When you have Hamberger's you make Happy Meals!

Jason’s family has a really neat tradition. Every child who is born in the family has his/her picture taken on their 3 month, 3 week and 3 day birthday. All of Jason’s aunt’s and uncles, his cousins and all his cousins kids take a picture on this day wearing the same outfit. (There is one for the girls and one for the boys). Today was Kalea’s 3-3-3. So we headed over to Grammies to take the pictures.

The little dress she is wearing is 66 years old and has had 18 of her relatives wear it on the same day of their lives. Pretty cool!

Here is Alex’s for comparison:

Alex has started to occasionally pick things out he wants to wear. It is usually always picture worthy!

For instance the other day he saw his shoes laying on the floor, he picked them up took them to daddy and waited patiently (this doesn’t usually happen) for them both to be put on him. He walked around the house saying “bye bye” for the Longest time.

Why is this so interesting you ask? He was only wearing his diaper…

He also picked out a shirt the other day.

Did I mention it was his daddy’s shirt?

Crazy kid, I think he gets it from Jason 😉

One thing is certain though:

This little girl always looks good! =)

We are!

Where are our special teams?

Go BUCKS!

Alex is talking!!! We went on vacation last week and he changed so much in that time… The biggest is of course he says thing other than “uh uh uh uuuuuuuh” 🙂

He says Hello (Hehwoah?) and usually with his hand, remote, rice cake, Grilled cheese sandwich or what ever is handy up to his ear like a phone.

Bye-bye – with arm motions 😛

Uppa (Up) he also has a variation of this that either means “open” (oppa) or “help” (elppa)

More (he sounds like a seagull) ” More, more, more”

No more – the other day he saw Gramp’s plate was empty so he picked it up and said “no mo” then took it to the kitchen and said “mo mo mo” :-p

He also says Kalea… or rather “Eyea”

He will point to your eyes  and say Eye.

Lately he has also been saying  “Oh boy!” when you mention something about him getting food or going bye bye to grammies/grandma’s

And of course dadda and mumum.

And he as also said (though only once) “I Duv you!”. Totally made my heart melt!

He is a bundle of energy! Never stops moving, ever. Unless he is confined in his high chair and eating, or sleeping. And the child is like a bottomless pit! I think he would eat as much as we do if I would let him!

He loves to “drive” he will take the keys from your hand and put them right at the ignition. When I put them in the car I tell him to go climb into his seat while I put Kalea in. Sometimes he does, but usually he crawls into the front and starts turning all the dials, holding on the the wheel and going vrrrroooom vrrroooom till I get around to the other side!

He gives hugs and kisses, and holds hands with Kalea. (ADORABLE btw)

He loves to play and wrestle with Jasper, and Jasper is great about letting him do what he wants!

He is learning where his and our eyes, ears, and nose are. He is also very proud of his belly button, and would like to find yours if you let him 🙂

We love watching him grasp new concepts. (like putting No and More together in a way that makes sense)

He likes to make things like blenders, trucks, sweepers, blow-dryers make the “vroooom” noise.

And he likes to sing. It is the sweetest sound in the world. Usually when he is getting sleepy or mellowed out you can hear him singing from where ever he is.

He is also really understanding what we say. If you tell him we are going to see Grandma or Grammie, he immediately will perk up and get a huge grin on his face!

We love this little dude!

Trying some new chicken recipes for our healthier eating challenge.  Now granted, I haven’t actually had the meals yet (though I tasted the sauces) I just prepared them. But wanted to tell you about it before I forgot.

Cheap Part: I got bone in/skin on Chicken Breast. On sale total spent was $7.50. After I de-skinned and de-boned the chicken (taking off extra fat where I could) I got enough for 5-6 servings of Chicken breast.  (Not bad) Plus I saved and tossed in the freezer all of the bones and the meat that was left on them. This will get used in the coming months for chicken broth for a chicken soup. Mmmmmm.

Fast part: It took an hour to prep the chicken and dividing it into the serving sizes I wanted and mix together the marinades. I put each chicken breast in a ziploc sandwich baggie.  Each will have their own marinade. It was an hour of my life now after the kids went to bed, and will make suppers in the future, super fast. (Grab a baggie, thaw, grill – serve!) Like no thought whatsoever!

Good part: Here are the recipe’s I used.

Mustard lemon Chicken (Enough for 2 chicken breasts)

1 Tbsp. prepared mustard

1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. paprika

Chicken Teryaki (We love this, I amended my favorite recipe for this to make it a bit healthier. It is slightly zippier, but still pretty good!)

2 TBS  Bragg’s Liquid Aminos

1 Packet of Truvia (Stevia natural no calorie sweetener)

1/2 TBS Red Wine Vinegar

Small scoop of minced Garlic

Ginger to taste.

Again does enough for 2 Chicken Breasts.

I have to say I am pretty impressed with my husband, he has been doing great at our new eating habits, and quite frankly I have been having a lot of fun being creative!

Allow me to post a bit about my adorable little sweet cheeks.

Loving those dimples!!!

She is now 3 months old already and I call her my little Angel baby. She is soooo good.

She goes to bed about 9-930 and wakes up at 630. Occasionally 430. (yes she does in fact sleep through the night!)

She takes 2-3 longer naps during the day and an occasional cat nap

She sits up Really well in her Bumbo seat and walker. She will sit in there for up to 20 minutes at a time. Just looking around smiling and messing with whatever little toy is within her reach.

She is quite the little lady, and HATES having a messy diaper. If she fusses you can usually guess she needs changed then she is her happy smiling self again.

She is peaceful and quite most of the time, and if you pay her any attention at all she will immediately reward you with the most beautiful  dimpled smile!

She has won the heart of her big brother too! Alex loves her dearly and every morning has to give her a “kiss” (laying his cheek on her). Last night she was fussing while I was changing her diaper, Alex looked at her then started to gently (really gently) rub her cheeks like he was wiping away tears. It melted my heart! He also likes to share his toys with her.

I have a feeling they are going to be best buds!

She will lay on the floor and play by herself. If she gets to tired she just falls asleep.

I can lay her down awake with her binky and her “puppy” and she will put herself to sleep.

Oh yes, and in case you were wondering from the first pic, her hair is in fact RED! I don’t know if it will stay, but it is a really pretty color. Her eyes were Navy at first but are turning darker and I think will be either dark brown like her daddy’s or hazel.

I am loving getting to know her sweet little personality a little more every day!

So you know when you just reach the breaking point. That point where you see numbers that you have never seen, and never wanted to see… Yeah, um… 3 (wonderful) years of marriage and 2 (amazing, wouldn’t trade them for all the lower numbers in the world) kids later, and we are there.  For the next 42 days I am trying to cook better. A LOT better. Jason is following a specific diet plan (blah blah blah, basically it is low fat meats and veggies). I am following it somewhat ish as well. But not totally since I am still nursing and shouldn’t really be going on a major diet till I am done 🙁 Since the types of food can be somewhat repetitive, I am attempting to get creative.  Here are some of the meals we have had so far. (I am going to try and post the yummiest recipes)

1. Shrimp and Spinach Salad

Boil :  water (amount will vary depending on how much shrimp you are using), 2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar, 3 shakes of Mrs Dash (original).

Once that has boiled dump in pre-cooked deveined shrimp.

Bring to a boil again.

Remove Shrimp and some of the broth and cool in refrigerator. When you are ready to eat toss the shrimp and the broth (which acts like dressing) over a spinach Salad.

2.  Chicken and Broccoli.

So nothing too fancy here, but J made it for a quick lunch. Grilled chicken (already cooked and in freezer for ease at time of eating) and a bunch of broccoli cut up. Put in a microwave safe bowl with a little bit of water in the bottom. Sprinkle McCormick’s “Soul Food” seasoning over all. Microwave till Broccoli is steamed and chicken is hot.

I like how a little steaming makes the broccoli a really yummy green!

3. Chicken/Tomatoes

Saute chicken in Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (it is like a healthy Soy Sauce) and a little water till cooked.

While chicken is cooking dice up a tomatoes (I used 2 large slicing tomatoes for the 3 of us) and marinate in:

1 tsp Minced Garlic

2-3 Tbls Balsamic Vinegar

2 Shakes Rosemary

2 Shakes Garlic/Pepper

Pinch of dried cilantro

Shake of Basil and Oregano

When Chicken is cooked dump in Tomato mixture and simmer till tomatoes are all hot.

Serve over Brown rice.