Little Adventures-The weekend

I love all the little adventures my family and I have every week. This weekend was no exception.

Roman got a new play gym, I guess that is what you would call it. It is a little pirate ship with a steering wheel, a rock climbing wall, a slide, and a telescope.  Everyday we have been out climbing, sliding, steering, and taking pictures (because that is what telescopes do...duh!) I love that the first thing Roman wants to do is go outside...rain or shine. So many of my childhood memories happened out in the fresh air, and that is what I want for my children as well.





Valentine's Day was this past Tuesday and Malachi and I had to postpone our Valentine's celebration till Saturday. Malachi works evenings so we couldn't go out that day, although he did have a delicious Valentine's lunch waiting for me when I got home from MOP's. We also exchanged gifts (we gave ourselves a challenge to only spend five dollars on each other...I got Bridget Jone's Diary and he got a plant). So our date night (first date night in 3 1/2 months!!!!) happened Saturday evening after this kids were put to bed. My sister-in-law came over and we went out to Tradewind's restaurant. Malachi and I have been going there for Valentine's day for five years now. And we only go once a year to make it really special. It is a little hole in the wall restaurant that serves amazing Italian food. We were so excited! We had looked at their menu earlier that day and picked out what we were going to have. When we arrived Malachi went ahead and ordered for us. Our appetizer was amazing and then came the pizza. We were going to get a spicy pizza with hot capricola sausage, but the pizza that was placed in front of us was a vegetable pizza with artichokes, mushrooms, green peppers, and black olives. You may be salivating and say "well...what is wrong with that?" Considering the only thing I liked on that pizza was green peppers it was sort of a problem. Turns our Malachi ordered the wrong pizza (they all have such fancy names) and we got a pizza only he would like. I was willing to scrape everything off I didn't like and eat it that way, but my husband, being the great man that he is, put that pizza in a box and ordered a pizza I would like. So when we came home that night, we came home with one and a half pizzas. Malachi has been eating pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner the last few days! But all in all it was a wonderful date. We came home and watched Bridget Jone's Diary and ate cannollis.


She is such a happy baby!




See his airplane flying?



Sunday evening we went over to one of Malachi's sister's house for Mexican night. It was fun...the cousins got to play and we adults got to chow down on tons of delicious food.


Roman and his cousin Ayden


Mini taco salads


Malachi's super serious poker face


Everyone wore sunglasses...because that is how hardcore poker is played!



It was a wonderful weekend and I'm ready for this weeks little adventures!

Has it really been 6 months????

So I seem to like to not update for 6 months and then start blogging again. It really doesn't feel like it has been 6 months. Time goes by way too fast. It is so precious and we don't even realize it. So many times we want to fast forward and get to something we are looking forward to and then we miss all the beautiful little things that happen each and everyday. Everyday is beautiful and we need to soak it all in because every minute that passes by is a minute we will never have again.
So much has happened to our family in the past 6 months! Roman turned two, he went trick or treating for the first time, and we welcomed our beautiful baby girl, Adelai, into the world. The past 3 1/2 months with her in our lives has been wonderful. She is the perfect addition to our little family. Roman is wonderful big brother and she already adores him. I can't wait to watch them grow up together. My everyday life is so busy but so wonderful. They constantly keep me on my toes!
God has blessed me so richly and I thank Him for each and every day he gives me!
Here are a few pictures from the last 6 months

Thank You Pinterest- Part 2

So today is the last day of August and that means it is the end of Pinterest month. It was a successful month at that. I am excited about bringing my cookbooks back out but I will still use recipes that I find on Pinterest (because there are soooo many good ones!)


Meal #1: Tuscan Pasta with Tomato Basil Cream Sauce



Malachi was the culinary artist behind this meal. I started chopping everything up to start cooking but Roman was getting one of his two year molars and all he wanted was his mommy. So I went and sat on the couch and snuggled with my little man so my big man cooked dinner for us. And my man can cook! It was delicious! We will be making this again!!!

Meal #2: Stuffed Zucchini Cups



Roman hated this meal! Lately he has been boycotting anything green, so there was a bit of a battle to get him to take a few bites of this. He loved the stuffing though. Malachi and I both loved it. Really...can you go wrong with anything stuffed with meat and cheese? The one thing about this recipe is that is makes SO many leftovers of the stuffing. So what I did was mixed the stuffing with elbow noodles, topped with mozzarella cheese to make a casserole. It was yummy...and Roman liked that since it didn't have any of that yucky green stuff in it!


Meal #3: Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce



I wish I could say this dish was amazing...but it wasn't. There was nothing wrong with it...my husband really liked it...but I don't think I will make it again. I think the main thing I didn't like about it was the tortellini. I'm not a big tortellini kind of girl. I think it tastes kind of funny. I would much rather have ravioli!

Meal #4: Jalapeno, Sausage, Jack, Egg Breakfast Braid




I know they say this is for breakfast but we had it for dinner and it was amazing!!! Wasn't spicy enough for this spicy craving pregnant gal, buuuut it was still amazing! It was super easy to make as well. So that is a huge plus with this huge pregnant gal!

Meal #5: Crispy Onion Chicken



This was a yummy light meal. It needed a little extra flavor so we ended up dipping the chicken in some honey mustard (which it was also coated in while it cooked) I wasn't amazed by this dish but it was good, healthy, and easy.

Meal #7: Slow Cooker Coconut Chicken Curry




If you do not make this...then you are CRAZY! It was my favorite of this batch of recipes! I kept eating and eating and eating this stuff! If I go into my doctors appointment tomorrow and have gained wayyyyy too much weight...I will know why!

Breakfast: Cinnamon Sugar French Toast




Just look at those! Don't they look tasty! They were pretty quick and easy to make as well. I made too many for just me and Roman to eat so I froze the rest of them and the heated them up a few days later and they were just as good as the day I made them. I will be making these again!

Dessert: Nutella Cookies




Okay...so these cookies are made with four ingredient. Four. Super easy and the recipe doesn't make that many cookies which is good since I am a sugar addict!

So that wraps up Pinterest month...but each month I'm going to do a post of pictures of the food I made that month and share recipes!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful August!

How time flies

Today I am thirty weeks pregnant. Thirty weeks. It seems like such a big number. I remember when I was ten weeks and that was twenty weeks ago! How time flies! I'm ready (but not really ready) for my little girl to get here. I'm ready to hold her in my arms and kiss whenever I want. I'm ready to memorize her perfect little face. I'm ready to introduce her to her big brother. I'm ready to see my husband fall in love with her. I'm just ready! But I still have a lot to do in ten weeks. I need to finish Roman's room and then move him in there (along with transitioning him into a big boy bed...not looking forward to that). I need to finish Adelai's nursery. I need to finish buying all the little baby girl necessities we need. I need to buy Roman a whole new fall/winter wardrobe. I need to do a lot in ten weeks time. Which will, I'm sure, make it fly by even faster.
I can't wait for you to see the both of their rooms when they are done.
Here is the before picture of Roman's new big boy room:




Here is the before picture of Adelai's nursery.




I'm sorry the rooms are such a mess. The nursery has been cleaned since this picture was taken but I don't want to have to go take another picture.

But yes...thirty weeks. I'm ready to not be pregnant anymore to be honest. This pregnancy has been a lot harder on me than Roman's was. With Roman I really didn't start to feel pregnant until I was like thirty-six weeks pregnant, but with this one I have felt pregnant the whole time. Seriously...if you go look at a pregnancy book and look at the symptoms you might feel through-out...I feel like I have all the ones from the book! Today I couldn't even walk until around two in the afternoon because I was in so much pain. I feel sick to my stomach everyday. And I'm tired all the time. But I just keep telling myself that it is all worth it and it won't last forever. Ten more weeks and then I shall not be pregnant anymore!

Thank you Pinterest- Part 1

So as I mentioned before, this month I am only trying new recipes that I find on Pinterest. It so far has been wonderful! Everything I've made has been delicious. For our first batch of meals we did theme nights. Started out with Mexican night and ended in Asian night. Some of the meals were very time consuming (especially for this swollen little pregnant person) but all very worth it. We just went grocery shopping and all the meals I have planned for from Pinterest are a bit easier and not as time consuming as the ones I just made. Being on my feet for two hours can take it out of me! Especially with my huge belly. But this huge belly certainly appreciated everything I put in it so I can't really complain!

Meal #1: Jalepano Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
So I know this really doesn't go with our theme idea, but I was tired this day and wanted something easy. Plus I mean...we love jalapeno poppers and grilled cheese sandwiches...so there was no way we could go wrong with this recipe! It was amazing!



I omitted the chips and next time I will leave some of the seeds in the jalapeno because it was not spicy enough for me (and this pregnancy is making me crave spicy!

Meal #2: Chicken Enchiladas and Homemade Salsa
So our first night was Mexican themed and it was amazing. The enchiladas were one of those things that were very time consuming to make so Roman missed out on them since they weren't ready till after he went to bed. But Malachi and I had a little impromptu date night. We found some Mariachi band music and had a wonderful Mexican meal. Plus may I mention that I made homemade salsa! I was pretty proud of myself! I will never buy store bought salsa again!




I forgot to add the cumin in the salsa but it delicious just the same. And be prepared...this recipe makes a lot of salsa!

Meal #3: Gyros and Greek Pasta Salad
Malachi was super excited about this meal. He loves Greek food. Loves it. We have both been wanted gyros for a while now but didn't know of any good Greek restaurants around here so why not make them. I was pretty nervous about trying to make them myself since I figured it was one of those things you only eat out but I went for it and I'm glad I did. They were very good. My husband looked like he died and went to heaven while he was eating it! Which makes every moment spent in the kitchen worth it! This was also a time consuming meal to make and I will not lie...making the meat for the gyros was nasty. You have to made a meat paste...so yes...gross. But worth it in the end. I don't think I will attempt this one again for a very loooong time, but I'm glad I did it.




Meal #4: Basil Fondue and Chicken and Bow Ties
I love Italian food so I knew nothing could go wrong with this meal! I changed the fondue from pesto to basil. I followed the recipe except for adding the nuts. I left those out so it was more of a basil fondue than a pesto fondue but it was amazing! I could only have a tiny serving of the pasta because I ate so much fondue! One thing I will do differently next time is cut up the sun dried tomatoes into smaller pieces instead of leaving them in strips. They were too overpowering for me as strips. But other than that is was delicious!




Meal #5: Buffalo wings and Fried Pickles
I was going to make these Buffalo Chicken Bites but I was having a rough pregnancy day and I was tired so my husband decided to make dinner for us. So instead of the complicated 'bites' he made some homemade buffalo wings. They hit the spot! They were super spicy and delicious! I am not ashamed to say that all three of us were covered in buffalo sauce by the end of the meal. Malachi also made fried pickles. And really...can you go wrong with fried pickles? No...I didn't think so!




Meal #6: Mongolian Beef
Alright...so without knowing it I saved the best for last. This recipe was SO good that I not only had it for dinner, I had it for dessert and for lunch the next day. And sadly it is all gone! I will be making this again sometime soon!



I did use pre-cut stir fry meat for the store but that is all I changed in the recipe.

After every meal Malachi tells me he is so happy that I have found Pinterest and he thinks I should keep using it! So I think I shall! Roman has been inspired by Pinterest too!



Keep a look out for part 2!

Takin' it easy

I am starting to get to the point of my pregnancy where I am going to have to start taking it easy. Lately I have been go go go and it is taking a toll on my body. One day I went to the gym and then ran a ton of errands and ended up having some pretty painful contractions throughout the day. And the next two days I kept just as busy and at the end of the night my whole entire body hurt. Malachi has been getting on to me to slow down and I always agree with him, but it is easier said than done. I have SO much to do all the time I feel like! Which is all in my head. I feel like I have to go to the gym three days a week to stay healthy. Malachi asks me why I don't just take it easy at the gym but to me that seems like an oxymoron. I feel like I need to break a sweat. Especially since my goal this time around is to only gain 35-40 pounds. With Roman I gained 60...yes...60 pounds! So that is why I have been 'gyming' it up so much. But I have caved and I am going to start slowing things down at the gym and in all other areas in my life. The last three days Roman and I have locked ourselves in the house (other than running to the library, but that really doesn't count). I'll admit it has been really nice. I felt a little peakish yesterday since I was cooking all day (which I'm so excited about sharing with you all but that is for another day!).  So for my health and my daughter's health I am going to take it easy.

In between the rain

The last couple days have been nothing but rain. I miss my Florida sunshine. We keep scrambling to find things to do, but with an almost two year old, it can be pretty tricky to keep him entertained. On sunny days we have plenty to do: we play in our backyard, we go to the beach, we go to the park, and countless other fun outdoor activities. But since we are stuck inside all day we are sticking to watching movies. I wish we had more indoor playgrounds or fun places to take a toddler to on rainy days. But since we live in sunny Florida, most everything is outdoors. I almost cried when I looked at the weather forecast and saw that it is expected to rain for the rest of the week. Not only for Roman's sake but for mine. I always feel so blah on these kinds of days. I thrive in the sun! I think when Malachi and I settle down somewhere it is going to have to be somewhere that is warm and sunny all year round! When Roman wakes up from his nap I may let him play outside if it isn't storming or raining too hard. Who says a little rain isn't good for you???

I shot a wedding last week so none of my pictures are edited
 

Longingly looking outside (and ewwww...please ignore my dirty windows that I am off to clean RIGHT now!)


Snuggling with Daddy

In other news, I am 26 weeks pregnant today! Adelai is now around 2 pounds...they say she is around the size of an eggplant. My pregnancy calendar told me I am 2/3s done with this pregnancy. Which is insane! I just found out we were pregnant like....yesterday! Where is all this time gone? This time around time is going by a lot faster, but it is probably because I am chasing a 22 month old around all the time. I am so glad that my first pregnancy was the easy one and this one is the harder one. If my first one was hard I think I would have sat around and moped all the time. But with Roman I have no time to think about the pain or how sick I feel. I have to be strong for him. It is amazing how having children makes you a harder-working person.

Gah! I love him so much!


He has the longest eyelashes!

I am so happy about starting a new month. This past month was kind of tight budget wise, but in August it is going back to normal. I will have money to put more of Roman's big boy room together and I'm looking forward to that. This week I am going to take pictures of the nursery and Roman's big boy room so that you can see the transformation happen. I never really got to decorate Roman's nursery in this house because when we moved in, Malachi and I went on our honeymoon, I went out of town to visit my parents, and then I got pregnant and sick...so needless to say the room is pretty sad looking. But that will all change in the next few months!

These were taken before the rain descended upon us!


My little man with a big personality!



Have you ever heard of Pinterest? It is amazing! It is a place where you kind find all kinds of inspiration for anything you can think of. I use it for party ideas, holiday ideas, recipe ideas, decorating ideas, hair ideas, and so many other things. In August I am going to do a month of Pinterest for our dinners. My mouth just waters thinking about it! I will take pictures of everything I make and share them with you! I am making some pretty amazing looking dishes!




But now I am off to finish dinner! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!