What we've been up to...

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

My sister posted on my facebook wall to ask if I gave up blogging for Lent. I assure you I have not, our days just seem to be extra full lately. Potty training and teething just aren't the most fun "blogable" topics but they do take up the majority of our time.

Here is a little glimpse at how we fill our days...

Daddy and Kenley went on a Date! Kenley loves getting to go on dates with Daddy and talks about it all the time! This date they went to a Land Nav (Marine Corps/ ROTC) thing and then to Burger King.
Kenley loved getting to wear a crown and be a princess! She loves all things princess which is funny because when she was born we wanted to have nothing pink and nothing princess. Kenley is just a sparkly pink princess kind of kid though!
While Kenley and Brian were on their date, I was attending a baby shower where I made the cakes! I loved how they turned out! I used blue candy melts from Michael's to make the polka dots! Super easy!
The inside of the cake was my favorite part! I love layer cakes! I used Meg's frosting recipe which is always amazing. Once you make that frosting you will never buy frosting again.
Sally Hansen sells these nail polish pen things that are perfect for doing Kenley's fingers and toes because they dry super fast! I bought mine at the Dollar Tree and when I went back to buy more they were all gone. I wish I would have bought all that they had when I was there!


We went over to dinner at Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Ford's house!

I drove into the curb... Stupid. It's hard to see in this picture but I cracked the bumper.
Claire got a bang trim. Worst $10 I have ever spent! They don't look too bad in this picture but in person they are quite blunt. I wanted her bangs trimmed so that we wouldn't have to rely on hairbows all day every day but now that her bangs are all funky, we still have to use hairbows all the time.
Brian and I went on a Gun Range/ Starbucks date! It was fun! I think that any activity with this man would be fun! Dates are awesome and marriage is awesome!
It would have been more fun if they didn't keep it so frigid in there though! I wore 4 thick layers and I was still frozen by the time we left. Thats why Starbucks was necessary :)
The rest of our days have been filled with...
  • Juicing- We still love it and have juice almost every morning!
  • Dehydrating -My new Exclaibur can fit 5 pounds of apple chips in there!
  • Lots of Trader Joe's trips- We go through at least 5 maybe 6 bags of apples a week, same with bags of romaine lettuce! We have to shop very often. Trader Joe's has the best prices for organic produce, even better than Walmart!
  • Potty Training- Kenley is totally potty trained during the day and she is just in diapers at night time!
  • Teething- Claire is up to 7 teeth and for right now, today, this very hour, she seems to not be teething currently?!? Claire is no fun to be around when she is teething so a little break from teething will be welcomed.
  • "School" at the Library on Friday's- The Library has a little pre-pre-school program that we have started going to! The kids get to play and do crafts for about an hour and then the leader announces clean up time and they all clean up and then sit in a circle and listen to a story and sing songs. Kenley loves it and totally thrives in that environment!
  • Kenley can count to 11 and is super super close to knowing her ABC's. She gets a bit stuck at H-I-J-K and says H- Kai-J but other than that she will sing the whole thing!
  • Kenley loves singing Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star.
  • Claire is close to walking, I think if we start to walk her around more she will catch on really fast. Kenley had the Goodfellow girls to walk her around constantly, Claire doesn't have them :(
  • Claire has been weaned for 4 days now... tear!
  • Brian will hopefully have a really awesome schedule next quarter!
  • I am doing (processed) Sugar-Free March again! I think that this year will be easier than last year!
I think that's about it! Have a great Leap Year Day!!

Sweet! I didn't think I could love Starbucks anymore than I already did!!

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Only at Great Grandma's!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Dora Time!!

Snugglers!

Eleven

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

I was tagged by my friend Christy to do this eleven things post! Here it goes:

The Rules
1. You must post the rules.
2. Post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged.
4. Tag eleven people and link them on your post.
5. Let them know you've tagged them!

Eleven Fun Facts About Me
1.) I love the TV show Once Upon a Time. Like love, love, love it! I guess I am still a bit of a little girl who loves princesses! Also, Claire from Lost is Belle... Could it get any better?
2.) 50% of the time I want to have another baby right now... 50% of the time I want to wait quite a while longer... It depends on which day you ask me which answer you will get.
3.) I have been adding beets to my juices for a while now but just recently tried eating cooked beets. I really like them especially in salads topped with goat cheese!
4.) We are going on vacation in March and I.can.not.wait. Seriously when is the last time that the sun has come out around here???
5.) I have a white iPhone and I love it. It's the little things that make me happy.
6.) I clean more and feel more productive if I wear an apron while I cook and do chores. Anthropologie has the cutest aprons! I just got this one on sale!
7.) When I was growing up I wanted to be an Actress and then a News Anchor. I used to watch the news for tips on how to be a good anchor. Weirdo!!
8.) Now when I grow up I want to be a spin instructor and a holistic health counselor.
9.) I really like pizza a lot. Seriously, a whole lot. I want to eat it every day. I have learned that the trick to awesome homemade pizza is using whole milk mozzarella. None of that part skim stuff! If I am going to eat pizza it better be awesome! I don't want to waste those calories on mediocre pizza!
10.) I think that I have an allergy/sensitivity to peanuts. For about a year I have had a rash type thing under my wedding ring. I cut peanuts/peanut butter out of my diet and now my skin is clear and I am much less itchy too! I much prefer being able to wear my wedding ring!
11.) I used to make fun of my sister for wearing workout headbands.... now I wear them all the time :) Lululemon Slipless are my favorite!

My eleven from Christy

1. What is your earliest childhood memory? I honestly can not remember. I remember an Easter egg hunt in preschool at the Nazarene church.... I found a blue egg on a chair!
2. What is your worst/most embarrassing childhood memory? At my kindergarten graduation the announcer person pronounced my last name wrong so I didn't go up to the stage because I didn't know that Keri HI-gul was me.
3. Name one of your greatest strengths and one of your greatest weaknesses. My greatest strength is that when I am super passionate about something I can not be stopped! My greatest weakness is that I get overwhelmed easily... we need to pack up to go somewhere in 15 minutes and nothing is packed yet? I turn into an unmotivated blob...
4. 10 years ago, where did you see yourself today? 10 years ago I was 15 and dating Brian. It was silly though and we were only dating because that was "cool". I NEVER would have thought that I would be married to him! I am so glad that I am though! He is an amazing husband.
5. Duggars- love them or hate them? I am a little indifferent because I don't watch the show and it isn't available on Hulu, but for some reason I feel the crazy need to defend them whenever anyone talks bad about them.
6. What is one charity or cause that you are especially passionate about? I would say that one cause that I am passionate about is adoption. We really want to adopt when our family is a bit older. I am also really passionate about healthy eating especially with children, but you probably know that already...
7. What is the hobby that you wish you had time/money to pursue, but don't? Sewing! I haven't sewn a stitch since Claire was born. I wish I had room to have my sewing stuff set up but we just don't in our house here. Also Triathlons... I want a bike! But bikes are pricey!
8. Who is the person in your life who has had the greatest impact on who you are? Without a doubt that person is Brian.
9. If you met President Obama and had the opportunity to ask him one question, what would it be? I have NO idea! I don't really read the news or know anything about politics... I would probably be super nervous and say something stupid. Maybe I would be brave though and ask him if he were to die today where would he go? Although... the Secret Service would probably cuff me for asking the president about dying today...
10. What book, besides the Bible, has influenced you the most? I really liked In His Steps by Charles Sheldon.... Also my college nutrition text book because that class sparked my love of all things nutrition.
11. If I gave you $100 right now, with no strings attached except that you had to spend it, what would you do with it? I would probably go to Lululemon :)


My eleven questions

1. How was you childhood bedroom decorated?
2. What do you order at Starbucks?
3. What is your favorite Disney movie?
4. If your life was made into a movie, who would play you? who would play your husband?
5. How old were you when you got your ears pierced?
6. If you could choose to have been born in another country, what country would that have been and why?
7. Are you an early bird or a night owl?
8. If you could have dinner with any person from the Old Testament who would it be?
9. What is your favorite food to indulge in?
10. What is the most used app on your phone?
11. Who is the last person that you sent an email to?

I'm tagging:


Everyone please share your answers to my questions in the comments too! I want to know!!

Why yes, this does sound like a reasonable thing to do with your cheese after you *just* got in trouble for spreading your cheese on the counter......

Ah, motherhood...

Monday, February 20, 2012

Quinoa Pilaf

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Quinoa is a new-ish to me food that I am trying to incorporate into our diet more and more. Quinoa is a pseudo-grain (technically a seed) that contains all 9 essential amino acids that are not generated by the body making it a complete protein. It can be difficult for vegetarians who avoid soy to consume enough complete proteins so I am trying to incorporate more foods that are complete proteins. Two of my other favorite plant-based complete proteins are amaranth and spirulina!

Quinoa cooks up very quickly and can take the place of rice in most recipes. I am really enjoying eating it "pilaf style" which means cooking the quinoa in broth rather than water. I also like adding in chopped carrots, frozen peas, and frozen corn to up our vegetable intake just a bit more! Quinoa pilaf makes a great lunch or dinner side dish and is great served hot or cold.

Quinoa Pilaf

Ingredients
  • 1 cup quinoa rinsed very well
  • 2 cups vegetable or No-Chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup frozen corn
  • 1/2 cup frozen peas
  • 1/2 cup chopped carrot
  • Herbs and seasonings to taste (I used a few shakes of dried parsley, dried oregano, dried dill, pink salt, and pepper)
Directions

  • Place all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.
  • Bring to a boil.
  • Cover and cook for 13-15 minutes or until all water is absorbed.
  • Fluff with a fork and enjoy!

Test Post

Just checking to see how this Blogger app works!

My Birthentines Day!

Friday, February 17, 2012

25!! 24 was a great year for me so I can't wait to see how 25 plays out! When Brian and I were first married (and 19) we used to lay in bed and talk about what the "perfect" age would be. We always said 25 because we thought we would have kids by then and our insurance would drop :). I have to say it is a great age to be!
The next photo isn't centered very well but I love Claire's cheeser grin!
See that box behind us? The Hubster got me an Excalibur dehydrator!!! Yay! I love it and I was totally surprised because the week before my birthday I saw an Excalibur on Craigslist and I tried to convince Bri that we should buy it but he wouldn't budge and said that my Ronco still worked so we didn't need another. I was totally convinced that he wasn't going to let me get another dehydrator EVER! Sneaky Hubster! He also got me a Lululemon running pullover! What a guy!

Brian and I went to Anthony's Pier 66 for dinner and it was amazing. Probably one of our top 5 dates of all time! We had so much fun spending time together and our meals were incredible too! We highly recommend Anthony's Pier 66 the service, food, and ambiance are all spot on!



Thursday, February 16, 2012

Incoherent Rambling

Monday, February 13, 2012

  • I ruined my running new years resolution by accident this week. Bummer. I totally meant to get a run in on Saturday but Brian and I had an at home date night instead. At home date nights rock!
  • I am contemplating doing this Iron Goat Challenge.... But I currently don't swim. I am awesome at not drowning though! Plus I am planning to do a triathlon this summer so I need to get swimming sometime!
  • We got these new cube bookcase things from Ikea! We have so much storage now! I still need to organize all of the cubes and style them a little but so far I am in love! The TV is new too.... That is a result of me saying, "I don't really care what we get". I was expecting a MUCH smaller tv :)
  • Snuggle time in the mornings is my favorite time of the day. My second favorite time of the day is after the girls in bed and I start cleaning the kitchen and juicing while watching previous seasons of The Office on my laptop. I love HuluPlus, totally worth the $7 a month!

  • Kenley likes to put all of her stuffed animals down for naps.
  • She also loves to be held "like a baby" every time we get her out of the tub. Note that we still need to finish painting that darn bathroom!


  • These little girls melt my heart! They hold hands all the time while we are driving now! (Don't worry, we were stuck waiting on a super long train, I was not driving and taking a picture at the same time)
  • Breaking News! I stopped biting my nails! It took 6 months of wearing acrylic nails for the habit to break. I think that working out really helps too because I seem to have less nervous energy. Took me long enough, Right Mr. Pearce? :)
  • Kenley and her BFF Gracen are so funny together! They love playing together in the nursery and Kenley talks about Gracen all the time.
  • They LOVED the "fort"
  • There is a serious lack of CLo pictures because she has been teething like a maniac and sleeping all the time. Seriously in the past week she has gone to bed at 4:30pm 3 of the 7 nights! Craziness! I never intend for her to do that especially since she misses out on dinner but she is miserable otherwise.

  • It's my birthday tomorrow! I will be a quarter of a century! Happy Valentines Day too!!

She may not be a fan of her new hair do, but I am!!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Lunch is messy business

Monday, February 6, 2012

I Love Instagram

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Sleepover!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

When Brian was little it was a tradition for his family to have campouts on the living room floor, he has such great memories of that!

My mom got the girls sleeping bags for Christmas and ever since he has been really excited to have a sleepover in the living room with the girls!

Last Friday after Claire went to bed we laid out our sleeping bags and watched Peter Pan 2 and ate snacks! Kenley LOVED it!
Brian did too!
Brian and Kenley slept in the living room all night but after they had both fallen asleep I climbed into bed with my heated blanket :)

We just bought Cinderella on DVD so we are saving it for our next living room campout!

This one is going on the wall!

Dirty Corn

Friday, February 3, 2012

This corn may look a little dirty but it is super tasty and makes the perfect side dish for Taco Night!

Here's what you need:
1/2 a jar of Trader Joe's Corn and Chile Tomato-less Salsa and 1 bag of Frozen Roasted Corn

In a pot over medium heat, combine 1/2 jar of salsa and full bag of corn and cook until heated through!
Enjoy!

One day I would love to come up with a recipe for homemade corn and chile salsa! Anyone have a recipe for it already?

Terri's Juice Fast Recap

Thursday, February 2, 2012

I asked my wonderful Mother-in-law to do a little recap of her experience with juicing and her journey toward better health! She was kind enough to indulge me and write a post for everyone to enjoy! Thanks Terri!

"Keri and Brian asked if they could have one month of controlling my diet and exercises. (I'm always complaining about my weight.) I gave them November 2010. That is when I first learned how to juice. The recipe was good: 3-5 handfuls of spinach, 1 romaine head of lettuce, 2 apples, 1/2-1 pound of carrots, 1/2 lemon (the lemon makes a huge difference). It looks a little greenish brown, but the taste is really good. I'm not a real carrot fan, but juiced carrots were really sweet. That meant I got way more vegetables than I usually get. WAY more! Through the entire month I really felt satisfied as to not having cravings like usual, especially at night. Brian took the scale from me and when I weighed that Dec. 1st I had dropped 8 pounds. Well, Christmas came. I continued to juice every morning because of the satisfaction that I felt during November. But I didn't continue the "flesh"/"starch" diet that Keri had me on in November. And I didn't exercise like "drill sergeant" Ronk required! lol

Last week (Jan. 9-14) I did a one week juice only diet. We had watched a movie on a guy that did the juice diet for 7 days and at the end he decided to continue on for 6 more months and lost a ton of weight. The first two days were probably the most difficult for me just because so much of our lives are centered around food....ie. lunchtime at work, dinner in the evening. Once the 2nd day was over it was much easier to not think about eating. The juice was very satisfying and I drank it four times a day. Morning, lunch, after work, and late evening (around 7:00). I didn't feel many cravings at night. I reread Brian's post and I agree with him that you don't feel hungry, but you also don't feel full. It's like the Goldilocks story in feeling "just right". As Brian also said, if I did feel the desire to eat I just had more juice or water. I do have to admit that I did eat 4 bananas during this week.....so maybe I can't say it was a total fast. I ate them when I got home from work and I didn't have any juice made up. I'm starting to make double recipes of juice since I have a champion juicer which allows the nutrients/enzymes (ask Keri about this part) to keep their food value. I dropped 3.8 pounds and felt good. I didn't do any exercise. I'm going to continue juicing for breakfast for a while. I feel like it's meeting nutritional needs that haven't been met in years.

One other question that may help some that want to try it: How did I do it with having to fix dinner at night. First, my husband was very supportive, although he didn't want to do it with me. I basically just made a meal for one (meat, salad, vegetable or fruit) and drank my juice while he ate. There were a couple of nights where he got his own dinner. I purposely picked a week that I knew we wouldn't be meeting friends for lunch or going out to eat. It's totally worth the try. I think I may try it again this summer. For the month of February I'm going to juice for breakfast and save enough for after work in the afternoon. Then I'll do small meals for lunch and dinner. I really think juicing will be a part of my life forever. It's a great way to get all the vegetables and nutrition that an aging body needs! lol"

Thanks Terri!

January Goals Recap

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

January was a super fun month for us, we got to enjoy so much family time due to that awesome snow storm!

Keri's January Goals

- Read the book of Titus everyday. Success!
- Run once a week. Success!
- Run 32 miles. Success! This one was tough! There were two days where I had to run 6 miles to make sure that I reached the goal!
- Bike 100 miles. Success! I ended up with just over 117 miles, it would have been much more if the snow storm wouldn't have stopped me from going to 2 of my spin classes!
- 3 trips to the Children's Museum. Success!
- Keep up with the Laundry. Success! There was a bit of a mess when we came home from house sitting but I buckled down and got it cleaned up pretty fast!
- Keep juicing and cleaning juicer. Success!
- Run the Freeze Yer Buns 5k. Success! I beat my previous 5k time by 4 minutes and was the 3rd female finisher!
- Turn the lights off in rooms when I am not using them, basically be more mindful of power usage. Success! I could still do a better job at it but I was definitely more mindful of power usage.
- Monthly life planning meeting/date with the Husband. Success!
- No Starbucks unless it is on a date with the Husband or a friend. Success! I only had Starbucks once with the Hubs on our planning date. I really didn't miss it too much! I plan to continue with the decreased Sbux consumption!
- No fast food. Success! This was easy!
- Get back to using the Allocated Spending Plan. 2011 was a year of buying stuff. I want 2012 to be a year of building our savings! Fail.. We did plan out the budget for February though!
- Break Kenley of the paci.... Fail. She is still obsessed with the paci. We will keep working on it, January just wasn't a great time to try and take it away with us being house sitting and in a different environment for so long. We will probably have to break Claire from the paci too since Kenley will just take Claires..

February is my favorite month because it contains my birthday!! I LOVE my birthday! :)

Keri's February Goals
- Read the book of Esther everyday
- Run at least once a week
- Make my half marathon training plan
- 3 trips to the Children's Museum
- Finish painting the bathroom
- Decide on a paint color for our bedroom
- Celebrate my 25th Birthday! I may very well make myself a cake! :)
- Do at least 1 load of laundry 5 days a week
- Date with the Hubs
- Be more consistent with Kenley (discipline, potty training, paci removal, etc.)
- Be more consistent with Claire (She has been starting to throw food and pitch fits, so its time to start some discipline)
- Stick to the Allocated Spending Plan!

What are your goals for February?
 
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