Deceptively Dewonderful

If you haven't gotten the Deceptively Delicious recipe book it is one worth getting or taking look at to get ideas. I got it for Christmas but I really didn't start using it until Valentines Day. The first recipe I tried were the pink pancakes. It used beets in it to make them pink and you could not tell at all. They were soooo good. I have been adding cauliflower puree, sweet potato puree, zuccini puree, tomato puree and flax seed to most everything I make and no one can tell. It has actually made the dish taste so much better. It enhances the flavor. It is amazing. But the truly amazing part is my kids love it. Tanner said "mom can you make those tacos again. They are my favorite and I just loved them". Even if you like vegetables it is nice to do because you add all of those nutrients without the bulk of vegetables. You don't feel like you have eaten 1/2 a cup of cauliflower when you really have. It is wonderful. I have tried it in spaghetti, potato soup, tacos, noodles, ranch chicken salad and a few others I can't remember right now. If you have a hard time getting kids to eat vegetables this book is a wonderful reference or just steam up some vegetables and puree them and your kids will get them without knowing.

What do antibiotics and plastic wrap have in common?

Do any you have the same problem as I have had lately? Tanner was on an antibiotic and everyday (for about 5 days) I could swear that this was the last dose, and yet there was another after another, after another. I have had the same problem with a package of plastic wrap that I have. For 3 months every time I use it I think "finally I can get rid of this stupid plastic wrap that really doesn't wrap around anything and I can start the really good one that I have". But it has been 3 months and it is still hanging on. Well you might say "just throw it out" but I can't bring myself to waste it. It is crazy. I said to Mike the other day that I never realized paying your tithing would make it so your plastic wrap and antibiotic kept being replenished.

Are kids affected by the movies they see?

Tanner was sick the other day. He had these really high fevers and 2 days into it his nose started bleeding every night. So he was laying around watching movies (so I really knew he wasn't feeling well because for some reason my kids seem to act so normal or even hyper when they are sick). He was watching Air Bud because I had recorded it for him and close to the end there was a part where the little boy was trying to save the dog but he couldn't take him home with him or the "bad guy" would still get him. So he threw a ball, to distract the dog, and ran away and got in the boat and the dog tried to follow but then had to get back to shore. I looked at Tanner and asked if he was okay because he looked really sad (and I couldn't tell if he was just tired or upset). He looked at me and said "mom why did he leave the dog? The dog needs to be with him" and with that he started to sob. I have never seen him sob so bad. It was so sad but yet so cute. It also made me realize that our children are paying attention to what they are watching and they feel it.

I need blog addresses

Please leave your blog addresses because I only have Mandee's at the moment. And if anyone knows how to put them on my blog site so I can click to them when it is open I would love to know how. Thank you

Valentines Day

We had a really good Valentines Day this year. We celebrated a day early (cuz Mike had to work late the next night) and it was so nice. We made pink pancakes, dyed the milk pink, and had bacon (close enough to red/pink right?) The kids had a ball. They were a little skeptical about the pink milk (I would have had strawberry milk but I didn't have enough for everyone) but once they tried it everything was good. I had a recipe for pink pancakes from the Deceptively Delicious cook book and thought it was a perfect day to try them out. They are made with beets. I must admit I didn't make the recipe from the book (because I hadn't gone to the store and didn't have everything or I would have had strawberry milk also) but I just added 1/2 a cup of beets to pancake mix, added water and some vanilla and delish. You can't taste the beets at all (Mike even ate them and he is picky at times) The day of love this year was a good one. I hope you all had a good one also.

Those precious moments

Mike and I have been trying super hard lately to be more calm, to keep our voices not so raised, and to keep the frustration with the kids under check. It is really really difficult but I have started to realize how much it really pays off. There is a different spirit in our home. I don't feel as anxious. It has been wonderful. Now I am not going to say that we are perfect in this. My voice has been raised and there still is frustration (that is part of having children) but we are trying to make them our joy more and not our job.

The biggest difference we have seen is with our little Emma. For those of you who don't know her she is a fireball. She has so much energy. She gets into many things and has a hard time listening. She very rarely sits still and the listening skills, well it sometimes feels like they are non-exisistant. It has only been a week since we have been trying extra hard in what we do and say. Today, as Emma watched a movie she kept asking me to sit next to her. She put her arm around me and then turned to me and said "you are so nice to me mom. You are the best mom in the whole world."

It is moments like these I really believe that we need to remember why we are doing this and that we are the ones that make the difference. It is also moments like these that we need to carry on.

Surprise Jenessa

On my birthday I received a balloon bouquet with a poem inside telling me that I had someone picking me up on Friday at 8:00. So for days I wondered who it could be and what we were going to be doing. My friend Amberly showed up with a birthday crown (which I had to wear all night because I know how happy it would make Amberly) and said okay lets go. So we were off, and we were off to well I still didn't know where. We got the the theater and she paid for our tickets and we went inside. I now knew we were going to a movie (I am quick and soooo very smart) but had no clue which one we were seeing. When we walked in 3 of my other friends were in there waiting. We ended up seeing Juno. It was one I had wanted to see. It looked really funny on the trailers. I liked parts of it but it was so crude, if you asked my opinion on seeing it I would say you really could miss it. We ended up going out for steamers (my favorite) after at Starbucks and because I was wearing my birthday crown I got mine for free. (I think I will take that little crown whenever I go from now on.) I was really surprised and I had a great time. Thank you all.