I love reading

You know those books that beg you to read them, but you're like ... ssiiigghhh, then you get into it and it's amazing. I love those books. I've been reading about 4 different series at the same time. Why that many? I have a tendency to go from one book to the next and could be up for days reading one series. This way, once I finish a book, before starting a book from one of the other series, I'm in less of a rush and so getting some rest at least.

Sidenote : Nolan is currently inches from the tv watching Little Einsteins. Adorable.

I've been very much enjoying Piers Anthony books and started his series over again. Only 27 books in that series. Then continuing on with my Star Trek books, just finished Atonement by Kirsten Beyer. It was pretty awesome with many story lines. It was interesting reading THAT book, knowing that in another series one of the characters had died. I am at book 6 (or 7) depending how you count it in the series the Last Thirteen. It's a youth book and very quick to read, just had to wait for them to get to my library. I will pick them up tomorrow. I am debating starting a new series with a book called Cinder - not sure if I'll start it or just wait until I quickly finish up the Last Thirteen. Although Cinder has big writing and likely won't take me long to read it.

I love books. I forgot how much I missed reading the words, feeling the emotions, the anxiety, the feel of the ages and even getting lost for a while. It's hard to read in the dark but I've done it anyways so keep Nolan asleep.

The kids are also embracing books and get excited to see what we've brought home from the library. Nikki mostly demands Peppa Pig books and Paw Patrol. I get Nolan a couple board books that he can't destroy so he feels important. William likes the search and find books, anything superhero or lego and Amelie is just starting on chapter books so I got her some comic type books she can practice her english on and some other french ones. I also get good lesson books for them, and the occasional creepy one like 10 Little Princess ... fyi ... it's hilarious and creepy.

We heart books.

Nolan is 10 months old

Today, Nolan is 10 months old.

He's incredible.

He just figured out crawling over the weekend at Tante Pisha and Oncle Chris's house. He likes to give open mouth kisses, high fives to the face (and to the hands). He taught himself to wave and clap (because I guess I'm lazy?) Meh. I discouraged crawling too but he figured that out - that was annoying. Just Kidding. Almost.

He seems to be growing some interestingly curly hair. He has a little curl at the top of his head that begs to be from Baby Einsteins or something. He is very interested in food, unfortunately we've hit an interesting snag. When he eats greek yogurt and it touches his skin (his chest so far) he rashes out. So as a precaution we no longer give him dairy products and he's going to see the doctor to check it out. I also rubbed cheese on him - because what parent wouldn't - and he got a red mark. It wasn't a hive, it didn't stick around, but it was enough to make me paranoid.

I'm going to miss milk, but in order to keep Nolan safe I've removed it from my diet as well until an allergist tells me otherwise. So far, he can eat Sweet Potato, Eggs, Apple ... and multigrain cheerios LOL. I've kept him on THAT diet for about a week to watch for other potential allergy problems. Anyways - I am totally going off-topic.

Nolan ADORES his siblings and 'chases' them around the house all the time. I'd like to expand on this subject but will not. He is also the kid who puts everything in his mouth and has already pooped out sticker jewels. -.-

He is still breastfeeding and likely will for a long time, and Nikki is down to once every 2 days or so, but she is reluctant.

Nolan has 1 tooth. ONE. 3 on the way, but only 1 out. He also likes to chatter and he's discovered making all kinds of weird sounds with his mouth. Clucking. Spitting. Blowing kisses on my shoulders. He's very observant as well and not always keen on strangers, but adores his familiar faces. He can say a little string of words, dadda, mama, bye bye ... and we swear he said I love you to Corey.

If he doesn't want something - he makes it abundantly clear and he's not much of a crier so if he's crying he means business. Whining on the other hand - almost pro. He likes music but not enough to really boogie yet. He doesn't like being in the van in the dark - interesting I know. He can 'drive' a person he just leans the way he wants to go. He likes to look people in the eyes - very closely.

He's a sweetheart.

He gets jealous easily - luckily he doesn't walk yet or JJ might be in trouble ;)

He loves to cuddle, until he doesn't. He likes to be with people, doing what they do whatever it is. He loves to be with me watching me cook, prefers to be in my arms so he can make sure I get it right I suppose.

I don't know who he looks like. I can't tell. He's adorable, and yawning. Maybe an early bedtime tonight.

He goes by Nolan, Noly, Princy-Poo and No-No. He likes No-No the best. I do not need to justify princy-poo ....

<3 <3 Nolan Linfitt.

Brownie recipe

I HATE going to a website and the page slows my computer down because it has so much crap going on it. AS IF. I forget where I got this recipe but I'm putting it here so I can pin it and not have it ruin my day. It is NOT my recipe and I haven't tried it yet.

Double Chocolate Grain-Free Brownies {100% Flourless}

 

Print

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

35 mins

 

These grain free brownies taste and feel like regular white flour brownies with a specialty gourmet twist!

Author: Rachael Abel

Cuisine: Dessert

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1 cup natural peanut butter or sun butter to make these nut-free, which is how we eat them now
• 6 ounces banana or 2 small bananas
• ¼ cup raw honey (like this)
• 3 tablespoons raw cacao powder (like this)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (like this)
• dash of sea salt (pink Himalayan or Celtic), optional (like this)
• 1 cup dairy free chocolate chips (I use half mini and half mega chunks) (like this)
• organic virgin coconut oil for greasing the baking dish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Add the first 6 ingredients to a food processor and process on high until combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Next, add chocolate chips and pulse several times until the chips are combined. Spread the brownie mixture evenly in a greased 8x10 baking dish and bake for 30-35 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Christmas 2015

I've decided to try and not overdo it on Christmas this year. It's so easy to just get things because you know your kids will like it ... unfortunately it lasts about 5 seconds. They get overwhelmed. Too much I say. This year ... we're going to try this :

Something they Want
Something they Need
Something to Wear
Something to read.

I also gave myself a budget of 100$. Because ... Santa is also bringing :

Something to Play with
Things for Stocking

Even with Santa's budget of 80$ ... that's 720$ for 4 kids! (Nolan and Nikki are not likely to have all their 'budget' money used up which will go back in the pot for next year - but still!)

So you see ... it can add up very quickly for 4 kids. I've already started talking about how Santa told me he has seen how many toys they have and how he's sad they don't take great care of them or play with them as much (although my kids mostly have 2nd hand toys and are HARD CORE toy players. Nothing survives lol). So Santa has decided only to bring one gift each and he might add little things to the stocking. I've also told the kids they won't be getting a lot of what they want so they need to decide their favorites. Not sure if I'll add to my explanation or change it up ...I'll play it by ear.

Santa ... has already gotten one gift that he thought of during the summer when it was on super-sale. I mean when his elves were making it ....

The thing is ... with my budget - even for Santa gifts it means I have to really watch for sales or find awesome 2nd hand for some things.

For example : I wanted to get William a new comforter this year - but also a big lego set. Those are ginormously expensive and we already got him a lego table (something he needs) and a lego idea book. This requires a lot of interesting and number crunching. I love number crunching. Love. It. I also love sale shopping. Got both his items at 50% off so BAM.

I'm hoping to come in way under budget ... Go Me!! I'll let you know how I do. What do you do? Do you have a budget? What does everyone's Christmas budget look like?

Dawn's Eulogy

Devon :

We don’t actually know the real beginning of dad and Dawn’s story, but regardless, I was the instant favorite – I mean I’m also her only son -  plus I came already potty trained. By the time we came into her life, she’d had plenty of experience with kids and that’s a good thing because she didn’t just become a mom to four kids … she became a mom to 4 teenagers. It takes a special kind of woman to do that. I have 3 older sisters. Hello drama.

Patricia :

Dawn came into our lives a long time ago. Many, maaaaaany years ago when dad was young …. Er …. And less wise. Luckily for us that was the perfect time for her to step into his life because we were also all at that ‘super fun’ age – I have no idea why Devon is talking about drama - lol. The poor woman had no idea what she was getti--- I mean how lucky she was about to be. Dawn has always been able to find the positive in a situation or put things into perspectives. She also had miles of patience for us. She has always been there to offer the required encouragement or to set us straight. For me – I loved being able to tell her my anxieties and stresses and help me work through them with her ‘What do YOU think you should do?’ and I always knew if I was on the right track because she finished with a ‘That sounds like a good idea’.  I was also the go-to sitter for the dogs – probably because Dawn thought my sisters and brother didn’t have QUITE as much empathy as I did for dogs.

Corinne :

Dawn took to us right away, or we did to her – however that works. We would call, dad would answer, we’d ask to talk to Dawn. Dad’s grunting needed translation. As our families began to grow she went from being a mother to being a grandmother and she did it with grace. She had kidded more than once that she did it without stretch marks. In a few short years she went from having just four kids to having 6 grandkids and two on the way. She was exceedingly proud of being a grandma and never flinched at the title. We never had to worry about our kids ‘destroying’ things or being too loud because Dawn joked ‘she lived with our dad – how much worse could it be?’ We would have ‘My husband did this … competitions ….’ It was always pretty close and always beyond ridiculous. She had a special place in her heart for my husband Corey whom she always referred to as Coreylin. We always said it was because there are multiple Corey’s in the family but I’m pretty sure it was because he was ‘special’ or she understood what is was like for him to live with a Gareau – whatever that means. Corey became another son to her and he was always filling in the gaps – right to the end – bragging about how he was the favorite – unproven by the way.  

Gayle :

Dawn, you are gone but never forgotten; you have taught and continue to teach me many things about life. The one thing I know is that you never used the word step - we were always your children, there was no in-between.  I was fortunate enough to have you in my life and I hope one day my other children will feel for me the same way I feel about you because that is a true love. Dawn you have taught me that being a step mom is more than a title, that even though you didn’t give birth to us you could still love us unconditionally. Thank you for translating all the venting sessions to dad and keeping him in the loop.  Family is so important and no matter how mad I got at my lovely siblings, dad and mother you always let me vent and then said well Gayle they only love you. Dad used to tell me to stop swearing but fuck it. Dawn enjoyed it because that meant she could too. Dawn, I know if dad could – he would tell you how much he loves you and always will. You were always there to tell him what to do and how to do it and where his things were. We will never do it as aptly as you could but between Corinne’s organizational skills, Devon’s sense of humor, Patricia’s sarcasm and my ‘motivational skills’ we will do our best to make sure he hears all the loving ‘Fuck You’s and I love you’s he needs to hear. Rest in Peace knowing we are there for him.

Zucchini Lasagna

I was sooo skeptical about this, but I really want to incorporate more veggies over here.

Way harder than you think - way, way harder when your toddler is a teeny, tiny overlord.

I found this recipe on pinterest (Ilovepinterest)

I read the ingredients - simple, I had almost everything except the cheese - so obviously I bought cheese.

The instructions read to get 3 medium zucchini.Okay.

We have different opinions of what 'medium' means - apparently.

Their version of 3 medium zucchini.  This was equivalent to ONE of mine.

I had zucchini slices everywhere. Everywhere. 

The recipe said to dry the slices and broil them and blah blah omg do I look like I have that much time. I did toss them with salt and put them in paper towel and dried out as much as I could - between watching 'So You Think You Can Dance' season 2.

I did brown my meat - the only direction I followed.

Once that was done, I realized I didn't have time to make all the sauce - so I grabbed a spaghetti sauce - meh - that happens dudes. Then I realized I didn't have ricotta cheese - like WHO DOES?! Bahahaha, so I used the better thing French Onion Dip (Helluva) I mixed it with Parmesan Cheese - I thought I was supposed to use that but after re-reading I realize that I was supposed to use Parmegino ... something something.

I started with the meat sauce, then the 'zucchini noodles', then my made up white sauce, tossed some mozzarella cheese in there, then kept layering.

It was unreal!!! Like so yummy and the kid even ate it!!! Next time - I'll try making my own sauce and I'll add more zucchini. I didn't put a TON because I thought it would be sketchy but I could get away with WAY more.

Awesome Pack - July 2015

EEEEEK It's HERE!!!

I found this particular 'mystery box' because of You Tube and Internet. Don't judge me. -.-
My kids like to watch a lot of those weird unboxing videos with little mystery bags/boxes and they'd stumbled upon some subscription boxes. I thought the idea was fun! I like presents! I don't like being surprised ... but I like surprise presents! I had found a couple that were interesting (like a tackle one for Corey and some Nerdy ones - which were ... meh) THIS particular box is supposed to be filled with stuff to bring the family together to do fun activities!! YAY! Right? I scoured the internet for other videos or images to see what was really in them and I went to their website. Go there to get more info - I'll spare you from repeating what is written there.

AWESOME PACK WEBSITE

It sounded SUPER FUN - plus ...wait ... Canadian?
(random musing : they ship from Quebec; I wonder if I put down that we speak french if they would send french stuff ..... interesting.)

I decided to try it out. I signed up for one month and told myself I can always cancel if it's super lame. I secretly hoped it would be super awesome. I answered some questions about our family - including naming all the games we already have - hello that's awesome, no duplicates. Although, if you live with kids that lose pieces all the time, duplicates might be fun HAHAHA. Whoot! Exciting!

Then I got an email asking even MORE questions ... or ... maybe that was where I listed the games. My bad - I forgot but at some point that happened. I was able to add a few details about everyone in the family, what we liked etc ...

Then it felt like forever!!!!

Also - we went camping and I found more games and was all 'OH MAH GAWD' what if they send those? So I was able to add those to my list no problem-o!!! The boxes ship out the last 2 weeks of the month and we got our on July 31st. I followed the tracking number extremely close LOL.

(random musing : I think they should rename the boxes ... or maybe I should rename my box August Box because I got it at the end of the month ... you know?)

We waited for Corey to come home, then - opened the box.

 

Sorry it's blurry - I was super excited. This was what we saw when we opened the box.

It had this - which we DID not look at because we wanted to see for ourselves! We looked afterwards.

And THIS is what we got!

At first, I was ... unsure ... but it's now been 24 hours and we've had quite a bit of fun. I don't have individual pictures ... sorry - fail.

First Up - The game. Every box comes with a board game. FUN FARM (amazon sells it for 27.50$). My first impression was ... seriously? I should have asked for a more 'grown up' or complicated game but let me tell you ... it was quite hilarious. Even Nikki got the concept and everyone had to pay super close attention. You basically have these adorable little foamy animals and some cards and dice. The animals are in a circle and you place a card in the middle. Someone rolls the dice and if the dice match the cards it's a race to grab that animal! Well cripes ... between the kids getting confused and me taking forever to make connections - it wasn't as easy as I thought but the concept was easy enough for Nikki.

Next Up - The kids each got these little Mosaic things (well Amelie and William did) and those were cool. We like mosaics but it was too easy for Amelie. She loves the cuff she made but was done in about 5 minutes. William is still working on his dinosaur today bahahaha. I don't know the value of these? 2$ Each? 4$? 5$?

Thirdly - Bubble Guppies Pick a Pair. Nikki grabbed that from the box before it was completely opened. She was all 'BUBBLE GUPPIES!!! AAAAHHHH' and she likes 'making the same' and also popping out of their little cardboard holders. Perfectly educational game that is perfectly fun. I found this game on amazon for 19.99 not 100% sure about that price though.

Fourth-ly? - Thomas the train megablocks - This ... might have been for Nolan? I had mentioned we had a 4 month old but I didn't add him to the group because ... dudes he's 4 months old and I had emailed them asking how young they go ... Regardless of who it was 'designed' ... probably Nikki ... everyone has played with it. Toys R Us sells it for 10.99

Fifthly - used immediately in the hot tub - water sprayer soaker things. BAHAHAHA I don't even have to explain it do I. There was one for each kid.

It also came with an activity book with cool ideas. Unfortunately the cool ideas this month was what to do with bananas and we already make banana ice cream LOL but I won't hold that against them ;)

I'm going to stay subscribed for another month. They will be sending me another little survey to make my package even more awesome next time and this is a great way to try new board games I would probably NEVER buy just by looking at them. I don't have time to check the ratings, blah blah blah ... blah. I'm also going to ask they send something a tad more complicated for Amelie.

I paid 57.73 and that included stuff for all of us : 1 Board game, stuff for Amelie, William and Nikki, and free shipping. I think the value is close to the same? Corey was less impressed but ... I think the farm game was too hard for him ;) I still recommend this if you like some surprises.

I think you just have to have an open mind. It did get us to do things together as a family instead of just watching TV - and that's Awesome.