1 year check-up

This week we had Jenna's 1 yr check up. She seems to be in picture perfect health excluding her eating habits.  She is currently in therapy for food aversion, however she had been making some great progress on her own. Her diet now consists of chicken, Cheetos, french fries, American cheese (sometimes), yogurt and bread sticks, very healthy, I know. She has also taken a liking to nutella and turkey meatballs. Of course I would love for her to be gobbling down fruits and veggies but I am aware that it is going to take  baby steps. I am prepared to be extremely patient with my little picky eater. Anyway, here are her 1 year stats:
Height-  31 inches  (95%)
Weight- 21 lbs ( 50%)

Easter Re-cap

We had a fantastic Easter filled with fun, family and most importantly yummy food!

Our Easter celebration began with a trip to visit the Easter bunny.... my girls, once again, had two completely different opinions about the matter. Isabella was beyond thrilled to capture a moment with the furry friend while Jenna felt the best way to show her affection was by screaming.

Isabella enjoyed an Easter party at school...

                                      and decorated Easter eggs with her new spin art dye kit (I do not recommend it)

                                      We enjoyed a yummy french toast breakfast..

                     The girls unveiled their Easter basket filled with all sorts of goodies

                                        They went on an Easter egg hunt out front..

Daddy and Jenna watched on as Isabella and mommy hunted for the eggs...

Our house became an abyss of plastic Easter eggs! The Easter Bunny even made a special trip Nana and papas house.... leaving eggs in his trail and two GIANT  eggs filled with lots of goodies!

We ended our morning with a viewing of "Tangled," compliments of the Easter Bunny.

Jenna's 1st Birthday

Soooo, I was having technical difficulties with my computer; the computer would not recognize my cameras memory card therefore neglecting to upload any and all photos. I took my trusty computer back to Best Buy to rectify the problem... I opened it up showed them my problem and bam!! It magically started working again!I uploaded loads of photos last night which I will slowly be posting over the next couple of days, however, once again my computer is failing to recognize my card. ugh. anyway, here's a re-cap on Jwowws birthday!

                                                Some of the birthday decor, the theme was pink poodles and polka dots

                                                                   showing off her poodle skirt

                                             Jul mediating baby snack time......

                                  Trying our her first Starbucks Birthday Cake pop!!! She loved it!!

opening her gifts from her friends

opening her presents on her actual birthday! Her  new pink ball was the favorite!

Isabella giving Jenna the gift she picked out for her sister all on her own, a princess aurora doll!

 We had a great birthday morning filled with yummy breakfast and lots of fun!

I can't believe my baby girl is 1!!!!  

Geek Squad?!

Well, once again my computer is not functioning up to par. I guess the so called Geek Squad @ Best Buy are not quite all they claim to be because they managed to fix one issue on my computer yet disable another. unbelievable.  Well, due to my inability to post pictures right now I am going to be posting yummy new recipes for now... until the problem is fixed. I made these cookies today, they are to die for!!!

 

Cookies n' Creme Drops Stuffed Oatmeal Cookies

 

1 cup oats

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 120g package of Hershey's Cookies n' Creme Drops

1/2 cup chocolate chips

• Combine oats, flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
• Cream together butter, egg, brown sugar and vanilla.
• Mix together flour and butter mix.
• Add chocolate chips.
• Then, as you can see in the photos below, take a small amount of cookie dough (smaller than a golf ball), flatten it out, lay on your candy, and roll up into a ball.  Making sure the candy stays in the centre.
• Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 8 minutes.

What I Whipped Up Wednesday

I have been attempting to try a new recipe each week, this week I tried my hand at Bourbon Chicken. Although some recipes call for actual Bourbon, I decided to try one that did without. I have to say, it was AMAZING!! Seriously, If I had to liken it to a well known meal I would compare it to PF Changs Spicy Chicken. Its a bit spicy and a bit sweet, it is delicious!!! I think it might become a staple meal in the Poole household!!!

Bourbon Chicken:
Ingredients-
2 lbs chicken
1-2 tbsp of olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed ( I used 1 tsp minced garlic)
1/4 tsp ginger
3/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 C apple juice
1/3 C brown sugar
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 C water
1/3 C Soy Sauce

1) Add olive oil to pan, brown chicken over medium chicken, once browned remove from pan.
2) Add all ingredients to the pan and stir until mostly dissolved. Add chicken back into pan, simmer for 20 minutes.

I served ours over brown rice with a side of sugar snap peas! It was scumptious!!!! Enjoy!!

MIA

As some have noticed, I have been mia lately. My little computer got a hold of a lovely virus last week and has been with the Geek Squad ever since. They worked their techie magic and....... I'm back!! My newest hobby has been one of which that actually got my husbands attention!! ;) There is a new show on TLC called " Extreme Couponing." Basically it's a show all about crazy coupon ladies that spend hours upon hours cutting, clipping and organizing coupons. Well, lemme tell ya, all that time is time well spent! ( no pun intended! ha ha) One woman on the show bought $500 worth of groceries and only paid $47 after coupons and in store deals!! So, I tried my hand at the craft, I made my meal plan for the week based upon in store specials and the few coupons I had. I saved $54 grocery shopping yesterday!!! I was super excited. Although it was a small feat, it was a start. I have A LOT to learn about couponing so I did some research and found a local lady that does private "couponing classes" in your home. ( yes, I am a huge dork)  I am pleased to say I will be hosting a "couponing party" on Thursday May 19th!! If you are interested let me know!!!!

                                     Here's a few of the items I got for FREE during my grocery trip!

Baby Ears

My first born baby has been asking for something in particular for a  VERY  long time...... to pierce her baby ears.  I have to admit, I have mixed emotions about the whole process. I LOVE little girls with pierced ears, it's just adorable, however, for me it seems like getting Isabella's ears pierced is the metamorphosis of baby to little girl. Yes, I know a four year is not a baby, but as many can relate, she will always be my baby girl. ( I'm still my mom's baby girl! ) Well, last night before bath time, it came up again..." mommy, can I PLEASE get my ears pierced!"  I gave it a lot of thought...........

She picked delicate little 14k gold pink flowers

She did not even flinch!! I was amazed!!

                                                               I am so proud of my little lady!

Oh sunny day!

Today was absolutely beautiful! Almost 90 degrees and not a cloud in sight! As I mentioned before...we have what I like to call a "mini yard." So I fittingly bought a "mini pool" to go in our "mini yard." Although small in size, it was largely entertaining for my girls! We spent hours wading in the water!!

                                           Don't judge a pool by it's size!

                                     I love Jennas face in this pic, Isabella was cracking her up!

                                 

    Although still clad in bathing suits, we ended our perfect day on dry land cruising in the buggy and scooting around the hood.

Spring is here!

We had such a great weekend! The temps were finally warming up which meant lots of outdoor fun for the Poole family! Saturday night Philip and I decided to take our little Isabella on a date ALONE while nana babysat Jenna. Isabella was beyond excited to have mommy and daddy's attention all to herself! We started off the night walking around the little shopping area near our house. ( we had a 35 minute wait for dinner) Then we went to dinner at Brixx. Isabella a delicious bowl of angel hair and yummy breadsticks. After dinner Isabella requested we go to Sports Connection to play the "light up games." We played the games for quite a bit and racked up points for tickets to win a prize in which she chose a princess wand and lollipop...... surprise, surprise. After the games we went and got ice cream! It really was a fantastic night! It was really nice to give our undivided attention to our Isabella, I think we are going to make it a monthly occurence!! Today we ran some errands and then spent some time outside playing in the sand table, having a picnic lunch and enjoying the sunshine. Philip and I capped off the weekend by eating a candlit dinner outside on our new patio set! It was fabulous!! ;)

       Isabella LOVED  getting dressed up for her date with mommy and daddy!! She was so excited!!!!!

                      Enjoying her picnic lunch after church! It was such a beautiful weekend!!

Outdoor Living

We sold our patio set which consisted of a table, 4 chairs and an umbrella, many months ago. We realized it was just taking up space in our already miniature outdoor living space. We enjoy sitting out there talking, relaxing and having one ( or a few) adult beverages...but we rarely ever ATE out there. I knew I wanted to fill the space with something that tempted us into actually utilizing our outdoor living space, kind of like having another room , such as a sun room. So.... after a lot of research and comparisons we finally filled our space. We got rid of the pebbles that surrounded the deck, they were pretty to look at and very low maintenance but extremely impractical for small children. We replaced the pebbles with heavenly sod. I am so excited to have a "mini yard" out there now! It already makes the area seem bigger! Then, I found my ideal sitting arrangement....  a "conversation set," I cannot take credit for the title! ;) It is basically an outdoor living room and I LOVE it!!! I picked up two matching pink chairs( of course) for the girls.... and Voila!!! My outdoor living space has gone from blah to ta da!!!!I envision eating breakfast out there during the summer, enjoying some cocktails with friends and of course.. lots of conversation!! ;)

                                                 this is a really bad picture, but I think you get the idea.

                                                      Jenna exploring the new grass

                                                                         Ta da!!