Just A Reminder

I've been kind of obsessed over on Tumblr lately.  So that's why no blogging but you can skip on over to my Tumblr Snapshot blog to see a little of our day to day in instagrams :)

Oh Yeah I Remember That

Book Shower

I threw a book shower for a friend this past weekend.  We ended up having it two weeks earlier than expected because the little man decided to come a little sooner.  Two weeks sooner.   All the guests brought him a book to start his library and it was so much fun looking through them all.  I decided to not go with a theme since time was limited.  I ended up ordering from Garnish and then found everything else locally and used what I already had.  The food was pretty simple.  Wrap sandwiches and chicken salad sandwiches, raw veggies, ranch and hummus, bagged kettle chips, clementines, Pellegrino, cream puffs and I bought two cakes from Whole Foods.  The dessert forks were bamboo and had verses from Where the Wild Things Are and Goodnight Moon stamped on them (I ordered those on Etsy).  I think it turned out great!  SO much fun!

Me on being sick.

I'm sitting here stuffing my face with tamales and ginger ale.  I've had "the crud" the last few days and let me tell you...I don't like being sick.  Sometimes I dream of the TV watching, no cooking downtime of being sick.  Then reality sets in and I realize it quite frankly stinks.  My nose is so red and chapped that I look like bozo the clown and it's 70 degrees outside and I'm not able to enjoy it.  Little man is outside playing in the camper as I type.  It's his new "secret spy" hideout or "secret bird watching" club and the password is "bird".  Flossy is playing with an array of Barbies in her PJ's enjoying time away from Ro.

I heard this earlier and I totally thought "brilliant!  this is the theme song to my life right now".  I imagine a music box with a little figure trapped inside spinning around and around and never reaching a destination.  That's me right now.  Oh how I long for wanderlust and it's just a few months away.  Spring breaking in the dessert perhaps?

Alright, that's enough of the pity party.  I'm praying for a more positive attitude.  I promise :)

Baby Jaxon Has Arrived...

And he's beautiful!  We love him already and he has some amazing parents.  Here's his first photo shoot (mom, dad, and grandparents included).  We had a full house ;)


Jaxon from Aja Vaught on Vimeo.

Oh Yeah I Remember That

So after reading an amazing oh so true post by Tara Whitney, I decided to follow her lead and start a little tumblr blog with my iphone photos.  All you need is a tumblr blog (which is free) and the instagram app (which is also free).  Mine was just started yesterday so it's bare in photo content but I can see that changing soon since you can set your instagram to magically upload your photos to your tumblr.  Awesome!  So to check out daily iphone snaps of our little fam go to Oh Yeah I Remember That and see what we've been up to.

Breakfast Cookie...No Sugar, No Dairy, No Eggs, No Gluten

So I stumbled across these little morsels on Pinterest the other day.  They looked good, but I have to admit that I was a little skeptical because they contain no sugar.  Yep, that's right.  No chocolate.  No peanut butter.  How could they possibly be good?  Well, let me tell you, they are my friends.  Little ooey gooey morsels of yum.  AND, they are great for a little "breakneck breakey".  That's another word for breakfast according to a friend of ours.  Anyways,  just add fruit to the side of your plate and maybe a little greek yogurt and you're good to go.  My oldest LOVES them.  The youngest, well, he is a super healthy eater but when you use the word "cookie" he expects sugar.  I never should have used that word.  I think he thought the dates were chocolate chips.  He is my child that's for sure.  Can you blame him?  I would take chocolate chips over dates any day.  So here's the recipe...with my substitutions.  I only had two ripe bananas and I try to avoid canola oil.  You can substitute the oil for plain applesauce (just use less), pumpkin puree (my choice) or even coconut oil (although it can sometimes be all you taste).

No Sugar Breakfast Cookies

Adapted from Blueberry Girl In Oz

1 1/2 cups regular rolled oats (I used Gluten Free)
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 cup of almond meal
1/2 cup mixed nuts, finely chopped
1 cup dried fruit (I used 1 cup of chopped dates)

3 ripe bananas, mashed (I used two and 1/4 cup of pumpkin)
1/4 cup canola oil (I omitted and used 1/4 cup organic pumpkin puree)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 175C. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, combine rolled oats, almond meal, mixed nuts and coconut flakes. Stir in allspice and cinnamon. Add dried fruit and stir until well and evenly mixed. Make sure the dried fruit do not stick together in big batches.
In another bowl, combine canola oil, mashed banana and vanilla extract. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and stir until well combined. 

Take a large cookie cutter and press spoonfuls of the batter into it. Remove cookie cutter. Bake for about 20 minutes or until edges are golden brown. ( I just used my cookie scoop but this will work too)

Baby M is on his little way!

So I wanted to share a maternity session I did for some good friends of ours who are expecting their first baby in about 2 weeks.  We are beyond excited to meet this little one and so incredibly happy for them.  I know them well and know they will be amazing parents.  Sounds cliche, but they really will.  Baby M is also going to be gorgeous and I'm looking forward to his session in a few short weeks.  Can you believe how good she looks?  Don't let her cute little belly fool you, she's still teaching spin classes at 8.5 months pregnant!  I wish I could share them all, but here's a few...