Another Gotcha Day

February and March are full of celebrations for us....gotcha days, homecoming days, birthdays, sometimes Easter and always Spring Break.

Today is Baby Boy's gotcha day and every year I am taken back to how exhausting it really was...Its never lost on me how HARD we worked to get his adoption finalized before he turned one year old....even at the courthouse that day we had to stand firm and do some begging and lots of praying. It was also one of the most emotional days and embarrassing days as our children really showed themselves after being cooped up in a courthouse for hours. I remember it as the one time that I have ever felt like a young stupid parent....I have had others treat me that way...but I felt we played the part well that day.

We had some close friends of ours go through the loss of a birth mom this past week......, our daughters are in the same kindergarten class and the dad and I have taught together for 6 years. The birth mom of their daughter died unexpectantly and now they are traveling to Memphis for the funeral. Our heart breaks for them because they had an open adoption and things seemed to be going well. It also allowed us to talk through some thing with our kiddos. There is no doubt in my mind that if our birthmom died and we could we would take them to the funeral....I would hate to think about them not having closure or not being able to tell her goodbye. I still have trouble remembering sometimes if my grandma Coleman is alive or not because I didn't make it to her funeral..its like an open ended conversation that I wish I could have closed out. I don't want that for my kids and I want them to know that we value life and we value the gifts she gave us....we love her for those three gifts.

This weekend we celebrated Baby Boy's upcoming 4th birthday as well. We had about 80 guests...GEE WHIZ...join us at the school gym for bounce houses, light saber wars, cake and ice cream. We even had a special guest join us for 24 hours..UNCLE CHRIS...drove all the way from Arkansas for a literal 24 hours just so he could be at Baby boy's birthday....what a gift, what a blessing, what a special thing to do for your family.....love my little brother and his heart for my kiddos. We sure did miss our Aunt Micah who was helping with a baby shower!!!!

The kiddos are all kind of in their groove right now...we have Ribbit in gymnastics, Baby Boy in karate and Goober back in baseball. They are pretty good at going to each others events and I love that they teach one another about it later. I also love that they are interested in mommas love of running, after my first race with Goober I was hooked...therefore Ribbit and I are running the 1 mile Easter Fun Run in Fort Worth the day before Easter...we even have matching runnings capris and headbands...(a gift from a sweet mom at CCA who is always encouraging me!!!).

Oh plaintains..my favorite topping to spinach or kale!

We make energy bites every week...almond or cashew butter, ground almonds and dates, paleo choc chips, shredded coconut!

One of their favorite snacks!

Adam and I really like these protein muffins made with carrots, sweet potatoes, protein powder, nut butter and cranberries!!!

Loving me some Crossfit..somedays I have the best times, other days I don't...but anyday that deadlifts are invovled and I finish is a good day...I AM SHAKY SHAKY...but I want to lift those big weights :).

tofu noodles, peppers and spinach...topped with a fried egg with a runny yolk...OH YEAH!

Turkey/zucchini meatballs, fried kale, roasted cauliflower with tumeric and melon!!! Kids tore this up!

Daniel sticker for not "fighting" while they were playing superheros at school!

Another favorite of ours is mixing tuna with avocado..I have never liked mayonaise and what is better than a creamy avocado? Plus, roasted broccoli and carrots and paleo dinner rolls...SOOOO GOOD!!! 

One of my favorite soups to make....butternut squash, carrots and red peppers....HEAVENLY!!

Beautiful color!!

We have found that we love roasted rainbow radishes and sweet potatoes with salsa!

Daniel sticker for kindness

More Monster bread...about to be St. Pattys bread!!!

Stretching before the big race!!!

We were both a little nervous...his first race and me trying to get the last two miles of my half marathon in under 19 minutes to finish the whole thing in under 2 hours. Which I did..by 4 whole minutes!

Stinker told me he didn't feel like sprinting at the end and then he tore off.

I was so happy to have this memory with my boy!

We both won our age group..I also won 1st for all females in the race.

Later that night at the rodeo!

Our dearest friends the Eberts and Hamiltons...love doing life with them!!!

Don't forget to always cook paleo bread in a parchment liner..the flours are stickier and cling to all pans regardless of butter or coconut oil!

Blonde monster bread...this one with lots of cashew butter!!!

Spaghetti squash with an avocado/spinach sauce!!

Homemade coconut milk ice cream with grilled nectarines and blueberries....I heard the kids tell their babysitter that this was the best dessert they ever had...YUMMY!

Cauliflower fried "rice" with peppers and onions and lots of fried eggs.