Craft Room and a peak at the Master

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

When I cleaned the girls room to get it ready for the bunk bed I also went on a little cleaning spree of the rest of the house. Since everything was clean I thought it would be a good time to take pictures for the blog! 

Welcome to my craft room / the girls playroom...








I cleaned our bedroom too! 


The Girls Room Before..

Monday, August 25, 2014

We surprised the girls with a bunk bed this week! They were totally surprised and they are loving their new space! I wanted to document what their room looked like before the bunk beds. It kind of breaks my heart that they aren't sleeping in their cute little toddler beds anymore. But it is so nice having more floor space for their toys! 





 Here is a little peak at their hall bathroom too!

Eventually I hope to hang some mermaid hooks on this wall and do something mermaid/ocean inspired over the toilet. 

I need to rehang some pictures in their room and once I get that done I will post pictures of their new big girl room! 

Canoeing!

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Thursday we rented a canoe on base and took the girl canoeing! We are making a conscious effort to become a more active outdoorsy family and its actually really fun! 

The girls loved getting to paddle! 




North Carolina is really beautiful.... It's possible that I am starting to love it here :) 


Next up Kayaks and then Stand Up Paddle boards! 

Camping at Goose Creek and Camping on Whole30!

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Last weekend we went on a little camping trip to Goose Creek State Park. Summer is dwindling down and we are really trying to make the most out of it! We are also in the midst of another Whole30 which added a bit of a challenge as to what to pack for food! I'll share what we ended up eating as well as some other ideas so I can reference back to this next time we go camping! 

We really enjoyed Goose Creek State Park and we will definitely be returning often! In the welcome center they have lots of taxidermy animals and birds as well as drawers that have different animal pelts, tracks, and scat in them. The girls love this kind of stuff. That is homeschool to me.... learning from our surroundings! I loved it!

Near our campsite was a great little dock! Next time we want to bring fishing stuff and a canoe! This time the girls were happy to just touch the water with their hands and feet and throw rocks. 


We went on a few hikes too! The girls were troopers and overall did really well! I think that we are learning that the key to hiking with kids is to take lots of snack breaks :) 


We saw lots of wildlife but this turtle was the only thing the girls were able to touch :) 


It makes my heart swell when they want to hold each others hand...

For dinner our first night we had Onion Bombs and Sweet Potatoes. Both of which I prepared ahead of time, wrapped in foil, and we cooked directly in the fire! 

Onion Bombs are basically Meatloaf balls wrapped in an onion. They are pretty much the best camping food ever. We LOVE them. I used my Paleo Meatloaf recipe and stuffed it into the onion shells. Throw them in the fire and check for doneness with a meat thermometer! 

We packed Cinnamon Ghee to top our cooked sweet potatoes with. Again so yummy! This post is making me hungry! 

For Breakfast I packed chopped onions, green peppers, potatoes, and ghee. Brian cooked that in the cast iron skillet and then scrambled some eggs into it. I also packed hard boiled eggs for snacks or for lunch. 


For lunches and snacks we packed Applegate hot dogs, chicken apple sausages, hard boiled eggs, homemade beef jerky, almonds, Justin's almond butter pouches, and applesauce squeeze pouches. I meant to pack Larabars but they accidentally got left at home. When I made the meatloaf I doubled the ketchup recipe so that we could have ketchup and mustard with our hot dogs. (I also packed PB & J for the girls) 

Here is CLo enjoying the beef jerky on a hike! Next time I make jerky I will write down what I used for the marinade so I can share the recipe! 



The night before we went camping I also made a batch of Paleo chili and put it in mason jars. We reheated the chili over the fire and topped it with avocado! Next time we go camping for a longer trip I will do this again but freeze the chili in the mason jar so that this meal can be used later on in the week. 

It rained our second day so the girls had fun playing cards together in the tent while Mommy napped. :)





Whole30 S'mores :) 
Seriously though next time you go camping roast some peaches! They were delicious! 

On our way out the deer came to send us off! 
Until next time Goose Creek! 

Whole30 Camping Food Ideas
Breakfasts:
Egg and Veggie Scrambles
Chicken Apple Sausages
Hard boiled eggs

Dinners or Lunches:
Meatloaf Onion Bombs w/ Sweet Potatoes
Paleo Chili topped with Avocado
Taco Salad (Brown Beef and salsa over the fire) Serve with Lettuce, Tomatoes, and Avocado
Chicken, Peppers, Onions, and Zucchini Kabobs (use a Whole30 marinade)
Salmon in foil pouches
Burgers with all the fixings except the bun
Chili topped Baked Potatoes
Hot Dogs and/or Chicken Apple Sausages

Do you have any other Whole30/Paleo Camping Food Ideas for me? 

No Bake Cookies

Tuesday, August 12, 2014


These cookie bars are awesome because they can me thrown together so quickly! I may or may not have gotten into the habit of making a batch every night...

No Bake Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Peanut Butter and Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter or White Chocolate Wonderful Peanut Butter (Have you tried these peanut butters? They are spectacular!)
1/4 cup Honey
1/4 cup Coconut Oil
2 cups Old Fashioned Oats

Directions:
1. Combine peanut butter, coconut oil, and honey in a pan over low heat. Stir until coconut oil is melted and mixture is combined.
2. Remove from heat and stir in oats.
3. Pour oat mixture into an 8x8 glass dish lined with parchment paper.
4. Allow to cool in the refrigerator or freezer.
5. Enjoy! 

*Because of the coconut oil, these treats are best when served straight from the fridge or freezer! 

Life Lately- The end of July edition

Monday, August 11, 2014

We go to church near the beach so we have started going to the beach after church... It is awesome.  

We went to a CC Mock Day. It was great for me to watch the tutor since I will be tutoring but it was also great for me to get to watch Kenley because since I am tutoring I won't get to see how she is in class. She did great and now she is super excited for school to start! 

Washi tape bookmarks for Kenley's party favors! I keep a little bowl filled with washi bookmarks in my night stand so that I can bookmark my latest book and also recipes I want to try in my cookbooks! I love them! 

Ocean themed Kiwi Crate fun! 

Food coloring toppers became tiny party hats for Kenley's toy giraffes! 

Surprise!! Grammy came to visit! I had Brian call me and tell me that he needed me to go to the airport and pick up a Marine who was stranded and take him to the shop. It was dumping down rain when we pulled up to the airport, the girls were looking out the car windows for Daddy's friend and then they saw Grammy! They were SO excited! 


One Last Goodnight 4 year old! 

Goodnight silly 3.5 year old! 

Best birthday wake-up present ever?! 

 The Cake! I would like a piece right now! 

Mexican for birthday dinner! 

The Havelock Library has the best story time! This time we made Ice Cream! 


The girls earned their "Ronk Summer Reading Star" Program Golden ticket so we went to the Accidental Artist and painted some mugs! 

Minion Mug for Kenley 

They LOVE this giraffe :)


 Kenley has grown an inch since her tooth fell out in June! CRAZY! 


It rained like crazy every day of my Mom's trip but Kenley's party (Praise the LORD) so that meant that many of our plans had to be changed. We didn't get to take her to see the wild horses or to the beach but we did get to go to the Aquarium! 

The Aquarium has a Dinosaur theme this summer and the girls LOVE it! 




After the Aquarium we went to Crabby Patty's in Havelock! I have always wanted to go there but from the outside it either looks like it will be a great local place or a total dive.. Thankfully it was a (clean) great local place! We ordered TONS of fried food! They have fried brownie bites too! They did not disappoint!

Don't get in the way of these girls and the dessert Grammy!... They do take after their Mother :) 

We found a turtle in our yard! Kenley named it Shelly...

Then it was time to take Grammy back to the airport... Kenley was distraught. It was so sad! :(


 Picking up our pottery! 




Annnd... the next day Claire's mug bit the dust...

This is the biggest bug I have EVER seen. I could see its EYES! It was like 4 inches long. I almost wanted to touch it... but then I realized it could eat me so I refrained :) 

August. Man, its the 10th and I am still not on board with August being here already. Get lost August! I am so not ready for summer to end!! 



 
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