Deceptive Me

Back in May, I ordered this new workout DVD set:

Once Cameron returned to Iraq after his two-week R&R stay with us, I worked out to it for about three weeks, but then both girls became sick and because of lack of sleep and therefore lack of energy, I stopped working out to it.

Well, now that Cameron's home, on his regular work schedule, both girls sleep through the night, and all of our vacation traveling is done, I started working out to this workout program again on Monday. 

I am happy to say that after 5 days on this program, I have already lost 5.5 pounds.  I am excited to continue with it and see even more results...though, believe me, some of the women on these DVDs look way too muscular for my liking and I do NOT intend on looking like them.  I just want to lose the fat, build lean muscle, and tone.  Good luck me!  :)

Today was a fun, slow day.  We slept in until...7:15!  Haha!  Yeah...that's about as late as the girls wanted to sleep in today.  :) 

We had some breakfast...

Odette is a very messy eater (much messier than Alegria was at this age!)...has been from the time we started feeding her solids.  Because of that, I have been trying to feed her myself as long as possible...but recently she's begun to get upset if I feed her.  She wants to feed herself.  So today, since we had nothing going on and I had all the time in the world for clean-up afterwards, I decided to let her feed herself some yogurt. 

She did pretty well, actually.  I got a couple of videos, but the darned video feature is still stumping me, so you'll have to settle for still shots:

When Odette went down for a nap, I went outside to check up on Daddy, who was working on the truck again, and on Alegria.

Alegria wanted to ride her trike, so I watched as she pedaled up and down the sidewalk.  I would only let her go as far as one or two houses down on her own and then have her come back.  She LOVES riding her tricycle!

Then she went back to "helping" Daddy:

On another topic, a friend of mine lent me a copy of a cookbook a couple of months ago.  I've tried a few recipes and a little over half have been successful...those less successful I may have to tweak with a slightly lower amount of "healthy" additives and work my way up to the full amount in order to redirect my children's palates a little more slowly.  The cookbook reads well and I really love the tips and tricks it teaches about how to get your children to eat more healthily and how to create better mealtimes with less of a struggle with picky eaters, so I bought myself a copy:

So after hanging out with Daddy and Alegria outside for a little while, I came in and while Odette continued to nap, I spent a couple of hours making pineapple, butternut squash, and sweet potato purees that I will be using in a few of the recipes.

For tomorrow's breakfast, I made these Applesauce Muffins (with butternut squash puree in them) that went from looking like this:

To this:

YUM!

Well...at last that's how they looked...  We tried them when they were warm out of the oven...our consensus?  The topping was delicious...the muffins themselves?  A little on the bland side...but I guess when you've been having Halloween candy for a few weeks, your sweet tooth is a little more picky!  We'll have to change that...  :)

In any case, Odette and I actually finished eating our muffin...but Alegria did not...and Daddy didn't even want to try one.  He knows what I'm putting in these new recipes and so the whole deception is not really working on him...and neither is it very appealing to him.  Oh well!  Now to tweak this one so that hopefully Daddy and Alegria will like them and then on to the next recipe!!!

The rest of the day there was football to be watched, toys to be played with, baths to be had...and our day was just perfect.  :)

Good night!

Veteran's Day 2011

I should NOT have left my sunglasses or hat on for this picture...or even left my sweater zipped up all the way to the top, either!  I look like such a dork!  :oP  Oh well.  Too late.  The pictures were taken and my hat and glasses and overall attire is horrendous, so please excuuuuuse meeeee!!!  In any case, this is just to show how we get all bundled up for our walks...yes, it may look sunny, but the wind makes it REALLY cold.  Lol!  As you can see, I have a wind cover on the stroller, which works really well to block the wind for both girls.  The two blankets on top are mostly to wrap the girls in if it's even colder than we anticipate...so far we haven't had to use them...but I like to be prepared!  (Yes, I could technically put them in the basket under the stroller, but they also helped insulate, too!)  And you can't see them very well, but both girls have their winter jackets and hats on.

When we got back from our walk, Cameron was working on his truck again:

So the girls and I stayed outside and hung out with him a little bit:

Once she plopped down to the ground, basically, Odette could no longer get back up, so she and I went inside and Alegria stayed outside and played for a little while longer while Daddy worked.

When Odette was down for a nap, I got ready and then finished preparing our hairbows that I had made yesterday night.  At first, I had put all of the bows on clips, but because the girls don't have as much hair as I do, the clips made the bows stick up on their heads more than I wanted, so I switched gears and made hairbands instead...the end result was much more to my liking:

Then it was time for us to go get our family pictures taken.  We got Odette up from her nap and got both girls dressed and went on our way.

Odette read books and played on the way (I know...Odette's shirt is a little big on her...they only had two of these red shirts left and both were size 3T, so for Odette, we used clothespins to pin the back during front shots and then put the clothespins on the front for back shots):



Alegria took a short nap:

At first, Odette was a little upset and cried, but eventually she warmed up to the photographer and we got some really good pictures! 

Finally, after our allotted time slot, the photographer gave each of the girls a lollipop for being so good and we left:

Me on the way home:

Back home, we watched some football and played.  Here are Daddy and Odette making an Alegria sandwich!

Alegria, Odette, and Big Bear:

We had a wonderful day today and are so very thankful to be able to have a brave Veteran as a husband and father. 

To all Veterans out there...thank you.

Busy Day!

Since tomorrow is Veteran's Day, there is no school tomorrow and the soldiers have tomorrow off, too, so we decided to have preschool on Wednesday and Thursday instead of on Wednesday and Friday..which meant a lot of running around for me this morning since I was hosting playgroup today. 

It wouldn't have been so bad...except last night as I was about to start making the dessert for playgroup (we all decided that the hostess will only provide drinks and desserts and we'll all pack our lunches), I realized that I had bought peanut butter cups for one of the treats...and Quinn is allergic to peanut butter!!!  I was stressed out so much that I was about to run to Walmart at midnight to get Rolos (this was the time I realized my mistake)!

Luckily, I instead went to bed and when I woke up at 3:50  (ten minutes before my alarm went off), I was more rested and was able to think clearly and plan my day accordingly...

I got up and made all of the Turkey treat parts that I could and then I also made the Pilgrim Hat treats, which came out cute!  These are fudge-striped shortbread cookies with large marshmallows dunked in milk chocolate as the top of the hat and yellow gel icing for the buckle:

By the time 7 o'clock rolled around, I had mostly finished everything I wanted to do as far as dusting, emptying the dishwasher, tidying up, folding laundry to put away, and working out.

I got the girls up, we went on our walk, and then as soon as we got back and I put the stroller away, we got in the car and drove Alegria to preschool.

Then it was a mad dash!

Odette and I went to the Dollar General.  On our way there I was silently praying that they would have the Rolos I needed so that I wouldn't have to drive all the way to Walmart!  Thank goodness my prayers were answered and they had something even better.  No, I didn't find the Rolos, but I found a caramel and chocolate cup!  The Rolos would have been a little small, but they would have worked, but the caramel cups were the exact same size as the peanut butter cups and worked perfectly for the Turkey treats!!!

As soon as we got home, I showered up and got ready.  As I was getting ready, Odette decided to wear one of my shoes:

Once I was ready, it was time for us to go pick Alegria up from preschool, so Odette and I went and got her and came back home.

As soon as we got home, I put a movie on for the girls and finished the Turkey treats...they came out great!  :)

These are two Oreo cookies with candy corn for the tail feathers and a tip of a candy corn for the beak.  The body of the Turkey is the caramel cup and the head is a Whopper.  I used white icing to "glue" everything together as well as to make the white part of the eyes.  I used blue gel icing for the eyes and sparkly orange gel icing for the legs.  Too cute!!!  :)

Once the treats were ready, I finished the last little things I had to get done before the ladies and children arrived, mainly clean the guest bathroom and sweep the living room and kitchen floors.

Everyone showed up, the kids played and then we all ate...and then the kids played some more and we moms kept chatting the afternoon away.  :)  As always, we had a great time!

After everyone left, I put Odette down for a much-needed nap.  Then Alegria and I played, colored, and just relaxed.  The house was a mess, but I was too tired to clean up right away, so I left it for later.

Daddy came home early from work and worked on his truck some more.  Alegria was outside "helping" him.

Odette woke up and she played and looked at the fish while I finally began tidying up the remnants of playgroup:

Daddy finished working on the truck for the day, he and Alegria came in, we had dinner, and then we all put our feet up after a busy day...Alegria took advantage and made a tent using Daddy's feet and her Daddy blanket!

Then it was bath time.  I bathed the girls, then Daddy dressed Odette and I dressed Alegria.  Alegria has beautiful curls!

And of course, what one does, the other has to do...so I had to get a profile picture of Odette, too!  She insisted and even posed!  Hahaha!  Odette's hair is mostly very straight, but it's also beginning to curl at the back!  :)

Odette: "Ok!  That's enough, Mommy!  Time for bed!"

Have a great night everyone!  :)