Andres 3rd Curious George birthday

Two Sundays ago we celebrated Andres 3rd birthday. I can't believe its been that long since he was born, and although its only 3 years we are extremely grateful that God has blessed us with such an amazing child.

Here are a few pictures and details about his birthday

 Gift table

 Favor tables. i was able to find a good amount of curious george coloring books expect they were all sold out so i had to mix it up with other ones. I made the tags and glued a strip of cardstock and some crayons.

 He was gifted a curious george make your own book and i used it as a guest sign book

 Totsy shirt and childrens place shorts

 Buckets, party city 1 dollar. my mom used napkins but we made other ones that we stuffed the bottom with magazine paper and inside is also dollar tree oasis to hold a printed george and glued on a cardstock and taped to a chopstick. We also used these as center pieces

 The background is super easy just ballons and streamers. Cake is sams club and topper is from online. Monkeys were found at thrift stores all over chicago thanks to my wonderful mom. So if you live in a big city go to all the thrift stores you can!

 Invitation was made by me looking online for templates

 Cupcakes were made at home and the curious george rings were also ordered online via amazon

I made some stations like " curious george plays golf, *thats what the green table cloth was for* or curious george plays basketball and i made some signs.

my mom gifted andres this bounce house we found via Craigs list

some fruit and things and we served chipolte style bowls

Made this banner out of cardstock and wordart on my word 2010 print and glue.the tape on string.

these are the center pieces with small tiny bananas probably found at any supermarket especially

walmart pinata

Influenster Ivory 2-1

I was sent this infulenster box with the new Ivroy 2-1 . Let me be honest that I wasn't too excited because well.... I have really long hair and I need a lot of conditioner BUT my husband was so excited!
Less time and 2-1! that was all he needed to hear!
I found cool new things with it too! the fact that it has a light scent and is not  heavily scented so that means I could possibly use it for my son too!. This is a great product for men I think! the ones that are on the go and don't have time to open more than one bottle! overall I think this product is great for busy people but not necessarily for women with longer hair, because as all women with long hair know... it takes lots of time and product to be able to keep that hair long and tangle free!

almost 3

I felt a need to write this to you Andres.
You're growing so fast.
Your becoming that little boy that you need to become but I miss my baby.
Your a funny kid right now.
You love  yourself some Curious George and Noa the spanish little cartoon that is trying to learn spanish like you :).
You say "Cue-Me" when you fart followed by a laugh.. typical boy like behavior
You say "la-lo" for ice cream in spanish
You are trying new phrases and I can see you struggling to be more fluent to try to express yourself, and that makes my heart so so happy.
You love to still dance to any song you enjoy.
You love reading your sabbath school stories and you surprise me with the way you remember songs. We made it a habit to read you this every night and you don't let us forget.
You like to sing. "Jesus loves the little ones like ME ME ME" and "zacchaeus  was a wee little man"
You love mostly everything you eat. You still like your frozen blueberries like no other kid I know.
You recognize your letters.
You give me spontaneous kisses and hugs. Those make my day-life
Can I keep you in this stage forever?
You know your time out spot and you know its not fun but you do it.
Mostly you love us and we love you so much.
You're sweet and kind.
You're sensitive and you hate when children reject you.
You love to hug your friends and wrestle with the boys.
Elian,Nolan, and Joshua are your buddies.

I'm thankful for my almost 3 year old :)

Meatless options for new Vegetarians or Vegans!

I have been asked a bit from people what I use to substitute my "meat" part of my cooking.
A lot of people freak out not knowing what to eat once they decide to not eat meat anymore.
When my family and I decided to go vegan about a year and a half ago I FREAKED out.
I was so used to my vegetarian life style. I love cheese. I do. period.
It took awhile, and while we don't purchase any diary products at home, when I go out I do splurge and eat diary... although my stomach now kinda has grown to reject it.. sigh.
Anyways I complied a list of my favorite veggie meats. Gardein is my favorite cause it has less ingredients than Morning star, but there are a few morning star products I really enjoy.
I use these and I make some rice,noodles, potatoes,or quinoa as the side entry then a vegetable of my choice. You can also substitute any "ground meat" recipe with the crumblers.

my husband doesn't like these but I LOVE this, with some jasmine rice! yum! its super easy to make!

These are a staple at my house. Just pop in the oven cook some quinoa and yum!

These are my favorite to make a sandwich kinda spread for andres. I pop these in the microwave then put a bit of vegenaise and mash it together. 

This Bologna taste and smells like real bologna. These are great to make sandwiches.

These are the best burger substitutes I have tried. hands down.

Delicious and easy. Put in the oven till nice and crispy! so tasty

I have SO SO many praises for these meatballs. I have tried TONS of brands and something is always lacking. The only ones that have compared are the Veggie patch brand but they have discontinued them in my area at least. I was bummed I could not find a meatball to take its place. The morning star ones YUCK. Anything BOCA I cant stand the smell. These are AMAZING. they have tons of flavor and seasonings. 

Vegan and super crumbly. I use these for tacos. I add a packet of Goya seasoning and that is it. You could use this for any ground meat recipe and make a meatless ground meat.

same for these. They are not vegan but they are tasty and can be used for any ground meat recipe.

These hot dogs are the best. They are hard to find in any store unless a specialty store. 

And finally the most amazing chorizo ever. I have only been able to find this in the Whole foods here in Illinois, it is a local company. BUT I can't even describe how yummy this is. I use it for tacos, when I ate eggs I would scramble them with it... just anything. They also sell different flavors like Italian or Regular. THE BEST MEATLESS CHORIZO EVER.

Sledding fun

Yesterday was a perfect day to go sledding. 

I can't remember the last time I went sledding, but living in the north and since its been snowing for 6 days straight, I decided it was time to show Andres his new northern roots!

We bundled up like crazy, a good friend of Andrew was so kind to get us a sled and off we went.

I was a little hesitant of how Andres would feel, but needless to say he enjoyed it. I think he's going to be a little more adventurous than his mom :).

Winter is starting to look a little more fun for my husband ;)

Christmas Tree

Its been kinda warming up here in southwest michigan, and by "warm up" I mean 48 degrees. So naturally I took andres outside for an hour when it was even colder, cause we all know that he's going to be stuck in side for about 3 months... sigh...
The older he gets, the harder it is for me too look forward to winter in a small town with nothing to do....
We did manage to finally get our christmas tree up before December first :)
The older Andres gets the more exciting it is for him to enjoy Christmas and lights. Also he's kinda been obsessed with a Curious George ornament we got him. Every morning its " joeoorge" so I thought it would be perfect to get him one for christmas.

Randoms

I went home this weekend
Its so nice to live near home.
Had an awesome photoshoot that friends took for us. It was so windy but we had a good time doing it and it was much better than in a studio with a stranger who can't understand why a 2 year old can't stay still for pictures...
Andres went to a rainbow birthday party, he had a blast he found the balloons and that pretty much entertained him the whole time.
He's getting so big. This was  5 year olds birthday party and it freaks me out that andres will already be 3 in may, this month he is 2.5.. ay...

some pictures of this weekend.