Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I hate sweet potatoes.

Like. Yuck.

Unless you bake them with a lot of butter and sugar, I'm not touching them.

Unfortunately, they are a SUPER FOOD (which means, they are like, really really good for you). So, in an attempt to make me actually eat them I went on a recipe search.

I'm not exactly sure how I came upon this recipe (maybe it was pinterest, maybe random recipe searches online), but I know the seasoning is straight from Miss Paula Deen.

And they are DELICOUS!

So, if you are in need of some sweet potato in your life, here you go!


Baked Sweet Potato Fries

2-3 medium sweet potatoes
Olive oil

Seasoning: 1 Tablespoon salt, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp ground black pepper

1. Cut sweet potatoes into fries
2. toss with a little olive oil
3. sprinkle with seasoning
4. Bake on a foil-lined sheet at 350 for 25-30 minutes

YUM!!

Enjoy!

The Turners

Reed update - 3 years!

Height: 40 inches (the Dr. thought this was wrong, as she looked back at the data and saw he was 35 inches last year. We re-measured and, sure enough, he was 40 inches. He grew 5 inches in a year! Crazy.)

Weight: 32.5 lb

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Blue

Food: We are still on the toddler diet. A.K.A. eat everything one day and nothing the next.
Current food faves:
-tea (southern boy)
-chocolate A.K.A. choc-wit
-chicken
-carrots
-cheese
-Anything un-healthy: as we have been potty training, he got LOTS of treats as motivation

Sleep: Reed finally gave in and decided to nap again. Not every day, but almost every other day he will nap. And still, NEVER in his bed.
 



Temperament: Reed is a happy boy when he gets to do what he wants. He is full of energy and doesn't always know where to channel it. In summation, he's a 3 year old boy.

 

Reed loves:
-Jumping, running, going fast

-Going to church: we are there at least 3 times a week and he loves playing with friends and going to the playground.

-Being silly

-Movies: Current favorites include The Little Mermaid and Tangled



 

-Taking toys from Melanie

-His grandparents: we travel to DFW a lot and he loves driving up to one of his grandparents' homes. I think he knows he will get spoiled.

-The garden: more specifically, he loves watering the garden and pulling tomatoes off the plant.

-Trains!
 

 

New adventures:
=Big boy undies! That's right, we are potty trained. He is going to 3 year old preschool this fall which he has to be out of diapers for, so we figured the summer was as good a time as any. It's been a process, but a good, constantly improving one. What a big boy!!




=First out of town vacation for Mommy and Daddy: We got to take a rare trip just the two of us and Reed and sissy stayed with grandparents for 4 days. They did great.

=Singing: Reed loves singing more than ever. You can almost always understand what song he is singing.



Enjoy!

The Turners

Melanie - 18 months

 

Height: 33.5 inches

  

Weight: 28.6 lb
 

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Blue

 

 

Food: Sister-girl LOVES to eat, and most of the time it's whatever someone else has. She regularly whines until she gets a bite off someone else's plate. Some of her faves include: yogurt, carrots, peas, beans, and blackberries.

Sleep: Sleeping through the night and one nap a day at 1pm.

 

Temperament: Melanie has perfected the fit. She'll start small with just whining, but by the end it's a full-blown lay-on-the-ground-and-scream fit. She is really good at it. But most of the time she is her happy self.
 

 

 

 

Melanie loves:
-Going places: when someone leaves and doesn't take Melanie, the fit as described above begins.

-When Daddy gets home

-Books: We read tons of books and she has to sleep with one

-Movies: Tuesday night is movie night, and this girl gets SUPER excited! She will point and scream at the TV

-Babbling: it's adorable until she gets frustrated that we don't know what she's saying

-"Wrestling" with brother: it's hard to teach an almost 3 year old not to push over and lay on his baby sister when she's squealing with glee the whole time.




Mel dislikes:
-Eating food off her own plate: Other people's food is much better

-Being tired: more often than not she will tell us when she's ready to go to sleep

-Being disciplined: but who does?

New adventures:
-Walking 100% of the time. She is everywhere!

-16 teeth! I think we're done until the 2 year molars. YAY!

-First ponytail! Her hair is out-of-control-in-her-face-all-the-time. And the ponytail is adorable!

-Lots of babbling

-Still in size 4 diapers and now in 2T clothes. My goodness.



-Current vocabulary:
"Ma-Ma"
"Da-Da"
"Ba-Ba" (bye-bye or Bubba for Reed)
"Na-Na" (banana or Nana)
"Hi"
"Rah rah rah" (rock-rock)
"Muh muh" (milk)
"Boooh" (book)
"Buuh" (blankie)
"Naah" (snack)
"Cheee" (cheese for the camera)
"Baa-Bee" (baby)
"Haaaaaah" (hot)

Here is a side-by-side picture:

Here is the monthly chair pic:

Enjoy!

The Turners

"Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce."

Jeremiah 29:5

I've wanted a garden for years. Growing your own food and coming in with a handful of it sounds amazing. I get so excited about Reed experience watching food grow.

But it all started with a compost bin. I hate throwing things away that could be used for another purpose. We don't have a convenient recycling program out here. We have to collect it all and drive it to a collection center. And even then they don't take everything. So we drive the rest to DFW to our parents' houses and utilize their recycling bins. Crazy, yes. But I'm a little bit hippie when it comes to the environment. Hence the cloth diapers.

So being able to compost a lot of our own food waste and paper waste was really appealing. And then I could use it in a garden!

Last summer while my dad was in town, we decided to get the garden bed built. It's just a simple box with posts sunk in the ground at each corner.

 

 

I've read and really enjoyed The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson. It is a powerful book that can completely change your prayer life. So I thought it'd be good to circle our garden in prayer and scripture. So I wrote prayers inside the beams and chose specific verses to write inside as well. I wrote the references on the top so I can always see them.

 

Jeremiah 29:5 - Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.

Genesis 2:15 - The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

John 15:5 - I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

James 5:7 - Be patient, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.

Psalm 126:6 - He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.

 

And then life happened and it sat there...

 

 

So this spring we cleaned it out, with Reed's help of course, and got it ready for action.

We have squash! And a dirty hand!

Reed watering the garden

 

 

It's so exciting to see things growing from seeds and to find little tomatoes on the plants.

Check out the garden now!

Our first harvest!!

Enjoy!

The Turners

The Little Boy Who Slept

It's been a while since I wrote without doing a kid update. Lots of reasons, but I'm back!!

Since moving Reed to a toddler bed, naps are an endangered species at our house and I always feel like a wildlife explorer when I catch him at it; "Here is a rare glimpse of the Reed-man asleep in his natural habitat. This has only been witnessed by 2 people before, so we are experiencing history! This creature rarely sleeps even though he has an immense supply of energy. Look at him! What a beaut!"



Places Reed doesn't like to sleep: His bed

 

 

Places Reed likes to sleep: Anywhere but his bed



 

His pillows

His chair

 

 

The middle of the floor

Next to the door so I can't open it

 

 

Things Reed likes to do other than nap:

Run around his room singing "Veggie Taaaaaales! Veggie Taaaaaaales!!"

Tearing apart his bookshelf.

Climbing his dresser and sitting in the drawers.

Kicking the door.

Playing with the chair.

Empty his dresser.

Crazy child.



Enjoy!

The Turners

Reed update - 33 months

Height: 39 inches

Weight: 31 lb

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Blue

Food: We are still on the toddler diet. A.K.A. eat everything one day and nothing the next.
Current food faves:
-M&Ms: Since we have introduced 'going potty' he LOVES getting M&Ms as motivation
-tea (southern boy)
-yogurt (forever and ever)
-Sandwiches: But he doesn't seem to understand the concept. He always takes them apart to eat them.




Sleep: The promotion to toddler bed has deleted nap time. Sad, sad, sad!! After a week of absolute chaos where I felt like I was going crazy, I got over it and realized the blessing we were given. Since Reed no longer naps, at 7pm he is DONE! Which means...he goes to bed EARLY!! We have our nights back again, which is a big blessing. And he is so worn out that he doesn't even try to escape from his room and stays there until I get him in the morning. But he doesn't always end up sleeping in his bed...

 



Temperament: Reed was in a constant stage of teething for like the last year, I swear. He has finally gotten all his teeth (for the moment) and has settled down a little. He is all boy and so much fun.

 

Reed loves:
-Jumping, running, going fast

-Big boy stuff: drinking out of a real cup, going potty, helping daddy with a project

-Chick-fil-A: specifically playing on the playground



-Bugging Melanie

-Books: Reed's naptime is now "rest time" and he stays in his room to read books for a long while.



 

-Puzzles: His Nana and Grandpa introduced him to jigsaw puzzles on the iPad and he is all about that.

-Having indoor picnics

 

 

 

 

New adventures:
=No more nap: He has napped about 5 times in the last 6 weeks.

A RARE nap

 




=First major injury: Mommy was having a pretty hard time not freaking out until Daddy to got home, but I held it together long enough to tell Wes to take him to the urgent care, because I was not going to be able to handle that. Thankfully he didn't need stitches; just some glue to hold it together.

=Singing: Reed has always liked music, but he is finally interested in singing songs himself. Some of his faves are "Jesus Loves Me" "Twinkle Twinkle" and the Jake and the pirates song.



Reed, we love you and your personality SO MUCH!

Next update will be of a 3 year old! Oh how did that happen?!

 

Enjoy!

The Turners