Happy 3rd Birthday, Riley!

Yesterday was Riley's 3rd birthday! Her party got postponed on Saturday because of the snow, so we will have her rescheduled party in a couple of weeks :)

She started by having a special snack at school on Friday. Doughnut holes, Pirate Booty and grapes.

Her birth day and the 3 birthdays after.

Bubble Guppies Rock N Roll

We took her to Toys R Us and let her pick out a few toys. She picked a roaring dinosaur, a big plastic beetle and a family that she can play in their dollhouse with.

We went to church and she even got to go to Children's Church since there was no nursery. After that, we went to eat pizza where she ate 2 plates of food!

We then had to go get Madison's glasses fixed at the mall, so the girls picked out cookies and on the way home, we stopped and got some cake.

It's been a fast 3 years. We've watched Riley become even more funny! Girl is SO funny! She has also learned to stick up for herself around other kids! She's so sweet that she was letting kids just run over her. Now, she's defending herself and I love it! She is smart and sweet and kind. She loves playing with little figurines and pretend play. Her and Madison are best friends one minute and not the next. They play together really well 90% of the time. She loves to eat food and eat most of what I give her. She loves fruit, especially grapes and strawberries. She is very emotional and can cry if you look at her wrong but is overall VERY happy. Everyone that meets her, loves her! Happy Birthday, Riley! We love you!!

Menu plan Jan 7-21

So I didn't blog the last 2 weeks. Between holidays, eating out and having leftovers, I only bought ground turkey for nachos and a frozen pizza ;) Menu, with recipes, below

Crockpot Buffalo chicken RECIPE
Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits as a side..  RECIPE
Barefoot Contessa's Chicken Stew with biscuits RECIPE (halved for us)
Crockpot green chile chicken RECIPE
Hoppin John(leftover from new year)
Low Carb Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole RECIPE
Tortilla Chicken Stew RECIPE
Fried Chicken Salad (frozen chicken nuggets over a salad)
White Chicken Chili RECIPE
Low Carb Jalapeno Chicken RECIPE
Pot Roast
Marlboro Mans favorite Sandwich(minus the bread ;) ) RECIPE
Mexican Zucchini and Beef RECIPE

Merry Christmas!

From our family to your family, Merry Christmas!

Menu plan Dec 7-21

We have a few evening events these next couple of weeks, so this will be another short 2 week menu.. Trying to get back to normalcy with regular real food and not frozen junk! As always, our sides consist of some type of bean or salad mostly. Sometimes we have potatoes, pasta, rice or corn but I try to limit those.

Chicken with mushroom cream sauce - RECIPE
Shrimp Skewers with Garlic Lime Marinade - RECIPE 
Creamy honey mustard chicken with bacon - RECIPE 
Pepper Steak - RECIPE
Crockpot roast chicken
Low Carb Philly Cheesesteak Bowl - RECIPE 
Taco Noodle Skillet - RECIPE
Chili
Crockpot Butter Ranch Chicken - RECIPE
Crockpot Chicken Fajitas - RECIPE

Thanksgiving trip 2016

We left around lunch time on Friday, November 18th and returned home on Saturday, November 26th. We stayed in a cabin in Sevierville, TN which was about 8 miles from Tanger Outlets in Pigeon Forge. We had a busy and fun time! I will get the video edited and post it in a new blog soon, I hope :)

The Island

 

The girls made their first Build a Bear. Madison chose Poppy from Trolls and Riley chose Marshall from Paw Patrol.

 

 Dollywood

 Making cookies

Met Rudolph

and Bumble..

and watched the Parade of Many Colors in Dollywood

The ferris wheel!

 

Visited Cade's Cove on a Smoky day. 

We saw deer, turkey and a mama bear with her 2 cubs

 

Visited Clingman's Dome and hiked up to the top.

You could see the Lake Lure wildfires from where we were standing. It was really surreal.

It was GORGEOUS views but a really hard walk up and it was so cold that Riley cried.

The girls loved riding the trolley.

A little adult time.

Last day traditional breakfast at Flapjacks

 

Menu Nov 21-Dec 7

So apparently I haven't blogged in almost a month. I have a few in mind.. we've just been SUPER busy between vacation, church events, decorating, Christmas shopping and for the past few days, the girls in the house are sick. We will start with our really simple menu for the past 2 weeks. We were on vacation over Thanksgiving and then some church events this past week so I wanted super simple meals. I have been shopping at ALDI a lot more lately. They just redid ours in town and are also building another one on the West side of town. I got all of my food there and am loving it more and more.

Frozen Lo Mein and frozen eggrolls - this was decent but wasn't much food for just me and Alan.
Pizza
Tortellini with pasta sauce - the girls LOVE this
Turkey tenderloin - I made this in the crockpot with a couple of veggies for sides
Homestyle seasoned Chuck roast- I may add some carrots and potatoes with this in the crockpot
Pork Loin(2) - made in the crock pot with a couple of veggies for sides
Kielbasa and rice
Panko and Parmesan breaded chicken nuggets

A couple of nights we just had salads or leftovers. What did YOU have?