We're going to the market, the market, the market

This past weekend was the opening weekend for the Overland Park Farmer's Market! I love love love going out there to get fresh produce and see what all the vendors have to offer. To keep the kiddos confined and not running around like crazies we loaded up the wagon to tote them around. I have yet to get around to buying a double stroller and at this point it just seems too late to do so. It was a pretty chilly morning but we put on our coats and boots and headed on out.

We started out hungry so luckily enough we came upon this amazing little gem, the Weiner Wagon, before we shopped. I got their breakfast sausage which came on a fresh bun topped with bacon gravy and a fried egg. OMG it was freaking amazing. Really anything that you put a fried egg on becomes instantly awesome but this was mind blowing. So much so that I immediately devoured it before thinking to take a picture of it. However, I am pretty sure I will be back there, like in 5 days, and will stop by there again. I grabbed the kids some coffee cake muffins to eat while we shopped because apparently Paxton has the appetite of an adult male these past three days. Seriously, I cannot keep up with the amount of food he is consuming, it's mind boggling.

 With the lack of rain the vendors are about a month behind on produce. Therefore there was not a huge selection but we still brought home some really amazing items.

We came away with all locally grown produce. Romaine lettuce, a head of broccoli, a full sack of spinach, 3 cloves of garlic, 2 green bell peppers and a carton of eggs.

 ^^ This has nothing to do with anything we got at the Farmer's Market but how cute & cool is this? I chopped off the bottom of celery, put it in a coffee mug, filled with water and voila, its growing back! I change out the water every few days and its growing back. I doubt we will actually eat it but hey, it's a fun little happy peek of green life in our kitchen!

Tonight we are going to be utilizing our spinach, romaine and garlic cloves in a salad to go with some mahi mahi we grabbed at the store. My mom gave me the recipe for her homemade salad dressing that I am obsessed with!

Balsalmic Dressing

1/4 cup oil (your preference of oil)

1/4 cup balsalmic

1 smashed clove of garlic

1 tbsp honey/agave

1 tbsp mustard (I use stone ground)

Pinch of Salt

A few turns of pepper

*add it all to a jar/container and shake well. Leave the garlic clove in there and it will become more and more flavorful the longer it sits. Keep in fridge for about a week. Enjoy!!

The longer it sets in the refrigerator the yummier it gets. If you don't eat it all on salads during the week you can also use it as a marinade! You're welcome =)

 Last but not least this bread. Oh this bread is a must when we go to OPFM. I get the cheddar garlic and J picks up the cheddar jalapeno. It is so moist and flavorful and delicious! As you can see 1/2 of my loaf is already gone =).

And I had to document a picture of my refrigerator. It's so colorful and crazy clean after I took it apart and scrubbed the crap out of it this morning! Ahhhhhh clean things make me oh so happy!

therapeutic sunshine

*We worked on a little revamp of my blog this morning. Please share your comments if you have any! Very very soon I will be able to unveil my photography website that is in the works. SO exciting!* 

Finally finally finally it is getting warm enough to go outside with a light jacket and maybe, even maybe, bare a little leg to start getting a base tan. Oh this weekend has been seriously something I needed for my soul and sanity!

First off I had to start of by being a TOTAL mom and showing off Harpers first attempt at drawing people/faces. She is the circle on the left and I am the circle on the right. It was just really cool to have her do this completely on her own and to find me to tell me what she drew. #proudmommoment #yesiknowhastagsdontworkonblogs =)

 We have been playing outside, having picnics outside, doing literally anything we can outside. It is so refreshing and had brightened up all of our spirits. Seriously I totally have SADD and am depressed during wintertime.

Friday was Josh's 32nd birthday and we did everything we could to make it a special one for him! He came downstairs to a little gift from the kids and I along with a homemade breakfast of biscuits and gravy. Considering he drinks a green smoothie every morning, it was a true treat!

We then snagged him up at work and took him out to lunch to one of our favorite spots in Westport, McCoys. Not only is the food freaking amazing they have the best patio that we utilize as often as possible. Seriously, if I could eat every meal outside I would. Something about a patio makes the food taste better and the beer seem more crisp. Mmmmm. As you can see Paxton enjoyed his fair share of our meal. These pretzel breadsticks that came with a cheddar beer sauce were so good they were just wrong. 

Aaaaaand fat boy passed out 3 minutes before we arrived home. How chunky does he look here?! Love it!

After Harp woke up we came down to the kitchen and worked on baking Josh's carrot cake per his request. H was so crazy excited to help make dada'a cake. Unfortunately, I think my baking soda was expired b/c it didn't rise much at all, and for some reason it stuck to the pan. Like really really stuck to the pan. Thank goodness for making a double batch of icing because this sucker is mostly icing acting as glue to keep this bad boy together. I will never be a cake decorator but I'm okay with that. Not enough patience.  It did taste good though.

After J got home we got all dressed up and ready to go out for his birthday dinner! Yes, I am aware that his birthday was mostly focused around food but I mean, it's a great excuse to eat whatever you want for an entire day so, why not? Anna and Dustin were so awesome to get a babysitter and join us along with Slim! We went out to YaYa's in Leawood and had such a fun time. Lots of wine, even more food, and some serious laughter. We may or may not have had a lot of inappropriate conversations way too loud, but who cares!  Did I mention that we sat on the patio there too. Oh yeah, it was perfect!

Josh, Slim and I went out to a few bars afterwords to cap of the night. By this point both the boys had their fair share of birthday beverages and it was time to go. We are a wild and crazy gang that stayed out until 11:00pm!

Saturday I woke up feeling like a million bucks unlike the birthday boy. He spent the majority of the day "sleeping it off" and taking it easy while I was uber motivated to bust out Harp's trampoline. She had received for Christmas and I wanted to build the bad boy so we have another tool to tire them out for naps and more excuses to be outside! After I put the kids down, I tackled the building of their trampoline. It was crazy therapeutic being outside, listening to a little Bruno Mars on pandora in one ear, and hearing the birds chirping in the other. I spent all of nap time slowly putting it together and felt a huge sense of accomplishment. I absolutely love building things. Any new piece of furniture, any kid toys, you name it I always take over the projects (which is a-ok with Josh because he doesn't really have the patience for it anyway). As I tied the last of the security string to the mesh netting I looked on the monitor to check on the kids and saw that Harp was awake!  I kid you not I ran up the stairs like I was 5 years old, grabbed her and brought her out to show her my achievement! I totally took all the credit for this one and kept reminding her "what mama built for her!" She typically takes time to adjust to new things but man she just ran right in there and started jumping away. I got in there with her and just laid down and soaked up all her happiness and the sunshine.

J then ran to the store with Paxton and grabbed us some food to grill out and my all time favorite summer time beer, Bud Light Lime. I have already come to terms that I might be a few pounds heavier this summer because of my love for BLL and chilled white wine on warm days. As I type this blog I will admit I am drinking a Bud Light Lime with my salad for lunch. The calories balance each other out, right??

We ended our Saturday by celebrating Slim's actual birthday by eating cheesecake with a strawberry sauce I had made and watching some SNL. It might have been the most delicious dessert I have ever made, besides Snickerdoodle Blondies of course.

Happy Sunday everyone! We are being super lazy and awesome around here and resting up before we take the kids to the Royals Home Opener tomorrow! Ahhh Paxton's first baseball game. Its going to be AMAZING!!

32 reasons I am glad Josh was born.

Why I am thankful you were born JP...

1.  I'm going to start this all superficial but basically because you're nice to look at! =) I think you are so handsome and love that you continue to get cuter and cuter every year. NOT FAIR!
2. You're so witty. Sometimes I know that I ignore your humor because it can be crude or in bad taste but overall your wit amazes me. You really did miss your calling as a comedian
3. Your ability to teach me new things every day. Basically you're smart. Like way smarter than me when it comes to book stuff and I love learning new things from you
4. The fact that I can literally only be mad at you for like a minute. You have the ability to make me laugh/smile even when I may not want to! 
5. That you always always push me to do things I may not think I want to or can do. I really need that in my life and I appreciate your trust that I can do more.
6. Your sense of adventure. I love all the fun trips and outings and events you bring to our lives. 
7. Your eyelashes. I love that you passed on those beauts on to our kiddos too. Not fair to me but they sure compliment your amazing green eyes! 
8. Your style. You always look so cute and put together without my help
9. Your breakfast making. You're quite good at french toast my love, maybe we can put those skills to use this weekend =).
10. Your thoughtfulness and consideration. You always know when I need a little extra TLC even without me saying so 
11. Your love of popcorn. No explanation needed
12. That you love my family as much as I do. 
13. For being an amazing father to our two crazy kids. I couldn't have asked for a better partner to parent with
14. For still, to this day, making me a clumsier person that I ever thought I was because I still get nervous around you! Kicking over telephones, spilling salad dressing at restaurants, whatever it is I get all school girl clumsy around you! 
15. For the fact that I still get giddy when I see that you are calling or texting me and even more so when you've sent me an email!! 
16. Because I would have never known my love for deviled eggs if I had not met you
17. For the fact that you make me feel special and loved every day
18. Because you justify buying baby Pumas for Paxton (that I never could have done) knowing that I would be head over heels in love with how freaking adorable they are on his chubby feet!
19. Because you find it equally funny when we hide behind corners to scare the kids
20. That you accept me for all the strange quirks I have and embrace it
21. That you have the yummiest lips ever
22. Because I fell in love with you over a package of sharpies
23. Your amazing ability to recall every sporting event and date at any moment. Your photographic memory is simply crazy
24. You have helped me break out of my bubble and move to places I never thought I would move to! 
25. The way you get jealous when I am obsessed with a book and don't pay enough attention to you
26. Because you're a lover of good food and make going out to eat an adventure
27. Because I love your family
28. The fact that you grocery shop with me
29. The fact that you can find a way to justify spending money on crazy things that you can always find a way to talk me in to as well.
30. For your dancing skills. Always gets me laughing
31. For the amazing friendships you create and the wonderful people you have brought into my life
32. And last and certainly most important: because whatever our souls are made of, yours and mine are the same.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY and I love you so very much Joshua Pluid. I am so lucky to have you in my life forever and I hope you have felt a little extra special today. We think you're the BEST!!! 

yesterday i felt weird.

In case you do not feel the need to read this entire post I want to get the point across that It's okay to have an off day. It's okay to not want to be your normal self. It's okay to maybe not have the patience you typically do. It's okay to allow your spouse or partner to help you out and to still love you when you're weird. It's okay to accept assistance with your daily life. It's okay to be a different part of you that you normally are not, even if it is not the way you planned it to be.  It's okay to be vulnerable and let down walls. It's ok!!!!!

Today is a good day. It is our first day back in to our normalcy after being out of town since last Thursday. I went to the gym for the first time in a week (that in itself is therapy for me) We went up to Harper's school/church for a much needed mom's group chat about nothing in particular while the children were watched down the hall by the lovely grandmas. After that we went to Chick-Fil-A and let the kids run around in the play place and then came straight home for naps. I watched awesome trashy reality TV while texing one of my BFF's about how rude or bitchy or awesome some of the Real Housewives are.

We went to Oklahoma twice in March and had so so so much fun but I (and the kids) have had a really difficult time adjusting when we got home. I had a very "off" day yesterday. Not one thing in particular was wrong and I wanted it to be the perfect day since it was J's last day before he went back to work. Harper had school so it was just going to be the three of us. I honestly do not think we have ever had a day to spend with Paxton only. I decided to sleep in (by "in" I mean until 7:00 instead of 5:30) and skip the gym. Josh as not feeling well so he was up since 5:00am and therefore I was off and on awake since then too. I have this weird thing where I cannot really sleep once he is awake, I have no clue why, I wish I were not that way because it is annoying!!

Any who, from the beginning of the day I felt like I was in a funk. I was having my anxious breathing issues where I cannot get enough breath in my lungs and simply did not feel my usual chipper self. Even worse I was SO irritated with the kids for the tiniest things. I feel absolutely awful when I get that way because they do not understand yet that sometimes you just have a bad day and really want to be left alone. Actually I think they pick up on the vibe and think they need to be around me more to help the issue....it does not help. I dropped off Harper at school while Pax and J stayed back at the house. On my way to dropping her off Josh had text me that he thought Paxton wasn't feeling very good and that he was going to give him some ibuprofen. The teething monster has made his presence lately with the giant one year molars which has caused my smiley happy guy to turn into a whiny, drooley, needy, sad baby.

We ran some errands, just the three of us, and then decided we should grab some lunch at On the Boarder. Now let me tell you that On the Border is really not all that great but it is the one and only Mexican restaurant I have found here that give you a proper mexican beer. What I mean is they give you a Dos Equis Amber in the humongous fishbowl glass with a salted rim and a lime. They don't manage to line the rim with the lime pulp as Ted's does in Oklahoma but its the closest things I can find to being remotely perfect. We sit down, order our food, and then for the first time in my 2.5 years of being a mom we had to flag down the server and have her pack up our food to go because Pax had a meltdown. Normally I handle these situations pretty well with my patience (however I will admit I typically always get nervous, sweaty and can feel the judgy eyes on me of those without children) Teething, tiredness, simply being a jerk...not sure what it was but man oh man he was crying, wiggling, throwing anything that was given to him and did not want to be there. I tried giving him food which ALWAYS quiets him up but he wouldn't have any of it! I even sat in the back of the car trying to console him all the way home because he was crying so hard! It was heartbreaking!!!!

We finally made it home and got a little lunch in Pax, calmed him down and put him to bed around 12:20. I sat down and ate a quesadilla or two and then passed out. Josh was so sweet and let me stay home and nap while he finished up our grocery shopping and picked up Harper from school. When they came home he surprised me with some beautiful red tulips (ahhhh tulips are just the most wonderful flower around) and a banana split from Sonic!!! You wanna talk about a turn on, oh yeah  flowers just because, ice cream, maybe fold a few clothes and it's on! Haha....but no, really! =)

We ended our day with a walk with the kids plus dogs to the park and just ran free. It was so wonderful. We then headed to DSW and did a little retail therapy and ended our night with cuddles and falling asleep early on the couch and had the best night of rest that I have gotten.

On a day where I really was not feeling myself, Josh helped me feel really special. It's those little things in marriage that help you realize how lucky you are to have the one you're with. The one that tells you It's ok to have an off day and that they love you more than ever. I am lucky =).

Detoxing - I survived!!!!!

FITNESS COMPETITION:

Saturday morning I went in for my assessment at like 6:20am because I was so excited to see how I had done. When I started the competition I weighted 143.41 pounds, my body fat was at 22.9%,fat mass 32.81 and my BMI was 23.1. On Saturday I was down to 133.0 pounds, body fat 21.0%, fat mass 28.01 and BMI at 21.5!!!!! I had also lost 11 inches between my chest, waist, thighs and butt! What What!!!

Not only were my numbers improved but I killed my assessment test as well. The first assessment I did at the beginning of the competition I was able to do:
42 squats in 1 minute
11 pushups on my toes/18on my knees in 1 minute
33 sit ups in 1 minute
Held a plank for 3:02

This past Saturday I did:
52 squats in 1 minute
42 pushups all on my toes in 1 minute
44 sit ups in 1 minute
Held a plank for 5:12!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am not one to toot my own horn but, freaking TOOT TOOT! I am terrible about following through with things and I really found the competitive streak in myself. We still don't know who has won or placed in the competition yet and I really really hope I do but if not, I am still oh so proud of myself. 

Left: The beginning of the competition and a true "before pic" Please ignore the disgusting post workout hair and my overall chub! Right: At the end of the detox before the weigh in!

DETOX EXPERIENCE

First off I would like to give myself a HUGE pat on the back. I, Brenda Pluid, actually followed through doing a smoothie detox last Wednesday - Friday. My main goal was to stick with it because on Saturday was my final weigh-in for the fitness challenge at my gym and boy oh boy I wanted to win!!!  A lot of people have asked what I did & how it went so I thought I would tell you all about my experience and I will share the smoothie recipes with you and my tips to make them tolerable! =)

I will be honest. I am not a huge smoothie fan. Josh kind of soured me on them by adding pure grosness to one smoothie with kale, ginger, cucumber (yuuuuck), celery and then like one piece of fruit. It was practically vomit in a drink in my opinion. He drinks that like every morning and the smell alone makes me gag, seriously. So I was super apprehensive to the fact that I would be living off liquid for three whole days. I freaking love food. Like more than a person should so I knew this would be difficult for me.

So day one I woke up at 5:30, cut up a small gala apple and ate it on my way to the gym for  my 6:00 class. I was told to always always eat something small before you work out early morning. It helps kick start your metabolism and wakes your body up. Hell, if anything kicks my metabolism to start moving faster and earlier I'll do it! When I get home from the gym I immediately make myself a protein shake. We order this awesome protein from All Pro Science. It is a company from a guy who is an ex-Chiefs football player (I believe...) and they offer either a complete grass fed whey protein or they also have a vegan protein. We personally love the chocolate and the strawberry. I mix it in our shaker with about 8oz of water and chug it down. You can absolutely add the protein to your morning smoothie but I take a while to drink mine and its best to get your protein in within 45 minutes of your workout.

^^These are the recipes I used for my detox. I repeated the same ones for the three days.

Then around 8:00 I made my breakfast smoothie. Gulped it down as quickly as I could and it really wasn't super gross. There is barely any veg in this one so its kinda tasty. To my surprise it kept me full for quite some time. If I were to get hungry before the lunch smoothie I either snacked on raw carrots or celery. I have really developed a liking for plain carrots, plus their packed with water so they keep you full for a while as well.

I would make my lunch smoothie while I fed the kids their lunch around 12:00. This one is the largest smoothie of the day and packed with the most vegetables...therefore its not so delicious. The first day I did it I literally gagged on the last drink and it took everything in me to keep it down. But by god I was NOT going to throw up everything I managed to get down!!!!! However a friend of mine gave me this amazing stuff called Sweet Leaf Liquid Stevia that was Vanilla Creme flavored. Its super sweet, natural, and 0 calories. I literally think I put like 10 drops of it on my day 2 lunch smoothie and it was SO MUCH BETTER. If you cannot find this particular stuff (you can get it at Whole Foods) I would add regular Stevia and then maybe some drops of pure vanilla extract. Trust me, it needs it!

Typically in the afternoon is when I crave sweets. Therefore, I would snack on grapes, which surprisingly satisfied my sweet tooth and again, they are very water based so they tied me over until dinner. I would make my dinner smoothie around 6:00 and this one I was scared of because it required cayenne pepper and I do not do anything spicy, I am a weenie with spicy foods. I don't think I put in as much as it required but this smoothie was actually kind of tasty!

I made it through day one with no cheating, I had energy all day, I never got crazy hungry or bitchy (like I expected to happen) and the next morning when I woke up I felt fantastic. I was up and awake with energy to go to the gym, I was CRAZY proud of myself for actually following through an entire day of smoothie drinking and I had dropped like 2 pounds (water weight I am sure.) The next two days were pretty much the same. I worked out every morning with full energy, drank my smoothies during the day, snacked on raw veggies or grapes if I was hungry in between meals and I survived the three day detox and had dropped about 4.5 pounds doing it!!!! I highly recommend anyone to test this out, I will warn you though the groceries are kind of expensive for just 3 days. I spent about $52 at HyVee and that was for most of the items. I already had flaxseed, almond butter and some of the produce in my fridge. The cost of the items alone was a motivator for me because I am all about not waisting foods! If anyone has any questions about doing this detox I would be more than happy to answer them. I really had a great experience doing it and felt amazing afterwords! Good luck & Happy Monday everyone! =)

A blurry iPhone picture documented Tuesday!

Let me start this off by saying that I LOOOOOOVE Tuesday's. First of all it is not Monday, which is obviously awesome. Secondly, it is the first day of the week that we have lots of fun things to do, I get to see Josh extra and spend more one on one time with Paxton! Weekends are definitely my favorite since we get to have Josh with us for a full 48 hours of awesomeness but Tuesday's are a close second!

After I get home from the gym, get everyone fed and bathed, I get myself ready for the day since I will actually be leaving the house (which is something that does not happen on Monday's!)

 Then we load up the car with H's school bag, snacks drinks and diapers for Paxton and we head out for the morning to drop Harper of at school. At first she was always apprehensive when I dropped her off. Now, she walks in by herself, we do our usual routine of taking her jacket off, hanging up her bag, wash her hands and she then runs to her teacher for a big hug. It is more heartwarming to me than sad because with someone as stand off-ish as Harper to run up to someone for a hug means they are truly great teachers and so kind and loving to her. It makes me happy to see a little independence from her.

Pax and I then go to run whatever errands I may have. Sometimes we do a stop at the grocery store because shopping with one is a tad easier than shopping with two. But this past Sunday J was suuuper awesome and we all went to check out the new HyVee did our shopping then. Score! Therefore we went to the best place to kill some time and spend some money....Target!!! Check out the cuuuuuutest little Easter baskets I picked up for the kids. $2.50! I mean that is practically free!

I also had time to just browse which again is NOT something I typically get to do when I have both kids. I meandered over to check out the shoes. I saw these little beauts which were on clearance for practically nothing but of course they only had a size 11. Bummer!

 Paxton thoroughly enjoyed our little outing and I have so much fun hanging out with just him. I had 16 1/2 months of just Harp and I getting in quality time but it's rare that I have a block of time just Paxton and I. He is such a cool kid and he is so much fun to be around! This little froggy is probably going to have to make it into his Easter basket, I've never seen him love on something like that before. Too cute!

After we wandered the many aisles of Target we then started our way to pick up Josh for work to meet up for lunch. Day Date Tuesday I call it. I look forward to Tuesday lunch every single week. Such a fun little treat to get to see J for a snippet of time in the afternoon and share lunch with him and Paxton. Again, much easier with just one kid to bring along plus it's fun quality time that Pax and Josh get as well. We hit up Chipotle yesterday and had one of their veggie/black bean/brown rice bowls. OMG it was so stinking good! I was sad this morning that I didn't bring home my leftovers to have again today. Oh well, I'll just have to go back soon!!!

Then Pax and I came home to play a little before he goes down for his nap. This tent is the newest obsession the kids have in the house. It's a fun Lion King pop up tent that Nana and Papa brought the kids a while back. They drag this thing around everywhere and have secret little Harper/Paxton play time inside. Sometimes we like to hide from dada and then try to scare him. Basically it's awesome.

 Harper's newest favorite thing is to assist me with cooking dinner. It is always supervised of course and I never let her get near the knives but she helps stir our dishes, she seasons them and will help drop the chopped things in the pan or baking sheet. It's so much fun to have a cooking buddy and to start teaching her things while we are doing so. It's great for counting and measuring and addition/subtraction! Sometimes it helps her become more adventurous with eating things since she is actually making them. She's quite the picky eater.

Last night we made one of Josh's favorite vegan dishes a Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chili. It's so crazy good and easy!!!

 Then some more play time in the tent while we are waiting to get Paxton up from his nap.

 Necklaces are also another new obsession in the house.

Of course Paxton has to climb up on Harper's cooking stool to try and sneak a bite because he's basically a garbage disposal. He will eat anything all day every day. I don't think he has ever been full. He has the belly to show for it!

Last, I'd like to leave you with what Josh and I spent our evening doing last night. Making ourselves into Zombies with the hilarious free Walking Dead iPhone app. We actually did one of Harper too but I'm pretty sure its a little too disturbing to go up on the internet. Hope you all are having a great Wednesday!!!