Happy Birthday My Little Ones

Day 2 at hospital

First day home together

First photo shoot

Three years ago today, I gave birth to two very beautiful but early babies. They were born 5 weeks early and weighed in 4.4 lbs and 5. 4 lbs. They were so small, I can still recall how scared I was to bring them home, especially my boy. Seeing them in NICU with all those wires and feeding tubes, I prayed I would be able to bring them home sooner then later. When I was able to bring them home within the week, I was elated. Eight months of doing my best to keep them in but they were finally here and leaving healthy. Prayers answered.

Since that day, we have watched them as they have discovered the world around them, developing what I hope is a life long friendship with their older brother and building a twin bond that is as strong as both their personalities. They fight as much as they do hug and kiss one another. 

Now they are three years old and each showing their own very distinct personalities. There isn't a day that goes by where I don't laugh with the kids. We absolutely love them and though they were a surprise, with many sleepless nights, we also know they are a blessing.  I would change nothing. 

Happy Birthday my babies!  

Mama, Daddy and Nono love you both so much. Thanks for bringing double the love into our lives and filling our hearts exponentially. 

Prepping for holidays...Yippee!

You know this made you laugh.

Having mentioned that I would discuss things other than skin care from time to time her goes the latest.

We all remember the Thanksgiving episode  where on Friends, character Monica gets her head in a turkey. Then decides to make the best of a horrible situation to cheer up Chandler. 

I am currently avoiding the horrors of the holidays by going to someone else's house. Let them get their heads stuck in a turkey, metaphorically of course. However,  I can't show up empty handed. I wasn't raised that way. One positive in my up bringing. (Kudo's to you mom and dad.)

Since I haved started to cook things more from scratch for the family. I have been searching for authentic meals and desserts to feed them all. Some of the childhood memories I still have and my happiest, are around the kitchen watching my mother, grandmothers or who ever cooking. The smells, the sampling of food as it prepares and watching it cook in the oven. That little oven light was like turning on the television for me. In some ways, it still is today. 

Now sadly, I know that you should never relate joy to food because it puts you at risk to over eating. However, I feel like if you eat foods made with fresh ingredients and control the quantity, you should be all right. Plus some exercise wouldn't hurt either. (HAHA!) 

With the holidays fast approaching, I have begun the process to seek out yummy whole food meals that I can make for the family to enjoy through out the holidays. Since I am not hosting this year (Can I get an AMEN?),  I want to make sure I don't show up empty handed and that I have great meals at home prepped and ready. Incase no one eats enough at our hosts home. I always have hungry little monsters so I try to have meals prepped for them. 

The holidays are a confusing time for me. I have mixed feelings about them. They bring good memories to mind but also stress the heck out of me. Since I am not hosting this year, (notice how I keep saying that) I do have it easier then my hosts for sure. Since I am in charge of dessert as I am often during the holidays, I am posting one recipe that I will make for home and one that I will be taking to my hosts home. (Okay, it's my sister house. It's no secret we get along.) I'm still thinking I may host Christmas Eve, still thinking on how I can manage it. 

The great thing about cooking for me is that its where I let all me stress out. It's having people over that stresses me out. I never feel like the house is clean or organized enough. And now a days, I feel like that even more.  Every thing is way harder to do now with the three kids. So I have to plan ahead and often, cook enough to freeze or eat for two days. 

DIY: Rice Pudding, no jarred stuff here.

In any case, I have selected two desserts for this coming Thanksgiving. When I was a kid, my mom use to make Rice Pudding for the holidays for my brother. Back then, I wasn't a fan (cooked raisins, Yuck!) but I love the stuff now. Though I am still not a fan of cooked raisins, my husband and son love them. I think that this recipe for Rice Pudding by The Pioneer Woman would be a great one since it is so close to how my mom made it. Note: My son is only 3, so I think I will skip the Bourbon and use vanilla extract with warm water to plump up the raisins and add to their flavor.  I may just divide the batch and make a small batch without raisins for myself and introduce this treat to the twins. I'll let you know how my first sample batch comes out but looks simple enough.

The second, is an easy one that I have already made. I took a box of Hodgins Mills Gingerbread mix,  and a can of Trader Joe's All Natural Pumpkin Puree. Mixed it together. Added Chocolate chips. Poured it into a rectangle baking pan. Topped with some more chocolate chips. Placed in oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Note: You want to coat your pan with butter and flour. You can top with ice cream, warm chocolate, whipped cream or all of the above if you aren't concerned about your waist line. My sister and son sampled it and they liked it so it's ago. You could also use a box of Duncan Hines Spice Cake and just add can of Pumpkin Puree. One less ingredient to add but probably would contain more preservatives from this type of Spice Cake mix. It's the holidays though, so enjoy it however you like.

My hope is that you all can get through the holidays as easy as I'm planning to. Best laid plans of course so we shall see how it goes. Now I just have to start jotting down all the many things I am thankful for. Happy planning.

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Until next time, Be Blessed, Be Healthy and Be Beautiful!