Eat your vegetables now!

This blog is dedicated to us mama's out there of kiddos that refuse to eat "healthy veggies" and find ourselves fighting at the dinner table over it! I found the solution...

Many of you know that I love Oprah (went and saw her last year with Arianne Pearce in person!).She did a show on this new book by Jessica Seinfield (Jerry's wife). She found an idea to secretly put in the veggies into normal toddler foods without the kids knowing about it. It is called, "Deliciously Deceptive."

I picked up my own copy at Barnes 'N Nobles (they were sold out, but I was persistent)...She makes everything very simple in terms of what things you need in your kitchen (wisks, pans, etc) as well as the "how to" puree the veggies in liquid form and hide them in your Mac 'n Cheese...

I love this book! I am excited to use it...of course I need a kitchen that I actually WANT to be in first though...hopefully by Christmas we will be in our house...

Tonight I made Beef Stroganoff (not a recipe from the book, but I added pureed carrots and onions and the first thing both my boys said were, "yummy!"). Miracles do happen.

As an update...Austin goes to the Neurologist later on this year to check out his cyst. His ears look good, lots of dry blood, but he is acting his normal and emotional self. Wesley roars like a lion and he cries like a baby. Good mix of personalities.

We are leaving this weekend for Florida for a business conference for DirectBuy...a few days without the kids is always refreshing, even if it is business related. We will try our best to enjoy a few yummy restaurants and hit up some tourist sites for sure.

PS....I also took my kids Visiting Teaching today. I haven't been teaching with them for like 6 + months and boy could I tell that they are not old enough for it! They were roaming around, fighting with each other, Wesley was his typical "lion" self (which we are still working on making him stop!), Austin was spilling all of the treats all over the floor that I had brought, and both of them were just begging for attention. NOT an ideal visit for me or the ladies in my church!

What's a girl got to do to share a spiritual thought without having to discipline in the middle of my testimony!

"I know that we should always work hard on not procrastinating the important...wait boys! Stop fighting...Wesley, go to time out. Austin, pick up your pretzels....No, you may not get down, and stop hitting!....And that Heavenly Father wants us to be happy...etc"

Next time I will opt to find a babysitter...

If any of you get the book, let me know your thoughts!

$1000 blown away in 4 days

Austin had a nasty fall on Halloween ...turns out that blood has begun to sickle out of his ear as a result....scary! We got him seen by a doctor today, only for him to tell me that I had to go immediately to the Hospital to get him a CT scan for a possible fractured skull. The doctor's visit was $95 dollars for the "sick visit." I was thinking to myself, what kind of co-payment is that??? Hefty bill if you ask me!

I had just come from my YMCA class, so you can imagine how lovely I was looking in my workout clothing and matted hair. I was not anticipating a day FULL of doctor's and hospitals, at least I would've liked to have had on a bit of make up!

I arrived at what is the "block" of hospitals here in Centro El Paso. There are 4-5 different hospitals, doctor offices, ENT's, plastic surgeons, etc all within the same radius of 4 blocks...no exaggeration. So, trying to find where the doctor was, was quite the challenge. Did I mention that the day earlier our transmission went out on our new Tahoe? What the heck? So, instead of being able to use my familiar GPS system (which I rely on so much being new to this state and city), I was an official Mormon Mama in a Minivan and lost as could be.

Eventually I found the spot, of course parking in the wrong lot and having to haul Austin around across parking lots to get to the right location. I arrived at the CT scan place after following the signs, only for them to ask me, "do you have your paperwork?" My what? Oh yes, you have to register as an outpatient before doing any of this. This is obviously all very new to me.

Not only did we get to register, but that included waiting for about an hour in the waiting room amidst a billion other patients...and this was all on an empty stomach for Austin since they told me they would be sedating him...he was begging for food and water this entire time (pobrecito, it was already 1pm and you can imagine how he was feeling!).

To make a long story short, we eventually got him back to the CT scan room on an empty belly, where they DID not sedate him, but just wrapped him up in what looked like a little coffin and straight jacket to keep him still. I held down his face as he bawled through all of this and begged to get out. We sang songs (more like I sang them to him as tears streamed), and what seemed like an eternity passed before he was able to get down. This cost me $700 out of pocket.

The next day we went to the ENT to determine that his fall had NOTHING to do with his blood coming out of his ear!!!! I could've saved myself that $700 bill (although we did find a cist in the x-ray, more to come about that later as find out). The doctor was too quick with all she was doing, didn't explain anything about his infections and seemd anxious to just go to lunch. Slow down sister! She took out his bloody tube out of his right ear, keeping the left ear tube. I can only imagine that he will be getting tubes put back in before long since the blood came from an infection. This trip cost me $150 out of pocket.

Later on that day I was able to spend ONE HOUR at Wal-greens picking up his ear drop perscription. Lucky for me, they lost the order and I had to wait the hour there as they re-qualified it all and made it up, unfortunately Jared and the boys were waiting for me in the car. i couldn't have been more frustrated at the lack of service there. The drops cost me $90.

Overall, grateful that Austin is doing better. What's a $1000 when it is someone that you love?

Octopus Arms

There is one main thing I am SO ANXIOUS to have again in my new/remodeled home...A GARAGE! One can't appreciate it until it is snatched away from you...take today for example.

In order to get to my apartment, we have to park in a parking area a good 150 feet away, hop over a wall to make it only 50 feet away, and then climb the second story to get to my house.

This is not easy for grocery carrying, nor days like today when I needed 8 arms instead of 2.

Austin was crying and took off his shoes, did I mention he also peed all over himself in the process? So, carrying him would've been ideal, but I had no extra arms. I was already carrying: 6 small pumpkins from a craft project that went bad, including the pots that they had fallen out of, Wesley's preschool backpack, two jackets, a binder with pens, Austin's leftover shoe and sock, my purse, and let's see....oh yes, Austin was screaming for my hand to hold...

Wesley usually helps me, but this time he had put his "nasty" gum into his fingers and was trying to figure out how to get it off....he was concerned only about how to get clean...

Needless to say, garages are the best for mama's to load up toddlers, sippies, bags and other essential items ONE THING AT A TIME...and not all at once like I am having to do these days...

Halloween Madness

I drove to AZ from TX this week for my best friend Arianne Pearce's birthday (which happens to be ON Halloween)...leaving Sunday, with plans to leave again today (Thursday). It has been a delightful visit...her life is non stop with preschool carpooling, dinners to fix, an ulcer to attend to (while being pregnant), pumpkins and costumes to create and the list goes on. Of course we made her favorite homemade pancakes and syrup for her b-day breakfast (she is known as the Pancake Queen to all who know her....willingly will prepare a huge batch made from scratch at any moment...including 1 or 2 in the morning). I enjoyed a lovely visit with my other good friends as well, and it felt as though I had never even left this state~ Good friends are hard to find, especially ones that are this unique. Why can't they all move to El Paso?

The Halloween night was evolving just fine, we had finished dinner and were about to head out the door with our costumes prepared (Austin being a Harley Davidson Street Biker and Wesley being a MotorCross Dirt Biker) and bags in hand when disaster struck....we heard a crash, a scream and our poor Austin face down on the kitchen tile floor. Evidently his high chair tray table came off on accident and so did poor Austin. We rushed over to pick him up, only to find a HUGE GOLF SIZE BUMP had formed in 1.2 seconds on his little forehead. He was screaming in pain and I was scared stiff with this huge formation!

Luckily Dr. Bret (Arianne's medical student hubby) was right there I trust Austin into his hands asking him what was going on...I was very nervous that he might be having internal bleeding, it might affect his brain, that he was going to have some serious issues. I was already thinking about my insurance back in TX, where to go for the ER, how we would get this figured out, etc. Bret said that it was a "hematoma," where the blood vessel expands HUGE until the swelling finally stops in the body. If he started to vomit, seemed disoriented or couldnt' talk, then we needed to start to worry. Other than that, it was just going to turn into a huge black eye/forehead and we would need to of course give him lots of TLC.

I was bawling, Austin was bawling and so was tia Mon Mon (who came to visit). After getting over the initial shock of it all, I realized that Austin was also upset b/c everyone was leaving to go trick or treating. I just assumed that he wanted to stay back and cuddle with me (that is what I wanted to do!) Nope, he wanted to be part of the group too! Off we went, at a slow pace, with me being very cautious of his behavior and actions.

A scary experience for mama Adrienne! I hope that Austin has a fast recovery. I am also including some pics of Austin's potty training days, his 2nd b-day, UTEP game...and I updated my SLIDE show...

Oxymoron

So....do any of you watch "Biggest Loser???" I have found that when I watch it, I just feel so thrilled to see the weight loss, despite all of the drama and issues that may happen amongst the contestants. Because I myself was a huge mama at one point (on the mission, my comps can testify to this!!!), I have known what it was like to finally lose the weight that was bearing me down....

As I was watching the show last night, thinking about all their calories burned and watching them sweat away on the treadmills, I was stuffing my mouth of sour cream 'n onion potato chips, Chex Truffle Mix and a huge tangy taffy to top it off. This was of course after a big dinner. What the heck! Why do I watch this program if I am going to indulge myself with such junk! ha! Oh well, I was enjoying the calories going into my body while everyone on tv was exposing of calories. I figured in my own way, by putting my hand into the bag and up to my mouth, that could count as a form of exercise, right?

Next week I will have to munch on some of my favorite pringles....good thing I am teaching my kickboxing class tomorrow morning and will have to do a few extra sit ups to make it up!

Juarez Temple

We made it the Juarez Mexico Temple last week....yup, crossed the border and headed on over. Ironically, it was much easier to attend this special event than it was for me living in AZ....where the commute to Mesa was 1.5 hours one way...looking at an easy 5-6 hours (if you shove a quick bit to eat inbetween freeways) of a trip.

We went with some friends who have been numerous times and knew the side roads to take to get to the temple quickly. We crossed the border in about 25 minutes and the temple was minutes away from there....We will be going again tomorrow (go figure, we don't go for 4 months and then we got twice in one!) and hopefully we can find it again as easily.

I especially enjoyed it b/c we were able to do the session in Spanish. I hadn't attended a session in Spanish since my mission days, 5 years ago...so everything had so much more meaning for me. I actually paid more attention as I translated things in my head and looked at all the sweet Mexicans around me. Forget the end part, I was a mess and couldn't say anything correctly! Whichever is the dominant language for that session, by members attending, is the one that will be given. The Lord saw it fit to put a temple in Mexico b/c He knew that members could more easily cross the border to Mexico, than to ask the Mexicans to cross over to the USA.

We finished off our lovely evening with a VIP Movie Pass to a cinema in Juarez where they have recliner chairs, waiters to deliver your food and sushi if wanted inside the movie theatre. Talk about service! Of course for the same price, if not less, than a ticket here in TX.

I am loving El Paso...the simple and non-congested streets and the common everyday things to do (visit the parks, story times, shopping, etc)...I can't wait to finally move into my home too!

New Obsession

Well, let me just say that I miss having internet around! It seems like forever since I have posted and I appreciate all of the warm thoughts and special messages sent about my last blog. The boys are well and the Parks and Recreation are going to be controlling the situation now.

I have 10 minutes until I am going to a bookclub event (only once a month but for sure a reason to get out and socialize a bit! I just brought Jared some dinner here at work, thus I am using his computer and I can hear my boys SCREAMING in the children's room here...not very professional! I better make this quick...)

Just needed to say that I joined the band wagon of obsessors over the new book, "Twighlight" by Stephanie Meyers. I am not a science fiction guru by any means, but the style and fluency with which she writes was truly amazing. I devoured the book in three days...did I mention that it was 500 pages long? I neglected my housework and children, going to bed by midnight and could only focus my energies on the book! I love reading those kinds of books! I couldn't sleep thinking about handsome Edward and even thought about if vampires really do exist? I can't wait to sit down and read more about the author and her upcoming movie and new books!
hoo-ray!

For those of you who want a good book..check it out...I am on hold at the library for the sequel. I will need something to read while Jared continues to work 6 days a week, usually from 9am-10pm....so, please let me know some of your favorite books out there and if any of you are fellow Edward groupie fans!