Mini vacay to San Antonio

Back in December (the 14th & 15th), we took a mini vacation to San Antonio.  Mini as in an over night stay.  Not much but it was a great time with my little family.

I don't think I have any shared this but in December we had a big change happen in our house.  AB got a new job!  It was kind of out of no where and after praying for months for a change, we felt it was an answered prayer.  We had really hoped he could start after the holidays but due to other circumstances that didn't happen.  So within a matter of a few days, we were transitioning to a new life.  Where AB would now have a regular 8-5, Monday through Friday job.  With benefits!  Huge for our family.

So we decided to take advantage of his time off before starting his new job.  We also knew we wouldn't be able to really celebrate our anniversary (which is December 29th and when we had my family Christmas) so this was kind of a mini anniversary celebration.

I've learned that once kids are in the picture...anniversaries are a lot less glamorous!  And that is a-ok...

So back to the trip...we headed up Friday around lunch time.  We had no hotel reservations, we figured it would be no problem getting a room.  Ha!  For some reason, many of the hotels were booked solid but we did end up finding a room at Hotel Valenica.  One of the hotels I've always wanted to stay at, so it worked out rather nice.  Only down fall - no breakfast.  Breakfast is my favorite when on vacation.  Like I arrange my schedule around eating breakfast...which is a big deal since I am not a morning person!

Brady really enjoyed playing in the bath tub...getting in and out, over and over.

After a walk around the Riverwalk, we ended up having dinner at Paesanos.  We decided to eat outside in hopes the people watching would entertain B.  

 

The food was delicious!  And B had calamari for the first time ever!  He insisted on eating it so I said ok thinking he really wouldn't eat it...boy I was wrong!  He did really great during dinner and our food was amazing!

After dinner, we took a riverboat ride/tour to look at all the Christmas lights.  I think Brady enjoyed "talking" with the others on the boat, rather than looking at the lights.  Such a social butterfly!

We ended our night with a stop at Starbucks.  Starbucks is a real treat for us since the closet one is 25 minutes away.  B also got a special little treat, a snowman sugar cookie.

The next morning, we checked out of hotel and then headed to find breakfast.  We ended up finding a place on Yelp off the beaten path...that had the biggest plate of biscuits and gravy I had ever seen.  It was a LOT of food.  Enough to feed a small army!  There was no way I could eat all of it, but it was really good food.  Thanks to Yelp for the recommendation.

We ended up meeting up with B's cousins after breakfast and then headed back home.  I really wanted to make a stop at Trader's Joe but it was B's nap time and he fell asleep as soon as we put him in his seat.  There's always next time...

It was a spur of the moment trip, best kind in my opinion and I so enjoyed spending time away with my 2 boys!  I look forward to many more trips with them, even if it's just for a night.  These are the memories I don't ever want to forget!

What we're loving...

So I still have yet to blog about Thanksgiving or Christmas and I had intentions of doing one of them today but I decided to do a post about what's going on, in the present moment.  And somewhat of a photo dump from my phone...

Since the new year, it seems like we've been under the weather than we haven't.  We've had colds, stomach viruses, and other unknown viral infections.  We have been sick-free since Tuesday and I am hoping to stay that way!!!

Last week, B. and I were both sick and so my mom (aka mimi) came to be with us.  We loved having her here and I know B. enjoyed seeing his mimi.  I had been so looking forward to going to the farmers market on Wednesday and thank goodness we all felt well enough to go.

Felt great to get dress, have some human interaction, and get some fresh air and eggs!  Brady loved getting to roam around.  He is certainly wanting to be independent these days.

Over the weekend, we were better and then sickness struck once again.  Sunday, night I came down with a stomach virus.  It was awful but thankfully AB was great and helped nurse me back to health.  While being quarantined to my room, I decided to take advantage of my time and finally started watching the Downton Abbey series on Netflix.  Oh my, it's so good!  I watched the entire first season and episode 1, all within 2 days.  I am hooked.  I'm more than halfway through season 2, thanks to Hula Plus.  Why in the world doesn't Netflix have season 2???  I'm trying to get caught up with season 3.

Source

I am loving this show!  And that says a lot because I'm not much of a TV person and really just not into keeping up with a series.  But this is such a nice change from reality TV and I love learning about this time period.  Sooo good!

We've also been loving playing and exploring.  Since we've been sick, we've spent a lot of time playing at home.  Good thing we got an abundance of toys!  I started pulling and sorting toys to go into a tote, so we can rotate the toys in and out.  I think B. gets tired of playing with the same old toy and this way it's like we are getting "new" things but not really.

He got this cute dog for his birthday and he loves to sit in his chair and play with him.  Thanks Davis family for the great gift :)  He loves pressing all the buttons and it's heart.

So we've been filling our days with lots of play around the house.  Which I'm loving getting to see B. explore and play.  He is getting to wear he wants to play independently, which is a good and bad thing.  Independent means doing things his way and on his terms.  But for the most part, if it won't hurt him I let him be.  Except playing in the toilet, is where I draw the line ;)

Someone is also loving climbing...

That would be the end table that he is standing on.  He climbed unto the couch and then over to the table.  So the end table has been moved else where and his PBK chair also has a new home.  And this morning he managed to climb into the recliner...

And very proud of himself!  Mommy is not so much loving all the climbing...

On Tuesday, I was finally able to get to the grocery store and afterwards decided to take Brady to the park to let some energy out.  But first he had a good ol' time acting like a wild man in the car.  Playing the car seat and back seat is like Disney World to him.  He gets so excited and acts just plum crazy!  Probably because he isn't having to be strapped down.  Now that he is walking...the car seat is not his friend.

Poor baby wore himself plum out.  I think it was the swing that did it...totally relaxed him, he just wanted to lay down.  Haha!

And here are few more things we are loving this morning...

Seems like the simplest toys are the best!  Mimi got him a Fisher Price shape sorter for Christmas and he loves it.  He loves putting the blocks in the bucket, carrying it around, and dumping them out.  It's the one toy he consistently goes for.  Also makes a good teeth-er ;) 

And books.  We are loving books.  I try to make it a point to sit down and read a few times  a day.  It doesn't always happen but when it does, Little Blue Truck is a favorite!

And I mean who doesn't love avocado????  The skin and all???

And that's what we've been up to and what we're loving...

Menu Planning - Paleo style

We have slowly been transitioning to a Paleo or a "real food" type of eating.  It seems the more I find out about the food we consume the more ill I become.  Really it's more about what we don't know about the food we are consuming...even scarier.

But either way, I thought it was time to start being a better example to Brady since he is now eating what we are eating.  Also, I had a slight addiction to Dr. Pepper!  I found myself finding an excuse to leave the house so I could stop through a drive-thru to get one.

So a new year always brings new goals, etc so I decided it was time to make a change.  But not go on a diet...because I.will.fail.miserably!  Instead I decided to do a "lifestyle change" and really it hasn't been so hard to keep it up.  Other than the days, I've been sick.  Which seem to be a lot lately.  It's almost like my body is revolting against this "lifestyle change."  And actually I feel so much better!  And haven't even been taking my thyroid meds.

We are simply cutting out processed foods, grains, and Dr. Pepper.  Don't get me wrong, I still have my occasionally handful of M&M's, or girl scout cookie (I couldn't say no when she rang the door bell, that would be just rude!), and I even have carbs on occasion.  For it's easier to have just a little, than none at all.

All in moderation...is what I tell myself.

I am always looking for new dinner ideas and this week I am trying all new recipes.  So here is what's on the menu for this week.

Monday - omelets...momma was still under the weather.

Tonight, we had Coconut Chicken Nuggets.  We all thought they were tasty & easy!  Even B. ate some and lately he hasn't been wanting meat.

Source: multiplydelicious.com via Nancy on Pinterest

I didn't make the bbq sauce to go with it, we just used some sauce we had.  I'll be honest, we had Chick-fil-A sauce - yum!!  Not healthy at all but we had it and so we used it.  We still have food we are trying to eat up without wasting or throwing it away.  These would definitely be some thing I'd make again.

Here's the rest of the week:

Meatloaf Cake - I'm doubling this recipe because I'm not sure 1 lb is enough??
Southwest Turkey Burger Sliders
Spicy Coconut Shrimp

We are eating out Friday night with friends so I'll probably do the burger sliders Saturday on the grill.

For breakfast, we've been making these smoothies and they are yummy!!

Source: foodgawker.com via Nancy on Pinterest

I've pinned all of these recipes here!  So feel free to pin them and I hope to keep up this weekly menu planning.

Do you have any favorite Paleo or "whole foods" recipes??

Brady saying "we-no" (Reno)

Brady has recently learned to say one of the dog's names.  I was just sure he would say Coco before Reno but nope, Reno it is.  He has been saying "dawg" for some time now, as I'd like to think that was his officially word other than momma & dada.  I was finally able to get it on video. 

More for our sake and the grandparents sake.  Even though I think it is insanely cute...not bais or anything.

Pigs, goats, & cows -oh my! (a play-date)

Last Thursday, we had fun play-date planned with some of our Kindermusik friends.  It is livestock show time around here so we took advantage of taking the kiddos out to show them around.

Brady was all about the animals.  He wasn't scared to pet them or call them.  According to him they were all either "dawg" or "We-no" even though I tried to explain they were neither a dog or Reno.

We met up with our friends and went through all the barns looking at the exhibits.  First up was the pigs.  And oh my how I had forgotten the awful smell of livestock shows...either that or when you are "young" you just don't notice those things!  Because I do not remember it smelling that bad when I showed pigs, hmm almost 11 years ago.

Our first stop:  the pigs!

Next the goats!

Brady really liked the goats.  Kept calling them "we-no, we-no" and reaching into the pen to pet them.  So cute to watch!

Then the rabbits...a sweet mom let all the kids pet her son's bunnies. 

 Sweet friends.  O & Brady.

 

Next up...the ugly birds!  Turkeys & chickens.

 Lots of walking...

And looking...and smells! ;)

We stopped and looked at the lambs, then our last stop were the cows.  By this point, Brady was in melt-down mode and mommy was sweating from chasing him.  He insisted on walking through this exhibit but it was filled with cow manure so he was not the happiest about being held.  I was also probably breaking out into sweats as he "squealed" at the cows, all while me panicking he didn't startle one of them.  I'm sure the exhibitors were thrilled to see us go, ha!

We did manage to get a group photo...and ha what do you know we are the only ones not looking, ha!  This is real life folks...B wanted a snack during the picture and we are missing a shoe!  The other kiddos & moms look great though :)

Brady refused to stay in the stroller.  He wanted to be on the loose, Mr. Independent!  Walked until his little legs just shouldn't anymore!

It turned out to be a beautiful day!  After a much needed nap, we made a trip to the mall for B. some new clothes and jacket.  Thanks to his Mimi!!!

These are the moments/day I live for.  Seeing the world through my child's eyes...there is nothing sweeter!  I'm so thankful I am able to experience and make these kind of memories with B.  I cherish these so much, even if they aren't always easy on this sweaty, nervous-wreck momma! ;)

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about."