Denim Daisies

 Happy New Years Eve! I took last week off from blogging or really doing anything but resting, spending time with my family, and a bit of decluttering. It was the best time and I feel so much better going into the new year. Below is a photo journal essentially of all of the fun we had on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We will make a photo book for 2024 and then Grant and I will declutter all these photos on our phones.  First up on our Christmas Eve Family Day was a trip to the Children’s museum. We invest in memberships for the museum, zoo, and even aquarium every year and it’s so worth it for the memories for our boys and us! Then we went out to lunch (not a common event for us because it’s always well… an event). We went to Texas Roadhouse and used some free kids lunch certificates the restaurant had gifted to every child in their school. Fun fact our waiter was the marketer who made that happen! 🥰 Then later that night it was time for cocoa and a drive around the neighb...

 Hello, We had a wonderful dinner last night. My youngest loves biscuits and gravy and so we made a vegetarian version. It could easily be vegan but we had non-vegan biscuits. Essentially this was beefless beef (trader joes has a lentil based one that is amazing) sautéed with some olive oil, yellow onion minced, garlic minced, and cayenne pepper and then used flour and oat milk for the gravy part. Serve over your favorite biscuits and even add in some bell peppers for a sweet and colorful pop. 🙂 I didn’t even get a picture it was that good! That’s all for today 💛Jess

 Hello, This was such a beautiful week. The boys had their holiday spirit week at school which involved lots of dinosaur Christmas outfits (seriously Arnis wore four this week) and it was busy for Grant and myself as we navigated a slightly more hectic schedule for this week only. We are so grateful for the memories made and the people who have supported our family! Sensory Santa at the Cincinnati Zoo is always fun but it was even better this year. We are so grateful that Santa takes this time so that our kids can see him together without being overwhelmed. Mom’s birthday was this week and running errands, shopping, and getting lunch together was a favorite for sure. 🥰 Our first canine fur-baby Pepper was obsessed with Mr. ball and it was so sweet seeing Teddy take up the tradition this week. Playing with him in the backyard with her favorite toy made me reminisce so hard and miss our sweet girl while loving on our big boy. Thank you so much to the adaptive swimming team at the Y....

 Hello, The boys will officially be on winter break starting at 2pm today and so I am stocking up on goodies and bread and eggs. (Nutella sandwiches and avocado eggs are a couple of “always” foods for snack or to accompany a new meal that might not go over well so we go through A LOT when the kids are out of school.) This picture contains my “fun” grocery shopping not necessarily the six loaves of bread and over 40 eggs now in our fridge to get us through a week.  The list of items with commentary: 🙂 Bananas: we make homemade oat milk every morning and Grant uses the oats for breakfast with bananas and honey, I like to choose these myself and not through pickup so they stay fresh Vanilla granola: Grant asked if I could find some for his oats this morning so I went hunting. 🙂 Stollen crackers: these are really yummy for small charcuterie boards that we make for slow days and I love the pop of fruit flavor Sparkling ginger beer: I’m just not into alcohol as much  and so t...

 Hello! I’ve signed up to be a lifeguard to help with staffing vacancies at the Y where my kids do their swim lessons. I absolutely love our Y and when they need help with something I can’t seem to stop myself from volunteering even if I’m not a water lover who always wants to be in a pool 24/7. (Don’t get me wrong I’m confident and perfectly comfortable in the water, it’s just not my passion like everyone else apparently.) That said, my parents have taken the boys after school for a couple of hours and three days this week while I’m in training but before Grant is off work and the results are adorable.  The boys are having fun, my folks get time without getting over tired, and I get to do this fun thing for an organization I want to support. Triple win.  Also wishing the happiest birthday to my mother today!!! We love you Biddy!!!  💛Jess

 Hello! Short post today but here are my top five winter activities for the kids: 1. Swim lessons- somehow I ended up with water babies and so this is always a win. 2. Bundled up at the playground/trails - seriously let’s enjoy the quiet when we’re the only ones and there’s no line for the swings or slides! 3. Baking - fun, food, and a warm kitchen. 🥰 4. Movie nights- so much fun to cuddle up with a classic. 5. Couch naps- seriously is there anything more relaxing?!? 🥰🥰🥰 That’s all for today! 💛  Jess

 Hello! So this past weekend was the annual Army Navy game. I have a love hate relationship with this game because it was forced on us with such rigid tradition for so long, but it is fun to get a small serving of that tradition now that we’re 13 years out. Terrifying to say 13 but there we are. I remember being uncomfortable, exhausted, cold, and stressed about finals for four years straight, but this year rather than joining a watch party or even going to the game, we decided to have it on in the background and just eat all the snacks in our sweats. This was the best choice for us.  Navy seemed to truly just want it more this year despite Army’s really great win-loss record. (Apparently army was 11-1 going into the game… didn’t know those numbers could be in that direction for this team as I’d only ever seen the inverse so congrats to them!) We turned off the game about halfway through the fourth quarter and headed home, Grant stayed at my parents house to watch their dogs a...

 Hello and happy Monday! Grant and I had a great charcuterie last night though I unfortunately forgot to grab a picture and caught the bug that’s been going around lately so it was completely wasted on me. Before that happened it was really good though so here’s a list of items and I just put it on an oversized plate. Cinnamon dusted tuscani cheese Stollen crackers Pepper jelly Rosemary nut mix Jingle jangle And I paired these with sparkling water with an orange slice as I feel that oranges are a little more Christmasy. That’s all for today, now to get the kids to school and crawl back home to knock out some coding from either bed or the bathroom. 🙄🤪 💛 Jess

 Hello! Here are some highlights from this past week that found their way into my camera roll! 🥰 It was a fun week full of parties, pentatonix, dinosaur attacks in car line, cuddling on the couch watching Bake Off Holidays, seeing the boys snuggle together, and witnessing Belle our cat learning to trust that Jamie is actually sleeping. It was just very beautiful. There was one significant down this week that I don’t care to discuss on the internet, but I’ll continue to pray concerning this and I know that God is good and has good planned for us. I also know that God is smarter than I am and knows what we need and when we need it.  That’s all for this week! 💛 Jess

 Hello! It’s Friday here and one more week until school lets out for winter break! It will be a fun one next week as they are out of uniform, our public school wears uniforms which I love, and it will be extra special with the creative themes the school has chosen.  On that note of fun with kids, we always have close friends/family asking what gifts would work for our kids and so here is an overall list of top five and bottom five for our 4 and 6 year old boys.  Top Five 5. Anything dinosaur 4. Cars (matchbox are our current fave) 3. Robot anything but extra points for Arnis if it’s a dinosaur 2. Play dough sets 1. Legos - seriously anything Bottom Five 5. Anything loud without an obvious off switch… it will end up back at your house I swear and I will rig it to go off at 2 am last night because I have those skills 4. Lamps/decoration - not saying it can’t be fun but it’s hard to get something that is glass or really breakable that you can’t play with or that is summer se...

 Hello!!! A really exciting post today because the event that inspired it was a 1,000/10!!! Jamie has been interested in Pentatonix for years and so Grant and I decided this year that we would get relatively inexpensive tickets to the show so that Jamie and I could go with our amazing friend Lisa, but not feel guilty if it didn’t go as planned. When I tell you this was a win, I mean it was like winning the Super Bowl and a gold medal at the Olympics all in one. Jamie LOVED the performance, he got into it throughout and our only change for next year as we will definitely go again if we can will be to be closer/maybe splurge for a VIP experience as a gift for him as he kept asking afterwards to go to the stage to meet them. 🥰 They played all our favorites including Hallelujah, White Winter Hymnal, and even Loathing from Wicked. They also had a lot of audience interaction and put on a truly fun show. Jamie is literally singing Hallelujah right now as we wait in car line at school. Th...

 Hello! One of the most wonderful highs from this past weekend was attending the A Kid Again holiday party! This organization is for kids and their siblings who have life affecting medical diagnoses and we are grateful to them for giving so many wonderful family outings for us surrounded by people who get it and know how to help. I tear up a little with this one because it can be hard sometimes do to the “normal” events, though normal is totally overrated and usually not that much fun anyway. 😉 We are grateful and have enjoyed the events we have joined immensely. The holiday party was a little crowded which can be daunting, but everyone was doing such a good job making it a sweet event for the kids and Jamie especially really loved meeting all the different people! Arnis, Leo has told us he would like to use his first name, was less sure about the costumes but fully enjoyed the sweets. Meeting “Star Wars” was the first highlight! 🥰 Meeting the princesses was cool and all but show...

 Hello! So I’m not going to lie it’s been a highs and lows weekend filled with some really tough lows and some beautiful highs. I love the time with my boys but Grant was gone and we had a really rough “low” happen that has rocked me to my core several times this year already unfortunately. I know and trust that there was a benevolent reason why, but it still hurts even trusting that it was right. That said, simple routines always help me keep moving forward and just taking the next breath and the next step and appreciating the sweet moments even more. So coffee with a dairy-free peppermint mocha creamer this morning snuggled with Jamie while doing my quiet time was just the ticket.  The creamer is nut pod peppermint mocha and I love that I get the cocoa and peppermint taste without the syrupy sweetness that some other creamers give. (Though I do like sweet sometimes.) Have a wonderful morning from two sleepy but grateful and content morning people! 💛 Jess

 Hello! Here are some highlights from the past week!  Jamie gets out a few minutes before Leo so I’m able to get him set in the car before Leo comes out the door. We’ve been taking some pictures lately to pass the time and I love how sweet he is and what a good model! 🥰 I didn’t take any photos of the CREW holiday party but I totally took some photos from the elephant trek event space of the elephants. The family hers was outside and my girls Mai Thai and Schottzie were in one of the indoor yards. I love that they have such a nice space inside with water features and dirt floors (also makes it easy to “plant” trees inside for their amusement and dietary needs during the colder months).  As I was heading out to get the boys one day I ran into Imani roaring which I’ve never seen her do before. Of course as soon as I grabbed out my phone to take a video she went full feline and gave me the cold shoulder! 😂 Tennis this week was a little tough from being a couple weeks out o...