Oh What do you do in the Daytime?

So do any of you have difficulty coming up with things for your toddler to do all day long? Or wonder why there are days when it seems there has been way more crying than laughing? Some times my adorable boy is content to play completely on his own, all day long. But then there are those days he wants to be entertained ALL DAY! I know he gets bored with the same old thing, and honestly so do I. So when my friend posted a link to this list: 101 Things To Do With Your Toddler I was excited. It's not my only resource, but it's a good one. I'm sure many of you have other great ideas too. Please share them (links or personal ideas) in the comments.

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Another Consignment Sale

Just Between Friends

May 2nd 9am-7pm Spring Sale

Cascade Shopping Center 16950 116th Ave SE Renton, WA 

(Near the corner of Petrovitsky and 116th)

Fish Stew

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I had some Tilapia in my freezer that I needed to use up so I browsed through some of my favorite food blogs for ideas. Here is what I found and it was absolutely delicious! You know its a delicious meal when your house is filled with the smell of fresh, sauteed spices and vegetables.

*Special side note: recipe claims to serve four, and maybe Jaron and I are just big eaters, but the recipe barely served our little family of three and that's including little Liv who doesn't eat much. So, you might want to double or even triple the recipe.

Summer Dresses

I have been wanting to do some sewing for the girls for a while now. So I went and grabbed my mom's sewing machine and got to work! Here are the two dresses I've done so far. I love them both but the purple one needs some work!

So i'm starting on another one now... I'll post more pics when I'm done!

London Broil

Marinade

So, I stole the following advice off of my cousins blog
Three things that a marinade needs:

1. oil Oil enhances the flavor and bastes the meat.

2. an acid, (vinegar, citrus, wine, buttermilk, yogurt) acids act as the tenderizer

3. seasoning (salt, pepper, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, spices, garlic, onion).

So with that here is the marinade I use for pretty much about everything and its wonderful on chicken, steak, and shrimp.

Ingredients
-equal parts of olive oil and balsamic vinegar (I don't really measure but I would say about 1/4 cup of each)
-2-3 crushed garlic cloves
-2-3 T Worcestershire sauce
-2-3 T Honey
-juice of one lime
-1 cup soy sauce
-1 tsp cumin

Now this is how I did the London Broil that some of you ate the other day. If I had really been on top of things I would have thawed the London Broil the day before so it could marinate for at least six hours before broiling it, but I'm lazy and only marinated it for one hour but it was still great! Though I would recommend marinating it for at least 6 hours so that the meat has time to get real tender.

Before marinating you can tenderize the meet with a mallet or rolling pin and cut little shallow slits all over both sides of the meat so that the marinade can work its magic.

After an hour to 6 hours of refrigerated marination goodness put London Broil on a broiling pan or grill and broil apx 3 inches away from top rack for 5-8 minutes on each side. I did five on each side, because I like it a little red, but cook to your liking.

Yum, this is making my mouth water.

Oh and a tip on buying London Broil: Sometimes Albertsons has great meat sales, so check it out, and try to find London Broil when its on sale. I bought mine when it was a buy one get one free day!

Spring Planting

All the gorgeous sunshine these past few days has me getting so excited to work in my flower gardens. Plants however, can be expensive. Last year I was able to save a LOT of money on flowers and bushes at plant sales.

The one thing that I did wrong was I bought a whole bunch of plants at one sale and took forever to plant them. (It's hard to garden with a toddler.) This year I've decided I'm going to try to go to at least 2, if not more sales and spread out the purchases. My plan is to plant all the ones I buy the same day or weekend! I'll let you know how it goes.

You don't need a huge yard to buy plants, some pots from WinCo can grow you some nice flowers and herbs on your patio. Yesterday I had fresh chives from my garden on our baked potatoes and loved it!

Anyhow - here are some of the plant sales coming up:

Spring Fair Garden Show & Plant Sale

Thursday April 16th - Saturday April 18th

This is part of the Spring Fair at the Puyallup Fairgrounds.

Children's Hospital 85th Annual Garden Sale

Saturday April 18th  9am-5pm

Many of these plants were propagated on the Hospital grounds and their groundskeepers will be there to offer expert advice!

6901 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle

Puget Sound Dahlia Association Tuber Sale

Saturday April 18th 10am-4pm

Kent Memorial Park 850 N Central, Kent

Arboretum Foundation FlorAbundance Spring Plant Sale

Saturday April 25th 9am-5pm (Apparently the largest sale in the Puget Sound Region)

Warren G. Magnuson Park (Building 30) 7400 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle

Kubota Garden Spring Plant Sale

Saturday May 2nd 9am-1pm

9817 51st Ave S, Seattle 98118 (Check out their beautiful gardens too!)

Rotary Club Plant Sale

Saturday May 16th (I think it was 8am-3pm Last year)

Kent-Meridian High School

Brandon's Famous Salsa

This is Brandon once again. This time I won't post my wonderful experience with cakes in a box, but I do make a mean salsa that people really seem to enjoy, so I finally published the recipe. Check out our family blog for directions. You won't be disappointed!

Brandon's Salsa

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Consignment Sales

Looking for a cheap way to clothe your child? Need some new toys, cribs, beds, and/or other child related items? Don't want to spend full price? You might want to check out these consignment sales. You can sell there too so you might want to look over your stash of goods! So far I have been able to clothe my son using hand-me-downs, sale items and consignment shopping. I think in the last year I've purchased one item full priced.

These two sales are only once or twice a year so mark your calendars and  get ready for some great deals! 

Just Between Friends

April 24-26th Spring Sale

Puyallup Fair & Events Center Expo Hall

You need to join their mailing list for FREE admission to the sale for you and your friends.  First time parents and military family get in EARLY.

By the way - maternity clothes can be bought and sold at this sale. Might be something to look into. Well I'll be looking!

Creme Brulee Kids Consignment

May 8-9 Spring Sale

Kent Commons

Instructions to sell are available on their site. 

Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad

Unfortunately we won't be making it to the Easter Bunny Express as we had originally planned, but for anyone interested this sounds like a great activity. Especially if you have a train enthusiast in your home like I do. We'll be trying to catch a ride on pulled by one of these steam engines another time this year!

Hop on over here to find out more information. Happy Easter!

Teaching My Kids

Motherhood is full of wonder and surprise. Some days I am overwhelmed by the brilliance of my toddler, while yet others I am overwhelmed by his needs. I must confess a sick, clingy, grumpy child is not easy to deal with. But my true struggle has been coming up with ways to teach him the gospel on a daily basis. We read scriptures and hold FHE but to me that has never seemed enough. When a friend of mine posted about the blog Teaching My Kids I was so grateful for some new, fresh ideas. I enjoy her posts about fun books, music, FHE, and all the other ideas thrown in. But I really liked her post about Morning Devotionals. As I read it I thought "brilliant, now why hadn't I thought of that already?" Oh well, as her blog states "parenting is a learn as you go kind of thing".

I appreciate that she's sharing what she's learned with the rest of us so we can all benefit. Do any of you have fun ways you teach your kids the gospel? I'd love more ideas!