Wordless Wednesday- Father's Day Edition

There's not much that EK loves more than her daddy. I can't blame her.

Shop House Tour: Kitchen

I'm a horrible cook, but I do love my kitchen. It's a really good reflection of our style, I think, and it's one of my favorite parts of our house. It is open to our living room, only separated by a bar. That's where we eat... no room for a table!

Looking at the kitchen from our living room.

View walking out of the bedroom.

Some of my flea market finds to attempt at decorating the insane amount of space between cabinet and ceiling.

"Cribs" style. We always have water, milk wine, and ketchup.

 The only pleasant smell in the kitchen recently..

Creative baby-proofing.

I'm thrown in the mix with Bubble Guppies... can't win 'em all. We really never use this board, but it's so cute!

We're linked up with Kelly's Korner for her Show Us Your Life Home Tour.

World's Worst Toddler Toy (And Why My Temper May Be a Little Short)

 I loathe a particular kid toy. Everyone says it's a classic, a must buy, that every kid they ever raised had this toy. I was skeptical, the appeal lacking in a set of wheels with a ball filled globe that goes "Pop pop pop" every time an innocent, unsuspecting toddler takes it for a whirl. Have you figured out what it is yet?

Yeah, it's that thing. The pop-pop vacuum of ruptured ear drums and death. Ryan fell for it, and let her buy it on one of their Daddy/EK Wal-Mart runs.

...I really should monitor those more closely....

    I came home from the office one day to see my precious, once quiet little girl pushing this "classic" toy around.  That was day the day she became a true blooded toddler. She pushes it around, and if that's not enough, she sings yells while making my ears bleed. Heaven forbid you ask her to stop, then she goes full on tantrum on you.
   Kids love the thing. You know, we all like to vacuum for hours on end... for fun. So the pop-pop death trap has stayed around for a while. It's not even a noise I can tolerate for the sake of her learning and development, just an obnoxious pop-pop-pop-pop. Over and over and over again. It's only appealing to the munch when (A) I'm on the  phone (B) Ryan worked the late night shift and we are trying to play quietly and (C) I've had an exceptionally annoying day at work.

I tried to hide it in the shop one day, but she found it and promptly cried until it was brought back inside. Now it sits, waiting until my next phone call to send me running to a "quiet" room.

What's the worst kid toy at your house? Want to trade?

EK, Drink Your Veggies.

Ryan and I are trying desperately to eat better. It is so hard for us to plan meals and eat healthy foods when we find ourselves sitting in vehicles the majority of each day. It's just the nature of the job, for a traveling RN and a Highway Patrol Officer. You eat a lot. You're bored. Everything sounds good.
  One thing never sounds good to me, and it's vegetables. I like salads, broccoli, squash, beans, but anything else green kind of grosses me out. Especially green beans. I get a gag reflex anytime they go in my mouth. I pray to the Dear Lord every night that the only kind of green beans I have to eat ever again are the ones that my father in law rolls in bacon and drenches in butter and brown sugar.
  I love the V8 juice that is the fruit/veggie blend, but it certainly doesn't take the place of a meal full of fruits and vegetables. One of my friends recently was talking about smoothies she makes that incorporate both fruits AND green vegetables. I had to try it, and I was very pleasantly surprised. The one I came up with was delicious, and I actually crave them now. EK loves them, too, so I have all the more reason to make them.

The ingredients:
-About 3/4 cup Greek Yogurt (I prefer the Vanilla flavor, it makes for a sweeter smoothie!)
-1 peeled banana
-about a cup of strawberries (can do frozen and skip the ice listed later)
-Several chunks of fresh pineapple
-a little coconut milk (I've tried two different kinds, Silk is in the refrigerated section, another kind was just on the shelf)
-about 5 or 6 chunks of ice
- Last but not least, a heaping handful of fresh spinach leaves. You can use baby spinach or just whatever kind you have.

I've heard of people adding frozen blueberries in smoothies, also replacing the ice, but I'm not really a blueberry fan.

Layer the ingredients in your blender, cover your ears, and blend on medium-high until everything is nice and smooth.

Now you're ready to go! Looks disgusting, tastes good.

Spinach Banana Stawberry Pineapple Smoothie=EK approved.

I love using this as a substitute for my typical  fast food breakfasts. It curbs my sweet tooth, keeps me away from the doughnut shop, and really feels me up. I need more ideas for sneaky ways to eat more fruits and veggies! What are you favorite easy, healthy meals and snacks?

Shop House Tour: Living Room

Ryan and I have lived in our current home just over two years now. It's what we call a "Shop House", half of the roof covers our shop where we keep the tractor, mower, ATV, whatever. The man stuff goes in there. The other half of the building is our home. It consists of a large kitchen/ living room, one bedroom, a bathroom, and a decent size walk in closet.

  We built it in 2010 with the intentions of living here, paying off our land, vehicles, "getting started" type bills, etc.  We would then build our "big house" and have kids. Sounds like a great 5 year plan to me. Well, we lived here maybe 3 weeks when I found out I was pregnant with EK.  Panic set in. I always worried about where we would "keep her".  I was dead set against having a baby sleep with us. All I had to do to talk Ryan out of her sleeping in our room was remind him just how "unprivate" a baby in our room would be.  We considered building another closet in the bathroom, and setting up the crib in our current closet. In the end, we put her in the living room. It really has worked out fine so far, she sleeps through most anything.

You can see EK's corner in this picture, complete with foam mat and reading pillow..

  I hear people all too often say they need a bigger home before having a baby. In our case, that didn't prove to be a big deal. Here's a little peek into our living room.

View from the kitchen.

You never know what treasure you may find under our couch!

Shelving about the TV. I love the Willow Tree figurine, my aunt gave it to me when I lost my dog. Also, the old clock radio was a $5 find at a local flea market! As you can tell, I bought the tiny picture frame, but can't find a picture tiny enough to go in it.

"The Nursery"  I've been saying for 2 years that I need to spray paint EK's laundry basket. Oh well.

So there it is! Today we are linked up with Kelly's Korner for her Show Us Your Life Home Tour. There are tons of beautiful rooms linked at her site!