Waterpark fun

Today we packed up the kids and headed to the world waterpark at west edmonton mall! I couldn't believe the big fast snowflakes coming down late this morning (and it's still coming down out there)...it was a perfect day to escape the snowy day and hang out at a pseudo beach! Annika had an absolute blast playing in the wave pool, sitting in the hot tub, and even trying out a couple slides! We really enjoyed our day; it was a good start to our little staycation.

After a late lunch at the mall, we came home watched a movie and we are now settled in, comfy and cosy. Annika is in bed, and we're finishing watching the hockey game now!

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Growing up

My baby girl is growing so quickly. The other day Scott called me and said "Quick, come and see...Annika dressed herself!" So I headed into the sunroom to behold my daughter's efforts. She managed to get her panties on and her top and came down to show us the results. I will share them with you below.

Annika dresses herself

Now, this photo may not have the same effect on you that it does on us, since I've covered up her little tush! But boy, we had ourselves a good laugh (with our heads turned, of course). Her shirt was on backwards, but the funniest was that she had her undies on sideways, so her body went through a leg instead of the proper opening. And let me tell you, that made for a good wedgie! LOL!

Today we had Frozen Banana Peanut Butter Milkshakes from a blog called TheKitchn. I am discovering that I have a love for all blogs food and baking related, particularly when they are witty and have great pictures. One blog I came across recently is Kitchen Chronicles - I'm really enjoying her writing style and her recipes look scrumptious! I think I'll be testing out a chocolate bread pudding recipe I found on her blog.

I'm telling you I could spend hours and hours reading blogs and making stuff (food and crafty) that I find. Alas, time is limited, isn't it? And there are babes to feed and barbies to play with.

I got off topic. The milkshake was a success. Here's our girl drinking hers down.

Hope you all are having a great week. We are - today Scott's home early and it's time for his vacation to start! So off we go....time for a family walk before supper.

Enjoy your week.
Penny

Two Months

Ethan is two months old today! Here's a look at how he's grown:
He is now 23.25", 12 lbs, 8 ozs
He smiles all the time...he's such a happy baby boy!! His little smile warms my heart.
He talks sometimes to us...goos and gaas that are just precious.
His big sister loves him to bits...and I know he's going to love her too.
He had his shots today and was a little trooper - nothing a little cuddling and some milk won't fix. :)

Happy weekend all!
Penny

Pi Day!

So today is March 14th. Pi day! 3.1415....blah blah can't remember the rest! In honour of 3.14, I'm going to bake an apple pie this evening. Yummy! I've got a pile of apples that are starting to look less appealing, so I figure I'll use them up in some type of dessert...so apple crumble pie it is!

What do you think of this one?

Should be tasty! I'm off to peel and slice apples. Hmmm...what I really should be doing is going to Vi's for Pie's. Anybody else love pie at Vi's? YUM! Unfortunately the thought of taking the kids right now and having pie makes me tired. I'm still not feeling well, so I think I'll bake my own!

Penny

Pudding...as easy as ABC

My slow cooker Chicken Taco Soup is simmering away and smells yummy - can't wait to try it tonight! It's got lots of fibre (lots of beans in it) and seems relatively healthy! As I was browsing through Pinterest this morning, I saw a link that caught my attention...Avocado Banana Chocolate pudding found at The Edible Perspective. Oh boy...I love avocado and since I have some on hand I figured, why not try it out? So while I got lunch prepared I whipped together this little dessert and voila, just like that it was done! And I like it! It's smooth and you can't tell you're eating avocado (for those who don't enjoy it like I do). I even got Annika to eat it....and she's one who does not enjoy avocado (unless it's in a vietnamese milkshake...mmmm)!! I haven't checked out the rest of that site, but I think I will just in case there are other interesting finds to discover.

This is the picture of it on the Edible Perspective site...mine did not look nearly as professional! 

Pinterest is such a neat way to waste some time! :) I don't get to do it as often as I'd like...but when I do I really love scrolling through all of the stuff people are pinning. Inspires me to be more creative, more adventuresome.

A couple months ago we were watching a show on TV (I think it was Cake Boss or something) and the whole Cake Boss family was going on a Disney cruise. Annika happened to walk in to the room while we were watching and boy oh boy...she loved the idea of that cruise. So pretty much every week now at least once or twice in the week I hear "Mommy, let's have lunch and then go to Disneyland". Or "Mommy, after I pick up my toys and have a nap...then can we go to Disneyland?" Haha! She's Disney starstruck...and I'd love to take her! But we're thinking we'll wait for at least another year or two before we do the whole Disneyland or Disneyworld trip. Although a Disney cruise might not be so bad with young ones...they have great child care so Mommy and Daddy might even be able to get out for a date! Any of you have good/bad Disney stories to share?

Have a great day...
Penny

Sickly

I'm not feeling so hot today. I had a headache come on yesterday and then I started feeling like I was getting the flu. It's not the flu though. Unfortunately I've got a case of mastitis and it's not fun. I feel achey and so sore. Not fun. So I'm going to take it easy this evening and rest rest rest while drinking lots of fluids. I hope that it gets better on its own. I'd rather not take another trip in to the doctor if I don't have to. All the housework that has been on my to do list for quite some time will just have to sit there for a while longer! Tomorrow I'm going to cook Chicken Taco Soup in the crock pot, so that at least makes supper easy for me to prepare.

I didn't have the energy/will to go out this afternoon for a walk with the kids so hopefully tomorrow I feel better and I can take them out for some fresh air. It's been so beautiful lately - spring is in the air, and it's wonderful!

Hope you all enjoy your week...
Penny

Half way through the week

I'm on a countdown again...this time until March 22, which is when Scott begins his vacation time (finally!) I'm pretty excited to have him home...and I know he's looking forward to some time off. He's tired...been working lots although now he's finally slowing down, thank goodness. We're planning on just doing family things in and around the city. We're planning on going swimming one day with the kids, and doing an afternoon matinee (maybe the Lorax movie?!), and whatever else tickles our fancy.

Had to make a slight adjustment to the menu this week. I needed to do a big grocery shopping trip and I asked Scott to come with me because having the two kids (especially one in a car seat) just isn't practical for picking up huge amounts of groceries. So we went to Safeway and took advantage of customer appreciation day plus the bonus 300 air miles that windermere safeway is offering until tomorrow. (yay!) I love collecting air miles. I really didn't take full advantage of all the air miles deals until recently, but I'm planning on carefully scheduling future grocery trips to coincide with airmiles bonus days! We have enough right now to get an ipad I think, so we're probably going to order one of those one day soon.

I digress...I made a menu change. Because we were going to be making a big grocery trip, I decided we should eat out quickly before going to the store. So we stopped at edo and grabbed a bite before heading to shop. Today I'm back on track - the lentil soup is simmering on the stove (hope it tastes good).

My aunt watched Annika for me this morning while I went to a doctor's appointment. It was nice not to have to juggle 2 kids! We've had a great week so far. Annika has been a lot better this week. To be honest, I think I've been better too. Not so short-tempered, more patient, and just all around feeling better about my mommy-ing! I think we all have those days, and I'm sure they'll come around for me again soon. But for now I'm going to enjoy today and just be content that today is a good day.

Hope your day is a good one too...
Penny

What's on the table this week?

I'm going to continue sharing my menu planning/eating choices and  maybe throw in how I'm doing in the weight loss category as well. :) I'm down 38lbs so far since having Ethan, which sounds quite impressive; however, I had excess weight that I was holding on to (maybe for sentimental reasons?! lol) from Annika, so I still have 30 lbs to go to get to my ideal weight. I'll be happy with 25 though. This is going to be a lot tougher though, that's for sure. So combined with eating well, I need to pull up my socks and get exercising. My doc said I still had a week or so of healing to do and then I should be good to go for heavy duty workouts (which I don't plan to do...haha!) I am going to get in more walking though...can't wait for the weather to turn to spring and then I'll take the kids out to the park. It's hard to go to the outdoor park right now with Ethan...it's a bit chilly to be nursing outdoors.

Anyways, here's what on deck for our meals this week:

Monday - leftover bacon, spinach & swiss quiche (had bacon to use up from our sip 'n' see) plus a salad/fresh veggies

Tuesday - Curried chicken with mango salad and brown rice

Wednesday - Lentil soup

Thursday - Chicken and soup leftovers

Friday - Creamy Cajun shrimp linguine

I think that's what I'll be making this week. I'm heading to the grocery store to quickly pick up some missing ingredients for the week, and then I should be ready for a week's worth of cooking. I think I'll also swing by the library and pick up some books on hold (I love my library!)

Today has been a good day so far. No tantrums yet, we've got a nap going on right now. Let's hope it continues this way the rest of the week. I'm off to do laundry and put away Ethan's clothes.

Have a great week...enjoy the snow! (That reminds me, maybe my workout today should be shoveling our walks!)

Penny

This week's menu

Thought I'd share what we've been eating (and what I've been cooking) this week!

Monday I decided to cook some salmon that I found in the freezer. We're not big fish eaters (mainly because Scott doesn't like it much), but I've decided that we're going to work in more fish because it's good for us. Now I just need to figure out how to cook it properly so that it's really tasty. I haven't had lots of practice with fish, so any hints you have - please share!!
Monday - baked salmon with sweet potato and asparagus.
Tuesday - Vichyssois (creamy potato, onion, & leek soup I found in my mom's recipe box) and leftover chicken and rice from last week
Wednesday - Braised balsamic chicken with tomatoes over cous cous, sesame beans
Thursday - leftover chicken, leftover sweet potato, and leftover cous cous that I made into a salad
Friday - I've got a big pot of borscht simmering on the stove right now, so I'll eat that for supper tonight and freeze half for sometime in the future.

Lunches have  mainly been sandwiches or soup. We had whole wheat pitas a couple times this week full of veggies and a bit of meat and cheese (and Annika ate it all up - so impressed!) Yesterday afternoon after nap we made a batch of Whole Wheat Honey Banana chocolate chip muffins and they're super yummy! We halved the honey content and subbed in some splenda...they are really delish, and I've frozen a bunch of them for future snacks too.

Weekends I find it harder to cook (which is strange since I typically have help with the kids) but I think it's because we're out and about a lot, plus I really like to have some time off.

Today was one of those days. I just feel a bit downhearted...and I really feel like I'm doing a poor job raising my 2 year old. Days like today it sure would be nice to have my mom here to ask her advice and have a shoulder to cry on (and of course get some lovely reassurance too). Mom was great at making me feel better - I miss that.

I have a post started that I'll publish one of these days. I'll share some of my frustrations and the challenges my dear daughter presents. Don't get me wrong - I love her to pieces. But some days it takes the patience of Job to get through. I'm looking forward to getting out on my own one of these days for some me time or maybe some time with some friends. Soon....soon.

Have a great weekend,
Penny