getting to know me.

I thought it would be fun to do a post about 20 totally random things about little old me.  Here we go - enjoy!

1. I am obsessed with my little family, ask anyone, OBSESSED I tell ya

2. I am scared to death of flying but will still do it - I have now made my husband scared to death too #gome

3. I have 1 sibling, a sister, Jenn - she blogs over at It's a wonder

4. I like to "collect" new clothes/shoes/jewelry.  I buy things that I really want, but never want to wear them. I'm not really sure why, but I like looking at them in my closet and never feel like "wasting" an outfit by wearing them.  So weird, I know.

5. When I was younger (I mean real young) my friends and I would collect change from the ground at the tollbooth - #weweresocool

6. I use to smoke - and I loved it.  Then I quite before I got pregnant with my son.  Sometimes I can't even believe I use to smoke, seems like it never happened.

7. I'm very competitive, always have been

8. I'm very emotional, always have been and having kids has put it into overdrive

9. I have small feet, like size 5 1/2 small

10. I never wanted to be a SAHM before having kids, but of course having them changes everything and now it's my favorite "job" to date

11. I love day drinking

12. I hate working out, I do it to stay healthy and fit, but I despise it.

13. I love coffee and need 3 cups a day to function, even then I'm still tired.  I could drink coffee at 9pm and go to bed at 9:15pm; it has no effect over me.

14. When I was little, I was obsessed with the movie Monkey Trouble and tried to convince my mom for several years that I needed a capuchin monkey

15. I went through a super awkward phase in jr high and wore jnco jeans, you know, these ones

What the heck was I thinking...

16. I'm not into material things, Yes they are nice, and once in a while I buy myself something, but I can go without and brand names mean nothing to me.

17. Going with above, I love a good deal.  I search and search for the best deals, always, and have saved a ton of money by doing so.

18. I don't like to use the first of things - first squirt of toothpaste, ketchup, mustard, ect.  Basically anything that comes out of a cap, I always have to squirt some out first, then use it. 

19. I don't have any tattoos and never wanted one, but now am thinking about getting something small with my kids initials

20. I love to eat. My sister use to make fun of me all of the time {still does :) } when were little because we would go to a hot dog place and I would order a hot dog, fries, a bowl of chili and a tamale, and eat it all and still want more.  I was also that weird kid at the pool in the summer ordering a bowl of chili while everyone else was eating ice cream and Popsicles.  I love chili {obviously}

I'm sure there are plenty of more weird things about myself I could share, but I'll stop there so I still have a few readers left :)

Easy Dinner: Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta w/ chicken

I saw this picture on Pinterest and knew this was a dish I had to make.  I love a good, easy recipe that doesn't take me long to make.  I changed quite a bit of this recipe around to accommodate what I had and also to eliminate making homemade pesto (homemade is great but not always quick to do and I don't have a whole lot of time to do homemade these days)

Ingredients:

12oz of linguine pasta

1 lb of boneless chicken (cut into slices or small pieces)

1 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 garlic gloves

2-3 tbsp. olive oil

8.1oz jar of sun dried tomato pesto (I used Classico)

Directions:

Cook pasta in separate pot.  Meanwhile, add the spices and garlic to a bowl and mix your chicken around in it. Use your hands to get the spices rubbed all over. 

Heat over medium heat your olive oil then add your chicken to cook.  It takes about 10-12 minutes to cook the chicken but make sure you are flipping and rotating regularly. 

Once pasta is done, drain and bring back to your pot.  Add the chicken, then pour the entire jar of the pesto sauce over and mix well.

This dish has some kick so I opted not to feed it to my kids, I just took some of the pasta out before mixing and gave them regular sauce. 

This was so so good, I can't wait to make it again!

weekend {re}cap

What a fun filled weekend we had! I love when we get lots of quality family time.

Friday morning we took the kids to Yu Kids Island for their egg hunt and to just run around and play. We've only been here once before, about a year ago and Brayden was so disinterested in the place. but not this time! That boy had so much fun running around and playing! Of course Ella did too :)

Their egg hunt was set up poorly in my opinion.  As soon as we entered we were able to start the hunt, while there were still 30+ people in line to get in the place.  We were probably 5th in line so we were one of the first ones in.

The kids that got in first collected all of the eggs and when I asked if we should give them back, so you know, they could re-fill and put back out for the other people who haven't even stepped foot in yet, the girl working said, No, you keep them.

Brayden had way too many eggs so we ended up giving some out to anyone who wanted them.  The place got so crazy with kids within 20 minutes I don't even know how they would have continued the hunt anyway.  Just seemed like a bad set up but I'm not sure how it could have been better either.

My kid with waaaay too many eggs

We paid $10 to get a picture with the bunny too - which I was happy was there because to date we had no bunny picture yet, and even though the bunny is always creepy, I didn't want a year to go by without a picture (crazy, I know)


My poor Ella, she is going to look back at this and think we were the meanest parents :)

Saturday night was date night with my hubby! It's been SO long since we have gone out just the two of us.  We tried a new restaurant and were a little disappointed.  I don't know why we don't just stick with what we know we love, but even so, it was a really fun night and just good to reconnect a little.

I had a few drinks and realized when I got home, I still needed to finish making Avery's Easter basket, thank goodness I stayed up long enough to finish it!

Brayden came running downstairs Easter morning to see what was in his basket.
  

 Brayden loved showing Avery what was in her basket

I tried to get a decent pic of the older kiddos before we left for my in laws...this was the best I got. Brayden's smile cracks me up and Ella's lack of smile cracks me up too

We had so much delicious food at my in laws house and then it was time for the egg hunt!

Ella is way more interested in scoping out the eggs than taking a picture

This year Brayden understood to get all the eggs you can, then look at them when you're done.  Last year, he barely got any eggs because he would pick one up, stop and open it.

My adorable niece who is getting too big!

All the grandkids :)

This one, she loves to grab a snack then sit under the dining room table :)

The older kids love sitting at the bar and getting served "drinks" which is usually V8 Fusion :)

When we got home, I went outside with Little Miss for some kisses and bubbles

She would run after every bubble yelling "I got you! I got you!" I don't think it's possible for her to be any cuter!!

The hubs promised to take the kids to the park when we got home but this guy was so tired.  So he took Ella and I called him when Brayden woke up and they came back for him.

It was such a fun weekend and a really nice Easter.  Holidays are always a good time to reflect on the blessings I have and I am definitely blessed.

Avery is 8 months!

Happy 8 months my pretty little lady!! (a little late, as usual)

It is pretty insane that you have been here with us (on the outside) for 8 months. Whoa, that went fast.

Let's recap how you've been doing :)

Sleep - You are still sleeping great.  You've been up a couple of nights and I'm sure that is from teething.  Most of the time you go right back down by yourself others, I go in and rock you.  Your napping is still good, 2 naps a day

Eating - You are still 100% breastfed :) You nurse 6 times a day, sometimes 7.  You get easily distracted while nursing though and sometimes you don't eat enough (at least for me to feel relief) You are eating solids still a couple of times a day.  We have started introducing cheerios and you are working hard on your pincher grasp.  You have the grasp down but you don't want to put the cheerio to your mouth :) It's a continuous work in progress.  We introduced the sippy cup too and you have done really well with it but you mostly just want to chew on the top

Weight - When I took you to the dr the other week, you were exactly 15lbs. 

Teething - I can finally say you are teething! I see 3 pearly whites straight through your gums and I'm sure they are going to make an appearance any day now. 

Development - I have been so worried of your rolling - more lack there of.  You still don't roll from back to tummy but you finally starting rolling from tummy to back!! (you've rolled just a couple of times in the past but it was never continuous) 

Health - this month was the first time you got really sick, with a fever and a rash called Roseola. You were miserable for an entire day then just irritable, but the best part was you were super cuddly which I totally enjoyed!!

We have been enjoying some nice(er) weather finally and you love being outside, and most of all, you love the swing!

This past month was so great and I love continuing to watch you grow.  You are such a happy, loving baby and I love this stage you are in now.  I love you so much baby girl!!

Spring break 2015

It feels funny saying we were on Spring Break last week because 1. I'm a SAHM so every week is kind of like Spring Break and 2. how do I have a child old enough to even have a Spring Break!?

Day 1 I woke up to this.  I know I say I love the snow, and I really really do, but once March hits, I am over it.

My kids on the other hand, were ecstatic!!

After we spent a good amount of time outside playing, it was inside for some marshmallows with a side of hot chocolate :)

Later in the day I noticed this little beauty wasn't feeling so hot.  She was extra irritable and clingy (I love the clingy part!)  She also had a low grade fever.

The next day Avery seemed much better so we went to the bowling alley with the kids.  Bowling is such good family fun and we all had a great time

They loved the air coming out - Ella's rocking Farrah Faucet hair :)

This girl was so cute! She would push her ball down with Daddy's help then start immediately jumping up and down until it hit the pins

Brayden was too focused on watching his ball he just threw to smile...

and good thing he was looking, because he got a strike!! Blurry, bad picture, but still captures his pure excitement!

The next day was my Mom's birthday and we took the kids to the library for a little before dinner

We said we could go anywhere for dinner and Brayden insisted on BK - we even tried to change his mind to Portillos (which, when do you have to try to persuade someone to go there!?) but he almost started crying because he wanted Burger King so bad..so that's where we went.

Avery loved a little taste of ice cream :)

Here, she is saying "I'm Princess Ella!" 

The next day, even though Avery was better she developed a rash all over. I took her in to the dr to be safe because we had a play date later - all was good he said she had Roseola, a rash that comes after being sick and once the rash appears, she's no longer contagious, so that was good news!

Later in the day we headed to our play date -we went to a local little baker and did cupcake decorating. It was so fun!

Love Ella's face in this picture!

Brayden requested this pink lemonade cupcake but I actually ordered him vanilla knowing that he would not like the pink lemonade, but when I went to hand him the vanilla, a fit was starting so I bought him the pink lemonade and I ate the vanilla -

Turns out he loved decorating the pink lemonade cupcake, just not eating it :)

This little sweetheart had such a fun time.  She is so cute I could squeeze her :)

"Mom, can I eat it now!!??"

After the bakery, the kids needed to blow off some steam, so we headed to the indoor play area at the mall...with just about every other person.  It was chaos but the kids had fun and Ella got to try on a new bracelet when we were leaving the mall :)

At night the kids built the tallest rocket ship with our Magnatiles - pants were optional :)

That's pretty much our week in a nutshell! Not too busy but not too boring, but most of all the kids had plenty to do to keep them entertained, which can be a struggle at times.