Life

If you are one of my blog regulars, or if you just stop by from time to time, then you might have noticed that I didn't post a post yesterday. This is because I really have nothing new to post right now. Life has been very hard and very busy and I haven't had the time to create the blogs that I had been planning on posting and I have pretty much posted all of my back ups, hints all the recent recipe posts.

On April 1st I got a phone call from my family in Oregon telling me that my Grandpa's doctors had given him only 24 to 48 hours, my Grandpa had been battling liver cancer for the last two years, so I threw some stuff in a couple suitcases and my family and I took the first flight that we could get out of Denver. We landed in Portland early Wednesday morning, April 2nd, and drove straight to my grandparents house to say our goodbyes. My grandpa passed away that night surrounded by his family.

I spent 3 weeks in Oregon with my family helping get done what needed to be done and trying to cope with my Grandpa's passing with everyone else in my family. 

 I miss you grandpa...so much!

I am now back in Colorado and trying to get back to my regular life but its hard since my life isn't what it regularly was, every day it gets harder because it becomes a bit more real. Blogging is my outlet, it is something I really love to do and it will help get me through this tough time. I am looking forward to getting back on track and getting new posts posted so stay tuned!

Happy Easter

I am very excited about Easter this year since my son and I get to spend it with my family in Oregon. Easter with my family has always been so much fun! We all get together at my grandparents house, color eggs, have an Easter egg hunt competition, stuff ourselves with a big dinner, over do it with sweet desserts then finish off the night playing board games and laughing our butts off...like I said fun! This is going to be my sons first Easter here in Oregon so I wanted to make it extra special.

When my son woke up this morning he was so surprised to see his bright green, toy filled Easter basket which the Easter Bunny had left for him. The Easter Bunny had also left some big bunny foot prints on my parents floor.

Easy! Self made stencil and some flour.

For lunch I made a cute Easter themed meal.

Supplies:

Foil

Red and Yellow Food Coloring

Crescent Rolls

I made a couple cone shapes out of foil then I wrapped the twisted up crescent roll pieces around the cones.

I mixed some red and yellow food coloring with a bit of water to create a dark orange color. I then brushed the food coloring mixture onto the crescent rolls and placed them in the oven for about 10-15 minutes.

After they were done baking I wiggled the foil out from inside of the crescent rolls making a small cavity in the middle of each roll which I filled with some egg salad.
This was such a fun, cute, creative, Easterish way to serve up lunch and most importantly my son loved it.

For a little sweet snack I made some Easter S'mores using bright colored, egg shaped marshmallows which I found at Walmart.

I made the s'mores in the oven which was set on broil. I left the s'mores open faced so the marshmallows would bake.

And bake they did! They looked just like they had been cooked over a camp fire.

The s'mores were so sticky good, everyone enjoyed them!

So far our Easter has been very special and its about to get even better because its time to head to my grandparents house...let the games begin!

 What are your plans for Easter?



Fun And Easy Easter Basket

My son turns into the Tasmanian Devil when he eats to much candy so you can imagine what our candy filled holidays, Halloween and Easter, are like. We are spending this Easter with my family in Oregon and I have a feeling that Great Grandma's Easter basket is going to spoil my son rotten so I thought it might be a good idea to make our Easter basket a fun, non edible one so I took a quick trip to The Dollar Tree.

The Dollar Tree had a couple aisles full of fun Easter themed gifts like the Easter sticker book, the blue stuffed rabbit, the awesome rabbit sun glasses and the chick book full of shapes.

I also found some great toys in the regular aisles as well. The spinning sound tube (I don't know the proper name for it obviously), the monster truck, Mickey and Minnie puzzle, number flash cards and the Mickey bubbles.
As you can see I did throw in a tiny green Easter Bunny that has some gum balls in it, I thought this might come in handy when we fly home. I give him a small piece of gum to chew on take off and landing to help his ears.

And instead of buying a regular Easter basket that will most likely end up broken or in our garage I decided to buy a canvas bag in my sons favorite color. This is something that he can use over and over again.

 

So here it is, my fun mostly non edible Easter basket! What will you be putting in your kids Easter Basket this year?!

 



Nederland (C.I.C)

My mom and I love exploring Colorado's great outdoors when she comes to visit, so one sunny day we packed a picnic and drove up to Boulder Falls!

Unfortunately we were met with this sign when we got there....Fail!

 Disappointed we walked back to the car which was parked in the pull off "parking lot" across from the falls. Before we packed up and left we looked over the wall of the "parking lot" and saw this. So we decided to be a bit adventurist and climb down the side of the road to play in the water and have our picnic.

The water felt amazing and everything was so beautiful! 

Our picnic was fun and scrumptious!

I don't know about you but I kinda love impromptu adventures!

After our food was gone and we had played in the water for awhile we ventured a little more west into the town of Nederland on a quest for some icecream.

Nederland had some of the best signs I have ever seen!

They also have a cool covered bridge for you to walk over instead of walking on the side of the road.

We were so thirsty after hiking around and playing in the water that when we came upon Buffalo Bill's Coffee and Confections we stopped in to get some iced tea before we ventured on up the road to the ice cream shop.
This place was awesome! It was 3 train cars that were filled with old furniture. I do have to say that the service wasn't the best though. I went up to the counter twice to get a tea refill and there was no one anywhere to be found both times which was really frustrating because I was really thirsty!

Next on our walk we found a carousel, The Carousel Of Happiness, and decided to take a ride. It was a great carousel, it was more old fashioned then the ones now a days.

 After both of our unexpected pit stops we finally found the ice cream shop, Blue Owl Books. I'm not going to lie I was a skeptical when I saw the outside of the building but it was seriously the best ice cream I have had in the longest time! We talked to one of the employees and he told us that the guy who makes the ice cream for them lives in Lakewood Colorado and only makes 3 tubs of ice cream every couple of months!

Nederland was a cool little town to see and I would go back but I definitely wouldn't plan a whole day trip there because there really isn't that much to do or see, I think we pretty much did everything they had to offer. We were also disappointed because ALL of the little shops along the road were closed for some odd reason, it was the middle of the day in the middle of the week which doesn't make sense to me but oh well! 

Nederland Colorado
http://nederlandco.org/

Healthy Homemade Pot Pie

I love chicken pot pies and I used to buy the frozen ones from the store all the time until I found out just how bad they are for you, I haven't bought them since. Instead I started making my own healthier version.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons Flour

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/4 teaspoon Pepper

1 1/4 cup Fat Free Milk

1/2 cup Chopped Onion

1 can Fat Free Cream Of Chicken

1/4 cup Light Sour Cream

2 large Cooked Cubed Chicken Breasts

1/2 cup Frozen Peas

1/2 cup Frozen Carrots

1/2 cup Frozen Corn

1 Pie Crust

In a sauce pan over medium heat mix the flour, salt, pepper and milk together using a whisk. Stir until well blended and then stir in the onions. Let cook, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

Pour the soup and sour cream into the sauce pan and stir until well mixed. 

Now add the chicken and vegetables and stir well. Let cook, stirring frequently, until everything is heated through.

Pour the mixture into a round casserole dish, I only had this small metal pie pan so I poured my mixture into this pan then placed the pan on a baking sheet. I knew that the mixture would boil over the sides of the small pan and I really didn't want to have to clean me oven after fixing dinner.

 Unroll the pie crust and place it on top of the mixture. Fold the edges of the crust then cut a couple slits into the center of the crust to ventilate. 

Place in a pre heated 375 degree for about 35 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

This recipe is so yummy and really easy to make and the best part....it tastes so yummy!

DIY Sock Bun

Thanks to my ex being in the Military I've known about sock buns since before they started making the mesh bun ring and before the sock bun became a part of fashion. Its super simple to make a sock bun using one of your old socks so save your money and follow the directions below.

Grab an old tall sock, use one that is pretty close to your own hair color.
Cut the tip of the toe off of the sock.

Now roll the sock until you get a tight round circle and that's it, like I said...super simple!

To make my sock buns I start out with my hair in a high pony.
I put my hair through the sock circle then slide it up to the top of my pony.

I then flip my hair over the sock. Using my hands I smooth out my hair, making sure that none of the sock is showing.
I then take a tight hair band and place it over the sock.

I then like to wrap the extra hair around the hair band and pin it in place.
Or I braid the extra hair, secure the end with a plastic band, then wrap it around the hair band and pin it in place.
Both ways look amazing, sleek and can look pretty chic....love!

Thrifted Twin Threads (Lauren Conrad)

Spring is here and I am loving it! When I saw Lauren Conrad in this outfit I thought of spring which made me smile so of course I had to recreate it.

I thought that the floral shirt and the nude flats would be a cute look for Easter.

If I would of bought each piece new I would of paid around $640 but since I bought everything thrifted I spent about $41.

 

Delicious Quick Dessert

Every once in awhile I'll get a craving for dessert but I never want to give into the craving because I don't want to feel guilty or ruin my healthy eating day, if its my cheat day then I'll give in! So if I do get a dessert craving that I just cant ignore I make myself this yummy, sweet treat.

All you need is an apple cut into bite size pieces, melted peanut butter (chunky is my favorite) and some dark chocolate chocolate chips. 

Yummy!

March Favorites

March was a pretty busy month. My husband was still out of work so I was still driving him to 3+ doctors appointment a week, I planned and concord my sons birthday party and the motocross season started so I tried to help my brother-in-law and nephew get some new sponsors. All these were pretty time consuming but still fun! Here are some of my favorites from March:

Random: Of course this is my sons Go Diego Go Birthday Party, it was so much fun and I was so happy with the way everything turned out.

TV/Movie: My dad told me about the movie Silver Linings Playbook when I was in Oregon and now its one of my favorites. I love Jennifer Lawrence!

Style/Beauty: I found a tube of Enregin Cuticle Oil at The Dollar Tree and thought I would give it a try and I really like it. My cuticles get so dry and gross during the colder months and this has actually really helped, I'm weird and like the way it smells too.

Food: Since it was still pretty chilly in March and I caught a cold I ended up eating a lot of Soup. It was the only thing that sounded good and tasted good. My favorite was definitely potato!

Music: I never got on the whole boy band bandwagon but when I first heard this song, One Direction - Story Of My Life, I totally fell in love with it. I don't know if my husband wants me admitting this to you all but he loves this song too...shhhhh! So we blast it whenever we are in the car which has a lot!

My son and I finally saw Frozen and both of us loved it, now I know what all the hype was about! The first thing I did was download Let It Go because I loved the song so much, I am constantly catching myself singing or humming it as I'm doing things around the house.

March Disappointment: My cell phone decided to just stop working for me so I called my cell phone insurance company to get a replacement. Silly me thought that this whole process was going to be simple, I would send them my broken phone and they would send me a refurbished phone...I mean that is what we pay a monthly insurance fee for right?! Nope they told me that I need to send them $100 just to send them my broken phone then they would send me a used refurbished phone. I told them that was insane and we canceled our policy with them. So now I am stuck Without A Working Cell until I can find an affordable one online or one of my very awesome friends lets me use one of their old ones until I can upgrade! We will never get cell insurance again because to us its pretty pointless. The only reason we got it in the first place was because the salesman told us that if our phones were ever lost, stolen or broken they would replace them for us, of course he left out the part about the $100...sneaky sneaky!

Sick Toddler Solutions

There is some nasty stuff going around right now and of course I was the first person in our family to catch it. I spent two days in bed but I'm feeling a bit better now, good thing since my son just caught the cold. I do everything I can possibly do to help him feel better and get over the cold as fast as he can. I have a past post where I shared my Sick Baby Solutions but now that my son is older there are more medicines for him to take to help ease the pain and uncomfortableness that comes along with a cold. So I thought it would be a good idea to update my sick child solutions.

The most important thing is hydration! 

When my son is sick I give Mott's For Tots Immune Support Juice throughout the day and if his throat isn't hurting I will give him a small glass of orange juice to get some Vitamin C first thing in the morning.

And of course water, water and more water. 

Water helps your body heal and it will keep an irritated throat moist.

If his throat is really hurting him I make him a hot cup of decaffeinated green tea. I let it steep for 10 minutes with a small slice of orange in it. I add a bit of honey to sweeten it up and to help sooth his throat.

As far as medicines go I try to use more natural products, my favorite is Hyland's 4 Kids. During the day I give him Hyland's 4 Kids Cold 'n Cough and at night we use Hyland's 4 Kids Cold 'n Cough Nighttime. 

To see if he is running a fever I still use my favorite thermometer from Vicks. If he is running a fever then I give him a chewable children's ibuprofen. 

Some times if my sons throat is really bad and the hot tea and medicines aren't fully working I will give him half a Halls cough drop, he likes the strawberry flavor.

For my sons runny, stuffy nose I love to use these Cool Touch Kleenex. His little nose can get pretty red and raw from all the wiping and blowing but these leave his nose feeling cool.

Night time is the worst! 

So before I put him in bed I give him a nice warm bath. I fill the bath tub with hot water then close the door letting the bathroom fill up with steam and letting the water cool so it doesn't burn him. I also add Johnson's Baby Bath with Soothing Vapors. I love this stuff! He always feels a bit better after his bath and he is definitely less congested.

Before I get him dressed in his pj's I rub a bit of Vicks Vapor Rub on his chest, back and on the bottom of his feet. I then put on his cozy pajamas and slip on some socks. This definitely helps with his congestion and his cough.

To try and help him sleep more soundly I put a bit of Vicks Vapor Rub into my Potpourri Crock. The Vapor Rub melts filling his room with soothing vapors.
I also plug in our Vicks Warm Mist Humidifier to help put warm moisture in the air which helps relieve my sons cough and congestion.

Rest!
I try and keep my son in bed or on the couch as much as possible and if he falls asleep I let him sleep. But trying to keep a toddler calm and resting can be pretty impossible so I like to sit or lay down with him and watch his favorite animated movies. 

When my son catches a cold its never just a little cold. He has children's asthma so his colds often turn into bronchitis and when this happens we normally end up at the doctors and he ends up having to use a neutralizer to help clear and open up his lunges which he is not a fan of. I'm not a doctor by any means but I do what I can to prevent my sons colds from turning into bronchitis so I take the steps I take, all of the above, as soon as I see that he has gotten sick and they all seem to help out tremendously.