Breakfast of Champions

Since we have changed out life style to about 90% Paleo, breakfast has always been a challenge.  

It usually needs to be something pretty fast as 2 days a week I need to get Cade out the door for school and we are just plain starving when we wake up!  

This is our go to breakfast.  I make a giant batch and stick the extras in the fridge to pull out during the week. 

Apple Coconut Waffles

4 eggs

2 Tbsp maple syrup

2 Tbsp vanilla

1/2 C. water

3 C. almond flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 Tbsp Arrowroot Powder

1 apple, peeled and grated

Coconut (optional, I personally don't like the coconut in mine but Tyler loves it)

Mix wet ingredients first then add in dry.

In a preheated and greased waffle iron, scoop batter, top with coconut and cook until golden.

   

I love pairing mine up with a piece of fried ham and of course a cup of coffee!  

Starting the morning off right,

Boys will be boys (oh ya and I girl)

One Tues a month our community group meets at our home. 

This Tues was our week.  It's such a blessing to get together, we always have an amazing dinner, lots of fellowship, worship, and laughs.  

As the adults were inside we sent the kiddoz to the back yard to play.  Good idea right?!  

As the evening was coming to a close I went out to check on the kids and this is what I found:

Apparently mud soup was on the kids menu and as they were diligently cooking it up the hose got left on a little too long.  

This was one of those moments that could go 1 of 2 ways.  I could freak out because my patio was flooded and had a river of mud and bark running through it.  Or I could let go and let it go.  

After all the kids were

1. quiet

2. playing nicely together

3. un-harmed

4. having fun

What do you need to work on letting go of?

Letting go more,

Freezing... yet satisfying

Devotional tidbit

I got a new book and I'm so in love!

After seeing several people posting these amazing words and devotionals from the book Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, I finally decided to purchase my own copy.  And I'm so glad I did.  Devotions are the #1 thing I struggle with.  I have no problem getting dinner on the table, house clean & laundry done.  But put quiet time with the Lord on my list and it gets pushed to the bottom or forgotten all together.  Since this little book arrived on my door step I haven't missed a day (ok maybe 1 or 2) but for me that is phenomenal!!  It's 365 days of words from the Lord, originally directed and spoken to Sarah the author, but I actually think the words are spoken to me!  It's amazing how the Lord puts things in your life right where/when you need it the most!  Although each day is pretty short I find myself reading it several times in order to take it in and grasp it fully.  

I encourage you to pick up a copy for yourself.  You will not be disappointed!

Soaking Him in,

Cade has a green thumb

                              Step #1 pick flowers   Step #2 plant them     Step #3 water

We went to Fred Meyer a few weeks ago to pick the flowers for our pots in the backyard.  Cade was a great helper at picking pretty flower combinations.  He was begging me to plant his own flowers.  So I let him choose 2 flowers to plant all by himself.  Of course he choose an orange flower because orange is for the Beavers and because they don't have black flowers he had to settle for white.   Now his job (along with some help) is to keep them watered and alive.  I would have to say he has quite the green thumb so far!  

He is very proud of his flowers!   

Master Gardener, 

Toesies

Look at the adorableness of those little piggies! 

Kids in flip flops is one of my favorite things whent he weather gets warm. 

Blake is sporting his first pair & actually likes them!

Wishing for warmer weather,

My little Family

It feels like a lot has been going on in the Mackeson family.  The boys are constantly changing and becoming more and more grown up!  So for the sake of keeping track of these things myself and for your blogging entertainment here is what our recent happenings.... 

BLAKE:

Oh Blake where do I even begin!  He is seriously one of the funnies 1 year olds I have ever seen and he doesn't even talk!  I'm not just saying that because he is my own child I really think he is abnormally goofy/funny for his age.  

He LOVES music and dancing.  In the car, at home, in the grocery store, dancing along to Cades constant guitar playing, any toy that has music.. he will bust a move to it! 

Discovered running and the game "on your mark, get set, go"

Love, Love, Loves to snuggle and give hugs

Has 9 teeth

thoroughly enjoys his paci and "Uno"

Has a few word which include gun, dog and Cade

Is obsessed with anything Cade.  I know I say this all the time but he does and it is so sweet.  He is always wanting to wear Cades shoes, bike helmet, play in Cades room and play with anything Cade is for that matter, drink from his cup etc.  i <3 brothers!

Loves being outside (what boy doesn't)

Finally has taken a liking to books

Throws a pretty big tantrum, body on the floor and everything!  Isn't he too young for this?  

OBSESSED and when I say obsessed I mean OOBBEESSEEDD!!! with anything technology.  It is ridiculous.  We were at my in-laws last weekend and Blake would cry and Dean my father-in-law would jokingly say "get him technology!" as a joke but its so true!  If he is grumpy if you give him a remote, phone, computer anything technology related and he is good to go.  I finally gave in and bought him his own Leaptop so he would have something of his own that resembled our computer.

Ok enough about Mr. B, on to CADE:

SO ridiculously smart.  We got his first progress report from his pre school last month and I literally had to hold back the tears while I was reading it!  I am amazed at the things he knows.  He will be moving up to He can:

memorize songs

write his name, the alphabet and all the numbers

recognize the entire alphabet and tell you what sound each letter makes

follow/finish a pattern

do connect the dots with number and letters

rhyming words

count to 30+

He will be moving up to Pre-K next year!  

Plays his guitar 24/7

Wants to grow his hair long like Sampson from the Bible.... ugh

PePe Pig is his favorite show right now

Enjoys his Strider bike and is learning to peddle his new "peddle bike"

Some fun things we have been doing:

Tyler and I took an adults only trip to Vegas with my sister and brother in law

Enchanted Forrest

Riding bikes

Exploring all the different parks in Bend

This summer we are looking forward to:

A weekend at the beach

San Diego

Tyler and I are going on a mediterranean cruise 

Camping

Ok so I think that pretty much sums us up for a bit.  

Enjoying life,

Surprise! Surprise!

I would say that my brother and I pulled off a great surprise this last weekend. 

About a month or so ago I called him to see if he got Blake's birthday invitation and to see if there was any chance he could come.  To my surprise he said he was working on getting the time off!!  I couldn't believe it, I was so excited.  He lives in Seattle so for him to drive all the way to Bend is huge! 

Once he got the time off he told me that he wanted to keep it a secret from everyone else.  Only Tyler and I knew.  So he made the drive over on Friday and spent the night with us.  Saturday was party time and the rest of our family came into town around 2 or so.  We had parked Brett's car in the garage so they wouldn't expect anything.  

The excitement from everyone when they came in and saw Brett was so fun and totally worth keeping it a secret.

Cade has always been a little stand offish with Brett.  Maybe because he is a big dude or perhaps the massive beard he sports.  Cade's first words when Brett got to our house was "I don't want to touch that beard!",  but over the weekend Brett grew on Cade and they had a great time.  They did pillow fights before bed, played race cars in the living room and even had water balloon fights.  It was so fun to see Cade warm up to him and see them interact.  The first night Cade would only give Brett a high-5 at bed time, the next night Brett got a hug out of him and on the last day when Brett left Cade actually gave Brett a kiss!!  I would say that was some huge progress!!  They did pillow fights before bed, played race cars in the living room and even had water balloon fights.  It was so fun to see Cade warm up to him and see them interact.  

Now I know it was technically Blakes weekend but somehow we ended up with all pictures of Brett and Cade, no pictures of Brett and Blake.....

oops :)

We love you Brett and it meant to much to have you here!

Walking Fool

It seriously happened over night! Just last week he started taking 1-2 steps. Then yesterday he was up to 4-5 and now just this morning he is walking all the way across the living room! This little man is determined to keep up with his older brother and he is doing a great job at it! Crawling at 6 months and now walking at 11. It's all happening too fast, before we know it Blake is going to be 1! I still can't believe how much fast the second baby grows up.

I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry!!

Blake can clap

Longest Week EVVVERRR!!

I had to stop and think about what day it was today. When I realized it was only Wednesday I wanted to crawl back in bed and wake up to Saturday!
It has been that kind of week.
It started off with both kids feeling crummy as we ended out visit to Dallas. Cade was complaining that his ears were hurting, he was coughing and sniffling. Blake was also coughing but his cough was sounding like a bark. (In the middle of the night Cade even came to me and said he heard a puppy barking) :( Then we were welcomed home by a daddy who was not feeling so hot either.

Monday:
Both kids feel lousy, lounge day at home. I got to go grocery shopping solo.. only to come out of the grocery store with a flat tire, 1 hour and 2 screws removed from tire later and I'm back on the road.

Tuesday:
Supposed to go to friends house but cancel due to sick boys. Attempt to take naps, Cade wakes up screaming in pain from his ears. Call doctor, go to doctor, Cade had double ear infection, Blake has beginning of ear infection and mild case of croup. Both boys on antibiotics. Tyler comes home from work feeling/looking like death. Sent him to bed.

Wednesday:
Keep Cade home from school. However I have a chiro appointment. Drop both boys off at Tylers office so I can go to appointment. Pick boys up. Cade is complaining that he itches. Get home put boys down for naps. Cade wakes up complaining his "goosebumps" itch. Look at "goosebumps". FREAK out because "goosebumps" are bright red and everywhere! Allergic reaction to antibiotics. Call doctor only to find out he is out on family emergency till Tues. Get number for backup doctor. Backup doctor is done seeing patients for the day. Stop giving Cade antibiotics, give Benadryl instead. Wait to get into doctor tomorrow. Totally not thinking about what I'm doing, give Blake his antibiotics, give Cade antibiotics.... oops, Cade breaks out in another rash. Give Cade Benadryl. All patients snuggled in bed, time for a glass of wine and quiet time

IS IT FRI YET?!
We have been so blessed when it comes to health! We must be making up for lost time. Even though my guys are not feeling well they still know how to have fun and put a smile on my face.
Here's to hoping the rest of the week is uneventful!!

Sword fighting

Cade taking Blake for a ride

Did I mention Blake is 10 months today!!

Cruising along

My sweet boy

I have the most thoughtful little man! Cade is and always has been such a thoughtful and sensitive boy. He is always giving people compliments or noticing when something is new and different.

With valentines being this week he has been very attentive to the fact that it's a special day where we can do special things for the people we love.

After seeing what Tyler did for me that day he told me this:

"Mommy, when I get big like daddy I'm going to marry you. I will be a husband and you will be my wife! Then I can go to Fred Meyer and get you flowers!"

(melt my heart!)

Then after pre school his teacher pulled me aside to show me the special picture he drew for me. It was a very colorful drawing with the title on top "This is my beautiful mommy with a green shirt"

He is going to make a very luck girl feel super loved someday!!

(if I choose to share him)

Feeling the love,

Megan

This Weeks Menu

Ok ladies here is the Mackeson Menu for this week. I hope it helps with the daunting task of compiling you families meals! As you will find, most of our meals are Paleo and probably sound weird but they are super yummy & filling.

Dinners:

Shepherds Pie

Applesauce

Spaghetti Squash alla Carbonara w/ chicken

Green beans

Stew

Biscuits

Orange Chicken

Broccoli

Oranges

Tacos

(grass fed beef, tomatoes, avocados, peppers, olives wrapped in lettuce)

Lunch:

Waldorf Salad

Italian Sub roll

(olives, lettuce, pepperoncini, wrapped in salami, ham & pepperoni)

Apple chicken sausage sauteed w/ zucchini

LO's (leftovers)

Breakfast:

Ham, applesauce, almonds

Carrot Banana muffins

Eggs & avocados

Raw breakfast crumbles

Snacks:

Nuts

Beef Jerky

Banana w/ almond butter

Blake can wave

New Skirt

I have been sewing for a few years now but had never attempted anything clothing related for myself. I had heard from many people that it's super hard to find your actual size on a pattern and because of that I stayed away. Up until about a month ago.

A blog I follow was doing a "sew along" for this adorable skirt! So I gave in. My sister came over for a few days so she brought her sewing machine and we set out to tackly the skirt. Easy right? Well just like everyone warned me finding my size was hard. According to the pattern I was a size 16... gulp!! I knew that couldn't be right so I had to make a sample waist band to figure out what size I really was. Well a long story short, the size I came up with was still to big so after almost completing the skirt and realizing it was too big I ended up taking the ENTIRE thing apart and re sizing it. So about 12 hours of work later it's complete and I LOVE it. The fabirc I found was exactly what I wanted and happened to be on sale!

Here is it! My favorite part....

The pockets!

White as Snow

Wow, I am feeling so blessed today! Waking up to a 3 inch blanket of fluffy white snow is amazing!

What is even more amazing is seeing the delight on Cades face this morning when I lifted him up to the window and showed him what happened over night.

That boy is SO Tylers son!

It was like Christmas morning, he was laughing and running around so giddy! Probably because when he thinks of snow he associates it with Christmas so all morning he was saying "It snowed! It's almost Christmas!... After Thanksgiving though!" By 7am he was dressed and traipsing around in the backyard.

But even more amazing than my childs delight by the snow is the amazing reminder it brings of the power of forgiveness! After I got Cade buckled into the neighbors car I was overcome with how powerful and significant snow is to my salvation. Take my yard for example. The cold and wind has blown away all the beautiful leaves, stripped the flowers of color and turned our grass a nasty burnt brown color, much resembling the ugly sinful state of man. But over night a fresh new layer emerged and covered the ugly and made is something beautiful and amazing!

Isaiah 1:8

"Though your sins are as scarlet,

They will be as white as snow"

Today I am so grateful for my salvation and the incredible sacrifice that was made for me to be white as snow!

Real Life Pinning #2

Shaving cream bath paints

What you need:

Muffin tin

Shaving cream

Food coloring

Paint brush

Bathtub/walls

(shaving cream expands a lot! You only need about 2 Tbs in each muffin hole)

Todays pin comes from here

My Pick of the Patch

Blake 5.5 months; Cade 3 years old

Real Life Pinning

I'm sure everyone out there has either heard or is signed up for Pinterest.

IT IS ADDICTING!

I found this hilarious definition of it from a fellow blogger

pin-ter-est (n): A fun reminder of the clothes I will never afford/fit into, the home decor I will never afford/fit into our small home, the recipes and crafts I am too lazy to ever make, the sayings I wasn’t clever enough to think of on my own, the photos I wish I had taken but didn’t.

Well to not become that "pinner" I am going to start posting some of my "real life pins"

Real Life Pin # 1

The 5min Brimmed Beanie

The original post come from here : http://deliacreates.blogspot.com/2010/12/five-minute-brimmed-beanie.html