Joey came out of his room during a long time out to use the bathroom...
Joey: Mom, I don't know if I'm going to learn anything from this because I'm just having too much fun in there.

This conversation happens several times a week. Apparently Hannah has figured out that when I respond in a certain way I'm really not paying attention.
Hannah: Mommy?
Me: Hmm?
Hannah: Mommy, no say hmm. Mommy?
Me: Yes, Hannah?

My sister recently shared two healthy recipes on her blog. I've tried them both, and they are VERY yummy!

I often serve oatmeal for breakfast, and this recipe was a fun alternative to our regular oatmeal with berries.

The kids and I love smoothies, so I was intrigued when I saw this recipe. I've snuck tofu into our smoothies before, but never spinach. We all really liked it even though the color was a little strange.


Originally this post was titled, "Healthy Recipes," but then I decided to add one more that Rachel shared with me today that looks out of this world. I can't wait to try these!

Great recipes, Rach!

Update: I added a picture of the photo wall just for Kelly. The top two empty picture frames are waiting for pictures that should be coming in the mail any day.

This past weekend, Andy and I shipped the kids off to my parent's house and had the whole weekend to cross things off my huge to-do list. Andy would call it my nesting list. I wouldn't entirely disagree with him.

Saturday we got almost everything on my list done. I was so excited! We painted all the bathroom baseboards, painted two accent walls, grouted a ledge outside on our patio, replaced our kitchen faucet and made five trips to Lowe's.

We were pretty exhausted after our big day, but we decided to take advantage of our lack of children and have a date night. We went out to Chili's for dinner and then rented Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We had been meaning to watch that movie for a long time, so that was another thing crossed off our list!

On Sunday the only thing we had to do was to hang up assorted pictures to make a photo wall. I knew this might be a pain in the rear and I was right, so I'm glad it was the only thing on our project list that day. Oh, and we did have to make one more trip to Lowe's!


I picked the kids up from my parent's house after nap time on Sunday. They had a great weekend and were in such a good mood when I brought them home. They even played together better than usual. It continued the next morning, and I found them upstairs hanging out in their room together while I was cleaning up the breakfast dishes.

Apparently they bonded at Bubba and Nana's house!

The weekend before I went to Atlanta, we were still busy moving back into our house after the painters were done. I was going to start hanging stuff back on Hannah and Joey's walls when Andy and I decided to move the kids into the same room. With the baby coming, it was going to happen eventually, and it seemed silly to get their rooms all set up only to change it all in a couple of months.

Hannah and I left the house Saturday morning and came back with girl sheets and a comforter that I found on Craig's List, and shelves for her clothes from Walmart.

When we got home, I washed the sheets and got to work assembling the new shelves. Joey's room (now Hannah and Joey's room) has a small walk-in closet, so I was hoping to get all their clothes to fit in the closet. It's a little tight in there, but it worked out really well.
Then I made the bunk beds with Hannah's new sheets on the bottom.
Hannah was very excited to see her new sheets on the bed...that is, until bedtime. She did NOT want to sleep in there and kept crying for her crib. We figured we had to get this angst over with so we sweetly, but firmly tucked her into her new bed and left. Soon after we left, Hannah stopped crying and we could hear Joey and Hannah chatting. Later I found out that Joey was singing Rock a Bye Baby to Hannah to make her feel better.

At one point when we were downstairs, we could hear footsteps in the upstairs hallway. I went up to check on them and there was no one in their room. I turned to check the bathroom, and two little guilty heads popped out. Apparently they thought a field trip to the bathroom was in order 15 minutes after we had taken them to the bathroom before bedtime. I got them both in bed again and told them to get to sleep. This time, Hannah went quite happily to bed, and it wasn't long before I heard them chatting again. Both kids were finally asleep around 9:30 (their usual bedtime is between 7:30 and 8:00).

When I went to check on Hannah in the morning she wasn't in her bed. I looked over to the side of her bed where I laid some big cushions on the ground in case she fell out of her bed, but she wasn't on the cushions either. I walked all the way into the room to check and see if she had gone up to the top bunk with Joey, when I noticed her sleeping under the bed. She must have rolled out of bed onto the cushions, and then rolled off the cushions and under the bed. There are some boxes under the bed, so she was actually wedged into this tight spot, and she slept through the whole thing.

The kids love their new shared room especially when I put these up:

Joey already had the Star Wars poster and the Marvel Comics poster, so I found a princess poster for Hannah online. I also bought the little white shelf from IKEA and put all my old Disney figurines on it that both kids love. When Hannah saw her new poster she kept saying, "I LOVE IT!"

So with a little bit of work, and very little angst, Joey and Hannah are officially roommates!

Joey's swimming lessons are going very well. After his first two-week session at the beginner level (Pikes), he got promoted to the intermediate level (Eels). Although he is still a little cautious in the water, he loves swimming lessons.

Yesterday I took the kids down to our pool after nap time. Joey still wears his life jacket when he swims, but I made him practice swimming without it a little bit. When he did, he was swimming better than I had ever seen him swim, just pulling his head out of water briefly to grab a breath and then putting his face back under and continuing on. I told him that if he could swim across the entire width of the pool like that without stopping and without me touching him, he could pick out a new Lego set from Toys R Us. As much as he LOVES Legos, he was still quite hesitant and said he wanted to wait until right before we were going to leave. I really didn't think he was going to get the nerve up to try, but he did! He swam across the width of the pool all by himself!

It was so amazing watching him swim. It's one of those things it's impossible to fully understand until you have your own kids, but watching them learn something new, be it rolling over for the first time, riding a two-wheeler, or swimming across a pool, is just magical. As soon as Joey got to the other side of the pool he wanted to run all the way home to tell Andy about their post-dinner trip to Toys R Us.

I thought Hannah might want to stay home with me, but she's no dummy and wasn't going miss a trip to the toy store. The three of them left for Toys R Us, then returned home an hour later, Joey triumphantly clutching a new Lightening McQueen and Mack Lego set. He was jazzed because it has 374 pieces. Thankfully, Andy talked him out of his first choice, a Millennium Falcon set that cost $150!

When Andy, Joey, and Hannah got back from Toys R Us, it was already late, so Joey had to wait until morning to start making his new, mammoth creation. Guess who was up at the crack of dawn raring to go? And since Joey and Hannah now share a room (that will be a future post), that meant that Hannah was up early too.

The early morning hours got to Hannah, and she decided to tuck herself in for a little rest later that morning.

Hannah did get up eventually and kept wanting to call Nana to tell her about Joey's Lego progress. Apparently she's quite the proud sister!

And after two hours, here's the final product:

Update: I updated the post to include my cousin, who was also unable to make it to Atlanta. So sorry, Wendy!

My dad's dad, Grandpa Krause, passed away at the end of July after many years of having Alzheimer's disease. He was my first grandparent to pass away, so it was my first family funeral. It was really the best kind of funeral to go to. He was a man who loved the Lord and had a long, wonderful life. I was so thankful that not only all my siblings, but also almost all of my extended family (minus one aunt and one cousin) were able to attend the funeral in Atlanta. We had a great family reunion while celebrating my grandfather's life.

Here is my mom, my sister, and me with my grandma. My grandparents were married for over 62 years. The last few months have been especially difficult and exhausting for her, but she was a rock.

The Krause clan.

My grandpa was a chaplain in the Air Force and served in the wars in Korea and Vietnam. He was buried with full military honors at the Georgia National Cemetery. It was amazing!

This was when they folded the flag and presented it to my grandma. I believe the guy who presented the flag said something to the effect of, "From a grateful nation we thank you for his service."

The ceremony ended with a nine gun salute, and then a bugler played taps. It was so touching and emotional.

Andy was able to take a couple of days off of work to watch the kids while I was in Atlanta, and they also spent one day with a neighbor. I was so thankful to be able to fly out and be there with my extended family on this special, bittersweet day.