Momma to an angel and a rainbow.
Journeying through grief, parenting after loss, and living life one day at a time.
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Thanks for reading!
What’s better than a tasty meal? Not having a ton of dishes to clean up afterwards! This one pot dinner will be a family favorite and one you’ll love making.
Here’s what you’ll need;
One pound of hamburger
One medium sized zucchini
Small bell pepper (I used red)
One can of Hunt’s Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano
1/4 of onion
One cup of rice
Two cups of beef broth
Spices (I used salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, and oregano)
Half a block of cream cheese
Cheese
First, heat up your pan. While you’re waiting, cut your onion, pepper, and zucchini.
Once it’s heated up add the ground beef, onion, and pepper. I added some of the spice blend. When it’s browned, drain the oil.
Next, add the zucchini, tomatoes, rice, and beef broth. Don’t drain the tomatoes because the rice will soak up that juice too! Add the rest of your spice blend here.
Cover and stir every couple minutes.
Once the rice starts to soften, add in the cream cheese. Mix it until it blends throughout.
When the rice is done, take off heat and add in cheese. You can use any type of cheese. We used shredded colby jack!
Mila is also obsessed with eggs right now, so I put an over-medium egg over top of hers and and an easy-over egg on mine. I personally love the taste of egg yolk. It pulled the meal together.
Make sure to let me know in the comments if you tried this recipe!
You try to share you love to everyone you hold close to your heart. No matter what’s going on, making sure they feel loved is most important.
There are nights you don’t sleep to make sure everything gets done for them.
When you need something like clothes or a new haircut, you make sure your kids or partner have them first.
Sometimes you spend hours listening to others to make sure they’re okay. You know your problems will work themselves out eventually.
Instead of a long hot bath or shower, you rush through yours or share them with your littles.
Your meals are cold because you make sure everyone else gets full first.
We put them first because we love them. We’re the glue the helps holds those we love together.
But…
You deserve the same love you give to others.
Never forget that you deserve a good nights sleep, a new hair cut and clothes, knowing your problems are important, a long shower or bath, and a hot meal.
That’s just touching the surface of all you deserve and need.
It’s hard to put yourself first or accept the love that we give out. When you do, don’t feel selfish. You are in need of those things too.
You cannot continue keeping everyone else afloat when you’re drowning.
Allow yourself that space. You’re worth it.
When you put yourself first sometimes, you give all those you love the opportunity to be around the best you.
More importantly, you get to give yourself that love that you pour into others.
If you need a last minute Valentine’s Day treat/present or are really craving something delicious, you’ll love these cookies.
They take about twenty minutes to make and everyone will want more. It’s easy too!
This recipe also reminds me of Jensen. I craved these throughout my pregnancy. They’re always fun to make and honor him too.
The best part of this recipe is there’s only FOUR ingredients:
Red Velvet Cake Box
Two Eggs
1/3 Cup of Vegetable Oil
Powdered Sugar
First, preheat your over to 375.
Then mix the red velvet cake box, eggs, and oil together. It’ll get to a cookie dough consistency. When it does stop mixing.
Next, make the dough into little balls. I did one at a time and then coated them into powdered sugar. Without the powdered sugar, they’ll stick to a baking sheet. That makes it hard to pick them back up again.
Put them in the oven for ten minutes.
After you pull them out, you’ll notice they’ll fall. Don’t worry, they’re not supposed to stay risen. They still taste fluffy!
One little word of caution with the doughs stickiness… throw some flour or something on your hands.
Mila tried to help before I could cover her hands and…
She had fun helping roll little cookie balls, but it got messy quick!
This would definitely be a great and quick way to surprise your kids, partner, or whoever your celebrating Valentine’s Day with!
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments.
This ice vs. salt activity is a fun way to freeze time for you and keep your toddler busy. It challenges them to see what’s making the ice melt and how they can do it quicker.
Before doing this activity, you have to freeze ice cubes. I used a mini heart mold, but you can use anything. To get the colors, I used food coloring.
Here’s what we used to set up and do this activity:
All I told her before I let her experiment was to melt the ice. I told her salt and blowing on it would help.
I’m all for giving myself some time to clean or cook. Mila played with this set up for quite a while.
She gave me enough time to cook and clean up, which is a win for me.
After she was done, I let the liquid dry and brushed the salt off of it. With this you can hang it up, have your child make a picture with it, or incorporate them into a Valentine’s Day card.
We had a ton of fun doing Valentine’s Day activities this year. I can’t wait to see what we get into next!
As always, I hope you enjoy this little icy heart melt. If you experiment to, make sure to let me know how it went.
Valentine’s Day projects don’t always have to be sweet. This spin on a classic science project is just as fun and festive for toddlers.
Most people will have the basic supplies for this already at home too!
Here’s what we used:
Conversation heart candies
Rubber heart tray
Baking soda
Vinegar
Cup
Eye dropper
Before we started, we did a little stacking game to see who could stack the hearts the highest. We also did a color match game too.
These little conversation hearts have so many different and educational uses.
Back to the experiment though.
I had Mila place all the candy hearts into the mini heart molds. Once they were all placed, the fun really happened.
Since it was her experiment, I had her place as much baking soda on the hearts as she wanted.
Then, with an eye dropped, she added vinegar.
Although adults know this reaction and I’ve done this a few times with Mila, she’s always amazing.
She kept saying how cool it was to make bubbles and was perplexed when the bubbles changed colors. It always makes me laugh when we do this too because she ends up pouring everything out.
There’s always a big reaction.
Even after being told that the candies were covered in vinegar, mila wanted to eat them.
Thankfully, she didn’t get any!
This Valentine’s Day science experiment was a fun one for us. It’s simple enough to let them do supervised, but complicated enough to help them learn more through it.
We’ll definitely keep doing this experiment, but this is great you have a science minded kid. It’s fun for them see the hearts and come up with their reasons as to why the hearts have disappeared or gotten smaller.
If you give this experiment a try, let me know in the comments.
At the beginning of the year, I made a jar to document the good things we experienced that week. It’s been fun reflecting, but knowing Mila, she has to make it a little weird.
That’s just what toddlers do!
I will admit, this one is more cute than weird, but I thought it’d be perfect to share with Valentine’s Day coming up.
Mila has had the same thing that makes her happy every week… ME!
When I go to our jar, I date it, then make an “M” for what makes her grateful. Then I ask her what made her happy this last week.
The second time we did it, she just said, “you.” I thought it was the cutest thing ever.
When it came to ask her again, she replied with the same thing. Admittedly, I felt a little bad. I was writing down things I wanted to remember at the end of the year, not just Mila or Jensen. Maybe it was a fluke of her just saying me?
On the fourth week, she said, again, said I was what made her most happy. Still feeling sad, I asked her to elaborate and she said, “playing with you.”
Since that fourth week, I haven’t re-asked her what made her happy and accepted this cuteness.
As much as she loves Pizza, her grandparents, Max, and Mickey Mouse, I always find it a little weird that she consistently chooses me as her happiness. Of all the things in the world and her lame mom is her answer.
Honestly, I’m going to love looking back and remembering that I made her smile for weeks in a row. I know one week she won’t say me and that’s okay.
For now though, I guess she’s just a weirdo, with a big heart for her mom.
I love that it feels like everyday is a holiday. It makes not being able to do things like normal feel a little more special.
Anyways, since Mila is learning to count, I decided to make a fun counting activity and a pizza wrap for the occasion. Of course, her friend, Pizza, had to be involved too.
All I used for this little activity was construction paper, a crayon, scissors, and tape!
I divided the pizza up into eight slices. Then cut out enough square pepperonis for them all the have the correct number on them.
If your child is working on scissor skills, this would be great for them too.
This is a simple activity, but the repetitiveness helps solidify their counting skills. Mila has a hard time with four and five and likes to skip them. By doing this activity, it made her see four and five and do it eight times in a row.
I also love that she’s using her fine motor skills to pick up and place the small pieces on the pizza.
After she went through the activity once, she had time just playing with the little pieces. Pizza and her Barbie dog enjoyed it as well.
Even though this is a simple game to put together, it really does help with counting. It’s always such a good feeling to see them put their knowledge to use. Not just repeating numbers. Plus it gave me time to make food too.
Of course, we had to make something pizza inspired for the day!
Using the same wrap style as I did for the Cheesy Beef Quesadilla, Mila and I had cheesy, pizza wraps.
All you need are these things:
Tortilla
Pizza Sauce
Cheese
Any toppings you’d like!
Make a cut halfway through and down the center. Then add pizza sauce and cheese all over it.
Next fold the tortilla and place it on a hot pan.
Once it’s brown on both sides, you can take it off and serve it. I turned the pan on a lower setting so the cheese could melt more.
We love having handheld food, especially when it tastes so yummy.
We had a blast celebrating National Pizza Day!
One funny thing that did happen was Mila thought it was Pizza the Sloths birthday. So, it was just a day of being happy for all types of pizzas.
I hope you can make or order some pizza in really soon!
If you do the counting activity, let me know how your child likes it.
Also, check out these two AMAZING pizza recipes from my friends Erica and Irma. Erica did an amazing Rainbow Veggie Pizza that I want to immediately make. Irma made a yummy bubble pizza too. Another recipe I’ll try soon too!
I know I say this with almost all my recipes, but this is truly an easy recipe. This Italian chicken dinner recipe comes with potatoes, green beans, and a lot of Italian seasoning.
It’s be perfect to make for a romantic dinner or putting it in your meal rotation.
Either way, you won’t be disappointed.
Here’s all you need:
Chicken breasts (I used four for lunch leftovers)
Green beans (I used frozen)
Russet potatoes (2)
Zesty Italian dressing mix
Salt and pepper
Butter
Preheat your oven to 350.
Then peel your potatoes and cut them and the chicken into bite sized pieces. You can leave the chicken as whole breasts, but it gets more seasoned when cut before.
If you have fresh green beans, you’ll also want to cut them into smaller pieces.
Place the chicken in the middle of a pan with the potatoes and green beans sandwiching it. This way the chicken gets the most flavor.
Next, evenly pour over a packed of zesty Italian seasoning, leave some behind to season the other side. Then top with salt and pepper.
Grab a stick of butter and evenly cut slices of it. Place over top the chicken, green beans, and potatoes.
Put the dish in the oven for forty-five minutes.
Then take out your dish to mix or flip (whatever’s easier for you) each section and add the rest of the seasoning too.
Pop your dish back in the oven for fifteen more minutes.
When it’s all done, it’s ready to serve.
I seriously was pleasantly surprised with how this turned out! If you’ve read my recipe posts before, I’m not super confident with chicken. Yet, this meal gave me the chicken confidence boost I needed.
Mila loved it and I loved being able to have amazing tasting leftovers for work.
Whenever I’m feeling down, I remember I have the most important cheerleader looking up at me.
She reminds me that I have the strength, especially when she hits this power pose.
Even on the days, I can’t imagine getting through, I know she’s watching. She reminds me that with love and determination, I can accomplish anything.
Now I know motherhood, and parenthood, in general, is hard. It’s even harder when the last year has been all out of whack. We’ve been through a pandemic, crazy election, and overall change in every aspect of life.
Somehow, we’re still doing it. Every day we come back better than ever. Before we know it, this hellacious time will be over.
Today, I’m going to be your cheerleader and verbally scream online, you have the strength.
If twenty-two grown men can go play a football game and are considered strong, you have the strength to do anything you set your mind on.
When your kids (human, animal, or plant) are demanding all your attention, you have the strength to keep doing it.
You have the strength of all the energy you put out in the world because all that good comes back.
No matter how long we have left with this pandemic and lockdown, you have the strength to do your best with it all.
You have the strength to decide what’s best for you.
During your time at work, school, or home with your children, you have the strength to crush all your goals. Whatever goal you have, big or small, I know you’ll hit it.
You have the strength to be the badass woman (or man) you’ve always been.
On the days where you don’t feel strong enough to keep going, I know you will find the strength to keep moving forward.
You have the strength of the stubborn toddler you raised.
If you haven’t raised a toddler… I’m still cheering on that strength to you because the energy that’s in a toddler could move mountains. Everyone deserves that.
If you’re stuck at home or work not knowing how to get motivated, try some of these activities. They may just get you back on track.
1.Take a shower or bath.
The first thing I do any time I’m feeling stuck is take a hot shower or bath.
Water is so healing. Showers feel like they wash away all troubles from your skin just as the water falls. It instantly feels relieving. Baths are like a warm, water hug. All your stress leaves your body and the bath helps recover that trauma.
My favorite thing to do is add aromatherapy to showers and baths. I feel like it helps clear my head. Usually, I use eucalyptus and lavender.
2.Listen to a podcast.
I just discovered podcasts in 2020, but they’ve helped me get through the toughest times.
When you’re trying to get through a stuck moment, find a podcast you want to listen to. When you listen into a conversation about something that inspires you, you want to get up. A lot of the time I do chores or work, I’m listening to podcasts. It definitely helps motivate me.
Some of my favorite podcasts are from the Exactly Right Media, like My Favorite Murder, That’s Messed Up, and I Saw What You Did.
3.Tend to plants.
This one sounds SO silly, but tending to plants might be the most relaxing thing I do.
Any time I get to water my plants, dust them off, or propagate them, it makes me want to do more. It’s like the more I help them, I also want to help myself. Somehow, they’re self care reverse psychology. I want to do a post about the best starter plants for newbie plant parents, but I haven’t gotten there yet!
The connection to nature really helps get a person unstuck and back to themselves. You’ll have to try it out to discover that.
4.Meditate.
Meditation is one of the hardest things to practice, but it really clears your mind.
There’s a ton of meditation music on YouTube or any music app. If you want to try to mediate, put one of those songs on and try it out. I usually sit with my legs crossed, close my eyes, and take deep breaths. After a few minutes, I feel better and try to get unstuck with whatever I’m doing.
I don’t think anyone’s great at meditating their first time. So don’t be discouraged if you try and it doesn’t help.
5.Dance your heart out.
I feel like this one is self explanatory, but I’ll explain anyways.
Getting up and moving with your favorite songs, helps. Once you’re on your feet after a mini dance party, you’ll want to keep going. You just released a ton of endorphins which makes you feel happy. That’s the best way to get unstuck.
6.Call a friend.
One of the most underutilized resources we have are our friends.
When you reach out a friend or close family member, they can help with so many different things. If you’re out of ideas for a project, want advice, or have no idea why you’re feeling stuck, they’ll be able to help out. A person you trust can help organize your thoughts and motivate you to keep going.
Another great option is to reach out to your therapist. Some reasons why you’re feeling stuck goes deeper than surface level feelings.
7.Start a journal.
Not everyone is a writer, but there’s a variety of different journals to get unstuck.
For me, writing whatever is on my mind helps clear it up so I can tackle the things I need to do. If you want to write and don’t think you’re good at it, you don’t have to be. You’re just writing to help you, not impress other people.
There’s also art journals where you can doodle out what’s going on in your head too. Do whatever works best for you. This is to help you feel unstuck.
8. Do a chore.
Chores are boring and I put them off until they HAVE to be done. So how does this help?
It’s almost like when you check something off a to-do list. When you get a chore done, you feel a rush of endorphins. It also lets yourself know that you can get things done. This will help you realize you can do whatever or help motivate you to do more.
This one is the last option for me, but it does get me feeling better. As soon as I start folding laundry, I want to do anything else to stop. You can most definitely laugh at that.
9. Take a walk.
Again with the endorphins, I know.
But really. Getting up and moving releases so many good feeling hormones in your brain and body. It clears up your brain and gets your body moving. If you can walk outside, you’ll have the added benefit of the healing effects of nature.
Plus, if you can go for a long walk or a tough run, you’ll feel on top of the world.
10. Slow down and don’t be too hard on yourself.
Sometimes when you’re stuck, you’re meant to slow down.
When you take on too many things or just need a break, your body will let you know. Maybe this is your body and mind telling you to rest. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Everyone needs a day or week to get back to yourself.
Once you give yourself that time, you’ll feel back to normal.
Grey Skies & Rainbow Highs 