Part 2 of updates

Mother's day weekend we did a little mini celebration for Hayley's birthday that is happening next week. Just had to post this picture of Jerry, it's one of my favorites as we sat around the dinner table.

Kathleen bought a little keyring with her own money to give to Hayley :-)

Cake per Hayley's request to be chocolate with chocolate icing. :-) Funny story after I lit the candles and was carrying the cake to the table the wind blew through the window and I went to quickly turn to avoid having the candles go out and the whole cake slid off the tray! Miraculously it bounced on the corner and landed upright...catastrophe avoided! Nothing short of a miracle I tell ya ;.-)

When Hayley went on her school field trip she found these cool glasses. To add to her growing collection, lol.

On Mother's day my mom and I were served breakfast in bed!

The bacon however was not mine....lol  But I loved how it was served by my two beautiful girls :-)

Once the girls got dressed they went down to get their breakfast. Kathleen cleaned their desk off real well and decided she was going to eat her breakfast there.

We then took a ride to a local park and I just had to snap a picture of Jerry with his phone trying to use his GPS and looking at the map. No signal however....guess it's good to have map reading skills. LOL, can't imagine what children growing up today will do without their devices if they aren't taught the proper skills.

I always enjoy the peacefulness and serenity of nature. No hurries, no worries. :-)

My Hayley is growing up! About as tall as her daddy!!

To say it was windy is a slight understatement! LOL Our hair was wild!!

Not my favorite pictures of me....but I love the girls and their smiles with me :-)

 

My mom and I ;-)

 Enjoying the beautiful ride out of the woods....

We had a nice day.... when we got home Kathleen had fun playing with her Barbies...

Hayley made this cool campfire for her American Girl doll teepee :-)

Well blogger is still slow with loading pictures so I will wrap up this post for now and save the next one for the wedding celebration this past weekend. :-)

Still going through some tests and dealing with medicine adjustments, etc. with my heart. Been frustrating but I'm researching a lot on my own. Determined to get as healthy as I can and help others any way I can. Still behind on blog reading...I've been so tired lately just trying to keep up with daily activities. Thank you all for your emails, comments and well wishes, I can't tell you how much it means to be.

Blessings,

 Jill

Recipes, Spring and what we've been up to Part 1

Weeks are flying by and it's time to update! Jerry's surgery went well and he is recovering nicely. In fact he is on another business trip to San Francisco for a few days, although the plane ride was not in favor of his knee.

I've been making healthier meals found a good one on Pinterest which was a hit with everyone in the house.It's a broccoli & chicken pasta.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground chicken breast
14 1/2 ozs canned Italian style tomatoes, undrained and diced
2 tsps minced garlic
3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 tbs no salt added tomato paste
1/2 tsp basil
6 oz rotini pasta cooked and drained
1/2 tsp oregano
3 ozs shredded cheddar cheese
10 oz frozen broccoli florets

In a large skillet cook chicken, garlic, and onions until chicken is no longer pink. Mix in basil and oregano

Transfer mixture to crock pot and add broccoli, tomatoes and chicken broth. Mix well and cover and cook on low for 4 hours. Then stir in tomato paste, pasta and cheese cook another 30 mins. Then Enjoy!

Really delicious!

Kathleen was so excited that the author Ted Arnold was coming to her school the other day that she made him a special picture. He told her there is a great chance he will feature it on his website! This is her creation of Fly Guy!

The girls also made a countdown chain for the end of school....of course it's much shorter now! lol

Hayley just finished a book by Jerry Spinelli called Milkweed about the Holocaust, great book for a young reader to help them understand what happened during that time.

How many of you are familiar with the Orange Julius store and drink? We don't have them where I live now but I found a recipe in Pinterest that tastes just like it!

6 oz frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
8-9 ice cubes

Combine and blend about 1-2 mins. Says to add ice cubes 1 at a time but I have a Vitamix so I threw them all in. So delicious and so not healthy...but once in awhile it's o.k. :-)

Kathleen had her kitty at the kitchen table the other morning and I thought it was so cute she covered him with a napkin to keep him warm while she was at school.

Oh and I can't forget to share the recipe for orange creamsicle homemade Popsicles, yum!

1 cup orange juice
1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 tsp orange extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium bowl whisk all ingredients together. Pour into Popsicle molds ( I got mine at Bed Bath & Beyond and I love them! Very sturdy) Let sit 30-60 mins then add sticks. Freeze at least 4-6 hours until frozen

When ready to serve run a little warm water over them to loosen them up to come out.
Enjoy!

Grabbed a few of my favorite magazines the other day. :-)

Been enjoying the Spring changes in our yard and all the lovely fragrances when walking out the front door.

 Lilacs

Dogwood

Redwood tree my dad got us a couple years ago. It is really doing well...wonder if one day it will be as big as the ones in California? ;-)

Jerry cut the lilacs for me and I put them in a vase, I love their fragrance, it's one of my favorite flowers!

Hayley has been busy crafting and creating. She made a path to go around the Tipi for her American Girls.

Yup all on my formal dining room table...lol but I'm ok with that if it makes her happy. :-)

Jerry wanted to get mowing done before traveling to San Francisco for business and decided to mow at night using his flashlight app on his IPhone, lol. Not the best picture but you can get an idea :-) His poor knee! Can't keep him down for long and with my heart I can't do push mowing.

Both girls were really happy that their Nana and Pop Pop came up for grandparent's day at their school. We got a great picture of Kathleen with them :-)

I have more to post but for some reason blogger loading pictures is taking a ton of time today. So I will catch up more next week from Mother's day. This weekend one of my best friends is getting married and I'm so excited for him. I'll be posting pictures from that next week too! Been crazy busy here but hoping to get caught up on some of my blog reading the next few days. Have a wonderful weekend!!

"There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul"
                                                 -Ella Wheeler Wilcox

                                                                     Blessings,
                                                                          Jill

Food, helpers and a relaxing day

My salad spinner has to be one of my favorite additions to my kitchen :-) Keeps the lettuce nice and crisp for building healthy salads.

One of my favorite easy, healthy salads I like to have for lunch is lettuce with tomatoes, goat cheese, pine nuts and yummy red wine vinegar...

I've also been searching for healthy snacks with protein and I came across this recipe on Pinterest for roasted chick peas. Delicious! For the ingredients you will need:

1 can garbanzo beans 14 oz. rinsed and drained
2 tbps olive oil
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Rinse, drain and air dry chickpeas

Line cookie tray with parchment paper and place chickpeas on tray. Bake for 30 mins. stirring once at 15 min. mark.

Pour chickpeas into a mixing bowl, mix with olive oil, brown sugar, salt & cinnamon

Enjoy! delicious :-)

I've also been enjoying lots of healthy stir fry with a little olive oil and shrimp is one of our favorites.

I just buy frozen bags of precooked shrimp, defrost, remove tails and toss into stir fry to heat!

We have actually added this to our Thursday dinner plan because it is quick and easy after dance class for Kathleen.

I did make a dessert for friends last weekend, one was a delicious yogurt/strawberry cake. Also from Pinterest, turned out so yummy!

But this is the only photo I remembered to take! LOL

I also made these smores in a crescent roll.

They were o.k. but next time I think I will add more chocolate, marshmallows and Graham cracker crumbs because the crescent roll overpowered the sweetness.

My girl's have been great helpers, they were before but they have really been helping me out. Before having friends over this past weekend they helped me clean. Kathleen did the bathrooms...

And Hayley did the vacuuming. They also brought up the play kitchen from downstairs for Carly to play with. Hard to believe she will be 2 years old in May!

Jerry bought me more beautiful roses....

He was spending some time in the yard getting mowing and mulching done.

We are getting more signs of Spring, trees blooming more now... so pretty. :-)

Our birds are returning to the birdhouses around our yard to make their nests....

And from all the rain the other day our mini "stream" has come back. All the kids love playing in it.

On Sunday our friends asked us over to the place where they camp and we had a really nice relaxing day. Just what we needed.

A peaceful lake.....

Their golf cart got new life as "Herbie" :-)

The girls had a blast riding around on it!

We fell in love with their little dogs and Jerry had fun spoiling them with food!

Kathleen was happy carrying them around!

The only down part of the day is when we were leaving Jerry pulled into the little store to see what they had and he ran into a large rock that was sticking out on one side. So I have nice deep scratches in my new van :-( So I guess we will be contacting a body shop to match paint or something.

So this week has been off to a busy, crazy start. I have Kathleen home today with bronchitis and Jerry goes in for surgery on his knee tomorrow. So I must admit not much resting for me, lol. ;-) It's all good because I'm happiest taking care of the ones I love!

                                                                       Blessings,
                                                                          Jill