Pictures from our Week

This was another picture from Aruba on my other camera, I finally found the battery charger!

Last weekend we had my parents over for dinner to celebrate my dad's retirement! Ella keeps talking about the party for Grandad because he doesn't have to work anymore! We had a nice time :)

Ella in her Valentine's Day shirt for school.

This guy snuggled under the blanket to watch Caillou. He was so cute! It's not often that he is quiet like this, so I had to document it!

Greg brought me flowers for Valentine's day & cooked dinner. It was a nice night at home. Valentine's Day changes a bit when you have kids :)

Ella also had Pajama day at school this week. She was so excited that she got to bring her bunny to school. They had a pet parade & they got to have pizza! Can you tell what letter they were learning about?!

This morning Ella went to her friend Ellery's birthday party. It was a princess tea party, so they all dressed up in their favorite princess dresses! They wore crowns, made candy necklaces & had tea. All the girls were so cute & they all ended up in a different dress. We had Belle (the birthday girl!), Ariel, Cinderella & Sleeping Beauty :)

And this afternoon my parents took Ella to the circus! She is quite the social butterfly this weekend! So that was our week in a nutshell. Tomorrow I have my 10K training & I have to run 4 miles! Hopefully it goes well. I'll do a post this week about my training so far. Then I will probably come home & lay on the couch the rest of the day! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Aruba 2012

Hi guys! I know I've been slacking on this blog lately. But I'm hoping to get back to blogging like I used to. These are a few pictures from our trip to Aruba. I have some more on my other camera, but I need to find the charger because the battery is completely dead! So hopefully I can get those posted soon.

Ella getting buried in the sand :)

Racing on the beach with their cousin!

This girl! She is 4 1/2 going on 15! What are we in for? She loves to pose for the camera!

Yes, I did my nails on vacation!

Feeding the iguanas. I was so scared it was going to nip her fingers. But she loved it! They actually have a little sanctuary by the hotel & iguanas wander by the pool. I think they love french fries!

The kids got to get ice cream each night

Aunt Kim sharing her ice cream cone

And this is the face of a boy after said ice cream cone!

We had a nice vacation. It was fun to play on the beach & get some sun. But it felt good to come home too!

Home

Hi everyone! I just got back from vacation & we had a great time! I just wanted to say hi! I hope to start blogging again soon, but I have a lot to catch up on. So for now here is a picture of me on the beach, getting tan, drinking a pina colada! 

I'll be back with more soon!

On The Menu

Lately I've been making this for lunch & it is so quick & really tasty! It is quinoa mac & cheese. I discovered this recipe from Tenley Molzahn's Twitter page. You may remember her from the Bachelor? Anyway she had a video about this recipe & as soon as I was done watching it I had to make it! I take 1/2 cup quinoa & 1 cup water & bring them to a boil.

Then I put a lid on the pot, reduce to low & let the water absorb for 10-15 minutes. Once it's done I put it in a bowl.

Then I add a little garlic salt & shredded cheese, then mix it together until the cheese is melted.

I'm telling you this recipe is so good! And it is pretty good for you too, assuming you don't load up with cheese. I'll admit that I like a lot of cheese! But I love making this for lunch or as a side with dinner. My husband loves it too! I wish I could say the same for my kids. They like it OK, but they love regular old mac & cheese from a box. If you have little ones, this might be a great thing to try. And quinoa is really good for you, it is a complete source of protein. And this recipe is Gluten free, if you are into that!

Let me know if you give this a try and if you have any other quinoa recipes!

January Photo A Day

Hi everyone! Wow, it's been a while since I last blogged! I don't really have any excuses. We are still in the month of January & I am already failing at my resolution to blog more. But I am hoping to be better. I wanted to share a project that I have been doing this month. My best friend told me about it & I'm so glad she did! It is the January Photo A Day project. I have been sharing mine on Instagram & having a great time with it. I wanted to share some of the pictures I've taken. 

I realize that January will be over soon & thought about posting this sooner. You can always join in for the last week if you want! But my friend Danielle posted this this morning! It is a February Photo A Day Challenge! I will definitely be doing next month's as well. It's been really fun taking pictures each day. And I love seeing what my friends post as well! I am jlg518 on Instagram if you want to check out my pictures! Let me know if you decide to do this challenge too!

Monkey Joe's

Today my mom & I took the kids to Monkey Joe's. We got there right when they opened & there were only 2 others kid there! After a while more showed up, but for the first hour the place was pretty quiet. Both kids had a great time jumping & sliding!

It was a nice way to spend a rainy day. Thanks mom for taking us, the kids loved it!

On The Menu

In my last post I mentioned one of my resolutions this year was to meal plan. So Monday night I made a chicken stir-fry with noodles & a peanut sauce. This was what was left over after dinner. 

I cut up some chicken into chunks & cooked them in a skillet. When it was done I took the chicken out & cooked some onions, then added some edamame a few minutes later. I also had some whole wheat spaghetti boiling in a pot. I put the chicken & noodles back in the skillet & added a few spoonfuls of this peanut sauce. I tossed it all together & that's it!

It was pretty good. I think I will work on the peanut sauce. It tasted too much like peanut butter, I would like a more savory taste. I put some soy sauce on mine as I was eating & that helped. But I think this was a good dinner & didn't take long to make. You can add any vegetables that you like & substitute beef or pork for the chicken. I will be making this again!