Just genius...

Coolest cooler I've ever seen....

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

I purchased a new cookbook just before the holidays -Double Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld.

(Photo courtesy of Google images)

I made all of Aidan's baby food when he was a baby and am doing the same for Lucas. It is always a challenge getting enough vegetables in - especially at Aidan's age now. So this cookbook has easy recipes that include purees of vegetables in each recipe. The idea is that you are hiding at least a serving of vegetables in each recipe and you don't even know they are there. I love it! I'm already making the purees for Lucas' food, so I just make a few more to put in our meals. I know a lot of mom's criticize this idea - they say you shouldn't have to hide veggys, that kids should HAVE to eat them and learn to like them...well you go ahead and try to have that fight with my 3 year old and then we'll talk!

Anyway, the recipes range from breakfast, lunches, dinners and desserts...so here is the dessert I made tonight - it was so good and it had squash in it and you would never have known!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
1 1/2 Cups reduced fat honey graham cracker crumbs
3 T margarine or butter
2 C nonfat (skim) milk
1/4 cornstarch
1/3 C sugar, plus 3 tablespoons
1/4 t salt
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 T vanilla extract
1/2 C yellow squash puree
1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 C peanut butter creamy
2 T shaved chocolate or chopped peanuts to garnish (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350. combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Pour into 9 inch pie plate and press crumb mixture in sides of the plate to form an even crust. Bake for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.

2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, whisk together milk, cornstarch, 1/3 C of sugar, salt, egg and egg white. Stir occasionally. When the mixture begins to thicken stir constantly to avoid lumps. Turn off the heat when mixture comes to a boil and has reached pudding consistency.

3. Add vanilla and squash to puree. Pour half of the mixture into a medium bowl. Make the peanut butter layer by adding the remaining 3 T of sugar and the peanut butter to one half of the mixture and stirring to incorporate. Add the cocoa powder to the other half of the mixture to make the chocolate layer.

4. Pour the chocolate mixture into the pie crust, then top with the peanut layer. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Enjoy!

Cold January Days...

What do you do on cold January days when it just isn't fun to go outside? Here is a glimpse of what we've been up to....

Lucas LOVES his little jumper - he's hilarious in it!

Grammy is in town helping me since I can't lift Lucas at all right now...she and Aidan have built some pretty elaborate train tracks.

Kylie is still coming every Wednesday to help out - she's been such a blessing and clearly Lucas and Aidan adore her!

FINALLY...Aidan likes playing with Lucas. Up until recently he has been pretty indifferent. Lucas just laughs at everything Aidan does and Aidan is starting to think it is pretty cool. Tonight he said to me "why does Lucas have to go to bed so early? I want him to stay up!"

Grammy and Popi got Aidan the "Armor of God" for Christmas...Aidan is convinced it is his dragon hunting costume....

Mmmmm....drugs.....

(photo courtesy of Google images)

Me & Morphine...we are not very good friends! So I know I had some visitors a few days after surgery...I remember they were there...but I don't remember anything about our conversations...that is such a weird feeling! I think I spoke on the phone to a few people as well - I hope I wasn't too crazy!

Now I am taking something not nearly as strong for pain and I am feeling really good. I think once I get all these staples out (probably around 75 of them!) I will feel much better - keeping my fingers crossed that the doc will do that at my appointment on Wednesday. The hardest part is behind me and I am oh so looking forward to what is next.

But what is next? Lots of ideas...I'll fill you in as I figure it out...stay tuned! ;-)

Christmas morning at our house...

How long do you think they will let me get away with matching pajamas? They were soooo cute. I am really excited about making new traditions and memories for our little family of four. Christmas eve every year they will get new pj's so they look cute in the Christmas morning pictures!

Aidan had to make sure Santa ate his cookies and drank all his milk...

We really didn't go overboard with the kids this year. Aidan got a few things he really wanted, but his big gift was his new bed (I'll post pics of that soon). He had been asking Santa for an Ironman, but Auntie Kris got him that, so Santa brought him an Ironman mask instead!

Lucas always has a big smile on his face. He got a couple of new toys and he was happy.

Auntie Katie got him this car and he LOVES it!

Aidan got to do a little shopping on his own at school for his family. He picked out the fabulous scarf below for Daddy. He picked out a cute teddy bear for Lucas and a Christmas charm bracelet for me. With his leftover money he bought himself a big box of candy...he was pretty excited!

Overall we had a wonderful Christmas. Christmas Eve we spent with my family in Tinley Park. It was crazy and fun and sad and all different kinds of emotions...but overall it was good to be together. Because my surgery was scheduled so close to Christmas we didn't get to travel to see Nate's family this year. We missed our time with them!

Let it snow...let it snow...let it snow...

I love the snow - especially looking at it through the window! It's been easy for me to take it easy these days and enjoy how pretty the snow is. Sometimes it's good to just slow down. I don't have the stress right now of having to walk in it, drive in it and bundle up to deal with the cold. Next week may be a different story, but this week I have just enjoyed recovering at home and kind of taking a break from the craziness of every day.

As some of you know, we were recently seriously considering a move to California. We went out there last October and scouted it out and fell in love. The idea of sunny and 80 degrees 90% of the year was really appealing. I feel better when it is warm and sunny. I have a husband who loves all things outdoors. I have now two very active boys. Aidan sleeps better and behaves better when he is able to run around outside all day - all of this really appealed to us. Not to mention California is just beautiful. There is only one problem...it is so far from our family and friends. Seriously, our pro and con list was very lopsided - tons of pro's and just one con...

But as we found out this summer that one "con" is a big and important one. I don't know what we would have done if we were in California when I had Lucas. Our family and friends came through HUGE for us this summer. We are forever thankful. And for now at least, sticking close to home!

Bring Me Joy, Bring Me Peace...

Love this picture of my guys. I'll be posting pics from Christmas shortly...but I wanted to say Happy New Year! Everyone keeps telling me that 2011 is going to be a great year – that we deserve a great year. I agree! I’m not one of those people who can say “I wouldn’t change anything about 2010…” My changes, let’s see…my dad would still be here. That’s the biggest one. I would still go through all I went through to have Lucas, but let my dad still be here. Please?

So it is January 5^th. It has been about 4 months since my dad passed away. Is it supposed to get easier? I was told that…but they lied. It doesn’t get easier. I miss him. I missed him at Christmas. I missed his words of encouragement before my recent surgery. I miss him every day. When does that get easier? I don’t want Aidan to forget him. Yet I think he probably will. I wish Lucas had more time with him. Boy, am I “Debbie Downer” or what? Oh well.

This is going to be a good year. A great year! I am determined. Lucas is so much fun right now – he has to be the sweetest baby ever. Aidan has been awesome since I’ve been home from the hospital – he just wants to hang out with me and tell me he loves me all day long. I could get used to this. But I am getting restless. Anyone that knows me knows that I don’t sit still for long. I have things to do! As I feel better I want to do more. I am praying for the patience not to overdo it. I need to give my stomach the proper time to heal so I’m not back doing this all over again, but do you know how hard that is to do?

So I long ago gave up having New Year’s Resolutions – now I just call them goals…how many people ever actually accomplish those resolutions anyway? So here are my “goals”…

1. To fully enjoy our upcoming vacation…have I said that I CAN’T WAIT for vacation?!? Before we had kiddos we used to take fabulous vacations…since then Nate has been to Mexico (Amy’s wedding, I was preggers), Arizona, Cape Cod, Florida…all without me! So not fair. So the end of February we are headed to Puerto Rico…have I mentioned that I can’t wait?

2. I am turning 40 this year. How the H$## did that happen? Well I am determined not to fight it, pout, cry or whine about it. So let’s have a party! Nate has promised me a birthday bash – it will have to be after the vacation tho so I can be tan!

3. Spend more time at our cottage. I hope to spend lots of time down there this summer. Aidan is going to love it.

4. Start a new business. I know, you all may think I’m crazy, but I LOVED having my own business. The only thing I didn’t love about Little Green Baby was that it was retail. I loved running a business though. I have some ideas…so my goal is to get that going.

So that’s it for now. I guess if I keep the list short I have less of a chance of not completing them. Happy New Year everyone! I hope your lists are short and doable as well!