Opening Day

highlights from opening day at Fenway - really going to miss Tek and Wakefield

Pinterest Challenge - Crock Pot Italian Turkey Meatballs

So for my challenge today I thought I would go with another food item. I found this crock pot healthy recipe and it looked pretty good. I also wanted a way to redeem myself because last time I made something with ground turkey it didn't come out too good.

I have to say this was super easy to make, and came out awesome. It was a little spicy but in a good way. It passed the husband test as he said he would eat it again, in fact he went back for thirds!

I baked the meatballs for the 15 mins as called for in the oven as I only had 3 hours to cook these.

Recipe can be found here.

Pinterest Challenge - Organization & Chores

OK I am back, it has been a crazy week but I have returned. With the tragic loss in my mom's group and 2 sick kids at home (one with whooping cough and one with an ear infection/sinus infection) this week sorta slipped past me. The weekend is now here and I'm ready to get back into the swing of things, so here we go

Today was a two for, well technically a three for as I made some more baby food but I will just talk about the 2 projects we did today from Pinterest.

First up an organization project, as that is one of my goals this year to get more organized. I saw this Tension Rod Bottle Holder idea to get rid of some of the clutter under your sink. I have to say it worked out pretty darn good and I am happy with the results. It gives me easy access to my bottles and gets them off the floor to put other things under the sink.

Next up a project for my 9 year old. Mornings and some afternoons have been a struggle with her. She gets distracted and "forgets" what needs to be done to get ready for before and after school. I saw this idea for a chores checklist Originally I was going to make it so she could put her chores on it but I decided to twist it up a little bit and make a list of tasks that need to be completed daily.

I picked up some 1.00 clip boards at Staples and let her paint one anyway she wanted. Next we sat down at the computer and put together a list of her daily tasks that need to be completed. We came  to a conclusion if she completes all the tasks on the list for the 5 school days than she would earn an allowance at the end of the school week. This is going to be an additional allowance to her normal weekly chores allowance. I'm hoping this will help with the battles in the morning and I wont have to be such a drill Sargent. We will see how this goes and will be ongoing. I do have to say she did a great job on her clipboard however.

Life is precious

This week has reminded me of how precious life is and how it should never be taken for granted. One of the mom's in my mothers group of fellow ladies who were due in Aug of 2011 lost her beautiful little boy Easton this week to SIDS. She brought him  to day care and he was put down to sleep at 9 am. Daycare checked on him twice but when they went to check on him at 10 am he had rolled over and was found unresponsive and blue. They did CPR but poor Easton was already in heaven. My heart has been broken in a million pieces for his mommy and daddy (Bridget and Ryan). Their strength amazes me as to be honest I do not know how I would be handling something like that. I seriously think you would have to commit me to a psych ward as I would be suicidal. I would however have to find the strength to go on for Nicole's sake but I just cant even fathom how. I have been holding Emma and Nicole extra close this week, doing extra cuddles and just remembering how precious and amazing my girls are.

An in memory page has been set up on face book and can be found here

There is also a donation page to help the family pay for the funeral and other expenses. That can be found here

His obituary can be found here

Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Making baby food

So this go around I wanted to try making Emma's baby food. Everyone I have talked to says its really easy and cheaper than buying baby food. Not to mention its healthier for them.

I started off with sweet potatoes, butternut squash and green beans. I cooked the sweet potatoes and butternut squash in the oven. The green beans I steamed in our steamer. Pureed them all in the blender and added water for consistency. Than poured them in ice cube trays to freeze. Once they froze I put them in labeled freezer bags to store. It was super easy!

Made 43 servings of sweet potatoes, 37 servings of butternut squash, and 14 servings of green beans. Grand total of  94 servings (1 oz each) of baby food for $ 11.38

If I were to buy this in jars at the local grocery store (Big Y) with level 1 pureed 2 pack of 2.5 oz (5 oz) costing 1.25 so .25 an ounce it would cost me  23.50

Meaning I already saved 12.12!!

I found this website to be full of helpful information

Pinterest Challenge - Valentine's

So today was a two for one. Nicole had to do her Valentine's for school so we decided to do two projects we saw on Pinterest. One for the girls and one for the boys. Both I might add were super simple and came out really cute!

For the girls we made Butterfly Valentine and for the boys we made Valentine's Day Caped-Cute Sadder



Pinterest Challenge - Teriyaki Chicken

So I took the easy way out again today, well sorta. I went for another food category for my pinterest challenge. I picked a crock pot dish to make for today as I love using my crock pot. I also went for another chicken dish. I'm a very picky eater and don't like alot of foods, but I do love chicken.

For today's challenge I picked Teriyaki Chicken from  this great link on how to prep freezer bags for crock pot recipes. I purchased all the stuff to make up the two bags and stored one in the freezer for a later date. Its such a genius idea, I love simple and practical ideas.

I threw all the ingredients in my crock pot before shuffling off to work and came home to a glorious smelling house. Only problem was I got home later than expected so the chicken cooked a little longer than I planned. The chicken came out a little tough, next time I will use the tenderizer to beat the tar out of it before I throw it in the freezer bags, or the crock pot. Overall though it was a very tasty dish. I have no rating from the hubby department however as he wasn't home this evening to try it, he can eat the leftovers tomorrow.

Pinterest Challenge - Baked Parmesan Garlic Chicken

So my addiction continues. I have pinned 1182 pins since joining this madness and only have actually tried maybe 4 of the things I have actually pinned. This is going to change. My goal is to try and do one thing, whatever it may be, weekly from my pinterest. We shall see how this goes

So lets start with today. I picked something easy as it was a crazy day with Emma still being sick. I needed something to make for dinner and wanted to try something new. Ah ha! Pinterest! I scrolled through my pins for food and came across this Baked Parmesan Garlic Chicken dish that looked good and seemed pretty easy to make. Bonus is it only requires 4 items!

So off to the store I go and picked up the 4 items. Came home cooked up the dish and I do have to say it was very yummy. I will definitely be making this dish again and adding it to my chicken collection. I was pleasantly surprised.

I give this recipe a thumbs up

My addiction - Pinterest

So I jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon awhile back. At first I didn't understand it but now I am full on addicted. There are a ton of cool things on there I would of never thought of. There is also alot of arts and crafts projects that I can do with the girls. If Emma grows up anything like Nicole she will be into arts and crafts alot, or so I can hope. I love doing projects with Nicole.

We tackled our first Pinterest project this past weekend. We picked an easy one and something to go with Valentine's Day. It turned out to be super easy and came out cute. We now have a few hearts garland all over the house.

40 things to do in my 40's

Well my 40th birthday is slowly creeping up on me....I have mixed feelings about this to be honest. I needed a way to look forward to this chapter in my life, rather than be depressed about it. Someone gave me the idea as they were composing their list for hitting their 30's. I thought to myself thats a great idea! So here is my list, in no special order, of things I would like to do in my 40s. I hope to have them all completed before I hit 50!

1.  Go to Hawaii (never been always wanted to go)
2.  Buy a sailboat (dream of both Hubby and I)
3.  To go along with the sailboat, sail down the coast to Florida than to the Carribean
4.  Travel internationally to anywhere (never needed a passport to go anywhere and always wanted to)
5.  Visit all 50 states of America
6.  Go in a hot air balloon
7.  Visit all the ballparks in the US and attend a baseball game at the park
8.  Run a 5k
9.  Go to Wimbledon
10. Own a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes
11. See Motley Crue in concert
12. Learn to play the piano
13. Go to New Zealand/Australia
14. Ride a segway
15. Visit Ground Zero
16. Fly first class
17. Milk a cow
18. Go to a drive in movie
19. Go deep sea fishing
20. Earn my BA
21. Try surfing
22. Swim with the dolphins
23. Go parasailing
24. Be part of a flash mob
25. Visit Alcatraz
26. Walk through the giant Redwoods of California
27. Help build a Habitat for Humanity Home
28. Go to the rock n roll hall of fame
29. Cross the intersection at Abbey Road
30. See Mount Rushmore
31. Stand on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
32. Take a photography course
33. Go to a masters golf tournament
34. Learn to golf
35. Go on a Disney Cruise with my daughters
36. Go rock climbing
37. Go to bora bora (or something similar) and stay in one of those huts on the water
38. Learn to crochet
39. Take a photo everyday for a year
40. Learn to ski/snowboard