A treat for your tots.

Last week I got this recipe from Mo's pediatrician. She suggested it in place of "those cheesy crackers that are so bad for our babies." Yeah.. um.. my babies NEVER eat those ;)

I decided to whip up a batch when we got home to see if Moses really would love them. And, gasp, he does! I have made them both with the graham cracker and without and I like them much better without. If you do leave it out add more flax seed! If you want to take these out and about I would go ahead and add the graham crackers, they are a tiny bit sticky without it.

1/2 cup nut butter

1/3 cup powdered milk

1-2 T honey or agave nectar

1-2 T ground graham cracker

1-2 T ground flax seed

Combine all ingredients in a mixer and mix until combined. Then press into small balls with your fingers. Store in the refrigerator.

**I usually post recipes at chowcity.blogspot.com, but I wanted those of you that don't check in there to have this recipe!**

Baby Hayes

I had an ultrasound this week! This little one is due on July 30th, which probably means he or she won't be making his/her debut until mid-August! The morning sickness is in full swing over here, but we're hanging in and looking forward to, well, it stopping :) I'm trying to avoid the Unisome and B6 this go around - I'm just not sure I can handle all those sleeping pills with two little ones to care for! The Zofran helps for sure, but the side effects are pretty yucky and even while taking it I may get sick 6-7 time a day. The good thing about this time around is that I know it will end (even if it takes another 7 months) and I know just how sweet the reward is at the end!

We love you, little one!

Your Daily Mo

Can't take my eyes off of him for a second!

The thing is.

By my calculations I am about 8 weeks pregnant. Eight. As in barely first trimester. What, what, what is this about??

Sweet Baby Hayes

We are so, so thrilled to be expecting again. Our little brood is growing, growing and we feel so blessed.. and a tad overwhelmed! I mean, Moses is only going to be about two and a half when the little one arrives. Wowza, three under two and a half. Keep us in your prayers :) We really have no idea when the little one is due, but we have an ultrasound on December 21 (less than three weeks now!) to find out. I keep reminding myself that I don't have to be ready for three yet - one day at a time, Hayes! We are also hoping for an easier pregnancy this time around, and that I can continue to nurse Sarah until she is one - only 5 more months!

Thank you, everyone, for sharing in our joy. Please join us in praying for a healthy first trimester.

Your Daily Mo

I heard a clunk, clunk, clunk coming down the hallway...

and there was Moses with my running shoes and blackberry - ready to go!

Your Daily Sarah

Is she really going to be a big sister? Oh how I love this little lady.

Gratitude.

This Thanksgiving Jeremiah and I have so many things to be grateful for.

Each other.

Our heavenly Father that leads, guides and determines our path.

Moses David.

Sarah Elizabeth.

And sweet Baby Hayes, number three. Coming this summer.

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward."

Psalm 127:3

Your Daily Mo

Big boy and a little bib..

Your Daily Hayes.

Moses: Awww, Rah-Rah!!

Sarah: Help me, mama!!

Your Daily Mo

A little more Molokai.

There were so many wonderful things that happened while we were on vacation that I will probably never be able to cover it all. Blogging time is limited these day, so I will just put up what I can when I can!

I think I said it before, but Moses loved the ocean. He had such a great time playing in the water. The water was pretty calm at Dixie this day so we let him get up on the boogie board. He had a blast! He also had his first big wipe out - but he was a trooper and got right back out there.

I had to get a picture up of this little guy in his aloha outfit. He was just so.darn.cute.

I wish Moses was in this picture! Here is Miah, Sarah and Grandpa Ohst. This is David, the wonderful man that Moses gets his middle name from. We miss you, Grandpa!
Now that winter has really set in here in the four corners, I have really been missing sunny Hawaii! Sigh, until next year ;)

Your Daily Mo

Homeboy.

A sleepy story.

We moved Moses to his big boy bed this weekend. He LOVES it. He runs and jumps on it yelling "BEEEEEED!!" When we woke him up today from his first nap ever in his bed, I couldn't help but get a bit teary eyed. It seems like just yesterday this was what I'd find at the end of nap time:

Or this:

where is his sock???

I love this one.

Oh, and this.

Today, this is where he was at the end of his nap.

Then, to top this off this day of accomplishment, he went to the bathroom in the potty! What in the world?

Ooooh, and did I mention that this little sweetie just turned 6 months?! What in the world?!

Your Daily Hayes.

We love Praise Baby around here.

Your Daily Mo and Sarah

The fam should love this!

More Molokai fun!

Purdy's Macadamia Nut Farm!

Macadamia nuts on the tree!

Look at how much fun Moses is having!

He loved cracking the nuts and eating, eating, eating!

A rare family photo!

I have been to this farm dozen's of times. I can honestly say they have the best macademia nuts I have ever had. They are grown and processed right there on the island. I've been here with my dad, my mom, my friends... everyone loves this place! We toured the farm, learned about the growing process, and were able to crack open some of the raw macademia nuts. Moses really enjoyed this place!

Molokai.

Many, many moons ago my grandfather (my dad's dad) spent his summer's on Molokai. He had a condo at Kenanikai and each summer he would go off to Hawaii. His health started to deteriorate around the same time my brother was stationed on Oahu, and so he sent my dad and I to Molokai for a couple of weeks in his place. It was a great vacation. We split our time between Molokai and visiting with my brother Oahu. Fun, fun, fun.

Fast forward a few years and Jeremiah and I were living on Molokai - just a few minutes from Kenanikai resort. When Jeremiah and I first arrived on the island I went and visited the places I had gone to with my dad. It was surreal. It was on that trip with my dad that I first found out that he was sick. He said the doctors had given him about four years.. but I was sixteen then and the reality of those words didn't really sink in. Now to be back at the place that I had shared so many fun memories with my father, but older and wiser and honestly quite healed up from the awfulness of losing him and everything that happened around his death... it was just surreal. I'm really grateful for those early days on Molokai with Jeremiah. God really did something in my heart to heal me up. It was good.

The beach dad and I spent most of our time on.

This trip was special, too. This time I could my take my family to all the places dad and I had gone, and then Jeremiah and I as well. Molokai has a special place in our hearts. I hope we can spend many, many more family vacations there.

Moses' first time at the beach. The little homie was fearless!

So many more pictures and memories to share! More to come.

Vaccines, continued.

If you would like to read the first post on the subject you can find it here. I was able to get ahold of Sanofi Pasteur and they were very helpful. The only vaccine that my pediatrician gets from them is DTap-IPV/Hib. You can also split this vaccine up and if you do you usually give a diphtheria and tetanus shot and then another for the polio. In the conjugate vaccine (the one with all of them in one) the polio was grown using aborted fetal tissue. If you just give the Dtap (just the diphtheria and tetanus) it has no gelatin, no aborted fetal tissue, and was grown on pork products.

So this is what that looks like:

DTaP-IPV/Hib - Human aborted fetal tissue.

DTaP - Porcine.

The thing I have learned from this is that if I have a question or concern that means a lot to my family, I can't just ask the doctor. I really do have to do the investigating myself. I had 3 different answers from 3 doctors (all were wrong!). Pretty amazing.

Also, there are other options if using the vaccines made by these manufacturers isn't an option for your family. For us the next step is calling San Juan Basin Health and inquiring about where they get their vaccines and then calling those manufacturers. If I find out anything else that seems significant I will let you all know!

Your Daily Hayes.

Helping Papa do the dishes!

What a good helper!

Hayes Happenings

I just had one of those mommy moments where I am praying out loud for the grace to make it through the next 30 minutes. Goodness gracious, these little people stretch and refine their parents - and that's not a complaint. I am so grateful for it!

I recently made up a game plan for our days. It is wonderful for many reasons, but one of the biggies is that I am sure to get some quiet time in the mornings before the babies get up. There are some verses that have really been helping me get through the day gracefully. I have them written down and posted. They are what keep me centered in these crazy, crazy, wonderful days.

"Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near."

Phil 4:5

I so desire to be gentle with my babies from the moment they wake until I tuck them in at night (and again in the middle of the night). Obviously, the Lord desires it too!

"But we hope for what we do not see, with PERSEVERANCE we wait eagerly for it."

Romans 8:25

I am persevering through the daily challenges of motherhood, and so desire to run this race well.

"The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."

Proverbs 16:9

This one is so helpful when my best made plans fail.

"Do not complain, brethren, against one another so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold the judge is standing at the door."

James 5:9

Not even about my children.. or naps that get cut short.. or ANYTHING!

Speaking of naps getting cut short.. I think I hear a Sarah!

Park fun!

Some days are just so sweet. The fall weather, happy babies and a mama with nothing else to do but love them (forget the laundry, the cleaning, the..). These days are so precious.

Sarah was strapped to me the whole time.. but I think she was having just a much fun as Brother.

Five Month's Old!

Our sweet girl will be 5 month's old tomorrow. Where has the time gone?! Sarah is such a delight. Our refluxy baby has turned into a sweet little lady - so smiley and sweet. We have just started solid food and she is doing so well.

She is loving the rice cereal!

Applesauce.. not so much :)

Sweet potatoes were a hit!

This little lady is such a blessing. I love being her mama :)

That darn fly. Again

First it was the wasp.

Then it was the fly.

Here is the fly part two. This time, Sarah gets in on the action!

Your Daily Moses and Sarah at 5 months.

Moses one day shy of 5 months old...

And what the heck! He was eating sweet potatoes?!

Sweet Sarah, two weeks shy of 5 months old!

Those blue eyes just get me!

So, do you think they look alike?

Your Daily Sarah

Nana came to stay with us last weekend. I don't know how she does it, but she can put any baby to sleep in minutes. It's a gift!!

Bye bye garden!

The last harvest...

This weekend we pulled up the beans, lettuce and all the squash plants. All that's left is the herbs, tomatoes, scallions and strawberries. It looks a little sad out there. I told Jeremiah that it was a taste of what it will feel like when our last baby leaves for college. I'm not sure he agreed :) The odd thing was - we had BEETS! I didn't plant beets! I planted lettuce, and I guess part of that mix was beet greens. I sliced and boiled them and kept them in my fridge. I am happy to report that I ate them. All of them. I am so healthy now :)

My birthday wish.

I love birthdays. Correction. My birthday. Parties and cake and presents, oh my. However, I'm realizing that is a bit, um, selfish.. and so this year I'm taking it a new direction. I have mentioned before my love for the people of Sudan. This year I will be sending a "Blanket and a Bible" to the people of Sudan through Voice of the Martyrs. I don't know about you, but we are drowning in blankets over here. I think as soon as you get pregnant folks start plotting.. how many blankets can we give this new mama? :)

Here's the scoop: For each blanket you want to send collect $2 and mail it to:

Sudan: Blanket and a Bible

The Voice of the Martyrs

510 W Adeline

Bartlesville, OK

74003

Now if we can just make it to the post office!

Life happens when you don't have your camera.

Sometimes things happen around here that just crack me up, but for whatever reason I can't grab my camera. Thank goodness for my blackberry! Here are some pictures on my phone that make me smile.

Say-way is sleeping, Mama is showering, Moses is.. pulling the dental floss out of 3 containers...

Our big girl is eating cereal every night!! She likes it...

Sweet Bonnie.. driving with Mo's clothes in her window to dry them as we headed from the water park to Target...

This little girl is so.darn.cute!

Say-way and Mama...

Oh.dear. This is what I had to fit in the car on our trip to Albuquerque.

My sweet little cuddle bug.

In pursuit of chai.

I will acknowledge that I tend to find something I LOVE and then eat, drink, do, wear (insert action here) ad nauseum. I will just consider it a quirk of mine and leave it at that. Some examples of this are: running, find a song I love and leaving it on repeat for days and days, Tetris (wish I was kidding), watching Pride and Prejudice (..over and over and over.. If Darcy wouldn't have done that thing with his hand and said that he loves Elizabeth Bennet "most ardently" it would be easier to quit this habit.) Anyway, the latest "quirk" is chai. I'm absolutely loving it. However, one venti, iced (easy ice, please), nonfat, four pump chai ("a defining sense of self") will run me $3.99 (and my first born child) at Starbucks. Crazy, eh? So I started investing in the Tazo chai concentrate which can be found at Walmart for $3.47 a box. That can still get a bit pricey so I am in pursuit of the perfect chai recipe. When I find a recipe I love I will post it over at chowcity, but while I'm looking I will post the update here and if anyone has any pointers feel free to help a sister out!

Attempt #1

6 bags of Awake black tea

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon whole cloves

1 chunk of fresh ginger, smashed

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

3 cups water

3 cups milk

I combined the above ingredients (minus the milk) and brought them to a boil. After a couple minutes I took out the tea bags and let the other ingredients simmer. I then added the milk and reheated, being careful not to boil. Once it had cooled a bit I strained it using a fine mesh strainer.

Consensus: I need to be careful to not let the tea steep too long and maybe next time I will boil the spices first? Also, I think more cloves and ginger are in order for the next attempt! I poured the chai in a pitcher and allowed it to chill overnight and it was much, much better in the morning!

Maybe I will have this perfected in time for fall.. and just in time to decide that I love latte's again :)

Your Daily Mo... and Sarah

I can hardly believe she is big enough for this already! Time is flying by!

Water Fun!

After I run at Berg Park we head over to the water park for Moses to play while I feed Sarah. I need to start planning ahead (um.. a change of clothes, water diaper...). Moses has SO much fun and I think it's a lovely reward for being so sweet while Mama runs!

Your Daily Sarah

I just want to eat you up, you sweet girl. You have wiggled your way into your mama's heart. You are so precious to us.

Your Daily Sarah

Sweet thing in the morning!

Your Daily Mo

Does he love the play dough or the tupperware??

Playing, playing!

Waking up from a nap!