Thanksgiving decor and food!

One day at work a guy asked me what I was in charge of for Thanksgiving, I proudly responded; "Decorating!". He laughed and laughed and laughed. He told me that Thanksgiving was about the food, Christmas and Halloween were for decorating but Thanksgiving was for the food. I explained that the food doesn't taste as good if the room doesn't look as pretty! So here is how I plan on decorating for Thanksgiving. I will take pictures when I have everything set up to show you how it turned out.

To start off my mom's house has these two huge walkway openings that are screaming for decorations.  I plan on making these coffee filter pom pom's to hang from there.

Show me cute

I have been currently working on these Paper Bag Flowers to hang on the wall in the dining room.

Pinterest

For the table I like to keep it simple, you do have to have lots of room for food. I typically do a butcher paper table cloth to keep clean up easy, this year I think I will go with white table cloth with Paper bag placemats, crayons and newspaper leaves.

Pinterest

Pinterest

Pinterest

You can see how I have decorated in the past and my tips for a stress free holiday here! 

The Silverware printables, I plan on putting crayons in not silverware.

Now this is the holiday of lots of food and Mondo and I are helping cook. We are in charge of the turkey, he wants to fry it, and cornbread stuffing. Mondo always makes sweet potatoes because nobody else will make them with marshmallows. We also started a new tradition a couple years ago of serving soup with dinner.  I think I want to make this butternut apple one from whole 30 recipes Instagram. My mom and I are planning making mini pies so you can not feel so guilty for trying all the pies. Our list is pumpkin (duh!), apples, pecan, lemon meringue and these cranberry cheesecakes! This is also to add all the food everyone else is bringing, my sister in law and Aunt plan on bringing dessert too! Every holiday or party I always like to make a mocktail, it is so much fun! This Thanksgiving I plan on making this one, cranberry punch. Although, this cranberry pineapple looks yummy too. 

Which one do you vote for?

I can't wait to see and taste all this yummy food. Wednesday while mom and I are baking pies I think I need to taste test each one, you know make sure the mini version tastes as good as the full size!! What do you plan on making for Thanksgiving? Any favorite recipes??

Don't forget to check back Dec. 1st for the 25 days of blogmas and a giveaway!

Dorinda

Whole 30 and me

To start off this will be a boring post without any pictures unless I give a weekend update. My uncle, his wife and 6 kids visited this weekend! It was so nice having them here!! They never come this way we always go to them, so a nice change of pace. Pretty much the only excitement we had was Saturday. My parents picked me up after work and we headed to Greenbluff (a mash of farms and pumpkin patches near here). We only had time for one farm that day. My uncle and his family went into a corn maze while Mackenzie and I played in the pumpkin patch. We also looked around a little with my mom, dad and aunt, and tried a pumpkin doughnut. Mondo and I plan on heading back in a couple of weeks for a family day there and to get some pumpkins!

Mackenzie loved LOVED the pumpkins! I knew she would, she always points them out. She especially loved the "yittle" pumpkins. It wasn't a large pumpkin patch just an area where they placed a bunch of pumpkins, so at one point I just sat down nearby and let Mackenzie run and climb all over. She was having fun, ran by me and I yelled; "Where are your shoes?". Luckily they were together nearby. She also sat down next to me in the midst of a bunch of pumpkins and said; "a punkin for kenzie and a punkin for baby sister." She has been doing that a lot lately, talking about baby sister and doing things for her. So, cute and sweet!

Mackenzie lined up all the "yittle punkins"

Ok, onto the title of the post whole 30. As you are reading this I am in the midst of Day 1 of my whole 30 diet. I decided to do this after my morning sickness with baby number 2 ceased and I was still eating like a pig, not healthy choices either. I had seen a blogger post on it and did some research. This fit all my needs it would help kick the sugar monster, I didn't need to count calories, and it would be safe for me and baby since I am just eating whole foods. I was going to start in September but, one of my friends strongly suggested I read the book first. So, I waited to check out the book at my library first before I started. That is how I came up with the Oct begin date. At, the dinner table I had been talking about what foods I could and couldn't eat, the testimonies in the book as well as online, and other stuff when my mom declared she thought the whole family should do it together. So, my mom, dad, grandma, husband, aunt and daughter are all participating in the Whole 30 together. I am super excited for doing this with Mackenzie, since the age of 1, she has had eczema on her knees and elbows. The Whole 30 has had success with ridding the eczema and finding the source of it, since it almost always deals with a food allergy. 

So, I am jumping in and am super excited, nervous, dreading, fearful, of the challenge of this diet. I will post updates every once in awhile as to my challenges and success along the way. After this month I plan on trying again in the first month of baby number 2 to see how it will effect my milk before returning to work. Most women report an increase in supply! This might be something I keep up at work to keep my milk supply up. I also plan on the challenge of this to reset my system and jump start me into making better food choices for myself and my family. I am not doing this to lose weight, that pretty much is impossible since I am growing a baby, but to create a healthy life style. 

Here is the website for Whole 30, you don't have to read the book to do it, but I highly recommend it. It helps explain why certain foods are being cut out, and how to healthy bring them back in while paying attention to what they do to your body. I also will post a few links to some recipe sights, I can't eat the same foods for 30 days in a row (blech), I am excited to try some of these.

Whole 30

Nom Nom Paleo

Stupid Easy Paleo

If you are on instagram look up #whole30 for a lot more recipes and resources. 

Baby Number 2: 16 weeks

First off I want to apologize for the bad photo. No more will I be taking selfies in the mirror. We moved in with my parents a couple of weeks ago, so from now on I plan on having my mom take the pictures. I just really wanted to get this post up and didn't want to wait for her to come home. After seeing the quality of the picture I have decided no more.

Also, this pic is a huge step for me to put up, I feel like I just look fat. No I am not fishing for compliments I am just baring my soul and being real. It bugs me that I look this big and I am only 16 weeks. Ok, rant and self pity over.

I will say the reason I know I feel gross is I still haven't been eating very good. So part of me wonders how big I would be if I did eat correctly. I am slowly getting back into working out (I plan on doing a post on my work outs in the near future), and have been working on getting my eating back on track. With that said here is my 16 week update.

How far along: 16 weeks

Gender: Don't know but we will find out Aug. 25th. Although, we are doing a reveal party so it might be a couple of weeks before I post the result.

Weight gain: 10 lbs. according to my last doctor appointment 3 weeks ago. I am currently at the weight I was when I got prego with Mackenzie.

Maternity clothes: Regular, although I am in my heavier set of clothing. Also, I am wearing nursing bras. They are so much more comfy.

Stretch marks: I had them from Mackenzie so I probably won't notice new ones. 

Belly button in or out: In

Sleep: All the time. I still need a daily nap although I am not as cranky if I miss it.

Best moment this week: Watching Mackenzie take care of her babies. I think she might be grasping the concept as much as a 2 year old can. She points to my belly and says baby. When asked, she says she wants a baby sister.

Miss anything: Breathing! I can definitely feel all my organs have moved up.
The top half of my stomach is hard. I get winded walking with my friend, which I never did before, or singing Mackenzie bed time lulluabies. Ugh!

Movement: None, hopefully soon though. Aren't you supposed to feel it sooner with baby 2? I need it, I keep forgetting I am prego. HAHA!!

Cravings: For awhile it was baked potatoes with bacon and cheese and sour cream. That has mostly subsided. Every now and then I want a super good burger or steak. No super strong cravings though.

Queasy or sick: No, thankfully!!

Looking forward to: Planning the baby reveal party and helping plan the baby sprinkle. I helped my mom and sis-in-law last time. Then I emceed the whole thing. HAHA! I am excited to do a smaller, more intimate one this time since I don't need as much stuff.

Thanks everyone for reading!!

Minnesota: A new Experience for Mackenzie

This last week we went to Minnesota to watch our niece graduate! It was a surprise for her that we came, so I didn't want to blog about it until afterwards. With that said first time flying with a toddler was a little nerve wracking and consuming all my thoughts. Creating a void in my innovative brain and blocking all ideas on what else to blog about. I also didn't want to do just filler posts to fill the empty spaces, I want to make sure each of my blogs are something I actually want to share. So, sorry for the lack of posts lately. Here is review of our trip to Minnesota and how I survived flying with a toddler!

Before we left I had grand ideas of things to buy to pack and take to make flying for Mackenzie as smooth as possible. Then the week before a fellow employee got injured and my hours went from 28 to 44. Leaving me no time to pack, clean or shop until Friday the day before we left. This also added to lack of pictures which I have now had to go back and re set up to take to make it look like I was on top of my game and took these pics. Blogger fail! Another blogger fail while we were there I hardly got in pics  because I was enjoying watching Mackenzie experience it all for the first time,  or I was chasing Mackenzie around and trying to keep my sanity. Overall the trip was great,  too short, but great.

So it all started with Friday, working in the morning, meeting with the house sitter, cleaning and packing. Which I had not done any of that the week leading up. Mackenzie didn't nap great which made dealing with a cranky baby. Finally, she passed out around 5pm on the couch and I was able to move my butt and finish cleaning house. She woke up at 6pm still crabby but wanted to paint, I got her painting and started gathering clothes to pack. 8 o'clock was the time I was hoping to put her to bed but due to earlier nap she was not tired. So, she got a bath and I sat. 9pm I put her to bed then really started packing.

In my personal bag I do this whenever I travel I packed a large bag and then inside the large bag I put a small crossbody purse to double as my wallet. This way when we go shopping I don't have to carry the large bag I can just use the crossbody. Mondo also always brings a back pack. In the large bag I had 3 magazines (I never looked at them and they were heavy. I should have just done one), Mackenzie's change of clothes, 3 board books, a little bag with Minnie, stuffed Minnie, stuffed fox, Coloring book, crayons, headphones for me and her, and 3 binkies. Mondo's backpack contained Ipad, diapers, wipes and all of his other goodies.

Not everything is pictured. Extra's not mentioned are Minnie dress up, extra clothes, scarf, busy wallet for Mackenzie

So our plane was supposed to leave Spokane at 6am, which means we had to be at the airport at 430am, my parent's house, since my dad was driving us, at 4am, leave our house by 330am, up at 3 am. Max joined our bed at 11pm, I think, which is the same time I finally crawled into bed. My alarm scheduled for 245am, was on vibrate and I didn't fell it! Oops! Mondo set his for 3am and him and I both slept through for 10min. Double oops! We finally got out of the house and to my parent's only 10 min late. All good. All the commotion woke Mackenzie up, and she decided to stay awake. Which worked out Ok she slept the whole first flight! Until we touched down in Denver and the pilot slammed on the brakes. She didn't like that but, no crying just frowning. First flight down and all good! Denver we ate breakfast and got doughnuts. Then waited until we boarded. This is where Minnie (Minnie online) came in handy I was afraid of losing pieces and almost didn't bring it but, it worked great for the layover. 2nd plane we watched t.v. I think there was a glitch and we got it for free! Whoo hoo! We colored and played with the Ipad, which we also watched an episode of bubble guppies on. When it came to landing there was quite a bit of tuberlance and she decided to sit with daddy. Again, no crying all good. Minnesota airport had a Chik-fil-a. We needed that for lunch, it was far from baggage claim. So Mondo went for bags and Amy, Max and I for chicken! Mackenzie loved the moving sidewalk but she also loves escalators. Only problem no stroller and after we got food, toddler no longer wanted to walk. So I carried the food, Amy carried Mackenzie and it was was a long awkward walk to baggage claim. We got our rental car and rented a car seat. Surprisingly it was in great condition, although due to a mix up and miss reading of fine print we thought we were getting it for free. Nope, $12 a day. Next time we will gate check ours for free.

passed out first flight!

Finally, Minnesota. Surprise went great, graduation went great. I wore cute outfits. I will blog on this later. Let's keep this post under a 2 hour read. This post is strictly for flying.

Trip home: great news Sister in Minnesota had a spare umbrella stroller she let us have! After calling to make sure I can gate check it for free we headed to the Mall of America. Mackenzie loved the umbrella stroller and would not get out of it! Except when we got to the disney store and Lego store. Minnesota airport chicken for lunch again! How is that place so good? Gosh, it was so nice pushing Mackenzie in the stroller. We were there early so she got to play in the play zone for a while. Then we loaded the plane and gate checked the stroller. I do want to say I read about having one person load early while person 2 stays out and plays with toddler until last minute. This plan did not work for us. It was better to load earlier. Our seats for 3 out of 4 flights were in the back row. Actually all babies were in the back. I found out that this is because they keep the infant life vests in back. Makes sense,  just is an uncomfortable flight. So it was better to load early with families then try to explain to a toddler we can't push people out of our way and why they take a long time to put their carry on in the overhead compartment. So family load in our seats and no lines was the way to go. OK back to the flight. This time she stayed awake. So we colored and read board books over, over, over, over and over. I think I might have fell asleep and she was in daddy's lap. I think he mentioned Ipad and looking out the window too. Landing was smooth no problems.

Mackenzie waving bye

Playing in the MAC train at MSP

Denver at first we thought "we have 1 hr 30 min layover, no prob." Then double check, no only 45 mins. Then get to the gate. 2 hour almost 3 hour delay. Ugh! This was already 7pm Denver time. Flight not supposed to leave until 11pm, which means no Spokane until 12 am, Washington time. Yuck! So we ate, had ice cream. I wasn't feeling good so we sat at a darkened gate a let Mackenzie play. Minnie mouse again and colored some. Then she wanted to run around, which would have been ok, except she was tired and was no longer willing to listen. So we took her closer to our actual gate and let her walk around in a more contained area and look out the window at airplanes. This made her happy. Finally with 30 min left to go she was restless, who could blame her. I also knew she had to be tired since she hardly napped. So mondo and I switched turns pushing her in the stroller around the terminal. Thank you God and Brenda for this stroller!  While pushing the stroller around a bunch of people had flights cancelled and were sleeping at the airport. I was so thankful this wasn't us but, also it broke my heart when I saw a few families and even a few with infants. How yucky would that be! Finally we load. Since we were seated near the front we actually waited to seat with our section. This wasn't too bad. It was late so, I knew we would all sleep. Yucky, thing about this flight I don't think one mommy thought about the ear pressure thing. Her little one cried the whole flight and I noticed baby would cry louder whenever I felt more pressure in my ears. I was glad we choose to let Mackenzie have her binky the whole time we were flying. Of course she fell right to sleep.  We landed again he slammed on the brakes. Seriously! She woke up, dad was there to pick us up got her in the car and she fell back asleep 45 min later. Got home transferred her to her bed she stayed asleep and slept in until 8am.

Overall flying was great! I was so proud of Mackenzie she handled the whole thing like a trooper! I am so excited to fly with her more often. Hopefully next time to Disneyland! I love that place!

So this week Mackenzie turns 2! I plan on posting about her party, including a special surprise!  I also will blog later about the outfits worn in Minnesota. And in July my family moves in with my mom (temporarily), so my mom and I have a few photo sesh planned for so new blog posts. Oh and also coming up weight loss update!

Thank for reading,

Dorinda

Our Christmas!

Hey, Everyone our Christmas was a whirlwind of busyness, and I was determined to enjoy every last minute of it!!

Here was how our house was decorated this year. Minus Mackenzie and our room. Mackenzie's room I put up her pink tree from last year and hung some snowflakes above her bed!

Mackenzie's tree

washi tape decor

It all started with Mackenzie's bestie coming over on Monday. I had her all day and it was a blast!! The only bad thing was with 2 toddlers by yourself you can't take pictures! boo!!!

playing with washi tape

The girls' had a busy day. We wrapped presents, after I wrapped them in craft paper they stuck stickers on them. We baked chocolate chip cookies for Santa, also made homemade play dough. After the nap they tested the cookies with some "hot cocoa" chocolate milk with marshmallows in it. They also played with washi tape. Seriously though this is the best way to entertain a toddler, I also have used painter's tape. Just stick a bunch of strips on a table and let them peel and stick on.

Tuesday (Christmas Eve) we always spend with his sister, my BFF! Usually we cook a nice meal but, since me and hubby had to work, panda it was! After dinner we put on pj's and opened presents! Then off to look at lights! When we came home I still hadn't wrapped any presents, so time to wrap.

christmas pj's

opening gifts with aunty

cats loved the boxes!

Christmas morning we opened stockings in bed! Favorite tradition! Then came up and opened Mackenzie's presents before family came over. I made apple crisp oatmeal for breakfast with bacon (what is a holiday with out bacon?), we also had "special juice"; which is juice with more that one flavor. My family came over for breakfast and after breakfast we opened more presents. Although Max saw one of her presents before breakfast and loved it!! Her little happy dance is so cute, I must get it on video!! That was her new wagon my parents got her! Mondo and I can't wait to use it!! It also has like ski things to put on to use in the snow. I am going to see if I can track down a canopy for it for summer use!  I will post another blog on what our favorite presents were, I don't want to take up to much of your reading time! 

stockings

new headband!

opening gifts with mommy and daddy

Add caption

her with her new wagon!

playing with gramma and granty before breakfast

she moves too fast for pictures

Of course after breakfast and family leaving we napped, then went to my mom's house for a super yummy dinner! And we also skyped with his family in Minnesota!

attempt to get a family pic

her outfit

another shot

Day after Christmas we all went over to my cousin's house for our day after celebrations. This is probably one of my favorite things! We eat leftovers and play games with extended family! LOVE IT!!

How was your holiday? I have a lot of posts to catch up on, so stay tuned!!

Dorinda

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Chambers! Make today memorable!

Five Fast Favorite Fall Foods

I love fall time! Yet, it always seems so busy or to create in me a strong desire to be lazy. So simple and easy foods become my friends. Here are 5 simple and easy meals to have this festive, fun time.

1. Chips, Chili, and Cheese

The world's easiest meals and one of my favorites my mom would "make". The ingredients/recipe are found in the title. Heat up some chili, lay a bed of Frito chips, cover in chili and top with cheese. Dinner is served, this meal is great during football games where you don't want to miss a single play. Or the days spent too long at that oh so fun pumpkin patch.

2. Pizza grilled cheese

I found this on Pinterest and it quickly became one of my favorites. 2 slices of buttered bread, place mozzarella cheese on, some pepperoni, Parmesan  and sprinkle Italian seasonings. Grill! While grilling heat up some marinara sauce in the micro. Once complete dip your grilled cheese into your marinara and yum-o!!

3. French Bread Pizza

Anytime my mom required of me to make dinner this was my pick. Fry 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, until done. Cut one loaf of french bread up the center creating 2 halves. Each half spread marinara sauce, Add chicken on top and some garlic cloves. Then cover in shredded cheese. Place in oven until bread is toasted and cheese is melted. A great alternative to pizza!

Okay, so the next two are not so much on the fastish side. They are crock pot meals but, still super easy and putting the ingredients together is fast!

4. Pork chops and rice

Another one of my favorites from my mom. In your crock pot put in your rice and required amount of water. Also add 1 can of cream of something soup, my personal favorite is cream of mushroom, give a little stir. Place pork chops on top, then sprinkle one package onion soup mix. Set crock pot on low for 6 - 8 hours. Then proceed to devour.

5. Tortilla Soup

Another Pinterest recipe found to be super yummy and super easy. We always have the ingredients in the cupboard for a quick meal. One can of each, diced tomatoes, corn, black beans. One package of each ranch mix, taco seasonings, 1 lb ground beef (pre-cooked), 6 cups of water. Stir all in crock pot and let cook low 6-8 hour. When done serve with shredded cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips.

Hope these recipes help you out. You can follow me for more food ideas here. I have a potato soup recipe pinned that I cannot wait to try.

food lover,

Dorinda

P.s. these pictures are not mine, I found them on Pinterest