Bossy Much?

She's demanding that Baylor give her more snack & saying "Baylor Janese"!

Thanksgiving Week

We had a great Thanksgiving this year! I love spending Thanksgiving at the deer lease (thanks dad).  The kids get to have their taste of country, the boys get to shoot things, we get a year's worth of deer meat, & it's a few stress free days.  I especially loved this year with our simple Thanksgiving meal with no bread, no sweets, no stuffed bellies afterwards, no TV with football, no STRESS!  We did indulge on all kinds of chocolate, fudge & other crap from Bucee's on the way home, but as my sister-in-law Sarah pointed out, we would've done that anyway, so it's good we didn't indulge the day before as well! Good point. 
I didn't list out all the things I'm thankful for because they still haven't changed.  My husband, my kids, my family, everyone being healthy, etc.  Maybe the only thing to add is our new family at Crossfit Bay Area!  I love the way Crossfit & new eating habits have changed us & mad
e us want to be better & healthier.  It really is like a family where we crossfit & we love it, the kids love playing around up there, and we've made great new friends!

Big Bro

Best part about this picture? Not that we're at wal-mart riding a bull, not that Baylor is so mad, and not that Adeline is obliviously happy.....No, the best part was that one of Baylor's excuses for not wanting to ride was that he might fall off because there is nothing to hang on to.  I tried to tell him that it's a baby toy and wasn't going to go very fast, but he insisted. So when I put the quarters in, and it started to go in slow-mo, Adam started giving him all kinds of hell about it going too fast & saying "whoa, I don't think you're going to make it 8 seconds"!! That kind of stuff only makes me & Adam have the giggles & ticks Baylor off even more.
I seriously love this picture.  It speaks volumes about their personalities!

Ouch!

Well friends, another lesson on why you should not let your little kids have sharp things.... They might fall on them?? Oh no, they might sneeze on it! Adeline was holding the air pump for the basketball yesterday in the car. She sneezed & then started screaming & holding her bloody eye. We just new the needle had stuck into her eyeball. Luckily, Crossfit Bay Area saved the day with a small first aid kit. The needle had scraped under her eye and gauged a little hole in her eyelid. A little bloody, a little bruised, but all is well. Thank goodness your eyes shut when you sneeze.

You can't see the worst of it here, but you kinda get it!

Paleo Shepherd's Pie

Recipe to not miss this week....October 8: Paleo Shepherd's Pie

This is adapted from a Shepherd's Pie recipe from WeightWatchers.  Think you can't stop eating potatoes? Wait until you try my Shepherd's Pie with mashed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes!  It's delicious! And don't even get me started if your a calorie counter because this dish is next to nothing!

Serves 6, about 200 calories per serving

Ingredients:

1 1/2  large heads cauliflower, trimmed, chopped and steamed until very soft

1/8 tsp table salt, or to taste
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup(s) onion(s), chopped
1 bag of frozen diced carrots & peas (I find this at Kroger)
2 stalk(s) celery, diced (medium)
1 pound(s) uncooked ground turkey breast
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup(s) canned chicken broth, or beef broth
**be careful with the rosemary & thyme! I go light.
• Preheat oven to 400ºF.
Using a hand mixer or food processor, mix cauliflower until smooth.
• Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrots/peas and celery; cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add meat and cook until browned, breaking up the meat as it cooks, about 5 minutes. Add rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper; stir to coat. Add broth and bring to a simmer; simmer until mixture thickens, about 3 minutes.
• Transfer meat mixture to a  9X13 cake dish. Spread mashed cauliflower over top and using the back of a spoon, make decorative swirls over the top. Bake until golden, about 30 minutes. Slice into 6 pieces and serve.

Reading

Baylor doesn't talk to me in the car. Ever.  This is usually why.  I guess it could be worse, huh?

Adam's Pet Peeve

Maybe "the only" pet peeve! Seriously, not much nerves that guy, but our laudry room does--AKA the garage because of the craphole house we live in (but's that's a story for another day).  I suck at doing the laundry.  No, let me rephrase that, I'm awesome at washing the laundry.  I just suck at moving it to the dryer, getting it out of the dryer, folding it, etc.  Really, you know those little funny cards on Facebook that talk about rewashing clothes because you forgot to put them in dryer or restarting the dryer because you don't want to get the clothes out?? Well, hit the nail on the head!! Adam can't stand this.  He's always complaining about it when he goes out in the laundry "area" (since we can't call it a room) and complaining as he's folding clothes.  But he is folding them, and that's all that matters!
Anyway, I think of this today because Adam stayed home from work yesterday and the one thing he got accomplished was ALL of our clothes washed and put away AND all of the junk that collects on the dryer & ironing board all put away.  :) Which makes for a happy me!

This Week's Menu

Let's see how this goes!  This may be the only week that this ever gets posted.  I plan out recipes for each week & search Paleo blogs for meals.  This would certainly keep me updating often.  Maybe I'll make the recipes their own tab on our blog.  Of course, I do not create recipes, so I'll give credit where it's due.  I do make slight changes to some of these as I cook, but you're going to have to handle that part yourself !

Sunday: Perfect Roast Chicken  & steamed broccoli

Monday: Paleo Shepherd's Pie
** I don't use bacon in this one & most of the time use ground turkey instead of beef, but both are good!

Tuesday:  Grilled Steak & Butternut Squash with Cherries

Wednesday: Leftovers (soccer practice)

Thursday: Mexican Chicken & cauliflower "rice"

Friday: Steak & eggs (Adam's night to cook)

And.....breakfast all week is my all time fav, Cowboy Breakfast Skillet

Be The Match Bone Marrow 5K

Our first 5K for such a great cause! Lots of friends & family came out to spend some time with us early on Saturday morning & joined Team Baylor to run!! It was a first 5K for lots of us. I ended up with a giant blister on my foot, but fun, none the less.

                                    

 Baylor, Braden & Cater

 Even Adeline ran in the Tot Trot!!

Great friends!!

Crossfit Update: Month 4

See that?? That huge muscle in my arm?? Okay, that's all! 
No, really, that is proof that Crossfit is the most awesome thing ever, and I'm not even that good at it! Adam is in the middle of his 2nd month & tested into not only Level 1, but Level 2 this week! He IS good at it.  I had no doubt.  Find a crossfit box near you and a friend, because if not you'll be too scared to go in, and go. try. it!!

1st Day of School

Baylor's first day of 5th grade!! That's right, I said 5th!  He had a great day. We have great teachers. And, his 4th grade teachers said that he's been stopping by in the mornings to "chat" with them.  Anyone who knows Baylor well, knows this is a very rare occurance, so maybe he's coming out of his shell a little!  Here's to a great school year for all the kiddos (& definitely to all my teachers out there).

Munna-melon is a Favorite

Let me start by saying that I have a love affair with watermelon that has grown as I've gotten older.  When I was pregnant with Adeline a couple of summers ago (in July & August), I would just cut the watermelone in half and sit with the WHOLE half & a spoon.  Then, of course, it would swell & I couldn't get off the couch!  And...repeat the next night, and the next, and, well, you get the picture!

So anyway, Adeline, too, is in love with watermelon.  The way she says watermelon is quite possibly the funniest thing she says. She says munnamelon. Pronounced mun-uh-melon, but really fast. Like so fast that it took us a long time to replicate the way she says it! 
So every time she goes to the grocery store with me & sees watermelons during the summer, she's shouting about getting a munnamelon.  We had one in the car this week & every time we would go somewhere, she would say, "oh mom, we have to get the munnamelon out of the car"!
Finally, yesterday, I had just drove up from working out & Adam was leaving to go to workout, so Adeline and I were getting the watermelon out so we could cut it up.  She says "mom, i'm going to get strong, too (insert cute muscle flex), so I can carry munnamelons"!  Then she proceeds to talk about how she will go workout & do weights to give her big muscles.  All for the munnamelons!

Happy Birthday Adeline!

This year, Adeline had a Minnie Mouse party at Jump n Jungle!  Lots of people came out to see us & she got lots of love and goodies! We also went out to eat with Justin & Wesley & family for Uncle Wes's birthday.  Lots of fun time. 
Birthday Party Stuff

Goodie Bags

Birthday Girl

The Invitation

Cupcakes

Cake

More party pictures:

Yearly Pictures

Adeline is almost 3! Can you believe it?  We had new pictures taken.  Here are few.

Look Who's Joined the Club!

Well, amidst much protest, Adam decided to give crossfit a try this month.  And guess what?  He's in love!  Of course, he can do everything & in one short month his perfect body looks even MORE perfect.  How is that possible?  I hate him!!! Seriously, though, so proud of him for kicking it into gear & eating better as well.  Our gym is awesome.  http://www.crossfitbayarea.com/

Flag Football June 2012

Baylor played another fun season of flag football this summer.  We had lots of rain outs, but also lots of fun.

Father's Day Weekend

We spent Father's Day weekend at Dad's in Fannett with everyone.  The kids had fun riding around and fishing & quality time with family.  It was lots of fun.  Oh, and most importantly, Adeline got into her very first wreck at age 2 (see below)!



Thinking a lot about picking up that worm!!

And, finally, Uncle Wes's truck after Adeline wrecked into it with the golf cart!



Summer, summer, summertime!

Well, it's summer,which roughly translates to "catching up on stuff" for me. I'm momentarily catching up on our family blog!  Then, will later tackle the tedious list of organizing photos, balancing seven months of bank statements, organinzing closets & pantries, etc.   And, of course, the item that is appearing more and more frequently on my list....touching up paint & repainting baseboards.  I don't know why this is.  We couldn't possibly be getting rougher with our walls & baseboards.  However, I could possibly be getting more obsessed about them.  *sigh*  I'm also trying to make some plans for our summer.  We do have a Cayman Island trip planned-whoop, but I'd also like to go to Lake Charles, spend some time going home & letting the kids visit cousins, and go to the beach.  I'm already a teensy bit freaked that week one has come to an end.  It always freaks me out after that first week because I get worried about how fast the weeks go.
I seemed to have gotten sucked into to a trashy book trilogy, though (you may know it, Fifty Shades), so obviously, nothing will get done until that's complete.  Off to reading....
  Oh, still going crossfit strong & 5:00 am classes.  Yes, even on my relaxing summer mornings.  I stuck with it last summer & it was the best decision ever!! It alleviates this small problem that I have.....that is, I can't start back up if I stop!  I also can't stop eating sugar if I start.  grrr....I'll fix that another day.  Here's proof people.  Photo snatched from Crossfit Bay Area! 
P.S.Those scrapes on my knees are from doing burpees during the workout. :(

Adeline-"isms"

Adeline brought me a shirt this morning to help put on her.She stared down at her chest and said questioningly, "my boobs are not big??".  I laughed and told her that they would get bigger when she got older, and she shrugs and says "Oh. Okay".  !! I can't wait to tell her that story when she really does get boobs! 
Here is the cutie now...

Continuing With Crossfit

Well, month one of crossfit is done, and I've signed up for month two.  I've also converted some friends along the way!! It's all so exciting to me.  To get people to come with me, get addicted & start eating better.  I meal plan each week.  I get many recipes from a Paleo eating blog PaleOMG.com & love the site skinnytaste.com (however, I do have to tweak many of these recipes to be Paleo friendly).  I've considered posting my weekly menus with the recipes on the blog.  It will give me something to blog about each week, and, of course, give you a reason to come read!
One day, when I grow up....ahem...translated to "when my husband makes more money", I'm going to quit my job, maybe be a crossfit coach (that would be awesome) and create my own food blog.  How fun would that be???? Wishful thinking!