Morning was spent gathered with our church family and being reminded of Christ’s work he did on our behalf on the cross. The afternoon was spent lounging around and feasting with Ben’s family and our evening was spent feasting some more with my family and some friends. I for sure ate way too much. I definitely did not practice moderation and was wishing I was wearing a muumuu instead of my colored skinnies. I think my top pant button was busting at the seams and I was really try my best to suck my tummy in. It was really a beautiful Easter Sunday and we all came home exhausted, but joyful. Well, except maybe for True whose tiredness really made her the crankmonster. Never fails to have at least one screaming their head off from tiredness.

Hope your Sunday was just as wonderful!

You know we love Misha Lulu and you probably love Misha Lulu, so to celebrate today, Karen the lady behind Misha Lulu wanted to giveaway one of these Hello Kitty tank dresses to one of you (available sizes from 2T-8 years old)! It is part of the new spring/summer line that will be online very soon.

To enter, here are some things you can do:

Now, if you do all of the things mentioned above, you might even be able to up your chances by getting your name in 4 times! Fantastic, right? Even if you are overseas, please feel welcomed to join in on the fun!

We bought these 1920’s/30’s light fixtures about 4 years ago at vintage shop in Texas and now we finally have them up. That’s one thing off the house to-do list. We had to get them professionally installed and it involved making holes in our ceiling so that is what took us so long. Plus the fact that everything costs money, so we have been saving to do this.

So weird to see lights up in that room and though I love it, I also didn’t like it just cause I wasn’t used to it. Do any of you have to go through that adjustment period when you put something new in? I always do. You get so used to seeing something a certain way, when something changes it is so weird at first.

Next up, is putting up another vintage lighting piece in another room, once we pick it up from getting fixed up and re-wired. There is already an electrical box there, so that should be much easier. I can’t wait to change out the standard light fixture that came with this house into something much prettier! We’re slowly trekking through our to-do list.

This week’s learned and links…

– I love Ben being home.

– Any home re-doing is fun, but stressful and always takes longer (and more costly) than originally planned. I think we won’t see any pretty floors in the house until May. Must. Be. Patient. I think white wood floors will be worth it.

– The girls started dance class this week. Brave is quite the serious dancer. I think she was made for this stuff.

– My mom had a biopsy done and we’re nervous, but trusting God.

– Since Ben’s been home, I have his phone to do instagram. Follow my along here or here.

– Ben chopped his hair and now he looks like this guy. A lot. I am ready to chop mine next!

This weekend is a special weekend for us as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour…

2 Corinthians 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

If you’re in the L.A. area and are looking for a church to visit, come visit CrossView Church. Happy Easter weekend friends!!!

We bought these 1920’s/30’s light fixtures about 4 years ago in Texas and now we finally have them up. That’s one thing off the house to-do list. We had to get them professionally installed and involved making holes in our ceiling so that is what took us so long.

So weird to see lights up in that room and though I love it, I also didn’t like it just cause I wasn’t used to it. Do any of you have to go through that adjustment period when you put something new in? I always do. You get so used to seeing something a certain way, when something changes it is so weird at first.

Next up, is putting up another vintage lighting piece in another room, once we pick it up from getting fixed up and re-wired. There is already an electrical box there, so that should be much easier. I can’t wait to change out the standard light fixture that came with this house into something much prettier! We’re slowly trekking through our to-do list.

This week’s learned and links…

– I love Ben being home.

– Any home re-doing is fun, but stressful and always takes longer (and more costly) than originally planned. I think we won’t see any pretty floors in the house until May. Must. Be. Patient.

– The girls started dance class this week. Brave is quite the serious dancer. I think she was made for this stuff.

– My mom had a biopsy done and we’re nervous, but trusting God.

– Since Ben’s been home, I have his phone to do instagram. Follow my along here or here.

– Ben chopped his hair and now he looks like this guy. A lot. I am ready to chop mine next!

This weekend is a special weekend for us as we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour…

2 Corinthians 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Happy Easter weekend friends!!!

One day we had Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers…

Who knew making a vegetarian slider was so easy?! I didn’t exactly follow the recipe because I didn’t blend the quinoa and the beans together and I did without the fried french onions and used whole wheat bread crumbs and threw two eggs in the mixture too. We put it on whole wheat buns with arugula and some quick-made chipotle mayo… and bam! We all loved it!

Another day was for Spicy Tofu and Soba Noodles…

This was a wing it recipe based on what I have learned about ingredients these past few weeks of cooking. I also topped the noodles with bok choy because we had some on hand. I couldn’t try it until after Ben tried it because I was nervous about how it would taste since I didn’t follow any recipe. When he said it was good, I felt comfortable trying it. I liked it too! The girls are all about soba noodles, so that was pretty much devoured.

And we also had Shrimp and Tofu Spring Rolls…

I made this a long time ago when Ben and I were dating so I knew it was going to be liked by the girls. We also made a spicy peanut sauce to accompany the rolls. True still doesn’t like tofu, but she liked everything else inside. We’ll get there. One day I will find a recipe with tofu that will get it just right for True. Until then, we just keep exposing her to it in different ways to see what she thinks.

If you wonder if my children eat the same things we do, they do. We have a rule that they must try things at least once and are not allowed to say yuck at the table, even if they think that. So what you see pictured is what they eat too. Of course, I have to accommodate for True’s food allergies (she doesn’t get the peanut sauce), but for the most part they are served the same thing. If they don’t like all the ingredients in a dish, they just eat the parts they do, but there hasn’t been an entire dish that they didn’t like at least most of it. Like with the tofu dishes, True will pretty much eat everything except the tofu. After dinner they will also have fruit and some yogurt, but if they don’t like the main dish, I don’t make them something just for them.

We also don’t force them to eat their entire plate or their vegetables. We tell them, if they are hungry then they can eat, if not, they don’t have to, but they still have to sit at the dinner table with us.

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This past Saturday, I spent a few hours under the guidance of a totally legit teacher learning a bit more of how to get fancy on photoshop! I know the bare basics, but just wanted to learn how to do more things. My friend Alice is a graphic designer (she graduated from Art Center Pasadena) and she has got skills like you wouldn’t even believe! Every time she taught me how to do something, I was like, “Oh. My. Gosh. You are fabulous!” Really, no joke. I was saying that because she really is and answered most of my life’s mysteries about that computer program.

Now, I still need to practice a whole lot to make it second nature to me, but I feel a bit fancier now. I have told Ben recently, if I had to redo my college education, I think I would have loved becoming a graphic designer. I think doodling and creating things on the computer is kind of fun, so I think I would have enjoyed that profession.

When I was deciding what to study in college, it was between being an art major or child and adolescent development major. Well, the child development one won because as much as I loved working with kids, I think I was a little too chicken to “officially” study art and didn’t feel I was good enough. I didn’t explore other options too much and just stuck to something I already was familiar with which was teaching. I think had I known all the possible professions in the creative arena, I might have tried to pursue that more. I know God has a reason for everything, so everything up to today has been a result of His leading, but all this to say… don’t be chicken, think outside the box, just try it, and always be prepared to work hard no matter what you choose.

Anyhow, I went from me learning photoshop to decision making stuff. Sometimes I can get a bit off tangent. If you want to get a bit fancier on photoshop too, send my friend Alice an email. If you beg, she might just teach you too! Her email is walajoo(at)gmail(dot)com.