30 October 2009

Giddy

I am just giddy with excitement that it is the Holiday Season! David and the kids carved pumpkins for the pumpkin carving contest at MiMi and Grandpa's country club where we are going to party tonight. Didn't he do a GREAT job! Kirstyn picked out her haunted house design and we found this spooky tree design for James'. He has this Scooby Doo book that he loves and on one of the pages there is a tree that is making a "scary" shadow. I always pretend to be scared and James always tells me, "its otay mommy.... its just a TEE (tree)!" So cute!



I am a theme kind of girl and I find it fun to prepare foods around a theme. I am also hosting a little Halloween get together tomorrow night that may or may not include some of the following:


A Meatloaf Hand, some Graveyard Gravel, adult Candy Corn Cordials, and even some Snake Bites Sandwich since I'm pretty sure the kids will not be willing to eat the hand!

I have to say THANKS to Skip To My Lou for gathering many of these ideas that I fell in love with!
sign

29 October 2009

Fall Traditions

This past Saturday we loaded up and took the kids to Six Flags for our annual Fright Fest day of fun! These are the only two "family" shots that I got. I was supposed to have one of us with Scooby but the girl dressed as Raggedy Ann apparently didn't actually push the button all the way down on the camera because she thought she took three shots but I got NONE! Oh well...



That morning, David and I made a potentially risky decision and decided to leave the stroller at home. We packed our few necessary items (pull ups, change of clothes, and waters) in a backpack and took off. Not having the stroller turned out to be a fabulous choice because when we left the park that afternoon they were both MORE exhausted that we were!

That night at dinner we talked about every one's favorite part of the day. David and I both said that our favorite part was the kids GETTING ALONG and NOT FIGHTING! Yes, I have proof in pictures! Lately I have been feeling as if I should be wearing stripes and carrying a whistle. Seriously there have been some major squabbles around our house. James has learned that he is allowed to have his own opinion and big sister is not quite to terms with that! Ugh.

Anyway, I give you Exhibits A-D! My kids got along great all day long!


But the main reason it was our favorite part? We were able to walk around the park holding hands and having a blast too!
When we asked the kids what their favorite part of the day was, they both answered Trick or Treating from the WB characters! I agree, that was fun too and I got some really cute pictures!





Yeah! I love this time of year!
Do you have any fall traditions? All the bloggers that are linked up over here do!
Also, say a prayer today for the Kaylor family. Today is the day that last year my friend Jessica went to be with Jesus.

sign

28 October 2009

One on One

David asked me today if I had stopped blogging. The answer is NO. I still love the support and encouragement that I get from the blogging world although that I have to admit I am spending more of my time lately on Facebook. I blame my iPhone. :-)

One fun thing that I have done in the past two weeks is spend some much needed ONE on ONE time with my two kiddos! I went on Kirstyn's Kindergarten field trip and then on another day took James to the Dallas Arboretum. So much fun!



I have LOTS more pictures from each outing that I might get around to posting.... We had tons of fun!

What have you been doing?


sign

15 October 2009

Fish Tacos

The other night I made a new recipe and it was a HUGE hit! I was so excited that BOTH kids and David were ALL eating and saying things like "YUMMMM" and "WOW" that I pulled out my phone and snapped a couple of pictures of the children eating a healthy meal happily so that I could remember the moment!





So now I am sharing my recipe* for Fish Tacos with you. We have also made this exact same meal with shrimp and the kids loved that too!!!



Fish Instructions
Fish Marinade (I used trout that David caught this summer but tilapia or any other white fish would work great):
Lime Zest
Lime Juice
Cajun Seasoning
A little Olive Oil
Fresh cracked black pepper and sea salt



Take fish out of marinade and bake until fish flakes.


Coleslaw Instructions
Coleslaw Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil mayo (the kind with real ingredients and no HFCS, etc)
1/4-1/2 cup white vinegar
chipotle in adobo to taste
garlic powder, salt, pepper


Mix well and add to big bag of shredded cabbage/coleslaw mix.


Pico Instructions
Chop the following:
tomatoes (roma work great)
red onion
tons of cilantro
(you can add a jalapeno pepper, but I am the only one that would eat it so I skip that in the family recipe)

Mix in a bowl with lots of lime juice, salt, and pepper


Build and EAT
Heat up corn tortillas and build your tacos with the fish, pico, and coleslaw! I was REALLY feeling adventurous and we made our own corn tortillas. Making our own was fun and well, messy. The kids really enjoyed helping with that but it took FOREVER to make like 10 of them but they were very very tasty.



*I am a cook, not a chef so my recipes are "winged" at best...feel free to take my recipe and "wing it" at your house!



So, tell me, do you have a healthy meal that your kids enjoy, I mean really enjoy?



sign

12 October 2009

Is it November Yet?

October is not going too fabulous for us right now, but it could always be worse I guess.

Last Monday, our living room TV went crazy. I mean really crazy. I would put it on channel 52 and it would change itself to channel 51. I would change it back, then it would start scanning all of the channels. Then I couldn't even turn it off at the TV, never mind the remote. I finally got mad and unplugged it all together. The next morning when plugged back in, it would not turn on. There were tears. Mostly from the children, mostly.

Wednesday, I went to Whole Foods to do a little shopping. I wanted to get some vitamins for my kids that weren't full of chemicals. I mean really, crap. Here I am trying to feed them real foods that don't contain HFCS or hydrogenated oils but it never dawned on me to read the label on the bottle of chewable vitamins. Anyway, when I left Whole Foods with my new kid vitamins made from real foods I was involved in a car wreck. NOT MY FAULT at least. Turned into an uninsured motorist claim for me though because when I asked for his insurance, he got in his car and sped away. My car ended up with almost $2,000 worth of damage. I ended up VERY sore! I have a chiropractor that is fabulous and he is fixing me.

On Thursday afternoon we were finally able to find an available rental that wasn't a compact car (David is 6'4").

Friday, we went to Arkansas to see my parents for the weekend. We took the kids to my homecoming football game that night and they had a great time! I enjoyed seeing some friends and letting my kids experience some hometown football spirit. Kirstyn at one point did ask when the fireworks would happen and we had to explain that she wasn't at the Texas Rangers Ballpark. Funny.

Saturday we went to Hoo-Rah Days Festival and wandered around shopping, eating, playing games, and visiting with friends. Then after nap time we celebrated my dad's birthday. (I have pictures but am too tired right now to bother downloading the camera...)

Sunday, Kirstyn woke up with a HORRIBLE cough so we decided to go ahead and pack up and head home to be closer to our doctors in case she got worse. She ran a low grade fever and coughed a lot but seemed okay.

Today, Miss Kirstyn woke up SICK. Poor baby has a very high fever and horrible cough.

I am exhausted..... This week has been very busy and trying and it isn't looking any better yet.

Please pray the rest of us don't get sick!!!

sign

06 October 2009

In the RIGHT Direction!

I am so excited to share with you that this morning at Weight Watchers I weighed in at an ALL. TIME. LOW! Yeah. I was so excited to move my little ticker over on my side bar. I am now only 7.2 lbs from my Lifetime goal weight there!

Tonight to celebrate I am going to Taste of Arlington on a date with David. Last year, when David and I went I remember being super excited to pour myself into wear jeans in a size 10 and this year I will be attending in the exact same jeans but in a size 6! WOW! I seriously never thought I would be able to wear a single digit size, much less a 6.

Today my WW leader Kim asked what I was going to do to celebrate my all time low and I answered "Go to Taste of Arlington". Then she asked how I will manage that. Easy, actually, I will not be drinking frozen drinks that are 1 point per ounce, I will skip on past the booths for restaurants that I have eaten at before and I will share every sample intended for one person with David. I also plan to pick just one dessert rather than trying to get "my money's worth" in high fat food that will make me feel really yucky later tonight or tomorrow. Plus there will be other things to focus on like a silent auction and games and door prizes!

Well, gotta go get ready for my date night! Do you have a "traditional" date night like us?

sign