Modest Mondays: Happy Spring!

We're officially on spring break over here, so I won't be online much so I can enjoy every second of it with Nate and the kids! We don't have anything big planned, just fun things each day that the kids will enjoy. The weather is supposed to be ahhhmazing (70's and 80's!) so we will be outside as much as possible.

I wore this outfit a few weeks back when I was going to a casual dinner with the pregnancy center I volunteer at. It was rainy and cold, so I added tights and boots, but this would be super cute with wedges or flats for warmer weather!

Tucking in a shirt is WAY out of my comfort zone, but the skirt style kind of calls for it, so I did. Thankfully the fuller waist helped hide my post-baby (7 months later, blah) so I felt comfortable in it. The shirt has little polka dots, so there is definitely some mild pattern mixing going on here. ;)

Outfit Details

Blouse: Target (clearance!)

Necklace: Teething necklace that I love and wear all the time. When I'm holding Nicolas he grabs it and chews it and it keeps him occupied while I'm chatting with friends at church. :)

Skirt: Klassy Girl Boutique (gorgeous modest clothing!)

Tights: Gift

Boots: Goodwill 

Have a wonderful week, everyone! Off to enjoy the sunshine with my kiddos. 

My Tried and True Freezer Meals

When I was about 36 weeks pregnant with Nicolas, I took an afternoon and cooked up a few weeks worth of freezer meals. It was one of the best things I have ever done for my own sanity! We were blessed with meals from friends and family for close to 2 weeks after he was born, but once those were over, I was still trying to recover and get into a new groove with school/homework/4 kids/no sleep/nursing every 8.2 seconds.... you get the point. Pulling out a frozen meal was a total lifesaver. I could add a salad and/or starch and have a complete meal in very little time, plus hardly any clean up from cooking! I was hooked and have been freezer cooking almost ever since! I cook about 2 weeks of meals at one time at it saves me so much time later on, not to mention it's great for our budget!

 I know there are tons of great blog posts out there on freezer cooking, so I'll keep this really simple. I just wanted to compile my favorites that are tried and true in case any of you wanted to try it out or you already do and want to check out some new recipes!

 A few tips:
 1) Make double, triple or quadruple of everything! That way you'll only be making 4-5 meals and have food for a few weeks.
 2) Almost everything listed here besides the casseroles can be frozen in ziplock bags lying flat to save room
 3) Wear comfy shoes when cooking. Especially if you're at the end of pregnancy. I still had swollen ankles at the end of the day, but my feet weren't quite as sore as they could have been. ;)
 4) With every recipe I added salt and pepper to my own taste

 Meatballs in BBQ sauce
 (I used the meatball recipe but just did good ol' Kraft honey BBQ sauce ;). I served with roasted potatoes and carrots.

Slow Cooker Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork
 (I only used the adobo sauce and not the Chipotle Peppers because it would have been a little on the spicy side for my kids) I served in tortillas with taco toppings, but you could also do it over rice.

 Black Bean Taco Soup
 Served with tortilla chips, sour cream and cheese.

Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore
 I kind of threw my own recipe together, but this is similar. Mine has bell peppers and zucchini.  Serve over rice or pasta.

Maple Dijon Chicken
 (I used honey instead of syrup. I've made this with chicken breast in the crock pot, or chicken thighs in the oven baked at 400 for about an hour. I preferred the thighs in the oven, but both were great!) Served with roasted veggies or rice.

 Teriyaki Chicken 
 I did frozen carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. I cooked it in the crock pot for a few hours, and then put it on the stovetop to thicken the sauce before serving over rice. The fresh ginger in this was amazing--definitely the best Asian dish I've ever made!

 Chicken and Dressing Casserole
 I made my own stuffing because we have an amazing family recipe and I can't imagine eating anything else!

 White Chicken Enchiladas
 I cannot find the recipe I used! But this one looks yummy and has good ratings. ;) The one I used had cream of chicken soup and sour cream, which I'm sure could be used in place of the cheese sauce.

I've done my own soup recipes-- Tortilla soup and Chicken soup. Potatoes and pasta do not freeze well, (besides in lasagna) so add that in later if that's part of your recipe.

 I've done a chicken alfredo. I did my own alfredo sauce, thin sliced chicken breast and spinach for good measure. I made the alfredo sauce thicker than normal because I knew the chicken juice would thin it out a bit as it cooked. This is great served over pasta or spaghetti squash for a healthier option.

 I've also frozen muffins, pancakes, breakfast sandwiches and bean and cheese tacos for the mornings. These are wonderful for early school mornings when I've gotten no sleep... no effort, and I know she's getting something filling nutritious.

 Hope that helps some of you. I cannot talk enough about cooking freezer meals. I LOVE it!

 If you freezer cook, leave me links to some of your recipes! I'm always looking for new ones. :)

Nathan's Minion Birthday Party

I was really glad when Nathan requested a minion birthday party (from Despicable Me), because they are little yellow oblong creatures that are easy to replicate, even for someone like me that has 0% decorating skills. Because of our family and all the schedules to work around, we didn't actually throw the party until a few weeks after his birthday but it allowed time for his excitement to build. ;) He watched me very closely (as in, "you are too close to the cake, move away before your snot drips into it!" Close) as I made a minion cake and marshmallow pops and he was just so thrilled. "I'm gonna tell everybody I have a minion cake! I'm gonna tell everybody I have minion marshmallows!" Often times when we do things for our kids, it's hard to know if they truly appreciate it or not, but he loved everything and there was no mistaking that he was so thankful.

 The cake idea was from Betty Crocker. You can find it here. I didn't follow all of the steps perfectly, mainly because my grocery store was out of tootsie rolls and I couldn't be bothered going back to see if they had restocked. I also made my own frosting and colored it--so much better than the store bought stuff!

 Let me tell you--I have no cake decorating skills. Zilch. So if I can make this cake in a short
amount of time and have it turn out halfway decent, anyone can! It's not perfect, but it was cute and the kids loved it!

 The marshmallow pops were just as easy. Thankfully, the decorating section in the baking isle had candy eyes. They were my saving grace because I doubt I could have hand drawn all of those teeny eyes! I dipped the marshmallows in white chocolate that I added yellow food coloring to. I stuck them in the strainer holes so they wouldn't be flat on one side. Necessity is the mother of invention! Once again, nothing that would win me a job at Carlo's Bakery or anything, but cute enough for kids. ;)

As for the rest, I just bought yellow and blue of paper products at the Dollar Store. We blew up about 20 yellow balloons and I drew little minion faces on them and left them all over the floor. Sometimes they ended up underfoot while I was trying to cook, probably like real minions would. Ha! It was super easy, cheap and quick to put together. It's easy to go crazy once you get a theme in your head, but I have neither the time nor energy to spend more than a few hours on party prep and cake for a 3 year old.

He loves his cousins :)

So, so thankful for my sweet 3 year old and all of the joy (and sometimes tears!) he brings us every day! 

Real Mom Confessions

This post has been written after a conversation I had with friends in the nursery last night. It occurred to me that most of us feel alone in the every day grind, when chances are pretty high that another Mom is going through the same stuff you are, even though we all put on the brave "I've got this" face when we're out in public or representing our lives online.
 So, I'm here to confess my real life moments. Chances are you have your own current struggles, so feel free to tell me about it in the comment section! We aren't alone in this thing, and even though we love our children, love (almost) every moment with them and cherish being able to raise them, there are just certain times that we feel a little frazzled and at our wits end.
 That's where I'm at today so I'm sharing the not so good, bad and ugly.

 First of all, who ever thought up Daylight Savings anyway? While the idea of saving energy and making the most of the daylight hours is cool and everything, there were a few things the DST board of directors (totally made that up) did not take into account.

 1) Children
 2) Mother's of said children
 3) Children
 (just in case you missed number 1)

 Normally my kids aren't affected at all, but this time it's been taking them forever to settle down at night, and it's taking me forever too. I go to bed exhuasted but can't fall asleep until midnight, and the baby has been up more than usual and I'm just give me all the coffee so I can make it through this day.

Baby is not sleeping as well because he's either teething or sick, or both. He has officially been moved into his own room in hopes that he will sleep longer stretches of time, but the first night wasn't the greatest so who knows?! So between not falling asleep until midnight, getting up with a baby every few hours and waking up to help Brooke in the mornings before she leaves for school in the morning, I am totally beat. Bed time with the kids at 8 sounds heavenly.

Not sure if it has to do with the 3 batches of chocolate chip cookies I've made over the past few weeks, (!!) but I cannot for the life of me get the rest of the baby weight off. I know that nursing can inhibit weight loss and it really seems like that's what is happening this time around. I've done Trim Healthy Mama, I've counted calories, I've counted calories while doing Trim Healthy Mama, I work out 45 minutes a day and nothing. nada. I lose a few pounds and then right back up. So I'm pretty discouraged about that, which is probably why I can't stop baking and eating cookies, because I work so hard and what's the point? I haven't lost an ounce since October.

 As I was finishing up this post, my 3 year old peed outside and then laughed about it. It doesn't get more real life than that, folks!

Share your real life moments from this week, and it doesn't have to be all bad! Share the humorous, the crazy, the good, bad and the ugly. I promise I will love reading all of them!

Happy ALMOST FRIDAY!

Modest Mondays: Layering

I am pretty sure that the entire country is sick of winter at this point. Wether your lows are in the 30's like us, or below zero like where I grew up, I think everyone is just ready to be done with layering, tights and boots. However, just hang in there-- I have a few cute ideas for you today to wrap up the winter season. I'm sharing 2 because I'm ready to start sharing spring outfits after this week... maybe it will prompt winter to go away. ;)

Both of these outfits are layered, which is great as the season slowwwllllyyy changes.

The first outfit I'm sharing today is from my friend Susanna. I like to think of her as family because we share nieces and nephews! ;)
 I love the nautical top Susanna is wearing. Normally I would think of anything nautical as a warm weather piece, but she paired it with a leather jacket and boots and it looks prefect for winter! And of course, we all know that long jean skirts and winter staples-so classic and can be worn with anything.

Outfit Details:

Leather Jacket: Wilson's Leather Outlet

Graphic Metallic Anchor Tee: Ross

Dark Denim Skirt: Cato

Boots: Shoe Dept.

Another layering idea is vests! These work really well for the warmer climate that I live in, or in the coming weeks when it's too warm for a jacket but you want something thicker than a cardigan. Add a scarf ( I love infinity scarves!) and a hat and you're all set.

Outfit Details:

Hat: Thrifted (is that gross? Ha)

Scarf: Gift (Target)

Vest: JCPenny (old!)

Top: Gift

Skirt: Cato

Boots: Ross

If you noticed, Susie and I both purchased our skirts at Cato--it's a really great place for Denim skirts. I just checked and they have several options right now, so check it out if you're in the market for a new one. Very reasonably priced, too!

 Hope the time change isn't messing up your sleep schedule as much as it's messing up ours... ;) Happy Monday everyone!

So this is Love...

(ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2011)

He was laying in the sand, mostly covered in it from the kids burying their daddy. The kids had lost interest and moved on to something else while I watched them, making sure they didn't wander too far away or go too deep into the water. Most of the morning had been like that and it was fine with me--we brought the kids to the beach for Easter weekend and I was more than happy to focus on them and make sure they were safe and having fun. I couldn't help but think of our honeymoon and the fun we had playing in the waves, his strong arms wrapped around me, keeping me from floating too far away from him. It's different now--we have kids to take care of and can't just leave them to fend for themselves so there was no swimming and playing for us yet.
 But he just looked so handsome and strong and I couldn't resist. I thought of our honeymoon and I didn't want that spark to be any different than it was at this moment.
 I jumped out of my chair, went and leaned over and started making out with my husband.
(Yes, I did. I'm married and we are allowed and as our Pastor says, "Christians should be the most making out couples in the world" :)
 Nate was surprised and laughed as I kissed him for a few more seconds and then ran into the water, squealing because it was so cold. He got out from under the pile of sand and ran after me, his blue eyes twinkling while he smiled and looked and me with so much love in his eyes I felt like my heart could burst. He wrapped his arms around me as he carried me a little deeper in to the water to protect me from floating too far away from him. My sister was with us so she kept an eye on the kids while we played in the the waves, getting sprayed with salt water, flirting, laughing and yes-kissing a little more. It was different than 5 years ago when we did it--my eyes wandered to the kids occasionally, making sure they were OK. We couldn't stay out there as long as we wanted, but the love and the passion between us was just as strong as it was when we were first married. Really, it's much stronger than it was then but sometimes it takes a little moment like that to realize it.
 Our lives get very wrapped up in our kids--feeding, bathing, entertaining, training and loving--but sometimes you just have to get up, realize the kids will be fine and go make out with that handsome man you married. Because he deserves it, you deserve it and your marriage deserves it.

Nathan's 3rd Birthday

Somehow, Nathan turned 3 on Monday. Not sure how this happened since I just had him a few months ago. Anyway, we will have a "real" party for him in a few weeks but the day of had to be super special and exciting and all about the birthday boy!

 As you can see, I went all out on the decorating.

He came bounding into our room earlier than normal and crawled into our bed with a huge smile on his face. "It's gonna be a goooood day," he said. I have never had a 3 year old be quite so excited about his birthday as Nathan was. He talked about it for weeks, telling everyone he was going to have a minion cake with fire on it that he would blow out. (Minion cake to come ;)

I had to run a few errands in the morning, so I took him with me and bought him a doughnut and let him pick out something in line, which was orange tic tacs.

For lunch, it was grilled cheese dinosours. I love how easy kids are to please at this age!

Getting to watch "ABC Animals" on my phone was a special treat--again, easy to please!

So when we ran errands earlier, I found a package of mini cupcakes for $1.97 and talked him into them so I could bake his special cake at his party. He really wanted the pink cupcakes, ha! I put them on a platter in the shape of a "3", added extra sprinkles and candles and he was thrilled!

His birthday dinner of choice was chicken and rice--easy enough! Not sure why he was licking his plate, but hey, it was his birthday. Anything goes!

This face.

This is the face he makes when he's asking a question and I am so glad I was able to capture it because I don't want to ever forget it!

This is another face he makes--bottom jaw pushed forward when he's embarrassed or trying to show off.

His day ended with a trip to Cabellas, where the kids picked up cap guns and shot every animal in sight. Cabbala's is his favorite, not to mention it's free entertainment and 5 minutes from our house, so it was the perfect way to end his birthday! He ran around with gusto, yelling excitedly about everything that caught his attention. Nate and I loved observing him have the time of his life!

 Nathan is our child that has given us quite the run for our money over the past year. He has a very strong will, but over the last several months we've been very consistent with him in not letting him get his way, and the result has produced the sweetest little boy ever. Not that he's perfect (um, obviously) but he loves to cuddle and hug. He loves motorcycles, especially fast ones, and minions, hence the party coming up. ;) He has the cutest high voice and stutters a little. He over-pronounces his words to try to talk really clear and it seriously melts our hearts. Age 2/3 is one of my favorite ages and I wish I could box him up and keep him this size forever! He very often will say out of the blue, "I love you Mommy," and hug me. It just melts my heart.

 Happy Birthday to my precious Nathan!