One guess

Can you guess what this is? No, it's not the insides of a stuffed animal, although that was my first guess when I saw it on the floor. It's the insides of a pull up after being ripped out by a little hand down the back of the owners pants. Now, one guess as to who did it?

Menu Plan Monday

Hubby was gone much of last week so I didn't make a formal meal plan. This week we're getting back on track!

Monday - grab what you want - cereal, sandwich, etc (we just got back from out of town)

Tuesday - Crunchy onion chicken and new potatoes

Wednesday - Crock pot marinated pork tenderlion with green beans and rice and chive biscuits

Thursday - Chicken croquets (131 calories) and sweet potato fries

Friday - Italian turkey sausage manicotti (242 calories) and salad

I ran across a recipe for homemade pop tarts and would really like to try them this week. I meant to make them last week but never got around to it. My boys LOVE pop tarts!

For more menu ideas go to www.orgjunkie.com.

Double take

Kids are funny. They make you see things differently. We were driving home from school this morning and Zachary points out the window to a fast food restaurant and says "look, a fireman hat!". You know, it kinda does look like a fireman hat!

Done!

Potty training, that is. Alex has been "clean and dry" for 12 days straight now. If that's not potty trained then I don't know what is. I do still put him in a pull up for school and if we're going to be out of the house for a long time, just in case. He's gotten so good about just going on his own or telling us when we're out (although we remind him too). He is happy to wear big boy underwear even to bed! Zachary is pretty darn close too. You might call him trained too - I don't know. He can go 2-3 days without an accident and will go potty by himself too. We've got him in boy boy underwear at home too but not ready for public much. It just makes me too nervous. I've already downsized to a slightly smaller diaper bag but very soon I'll ditch it altogether! Yippee!!

Soldier boy

A few days ago Chris came home from work with a mini set of BDU's for Alex. Originally he was thinking he'd give it to Alex for his birthday but come on - that's not until November! So, it came out early, especially when I said he might like to wear it for Halloween. Alex did think it was pretty cool to be dressed just like daddy. Zachary on the other hand was pulling off his own clothes and asking "where mine?". Um, I think we'll have to get another!

I'm not sure if it'll be his Halloween costume or not but he sure is cute!

Morning surprise

Zachary was the first boy up this morning, as usual. He came to my room (I was already up and showered because the boys had school today.) and went to the potty in my room. When he was done, he told me that he had a wet pull-up. I could see that he didn't and told him, no - he was dry - good job. Then he told me that he went tee tee in his bed. Again, I said that no, he was a dry boy. When he left and came back bringing a wet pull-up, I had to check out his room. By the way, I never even noticed that he was wearing different pajamas than he had on last night...... Sure enough, he had a wet bed. That little stinker wet the bed through his pull up, changed his pull-up, changed his clothes, and got back in bed at some point during the night! I'm not sure if I should be upset or happy that he did this all himself? Now, back to washing wet sheets.

Zachary's bobcat

I ran across these pictures of Zachary and I can't believe I forgot to ever post them! When the workers were here digging for our pool they would leave their equipment here at night. Zachary is fascinated by big trucks & machinery and asked about the Bobcat often. He even started calling all of his toy bulldozers bobcats. One evening we went out to check out the work and I snapped a picture of Zachary with his beloved bobcat. (Yes, he's in pajamas and cowboy boots.)

When I showed him the picture he said "I'm not dirt." He thought I was so silly for having him stand in the scooper.

A respite from the rain

Despite the inches and inches and inches of rain we've had in the last several days today was dry. The boys (Chris included) couldn't wait to get back in the pool, even if it was a little bit cool. I don't know how we're going to keep them out of it in the winter - maybe we should have got a heater?

Menu Plan Monday 9/14-9/18

It seems like all I've been posting about is food lately! I guess when you're trying to cut calories like I am that IS all you think about. I'm continually searching for something new that not only I can eat but my whole family (I hate the idea of making two separate meals and won't do it!) So again, I'm listing calories when I know it but they will vary depending on the exact ingredients that you use.


Monday - Chris may not be around for dinner but if he is I'll serve Chicken empanadas. These are great to freeze and only take 15-20 minutes to cook.

Tuesday - Dijon chicken (286 calories) with Easy Zucchini Parmesan (52 calories)

Wednesday - Slow cooker jambalaya (255 calories) with rice

Thursday - Garlic brown sugar chicken (187 calories) with Parmesan roasted broccoli

Friday - Pasta carbonara florentine (I've made this once before but I'm going to try it with turkey bacon this time to cut calories.)

Last night I had the urge to bake and to try something new. I had torn out a muffin recipe from Parents Magazine and tried it last night.

Zucchini and Orange Zest Muffins

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

Zest of one orange

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup grated zucchini

1/2 cup small-dice drained canned pineapple

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp coarse salt.

Preheat oven to 365. Fit a 12 muffin tin with paper liners. With a whisk or a fork, cream butter, sugar and zest until fluffy. Set aside. Whisk together eggs and vanilla, and then slowly incorporate into butter mixture until well combined. Mix in zucchini and pineapple. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, then fold into the wet ingredients. Fill muffin cups halfway. Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes 12.

"As is" Calories - 178.9, 5.7 fat, 30.5 carbs, 2.8 protein

Baked using Splenda instead of sugar - 114.4 Calories, 5.7 fat, 16.3 carbs, 2.8 protein

The muffins turned out a little bit denser than I thought but I guess that's what happens when you bake with fruit and veggies. (It couldn't have been the cooks fault, right?) Anyway, the boys and I both liked them and had one for a bedtime snack and ate them again for breakfast this morning.

Make sure to check out http://www.orgjunkie.com/ for more great dinner ideas.

Crock Pot Wednesday

I know it's Thursday but we were too busy eating last night for me to post! Yesterday I cooked a meal in my crock pot for only the 2nd time in my life (the first time - Swiss steak - wasn't our favorite). I even went out and bought a new crock pot since the one I had was a small one. Doing my Menu Plan Monday I ran across a recipe for ribs in the crock pot and it sounded so yummy and easy that I just had to try it. I got the recipe here from Sara so I'll admit it's not my own. It turned out just as she promised - meat falling off the bone!!

First you rub your ribs (baby back pork ribs or whatever you like) with vegetable oil and then a rib rub on both sides. If you don't have a rub season with whatever you like - seasoning salt or garlic powder and onion powder.
Cut the rack into pieces between every 2-3 ribs. Put them in the crock pot with a little water - half an inch will do. Any fat will melt off and add to the liquid. Turn your crock pot on high and cook for about 6 hours (mine took a little less).I could smell mine cooking almost immediately! My mouth was watering all day just smelling those ribs.... When I checked them between 5 & 6 hours I found this:

They fell apart just pulling them out of the crock pot! We like barbecue sauce with ours so I heated some up in a pan to put on top. This was super easy. I can not wait to try something else in the crock pot!

To look for lots of crock pot ideas check out http://diningwithdebbie.blogspot.com/.

Wordless Wednesday

Menu Plan Monday

Last week hubby ended up being gone two nights so I didn't cook a big meal for just the boys and me. So, I've added those two meals back to this week.

Monday - leftover sandwich platter from party yesterday

Tuesday - Lemon chicken with angel hair pasta & artichokes (426 calories)

Wednesday - Crock pot ribs and fried potatoes

Thursday - Chicken chow mein (291 calories)

Friday - Orange-sesame pork chops (370 calories) with rice

For more great meal ideas go to orgjunkie.com.

Our first swimming day

Yea!! Our pool was finally ready to get in today. We couldn't wait even one more day and had to get in as soon as we were given the green light. Zachary is happy just "swimming" around the pool with arm floats on. (With supervision, of course) He will put his face under and jump in from the side. He is fearless. Chris will pull him under with him and he'll open his eyes and kick back up to the surface. He'll be swimming in no time. Alex on the other hand.....he won't even let you put the arm floats on him. I think that he's afraid that means you'll let go of him. He's happier playing in the shallow water or clinging on to your neck. With our tanning ledge, we've got a built in shallow pool just right for him.Zachary was putting his head under the "shower".Alex should be a model with this pose!

We didn't get to stay out terribly long because Zachary was so cold that he was shivering all over. The water has only been in the pool for a week so I think that it's colder than it might normally be. (Totally making that up but it sounded logical.) Plus today was overcast and I'm not sure we reached 90 degrees. Anyway, that happens to Zachary sometimes. I mean, when you have no body fat what do you expect?

Tomorrow we're having our first party and we'll get to try out the pool with a group. I just wish that we had some grass so the yard would be a little nicer looking. Oh well.

At long last!

I found a wooden train set for Zachary yesterday. (You thought I was going to say that the pool was ready, didn't you?) He loves the train table at the library and the children's museum so much and this is just like them. I thought I had looked at this store before but when we were there yesterday looking for a birthday present for a friend, there it was. It's a little bit pricey, too. So I didn't get the train table to use with it. Instead I set the boys up on the entry floor. They both played with it for hours, only stopping for dinner and then bedtime. First thing this morning after Zachary came to tell me he was up he ran to his room to get the train pieces and start setting them up again. He seriously played with them all morning. I think it might be the best money I ever spent!



And since I know you're curious about the pool.....The concrete is completely dry and the rails were installed. The pool cleaner guy came to sprinkle some liquid in it to help settle all the dirt and he's here now to start cleaning it. It's so bad this first time that he'll have to come back again tomorrow to clean a little more and to start adding the salt.