Pinterest made me do it!

These days I can’t seem to get off of Pinterest…I know I’m not alone here…but really I’m obsessed. From looking at pillows, to lighting, to bathroom vanities, to DIY crafts I can’t get enough! There are also some Amazing recipes you can find on there. But to be honest with you all my food pins have been just that. Pins. I have never actually tried to make even one of the recipes that sit on my “Food I Wanna Make” board.
I’m not a cook. Most dinners in the Shinaberry house are made by Hubs. He enjoys to cook so why would I stand in his way?!? But last night I decided to finally make one of those recipes I found on Pinterest.

 Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken with Fried Rice.

Here’s what you will need;

Chicken
3 boneless chicken breasts
1 cup of cornstarch
Salt and pepper
2 eggs, beaten
¼ cup of Peanut Oil

Sweet and Sour Sauce
3/4 cup of sugar
4tbs ketchup
1 tsp of garlic salt ( I used a pinch of salt and some garlic powder because that’s all I had)
1 tbs of soy sauce
½ cup of vinegar

Cut the chicken breasts into cubes then sprinkle it with some salt and pepper. Dip the cubes into the cornstarch than dip into the egg mixture. Heat the Peanut Oil in a large skillet and cook your chicken until gets a little brown but is not cooked all way. Place all the chicken into a greased 9x13 baking pan. Then mix all the ingredients for the sweet and sour sauce in a bowl, make sure to use a whisk so it’s mixed up real good. Then distribute evenly over the all the chicken. Bake for an hour at 325 flipping the chicken every 15 mins. It was that easy!!!

Didn’t do anything fancy with the rice, used some white rice, onions, soy sauce, peas and an egg.

It was soooooo yummy! Hub’s who loves Chinese food couldn’t get enough of it. He even said it was better than takeout...I’ll take that as a compliment. So now that I know I can cook one good meal I’m starting to think I should make this try a new recipe a weekly thing.Ha.Who I’m a kidding maybe a monthly thing…  

Wordless Wendesday

Sitting Waiting for his haircut enjoying his lollipop.

 

All done.Tresure box and another lollipop.

Thinking I should carry lollipop's with me all day...I could get the kid to do just about anything!  

Well that sucked

This morning is hard. Yesterday was even harder. But I have to put on my big girl pants and move on. If you are wondering what I’m talking about …the Ravens. The Patriots didn’t win that game…we lost it. And that’s all I have to say about it. Ugg.

Now on to the better part of my weekend. Saturday we woke up to snow. While it was only an inch it was just enough for Cole to go out and enjoy his first snow fall. We called up the neighbors and let the kids run around in the fun white stuff. Cole just lights up when he’s around older kids. Move over mom and dad. The cool people are here now. Ha. Snow and older kids to play with equals heaven for Cole.
My poor kid could barely move in all his snow gear but didn’t mind at all…even after he's third face plant…all I heard out of him were deep down belly laughs. It was awesome. Oh and guess my mom was right ...damn snow boots came in handy.

First Step in the Snow

 

On his was down again...he needed help getting up a lot.

Cole playing with Reese

Chase in the snow

 

He fell over and couldn't stop laughing...love this picture.

 

Eating Snow

 

 

 

All that fun is hard work...

 

Love the sweaty hair and rosy cheeks

 

Friday Films

I think it's time for a Friday Film...it's been awhile since I picked up the actual video camera. In fact even longer since I actually uploaded any of the videos I have taken. Shame on me. I had videos from 3 months ago I totally don't even remember taking. Oh well.
Word explosion is in full effect at this house...my son said his first sentence to me last night. "Read Nighttime Book"...what?!? I nearly fell over in shock. I mean he's been putting two words together for the last few weeks but this one blew me over. Like Woah. I don't know if it has anything to do with all the talking but Cole can't seem to get enough of his books. All he wants to do is read them or have you read him ALL his books. I love that he's taking such liking to reading. I love to read. Be a bookworm my boy just like your mommy!

 Daddy and Cole Reading

   

Wordless Wednesday

(Pinterest) 

I need to keep telling myself this everyday. So "Plan A" is out...Another "Plan" is in the making I just don't what it is yet. Stay Calm.

Crazy Stupid Love..Yes!

I watched Crazy Stupid Love this weekend. Again. And again I’m left drooling over Ryan Gosling. Of course I liked him in the Notebook, but who didn’t? But in this movie he has catapulted into O.M.G Hotness! And is now my new celebrity crush. If you haven’t seen the movie you should...just be prepared to swoon over Ryan and his abs. Yummy.

Just wanted share this and try to warm up this cold rainy Tuesday.

Random Friday

1. Cole has become extremely attached to an adorable stuffed animal dog he got for Christmas. This is a first for him. I figured we should name this new pal of his so I tried out a few names with Cole.

Me: "Cole let's name your doggie, how about Sam?"

Cole: Blank Stare.

Me: "OK not Sam, how about Max?"

Cole: Smiles and says "Max"

So now Max is his constant companion at bedtime, TV time and anytime we are in the car. The cutest thing is how Cole will look for and ask for Max by his name. Be still my heart.

2. I finally bought Cole snow boots. After my mother badgered me, telling me I better not wait because when it does snow there will not be any available.

Love the Grey and Orange. Now we have snow boots. And we will have ZERO snow this season. Doesn't it always work that way?!

3. Hubs pushed me to watch  the movie Moneyball with him the other night. Well it wasn't to much of a push ... I mean Brad Pitt isn't hard on the eyes. Anyway, what a pleasant surprise! It was such an interesting story about baseball, i really liked it.

4. Seems Puma is warming up to playing with Cole these days. No matter what Cole seems to do him. Here is Puma rocking Mr. Potato Head's Glasses.

5. Grocery Shopping with a Toddler. Man it isn't easy. I'm lucky if I get everything on my list before I hear him start yelling "out" over and over. I have to bribe him with food most of the time.

6. I had to call poison control this week for the first time in my life. Cole's arm's seem to have grown 10ft and can reach beyond what I thought was safe from his cute little fingers. While in my bedroom running around he had reached up and grabbed the Afrin nose spray off my night table. I walked over to find him with the top off and it in his hands. I have no idea if he ingested any but i freaked. I called his doctor who then freaked my out more and told me to call poison control. Thankfully it seems you have to take down a pretty good amount to cause any harm.

7. Reason for the Afrin nose spray ...I have been sick for a whole week. Today I finally feel better. But now Cole is sick. Ugg I hate winter. HATE IT.

8. Were in the process of finishing our basement. I can't wait to use that extra space. We have big plans for down there and I can't wait to see how it turns out. I have started daydreaming of possible Furniture.

Oh hello Henry Sectional...I love you.  

Happy Purple Friday! Go RAVENS! :)

Wordless Wednesday

My son loves sticks. If he is outside he is sure to have at least two sticks in his hands. Why we spend money on toys?!? The joy I see in his face when he has "brokein" his stick into two is so funny. I suppose it's another thing boys like to "do". With more then two sticks...

Playing Peek-a-Boo behind the tree...with stick in hand. Might be my favorite picture of him. This is so Cole.  

Aquarium - Part 2

We made our way to the big tank ...Cole was a little bit unsure but I think that had to do with it being so dark and not the Big Sharks. We saw divers in the big tank, in all my years of going to the Aquarium I have never had a chance to see divers in the tank. Cole was very bewildered by the divers. And it turns out Santa even makes an appearance at the Aquarium during Christmas!

After the big tank we headed to the Children's Discovery Area, which was great because no one was there. This is  unheard of folks.

 
  OK so I'm all caught up now. It was a great time and every time we go back to the Aquarium he falls in love with something new.  

Aquarium- Part 1

Over my glorious 2 weeks off during the Holidays I really wanted to spend some quality time with Cole. Take him somewhere fun that he could run around and explore. You know what I discovered …Winter blows. Most of the amazing activities around us are more favorable when it’s warmer outside, I suppose that it’s like that everywhere. Taking him to the mall to run around was not an option even thinking about dealing with all the crazies there Christmas shopping made my head spin. Children’s Museum nice option but not exactly age appropriate for an 18month old. So what did we end up doing…the Aquarium.

Yes he had been before but it was before he was running walking everywhere and it was so busy it was hard to see anything. This time was completely different. Going in the middle of the week when kids are still in school or were off with their families Christmas shopping was one brilliant idea. If I don’t say so myself. We had full range of everything. Little man could walk right up to tanks and see all sorts of fishes. He would run from one exhibit to another one with no worries at all. He’s favorite by far was the turtles. He kept running back to the turtle tank to look at them again.

Listening to the bubbles

 

 Look GG Turtles!

With his GG looking at more turtles Looking very grown up

 

More about our trip to the Aquarium tomorrow...