Pumpkin Muffins~

The last 2 days, out of nowhere, Landen, has been saying to me, "I wuv you Mama."  He has always said it back to me, but now he's saying it it on his own.  I can't even describe how it makes my heart feel.  He is very attached to me so I know how much he loves me, but to have him just come out and say it is beyond wonderful for a Mama to hear.  He has been even more attached to me since Jeff was out of town.  It was really hard on Landen and he would get really sad and upset and kind of mope around randomly.  He gets so shy on the phone and since Jeff was in Germany and Austria there were very few opportunities to talk.  Since then he has been coming into our room at night expecting to sleep with us.  I admit when we first moved here we let him do this occasionally and then it became more frequent 'til I put my foot down and we broke him of the habit.  Now he will drag his big pillow and blanket and walk all the way down the hall several time a night and stand next to my side of the bed and just sigh until I say, "what's wrong?" to which he always replies, "nufing" meaning nothing.  Then one of us will take him back and sit with him until he's back asleep.  Needless to say no one is sleeping very well with these shenanigans going on all night.  It took me 2 weeks to get over my cold because of the poor sleep I've been getting.  Although, if he comes in after 6am I will let him snuggle with me and mostly he will go back to sleep.  So I have been bribing him with pumpkin muffins to stay in bed all night.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but we are working on it!  At first I offered chocolates and when that stopped working I went to the pumpkin muffins and that worked until we ran out.  So we have been making a lot and the big kids can make them on their own now.  It's just the easy recipe from pinterest with a few of our own changes.  

One can pumpkin~I use trader joe's organic or whole foods organic that's promises no bpa in the liner.  TJ's is cheaper.  Is that too much info?

2 squeezers of apple sauce~about a cup

Apple spice muffin mix from Whole Foods because I can't find the TJ's kind this year.

Yes these ingredients are kind of expensive, but worth it!

Zach likes to add honey, a little when I am watching and a lot when I'm not.

350 degrees for 25 minutes and you'd better just go ahead and make a double batch.

I missed my calling to write a cook book.

This is why I don't post recipes.

*Forgot to add that you definitely need to grease the muffin tin & Find a cute 3 year old to help you stir.=)

Again, who can say no to this face!?!

Triathlon #2~

Zach participated in another triathlon, this time he did the course for his own age group.  Mostly it is just less swimming which he needs, because that's not his strength.  Again, he passed many kids on the cycling part.  He and daddy have been doing a lot of cycling and Zach is really good.

So determined!

His best bud from camp there to cheer him on!  

So cute!  They are the same age and his friend is on a swim team so he finished a few minutes ahead of Zach.

Landen's ready for his triathlon.  Mikayla says she would never in a million years want to do a triathlon.

2nd place!

Not sure if he'll do another one before next summer, but he and Jeff definitely want to find a cycling race to do together.  We are so proud of our boy young man!

I can't help myself~

Look at his little claws!

He's looking at me.

Saturday~

~One Daddy out of the country~

~Three sick kiddos~

~One exhausted Mama getting sick too~

~Still surrounded by God's beauty~

"...the whole earth is full of His glory"

~Isaiah 6:3

Triafawon~

 This is our toy shelf in the upstairs loft.  I have about 6 small toy buckets for this shelf which are usually, mostly organized by type of toy. 

Empty Toy Shelf

 Landen has been obsessed with trash trucks for awhile, but recently has been saying he is "Trash Truck Man Wanden."  So he takes all the toy buckets, aka the trash, and dumps it into his trash truck, aka my couch.

Couch where no one can ever sit.

Look how pleased he is with himself.

 The couch may or may not still look like this.  Think yes.

 One night while mommy was trying to have a minute alone in a timeout, 

Landen decided to make a "triafawon" in my room with all my pillows.  This was after Zach did his second real triathlon and came in 2nd place (pictures to come!)

 He kept shouting, "I won the gowlden meadowl!"  Aka, the gold medal.=)

 "I won the teacup!" Aka, The Piston Cup from Cars the movie.

The champion!
How can you say no to this sweet face!?!

 Last week Mikayla got to go away for 4 days with her class at school to Arizona.  They went to the Grand Canyon the first day and then to a great Christian camp called Lost Canyon.  She had a blast and came home exhausted.  It was a blast helping her re-acclimate to real life.  

 Landen missed her sooooo much and Mikayla told him that every time someone  says Lost Canyon he should shout, "CAWCAW!"  Which he did all week.

Her room was clean for 4 days straight!
Which is why I can finally post a picture of her room!

It was really hard having my baby girl gone for 4 days, but I know she had so much fun with her friends.  It made me very thankful to have a daughter after being around 3 boys all week!

Bear with me.  My blog needs some tweaking!

Wordless Wednesday~