Edmonton or Bust!

We had been planning Colton's 4th Birthday for the last 2 months. Our plan was to head to Edmonton and take him to the Water Park at West Edmonton Mall. Jeff has only ever been to Edmonton once and never to West Ed so we figured we would all enjoy it. We asked some family members to join but no one was able to make it except for my parents.
Mom and Dad arrived in Calgary Thursday evening and we headed to Edmonton on Friday morning. Colton started to come down with a head cold Thursday morning but we thought it was just your regular cold and we figured a little humidity from the water park would knock the cold right out of him...NOT! By the time we checked into our hotel room Friday afternoon it was clear that we would probably not be going swimming at the waterpark. He was so plugged up that everytime he tried to breathe or sniff, he would gag. We figured we would play it by ear as to how Saturday would go, whether we did anything or not. Friday night was the longest night EVER! Colton woke up every 20 minutes-1/2 hour b/c he couldn't breathe, he was gagging and he didn't want to sleep sitting up. There was more than one occassion that night that I looked at the little coffeemaker sitting on the table and thought about brewing a pot, seeing as how I obviously wasn't gonna get any sleep. Finally 6:30am rolled around and we were both exhausted...we staggered down the hall to G&G's room and they took Colton so I could get some sleep. Staggered back to bed at 7:00am and fell asleep...8:00am..KNOCK KNOCK..'HOUSEKEEPING'! WHAT?SERIOUSLY?! I didn't know whether to laugh, cry or go out and give the chambermaids a serious tongue lashing! I opted to stay in bed and whimper to myself  b/c I didn't have the energy to get out of bed or chew someone out right then..but I thought 'so help me if I see those ladies in the hallway they would hear it from me!' I did run into the cleaners in the hallway and they both looked very grumpy, so I figured I would let this one go..I wasn't in the mood to argue and I figured they would throw me in laundry bag and send me down a laundry shoot..so I walked by and smiled politely.

 Mom and Dad offered to keep Colton at the hotel to rest for the day and told Jeff and I to head out for a bit for a break. We hit up West Ed Mall to do some shopping. We headed back to the hotel in the afternoon and Colton was still looking peakish and was still pretty plugged up. We headed out to dinner at Eastside Mario's where I was informed that absolutely nothing on their menu was gluten free..not even their garden salad! I had to sit there and watch Jeff devour his bacon carbonara that was 'the best he had ever had'. Everyone else enjoyed a delicious meal and I sat there picking at my plate of lettuce.

After dinner Jeff and I decided to take Colton to the Hospital in Stony Plain, where we were staying. Took about an hour to get in to Emergency and we were put in a little room that was obviously used for putting on casts. Everytime Jeff looked at the cast saw he would shiver and go all pale (funny to watch). We did have the pleasure of hearing all the goings-on of all the other patients nearby. One gentleman down the hall had a major problem with flatulence and it got to the point where it was no longer funny after 2.5 hrs and we were feeling sorry for his neighbors who were probably smelling it! lol Almost 2.5 hours later a nurse came by and asked if the Dr. had been in yet. Jeff and I are sitting there half on the floor and trying to hold each other up b/c we were so tired and Colton is trying to sleep on our laps, we gave the nurse a very tired look and both said 'nope, no Dr.'. Not 5 minutes later this little Dr. came speeding in and informed us that he had no idea that this room existed! EXCUSE ME?! Why would we be put in this room if the Dr. didn't know it was there. Oh well, we received a RX for Colton and we were on our way. Of course all the pharmacies were closed for the night so I knew i was in for another sleepless night. Sunday morning finally rolled around and 6:30 had us pitter- pattering down the hall to G&G's room again so i could get some sleep. I was so happy to be heading home on Sunday afternoon. A HUGE thanks to mom and dad for being there this past weekend, we couldn't have survived without you both!

We did have a little party for Colton(who was feeling much better) on Monday and our friend Delayne came by for hotdogs and present opening. Happy Birthday to my precious Colton!!

Picky Eaters

 We LOVE meatloaf in our house, so I made it a new mission to try and 'healthify' this favorite. I have 2 boys that know every excuse in thebook as to why they can't eat their vegetables. I make it a habit to steam/puree vegetables to hide in meals. The other night I made a crockpot full of ribs and added a cup of puree sweet potatoes to the sauce....they were delicious and the ribs were devoured. Ryan, if you are reading my blog here's a little FYI for ya - there was pureed sweet potatoes in your ribs the other night...hehe

This meatloaf contains 1/2 cup cooked quinoa(mixed into hamburger), 3 servings of vegetables(broccolli, carrots and celery), 3 tbsp real bacon bits chopped up fine and 1/2 cup pureed sweet potato(mixed into sauce on top of meatloaf)

                                                     Quinoa Meatloaf
Mix hamburger as usual with desired spices, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup cooked quinoa (1/2 cup uncooked quinoa in 1 cup chicken broth), dash of GF worchestershire sauce (is there anyone that can pronounce this word properly?), salt & pepper and bread crumbs (for those of you gluten ingesting folks(sniff sniff). Once hamburger is mixed well, pat it flat onto wax paper and make it into a rectangularish shape.

 Saute desired vegetables (carrots, broccolli and celery cut up quite fine) and then place on bottom half of hamburger pattie. I add 3 tbsp of real bacon bits on top of the veggies to unhealthify it. If you are like me, I hate touching raw meat so I find the easier, cleaner way to roll it up. Use the wax paper to make your hamburger into a tight log and then pat the ends in so the veggies don't fall out.

For my topping I use 1/2 cup sweet potato puree, 1/4 cup ketchup, big squirt of mustard and 1 heaping tbsp brown sugar (which could really be made into 2 tbsp by the time I'm done with it) and drizzle over meatloaf.

Dinner....is served!