Banana Spinach Breakfast Smoothie

I don't mind telling you that I gained a couple of pounds this winter.

Nothing serious, but my clothes weren't fitting like they should.

So, I started going to Zumba and

grabbing this quick and healthy breakfast

on my way out the door each morning.

(I rarely have time to sit down and eat,

thanks to these two monkeys.)

I'd seen this:

Green Monster Spinach Smoothie

but because I never plan ahead, 

I didn't have all of the ingredients 

on the day I was convinced 

I needed to try it.

So I improvised.

I dumped some spinach into the blender,

  

followed by a whole banana. 

  

Then I added a big scoop of peanut butter,

  

and some milk and ice cubes.

 

After blending it all together,

here's what it looked like.

But I know the real concern is what it tastes like.

Personally, I loved it.

But I grabbed Walt to give you an impartial opinion.

He cautiously slurped some up -

and loved it too!

Can't feel bad about a breakfast of fresh fruit and veggies!
Give it a try. You'll feel good about it too.

Banana Spinach Breakfast Smoothie

1 whole banana

a bunch of spinach

a heaping spoonful of peanut butter

some ice cubes and

a little bit of milk

Blend & slurp!

On the Mend

It's been a rough week

with Walt & his pneumonia

and Ruby with a bad cold.

So after lots of this -

 it was nice to have the kiddos 

up and about again over the weekend.

Ruby posed for some photos -

 while Walt went outside to play in the freshly fallen snow.

 

So glad they're both feeling better!

Under the Weather

I had all kinds of plans for my day off for President's Day,

but this little bugger was running a fever

and had a wheezing cough.

 

We got out the nebulizer to help him breathe better.

 

 But his temp spiked up to 104 at times

and his sad little face just broke my heart.

All of my plans to be productive went right out the window

and I gladly spent my day doing this -

 

and not much else.

****UPDATE 2/21/2012

Walter is still struggling with high temps,

so along with more fluids, more meds, and more cold baths,

there's also more of this -

  

Hoping for a healthier tomorrow!

(Bad photos taken with my phone.) 

******UPDATE 2/22/2012 

It's pneumonia :(

Wall Space

I've been slowly decorating my house over the past two years.

But I still had a big blank wall going down the stairs

that I wanted to fill up with a fun arrangement.

 

So I bought a bunch of different sized frames from IKEA

and put my sister to work

unwrapping them and putting them together.

 

Then I practiced laying them out on the floor a few times

until I had an idea of where I was going.

 By the time I got the first one hung, it was dark outside.
So forgive the bad pictures.

When the 3 largest frames were in place -

I busted out these frame risers I bought from the Pottery Barn.

I'd seen them in the catalog and loved how you could

use them to layer frames on a wall.

 It took a lot of hands and space analyzing,

 but we finally got all of the frames hung.
(Thanks Adam, Mom, Brooke & Cindy!)


I tucked this little porcelain cross
into one of the spaces between the frames
because I knew I wanted more than just frames on the wall.
 This just happened to be the only thing
I had around at the moment -

So this was the state of things after the first day.

It was coming along.

I wanted to hang up a few other things to add interest.
 When I saw these adorable little plaques that say
"Blessed" and "Believe" on sale
at Hobby Lobby for $2.50 each,
I knew they'd be perfect!

And the final piece I added
was this pretty candle sconce my mom gave me.

All that was left to do was fill the frames.
I'm not going to lie -
it took me forever to do it.
In fact, the middle frame sat empty for months.
Months!
Ridiculous, I know.
I finally took it down the other day to fill with whatever I could find
because I just wanted this project finished!

I always had great intentions of ordering a large photo for it,
but couldn't decide on which picture to use,
so I never ordered one and the frame kept sitting empty.

But I got fed up with looking at this every day -

So I got creative with stuff I had around the house.

 I grabbed 2 pieces of scrapbook paper,

 and made a pretty back drop
for an old 8 x 10 photo I found of Adam and I.

 It was the biggest photo I could find,
but it looked too small in the space.

So I grabbed two 4 x 7's of the kids from Christmas -

and added them in to make a little collage.

This was the final product.

 I threw it up on the wall

and finally had a complete grouping!

It made me so happy.

I will probably order bigger photos at some point,

but this will do for now. 

Here's a view of how the frame risers

pop two of the frames forward.

Cool, huh?

This was my plain, boring wall BEFORE:

And here it is AFTER:

Again, BEFORE:

And AFTER:

For all you people out there
who are scared to hang things on the wall -
Go ahead.
Make some holes.
Don't let not having the perfect plan or
all of the right pieces hold you back.
It may take a little time to get it right,
but making unique arrangements with your
own family photos helps make your house feel like a home.

For a look back at other projects you can see from these photos,

check out the key rack here and the big letter G here.