new shoes

Dave and I went to a halloween party on saturday night and I brought out a pair of red heels to wear with my costume. Riley saw them and jumped into them. I haven't been able to get them back to actually put them away. He calls them his new dancing shoes. all day long I hear clickity clack. SO funny.

halloween

this year was the first year Riley actually got to choose his own costume. out of all the hundreds of things he could have chosen...he chose this little number. It was love at first sight. I didn't buy it right away and he did nothing but talk about it and ask for it.


yes a hamburger. that's my goofy kid. it was a hit though and I made his hat. which we didn't even need. it was a beautiful night for trick or treating.

trick or treating this year was soo much fun. we went last year but after about a dozen houses he was done. this year he was soo excited and talked about it for days before. we went to a different neighborhood with our neighbors and their kiddos. it was a blast!

reward chart

so, my sweet used to be 2 year old entered the world of 3 with full force. he is still sweet and funny and a good listener, most of the time, but he has really been testing his limits. So after doing a lot of looking around, I decided to start him a reward chart. I chose to do a tic tac toe grid. the sheet has four rows of four grids. he gets to put a sticker in a box for things like picking up his toys without being asked, using his nice voice and not the screaming one ( please and thank you is great..but not when it's being screamed at you) and just following directions the first time I ask. when he fills a grid he gets to pick a treat. anything from a cookie or fruit snack to a sticker and extra time at the park. when he fills up two rows, then he gets to either get extra tv time or a trip to target to pick out a new hot wheel. and then for filling the entire page he gets to pick a fun trip like pump it up, the zoo or a lunch date to where ever he chooses. within reason of course. it seems to be working. it's nice to see him so excited about his accomplishments. So i was wondering if any of my other mommy friends out there have had to start similar charts or what do you guys do for rewarding good behavior?
Since I haven't blogged in awhile, Some other things going on with us...we had some family photos taken last month, we were without a computer for a week or so, Riley is doing great with potty training..if only I could get him to poop on the potty. he stays dry...any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated. I know once he does it he will be good to go.. I have been searching for a preschool for him for a few months now, I am having a hard time finding one with an extended birthday date. The only one I found we are on a waiting list for because the class is only 8 kids and it's full. and he needs to be fully potty trained to go. almost there, except for the poop.I am off to sew a fleece hat to go with riley's Halloween costume. he has been telling me all week that he really wants to go trick or treating and driving me crazy! is this what my parents felt like during holidays? and this morning he told us that he really needed a cookie, really pathetic and weak like. ( it didn't work). until next time!

party!

We had decided to do a small party at the house for Riley for his birthday. We took him to the beach on his actual birthday. I was thinking like 10 people...but it ended up being more like 46! Most of them being kids. I was looking around during the party and was overwhelmed a little by all the people that love and care about my son. He is one lucky kid. We had a great time. I made cupcakes instead of a getting a cake. and because Of the number I needed to make I had to get creative and make my own cupcake stand. I was rather pleased with the way it tuned out. Instead of games, because I am not big on party games, I created a craft table with glue sticks, color pages, construction paper, foam stickers and crayons and markers and stickers. it was a hit. even the adults could be found coloring at the table :0) outside I had some lightning mcqueen beach balls I scored at the dollar tree and some bubbles with large wands, sidewalk chalk. I found some trophy's for free at a garage sale a few weeks ago and snatched them up. When I pulled them out for the party Riley got all excited..My piston cup! I used them for candy bowls. I found some free clip art and made my own labels using address labels and just stuck them around the chocolate pieces. they were a big hit. I also took the same idea for gift bags and just stuck them onto paper bags. The party was a big success.
The next day we got up early and headed to the beach for the day. It was beautiful day! Riley was so excited to go. we went to the aquarium, outlet malls, and of course the beach. that was his favorite. all the way there he was telling us that he was going to swim in the ocean. Umm, yeah. then we hit our favorite candy store on the way out and got some taffy and homemade Carmel. what a great way to spend a birthday! happy big 3 little man!

11 more days

and I will have a 3 year old in my house! (and the new found "attitude" to prove it!) I am amazed that we are about to celebrate Riley's 3rd birthday. time has flown, and I couldn't be prouder of the little boy he has become. He is very polite, independant, funny and a great problem solver. The conversations that take place these days are so fun. I love how simple things seem to him. things just are the way they are. everything has to be done "by myself". and he has all of sudden about 2 weeks ago decided that he wanted to use the potty. he stays dry as long as I remind him to go. but I noticed today that he was been starting to figure out going unprompted by himself. Now of I could just get him to poo in the potty :0) He is still my little guy..barely 3 feet tall and 30 pounds. only in a size 6.5 shoe, and still crazy about his friends from radiator springs. He amazes me everyday, and I can't wait to see what the coming year brings!

update #2

So, not that anyone probably cares...but I do :0) here is how the rest of the week went. we had tacos, pretty simple. cooked the meat ahead of time and then reheated the night of. the baked chicken burgers ( and potato salad) : they were really easy and pretty yummy. I will probably omit the mayo next time and add it after. something about warm mayo kinda ruined it for me. SO i will try again and re modify the recipe for us. johnny marzetti ( or meat mixture on cheesy noodles) this one was really yummy. made the meat mixture and then the noodles and froze them in separate bags. defrosted and reheated. I will make the noodles next time on cooking night. Mine ended up really dry and didn't reheat very well. but I will make again. we were supposed to have turkey burgers, but was making some spicy honey chicken for the freezer so we had that for dinner instead with leftover potato salad. Korean beef on friday, always a family favorite here at our house. saturday night we ate out (too hot for anything).

my grocery bill this week came to 93.99 dollars. I scored big on some bogo packs of boneless chicken breast and boneless chicken thighs. I got 11 meals out of my 4 packages of chicken. I think it's pretty good, but I could have done better. I will post my menu later for this coming week, I am not sure if I will be able to execute it this week, I may be breaking into some of my stashed away steaks and what not as they weather is going to be very hot and I dont want the stove on at all. but thats alright, that just means I have my meals for the following week :0)

OAWC update

So..I spent thursday night and part of friday getting my meals for the week ready. I spent 90.00 at the grocery store, which is about 30-40 more than usual. But I found a great deal on some steaks. they were buy one get one free and I actually bought the roast instead and got a roast free and cut my own steaks and ended up with 6 steaks total. I got 13 meals out of my groceries. I was pretty happy.
On friday night we had spicy honey glazed chicken thighs. Sooo yummy! we threw them on the grill and once I basted the glaze on we had our neighbors asking us for the recipe :0) I bought a pack of 14 and got 2 meals out of them. I was afraid 7 weren't going to be enough for the 3 of us because they are so small. But we had some left over and I sliced up the leftovers and had them on a salad for lunch on friday. I served them with green salad, which I always have and found a can of baked beans out on my pantry shelf. saturday we had lasagna with green salad and garlic bread. I actually made this friday and had enough for 2..so one was eaten and one was frozen. I am hoping that if this keeps up..I will get a free week at the end of the month. Tonight we had tangy marinated steak with leftover baked beans and we threw the other half of the garlic bread on the grill with it. easy peasy. It was soo yummy! I had made three of them and three batches of korean beef with the other 3 steaks. I have noticed that cooking this way has saved me on a lot of dishes and time. which is fine with me! I will review again in a couple of days when we have tried a few more!

Once a month cooking

that's my goal. But for now until we can find room for a 3rd freezer, I am going to try my hand at once a week cooking. Not only because of freezer space, But I want to try out some recipes before I commit us to food that ends not not being so tasty. So My grocery shopping days are Thursday nights..and I am hoping to put my meals for the week together at some point this weekend. So far Sunday is my only free day. But I may be able to swing it tomorrow. Here is a list of our dinners for next week. I will try and post at the end of the week with the taste test results. any ideas are more than welcome, as I am always looking to change things up. a quick note: I already buy loaves of Italian bread and freeze them. I make my own garlic spread and then just pull out the loaves and defrost them and make my own garlic bread. one loaf will last us two meals.

Friday- lasagna with green salad and garlic bread
Saturday- tacos with beans and rice
Sunday- Johnny marzetti with noodles,green salad
Monday- tangy marinated steak with baked potato and green salad
Tuesday- spicy honey chicken with potato salad and garlic bread (maybe)
Wednesday- pork roast with apples and sage and green salad and a veggie of some kind ( whatever I can find on sale)
Thursday- baked chicken burgers with potato salad and watermelon

I will keep you posted. Thanks Doreen for recommending the sight onceamonthmoms.com . they had some yummy recipe ideas. let me know if you try any :0)

just for fun

I love this age! Riley is so goofy and funny right now. Dave was telling him the other night that it was time fo go to bed so he told dave that he needed to put his wings on his back so he could fly there. A typical conversation these days. So here are a few pictures I have taken that I am posting just for fun.

fun at the park!

My cousin found this great park in hillsboro...it has some really cool play equipment...a water play area and a sand area with it's own water facet for making castles. I liked it because there weren't a lot of big kids in the water area..so he didn't get trampled..and one whole side was blocked by seating..so it was easier to keep an eye on him! we will deffinatley be visiting this one again soon!

ahoy!

wow it's been awhile. we have been crazy busy lately. one of the fun things we have done is going out on our neighbors boat. a little nerve racking for me...but fun just the same. Riley loved it. he got to see some really big boats, drive the boat, and float behind on the intertube. they have a party boat and only goes about 10 miles per hour. he wasn't jumping wakes! he wasn't too sure about the tube. here a few pics!

Ka-Chow!

OK. So Riley is absolutely in love with this guy:



He will watch the movie and line up all of his characters from the movie and plays with them all day long. I am a total enabler! I am constantly on the hunt for the characters he doesn't yet have. horrible I know. He gathered all of his trains up the other day and brought them to me and said "no trains mommy". I think Lightning McQueen and all his radiator spring friends are here to stay awhile. So I was curious If I am the only one who indulges my little one with his obsession ( which clearly is becoming mine!) and If you do what is it? I know in the near future I need to stop, as to not make it a habit. But for now, Oh Well :0)

Melt in your mouth Pork carnitas

I am always on the look out for new inexpensive tasty recipes. And ways to stretch my dollar. I came across this recipe in a book I purchased Awhile ago ( and use often). There are a few recipes in there worthy of passing on. This one is super simple, but because of cooking time takes a little bit. But it is totally no fuss. Let me know if you try it. It is one of our new favorites!


one 3lb pork shoulder ( at winco they call it pork carnita)
1 can lemon lime soda ( acts as a meat tenderizer)
2 cups water
2 teaspoons salt
12 8 inch tortillas warmed
salsa, sour cream or guacamole for serving


1. trim pork of excess fat and cut into 2-3 inch cubes. combine pork cubes in a large heavy pot with soda, water and salt. bring to a simmer over high heat, then reduce heat to low and continue to simmer, uncovered, for 2 hours. Do not stir.
2. after 2 hours, turn up heat to medium and cook, covered, until all liquid has evaporated and pork fat has rendered, about 45 minutes. Stir a few times, just to keep the pork from sticking to the bottom of the pot. If it starts to stick, add a little more water as you complete cooking time. When done, pork will be brown on both sides, and just a little liquid fat will remain in pot. pork will be so tender it will fall apart to the touch.
3. serve pork in warm tortillas with salsa or sour cream or guacamole.

that's it, super easy and soo yummy. it lives up to the name. melts in your mouth!

New Bike

Dave and I have been going back and forth for awhile about getting Riley a strider bike. If you haven't heard of the before..they are way cool. It looks just like a regular 2 wheel bike, but it doesn't have pedals. So it is like a balance bike. It teaches kids to ride without training wheels. You start out by sitting and walking and then as their balance and confidence increases they start gliding and picking their feet up. check out the website www.stridersports.com. we are lucky enough to have a dealer not far from us so we were able to pick it up. So i took riley to go pick out a bike helmet (he chose a lightning mcqueen one) and then saturday afternoon we went and picked it up. the lady came out holding it and he just kept jumping up and down my blue bike my blue bike ( he chose blue). We havent been able to pull him off of it since. he constantly asks, where's my blue bike? anytime we leave the house he thinks it needs to come. His helmet, he won't take it off. I have gotten some strange looks because he wears it EVERYWHERE! Last night dave took riley across the street to "ride his bike" and he actually starte trying to pick his feet up! the gal said not to expect him to for a couple of months. But our little fearless daredevil had to give it a go. He put his feet right back on the ground. Here are a ew pictures from saturday afternoon. My camera died so I only got a few pictures.