Belle

Belle is really sweet but vocal. Her daddy is kinda crazy and loud.

Our sweet sweet babies!

We visited our sugar glider babies today and paid our deposit. We are so excited we can kinda say they're ours. We will now be visiting about twice a week so they can bond with us and get to know our scent. Kinda like NICU babies and their mommys. They live 12 to 15 years so we took their newborn pictures and will probably be posting about them a lot. :) we can't take them home for about 7 more weeks. The male Aaron has is "Thunder" and the little girls name is "Belle" Mrs. Sheila has been so helpful and is such a passionate, loving and knowledgeable sugar glider owner. We really appreciate all the time she has spent with us.

Chip Alternative

We are trying to use ALL the groceries we already have so we don't have to move many groceries. We didn't have chips but I had a crispy cucumber so we used slices of cucumber as chips! It was so good. Had a nice crisp crunch like a chip and a light delicious added flavor to our salsa. A lot less calories too! ;)

Where Lily lives...

Brooklyn's most precious best friend lives in Puyallup, WA. She misses her so much and talks about her daily. Heather and I swear they have twin-like connection. While I took care of Lily in NICU I was also pregnant with Brooklyn. She would always be very active when I held Lily. They would kick at each other and it's like they communicated even then.They seem to be sassy the same days and sick the same days! Even at a year old, Brooklyn was very attentive to Lily's seizures. She would become very calm and gently soothe Lily by patting her arm or just by being sweet to her. They have a special, lifelong friendship. Heather got Brooklyn this globe so that she could always see where Lily is. I've been putting it up on her toy box when I clean her room because we are "staging" the house to sell and people have been looking at it often. However, I keep finding that it has been moved. Brooklyn must really be missing Lily. I guess last night she put it in bed with her to sleep with. :) I thought it was so sweet when I found it while making her bed this morning. I will just leave it be this time...Brooklyn will move it anyway.

Crazy girl!

You know those days where you think..."one kid is plenty!" or "geez..who fed her sugar?!?!" or "please just go to bed....darn it's only 6:30!!!" haha, we had that day yesterday. Brooklyn was just a crazy girl! Tantrum after tantrum of ridiculousness. We did take her with us for several hours to run errands and she only had a short nap in the car so I guess that's why...Lord, please give me patience and gentleness on these days! I finally got her to play soccer in the living room and then help me peel boiled eggs...kept her busy for 5 minutes at least. ;)

Sweet babies

So, we really have wanted to get Brooklyn a pet. Aaron and I both grew up with pets and I feel like it was a huge, important and fun part of my childhood. We thought about a dog but they are so expensive! Especially when you have to pay an extra deposit when renting. So, we though we would get a hamster but they are messy, unintelligent and tend to bite small kids or just die easily...we've done a lot of researching and praying about getting a sugar glider. Brooklyn is SO fascinated by them and so are we. They are amazing, smart animals that form unbreakable bonds with their owners. These are 2 pictures offline but when we put the deposit down on our baby boy and girl we are hoping we can take pictures. :) We are buying them from a really nice lady who has raised them for 12 years. She knows her stuff and is so passionate about her gliders and the care they should receive. The tiny glider in the picture is about the size of our gliders. They are approximately 1 week old and still nursing. So sweet! We can't take them home until they are weaned and eating well on their own but we will visit them weekly so they "get to know us". They will be about 8 weeks old when we take them home.

A healthier way to do chicken...

423 cal 17 gm fat in ONE fried chicken breast...110 calories and 2.5 gm fat in a boneless skinless chicken breast. Simple decisions are life changing!!! I use a little sesame oil or olive oil, pepper and parsley flakes. No salt but lots of flavor! I maybe add 50 calories to a whole pkg of chicken breast by using oil, parsley and pepper. An interesting fact is that parsley has anti cancer properties because it inhibits new blood vessel growth that feeds tumors. It's also used as a breath freshener! Parsley increases diuresis (excretion of sodium and water) thus proving itself to decrease blood pressure and increase potassium reabsorption. Just like cinnamon, I'm gonna start sprinkling parsley on more stuff! :) and excuse my glad container for my poorly taken picture- haha everything else is pretty much packed!