Slip-ups happen

Since the kids started back to school, we have really been focusing on getting the sugar out of the house and cleaning up from a summer of popsicles, ice cream, hamburgers on the grill, etc.

Things were going well. A word of caution to everyone out there reading this and trying to eat cleaner and healthier, when you are awakened from a deep sleep (or not so deep in my case) at 12:30 in the morning and are hungry, it is best not to go online and read all the food blogs you subscribe too.

Want to know what happens?

You make a 1/4 of a macaroon recipe at 1:30 in the morning - eat two, drink a glass of milk and then go back to bed. Wishing you hadn't had that coconut leftover in your pantry from the healthy granola bars you made a few weeks ago. Nonetheless - here is the recipe. I plan on making the entire batch this weekend - they were amazing!

Damn it.

See it happens to all of us.

Today, much better.

P.S. Happy anniversary Dave -- 14 years. Today is your one year warning. One year to start saving for the 15th wedding anniversary and my 40th birthday - yikes for you!

Sexercise

I knew that would catch your attention.

I posted a few weeks ago about Clara and "extracising", so with all fairness, I thought I needed to post about Eden's "sexercise".

She had absolutely no idea what she was saying when she said this. But Dave and I could not stop laughing. Clara was doing leg lifts and extracising, Eden doing some form of crazy jumping jack and sexercising.

Much to my dismay, we had to tell her that using that word probably wasn't a good idea, especially given the catholic school she attends.

But the more I started thinking about it, the more enlighted I became.

If you didn't know, I am studying to become a personal trainer and lifestyle coach. The key to a "lifetime" of fitness is to find something you truly enjoy and stick with it. This might work for some people out there.

I don't know what comes to your mind when you hear the word "sexercising", but I know what comes to the mind of most men. So, I looked it up. Sexercise already exists. (God, I hope Dave is not reading this.) And, in fact, there is a book called, Sexercise: Spice up your sex life and get fit in the process - you can order it here.

Tomorrow is my 14th wedding anniversary. If I get this as a gift, I am going to kill someone.

Enjoy.

Is that a tie you are wearing?

My sister and her husband moved to Calgary, Canada this summer. She enrolled my nephews in a school that requires uniforms.

This post is about being very careful about what you say. Last year, I sent my sister a photo of my kids on the first day of school. Yes, boys wear ties. My nephews thought this was very funny.

Here are my kids on the first day this year:



Here are the Fabulous Baker Boys:



What is that a tie? And dress shoes? And a cardigan?

All fun aside, they look awesome and I wish them the best of luck at their new school.

And I don't believe Jeffrey skateboarded to school, but who knows?

Doing my part

We try not to use plastic bags for lunch containers. Instead, we use reusable containers, every day. I know that this is the right choice for the environment and my kids future, but we have only finished two days of school and already I am tired of cleaning them out.

Could be a long year.

Dear God, (a back to school prayer)

it is me, JoEllen. Thank you for school. I am officially checking out of parent duties starting tomorrow at 8:15 a.m. and not checking back in until 3:30 p.m.

I love my kids and am thankful for every last bit of them, but my patience for household messes, fighting over a five square foot chair when we have been blessed with a 4,000 square foot house and picking up flip-flops, has run its course.

Thank you for Davis, my firstborn, he will always hold a special place in my heart, but lately his know-it-allness (I know that is not a word) is driving me and everyone else nuts. Please, God, challenge him at school this year so that he realizes on his own that he, in fact, does not know it all.

Thank you for Eden, my middle child (she is 30 seconds older than Clara). Help her to realize that crazy, whiny baby talk will get you know where - especially in first grade. Help her realize that girlie girl crap is just that, crap! And give her the strength to not get caught up in it all.

Thank you for Clara, my baby. She and I have a special bond I can not explain, even though she is more like her dad than she is me. I love this child like you can never imagine. Find a way to catch her attention and provide her with the ability to focus on ... something!

God love them. I do. I just need a break.

Amen.

(Tomorrow - our new school year goals. Yes, I made them, as much as goal-setting is hard for me, I did it.)

Mom's Birthday Dinner

We hosted a birthday dinner at home last night. It was a dinner for my mom and it was just me, the kids, and her. Dave and my dad (Gramps) were out of town.

The kids and I debated on which restaurant we should take her to for several days, and finally I decided, to cook at home. I love cooking and I especially love special occasions because it gives me an excuse/reason to bake something new.

I have this crazy love of baking. Muffins, scones, I will try every variety of chocolate chip cookie out there, but because I believe we need to eat healthy at home, I often don't bake as much as I wished.

So, this worked out great. Plus, I don't really love restaurant food. I can never find anything tasty enough given what I really like to eat. And my kids always eat crap! Their out-to-eat diet wavers between chicken nuggets, pizza, corn dogs, hot dogs and spaghetti. Yuck.

I am not going to reveal my mom's age (she might kill me) but I will say that I can only hope to look as good as she does.

Here is what we had:



Pork Tenderloin, Bread, Bacon and Sage Leave Kabobs - I got the recipe (and the photo - we were too hungry to wait) from the Williams-Sonoma website. Mine actually looked better than this. I used large pieces of bread and went with a sourdough I picked up at Whole Foods that day - it was perfect. I say if you are serving this to guests, the more random sizes the meat, the more rustic and prettier it looks on the table. Very easy to do - and just perfect.

We also had a really great tossed salad full of great summer veggies, carrots, cucumbers, red onions, apple juice sweetened dried cranberries - Yum!

To top it all off - we (the kids and I) baked a Strawberry Plum Crumble. It was so sweet and buttery. Something you must try and very easy. We served ours with some homemade vanilla ice cream. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Strawberry Plum Crumble

1 Pint of strawberries
4 Plums - pitted and sliced

Place them in a pie pan or tart pan - I seriously could have just stopped there.



Combine 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 -2 tablespoons cornstarch - sprinkle on top.



To make the crumble -

1/3 cup cold butter - diced small
3/4 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup oats

Combine and the sprinkle on top -



Bake at 350 degrees for a half an hour.



Wow!





Original recipe and photos courtesy of Dinner with Julie.

Every good comedian needs an audience

Clara made me laugh out loud twice today (once I laughed so hard my stomach hurt).

Here is the first - I was tiptoeing around my bedroom upstairs thinking all my sweet angels were sleeping in (it was only 7:30 - and yes that is sleeping in at the Baxyard) when I came out of my bathroom and saw this...



I apologize for the photo quality - I just grabbed my phone quickly because God forbid Rudolph, Murphy, Zoo Zoo and Lionheart, find out I was snapping their photo and get camera shy. Yes, that is Clara. Playing Mario Cart with her audience. Can a six-year old be more relaxed?

Second thing. "Extracise." You know, that thing you do when you run just to run, or swim just to swim, or go to the gym, or do Pilates. "What are you talking about, Clara? Do you mean exercise?" "No, mom, exercise is when you're out on the playground, or playing a soccer game, or Davis is playing basketball. "Extracise is what you do. You know, because it is Extra!"

Got it! Love her.

Chick Pea Salad...

because my kids think it has a funny name.

I love summer cooking, because of grilling. But, lately, it has been too hot for me to fire up that grill and go outside. So we have been cooking inside. Tonight I wanted a quick, no cook side dish that we could eat with some roasted chicken. This was good and pretty easy. I would highly recommend trying cilantro in place of the parsley - unless you love parsley.

Davis ate all his portion, Clara choked down a bite and Eden (my picky eater) spat it out back onto her plate. I loved it and I especially love that I have leftovers to mix with some chicken tomorrow for a Chick Pea Chicken Salad. Try this.



2 cans of chick peas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup kalamata olives, diced
1/3 cup cherry tomatoes, diced
1/2 roasted red and yellow peppers (I grilled mine with a little olive oil)
Green onion, diced, you decide amount
Olive oil
Juice from a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped parsley (you may want to try cilantro)

Combine all the ingredients. Toss and serve. Also, I guessed on the above amounts - I went back later and added more peppers and tomatoes - but you decide.

Enjoy!