My First Hike It Baby 30 Challenge

Grand Total: 62.82 miles for April 2018

I joined Hike It Baby, Greenville, in January. I came across it by following a couple articles posted in Kidding Around Greenville on Facebook. This is also a great page to join, friends. I find a TON of free, fun, and educational things to do with Ellie and as a family.

Loving hiking and the outdoors and wanting a way to get Ellie outside more and a way to meet some other babies, I decided to pack us up and go hiking on one of the posted group hikes. Instant sisterhood bonds created. Instant friendships, respect, fun, help, and trust. Many different backgrounds and personalities all sharing in the love of our children and nature and motherhood together. It has been one of the most amazing experiences for bonding with Ellie, sharing with Ellie the beauty of God and His creation, making new friends and joining old friends on the trails. It really is its own little family that anybody would be welcomed into. Judgment free zone. Help, love, fun, respect. Hike It Baby has been such a blessing from God in our lives.

It is also cool keeping up with each other and watching all of our children growing day by day, week by week, month by month.

I love Hike It Baby because it is so much more than me getting out and doing what I love doing. It has been a way to challenge my body, to do more with Ellie than mindless play, to explore so much of South Carolina and North Carolina that I have never had the opportunity otherwise to do, to meet people, women, moms, who help provide wisdom and perspective on so many things in parenting and life in general, learn new things about the nature God created and gifted us, and also a way to meet my needs as my own person by relaxing my mind, freeing my body, and filling my happy cup up to the brim- all while doing the same for my daughter who already has a love for the outdoors and has made precious new friends on the trails. 

So, when so many of my hiking mommy friends raved about the awesomeness of the Hike It Baby "30 challenge," I was so down. I decided to partake for the month of April. I go on most of the hikes posted as is, anyway, but with the challenge, it brings the competitive spirit out in me to strive to even be more involved and spend more time in God's creation while also encouraging my health and positive and strong relationships. Running outside with Ellie in her stroller is also a way to contribute miles to my totals, so it encourages me on days I do not feel like getting out to run, to do so anyway and ultimately end up feeling incredible.

My initial goal for this challenge/ what did I want to get out of it?...I wanted to achieve the challenge and find greater strength in my physical abilities as well as praise God for allowing me the health to achieve this challenge. Challenges like these are what keep my heart strong and thriving and my ambitions pumping. 

I have gotten all this and so much more. Stronger friendships, trust, and accountability from my hiking friends. Ellie has made stronger & new friendships. Self confidence in my abilities. Physical & mental strengthening. Really good sleep every single night after a day of hiking. Knowledge of new (to me) flowers.  Deeper appreciation for our upstate and for North Carolina. I have gotten to explore new places and see things I never knew existed in our area. It has given me a deeper appreciation for where we live.

So what exactly is the challenge by definition? "to encourage families across the globe to get their babies and children outside for 30 miles in 30 days or 30 minutes three times a week."


So, we did 30 miles in 30 days, Ellie and I. Well, we actually surpassed with a final April total of 62.82 miles. (Which is easy to do when you have one baby who you can wear and move quickly with....if I were like some of these awesome mamas with multiples and little walkers, I would not have accrued this many miles I guarantee!)

This was SO fun! 
Coming for the next challenge in September!! #HikeItBaby30 #HikeItBaby

30-ish...

"30-ish." Is there an actual Merriam-Webster definition for this? Probably not. So let me define this for you.

I'm feeling it. 30-ish. It's almost like the good old Britney Spears song, "Not a girl, Not Yet a Woman.".....Caught in the middle. Now- I am a mom so I definitely am a woman haha! But the point is,being 27 is like no man's land.

30-ish can be defined like this (at least in my life):

-Makes plans with friends for a friday night out....so excited. Friday comes....<thinks to self, "someone please cancel!"> (not always, but I know my friends have felt the same!)

-Lounging in pajamas, eating dinner on the couch, binging on Netflix, and going to bed by 9 is the best thing EVAAA!

- New appliances and kitchen gadgets are the dreams and desires I have.

-I want a Roomba for Christmas.

-While we are at it, Santa Baby, slip some running socks under the tree, for me. Mine are all filled with holes. Too cheap to buy more.

- Crow's feet....but I am still so young! Whyyyy???!!! (So many big smiles on my face...can't be mad about that!)

-College kids look like babies.

-High schoolers are babies.

-I want a practical car that fits all my mom gear and junk but I do not want a van! I am not my mother, yet! Give me something sporty and functional!

- When did downtown become such a party scene?! Who are these girls and where are their clothes? When did it become acceptable to call a bra a shirt? Does your mama know you are out dressed like this?!

-Thinks to self, "Why does it have to start at 8p.m.?"

-People actually leave the house for a night out after 10 p.m.? Who are these people? Oh....me....7 years ago. (To go swing dancing and get a milkshake...I was never a party girl!)

- When did "Gucci" become a word for "cool??" I thought this was a very expensive designer??

- I read books. On purpose. And I like it.

-How were the 90s, 20 something years ago....weren't they just like 10 years ago? What?!

- Jeopardy is interesting. I watch it with popcorn if Eric is at work. It gives me a rush.

-Some friends think I am a baby....while I have others who I think are still "babies!" (young).

-Running with a stroller on a college campus makes me feel like I must be an old lady.

- I still like to crank my music in the car when Ellie is with my mom. I blare the 90s and 2000s and sing at the top of my lungs with the windows down. (I am a dork. This is nothing new.)

- I dance at weddings and events like nobody is watching. (And I don't care).

- I still love Disney princess movies. Heck. Anything Disney.

-I get excited when I think about the near future with Ellie because it means tea parties and cabbage patch dolls and all things girly. And dance parties!! And dress up!! I'm still a big kid! It means adventure and trampolines and slime and dinosaurs and bubbles!!

-Nice dinners with a few close friends is my preference over big parties for birthdays, now- or just an adventure with my little family, really. Such as...I told Eric when I do turn 30...I'd rather he plan an experience instead of a party for me. (He thinks turning 30 is young, now and kind of silly that I find it a big deal, but that is the difference in being 8 years older than the little wifey!)  ;) Of course I remember thinking turning 25 was the end of life and now I am like dang that is so not old. Life changes. Fast.

I know anybody 30 and older reading this...which is probably most of my viewers, will be like how ridiculous. But, just think back. It is a strange place to be, stuck between 20 and 30...and on the upper end of those 20s...when you feel just a handful of years prior you were still in college and had like 0 responsibilities. But I must say...30 ish is the best time of my life I have ever had. I bet it only goes up from here! If 30 ish means getting excited about rest, appliances, books, children, time with Eric, and going back to childhood as your little one grows...sign me up!! Being 30 ish is new and strange but seriously the best life I have ever lived!

Baby Veggie "Muffins"

My thing right now is getting Ellie to find interest in many new food creations and types of food. I, as most of you know really only believe in giving her healthy food while she is too young to even know any different or know what a bunch of sodium and sugar are. Eric did make me promise to give her a real cake for her 1st birthday quickly approaching to which I conceded. But, otherwise, I see no reason to give anything unhealthy to her at this age. Treats will come as she is old enough to know what a "treat" is. Meanwhile, I can show her healthy food can actually taste like treats too! So good in fact, I want to eat the food I make for her, and I do nibble on it!

So, for an easy healthy breakfast for Ellie to eat, I wanted to switch up from the fruit packed oat muffins I had made her and try something slightly different. I bought a mini muffin tin. Better size for bites and holding in one hand. And I concocted a 5 ingredient "muffin".

INGREDIENTS:
* 1 pack of medjool dates
* 3 organic bananas
* 1 large carrot
* 1 large handful of kale
* Cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS:
* First I threw all of the dates into the food processor after removing the inner seed. (Easy to remove as they are so "squishy"). I softened the dates up this way so they would be easier to shape and mix. Then I threw them into a large mixing bowl.

*Add all 3 bananas, mashed up to the mixing bowl.

*Wash and peel the top skin of your large carrot. Then grate it finely into the large mixing bowl.

*Take the large handful of kale and throw it in the food processor to shred and grind up.

*Add the kale to the mixing bowl.

*Add cinnamon...I eyeballed this.

*Mix everything up very well.

*You may oil your mini muffin dish with oil or butter, but not necessary as they are moist enough not to stick after baking. I did use a little olive oil.

*Dish muffin mix into muffin tray.

*Bake at 375 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until firm enough that when cooled they can be removed very easily in one piece.


I chose to freeze most of my batch and leave a couple in the refrigerator for Ellie. She eats about half a muffin a day for breakfast. When in need of more, simply go to the freezer the night before and place in fridge to thaw out.

Ellie has really loved these muffins! So have I! They remind me of carrot cake! Yum!

Building Our House On The Rock

The first time writing scriptures into the frames of a construction was introduced to me was when my church, Mt. Airy Baptist added the Life Center several years ago. We had a beautiful party where all the members came out and bathed the beams, floors, and walls in scriptures. Then we prayed over the building and how God would bless many and that we may serve God well with this structure He allowed our church.

Since then, I've known two other couples who did this with their precious "forever" homes. It is not done to be trendy or to fall into a fad. To do this is to ask God to be all over your home. To give it back to Him. To ask Him to protect, provide, and to bless your home. To choose to bless others with the walls He provided. To write His promises to cling to and thrive in. To bury Him in our walls and our hearts. To let this home be a success in Christ Jesus. A happy home. A safe home. A home where God dwells. A home that knows God is our provider in all things.

Underneath our crawl-space  I buried a bible. I had gotten this idea from our previous neighbor at the home we recently sold. They too, were in the process of building their "forever" home and they had a bible laid into their slab. Since we did a crawl space, I decided to bury it under there in some good old red clay. To literally build our house upon the Rock. I did not have my gardening spade or anything much to dig with because I packed everything up and only unpacked the bare necessities in this time of renting in between homes. So, I took my hammer and used the back to dig! Haha! My husband was laughing too hard at the sight of me crawling underneath the space in his hard hat from work (Michigan Wolverines themed) a bible, and a hammer and going to town on the clay. We are already making memories in the house and I love this.

And on our floors and walls we wrote as a family many scriptures, promises that we claimed, and reminders of living Holy and blameless lives. Reminders of Who meets our needs. Reminders of fruits of the Spirit. Reminders of matrimonious (I made that word up) and romantic love between Eric and I. Reminders for Ellie as she grows into a woman and faces all the challenges of life in her own way. God is our rock, fortress, example of love, provider, peace giver, protector, friend, and Father. The scriptures we wanted to write are also printed on paper to be kept in our family notebook. I have also taken a few pictures of some of them.

We originally wanted to have a handful of family and close God loving friends over to do this with us. Ultimately, we decided to just make this a Three E's thing. However, God provided us with precious people in our lives so we sought still their help in providing some scripture. What a blessing. Thank you, friends, who contributed to our home in this way. I could not imagine a better housewarming gift.

I also intended for us to pray together over the home once we finished, however, Ellie was past her bed time and feeling it. But we will pray over it every day as always giving thanks to God and asking special requests over our lives there. We will pray on site when we return, which will be very soon as we are too excited to stay away! Haha!

Here are some shots of what it looked like: