Day at the Apple Orchard

What a great day! The weather was perfect (mid-70's), and I was able to spend the whole day with my little ones. I can't lie, I had some challenging moments, but overall I had a good time. 

The plan for the day was to go to the apple orchard around 11a. Darnell had a game at 4p, so we wanted to get out in enough time to enjoy the cider mill. Especially when it was 1 hour away. Cherie also was scheduled to join us.  Darnell ended up working in the AM, so by the time he returned it wasn't enough time for him to go too. So, the kids, Cherie, and I headed out to Blake's Apple Orchard. We had so much fun! That was probably the best orchard I've been to. There was so much to do. 

The kids fell asleep in the car so when we got there they were not in the best mood.  We tried to start with some activities, but that didn't go over well. We instead battled the bees, and started with yummy donuts & cider. Here is Morgan having a taste of donuts, and Joshua with his first smile of the afternoon lol. 

After that fabulous snack it was time to hit the mill!  They had tons to do including pony rides, but Joshua wasn't having it! We tried 3 times throughout the visit, but he didn't even want to pet the pony's! So, that was $4.50 I could have saved lol. Hey, maybe I will save it and use next year lol just kidding. 

Morgan taking Mommy for a ride on the tractor lol

OMG Joshua loved playing this. There were ducks that you could race by pumping the water. I'm sure if we would have let him, he would still be there playing that game. 

Lastly, we hopped on the wagon...ok tractor, and had a very nice ride around the HUGE orchard!! As you can see Morgan was focused on her bottle, and Joshua thought it was the coolest thing since the duck races!

After a long day at the cider mill we were all very hungry, so off to Mongolian BBQ we went. I was excited to take Joshua there for the first time. I knew he would enjoy watching the guys cooking the food on the grill. His behavior at the table was not one that met my approval, but seeing his face at the grill was priceless. 

Needless to say we were all pooped, but wouldn't have had it any other way!

Morgan 1st Birthday pt. 1

November 13 marked Morgan's 1st Birthday!  On her actual birthday the family went out to dinner to Red Robin.  I'll have to create a different post for that, but on November 16th Morgan had a Sugar and Spice themed birthday party.  She invited all of family and closest friends to help her celebrate!

 

Morgan was very reserved during her party.  I don't know if it was all the people at her house, or the dress she was in made her uncomfortable, but she was not the normal Morgan that runs around the house and climbs on everything! LOL She was very quite, and clingy the entire day.

 

Morgan is her pretty in pink dress to match the Sugar and Spice Birthday theme. 

 

Here is the birthday girl with her cousin Austin.  Austin just turned one a few months back!

In efforts to remain with the Sugar and Spice theme, I wanted to make sure all the decorations matched the theme as well.  The main color was pink with light "girly" colors to accent.  The menu was also Sugar and Spice inspired.  The menu included:
Salad
Chili (spice)
Cornbread muffins
Nuggets & Tator Tots for the kids that didn't want chili
Yogurt Parfait bar -blueberries, raspberries, strawberries,and granola (sugar)
Fruit salad (sugar)
Chips and salsa (spice)
Candy bar (sugar)
Cake (sugar)
Pink Lemonade, juice boxes, and water
Pink Rice Krispie Treats for the favors (sugar)

Below is the setup!

 

Morgan with her grandmother, cousin, and aunt.

Morgan with her Auntie Rie.

My BFF came out to party with Morgan!

 

Morgan's Great-Uncle B came to wish her a Happy 1st Birthday!

Of course I had to add a couple of additional pictures of the adorable birthday girl!!

Morgan 1st Birthday pt. 2

 

I brought Busboys from DC to Detroit!

Some of my Sorors and I went to Washington D.C. to enjoy the Centennial of our fabulous Sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, Sorority, Inc.  We had a BLAST!  It's always nice to spend time with my Sorors. 

So while we were there, we fell in love with this restaurant called Busboys and Poets. I ended up getting an Orzo pasta which was so good that I ended up looking up a similar recipe online when I returned home.  It actually turned out pretty good! This will definitely be kept in the rotation.

Busboys and Poets dish is made with orzo pasta, sweet potatoes, asparagus, shallots, shiitake, red pepper and kale, and tossed in a tomato olive oil sauce.

I didn't have sweet potatoes in mine, but everything else I attempted to mimic.

10 Months and walking! Go Morgan Go!

My baby got her first tooth (9/7/13), and started walking (9/12/13) all within a week!  I don’t know if I can take it.   We knew that she was ready to walk, so we started to encourage her little by little, and next thing we knew she began walking on her own.  It’s really cute that she is now starting to also evolve into her own little personality.  Big bother, Joshua tries to bully her some, but she does not take any mess from him!  As soon as she starts to play with a toy, there is Joshua to take it away from her.  We are trying to teach him how to share.  Sometimes he is in a sharing mood, and sometimes he isn’t.  I used to be Morgan’s voice, and stick up for her when Joshua takes all the toys from her, but now I sit back a little because I am finding that Morgan is capable of taking up for herself when it comes to big brother! :)

Oh, by the way, pay no attention to the baby talk Joshua is doing.  He tends to try to convert back to his baby days when we give Morgan a lot of attention.  Here we were trying to capture her walking on video, but Joshua didn't like the attention off of him, so the baby talk began.  We, of course spread the love and attention across the board.  There is so much of it to give, so there is plenty to go around!

 

Another Update Post

Almost every day I tell myself that I need to blog, but that day seems to slip by and another day goes that I don't blog! Seems like when I do blog it just catch-up posts that summarizes the several months that I didn't blog, and by the looks of it, that is what this post will be about too! LOL!
Let's see, I started a new job! I am not sure if I'm mentioned that in previous post, but I am now working at a large automotive company, and love it! There are SO MANY opportunities here that were not available to me at my old job. I must admit, I do miss my old co-workers, but I keep in touch with some of them from time to time.

With my new position, I am now an End User Product Support Specialist. When people ask me what I do I just say an IT Trainer. Basically, I inform and show people how to use the IT related tools that the company has made available to them to be more productive. I create presentations, training documents, and then actually present to the end user community both in person and virtually. I love it! My manager is awesome as well, and has really been pushing me to step outside of my comfort zone.
Joshua is still a busy boy, and going through the "terrible twos". We are trying our best to turn that into the "terrific twos" ASAP!! It puts a lot of strain, and stress on everyone, but we are pushing through it! It's been hard taking him places lately as well. We, of course, want to take him out to enjoy the summer, but once we get out its tantrum city!! We are supposed to Birmingham fireworks this evening, so we shall see what the future holds with this little boy :)

Morgan is another busy bee. That little girl is now seven months, and does not like to be held anymore :( She just wants to be put down on the floor and crawl all over the place. She also is pulling herself up on furniture, and doing very well walking along side it! She is growing up too fast for me!! I look at her, and get sad because I know it will just be a matter of time before she is as big as her brother!!

Zzzzzzzz....Zzzzzzz...Zzzzzzz

Zzzzzzzz....Zzzzzzz...Zzzzzzz
Oops, sorry I fell asleep there! Geesh, I swear I am tired ALL OF THE TIME, but feel like I am never sleep! This is a crazy feeling that I know will pass soon, but until it does...Zzzzzz...Zzzzzzzzzzzz...oops sorry, there I go again! LOL!
I don't know if I am alone here, but it seems like I always have so much to do, it seems like I'm always doing something, but I also feel like NOTHING ever gets done! What the heck is that about? Joshua of course sleeps throughout the night, but Morgan is still getting there. She actually is doing pretty well. Depending on the night she could wake up 1-3 times. However, for some reason the monitor we have triggers a lot of false alarms!!!! I am about ready to through that thing out of the window!! I swear that thing goes off about 2-3 times a night. Combine that with Morgan waking up...Lawd Jesus........Zzzzzzzz
My solution is drink coffee all day, and all night so I can stay awake to do work during the day, and stay awake to do housework at night! LOL! Tim (Horton’s), and I have an amazing relationship!

2013 time to get it back tight!

After my doctor gave me the green light to start working out again I tried to do what I could to get in shape. I started with my eating habits and working out followed. I used to be a huge carb eater! Bagel, bread, pasta, pizza, donuts, pancakes, and waffles all had to be kicked out of my diet due to my new eating lifestyle. I still may eat pasta and pizza on occasion, but it’s all in moderation.


My go to breakfast now is yogurt topped with granola and fruit. It taste good and gets me full! I can’t see every going back to a bagel every day. Yes, I used to eat a bagel every day!! What a mess! After I got my eating under control I began to workout. I attended a class along the lines of a boot camp that meets twice a week called Run This Town. It is a serious workout that works your entire body!

Even though I have started to feel better, I can’t say that I am losing weight like I thought I would be. I cut a lot of fattening foods out of my daily diet, but I have still pretty much remained at a the same weight. I’m still about 10 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight. Once the weather breaks I am going to try running to see if that helps at all.

Wish me luck!

Meal Prep is a MUST!

I am currently on week two with preparing and prepping meals for the week. Sometime during the day on Monday’s I try to meal plan for the week. When I get off from work I stop by the store to pick up the necessary items for the meals for the week. When I arrive at home I begin to prepare the meal for that evening as well as prep the meals for the following days. I tried this before when Joshua was first born, but for some reason it seemed to be overwhelming at the time. However, these last couple of weeks has been fantastic, and has worked out perfectly. It allows me to be able to breathe when I arrive at home after work, and spend more time with my family. This is what I did this past Monday:






I fully prepared the dish for Monday which was creamy chicken and spinach pasta. The recipe can be found here. The next meal was fajitas. I cut up the peppers and onions as well as defrost the chicken and sliced that up too. That way when I was ready to cook I would just have to toss it in skillet with seasoning. For Wednesday I planned on making Spaghetti, so I seasoned the ground turkey and made the meatballs. Lastly, I wanted to make burgers and fries for Thursday’s dinner. I usually make the patties from ground turkeys as well, and make fries from whole potatoes, but in the spirit of making things a little faster, I decided to try out frozen turkey patties, and frozen French fries. Friday’s we typically order pizza from Buddy’s and Saturday’s we may get take out as well or leftovers.



I hope to keep this up since it really seems to be a lot of help for me!

Back to the Beau

I returned back to work from maternity leave yesterday actually three days early, and as soon as I returned I was ready to leave!

My first day brought back all of the awful feelings I experienced before I left.  "Be thankful that you are employed!"  Those words I continuously tell myself, and I am sure this is also the view point of others.  I can honestly say that I am very thankful for having a job and reconize the blessing of being able to bring income for my family, but does it have to come at the cost of unhappiness?

I am not convinced that has to be the case, and I am not believing that this is the life God has for me!  My focus is to KEEP my focus on God so He can reveal His plan for me, and shine light on my for my journey.