Some Cute Pictures with Daddy

Sittin' with daddy on the couch before squirming out of his grasp. :)

Lena was trying to put her own jacket on in this picture :)

Bundled up for the trip to the garbage can and mailbox... Lena loves ANY excuse to go outside, even if it's FREEZING!!!

Can't forget her puppy... ever time she sees one of her puppies she repeats the word "pu-ppy" about 15 times. :) It's so cute!

A Word on Baking

I am definitely not the best baker. In fact, most of the time I try to bake something for a neighbor or a friend but it doesn't end up turning out right or looking right, so I end up eating it all and of course it wouldn't be the most healthy (cookies or brownies) so I would also feel really guilty and get depressed about the fact that I spent the whole day eating only cookies so that they wouldn't go to "waste". Well, I'm constantly striving to be a healthier person and to live a healthy lifestyle, so the previous example had left a bitter taste in my mouth when it came to baking. I always assumed that baking led to something that wasn't good for you... i.e. cookies, brownies, bread... stuff using white flower... simple carbohydrates that are essentially the same as spooning sugar into your mouth. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE eating these things but am trying to make it more occasional.

Since then I have made the personal discovery of healthy substitutes in baking. :) Some of these are, substituting any oils or melted butter for applesauce (no sugar added), "pear sauce" or mashed squash. :) Also, if you do the substitute with fruit then you can usually use half the sugar... and it's also good to substitute white sugar for brown sugar or honey. I've also been trying to slowly convert from refined grains to whole grains by substituting my white flour with whole wheat flour.

One of my favorite things to make and use for breakfast or snacks is healthy bran muffins. :) With my bran muffins I also substitute butter milk with plain, nonfat yogurt and they turn out great! I will have to post the recipe as soon as I get the time to type it up. :)

Here are a couple of pictures of Lena helping me make our bran muffins:

My Silky Ghost

One of the interesting things that you can find in the toy box at my mom's house is a piece of silky fabric. Surprisingly, this piece of silky fabric has kept Lena entertained for very large amounts of time. She walks around putting it behind her head and around her shoulder as well as over her head (like a ghost). It's pretty cute to watch her get so creative with something as simple as a piece of fabric. :)

Katty the Kitty

When I was a little girl I was pretty much obsess with cats. I don't know why because I don't really care too much for them now... but anyway, my mom came back from a business trip one time when I was little and brought back a little beanie baby type cat. :) We re-discovered it at my parents house the other week and Lena has adopted it as her own. My dad thought its name should be "Katty" so that is what we call her. :) I'm not sure I ever named it as a kid so we were in need of a name for her.

Here is Lena showing her Katty how to push the buttons on her music table. :)

Here is Lena dancing with her Katty after the music on the music table starts playing. :) She's so adorable and such a good little mother. :)

Lena thought it was funny when she put Katty in a mixing bowl. :)

Here's Katty on a leash!

"Uh-oh!"

Daddy Eating With Lena :)

I just thought this was cute so wanted to post some pictures. :) He loves his little Lena. Especially when she'll go with him when I am around... she's been quite a mommy's girl lately.

WAY Cool Sun Glasses ;)

So this happened back when Eva was still with us *tear*. Before leaving on her mission she visited my Grandma and Grandpa in Arizona. Well my Grandma had a collection of those roll-up sun glasses that you get at the eye doctor and gave them all to Eva. Here are a couple pictures of the babies having a little fun with them. :)

Cool Dudes!

Gotta check each other out. :)

Jim-sauce!

Oh, and both of them climbed into this cooler together that same day. :)

So Proud!

I have a lot of pictures and updates to post, but I just want to post about this before I forget about it. :)

Unfortunately, Lena got the flu over the Thanksgiving weekend, but as always, was still such a cutie pie! She threw up on Sunday morning, poor thing, so I took her downstairs to tell Randy (we were in Monroe at his parents) and as I was going downstairs Lena kept repeating "woppy, woppy, woppy" over and over again. I kept trying to think what she could possibly be trying to tell me... I couldn't... well when I got to Randy and she was still saying "woppy" I told him that she threw up and that I didn't know what she was trying to tell me... of course he knew! "She's saying 'wipey'"! Of course that's what she's saying! ... the poor little girl is sick and just threw up and all she can think about is getting a "woppy" to clean up her "mess". Oh man she is such a cutie! I love this little girl!