Preserving Life's Moments

Monday, October 14, 2013

Menu Monday

What a weekend! Full of kid-less work with a bit of fun thrown in. The kids were off at Mema and Papa's as Kenny and I finished new carpet prep work. We were able to sneak out after our work was done both nights. We had dinner out Friday and Saturday and also saw the movie Gravity and check out The Collective On Tap afterwards.

On a side note: Gravity was a nail biting, on the edge of your seat movie. Well done and very unique. These days I tend to enjoy movies that make me laugh and there was no laughing in this movie. It was still good though.

Another side note: Getting work done with out kids around is simply amazing. Granted ripping up carpet and pulling up staples is not a fun task, but being able to do something continuously with out stopping to answer questions, check on, help, feed or entertain children is a nice feeling.

And onto our menu for the week:

Monday --Eggs and Toast

Tuesday -- Spaghetti and Meatballs

Wednesday -- leftovers

Thursday -- Sweet and Sticky Baked Chicken (new recipe)

Friday -- leftovers

Saturday -- Salmon

Sunday -- Pancake Night

Friday, October 11, 2013

Spiced up Smoothie

I've been wanting to try a "green" smoothie for a long time. We struggle getting the kids to eat veggies, though Adalyn does love her broccoli. Shane is hyper sensitive to new foods, textures and the color of food. Just getting him to take a vitamin in the morning is a daily challenge.

As of late, Shane has been a bit more daring in trying new foods. He LOVES watching cooking shows and I've found that really helps him with his willingness to try new things. He also like to help me bake or prep dinner food.

Honestly, I was flat scared to try a green smoothie because of the rejection I was sure to experience. Then one day a mommy friend of mine posted a picture of a smoothie on her Facebook page that she had made her son. She said her kiddo had drank it up in minutes. I saw the picture and knew instantly that was the way to my son's heart. It was all about the presentation. Marketing can easily add to any Mommy's resume!

It is all about the whip cream, sprinkles, fancy cup and straw. Those factors seemed to detour Shane from the fact that there were green specks in this smoothie. He was so excited to try it that I didn't get ANY questions about what was in the smoothie. Truly Amazing!

The first time I made it I did it with him still at school. That way he didn't see the ingredients that I put in. I was very worried the moment he saw me throw some green items into the blender, the chance of him trying it would be slim to none.

When he got home I hyped the heck out of this thing. I told him about the yummy special surprise I had for him and that Adalyn and I had tried it and it was super good.

Man, was I nervous! But he liked it and liked it a lot.

The next day he ASKED for another smoothie at lunch time. Um, yeah, I can make you one! I asked him if he thought he wanted to help and see what was in it, or if it was better I surprised him with it. I was still nervous that if he saw what went in it, he'd never consume it again. As he helped me make it, I reminded him about he much he liked it yesterday.

As the green items came out and went in the blender, he asked what they were, but was going with the flow. Again, can you say Amazing!

He gobbled it down and I was super relieved.

Day 3 and 4 he asked for them again. Each day we talked about how it tasted a bit different and rated which one we liked best and how it tasted different. Like it tasted more bananaie, or rasperberryish, etc. I had been missing the honey ingredient the whole time. Finally I got some and on day 5 added the honey, against Shane's will. How bad can honey be, we survived the greens!!?

He tried the smoothie with honey on day 5 and refused to drink it. Darn it. He said he didn't like the honey at all. Really?!!? I can say after drinking mine, I was very surprised by how much the honey stood out in the flavor. Fingers crossed tomorrow I can get him to drink it with out the honey. I sure hope I didn't ruin our smoothie drinking.

Below is the recipe I used (Thanks, Melissa for sharing it!). Each time I made it the amount of ingredients varied slightly.

1 Banana
1/2 cup strawberries
1/4 cup raspberries
1/2 cup applesauce
1T. chia seeds (I didn't use these)
1 small container of plain yogurt
1cup kale
1 cup spinach
1T honey (or not)
splash of water (I use milk)
5 ice cubes

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Trick or Treat {Linky Party #2}

Welcome back to our 2nd Trick or Treat Linky Party. We picked a few of our favorites from last week. You can check those out below. Grab a cute button if you were featured! Or rock a party button if you linked up with us last week or this week.

1. Krystal's pick: Halloween Krispie Treats by Cupcake Diaries

2. Victoria's pick: Candy corn cookies by Creative Destinations Guide

3. Randi's pick: The sorting hat by Practically Functional

4. Jessica's pick: Monster apple bites by We Do Fun Here

5. Ashley's pick: Hand painted pumpkin crate by Anderson and Grant

Randi Sowders - Sowdering About in Seattle / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter

Ashley Emmett - My Craftily Ever After / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter

Victoria Schilke - My Little Birds / Facebook / Pinterest

Krystal McGarvey - My Life of Travels and Adventures / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter

Jessica Booth - Preserving Life's Moments / Pinterest

If you were featured, feel free to grab the button and show it off!

Party Button:

Please read and follow the rules before adding your link.
1. You may link up as many projects as you would like. They need to be YOUR creations and projects.
2. Link directly to your post and NOT to your main blog.
3. Please no giveaways, promotions, items for sale, roundups, or posts that do not belong to you.
4. Please make sure to click and check out the other projects linked up!

*By submitting your link you are authorizing me to post your projects and pictures as a feature and on various social media websites along with links to your post. I have the right to delete links that do not adhere to the rules.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Wordless Wednesday {Chillin' On The Potty}

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Sunday Ice Cream Cruise

With the sun all shining last weekend we decided to check off an adventure that has been on the to-do list...the Sunday Ice Cream Cruise on Lake Union. I had recently heard about it from some Mommy friends and couldn't wait to hop on the boat.

What a perfect day it was for a boat ride and some ice cream. I think I could spend all day riding around the lake on a boat, checking out the sights from the water and soaking up the warm rays of sunshine. The 45 minute tour went by way to fast for me, but was a perfect amount of time for the two children of the family. They didn't appreciate the witty humor of the Captain and his bits of history along the way, but were more won over by the orange ice cream floats they got to devour.

The boat.

The space needle.

Do you think she liked it??

Gas Works park.

Afterwards we hung around the south side of the lake watching airplanes come and go and awesome mini sailboats bobbing around the pond. I could have easily spend a few more hours down there, but alas Miss Adalyn needed to go home for a nap.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Menu Monday

We are a week away from new carpet. The bottom portion of our house has been packed up and moved into the garage and Kenny has taken out all the carpet down there. This leaves us down to basically half of a house, making the top half of my house a disaster zone. I can't Wait for next Wednesday when we can start to move back in and get things back in order.

Monday -- White Cheddar Broccoli Mac and Cheese (we ended up not having it last week)

Tuesday -- leftovers

Wednesday -- Grilled Cheese

Thursday -- Salmon and corn bread

Friday and Saturday -- The kiddos are headed to Mema and Papa's house so Kenny and I can finish prepping the house for the big carpet day on Monday. We may just sneak out for dinner once or um...twice, maybe.

Sunday -- pancakes

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Pumpkin Patch {2013}

A sunny October weekend means a trip to the pumpkin patch! I was ready to try a new patch this year and we settled on one in Edmonds called Fairbank Animal Farm and Pumpkin Patch. Kinda a random place for a pumpkin patch if you know this area at all, but they had me at the list of animals there.

I wasn't sure when we drove up. I was a bit nervous I had picked a dud, but I quickly started to feel better as we headed out to the pumpkin patch. There were plenty of wheel barrows to pick from and I literally picked my awesome white pumpkin off of the vine.

It was tough going picking which one to bring home!

There was so many animals to see.

Big Mama pig with her babies was awesome.

The kids would have spent all day there watching them.

This piggy was hilarious.

He had this water spout that he would suck on and

the water would come rushing out. It was so funny to watch.

The goats were were fabulous.

Adorable baby ducks and chicks.

How about a sweet sleeping bunny.

Which was next to the 10 day old calf and the miniature horse.

Then to top off the baby creatures were super playful kittens.

It was a good thing we had ~~mean~~ clear headed Kenny there to keep Shane and I

from taking every baby animal home with us.

Who doesn't love a Giant tee-pee?

Mini Corn Maze...look at those tall stalks.

(on a side note...they had the biggest sunflowers I've ever seen!)

Interestingly, this farm was featured in our Sunday newspaper today. Making this little adventure even better to know we supported this family and their 30 year old farm in the middle of the suburbs.

I'm picking to go back there again next year.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Say BOO to the Flu {Immunity Community}

I recently became a Parent Advocate for a non-profit organization called Immunity Community. I'll be helping to put a friendly face to vaccinations through my new role. Like politics or religion, vaccinations aren't a topic that a lot of people feel comfortable talking about with their peers. Yet being vaccinated or not vaccinated effects more then you and your family and can be a scary process to go through alone.

There is a lot of information and ideas out there about vaccinations, including the flu shot. My family chooses to get vaccinated every year for many reasons:

1. I have an auto-immune disease, if I were to catch the flu it could be very devastating to me and my health, more then a person with a "normal" immune system.

2. I certainly don't want my kiddos to have to go through the flu. What an icky and difficult experience. Something I can help them avoid by getting the flu shot or flu mist.

3. Kenny and I don't have time in our lives to be laid up with some nasty illness.

4. We are out in our community: school, work, toddler group, etc. By vaccinating ourselves we help to keep the spread of the flu down and help to protect others in the community who can't be vaccinated against the flu.

I DO NOT like shots or needles. I stressed and thought about the flu shot for weeks before I got it. I had that nagging feeling in the back of my head about this shot for weeks before I got it. I did it though and like every year, it wasn't a big deal at all. Though as you can see, my eyes are closed and I will NOT look any where near the nurse and that darn needle!

Brave Kenny, getting his shot.

The kids go in this week for their flu mist. I almost want to say they are excited about it. I told them they could pick flu shot or flu mist. We talked about each one and that no matter which one they pick it will only be a second of uncomfortableness. Plus, a trip to get frozen yogurt afterwards has them asking when do we get our "nose shots".

Help be a part of the Immunity Community and get your flu shot this month.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Halloween Countdown

My kids, like probably most kids out there, love Halloween. They love picking out their costumes, dressing up and going trick or treating. In this excitement they want to know how many more days until Halloween?! all the time.

What a better way to answer this question with a Halloween countdown magnetic cookie sheet!?!

I actually made this earlier this year on a weekend craft retreat and

couldn't wait to bring it out to show the kiddos.

I love how I can store the upcoming images on the back of the cookie sheet or

how it stores that way when it it isn't in use for the rest of the year.

Thank goodness for my Cricut and my awesome Close To My Heart stamps.

I originally thought I would be able to whip this program up really fast,

but it turns out coming up with 31 Halloween images was harder then I had expected.

Supplies:

cookie sheet
magnets
embellishments and/or stamps
paper

I big thanks to Lynette for the idea and inspiration for this project and she also used one of her Cricut cartridges to cut out the black grid for this, too.

Kenny drilled two holes in the top where I threaded ribbon through it to hang it on the wall.

Happy Happy Halloween!

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Trick Or Treat {Link Up Party}

Welcome to my first ever Link Up Party! We'll be here every Thursday for the month of October for you to link up your crafts, recipes and other fun stuff for Halloween. If you have some fun fall ideas feel free to add those to the link up party as well.