Halloween

Happy Halloween from the cutest Duck you ever did see. I know its a little late, but better late than never. Riley's first animal sound was "aack aack" so I thought it only appropriate for him to be a duck.

Some of the pictures are out of order, but here is the little man with Nana and Poppy!
Riley and Norah got to spend their second halloweens together, both sticking their fingers in their mouth.

Here are just a few pictures we tried to get of our little ducky and his sweet flower cousin.

I just wanted to get these posted before Thanksgiving happens. Have a good week!

These Days

Things around here have been busy. Riley takes up more and more time and I am loving every minute of it. He is 16 months old and so much fun. I can't believe our little mister is getting bigger every day. Here are just a few things he is loving these days.

-

We are trying to soak in as much of the outdoors as we can before it gets to cold. We try to take walks on the days that it is really nice. Here are a few pictures from a walk earlier this week. He loves having the freedom and so much room to roam around. Don't worry i am usually right beside him and make him hold my hand when there are cars around.

"Come on Mom."

Look at my big boy.
-

This is a huge shout out to Aunt Rachel. Thanks for the coolest birthday present ever. You didn't know it was going to be a 2 in 1 gift. I had seen this idea somewhere and decided to clean up the summer pool and move it into Riley's room to be his very own ball-pit. I will let the pictures speak for themselves, but I am pretty sure he loves it.

Even Daddy loves it

If you made it this far then you deserve to have an update about Mary Poppins. I absolutely without a doubt loved every minute of the show. I even cried when it was over because I loved it that much. I mean really have you seen Mary Poppins, because there is nothing about it that should make a normal person cry. If you have never seen Mary Poppins, you should. Enough said! I had a "practically perfect" day!

My Childhood Hero

That's right. Mary Poppins is my childhood hero. When I was little I am sure I watched this movie atleast once a week. I wanted so much to be able to snap my fingers to clean my room. Somehow that never worked. I still try it today and it still doesn't work. I know every song in the movie and I say things from the movie all the time that no one really gets except for my mom and dad since they usually had to watch it with me.

Well, a few years ago Broadway took the movie and decided to make it into a live musical. Ever since then I have been obsessed again. As soon as I heard that Mary Poppins was going to be the State Fair musical I knew I had to see it. I knew Russell wouldn't go with me, one because musicals aren't his thing and two, he just doesn't understand my love for Mary Poppins, her carpet bag, and talking bird umbrella. So, I immediately called my mom and said will you and Daddy please go with me. She said of course. So on Sunday at 2 pm. I will get to meet the Broadway version of my childhood hero. I C.A.N.N.O.T. wait. I have been listening to the soundtrack this week and I am interested to see what things are different. I will let you know how it goes. Only 5 days!!!

Cutie

We had to get some new diapers the other day and Riley finally got his hands on them this morning. He was enjoying himself so much. They needed to be taken out anyways and it just motivated me to stick them in their cubby. (BTW: these are the up and up diapers from Target and I just love them. I haven't been brave enough to use them at night, but they work wonderfully during the day.)

Well, Aunt Katie, turns out I was wrong. Apparently Riley does like to accessorize. (Don't tell daddy!) He would put them on, take them off, and repeat. This is the first time I have witnessed this. He just gets more and more entertaining every day. I just love him.

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

On Labor Day we decided to use our zoo passes. It turned out to be a great day and we went early enough that their weren't that many people there yet. The picture are in the wrong order so we will start with the end of the day and go to the beginning of the day.

We took Riley to the petting zoo last and really thought he would love it, but he was soooo not interested. He didn't touch a single animal. He wasn't scared of them or anything he just didn't really care that there were goats.

They have a bird place where you can get a bird seed stick and feed the birds and he really did like that part. He wold get so excited whenever the birds would all of sudden fly from one side to the other. These are the best pictures I got.

Daddy and Riley sitting and watching the elephants and giraffes.

We had a great day and Riley loves getting to see all of the animals. We can't wait to go back!

What's been going on

It's been a busy last few weeks around here. Riley and I both started pre-school last week and this is how I found him during a nap last week. He just looked so cute.

On Friday I decided it was time to give Riley a try feeding himself. He didn't do that bad. We just had some oatmeal and he seemed to enjoy himself. I would say he got the spoon in his mouth 60% of the time.

A few weeks ago Riley was being so funny. He had found his shoe and wanted to wear it so I put it on him. He walked around wearing one shoe for about an hour. He has also started finding Russell's hats and trying to put them on.

Well, that about does it for us right now. Riley keeps us entertained and I am just loving this age. He is so much fun and he is such a sweet baby. I haven't forgotten about menu planning. It is still going a weekly basis and going pretty good. I have a few menus to catch up on and some recipes to put up. I promise to get on those soon. Hope everyone has a great week!

P.S. Aunt Rachel I am sorry for the delay in pictures. Riley has been asking about you, so you might need to come down soon! Love ya

Brown Sugar Chicken (crockpot)

I got pizza for dinner tonight. This is what we are having tomorrow night. I am going to try and half it. I will let you know what happens.

2 pounds boneless, chicken pieces

1 C packed brown sugar

2/3 C vinegar

1/4 C lemon lime soda (sprite)

2-3 T minced garlic

2 T soy sauce

1 t black pepper





Place chicken in crockpot. Combine remaining ingrediants; pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over rice or noodles. If you need to thicken the sauce add 1.5 T cornstarch with 2 T water and add to crockpot.



Serves 8-10

Provolone Chicken

This was such a GREAT dish. Russell and I both went back for seconds. I made the recipe and then put it into two seperate 8x8 pans. We ate one tonight and I stuck the other one in the freezer to pull out on a busy night. Thanks Rachel and Stefany. I am so glad I found this recipe after all of these years. Enjoy!




5-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 oz of sour cream

garlic, salt and pepper to taste

6 slices of provolone cheese

1 bag pepperidge farm stuffing mix

4 T of butta



Cook and dice chicken. (boil or bake whichever you prefer) Combine soups, sour cream, spices, and chicken in a bowl. Mix together thoroughly. Spread in a 9x13 pan. Layer cheese on top. Sprinkle dry stuffing mix over the entire casserole. Melt butta and pour over stuffing mixture. This will make it brown and crunchy. Bake at 350 until warm and bubbly. (25-35 minutes)



Serves 6

Chicken Soft Tacos (Crockpot)

1-1.5 pounds of chicken
14.5 oz. can of low-sodium rotel
1 packet low-sodium taco seasoning

1. Place Chicken in crockpot (5 or 6 quart is best)
2. Mix tomatoes and taco seasoning. Pour over chicken.
3. Cover and cook for 6-8 hours
4. Serve with favorite taco fixins.

Courtesy of Fix it and Forget-it Lightly

I am going to put it in the crockpot around noon since we won't be home until 8ish tonight. I will let you know how it goes.

Cuteness

Here's a few things that we have done with our day today.

Found toilet paper

"Look what I can do Mom".
We finally live within walking distance to a park. So today was the first day we have gone.

Little Man ready for a drink and a nap!

We have had fun so far!

Thought I would share...

This cute picture of Riley

and

My menu for the week:

• Monday: Poppyseed Chicken, with Green Beans and Rolls




• Tuesday: Crockpot Chicken Tacos (Fix it lightly and Forget it)



• Wednesday: leftovers on own because of church


• Thursday: Provolone Chicken (Thanks Rach for the recipe that you gave me 4 years ago when we got married. This will be the first time I am using it.)


• Friday: Brown Sugar Chicken (Thanks again Rach), brown rice and green beans


• Saturday: Rosemary Pistaschio Pork Tenderloin with Broccoli and Roasted Potatoes

Russell started back to school this week and I have started teaching voice and piano lessons in the afternoon and early evenings. I won't be home most nights until 7. I don't have the luxury to throw something together at the last minute. I have been trying to do a meal plan for a long time. I hope I can stick with it. I would like to eventually get to the point of being able to do a monthly meal plan. When that happens I will let you know. I will try to share my recipes as often as I can, but I might forget everynow and then. This is a great way for me to get my recipes all typed out, in one place instead of trying to remember which cookbook it is in. In the words of Julia Childs "Bon Appetit". (If you haven't seen the movie Julia and Julie you should. I loved it)

Poppyseed Chicken

4 chicken breasts

1/2 cup of Sour Cream (i use the light kind)

1 can Cream of Chicken

Sleeve of Ritz crackers

1/2 a stick of butta

poppyseeds (as many or as few as you like. start with a T and go from there)

Boil chicken until it's done and then dice. Mix chicken with sour cream and cream of chicken soup. Put in an 8x8 pan. Melt butter. Crush crackers. Mix crackers, poppyseeds and butter together and spread on top of the chicken mixture. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

This is my go to recipe for something easy and super yummy. It's really easy to double for a crowd as well. There are so many different ways to make this. Look around and play with what works best for you and your family. Have a good week!

Riley's New Favorite Thing

I know it's been a month since my last post, but we have been a little busy. The move went well and we are adjusting nicely. There will be more on that later. I know that some of Riley's fans have been missing seeing him. These aren't in order because blogger is not letting me move them. Anyways, this will give you an idea of something Riley loves to do.

-

He has become a fan of climbing into things. I realize from these first two pictures you might not believe me. He really was having fun until the top of the suitcase would not stay open. Don't worry we helped him out after we took the pictures.

He was really excited to have clean cabinets once we started packing.

This basket used to hold blankets. Now it holds Riley.

I didn't think he would make it into this one, but he fits nicely and he is so excited about it.

This is the top of a peach box and I haven't been able to get a good picture of him sitting in it. By the time I get my camera out he is moving onto the next thing.

This is his basket to hold books. He took them out and thought he would sit in it for a while. I think he played in the basket for a good 10 minutes. He is such a funny boy.

Well, I hope that will get you through until I find the time to blog again. Have a good week.