We Are Still In It!

Hi! I don't have time to post as it has been  and still  is a crazy week! We are still here and doing the challenge though. I hope to post soon with pictures of Hubby's BD and Harvest Moon celebration. We have had a few MD appts. Now I am leaving for a working retreat this weekend. So, no time to catch up!

Miss you guys!!

Sept. 11....... May We Never Forget!

Picture of all lost on Sept. 11th, 2001.





By Tom Kelly




Creative Commons

I love that they float lanterns to memorialize the victims on the Hudson river.
Sobering,,,,,,,


GOD BLESS AMERICA!

1st Day Of Preschool!

Thursday was Emperor's first day at preschool. He was so excited to go he woke me up at 6. Thank goodness I was able to re direct him to the playroom. Princess was still sick so she had to come in the car. He loves to pose for the camera and say "cheese". I need to think of another word though so we don't get those cheesy faces too!! He picked out his clothes and got dressed. Ate a great breakfast and then was ready to go.



He so needs a trim!! It is so hard to know what to do with his hair.
I am trying to use gel to train his hair to the side but he hates it! What else can I do? Calling all Mom's of boys I need some input please.... Girls are easy . You just put a clip in it.





He had to show you his Elmo back pack. Don't tell him but I ordered a new one for him from Here.


Oh my he is growing up and looking so much older. It is amazing what a year will do. He still is a little squirt though as these are either 24 mos or 2T.






Immediately ran to play. He did hang up his back pack and jacket first though.



One of his new friends! He was too interested in counting the money to look at me. LOL so typical of him!!

Day 8 on the challenge.......




It was easy! With Princess still sick I just drove to/from Preschool.

Breakfast Waffles with peanut butter & a sprinkle of chocolate chips, banana's
Lunch Toasted Bagels with cream cheese and turkey slice on top, grapes
Dinner Steak with an Roasted Apple Marinade served over a bed of wild rice.
The rice and marinade have been hanging out in my pantry for years!!!
Roasted zucchini and crook neck squash, green salad and a bowl of blueberries.


Yesterday Day 9 ........

Yes, Princess was still home. I was fit to be tied...... I made sure that hubby went to Costco on the way home for the milk and eggs. Even though I needed to get out I just knew I could not. You see when I am upset or bored what do I do? I go shopping. It has always been a therapy for me. I was so afraid that I would break the commitment that I made to follow the challenge I sent him instead. I know myself. I can find anything to by at Costco that is not a necessity.

Breakfast French Toast and banana's
Lunch Ramen noodles with pea's, Hummus with baby carrots and string cheese
Dinner Split pea soup, grill cheese sandwiches and smoothies

So, after dinner I went on a long walk around the neighborhood. I still got to escape but in a healthy way.

Mommy No Nap..... I'm Not Sleepy!!!

I bet you know where I am going with this title. Or maybe not....
Today as usual Emperor and I headed into my bedroom to snuggle and read books for quiet time /nap time. We read 4 books today and then tried to lay there quietly to fall asleep. Will this little monkey was just all over the place squirmy wormy, somersaults etc. I tried the shhh.... and fingers to my lips(Which now he does back to me) LOL!!! After 45 minutes I gave up and we got up. Emperor proceeded to go to the playroom and work on his computer and I was in my office working. Princess was in her room napping. Well, after about 1/2hr. I noticed how quiet the house was. I no longer heard the computer or his sweet little voice talking back to it. I thought I had better go find out what he is up to.

This is what I found!!!!!!!

I am taking this picture looking down my stairs near my office. I could not believe it! HE fell asleep on the stairs!!


Looking up the stairs! OMW I just could not believe it. I have to admit I was kinda freaking out that he could have rolled.



Little monkey. I gentle stepped around him and scooped him up. He stayed asleep for another hour on my bed.

When he woke up I gently reminded him that it wasn't safe to fall asleep on the stairs. I hope from now on this doesn't happen!!!

Day 5,6 and 7...... Equals 1 Week!

Okay everything is running together on me..... We are still in the 30 Day of No Spending challenge sponsored by none other than Christie at Bushel and a Peck. I had to run to theYakima Fruit Marketto stock up on some yummy produce on Monday. I love going there and buying fresh stuff!! The peaches are so sweet and the blueberries are to die for. I am in heaven with all of this wonderful produce.





Monday night dinner was Polenta Pesto Lasagna. It was delicious and a great take on Lasagna. I found it on All Recipes.com. I needed to use the polenta up that was sitting in the refrigerator. I had the marinara sauce, pesto sauce, polenta, mozzarella cheese, pine nuts and the fresh basil ( in the garden). So, I didn't spend a cent. We did buy some bread sticks. We had a big green salad from the garden, and a bowl of fresh blueberries. Sorry I did not get a picture! We were so hungry we dove into it!!

Day 6 yesterday Princess was home from school with the yucky cold. We had preschool orientation so I had to call a babysitter to watch her. Jon Jon was so excited to meet his new friends and teachers. It is a small class of 5 children and 2 teachers.
HE walked right into the class with out hesitation. He talked to the teacher and sat down to play with the puzzles. He loved it!! I am so proud of him. On the way home we had to stop at the pharmacy to pick up other cold stuff that Princess will take. She is more picky. So another $20 for babysitter and $ 23.00 for cold and Tylenol meds. Argggg.....

Breakfast was toast with peanut butter and banana's, granola, mango's and oj.
Of course I had coffee!

Lunch was PBnJ, mini carrots and grape tomatoes with humus, and apple slices.

Dinner was a fantastic Tomato Pie!! I found the recipe on Melissa's blog. She has a blog called Midwest Magnolia. I happened upon her site when I went to enter her giveaway from her etsy shop. I fell in love with the adorable padded,zippered iPad cover. It is on my list for purchase come Oct! It is just the cutest girly girl cover. Now if it will just be there when I can buy it.



Ta Da......the Tomato Pie!

Go visit her site for the recipe. I had all of the ingredients prepared pie crusts, 4 Tomatoes, salt and pepper, scallions and basil, freshly grated cheese and mayonnaise(we use Vegenaise). We have 1/2 of a pie left for another evening. Besides the pie we had a big salad, and a bowl of cherries.


Day 7!! One week into the challenge!Yippee!! I know we can make it now. It has been so much fun creating and trying new recipes for my family. Princess is picky though. So I have to have some staples around for her. Today she was still home sick. So, I spent my day doing chores, cleaning, laundry, taking care of the plants inside and out, and gardening.



My hanging baskets. I have 5 of them across the back porch.


Breakfast was oatmeal, cinnamon apple toast, banana's
Lunch was Ramen noodles with pea's, nectarines and goldfish crackers
Dinner was using left over Santa Fe Quinoa salad. I added chicken and some cheese to it and a little more seasonings. Mixed it all up and rolled it into a Ezekiel tortilla's. Baked them for about 15 minutes and served them topped with sour cream, salsa, lime and cilantro. On the side we had avocado and tomato slices with garlic salt. Of course we finished it off with a fruit which was watermelon to night.





So, this challenge has been wonderful for us! We enjoy eating outside in the wonderful weather in the sun or on the back porch. Unfortunately we have had a few hiccups with having to buy meds and having a babysitter. I wish our family lived closer....

I will be posting soon! 1st Day of Preschool tomorrow! I can't wait and will take pictures of my little monkey. I have a funny post I will do right after this.

Happy Thoughts!!

Day 4.....

Well, we have been really enjoying this challenge!  If you want to see what I am talking about go visit Christie at Bushel And A Peck. She is sponsoring this great challenge of No Spending For 30 Days.

Yesterday was Day 4 for us.  We are trying to clean out the pantry and only buy the essentials at the store. 
 Breakfast was French Toast, Stripples, Rasberries & Blackberries (freshly picked from our neighborhood bushes).
 Lunch was just snacks for the kids Yogurt pops, & Apple slices
 Dinner was Veggie Cheese Burgers, Baked Sweet Potato Fries, Southwest Quinoa Salad, and Grapes

I love to cook and we try to eat healthy. Hubby is Vegan, Princess is Vegetarian and Emperor and I  will eat occasionally Salmon,Turkey or Chicken.  So , we use alot of grains and beans in our meals. There are times where we use processed  items from Morning Star  to fill in the gap with protein.  I preferr to eat Clean though and I am really trying to do this. I feel so much better.

We have had a beautiful weekend here in the Seattle area. Temp's are in the 80's and lots of gorgeous sunshine! It makes me so happy!  Being raised in Southern California I love the SUNSHINE! Don't get me wrong I really enjoy all of the lush green of the the PNW. I could just do without all of the rainy, gray days that produce the wonderful beauty. this year has been really bad. Our summer so far has been a total of 2 weeks of sun.

So, Emperor has been sick. He woke up yesterday and was feeling better. He still had a stuff nose and little sniffles. His energy was back  though! I thought we would never get him to bed last night. He was so full of it!

He helped me cook yesterday!  He ran upstairs to our dress up chest and found this outfit.
It was Princesses when she was little.

                                            My little Chef!          

Sunday Snapshot...Princess Is A 6th Grader!

As Mom of a child with Autism days can be awesome, okay or just terrible. Princesses 1st day of school was Weds. I have been preparing her that she was going back to school for the last 2 weeks. I have made sure that I get up around 6 and get her up around 7. I am making sure to give her meds around 7 also. Then she can listen to music and ponder her day for a few minutes. Then I make sure to set her up with everything to get dressed with. I give her help if she requests it. Then she will make her bed and come downstairs(I might have to call for her 2 times). I am trying to have her make her lunch and help with making her breakfast.

Today was an awesome day. There was some anxiety before leaving the house. I have to remain calm and not let her outbursts phase me. Not always easy to do when we have a timeline to leave the house by. Once out of the door today she started smiling and skipping to the car. She was so happy! It made me feel so blessed that God would fill her heart with joy for her first day of school!




Not ready for pictures yet,but trying to warm up that smile.




Enjoying a yummy breakfast of french toast, applesauce,banana and cereal.





Waiting to get in the car. Carrying all of her school supplies. Mom has her backpack.




Excited but, anxious at the same time. Love the big happy SMILE!




Gabby with her wonderful Para at school.

So the story doesn't complete end there. After dropping off Princess, little Emperor had a meltdown in the car on the way home. He started crying and raising his voice at me. Guess what he was so upset about....? "I want to go to school, I don't want to go home." I slowly calmed him down and talked about Preschool starting next week for him. He immediately came home and made a picture for his teacher. So sweet!


We have him signed up for Preschool 2 mornings a week in the 2-3 yr class. We have orientation this coming Tuesday. Thursday will be his first real class. He is so excited! He practices his ABC's,numbers,coloring and cutting paper. He is already writing letters and numbers too! When I enrolled him last spring I thought he might have a hard time away from me. That is why we placed him in the 2-3 age class. Now I am not sure that was the right choice. I did talk with the director and we can move him up into the 3-4 age class which is 4 mornings a week. I guess we will see what happens.

Day 3......

Well, I am behind in posting for Day 1 and 2. I will catch you up here on Day 3.

Day 1 was basically uneventful. We followed our plan. No spending urges at all. We did have Swim lessons for the kids. Of course Princess asked if we could stop for DQ ice cream on the way home. She was not to happy about it at first when we said No. She did understand though. She happily ate a cookie at home instead.



Waiting in the pool for Swim lessons!


Day 2 was just an off day for little Emperor. Everything was a struggle and a meltdown. We went shopping at FM for groceries. Huge meltdown, sobbing, yelling, etc for almost the entire time we were in there which was about 30 mins. I finally broke down and promised him we would run to the toy section. I KNOW.....it is only Day 2 of the Challenge.

Well, let me tell you the whole story. We had bought some fruit cups there that were damaged last week. So, I had to return them and got cash back. IT was a whole $2.45 cents. This was the money that I used to buy him 2 mini match box trucks which were $1.09 each. With tax it was $2.40. So, I think that was okay....or at least in my head it was okay. I was not wanting a melt down at the cash register. Which we did not have. He was smiling and talking the registrar.


Cute little Match Box trucks. We love that they have moving parts!!



Well, that did not stop the tantrums. When we left the store he proceeded to try and throw the trucks on the ground. So, mean old MOM took them away. He proceeded to show his wonderful side all the way home( 7 mins). Got home and he continued as I unloaded the car and put things away. Tried to give him his trucks again and he threw them again. So, I took them again. After about 10 mins. he changed his tune and was sobbing because he did not have his trucks. We sat down on the sofa and had a talk about the correct way to handle our anger and frustrations. He finally got his cars back and was happy.


I had a follow-up appt. with my Orthopedic Surgeon for my Planter Fasciitis. Emperor again was not happy about riding in the car and had a tantrum for 10 mins. Finally fell asleep 15 mins. away from the Dr.'s office. I had to wake him up . He was not cranky thank goodness. Had a good Dr's. appt. Fasciitis is healing. I will continue with the home program set up by the Physical Therapist. On the way home I so wanted to stop at Starbucks for an grande Iced skinny Vanilla Latte. Literally every one that I pasted was calling my name. After all I was so deserving of this right?! It was so hard not to stop,but....I resisted! I made coffee at home instead.

Emperor continued to have meltdowns all day. By the end of the day he was more congested, runny nose and sneezing. So he was coming down with a cold. Poor thing....Sleeping was not good last night. We are all pretty exhausted.

Day 3 This morning we had to run to the pharmacy to pick up Tylenol and cough stuff for Emperor. Not in the plan but a necessity. HE is feeling a little bit better, but still a crank miester!!


Finally fell asleep with hubby for a nap after fighting it for 2 hours!

We had hopes for going to Mt Rainier today to hike and picnic. Alas we are home with sickie. It is a beautiful day so we ate outside for breakfast and lunch. Plans to eat out side for dinner too. Lunch was Peanut Asian rice bowls. Yumm....
Dinner is Southwest salad and tortilla roll ups.



Love this sweet face.... He tends to get flushed with a fever.


Cute little piggy wiggly toes!!



So did anyone plan in Mid-Autumn Moon Festival for Monday Sept. 12th? Just curious. We will be going to a little gathering with some friends. It will also be Hubby's BD.

Peach And Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad

I found this yummy recipe in Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Diet Cookbook 2.
It is delicious and you want to eat it all!! This recipe is best during the summer months when the peaches and heirloom tomatoes are in season and at their peak. Have the fun for me was going out the garden and picking the fresh basil and tomatoes!

Ingredients
1 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar 2 large ripe peaches,pits
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice removed and sliced
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) 2 fresh mozzarella balls,ovolini-
1/8 tsp sea salt shaped(egg shaped),sliced
Pinch freshly ground black pepper Small handful fresh basil
2 large ripe heirloom tomatoes,sliced leaves, thinly sliced

Method

1. In small bowl, whisk together vinegar,lemon juice,EVOO,salt and pepper.
Set aside. To assemble salad, layer sliced tomatoes,peaches and mozzarella,
fanning out across a serving platter. Drizzle with dressing and sprinkle with
basil leaves thinly sliced. I left my basil whole as I love the taste of it.

Enjoy!!

2 More Days Until We Start This.....

There is this wonderful Blog that I follow called Bushel And A Peck. Christie is an amazing Momma of 2 beautiful children. She has created this family as we did by choosing to adopt. She did a challenge last yr. that I followed on and off of not spending for 30 days except for the essentials. So, she is doing it again and has challenged those that want to do it to bite the bullet and do it.

We have accepted the challenge and will be joining in on this journey. I still have a few things to do to prepare for the journey like buying hubby's BD present, BD cards, cake mix etc. Finishing off buying Princesses school supplies and Emperor's lunch bag. I think then I will be set.... I hope.



I have to admit 30 days without Starbucks is going to be hard for me.... Especially when the Pumpkin Spice Latte will be coming out around the corner.

Off to work I go to get my pantry in order and pick up anything we might need before the challenge starts. In many ways it will help me to be more prepared and to be creative with cooking. Which by the way is one of my favorite things to do! Maybe I will even start to make things more with all of the craft supplies I have lying around the house .....


Join in or follow along. We can always use the support to change old habits!




" Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."
Maria Robinson

What Cupcake Are You?

You Are an Amaretto Chocolate Cherry Cupcake

You have a deep desire to leave your mark on the world. You want to change things for the better. You are an object of fascination for many. You shine brightly and boldly. You are youthful in spirit and appearance. You refuse to grow up! To be honest, danger excites you a little. You believe that anything that is worth doing has some risk.

What Exotic Cupcake Are You?

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

Oh I love it! They know me to well...... and the cup cake sounds Divine!

Sunday Snapshots {He Sleeps...}

In a big boy bed now!!!


First night in his bed!

So, our little Emperor turned 3 in May. Since we have been home (March 2010) he has been sleeping in a crib. Sometimes it was easy getting him to bed and other times it was difficult. He always wanted to fall asleep in our bed. For awhile this was fine with me.... it was a great way to bound with him. We would sing, tell stories and just snuggle together. He would fall asleep and we would transfer him into the crib. On occasion he would wake up,but not that often.

Then as the months went by he would not fall asleep very fast. I would end up spending hours with him. There came a point in our relationship that I needed to change this. So, I tried just doing the night time routine with him in the crib. Not so comfortable for me leaning over the crib. We tried doing the routine in our bed and then having him walk to his room and putting him in the crib.Some times this was fine and other times it was not. On those occasions he would just wail until I came back in to comfort him. This would take about 10 mins. and then he was out.

In the morning when he would wake up he would start moving around alittle then to standing up and shouting for us anywhere from 5:30-7:30 when we would get up. So, one day I had a talk with him about the crib. It went like this.....

Me JJ do you like your crib?
LE No Mommy.
Me Why JJ?
LE Cause it's for babies.
Me Oh....
LE I wann sleep in the big bed (we have a twin bed in his room). I'm a big boy now.
Me Okay honey we will try it tonight.


He has to have his blanket and his Panda Bear named Simon with him every night. Our agency gave him the bear when he got home. I had the blanket made for him from here Southern Sassy Pants


I just love these monkeys for my little Monkey!!




WELL....that was 3 weeks ago and he has been totally fine with it. He sleeps through the night, when he wakes up in the morning he crawls out of bed and plays with his toys. He is now able to turn on the computer and starts playing STARFALL( this is an awesome Educational site). He loves his new found freedom! We do too! On occasion though he will be in different clothes with a clean diaper on when I go to wake him up. Oh what fun!!!

Anyone have idea's how to help him want to use the potty consistently? He knows how to use. He just prefers not to unless I take him and offer him MM's. Help!! He starts preschool in 1.5 weeks and it would be wonderful if we had this under our belt!

Wordless Wednesday...

I love this boy!!

The Red Boots

Look what I found in one of our bins? Princesses cute little Lands End boots from when she was 3. I bought them for her before we moved up here to the Seattle area.
Little Emperor loves them and they are so stink'in cute on him.










It makes me happy to recycle items from one child to the next. I gave up on trying to sell all of her items and just donated everything. For one week everyday I was running to the Goodwill with a trunk full of things. I found for me it was so cleansing and freeing to see the items go and knowing they would be loved by people that really need them.

My goal is to get my car into our 2 car garage. Hubby's fits it is just my car needs to also. I dislike going out in the morning and scrapping off the ice and snow when we get it here. I am in a clean out and organize mode. It feels great!!

When the summer weather is gloomy this is what you do PURGE!!!


Okay I need to cut down the size of my pictures. They are getting cut off. I think I might have to have a revamping of my blog to fix this. I love the bigger pictures!