Monday, September 17, 2012

A Perfect Birthday

 I had a wonderful birthday yesterday! I turned 24. It's funny how as you get older you forget how old you are. I couldn't remember if I was turning 23 or 24 this year. LOL! A couple of days before my birthday Court took me out to one of our favorite restaurants and then we saw The Odd Life of Timothy Green. It was such a cute movie! I loved it! Court and I kept laughing and commenting on how much Timothy reminded us of Savannah and Xander with all of his cute little quirks! The movie even had a cute message about how it is okay to be different, in fact it is what makes each of us amazing and unique :)

On Sunday, I spent the day with my family! Court made us breakfast. We went to one of our friends, 1 month old daughter's baby blessing. I became even more baby hungery. She is so adorable! I got to hold her precious little angle twice! I could just hold her forever! I guess whenever I'm really baby hungry I can go over and hold her to get my baby fix!
 Savannah was just so cute! She spent the morning in her room making mommy a birthday!! She even pushed me out of her room when I came in to see what she was doing! She wouldn't let me see my birthday! It was so cute!! Later that day she let me help her make a birthday cake and birthday cupcakes! Of course they were all chocolate cake with chocolate chips with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles on top, ( Savannah's favorite!) I just love that girl!! We had to blow out the candle together :) I will always remember this and how sweet my little girl is! I am so lucky!!
 The other day Savannah wore her hat, mittens, and a scarf almost the entire day and she desperately pleaded with me and Court for snow. It was so cute and sad. She wanted to make a snowman. A few times she  would start to cry and say, "Please! Please! Please!" I really wish I could make it snow for her!
 But yesterday, My sister-in-law gave us this stuff that she found online that all you have to do is put water in it and it fluffs up and looks just like snow! It was so sweet of her! She knew how badly Savannah wanted it to snow and she found a way to get it to her! Thank you! Thank you!! You can put it in the freezer to make it cold. Savannah and Xander were so excited! It really made their day and mine! They played it it forever! I think Court was having just as much fun with it as Savannah!
 I am so excited! Savannah ate Cherry tomatoes from our garden! I've been trying to get her to eat these forever! It was awesome!!
 Guess whose dirty feet these belong to! Yes! It's Xander!!! LOL He just loves to play outside and get dirty! Boys! :)
I had such a great birthday with my favorite people!! It was perfect!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I just love fall! I love how it gets nice and cool. The weather is perfect! I love that I get to start wearing boots and coats. I love spending the evenings outside with my family. And I love all of the fall traditions that I and memories that I get to make with my kids! I love taking my kids to the pumpkin patch, carving pumpkins, and going on fall walks! And, I really love fall soups and baking!! I found this recipe a few years ago for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies and they are the best I've ever had!! They are supper fluffy and for some reason the chocolate chips never harden. They are my favorite cookies ever!! I've been craving them for a very long time and I eventually broke sown and made them. It is a pretty large batch.

Just a little note, This last week Court and I have been doing really bad with our diet. I do have one excuse though, I had my birthday yesterday and turned 24. But, the kids are still doing great and I've been noticing that all of Savannah's clothes have been getting loser! Court and the kids got me 2 new amazing Paleo cookbooks for my birthday! I am so excited to start using them and get back on track! I really do feel a huge difference when I'm eating a healthy Paleo diet verses when I'm not eating the right things. So, hopefully I can be a better example to Savannah and Xander and start eating better again! But, until then enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 can (1LB 3 oz.) pumpkin
1 c. sugar/ or Splenda
1 c. oil vegetable or coconut oil
2 eggs
4 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp cinnmon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp milk or almond milk
2 tsp. vanilla
4 cups flour/ (or to make it Paleo you could use coconut flour but I don't know the measurements for it :()
1 bag milk or dark chocolate chips

Dissolve baking soda in milk; set aside. In a large bowl add pumpkin, sugar, oil, and egg; stir. Add flower, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda mixture. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and vanilla. Mix well. Spoon onto cookie sheet. ( I use my pamper chef med. cookie scoop. I love it!) Bake at 375 degrees for 13 minutes. Makes 4 1?2 dozen cookies!



Monday, September 10, 2012

Garlic, Artichoke Chicken Pasta (Zucchini Noodles)


Garlic, Artichoke Chicken Pasta (Zucchini Noodles)

2 large or 4 to 5 small Zucchini
1/2 large Red Onion, chopped
1 Can artichoke hearts in water
1 pound chicken breast
3 Garlic cloves, minced
2 Tablespoons bacon bits
2 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Peel zucchini with a Juliann peeler or Madeline.  Cook in a large pan until transparent. Add sea salt and pepper to taste.  In another large pan cook chicken at medium heat in 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. When fully cooked, cut into cubes, and set aside. Drain pan and add 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil. Cook chopped onion, minced garlic and artichokes. When everything is cooked, add chicken, and sea salt and pepper to taste and bacon bits. Drain water from pasta and mix chicken mixture into Zucchini pasta. Serve hot! Enjoy!

With this recipe I just kept throwing stuff in and it turned out great! I love anything with artichoke hearts! I really loved this Zucchini pasta dish! I hope you do too!

My Little Artist

Savannah and Xander just love to paint! We do it outside so it's not so messy and it's even more fun for them!



Thursday, September 6, 2012

Our Crazy Family



This last month has been a little crazy. The kids and I have been doing a little workout 3 to 5 days a week. Savannah and Xander love it :) First we do some stretching and a fun little workout that I got from my new Everyday paleo cookbook. This workout is meant just for kids!  We always put on some fun music! Savannah and Xander think it's a game. Sometimes we play Simon says or red light green light with the workout! We do a bear crawl, try to do the crab walk, squats, rocket jumps, Giant steps (lunges), push-ups,  and then we go outside and run around the block. Most of the time I feel like I'm their own personal cheerleader, while I'm cheering them on and counting down our 10 reps for each exercise, and jumping up and down clapping for them! Most of the time when we are running around the block I end up carrying Xander, but Savannah does awesome! I think I'm getting the better workout! We also love to go to the park and go on hikes! Sometimes we play soccer in our backyard and Savannah is becoming obsessed with playing tag and hide-and-go seek! The funny thing is though that she always hides in the same place and she giggles when I get close to finding her :)
 Savannah loves to have tea parties and wear her party hats and princess dresses.

A few weeks ago for a family night, we took the kids to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. Xander is obsessed with dinosaurs and his favorite is the T-Rex. The kids had so much fun!
 
Savannah and Xander's favorite lunch has become apple-walnut turkey wraps with grapes and celery sticks with almond butter and a few raisins. And they love to have almonds, pecans, or walnuts for snack time.

Yesterday, Xander decided to put his head in Savannah's princess toilet seat and he was stuck in it for an hour.  I just couldn't get it off of him.  It was so sad and yet so funny. When Court came home from work, he had to cut it off with garden sheers. Xander was terrified. Poor guy :( But, we got lots of pictures to show his future girlfriends!!!

Today, on our little walk around the neighborhood I had one of the most embarrassing moments ever! We were walking by this guys house who, I didn't know. His garage was open and he was working on something. The door in the garage to his house was also open. All of the sudden, Savannah ran into his garage and into his house. I kept telling the guy that I was so sorry and I ran after her. She had gotten to the bottom of his basement stairs when I finally caught her. I had to drag her out. She was yelling that she wanted to play with her friends. I kept apologizing. I felt so bad and I was completely embarrassed. Then I said that I was so sorry, and that she just doesn't understand, she is autistic. I didn't know what else to say. I don't think I've ever used that excuse to a stranger before for Savannah's behavior. I just wanted him to understand why this little girl had run into his house. I feel bad for saying that but, I just didn't know what to say and I was just freaked out by what she had done. Anyway, I pretty much carried her and pushed Xander in his stroller the rest of the way home.

I have no idea how to explain to Savannah that we don't go into strangers homes. I tried to tell her but, I felt like I was talking to a wall, like she is just in her own world. I wish that I could get through to her and that she could understand things like this but she just doesn't understand. Here I go again, feeling sad and guilty at the same time for wishing she was a normal little girl. Nothing's changed with the potty training.  I'm trying to accept that it's not my fault but its hard. I'm her mother, I'm supposed to be able to teach her how do these things.  I keep trying to get Savannah to tell me about school and trying to find out if she has made any friends but, sometimes I get one word and sometimes she just freezes and gets distracted. I just wish that she could let me in and she could communicate her feelings her wants and needs, or just talk about her day. Maybe, one day...