Recipe Recap

I never have time to just sit and blog. I wish I did, but any moment where I'm not occupied by caring for kids...I either make a mad dash to the shower or do fun stuff like dishes or laundry!

But right now both boys are playing on the floor. Together. I love it. Zach is old enough to crawl around and play with Ethan and it has been so nice! So maybe I can start blogging again.

Here are some dishes I've made recently:

Grilled Honey Lime Chicken: So good! Even Craig loved it...and that's not normally flavors he'd like together. Ethan of course liked it because he likes chicken...and loves fruit.

Garlic Noodles: BEST EVER. I've made these twice this month alone...so good. I usually make them as a side along with a meat....but last night I just ate them for dinner and nothing else. Shhhhh. I omit the green onions (I dont like them) and add in Sriracha hot sauce.

Slow Cooker Creamy Meatballs: I love MommyHatesCooking.com. She has amazing recipes and they are super easy, so I thought we'd love these. Maybe I did something wrong, but they were awful because since they cooked in the slow cooker, there was no where for the fat to drain out into, so they tastes SUPER greasy. We threw them out.

Tilapia with Roasted Corn: YUM. Or YUMO because it's Rachael Ray? I'll stick with yum :P But hey, I learned something...I dont know how to use my broiler! In my old electric ovens I just turned it on and put the rack in the top slot. This gas stove has like a door and all this crazy stuff. So I just baked it in the oven and it was still super good.

Zach is crying, I new this wouldn't last long!

WORST TANTRUM EVER

Ethan had the most awfully epic meltdown/tantrum of his life. It was horrible. We went to the mall today to just walk around and play in the mall play area, and everything was going just fine. We were there about an hour when I saw that the boys were looking tired so we started to head home for a nap. Ethan was actually walking with me pushing the stroller (since the stupid seat belt lock broke on it), and Zach was in the baby carrier.

We get almost to the door, and Ethan RUNS into Sleep Train, which was the last store next to the exit. He starts trying to get away from me, then he just flings himself on the ground. I cant get him up at all. He wouldn't move. Finally I was able to pick him up (while still carrying Zach) and he just goes limp and starts SCREAMING. I have no idea why he's acting this way except maybe for being overtired. So I'm carrying him, Zach and pushing the stroller while Ethan is trying to scratch me up and screaming at the same time. I have no idea how to handle this situation, all I was thinking was GET TO THE CAR. Maybe I should of just stopped at a bench until he calmed? I was just worried he'd bolt into the street.

We finally get to the car, and it manages to get WORSE. I kinda drop him into the backseat of the car so I can go seat belt Zach. Ethan then climbs into the front seat and RUNS out the car door (it was opened because I unlocked it) and just drops to the ground in the middle of the road/parking lot. I still have Zach in the carrier so I'm semi dragging Ethan just to get him out of the road! This whole time there is major screaming going on. I was so worried someone would call security or something. So I get him in the car and shut all the doors, and finally get Zach in his carseat. Then it literally took 5-10 minutes to chase Ethan around in the car to get him in his carseat. Even when he was in his carseat it took several tries to actually buckle it because he'd go limp/squirm. FINALLY we were able to get on the road to head home, and he manages to get his arms out of the carseat straps and starts trying to get out. ARG. So I have to pull over and fix his carseat, all the while he's still screaming.

We made it home, and he took a 3 hour nap. That was insane, he's NEVER acted like that. I hope this isn't how the rest of his twos are going to go :O

I cant wait until I have a 2 year old and a 3 year old.

Menu Plan Monday

Ooooooh how I wish my husband had off today! He only gets Sunday's off, so it would of been nice to have a 2 day weekend together :) Yesterday was fun though, we played outside with the boys for a bit, but it was weird weather! Super cloudy and humid so we ended up playing inside most of the time. We also watched a few episodes of Battlestar Galactica....educational shows, ya know lol.

Today we're mailing out a few packages, heading to the grocery store and doing some cleaning. I usually don't clean on the weekends and WOW. It's amazing how much of a mess 2 year olds can make! Zach ended up staying up so late last night! He went to bed around 7ish-7:30 like normal, but then he woke up at 10pm WIDE AWAKE! Arg. So he didn't go back to sleep until about 11, yet still woke up at 7. Both boys are asleep so I should start cleaning, but I'm just sitting here relaxing with a cup of coffee, planning meals and doing some online shopping for Disneyland.

The menu plan for the week is kinda boring, I let Craig pick it out so it's full of "normal" stuff :P

Monday:

 Steak tacos

Tuesday:

Burgers with homemade buns, grilled corn

Wednesday:
Chili, cornbread

Thursday:
Leftovers

Friday:

 I was going to make Pulled Pork, but I think I'll make pulled chicken instead. We have a lot of chicken in the freezer, so that way I wont have to buy any meat!

Saturday:
Leftovers

Sunday:
Spaghetti and meatballs!

For snacks and lunches, I have these going on:
Roasted Chickpeas
Tacos in a sleeping bag
Corndog Muffins
PB&J Muffins
Pigs in a Blanket

Homemade bread with fried eggs

So here is 2 firsts for me, homemade bread, and fried eggs! Is that weird that I've cooked all kinds of food, yet have never fried an egg?! I made some honey wheat sandwich bread from BudgetBytes last night....and I wanted a slice at breakfast. I was just going to make toast but that sounded so boring, and not filling. That's how I came up with my super unique idea of fried eggs on toast LOL. With some salt, pepper and Frank's Red Hot of course :)

 I didn't really punch the dough down enough, so when I sliced it down the middle, it deflated. Oh well, now I know for next time!

The power was out for a few hours today, so we went and had lunch at McDonald's so Ethan could play on the playground, then we went to the mall for an hour and walked around, and Ethan also got to play at the kids play area there. He sure was tired after that! In fact, I need to go wake him since it's waaaay to late to be napping now :)

Mickey Shirts

I made some Mickey felt appliques then glued them on the shirts, then I hand sewed around the edges to keep them secure. Of course I had to start taking Disney pictures then! I'll get a picture of just the shirts once Zach wakes up, he's still wearing his lol.

I'm also trying to figure out a countdown calender for them, something a 2 year old can understand. Hmmmm....*Googles*

Menu Plan for the week:

Monday:

Breakfast:
Fiber chocolate chip waffles, watermelon.

Lunch:

Mini pizza's on a tortilla, topped with pesto, cheese, bell peppers

Dinner:
"Goop" I need to post the recipe, if you even want to call it that lol. Baked beans + corn + ground beef + worcestershire + salt and pepper + Spicy Mustard + BBQ sauce

Tuesday:
Breakfast:
Cheese toast, strawberries

Lunch:

Corn dog muffins, edamame

Dinner:
Leftovers 

Wednesday:
Breakfast:
Apple pancakes, mixed berries

Lunch:

PB&J, broccoli, yogurt

Dinner:
Lemon pepper chicken, rice pilaf, steamed veggies 

Thursday:
Breakfast:
Fiber chocolate chip waffles, watermelon. 

Lunch:

Tacos in sleeping bag, green beans

Dinner:
Turkey Cheddar Burgers with homemade buns 

Friday:
Breakfast:
 Apple pancakes, yogurt

Lunch:
Cucumber sandwich, strawberries
Dinner: 



Spaghetti with chicken and sun dried tomato pesto

Saturday:
Breakfast:
Fiber chocolate chip waffles, watermelon. (Ethan's favorite breakfast lol)
Lunch:
Whole wheat spaghetti 'os , edamame
Dinner:
Chili and cornbread, or egg salad with homemade honey wheat bread 

Sunday:
Breakfast:
Eggs, biscuits 
Lunch:
Grilled cheese, soup

Dinner: 
Leftovers

I made Naan!

I made the BEST dinner the other night! Well, I thought it was the best. Craig said it was "ok" but Ethan liked it! Craig is to meat and potatoes to like to much ethnic food. He calls it "weird" =/.

I made Quick Curried Chickpeas,  tandoori chicken (I forgot the skewers for the kabobs part), and the best part....homemade naan! I've always been afraid of making anything that requires yeast or kneading, but this was so super easy and SO GOOD. I will definitely be making it again. The chicken was also super good, very flavorful and moist. Craig didn't care for the chickpeas but I really liked their mild flavor.

I really want to make some honey wheat sandwich bread, but I'm worried it wont get eaten! We really don't eat a lot of bread, but I think I might anyway. Maybe it will make Craig want to take lunch one day instead of buying it.

I'm super excited, next month I'm taking the boys to Disneyland for their first time!! I'm going with my aunt and family, but Craig wont be able to come :( He has work and we will be gone almost a week, I haven't been apart from him that long since we moved in together. I wonder how Ethan will be without Dada that long. But how could I pass up on taking them to Disneyland? We will make the 3 hour trip to my Aunt's house on Monday the 20th and spend the night. Tuesday morning we'll leave and head down to Disneyland! Hopefully we can meet up with my mother in law one evening so she can see the boys.....she only lives 20 something minutes away from Disneyland. Then Friday morning we leave to come home, and I haven't decided if I'll spend the night at her house and come home on Saturday, or if I just want to drive the rest of the way that day. We'll see how it goes.

I've showed Ethan a couple of videos on Youtube about Disneyland, I don't think he really understood what I was showing him though lol. He did get excited about the Haunted Mansion, but I think he might be to young to go on that one. I hope he likes the rides....I'm kind of worried he'll end up being scared!

After the boys get up from their nap we have to run to the store, and I'm hoping to get a bunch of cleaning done today!

Aaaaand I totally forgot to go get dinner into the crockpot.

Small Catch Up

Ethan went to sleep at 5pm last night, and slept until 8am this morning. I guess staying up until 9ish every night to see Dada is catching up to him. It's 60 degrees

I'm thinking of making this for our bedroom, but I'm worried it looks to bathroom tile-ish? I think it's cute but I cant decide lol.

Look how pretty this wreath is! I was planning on making a starfish wreath by just spray painting a regular 'ol twisty wreath aqua, and attaching a single starfish that I have from my wedding. But this is so much prettier! Maybe I'll just get a grapevine wreath and weave blue gauze (or whatever this stuff is!) and attach some shells and starfish. I like the dark brown wreath with the blue. So pretty.

Dinner last night was White Chicken Pizza with Caramelized Onions! Yum.I really really liked it, but Craig said the cream cheese tasted weird, and that I should of bought "normal" crust instead of whole wheat. He doesn't like whole wheat stuff, but to bad...it's better for him. :P Tonight is Grilled Fish Tacos with Lime Dressing. I'm leaving out the chipotles because it would be to spicy for Ethan. I hope it's good, Craig is a skeptic about homemade fish tacos .

I only have 1 more order to complete and then I'm all caught up!

Menu Plan Monday

 Here is the plan for the week, but smart me forgot to buy the meat for the beef drips at the store on Sunday. Oops. I dont have a car right now so I'll have to run when Craig gets home from work!

*prays the pork chops turn out*

I've never made a pork chop that actually has cooked well lol.


Monday:
Slow Cooker Creamy Pork Chops
Roasted Cauliflower
Rice Pilaf

Tuesday:
Sweet Glazed Chicken
Emeril's Sweet Potato Fries with Orange Mustard Dipping Sauce

Wednesday:
Meatloaf
Steamed Veggies
Mashed Potatoes

Thursday:
Leftovers

Friday:
Beef Drip

Saturday:
Leftover Beef drip

Sunday:
Probably takeout

Ethan's Party!

It's only April and it's been quite the year so far! I have been severely lacking on my blogging....but with a 2 year old, a 4 month old and just moving to a new house it's been crazy. Our new house is wonderful though, Ethan is loving having a backyard to play in!

It was Ethan's 2nd birthday party on April 9th, and it was so much fun! It was a frog themed party, but I ran out of time to make those tissue paper poof balls, and I forgot to hang up the crepe paper! Oops. We just moved like a week and a half before the party, so I was a little frazzled lol.

The invitation was from Whirlibird on Etsy, she did such a cute job.

The cake was inspired by this cake at Cookies and Cups. It's a funfetti cake with a brownie filling! So the cake was layered funfetti, chocolate frosting, brownie, chocolate frosting then another layer of funfetti. I tinted the frosting blue and stuck some candy Wilton leaves I got at Walmart. The frogs are some plastic Easter eggs from Target that I only used the top half for.

Using the tutorial at Oopsy Daisy, I made a birthday subway art!

A felt happy birthday banner!

My balloon wreath!

To make the eyes I just cut a marshmallow in half and dotted them with black decorating gel.

 

The birthday boy :)

 

Most of the food was supplied by my Mom and my Aunt, that helped so much! I really appreciated it. 

Now on to Easter!

Menu Plan Monthly

We are surviving! Ethan is adjusting really well now a days to his baby brother (even though there are still hitting and scratching going on daily), and I'm getting used to 2 kids too. It's hard right now because Zack wants to be held 24/7, but Ethan needs mama time too. I did order a Sleep Wrap on Friday, so hopefully that will get here soon and will help! I don't have much time to post today, but I did want to contribute to menu plan monthly!

Here is what I'm planning on for the month of January. Craig's birthday is on Thursday so I'm just thinking of grilling up some burgers with some yummy condiments.

Italian Pepperoncini Sandwiches with melty cheese on sourdough rolls
Lasagna and Texas Toast
Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
Lemon Pepper Chicken with rice pilaf and green beans
Spaghetti and meatballs
Bourbon Chicken with mashed potatoes and broccoli
Slow Cooker French Onion Soup
Honey Lime Enchiladas
PW Sloppy Joes with sweet potato fries
Thai Peanut Pork with lime and coconut rice
Meatloaf with roasted potatoes and veggies
Chili and Cornbread
Hot sauce chicken with grilled green beans and rice pilaf
Cafe Rio Pork with cilantro lime rice
Burritos with the leftover pork and rice
Tomato and Pesto Pizza