Speaking of Breakfast...

Mama E got me thinking about breakfast foods after the shake post and I have to admit that I get in a huge breakfast and lunch rut with the girls.  I still look back at my mom and think she was brilliant for having a different, hot breakfast scheduled for every day of the week.  Thinking back, I never remember it changing.  

Mondays - poached eggs and toast
Tuesdays- pancakes
Wednesdays - oatmeal and cinnamon rolls
Thursdays - omelets
Fridays - cream of wheat or cocoa wheat
Saturdays - waffles
Sunday- Dad cooked

We always went to school with breakfast in our bellies and I now look back and admire my mom for getting up, getting ready, and preparing this for us before she went to work.  I even have friends who ask if we still have waffles on Saturdays (memories from spending the night) and my dad even made breakfast for my bridal party the morning that we got married (it was a Saturday, so he made waffles, of course!).

I feel so fortunate that I get to stay home and raise my girls...therefore, I really don't have any excuse that my breakfasts and lunches are so...boring.

This morning, I was cooking and Elizabeth peaked over the counter and yelled, "Yay!  Toast!"  

hmmmm...

Which leads me into the fact that I am eternally fired up for the $5 dinner mom's NEW breakfast and lunch cookbook!  I LOVE this woman and found her through a link for her baked oatmeal (which was a lifesaver during a particularly picky eating spell by my daughter).  I have learned so much through her shopping and cooking tips and have really saved our family a ton of money.  I use her meal planning calendar and probably reference her dinner cookbook at least twice a week. 

She is easy to read and has a great sense of humor.  I don't think the cookbook will be out by Christmas, but here is the link to pre-order it and you could always print off the picture to stick in a Christmas card for someone.  Or you could order the dinner cookbook, which I highly recommend.  

Shake it, baby!

I was talking to a good friend of mine the other day who was telling me that she wanted to start making smoothies for breakfast but didn't like yogurt.  She was looking for some healthy options that she could try.  It's really no surprise to our friends, former athletes, or the Fed Ex guy that we would suggest making a shake.

Our supplement delivery - Christmas once a month!

My husband and I are big believers and partakers in shakes and supplements.  A very easy way for my friend to make a shake would be with whey protein.  Whey is an easily digestible protein source that is derived from milk.  You can find it almost anywhere - normally it comes in a 2 lb. tub and runs between $15 and $20.  I tend to be a brat and only drink things that I like the taste of so I normally stay towards the chocolate end of flavors and stick to brands that I know.  (Right now, we have Pure Protein - which you can find at Target or Walmart.)

My husband has a lecture that he gives on the importance of eating protein as soon as you get up, accompanied by a little voice he gives to muscles that yell, "I'm starving!"  If you're interested, I'll get him to chime in on my blog one day.  But for my purposes, I know if I don't eat protein in the morning, I don't lose weight.  Therefore, I make sure I either eat eggs or have a shake.

So...back to our shake.

Get out your blender and decide what kind of shake you want.  Throw in a scoop of your whey and some skim milk (or rice milk or 2% or soy...whatever flips your skirt)...just be sure to measure your liquid with the glass you're going to drink it in.  Now your additions are up to you.  If you like chocolate, be sure you get chocolate whey.  Add some fruit (a banana or some frozen strawberries).  Maybe you want to skip the fruit and make your liquid half milk, half coffee (like a little whey mocha).  

If you want something that sticks to you, throw in a little oatmeal.  If you want something totally fruit flavored, then I'd get vanilla whey.  I've seen some shakes brewed with vanilla whey, milk, brewed green tea, apple sauce and a little cinnamon.  Yum!  I would steer clear of adding peanut butter or something with a higher calorie content unless you're making a post-workout shake (which we'll talk about at a different time).  We normally sprinkle in a little ground flaxseed to get a dose of Omega-3 fatty acids as well!

It's beginning to look...

This may be the best Christmas ever.  If you are not around small children and get to experience their Christmas excitement, please come to my house and breathe in Elizabeth.  I have never been more pumped about a holiday than I am this year.  And it's all because of her.  

"Mama!  Kiss-muss tree!!"

"Mama! Yights!!"

Sunday, we decorated the house and she could not get enough of the lights and decorations - it really makes me wish we had more stuff.  (My husband just choked reading this, I know...)

Elizabeth, sticking the peelie ornaments on the window.  Thank you, Aunt Teresa!

I got the biggest kick out of decorating the tree.  Elizabeth would hand me ornaments and Rachel would try to eat the paper they'd been wrapped in.  "Mama, hang it ov-ah the-yah...on the kiss-muss tree!"  Of course, they all had to go high, so the poor tree is top-heavy and the girls jump all over the floor on the colored reflections the LED lights put off (like a colored disco ball).  Well...Elizabeth jumps.  Rachel swats at it.

Daddy taking a break from hauling in boxes to hold his girl.

She fusses at me to turn on the lights (yights!) as soon as we walk in the door and they both especially love the fiber optic penguin Aunt Lynn gave us.  Rachel has tried to grab it several times, with no success...yet...

We've created a dessert monster.  ERS loves pumpkin pie!!

Why are you taking a picture and not picking me up, woman??!!

Elizabeth in her new warm-up suit that her Aunt Andrea gave her before gymnastics.

I am really looking forward to December and experiencing these firsts with our girls.  Much more to come!!

Brrr...

What is it about cold weather that makes me crave carbs? I'm talking breads, rolls, cookies, cakes, yummmmm....  Last winter, I reasoned that I was pregnant and I had a picky 18 month old that didn't want to eat dinner. I couldn't let her starve, could I? So I made some sort of bread product to go with almost every meal.  Because she would eat bread.  With butter.  And so would Mommy.  Did I mention I gained over 50 pounds with my pregnancy??!!  

Homemade cinnamon rolls...yummmmmm

Therefore, you would imagine my surprise when the temperature dropped below 60 outside and I started flipping through cookbooks...  hmmm... So much for my excuses.

I don't pretend to have a cure for this disease.  I know a lot of people gain weight over the winter and suffer from a similar craving, in addition to Thanksgiving dinner (and leftovers!) and Christmas cookies. 

I've attempted to combat this in a couple ways...

1.  I have purchased new clothes.  They are fitted and cute and in style and I want to wear them.  Those of you who know me know how cheap I am, so this is a big commitment for me.  It helps in the motivation department - plus my husband is a little more than thrilled to see me put HIS sweatshirts back in the closet. 

2.  When the craving hits, drink water.  I know people say that if you're craving something then you're lacking something.  Well, I'm not lacking cinnamon rolls in any part of my being, so when the craving hits, I start drinking water or a cup of hot tea.  Most of the time, that solves my problem.  If not, then I make a batch, EAT ONE, and then package the rest and take it to a friend.  The daycare ladies at the YMCA love baked goods!!

3.  Don't make bread with dinner (duh).  I suppose my daughter isn't going to starve and she'll be forced to eat broccoli.  I tell her there are worse things in life.  And I save money at the grocery store.  Pillsbury still calls to see why I'm not buying stock in their little canned biscuits anymore!  If I truly want bread, then I make it...from scratch...a talent that I do not have.  Nothing will turn you off bread more than homemade, hard-as-a- rock, burnt bread.

4.  Eat your carbs early in the day.  If I just have to have them, then I eat them for breakfast.  I'll have pancakes or waffles or biscuits.  That way, I have the whole day to use them as energy (which is what carbohydrates are for!).  It never fails that the more starchy carbs I eat for dinner, the more weight I gain.  It just sits dormant in my hips until morning!

5.  I also crave chocolate - but instead of making a cake, I pick at chocolate chips or hot chocolate or small containers of pudding...really, anything small that I can grab and put back the container that gives me a taste and not the calories.

What about you?  How do you combat the cold weather cravings??!!

Thanksgiving - just a little late!

I have to admit that I fly around most of the time like a chicken with my head cut off.  I have always been a busy-body, but add in taking care of my kids and a house and preparing for travel and trying to get the best deals for the holidays and squeezing in a workout and pretty soon, those pesky walls begin closing in on me.  That’s when I tend to snap at my husband and fuss at my kids and yell at the dogs…

Sound familiar?

Last week, I was dealing with mushrooms (Yes, mushrooms!  I got a good deal!).  I was making cream of mushroom soup and blanching some to freeze and chopping some for dinner.  All in all, a fungal mess…if you will.  Dishes were stacked up in the sink to be washed.  My washer was buzzing to let me know I needed to move the laundry to the dryer.    And my iron was popping steam, reminding me to press Scott’s shirts.  It was in the midst of my created mess that Elizabeth wanted held.

“Mama, rock?”

I am thankful that realty hits me gently sometimes and I gladly scooped up my daughter to spend some time in the rocking chair.  Sighing away my stress, I tried to take all of her in:  the baby shampoo smell of her hair, the feel of her little hands, the weight of her head laying on my chest.  Soon, she’ll be too old to rock and hold like this and she’ll be slamming the door to her room and hating me instead of loving me. 

Before I knew it, here came our "little inspector" with her pat-pat-pat of hands against hard flooring, wanting to see what Mommy and Sissy were doing.  We scooped her up too and I had a giggling, grabbing, crying mess on my hands.  Isn't that the best kind of messes?

It reminded me that the best cure for stress is thankfulness.  Do you ever just sit and think about your blessings?  For me, it never fails to fill the void that tension and stress and worry tends to dig out.  We just finished a whirl-wind tour of Charleston to Wheeling to Pittsburgh and back to Charleston...all in a matter of four days.  I didn't take one picture.  I didn't take videos.  I tried not to fuss with extras but just take in our friends and family and my children. 

During this holiday season, I encourage you to take some time to count and love on your blessings.  Hold your kids.  Hug your spouse.  Rub down your dog.  Kiss your mom.  I swear, you won’t miss the stress.  And when the walls start closing back in on you, just pray them back and be thankful that you have the "walls" to begin with. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Christmas planning!

There is nothing like having no money to make you appreciate having even a little. As I've told you before, last year was the year God thought he would make us be totally dependent on Him for our finances.  Not that we have ever been rolling in it, but when we attempted to make out a budget, we weren't even making what our bills tallied.  Therefore, we had to ride on trust.  Whoa, did God ever show us!

I'll never forget the deals I got on photo gifts for our families.  Looking at our Christmas list, I had no idea how I was going to do gifts (and I LOVE buying presents).  Fortunately, I learned a lot (very quickly!) from mommy bloggers on how to buy from great companies when the deals were hot.  Shutterfly was one of those companies and I was thrilled to see the quality of product they produced.  

I ended up getting my dad a mug of Elizabeth covered in spaghetti.

http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/photo-mugs/

For Barry, I made a calendar of Elizabeth.

http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

I made photo books with a little story for each set of grandparents.
http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books

This isn't even going into how I've used them this past year for collage prints and mouse pads and travel mugs...and their promotions are so good that I've spent very little money on them.

Which leads me into this promotion.  Shutterfly is now running a promo for bloggers to write about their Christmas cards.  YAY!!  I just happen to have these AWESOME pictures that Stephen took of our family and have been looking for a great deal to get some cards made.  (All this shocks you, I know.)   So the great deal is that I can write about how much I LOVE Shutterfly (easy) and share it with you people and they will give me 50 free cards.  DOUBLE YAY!!

Now, which picture to use?  Oh, and which card.  If you haven't flipped through their selection, it is AWESOME!!  I'm not sure which cards deal with the promo but I'd love one of those flip open ones...oooo, fancy!  However, the classic single pane family shot would be nice too.  I love trimming those and keeping them in the photo album of YOUR kids!  Shutterfly is easy to download and quick on delivery.

There's my promo!  I'm off to make my free cards!!

Most Wonderful Year Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Vegas Baby!

As I told you, Scott and I took our circus out West last week to see the family.  We had a wonderful time.  The weather was awesome and we were so blessed to get to spend a lot of time with Susie and Larry and Anessa and her family.  The girls actually did really well on the airplane.  Although the flight out was doomed with night-time Rachel and the DVD player losing battery power half-way there.  ("Watch Elmo!!")  We made it though and just enjoyed the time to relax. 

Elizabeth started saying "Gam-maw" at just the right time to get whatever she wanted out of Susie!  Her favorite thing to do was to point out the mountains along the amazing view from their back porch.  Rachel enjoyed their open living space and commenced to "inspect" all there was to see. 

Scott and I went on two dates during our trip (I KNOW!  IT WAS WONDERFUL!).  We went to the M (a new casino near their house) and played some games and had a great lunch at The Huddle House.  Our last night there, we went down to Green Valley for a couple hours after putting Rachel down and leaving Elizabeth on the couch with her Grandma.  Susie was so excited to have some special Grammy time with her little girl.  And did they ever have a time!  They watched Little house on the Prairie.   They ate goldfish.  They drank egg-nog.  And then my daughter started her melt-down.  When we got back, she had been crying for about 10 minutes- just beyond the point of tired.  We rocked and went right to bed and she was out cold.  I don't think slumber parties are in our future any time soon!

We had our early Christmas with the whole crew (Rachel was down for a nap when we took this picture) and said tearful goodbyes.  All-in-all, it was a wonderful trip and no one was happier to see us come home than Tina and Butchy...who camped out all four days.  ha!