About Me

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Naples, Florida, United States
Hi my name is Emileigh and I am married to my wonderful husband Nate. We have two children, Nataleigh (5) and Adam (3). I'm a stay-at-home-mom. I have a degree in applied science with my major focusing on Radiography.

Our Anniversary Ticker

Daisypath Anniversary tickers

Nataleigh's Ticker

Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers

Adam's Ticker

Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers

Saturday, May 31, 2014

There is a first time for everything

Friday, Nate & I took the kids to Woodside Lanes. I signed up both kids for a free bowling program thru www.kidsbowlfree.com. Each child can bowl 2 games for free just pay for the shoe rental. This was their first time but you would have never known because they knew what to do! I was very impressed. They did well taking turns and they cheered each other on! Adam bowled a spare in the first game and a strike the second game! I'm not sure who was more excited (Adam or his momma) when he got the strike! I screamed like a little girl and jumped up and down. When he saw how I reacted he put both fists in the air and said, "YEAH!!!!!!" Then he gave us high-fives. It was pretty awesome!

Here are some pictures to enjoy

The bowling alley had leagues going on so they upgraded us to the VIP area 

Nataleigh getting ready to use the Dino to bowl for the first time!


Adam's first attempt


Looking good buddy!


Having a lot of fun



The screen when Adam bowled a spare


Selfie


Daddy showing Nataleigh how to bowl between her legs. She did it a few times. One time the ball just barely made it down, but got stuck so the maintenance man came to the rescue.


It's a silly picture but I want to remember how little they were! I love their precious little feet!



Adam's favorite seat


He wouldn't move even when she was ready to bowl.


I helped out a little bit


Our strong kiddos (6lb bowling balls)


The ball that knocked them all down!


Let the celebration begin!!!! So proud of him!!!


Fun night as a family!

That's all for now! Till next time, Emileigh

Cooking with the kids

It was rainy today so what better way to pass the time than to bake something!  I found a yummy recipe that looked awesome....Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies! Plus I had all the ingredients....or so I thought. I didn't have the chocolate chips so I used my food processor and chopped up two Toberlone candy bars. It ended up turning out!


Here is the recipe:

Chewy Chocolate Chips Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients-
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325°.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in vanilla.  Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto a nonstick baking sheet.

3. Bake for 12 minutes in preheated oven. Take out of the oven, leave on the cookie sheet for one minute and put on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Store in airtight container.

The recipe makes six dozen cookies! 

Enjoy!!!!!

That's all for now! Till next time, Emileigh






Thursday, May 29, 2014

Recipes & Grocery List June 1-7

First I will start with the grocery list so you can print it out.  I make my grocery list in categories so I'm not all over the store.  This will include stuff for breakfast, lunch and supper.

Meat:
1 package bacon
1 package turkey bacon or sausage (your choice)
2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 veal parmesan patties pre-made (my grandma always buys us stuff from Omaha Steaks)
1 large package of diced ham (4 cups worth)
Nitrate-free turkey
Nitrate-free ham
pepperoni

Produce:
1 head of lettuce
1 large tomatoes to slice
1 small gingerroot
1 bunch scallions
1 bunch of asparagus
1 small sweet onion
1 C watercress
1 family size bag of salad (use for both suppers and lunches, I go through a few bags a week)
1 bunch of celery
2 lb bag of baby carrots
1 cucumber
1 container of hummus
1 pint blueberries
1 bunch of bananas
1 bunch of grapes
1 container strawberries
6 peaches
6 plums
6 kiwis

Dairy:
1 gallon of milk
8 oz cheese spread (I buy a block of Velveeta)
3 cups of shredded Italian cheese blend
8 oz package of shredded cheddar
2 32 oz tubs plain Greek yogurt
1 dozen large eggs
Sliced cheese your choice for sandwiches (I like Sargento thin slices they have 16-20 slices in the pack)

Pre-packaged/canned:
sesame oil
peanut oil
sesame seeds
1 can of pasta sauce
family size can of tomato soup
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
2 cans tuna (in water)
5 oz can chicken
instant oatmeal
cereal (your choice)
chips (your choice)
chopped walnuts
Ortega sauce or your choice of taco sauce for breakfast burritos
flat crackers for tuna salad
pizza sauce (I buy great value its 14 oz and makes 3 pizzas)
8 oz chunk pineapple in juice

Carbs/Breads:
2 loaves of whole wheat bread
minute brown rice (2 cups)
1 box of spaghetti
10 whole wheat tortillas
refrigerated crescent rolls
refrigerated pizza dough

Frozen:
1 box of frozen bread sticks
16 oz bag of chopped broccoli 

Staples (items you should already have on hand):
mayo
mustard
low-sodium chicken broth
reduced-sodium soy sauce
Worcestershire sauce
brown sugar
cornstarch
baking soda
minced garlic
crushed red pepper flakes
honey
peanut butter
jelly
pickles
vegetable oil
butter
garlic salt


This might seem like a lot but remember this will feed my family of 4 the entire week for all 3 meals!

Menu for the week

Sunday:
Breakfast- 1 piece of toast with 1 Tbsp of peanut butter or nut butter if you prefer almond butter, 1 slice of turkey bacon or turkey sausage and a Greek Yogurt Parfait (3/4 cup Greek yogurt mixed with 1/2 tsp honey, 1 large handful of berries and 1/4 cup granola or grape nuts.  Layer 1/2 yogurt then 1/2 of fruit and 1/2 of granola or grape nuts and repeat) My kids are eating machines so I'm starting to incorporate more protein and fiber into their diets.

Lunch- Egg salad sandwiches with salad and fruit.

Supper- BLT's with chips and fruit.  BLT's are one of my favorite sandwiches.  While bacon is frying, slice your tomato and lettuce.  The leftover lettuce you can use on sandwiches and for salad.  Toast your bread, spread on your condiment of choice (mayo or mustard), put on your slice of tomato and a piece of lettuce, add a few pieces of bacon and top off with your other slice of bread.  Serve with a cup of fruit and a serving of chips.  (if you want a healthier option use turkey bacon and instead of eating chips substitute with celery and carrots with hummus).


Monday:
Breakfast- breakfast burritos (whole wheat tortilla, eggs or egg whites for a healthier option, shredded cheese, turkey bacon/sausage or regular bacon and Ortega sauce or your choice of sauce)
 
Lunch- Tuna salad sandwiches or on crackers with cut up veggies and hummus and fruit (1 cup of veggies & fruit each)
 
Supper- Chicken and Asparagus Stir-Fry

 
Tuesday:
Breakfast- Oatmeal with fruit & nuts (to add a little sweetness add 1 tsp of honey to oatmeal)
 
Lunch- Tomato soup with hot sandwiches.
 
Supper-Veal Parmesan over spaghetti with bread sticks and salad. Start with boiling your pasta (follow box instructions). Prepare the veal parmesan as the package instructs. I usually pan fry mine for about 3-4 mins on each side in vegetable oil (be very careful because they burn easily). While frying the patties, I start bring my spaghetti sauce to a boil and preheat oven to temperature for the bread sticks (cook according to package).  Drain off the oil and use paper towel to soak up excess oil.  Once the pasta is done, I use a 9x13 pan and put a little spaghetti sauce down first, next add the spaghetti, put more sauce on the spaghetti, put your veal patties over the spaghetti top with the rest of the spaghetti sauce and finally add some shredded Italian cheese over each patty. Using the broil setting, put the pan in the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese.  Serve with salad and warm bread sticks.
 
Wednesday:
Breakfast- Cereal with fruit
 
Lunch- Salad with grilled chicken
 
Supper- Broccoli and ham bake. Ingredients: 8 oz of processed cheese spread, 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, 1 1/2 cups milk, 1/2 cup chopped onion, 2 Tbsp butter, 16 oz package of frozen chopped broccoli (or you can use fresh broccoli), 2 cups diced ham, 2 cups minute brown rice, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce.  Directions: Preheat oven to 350.  Sauté onion in butter in a pot, then add milk and cheese (cut up into squares if you use Velveeta so it will melt faster) until the cheese is melted.  Next, add the rest of the ingredients to the pot and bring to a boil.  Boil for 2 minutes stirring constantly. Transfer to a 9x13 baking dish and cover with foil.  Bake for 1 hour.  Remove from oven, remove foil and let sit for a few minutes to cool down.
 
Thursday:
Breakfast- Eggs with toast and sausage or bacon
 
Lunch- Ham and cheese crescents with veggies and hummus. Ham crescents directions: Preheat oven to 375, unroll the crescent rolls, put a 1/2 slice of cheese on the dough, roll up 1-2 pieces of deli ham, put a squirt of mustard and spread it out evenly.  Next roll it up and put on a nonstick baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. 
The crescent rolls on the left are pizza ones)

All ready to eat :)
 
Supper- Leftovers (flying back to Michigan today wooooooo hooooooooo!!!!!)
 
Friday:
Breakfast- Greek yogurt parfait, sausage/bacon and fruit
 
Lunch-Sandwiches, chips or veggies and fruit
 
Supper- Homemade Pizza with Salad. Preheat oven to 425. Use a pizza stone or nonstick cookie sheet.  Unroll dough and spread to the desired shape you want.  Sprinkle garlic salt on dough (along the edge for a garlic crust).  Use 1/3 of the pizza sauce and spread evenly over dough.  Add 2 cups cheese.  Next add toppings: I do half ham & pineapple and the other half pepperoni.  Bake for 15 minutes. Remove and slice.  Serve with salad.
 
Saturday:
Breakfast- Oatmeal with fruit and nuts
 
Lunch- Leftovers (time to clean out the fridge!!!)
 
Supper- Go out to eat. Mom's night off!
 
 
 
Well I hope you all enjoy it!  It's a lot more work typing it out but I am happy to help people in this area.  If you have any questions please leave me a comment and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
 
 
That's all for now!  Till next time,  Emileigh


Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Summer Schedule!

I'm so excited I finally finished up our Summer Schedule!  I worked on it and researched different things to see how other people keep their kids happy during the summertime.  Here are a few ideas I got off of Pinterest.
http://gingerbabymama.blogspot.com/2012/07/summer-schedule.html
After all the research I made my own!

Here it is:

I wish I could figure out how to upload the document but this site will only let me upload pictures or video so I took a picture with my phone. 

Mondays are positive parenting workshop and make something day.  The Children's Museum of Naples sent out an email yesterday for a FREE positive parenting workshop that I can attend and the kids can play and have snack time. I'm really looking forward to gaining knowledge and wisdom in regards to redirecting my kiddos attitude and attention when they start to throw a tantrum instead of yelling and spanking.  http://www.cmon.org/ai1ec_event/positive-parents-workshop-series/?instance_id=22370

Tuesdays are time to read and story time day. The library 2 miles down the road has a very nice children's area and they offer a toddler age story time. Nataleigh is also going to do a summer reading program through the library.

Wednesdays are what's cookin'? day. My family loves their sweets so this day we will try new dessert recipes from one of my cookbooks or a Pinterest recipe.

Thursdays are theater day. I found out that on certain days of the week they play $1 movies and on Thursdays it's FREE!!! www.paragontheaters.com/p/summer-movies-paragon-pavilion/

Fridays are fun/free day. We will explore and have play dates that are free and fun on this day. 

The weekends will be family time and catching up on household things. 

Thought I'd share my little schedule to help give you an idea of what we'll be up to this fun filled summer!

Till next time, Emileigh

June 2014 menu


It's that time of the month when I start to plan my menu for the next month! I feel like it takes the same amount of time as it would to plan one weeks worth! I feel that way because I am a lot less picky about what I want to eat for an entire month than what I want for that week.

These are my lovely cookbooks I took to Florida (I probably left 20 behind! I'm a little obsessed with them!!)

I start my writing out all the days on a piece of notebook paper because I cross it off after I make it. Next, I fill in every Friday with Homemade Pizza. My family loves pizza and I think it's cheaper to make it than to order out. Adam loves pepperoni pizza but Nataleigh loves ham & pineapple so I can't get away with just a Hot & Ready because someone won't be happy. So when I make it I do half of what each child likes (the hubs & I both love their choice of pizza). 

I fill in all of the Saturdays with Eating Out because that is my day off from cooking. Granted sometimes we switch days if my hubby wants to eat out a different day but for the most part we stick to the menu I plan.

Next is the fun part! I ask my hubby & kids what they want to eat so they get their favorite meals throughout the month! Depending on what they request and how long it takes to make determines what day I put it on. We attend Wednesday night services at church so Wednesdays are always a quick easy meal or even leftovers.

I look in the cupboards and freezer to see what meat and canned goods I have that would go together to make meals then I go through a few of my cook books to see if I have recipes that can use up these ingredients to cut down on my food budget for the month.




As you can see I still have a lot of food left over from my couponing days! (Just so you know I haven't coupon r&d in a year now!)

Here is my plan for the month:
Sun 6/1 BLT's
Mon 6/2 Chicken Stir-fry
Tues 6/3 Veal Parm, bread sticks, & salad
Wed 6/4 Ham broccoli rice casserole
Thur 6/5 Leftovers (flying to MI today!!)
Fri 6/6  Eat at Grandma's house
Sat 6/7 Parents Annual Fish Fry
Sun 6/8 Supper with Buchinger's/Kelly's 
Mon 6/9 Eat with family (undecided)
Tues 6/10 Crock pot Chicken Enchiladas
Wed 6/11 Crock pot Mac N' Cheese
Thur 6/12 Breakfast- Pancakes, sausage & fruit
Fri 6/13 Homemade Pizza
Sat 6/14 Eat Out
Mon 6/16 Black bean or Turkey Burgers, corn on the cob, salad
Tues 6/17 Chicken Pasta Sauté
Wed 6/18 Crock pot BBQ boneless ribs, sweet potatoes, salad
Thur 6/19 Meatloaf, mashed potatoes & gravy, corn, salad
Fri 6/20 Homemade Pizza
Sat 6/21 Eat Out
Sun 6/22 Breakfast- Waffles, bacon & fruit
Mon 6/23 Meximelt Casserole
Thur 6/26 Chicken Fricassee
Fri 6/27 Homemade Pizza
Sat 6/28 Eat Out
Mon 6/30 Tomato-Garlic Shrimp over Creamy Corn
http://www.publix.com/aprons/meals/MainDish/SimpleMeal.do?mealId=9449&mealGroupId=1080

So there you have it!  I will post a weekly grocery list and the recipes in future posts to come!  This is one of my favorite things to do in life.  Making meals for my lovely family!

That's all for now! Till next time,  Emileigh

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Homemade Granola Bars

I started my Turbo Fire program again this week and wanted to be proactive about having healthy snacks in the house. Not just for me but for the family. I decided that I would try to make homemade granola bars! 

Nataleigh & Adam both helped me in the kitchen. I was a bad momma and forgot to take pictures of them helping. 

I bought all the ingredients from Sav-A-Lot to cut down on the cost. One 9" square baking pan costs about $5 to make and after I cut it into 21 pieces each piece is $0.23. I know you can get the chewy bars for around $2 sometimes less when they are on sale, but I like to know what is in the bars.

Here is the recipe:

2 C Rolled Oats
1/2 C Wheat Germ
1/2 C Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1/2 C Sliced Almonds
1/2 C Dried Fruit (I used raisins & plums)
14 oz. Sweetened Condensed Milk

Preheat the oven to 325° grease a 9 inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Transfer it into the prepared pan and with cooking spray on your hands push down so it's firm in the pan.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature. Cut into 21 pieces. Store in an airtight container.

Nutritional Facts:
Calories: 133
Fat: 4.2g
Carbohydrates: 20.6g
Fiber: 2g
Sugar: 12.8g
Protein: 3.6g

This is what it looks like before baking.
Cooling.....they look so good....must wait till they are cool!
I made a double batch and cut my pan into 36 bars so the nutritional values will be more.
YUMMY!!!!!!

Hope you try them out!

Till next time, Emileigh

P.S. I'm still tweaking my summer routine. Will post in a day or so :)

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

I've been bad at this blogging thing!

We almost have two semesters done with 5 left! It May seem like a lot but the time for us is going by so quickly. With each passing week Nate has completed more tests and has learned more information to help him in his career path. 

Nate's first semester he did a phenomenal job. He has put in a lot of hours each day studying to make a better future for our little family and to succeed in his dream job of becoming a CRNA.

Last semester he had 5 classes. This semester is his heaviest class load, with 6 classes. One of his classes is broken down into 3 sub-classes: heart, renal(kidneys), and respiratory. He has 4 weeks left of this semester and continues to WOW me with how well he does on each and EVERY test. 

The kids and I have been staying busy with going on walks, going to various bible studies, AWANAS, and MOPS. All of our fun activities are coming to an end so tonight I'm going to make a summer schedule to keep the kids busy and to get them on a routine. I believe when my kids have a routine they have better attitudes which makes for a happier momma!  I'll post it tomorrow to give you an idea of what I have in mind.

I also want to start posting how to's on the DIY projects I've completed since we moved to Florida. 

Well that's all for! Till next time!

Emileigh