Sliced My Thumb

Making dinner tonight I was trying out my awesome new knives. I wanted to see just how sharp they were. And um, turns out they're pretty dang sharp...

I got a little cocky in the kitchen, chopping the veggies like I'm all professional or something.

Guess I got kind of caught up in the moment...

The first thing I thought when I saw the piece of my thumb fall onto the cutting board was, SHOOT now my thumb is going to look all deformed. I knew it was probably too small to sew back on but we saved it in a plastic baggy just in case :) Here it is...

I know, totally disgusting right!!! I could barely look at it myself but I couldn't resist taking a picture so I could blog about it, lol (the other day I was just telling Sean how I felt like I'd run out of things to blog about... guess it's one way to cure bloggers block).

As we were rushing out the door I was sure to make a lesson out of it and told Oliver how important it was NOT to play with knives. He was speechless as I flashed my bloody thumb in front of his face.

Thankfully there was no wait at the insta care and I got right in. It was freaking KILLING me!!! I thought I was all tough now because I delivered a baby naturally. Nope, guess I'm still a wimp. The doctor placed some kind of mesh over the wound and pushed it down to make it stick. What the!!! Are you kidding me? Couldn't have been more painful. Then he asked if I wanted a pain killer... um yes PLEASE!!!!

When I got home, Oliver handed me a butter knife and said, "you can only play with these ones mommy".

Oliver Turns "3"

Today we celebrated Oliver's 3rd birthday. Trying to come up with something fun to do for his party we realized that a March birthday kind of limits your options. So we decided to turn our great room into a great big fun zone!!!

We got him this...

And invited his little cousins and friends over to play. He had a blast.

Earlier today I attempted to make him a rocket ship birthday cake...

yah it was a little harder than I thought. This was the first try. I pretty much had to piece the cake back together because when I tried to get it out of the pan it just fell apart in clumps. So I rushed to make another.

Turned out pretty good I think :) He LOVED it!!!

Healthy Meals Kids Will LOVE

If your kids are anything like mine then you've got some pretty picky eaters on your hands. So frustrating sometimes. I try so hard to make nice healthy meals for my family only to find out it was all in vain. Oliver has been especially hard. His diet consists of about 5 things and thats IT. He won't even try anything new. Even stuff that most kids love. We feed them their vitamins daily, but I still can't help but worry about his health, mostly long term I guess. He LOOKS healthy but I just hope he's getting the nutrients he needs for his brain and other organs to develop properly.

So I've finally decided to try the "sneaking" it in method. I'm sure most of you have heard of the cook books Deceptively Delicious and The Sneaky Chef. I looked into both books, read reviews and decided to go with the Deceptively Delicious book (although the reviews were leaning more towards The Sneaky Chef). The thing that sold me on DD was the fact that it had pictures. I'm a pretty visual person so when I read that the SC didn't have pictures but the food tastes better, I still chose DD... simply because it has pictures... Is that a good enough reason?

So basically the whole idea is to add pureed vegetables in where ever possible. I've been pleasantly surprised that it's been WORKING!!! We started by pureeing a bunch of veggies and storing them in the freezer. The cook book says to steam them before blending, but I just blend them up raw in the Vitamix wich helps preserve the nutrients a little.

We've got carrots, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, spinach, broccoli, and white beans.

We started with the French Toast but I changed it up a bit to make it even healthier.

Instead of regular milk I used the new Silk Pure Coconut (we LOVE this stuff, and coconut milk is extremely healthy), and I added flaxseed to it as well. I watched with with biggest smile on my face as Oliver ate up his breakfast. Not only did he eat it, but he LOVED it. I made a bunch and froze the extras to make for a quick breakfast later that week.

Look at it! You can't even tell that there are carrots cooked onto it!

So far I've made chocolate chip cookies using white beans instead of butter or oil. Chicken nuggets dipped in spinach before coating them in whole wheat bread crumbs and flaxseed then frying them up using coconut oil. We made scrambled eggs that had cauliflower mixed in. Then, one day I came up with my own idea and added freshly pureed sweet potatoes into their mac & cheese. We buy the Annie's brand (it's organic) and I just stirred in the sweet potatoes along with the butter and my kids actually ate it!!! The sweet potatoes hadn't even been cooked which we all know is the best way to consume produce. So I was pretty proud of that one :)

I know what you're thinking... Well sounds great, but who has the time for this? The key is to spend a day pureeing veggies so you have all kinds on hand when you're ready to make something. Then when you do make something, then double or triple the recipe so you can freeze the extras for quick and easy meals in the future.

One of my favorite quotes my husband always recites is:

"Do what is hard and your life will be easy, do what is easy and your life will be hard"

-Les Brown

Nursery

Here's a sneak peak on what I've got goin on in the St. George nursery. It's been a lot of fun working on it. Here are the colors I'm going with. Yellow, gray and blue.

I had my mom make me these pillows. They turned out so cute don't you think!!!

I also started painting a tree on the wall and WOW, I had no idea painting a simple tree could be so difficult AND time consuming. Here's what I've got so far...

Can't wait to show you when it's all finished!!!

Homemade Weightloss/ Energy Drink

This is a very tasty and extremely healthy drink I concocted. Drink this throughout the day and you'll notice increased energy and weight loss. I've been drinking this almost every day and can really tell a difference in how I feel ( totally safe for nursing mothers, you might want to be careful about the green tea though, just depends on if it affects your baby or not, for me Brooklyn is sleeping great and happy as ever so I know that it's okay for us).

Here's how to make a 16 oz. size drink.

First add the water (8 oz.) double or triple the recipe if you want to store it in the fridge to have it on hand. Drink 16 oz. at least twice a day.

8 oz. of freshly brewed green tea (try the berry flavored kind for more flavor) Green tea is full of antioxidants, helps burn fat, improves heart health, and increases energy.

1 scoop of Cleanse For Life powder or 2 oz. of liquid Cleanse For Life. Everyday we’re exposed to hundreds of toxins–from the food we eat, to the air we breathe, to the water we drink, to the items we touch. Without proper cleansing of impurities, the body struggles to maintain good health. Cleanse for Life helps give your body the nutrition it needs to cleanse itself naturally, and unlike other “cleanses,” laxatives or diuretics that can deplete your body, Cleanse for Life nourishes and feeds your whole body with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and botanicals. Deep and daily cleansing with either our powder or liquid forms of Cleanse for Life, supports your mental and physical performance, resistance to stress and digestive health. It can also help protect your body from the cumulative damage of environmental toxins and oxidative stress and encourages safe and effective weight loss by gently removing impurities.

2 scoops Want More Energy powder. Want more energy is a refreshing drink powder containing Vitamins A, C and B complex, electrolytes and nutrients that are lost during stress and exercise.

Lemon juice, squeeze one full lemon. Lemon juice promotes healthy digestion, and weight loss.

2 Tablespoons of Chia seeds. Because of the unique gelling action of the chia seeds, they will keep you feeling full for hours. They also help balance blood sugar levels, adds healthy omega 3 to your diet, and will keep you feeling energized all day because of it's complete protein. It also has antioxidants and will help cut the food cravings.

Sliced Cucumbers (about 5 or 6 slices). Cucumbers are a great source of vitamin C and also help improve the health of your skin.

Fresh Mint leaves. For added flavor.

New Outfit

I just quickly wanted to post a picture of my new outfit from The Sweetest Thingz. Pretty much everything I'm wearing is from there. The dress, the sweater cardigan, belt, under T, necklace, and slip skirt. Don't you love how the slip skirt adds so much to the dress. I love this thing because you can wear it under any dress to add a little frill to it :)

Valentines Day Dinner

Today Lily and I went all out and prepared a really fun Valentines Day dinner. We started by setting up the table with as much red, pink, flowers and hearts as possible.

Then we did a little craft together. We got this idea from the family fun magazine. It was actually a Halloween one, but we made them to fit Valentines Day. You just paint some mason jars with acrylic paint, first add some tape cut into the shape of your choice (we used duck tape). Then once it's all dry you can remove the tape. Makes fun little candle holders.

Then we made some menus.

Drinks:

Sweetheart Strawberry Milk (we used licorice cut on both ends for straws)

Rainbow Love Potion (put a scoop of Rainbow Sherbet into the glass, then pour in some Sparkling Cider)