Category Archives: Family Life

Day Out Feast

Every once in a while I’ll take our youngest son out for a treat. Sometimes we go to the movies, to the arcade or we’ll go to a park. Anything we do is always a special time for us but the best outing for us is when we stop to get a dessert after a fun day. It’s always a great time to sit and chat about things while we’re eating our “day out Feast“. One example of a feast for the two of us is milk shakes and fries.

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Since having our daughter 14 months ago, our youngest son has gone through many changes. He’s 11 now and has not only given up the role of being the baby of the house but he has taken a huge step in being the best big brother ever. We are so proud of him. This gives me an even bigger reason to make our days out very special.

This reminds me. It’s time for us to go on another day out together soon.

Feast

 

 

My First Succulent Mini Garden

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I finally purchased a dish from Goodwill today and put together my first succulent mini garden. I used the bridge and cottage door that I purchased from the Brothers Greenhouses in Port Orchard, WA. The garden looks a little sparse so I may add a few more plants to it later. Please wish me luck that they all survive. I do not have a green thumb like my mother. My husband usually takes care of our houseplants. I seem to let them die by not watering them enough or by watering them too much.

I figured since the succulents seem to be thriving in the outdoor containers that our neighbor put together for us, I might as well peruse them elsewhere. This arrangement will sit in our front window.

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Here is what I used for the layers from bottom to the top.

  1. Pebbles for drainage
  2. Activated charcoal (purchased from the pet store)
  3. Potting soil
  4. Decorative pebbles

Here are a few links to a couple of blogs that I found useful.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/food-52/how-to-make-a-terrarium-and-keep-it-alive_b_6992684.html

http://3000tomatoes.com/?p=6893

Our Neighborhood Macaroni and Cheese Bake Off

Last night we held our neighborhood Macaroni and Cheese bake off. There were 5 trays of the yummy cheesy goodness. We all did good! We cooked different recipes and they each turned out great! There was some grilled chicken, veggies, brownies and cream puffs to help balance it out. It was fun and everyone enjoyed the tasting but we all ended in carb overload.

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We did this mainly to spend a little more time with each other. Although we live right next to each other we rarely get to chat as much as we’d like to. With all that is going on in the world and within our own country I feel a much bigger need to have a closer relationship with our neighbors. It’s so important to have that sense of being in a safe community. We are all there to learn from each other and we should all be able to depend on each other should anything arise in the future.

I have to say our neighbors are pretty great to begin with. Most of us have been here for a while. The rest of us moved here within the last couple of years. Yesterday’s gathering was a small gathering but it’s a start to some, hopefully, great traditions.

Do you have good relationships with your neighbors? Does your neighborhood have any great traditions that help to encourage a better sense of community?

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Our First Trip to Bloedel Reserve

Our trip today to Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, Washington was amazing. It was very quiet and serene. The hike was pretty decent in length but it was really neat to see the different landscapes of the Reserve. We especially loved the Japanese house and garden, the ponds, the lookout over the bay, and the wild life.

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We decided to purchase the Friends and Family annual pass so that we can return. It’ll be great to go on “Date Walks” with my husband. It’ll also be great to be able to take visiting family and friends to see the beautiful grounds.

I’m still working on learning how to use my camera. I was a little disappointed that some of my pictures didn’t come out as well as I had hoped. Hopefully with research and practice I’ll be able to return to Bloedel Reserve and take some worthy photos. I hope you enjoy these. They were of the best pictures taken today with my camera and phone.

http://bloedelreserve.org/

 

How to Feed a Family of 6 Without the Restaurant

Having a toddler has made it much more difficult to enjoy eating out as a family. We still go out to eat occasionally with our children but we have been trying to limit ourselves. One of my favorite places to eat at is a local Hawaiian restaurant called Aloha Kitchen in Silverdale, Washington. I often crave eating food from back home and Aloha Kitchen provides some of the best known dishes of Hawaii.

Their Kalua Pork and Cabbage plate (complete with rice and macaroni salad) is my favorite. I’ve made Kalua Pork several times in our oven but it is very time consuming and can be a greasy mess.

A few months ago, we ordered trays of food from their restaurant for our daughters 1st birthday. Our friends and family loved it. This is where I came up with a money saving idea. It will also help save our sanity.

I ordered their largest Kalua Pork and Cabbage party tray for our dinner on Wednesday. It is listed as having 18-25 servings but the tray serves so much more.  After eating dinner, were able to package the rest into eight portions that will serve 5-7. We froze the packages and containers for future dinners. The cost was $125 for the large tray. Therefore, each (5-7 servings) portion cost about $14.

Those who feed their family on $3-$5 per meal may think me crazy but this is a dish I crave for often but I really dislike cooking. The $14 for a dinner to feed our family of 6 is a huge savings compare to what it would cost to take our family out to a restaurant to eat. It would normally cost our family $60-$70 to eat at Aloha Kitchen.

We now have 8 more meals in our freezer. We will just need to cook up some rice and throw some veggies in a pot on the stove. This works great for those last minute meals and it sure beats eating at a fast food restaurant.

We will occasionally eat at Aloha Kitchen without children every once in a while to continue supporting their business. We also love purchasing their gift certificates to give away as gifts to friends and family.

Do you have a favorite dish that a restaurant near you could cook up a huge batch for you to freeze into portions?

Creative Hobbit House

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Today we had an amazing trip to a local nursery and its very creative hobbit house. The Brothers Greenhouses in Port Orchard, Washington is full of beautiful, lush, healthy plants. The hobbit house itself is covered in succulents and flowers. It is such an adorable piece of art. It has a fully functional round hobbit sized door, a fireplace and cute round windows.

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The kids loved the house. It could definitely be a child’s dream playhouse. It was just the right size for our little hobbits.

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I’m in the process of researching how to create and care for a terrarium. The nursery’s owners/staff were very friendly and super helpful. I found a few new succulents, moss, and rocks to add to my creation. I was very inspired by their adorable miniature gardens.

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Along side the beautiful plants, the nursery also sold a plethora or fairy and miniature garden items. It was truly hard not to walk away with purchasing more than what I needed for my first terrarium. We will most certainly be back!

http://brothersgreenhouses.com/

Countdown to NFL Season 2016/2017

 

IMG_3015Just a little under two months and the 2016/2017 NFL season will begin. Team paraphernalia has already begun popping up here and there in grocery stores and warehouses. The team shops will soon be full of fans looking for more gear. More and more team jerseys will make their appearances. Portable grills will come out of storage for their use at tailgating. 

It’ll be interesting to see what kind of controversies will come into play this season. We are looking forward to a new season, some new drama, and some big time action but we often need to remind ourselves that these are paid athletes doing what they love. Their job is to play the game to the best of their abilities and provide our country with much entertainment in hopes of achieving that ultimate Super Bowl Ring.

Every once in a while there’s an athlete or two who some deem immature or unfavorable. These athletes are not there to cause division in our country or within families. Again,they are paid athletes providing entertainment. This is entertainment that should promote excitement, togetherness, and fun memorable times. Let us all hope for a safe and awesome upcoming NFL season. 

https://days.to/until/nfl-season

http://www.nfl.com/schedules/2016/REG1

 

4 Amazing Family Games

One of the things our family likes to do to pass time is playing table games. Our youngest son’s favorite is Apples to Apples. He’s 11 so sometimes he’ll question a card or two but other than that it’s a hoot to play. Our boys can get pretty obnoxious and then it’s all giggles and farts till the game is over.

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We also love playing Qwirkle, Spot It, and Blokus.
Qwirkle and Blokus takes a little more seriousness to play because it’s all about strategy. These two games are great. We are much more laid back when we play these games and they allow opportunities to communicate with the kids on a deeper level.

http://www.mindware.com/qwirkle-a2-32016.fltr

mattel-games

Spot It is fun and exciting to play. There are several games you can play with the Spot It cards and it can become very action packed. Our boys get so excited and sometimes a card will end up flying here and there. This one makes a great gift for families with children.

http://www.blueorangegames.com/spotit/

We absolutely love that we can sit down, be silly and interact in a positive way. This should be very important in every family. Sometimes there is just so much going on that it gets to be a stress fest. So whether your family’s fun time is going out to the park, camping, shooting hoops, throwing a football, or just playing a card or board game, you are doing something super positive for your family.

Our children grow so quickly. Enjoy every minute that you can with yours.

What is your family’s favorite fun-time activity? Do you have a board or card game that your family loves playing together?

Excited Over Pencil Deal

Many of you would think me hilarious for getting so excited over this. For some reason there was a post for a really good deal for colored pencils on my Facebook newsfeed today. I was able to purchase this set of colored pencils from Amazon.com for $3.97. I clicked on the link that was in my feed and it took me to instructions and a coupon on how to claim the deal. I’m sure the deal is no longer in existence because it claimed that there was only 29 coupons left.

Anyway, I was hesitant to click on the link but I’m glad I did. My youngest son and I love to color but the pencils from the Crayola set we are using are really hard to sharpen without their tips breaking. So I was really looking forward to purchasing a different set. This was great timing and I am hoping these will work out. For this price if they don’t work out for us then it’s not a huge loss. I just need to take a few minutes to write a review about the pencils.

I did check out the Facebook page that the offer was sponsored from. https://www.facebook.com/Amazon-Brand-Aware-Club-1603817996601610/?fref=nf

On the page is a button to sign up for their club. I’m looking forward to seeing what other offers they’ll have. I’ll be very selective and only choose those offers that will benefit myself or my family. Since we are trying to be productive in decluttering our home. I just figured I’d share this opportunity with all of you and to see if you have already participated in any of this company’s deals. If so, what are your opinions of the company? Here is the link to their sign up page. http://www.brandawareclub.com/

Question for all of my coloring friends: What are you favorite coloring pencils?

 

To Cookbook or Not to Cookbook

As I went through our very crowded dining room, in an attempt at babyproofing, I came across our cookbooks. I already paired down our cookbooks to two baskets a few years ago. So really didn’t remove much out of the baskets this time. There’s a grilling cookbook, which I purchased for my husband a few years ago. (It still looks pretty brand new.) There’s also a Joy of Cooking cookbook, couple of Pampered Chef cookbooks, a Betty Crocker Cookbook, and a few others. Some were purchased at yard sales and Goodwill, others were given to us as gifts and the Pampered Chef ones were purchased decades ago when I was a consultant.

I don’t cook extensively. What I do cook are very simple recipes. I totally regret not hanging out in the kitchen with my Dad and Mom growing up. It would have been nice to have learned how to cook all the yummy foods I grew up on. For the most part, nowadays, I utilize websites like www.allrecipes.com and www.cook.com or I just simply use Google.

The cookbook pictured above, Joy of Cooking, looks pretty worn and used but I can admit it wasn’t used much by me. I think my husband purchased this during my “Hamburger Helper” and Tuna Helper” days in an attempt to get me to learn how to cook healthier and more nutritious meals. I can gladly say I have graduated from cooking boxed meals.

Anyway, my tip for this post is… if you haven’t already checked out http://www.allrecipes.com, please do so. It is such a great site. I love that there is a way to save the recipes you are interested in. Also, all of the recipes have a rating system and most have great reviews. It gives you the chance to see what recipes have been tried and were successful for others, before trying it out yourself.

I know we have a lot of friends and family who love using their cookbooks but honestly, I don’t know why we are hanging on to our cookbooks. Decoration? Maybe we’re saving them in case we have an outage or lose our internet for some reason. Then at least we’ll have recipe options.?

How many cookbooks do you own? How often do you use them?

By the way, apparently the Joy of Cooking is still in print. Wow! The first edition was printed in 1931. Our copy was printed in 1962. It must be a good cookbook. I guess I really should open it more than once every 5 years.