I’ve decided to post our family-favorite recipes. I haven’t really been making up any new ones lately, but I’m still into trying new recipes wherever I find them. This recipe came from an email I subscribe to: Hungry Girl. She is awesome! She always has great recipes and suggests great ways to lower your calorie intake. Best of all, her emails are very quick to read.

I served mine with cole slaw right on top of the chicken and with a salted sliced tomato on the side. Everyone asked for me make this again, so here’s my first post! Please let me know if you try it and if you make any changes you think we would like.

I cut and pasted this from her e-mail:

Slow-Cookin’ Pulled Chicken
PER SERVING (1/2 cup): 149 calories, 1g fat, 462mg sodium, 10g carbs, <0.5g fiber, 9g sugars, 22.5g protein — POINTS® value 3*
This shredded BBQ chicken is FANTASTIC over salads, piled onto light buns, stuffed inside high-fiber tortillas with (rinsed) cole slaw, or eaten all by itself. Yummmmmm!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. raw boneless skinless lean chicken breasts, halved
1 cup canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tbsp. plus 2 tsp. brown sugar (not packed)
2 tbsp. plus 2 tsp. cider vinegar
2 tsp. garlic powder
Optional: red pepper flakes, to taste
Directions:
Place all ingredients except the chicken in the crock pot. Stir until mixed. Add chicken and coat well with the sauce.
Cover and cook on high for 3 - 4 hours OR on low for 7 - 8 hours, until chicken is fully cooked.
Remove all the chicken and place it in a bowl. Shred each piece using two forks — one to hold the chicken in place and the other to scrape across the meat and shred it. Return the shredded chicken to the crock pot, and mix well with the sauce.
If you’re serving a group, keep the crock pot on its lowest setting, so the chicken stays warm. If you like, season to taste with red pepper flakes. Eat up!
MAKES 7 SERVINGS

My blood work came back for the first trimester screen. When they did the ultrasound last week, one of the things they were looking for was fluid around the back of the baby’s neck. I guess if there is too much fluid, there is a risk for certain genetic defects. Our baby’s fluid looked normal, but they combine that with some numbers they get back from the blood results. They tested for my chances of being pregnant with a baby who has Trisomy 13, Trisomy 18 or Downs Syndrome. When the nurse called, she told me that my risk for having a child with one of those conditions was much lower than they would have expected for someone my age. That comment surprised me. I’m 32 for cryin’ out loud! I didn’t think you were considered “at risk” until you were 35. Oh well. My numbers were:

I had my 3rd month checkup this week as well. Everything looks fine. She found the heartbeat on the first try. Last month, at 8 weeks, it took her a few tries to find the heartbeat. She was actually shocked that she found it because I guess you can’t normally pick up the heartbeat on the Doppler machine until about 10 weeks. I asked if it was normal that I’m not showing yet. This is my third child, I guess I thought I’d show sooner than with the other two. I don’t even have a tiny bump when I lay flat on my back! Somewhere in there is a kicking punching baby the size of a lime and I can’t tell.

She said I’ve only gained 2 pounds, but my clothes are tighter. I have been eating like a horse, so I’m really surprised I’m not out of them yet. Almost, though. Time to get a few summer clothes. I tried to go maternity clothes shopping the other day, but everything was too big. I just need to buy regular clothes a size bigger. I know this phase won’t last long though. I bet I’ll have a little belly in just a few more weeks!

I swear I felt the baby kicking last night. It was the middle of the night, and again very early this morning. I was laying in bed awake and felt the tiniest little kicks. I halfway want to think that this could not be the real thing because they say the first time you feel your baby it feels like a bubble popping or like butterfly wings. These were more like big bubbles, I guess. They also say that I should not feel the baby until weeks 14 or 15, and even more likely, not until weeks 18, 19 or 20.I felt Aubrey move for the first time at week 17 (I haven’t found Braeden’s book yet in all the unpacked boxes). I’m starting week 13 tomorrow.

you can say, “I knew her when…”

Aubrey has been working hard all year on tap and ballet. She had her dance recital this past Friday night and it was so cute! She had one tap dance (about 3 min) and one ballet dance (about 8 min) in a 3 hour show. Both of the kids fell asleep in the car before we even got to the freeway.

Aubrey’s favorite part of the recital was the finale where the whole cast got to dance to Mylie Cyrus’ Hoedown Throwdown. She was the last one on stage, to which the lead teacher had to apologize for the “late entrances, because when nature calls for the little ones, it doesn’t care if the person needs to be on stage right then.” It was pretty funny. When her class went on stage without her, Christian and I both figured Aubrey had fallen asleep and they couldn’t wake her because she had woken up at 5:45 that morning!

Anyway, we are really proud of her and can’t wait to see what she wants to do next year.

I had an ultrasound today. The baby was very active. It’s amazing how all that movement is going on inside me and I don’t even feel it! The baby had it’s hands sticking straight up at one point, up by it’s face, kicking, moving and sliding. Just amazing. My tummy isn’t sticking out at all either. 

I had heard that some women were finding out the sex of their baby as early as 13 weeks (the usual time to find out is 18-20 weeks), so I asked about that. She reminded me that I was only 11 weeks 5 days, and that all babies this age have a nub. It will either grow into a boy part or a girl part, but it looks the same right now. She said there is a theory about which direction the nub is pointing if it will be a boy or a girl. My baby’s nub was pointing down, so the ultrasonographer thinks it’s a girl. I’m not going to rush out and buy anything pink based on a theory though. ;)  I’ll wait until the 18-20 week ultrasound.

It’s just the beginning of the summer and already, the kids have accomplished quite a lot. Both of them graduated from their swimming class as Pike 2s and next time they are enrolled (probably after summer) they’ll be working on new skills as Eels.

The biggest accomplishment (and I’m still shocked about this) is Braeden taught Aubrey how to ride a bike without training wheels! We were out in our front yard which consists of a small patch of grass with a tree in the middle of it, a walkway around to the front door and a short driveway that leads into a cul-de-sac. On the first day, they asked if Aubrey could practice on Braeden’s old bike. I said yes, but we should really wait until we could go to a park with a lot of grass and I would help her learn. They didn’t want to wait so they started in on lessons. Lessons consisted of her on the bike trying to pedal and constantly putting her feet down to avoid spilling over. And him, right by her side, encouraging her every second. “yeah, yeah, like that, now put your foot up, good Aubrey, like that, good! good!…”

The next day was the same story. They asked if they could practice, and I said they should wait until we could go to a park, but they could if they wanted to. I wasn’t rushing to teach her because, while I did want to try to teach her this summer, I really didn’t expect anything until next summer when she was five years old. The next thing I know they are both yelling with excitement that “She/I did it!!!” I had missed it (I was researching science experiments to plan for the preschool science curriculum for next year). She had accomplished a few pedals across the short end of our driveway before she was forced to stop. I looked up and watched the miracle happen again. She did not fall. I got up and took her out into the cul-de-sac. I helped her for about 5 minutes and she consistently rode every time I let go without falling.

She’s been practicing for a week now and she gets better every time she gets on her bike. She now has the confidence to go up and down our slanted curbs. She’s still working on steering and breaking, but by the end of the month, she’ll be riding with the best of ‘em, I know. I’m so proud of both of them!

Today Braeden “graduated” from preschool. He had a fun day practicing for the program they would later perform for the parents and taking turns sharing items they brought from home. The teachers cooked them lunch and after the program they celebrated with ice cream. Their program was really cute. They sang a bunch of their favorite songs, the music teacher had them sing a few songs, and the Spanish teacher (me) had them do a puppet show to a book, and sing 2 Spanish songs.

Here is Braeden receiving his preschool certificate from his teacher.

I asked Braeden what he thought about his school year:
”Awesome! The first day of school I felt a little scared. I liked making new friends.”

Now to figure out what to do with them this summer…

Me: Do you guys want to watch a show after dinner?

Kids: Yea!!!!

Aubrey: Princess show!!

Braeden: The Earth show!!!

Aubrey: Braeden. Lets pretend my hand is a coin. This (pointing to the back of her hand) is heads. And this (pointing to her palm) is tails. Which one do you want?

Braeden: Tails.

Aubrey: (shakes her hand violently around and then slaps it onto the table, palm down) I win!!!

Braeden: (actually buys into this) We don’t have to watch princesses.

Me: (rolling on the floor laughing at her creativity)

I can’t believe she’s only four. Aubrey had a Hannah Montana birthday party. They made rock star charm bracelets, we did crazy hair and they had a Hannah Montana concert where they all got a chance to be Hannah and a chance to be the back up guitarist. They sang, danced, ate cake and had a blast. Watching this little tykes shake their booties was hilarious! Here’s some pics. (And one of the cake I’m quite proud of. I did the picture with icing! A first-time stab at a technique I picked up on cakecentral.com). Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

*Aubrey’s crazy hair (blue polka dots in the back). *Braeden being back up guitar for all the Hannah Montanas. *Braeden reading a birthday card to Aubrey. He got as far as “Dear Aubrey”. Cute :)  * Aubrey being Hannah Montana, reaching for all her fans’ hands.

I tried a new fondant recipe tonight for the kids’ teachers tomorrow. I think they turned out really cute!

I thought this would be cute to record. Braeden is almost 51/2  and Aubrey is almost 4. I did the interviews separately, but Aubrey heard a few of Braeden’s answers.

1. What is something mommy always says to you?
B: I love you
A: clean

2. What makes mommy happy?
B: give hugs and kisses
A: giving hugs and kisses

3. What makes mommy sad?
B: not giving hugs and kisses
A: not giving hugs and kisses

4. How does your mommy make you laugh?
B: by tickling
A: by tickling

5. What was your mommy like as a child?
B: You were kind of sad when you came out of your mom’s tummy, like I did.
A: You had short hair and blue eyes

6. How old is your mommy?
B: 13… no you are not a teenager anymore, I think you are 20
A: 16 or 15… maybe 10. 10

7. How tall is your mommy?
B: This tall. (Holding one arm up and one arm down) (how tall is that?) 60 inches
A: This tall. ((holding one arm up and one arm down) (how tall is that?) 13 tall

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
B: making food for us
A: clean the kitchen and mop and sweep.

9. What does your mommy do when you’re not around?
B: take care of Aubrey
A: you wash the dishes

10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
B:  It would be for taking care of us
A: you would be a teenager

11. What is your mommy really good at?
B: giving hugs and kisses
A: you are really good at washing the dishes

12. What is your mommy not very good at?
B: yelling
A: you are not very good at playing “skip the line” with your back hurting

13. What does your mommy do for a job?
B: you make money by typing in stuff
A: you type in stuff on your computer

14.What is your mommy’s favorite food?
B: bananas
A: soup

15.What makes you proud of your mommy?
B: you giving me hugs and kisses
A: of you wearing beautiful dresses on a dry day (???)

16. If your mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?
B: she would be yourself if you were a cartoon
A: she would be a fashion star.

17. What do you and your mommy do together?
B: help wash the windows
A: we play stuff. Games and stuff.

18. How are you and your mommy the same?
B: we act alike
A: we both have long hair

19. How are you and your mommy different?
B: you are a girl and I am a boy. You have long hair and I have short hair
A: We don’t have the same color eyes

20. How do you know your mommy loves you?
B: By giving hugs and kisses
A: She hugs and kisses me

21. What does your mommy like most about your dad?
B: That he goes to work
A: He’s sweet and kind and nice

22. Where is your mommy’s favorite place to go?
B: to Mexican restaurants
A: to restaurants