Good morning

Sophie doesn't really like breakfast foods.  She is known to have goldfish, string cheese, Cheetos, ham, and sometimes Ramen for breakfast. 

Sophie Eating

My little bug is the messiest eater.  It drives me crazy but really it's just who she is so I'm trying to accept it :) She always had food in her hair since she won't let me pull her hair back and even when I fix her hair she pulls it out and it ends up in her face.  The good news she loves the same food her mama does. 

 

 Ice Cream

Brie Cheese

Hawaiian Shaved Ice

They take a scoop of vanilla ice cream put it in the bottom put shaved ice on top and pour on any flavors you want. Talk about heaven for only $3.25. This little shaved ice place was amazing. If I go again I'm getting the flavor Todd got it was called "Sunrise" and I'm not sure what 3 flavors it had but the bite I had was delicious.

P.S. While I'm talking about food I'll discuss other foods we had while in Hawaii. We ate at a place called "Just Tacos" and it was nasty. I love Mexican food - it's my very favorite but when you are that far away from Mexico apparently it you can't get spices (everything tasted like plain old tomato sauce - yuck). We ate at normal American restaurants several times (Chilis, Outback, Cheesecake Factory, etc). And by the way - they had a special cheesecake with local pineapple that might have been the best one I've ever tasted from there. I had pulled pork with rice a few times too which was yummy and felt very Hawaiian to me.

Ice Cream

Last night Todd and Timmy left to go play board games at David's house and I had just put the boys to bed so I thought I'd have a bowl of ice cream. While I was serving myself Luke came up the stairs for an apple and asked what I was doing. When he saw what I was doing he asked if he could have some too (and of course I can't say no to those big brown eyes....) so I told him to go get Tayson and we would all have ice cream.

We pulled out all the fixin's and the boys made sundaes. While we were making them Tayson and I had the following conversation:

Tayson: What's a step-mom?
Me: If daddy and I got a divorce and he re-married you would have a step-mom
Tayson: Is a divorce when you aren't sealed anymore?
Me: Sometimes.
Tayson: Why do you get a divorce?
Me: If daddy and I didn't love each other anymore it might happen.
Tayson: OK

Then we sat down to eat our ice cream and just chatted about everything. It was so much fun sitting there talking to my boys. Tayson talked about how the girls at school chased him on the playground. How he's worried about Luke being able to ride the school bus home alone. Telling me about how all the girls think he's silly and funny and his teacher told him he should be a clown when he grows up. We just sat and talked and talked and talked. I really hope that when the boys are teenagers a bowl of ice cream late at night is enough for them to sit and talk to me like that. Another funny conversation happened while eating our ice cream:

Tayson: Daddy would be so mad if he was home and we weren't in bed. He would count to 3 and give us flicks.
Luke: I hate flicks
Tayson: Good thing he's at David's
Luke: Mom, can we get a step-dad?
Tayson: Then who would wrestle with us?
Me: Nope I love daddy way too much to let you have a step-dad.
Luke: Yea me too. But I'm glad we get ice cream.

Oh how I love my boys.

Flashback Friday

This is so classic Tayson

Sophie's First Food

The last few nights Sophie has woken up to eat in the middle of the night. I realize this is not uncommon for a 4 month old - but she has been sleeping through the night since about 5 weeks so it's kind of a big deal to me and I really don't like getting up. So I thought maybe it was time to add in a little extra meal before bed. Tonight Sophie had some yummy rice cereal and I think she did well. She actually reminded me of Luke's first time eating (which is a very good sign he was a super eater).

First Bite....

It was a little too thick...

And she wasn't sure if she liked it or not.....

Then she started attacking the spoon

and ate all of it up no problem

Now I just hope she sleeps good tonight!!!

Traci's Yummy Treats

Here is the recipe for the yummy treats Traci brought on Friday. No these are not part of my diet....but they are so good!

Peanut Butter Yum Treats

All of these are approximations. So Add more or take away of whatever
ingredients aren't your favorite...


1 & 1/2 bag of white chocolate chips
1 & 1/4 C peanut butter

Melt together in pyrex bowl in microwave or in double boiler on stove
to prevent burning.
Pour over...

8 C rice krispies
1 bag of small marshmallows
1/2 bag milk chocolate chips
1/2 bag mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix well and pour onto a greased cookie sheet. Refrigerate until
set. Break apart or cut before serving. Best flavor is at room
temperature, but are yummy cold too.

Vegetable Soup Recipe

Note: I added the missing zucchini to the ingredients (2 cups)

Here is the yummy very healthy soup I made this week.

10 cups fat-free chicken broth, low sodium
4 red potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
4 cups onions, quartered
1 cup carrots, sliced 1 inch thick
3 cups celery, sliced 1 inch thick
2 cups zucchini, sliced 1 inch thick
8 ounces tomato sauce, canned
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 bunch cilantro, chopped
dash of black pepper

1. In a Large stockpot, combine the chicken broth, potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-high and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes

2. Add the zucchini, tomato sauce, garlic, parsley, and cilantro. Reduce heat to medium-Low and cook for 10 to 15 minutes more, or until the zucchini is just tender. Season to taste with black pepper and serve.

Makes 18 Servings

Nutrition per serving:
49 Calories
0 g Fat
7 g Protein
10 g Carbohydrate
0 mg Cholesterol
377 mg Sodium

Me in the kitchen?

I have had no time to blog because I've been too busy shopping (I had no idea what Arugula was until last Saturday), cooking and working out for this contest.

I actually made 3 complete meals yesterday (I feel like Julia Childs).
breakfast: mushroom omelets with fresh strawberries and cottage cheese
lunch: chef salad
dinner: salmon, wild rice (not even rice-a-roni), asparagus and vegetable soup.

And since I have to make all of Todd's meals from scratch (that's right I made vegetable soup from scratch...could ya die?) I've decided that we will all be eating P90X food for dinner. I don't have the time or energy to make 2 full meals.

Yesterday when Tayson got home from school we had this conversation:

Tayson: "mom, what is that yummy smell can I have some?"

Me: "sure it's soup I'm making for dad's diet so he'll get skinnier and stronger"

Tayson: "OK, but I don't want the skinny part just the strong part so take out the diet for mine"

BTW...the soup was delicious and way low in calories (only 49 calories in a serving) if you want the recipe let me know!

P.S. Did ya hear about Lance?

School Lunch

Last week was the first week of first grade for Tayson and I thought he would like buying school lunch. It was a huge treat for me when I was little and I thought it would be easier. (Someday I will need to do a post on my school lunches growing up)

The first day of school he came home and told us he had pizza and white milk (because he couldn't find the chocolate milk). Then on Tuesday he came home so excited that he found the chocolate milk. By Friday he was done with school lunches - he told me he wanted to take a lunch instead. When I asked him why this is what he told me. "I have to say my name so loud to the lunch lady, then I have to put in my number and it is really hard to push the buttons and it hurts my fingers and you don't get a treat when you buy lunch but if you bring one you get a cookie."

So he went to the store with me on Saturday to pick out lunch foods and a lunch box. We had such a hard time finding a lunch box and are still on the lookout for a good Star Wars or Spiderman one. When we were looking at Wal-Mart for his lunch box he said "I guess we should have gone on the Internet to see what stores you can get a lunch box at." That's my boy!!!

**Addition to this post: Today when Tayson came home from school I asked him how it was bringing his lunch to school and he told me he was bummed because it was "pizza day" and he wanted to buy lunch AND he lost his lunch box today!!! Are you kidding me?

I thought I would add my favorite tribute to the lunch lady for your viewing pleasure.

Supersized

During my lunch hour yesterday I went to the mall to pick up a few items. Lately nothing sounds appetizing and my tiny squished up tummy can't take a whole lot so after a yummy pretzel for lunch I thought a strawberry shake sounded good. I ordered the "mini" size shake from Iceberg and holy cow!!! I seriously can't believe they call it mini. It is ridiculous that they expect 1 person to be able to eat a shake that size. Normally I have Kami with me to split the shake so I've never really thought about just how big they are, but I was on my own yesterday. After eating about 1/4 of the shake my craving was completely satisfied .... but I had paid $4 for the shake so I should keep eating and it really was a delicious shake. It's just so wasteful to throw it away. I almost made it through half the shake we I threw in the towel and just chucked it in the trash. I don't get why places don't give you any real size options anymore. We all would have been better off had I paid $2 and gotten 1/4 of the size of the shake. That's all I really wanted in the first place. No wonder we all have portion distortion ... that was no mini shake!

Oreo Cookies

Oreo's are one of my many weaknesses. I LOVE them and try to avoid buying them at all costs or I will end up eating most of the package on my own (not in one sitting though). Yesterday after church I was enjoying Oreo's and milk as a mid-day snack (the baby was really craving them) and I was thinking about how good they are dipped in milk and how my favorite way to eat them is right at the in-between stage of crisp and soggy. It takes a lot of practice to make sure you dunk your cookie for the perfect amount of time. If you don't dunk long enough the cookie isn't soaked through, if you dunk too long you'll probably lose your cookie to the bottom of your glass of milk.

So here it is....
do you love oreos?
do you dunk them in milk?
can you eat them without milk?
have you figured out how to remove all traces of evidence that you recently ate them (aside from triple brushing your teeth)?
do you like regular, double stuff, mint or golden best?

Doggie Issues....HELP!!!

According to The American Kennel Club the most popular dogs in America are Labs. We have a lab and he's 4 1/2 years old. Since our new house didn't (and still doesn't) have a fence he ended up becoming an inside dog this past year. For the most part this has been fine. But there are a few things he does that make me crazy. I can't stand it when he sneaks in our bedroom at night to sleep - he snores, licks himself very loudly and always ends up on the extra pillows from the bed I throw on the floor when I sleep. He also loves to eat people food especially the kids food. If we don't pay attention he will sit with his head inches from Claire while she eats and she will take a bite of food then hand him a bite a food. When she decides she's finished eating she will just take her plate/bowl and dump it on the floor next to her for him. What a horrible habit. We have put a stop to this by not letting Shadow in the room while we eat. However, the biggest problem we have right now is that he will eat food off the table, counter, trash, people's rooms, etc. He actually ate 3 loaves of bread out of Todd's mom's duffel bag last time she came to visit (unzipped it and everything), he ate 3 of our Christmas plates, and ate Tayson's b-day cake last year off the counter before I even frosted it. The dog is crazy. Last night I woke up in the middle of night to him doing something in the living room ... I knew he was up to no good by the sound. So Todd and I went out in the front room and the pantry wasn't shut before bed so he got into the trash can and had pulled most of it out licked it clean and tore it apart on the living room floor. UGH! I love the dog....but it is getting to be too much. If any of you have any great ideas please let us know so we don't end up kicking him out of the family. :)