cookies

*Lately I've been warming up the corn bag my mom made me a long time ago (for my endless tension headache last summer) right before bed. I'm always freezing as soon as I hit the covers and it's sooo great to have a nice, hot bag to warm me up. :)

*I got a giftcard to Kohl's for Christmas and I've been looking at pedometers. I figure since working out officially still is not even on the horizon, at least I could try and get that recommended 10,000 steps in each day. I don't need food intake or sleep cycle stuff, just the number of steps. I get all confused when I do research on the various ones because it seems like they all need to hook up to a Smartphone. I just want one that digitally displays my steps right on the bracelet.

*I made another batch of Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites tonight for the kids' snacks. This time I added 1/2 a cup almonds (finely chopped in the food processor). I love how healthy these things are AND that the kids like them.

*After this week's Bachelor, my #1 was Jade. However after a friend told me some super sketchy stuff about her background, she lost that spot right quick. I don't know who I want now. :)

star wars

*Friday night we had one of my nieces spend the night. I let them go into the donut shop in their PJ's in the morning and they were quite excited. :)

*Today was a big day for Cam. He and Chris hosted a Star Wars pizza party for some friends from church. Cam LOVED it!

Cam created a "menu" for the afternoon including things like, "Anakin apples" and, "Skywalker Salad".

The boys all brought their Lightsabers to "battle". After the party ended we overheard Cam telling the neighborhood boys, "You guys, we had an EPIC battle. There were 12 year old boys and a 14 year old boy! It was AWESOME!!" As a mom who, in the back of her mind, always worries about the friendship factor for my little guy, I LOVED hearing this. :)

*Kendall and I stayed away for the afternoon to let them have their time. After a nice lunch with my parents, we ran a few errands, including a stop at Starbucks. I sacrificially used my giftcard on an overpriced cake pop ;) But just look at this pic...how could she not be worth it?? So cute :)

*I got my first issue of Rachel Ray in the mail this past week (Christmas present). I made this recipe for homemade granola. I think it's super yummy. I'm planning on mixing it with the kids' Cheerios as a way to get some almonds in them (neither are big nut fans). I figure it's a good way to ease them into it since I'm not positive they'll love it by itself like I do.

*I've decided go through all the seasons of Gilmore Girls. I've seen many of the episodes, but not the entire series. I love the witty dialogue, the mother/daughter relationship, and the cute small town setting. :)

skechers

*Good news! Cam did MUCH better yesterday at Taekwando! He and Kendall even earned their white belt and were so excited. Chris took them and said he could tell Cam made a big effort to focus. We are so proud! :)

*I've been doing a better job of meal planning/prepping the past couple weeks. I've made a few things over the weekend so I can have them on hand when I sub. Last night we had turkey chili that was really good. The recipe had me puree the beans, which really helped my two non-bean eaters (Chris and Cam). :) I made a few changes (I detailed on my Pin), but I think this is a definite repeat. :)

*I'm saving The Bachelor this week for Chris to watch with me tonight. Jimmy Kimmel hosts, so I know he'll enjoy it more. I love watching it with Chris because he makes the funniest comments throughout, but sadly he usually won't even step near the room when I'm watching. Ha! :)

*I've been watching several health documentaries on Netflix. The common theme seems to be to stay away from meat and dairy. Meat I can obviously get on board with (me, anyway...I don't impose it on the family). I don't, however, think I could ever give up dairy.

*I had a gift card to Kohl's and decided to splurge on a pair of shoes. I bought this pair of Skechers  made with memory foam. They are SO comfortable and awesome to wear on days I'm on my feet subbing. Well worth the money!

good on the hiking talk

Today the kids had the day off from school. We decided to go back to the hike we enjoyed so much a few weeks ago.

The views were incredible.

Cam booked it up the mountain again, but I was quite impressed with how well Kendall did. There were just a few complaints regarding the steepness as we went along. :)

Cam REALLY had his heart set on continuing higher than we did last time, so at one point I went on further with him for a while before backtracking back down . Chris and Kendall headed down, but stopped along the way and made us a cute little rock sign. Cam just loved stumbling upon it a while later. :)

I gave Cam our hiking book when we got back so he could look up info on the hike we completed. He is now VERY into planning our next hike. He talks about where we'll go, how many hours it will take, the difficulty level, etc. Finally I had to put an end to the talking with, "I think I'm a little talked out on hiking for now, Cam". :) He obliged but not before planning when we would next pick up the conversation. :)

yoga pants

*Yesterday morning I spilled hot chocolate on my laptop. I think it's done. What a lame'o I am. :(

*Cameron has been into Pokeman cards for a while now. It's so cute to see how excited he gets with his friends "battling" and trading all the time. Kendall recently got into the game as well and they love to do their Pokeman thing. :)

*Karate (actually it's Tae Kwan Do) was yesterday. It went okay...but I had a truckload of mother guilt last night. Cam does not goof off at all, however he really struggles in paying attention. The moves he does are delayed a few seconds from the rest of the class simply because his mind is elsewhere. I talked to him about it after class. Although I was extremely gentle and kind in my words and tone of voice, it still brought him to tears. Not sure why I felt the need to say something RIGHT after class. And this was only his second class, for gosh sakes! Ugh. Keep your mouth shut, Kelly. :(

*I subbed a half day yesterday. I love half days because I feel like I don't miss anything since I still get to pick up the kids. :)

*I know I said I was going to take December off from working out...but...um...that didn't really happen. What DID happen was taking December and every day since then off. And I'll be completely honest, I don't have definite plans to go back soon. I guess I'm waiting for the motivation to return. :)

I just laughed when I saw this. Most moms (I'm guilty too) wear yoga pants to drop the kids off at school :)

*I like to have a show that I can watch if Chris has to work or wants to watch sports at night. I tend to start a show, watch several episodes, then quit for various reasons (usually it's too unrealistic or gets too dirty). I don't have any shows now, so I decided to try a documentary. We'll see how I like "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" :) Sidenote: Yes, Bachelor is super dumb and unrealistic. I guess that is my one exception. :) However in my defense, I end up fast forwarding half the show to get through said super dumb parts. :)

trains

*Over the weekend Chris saw a post on FB about a model train show in Anaheim. After church on Sunday, we decided  to make the drive. We only stayed a little while, but it was a fun outing on a rainy day. :)

*I think Cam was the most taken with the show. Kendall enjoyed it, but was more interested in what we had planned afterward, which was dinner at Chris' brother's house. Rebekah had a homemade pizza station for dinner and it was really yummy. She used Trader Joe's pizza crusts. I have had friends tell me how easy and yummy they are. After the other night, I'm ready to buy some!

*Some interesting questions Cameron has posed while in the car lately:

1. Is Mount Everest taller than a tornado?

2. What if there was no sky?

3. How does your body know that it is married so it's okay to have a baby? 

*I'm watching The Bachelor this season. I'm SOO ready to move past these first few weeks of super dumb and cheesy dates (tractors and zombies??). :) 

karate

*Yesterday my mom, sister, and I met for breakfast. I had planned on running a few errands afterward before school pick-up. However, by the time we looked at our watches, we had been talking for nearly three hours! I'm not sure why this is the first time we have done this seeing as Susan is only here for a year!! :)

*We recently got a promotional postcard for a new Karate place just down the road. We decided to try it since the commitment was just for a month. The kids really liked it and I LOVED it for Cameron. The two main goals I would have for him would be 1. Gain self confidence 2. Learn how to not become emotional when addressed in a stern manner  (as in the firm, strict way the Karate teachers handle kids). Both of these were addressed in just this first class, which was awesome. I think we'll just stick to the month for Kendall, but hopefully we can make it work long term for Cam (and hopefully he likes it enough to be open to it).

*Today we celebrated Sierra's (my niece) birthday at the park. The kids ran around non-stop except for the short time they sat still for lunch. :)

*Chris' cousin sent him this picture I hadn't seen from our time in Reno last summer. What a fun, summer pic of my little girl!

*A local bakery has a cake of the month and for some reason, this month's cake looks amazing despite it containing nuts and not being chocolate! I might have to go get myself a piece.

-white cake with caramel pecan cream cheese frosting-

Sidenote: They actually made our wedding cake so I know their cakes are wonderful!!

new recipe

The only New Year's resolution/goal I made was to vary our meals more. I'll often post about different recipes I've tried, however new meal attempts are the minority rather than the majority around here. We tend to have the same things a lot (burritos are VERY, VERY common).

Tonight I tried a new recipe that, despite taking a little longer to prepare, was well worth it. Chris gave it a 9 and both kids really liked it. The great part was that I made it this past weekend and stuck it in the freezer, making it such an easy dinner for us tonight. :)

Three Cheese Zucchini Stuffed Lasagna Rolls

I have heard a lot of good things about the Skinnytaste blog and this definitely made me excited to try another one of her healthy recipes. :)

hiking and the spiralizer

Yesterday we decided to have some last vacation fun and went on a Palm Springs hike that a friend of mine had recommended. The kids had a blast and I couldn't believe how into it Cam was. I had to keep yelling for him to stop and wait for us as he was practically running up the mountain. :) The weather was perfect and you can see how much they enjoyed it in this quick video...

Cam was super disappointed when we reached our stopping point because he wanted to keep going. I had not packed enough water for that nor did I think Kendall could go much further. Hopefully we'll make it back there soon (especially since he has asked when we will return about 20 times!)

Afterward they were excited to use their McDonald's Christmas giftcards for a Happy Meal lunch. Thanks, Grandma W.!

Last night I tried something new for dinner, zucchini "pasta" (using the Spiralizer I got for Christmas).  Chris said it was, "much better than I had thought it would be". What I love about it was how super duper easy it was! I couldn't believe it! Plus you don't have to cook the "pasta". You spend 30 seconds making it and you are done! I will be using it a lot!!! Sidenote: I did not attempt it with the kids. They'll be next. :) 

Here is a pic of what the noddles looked like. I wouldn't recommend the sauce I tried, but you get the idea of what the pasta looks like. :)

christmas #2

Our "2nd Christmas" concluded a few days ago and we had a wonderful time with Chris' family. Here were some fun parts...

*Fun time with cousins and lots of it. :) Here the kids are all working on their new Lego sets.

Dress up time :)

Grandma teaching the kids a new card game. :)

 *Cam loves his cousins on both sides, but I think sometimes he needs a little male time. :) Craig must have challenged him to 20 games of Solitaire while we were there. Cam loved every single minute. :)

 *Highlights of our trips are always the bonfires. Since it was VERY cold, we decided to do it during the day. We also had our friends, Matt and Jana, and their kids join us. They are pretty much an extension of the family :)

*Pictures I didn't get:

-opening presents

-relaxing pedicures Chris' mom treated Rebekah and I to

-bowling with the whole family

-lots of incredibly delicious food

*For some reason the kids have tomorrow off from school, so we have one more fun day until reality sets in. :)