I have not disappeared...

HI!
So I've been a bit busy with two boys and summer! But we have lots of fun posts to post... Here's a quick preview of what's to come (maybe if I make a list I'll remember it all)...

One of the little guys from our "I SPY" bags for our car trip in August...

Beer Cheese Soup.... Oh so yummy!

Spinach, Artichoke, Pasta Bake... Think really good spinach artichoke dip as a casserole with pasta

Tyler learns to Garden...

Home made Mac and Cheese... Not from Kraft...

We were on Dan Daru as the models for Little Britches...

Lasagna Cups... *Spoiler* there are no noodles!

Hard boiled eggs... In the oven??

Cheeseburger dumplings... What could be better

Oh right!! Spaghetti style pasta in a biscuit!

Snack men for our Bake Sale to support the High Park Fire Victims and Firefighters

Goose or Maveric? NOPE it's Tyler!

He also got to hang with Mermaids!

I promise you'll get to hear all these stories and more... Including Jason's new adventure in his big boy toddler bed!

Nom Nom Nom

I may not be the best cook in the world but even I was tired of eating the same 8 foods week after week. So, I got on Pinterest and found some simple recipes. I found one that was for Lemon Garlic Spaghetti. I decided I needed some protein with it too. 

This one was easy enough even I could do it. First, you set the noodles to boil. We use Dreamfields often since it is tasty but really low carb. While the water comes to a boil I got my other ingredients ready. You need:

4 oz dry spaghetti
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
2 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/2 lemon
**2 tbsp pine nuts
**5-6 basil leaves, chiffonaded

** I didn't use these ingredients

Serves: 2

Then heat up the olive oil and add the garlic. Cook until it's browning on the edges.

 Drain the noodles and toss with everything else (including the garlic olive oil). 

 Add some cracked pepper and protein. We used steaks from Texas Roadhouse (cause I'm lazy like that). It was tasty! Even Tyler and Jason ate some!

Music calms the savage... toddler?

 So, they say that music soothes the savage beast... but did you know it works on toddlers too! Tyler goes to the local rec center for "school" for an hour on Mondays and Wednesdays. They play and have story time and art and all that good stuff and it gives him a taste of pre-school. Since I'm a stay at home mom he doesn't go to daycare or anything yet. We started slow though. He took a gym class (parents helped keep order) then did a music class. He looooved it. Miss. Stephanie is AMAZING. She's the teacher. She had a class of 15 two year olds (and their adults) sharing, taking turns, cleaning up and waiting for others to play instruments! The woman is magic!

 So, we enrolled Jason in music. Tyler gets to be a big boy in school and Jason (13 months) gets to have music class. Miss. Stephanie really is magic! She has 1 year olds sharing, taking turns and waiting for others to play, not to mention she has somehow managed to convince them all that it is a great idea to clean up the shakers!!! I want some of her magic!

At the end of class the kids may come up and strum her guitar.

She even lets an alum or two strum as well!

To snack or not to snack...

Since the New Year has passed and I'm sure many, like myself, want to be slimmer... So after joining a biggest losers contest with some girlfriends, I decided we needed a fun motivator. SO... I made snack boxes. There are three ladies who all work together so I made them each a set of snack boxes. They work long hours and the only thing nearby for food is a wonderful Chinese food place and a gas station. That means that if they don't plan well they're stuck with gas station snacks (not exactly on the lose weight menu).

I started with two plastic boxes...

One large for dry snacks and one small for the mini fridge.

 Then I got some tasty snacks to fill it with. Gum, Skinny Cow snacks, Fiber 10 bar, Jif mini cups ~ perfect for dipping, and some life savers ~ sugar free...

I stuffed them all in the dry snacks box...

Closed it up...

 

Then added their names so they could tell them apart... 

So now you're thinking, "Great, now what do I do with it..."... well each week you fill it with snacks that you like that fit into your diet/meal plan. This way when you're at your desk and you're hungry you have easy snacks that you know you can have and you don't have to settle for what ever's in the vending machine. Be sure to fill the fridge one with some healthy yogurt, cheese, veggies and fruit!

Love my electrician...

Ok, so all homeowners have to figure out who's gonna work on their house. I am not good at plumbing, electric or anything other that some basic carpentry (I can assemble a bookcase in less than a week with instructions!). SO, we found a great company that does all of our plumbing, heating, electric and cooling. I LOVE them! The electric is called Mr. Sparky (sense of humor much), Ben Franklin does the plumbing and One Hour does the heating and air.

They are always on time! They do great work and the workmen are polite, and generally make the kids (2 boys) feel like part of the team. They will show them their tools, let them see what they're doing and explain to them what's happening. My 3 year old is enthralled and loves to "hold the flashlight" even in a well lit room.

They go out of their way to take care of their customers. One guy came out on a Saturday at 9 pm to look at our furnace. He figured out what was wrong and drove an hour (one way) to get a part. That part didn't fix the whole problem so he asked us what we wanted to do. We opted to wait til the warehouse opened (since he wasn't sure they would have the part and since it was closed couldn't call to check) and first thing the next day he was at our house with the part. He was cheerful the entire time and even appoligized that he didn't have the rare and seldom used part on his truck!

Needless to say I can't praise these companies (really all one but for scheduling and stuff they break it up so you don't have to navigate a huge "Push X for this" type of thing) enough. If you're in the market for a plumber, electrician, or heating and air guy I highly recommend these guys! Heck even their phone operators are nice and usually quite funny!

Searching for a new site??

So as a mom I'm always looking for the easiest and fastest way to get my shopping done (especially in the winter with snow and crazy drivers).  I was searching the Internet and while amazon is great I just bought a nook so I'd like to keep Barnes and Nobel in business...

I came across a new site (to me at least)... called Become (http://www.become.com/)... it's like Amazon in that it has a wide range of stuff. But you can compare different stores with the same item! Score! And of course it's fun to dream about all the fun stuff I'd love to have the time, energy, money and space for!

Check out some of the cool stuff I found while just playing on the site!
turquoise-table-runner
unicorn bedding
unique-tv-stand

They even have a shopping blog with buying guides, reviews and all sorts of other tips and tricks! Definitely worth checking out the next time you're looking for something online, or even if you're just bored and killing some time.

Let the workout continue... Update

Really pleased with myself... I've worked out everyday since Jan 5! Even yesterday when we went to a birthday party. We were at a pool and I was able to steal away and swim laps for 10 minutes. I felt a lot better after too. I'm feeling more energized and just generally happier.

So, today I'm going to the rec center for a new class. I've been hearing about this ZUMBA thing and while I'm all for sweating with the oldies I don't think that's the same :) I don't imagine my huge boobs bouncing all over creation would be fun for me or anyone else in the class. But our rec center has AQUA ZUMBA... now that sounds right up my alley. Buoyancy is my breasts' best friend. I'll update when I get back from class... assuming I'm not exhausted !


Edited:
So the class kicked my butt! But I still signed up for a 5 punch pass. So Sunday mornings are now going to include an Aqua Zumba class! Here's to getting in shape and dropping some weight.

So far... so good

So late in 2011 I started taking synthroid (to fix some thyroid issues)... I felt soo much better after starting it too.

So, Jan 5 I started a biggest loser with a friend of mine. We check in every 5 days and the winner gets 10 bucks. I also joined a biggest loser with some friends at their business. We weigh in there every friday and the person who has lost the most percentage of weight wins the pot and some other goodies.

This was the first weigh in (after the initial one) and I'm down 2.2 pounds in a week! YAY!!!

I've used my wii for at least 15 minutes every day since the fifth. I also hit the gym for 2 hours with some girlfriends this past Sunday. This Sunday I'm gonna try the aqua zumba class at my rec center.

My goal is to get down to 135 pounds so about 135 pounds to lose. I have some shorter term goals though....

This month... 15 minute minimum of exercise a day for 90% of the month = new wii exercise game or DVD

Little britches Biggest loser... ends april 6 - if I lose more than my two girlfriends then my mom will spring for new clothes (I'm almost a size smaller already)

My little man is growing up!

 My baby boy, Jason, is turning 1 today. He is such a little goof. I can't believe it's been a whole year already. I guess it has. He's walking now (took his first independent steps at just under 11 months), though he still prefers crawling when he wants to get somewhere in a hurry.

This is my little man right after he was born. He was actually a surprise for my doc. I had gone in on a Tuesday to get checked. You see, my first was a c-section 2 months early because I was really sick, so my doc kept a close eye on me for this pregnancy. I had my repeat c-section scheduled for that Friday but I really wanted to try for a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section). My doc was supportive but realistic. My due date was Thursday and since I had gestational diabetes and was high risk for pre-eclampsia he didn't want me to go much past it. I refused to go before my due date though since baby and I were fine. So Tuesday, I'm in the office for a check to see if I'm starting to thin and dialate. Apparently not, I was high, closed and "unripe". So I went home and sulked and started looking up old wives' tales way of ripening (you know like jumping and long walks). I even talked my husband into giving me an acupressure back rub (there are some labor inducing points on your shoulders that I looked up). We had fun joking and laughing and hey, I got a back rub out of it.

Wednesday rolls around and I've got a sense of humor about it. I needed to get some things at Target and ended up walking around for like 2 hours with my oldest looking at things and what not. We get home and I put my son to bed for his nap. I started cleaning up the house from our play and just general clean up. About 5 pm I went to the bathroom and nothing new. I got up and went back to cleaning, except as soon as I pushed my son's highchair back into place I felt liquid run down my leg. The sad part was I thought I'd peed. But wait, I'd JUST done that, there couldn't be that much left in my bladder... right? So I took another steps and more ran down my leg. I couldn't stop giggling! I called my parents to come over (they live about 10 blocks away) and then called my hubby at work (about 45 minute commute). Then I called my doc. I'm all for laboring at home but I was also an insulin taking high risk mommy. I asked if I should come in or stay home for a bit. They suggested I come in so we could make sure my sugars were fine.

At midnight they started some pit since I wasn't having contractions and by 2am I had an epi. At about 1pm the nurse wanted me to start pushing to move him down the birth canal a bit. See, since my first was a C-section I was never in labor with him so they figured I'd be a typical first time mom and would have to push for a while. Well 4 pushes (about 15 minutes later) and that same nurse was running to the hall calling for anyone with an MD. Apparently, I don't listen well and Jason was seconds from being born, my Doc was still getting his scrubs and stuff on figuring he had time. Silly man, he should have known by now not to underestimate me, LOL. On of the other docs at my practice was near by and caught Jason 20 minutes after I started pushing. My doc walked in as his feet came out. Poor guy looked so sad that he'd missed it.

That's right folks... Jason was born ON HIS DUE DATE and I got my VBAC... Now for your viewing pleasure some photos!

Let's try this again....

Ok, So I really sucked at this whole blogging with an infant thing! So now that Jason is ALMOST 1!!! I'll give it another go. Jason turns 1 tomorrow (where did my baby go!)

Here he is eating cake at Tyler's birthday party. Gotta love the baby bird look!

 

He's growing up sooo fast! He's walking (with help most of the time) and trying to talk... If only we were fluent in Jason-ese. He's also almost as big, weight wise, as his big brother.

Tyler, is just a charmer. He turned 3 a few weeks before Christmas. He's trying to learn to read, he knows all his letters and their sounds. He love helping Mommy cook and playing video games with Daddy. He's also loving being a big brother and often loves on and cuddles Jason. He is the best at making Jason laugh. I can't wait to see how their relationship grows!

 

Here are my babies with Santa this year. Sooo handsome!

Well keep checking back for more on my caking, scraping and various other topics!