date night with my little man

Tonight I got to have a dinner date with my little man.

Having date nights with the kids is something we try to make time

for regularly. It does get forgotten about with busy months flying by.

When we are really on top of it we do it twice month so that

each child gets a date night with each parent.

You can check out two previous dates here. 

  

This was actually a spur of the moment outing.

Josh was in Bellingham having dinner with his siblings

and Michelle went with friends to the high school football game.

We went down the road to the Nuthouse.

He loves throwing peanuts everyone.

He brought along his own crayons and paper to draw.

It was fun to have unitterupted time to talk with him.

We talked along about hot dogs believe or not because

he wanted the mini corn dogs. Which led to how we 

thought hot dogs got there name. 

We then had to Google how hot dogs got there name.

When we got home we had some great snuggle time

while he played Minecraft. I love that even though he keeps getting
older he still loves his snuggle time, hugs, his head rubbed
 and even a kiss on his head before he leaves for school.
I always ask him if he will still snuggle me when he high school.
He always say yes which warms my heart but I am pretty sure he won't.
Makes me super sad and cherish these moments together that much more.

Josh and Jordanare now off

at basketball practice while I enjoy an hour of quiet

besides the X-factor on tv. 

Mongolian beef...Its whats for dinner

Sticking with my menu plan I made another dinner I found on Pinterest!

Mongolian beef with broccoli, brown rice and egg rolls.

I found the recipe here at Our Blessed Family.

I followed their advice and cut the brown sugar in half.
This is definitely a new family favorite!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp Vegetable oil

1 tsp Ginger, minced 

2 tbsp Garlic, chopped

1/2 cup Soy sauce

1 cup Dark brown sugar

{I used 1/2 cup}

1/2 cup Vegetable oil

{I used coconut oil}

1 lb Flank steak or sirloin sliced thinly

1/4 cup Cornstarch

 2 Cups Broccoli steamed

Directions:

Heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil in skillet over medium high heat until hot. 

Add ginger and garlic and let sizzle for 30 seconds, then add soy sauce. 

Gradually add the brown sugar and let it dissolve while stirring. 

Let the sauce come to a boil, then simmer for 2-3 minutes.

 Remove from heat and set aside.

Place meat and corn starch in a bag and shake to coat the meat. 

Let meat sit for 10 minutes, so the cornstarch sticks to the meat.

Put 1/2 c. vegetable oil in a wok/ skillet and heat on medium-high until hot. 

Add the meat to the wok and brown for about 4-5 minutes. 

Remove the meat from the pan with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels to drain.

Clean the pan out and return meat to pan and cook on high for about 2 more minutes. 

Add the sauce to the pan and cook for another minute. 

Add broccoli and cook for 1 minute longer.

Remove from heat and serve with brown rice.

chili tortellini

Tonight for dinner I made Chili Tortellini.

It was yummy but the recipe made a TON.

I was able to freeze some for another night

and share some with my mom and sister!

I got the recipe off of pinterest.

I actually menu planned before going to the store.

I am trying to get back into that habit.

Then I am not trying to throw something together at

5 'o clock and stressing. Much easier having a plan.

You can find the recipe here!

The few changes I made was I used ground turkey, added 

diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano, 

Cheese Tortellini, and used pinto beans 

because it was what I had on hand. 

The photo below shows how much we had left after we ate!

The pan was overflowing!

night's end

I originally got on my computer 40 minutes ago to write a post for today.

Then I got on pinterest and have been mindlessly browsing.

Now my eyes are burning and I am more then ready to go to bed.

I have Jordan laying next to me playing Mario cart.

Michelle is at my mom's spending the night.

Josh is down stairs watching Monday night football.

In about 15 minutes he will come up to tuck Jordan in 

and read him a chapter in his book. We will then get in bed

and watch shows until I can't stay up any longer which usually by ten.

That is how we are winding down the day and ending our night.

Until tomorrow good night!

October in photos

Memorable moments from October

Josh turned 30!

Jordan finishing up flag football

Michelle finishing up fast pitch

Pumpkin Patch 

going to Bellewoods

fall "camping"

Sundays spent watching football

Jordan loosing a tooth

Jordan class fall party

Trick or treating

linking up to Sunday Snapshot and Simple Things Sunday

blog everyday

November is my month to blog everyday!

I really hope I can do it.

I am good at starting projects/challenges but not sticking with

them or finishing.  So we will see :)

Today went by pretty fast.

I woke up and headed out the door to run errands in Bellingham.

I dropped Michelle off at her friend's house on the way.

Josh was supposed to go hunting at 2 pm so I had a time frame.

I did Wal-mart, Costco and some returns to Old Navy before heading back.

I got a text from Josh on the way home that hunting got canceled due 

to the gross weather. I don't like this weather. It may errands

went and cold. My pants like to soak up all the water.

I think I may have to retire the flip flops for a few months.

I grabbed some $5 fave pizzas from Papa Murphy for lunch/dinner.

By the time I got everything in the house I was cold and soaked.

I took a hot shower and put on some fuzzy warm socks.

Jordan wanted to watch a snuggle movie with daddy 

so we watched Cool Runnings. I love watching older movies with the kids.

When that was over we met some friends of ours for ice cream at Edaleen.

On the way home Jordan told Josh he wanted to have boy time in the garage.

They played pop a shot and listened to the music.

I headed up to my room with my lap top to menu plan for the next few weeks.

That is exactly where I am now catching up on The X factor

while I plan.  Pretty exciting day I know. Hopefully as the month goes on

I can find more exciting things to blog about.

Good night and don't forget to fall back tonight!

Halloween {2013}

Yesterday was an all around fun filled day.

Started the morning off in Jordan's class for some fall fun activities.

There were stations set up for the kids to rotate through

such as cookie decorating, graphing candy/snacks, making spider suckers,

playing memory, bowling ect. I got to be in charge of the candy graphing!

Since it was early release day they kids had lunch at 10:20.

After lunch and recess we did one last station before playing fall bingo.

Following bingo the kids got to eat their cookies, have some juice 

and a few kids including Jordan had brought treats to share.

School was out at noon so Jordan had plenty of time to play with his buddy Ty

for a while before his mom came. They always have so much fun playing together

and they are both great at using their imaginations.

After Ty got picked up Jordan and I had a little down time.

I "tried" to take a nap while he played on ipad.

I have been super tired the past few days from not sleeping well at night.
At 5:30 we met up with all the cousins to take a few pictures before
trick or treating begun. This is the first year I let Michelle go with a group
of friends on her own. She went with a group of eight girls. I gave her a time to
check in and time to be home. She actually came by the house at her check in time
with her friends which was nice to physically see her.
After pictures we went to Jana's neighborhood.
Jordan was done by the time we got done there so we walked home.
He wanted to give out treats at our house for a bit.
When we got tired of answering the door around 8:00 we just stuck the
bucket on the porch and it was gone in less then 10 minutes.