Wordless Wednesday

Grain Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are AMAZING!  They are Paleo and they totally satisfy that sweet craving, they even bake up fluffy like a cookie should.

Yesterday I eat 8 of them and didn't even feel guilty!

3 cups almond flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup honey

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup coconut oil melted

1.5 cups Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips (or whatever you have on hand.  my favorite are the mini chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 375℉.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the eggs, honey, and vanilla extract with a hand mixer, or wire whisk.

Pour wet ingredients slowly into dry ingredients and beat with mixer or fork until combined.

Add the melted coconut oil and continue to blend until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop Tablespoon size balls of cookie dough onto prepared baking sheet.

Bake for approximately 8-10 minutes.

Sunny @ the Oregon Coast?! WHAT?!!

Growing up we went to the beach all the time!  It was only an hour drive away from Dallas and my grandparents lived there, so we had no excuses.  Now living in Bend it's a 4.5-5 hour drive and we hardly ever go unless it's for our churches family camp.  

We got lucky this weekend!  Edward Jones held it's summer regional meeting at Salishan in Lincoln City.  The forecast called for rain every day except for 1 so I went with the mind set that we would spend most of our time at the indoor pool.  Someone was looking out for us because the forecast was ALL wrong!  It was sunny with almost no wind all except for 1 day!  It was great.  Unfortunately Tyler was in meetings until lunch each day but the boys and I had a good time exploring, swimming and playing at the beach.  After lunch Tyler was able to join us so our afternoons were spent at the Aquarium (forgot the camera.. boo) and more playing on the beach.  Cade was in heaven digging, running around and burying everything.  Blake not so much.  It was his first time on the actual beach, feet in and walking around.  He wasn't too sure about the sand and when we put him down he pretty much stayed in one spot and didn't move.  He did a little digging and of course tried to eat the sand.  

 Digging 

 More digging followed by burying 

 Blake trying to figure this sand thing out 

 Watching Cade & daddy 

 Tide pool exploring 

 Loving the beach

 Cade getting a little sea life lesson

Amazing pool or purple sea urchins 

All in all it was a great trip!  Now time to unpack, do laundry only to pack up again for another beach adventure.  Off to San Diego next week!!  

Lovin me some summer trips!

Wordless Wednesday

Cleaning... my nemisis

I have had a lot of people ask me my cleaning routine lately.... I guess they think my house is clean or something!!  I guess I got them tricked! 

Actually I am a creature of routine and I do love a clean/picked up house, who doesn't? 

I have found that for me and my life it doesn't work to pick one day and clean the whole house.  When Cade was my only child it worked really well to do upstairs one day and down stairs another day.  After several attempts to do that after Blake was born I finally gave up and realized it wasn't going to work.  So here is usually how I go about cleaning.  I do this "deep clean" every other week.  

MONDAY:  Showers

TUESDAY: Toilets & sinks/counters 

WEDNESDAY: Dust/vacuum upstairs

THURSDAY: Mop kitchen & entry

FRIDAY: Dust/vacuum downstairs

On my off week I obviously still vacuum several times and spot mop the kitchen but I also try (emphasis on the try) to pick a room or an area that needs some extra attention and work on organizing and de-cluttering it.

This just seems to work for me.  Doing the deeper cleaning every other week helps me not feel like I'm a slave to house cleaning and it also gives us a chance to live in and dirty up the house!  This week is my cleaning week and now that the boys are playing together it has made it SO much nicer.  I actually found myself cleaning while they were both awake. This is a whole new thing for me!  I could get used to it!

Happy cleaning,

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