Thursday, March 30, 2017

10 on 10 February 2015


10 pictures on the 10th day of the month! 

{Document a snapshot of your life & find beauty among the ordinary things in your day!}
ten on ten button
Happy 10th of February. This month is flying by!
Here is a sneak peek of our day. It was a pretty typical day.
It was REALLY foggy this morning when I got to school. 
It has been foggy in the morning & then it burns off by 10 am and is really sunny.
Today at school I gave a quiz to all my classes. We are working on rates & ratios.
After school I picked up Luke from my mom's. My parents have the best view.
 When we got home it was lunch time. I had the Kale Salad from Trader Joes. So yummy!
It was such a nice day out (72 degrees!) and Claire wanted to ride her bike in the front yard. While she did that, I cleaned out my car. My car was absouletly disgusting. I will spare you pictures of that....Luke had thrown an entire bag of goldfish crackers in the car, so there was smashed up fishies everywhere. Plus one of the girls water bottles leaked so my car had that lovely mildew smell. I vaccuumed it all out & left the windows and doors open for 2 hours while the nice sunny weather aired out my car.
 Can we talk about Claire riding her bike in a long maxi skirt? She is crazy :)
 
February means tulip season. I love tulips! I currently have pink ones on my kitchen table:
 Then it was time to go pick up Kate from school. Pretty much every day I have wake up Luke from his nap so we can pick up Kate. #3rdkidproblems 
He likes reading his books in the car.
After school we headed to Claire's gymnastics class. She has been begging to do gymnastics for over a year, so I finally enrolled her! This was her first official class.

 During gymnastics, we sat above and Kate did her homework while Luke played with the different toys up there. I think this will work out nicely each Tuesday.

After gymnastics we went back home for dinner.
This is also the witching hour....4 until 6 pm....Serenity now. 
Dinner was Baked Ravioli! So easy & so quick to make on busy weeknights!
After the kids were in bed Kevin & I watched New Girl and of course I had a little treat.
It's Girl Scout Cookie Season! Kate is a brownie, so we have lots of cookies at our house right now.
I always keep a box of Thin Mints in the freezer. 
I add a little scoop of vanilla ice cream in between 2 Thin Mints and Viola....a mini ice cream sandwich! 
It's the perfect little dessert when you feel like something sweet!
Stock up on those Thin Mints! :)

So, there you have it....a snapshot of our day. 
It was a pretty typical day of work, picking up the kids, doing homework and going to their activities!
I love doing 10 on 10 because I get to document ordinary things!
Hope you had a great 10th!

Read More..

PDF How to potty train a 19 month girl


How to potty train a 19 month girl will be certainly one of this great article below the nowadays Can certainly belonging to the listing google and yahoo So that they can give priceless information and facts to the customers we have attempted to locate the actual closest importance pictures close to How to potty train a 19 month girl Along with below you will definitely discover currently, most of these graphics are considered on the foremost learning resource.

Potty Training With Pull-Ups "Big Boy Pants" #CelebrateFirstFlush and Michael Jordan, Yvette Prieto Expecting Twins News BET Blue Ivy Carter Photos: A First Look At Beyonce And Jay-Z's Daughter

Many are available for save, when you need together with choose to bring it just click conserve logo about the web page, and it’ll be instantly downloaded in the laptop. In conclusion if you would like attain completely new and additionally best and newest artwork connected to How to potty train a 19 month girl , you need to abide by you with the search engines furthermore or maybe search for this fabulous website, we attempt our best to give you daily update using many new along with fresh new written content. Develop you want our own internet site.

How to potty train a 19 month girl - it's become released with the expectation which we can easily really encourage employed to people. This text are able to help being useful resource if you find yourself bewildered to find the perfect direct The How to potty train a 19 month girl content could be your better alternative being placed on the task program, as it has its own plan will feel more satisfied How to potty train a 19 month girl - Very helpful for you personally therefore we are trying to find the best origin which in turn may help you uncover enthusiasm devoid of bafflement. bear in mind so that you can take note of these pages, for the reason that might be sooner or later you need them backside since the inspirational tips.


Read More..

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies


Happy Thanksgiving Week!
The girls and I have been off school all week.
It has been glorious....no big plans...staying in our pj's most of the day & doing some baking!
In October & November I make tons and tons of things with pumpkin in them, but once December hits, I switch over to Christmas baking mode and I keep the pumpkin on the shelf and replace it with all things Peppermint & Chocolate. 
The girls wanted to make cookies this week, so we decided on these ones:
 Here is what you need:
  • 2 cups  flour
  • 1 1/3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin
  • egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 bag of chocolate chips
Directions:
Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl. 
Beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until light and fluffy. 
Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract; mix well. 
Add flour mixture; mix well & stir in chocolate chips. 
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto baking sheets (I use a cookie scoop)

 Bake at 350 for 14-15 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned and set in centers. 
You will love these cookies. 
They are soft and delicious.
The pumpkin, oatmeal & chocolate chips taste so good together.
 All 5 of us love them....Luke even pulled up a chair to the counter and stole 2 of them from the plate when he thought we weren't looking. 
Hope you love these as much as we do.
Need more Pumpkin Recipes? Check out these ones:
 Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies {HERE}

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles {HERE}
Pumpkin Cheesecake {HERE} We will be having this for Thanksgiving dessert again this year.

Pumpkin Bars {Recipe HERE}
 Pumpkin Ice Cream Cake {HERE}

Pumpkin Bread {HERE} 

And, some savory recipes with Pumpkin....
Sweet Potato Black Bean & Pumpkin Chili {HERE}

Baked Ziti with Pumpkin, Sausage & Spinach {HERE}

 I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!
Enjoy!

Read More..

Ready for a Crafty Weekend Project


I'm in the mood for a weekend project!
Settling into a routine with our newborn has freed up some spare time, and I'm not completely exhausted every afternoon since the baby has a (slightly) better sleep schedule at nighttime. So, I'm ready to put all my nursing session Pinterest finds to good use! Outside our front door we have a large brick wall that's begging for some decor. We don't really have a front porch that I can decorate; our entrance is an odd shape. I think I can use that brick wall's space to hang seasonal decorations. I'd like to make a simple wooden plaque and attach some cute knobs. Something like the picture below but with cute Hobby Lobby knobs.
Then I plan on adding cute seasonal signs or wreaths or flower baskets or banners or whatever I create. I like the flexibility to change it as often as I like, plus it won't be hidden behind our screen door. I love decorating holiday wreaths for the front door, but as soon as the screen door closes the wreath is hidden. But, we love our screen door, so I can't really remove it just to showcase a wreath. . . 

Another bonus to hooks outside? I'm running out of space inside! With little children who would quickly grab and destroy any decorations within their reach, my decorating wall space is limited. Someday I'll be able to decorate tables and stack cute things on the floor, but it'll be a few more years.

Once I make my wooden plaque, I can start on my Pinterest list, starting with Fall decor of course!

What should I make first? Here are my ideas; tell me what you vote for in the comments.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/30821578679233888/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/30821578679233872/


https://www.pinterest.com/pin/30821578679233849/


https://www.pinterest.com/pin/30821578679233851/


Hopefully my creative energy continues through the weekend!

Update on November 13, 2016: I finished my project! Check out the results at this blog post. Enjoy!



Read More..

How many days til Christmas ! !


I've decided that I love Wisconsin Autumns. I have pictures [coming soon!] to prove that it truly is one of the most beautiful places to see the leaves change. I don't even mind that it's getting colder and darker in the evenings...not just yet, but give me another month and I might be sobbing all over the place again.

You see, Christmas is RIGHT around the corner. No joke. I can't even bring myself to count the days....although I love Christmas, I know that means Wisconsin winter full of reDONKulous amounts of snow. Sob.

I say all this because of my album design business [bear with me a second, I'll get back to Christmas in a bit]. I have to show off an album I completed some time ago, but never had a second to gather my thoughts and post about it. Jenna is a bride with stellar tastes: she got married and had her reception at the very same location as moi, just a mere five days after me. We met through wedding planning and it was quite the trip down memory lane to design her album. Jenna used SJMacky, one of the most popular St. Louis photographers, whose talent has grown with her booming clientele. Did I mention that I love to stare at wedding photographer's blogs?

Here are a few of my favorite layouts from Jenna's album, but as always....go to my website under 'examples' for all of the pages.






Fun, right?

But what about Christmas? Since the season is upon us and my side business seems to be taking off, I need anyone who wants an album by Christmas to get on the ball. I'm thinking the beginning of November [a few weeks away!] is a realistic deadline because I only have so much free time to devote to J.Lorene [although if I had it my way, you know I'd ditch the full time real job in a second for this fun stuff.]

So here is my plea: if you are considering using my services for a Christmas gift album, contact me a.s.a.p. [julia@jlorenedesign dot com]. And be prepared to get your images organized and sent to me by the beginning of November. Mama Clause might need to make a few hot dates with Mr. Computer before Christmas....the whole idea of 'sharing the computer' is a little rough lately. I miss the days of our dual-computer household:(

[As a side note, I finally raised my prices ever so slightly. It's about time I took the plunge so take a look on the 'investment' tab. Yay for business growth!]
Read More..

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Baby 3 21 weeks


I'm kind of over the forms for my weekly posts now that I broke out of them last week. I like rambling a lot better;)

2.24.14: I'm twenty one weeks today!

Untitled

Belly button is barely hanging on. Feeling huge at times and tiny at other times. Still in some regular pants and was shocked to find I've 'only' gained 11 pounds total so far. At my 20 week OB appointment last week, I braced myself to see a 2 pound per week gain after my huge growth spurt from weeks 16-20. But nope--just a pound per week during that time, bringing me to 11 total. Nice. I'm sure I will still top the scales at at *least* 30 total but I'm fine with that. Just prefer to stay less than 40 if possible. Not really worried since perspective is key this third time around---weight should come off eventually and it's more important for me to enjoy this final pregnancy and eat when hungry that let myself worry about the scale. We will see if this zen attitude changes when I'm huge.

My appetite is still out of control every few days, especially in the evenings. For example, Friday night is always pizza night here. I had a few slices, was starving, so we had ice cream. Still starving, so ate some cookies. Forced myself to chill out but I seriously could have had even more! And that is not our usual 'healthy' food either, obviously, but it all tasted great. Luckily we do usually eat healthy, acceptable portion sizes and I can contain the hunger most of the time. Just trying to follow my gut (literally!) and if I'm hungry I eat. Hopefully I don't eat an entire sleeve of Girl Scout Cookies but a few usually does it for me. Cereal is still my fave and clementines are disappearing by the dozen around here. Mmmmm.

Pointy bump last Saturday night, as we were getting ready for our much-needed date night (!).

Untitled

WOAH. Bump is out of control at this angle!
Untitled

We both accidentally wore blue to our dinner out. Erin watched our kids for us, since it was our turn for the date-night swap. Truman fell asleep in the van on the way over to Erin's house and was NOT the happiest to be left there when half asleep. He pulled through and they all had a blast….and Nate and I gorged ourselves on fantastic food. Nothing like a dinner with my husband to reconnect, make eye contact, and actually TALK to each other without breaking up sibling fights and spilling milk on the floor. I love date nights so much!
Untitled

Just because food pictures are extremely appetizing to me, and eating is one of my life's greatest pleasures when pregnant, please note how amazing this meal looks. Then we will get back to the topic at hand;)

Our appetizer platter:
Untitled

My amazing burger and fries. Had to take half of it home and it was still awesome the next day.
Untitled

Nate's pork schnitzel and beer. Lucky guy with the brews.
Untitled

Dessert #1: molten chocolate cake with raspberry sorbet.
Untitled

And oops, dessert #2. Sticky Toffee Pudding. LOVE. We were only going to split one dessert but they hooked us up at Rumpus Room since we know one of the head honchos at corporate (ahem, Erin!). Don't mind it a bit!
Untitled

Moving on from the food porn…

Last week was an incredible week overall. We found out baby #3 is healthy, first and foremost. We also found out that he is a BOY. Then three days after our ultrasound, we settled on a name. (!!) Let's discuss. It was the fastest decision ever for us, and it was not difficult to nail down our favorite. It's a name that literally hit me out of the blue one day in Target a few weeks ago---one I've never really heard in real life before, and one that has never been on our lists before. I had a light bulb moment like, 'I love that name. If this is a boy that has to be it.' I mentioned the name to Nate that night and was dreading his response, but he immediately said, 'I like it. A lot.' So I knew that could be it if baby was a boy, but at that time I still really thought it was a girl. However, from that moment of seeing this name I started to get really excited about a baby boy. So I guess it was meant to be;)

I had Nate look through my gigantic phone list again Friday night after the US and simply said, 'Which ones do you like?' He said the one we picked and Grant---which was our number two for Truman. Still LOVE that name but it doesn't feel quite as special or exciting for us anymore, since we've thought about it for over four years. Therefore, baby boy has a different name and we love it. Won't share it on the internets, I'm afraid, but rest assured it goes well with the other names we've picked. Truman loves it and will probably blab it to anyone who will listen, too.

Middle name will either be Nelson (my dad's middle name, but he uses it as his first) or Nathan. I love having family names for our kids' middles---Truman has Nate's middle name and CC has mine. Other top boy contenders (for first names) on my list that Nate did not like: Sullivan (Sully), Gilbert (don't laugh---it's my dad's real first name and he is a junior, I think 'Gil' is the cutest!), Wade, and Walter (Wally). Again, none of these are The Name since Nate shot them all down. Top girl choices of mine: Alice (totally could have pushed for it this time), Phoebe, Rosalie (Rosie), Francine (Frankie), and Gwendolyn (Gwen). I like nick-names and older names apparently. Nate only remotely liked Phoebe of this list, I believe. Baby names are so much fun!

The day after deciding his name, I got totally inspired via Pinterest for baby boy's nursery. At first I was just going to keep Cecelia's light blue walls, repaint the crib, and find a new rug. But after falling in love with my first ever theme for a nursery, I can't help myself but get this room started! Cecelia and I went to Home Depot and bought a gallon of dark 'Seal Gray' paint by Glidden and I did all of the rolling that afternoon when she napped for two hours (and Nate hung with T). Then on Sunday I did all of the trim and the dreaded radiator while both kids napped, plus one 'take Henry for a walk' break. I believe this second part took at least three hours start to finish. It looks so fresh and so different!

Untitled

Untitled

Ta Da!
Untitled

Untitled
Obviously, the pink roman shades will go along with the rug. Pretty sure I won't use the dollhouse bookshelf either, so those things plus the pink pom pons and I will have a huge hunk of 'girlie' storage in our attic, I suppose. I cannot part with any of it just yet---maybe someday CC will have her own room again and I can re-use the pink?

I cannot wait to pull this idea together and usually I'm not a big fan of cookie cutter 'themes'---this time I love the woodsy, outdoorsy, forest friends theme enough to make it work for my specific tastes. I can't steer away from bright colors, I'm afraid, and want to incorporate an outdoorsy Wisconsin and mountain-y Colorado feel into the room a bit, too. Here is my inspiration board on Pinterest if you care to peek. It will be such a fun nursery for our baby boy…and mostly for me. I have officially remembered that decorating a nursery is truly one of my favorite things ever. No joke. I wish I could just shop and craft and paint furniture all day long to make it happen ASAP but taking my time will be fine, too;) I guess we have plenty of time.

Another big milestone from this week? Nate felt his son hiccuping. Baby boy hiccups already a LOT and is so freaking active, I figured it was time to make Nate feel this kids' shenanigans. Sure enough, hiccups and kicks for his daddy one night. God, I love this stage of pregnancy so much.

A fantastic ultrasound, fun pictures, a great OB appointment, a name, a nursery idea, painted walls, Nate feeling him kick….could I be any more annoying as a 'high on life' pregnant lady? Probably not.

One 'thank god your life isn't perfect' thing you will appreciate is that mornings have SUCKED around here lately. Again. Cecelia and or Truman have both been waking up at 2, 3, 4, and 5 am…taking turns, it seems. Truman will sometimes frantically call us in there to ask, 'Where is CC? Is she still in her crib?' And she always is. Sometimes he will need a tuck in. Sometimes he will wander into our room to inform us he is headed to the bathroom. Sigh. Just do it, child!! And then his sister? Fussing for her pacifier, mostly, but also she seems to just want to start her days around 5am despite our pleads to last until 6:00. If she DOES win the battle and we let her get up that early she is a mess by 9:00. So yeah, lots of night time wake ups over here---blah blah blah, preparing me for baby, whatever. I'm not into it though and something must be done! Room sharing is going really well overall and I really think they'd be going through this weird early-morning stuff in different rooms, too. Heck, they both HAVE pulled this stunt before anyway. Still need to do that 'room sharing update' post but we are still loving the shared space. May officially move CC from her crib into a big girl bed and BUNK the kids in the next few weeks. Holy changes.

Comparing pregnancies: here is the 21 week post from Truman's pregnancy. First reaction is that I've gained 11 pounds this time and was at 13 pounds that first time, so that's good? Plus my belly was still microscopic at that point. We were pretty much settled on his name already but didn't solidify it yet because I wanted to wait---do not remember this in the slightest. Woah. And then Cecelia's 21 week post was sweet because we had just bought our house! Similar belly size to right now, same weight gain, but last time we were nowhere near deciding on her name. Ha! Oh yes, agreeing to Cecelia's name was painful for all involved. Happy that this boy was easier in that sense. Maybe he will be our easiest baby yet? (shouldn't be too hard when it comes to sleep).

So that was last week---a pretty eventual one! Not to mention that Cecelia turns 21 months on Friday, and Truman's fourth birthday is Saturday. Better start working on their posts and preparing for my mom and Memaw to arrive this week! Excited for Truman's party on Saturday and I think we are buying him his first bike for our big gift. Hopefully he can ride it before June if this snow ever melts.

And with that, I guess I have proved that not following a pregnancy form for my weekly posts = mega post with a ton of random stuff in it. Nursery and baby names and a date night HAVE to get mentioned, though!
Read More..