Recipe of the Week: Marinated Tomato Bake...or something like that!

Another Pinterest find, I don't have the link to the recipe or a name for it! But it was REALLY good and healthy! I also don't have amounts for any of the ingredients, I just sort of winged it!

Ingredients:
Tomatoes
Balsamic Vinegar
Lemon juice
Spinach
garlic
Salt
Shredded cheese (I used mozzarella)
Directions:
Marinate sliced tomatoes in balsamic vinegar for 3-4 hours (or longer if desired). Place on foil-lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 7 minutes.  Meanwhile, saute spinach and garlic with a dash of salt and lemon juice.  Put spinach on top of tomatoes and sprinkle with cheese.  Broil until the cheese is golden brown!




Click the "Follow Me on Pinterest" button below for links to more great recipe finds!

25% OFF Oldnavy.com

Since a recent visit with her cousins, my daughter has been asking me to get her "blue flip flops like Nicole's".  She wants to be just like her older cousin.  So I have been searching for blue ones all over.  Found some at Target that had zebra print with them and thought she would love them, but of course they were not solid blue "just like Nicole's".  I figured Old Navy would have to have them since they have flip flops in every color of the rainbow and they are cheap! So I finally made it to Old Navy to find these darn shoes....and of course they barely have ANY flip flops, let alone light blue ones in her size.  

After calming the storm from not being able to find the flip flops she HAS to have (and remember she's only 2 and 1/2!!!), I told her I would look on the computer to see if I can order them for her.  And with my luck they happened to have light blue flip flops in her size at Oldnavy.com.  They have butterflies on them, but I am praying she will be ok with that! And as I am shopping, I realize they are also having the 25% off promo going on! So of course I then bought her a few more things, some things for post pregnancy, and a few things for baby boy so I could also get free shipping! 

Spend $50 you automatically get Free shipping, use the code SPRINGSAVE to get 25% off (30% off if you spend at least $100, i think).  Pretty sure you can also mix and match things from Gap and Banana Republic in your order too! 

Happy Shopping! 

Letter of the Week

A few weeks ago I decided that baby girl needed some more structured play/learning time at home.  We had always been running so many errands and going to all different classes that we weren't home all that much! So this winter, to get some sanity back and save some money, we spent more time at home.  I started to feel like she was always entertaining herself by simply emptying her toy bins in every room, constantly calling for me, or watching WAY to much TV.  

So I decided to do a search for some kind of "letter of the week" or beginner preschool activities that we could do each day/week.  I wasn't really sure what I was looking for, but just wanted to see what was out there to just give her a little time each day where she has to sit and focus on ONE thing (she tends to struggle in that area a little bit).  And I just happened to stumble upon an incredibly amazing program that I am soooo excited about! 

Erica, from Confessions of a Homeschooler, has created a "Letter of the Week" program that (in my opinion) is absolutely phenomenal.  

According to her website "This curriculum is a full 26 week core program for preschool students (ages 3-4). Included are weekly lesson plans that cover all the subjects a preschooler needs and more!" I can't imagine the amount of time she put into creating this program, as well as MANY other curriculum programs that she shares on her site.  She offers many of her printables free on her site, but I chose to purchase the entire program on CD for 3 reasons: It is inexpensive, you don't have to download/save the files on your computer (my computer is almost completely filled with photos), and after seeing all the work she put into the program, I felt she really deserved the credit (and money) for it! Don't get me wrong, as a teacher, I am all about sharing ideas/resources/etc., but if you take a look at this program you will see why I wanted to pay her for it! 

I received my CD within a few days (thank you!) and immediately got started with planning how/when/where I was going to use everything.  I don't plan on homeschooling my kids, although the thought is still in my head, I just wanted something a little extra and fun to keep her busy when her baby brother arrives.  I have only prepared the vowels so far, as  I quickly found that preparing all the materials is ALOT of work, I can't imagine having to create them all, then print, cut, laminate, organize. I also have not printed everything, but picked and chose different activities for each letter/week. I am hoping to spend the next several weeks before baby arrives, hopefully finishing the entire alphabet! It definitely gets easier to organize once you learn what all the activities are and how they are used! Baby girl has gotten her hands on some of the finished products she found in my office and asks almost everyday is she can "play" with them.  Makes me even more excited to really jump into the curriculum with her.  

I plan to use a similar system to Erica's Workbox System to organize our materials each week.  I bought a 5 drawer shelf from IKEA and plan on putting 3 or 4 activities into each drawer for the week.  Baby girl can then take out her box for the day and work on the activities, either on her own or with my help.  This sounds so good on paper, but we'll see if it works or if I keep myself organized enough to actually do it.  I am hoping after I put the work into the printing, cutting, and laminating, it will motivate me to really stick to a schedule with it! 

Speaking of laminating, I also love using my new laminator from Walmart.  It only cost $25, and is so easy to use! Thanks for the recommendation, Erica.  

There are so many great ideas for all ages in Erica's lesson plans and on her website, www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com. Even if you don't homeschool or plan to, I highly recommend checking it out! She is pretty amazing and also provides links to so many great products and other great websites!  

Recipe of the week: "Man-Pleasing Chicken"

Of course another Pinterest find! I am completely addicted to Pinterest, which is one of the reasons my blog has been so quiet! I should probably title this "recipe of the month".  But here is the recipe for"Man-Pleasing Chicken"! (I think I actually enjoyed it more than my man, though)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. chicken thighs (I used chicken breasts)
1/2 cup of Dijon mustard
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
salt/pepper

Mix mustard, maple syrup, and vinegar in bowl. Place chicken in baking dish, salt and pepper chicken, pour mixture in pan coating the chicken. Bake at 450 for 40 minutes, basting once or twice throughout.

We ate ours with sweet potato and broccoli! So easy to make and really yummy! Enjoy! 

Easter Activity

12 Days of Easter

Can't take credit for this one! Found this awesome activity on Pinterest and all the details for it from the family volley blog.  

This activity looks great for teaching the real meaning of Easter in a fun way. I of course haven't tried it yet, but wanted to post this in case anyone else was interested in trying it out this year! I am thinking my 2 and 1/2 year old might be a bit young for it, but we'll try it and save the materials so we can do it again in a few years if it doesn't work out this year! Started getting all the materials together so we have it ready to start 12 days before Easter.  

There is a different scripture hidden in an egg everyday, along with a small item that helps explain the bible verse and how it relates to the Easter story.  It is simple to prepare and you don't need many materials! I won't list them all here, check out this link for all the details and bible verses! 

Do you have any other fun Easter activities to share?? Would love to hear about them! 

The "not so crazy" coupon lady....

A few months ago,  I decided I was going to jump on the "coupon" train.  Ordered a Sunday Paper and started clipping...for about a month! haha  Just isn't really for me I guess. Or maybe I am just not organized enough.  I still like to use coupons for everyday things I buy, laundry detergent, paper towels, toilet paper, but I don't really know how/like to go crazy looking for the best deals, where coupons are doubled, etc. etc. I'm more of the "one stop shopper" and will pay a few cents extra if it means I don't have to drive all over creation and pull a toddler in and out of the car!

So needless to say I ended up with quite a few expired coupons over the last few months! I hated to just throw them away, so when The Krazy Coupon Lady posted on Facebook that expired coupons could be donated to Military Families I thought that would be a perfect thing to do with my expired coupons.
Spent a few minutes cleaning out my coupons and sent them out to the KCL Overseas Coupon Program.




Split the coupons into "food" and "nonfood" piles and sent them on their way.  (ABOVE is the East Coast Mailing Address).  Check out this LINK for more information on how to send your expired coupons to Military Families serving our country.

Also, if you know of any local organizations, military, food banks, etc. that have programs like this, please let me know!

Or if you are in any kind of coupon "swapping" club fill me in on that too! We only use specific coupons from our Sunday paper and end up throwing so many away! Would love to share them with you or anyone else that may want/need them!

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

I am one of the lucky people that share a birthday with Dr. Seuss! And Oh, What a birthday it's been! I spent my last 2 birthday's in Florida visiting my family, without my husband :( And of course he surprised me down there both years with Spa days, which were totally amazing! I didn't really think it could get much better, UNTIL TODAY!

Was first surprised by my husband waking up and telling me he took the day off to spend with us! That alone would have been all I needed for my birthday, but he had some more surprises up his sleeve!
He got us a Babymoon! :) :) And our last hurrah before our Baby boy arrives includes a Flyer's game and a weekend in Philly, hotel and all! Soooo incredibly excited, have not had a "date" with my husband since our Anniversary, in AUGUST!!! He has even scheduled the babysitters for the weekend at the end of March!!

And the surprises didn't stop there! He had the day planned with The Lorax movie tickets and lunch at The Movie Tavern.  I had never heard of it, but it has now become one of my new favorite places! Lunch served to my comfy reclining chair while I watch the movie! Yes please! Would have loved to top it off with a Margarita or glass of wine, but refills of water at the push of a button worked just as well! :) And baby girl loved her first trip to the movie theater! Not sure we should have started her out there, she's probably a little spoiled now!

I recommend the Thai Chicken Flatbread! So Yummy! 

I had such a great day with my little family! And even had a whole chocolate cake waiting for me when I got home!

Thank you hubby and baby girl for such an awesome birthday! I'm one of the luckiest people out there! <3

Snowman Stamping!

Last weekend my husband was away and it did snow a little on Saturday so we decided to spend the weekend in the house, just my baby girl and I!

I have to say, if I don't do another craft for a few weeks, that would be ok with me! Most of the crafts we did were pretty simple, stickers, markers, scissors, make Valentine's.  But when she got bored of them, we decided to paint a little!

Since I am not creative at all, I of course used the internet to find a cute craft for us to do. Busybeekidscrafts.com had this great Snowman Stamping craft idea. So we tried it...we had fun, but they definitely didn't turn out like the pretty picture from the website!

Didn't have any white paint so we improvised and used finger paint

We let the paint dry and added all the snowman accessories with marker the next day!

Alissa's Snowmen

Mommy's snowman

I love FREE stuff!

Just got this Melissa and Doug Stacking Train for FREE! 

Thanks to the Enjoy the Ride Rewards Program from Huggies! For more info on how you can earn points towards free stuff, check out this blog post! 

A Valentine's Day to remember....

Valentine's Day 2012...one I probably won't forget for awhile... :) And I made sure to take many pictures so that I really won't forget it!

After being alone with a 2 1/2 year old 24/7 for the past 6 days as well as being 28 weeks pregnant., The only gift I really wanted for Valentine's day was one night of not doing dishes after dinner and not having to read bedtime stories. (Don't get me wrong, I love reading with and putting my baby girl to bed, but sometimes you just need a break, and she needs to get used to Daddy putting her to bed since very soon Mommy won't always be able to.)  I did get both of those things for Valentine's Day...but my husband (and daughter) had a few other surprises in store for me. 

It was great to have an extra 2 hours with the hubby in the morning. Since he didn't get home until 2 AM he stayed home with us for a little in the morning.  We exchanged our Valentine's and Daddy attempted heart shaped pancakes, somewhat unsuccessfully before he left for work.    

My first big surprise came when I took my daughter to story time at the library... 

I have been blessed with a fairly well behaved little girl and we usually make it through story time without incident. (well except for her not being able to sit still very long and walking all around the other kids) Today, however, I experienced what was really one of the first big meltdowns I had to deal with in public.  Of course the meltdown occurred because she wasn't allowed to pick her own shaky eggs from the bag she got whatever shaky eggs the teacher gave her.  (yep that's my little girl).  We got through it, but it was the first time I was really not able to calm her/redirect her quickly and easily.  

My next surprise was my surprise dinner....

I had planned on cooking for the hubby, but never made it to the grocery store cause baby girl took an early nap.  So I decided to have him pick up Chinese Food on the way home.  I called in my very specific order (prego's are a little picky with food :) )  But told him to double check when he got there cause I wasn't sure they understood me.  And apparently they did not.

I ordered Shrimp Chow Mein and I got some kind of Garlic Chicken and cabbage dish??  So my loving husband shared his Chicken and broccoli with me!

The third surprise...
A few days ago I had mentioned to the hubby not to buy me flowers, if he wanted to surprise me with something I really wanted chocolate covered strawberries :)  Well he had already ordered my flowers so I got some beautiful roses, but he decided since he couldn't find chocolate covered strawberries last minute, he would make some for me....And after ALOT of time/work on his part, this is what I got...

Love you honey! :) We didn't have all the necessary instruments/ingredients to make them...but they still tasted good and of course I ate all these and then some!

We will laugh about this day for awhile! But I was so thankful to spend the night with my two loves! (3 if you count the kicks, flips, and pokes coming from the baby boy in this belly).

28 weeks! 

My sweet baby girl enjoyed her Valentine gift and she must have said "thank you mommy, I love my new scooter" about 100 times while she scooted around the house.

Hope you were all surrounded by love and good times this Valentine's Day! 

Gift Review: Hot Dots Jr.

Another great gift my daughter received for Christmas was the Hot Dots Jr. Card and Pen set.  I ordered them from Toys to Grown On Website.  I got her the complete set, with 4 sets of cards, and she absolutely loves them.  The number and alphabet cards are still a bit hard for her, (recommended for ages 3-7), but she has mastered the shapes and colors.

You simply read the directions on the card, find the answer and press the corresponding black circle with the dog pen.  The dog responds by telling you if you are correct or incorrect in various ways (barking, "that's great", vibrating). They now also make other pens! It's really amazing how the cards work.

They are fun, a great "calm down" activity, and educational! I hope to get her some of the other sets of cards as she gets older.  These would also be great for the classroom (if I decide to go back there one day :) )

Hot Dots cards are made by Educational Insights.  They make some really great educational games and toys great for home and the classroom! Check out their website for other great products!

Recipe of the week: Pan-Roasted Chicken with Lemon-garlic green beans

I actually didn't find this one on Pinterest...but it showed up there a few days after I did a google search for it! I had some green beans to use up and didn't want to make my usual olive oil and garlic green beans so I decided to look for something else.  I used this recipe from Real Simple, with a few modifications based on the reviews.

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 lemons, 1 thinly sliced, 1 juiced (I only used one lemon)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 pound trimmed green beans
• 8 small red potatoes, quartered
• 4 chicken breasts (bones left in, with skin, about 3 1/4 pounds) (I used 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cause that was what I had)
• 
  
•  

Check out the link above for what to do with these things! I also added a little Rosemary to mine cause I like that with my potatoes! But after very little work, this is how it turned out! 

 I thought it was a bit to lemony, but my husband liked it.  I would probably just use a little lemon juice in the mix to toss the green beans and chicken and not put the lemons on the bottom of the pan.  The green beans also got a little soggy from all the juice.  But overall, easy to make, and pretty good.  

Another Christmas Gift Review: Leapster 2!

This is a little belated, but I figured people were probably not looking for new toys/gifts right after Christmas.  With Valentine's Day and Easter approaching, I thought I would share some more of the great products that Santa blessed us with this Christmas! You can read about Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel here.

The "Pocono Santa" brought Alissa a Leapster 2!

She absolutely loves it! When she first opened it, I was afraid she was going to become addicted to it because she would not put it down. Although, she still loves it, she is thankfully not "addicted"! We have only tried out 2 games so far Pet Pals and one of the shape game downloads. I have been meaning to download a different game onto it for her, but just haven't done it yet.  Plus my husband set it up for her the first time around and I am not exactly sure how he did that! It came with one FREE game download and Santa brought Pet Pals too. She is still learning how to use it (as am I) and some of the activities are a bit difficult for her still.  The Leapster is meant for ages 4-8 so that makes sense. But I love that she enjoys the games, challenges herself with it, and spends time figuring out how to play it on her own.  She actually amazes me with how she can use technology all by herself. I usually take it with us when we go shopping and it keeps her entertained (at least until she sees a toy on the shelf that she wants to look at instead).  The cartridge games are a little expensive, but I have heard you can use them on the Leap Pad also when they get a little older.  

  

Recipe of the week: Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili

Of course my new favorite place to find recipes is Pinterest, since I HAVE to have every food that I see on there.  Decided to try this Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili.  And I am so glad I did.  (For the sake of my time I'm not going to rewrite all the ingredients and directions on here, follow the link to find all that info, believe me it's worth it!)

Pretty much throw everything in the Crock Pot and let it cook! Just need to shred the chicken 30 minutes before it's done cooking.  I topped it with lots of cheese and some fresh cilantro, which I thought made the dish!

That's how ours turned out! I, of course, added a TON of extra cheese.  We ate this with tortilla chips instead of rice.  And I got to spend the day at the library and running errands with my little girl while this amazing dinner was cooking in my new Crock Pot! And I still have 1/2 of this frozen for when my next craving comes along!

Sunday Fun day!

Today started with a pancake breakfast with my little family! I then got to meet great friends for lunch at a Thai restaurant to celebrate belated birthdays! It was so great to catch up with friends and get a little break from "toddler world".  The birthday girls even got this awesome "flaming" dessert and "Thai birthday" song! 

After a few hours away, and of course a little shopping stop on the way home, I was ready to come back to "toddler world" just in time for my baby girl to wake up from her nap.  As I went to get her from her room she says, "Mommy, you're home! I missed you so much!"  Sweetest thing ever! I missed her too!

We had a fun night playing games, doing puzzles, and doing crafts! It's amazing how much more fun those activities are when you get a little break from them! This was our favorite...

Working hard

Tada!!!

Not ready for the weekend to end! :(

Shopping Deals!!!

Well, I have been doing WAY to much shopping lately! Mostly for kids rooms and my babies, but just a little for myself too! I am not one to turn down a great deal, even if it's something I don't "really" need, which can be bad sometimes! Here are some of the awesome deals I scored this past week!

Spent the afternoon at the Pottery Barn Kids Outlet...big mistake...I wanted to buy Everything! But I did pick up this bookshelf for baby boy's new room...You can probably guess what the theme is going to be!  And they thankfully had one that was still in the box so I didn't have to buy the display! $169  (I can't find it online anymore, but I think it's original price was $299)

Another Pottery Barn Kids Outlet deal... Originally $19.99 Each, I paid $5.99 Each

Also ventured over to the Children's Place Outlet... Got 16 items for $64.  Used a 25% off coupon from their email list, also had a $30 giftcard, so ended up only really spending $34 for everything pictured! Even some cute new baby boy outfits :) 

Brown Storage Basket from Home Depot.... $5.00 each! Bought 4 of them! 

The real reason we went to Home Depot was to purchase a closet organizer system for Alissa's new room.  I found this Closetmaid Suite Symphony Laminate organizer from Target.com that I really liked, looked easy to install and was close to what we wanted to spend ($119).  However, last week I went to purchase it (not available in stores, only online) and they were charging $54 to ship it!!! I was not paying $54 for shipping, so I kept looking. Found it on Closetmaid.com for $115 and $18 shipping, but when I went to purchase it the next day it was no longer available! Their website tells you where you can purchase their closet products which is Home Depot! So we went to Home Depot and wouldn't you know the same exact closet organizer was $89!!!! And we didn't have to wait for it to get here! Woo hoo! We used the $ we saved to buy some extra shelves to go with it! 

Also stopped at Sherwin Williams to pick out paint for both kids bedrooms so we can finally start painting! Lucky for our us, in our Sunday paper (that I only get for the coupons) they had 25% off paint, 15% off paint supplies coupons! We used both, and paint was cheaper than we had budgeted for too (And the nice guy working there gave us an extra gallon that he tried to color match for us, but wasn't quite what we wanted) 

And of course something for ME! Became a Fan of Coupon Divas on facebook a few weeks ago and last week they posted a great deal on New Balance Running Shoes! I just got a cute new pair of WHITE sneakers for Christmas, and within one day of being around my dogs they are muddy! So when I saw dark colored sneakers, I thought it would be a great idea! I got them through Coupon Divas from Joes New Balance Outlet for $29.99.  Only tried them on, haven't worn them yet, they are comfy so far, fit perfectly, are really light weight, but the mesh material is really thin and they probably wouldn't last real long if you are an avid runner.  Thankfully, I am not! 

I definitely spent more time than I should have on the computer looking for deals and running to a million different stores, but it definitely ended up saving us money! 

Decisions, Decisions

So as we rearrange and redo all the upstairs bedrooms, I am having such a hard time making decisions about any decorating...not to mention I am horrible at decorating!

So looking for any and all opinions! We have quite a few different opinions on toddler girl bedding for her new big girl bed which is making it even harder! Here are my 2 favorites right now, and I can't pick which one! Help!

Pottery Barn Kids- Hayley Bedding

OR 

Kohls-PEM America Flowers for Hanna bedding

Recipe of the week: Zucchini Boats

As I mentioned earlier this week, I decided to join Pinterest.  Love, love, love the website and all the amazing ideas you can find on there.

But being 24 weeks pregnant, every time I see a picture of food, I HAVE to have it! So I have already tried several recipes that friends posted! And I can't wait to try some more (like the cookie dough, oreo, brownie dessert, looks so yummy).

But I went with a healthier option for my first recipe and made what I call "Zucchini Boats".  I kind of "winged" it based on what I saw in the picture.  But they turned out really well.

Ingredients

Cheese, bread crumbs, zucchini, tomato, basil, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper

 Directions:
1. Cut zucchini in 1/2 lengthwise and scoop out seeds, place in baking dish, and brush with olive oil and garlic
2. Add sliced tomato to top of zucchini and sprinkle with bread crumbs
3. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
4. Remove and sprinkle cheese over top, bake for 5-10 more minutes until cheese is melted.
5. Drizzle with olive oil, fresh basil, and Parmesan cheese

They definitely don't look exactly like the picture, but they were yummy!

"Nesting"...or something like that

Since we didn't want to venture out on this snowy day, I decided it would be a great day to ORGANIZE!

Let me first start by saying, we are "messy" organized people.  I can usually tell you where anything is in this house at any given time, but if someone else tried to find it they would be lost...so our organizing might not be very organized for other people, but it works for us!

Started with the bathroom drawers...

I used these "gift boxes" I got after Christmas! 50 cents each at Target.

I'm sure there are some better options for draw organizers out there, but for $1.00 I have a somewhat organized drawer! 

After weeks of procrastinating, I decided I really needed to clean out our craft closet.  Alissa asked me a few times for certain crafts and it would take me 10 minutes just to find everything! 

The beginning of the project

Of course when my husband came home he said "Is this some kind of nesting thing, or just organizing stuff that doesn't have to be organized?"  Haha! One day he'll appreciate the organization! 

After sorting and labeling, this is what our new craft/motorcycle jacket closet looks like.

                                                

I'm sure there are better craft storage options out there also, but we like the cheap plastic drawers and bulk pack of Ikea magazine holders! 

Mommy's little helper

Tonight, as I was "reminding" my husband that I cleaned the bathrooms today, My 2 year old says "I want to clean 2 bathrooms!!" So we decided to let her clean her "bathroom" :)



Hopefully she will say the same thing when she's actually old enough to clean the bathroom!


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