Bring on the GREENS

My kids do not love their vegetables. Therefore, we here at the Elliott household are HUGE fans of green smoothies. They are tasty, so the kids love them. Tay and Noah literally suck them down. And they have lots of fruit and vegetable servings so mama loves them.

The best smoothie recipe book that I have found is Green Smoothie Revolution, by Victoria Boutenko. The first few chapters give the “why” for green smoothies and the last few chapters have tons of great green smoothie recipes.

Here is one of our favorites:

“Tropical Green Smoothie”
2 cups spinach
1 mango (I use 1 cup frozen mango)
I cup pineapple chinks (again, I use frozen)
1 cup water

I ALWAYS add greens powder and flax seeds to our smoothies. Greens powder has anywhere from 4 to 9 fruits and vegetable servings per scoop! And flax seed has some great Omega 3 (which we ALL need more of!).
Note: I buy berry greens, the flavor is much better

So, by giving the kids a green smoothie for breakfast, I guarantee that they get at least 3 or 4 servings of fruits and vegetables before 9AM! LOVE THEM!

Air brush t-shirts and mullets

Can you guess where we went this weekend by the title?
My ENTIRE side of the family got together in Gatlinburg for Easter weekend. I am talking aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, everyone! We had such a wonderful time. We ate good food, had great conversation, enjoyed carnival rides, and I was able to take advantage of all the "built in babysitters" and enjoy some shopping time with my sister-in-law.


My grandparents have been married for 59 years. I am beyond blessed to have such a wonderful example of a Christian marriage.
My grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s several years ago. To see the way that my granddad takes care of her is so amazing. I cannot explain the love that I see when I am with them. On Friday night, my granddad called a square dance (something he has done for years). After a square dance, he always plays the Tennessee Waltz and dances with my Grandma. I loved watching them that night.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
                                                      Matthew 28: 5-6

Happy Easter friends!

So stinkin’ cute

We just got in our toddler size t-shirts. They are adorable! And because my kids are so adorable you get to see lots of examples of the shirts. We only ordered 2T and 3T, but if you want another size, let me know. I can always check about ordering others :)



The reason why there are only a couple of pictures of Noah is that he found this wonderful mud spot. Needless to say, he did not last long outside before that was just too tempting.

Paper work #2 – CHECK!

We just finished all of the paperwork for our adoption agency, WACAP, which included 10 hours of training. We are getting SO close to being put on the waiting list for our child. EXCITING!

15 months

Noah, you are the funniest little kid I have ever been around. You are always making me laugh.

At 15 months you have a few simple words…

“dada”

“milk”

“bye”

“uh-oh”

“dog”

“ball”

“airplane”

“that”

“hi”

“Yay Yay” for Taylor

“daddy’s home”

“all done”

“dino”

You won’t say mama, but I know you can because I have heard you say it before.

You are in to everything and laugh at almost anything. You are energetic and funny. You walk so well that you can almost run. You keep your mama busy and are always finding something new to get into. There is not a day that goes by when you don’t hit your head or fall off something.
Lately, you and Taylor have started to play with one another and it is so perfect. BUT you have also started to fight like brothers and sisters. You already know how to push her buttons. You absolutely LOVE Sophie. Your face lights up every time you see her.

We are so in love with you Noah. You bring us joy everyday!

Beautiful girl

Enjoying this beautiful, windy day.

Huntin' for Easter eggs

This weekend we had 2 Easter egg hunts. We hid eggs at my Grandma's house and we had a hunt for our neighborhood. Tay did great! She figured out early on that each egg was filled with candy. So she would pick up an egg, open it, check out the candy, and then go find another.
Noah would pick up an egg, shake it, throw it, and then pick up another. Good times.

I think I have an issue

The older I get the more “type A”, “anal”, or whatever else you want to call it I become. I used to be so much more laid back, but not anymore. Not that it is ALWAYS a bad thing, but it is not ideal MOST of the time.

Here is a story to show this personality trait of mine.

A little background: We have ordered 2 batches of t-shirts from 2 different suppliers and are now in the process of getting a third batch. The first order was great. We loved the t-shirts. We almost sold out of the t-shirts, so I went back to get more. However, to say the communication with the t-shirt printer (Company A) was lacking would be an understatement. So, I decided to go somewhere else (Company B). I was in such a hurry to get the shirts, I did not even ask for an example of what the t-shirts would look like before they were printed. When I went to pick up the shirts, they were NOT what I expected. The t-shirt color was different and the design was different. I still liked them, but I wanted more of the first design.

So I sent artwork to Company B for our t-shirt and had a “mock-up” sent to me so I would know what the t-shirt would look like. At first glance, there were no issues (and I emailed to say we loved it). Then I noticed that there a few things I wanted to change (enter email 2 and 3). Then I decided that in order for it to be “perfect” I just needed to redo the image (enter email 4). After all of this, Company B emailed me to have me approve the revised artwork. Again, I thought it looked great (enter email 5). Then after more reviewing decided that there were a couple of things that needed to be changed (enter email 6 and 7). Poor Company B. I know they are SO ready to be done with our order.

Unexpected Support

We have just begun our adoption journey, but I am already amazingly surprised at the support we are receiving. And not just the support, but those who are supporting us.

When we first submitted our application to WACAP (our adoption agency), I did not know how people would react to our adoption. Everyone has different views on adoption and not everyone agrees with it. While I want to respect their opinions, it is hard for me. As soon as we decided that we were ready to adopt, God allowed me to begin to feel love for this child. How can I understand any resistance to our adoption, when the end result is a child, our child?

On the other side of this, there are those who completely support us, even people who we have never met. We have had people offer to help us in ways that I never thought possible. People have sent kind words of encouragement that have truly touched us. We have received donations through our blog, through our t-shirt fundraiser, and in the mail. Our church has rallied behind us to support our cause. We are so amazed at God’s faithfulness.

Thank you to those of you who have come behind us and supported us. Your support means more to us than you know.

A boy name

If the baby we bring home from Ethiopia is a boy, I have my name picked out. I say “my” because Mark is not completely on board. I want to name him Nehemiah and call him Nehem. Nehemiah means "comforted by God" or "God wipes away our tears". Beautiful, right? If you happen to see Mark, I would appreciate any mention of how awesome the name is or how much you love it :) I think he will come around.

Rock n Roll Birthday Bash

Today was our neighbor's 3rd birthday party. His mama went ALL out. There was tons of food, a puppeteer, and a band!

Born to rock! Tay was the only one on the dance floor. She did not mind, just got her groove on.

Noah is all partied out.

Noah just being Noah...

Love these kids

I need your opinion

We ordered a new batch of t-shirts. We did so well with the last order, that we thought we would go ahead and get some more!

As part of this new order, we have YOUTH shirts! I am really happy with how they turned out. They are dark chocolate and we have sizes Youth Small (size 6-8) and Youth Medium (size 10-12). They sell for $20 each. It is obviously big on Tay, but you can at least get an idea of what it looks like. We only ordered a handful of each size, so if you want one, get it soon!

Now, I need your opinion. This new batch of t-shirts is a little different. The feel of the t-shirt is the same, but the color of the shirt as well as the color of Africa is different. Which one do you like better? The old one is on the left and the new one is on the right. 
Note: the new shirt looks almost brown compared to the older one. It is a charcoal gray.

A day with Granddaddy

My dad came into town yesterday to spend sometime with the Taylor and Noah. Well, the real reason was to watch the kids while I went to get 2 cavities filled. I know, it’s embarrassing. I promise I brush my teeth. In fact, I brush my teeth twice a day, floss twice a day, and use mouth wash twice a day. I don’t know what happened, maybe my love for all things sweet?

WOW!!

This past Sunday was “Adoption Sunday” at our church. Our pastor chose this Sunday to celebrate adoption and support us, as well as other families in our congregation who are adopting. We are so blessed to be part of a congregation that embraces adoption.

I cannot begin to describe the amount of love and support we received on Sunday. We were blown away by the amount of prayers offered and t-shirts purchased.

We are so thankful and appreciative for our church family! We love Parish!

The first (of many) bump

We spent our morning playing at Let It Shine gymnastics. This is one of my favorite places to take the kids. Taylor has a blast and I get to socialize with other mamas.

Lately Noah has been quite clingy. He does not want to be put down and he makes sure that I know it when I do put him down. I blame it mainly on teething, but I think it is also just a phase of his right now. This morning at Let It Shine, it was no different. I wanted to spend some time playing with Tay, but Noah would not have it. As soon as I put him down, he was mad. This was the case for most of our play time. However, towards the end, he finally let me put him down. I took full advantage. I went and found Tay and did a few things with her. I kept an eye on Noah, but he was just roaming around having fun. I took my eye off of him for about 30 seconds and I turn around to him balling with this on his forehead!

I felt horrible. Not only did another mom come to his rescue, I had no idea what had happened to him. BAD MOMMY MOMENT!

I also wanted to include Taylor in this post. I feel like she gets does not get as much “blog attention”. To be honest, she is just not nearly as entertaining as Noah. I am not saying this is a bad thing. In fact, I love her for it. Taylor keeps herself occupied by playing with baby dolls and reading books. I love to sit and watch her “read”.