End of season...

I'm so lucky that we have 1 year maternity leave in Canada with the government talking about extending it to 18 months. How great would that be for future parents. Spending as much time as we can with our babies is so special. I love being home with my kids and running the household. :) my boys just melt my heart! I know I say that everyday! But they doooo. 

Lately baby M has been taking 3 hour morning naps. So I've been getting a lot of errands done in the morning. Today I decided to get dressed up and hit the mall. Since most days consist of wearing tights and shirts with spit up haha. 

New boots. Scored for a great deal. 70%off! Oh how I love end of season sales. I love that it's a thicker heel. Instead of wearing my other flat boots or stiletto boots, this is a perfect casual in between!

Little batman loves my necklace ha! It's from Stella and Dot it's my go to necklace for everyday. It can be dressed up or down and worn 5 different ways to add different looks! I love it! 

Back to sales. There are some awesome end of season sales. Which has me in stores and online everyday! Yikes! some of the deals are too good to pass up!

Have you been finding great deals at stores near you? Or online? 

Because we have! 

Have a great weekend friends! 

4 year old check up

Friday my little guy had his 4 year old checkup. 

The doctor predicts a 5 10, 150lbs adult haha tall and slim he said.

Mr K is currently 33lbs, size 4T clothes and size 11 shoes. 

He told me that 4 year olds don't need much to get full and I don't need to be forcing him to eat more. He will eat when he's hungry and some days won't be hungry at all.

Overall he is a great eater. He eats a variety of foods... He's not a big carb eater but a plate of chicken and his favorite veggies and fruit he will eat all up! 

He was happy and excited to see his doctor. His conversation with the doctor was mostly about his baby brother. He couldn't wait to tell doctor all about him. ️Adorable. 

He didn't know that he would be getting 2 vaccines :( 

I held him close and he got both needles. He was upset that he didn't expect the little pinch. 

Then said he doesn't need to see the doctor ever again, oh boy. 

On our way out we went to the pharmacy and he picked a kitkat and smarties to make him feel better. 

At 4 years old you are into many things! 

Starwars and transformers are at the top of the list! You love the color changing hot wheels! You are still into dinosaurs and other superheroes. You love dressing up in your power ranger costume and Darth Vader costume. 

You are doing great at school and love going! 

You always eat your lunch which makes my job easy. 

You are learning and growing up fast! 

You always crack us up with the things you say. You have the best sense of humour and we are always playing tricks on eachother which is so fun.

You are the best big brother. You help me all the time and love entertaining little bro. 

We love you sooo much! 

The rest of the weekend was so much fun! 

We spent Saturday downtown and had burgers for lunch! 

The kids had their cuteness radar on high and were getting everyone's attention 

People were telling us how cute they were! Michael wouldn't stop looking at one young couple ha! 

Yesterday morning I left little k and daddy watching movies and Michael  and I went with my sister to the salon my cousin works at for a haircut!

Michael slept the whole time which was great. And we got new do's 

I just did a little trim but Soo needed to make my hair feel healthy again. 

Have a great monday friends! 

5 months old!

5 months old! 

Baby M! You are 15lbs, in 9 month clothes ha!

You have tried sweet potato, apples and butternut squash. So far Apple is in first place. 

I bought this book when big brother was a baby 

And I love it. I needed a refresher on making baby food and this book is perfect in outlining exactly what you need to do. 

You are Soo strong at 5 months old. Jumping around and reaching and grabbing your toys. You also study your toys with a very serious stare ha! 

You are beginning to lift up your bum,and im sure you'll be crawling in a couple months! 

You and big bro have the sweetest relationship. You know how to make him laugh and he just loves you so much! He's also very protective of you. I love seeing this relationship grow, it's truly the most amazing feeling. You both melt our hearts! 

We booked our first family vacation as 4! 

Whoo you will love the beach! Big brother  asks daily to go to a beach! Ha!

Happy 5 months baby M!!!!

More blog fun

If you look to the right ----> you'll see my recipe blog and even a wine blog. I haven't written in them since 2013! It didn't feel like it's been that long but it has been! 

2016 I want to begin blogging more of my favorite recipes for my family  and baby food too. 

Especially easy meals like this one in the pressure cooker.

A total of 10mins one pot pressure cooker meal. Chicken, veggie and rice!

I also want to blog about wine making on the wine blog.

We have been bottling our own wine!

On this blog I want to continue blogging our daily living. A memory bank of our family. 

Fun things we do ha! 

I also want to get back into blogging fashion! On maternity leave im mostly in tights and long tops ha! 

Some fun january moments so far... A painting birthday party for a cousin! 

Kids loved it!

Little k has been practicing piano and is really enjoying it!

He's also Soo into starwars and can name everyone and tell you his favorite scenes of the movie. 

Now with Michael loving the bouncy gym, im getting a little extra time on my hands ha! 

Michael loves to watch big bro. It's the absolute sweetest thing ever and melts my heart each time! 

Big brother is so protective of little brother and calls him "my baby Michael" I can't take the cuteness!! 

We are a little under the weather the past few days :( but still cute as always! 

We are planning our first family vacation as 4. Little k asks everyday if we are going to the beach. Ha! But he's also loving this snow especially when the school has sleds for everyone at recess! 

Homemade baby food!

Yes! It's back to making baby food! I had to tap back into my previous blog posts of making baby food for little k to get reminded on what to do! Ha! 

Little man is 5 months next week! We always began rice cereal and now ready for some other first foods! 

Our first food to try is sweet potato! 

I pressure cooked 4 organic sweet potatoes with a cup of water for 10mins. I used that same water back in when mixing it to make it a little thinner. 

 

I left some in the fridge for the week and I put some to freeze. 

He loved it! 

This cutie! 

Next food to try is apples! 

Next week we will go on to chicken and another fruit and veggie! Maybe avocado and parsnip! 

Pressure cooker meals!

Ok so when the husband bought a pressure cooker as one of the "family" gifts for Christmas, I wasn't that impressed. Ha! 

Then we tried our first meal.

Bbq ribs in 30mins well 35 because i broiled them for 5 mins too. They were so sooo good! We made them twice already! Fall off the bone tender deliciousness! 

And Soo easy! 

Cut ribs so they can be placed side by side.

Rub with a dry rub that you like. I used garlic powder. Paprika, cumin.

Put 1 cup of water in the pressure cooker with diced up onion.

Add ribs, pour bbq sauce of your choice all over and on my pressure cooker XL it's the soup/stew selection for 30mins! 

Delish!!! Broil 5mins for a crispy top. 

We've made pork roast and beef roast 

Bbq chicken 

Chicken soup 

Chicken, brown rice and veggies in 6mins!!! 6mins!!!!! Can you believe that! 

Oh and pasta with the sauce all in one pot cooked in 10mins. One pot. That's it.

With 2 littles and always being so busy. Quick meals is what im looking for, and quick healthy is really what I'm looking for. These meals are also kid approved! Little k's favorites were the chicken soup and chicken rice. He stuffed himself! Which makes me happy!

I will start posting the recipes on my recipe blog soon! 

New year goal setting

It's that time again! Beginning of a new year! Perfect time to reflect on the past year and make goals for the new year ahead. The husband and I re-write our goals every year. From personal growth, family, healthy living, career and financial goals. 

Some goals for this year and in no particular order, are:

Being a better mother. There's always improvement in this job ha! I always feel I could do more or do things different. I want to raise respectful independent boys with big hearts full of love. I want to show them so many things! Every night I go to bed thinking about how I could be better the next day. 

Just love these boys Sooo much! 

2016 here will be about healthy! Healthy living! Healthy eating! For all of us!

Baby M is now on solids and im soo excited to make his baby food. Big brother loves a wide range of foods and I hope that baby M follows in those same footsteps. So introducing superfoods at an early stage to help ensure he loves the taste of healthy! 

Small changes. We are not making big changes to diet or anything. But instead small changes that are easy to apply and therefore becomes part of our lifestyle. ---- Juicing every weekend

- using our pressure cooker for many meals (blog post on this soon) make healthy meals quick and easy and one pot clean up which is great being a mom of 2! Like this chicken soup in 30mins that the whole family loved! 

-30min workouts twice a week 

- drink more green tea less coffee 

-cooking with coconut oil 

-exfoliate and moisturize daily 

-drink more water 

Just a few things we are doing to get healthy! 

Other goals include going to church with the kids more often. Giving back more. Being less wasteful. Conserving energy. Saving more. Traveling more. Making a vision board for our future. My list goes on and on ha. 

Little K is understanding the concept of money more and more. From very early on I would talk to him about money and saving in his piggy bank and how much things cost when we purchase. Lately he's been asking more questions about it. So a new thing we are doing is having him put money he gets into his piggybank. Then making him choose between toys that he wants and purchasing them with the money he saved. We were amazed to see how he was going back and forth trying to decide which of the 3 toys he wanted, and choosing one and knowing he will pay for it himself. Ha! Little k has financial goals. 

But that's a lesson for all of us too. 

What are your 2016 goals!?