My sisters new hubby Trent, they married last May during our Vegas trip, is a Dentist, his Dad is a Dentist, their friends are Dentists...you get the picture. Well after Hayden's last dental appointment where we were told she needs an expander glued in to try and correct her crossbite, to the tune of about $800, I called up my brother in law for a second opinion. Trent talked to his Dad who just happened to have a friend and fellow Dentist visiting. They all got to talking about Hayden at dinner, looking at pictures of her bite and in a crazy twist of fate this Dentist friend happens to have a son who is also a Dentist...and he has a practice about 10 minutes from our house LOL. I was instructed to take Haddie over to see this Dentist, so I did. He has agreed to do the work for half the price as a friend of the family discount...pretty awesome! Jericho came with us to see the new Dentist today, time for impressions to be made.
I didn't know how Hayden would take it, I tried to explain that she just had to sit very still with this putty type stuff in her mouth...I played up that there would be NO shots, I think that really helped LOL.
Haddie with her game face on...she wasn't scared but very unsure which makes her look pretty darn serious Hahaha,
Top impression first...thumbs up for Mom.
Then the bottom, looking a little funny there Hayden. She did so great...sat totally still until the stuff hardened we didn't hear a peep out of her. I was pretty impressed, the lady doing the impressions was even more impressed I think LOL. She told Hayden she wished all their kid patients were as big a rock stars as she is, this made Haddie beam. The Dentist wants to wait anther 6-9 months on the expander though, he is a little worried of doing some damage to her molars roots, since they will be attaching to those teeth. He wants to let the roots have a bit longer to get fully in and strong, so we will probably have to go back and do this whole process again next year...but at least we know Hayden will do fine.
When we got home it was time for lunch and I made the kids a special treat to celebrate Hayden doing such a fabulous job. These are the best muffins I have made from Skinny Taste...for sure my go to now! Chocolate chocolate chip banana...yummy!
Ingredients:
3 1/2 ripe medium bananas, mashed 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce 1 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 3/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 2 tbsp butter, softened 1/3 cup sugar 2 large egg whites 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 cup chocolate chips 2 tbsp confectioners sugar (optional...for glaze, we skipped this part)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°. Line a muffin tin with 12 liners.
In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add egg whites, bananas, apple sauce, vanilla, and beat at medium speed until thick. Scrape down sides of the bowl.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt with a wire whisk.
Add flour mixture to bananas, then blend at low speed until combined; do not over mix.
Fold in chocolate chips and pour batter into muffin tins.
Bake on the center rack for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
If making the glaze, combine confectioner's sugar and 1/4 to 1/2 tsp water to make a glaze. Drizzle over each muffin.
1 muffin is 156 calories and 4 grams of fat...without the glaze. I think next time I will cut the sugar in half, and maybe the butter too...just seems with all the banana, applesauce, cocoa powder and chocolate chips you can probably cut back on those things without noticing.
These were so good, super moist and fluffy, when I ate one fresh out of the over I thought for a second they weren't cooked all the way because they were so moist. They were still great cooled...not that I ate two today or anything ;)
I am super glad these turned out, because tonight's dinner did not...boo.
It is bound to happen, you can't love everything, we have run into only a couple Skinny Taste recipes that we didn't like...over the almost 6 months that we have been making them. Tonight's was one of them...though it may be one we will try again with a couple tweaks.
Crock pot Kalua pig. Looks good right...too bad I couldn't even eat half of this, it was WAY too salty for us. Now if you usually like salt on your food you may not mind, Jason took the left overs to work to give away, and lots of the guys loved it. The meat came out amazing...we will probably try it again, just with a lot less salt. We are that strange family that doesn't put salt in anything though...we don't even own a salt shaker LOL, so this just tasted like a salty mess...the boys didn't even like it Hehehe.
Ingredients:
3 lb pork shoulder blade roast, lean, all fat removed 1 tbsp liquid mesquite smoke 1 tbsp coarse sea salt
Directions:
Place pork in the crock pot and stab it all over with the tip of a knife.
Rub sea salt all over pork. Drizzle the liquid smoke all over and set crock pot to low; cook about 16 hours.
Remove from crock pot and place on a large platter. Remove any fat you may have missed and shred pork with two forks. Discard liquid reserving a little as needed to keep pork moist.
4oz 160 calories and 7 grams of fat.
Dinner wasn't the only mishap tonight. Jericho cut his finger on a metal can...which ended up needing an ER trip, wasn't I just talking about how surprised I was that my wild little man hasn't injured himself a lot more LOL. It was a pretty deep cut, that even after 20 minutes of pressure just wouldn't stop bleeding. Thank goodness Jason was here...not only to take Jericho to the ER while I stayed home with everyone else, but he is such a calming presence. I wasn't freaking out, Jericho wasn't freaking out...he actually didn't even cry throughout the whole ordeal...little stud muffin. I love that Jason can remain calm and help keep me calm too, he is awesome to have around in an emergency.
Every time we tried to remove pressure, after the first 10 minutes, with in a couple seconds it would be dripping fast again.
Silly boy.
I think our medical kit needs a little updating...couldn't find proper tape so scotch had to do.
Trying to wrap him up so he could make it to the urgent care without making a mess.
A pic from the ER...looks like he will be getting some "glue" to close the cut. The Doc said the cut was pretty deep, if it had been in another area he probably would have gave it a stitch or two, but where it was worked great for the glue. Jericho never cried during the whole thing, and he was so still and patient. He is a rock star too! We didn't know what to think...when our normal Tasmanian Devil is all sedate we worry just a little LOL.
The walking wounded...Pineapple can 1, Jericho 0 LOL.
What an end to February whew.
My gallery wall needed something other than canvas, so I made another sign. I saw this saying on Pinterest a long time ago and fell in love with it. I always planned to incorporate it somehow. I truly believe the sentiment, and really try to keep this in mind...especially on those days when my kids have me near the end of my rope LOL.
"Enjoy the little things in life...one day you will look back and realize they were the big things."
When we put the new wood floors in the house I kept back some scrap pieces for just these types of projects. Jason cut the wood to size and made these bracket things at work to hold the wood together, I'm sure he could have found them in a store...but I think he loves having something to do at work when it is slow LOL.
I painted the base grey, then used my fave green/blue/grey color for the letters.
I didn't have any stencils, so I just free handed it...so it is not perfect, but it'll do.
Of course I bugged him until he hung it up right this minute LOL. Thanks Babe!
Yikes...my wall is almost complete. I still have a little more space to fill on the right side, but not much...what will I do when I run out of room?!?!
So I forgot to update after my 30 day workout challenge. I did complete the whole thing...and only 1 day behind schedule, go me. I posted my before stats and pictureshere. I'm a little late but here is some after info. I forgot to take measurements again, but I did lose ONE whole pound over the 31 days...slow down LOL. I didn't take after swimsuit pics, but I did get a couple new pairs of jeans from my sister (maybe some of that cargo guilt got to her ;) ) I thought I was going to be in a 6 easy, maybe a 4, these are a 3/4!!! I was so happily surprised. My awesome Sis also sent me a pair of 27's which fit great too. YAY!! No more saggy butt jeans in public Hahaha.
Bug took these pics...not too shabby eh?!
We haven't been out to eat in forever, so while we were out and about running a ton of errands we stopped for lunch at Applebee's. The kiddos were on their best behavior, I just love that they almost always make us beam with pride...most servers see my crew coming and cringe, my kids almost always change their thinking.
We had to stop at Target...more clothes storage for the kids. They loved the colored ones, I'm going to love stuff not fall off their shelves any more.
Silly Bug...moments after another mood swing, a ride brought her around enough to make our way out of the store without a melt down. I may have looked like a strange parent letting my kid ride on the cart this way...but I would have looked worse dragging a screaming red head out of the store if I hadn't. Pick your battles, right? LOL.
Grocery store stop too. It is sad to admit, but I haven't had such a busy day in weeks LOL. This is one of those times I get a little more excited about all the kids going to school this fall.
The munchkins were very excited to give Gangster the new bed and bone we got for him. He LOVES LOVES LOVES the bed, doesn't give a crap about the bone Hahahaha!
I saw this idea on Pinterest. Baskets, with holes on all sides so water can escape and air can circulate, strung up high in the shower as storage for toys, shampoo, soap, wash cloths whatever. You are supposed to use tension wire...which we didn't have so we will need to rework this when we get some, but I think it works perfectly.
Homemade Skinny lavash flatbread pizza again...you can find the recipe up on my cooking sections. This has become a weekly staple here, love it! Tonight for some reason Hayden designed Lily's flower pizza for Lily and in return Bug made the smiley face pizza for Hayden.
A little kid funny for today.
Lily as Jericho is jumping on her.... "Owe Jericho my tenders"
LOL thanks Kung Fu Panda. Now how do I tell her she doesn't have "tenders"? My canvas collection grew a little more today. I got a great deal, just $20 each shipped, so Jason lifted the canvas freeze for these 3.
Hayden, Lily and Jericho did a little shopping with me today after we dropped Xan off at speech class. You know you don't get out much when you can lose track of time in Rite Aide of all places, that is just sad LOL.
Funny Xander story to share... Everyone has been potty trained for quite a while, however we still have a few that sometimes cut it close...or too close. Today was a too close day for Xander. He came out of the bathroom as he was getting his pants put back on...because none of them understand that you should get yourself redressed in the bathroom, I couldn't help but notice his underwear were missing so I asked him. He said "I had a little potty accident, but it's OK Mom, my underwear saved my pants...that's your underwears job, to save your pants right Mom?" Jason and I had to turn away so he wouldn't see us laughing.
We tried out one of the appetizers on Skinny Taste today...I can't tell you the last time I had cheese sticks. YUM!
Skinny baked mozzarella sticks...pretty tasty for 87 calories and 5 grams of fat for 2. Which honestly still seems a touch high, makes me cringe to think how bad the not skinny ones are...yikes. Just a quick heads up...you have to cut the cheese sticks in half and then put them in the freezer until frozen before you make this. I almost missed that part and would have had a mess on my hands.
Cut cheese in half to give you 24 pieces. Place cheese in the freezer until cheese is frozen.
In small bowl, whisk the egg. Place the flour on another small dish.
In separate bowl, combine bread crumbs, panko, parmesan cheese and dried parsley.
Dip the frozen sticks in flour, shaking off excess, then into the egg, then coat with the crumbs.
Repeat this process with the remaining cheese placing them on a tray with wax paper. Place cheese back into the freezer until ready to bake (this is a must or they will melt before the crumbs get golden).
When ready to bake preheat oven to 400° F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly spray with oil.
Place frozen cheese sticks on baking sheet. Spray the tops of the mozzarella sticks with a little more oil and bake in the bottom third of your oven until crisp, about 4 to 5 minutes.
Turn and bake an additional 4 - 5 minutes watching them closely so they don't melt.
Makes 24 pieces.
* There will be extra crumbs and flour after breading, they have been deducted them from the nutritional info.
We served these with our fave Skinny BLT avocado sammie. It was so good, Jason and I only got 4 pieces each, our four chow hounds ate the rest, we could have easily doubled this LOL.
The kiddos wanted to have another sleep over in the boys room tonight. We heard them up playing for a little while after bedtime, but didn't expect to find this during our before bed check.
Jericho seems to be the only smart one...he actually made it to his bed. Xander was on a pile of blankets on the floor.
The girls were passed out under the boys beds. Silly kids. Jason had a fun time getting everyone carried back to their beds...it was pretty funny watching them be pulled one by one out from under the bed.
Soccer is going a little better, Xander stayed with it for the 90 minutes today...though I may have bribed him with time on his tablet LOL. Haddie is doing really great...and Lily surprises us with how much she works at it.
I had to come solo today, so this little Tasmanian Devil was all mine to keep up with. Needless to say, I didn't get to sit and watch the trio play, like at all LOL.
Cute, lovable, joyful, adorable, funny...little terror, and I am so fortunate that he is all mine :)
You can tell my kids are getting older, and I am getting braver. After taking them solo to soccer, I even took them solo to the grocery store...WHAT, that's right check me out! I had to take a picture just to prove it LOL. Don't mind the grumpy Bug...she is kinda back in a mood swing, neck snapping fast mood swing, stage again. Good times!
My kids were being so good in the craft room coloring, they were getting along so well...and, this should have been a red flag, they were being super quiet. I finally go to say Hi and see what beautiful pictures they have been coloring for me. I find all these "posters" that they have made and hung up with glue stick glue. At least it should clean off pretty easy...I hope.
They were so proud of their works of art.
The boys put this puzzle together twice, way to go guys...see breaking things is not the only fun in life, constructing also has it's fun.
