peelosophy

John asked me last week if he could order a gift for Emma… he asked because I’m doing our finances right now.   I didn’t ask what it was, but I honestly assumed it was going to be some gadget, maybe a Princess Lea something, a Woot T-Shirt, something along those lines.

I was totally surprised when we received this sweet little package from humbleBea.com .  It included two onesies, one short sleeve one and one long sleeve, a matching flower pin and these super sweet little booties.   I love love love the colors and those booties – I could eat them they are so sweet.  All from Daddy – Emma is SO lucky to have John as a Dad.

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For a background on our smoothie adventures you can click here, or search the site for “smoothies”.

I don’t think I would call this one a smoothie, but a smooth drink maybe.  I tweeked the recipe a little so I included the original recipe as well as my revisions.

The kids loved it and said I needed to “keep bananas and peanut butter around all the time so we can always make this one”.

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I’ve had lots of nesting desires the last couple weeks – but really nowhere to nest since Emma doesn’t have a room right now.  So my urges have been put to good use in closets, friend’s basements, drawers and lots of to-do lists.

One of my favorite friends and blogs is Cary’s blog, I’ve Got a List for That.  It’s amazing to me how much I learn from her lists, from what to buy at Whole Foods to learning about her kids.  And I am always so impressed how diligent she is about blogging.  Anyways, I wanted to make a list of the things I want/need for Emma, it’s all in my head now and when the time comes I know it will have left my brain.

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For a background on our smoothie adventures you can click here, or search the site for “smoothies”.

I have never used a fresh pomegranate for anything before, so that was an adventure within itself.  The kids thought the inside was cool/weird too.  It’s fun to have the kids help put all the fruit in and learn along with me.  It also helps them be more “invested” in the creation and they are more willing to try it.

This smoothie recipes came from the HealthMaster book that came with my HealthMaster and got great reviews from my kids.

The thing that is hard with this recipe and some others that we have tried, is that while pomegranates are in season right now, kiwis are not.  So I think I bought 1 kiwi for  $1.50 just for this recipe.

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John suggested I take JJ out to lunch when the other boys are at Kids Day Out on Wednesdays.  I don’t know if it’s because he is the oldest or because he has always been SO independent, but I feel like he never “needs” me as much as the other boys.  And he usually has a play date with Scott over here or over at his house on Wednesdays , so I didn’t know how hot he would be with the idea of hanging out with mom.

I told him a couple of days before and when i picked him up on Wednesday from school, he asked excitedly if today was the day for our “special lunch”.  I was glad he was excited.  I took him to Carl’s Drive-In, which he has never eaten at the restaurant but we have had take-out several times.  For those that don’t know, Carl’s is just a s”stool” restaurant, you walk in either door and there is just counter seating and you can watch them cook your food.

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I didn’t post last week, but I did plan my menus.  The only thing new I tried, that I would pass on would be the Cheesy Beef and Rice Casserole which we used in burritos.

This week,  I’m starting and ending the week with new recipes, so I’ll let you know how those turn out.  I did finally find a pizza sauce recipe that John and I both like, although it’s a bit spicy.  So you can check that out on Friday too.

For more menu ideas, go to orgjunkie.com!

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My mom gave me a juicer for an early Christmas present. She called and asked if I would be interested in getting it first, which I really appreciated since it is another “small” appliance that I would have to find cabinet space to store it.

She wanted to get me Montel’s HealthMaster. Now, my parent’s are very smart people,  but they can also be suckers for infomercials. I think that it is a recessive gene actually, because I have succumb to infomercials or QVC more than once in my life.  Side note: Growing up we had every AS Seen on TV gadget imaginable…we went to school with rolling rulers, had so much food dehydrated that we needed a food “rehydrator”, ginsu knives, you name it – we had it.

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Transitions for the kids always make me nervous and then it turns out to be no big deal.  Transitions meaning from bottle to sippy cup, from two naps to one nap, potty-training, etc.

Right now, we are going cold turkey with George’s pacifier.  He only takes one for nap and bedtime but JJ and Henry never used one,  so I don’t really know how to master this transition. George only started to use one when he turned one-year-old, a little weird, but all his teeth came in at once and it seemed to help him in his state of misery.

So here we are 6 weeks before Emma is to be born and I am thinking the time is now for the pacifier to go.  Although, it may not be enough time before she is born to enter this transition with him, I’m calling it now. We are trying it for a week and if it’s a fluke, then we’ll try again in February.

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