Clams and Hockey

Today would be my Daddy's 68th Birthday! 10 years ago on this day we would probably have been preparing to venture to the Wells Fargo Center (maybe it was the Spectrum still) to watch the Flyer's playoff game or preparing to watch them at home! After the game I'm sure we'd be making our way to Willy Joe's (is that place even still open?) to eat clams and celebrate! There you have it Clams and Hockey! 

As much as I miss those days and my Daddy, I know his birthday celebration in heaven with Jesus is way better than a hockey game and clams.  But either way I will watch the hockey game and cheer on our beloved Flyers! Probably won't be eating any clams, but will be thinking of my Daddy all day, as always! 

Happy Birthday Daddy! Miss you more and more each day! 

One of my favorite pictures of my Daddy and I before my High School Senior Ball

"A Cleaning What???"

That is pretty much what my husband said when I hung our new "cleaning schedule" on the fridge!!

We made it to 38 weeks! Still so unbelievable to me that any day now I will be a Mom of 2!  We had told ourselves for a long time that we were having 1 baby.  And now we are days away from having 2, and couldn't be more excited, nervous, tired, anxious, and every other emotion possible to feel!

I didn't realize how tired I actually am until I saw this picture! 38 weeks! 

However, being days away from being a Mom of 2 has also turned me into a crazy person nesting mommy.  I feel like there is so much planning to do, from who is going to clean the house, watch the dogs, watch my toddler, to what do I need at the hospital, is my house clean for whomever is staying here, is the laundry done, is the nursery ready, etc.  Just feel like I have been going nonstop and there wasn't much method to my madness.

So, in my very pregnant state of mind, I decided I needed a "cleaning schedule". Bahahaha. I know get a good laugh now.  But I needed to create one pretty much just for my sake of feeling sane and feeling like I will be able to clean my house and raise 2 kids at the same time.  So I did some searching online and used a few different resources to create a "schedule" that MIGHT work for our house. I based our schedule on the template shared by The Carolina Clipper.
And here is what I came up with....

We have just about finished up Week 1 and although it looks a little overwhelming at first, it has been easier to keep up with than I thought.  We were out running errands, at classes, or doctors appointments every morning this week and I was still able to get just about everything done.  I did have a little help in the vacuuming department this week though! That is the one thing I don't think I will ever be able to keep up with thanks to our dogs!

I know they are so cute :) Their hair is NOT! 

I decided to put the schedule in a page protector and use an expo marker to keep track of what has been completed throughout the week.  That way whoever might be here helping with chores after our baby boy arrives will know what needs to be done (aka my husband :) ) So far it has helped us stay a little more organized and get rid of some clutter that I normally would probably ignore and not clean up! I'll let you know if we can keep up with it! I'm sure I will be making changes as we go and probably add, move, change somethings, but it's a start!

Recipe of the Week: Baked Oatmeal

Thank you Pinterest! This is amazing!

Made this oatmeal for breakfast pretty much the second I saw it on Pinterest cause it looked soo good and I actually had all the ingredients in my cupboards to make it!
Here is a link to the recipe and directions for Baked Oatmeal from inspired taste.

Ingredients
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon grated orange zest (I left this one out)
1 teaspoon Chinese five spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup walnut pieces, chopped
1 cup sliced strawberries (I also added some blueberries)
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups milk
1 large egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ripe banana, peeled, 1/2-inch slices

Method
Preheat oven to 375°F and generously spray the inside of a 10-1/2 by 7 inch baking dish with cooking spray and place on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sugar, baking powder, orange zest, Chinese five spice, salt, half the walnuts, half the strawberries and half the chocolate. (Save the other half of strawberries, walnuts and chocolate for the top of the oatmeal). In another large bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, butter and vanilla extract.

Add the oat mixture to prepared baking dish. Arrange the remaining strawberries, walnuts and chocolate on top. Add the banana slices to the top then pour the milk mixture over everything. Gently shimmy/shake the baking dish to help the milk mixture go throughout the oats.

Turned out amazing, however isn't so great reheated...at least in my opinion.  We didn't reheat it in the oven though, so it might taste much better if you reheat that way.  But the bananas do turn a little brown by the next morning.  So I'd recommend making it when you know you will have enough people over to eat it all! 

FREE Princess Activity Kit

It's National Princess Week! Head over to Target's website to download a FREE Princess Activity Kit.  Lot's of cute printables and other great deals on Princess items! Thanks to For The Mommas for passing along this info! 

What's REALLY in your household products?

Had a brief ADULT (I know surprising) conversation the other day about what is in household products and cleaning products and the adult I was talking to had heard that some of these products were possible culprits for young girls "developing" faster than ever before.

I didn't start this conversation, nor had I done any research on the topic, but the person I was speaking with mentioned that carpet cleaners (mostly professional cleaners) and dish detergent were some of the worst products.

I will be completely honest, I have STILL have not done any research on this topic, as I am almost afraid to find out what is in my house!?! But of course the next day as I was loading the dishwasher, I stopped to look at the bottle of dishwasher detergent that we have to see what was really in it.  First thing I read "harmful if swallowed or put in mouth".  But we put it all over the dishes that we put in our mouth??  Granted it is rinsed (hopefully well) off the dishes in the dishwasher, that still made me think a little.  It also stated "Do not get on skin or clothing", but I guess just pray you have a good dishwasher that gets the stuff off of everything it washes??  And "Contains Bleach".  Maybe they all don't have bleach, but our particular brand happens to.  Maybe it's just me, but I am not sure I really want bleach all over my plate that I eat off of?

We have been having trouble with our dishwasher getting dishes clean, so if it can't get all the food off the plate, how is it guaranteeing that all the bleach and other chemicals are off of there too??

As I still have not done the research on this, it just seemed scary to me?  I plan to research it more, along with other household products before jumping to conclusions, but definitely makes you think a little bit!

Anybody do any research or have any info on this topic?

I hope to post an update if I find any interesting information!

Recipe of the Week: Cheeseburger Soup

And I didn't find it on Pinterest! :) (although you probably could if you searched for it!)


I happened to be watching TV during the day, which rarely happens...and as we put together a Winnie the Pooh puzzle I was listening to the Nate Berkus Show. Their guest was Chef Aaron McCargo and they were making foods that many pregnant women would instantly crave hearty meals.  Of course the next day I had to go buy all the ingredients to make this soup!  This will probably not be in my "diet" after I have the baby, so I thought I would make it now and enjoy while I still can!

*Note: This recipe is actually "Spicy Cheeseburger Soup", but being 9 months pregnant, didn't want to add the "spicy".  So check out the link for the original recipe if you like to spice it up a bit!

Cheeseburger Soup

Ingredients:

1 cup peeled, diced potato (1 medium all-purpose potato)
½ cup canola oil
2 pounds ground beef
1 cup finely diced onion
½ cup diced green bell pepper
½ cup diced red bell pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Italian Herb Blend
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ quarts beef broth
¼ cup beef bouillon powder
1 ½ pounds white American cheese, thickly sliced
¼ cup chopped scallions, white and green parts

Directions

In a large saucepan, put the potatoes and enough water to cover them by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, until fork-tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and return to the pan. Cover and keep warm.

In a large stockpot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. When hot, add the beef and cook, breaking up the meat slightly with a wooden spoon, until the beef begins to brown, 6 to 10 minutes. Add the onion and the bell peppers and cook, stirring, for another minute or two. Add the flour, herb blend, salt, and black pepper. Cook, stirring, until well mixed and thickened, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the broth and bouillon powder, lower the heat to medium, and cook, stirring, until heated through, taking care not to break the meat up too much.

Remove the pan from the heat, add the slices of cheese, one at a time, and stir gently until the cheese melts into the soup and the soup becomes creamy. Add the scallions and the potatoes and cook just until heated through. Serve hot.

Doesn't look as appetizing as it really is! It was yummy, but a little salty for me! I also like "chunkier" soups so I would probably cut back on some of the beef broth next time.  We ate the leftovers over rice the next day which was really good.  We also have a TON left to freeze!

Let's Read!

Has TV taken over your life?? I have felt like my kiddo has been watching way to much TV lately.  I have been allowing it more as this pregnancy is exhausting and I sometimes enjoy just sitting for a 30 minute cartoon.  But she now will beg to "watch a show" several times a day.  I have also made the mistake of turning the TV on, or playing a movie on my iphone for her while she's eating lunch or breakfast (mostly to get her to sit still for 5 seconds and actually eat something!)  But I am now regretting some of these choices.

So of course as I browsed through Pinterest (while watching TV :) ) yesterday, I came across a pin of different ways to read more with your child, which led me to 10 Ways to Read More with your Child. The website has some great ideas for reading time, many of which were for independent readers, but others are great for all ages! The one that stuck out to me was number 8: Read to your child at mealtimes and snacktimes.  So today instead of TV or Iphone clips, I decided to bring a few books to the table with our lunch.  I read them to her while she ate, and to my surprise after we finished the small stack she asked me to read them all AGAIN!!! (I have to admit, I was really expecting her to say "Mom, can I watch a movie now?")

Can't wait to try some of the other ideas on the website! How do you incorporate reading into your day??

What are some of your favorite Toddler books! Here is one of our favorites right now: Ed's Egg By: David Bedford.

We actually got this book in a set with a few other fabulous stories from Alissa's Great Aunt for Christmas.  My daughter is absolutely in love with them. I am not sure where she got the whole set, but here is a website link to the publisher where they sell many of the other stories we have.  They also sell many of them on Amazon!

Happy Reading!

Easter Activities!

Easter is almost here, and if you're looking for some activities to do with the kids here are some ideas!

Geigertown Fire Company Egg Hunt! 

Saturday April 7, 2012 at 1:00
This event is completely free! There are different age group areas and TONS of eggs with great prizes! Come out and show your support for your local fire company and how much you appreciate all they do! Check out their website for more info on the Easter Egg Hunt or other events they have throughout the year!

Weaver's Orchard Egg Hunt and Easter Activities! 

Friday April 6th and Saturday April 7th, 11-2.  

Cost is $5 per child, but includes the egg hunt and many other activities for the whole family! They will also be offering hay rides.  Visit their website for more information on all the events going on this weekend! 

Easter Activities at Home! 

Since I had ALOT of time to spend with my toddler this week, I decided to put together the Easter Pack from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com.  .  I did this as a preview to the Letter of the Week program that I am planning to start with her shortly.  I wanted to introduce her to the system I hope to use when I start the preschool curriculum.  I was so happy with how excited she was about all the activities and that she was actually able to do all of them! We really had fun with it! There is still time this weekend to do any/all these activities with your kids! 

Just ordered these counting bears from Amazon, and she is obsessed with them! 

So of course we had to use the bears to do our Egg Counting (from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com)

She also enjoyed the coloring pages from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

We hid these number cards around the room and after she found them she had to put them in order to read her bible verse.  

"He Is Risen!" Puzzle

Had to wear the new bunny ears to work on her lacing card

You can find all these Easter activities and MORE at www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com.

Recipe of the Week: Outback Steakhouse Alice Springs Chicken and Honey Mustard

Found this recipe (along with a few others that I love) on the website 50 Easy and Delicious Chicken Recipes.

Here is a link to the recipe and directions from the blog Six Sisters' Stuff.  I figured I couldn't go wrong with Honey mustard, chicken, bacon, and lots of cheese!

Ingredients- Chicken breast, cheese, mushrooms, bacon, salt, honey, mustard, mayo, onion flakes, and cooking oil.  

Ours definitely doesn't look as fancy as the pretty picture from their website, but it was still yummy! Only recommendations I have are don't use hickory smoked bacon (unless you like that). I didn't enjoy the "smoked" flavor it gave to the chicken. I also would have added some extra mushrooms to it! But I finally found a meal that the whole family will eat!!! 

Check out Six Sisters' Stuff for more information about this recipe and some other fabulous recipes!