So much fun

I was sitting here this morning in between reading emails and browsing online, when I stumbled upon this website: http://themetapicture.com/these-parents-are-amazing/

I couldn't help but laugh,.. and then I started thinking, it is almost Christmas time, and it's time to start the "elf on the shelf" tradition in our household.

Last year, Lil M was way too young to care about finding the little elf every morning.  This year, he might be too young too, .. but that doesn't mean I can't start collecting ideas for next year so that the Elf on the Shelf in our house will be amazing at hiding and playing games in the house!

I love how the parents used a bunch of dinosaurs to and how each day it was a different theme!! I think I might have to start collecting some elf friends or find some reindeer figures on sale this year as to help the Elf on the Shelf get into trouble.

Letter of Recommendation

I was asked my Lil M's teacher to help write her a letter of recommendation.  I was excited to know that M's teacher felt close enough to me, to ask me to help write her something this personable, something that could help her in advancing in her career, but I am so nervous.  I am not good at writing these things... I mean what do you put in these letter of recommendations?  She mentioned it was for a portfolio, but didn't mention if it was for a new job or if she was to put with her resume while in the search of a new job.  I have never written a character reference before, so I decided to google it...

Guess what I found? I found links on how to write a character witness for court! HAHA
There are pictures of convicts (many looking like my husband's family.. LOL.. ok that's another post) and then there are a few people in there that just look drugged out and wearing orange! 

So I googled on, and found a few templates for letter of recommendations and used those for reference

here is what I came up with,.. please leave me some comments with edits before I turn this into the teacher, I am always nervous when it comes to giving things to Lil M's teachers

Thanks

XOXO

To Whom It May Concern

I have had the pleasure of knowing Miss H for over a year.  During the year of our acquaintance, I have known Miss H in many capacities.  She has been my son’s preschool teacher, but most importantly been a role model.  Her responsibilities in that capacity have grown with the activity level, and you can clearly see what an important role she plays in my son’s life as you watch him reach and excel in his many milestones. 

She has helped with improving my son’s skills and in a very short time frame, he has increased his fine motor skills, his vocabulary, and his eagerness to listen and follow directions.  She is very creative in her way of educating the children, they are always having so much fun and do not realize that she is teaching them. 

Miss H is an intelligent, capable, dedicated and personable young woman.  She is always quick on her feet, with sensible reactions in all the circumstances a preschool teacher meets.  I feel confident in saying that she is capable of handling any situation with thoughtfulness and maturity.    

Thank you,

Lil M's Mommy

Do I dare to dream.....

Do I dare to continue to dream about having a second child? Am I being selfish????


Read more 

http://www.modvive.com/2013/11/15/baby-2-selfish-ready/

First Pair of Hunter Boots!!

Imagine my surprise, while shopping for fruits and vegetables at Costco I stumbled upon Hunter Rain boots for women!!  I couldn't believe my eyes!! I was super excited that they were half the price and in my size!!  I couldn't pass this opportunity up, so I put them in my shopping cart and went on my merry way!!



I bought the boots in the navy blue, which to me, looks kind of a pretty grey. 

I am looking forward to the winter weather when the rain falls and Lil M and I can go puddle jumping!! These boots will keep my feet warm and dry! Not to mention, keep my pants from getting soaked!

I am so excited for this new find!! I still can't believe that Costco can sell them for half the price!!  What a deal :)

When I was checking out to pay, the cashier said the most hilarious thing ever, he said "$70 for rubber boots? you're getting ripped off" 

I couldn't help but laugh!! Guess he doesn't have any daughters at home :)

I put them on Lil M as to see how "tall" these boots were.. and his little leg couldn't reach all the way to the bottom!! Was hilarious!   He was not into my boots at all.. unless it was to put his cars inside haha

These new beauties are sitting in the box waiting for the first rain fall!

now question for those fashionistas out there... can i wear these boots even when it's not raining outside? or will i look like a total goober?? haha

XOXO

Hallelujah!!!

I am soooo happy!! Some kind soul dropped off my package last night :)
UPS must have delivered my package to the wrong address, and I am so lucky that the person at the house was nice enough to come by and drop it off :) 

Inside my package were some new snow gloves for Lil M and some sunglasses.  Also a new beanie and SF niners t-shirts, one for Lil M and one for me!! I am so excited!! My package isn't lost!  No one stole it, there was no mean ole grinch out there!!

I am so happy that my neighbors are all pretty friendly, and that I have made friends with  many of them!! It always makes me feel safer to know that the people who live around me have my back.  It is also nice to come home to a neighborhood with smiling faces and friendly conversation.

Let's just hope the rest of my packages get delivered to my address instead of being lost again!  The stress of wondering where my package was and what to do in order to make sure I didn't get screwed over was just too much!!

Maybe I need to start shopping in store instead of online shopping this Christmas season, just so tempting with all the emails from stores about sales and additional percentages off.......

XOXO

Wonderful time of year....

It's that wonderful time of year when people are ordering things online and having stuff delivered to their homes.  And also the time of year when mean people come by and troll and steal packages

I have been living at our place for over 7 years, have had packages sent home all the time... and then it happened... 

yesterday someone stole my package that I had shipped home, and the sad thing is, that it will take 10 business days to complete an "investigation :( what the heck people? 
10 full business days? by the time they realize someone stole my package, the items that I wanted will no longer be available :( I mean come on!!!

I don't understand how someone can come by and steal my stuff.. just SO MEAN!!


Last year there was this article
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=8896680

about thieves stealing packages at the front door...


guess it's time for the news to play another story this year :(

I am so hopeful the UPS guy delivered it to one of my neighbors and today when I get home it will magically appear at my doorstep..

I guess I will be waiting 10 business days for them to tell me someone stole my package... sigh


XOXO

Goats

Sometimes it's fun to chase the goats instead of feeding them, going down the big kid slide and riding a lady bug backwards ......

Sunday Funday was a great day with Lil M's cousin Lil D :)  They rode their first kiddy rides on their own :) We went down the big slide really fast, we saw animals and we even got to run a muck.

I love days that I can take Lil M to do stuff that he enjoys!! It is so much fun to see his eyes light up with excitement and to see him express himself with more and more words!!

I am so proud of him, and so excited for all the new adventures to come

I couldn't believe how brave Lil M was, he was chasing the goats and was pointing to them saying "goat"
I don't know what kind of a sound goats make, do you? 


Until our next fun adventure!!

XOXOOX

Balancing

How do you balance your life as a full time working mom ??

Check out my FIRST published article

http://www.modvive.com/2013/11/09/life-mom-wife-call-living/

And please like my blog's facebook page :)

https://www.facebook.com/thelifeoflilmsmommy

Lego Mini Build

Once a month, lego hosts a really fun event where kids can come in and learn to build something and get to bring it home for free!!!

Lil M and his Uncle have been attending the last 3 events, and so far we have build a witch, an airplane and a tractor.  These events are so much fun and we have been meeting some really nice people while waiting in the LONG line!

The funny thing is, the event starts at 5pm sharp, and we usually get to the mall around 420/430, the line is pretty long already!! My brother and I believe that people must get there at 330, right after school.  There are kids there sitting on the floor with their iPads, their laptops and their school books.  Everyone is either doing homework or watching a movie.  It is so crazy!!  The parents are all fully equipped with coolers with snacks and drinks for their children.  Then there are the packs of kids that know each other and all sit together while waiting for the lego man to come out to hand out the cards, this means that the event will start soon, and if you receive a card you know you will be able to go in and build the lego of the day :)

The last lego build we ended up standing in line for 2 hours!! It was crazy long and for some reason, it took longer for people to build the tractor.  Lil M was a champ, we ran off to Sees candy to get some chocolate to fuel up and energize.  We people watched and played with the kids surrounding us.

When we got to the front of the line, and as we were waiting to be called in, Lil M started yelling "inside" "inside"  He knew, that he wanted to go inside the lego store, he knew what today was all about

Once we got to our station, he started smiling and laughing and grabbing for lego pieces!! I love how excited he gets!! The pure joy of his face makes me feel so excited, the reason I will endure 2 hour lines... the reason I will be "one of those" crazy parents that will go into work early in order to leave early :)

This event is so much fun, and makes Lil M excited about legos, plus it's his bonding time with his uncle

I hope that they continue this for years :) and eventually when he's older, he can just go with his uncle and I can stay home LOL

Can't wait for next month...

Crazy Crazy Crazy

This morning I finally got a chance to sit down and drink some hot tea to warm myself up from the cold cold weather... when it hit me

I never really get a chance to sit down and "not think" anymore!! I mean being a busy working mother, my life has changed.  Don't get me wrong, my life has changed for the better, I would never trade in my crazy day to day schedule of crazy for anything.  I love my son so much, and honestly, he's the reason for living!! He saved me, he mended my broken heart...

But anyways.. back to my crazy schedule and my crazy life....

I am sitting here and I think about my day to day activities, and wonder how other working mothers do it

I plan out my dinner schedule for the week every Wednesday afternoon.  I sit down, think of all the things that I will be cooking the next week, make up grocery lists, look up recipes and think of things that can be prepped the night before so that after work all I have to do is preheat an oven or pop something into the microwave.  I then also plan out the left overs for lunches and also think about what exactly is in my freezer and what needs to be used so that we don't waste any food.  With all the planning I always have to make sure there is a vegetable and a fruit involved along with making sure that we don't eat the same protein twice in a row.  

I always wonder, do other moms do this too? Do they sit there and plan out their meals week by week? Do they also stay up late pre-cooking dinner for the next night so that after work and daycare, there is less time in the kitchen and more time playing with their little ones?  How do other moms balance this? Do they also struggle with what they are going to be cooking for dinner?  Do they also spend time late at night in the kitchen pre-cooking dinner and prepping lunches for the next day?  Do they also stress about serving healthy meals and healthy snacks for their little ones?

I go on pinterest often and merge their recipe ideas with foodnetwork and epicurious.  I always am trying to think of new ways to serve chicken so that we don't eat it prepared the same way as often.

I found this new recipe and I totally love it, everyone in the house seems to be happy and can be prepped the night before.  I believe you could probably prep and freeze some extras too, for an easy peasy dinner for another night.

Baked Chicken Flautas
(http://www.healthy-delicious.com/2012/03/baked-chicken-and-spinach-flautas/)

Baked flautas stuffed with seasoned, shredded chicken, spinach, and cheese are crispy, but don’t have the greasiness of fried versions. To shred poached chicken easily, put it into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on medium for 45 seconds. Store-bought rotisserie chicken can be substituted for the poached chicken to save time. You might also like Baked Buffalo Chicken Taquitos.

Author: Lauren Keating

Serves: 10

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless, skinless Chicken Thighs (about 4)
• 16 ounces Beer (or chicken broth)
• 2 cups Water
• 1 teaspoon Paprika
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon ground Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1 Jalapeno Pepper, minced
• 3 cups Baby Spinach, chopped
• 5 burrito-size Flour Tortillas (9 inches)
• 6 ounces Queso Quesadilla or other melting cheese, shredded
• 1 teaspoon Olive Oil, or cooking spray
• Salsa, for serving

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 450*F.
2. Put the chicken thighs in a deep sided saute pan and cover with the beer and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the chicken from the liquid and shred it. Mix together the chicken and seasonings.
3. Pour out all but ¼ cup of the cooking liquid. Add the jalapeno and spinach and cook over low heat until for 2-3 minutes, or until the spinach is wilted.
4. Cut the tortillas in half. Spoon 1/10th of the chicken (about 1 tablespoon) along the long edge of a tortilla. Repeat with the spinach and cheese. Roll the tortilla up, starting with the straight edge. Place seam-side down on an oiled baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
5. Brush the flautas with olive oil or spray with cooking spray. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn them over and bake for until 10 minutes, or until crispy. Serve with salsa.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 181 Fat: 9 Carbohydrates: 6.3 Fiber: 1.2 Protein: 18.5

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog, I have been blogging from a different account for a few years and decided I wanted to change things around and make my blog about life, happiness and all the adventures of having an energy full toddler.  Granted, I will never forget about infertility, nor will I stop mourning the loss of angel babies everywhere, but  I decided I needed to heal.  I needed a spot that wasn't primarily focused on infertility but on life after infertility and how I am living life to the fullest with my adorable Lil M :)

I plan so many playdates and activities for him, I decided it was time to share those moments, to share happy moments instead of always talking about sad ones.


This blog will be dedicated to all the fun activities that I take Lil M to and how he reacts :)

Hope you enjoy!

XOXO