Quinoa Avocado Tacos

This really came about by accident but it was sooooo good.

I was really in the mood for some tacos but I have been trying to avoid so much meat being used in my cooking....hmm....so I'm not using beef or chicken or any sort of meat but I want tacos...hmmm...

I know! I'll use quinoa because that is protein packed! (The only grain that is a complete protein actually.) Plus it has mucho vitamins and good fats. Quinoa is a super grain and I love it!

So here is what I came up with:

Quinoa Avocado Tacos

You will need:

1/2 cup dry quinoa
1 cup water
1/2 tablespoon taco seasoning (kind of strong so you could do less and probably still taste good)
1 avocado
1 tomato
1 lime
salsa
shredded cheese
tortillas
lettuce

Directions:

1. Soak quinoa 5 minutes (this step could be skipped because quinoa in US is usually pre-rinsed and soaked)
2. Rinse quinoa- always rinse (I use a cheese cloth-still searching for an easier rinsing method)
3. Boil water. Add quinoa to boiling water. Cover and reduce to simmer for 13 minutes.
4. Add taco seasoning to quinoa pot and simmer 2 more minutes or until water is absorbed.
5. Pile it on your tortilla with cut up avocado, tomatoes, shredded cheese, salsa, lettuce and be sure to squeeze some fresh lime juice over the top.

So good. I don't know if I will ever need beef tacos again.
The avocados and lime really make this scrumptious.
I wish I had cilantro- next time I'm going to throw some of that on there.

Next time I make it, I will take some mouth watering photos- I was just too busy eating this time!

As Promised.

Smiling pictures! 

I wish the lighting was better but you can still see the heart-melting smile I have come to expect to see everyday:

Ooo I love this boy. Mmmmm!

My 24ish Birthday

It really snuck up on me this year. I knew it was coming but bam here it is and I am a year older. Okay, so I'm not 24ish, I am 24. *shiver*.
I had a hard time remembering 23- people would ask "how old are you?" and I would have to sit there and think for a minute, was it 22? No, that was the last one. Sad huh? I thought that was supposed to happen when you are like 60 or 70 something- getting old and losing memory and that sort of thing.

This birthday should have been horrible by standards I have had in the past:

We are all sick with sore throats and runny noses and coughs. Yuck. bleh.
And we have hardly slept because of those things. Another bleh.
We have zipo mula to buy all the things I could think of to want on my day. Eh.

Poor baby.

But this is probably the best birthday to date
because:
1. Someone remembers my birthday who lives hundreds of miles away and made my day (Thanks Cole!!!)
2. I got birthday calls from the people in my life who have been there for all the major changes and events in my life.
3. My family dropped by unexpectedly with treats and balloons and gorgeous flowers!

Beautiful!!!

It was my birthday while these were afloat. They lasted awhile!

4. I realize that I may not be able to buy all the things I could ever want and there are still dishes to do on my birthday, but I have two working arms. Don't laugh at me. I'm being dead serious. I am so so grateful that my body works and that I am able to do things that need to be done. I work!!! *no pun  intended*
5. Being a mother to my wonderful boy and being able to spend the day with the sicky who still laughs and smiles at me even when he doesn't feel good.
6. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law sent me to Zumba when we went to visit. So fun!!!! And the fun gifts they got for me too! It just feels good knowing someone thought about you.
7. I pretty much got to stretch my birthday out for 2 weeks which was really weird but so fun at the same time.


I love my family and friends and thank you for making today special!!!

Lovin' Life

Today I realized that my life would be missing out on a whole lot without the little guy in my life.

And I wouldn't even know it.

We gave him a 2nd haircut because the sides were soooo long. I couldn't cut the top though- just trimmed up the hair on his forehead.

We could fit the sides into pig tails! Well, I only did one but wow!

After

Too bright!

Avocado booger!

I don't know if I will ever be able to bring myself to cut that mohawk. It's just too awesome.

So I would be living my life going about my day without him?!!!

I would have been able to do it because I wouldn't have known what it could be with him.

But now I could never just live my life that way.

There is just too much love and joy.

I never thought my life could be like this.

So you get these dear in the headlight pictures because 

#1 whenever I get the camera out when he is laughing/having a good time, he immediately stops and just stares at the camera.

#2 usually we are having way too much fun to even think, "oh we need the camera to capture this happy moment" because we are living it.

But I will try to get some smiling ones because his smile just melts my heart.

Happy 6 Months!!!

Have you ever read:

Love You Forever?

I cannot get through this book without bawling my eyes out.

 Mr. G sits and listens to me read this book I think because he is just wondering why my voice sounds so funny. He solemnly sits there and contemplates the meaning of my voice cracking .

And the mom is so creepy sneaking into her grown up son's house and picking him up! I laugh through tears and sobs.

I can't believe he is growing up but he will always be my baby. Forever.
It's been 6 months. How they have flown. Some days drag by, but my, 6 months is gone in a flash.

Rockstar

Too cool with his hat backwards

Adore

Laugh

Drool

Yelling

Cheeks

Stats: 22 pounds 13 oz
Diapers: Size 5
Clothing: 12 to 18 month clothing. I can squeeze him into some 9 month sweat pants but that's pretty much it.

Things I don't want to forget:

1. Flinging arms. Wam. Bam. All over, all the time- whacking around whatever is in his hands-sometimes getting his face -ouch.

2. He is starting to jump a little in his johnny jump-up!!!!  it's usually one leg at a time so he goes all skiwhampus.

3. We are starting to give him a little bit of whatever we are eating during breakfast and dinner. He's tried: pineapple, apples, oranges, tomatoes and an avocado, cooked carrot, bread, mandarin oranges, celery, applesauce, and he LOVES drinking out of a cup. I'll give him sip a tiny bit of water or pump some milk for him sip! It is seriously his favorite thing to do.

Mine!!!

4. Making more sounds- he hasn't said "more" since that nap incident but now when he wants me or milk or more milk (which kind of is all the same thing to him probably) he says, "mmmmmmmmm".
and
october 28th when he was making that noise, I encouraged him to add some to the "mmm" noise and he said "mama"!!!

 When I blow bubbles while saying the name to him he says, "Ba ba ba ba".

Folks, I'm not sure if he knows what he is doing but after he said "more" as clear as daylight I can't help but think he does know exactly what he is saying. November 6th: he says "mama" when he wants milk.  My little sister babysat and he cried and said, "mama". I think he knows he gets me or milk when he says that.

5. Salt-shaker. This is how I get him to sleep. Rock back in the chair, then when the rocking motion brings us forward I lift gently and jiggle him a bit. Then back in the chair, forward with the "salt-shaker". It is magic. He usually calms right down and goes to sleep.

Here's some favorites as of late:

1.Growl talking! Its a deep gravely voice. Seriously he growls and moves his mouth around like he's talking. It's hilarious. I need to get a video of him doing it and put it up here-your grumpy old neighbor who hasn't smiled since 1969 would laugh, trust me.
Also, when he babbles sometimes he just gets very serious and blinks while scrunching his eyebrows together and raises them as he inflects his voice. Sooooo funny. I've never laughed so much in my life.
Here's a video Jay sneakily got of this:

2.  He is sleeping better and better. I don't think he really eats very much at night and the 5 am poop tradition has pretty much stopped. I can count on him pooping sometime at night but when it's earlier than 5 I can get him to sleep much easier so thank goodness!

4.  He always has a smile for mamma. I know he adores me which just makes me feels so special and glad that I work so hard. It makes it all sooooooooo worth it. He adores Jay too. Really really adores him.
5. He has 3 books that he will sit through the whole thing:
Peek-a-Boo
(he loves the asian yawning in that book- he laughs almost every time we get to that part)
Smiley Shark
(I animate it for him-I'm usually entertained myself)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
(he doesn't laugh or giggle but he will usually sit through it)
All the other books are just hit and miss- usually only getting through a couple of pages. I'm just happy right now that he will even sit through any book at all. So yay for that! I'll let you know when I go insane from reading 3 books over and over again.

Dear Grant,

You are wonderful you know that?

So, so wonderful.

Thank you for your genuine smile and your bright adoring eyes. You make your daddy and I laugh so hard.

You are 6 months old and I can just tell you aren't growing as fast as you want to grow- you see us doing things and you just wish you could do them too! So start rolling buddy! Maybe you will crawl and never roll I don't know but you have other tricks like face-diving that get you closer to objects that are out of reach. And you've learned to gracefully face-dive on your mat on the tile floor.

When I first imagined holding you in my arms, when I first imagined anything you would say to me I heard in my mind's ear, "I am going to make you a better person". Well, I can feel it. You really are going to help me, as a person, learn so much. I am already learning so much.

I know the process has been rough at times but it has been an absolute joy to be the one who gets to hold you when you are sad or sick or laugh with you when you learn something new.

You are worth so much to me and to your dad and we are looking forward to the many adventures we have in store with you.

I love you and will always love you my baby boy. Thank you for coming to us and letting us learn to care for a little baby on you! I love you.

 Love, "Mmmmmmm"

P.S. You have the best laugh.

Family Pictures

When we went up to Montana during the summa we took some pictures and we got them! Oh ya, I used some to create the heading for the blog (but those were facebook quality ones- now we gots the real deals). G was in such a bad mood but we got some of him drooling along with the crying that inevitably comes with grumpy babies.

Mandi and Patrick

Yay! I love love. These two were just married and we got to be a part of their happy day!!! (see post below).
Now that I know I won't spoil any photos Mandi wanted to use, here is the rest of my favs that we (because it was a team effort: Jay held the baby in the Ergo for the duration of the photo-shoot)  took for their engagements: