May 23, 2015

mornings with eleanor (and edwina)

Each morning is a little different around here.


All are early. Some are painfully early. Some start with coffee and Bible reading for a half hour before anyone else wakes up. Some start with nursing one baby in bed while another one is hollering at me from her room to come get her and, consequently, waking the third one up.


I favor the mornings that I am on the couch, reading my Bible, coffee in hand, and my sweet little girl wakes up in a happy mood and runs out to join me, flopping herself into my arms with her wild blond bedhead and her binky in her mouth.


I just adore getting time alone with her in the mornings.

I get her a snack (her first request) and then wrap her up in her fluffy pink robe. We sit on the couch (or at the table if the snack is messy) and read books.

 

One of our absolute favorite books is called "Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She was Extinct". It is silly, has opportunities to read in really funny voices, and talks about chocolate chip cookies... what more could a kid ask for? We still don't own it, but we borrow it from the library every chance we get. Once we even got a copy with the audio CD (hilarious) and listened to it on repeat for about a month every time we drove to preschool and back.


If you have kids, need a good laugh, or can read, do yourself a favor and go get this book. And then get yourself a snuggly toddler in a cozy robe to cuddle up with and read it in the early morning.

PS a year ago today: from shaggy to stylin' 

May 06, 2015

goals, activities, and outfits


This post is going to be very all-encompassing. Let's begin with the goals I set for myself last week. Actually, let's just blow through them because they are kind of boring: 

1. daily Word- Check.
2. post- Check.
3. master closet- I'd rather not discuss that right now.
4. workout- Check.
5. simple meals- pretty much. 
6. gosling pictures- see above. (There are only two left. Don't want to discuss that either.)
7. meal plan- Done.

Okay, now that that is over, here are a few highlights from last week...

We met up with my cousin and her two boys at the Zoo on Wednesday:


I think these may be the first pictures I have of myself with all three children! (No matter that Judah is mostly hidden, at least he is present.)


The kids and I spent Friday with my mom in Multnomah (the adorable area of SW Portland where I grew up).
We played at Gabriel Park:





And look! More pictures of me with all my children (Judah passed out again. He can only take so much excitement.)


my hat is from the three dollar bin at Target, fyi

We had lunch in "downtown" Gresham on Saturday. James and Elle are both super into accessorizing lately, and that day it was western theme, apparently:


Church outfit (still working on dressing better consistently):


That's all the rambling for now.

Happy Wednesday friends,
Ashley

PS one year ago: we still eat this at least twice a week!

May 01, 2015

may 2015 meal plan

The kids all slept (very rare for this to happen, James hardly ever naps any more) at the same time today, so I washed a mountain of dishes, then decided to sneak pictures of all of them...

My sweet girl:


My huge guy:


Whoops! Woke this one up...


It's okay, just mom behind the camera!


 ... then he was happy.

So I took a break from dishes and printed out my meal plan and taped it on the fridge, which is when I realized...


... I didn't finish it. 
Oops.

So, here is the unfinished meal plan for the month:



As always, if you want the word doc, or have any questions, you can leave them in the comments, or email me at fromcuptocup@gmail.com

Happy eating!
Ashley

PS one year ago was, well, last May's meal plan