2015 Favorite Photos: January thru April

Hey Y'all! I want to catch up on photos that I missed out on posting earlier this year, so I'll start with Spring.

Here are some of my favorites of Jonah (and our adventures) from this past Spring. We took a trip to San Antonio for my birthday in January, and rode the train in Hermann Park in February. We hit up the fried oreos at the Houston Livestock Show and Jonah wore his Texas best for Go Texan day at his pre-school. We celebrated Easter with our family and painted (and ate!) delicious sugar cookies. Annnnnd, we made a little trip to watch the Astros and it just happened to be dollar dog night. SCORE!!!

We took Jonah in April for his first "big boy" styled hair cut. He looked into the mirror, shook his head and said "who am I". I laughed SO hard but also felt so bad for him. He missed his long hair for weeks after the big cut. He would shake his head back and forth (because he used to do that and his hair would flop around) and would say "Mom!! It won't work anymore!!". Poor little Badger!! Definitely contemplating letting him grow it out again!!

Jonah's "Werk" Party

Jonah turned 3 in June and more than anything wanted a "werk" party. He loooooves to work on stuff (take things apart, fiddle with things, shove things where they shouldn't belong) you know. Normal boy stuff, right?!

His wish was my command. Obviously because parties are my JAM, y'all.

I started by making a trip to the Home Depot. That place is just my fave. I found a bunch of great stuff to craft with (I didn't stutter. The Home Depot! Crafts!!), and started with caution and wet paint banners. They were seriously the cutest (and so cheap).

We had TONS of moving boxes still in the garage because we had only moved in a couple of weeks (ahem, two) previously so I grabbed a couple of large boxes and made Jonah some fun werk vehicles!!

We had pizza, and lots of delicious treats. I made the kids a box lunch and put them in the living room at our coffee table (the construction site!) and they loooooved it. It was such a fun night, Jonah totally had a blast!!

And, here are a few more photos from his actual birthday and family celebration-

  

 He requested a waffle on the morning of his birthday!

LOVE my big 3 year old!!!!

Blogger of the year

So. Let's be honest. I haven't won any blogger of the year awards in 2015. This will be my third blog post this year. THIRD. I can't hardly believe that myself. I posted over 100 times in 2014, roughly twice per week and I've BARELY managed to post once per quarter this year. Eh. Life.

This year my "word" of the year must be rest. Just saying "NO" to outside pressure, stress and obligations.

I've got a lot to say. A lot, but I better pace myself (ha).

And, I could hug the sweet friend that texted me this week to tell me she misses reading my posts (Heyyyy, SherahJo!!). Kindof a kick in the rear I needed to remind myself that this blog about our life is important. Especially for our kiddos to look back on and read when they're grown (no, I didn't say kiddos to give you a big announcement) and see our adventures together. Somehow instagram replaced my blog.

Anyhow, I'm back. Maybe. I'm not going to put undue pressure on myself. I leave for China next week (great timing) and I'll be out of pocket for two weeks.

Soooo. I can't really catch up on five months, but I'll summarize. We moved into our home (I'll do some fun before and after photo posts) have gotten settled in, became semi-burned out on home reno projects and stopped for a break. Jonah had a big "werk" party (I'll def post photos from that) And have just been enjoying our new part of town/life in general.

I'll leave you with this new recipe that Jonah and I tried yesterday. Seriously yummy oatmeal cookies that came about because I was hungry for cookies, Jonah wanted me to play with him (he says that probably 654235 times per afternoon) and I didn't have butter so I googled "oatmeal cookies no butter". Annnnd, that's a fact. So, so good.

Recipe Via

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup canola oil or melted coconut oil (use a little more if dough seems is too dry)
• 2 large eggs
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks + more if desried

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer add the oatmeal, flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, canola oil, eggs and vanilla, beat until the dough is moist and all the ingredients are combined. The dough will be crumbly. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Using your hands clump together a tablespoon of dough. Use you hands to really squeeze the dough into a ball. If the mixture is not holding add 1 tablespoon more of oil. Place on prepared baking sheet. If your balls are a little crumbly do not worry, they will come together while baking. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 10 -12 minutes or until set and golden. These are best right out of the oven, so eat up!