Lately

Even though it has been raining here almost every single day, multiple times per day, we're trying not to let it get us down here in the Davis household. We have spent the majority of the summer with a huge fort up in our main living room space. That's been fun for everyone! We've played games, read books, watched movies, taken naps, and more in that fun space. And so I can't say this rainy summer has been all bad. The fort has definitely been the upside!

Friday was one of our favorite days of the year around here, Chick-fil-a's Cow Appreciation Day! Lorien is obsessed with CFA, and I am obsessed with dressing up (or rather the dress up clothes -- seriously. You should ask my husband about my dress up trunk full of clothes and all the conversations we had early on in our marriage about how, no, I really am not giving up a single thing in that trunk thankyouverymuch, and yes, we have to figure out where to store it all!). This makes for lots of fun in the Davis household! As friend of mine said, "It's Lorien's favorite holiday of the year!" This was Lorien's fourth CFA Cow Day, and Brighton's second. We've had a great time of it each and every year!

Lorien was 3 months here. July 2010

Brian's sister Heather was living with us this summer and joined the fun!
July 2011

Brighton was 6 weeks old here.  July 2012
Newborn stage is a beast for me. Looking a little rough, but lucky we made it!

Most recent cow day, all looking cute! July 2013

Saturday morning was pretty low key, with clean up around the house and a quick trip to ToyRUs to hit up the Buy 1 Get 2 Free Crayola sale. We got lots of construction paper, crayons, markers etc.  In the afternoon I had the brilliant idea to take the girls out to play in the rain showers. However, by the time we had them both in swimsuits, the rain had blown on for the rest of the day's remaining daylight hours, so we opted for filling up the kiddie pool for the first time of the year. Why oh why had't we done this before?! Splashing brought endless fun to both girls, and Brighton in particular loved it! Sweet girl has a joy and zest for life that I am so thankful and blessed to be able to experience.

Brian captured this fun moment of Brighton looking up into my eyes and smiling all proud of herself for being a big girl in the pool. It melts me. And reminds me of this picture of Lorien looking up into my eyes all proud of herself when she finally first learned to walk by herself at 18 months.

I am going to get a frame with a place for these two pictures side by side and put it up by my side of the bed somewhere in our bedroom. That way, I can always remember the time when Mama was all the world, and perhaps the sweetness of the memories will make the transition to the majority of the rest of life where Mama is not the whole world a bit easier.

Sunday we did the church thing. It's good to be back there, but also hard to focus some weeks. This week was one of those weeks. We left Brighton in the nursery the entire time for the first time ever. But my mind wasn't really in the service. Her separation anxiety hasn't really done much slowing down, and going to church tired and then away from mama and daddy during what would otherwise be her nap time, really is not her cup of tea. I think she would rather be anywhere in the world than church each week, and honestly, I can't blame her. She should drop her morning nap by sometime in late August or early September, and I am hoping that will help her immensely with surrendering to the church routine.

Sunday evening, we were so worn out of exhausted, loud, and grumpy kiddos that we decided to go out to dinner at the Japanese steakhouse where they cook/perform in front of you, just so we could not have to cook and sit in peace while the kiddos stared mesmerized at the show and filled their bellies with fried rice. I'll be honest. I would have never have thought parents did things like that. It never even crossed my mind as something to think about before yesterday. And I am so glad we did it!  The girls were thoroughly entertained, ate up big time, there was no yelling or screaming, and we got to eat in peace too.  I mean really, the cook, whose name was Mack, must have read our mail, because that God send of a man quickly figured out the amount of all my food that I was divvying up and giving to Lorien, and even the size of the bites I was cutting her meat into, and then he did it all for me on the grill from then on out. Shrimp cut up into thirds. Itty bitty bites of chicken. Her own rice serving. That man was GOLD. Pure gold. I've never been so thankful for service at a restaurant in my life.

Another wonderful thing that came from the unexpected outing was finding old gmail chats I had with Brian the week before/of our first date! I was searching the name of the restaurant in my email to see if we might have any coupons (we didn't) when I found a chat we had had because I had randomly mentioned Inoko in it. It was so much fun reading through those old chats and remembering somethings we had forgotten about. Case in point. The actual date of our first date. Yup. You got that right. We've been mis-celebrating it for 5 years. Brian was always sooooo sure it was March 14th, but it was actually the 15th. I used to try and tell him that I thought it was the 15th, but since I'm generally not that great with dates, I just trusted his memory. Apparently, that led us to 5 years of not even knowing how long we've been together. Oh well, I don't think we're really any worse for wear. ;)

These chats also confirmed the story I've been sticking to since our first date (because it's the truth!!) that I had no idea we were even on a date because he had told me that since he owed me some money from something I had paid for him at our campus ministry, that he'd cover my movie ticket to pay me back. He's always said that never happened. Now I have proof that it did. :) And I am so thankful that date I didn't know I was even on happened. Because, really. A lot of wonderful life has been lived together since then!

Last but not least, I have to mention that we were back at CFA again on Monday! I know! We're crazy about some CFA. And princesses too. That was our impetus for heading back to eat more chicken. There was a knights and princesses night at one of the CFAs in town, and our girls weren't about to miss the opportunity to eat chicken nuggets dressed up in princess dresses and meet the real live princess and the princess cow! No way Jose! The girls and I went while Brian was out on a man movie date with one of his friends. Lorien even wore a tiara that I had from my junior year homecoming, which also happened to be my first date ever. Isn't she cute?

Also, I found out that our fearless Brighton Hope isn't as utterly fearless as we thought. She does in fact now have a confirmed fear (and it isn't slipping underwater in the pool and then trying to breathe in before I can snatch her up out of the water --that she was totally cool with today once she stopped sputtering) -- a fear of costumed people. Like the CFA cows for example. Poor girl was trembling all over and trying to keep from bursting into tears each time one of them walked up and waved in her face or heaven forbid to get a high five. She was just not havin' it.

The Best Salad I've Ever Had

Now, before I go tooting my own horn too hard core, I've got to admit that the lunches around my house are usually pretty bland. And repetitive. Brian and I usually eat a sandwich with mayo, some kind of deli cheese, and either Boar's Head turkey or ham of some variety. Some sort of baked chip or cracker and a fruit rounds out the daily ensemble. No fuss, no muss.  As Brian often teases me, if humankind could subsist on some sort of gloop and not even really need to eat, I'd choose gloop most of the time. And, sadly, he is probably right. Most of the time, eating for me is a function of necessity, and I approach it as such.

But not today. Today I was feeling bored and tired of the usual around here. I suggested to the hubster that a nice salad sounded like a good idea for the day, and he began slicing up the red pepper and the carrots, grating some cheese, and divvying up the greens while I finished feeding Brighton her lunch. Little did I know that having slightly different ingredients than usual was about to make for the best salad I have ever had. At home, or in a restaurant. SO good. So I couldn't help but decide to hop on over here and gloat share. ;)

Doesn't this look like the best thing you've seen?! 

Marti's at Midday...you ain't got nothing on me!

I discovered recently that Aldi is carrying even more organic produce than I had even realized. I knew about the apples, bananas, potatoes, and some cereals, pastas, sauces here and there. But I just discovered that they also have organic spring mix and spinach. The most recent time I was at Aldi they were sold out of the spring mix, so I picked up a pack of the spinach. Now I'd like to say I always buy items from the dirty dozen list exclusively organic. But alas, that is not true. With the specials they run at Aldi and the amazing prices they have on produce, I realized that I was starting to just not buy as many fruits and veggies because I was avoiding the frequently excessive costs. I took another look at the handy Dirty Dozen app on my phone and it reminded me that it is better to eat regular fruits and veggies than to eat less or none. My personal solution has been to choose organic for things we eat pretty much everyday, like apples, and not worry as much about the sprinkle of blueberries in my cereal every few days. And then for things, such as potatoes, that are particularly nasty if not organic, I just make sure I've budgeted in the cost of the organic kind if we're going to be cooking with it. Thankfully Aldi always has organic potatoes, and they are usually 1.99 for 3 lb. bag. That's a great price if you ask me, even when they have a5 lb. bag of regular potatoes for .99. I love me some Aldi.

So, dirty dozen/organic food prices tangent aside, here's what went in my salad (and why...because I just can't help myself).

Organic spinach (Aldi 2.50)
Red Pepper (Aldi, weekly special 3/$1)
Baby carrots (Aldi weekly special $1 for 16oz bag)
Boar's Head Tavern Ham (Publix, 9.69/lb. Yay for no preservatives in our lunchmeat!)
Strawberries (Publix .50 per carton with a Green Advantage store flyer coupon for $2 off with the purchase of 2 boxes Cheerios which were on sale and with coupons only $1.39 per box. I bought 10 boxes of Cheerios at this price and got 3 packages of strawberries and 2 packs of blueberries at this price. We can eat some cheerios up in this house, and some fresh fruit too!)
Cabot Seriously Sharp White Cheddar (Publix $2 with sale and manufacturers coupon. This is our FAVORITE cheese and this is my stock up price, so I bought 6 blocks about 2 months ago.)
Annie's Natural Raspberry Vinegarette (Earth Fare $1 during the Food Revolution sale this spring)

An aside: This is how my brain works. Part embarrassing. Part awesome. Don't think for one second I was running around looking for receipts to give you these awesome stats. That would be definitively too much work. That plentiful info is all just taking up space in my brain...

With Brian's help putting it together, I sat down to some crazy yummy food.

Can you tell how thrilled I am about it?! I even convinced Brian to try a "perfect bite" i.e. one with some of everything and just the right amount of dressing.  He ate a modified version of this salad, because he isn't a big fan of strawberries or any kind of dressing, so her prefers to eat his salads plain and fruitless. I know right?! But to each his own.  He eats salads regularly now, and didn't really do that before we got married, so I'm a happy camper.

I recognize that this is not a super out of the ordinary salad. I think it was just the combo of having spinach only instead of a mix, having so many yummy strawberries on hand that need to be eaten, and having run out of pre-shred cheese that made this salad so wonderful. Why oh why haven't I ever done this before?! It is going to have to become a regular occurrence at my house. And if you haven't ever tried Cabot cheese do yourself the favor. Particularly if you like very sharp cheese. The best I've ever had.

Catharsis & A Domestic Moment

So my rockin' wonderful, awesome husband has started a new thing in our household. A morning for mom. Let me repeat that. A. Morning. For. Mom. What does this mean?! It means that one morning each week, even though its a week day, I get to have a few hours to myself to do whatever I want. It is his gift enabling me to do things that fall in the "want to do them" category rather than the "need to run around like a crazy person and get this done while I don't have children with me" category. Since we own our own business, and he works from home most of the time, we are blessed with the capability to do this. And that is on top of the pre-existing perk of being able to frequently leave the house with no or less kiddos to run errands because he can watch the baby monitor while they sleep. I am an exceedingly blessed woman, and I really think that these kinds of opportunities will enable me to be a stay at home mom for longer than I would ever make it otherwise. I love my kiddos, but I am realizing that eventually, some day, I am going to want a job to do that doesn't directly involve my children or home.

So far I have spent the weekly morning to myself bra shopping the VS semiannual sale for REAL bras (i.e. not nursing or pregnancy related!), going out to an awesome breakfast at Mama's Boy with one of my best friends before she left the country again for an extended time, and having a 3+ hour letter writing session to someone with whom I have had relational strain lately seeking mutual repentance, forgiveness, and the frequently elusive common ground. All in all, a very diverse set of mornings to myself, but all very good and cathartic for me. I think being a serious type A personality with a to do list that will NEVER ENDDDDD has added a few extra challenges and adjustments to be made in maintaining personal health and sanity portion of life as a mother and house wife. How does one allow themselves "personal time" when the work is never all done at the same time? I think I'm learning that sometimes ya just gotta let that list lie. And go buy some bras! Or get yummy breakfast with a friend. Or do your part to bring health to a relationship that has been struggling.  I feel the most emotionally healthy I've felt in a LONG time. So yay for that.

I think all the letter writing catharsis got me in the mood to bake yesterday. And in case you don't have any idea how rarely that happens, let's just say that my husband (to whom I've been married for going on 5 years) had never seen a baking mood strike me before.  I mean, I occasionally bake seasonal goodies with the girls, like pumpkin bread in the fall, or christmas cookies for the holidays, but outside of that and the occasional boxed brownies, or break and bake cookies, thats as far as I go. This is partly because my hubs doesn't like banana or pumpkin bread (my reigning faves), and I probably ought not eat all those loaves primarily by myself.

But, yesterday the idea struck to make zucchini bread for the first time! I've never made it before, but we have lots of zucchini right now because I've been craving my favorite soup, Italian sausage & zucchini soup, despite the fact that its not winter and had decided to make it for the fam anyway.

I hunted around on the web for a recipe that was healthy. You know, the applesauce substitute kind. I think I'm a bit late to that party, but I found one and happened to have all the ingredients on hand. Jack pot! I gathered all the ingredients and even remembered to take a picture for the ole blog after I had shredded the zucchini.

Why the bizarre angle for the picture? Because it best hid all the dirty dishes on the counter by the sink behind it. I thought for a split second about washing them first, and then realized if I did that the desire to bake might be gone by the time I got through with that mountain. I opted for bake first, clean later. That way, at least the baking gets done right?!

And the bread turned out SO good! I loved it, and so did Lorien, and it even passed the test for Brian! I'm gonna have to start making this at least semi-regularly. Brighton has also decided she likes it, but this morning she decided to hit a stubborn streak all hardcore like and refuse to ask nicely rather than demand, fuss, and cry for zucchini bread. So despite many tears, much snot, and a few fits, the poor girl only got one bite, and that was initial bite before she realized how desperately she liked it. So much so I guess that she MUST HAS IT NOWWW, but not enough to actually surrender to asking nicely. It was pretty pathetic, and I would have caved if Brian hadn't been with me for accountability. But seriously. When asked to use her manners and ask nicely, she would shake her head no repeatedly, hit, kick, resist being led through the sign language motions, you name it. Don't think we realized until this morning that she even really has a stubborn streak. Ok. Mom and dad stand corrected on that one. What a joy and a challenge to be responsible for shepherding the heart of a child.

Anyway, the bread was good. Pitch a fit good. So, just in case you aren't already making awesome healthy(ish) zucchini bread, you can check out the recipe I used here. I made it just as recipe calls for, except that I left out nuts cause that's not a fave, and used vegetable oil instead of canola oil because I am seriously allergic to that stuff.

4th of July Weekend

Despite the nasty weather, we managed to have a nice 4th of July weekend.  We didn't really work up any major plans this year, except for a tentative plan to walk over to Bishop park to watch the fireworks and let Lorien participate in the kiddie parade.  That event was cancelled due to the rain, but we pretty much saw that one coming.  Instead, we paraded around the house with the flag and sang patriotic songs and built the most epic rainy day fort yet! I'd say the sparklers at dusk were the highlight of the day. Lorien LOVED them once she got over being slightly afraid. Sadly, we failed to take any pictures on the 4th, so we don't have any pictures of this cuteness, nor of the yummy dinner of grilled out hot dogs, baked beans, mac n cheese, salad, and watermelon.

But to make up for it, we were sure to take lots of fun pictures of this!

The following day, we decided to head out early and try to pick a gallon of blueberries before the rain blew in for the day.  I was pleasantly surprised that we succeeded and had a great time doing it!

Lorien definitely ate more than she added to the bucket, and each time I tried to remind her that at least some of them should hit the pail, she told me that she was doing blueberry picking like Sal from Blueberries for Sal. Wasn't much I could say to that, besides kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk as the berries that did manage to make it to the bucket fell in.

Brian was a stud and carried around Brighton in the backpack carrier so she could get in on as much of the action as possible without actually being all up in the action. She ate her fair share of blueberries too, and enjoyed looking around.

Saturday was spent cleaning and hanging out around the house. In the afternoon, Brian disappeared for a few hours to help his sis, Heather, move from one place to another across town. After that we met up with Heather and Pop Pop at Chik-fil-a for a fun dinner with the girls and the wild manic time at the play place. Both girls were diggin' it. Even Brighton was trying to get in on some of the action, and attempted to scoot up the slide. Sadly for her, it wasn't really working out. But it sure was cute!

All in all, a great weekend!