Whole30/Paleo Friendly Meals

Disclaimer: This is a selfish post, as in, I want an easy online reference of all the meals that we enjoyed and are still enjoying.

1) Italian Pork Roast - AMAZINGLY good with anything, made several times, could eat for every meal... Crockpot, very easy

2)Chocolate Chili - Nothing fancy, but the kids LOVE it and request it weekly. Stove top, quick to make, but long simmer

3) Silky Gingered Zucchini Soup I am not a soup person and I LOVED this soup. Jericho likes it but other kids were so, so. Stovetop, fairly quick, long simmer, Jason loves to add turkey to it

4) Spinach Beef Frittata Made this for dinner and everyone loved it, switched out the beef for sausage and its a breakfast staple

5) Sweet Potato Breakfast Casserole very similar to the Frittata, but enough change to be different

6)Walnut Pesto Stuffed Chicken Everyone liked this, but Jason thought it was a little too rich on the Pesto so reduce pesto stuffing, but it's very tasty, Baked, could be made ahead and put in fridge or freezer

7)Easy Shredded Beef I would not normally put a sirloin steak in the crockpot but WOW I have to say that I was amazed at the flavor fullness and I seriously ate shredded beef salad for lunch 3 days in a row. It was a crows pleaser, kid friendly, a must make, crockpot, easy and quick

8)Round Steak can be hard to serve without rice or something to jazz it up, but I made marinaded it for 3 days with Apple Cider vinegar, olive oil, salt, garlic, and Chinese five spice powder, threw it on the grill and it was great. It was made into perfection when Jason whipped up a dill sauce for dipping - Homemade mayo, lemon, dill weed, garlic, salt to taste...SO yum

9)Turkey - grab a large turkey, really, do it. I was not a turkey fan until I made this and oh yum! Oven, needs hours

10)This is an amazing substitute for rice, honestly I thought it would be a complete flop but I had caulifflower that was going to go bad so I had nothing to lose and it was seriously tasty, side dish, takes some time,

11) Pulled Pork Sliders I used the pulled pork recipe up there on #1 and added the sweet potatoes for the bun, this was a HUGE hit for the whole family, everyone loved, quick, easy, crockpot and oven

12) Cracklin' Chicken a little hard for Jason to get past eating the fat, but very tasty and liked by all, stove top, quick

13)Grilled Salmon with Avocado Salsa family favorite, did not include the avocado salsa on the kids, but this was loved by all and we have made several times

Amelie is 2!

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Blythe's Sixth Year

A few days late, but hey we have a 17 day old in the house, so I'm doing pretty good!

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Jericho's Fourth Year

Despite the fact that I have totally neglected the blog I have at least kept up with the memory books. Here's to another year of memories to my Jericho!

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Amelie's Year of Memories

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My first born is 5!

She's sassy, shy, bossy, girly, rule following, loving, silly, and smart, all rolled into one perfect 5 year old!

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I have lots to share about Kindergarten, but that will have to wait for another day...stay tuned.

My wonderful grandma of 8 years sent me this sweet note - made my day!

Your feelings are so beautiful...and so part of Motherhood.  Yesterday Greg started kindergarten, and now, all of a sudden, next year he will turn 60.  In between there are so many incredible memories that I will never lose, nor want to discard.  So..welcome to this wild merry go round.  You are doing such a beautiful job, as is Jason, that is will go on forever. And Jericho will follow, and then Amelie, and who knows who else.  But your heart will grow and quiver and grow and quiver with each day.  And if you are blessed, some day will have grandchildren and great grandchildren to watch and be amazed by what you see.  And so I wish you, Mother of Blythe, Happy Birthday Mom.

My First Kindergartener

6:00am I am woken up by Jericho who is so excited about Kindergarten she somehow woke up an hour earlier than she normally does.  I threw her in the middle of the bed and told her I still had 15 minutes before the alarm went off.  That 15 minutes felt like only 2 minutes as the wind chimes signaled that dreaded first day was here and yes I was forced to get out of the bed before 7am.  I walked into Blythe's room, gave her a gentle tap and whispered, "It's time, the first day of Kindergarten has arrived."  She sat up bright eyed and bushy tailed and quickly went to the kitchen table for breakfast just like we had rehearsed.  She excitedly ate breakfast and remembered all the things she needed to do to get ready without being prompted!  Within 20 minutes she was ready to go and asking if it was time to load the car.  I told her I needed a few First Day of School Pictures by the front door before we left, and she obliged.  Everyone needed a first day of school picture with Blythe!



 










We took a little too much time taking pictures with Blythe and were in the car loaded and pulling out at 7:11am, crap..I wanted to leave by 7am.  If you know me, you know that the easiest way to instantly stress me out is to make me feel like I am going to be late.  I had to give myself a little pep talk "It's the first day, it is not worth stressing about, when you stress you get short and impatient and that is not the Mommy you want to be on the first day."  Luckily it worked and I went with the theory that they weren't going to mark us tardy on the first day and I didn't even know that we would technically be late.  We pulled up to the school just before 7:30.  Jason un-buckled Jericho and Blythe as I quickly changed Amelie out of her jammies and into a clean diaper, yes I took Amelie in on the first day in just a diaper because she wet through her clothes and I put her straight from the bed into the car seat.  As we were walking into the school building the first bell rang, signaling school would start in 10 minutes.  My heart was racing as we were walking at child's pace across the long lot and after saying hurry up, walk faster several times, I reminded myself, relax this is supposed to be an enjoyable moment, we will get there when we get there.  That worked for Blythe's pace, but I scooped Jericho up so we could walk beside Blythe.

 

We had time for a quick picture in front of the classroom, and then we walked in and Mrs. Price greeted Blythe with, "Buenos Dias," and Blythe looked down shyly.  Mrs. Price showed Blythe were to hang her school bag and where to place her lunch box, then Blythe walked to her chair.  Just as I was snapping a quick picture of Blythe at her desk the final bell rang, signaling it was time for my departure.  I quickly told Blythe goodbye, that she would have so much fun, and I would see her soon.  As I was saying these words I got a little teary eyed, but no tears fell (YEAH ME).  I quickly kissed her and walked out of the classroom, I did a quick look back, but all I could see was the top of her head.  Somehow I put on my big girl panties that morning and managed to bid Blythe farewell on her first day of Kindergarten without shedding a tear.









We kept ourselves busy with a run for mom, a morning nap for Amelie, gymnastics class for Jericho, lunch, then a quick afternoon nap before pick-up.  We were told that they would let the kids out early the first week of school so we arrived in plenty of time to be at the crosswalk when Blythe arrived.  Perhaps we arrived a little too early.  We expected Blythe to be at the crosswalk by 2:45, and at 2:50 we still weren't seeing any kids.  I began to get nervous and second guess my decision, what was I thinking having my Kindergartener walk to the crosswalk?  This was a horrible idea?  Luckily I had on sunglasses and I was able to wipe my tears before they fell below the shades.  Jericho kept asking me where Blythe was and why she wasn't here yet.  You could see worry on her precious face.  Suddenly the car lines started to move and there was a wave of big kids that came to the cross walk, then another wave, both the moms that were there when we arrived had already collected their children and had gone.  Tear my heart out and stomp on it.  Worst.  Feeling.  EVER!  Then finally in the distance I saw little people slowly walking down the sidewalk, and I spotted her!

 



My tears of worry and sadness quickly turned into tears of joy.  I couldn't get that girl in my arms fast enough and when I did I squeezed her and hugged her and kissed her, you would have thought I hadn't seen her in a year!  But I'm new at this, at this whole leave your kid for a full day, let them be independent, but I'll get better, in time.