Adoption journey

Over the past year, the Lord has been growing, teaching, and challenging our family in so many ways! We are responding to the Lord's leading and are expanding our family through the adoption of a precious baby!

Friday, July 27, 2012

Our favorite afternoon snack

I am so thankful the Lord gave me a love and passion for cooking... because living in a house full of guys, we go through a LOT of food! Since my 4 and 6yr old boys can already eat more than me, I can't even imagine how much food they'll be able to consume in the teenage years?! I'm almost always looking for easy, healthy, and budget friendly recipes. I feel like we do pretty well in offering food from those categories at meal times, but snack times often get lost in the business.

Some of our favorite snacks are fruits and veggies... and most recently granola!! Here is my simple and easy recipe for granola.


Ingredients: 2 cups rolled oats
1 tsp cinnamon (I use a little more)
1 tsp salt (I use a little less)
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
3 TBSP plus 1 tsp oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
*You can also add nuts or berries, but I'm just going for simple and allergy free

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper (this is very important if you want to actually eat the granola and not just look at it stuck to the pan;)

In a large bowl, toss the oats with the cinnamon, salt, and flaxseed.

In small bowl, stir together the oil, honey, brown sugar & vanilla

Pour the honey mixture over the oats mixture and use your hands to combine. Gather up some of the mixture in each hand and make a fist... don't be afraid to get messy! 

Pour the mixture on the parchment lined baking sheet. Spread evenly, leaving a few clumps.

Bake 10 minutes, remove from oven to stir/flip granola. Return to oven for another 10 minutes. Allow to cool. Can store in airtight container for 1 week... however it won't last that long!

We will eat almost half of the pan right out of the oven! The boys love to eat it right out of the bowl, and I love it on my blueberry coconut yogurt:)

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Muddy, messy BOY FUN!

I love... messy, muddy, exploring, dirty, pretend, muscles, swords, digging, building, wrecking... BOY fun!! 

playing with water
discovering
While I grew up in a family of 2 sweet, well-mannered, clean little ballerinas... I'm absolutely enjoying my 3 boys who enjoy making new discoveries outside, exploring, digging, creating water holes and of course... getting dirty!!



Even while painting his masterpiece...
we have to get messy! 
sprinkler fun=mud slide!!

seriously muddy!
My little muscle men!
I'm so thankful the Lord has blessed us 3 precious boys! I'm learning everyday how to train them up in the knowledge and love of the Lord! 
I love this face:)

This little guy hasn't gotten into too many messes yet...
but he does love to eat his toes:)

Coming soon: a post on our night time reading... 
sword fights, hunting, peeing in caves, battles, and adventurous chases---
we're reading 1 & 2 Samuel!


Wednesday, July 18, 2012

and the baby food making begins!

6 months!!! I really can't believe my sweet baby is 6 months and 18 lbs already!! Time has flown by! Samuel  is such a sweet happy baby, who happens to have food sensitivities to MANY foods. He is exclusively breastfed, so I have cut the problem foods (dairy, soy, peanuts, wheat, beef, tomatoes and citrus fruits) out of my diet. My poor guys had all sorts of skin, tummy and sleeping issues before I realized that food was the problem. Thankfully we learned pretty early that food was the problem, have been able to resolve all of his issues and now have an amazingly happy baby!

roast squash for about 40 min
puree in VitaMix, spoon in to ice cube trays

I've been a tad apprehensive about starting solids because I don't want to give him anything that will bother his sensitive tummy. I've gradually loosened up as he has shown an interest in my food. He loves to suck on a piece of cantaloupe and gum a raw carrot. However, he was very clear that he did not like his first helping of rice cereal tonight!! I just made 2 batches of butternut squash and spaghetti squash baby food... hoping he enjoys those flavors!

Would love to hear from other Moms... what are your baby's fav foods and recipes?

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Boy Mom Blog Hop with MobSociety


My hubby & I
when we were 1st married
I'm excited to participate in the Boy Mom Blog Hop hosted by the MOB society! I'm Kelly, blessed to be the wife of an amazing man of God and a homeschooling mama to three precious boys (6yrs, 4yrs, and 6 months). We're so excited to be in the process of adopting a sweet child from Ethiopia. Most importantly, I am absolutely thankful for my Savior and Lord who redeemed me, is daily growing me in faith, and has given me the privilege of proclaiming His Name, holiness, goodness, mercy and love to the world!
my boys:)
my littlest love
My blog includes many of my passions--cooking, homeschooling, everyday life with my boys, truths and encouragement from Scripture, adoption updates and fundraisers (Africa shirts). I enjoy sharing about my current mission field - my boys - and how we are growing in our walk with the Lord as a family. I love to live out my New Orleans heritage in the kitchen-cooking and creating fun and healthy recipes.

My boys favorite activities involve building things... from massive Thomas the Tank Engine tracks/towns, to Trio blocks and Legos. My boys have enjoyed playing with trains and Trio blocks since they were 2 or 3 years old and the fun just gets even better now that they can create and build on their own! Legos have just become age appropriate in the past year... just as a new little one arrived ready to put every tiny toy in his mouth;) My boys really like numbers, so it's appropriate that my 4 yr old's favorite game is the card game UNO. In a recent blog post, I shared several of our favorites--things that don't clutter, but grow their imagination and love for the Lord, such as Adventures in Odyssey audio dramas. 

Look forward to meeting other Moms of boys! Follow me on facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest!
If you are a mom of boys - come and join the link up to meet and encourage each other: 



Friday, July 13, 2012

Cow Day!!


My boys and I enjoyed dressing up for Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A! The boys have a blast getting in any kind of costume, so getting to wear a costume AND go to Chick-fil-A was pretty awesome for the boys! We all enjoyed our delicious FREE lunch!
cow cuteness!!
Added bonus... we had no run-ins with the actual scary cow;)