Savannah's First Day Of Kindergarten!

 Today, was my sweet Savannah's first day of Kindergarten! I can't believe that she is old enough to be in Kindergarten :( It was diffidently harder for me to see her go. I missed her even before she left. I just couldn't stop thinking of all the things that could go wrong or what if she had a bad day, or if someone was mean to her, or if she had a meltdown, or even if she went number 2 in her pull up. My list of fears goes on and on. LOL. Sadly, we are still where we were before with potty training. She still doesn't know when she needs to go so we try to take her every hour when we can. So it's completely on us to make her go. Last week, we met her teacher and she has been pleading with me to take her to Kindergarten in the car, to go on the bus, and to go to kindergarten and play with friends ever since! She was so excited to go today!  I told her that in Kindergarten the kids only wear pull ups and panties to get her to not wear her diaper, and that she had to try really hard to keep her pull up dry. It totally worked!! Point for mom!! She was so excited to wear her new skirt I made her and her new blue shirt that we picked out together with her flower! Last night, we packed her snack for snack time, (raw almonds)! She was so excited! She loves nuts for snacks! I think that's her favorite snack right now nuts or apples! Her class is pretty small. There is 8 other kids in her class besides Savannah and her teacher has 2 aids.

We didn't want Xander to feel left out!

Savannah's favorite book right now! Mermaids! She loves mermaids! If you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up she will either say a mermaid or a princess! She's so cute!

Savannah was so excited to get on the bus!

After school, she was happy when she got off the bus! The first thing she did when we got into the house was ask for milk. LOL. After I read the note that was in her "purple" folder that her teacher wrote for me I understood. She had said that Savannah had a great day! But, at snack time she wanted milk like the rest of the kids :( I felt so bad. I'm going to have to pack a little ferniest of almond milk with her to take from now on. So, I got Savannah some milk and she drank it while I tried to talk to her about her day! She said that they moved and played in the kitchen with friends and made waffles and hamburgers! At the playground there was a castle. I asked her if she had climbed it and she said no. I couldn't get any of her friends names but she liked her teacher and she said she went potty, not at grandmas house! I am so relived that she had a great first day! Tonight she even got sad for a bit because she wanted me to take her to kindergarten. She is so cute! I love my special girl!!!

Ice Cakes!

 This was a fun little activity that we did a few times this summer. Savannah and Xander just loved it and it was perfect for a hot summer day! I even came up with a fun name for them! Ice cakes!

 The night before I froze water and small toys in a cup cake and a cake pan.

 They came out of the pans great because of how hot it was outside. If it doesn't just give them a little time outside!

 We used Xander's play tools to break the toys from the ice blocks. They had a blast!

August Catch-Up

 This post is just a little update on some of the things that have been happening at our house lately.  Court has been canning lots of green beans form our garden. I helped a little but with being sick and being terrified of bugs, I have a hard time touching them until they are washed.

 Savannah and Xander were BIG helpers! Savannah loves to munch on raw grean beans for snacks!

 Xander loves fish so one day we painted some fish mold things that I got from Roberts. The kids loved it!

 One of the Saturdays that I was sick just happened to be the day that Kids on The Move was having their fishing day. Sadly I couldn't go but, it turned out to be a great daddy daughter date for Savannah and Court!

 Savannah has spent most of her days as a princess, because that's what she is!

 This was so cute! Xander was so tired he fell asleep on the step. He's getting worse at the sleeping thing again. It's like he has his nights and days mixed up. Not Fun!

 When I was feeling better we all went out to a little fishing pond. The kids had fun but it didn't last long. It was pretty hot.

This little guy kept stepping into mud puddles, and then the shoes were off! He just wanted so badly to just run off and play. Poor little guy.

 One day we had fun with cousins at Tufalga! It was so hot. Poor Savannah's face was deep red the whole time.

 Savannah and I did a little project. We made a tray for my jewelery! She loves painting!

 We try to do Xander's learning box every day. He gets so excited every time I bring it out! It's like Christmas for him!

Family homework table! Savannah just loves to work in her workbook! She is so smart!

Paleo Fajitas

Paleo Fajitas

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into strips
• 1 Tbs coconut oil
• 1/2  onion, sliced
• 1 red, 1 orange, and one yellow bell peppers, sliced
• juice of 1 lemon
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 heads romaine lettuce, washed and dried

In  a medium bowl, combine garlic, cumin, oregano, chili powder, and sea salt. Toss chicken in mixture until fully coated and set aside.Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, add coconut oil.Saute onion for 3 minutes. Add chicken and continue to cook until chicken is almost fully cooked (about 10-15 minutes), stirring often.Just before chicken is done, add peppers, lemon and lime juice. Stir and cook for 2 more minutes.Serve over lettuce and top with home made salsa. Guacamole would be yummy too!

Stewart Falls Family Hike

 I know it's been a while since my last post. I was really sick with a bad sines infection for a couple of weeks. It was just awful. I had a huge migraine on the right side of my head that never went away. And I think that all the Advil I was taking made me just so sick. So, I was the worse mother ever for those weeks. My kids watched a lot of TV, and I tried to do at least one craft or have them work in their workbooks once a day. There was also a lot of coloring and reading. I felt so bad that I felt too sick to take them outside. Court was just amazing! As soon as he came home from work each day he took care of the kids, dinner and cleaning! I am so lucky!! :)

Just before I became sick, we spent a family night hiking to Stewart Falls. It was so beauitful up in the mountains, and the kids were doing awesome!

 This little monster was so determined and so stubborn. He did not want to be carried. He is so funny! Notice the dirt on his hands, face, knees,... well everywhere! LOL! My crazy little boy!

 Showing Savannah and Xander the view!

 It was taking us a lot longer than we thought and it was getting dark so, towards the end to the falls we carried them.

 We made is!!!

Snack time! Apples and water! The trail is 3.5 miles there and back and it took us 4 hours. lol! We don't think we will be doing this trail again with the kids any time soon, but Court and I want to go back on our own to hike it sometime!  Overall the kids did awesome and they walked over half of the way. They are starting to love hiking! I just love doing things like this with my family!

Mommy and Savannah Working on Patterns and Shapes

 This is one of the things that Savannah and I like to do together while Xander takes a nap, (Which isn't very often.) Sometimes, we do the pictures,we stack the shapes into piles, or we make patterns!  It's so much fun and is so special for Savannah and I! She always loves to do them! I have little things that I do with Savannah when its just us girls and other fun things that Xander and I do that he loves! A few other things that Savannah and I do together are, painting nails, watching  princess movies together, she loves to cook with me, and I always love doing her hair! With Xander, we do his learning box, reading monster or dinosaur books, (he is obsessed with dinosaurs!), and he loves to dance and be silly! He is my crazy boy!

Oh no! The monster is awake!!  :)

Paleo Coconut Shrimp

PALEO COCONUT SHRIMP ; Recipe from:(Paleo Por Vida)
Ingredients:
1 lb large shrimp, tail on peeled and deveined
1/3 cup coconut flour
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp garlic powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 egg whites
¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
3 tbs coconut oil
Directions:
Peel and de-vein shrimp.  Run under cool water but do not pat dry.
Beat egg whites with spices.
Heat coconut oil in large skillet to medium high heat
Place coconut flour, egg mixture, and shredded coconut in separate bowls or shallow dishes and set up a dredging station.    Working from left to right, dredge damp shrimp in coconut flour, egg mixture, and shredded coconut flour.  Lay on plate to set for 10 minutes.  Add to hot oil and cook until browned, turning once.

Our family loved this recipe! It was so yummy!

Paleo Family Dinner Salad Bar

 We loved this! At the end of the week, take all of your random vegetables and meats, chop them up and create a beauitful fresh and healthy new family tradition of Friday Night Salad Bar! Then, after dinner you will have extra salad supplies for your lunches for the week! For little kids like Savannah and Xander, they don't like everything mix together so, just put their salad toppings in little mini silicone cups or just don't mix their salad together on their plates.

Salad suggestions:
Romaine Lettuce
Spinach
Chicken/ Paleo BBQ  chicken (Recipe to come!)
Bacon Bits
Eggs
Carrots
Radishes
Celery
Red Onion ( Savannah tells me it's not red it's purple!) LOL!
Tomatoes
Avocado
Mushrooms
Sprouts
Cucumbers
Beets
So many possibilities!!

Vintage Headbands

 A couple years ago I found this beauitful light pink vintage headband at a boutique. I just had to get it so I could make some more! It really was so simple!

These are some truly simple virgins that I made! I found everything at Hobby Lobby, or I had it already! Here is what you need! I found the flowers in the scrapbook section, lace fabric or tulle, elastic, scissors, lace ribbon, a sheet of felt, and a hot glue gun!

Here are some visual steps! Arrange flowers how you would like.

Hot glue and trim felt, so it wont show.

Measure your daughters head, to make sure it is the right size. Hot glue ribbon around gathered tulle and elastic.

This would be a cute baby gift!