My husband is the chocolate chip cookie maker of the house. He makes them perfect every time.
Me? Epic fail. Every. Single. Time.
I have tried SO many times. Different recipes. Turning the oven up. Turning it down. Letting them cool on the pan. On a cooling rack. I've given up and just let him wear that hat.
Last night I pretty much wanted to eat everything in the house. Problem with that is that we didn't have any food in the house to actually eat. I somehow managed to convince Thane to whip up a batch and of course they were the best things ever. (In reality I just wanted to eat some cookie dough but didn't want to load up the kids to go to Culvers.)
I'd like to brag on us for a second and let you know that we made healthy chocolate chip cookies. That's right. Healthy.
We ran out of regular flour so we had to use wheat flour for at least half of the flour mixture.
Boom. #healthnuts
My grandma made the most amazing cookies. She was famous for them. She always had some on hand because it seemed that there was always someone at her kitchen table to eat them.
The key to her cookies was that she made them into bars. I'm sure in reality it was just easier because this woman had to make like 2 or 3 batches a week. I can guarantee that everyone who came over had at least one cookie if not two, and then wished they could have 3. Whenever we would go up there it would be surprising if someone wasn't already at the kitchen table with cookie crumbs in front of them.
I remember sitting at their table dipping my cookie in milk or just shoving it in my mouth quickly and trying to sneak another one while the grown ups all dipped theirs in coffee while they talked. Let me tell you the life crushing disappointment the 4 times in my life that Grandma didn't have cookies made. It was pretty much the most rare and saddest time in my childhood.
I have always wished I could make cookies like her, which is probably why it has been so annoying for me that my husband is the one who can make cookies and not me. I remember the time I posted my frustration about it on Facebook...I wished I had Grandma's recipe. My sister dropped a bombshell on me right there in the comments section. Grandma's "secret recipe" could be found....
on the side of the Toll House Bag.
Mind.
Blown.
So anyways, whenever Thane makes cookies I make sure there will be some left so that I can have one with my coffee in the morning. I can't help but smile and think about Grandma when I dip my cookie. I feel like I've finally grown up. I just wish I could be sitting at her kitchen table.
So this morning I was standing in front of our coffee maker zoning out as I dipped my cookie when I hear Jensen asking for a cookie. Thane told him no and he got mad.
I said, "Bugs, when you help pay the mortgage you can have a cookie for breakfast."
Parker came over to me with hope filled eyes and said..."I have a wallet....."
I should have reminded him that he doesn't have any money in it anymore because he has to help pay the water bill since they left the water running outside for FOUR hours on the snow storm day. But that's another story...
1. I can now do jumping jacks without holding my belly. It doesn't hurt anymore. Huge win.
2. I am way too invested in my Netfliks show. I found my mind wandering while I was doing lunge kickback pulses (they sound as awful as they were) and I was genuinely cornered about when Amy and Ty would figure their lives out and get back together. I may need to take a step back from Heartland and watch the Santa Clara Diet.
3. I am still not able to do more than about 20 seconds planking without it feeling like my c-section scar is going to rip open. Like violently rip open. I discovered there are a few ab workouts that I still can't do 5.5 months post c-section and I am definitely listening to my body. I tried to push through the pain last time it hurt and I regretted it for about a week. So not worth it and the vision of the violent rip was a bit too vivid in my mind.
4. I really like working out! Tonight however, I was not in the mental state to workout. If my friend had text me 10 minutes sooner than she did saying she wasn't going to class...I probably would have bailed too. I'm glad I didn't but I was a bit of a robot for a while. Just going through the motions and getting sweaty.
5. I needed class tonight. I left feeling refreshed and ready to face my kids again. (Today was rough. Mix the 2's with said 2 year old getting little sleep at night..it's not pretty.) I needed that hour of me time to come home and be a halfway decent mom again. The best part of the whole class was the last 4 minutes of instrumental music where we got to stretch laying on our mats.
I'm lying. The best part of the class was that I was able to push through almost all of the workout and even add an extra move or 2 to challenge myself without stopping. Almost all of it. All the jumping killed me on round 2. I would not have been able to do that in December. Or even before I got pregnant with Cam.
Baby steps. I got this.
Yesterday was beautiful. A little windy but to 2 little boys it was flip flop weather. (Parker's quote not mine. I swear!)
So bedtime is a little rough in our home right now. Jensen has figured out how to crawl out of his bunk bed the one way that we can't do anything about so they have been falling asleep around 10pm. It's insane. They are SO crabby. But to them..playing is life. Who needs sleep?!!?
Well..they do.
So we decided yesterday that sure they can stay up til 10..but they can only nap an hour during the day.
This decision was really fun for me around lunch time. Jensen has huge bags under his eyes. He's crabby. Parker's attitude, which also happens to be my attitude, is in prime form.
So anyways, they were playing outside like rock stars. Not fighting..a lot. Just happy to be outside and digging in the dirt I need to landscape. Jensen decided he wanted to have lunch and once this kid wants food...game over. Get him food. (He gets that from me.)
So I grabbed some yummy Costco sandwich and get him lunch. He shovels that down and I get him another. While he was eating this...Cam decided to poop.
When Cam poops...you best take care of it. He haaaates having a dirty diaper...and I hate smelling it. He is all man let me tell you. So stinky.
So, against my better judgement, I leave Jensen in the kitchen not buckled in his booster seat to go change Cam. It actually worked in my benefit that Jensen won't stay sitting down because the second I got Cam's diaper open I realized I had approx one wipe in the pack. Jensen happened to be prancing by, I'm serious..he was prancing, the door so I asked him to grab some out of the bathroom.
He handed me the wipes and I warned him that he better get back to his food before ate it. His eyes got wide and he bolted. Insert blood curling rabbit scream.
He appeared in the doorway with crocodile tears and wailing. "Bugs!! Did Bernie eat your sandwich?"
"Uh-huuuuuhhhhhhhhh"
"It's ok..mommy will get you something else when I get done here. Just hold on ok?"
"Ooooooooooookkkkkkkaaaaaaayyyyyyyy."
I finish up with Cam and head to the kitchen. Jensen says "Mommy look!!!" He holds up the frost covered corn dog, takes a big bite, and breaks out into a huge smile. I burst out laughing, thank him for being independent and take it away to warm it up. Insert blood curling rabbit scream. (He does this a lot and I swear if Camden loses some hearing because of it I'll be so angry. ) He was SO upset that I warmed it up for him.
Anyways, the whole point about this post is that he is growing up. Bet you didn't see that coming!
It is so hard for me to see that he is growing up and becoming more independent. Some of the things he does makes me just stop and stare at him and realize..no he isn't a baby anymore. He and Parker are inseparable most of the time so P talks for him a lot and does stuff for him so we don't always get to see what he can do.
He has the kindest heart.
Yesterday he spent some time looking for the perfect leaf on the ground..found two...and offered Parker one. The other day he saw the snack cups from the zoo that we didn't use. He grabbed both of them and ran to give one to P before he dug into his. One day the world was ending for Parker because Jensen had a flashlight that he wanted, so while I tried to calm him down Bugs ran and searched the house for another flashlight.
Situations like that give me hope that we are doing something right. We aren't totally messing up all 3 kids at least.
I have always had issues with the morning. I hate it.
My dad used to have to push my mattress off my bed and tip me off of it to get me up for school on time. Maybe I should have Thane start doing that so I get up...
I have a few things I'd like to do in the morning before the kids get up. Like have at least a cup of coffee so I can handle my kids when they get up like the mom I strive to be...not the mom that yells when their kid won't get out of bed until they have gathered all 10 of their stinkies and 3 stuffed dinos just to drop them outside the bathroom door. The boys may or may not have inherited my love of the morning. We all mesh really well with our awesome attitudes right after we get up...and before I've had coffee.
I'd like to workout to start my day. This one is the biggest mental game. I want to just get my workout out of the way. Not sure how I will do it wearing my glasses though...I loath working out in my glasses. So there ya go..just one more excuse to not workout. But the longer I wait in my day..the more excuses that pop up.
I want to start blogging again. I've been thinking about when I would have time to sit down and think through sentences and not feel guilty about just sitting here. Or a time when I would be able to reread what I wrote without breaking up a fight. Ya..that would have to be in the morning too.
So that is a lot to pack in to the morning for someone who hates leaving her bed. At the moment I blame Costco. I just got us all new memory foam pillows...2 for $10 which is an insane price..and I have never slept this good in my life. I made Thane watch TV in bed the other night just so I could lay on it longer. I of course always find the *most* comfortable spot on said pillow about 1 second after the alarm goes off. <insert snooze button x3>
So this morning I had 3 alarms set. I won't even tell you for what time because that is a whole new blog post. Let's just say...its a normal time. A time that I used to have to get up when I was in the working world. Which is why it's so annoying to me that I can't get up now! Anyways..I snoozed them all. I told myself I'll workout at 9, which now that I'm thinking of it I can't. We are going to the park today because it will be like 65 degrees or something amazing..and we are leaving to be there at 10. Which means prep starts at 9:30...
But! I did get up 22 minutes early to drink my coffee and start this blog. #babysteps
Edit to add...I got my work out tin his morning. I sat Jensen in front of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and put Camden on his favorite mat and went to work. #momoftheyear Do what you gotta do to survive.
