Spring break

We are on Spring break for 2 weeks starting this past Monday. 

  Since this is the 1st time in my life that I have been able to be home and enjoy spring break with the kids, I have been trying to do something each day.  Monday we had Amy's friend Carly over they played, roller skated, played ping pong, house, school, dress up and all kinds of stuff.  Finally took her home about 8:00 p.m..  Then Tuesday I had to work, boo.  Oh well, I have to admit I like the one day a week schedule.  Its nice to get out of the house and talk to adults. =)  The girls went to grandma and grandpas house.  Sounds like they had a fun day. 

Wednesday, we hooked up with Tawnya and headed to Knott's Berry Farm.  They have a season pass and so do we so it was nice to get to go for a few hours.  

As soon as we got there, Amy took Tawnya on Sidewinder and I watched the babies. This is Pay and Hannah waiting for them to get off the ride.

Next was the Red Barron.  Pay had never been on this ride, but since the big girls were going she wanted to go too.  I like how Tawnya put Pay with Amy and then...

 stuck Hannah in with some stranger!  HA! ;)

 Next, we headed to the race cars. Not sure of the name.  You'll have to visit Tawnya to see more pictures of this ride.

 The girls play so well together and poor sweet Payton lets Hannah bug her.

 Then we headed over to the Bus and Lucy's Tugboat.  

 Then it was off to the scrambler, Yep thats Hannah all by herself again.

 Because these two are inseparable.   Good thing Hannah doesn't mind.

 Carousel, I think its so boring, why do kids like it?

 Amy wishes this was a REAL horse!

 The log ride was the longest wait. I think it was about 15 minutes.  Probably cause it was SOOO HHHOOTT that everyone was hoping to get cooled off.

 The woodstock ride, is probably one of Hannah's favorites and by the way Amy is smiling I think she likes it too.

 Last ride of the day for Amy was the swings.  She loves it.  Then we met back up with Tawnya and the babies and headed home.  

Thanks for a fun filled day Silke girls!!  

Lets go again soon!

On to Thursday, I stayed home and did laundry and Amy went to Carly's house.  Looking forward to some more adventures next week.  Who wants to join us next week???

The Doctor's

Did you see it yesterday?  

The Doctors that is? 

 They had the contestants from Team Dr. Phil and Team Doctors on.  They have been on the 17 day diet for 51 days. (I think)  They have all lost a great amount of weight.  One guy was down 74 lbs (He was the largest of them all)  Then there was a lady who has lost 53 lbs in 51 days.  I believe she was 224 when she started and now weighs 171!!  Talk about inspiring.   They made me want to work even harder.  Exercise more and eat healthier!!  We walked a lot last night.  Even made me think about joining a gym.   (I went a week ago with Danielle and I was sore for several days after)  anyway, the jury is not out on that one, however, I am thinking about it.

Seriously people if you want to lose weigh and lose it fast go out and buy yourself this book!!  Costco had it for $13.00!  Well worth the money.

 Update on me. 

Are you ready for this??

Day 55 and I have lost 27.4lbs!

I think this is a great accomplishment and I am so proud of myself.   

New fines

Went for a little trip to Bevmo and picked us up a couple of treats. 

First treat: Skinny Girl Maragarita (waiting for the next camping trip to try it out.)

Second treat: Blue Cheese stuffed Green olives.  Verdict just okay the blue cheese tasted like olive oil and olive juice.  I think they would be better in a bloody mary or something.

Third Treat: Olive Bruschetta (Still thinking of a creative way to use it.  Any suggestions?)

Just a little bling

I bought these flip flops at Target the other day and while Hannah was napping, Amy and I added some bling to them.  Amy blinged her shoes and I did Hannahs.  

 What do you think?

While Amy and I were working, 

she says "mom, I can't believe I am mature enough to use the hot glue gun!"

Happy Spring!

Back to school

Thursday night was back to school night for Amy.  Can't believe that the year is almost over. 

 When we arrived she had all kinds of stuff on her desk to take home with us. 

Remember our diorama?  Yep, its hanging on the wall in her classroom. 

 This was something she wrote about herself.  

In it she says without my parents I would P-A-R-T-Y!!

 Then they had made these wanted signs.  

Amy with a mustache!! 

Thank you Mrs. Oliver for being such an amazing teacher! 

You have taught Amy so much and we are so thankful for you and so proud of our sweet Amy.

Couple of recipes

 Turkey Meatballs with Zucchini 

Sorry I don't have lots of pictures, its hard to cook and stop to take pictures. I get focused and all I can think about it cooking. Anyway, when I make spaghetti theses days I either use a spaghetti squash or zucchini instead of pasta.  The spaghetti squash has been a bit pricey so I settled on these mexican squash, basically its a zucchini.

Here we go:

First I washed the zucchini and sliced them fairly thin.  Then put a 1/2 cup of egg white substitute in a bowl and in a separate bowl 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, 1tbls of  garlic powder.  Dip each zucchini in the egg white and the cote it with the parmesan mixture and lay them in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.   Bake on 350 for 30 min.  or so until soft I flipped mine half way to get both sides browned.

For the Turkey Meatballs

Again no picture until the leftovers!  Sorry.  I will try harder next time. 

1 lb of ground Turkey

1/2 fiber one cereal (ground up to bread crumb consistency)

2 tbls flaxseed meal

1/4 c finely chopped onions

1/4 c Italian seasoning

1 c unsweetened almond milk

garlic powder, salt, pepper to taste

Using your hands mixed everything together in a bowl, then make your meatballs by rolling out the size of meat you want.  Add them to a prepared baking dish.

Bake on 350 for 1 hr. , then pour 1 jar of TJ's low carb marinara sauce over the meatballs and continuing cooking until the sauce is bubbly. 

Serve over the baked zucchini or spaghetti squash.

We had a salad on the side too.

Seriously, this was so yummy.

Low Cal and very healthy.

 This morning was a new and exciting thing too.  

Egg in a mug

Spray the inside of a large coffee cup

add:

1/2 cup of egg white substitute

2 tbls of taco meat (left over from kids tacos the other night)

2 tbls of low fat cheese or 1 wedge of laughing cow cheese

stir together and place in microwave.  Cook for 1 minute then stir and cook an additional 1-2 minutes depending on your microwave.  (mine took almost 3 minutes total to cook)
NOTE:  The mug handle is HOT!! Be careful.

Top with Salsa or in my case I poured a little Cholula over the top and eat!!
YUMMY and only like 116 calories, very little dishes.

Just Hannah

This kid, she kills me, she made this nice chair for herself the other day. 

Being the good mom that I am, I let her sit this way! LOL

Aunt Kelly had some extra dress up stuff for Hannah.  I guess she had bought too many gifts at Christmas time for her.  She had planned on returning it but the store closed.  Lucky for Hannah she scored some new play stuff for no reason.  No wonder they call Aunt Kelly, FAVORITE auntie Kelly!! (Or is it because she told them that is what her name is??)

Either way, she loves her new dress up clothes!!

Out with the old, in with the new

FENCE THAT IS!!!

We have been wanting to replace the rotting old fence in the front yard for along time now.  

This weekend we decided to just do it!

We headed to Lowe's and bought fencing and a new BBQ for Kent. (We recycled our others that were broken and had a nice chuck to put towards a new one).  Anyway, we came home and got started right away.

 No more fence.

 Then we rented this hole auger.  I tried to help Kent but let me tell you, I am no where even close to be strong enough to do this.  Some of the post had rotted out in the dirt.  So not only did they have to dig a hole, but they had to get through the old post stuck in the ground.  Good thing Rick was home and he came out to help!

 The it was time to cement the new poles in.  The girls got to help dad with the cement.

 Starting to look like a new fence.

 By now its pouring, do you think that stopped us?  Nope, we kept on working.  

 BTW, Amy took these pictures of us in the rain, screwing in the brackets.

 Insta- fence!!  I love it.  

What do you think???

Whats in your fridge?

I think last week some blogging friends posted what was in their fridge.  

I thought I would share with you what is in mine.

First, you can see I went shopping today, so we are well stocked. ;)

Flaxseed meal is a fairly new ingredient.  I started using this when I started the 17 day diet.  I put it in most foods I make and you can't even taste it.   Next to that you will see The Non Fat greek yogurt, another 17 day diet food.  The ones in the front are Kent's I don't care for that one, but the large container behind is plain non fat greek yogurt and I heart it!  Really yummy, add some berries and a packet of Truvia and life is good.

 This Avocado Salsa Verde from TJ's, oh my gosh FABULOUS!  I put it on my spinach salad and it makes my heart skip a beat!

 Kefir Milk, another 17 day diet food and I really like it.  I use it for smoothies in the morning, add a cup of your favorite fruit, cup of ice and a truvia packet to your blender and you will be a happy camper too.  I was at TJ's today and they didn't have the non fat plain Kefir milk, so I bought the strawberry, its higher in calories and fat, so I think I will try 1/2 c of the plain and 1/2 c of strawberry.  Don't want to mess with the diet.

 Laughlin cow cheese!  AMAZING,  I have made HG chick cordon blue 3 times now with it and my family LOVES it!!  I also made some stuffed jalapenos with it and they were delicious!!  Cut Jalapenos in half, remove seeds use 1 laughing cow light swiss for 3 small jalapenos, bake on 350 for 20-25 minutes and enjoy!  About 10 Calories each!!  Oh ya!

 Tonights dinner is Turkey chili, but the kids have not been liking the Turkey so much.  So I splurged and made it with hamburger, see that TJ cornbread in the back ground?  I made that for the kids too.  Kent and I shared a small sliced.  That is the BEST cornbread around.  Better then Marie Calendars!! No joke, it is!!

For those of you following my 17 day diet,

 I am on day 45 and I am DOWN 21.6 lbs!!! 

 YEP, did you read that 21.6 LBS!!!!  In a month and a half!!  

Please feel free to encourage me in the comment area, it is much appreciated.  

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.  ; )

Amy's lunch

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you.

This morning I made the girls green milk, sorry no picture.

Then I started making Amy's lunch and decided to add some green to it.

I put in a green apple and green olives, then I thought, hey I could make her mayo green too.  So I did. ;)

I also added her cookies and chips, I didn't make them green.

Hope you likes it at lunch today.

Maybe I will make dinner green too.  This was fun today! =)

wordless Wednesday - my babies

Princess Party

Look who is 3, Linkyn!!

We were invited to a princess party on Saturday.  It was so much fun.  I can't believe that Linkyn is 3 and that Hannah will soon be 3.  

Link got this very fun teeter-totter for her birthday and let me tell you the kids had more fun on this.

Now its Hannah and Link's turn.

I think someone might need this for her birthday in June.

Danielle, had fun stuff for the kids to do.  There was a gal painting faces, jump house, teeter-trotter, tons of yummy food and a whole desert table.  I should have taken a picture of it.  It was beautiful.  However, because of the diet I stayed far away from all that!

Hannah did not want her face painted, she did want her arm done.  Hope that doesn't mean there is a future in tattoos for this kid.

Cute dolphin she picked out, or did her sister pick it?

Pinata time.

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Linkyn, Happy Birthday to you!

Thanks Danielle and Neal for including us in the fun day and getting to celebrate sweet Links birthday with you guys.