Quick Dinner Idea

A few days ago I made Pork Fried Rice at home.  It came out pretty good so I thought I would share. 


Here's what I used.

1 small diced onion
4 oz diced  mushrooms
1/2 can of carrots
1/4 cup peas
1 packet fried rice seasoning
1 packet of soy sauce
1 1/2 packages of jasmine rice (ready rice - cooked)
1 Egg
Leftover Pork Tenderloin

 

 

 

To hot pan add some olive oil and your onions, mushroom, carrots, peas, and pork tenderloin (or any meat you want really). 

 

 

 

 

 

Then add your seasoning packet, soy sauce ( I only used half), and cooked rice.  Mix it up and its done.  We had a side of egg rolls with it. 

Oh, I cooked the egg on the side for my husband.  I don't like egg in my fried rice.

October Favorites - Toddler and Mom

Thought it would be fun to do monthly favorites posts at the end of each month.  So here we go with October favorites!

Toddler Favorites

Little Tykes Cozy Coupe - we bought this for him at the beginning of the month and its the first thing he plays with as soon as we come downstairs in the morning.  We keep it inside - figured winter is coming and it would be fun for him to use inside

Books - pretty much any books.  See last weeks library book picks here.

Smoothies - he has one every morning.  He really loves these.  Probably not the best for him.  I have tried to make homemade smoothies and he wants nothing to do with it.

Tumblebugs Open Gym Class - We started this class earlier this month and he loves it.  He can run around and play with others.  Bonus he sleeps for almost three hours on the day we do this class.  It really tires him. 

Mom Favorites

This month has been kind of busy around here so only a few things stood out as favorites.

Garnier BB Cream - I absolutely love this.  I can get my redness covered quickly so I can be out the door.

The Leftovers - I really love this show.  Its on Sundays on HBO. 

My planner - I have really enjoyed using my planner and embellishing it.  I have been very organized and its been fun!

 

Weekly Menu

Every week I sit down with the grocery store weekly ad and come up with my weekly menu.  I thought I would share this weeks.  I will also follow up on this post with some recipes on some of favs from this week!

Friday

BLT's and soup

 

Saturday

Fish and Potatoes

 

Sunday

Beef Tacos

 

Monday

Homemade Pasta Sauce with Turkey Sausage and Pasta

 

Tuesday

Beef Barely Soup

 

Wednesday

Pork Fried Rice

 

Thursday

Alfredo Pasta

 

 

 

Mummy Juice box - Halloween Craft

Here's a quick Halloween craft idea to do with your little ones! 

You will need:
Adhesive Gauze
Juice box with the straw removed from back
Eyes

Wrap the gauze around your juice box.  Then simply glue your eyes on!  Ta-Da!  Super cute - and easy!!!




Do you guys have any quick Halloween crafts to share?

Planners!

Planners are going crazy right now.  Who would have imagined with smart phones we would want to actually write things down?  Well, we do!  Or at least I do....

This post I wanted to share two planners that I currently own.  I also just placed an order on Etsy for planner stickers that I can show in a separate post if there is interest.


So I own a Blue Sky planner that I purchased at Walmart for around $10.00.  Yesterday I purchased a MAMBI Happy Planner at Hobby Lobby for around $15 using my coupon.  Below are some comparison pictures.



I really like the size of my Blue Sky planner.  It is easy to write in.  On the other hand I really like the weekly set up of the MAMBI.  It is easier to embellish if that is your thing.  Do you use planners?  What is your planner of choice?

MAMBI Planner Weekly Pages

MAMBI Planner Monthly Pages

Blue Sky Planner Monthly Pages

Blue Sky Planner Weekly Pages

Toddler Book Ideas

Here is another weeks worth of library books.  We just got these this morning and have only had a chance to sit down with them once.  As usual he really likes these touch and feel books.  I put several on his Christmas list.

Left to right:

That's not my pig... - touch and feel book
That's not my plane... - touch and feel book
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? - cute rhyming book.  He didn't seem to interested but I know this is a real popular book
That's not my lamb..- touch and feel book
Animal Noises - animals and the sounds they make


What books are you loving to read to your little one?
Check out last weeks books here.

Toddler Meal Ideas

I tried to take pictures this week of my sons meals (when I remembered!).  Thought this would be a good way to share meal ideas.  Please put your favorite meals to feed your little one in the comments below!  Check out another recipe idea here.




Breakfast: Cinnamon toast waffles, blueberries and a smoothie

Breakfast: Chocolate waffles and raspberries (also a smoothie not pictured)

Lunch: Peanut butter and jelly, goldfish crackers, and a banana



Dinner: Split pea soup (recipe from Skinnytaste blog) but I added noodles to his, strawberries and grapes

Fall activities to do with your little one

October is almost over so it's crunch time to do all of those fun fall activities.  I thought I would create a quick, short list of things to do.  These are things I found around where I live but I am certain something similar would exist around you as well.


1) Pumpkin Patches!  This is a given.  So fun to walk through the pumpkins and pick some out to carve (or paint in our case).

2) Local Farms - around here we have a lot of produce farms.  They all transform into fall fun lands.  Straw mazes, hay to climb, horses, feeding animals, apple picking, etc.  I would google it to see if there are any of these by you.

3)  Halloween parties - every Park District around where I live is having some type of Halloween party.  Also our locals libraries have Halloween parties.  We will be attending several.  Most of these are free or under $10.

4) Trick or treating - if the weather doesn't hold up to take your little one outside trick or treating, check your local malls.  Our mall has trick or treating hours so that kids can go into each store and get their treats.  There is also other activities taking place.

Hope this gives you all some ideas!  If you have any other ideas, please post them below. 

Some Halloween crafts my mom made for us

Traveling with a toddler - Universal Studios - Orlando

This topic is going to be a multi post topic.  This year, we traveled to Orlando with our son twice.  Once to Disney and once to Universal. 

Today I am going to talk about Universal Studios. 

We went at the end of August, so it wasn't too busy as most kids were back in school.  However, it was HOT and humid but that is to be expected.  My son was almost 20 months old when we went.

We purchased our tickets right at Universal.  My husband purchased an Express Pass as he was going to be riding most of the rides and was hoping to do so quickly.  My first impression was that we aren't at Disney!  It really is not as baby friendly as anywhere in Disney.  I am talking about everything from rides, to restaurants, to stores, to simply just walking around and finding a place to get a stroller up onto the sidewalk without climbing up the curb.

Rides:  The only ride my son did was ET.  He just made the height requirement.  He is very tall for his age.  In hindsight, this ride was probably too scary for him.  I felt bad the whole time we were on it.  I could tell he was kind of nervous.  I remember riding this dozens of times when I was younger and it just seemed more "scary" now.  My husband did most of the other rides and enjoyed Transformers the best, FYI.

Attractions:  He really enjoyed the Curious George and Fievels Playland sections.  He played there for awhile.  We also spent quite a bit of time walking around the Simpson's area.  That was more for us than him.  :)

Curious George

Fievel's Playland

Fievel's Playland



Simpson's




Food:  We ate lunch at Universal.  We had pizza at Louie's Italian Restaurant.  It was good pizza.  Not awesome but good. 

 
  Shopping:  The only shopping I did was buying a small ET from the store that the ride lets out at.  It was a horrible shopping experience.  It took at least 10 minutes to check out and I was the only one in the store. 


Overall I would actually go back but not until he is older.  I really wished we had done Disney again instead of Universal at this age.

Stay tuned for my other posts about Universal.  They will include the CityWalk, Cabana Bay Beach Resort (and other Universal hotels), and more!










 

Toddler Book Suggestions

I have another post on what library books we checked out this week.  We have five books this time. 

Left to right:

Through the Town -  a really cute rhyming book although the pictures aren't great. 
That's not my pony... - a touch and feel book. He likes these types
Farmyard Rhymes - a book of popular rhymes related to farm animals
That's not my pirate... - another touch and feel book
Little Critters Colors - a book with each color listed per page with coordinating pictures

Overall his favorite this week are the touch and feel books.  I will do another post next week with new books.

Check out last weeks books here.

Busy Books

I wanted to share another busy book my mom made.  This one, like the other, is made of felt so it's very soft.  This one is "interactive" meaning there are removable parts (using Velcro).  He really like this one.  The down side to this one is making sure you don't lose any of the pieces.

Check out my other busy book post here.

Mall Play Area

I have really underestimated the mall play area all these months.  I just assumed it would be a dangerous, not so fun, thing to do with my son.  It actually turned out to be a really fun activity to get some of his energy out. Ours was carpeted with really plush carpet and all the things to climb on were soft plastic (who knew?!)

We will be going back for sure!

Skip Hop Duo Limited Edition Diaper Bag - French Stripe

At the beginning of the summer I was in the market for a new diaper bag.  We were going to Orlando in August and wanted something new for the trip.

After much research I decided on the Skip Hop Duo Limited Edition Diaper Bag  in French Stripe.  It was a great decision.  I really love this diaper bag.  It has plenty of pockets.  It's big without looking huge.  I think it's a trendy pattern.  I purchased mine at Babies R Us for around $70.00

It has a total of 6 exterior pockets and two interior slip pockets. 
Two front pockets have a magnetic closure.  Side pockets are zip closure.  From pocket and main compartment are zip closures. Back pocket has no closure.

You can carry this by the two short handles or with long handle which can be worn cross body which is how I use it.  Stay tuned for a what's in my diaper bag post.

Toddler Snack Ideas

Coming up with new snacks is tough in our house. He is not a big snacker to begin with but sometimes he doesn't eat enough breakfast and a snack is needed.  Here are some snacks that he has been loving this week.

From left to right:

Gerber Graduates - he pretty much loves all of these flavors and they are great if he didn't eat enough veggies or fruits

Yogurt melts - even though he is 20 months old and these are typically for younger babies these are still a huge hit

Freeze dried sliced fruit - these are from Costco and he LOVES these

Fruit and Grain Bar - these are good as a snack or even an on the go breakfast

Motts Medley Fruit Snacks- these fruit snacks are made with some veggie juice and are really soft

Hope this helps!  I will post another one of these in a few weeks.

Toddler Lunch Idea

Being a stay at home mom I have to come up with lunch seven days a week for my little one.  We try to leave eating out for once a week during the weekend only.  My son really loves this meal. 

You can use anything you want as far as veggies go.  You can even add some chicken.  My son isn't big on meat so I leave it out.  I pretty much eye everything but I here's what I used.

Cream of Chicken Noodles

Half a small can of sliced carrots
Couple spoons of frozen peas
1/2 cup of uncooked noodles
One envelope of Lipton Cream of Chicken Soup

Bring some water to a boil.  Add carrots, peas, and noodles.  Cook until noodles are soft.  Drain and return to the pot.  Add a couple spoons of cool water and envelope of soup.  Mix up and serve!

Busy Books

I have seen busy books online and thought they were a great idea.  They are awesome for restaurants or traveling which we do (posts on that coming soon) or simply if you are trying to get something done.

I was talking to my mom about them and she offered to try her hand at making one.  They can be pretty expensive so I took her up on it.  This is what she came up with.

 

We obviously love it. He can say his ABC's and this makes it more fun to do it.  It's made of felt so it's really soft. 

 

She has also made others with numbers and an interactive one where he can remove things  and put them back.  You can see that post here. 

 

Please follow this blog to see more posts about this and other things in the future!

Discovering the library

This past week the weather has become chilly.  I was looking for something to do to pass some time outside of the house.  On a whim I decided to hit the local library.  Turned out the be a great idea.  They had a cute little play area with toys, puzzles, a little computer and of course books.

We also checked out some books since all the books we have at home had been read at least 50 times each.  We ended up hitting two other libraries before the week was up. 

In the past we have done story time at the library which is also great and we will do again. 

 

 

We checked out four books this week.  All were a success.  He enjoyed them all and we have read them several times already.  "That's not my lion...." is a touch and feel book which he really likes. 

 

Books shown:

Kiss, Kiss Good Night (Upper Left)

Curious George Neighborhood Friends (Upper Right)

Spot Says Please (Lower Left)

That's not my lion....(Lower Right)

 

Overall his favorite was definitely Kiss, Kiss Good Night.  In fact I put it on his Christmas list.  He really enjoyed this one.

 

I wanted to note on the Curious George book.  It has flaps that can be pulled to reveal a word.  While he loved this he ended up accidently ripping the book and costing me $8!  I am now the proud of owner of a Curious George book that wasn't in good shape to start with.