A Father's Love

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy in the world. He is an incredible man because he seeks the Lord with all of his heart. He is an incredible husband because he loves the Lord first and most. He is an incredible father because he sees his children as precious treasures entrusted to his care by the Father who loves them even more.

Daddy 

In random moments between playing train table or baseball
he whispers, "I love you Jacky"
and a small voice replies,
"I love you sooo much Daddy."

I melt.

He talks to them about Jesus.
Jack says he "loves Jesus in his heart"
and then tells me
"I love Jesus in Daddy's heart too."

I do too.

He plays. He really plays.
Baseball, soccer, trains, "Jesus" (ie: little people nativity), fire fighter house.
"I want to ride on your neck, Daddy!"
A nightly event of running around the house,
two year old on top of Daddy-sized shoulders.

I smile.

He makes the little moments count.
Bedtime stories, "mini hikes"
"Just the boys!" Jack yells excitedly.
Working in the garage together,
barbecuing-real food and pretend
he feels special doing things Daddy does,
with his Daddy.

It is special.

He adores his baby girl.
Calls her little sweetheart
She coos and smiles at him
knowing he's already wrapped around her
tiny little finger.

It is so sweet.

He kisses, he cuddles, he really LOVES
his children.
He cherishes and loves their Mommy.
He leads our family with a quiet strength,
great faith,
a humble spirit fully devoted to our
Heavenly Father.

Incredible man, amazing husband, and the best Daddy in the world.

I am blessed. They are blessed.
Thank you Lord.

"Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him"

Psalm 127:3

linked up here!

Mmm D'Licious: Basil Scramble & a Must-have Kitchen Gadget

What are you eating for breakfast these days? We are in healthy-post-baby-pre-summer (but-not-pre-baby-weight-yet) mode in our house!  We are cutting out sugar [re: dessert] for a month to detox a little and kick our fitness routines up a notch! Here is our favorite new breakfast of choice {sorry Ebelskivers}. Enter my love affair with Basil. mmmm.

Basil Scramble with fresh fruit!

Ingredients:

-6 eggs scrambled {I go for just the egg whites if its just for me- the boys get the whole kit-n-kaboodle}
-basil- to taste [or lots and lots because its just that good]
-lite shredded cheese
-turkey diced- i use reduced sodium turkey from Trader Joe's
-chunky salsa- I use Trader Joe's Chunky Salsa to save time but fresh salsa would be divine!

Scramble all together and presto! Basil Scramble. Top with salsa and avocado! Serve with fresh fruit!

optional add-ins:
-bell pepper
-spinach
-avocado (on top)

There is no salt needed for this recipe...it's so tasty my two year old THANKS me for making these "yummy eggs mommy!" Success.

Psst! Want to know why my strawberries are perfectly hulled? no annoying digging with the knife necessary! I give you my new favorite kitchen gadget:

Chef’n Strawberry Huller from Williams Sonoma. I love this thing! Just pinch, twist and pull and voila! You can hull a hundred strawberries in no time! This is amazing if you're like me and hated cutting off so much of the top of your strawberry just to get rid of the leaves! It's also perfect for summer nights with Strawberry Shortcake for dessert...well sans the shortcake for a while! haha. Get one. You'll love it- I promise!


linking up with Heather here

Claire Marie: 3 months old!

My little Claire Bear is already 3 months old!! She turned over yesterday from her tummy to her back for the first time! yay! I love the little milestones! I took her to the Dr. for a check up a couple weeks ago and she was 12 lbs and 24 inches long! She is long and thin! She is also already teething.  Her two little bottom teeth are about to break through. Poor baby. But she still smiles and laughs all the time and she already adores her brother! He LOVES her too.  Always wants to kiss her and talk to her and hold her! They are the most precious treasures in the world.

{sidenote: here is where my indecision rears its ugly head. so many pics to choose from...I had a hard time here people! So instead of being decisive...Im just going to post a million pics. 

You don't mind right? }

Oh this little girl and her laugh! I. Love. It. She giggles and smiles and sticks out that little tongue! So much cuteness in one little person!

I totally realize this last frame is very brady-bunch-esque, but like I said, I take a million pictures and then have a *really* hard time editing down to a few favorites.  We all have our weaknesses I guess.  

Speaking of weaknesses, lets talk parenting for a quick second.  I have a weakness when it comes to my 2 year old wanting to come into our bed in the middle of the night.  It has only just started happening lately, and I think it is because he is having dreams that wake him up.  The other day after his nap he was convinced that his friend Reesey had fallen down the crack of his big boy bed. He made me come look for her. I of course was reassuring him that it was just a dream.  Another time he literally came *running* out of his room because the lions were in his room and were going to get him.  Isn't that sad? So now in the middle of the night he *yells* for Daddy and he cries if we don't go in right away.  He was never in the habit of sleeping with us, so for the first few days he would ask us to sleep in there with him, but when we would leave, he would wake up a little bit later and we'd start the little cycle over again. 

So out of our own need to sleep, we just brought him into our bed.

  Neither of us mind it [too much] and actually we have both commented that we actually love having him close to us, but we don't want him just waking up out of habit now expecting to come sleep with us. I would never tell him he is not allowed to come into our bed because that seems horrible- especially if he was scared or sick.  I wouldn't want him laying there being scared and feel like he couldn't call out to us.  I know this is somewhat of a hot topic, with people on both extremes of co-sleeping/family bed status and  those who never co-sleep.  We are just not either of those.  How do you help a 2 year old know they can come if they need to, but not if there is no reason? hmm. 

linking up for virtual coffee here

A little nature does a body good

My husband loves to hike. He goes out every week, before the sun rises and hikes one of the many mountain trails around here.  He plots out his trails on Google Earth, and browses REI for gear.  He often talks about his "hiking trip" he is going to take at some point [like where you carry everything from a sleeping bag to pots and pans in your backpack- and apparently you need something called a bear canister?- to that I say...no thanks].  However, I do enjoy a little outdoors hike nature walk every now and then! Last weekend we went out to Mission Trails for a walk. It was so much fun [unlike the previous weekend that we went hiking- Claire got sunburned. It was so sad. Not my finest parenting moment.] This time we were prepared! Sunscreen. check. Floppy hat. check.

It really is nice to get out of the "city" and into nature, it's therapeutic really.  I love it when you can't hear or see cars, although I kept thinking I heard rattle snakes on the trail. I may have been a little paranoid. Sean said it was some kind of bug- I'm still skeptical. A bug that sounds like a rattle snake? I don't know.  Here are a few pics from our little outing!

Jack absolutely loves our little hikes.  He loves nature, just like his Daddy and he is constantly commenting on the beauty of his surroundings. Ever since he was 1 he would tell me, "Mommy, pitty sky!" when the sky was pink at sunset. And now while we are driving he points out the "beautiful mountains" and tells me, "Jacky sees trees, bushes, trees, bushes, and flowers! I pick them for you Mommy!" It's magical to hear his admiration for these little things that we adults so often ignore. I love his heart. 

He also kept saying we were in the jungle 

[thanks to Go Diego Go].

When we let him walk- the reality is, he doesn't walk. He runs- FAST! {and trips and falls and gets a mouth full of dirt- twice} Sean assures me this is just part of being a boy.  I tell him he just better hold his hand. period.

These little family outings are my favorite. 

Precious times I tell you. 

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We walk by Faith

and not by sight. 

Sometimes when God wants you to move, you might hear His still small voice prompting you to act. Sometimes its a nudge you feel in your heart and sometimes He, just like a loving mama bird, pushes you right out of the nest with a strong, swift 

kick in the pants. 

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We just got pushed out of the nest. Hard and fast. 

God has given Sean an incredible idea that he has been working on and developing for several months now.  We are so excited about it.  I really feel like it is what God has been preparing Sean to do.  Doing the work of the Lord and advancing the Kingdom has always been the desire of his heart and this new venture will incorporate everything he has learned in his experience in financial services and will also enable him/us to be doing "Kingdom work."   BUT- we weren't planning on officially starting this new business just yet.  However God's timing isn't always exactly what we expect it to be. 

 His timing is always better than anything we could plan for ourselves.  

He is leading us and directing our path. My job contract ended on Tuesday.   Then Sean packed up his office and his last day at his job was yesterday.  So here we are unemployed [in Greenland], falling rather abruptly out of the nest. I suppose most people would be panicking in this situation: 2 babies, lots of bills [thank you student loans..ugh], and no jobs; and yet we are so confidant that the Lord is in this that we are excited.  

We walk by faith and not by sight. 

We TRUST.

We PRAY. 

and then..

We FLY! 

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I am so thankful for a loving God who knows all of our needs and who is always faithful to provide.  I cannot wait to tell you more about our new adventure as it unfolds.  And hopefully many of you will be able to be a part of it as well! 

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the 

flowers of the field 

grow. 

They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

Matthew 6:26-33

linking up with Katie here

Everybody loves Ebelskivers

I've blogged about it before, but I just love our [new-ish] little family tradition of having Ebelskivers for breakfast when Sean is home for a holiday.  Healthy? not so much. Delicious? definitely. We have tried lots of different recipes from my Ebelskiver recipe book, but this one was probably in the top three {along with Lemon Curd ebelskivers and Apple-spiced filled ebelskivers}.  This morning I made Double Blackberry Ebelskivers with a fresh blackberry in the middle and homemade blackberry sauce! 

Living and loving life in the little things. 

Days off, family breakfast, sticky fingers, beautiful sunny day. 

Doesn't get much better.

Thank you Lord.

As Organic as it Gets

We love spending time with [both] our families, and Jack especially loves all the fun and special things he does with his Grandparents. We were at Sean's parents house for *yummy* carne asada the other night, and I decided to capture my little farmer having fun with Grandma and her vegetable garden.  I'm so jealous because I love fresh veggies and buy all organic [when i can]...and can you imagine just walking out to your yard and picking a nice handful of spinach for your salad? Thats exactly what we did. Love it! It doesn't get any more organic than that! 

Jack loves watering the plants and I should have known better than to try to get his picture while he was busy gardening.  He soaked me! I literally had to throw my jeans in the dryer...I was that wet.    

It's ok though. Sometimes making memories [and capturing them on camera] means getting soaked by your 2 year old with a hose.

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