almost standing, first pumpkins, tikka masala(not)

I keep finding Rowan pulling himself up on this basket. So far, I've only seen him get to his knees but Chris said he stood up the other day. Athena started pulling herself up at 6 1/2 months so I guess he is following in her footsteps. She also got her first tooth, so we are waiting around. There are bumps but no sign of a tooth just yet, other than the biting!
We tried to time our pumpkin patch to be ready for Halloween. I don't think they are going to be quite ready though. We are having fun watching them grow. Here is the "patch".
First pumpkins!
The moments I live for! (Oh, and the tiny gap in the middle is where I was before I got the camera, they like to sandwich me)
I used this tikka masala mix to fix up a delicious dinner last week. The "chicken" was tempeh and then I didn't really follow the recipe included which is why my dinner wasn't really tikka masala. It was darn good though. I added coconut milk and veggies. Chris and I loved it, Athena of course was not impressed. There were way too many things mixed together and too many spices. She ate her helping of rice and bread though and tasted the sweet potato, tempeh, and broccoli.

Our weekend was crazy, I am so tired now. Saturday Athena had soccer in the morning and we headed to the beach for the afternoon. My sister was camping there and it was a beautiful day. On our way home we picked up Sipz for dinner. We had left Chris home to paint the living room. He stayed up painting until 2 am to finish the job. We are trying to get our house ready to put on the market which means I have to disappear with the kids for the day and Chris gets projects done. Wish us luck.
Today I played soccer and my team had only 9 players which means we played 2 players short. I am only supposed to be a sub and had to play the entire game, well, almost. I quit halfway through the second half as I had pulled a leg muscle and was just feeling DONE. I also wanted to get home early to shower so we could head to the Adam's Ave. St. Fair. Grandpa was playing there and so Athena got to finally see him on stage. We were calling it "Grandpa's recital" and she loved that since it was something she could relate to. We were supposed to go to a birthday party later on in the day, but I was beat. We stayed home and the kids were cranky and tired until they went to bed. I didn't take a picture of dinner, but it was kind of funny. I boiled water and made a 'Tasty Bite' Punjabi eggplant dish (that is out of a package for those of you not in the know), and microwaved rice and veggies. Isn't that pitiful?! It tasted good though. Now I am off to nurse my sore muscles and get some sleep.

Some Cute Stuff

Hey, who dumped out all the toys! (Rowan loves to tip his basket now that he can reach the top)
Rowan and Daddy had fun watching Athena play soccer in the rain on Sat.


Athena getting crafty. I want more glue!

Rowan starring in "I want a blueberry". He begs for what we are eating, not really any interest in baby food, but he likes what we have.

ANTS

We have crazy ants, just crazy. We have battled with them the entire time we've lived here which means 3 1/2 years. They aren't like this anywhere else, it is just crazy. Other people try to tell me they have ants, but they don't know what it is like here. They are here year round, not just when it is hot, or when it rains, or when it is cold. They rarely go in the kitchen, they just wander around it giant packs making me miserable. Today was the worst ever. Athena thought there was "a lot of dirt on the ground". It was just thousands of ants. I went to work spraying them with one of my random concoctions (mint/tea tree). We have used every natural method out there, orange, mint, bay leaves, etc. Nothing works. We spray poison, they are still here. Last year Chris taped up the entire inside of our house with masking tape, I thought he was crazy, but it did mean 3 blissful ant free months (coupled with some spraying). Will we have to disclose this when we sell our house! Geez. I threatened to call in the professionals today so Chris took another trip to Home Depot and sprayed away. I hate them and want them to just go away. Today I stayed away from home all day because I was so upset and didn't want to see them again. I don't even care if they live in our yard but please, stay out of our house, and off my babies. Especially since one of my babies is crawling and on the ground at their level all the time. I keep finding ants on him and sometimes they leave a little bite. So I guess I am not a total vegan, I do kill ants and right now I don't feel guilty about it at ALL!

Seitan Stroganoff, rainbow sandwich, and more

My favorite black bean corn avocado salad (accept I don't cook anything like the recipe tells you to) with quinoa and kale. I mixed it all together to make the kale more palatable. It was raw, I like it cooked and only raw when other people make it into a really yummy salad. I never seem to have such luck. It was a refreshing dinner, and I did almost enjoy the kale.
A and I had these rainbow sandwiches for lunch. I spread almond butter (she finally will eat it), then put the cut fruit and sprinkled a cinnamon/date sugar combo that I use almost daily to get A to eat fruit. It was delicious and A ate everything but the kiwi. She usually likes kiwi too, but this one was a little over ripe so I didn't blame her.

Seitan Stroganoff cooking and in my bowl served with brown rice spirals. I didn't have the usual linguine noodles and A gets to pick out the pasta most of the time. She has been on a spiral kick lately, it was penne for EVER. Chris and I loved it, A liked the seitan and noodles but the mushrooms, onions and tomatoes did upset her occasionally. I loved this, I'm not sure where the recipe came from, a friend passed it on, but it is super.
Could he get any cuter?

Don't lose your appetite

WTF is this thing, it has been in my yard for 2 days. It really creeps me out. It is almost 3 inches long. Anyone?

Weekend food and fun

The girls had soccer this weekend. Yep, me too. I only played a very short time as I am completely out of shape but it was fun to be back out there. Now we have somewhere to be Sat. and Sun. mornings. It was hard getting to my 9 o'clock game with kids and all, but we did it. I wonder if I'll be sore tomorrow? I feel good so far...
Athena had another fun game. She just runs around and really seems to enjoy it.

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Food break:
Today we were at the co-op and thought these foot long tofurkey dogs were too funny to pass up. As you can see, it took 2 buns to eat them properly!


Yesterday for lunch I made bbq tempeh sandwiches. I love to make my own barbeque sauce. These were super easy and good. We all love bbq sauce. I have no idea why everything is underlined right now, and I am too lazy to figure it out.
I will leave you with a video...breastfeeding mamas will understand the sound effects.

Busy Day - Nice Sipz Fusion Cafe story

Yesterday was a busy day. Athena went back to preschool and had a great time. She had really been looking forward to it and picked out her outfit the night before. She chose her pink "Life is Good" t-shirt because her teacher wears one too sometimes.

Rowan turned 6 months.
He is getting around more and more and tends to lunge out of my arms now because he wants down. He loves to explore and find things on the ground to put in his mouth. Today he found a piece of straw from a laundry basket, then chewed the tag off the basket, a leaf, bits of his sister's rice cakes, etc.
He is also very vocal now and says "da da de de" a lot. He still is super easy to get to laugh and smile. He stares at people when we are out just waiting until they make eye contact and then practically jumps out with a big goofy grin.
He still loves Athena more than anyone. He doesn't even care when she gives him a strangle hug, BUT I DO. I always have to tell Athena that. She is the typical older sister, always telling me that he likes it! I remember my sister saying that about me and it wasn't always true so I think I am more defensive toward the younger one!
He is sometimes sensitive and cries when things get too loud or others are crying.
He loves the water and swam in Grandma's pool when it was warm enough, but most enjoys the bath seat with his sister in the front of the tub to entertain.

I got some kind of raging sinus issue (maybe allergies?). I feel pretty lousy but not enough to warrant staying in bed all day, although I wish I could have today.

Athena wanted to go to Sipz for a special back to school lunch. It was really hard to be in a restaurant with both kids. Athena was fantastic, but Rowan was cranky and grabby. He has an incredible reach and kept grabbing my food and drinks. I tried to keep him busy with my straw, spoon, and water cup. We shared the chicken salad and bbq chicken with rice. I also had a thai iced tea, a real treat for me but since I was feeling crummy I needed a little pepping up. Anyway, the story is just that I had just finished nursing Rowan in not a rather indiscreet manner (he is easily distracted), and was approached by 3 men (2 brothers and a dad). I was thinking, oh great, I am going to get harassed for breastfeeding right now, great. But I was wrong. The younger son (maybe in his late 20's) just wanted to say that he and his brother were raised vegetarian and not to let anyone make you think that it can't be done and that your kids won't be healthy. His brother was 6'8" too and weighed the same as Rowan when he was born. It was just nice to hear a friendly comment about the way I am raising my kids, and who knows, maybe Rowan will grow to be 6'8".

Orange Chicken Style Tofu and baby carrots

I made this from vegweb today. I really liked it and served it over wild rice and added spinach to the mix. Athena ate a few bites and then said, "This isn't really the kind I like". So we got out the ketchup and she finished off her plate and asked for more. I think it would be really good with seitan and can't wait to try that out.


While we were dining on tofu and rice, Rowan had his first taste of food. He seemed interested in the carrots we served him and banged his tray for more. He didn't eat much, but seemed to enjoy being part of the family meal. He liked feeding himself with our assistance. We will try to take it real slow as I know breast milk is still all he needs (he will be 6 months tomorrow!). I am using the baby food chart that is included in Vive Le Vegan as I feel it is a safe way to introduce solids, minimizing the chance of allergies.
MMM, carrots!

Garlic Oregano Yam Oven Fries

From The Thrive Diet book. These were super yummy. And please don't tell me they are actually sweet potatoes because I don't really care.

An Official Soccer Mom

For those of you who know me well, you may already know that I have been looking forward to this day probably since I knew I was pregnant. I loved playing soccer all of my life and hope my children will too. If not, no biggie, they'll find something else they love I am sure, but so far Athena is digging it. It is hilarious to watch the games, we have a video, hope to post soon. Athena did awesome, most of the 3 year olds were crying and she was right in there chasing the "hive". She only touched the ball a few times, but was happy and ran a lot. Also, Grandma made their awesome banner. Go Silver Stars!

Double Chocolate Muffins

These were great although I am not sure I'd make them again. From La Dolce Vegan. You might as well just make a cupcake. They are super chocolate-ee but with the texture of a muffin. I just think I'll stick to muffins as muffins (I like crazy muffins where I sneak vegetables to my children) and if I want something more decadent, I'll do a cupcake. Just my opinion though. Quite good though, just polished off the batch!

This crawling thing

He can do it, well sort of.

Special Song

Cousins and 2nd cousins

These are the new crop of cousins. (L-R) Jaden was born Oct. 2006, Rowan Mar. 2007, and Dante Oct. 2006. Jaden and Dante are just 2 days apart, just like Athena and her cousin Olivet. We like to do things together in this family! They are all so adorable and all have a shade of blue eyes (a big surprise for me since my DH and I are so dark!) Jaden is my cousin's son, and Dante is my nephew (bro/SIL's kid). We haven't had them all together I don't think until today. It was a special day, visiting Great Grandma and ALL the great grandkids were there!

Sundried Tomato Pesto Pizza!

This is my favorite pizza. The crust was made in my bread machine and is mostly whole spelt. It was a tiny bit dry, but better than many of my attempts. The pesto is simply basil, sun dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt, and a handful of kale to sneak some greens in to the picky 3 year old. It is so delicious, and the heirloom tomatoes on top were so juicy. I don't even love tomatoes, but these ones are fantastic. I also put a dollop of olive tapenade in the center and drizzled a little balsamic/sprinkled black pepper on the tomatoes. MMMMMM.