So I am not a huge resolution fan so I decided to make my self goals for 2012 and why not 12 being it is 2012 and all.  Also as a teacher we are required to set smart goals for ourselves and students (this is a fancy way of saying you set a goal that can be measured) so most of my goals for 2012 are ones that can be measured and I figured I will keep a running tally of these on my home page to sort of keep myself in line.  I decided for the first time in ages I am not going to do any weight loss goals (although I am restarting weight watchers along with my clean eating more on that later)  So here are my 12 Goals for 2012


1. No more Soda-Except on my birthday if I Choose
2. Eat Dairy free-My stomach has been awful this week because I haven't been
3. Scrapbook Josie's first 12 Months
4. Finish Dylan's first 12 Months scrapbook (he is almost five and all)
5. Exercise 3 times a week (166 Times this year)
6. Read 30 books
7. Make 12 projects with my grandma's group on Facebook (not that I am a grandma but we do grandma type projects
8. Make an effort to connect with those people I care about.  Call, Email, or write a good friend once a week (52 times this year)
9. Make 100 posts this year on my blog
10. Spend more time being present with my kids-Be in the moment with them put down the phone
11.  Finish at least four more graduate courses to bring me closer to maxing out on the salary scale at my job
12. Be kind to myself-No negative nasty voice in the back of my head


So there you have it folk, my 12 in 2012.  I hope you are all enjoying your new year!  May this year bring you all that you are hoping for and then some!

So I finally have a few seconds to post a recap about my Holiday.  We have had a lot of sickness in the house plus add to that some emotional stuff going on with my husband and son it was very hard to get into the holiday spirit.  But when the time came who can not help but get into spirit when you have to great kids who love gift and are so stinking cute.  So for your holiday enjoyment.  A photo of my son playing with a science kit in his jammies and my new favorite picture of my baby girl-She looks so grown up here.  Also I have included a picture of my favorite gift-Ugg boots from my parents. I know I am spoiled and 17-All my student's wear them but shit they are comfortable and I might sleep in them if Papa Hunt wouldn't judge me for it!  Hope you all had a great holiday and I am looking forward to the new year!

Mu new boots

Dylan with Papa Hunt-enjoying our science kit

My beautiful Girl

Had to add this one, the puppy standing guard around the tree

Sorry this post comes well after the last ones but I have had a sick baby and the holidays means one crazy Momma!

Day Two
Breakfast with Santa, Lunch Cheese Ravioli for Pap Hunt and Moroccan Chicken for Me, Dinner was Grilled Chicken with Spinach Orzo

Day Three
Breakfast-Spinach, Pepper and Feta Omelet, Lunch Papa Hunt-Steak house wrap me-Blackened Tilapia, Dinner-Pulled Pork Caroline Style

Cheese Ravioli-Papa Hunt liked this and said it was tasty but he could have used a bit more, again I mentioned that this is what a portion of pasta really looks like

Moroccan Chicken-I thought this super spicy and sweet chicken was yummy.  Yet, upon tasting it I clearly knew why Papa Hunt did not like this meal.  He is not a huge savor and sweet fan and from the raisins you get a sweet tasty and it was middle eastern spicy which he is not a fan, but I liked it.  The chicken was perfectly cooked


Grilled Chicken and Orzo-We both thought the chicken was good as well as the Orzo our only complaint was it was a lot of spinach and Papa Hunt really does not like spinach and for these past few days there has been spinach in everything!!  Again the chicken was cooked really good and reheated well. To me the best part was the veggies, super good squash and eggplant my favorite combo


Spinach omelet with turkey hash-I loved this-Now I did have to scrap out the feta since I can't do dairy but the eggs were surprisingly tasty for microwaved eggs.  Plus the shredded turkey with potato hash was a great edition to my omelet

Steak House Wrap-Papa Hunt loved it, only complaint was that it was too soft to pick up and eat and you needed a knife and fork

Blackened Tilapia-I hate to admit this because I really have liked the food, I threw it out!  It was way to spicy for me and I usually love spicy.  Plus I was bummed because I never get to eat fish because Ryan doesn't like it.  So I am having my dad eat the Tilapia this week for lunch while he is watching the wee one since he likes super spicy.

Pulled Pork-WINNER WINNER CHICKEN (I mean pork) dinner.  We loved it.  We both had never had okra before and although it was a bit slimy it was super crunchy and squash like.  Also the baked beans and pulled pork were and excellent combo!  This was another favorite of ours.  YEAH!!! Just bummed I forgot to take a picture of it

Well off to eat my breakfast, see you tomorrow with another update

So as I posted before I was Lucky enough to be given sample meals from Bistro MD to try for a week.  Since we didn't know when they were coming we already had a lot planed so we are working the plan into our lives.  So far so good!  We are really liking the meals the only complaint that I have (and its my own fault) I did not tell them that I was lactose intolerant so some of the tastier looking meals I have had to trade with my hubby because I can't Wait them with all the dairy in it.  So below are the meals that we have eaten and some brief commentary and pictures.

Friday-
Erica-Berry Crepes, Lunch was out, Dinner-Beef Tips
Ryan-Berry Crepes, Moroccan Inspired Chicken, Beef Tips

Saturday
Erica and Ryan-Sweet Potato Pancakes, Chicken Sausage with Mustard, and dinner was out

Ok so here our thoughts and a few photos to help you visualize
Berry Crepes-They smelled amazing and tasted really good.  We both were actually surprised how good the turkey sausage was alhtough Ryan who doesn't like spicy things felt that the sausage was a bit spicy for the am





Moroccan Inspired Chicken-Papa Hunt said it was good quality food and tasted ok but the flavor combos were not something that he would really choose to eat on his own.  He prefers more traditional flavors.  So he wanted me to point out this was not a flaw with the good it was more a personal flavor choice



Beef Tips- The beef tips were super yummy.  Nice big chunks of tender beef, with wide egg noodles and an amazing blend of mushrooms.  This was by far a stand out in the last few days for both me and Papa Hunt.  Although Papa Hunt and mushrooms are an evil combo but it was tasty enough to deal with the aftermath



Sweet Potato Pancakes0I was in love.  Breakfast doesn't get any better than yummy pancakes, syrup, and some sausage.  I actually thought that sweet potatoes because of the cinnamon tasted a bit like pumpkin pancakes which I am in love with.  Plus a tasty  little sausage dipped in sugar free syrup so good!  Papa Hunt wasn't as big of a fan but his complaint had to do with size-He didn't think that three small pancakes was not enough but I reminded him that this is part of the plan learning what portion sizes are!




Chicken Sausage with mustard sauce, braised cabbage, and mushroom barley-BEST MEAL EVER.  This was so dang tasty.  Be both loved it and our plates looked literally like they were licked clean.  The sausage was flavored perfectly and the mustard sauce was not over powering.  The cabbage with apples was out of this world and the barley was so yummy!!!!  I want to eat this every day.  Sadly even though this was my favorite meal-we don't have pictures of it because....well sausage looks a little ummm....like sausage so no pictures!



We have really been enjoying the food I will update Sunday's meals tomorrow!  Have a great day everyone

I am so excited to post about this....a few weeks ago I was contacted by Bistro MD about testing out their products and reviewing them here on my blog.  We I got lucky and was chosen and was also lucky enough to get meals for my hubby-Papa Hunt to review as well.  I keep using the work lucky because lets be honest not cooking or having to buy groceries the week before Christmas is nothing but friggin lucky.  So for the next week you can be expecting pictures and details about my food.  The program was recently featured on Dr. Phil-and anyone who knows me knows I am a Dr. Phil Junky!  So we got our delivery yesterday in the mail and I was super surprised.  Not only did the food look to be of good portion size, it looked really tasty.  Most of the meals looked to be around 300 calories and a way bigger portion then the light frozen meal I just ate for dinner last night.  It was half the size for 300 calories.  Well I can't wait to go heat up my breakfast and take some photos of it!  I will keep you all update on my journey!  Yeah for new and exciting things!

Ok so I am sucker for any children's book and then add in the fact that this is about Alaska and I am in heaven!  I have a thing for Alaska-I loved it when we visited plus you all know I am slightly obsessed with Deadliest Catch!  Well I was offered to review Musher's Night Before Christmas and I was so excited-forget the kids.  But you know what...my son fell in love with the book. He has been taking it to bed to read before he goes to sleep for the last two weeks since it arrived.  This book is based on the classic Night Before Christmas but has an Alaskan flair.  It features eight champion Alaskan sled dogs and their owner.  I think I loved reading about the historical basis of the story even more than the story itself.  The Author-Tricia Brown does an amazing job weaving in these traditional Alaskan elements to this age old story.  Also, I loved the illustrations by Debra Dubac because they bring the story to life in a realistic cartoony way.  Not only is the story great, the book itself is gorgeous to look at.  This is a great book and would make an amazing holiday gift!  Heck look at us reading it the day it came in the mail!

There is a plague upon my house.....no seriously.  I am starting to think there might be some type of allergeren or something in my house that is causing this horrendous run of sickness!  My kids are still gross, the hubs is still gross, and to top it off I got a stomach bug this past weekend.  Awesome doesn't even begin to cover it!!!  Yet, we are hanging in.  This past Friday we went for our first therapy appointment to help us deal with D's sleep issues and that went much better than I thought and we are headed back this Friday without the wee one in order to work on some strategies for dealing his anxiety and sleep issues.  It is nice to at least feel like we are making some postive moment.  I will keep you all posted and hopefully things will settle in and I can start to blog a bit more.  Also, don't forget I am a featured mommy blogger over on the #mefirst website so check me and the other momma's out over there! http://mefirstblog.com/2011/12/using-finding-nemo-as-my-inspiration/