Grandma's Birthday!

Today was one of those days where we ate everything that was bad for us! I guess that's what happens when we celebrate Grandmas birthday. We pretty much had dessert for lunch. At least mine had fruit....

As you can see we all enjoyed some yummy Demetre's waffles. I used to be able to gobble down that whole thing without even thinking about it but today i was going to burst before half way.

The times are changing.

Due to the poor eating this is what the children's dinner looked like.

My children are not huge fans of everything on those plates but because it looked pretty fun, everything vanished. Mommy wins today!

This week is a big milestone for me. I get to check off my bucket list a 5k run. I'm not doing just any 5k run I'm completing the warrior dash! Keep your eyes open for my next muddy post.

Tammy

Summer Lovin had me a blast!

Summer is here! I was very surprised with how hard the transition from our first year of full day everyday j/k to now having both kids home. The first few weeks we struggled with keeping busy, sibling rivals, routines and extra circulars. The past few weeks we have seemed to get in our groove. I wanted to share some of the activities we have done so far and what’s to come.

1. Camping – We love camping. We go with a few families with kids around the same age. By the end of the day the kids were ready for their sleepovers in the big tent. I have people tell me it’s crazy to camp with kids but really all you need is a little organization and a laid back attitude and everyone will have a great time. For some camping tips you can check out That Moms Blog.

2. Treasure Hunt- We did this well we were camping which was nice because when the children were getting a little too excited it really focused them. We started each hunt with a little circle time, doing duck duck goose and singing different songs. I picked up 6 treasures, one for each of the children. When they found the treasure they needed to share it with all of their friends. Our treasures were: crayons with colouring pages and crafting materials, balls and frisbees, Fruit snacks, sand toys for the beach trip later in the day, glow sticks and finger lights, and water balloons with water guns. This was just so much fun. Each child got a treasure map with their names on it so they took turns being the leader and everyone else had to follow holding hands. They went around under benches and over logs, finding treasures hung in trees, behind rocks and in tall grass.

3. PLAYDATE PLAYDATE PLAYDATES!!!- This one is very important to me. Being a SAHM it’s nice to get the kids together with friends and I like getting together with some awesome Moms too. We just had a Ice Cream Tasting play date today. Everyone brought a topping or ice cream. The kids tried all the different kinds of treats and made a sundae. What a great time! Some other different play date ideas we've done or been to are book play date- bring your favorite book, superhero play dates- make masks out of construction paper and elastics, Cookie decorating play dates, fairy play dates with a tent and sparkles and a nice picnic with friends never fails.

4. Road Trips – We have good travelers so we pack up and take a day trip to the beach with a packed lunch. A few weeks ago we had tired kids in the van but my husband and I didn't want to go home. The kids slept in the van well we drove almost an hour to get to a beach for an ice cream. We sat and enjoyed the view beside our van with 2 sleeping children inside. FANTASTIC! We are also excited to plan a family road trip to National Museum of Play in Rochester NY. I’ll let you know how it is but I’ve heard great things.

5. Kids Games – We can spend the day making tents out of bed sheet and pillows, playing hide and go sleep seek, dance parties, Lego, painting, colouring, water balloons, playing on our trampoline and tea parties. Here are a few links that have bucket lists for summer activites. Side note – Gotta love pinterest! Summer Activity Bucket List Quiet Time Activities I hope you enjoy your summer and if you have some family summer activity ideas you post your ideas below. Tammy

What I Want!

Two more days and I will have been on weight watchers for 5 months. In that time I've lost 30lbs. When I look back at it I'm so proud of the choice I made to change my life. Starting my 30's off feeling good about myself and enjoying life. I find myself running through life with my head down, with goals and timelines checking things off on the way. I want to change that! I'll continue to make goals but I need to slow down and enjoy the little accomplishments I hit while making my goals. I want to cherish the time I have with my children they are only this age once. I want to make time once a month for just me and my husband to get out and enjoy each other's company. I want need to make time for me. Whether it be getting out to excercise or just spending some quiet time alone. I've always felt guilty about doing this but I'm not the best mother or wife I can be if I'm not taking care of me as well. I'm sure you can tell that changing my eating has changed more than just my weight. I have a ways to go to hit my goal but I'm going to keep trucking along, working hard. The warrior dash is in 2 months and this mamma of 2 is going to kick some serious butt! One last thing... This week I decided to try on my wedding dress. It's been 6 years and 2 kids since I've been able to fit in it and well it's a bit big.

Pinterest + Me =Our Menu Plan

Do you make a weekly menu plan? I've found that with trying to keep track of what I eat I have to plan. The easiest way is to spend some time at the beginning of the week and make a meal plan. I go through my flyers for sale items I can incorporate into our meals, pinterest for some new meal ideas and make my meal plan. I'm finding it so much easier when I plan for success. After my menu plan is set, my grocery list is made it's easy to make those healthy choices.

Here are a few of my favorite new recipes.

Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal - I am not one to eat a bowl of oatmeal. I just can't get past the texture but when I found this I knew I had to try it. This is a perfect oatmeal recipe for me. It taste like an oatmeal pumpkin cake for breakfast. I feel like I'm cheating!

Mushroom Stroganoff - A family hit and it really made a lot per serving. We had so much left over we had it for a side dish the next night.

Turkey Burgers with Zucchini - I was a little nervous about this recipe because my hubby is a big fan of his red meat and even he liked them. We also roasted some red onion and red peppers on the BBQ well the burgers were cooking for some low point toppings on our burgers.

Chickpea Cookie Pie - We had this for a treat one night and it was just like a warm gooey cookie. We also made banana ice cream to go with it. Which was just frozen bananas put in the blender with a little cocoa powder. Our children couldn't get enough of it!

This is our new recipe for this week Chicken Pot Pie Bundles. I'm hoping they taste as good as they look.









I'd love to hear your fav recipes. You can find all of these recipes links on my pinterest.

Until next time
Tammy

The Journey from a Pretty Face to One Healthy Mom

Just wanted to post a quick little update on my weight loss journey. I have been working hard at learning the weight watchers points and changing my routine. The first few weeks of weight watchers was a challenge. I felt hungry a lot and really deprived of my favorite foods. I think that this week I'm finally in the groove. I'm choosing foods that are more filling and satisfying.

I am a cook! I enjoy making homemade meals from scratch and baking as much as I can. One thing that I don't need to give up is my love of baking homemade bread! This makes me very happy! I am aware of the points and am able to enjoy the homemade bread smell filling my home. As you can probably tell I LOVE carbs. I'm still enjoying them just in a smaller portion. With the weight watchers online site I can put in any of my recipes and it will calculate the points. This is my life saver. It's nice to play around with it and see what different substitutions I can make and see the impact on the points.

The last few weeks have been filled with some very satisfying meals! Homemade pizza with thin crust(homemade dough from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day), turkey dinner with stuffing veggies and faux mashed potatoes (it doesn’t have any potatoes but cauliflower) and stir-fry with quinoa. I'm going to try and post a few recipes as I continue on with my healthy choices but one website has been very helpful skinny taste. Chek it out there are some fantastic recipes!

Ok back to the weigh-in... today was my 3 week since making a healthier life for me which inspired me to write this post. I have been sticking to the weight watchers and running but need to work on getting my strength training in 2 times and working up to 3. So after 3 weeks I've lost 13.4lbs which I am celebrating every single one of those pounds!!

I’d love to hear your weight loss success and challenges. Plus tips and tricks are always welcome!

Tammy

Books aren't just for reading. They are for Crafting too!

This was a fun craft that I did for our friend’s daughter for Christmas. I really tried to do as many homemade gifts as I could this year. I couldn't post a few of them on here or I'd ruin the surprise. I found this idea on Pinterest, which I'm completely addicted to!

I got out my trusty glue gun, went into the basement to find an old book of ours and cut out a circle from some cardboard.

I proceeded to rip apart the book (which on a side note was very therapeutic, I felt a little rebellious), and making the pages into cones with a dab of hot glue. You could really do this with any book depending on how big you wanted the cones to be or just cut the pages in half.

Once I had an abundance of cones I started hot gluing them to the circle starting on the outside working in. Then ta da... the finished product! A beautiful wall art flower.

I might just have to do this for our hallway. You could use different colour papers to make it festive as well.

Thank-you pinterest for yet again another fantastic idea.

The Weight Loss Goal Is Set

After a lot of thinking I've finally came up with a weight loss goal. I will be turning 30 in April and would like to have lost 40lbs by then. Along with that goal I would still like to run a will run a 5k in the spring.

I am going to train 3 days a week for the 5k and workout 3 days a week with 1 day off. I was doing this successfully with a personal trainer in the fall before I had surgery but feel back into bad habits during my recovery. Unfortunately personal trainers don't work for free so now it's on me.

I've decided that I will be using weight watchers online to assist me with my food choices. I feel that this is a life style change and that the weight watchers program is set up in a way for me to change my outlook on food. As I am going through this I hope to keep blogging about tips and tricks of my weight loss, review weight watchers online and find a exercise program I like.

I am sick of being the one with the pretty face. It's time for me to treat myself with the love I treat others with and not putting myself last. I am going to make sure I am a priority in my life and I will be proud of ever accomplishment on the way.

This time Will be Different.

This isn't one of those crafty posts but I will get back to that soon.

I have been a big girl for as long as I can remember. I've been working hard but not really getting anywhere with my weight loss goals. It seems when I'm making headway a bump comes along and I crash down. I really want to challenge myself, set a goal and push myself.

Right now before Christmas time there is lots of bake goods, dinners, parties and my ass is getting fatter. Well I don't think I can wait until New Years to make a resolution. I have today and I need to make a change.

So maybe I can change my patterns if I share it with those who pop in a read a little about our family. Maybe I'll feel some accountability if I write it out. Worth a try because I'm ready for change.

Now time for some goals:
1. Reevaluate what I eat. Start by tracking food so I can see what I'm eating when.
2. Exercise! I have been pretty good with this one but can get better. I'd like to commit myself to 3 workouts a week for at least an hour long.
3. Run a 5k in the spring 2012. Run on the alternate days I'm not doing my exercise program.
4. Water water water!! This is my new drink of choice.

Ok so here are some of my basic goals. I hope to make them more specific over the next week. I think that I'd like to set a goal with a timeline but I think I need to think about and sleep on it.

If you've had success with weight loss or have words of wisdom I'd love to hear it.

Once a Month Cooking are you crazy? Yup sure am

Hey remember me! The crafty Mom blogger. Ummm... don't think I can call myself that because it would imply that I have actually been blogging. So it's been a dog age since I've been able to sit and take a minute to blog but I'm hoping to make a change to that.


I wanted to share my recent project. It's not really crafty it's about food. With our little guy starting school it's been a struggle to have a meal ready quick enough so he can get to bed early enough without falling asleep in his dinner. I've been reading some different sites about once a week or month cooking. I found Once A Month Mom. I was floored at the variety of menus and the resources it provides. It has the menu with includes about 3 breakfast recipes, 3 lunch recipes and 6 dinner recipes. The idea is that you would eat each meal twice so you'd end up with about 24 meals. Other resources they have is a downloadable grocery list with a cell to put in how many people you are cooking with and it adjusts the portions. Recipes, labels for the frozen meals and instructions on how to use your time efficiently. I would strongly recommend looking through this site at all it has to offer.


Ok so as you can probably already  tell I decided that I was going to attempt this once a month cooking to see if I could save time and money. I'm a very frugal Mama and enjoy feeling like I'm stretching our family's dollar as far I we can. Just a quick side note about saving money, Mrs January is a fantastic site to assist you in that. I have been price matching my butt off and starting the couponing.


Anyways back on topic. Cooking, cooking and more cooking. Here were my thoughts before doing this.

• I can hunt down my groceries price match
• Buy everything in bulk when I could because we were cooking for 2 families
• All the majority of my cooking will be done during an off peak hydro time making some savings there
• I was going to do this with someone so we can share the work and make it fun
• This would be a one day cooking marathon saving me time during our hectic days and reduce that thought about ordering out when all is falling apart

So the cooking marathon was on. My Sister in-law was going to jump in on this adventure with me. We went through the menus and whole foods were for us. I enjoy making our food from scratch. Well most of it anyways. I went out with our grocery list getting everything reasonable priced. They used all foods that are in season which helped a lot. So most of the food was bought and this is what my counter looked like. Mind you this is missing a few things as well. After everything was bought we spent close to $500.00, that's including all the containers to package everything as well.






The night before our cooking marathon we did all our prep and then some. We made sure everything was all chopped up. I decided I was going to get a jump start by making up all the bread and tortillas. First time making tortillas and I'm going to do it again they were so delicious and really not that complicated. After about 6 hours of cleaning, chopping,  roasting 12 squash and baking up all the breads we were ready to get started.

The next day started very early for me as our kids don't know the meaning of the work sleep in. So my day started at 7am where I jumped right in. The day was filled with hard work but for the most part I enjoyed it. I really do enjoy cooking. It was also nice to have a kind of kid free day.

The day wrapped up for me at about 9:15pm. I didn't take any breaks because my eye was set on the goal of finishing in one day. I was exhausted by the end I didn't even take any pictures of our mound of food.

So my thoughts after my once a month cooking experience.

• I really enjoyed sitting down when everything was all done and feeling a weight being lifted from my shoulders. I don't need to think about what's for dinner every night.
• $500 for 2 families of 4 to eat about 24 meals for each family (which will have a good portion of leftovers) is pretty good in my books
• Instead of a one day grocery day I would have spread it out over a few weeks making sure to get things on sale
• I don't know if I'd do it with someone next time. It was hard for me not to do everything myself because I wanted the best price for everything, to push and get everything done and having someone else cook our food was a little different too

So in conclusion I feel like this is something I'd do again. I feel like our family could save as long as I was organized and didn't rush though the planning stage. Plus the cooking in of peak times for our hydro is the cheapest way to cook because we usually cook during the most expensive time. The feeling that we are organized for food for those crazy days is a fantastic feeling plus we had our first dinner tonight and it was AMAZING!!

Have you ever done freezer cooking? Do you have any tricks or tips? As a newbie I'd love to hear them.

Do you have a green thumb?

Well the crafts have been in low supply we still have been busy as can be.
I am not a gardener at all but have attempted a veggie garden that we have grown from seeds. The kiddies had lots of fun planting and watering our seeds. We could figure out why all our cucumber seedlings were dieing until little monkey showed me. He was ripping off the leaves and pretending to eat them saying they were cucumbers.... Just makes you laugh.
So far no veggies yet but everything is growing so well. Who knows maybe I am growing a green thumb.