Winter here we come!

I am back after a long break--sorry. I feel horrible because I looked at the last date I updated my blog and it made me sad :( I really want to write,  but I have been terribly side-tracked lately. Even though family life is rough right now and drastic and changes are in our near future, I feel warm inside knowing that the holiday season is right around the corner. I love this time of year when the mornings are cold, the leafs are changing beautiful colors, and the smell of cinnamon is wherever I go. I recently put out my cinnamon pine cones--they still smell good from last year.


This morning, when I decided to make the kids and me North Pole Pancakes I thought to myself, I just have to write. Here they are!

                                                                    Elf, and reindeer!

Christopher sat on the barstool by the stove and watched me cook, while Charlotte played on the floor with a whisk-- she looked up every once and a while and smiled :) The kids loved watching me make the pancakes with the molds and they especially loved eating them. Today was Charlotte's first

time eating pancakes and the picture tells it all--she loved them!

Charlotte ate the reindeer!

and Christopher ate the elf...and

Momma ate Frosty :)

My morning started off with a good cup of coffee, yummy pancakes and a good laugh. When it was time to sit at the table and eat, Christopher said, "No, momma, cold!" He refused to sit on the chair and then ran to the couch. I noticed a few minutes later that he dragged the blanket from the couch across the room and draped it over his chair. He was saying cold because he did not want his skin to touch the 'cold' wooden chair (he was wearing a t-shit with big boy undies). He cracks me up--he then sat on the blanket and ate his pancakes. He of course said, "Mmmm momma, thank you." And Charlotte just ate and smiled.

I hope everyone else started their Friday morning off right right, with a good laugh too :)

I will be back soon!

Hi! I feel awful that I have not updated the blog with any stories, pictures or videos. It has been crazy busy in the Markovic house lately. The newest is, Christopher is fully potty trained, yep, he wears big boy undies and goes pee pee and poo poo in the potty. After one week we are now at that point where he lets me know when it is time to go. For example, He will tell me, "Momma, poo poo" and that means he needs to pee--so we run to the bathroom and he pees. And other times he will tell me, "Mamma, big one!" and that means he needs to go poo--so we run to the bathroom and he poops. I don't know where that came from, but I am so proud of him. He caught on so quickly. Not only do I show excitement when he goes, he yells, "it works" while he is going potty and it is always followed with a great big smile. He's so enthusiastic; I love him!

Ms Charlotte is also keeping my very busy. She is walking all over the house. She enjoys following her big brother everywhere! She actually keeps up with him pretty good. She wears her self out by the end of the day from all the activity and is ready for bed at 6:30. Lately, I have been putting her down at 6:30 pm and and she will wake up at 8:am. That's definitely my girl!

My parent's watched the kids for me all day Sunday so I can go pamper myself for my birthday. I had the whole day to myself. I went and got a massage and facial, I met my two best friends for lunch then I went shopping at the Sack's 5th Ave. outlet. While I was shopping there, (mind you it was Sunday) I walked around the store in Awe. I loved all the fall clothes, pretty handbags, designer jeans, and everything else that I stopped and looked at. I think I seriously touched 20 purses. I was really enjoying "shopping". For all you moms reading this, I am sure you know the difference between shopping with kids and shopping without kids. Well, I was experiencing shopping without kids.  I  had a few shirts in my hand, nothing else. I was not pushing a stroller, or chasing a toddler in and out of racks and down aisles while picking up something off the floor left and right. I almost felt awkward without having to do all this. Well, to say the least, I was so relaxed from the fabulous massage that I felt high. When I was looking at the purses, I noticed the music had stopped. I was wondering when the next song was going to come on before I noticed a pile of really cute sweaters. I would say about 15 minutes later I was browsing the shoe section and a sales associate looked at me and said, "you do know the store is closed, right?" I said to her, "no wonder the music turned off". I then looked at my phone and it was 6:30. She told me that they close at 6pm. I was still shopping around the store 30 minutes after it closed. That was a first and hopefully last for me. 
When I was pregnant, I blamed everything on having pregnancy brain, well, I blame this one on mommy brain. I don't think it will ever go away, right moms? Another good one. I took Christopher and Charlotte out to breakfast at the bagel shop a while back. I was walking back to our car I was holding charlotte in my arms and holding Christopher's hand. I walked up to a car and started looking for my keys. Christopher started tugging my hand and pulling me toward the other direction. He kept saying, "momma, no car", Yes, you guessed it, I walked up to another car, a tan Tahoe. My car was a few empty spaces down. I gave him a great big hug. He was telling me that that was not our car. 

I had a wonderful birthday. It was a special birthday filled with lots of love and of course, it was my first birthday as a momma of two. I feel truly blessed with all my family and friends in my life--I love you all and thank you for all the the wonderful birthday wishes.

I promise I will be back soon with more stories and pictures. We are going to take the kids to the pumpkin patch this week! Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Mine was great. Time for Desperate Housewives.

When Momma met Harry!

This weekend was great. We had a busy one. It was filled with a lot of great people, good food and lots of laughs, which I love. It started for us on Friday when we went out for Pizza. Christopher ate 3 pieces of Pep, mushroom and sausage--he likes all the fixings!
On Saturday afternoon, Greg, the kids and I went to Peyton's 2nd birthday party--it was a trash theme because he loves garbage trucks. His mom did such a wonderful job planning a trash party; she is so creative. My favorite part of the party, ok just kidding, my favorite parts of the party were: the garbage truck cake, the small tin trash-can filled with crumbled paper, cereal boxes and coke cans. Peyton's mom had trash in the can and on the grass so the kids could pick up the trash with mini toy trash picker-uppers!  Christopher really enjoyed picking up everything  and putting it in the trash can. The trash picker-upper party favor is Christopher's new favorite toy. I also really liked the white trash Chex party mix. It was D'lish. (Recipe to follow once I get it). And lastly, my favorite part was of course seeing all my mom friends and kiddos. I was so happy to finally hold baby Logan and Caden. The Stream's twin boys are precious. Peyton sure did have a great time at his party along with everyone else. We got home at 7:30pm and the kids were out for the night--they played hard.

Sunday morning was somewhat stressful. Christopher woke up to NO milk, which was a disaster to say the least. He doesn't like change in his routine; the first thing we do every morning is go downstairs and get a sippy-cup of milk. I felt bad that there was no milk for him. Minutes later I get a call from Greg saying that he is sick and coming home. He has kidney stones again! Poor guy. I have no idea why he is continuing to get them--ouch! 
Sunday, late morning we went grocery shopping at Nob Hill. It is interesting to go grocery shopping these days with two kiddies. Charlotte sits in the shopping cart seat and usually plays with a toy or eats something. I always, always end up opening a box of graham crackers, or a 'snackie' type food for the kids to eat while I shop. Keeps them occupied and works like a charm. Christopher  follows me very nicely in grocery stores. IT’S ABOUT TIME!  I have no choice other than to teach him to either hold my hand or hold the cart because Charlotte takes up the seat in the cart now. (I wish every shopping cart was likes Costco's double seat ha!) Christopher has actually been doing an excellent job lately on staying by my side. Christopher likes to sit in the cart  if I am doing a smaller shop. He also likes to sometimes carry a shopping basket and fill it with a few items from our cart. Everyone smiles at me when they see a lil guy walking behind me carrying what is to him, a great big basket.  Yesterday, the items in the basket were his  sandals. He decided to carry them around in the basket-- it was keeping him content, and it was cute. When we checked out he even handed his shoes to the checker. The checker then pretended to scan them. Christopher laughed and said, "funny". All the checkers love Christopher. 

So here is the highlight of the story. I met a very funny man named Harry while grocery shopping. I was pushing the cart with Charlotte in the seat, Christopher was following me and we were headed to the eggs, milk, and butter section. Christopher was right next to me while I was looking for eggs. Just as I turned around to put the egg carton in the cart he went for a carton too! I yelled, "NO! Don't touch that!" (Could you imagine the mess that could have made?) After I said those words, I heard from behind my back, a very deep  chuckle, and a voice that said, "You know, I just jumped 2 feet--I thought you were talking to meeeee!"  I totally startled an older man. This man's name is Harry; he is a dog trainer. Harry told me something I will never forget; he told me that training dogs is a lot like teaching your kids and does not know which one is harder! He also told me not to feel bad for making him stumble along with a funny story: While he was grocery shopping one time with his Labrador and said, "heal", and the dog immediately healed by his side. Another parent/shopper who saw that  looked at him and said, "I wish I could get my kids to do that". On my way home I was still cracking up on how Harry thought I Was yelling at him not to touch the butter he was reaching for and how training your dog could really be like teaching your kids. I guess I often do say: No! get down, stop, come here, sit down and good job! Harry was a crack up and I think he was extra funny to me because I really, really, really  like dogs :) 

Sunday night I did my usual, watch my favorite show Desperate Housewives. This time I watched it with my neighbor. My neighbor is super sweet and she loves the show too. We  watched the show at my house and had a great time. We drank some wine and ate brownies. I also had some very much needed adult conversation. I really like Sunday's. 
I hope everyone else had a great weekend full great people, good food and many laughs. By the way, SO loving this weather. 

BIG things are happening

Ms Charlotte took her first steps at the Hollister's Farmers Market on Wednesday! Yup, she is soon to be walking, and as of today, she has 8 teeth! I cannot believe her first birthday is right around the corner--time goes by so fast. When she took her first steps, I got teary eyed of course, just like I did when Christopher took his first steps in the Monte Sereno Cottage. It is funny to us because, Christopher started walking at nine months without any teeth; he did not crack his first tooth until he was almost eleven months lol We called him gums! And now Charlotte is pretty much walking with a bunch of teeth :D Sadly, I did not catch Charlotte's first steps on video (she did a great job and took 5 big steps all alone on the grass) but here is a video of her saying "ba-ba" and waving hi! Big girl!

Christopher is also growing and changing right before my eyes. He is becoming my little best friend and helper. His favorite chore to help me with right now is taking the trashcans out and bringing them. He enjoys doing quite a few things around the house, one of them being laundry! Last week when I stripped his sheet and put it in the washer along with his blanket, he got soooo upset! He did not like seeing his sheet and blanket go into the washer. He cried and said, "oh no, night, night--wet!" I explained to him that it was ok and I am making them all better. Later that day, I put his blanket and sheet (along with the other clothes I washed with them with) in the dryer while my mom was downstairs playing with the kids. When I went upstairs to Christopher's room to get him dressed to go out to dinner that evening, I noticed his blanket and sheet IN HIS CRIB! I laughed so hard… God only knows when Christopher took only his two items out of the dryer and put them in the crib and closed the dryer door--I died! He really does help me! He also really enjoys playing with Charlotte. He is such a good big brother. I always bring Charlotte in his room in the morning to go get him when I get the momma wake up call. Last week since Charlotte was still sleeping before Christopher woke up, I went in his room ALONE to get him. Instead of getting a great big smile and an enthusiastic "hi momma", I got, "where's Beez". He really, really loves his little sister. They are now at that point where they can play together! I love it! 

Christopher all around is transforming into a young boy right before my eyes. He acts like a big boy and even looks like a big boy. Greg just gave Christopher a 'big boy' haircut last week and he looks totally different, not like my little baby boy. I lost the fight on keeping his hair long, oh well--he looks darling anyway his hair is and I think Greg did a pretty good job. Here is a picture of Christopher with his new haircut playing out back looking for worms--he is such a boy. He likes to find worms, spiders and snails and show them to me, but he will never ever touch them. THANK GOD!  

FYI snails = worms. I figured this out the other day when I took Charlotte's high-chair out back to hose it down--it was covered in smashed bananas and biter biscuits. I left it out over night to air dry and brought it in the next morning. Well, while Christopher was sitting at the kitchen table eating his lunch that same day he yelled, "worm", and ran to me. I freaked out because he is notorious for finding creepy crawlers outside and this time we were inside. So, he ran to me, grabbed my hand and led me to the kitchen table where the high chair was. He was pointing to Charlotte's high chair and saying over and over..."Look momma worm, yuck!" I had to look hard to find it but sure enough there was a snail on the side of Charlotte's high chair. After Christopher finding a snail on the high chair I no longer leave the high-chair outback to dry.

2 kids, a dog and a husband...oh my!

My favorite PUMPKIN BREAD recipe

oven temp: 350

time: 55-65 min

3 c sugar

1c cooking oil

4 eggs

31/3 c fluor

2 tsp baking soda

11/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp nutmeg

2/3 c water

1 15oz can pumpkin   

*I like to use can pumpkin from  Trader Joes ;)

1. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg

2. In large bowl combine sugar and oil with mixer and add eggs

3. Alternately add and beat in pumpkin

4. Spoon batter into prepared pans and bake!

To get get festive you can make home made cream cheese frosting to ice the top of the loaf. Killer and so easy! If I can do this, anyone can ;)

With a mixer mix:

2 8oz soft cream cheese

1/2 c soft butter

2 c confectioners sugar

1tsp vanilla

I am so over the heat and want nothing more than to 'turn on the fire place' lol and get cozy with blankets and drink hot chocolate :) I am very eager for some nice cool winter weather, can't you tell? Yay, for a little rain this morning.  I hope it continues and rains soon. I really like how the rain sounds on our roof because it's tile with no attic space. One more thing I just love about our house... it sounds awesome when it rains out, especially in the master. Here is one of my favorite recipes to make this time of year, it makes your house smell so yummy. Enjoy!  

Speaking of smells, our house smells like curry, going on day 2 now! I left the kids AND my sister's bf dog Shelby with Greg Thurs night so I could go to a friend's house to plan for an upcoming baby shower we're throwing (we are watching Shelby for a few days). It was a nice break because it got quite overwhelming here with 2 kids and a dog! At one point that afternoon, it was like the circus in our tv room. Shelby took Charlotte's pacifiers, sucked on them and roughed-housed with Christopher. Christopher thought it was hysterical, it really was.... but poor Ms Charlotte was not too happy to have her paci's taken. This is an old picture, and still so funny to me. It's no joke, she really does suck on them! Shelby is a one of a kind dog.

When I can back around 8:30pm. I came through the garage and immideately smelt curry. Bless Greg's heart. I told Greg the other day that I am craving Indian food, so he made curry chicken while I was gone; he made up a recipe of 5 different spices and the main one being curry of course. When I walked in I saw Greg laying on the couch with bear in hand, and Shelby on his lap with her toung hangin out! They both looked very content lounging in the dark!  He looked up at me and said calmly,  "the kids are fed, bathed and in bed". Awe. I had such a long day and that was so nice to come home to, and so darn cute  even though  the house reeked of curry and looked like a tornado struck. We got to eat a very nice chicken curry meal with a delicious cilantro dressing that we bought and the Farmer's Market. (I will miss you Hollister Farmer's Market). The meal was really good. He said Christopher ate a half a breast and liked it too--we all love curry. I just don't know how to get rid of the smell of curry....maybe I will bake a few loafs of pumpkin bread ;)

Happy October!

I love desserts and I like to eat something sweet everyday ;) I would like to introduce to you, the best dessert recipe EVER! Goody bars!

This super easy, delicious recipe can be found on the back of the Betty Crocker brownie mix box. The first person I made them for was my brother-in-law Chris, and he LOVED them.  Every time I make goodybars I get a lot of ohhh's and ahhh's--they're always a hit. When Christopher tasted them for the first time, he said, "Mmmm good, momma". I will always remember that because it was this summer when Christopher started putting words into full sentences and we sat and ate this  yummy dessert together in our backyard. I love him!

I hope you make goodybars and enjoy them as much we do!

GOODY BARS

1 box Betty Crocker® Original Supreme Premium brownie mix

Water, vegetable oil and egg called for on brownie mix box

1 cup Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy vanilla frosting (from 16 oz container)

1/2 cup salted peanuts, coarsely chopped 

2 cups crisp rice cereal

2/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1 1/3 cups (8 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

1.  Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease bottom only of 9-inch square pan with cooking spray or  shortening. (For easier cutting, line pan with foil, then grease foil on bottom only of pan.)

2.  Make and bake brownies as directed on box. Cool completely.

3.  Frost brownies with frosting. Sprinkle with peanuts; refrigerate while making cereal mixture. 

*    I like to use either 1/2    the amount of peanuts or none at all :)

4.  Measure cereal into medium bowl; set aside. In 1-quart saucepan, melt peanut butter and chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly. Pour over cereal in bowl, stirring until evenly coated. Spread over frosted brownies. Refrigerate 1hour or until set before cutting. 

For bars, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows. Store tightly covered at room temperature or in refrigerator.

    

First of all, HAPPY OCTOBER! I am so thrilled it is this time of year again. Here we come uggs, cozy sweats, rain, and for me, the beginning of 'baking season'...Halloween! Yay! My Halloween/Fall decor has actually been up for two weeks--I couldn't resist. Even the candy bowl is filled! It is kind of funny because I am known as 'candy lady' to the little girls in our court, because I not only have candy out for Halloween, I have candy and sweets out all the time, even a fully stocked candy drawer.

I am still trying to decide if I will be writing daily or weekly. I know for sure that I will post videos of the kids, updated pictures and of course recipes. Since I love to bake, most of the recipes will be some sort of baked good. I cannot wait to make my pumpkin bread soon! That is a must make for this time of year :)

I have decided that Christopher will be a bear for Halloween since his favorite cartoon is Little Bear. He loves that show and I don't mind him watching it. It is pretty peaceful and nice to hear the instrumental music in the background. Other moms out there can understand how obnoxious some cartoons can sound. Anyway, he loves to watch Little Bear--he knows all the characters: Duck, Owl, Frog, and he calls the chicken, 'Ruby'. So cute! Ruby was our pet chicken. But that is a whole other story...

And Ms Charlotte is going to be a bumblebee because Christopher gave Charlotte her nickname, ‘beez’ when she came home from the hospital. I am pretty sure it came from ‘baby sister’ and it has stuck ever since. I ordered her the cutest bee tutu off etsy.com, (which I am addicted to by the way).

I am so excited to take both kids trick-or-treating this year. Last year it was so eventful. There are kids galore on our street and we will have our annual Halloween potluck in our court with Carmel apples.  Las Last year Christopher was a deputy (like his dada) for Halloween. Just the other day he was in his room playing with his memory box, which is filled with hospital wristbands, his first 2-dollar bill and stuff like that along with a silver plastic star badge that was attached to his deputy baby diaper cake at my baby shower. He saw it picked it up, placed it over his right chest and came up to me and said, "Momma, look-dada's". My heart melted and it will forever be a memory of mine. It was SO hard to wait all afternoon for Greg to get home so I can tell him this story, He also thought it was precious. We both smiled and at the same time said, “I love him”. Christopher never seizes to amaze me; he is always doing something so funny or cute—my kids are my pride and joy. 

The story that stared it all

On Saturday, Sept. 25 I shared many mom and kid stories with Kristen, an old friend from HS at a wedding. She loves children and works with them as a preschool teacher.  I was a little tipsy and began telling her how it felt like yesterday we were in HS and I never imagined myself pushing a double stroller and having two kids under 2yrs old. Well, I laughed and told her I absolutely love being a mom but it is pretty hard at the same time. I went on about how many times I get told by people wherever I go, "Boy-you sure do have your hands full". Yes, I do! ( I am still trying to come up with a tactile response to that). That brought up the story that made me realize I am doing a pretty good job even though it feels sometimes as if I am doing the complete opposite, and I shared with her...
I was in line for a return, had Charlotte in my arms, crying and Christopher was acting like a typical toddler-loud and wanting to leave the store. No joke there were like ten people behind me and the lady working the customer service counter was rude to say the least. I could not find my receipt both kids were causing a scene. Christopher got stuck on the cart trying to pick up his toy truck and a very nice lady helped Christopher down and passed him his truck which fell under the cart. I was relieved that she gave me an extra hand so I can finish the transaction while I was  preparing a bottle for Charlotte. I managed to leave with no problem and with a very nice compliment. The nice lady that helped Christopher stopped me, grabbed me by the hand and said, "I just want to let you know you are blessed and and your son said thank you, twice--I'm impressed". I seriously thought I was going to leave the store in tears because I was exhausted, but she totally made me feel better. 

I have shared that story with a few people and they all loved it. For those that know Christopher they especially love his manners; he says: please, no thank you, sorry, thank you and bless you after someone sneezes ;) We work on manners at home. I am one proud momma.