Taquito whoops

Since I am now the mother of 3, I have kitchen mishaps more often. In an attempt to save time, I had GamerDad purchase store bought corn tortillas rather than making them myself. I happily made my green chili and chicken filling (2 breasts slow cooked with the chilies and broth that I shredded in my mixer with some sour cream and cheddar cheese). I warmed up the tortillas and started to fill and roll them. Tears…every tortilla wanted to tear instead of roll up nicely. It was then that I decided to turn it into a casserole. Six tortillas on the bottom of my baking dish topped with half the filling. Repeat and grate some extra cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 45 min or until bubbly.

It was a great success, served with a side of refried beans. My boys still need to get used to spice and they gladly welcomed a glass of milk with dinner.

Next time you have a kitchen flop, morph it into something new, you might be surprised at the result. 🙂

Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Blessings

Weight loss posts are at a hold until I reach my goal because I get bored writing them and I’d rather write about being a mommy!

This past week has shown me how blessed my family is. A vent session between friends as to how expensive contacts can be lead to a friend giving my hubby her contest prize. She had won a years worth of contacts but had not redeemed it. She emailed the company it was through and they were more than happy to transfer those winnings over. It is a HUGE relief that we don’t have to stress over that cost this year and we know where to get them in the years to come. Thank you God for awesome people and that only one of us in this house needs visual assistance!

Yes, we do plan to pay it forward to others as soon as we can. Once the car gets paid off, we can start. Otherwise, volunteering as much as we can helps us give back, even if it is only our time.

My kids are blessings too. Our oldest helps out a ton. If I am taking two seconds to go to the bathroom and Lil Miss fusses, he is there, Soothie in hand. In the car, he wipes up spit up and finds the ever bouncing Soothie (seriously, they shoot out of her mouth and bounce on every surface possible). His conversations are “Kids say the Darndest Things” worthy. Yes, he is always good for a laugh!
Our youngest boy is just so sweet on his sister. He always has to give her hugs and kisses and pleads, “I just want to touch her!” He has become a better helper now too. Now he can put his laundry away. His snuggles are the best too!
Lil Miss flashes some pretty awesome smiles! It makes me eager to hear her laugh. She holds onto toys now too and has attempted to roll over. As much as I dislike my baby growing up, it is great seeing her do new things. I absolutely love when she looks into my eyes while she nurses!
My husband, GamerDad. He works hard every day and comes home to an insane house. At least that is what it would feel like to me. Boys carrying on like boys, fussing baby, wife holding/wearing baby and trying to cook. He still puts on his happy face amid the chaos. I love that he is working along with me to be a gentler parent. We yell, I admit it. However, we are toning it down. We call each other on it too and we apologize and give the kids hugs and explain. The boys call us on it now too. Now it occurs maybe once a day and I would love our home to be yelling free. Hmm, and the kids listen better when a calm tone is used. This means less frustration all around, yay! I got sidetracked there a bit. Right now, I love that my hubby listens when I say that I meant to get to whatever it was that didn’t get done and does it! It is hard wrangling the kids and maintaining the house.
Count your blessings folks. Keep a smile on your face! 🙂

God bless!!

Read Full Post »

My wee beauty

Courtesy of Photos of the Heart, here is my favorite photo of our daughter from her new born shoot:

I love the vintage feel of it! Soon as I saw the feathery clip at Dana’s studio, I knew she had to have it on her teeny head. I cannot get enough of this photo!

God Bless!

Read Full Post »

Week 7 PP: The week to celebrate!

**edit, I was mistaken on my size. Double checked after a lot of folks were asking how I was in an 8 when they are of a similar weight and a larger size. Oops! I believe in integrity and that I corrected this post!**
Tada! Size 10 jeans! I weighed in at 170, 5 pounds from my first goal of 165! I initially grabbed my 12s and then chucked them to the side for my 10s. When I fit in them, I kept them on. I would burn those 12s if I could!

Lil Miss and I had mother/daughter Bunco time again. This time we got to dress up:

She is sporting the Cinderella costume one of my best friends got her. It fits perfectly! Sadly, the shoes I got to go with it are far too large despite being 0-6mo.

My outfit I threw together last minute. It all spawned from my black nursing dress. Then I thought of the apron I bought a few years ago and my knee high boots. All I needed to get to pull off the witch look was the hat. Gamer Dad found it for $3! Not bad, not bad! Plus, we all get to dress up again for Trunk or Treat in a week and a half! $20 is what we spent to decorate the trunk of our SUV. 🙂

Candy can be a weakness for me, but I have found that I cannot tolerate my Halloween favorites like candy corn and mallow pumpkins. They are way too sweet and make my teeth itch. Sounds strange, but I really feel that way!

This week I also made pumpkin apple muffins with whole wheat flour, YUM! Gamer Dad helped make over 8 quarts of home made spaghetti sauce. He wanted to see if it was more cost effective than buying the jars from the store. $17 to make 8.5 quarts of sauce and I do believe a typical quart from the store is around $2. So it is only slightly less to make it yourself and there is a LOT of chopping! I think of it as calories burned with all the chopping and stirring. 🙂

God bless!

Read Full Post »

Week 6 PP weight loss

I have lost a half pound since last week. It is better than nothing and I am not hung up on it. Why? Well, my size 10s are feeling a wee bit loose! I am thrilled! Just a bit more and I will be in my 8s!

I have actually found it difficult to consume enough calories this week. Yesterday I was over 800 calories under my “budget”. It was a wear baby girl around for 4 hours kind of day and heavy on the cooking side too. I did not cram in the 800+ calories because I wasn’t hungry.

Even at meals I try and slow down. I think I want more and drink some water and wait. After 10 minutes, if my tummy feels even a tiny bit full, I stop. Many of us just eat and eat and eat without really noticing we are already full. Our brains are slow to catch the message from our stomachs.

Our oldest son seemingly takes ages to eat (45 min or more). However, it reminds me to slow my pace down and I find myself laying my fork down a lot sooner than before. No wonder he is such a beanpole!

This week’s message, slow down! As parents time flies on by and we swear our kids were smaller just a second ago. We wonder where time ran off to and wished it’d slow down so we can savor our kids before it is time to send them off. The same goes for food, savor it, take your time, don’t be in a rush.

God bless!

Read Full Post »

Best pseudo ice cream ever

I have pangs of wanting ice cream despite the chill in the air. We don’t have any and I hate popping a Lactaid pill every time I want something dairy other than yogurt or hard cheese. Plus, I’d rather make my own! What have I done when the craving hits?

1 frozen banana
1 6oz container coconut yogurt
1 T unsweetened, shredded coconut
1 T ground flax seed

Toss the first two ingredients in your blender, my Ninja did perfectly. Scrape it out into a bowl, top with coconut and flax. For extra fun, add cocoa into the blender.

The banana thickens the yogurt up and adds a hint of sweet with the benefit of vitamins. Yogurt fills you with protein, the coconut flakes are just for fun. Flax gives a nutty taste and gives you a fiber punch. Plus, if you are breastfeeding, you get a supply booster via the flax. Win all around I’d say!

God bless!

Read Full Post »

Week 5 of post baby weight loss

I am 8 pounds from my first mini goal as of this morning! Yep, I am 173!! I was shocked that I lost an extra half pound this week!

I haven’t done anything special to keep it off. Food seems to alway be in my mouth, but I seem to always be moving.

My husband is still convincing me that I need to hit a gym so I can be more than “skinny fat” and become “skinny toned.” I keep telling him that I can accomplish that at home. Yet, he thinks we’d need a home gym system for that.

My dear readers, please help me prove him wrong and give me work out ideas that can be done in my home with the kids around. Yes, I am frugal and I hate wasting money, time, and space.

God bless!

Read Full Post »