have a daughter and a son, I know how super easy it is to shop and make things for girls, and how frustrating it can be to shop and try to come up with something to make for boys. I have made the Crazy girl skirts and headbands and hats. Every time we go to the fabric store I have to resist buying some unnecessary supplies to make her something (just yesterday I had to put back some tangerine chiffon, teal and white gingham trim and some white fold over elastic. I had a great skirt in mind!) But boys are different.  It's hard to think of creative, quick things to make boys. Luckily my boy doesn't really care. He never asks me to make him anything and he doesn't care that I make his sister like 84 skirts before I make him 1 "something." Really as long as the Sweet boy has his blue shorts with the stripes down the side and some sort of baseball themed shirt, he's fine. Oh, and his running shoes. Can't forget the (stinkin') running shoes! But I decided to make him something anyway, and with Easter coming up, maybe it's something quick and easy you can make your boy too!

Supplies:

1. Felt. Any color.

2. Hot Glue

3. Scissors

4. Peel and stick velcro

Here we go!

First you need to cut 3 pieces from your felt. Now being the amazing tutorial writer that I am, I did not measure these pieces (sorry friends). But I can tell you that 1 piece needs to fit around your boy's neck (that's the long skinny piece on the right). The next piece (in the middle) is your bow tie piece, so make it as thick as you want the tie to be. The last piece is your center, and that just needs to be big enough to wrap around the bow tie. Wow, that was confusing. Next time I write up a tutorial I'll measure things, ok? Ok.

Now, take your bow tie piece and hot glue the ends together, creating a tube.

Take your tube and flatten it so your seem is in the center. Pinch the middle and and put a little glue in the center to hold it together.

Flip your bow tie over so the backside is facing you. Get your long skinny neck piece and glue it to the back. Then take your center piece and glue that to the back. It will kind of look like an elephant (said my 4 year old)

Now wrap your center around your bow tie. Put some glue along the way. When you get to the back just cut off any excess.

Okay, here's the cool part (or I think it's cool) simply peel off your "peel and stick" velcro and stick it to your felt! I love to sew, but I also love things I don't have to sew! So this made my little day!

Awww!!! Now make your Sweet boy put on a collard shirt and strap this on him!

Then try to get both Sweet boy and Crazy girl to take a picture together. FAIL.

So just let Crazy girl take her own picture. She's really camera shy. (You can't see it in this photo, mainly because it is lost in her mane somewhere, but I also made the girl a little felt bow hair clip. Simply follow all the directions and then glue it on a clip. Easy.)

I was having so much fun with my felt and my glue gun, I then made this big bow for the Crazy girl. We LOVED it. It's made a little differently, but isn't it cute?!

She really did like it. Oh Crazy.

So go make something for your boy! And if you have any other boy tutorials I would LOVE to know about them!!

A Recipe: Someone Else's Recipe

So since Pinterest came into my life, my family has been blessed (my word, not theirs) with trying some new recipes. Now, every mom knows that trying a new recipe can be dangerous. While my family does not like eating the same thing over and over again, I don't like making something new only to have everyone tell me that don't really like it (BOO!) But this recipe I am going to share with you today is a HUGE winner in this house!!

Before we get to the recipe let me share a little bit about the way we eat (or the way I try to get my family to eat).
1. We drink raw milk or at the very least low pasteurized, non-homogenized milk. Since Texas has very little options for raw dairy, the rest of our dairy is organic (which I limit because of the high cost of organic food).
2. We have low to no processed food in the house (the exception is cereal for the Hot Doc. I can't seem to get him to break his cereal habit, and my homemade granola did not go over as well as hoped.)
3. I am completely grain free except for brown rice. The rest of the family eats oatmeal and soaked and sprouted bread (I buy a loaf of Ezekial bread about every two weeks)
4. We love FAT! I cook with Olive Oil, grass fed Butter and Coconut Oil.
5. We eat grass fed and pastured meat.

All of this is done on a budget. The Hot Doc works his General Surgery Resident buns off, but he doesn't get paid like it! We definitely make cuts in other areas to be able to afford higher quality food, but I also try to find recipes that are on the cheaper side! Here are a couple tips:

1. Buy whole chickens.
2. Buy less meat and dairy. The only thing I really don't ration is milk. Don't get me wrong, our raw milk is like gold, and I will definitely make you put your cup back in the fridge if you don't finish it all, but you can drink as much as you want!
3. 1-2 meals a week are meatless. Think eggs and beans. They are inexpensive, good for you and fill you up!
4. Don't buy things made with industrial oils (like, canola, sunflower, safflower, vegetable, etc.), added sugar, high fructose corn syrup or soy. This eliminates pretty much all processed food, including Organic processed food, which is not worth the cost.

Okay, more information than you wanted to know on this Tuesday? My apologies. Here's the recipe!

Photo from Nourished Kitchen

Bacon, Chicken and Green Beans! It's made with Bacon (are you sold yet?), coconut milk (amazing!) and many more wonderful, whole ingredients. Don't be afraid when it tells you to cook your chicken, onions and garlic in the bacon grease. Just make sure you get nitrate and nitrite free bacon (organic if you can afford it, but it's okay if can't) and feel good about feeding your family natural, preservative free, whole food!

Now go to this amazing and informative website, Nourished Kitchen, and get this great recipe for Bacon, Chicken and Green Beans!

A Texas Kind of Spring: A Tutorial

In the last seven years the Hot Doc and I have lived in four different states. We met in California. Nice and sunny, "cool yourself off in the ocean" California. We married in Colorado, which is beautiful, and blue skied and big mountains, but it also snows there which scares the crud out of this California Girl! (I am scared to drive in the snow, I'm not scared of actual snow that would be weird.) We had our babies in Missouri. Missouri has super hot and humid summers and freezing, icy winters. (Ever bundle two kids up and strap them in their car seats while wearing huge puffy jackets? Not a mom's favorite thing to do.) And last, but not least there is Texas. Texas is...what's the right word...difficult. It's difficult to explain the weather in Texas, mainly because there is no consistency. Well, I take that back, there is one fact about Texas, it's hot. No, no, not like "wow, it's so hot out here, we should go to the pool to cool off," it's like, "Wow, it's so hot out here I am afraid that if we try to walk to the pool to cool off we might DIE! And that death would be in vain because once we got to the pool we would realize that the supposed "refreshing" pool is actually like a warm bath tub." When it's not summer, which is rare, the weather is all over the place! Last week we had a few days of high 70's, low 80's with humidity and now for the last 3 days it has been pouring rain and 50 degrees. It's confusing. But despite my confusion I decided we needed a bit of Spring in our lives, and I want to share with you this little Spring Chick tutorial!!

Here's what you need:

1.Yarn. I used yellow, pink, black and orange, but you could make your little chick whatever color your little heart desires.
2. Hook. I used a 4.25 mm, but once again it's whatever you want.
3. Felt.
4. Hot glue
5. Hair clip or headband

Stitches used:
ch- chain
sl st- slip stitch
sc- single crochet-
hdc- half double crochet
dc- double stitch
tr- treble- Yarn over hook twice, then insert hook into next stitch. Yarn over hook, then draw yarn through the stitch (there will be four loops on your hook) *Yarn over and pull through two loops (three loop remaining), yarn over and pull through two loop,(two loops remaining) yarn over and pull through last two loops.
dbl tr- double treble- Same process as the treble, except yarn over hook three times to start the stitch
trp tr- triple treble- Same process as the double treble, except yarn over hook four times to start the stitch

Are you thoroughly confused informed? Okay! Then we are ready!


Chick Body

Chain 4, sl st to form ring

Round 1- 10 sc into the ring

Round 2- 2 sc in first st, sc in 2nd st, 1 hdc and 1 dc in 3rd st, 2 dc in the 4th st, 2 dc in 5th st, 2 sc in 6th st, 1 sc and 1 dc in 7th st, 2 tr in 8th st, 2 dbl tr in 9th st, 2 dbl tr in 10th st.

Round 3- starting in the first stitch of the previous round, 2 dbl tr and 1 trp tr in st, ch1 and sl st in same st (this is your tail). I also pulled my starting string to close up the hole.

Wing

Chain 4, sl st to form ring

Round 1- (crocheting into the ring)- sc, hdc, dc, 2 tr, dc, hdc, 2 sc, hdc, dc, 2 tr, dc, hdc, sc, sl sp into next stitch.

Finishing

1. Sew wing onto chick
2. Use black yarn to make a little eye
3. Use orange yarn to make a little beak. (I just found the stitch I wanted to be the beak and attached yarn, sc, ch 1, sc, ch1, sl st all in the same stitch.)
4. Finish and weave in all your ends

Now, cut a piece of felt in a similar shape to your chick. Get out your hot glue and glue it to the back of your chick, hiding all your ends.

Then get your clip or headband and hot glue it to your chick. I like to put one last piece of felt over the clip or headband just to ensure it is going to stay.

Lastly, put it in Crazy Girl's crazy hair. Wonder where all that hair came from? (Just kidding, I know exactly where it came from. It's like lookin' in a mirror folks.)

Now go make some chicks! And as always, if you have any questions, please let me know!

Laundry Sucks!

There are a lot of things I love to do; crochet, watch movies with my husband, drink coffee (that should have been first), play at the park (well, I like to take my kids to play at the park, I like to sit and talk to my mom friends...while drinking coffee), and many many more relaxing activities. However, the one thing that would NEVER make this list is doing the laundry. I despise the laundry, if "hate" was a word I used (and it's not because it's not nice) then I would say I h&$# laundry. In an effort to motivate myself to be better about keeping up with the laundry I decided to make my laundry room a little prettier. Here's what I was working with...

View as you walk in the door. Lovely.

"Folding table" (yeah right) 

This space is across from the folding table. It's a little awkward, but nice for extra storage, which i was taking full advantage of!

 So, first of all no judging (I'm doing enough of that for the both of us!) And second, although it wasn't much different from this, I did take these photos as I was starting to clear things out. I know, I'm totally making excuses for myself. It's horrible. I admit it. Lastly, before we get to the after (and I feel a bit redeemed), we painted the walls when we first moved in. I wanted something bright and cheerful and man oh man did we get it!! I was between two paint colors and decided to jump right in and go for the brighter one. Once it was painted I immediately regretted my decision ("milk was a bad choice!" Will Ferrell fans anyone? No? Okay, moving on). It took a little while for me to get used to it, and to stop closing the door when I walked by! Okay on to the "Afters"...

Much better, right?

I bought a tablecloth at Ross and cut it up and hung it on a tension rod. I didn't take a picture of what the curtain is hiding because then you'd go back to judging me.

Bought a little hangy thing (technical name) to put my mops and brooms on.  

Anyone else just LOVE Hobby Lobby's 80% aisle?! It's great! I got the little laundry sign, the tray and the little white board for under $10. The wreath was also from Hobby Lobby, 50% off, so it was like $4, maybe less. The two jars were from Ross, I paid $6 for the both of them and the shelf I got from Goodwill. It was $4.99 and I painted it white with some leftover paint in the garage.

Of all the things in this room the tablecloth turned "hide our crap" cover is my favorite!  I used the other side of the tablecloth, cut some holes in the top and tied it with twine to our Laundry Caddy. It's great because this sits right next to the door, so even if the laundry door is open, you're not staring at all our dirty clothes!

So, in full disclosure I feel like I need to tell you that the prettier laundry room only "kind of" helps motivate me to do laundry; I still "h" word it most of the time. And I totally cleaned up the room before I took these photos...just so we're honest with one another. 

It's been TOO long!

I have this tendency to ignore things I know I should do but don't want to think about (not a great personality trait when comes to things like PAYING BILLS!) This blog, unfortunately, became one of those things. It has been months people! Months!! Now some of that time is for totally valid reasons (and to validate myself I am going to list them for you now.) First, we traveled a lot towards the end of summer and into the fall. My sweet brother-in-law got married so we were flying back and forth to Colorado for bridal showers, bachelor parties and the wedding. Then the unthinkable happened...the computer BROKE! It was awful. After weeks of fixing it and then breaking again, fixing and then breaking, I finally took it to the computer repair shop and they proceeded to keep it for TEN weeks! TEN! And then at the end of those ten weeks, they still hadn't fixed it! Anyway, (and I promise this not-so-interesting story will be over soon), we finally took it to the Apple store where they fixed it for free and in about an hour. So, we've had it back for about 4 weeks and I have spent a considerable amount of time working on New Millie and "pinning" everything on Pinterest. But it's time friends. It's time to get my little act in gear with my blog. SO welcome back! Here are some things that have happened:

This is the nap mat I made for Harper. (She asked me the NIGHT before the first day of school to make it and being already emotional about sending my kids to Preschool, I agreed. I was up very late.)

Crazy Girl and Sweet Boy on their first day of school! Look at them with their backpacks!

During one of our visits to Colorado Daddy took Luke to his first Baseball Game (Go Rockies!) He loved the game and the Hot Dog!

 My Sweet Boy got his first hair cut.

Strawberry Shortcake and Superman ready for trick-or-treating. (Note to self: do not wait until the day before Halloween to find a costume because you think you will be the only person who procrastinated. Because you will end up buying your daughter a costume that is too small and picking up a costume for your son that was laying on the floor and praying the whole time in line that the actual owner of said costume does not come and rip it from your procrastinating fingers.)

 Luke busted his head open on a window. This trauma could have a whole post dedicated to it but I'll spare you the details and just give you the facts: It bled A LOT,  he ended up getting a ton of stitches, but we gave him (and mama) chocolate and he (we) felt better.

We celebrated Christmas at home. And we have like 84 videos of it and only 2 photos. So, sorry it's not great!

Harper had her first sleepover with her best friend Lorelai. (Another note to self: just because two 4 year olds stay up until midnight, that does not mean they will sleep in the next day. They will actually get up at the exact same time they always do and then be emotional messes for the next two days.)

Ok there's the run down! This is hopefully the start of a more consistent blog life.

Come by soon and see what I did with this atrocity!

EMBARRASSING!