Happy Father's Day!

I'm so happy my kids have such a wonderful, caring, loving person in their lives they call "Daddy!"  

Menu Plan Monday

1.  Waffles, sausages and eggs - I am up and out the door most of the time while the kids sleep so there's never time to cook a big breakfast which is why I decided to make it for dinner once every week or two.
2.  Creamy Pesto Chicken and Bowtie Pasta - yummy!
3.  Cottage Meatloaf - I don't care for meatloaf but love this one!
4.  Beef and Bean Taco Casserole - I LOVE this!
5.  Saucy Pork Medallions with some sort of potato side

Taylor's First Two Years!

There's a lot of milestones and changes the first two years as baby goes from helpless newborn to rambunctious toddler!  I love that I've been able to capture most if not all in pictures and on video to show her when she's older.  The following are some of my favourite moments and milestones:

Here she is a few minutes old after a fairly quick and easy delivery.

Pushing her upper body up on her elbows at 5 months old.  She had some gross motor delays due to hypotonia (muscle weakness) that a cause was never found for.

First foods at just after 6 months old.  She wouldn't eat baby cereals so we went right into avocado and it still took her another month or so before she took to eating solids.  I also discovered that she liked to feed herself so we did some baby led weaning.

7 months old and sitting on her own!  She toppled a lot though in the beginning so we kept her surrounded in pillows.  She couldn't get to this position on her own though.

Taylor crawling at 10.5 months!  She'd been getting physio every month or 2 at this point and they would give us exercises to help her get stronger.  Her weakness was mostly in the legs so this was definitely a big milestone! 

The biggest milestone of all though was Taylor walking at just shy of 16 months old!  Not only did this mean more fun for her but no more pesty appointments with doctors and physiotherapists!  

Last but not least this is the smart, pretty, stubborn almost 2 year old she is today!

Looking back I can't believe how much she's changed in these last 2 years but I've enjoyed every minute of it and being able to capture and share these moments!  

"Disclosure - I am part of the Natrel Baboo Blogger Campaign with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group.  The opinions on this blog are my own."

Spring Is Here! - #LMDConnector

Spring is finally here and after months of cold weather and figuring out what to do inside it was nice to be able to set up the picnic table and enjoy an afternoon snack outside with the kids.  For such an occasion we decided to make Chocolate Banana Coffee Cake.  I saw the recipe in a magazine and we had several frozen bananas I needed to use up.

In one bowl combine 3 cups of flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 2tsp baking soda.  In a separate bowl (mine was too small!) combine 1 cup butter and 2 cups sugar.  To the same bowl blend in 2 eggs then add 2 1/2 cups bananas (about 5) and 1 tsp vanilla and mix well.  Then the flour mixture is slowly added to the moist mixture alternately with 1 cup of sour cream.  

Don't worry about over mixing this one.  It's why I don't like making muffins; I tend to over mix stuff.  

Add half the batter to a sprayed 9 x 13 pan.  Mix 1/2 cup of brown sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon then sprinkle half of this mixture on top of the batter.  Top with 1/2 of a 300 gram package of chocolate chips.  Repeat the layers.  I didn't get a clear picture of the cake before it went into the oven.  

The finished product was as delicious as it looks and the kids gobbled up every bite.  They preferred this over any banana bread or banana muffins I've made in the past.  We're looking forward to many more backyard picnics and trying out other new and delicious recipes.  Check out the Life Made Delicious website  for inspiration to make spring more yummy!  

"Dislosure - I am part of the Life Made Delicious Ambassador program and receive special perks as part of my affiliation.  All opinions on this blog are my own."

General Mills Partners with Dairy Queen and Orange Julius Offering Canadians Some Sweet Treats! - #LMDConnector

Growing up I have fond memories of Dairy Queen.  My grandfather lived only a couple blocks from one and we'd go visit him then after dinner or as a treat we'd make the short walk to Dairy Queen and he would buy us whatever we liked.  At the time I used to love banana splits!  My grandpa has since passed but I still remember little things like this.  General Mills has partnered with Dairy Queen and Orange Julius to help families make memories of their own.

Starting April 1 on specially marked boxes of General Mills cereal you will have the opportunity to get two coupons.  The first coupon is for an Orange Julius small beverage and the second is for a small Blizzard treat.  

Between April 1 and July 31st the Orange Julius coupon can be redeemed at any Dairy Queen location in Canada so while you're out and about make sure to pick up this small treat for yourself.

Between May 1 and May 31st the small Blizzard treat coupon can be redeemed at any Dairy Queen in Canada.  I'm sure any kid would enjoy this tasty little treat!

My kids are still young and haven't experienced Dairy Queen yet so I'll for sure make a point to use my coupons to take them there this spring and see what they think!  I hope when they're older they'll have great memories of Dairy Queen too!

" Disclosure - I am participating in the Life Made Delicious Ambassador Program for Mom Central Canada on behalf of General Mills.  I received compensation as thank you for participating and for sharing my honest opinion.  The opinions on this blog are my own." 

Weekly Meal Plan

 

 

This week my 3 yr old is out of town for half of the week so I just planned for some easy meals for those days he's away then ones that require more prep for the rest of the week.  I also wanted to use up some of my freezer stock.

1.  Fish and vegetables with bread for my daughter - Highliner
2.  Tortellini - frozen ones with jarred sauce
3.  Beef and bean taco casserole - this is really yummy and to make it a little healthier for myself I serve some on a huge bed of lettuce so it's more like a taco salad with a dollap of sour cream!
4.  Pancit Bahon - never made this before but have eaten it so many times so hoping it turns out just as good and the ones I've eaten!
5.  Turkey dinner for easter - I will be cheating and using a roasted chicken from the store as a whole turkey is just too much for the family but we'll still be having all the fixings as if it were a turkey dinner!

Valentines Day with my Little Loves - #LMDConnector

As with most of the holidays now that we have children it has mostly become all about them.  Hubby and I didn't get each other anything for Valentine's Day and we're ok with that as we decided to have a "date night" on an evening in the near future.  Since he worked on Valentine's Day I decided to make it a special day with the kids.  I started out by making french toast with hearts in the middle.

I gathered the eggs, bread, food coloring and milk though the milk isn't pictured.

I mixed 4 eggs with about 1/4 cup of milk into a bowl then poured a little less than half into a smaller bowl and added 2 drops of red food coloring.

Using my heart shaped cookie cutter I cut the middles out of about 6 pieces of bread.  Then I dipped the outside into the regular eggs and the heart piece into the colored eggs.

 
After that I assembled into the frying pan and cooked it the same and one would make regular french toast.

This is the final results.  Very yummy and a huge hit with the kids!  I did find the later pieces didn't look as presentable as the first few pieces though.

Later on after dinner using confetti cake mix with homemade icing and rainbow sprinkles we made these cupcakes.  I taught the kids how much fun it is to lick the bowls and they loved that part!  I also made some heart shaped peanut butter and jam sandwiches for the preschool Valentine's party the next day.  All in all we had a fun day together with yummy food!  How did you spend Valentine's Day with your loved ones?

"Disclosure - I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group.  The opinions on this blog are my own."