Pumpkin Muffins

While browsing Pinterest for some low cal deserts, I came across some Weight Watchers Pumpkin Muffins. 

Now, I'm not doing Weight watchers (although I do still want to lose 5 more pounds!), and I'm not even sure how the point system works, but what I DO know is these are SO SO SO good! 

There are only 2 ingredients:

No water, no oil, no eggs...just mix (hand blender worked great) the cake mix and can of pumpkin (15 oz). Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. My stove gets REALLY hot, so I actually baked mine at 325 for 25 min. 

When they have cooled, they don't look that impressive, but they are! 

Honestly, my only complaint is that they are SO good that you'll want to keep eating them, which kinda defeats the whole "weight watchers" aspect of them! (By the way if you do WW, I think they are 2 points each?)

I've seen variations of them-some people add water or milk, or even top with powered sugar afterwards but I don't think any of those things are necessary.

 Try them!

polar express night

saturday night we had a polar express night!

we made cookies, got in our PJs, and drank hot chocolate (and of course ate cookies ;) while we watched the Polar Express. 

just a few pictures from the night:

until next time!

my new hangout

a new ice cream and coffee parlor opened up recently just 5 minutes down the road from our house.

we finally got around to checking it out yesterday and i now know where we will be hanging out at.

daily. ha! just kidding. but definitely several times a week!

the boys got superman ice cream, kane got a milkshake, and i got a strawberry-banana smoothie. 

ohmygosh it was soo good!

hope everyone has a great week!

if you need us, we'll be at the ice cream parlor! ;)

lunch date(s)

tuesday was a bad day for us.

it was one of those days where you just feel like your failing as a mother.

the boys were absolute monsters. all.morning.long.

so i got up today bound and determined to have a good day

after doing some house cleaning, i packed us a lunch and headed to the park.

the boys ran off some MUCH needed energy, and afterwards we walked over to the picnic shelter and had a picnic.

the boys were super excited. the weather was warm and the sky was a bit overcast (which was a nice break from the heat!)

i looked over at the boys several times as they munched away, simply thankful for that time with them.

because truth be told,  i'm not always so thankful. especially because a certain little one has been driving me crazy pushing the limit lately.

{harper trying to smile with a mouth full of banana}

{carson concentrating on his drink-ps-i actually buy those sugar-filled Hi-C's for Kane, but they were perfect for the picnic...and obviously the boys loved them}

i am going to make it a point to take them to the park for a picnic once a week...even when the blazing heat sets in, i will make it a priority...because it serves as such a simple reminder to me how fleeting this time with them is, and how i should never take them for granted.

six posts in one

so here's the scoop: (try to keep up, i'm going to be all over the place!)

{a} our dear fish that we got carson for his birthday is still alive!

amazing right?!

i'm pretty sure we hold some kind of record for keeping a goldfish alive for longer than 3 days.

especially since i'm pretty sure there were like 4 or 5 days {consecutively} where we forgot to feed it. 

oops.

{b} my almost 3 year old is still not potty trained. nor does he have any desire to be. and yes, he still totes and dotes on his beloved baby.

i always get tickled when people comment on how nice the boys are always dressed. they rarely have clothes on at the house. and i mean rarely.

{c} 8 months later, the kids are still obsessed with VBS music. there is not a day that goes by where they don't YouTube the Vast Voyage video.

{d} carson has been having these odd allergic reactions to something. i'm thinking it is a (minor) food allergy because it is just on his face?? it is so strange to me because he's never had any problems before.

they start off looking like pimples and then transform into scratch-like lesions. he has his 4 year check-up in a few weeks so i'm going to have them look into it (unless it gets worse before then).

  

{e} my dad's cousin owns a resale shop here in town and so kane and i went last weekend searching for nightstands for our bedroom. we scored. big time. check it out, we got both nightstands for a whopping $30 (altogther!). and a plus? they match our bed.

{f} health update: the proof is on the microwave.

i did start taking multi-vitamins (after a slight mix-up of buying one-a-day vitamins for women ages 50+), but i have failed miserably on the junk-food front.

after the previous post was published, i polished off the rest of my snickers icecream. and then yesterday i saw these at the grocery store:

they were singing to me, begging me to buy them.

so of course i couldn't resist.

and i will enjoy eating every single one of them, guilt free. :)

confessions of a junk food addict.

confession time. i am incredibly unhealthy. i am a soda-junky, caffeine-feining, dessert-loving mess. i always have been. regardless of what some may think, i have never had an eating disorder (anorexia, specifically), i simply lose weight when i'm incredibly stressed. i have never cared about my weight, nor have i ever had to watch what i eat. genetics and young age are on my side. however, just because i'm "thin" doesn't mean i'm healthy. i've always been aware that i am unhealthy, but have never done anything to fix it. i have never changed my diet, nor do i exercise. i rarely eat meat and only drink milk if it is mixed with chocolate or in my coffee. what may seem odd about all of this is that i care (sometimes too much) about what my kids consume. they drink milk like its going out of style. eat wheat bread only. have fruit for snacktime. take daily vitamins. you get the point. but i do none of these things. my unhealthy habits seem to be quite obvious lately. since the move, i have been soo sluggish. exhausted beyond belief. in a bit of a funk. and i really think this has to do with my eating habits. while preparing for the move, we ate fast-food non-stop. i was simply too busy cleaning and preparing to make healthy dinners, and it was just soo easy for kane to pick up a pizza on the way home. i gained weight. about 10 pounds in the past few months. which is okay to a certain extent. but the added weight has served as a reminder to me that i have got to get my heatlh under control. i really need to take care of myself. let me just make something clear....i am not trying to lose weight. i am simply trying to feel better. so here is my (beginners) 3 step working plan: i will start taking vitamins. i will drink 17 oz of water a day (i drink none now. zip. zero. so 17 oz is a lot for me!). i will no longer eat oreos/cheese puffs/snickers icecream when the boys are in bed at night. so thats my beginning plan. i really belive i am addicted to junk. so instead of setting myself up for failure, i will take baby steps in the right direction. so if you see me shoving mcd's in my mouth, don't hate. ;) i love fast food-i don't see that being cut out of my diet anytime soon! :)

The Pioneer Woman

I'm not sure why there are so many people who hate on The Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond), but I just LOVE her recipe blog. Some of the recipes are slightly unhealthy, but are soo good and she provides pictures of each step (umm MAJOR bonus!)

I used her recipe for homemade alfredo sauce last week, and it was d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s.

and I can't wait to go pick up the ingredients to make these...

Bacon Onion Cheddar Biscuits. Only I won't tell Carson theres onions in them. Or cheese...

And this is completely off topic, but I had to throw these in. Check out these handsome little men...

Carson at 5 months

and Harper at 5 months

Where has time gone?!?!

Now they have turned into these little trouble makers...

*sigh*