Our latest project

a little less than 2 weeks from now will be my last day as a nanny of 5. 

i have very mixed emotions, as i have been with this family for almost 6 years, 

and 3 of the childrens' entire lives.

but i am VERY excited to have more time to devote to my little cookie business, 

The Cookie Kiln

and to have a little extra time to work on some of the many projects 

that have been on my list for months.

but I am most excited about preparing for what is definitely my favorite thing that i have ever had part in creating. ;)

my husband and I cannot wait for our newest family member to arrive in february!

we had my friend jennifer wakefield from J. Catherine Photography take some family photos for us to make our announcement this week. she is SO incredibly talented and was so patient with the dogs.

if you ever need a family, child or pet photographer, i would highly recommend her!

here are a few of my favorites~

so excited to add another member to our little family!

{i loved that she was able to get this shot with no cars in it}

this was at the beginning of the photo session when the dogs were still somewhat behaved.

this one just makes me smile. 

love these 2!

'we're going to have a baby!' 

{unfortunately i think that they probably thought that i was saying something about treats}

i absolutely LOVED this one. 

the sky was gorgeous that evening.

amos loves to stand up like a real boy, paisley is usually pretty hesitant.

me and my baby girl, paisley jaye

topher and his boy, amos hawke

paisley and amos, soon-to-be big brother and sister!!!

{they have NO idea what is about to happen to their little worlds}

we let the balloons go off the top of the parking garage.

sending them up to heaven to the baby that we lost in december. 

we are so thankful and feel so blessed that God has given us this precious gift! 

praying for and looking forward to meeting our healthy baby in 7 months.

i put together this little announcement for on my facebook profile:

i used a picture from a few months after we started dating,

a picture of our cake toppers from our wedding day, 

and then i asked my dad to knit me a tiny hat and 'sweater' for our little peg baby.

i made the little stroller with some wire, leftover bridesmaid dress fabric, tires off of a toy dump truck, and nail polish for the handles and the wheels. 

my dad is amazing! 

i thought that it turned out perfectly. 

favorite things (thank you hormones)~

it has been kind of ridiculous the things that i have been craving since being pregnant.

the first few weeks literally all that i wanted to eat was sour patch kids and diet root beer.

now sour things don't really sound good to me at all.

sweets however are still sounding really good.

here are a few of my most-craved/favorite things since pregnancy hormones 

have taken over my body:

i eat an embarrassing amount of skittles each week!

i am loving fruit! peaches are my favorite, 

but i have been devouring lots of cherries, blueberries and grapes too.

i cannot start my day without a yogurt, or 2.

so very thankful that i am still allowed a little caffeine.

my 1/2-caf, nonfat white mochas are definitely a splurge that our budget would appreciate me quitting.

so glad that they make caffeine-free diet dr. pepper!

and then there's the salty.

if i don't develop gestational diabetes by the end of my first trimester,

 i will likely swell up like a balloon from my sodium intake.

i have to admit, at least 1/2 the stereotypical 'pickles and ice cream' pregnancy cravings 

has proven true for me,

 i have gone through an insane number of pickles in the past 2 months!

i discovered these chips which taste almost exactly like the ones that they serve at Chili's!

they are so thin that they practically melt in your mouth. 

caution, they're addictive! 

but in all honesty, i only use the chips as a vessel to get the salsa into my mouth. 

salsa is by far my most craved food for the past 8 weeks. 

i decided to just make a huge batch of my favorite salsa {recipe here} to save my poor husband from my daily requests to go out for mexican.

(i do not lie, we had mexican for 8 meals last week!)

i love going on walks with these 2!

(or 3)

and i figure that it is good for all of us to get some exercise to work off all of the above cravings.

and i just thought that i would add a few pictures of my babybump so far.

this was last weekend at 10 weeks. 

i kept thinking that it was just 'bloat', 

but i was very excited when the doctor told me tuesday

 that it was definitely my baby making that little bump. :)

and this is saturday's weekly picture. 

it is pretty exciting to watch this little miracle happen.

we are SO thrilled about this new addition to our family.

healthy-ish {paleo} living

i know, i haven't posted in months... 

we decided to turn our internet off for the summer

because we were both out of town more than we were in town this summer. 

i shouldn't complain that i was able to go to the beach 6 times this summer, several times with work and a few days with my husband as well. but i definitely disliked living out of a suitcase and am very convinced that although i LOVE traveling, i am a bit of a home body and i really missed being at home with my husband and our puppies. and i missed my kitchen more than i should admit.

my favorite trip this summer was definitely our trip to iowa to visit family.
{we decided to take the dogs, which was quite an adventure}
we had a family camping trip with about 25 family members. it was such a fun week with so many fun memories.

here are a couple of my favorite pictures



after 17 hours in the car together they were the best of friends.
this is just the sweetest picture of my puppies

uncle dave's girlfriend, krista got this awesome picture of amos at the campsite

paisley loved the easy access to nature.

 there were so many things that she could chew on .

this is most of the collogan clan at the campsite

and this is my favorite! 3 generations of collogans- topher, lyle, and jim

this summer has been anything but relaxing, but despite the craziness, i have been busy with projects and cooking and baking here in our own kitchen.

my husband and i had both gained a little weight in the last several months. 

and a few months ago my husband decided that he wanted to join crossfit and he assured me that he was more than serious about living a healthy lifestyle, so i bought him a membership at one of the local crossfit gyms. he has been incredibly dedicated to it for several weeks now and i am so proud of him. i know that i don't need to lose much weight, but i also know that i need to 

work on eating a healthier diet and i am training for my first race... and i decided to start with a big one. i am hoping to do a half-marathon at the end of october, so i would appreciate any support and insight that any of you runners might have for me.

i am doing my best to encourage my husband to continue in his workouts and to make healthy dinners for us.

we have been trying to stick to the paleo diet as much as possible.

and honestly, the meals that we have had since we started eating more healthfully have been delicious!

the only thing that i have really missed has been cheese. i am pretty sure now that i could live without sugar, bread, and pasta, but cheese is definitely my guilty pleasure.

several of our favorite paleo recipes so far (which i will attempt to blog in the next few days) have been zucchini hummus (which i must say, i could not even begin to imagine that it would taste so much like hummus), eggplant stacks = amazing!!!!, and tilapia with peach-mango salsa, which i think was our favorite.

tonight i made the HUGEST batch of paleo marinara sauce, which i plan to use in 3 of our dinners this week.  i know that i am probably a little prejudice, but it was incredible!

****note: this makes an EnORmOUS batch of marinara,

but it is SO worth it.

i sauteed 

1 large red onion

5 large cloves of garlic, chopped

1 1/2 T. olive oil

for about 5 minutes,

then add

2 carrots, grated

1 large zucchini, grated 

and sautee for 3-5 minutes

add

3 T. fresh basil, chopped

2 t. fresh oregano

1 t. red pepper flakes

4 packets splenda

salt and pepper, to taste 

( i added about 2 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper)

then add 

1 - 35 oz. can roma tomatoes (i used Nina, roma tomatoes from costco), chopped, with juices

let simmer at medium heat for 30 minutes to 1/2 hour.

tonight we had grilled chicken marinara 

(a grilled chicken breast, seasoned with balsamic vinegrette, salt and pepper), 

and it was everyone seemed to enjoy it. 

omorrow we are going to try paleo 'spaghetti' with julienned zucchini 'noodles' and marinara...

i will let you know the results.