23 Things I'm Grateful for this Holiday Season

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

This year has been crazy. If you've been following us for any length of time this year, I'm sure you would agree. From me getting my A.S. (after 8 semesters), to Derek finishing his undergrad in a couple weeks... being pregnant, and e v e r y t h i n g that went along with that, and all the little things in between there is a lot to be grateful for. And while this isn't included in the list of 23 things below, I'm grateful for this blog and for the creative and personal outlet that it's given me this year. It's a good distraction for me during stressful times, and a good place to vent during said times as well. So thank you for reading along!

Shirt: Old Navy| Skirt: Old Navy (sold out, similar)| Shoes: Kohl's| Necklace: Nordstrom

In no particular order, here are just a few of the things I'm grateful for:

1. Modern medicine and doctors that are able to track Em and help her to have the best life possible.
2. Essential oils that have prevented us having to see said doctors a few times this year.
3. My husband and all the hard work that he does for our family.
4. My inner perfectionist that works hard to learn new things to implement here on the blog, in my photography, and in my Etsy shop. 
5. Jay and his sweet personality. Seriously, how did I get so lucky!
6. Supportive family literally in all four corners of the country that helped us get through this last year.
7. Extra income that I've been able to make that has helped with the abundance of extra medical bills, and student loans.
8. Getting to live in such a beautiful city, in a beautiful home, with my beautiful family. 
9. A loving Heavenly Father who surprisingly doesn't put a quota on the numbers of blessings/miracles one family can experience in a single calendar year. 
10. People who show up at my front door with the first fresh peaches, and first pint of gelato that I've ever eaten in my life. 
11. Being surrounded by people who truly mourn with those who mourn, and comfort those who stand in need of comfort.
12. A baby who sleeps through the night.
13. Tall sizes at Old Navy that can make short skirts knee length... as seen above.
14. Food that is always on our table and in our home.
15. Heat that is flowing through the vents of said home (except in poor Jay's room, but he has extra blankets).
16. The opportunity to be a stay at home mom. Spending my days with my babies is amazing.
17. Church callings that force me to be a better wife and have a positive attitude about the fact that Derek has to stay later every Sunday.
18. Employers who have gotten in contact with Derek for potential new jobs.
19. Along with that, Employers who fly Derek out for actual interviews... even better.
20. A washer and dryer in my home. Not that I use them very often, but if they weren't in our apartment I'm convinced I would never do laundry.
21. Along those same lines... a dishwasher too. 
22. Extended family in NC that lets us come over for Thanksgiving dinner 
23. Church, the gospel, and all that is right in my life... #BecauseofHim

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8 Trader Joe's Dinners that Changed My Life

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Friday nights are typically when I get to go grocery shopping. I know- we're crazy and wild over here. A couple weeks ago I was wanting to be out of the house for an especially long time so I drove 20 minutes across town to Trader Joe's to see what all the hype was. I was amazed at the low prices and all of the ready-to-cook meals at my finger tips. I always thought of Trader Joe's as an incredibly posh, over priced grocery store, but it really isn't. The produce is actually cheaper than what I can get at Walmart and everything is a lot better quality. 

The last two weeks our nightly dinners have consisted of only Trader Joe's finds. They're cheap, easy, and delicious, and all the ingredients on the packages are things that I can pronounce so I totally don't feel like I'm feeding my family poison. And yes I know I should be feeding my family wholesome home cooked from scratch meals every night, but sometimes you have to pick your battles and right now I don't feel like cooking every night, so thanks Trader Joe's. We've tried 8 meals so far and have loved them all! And just for a reference point- We have 2.5 eaters in our house right now, last week I bought 4 meals, Thanksgiving things, produce, milk, butter, and eggs, and came in at $72. This leaves us with 4 dinners, a breakfast for dinner night, leftover night, and an eat out night. That's how our weeks typically go. I definitely feel like $72 isn't that bad at the grocery store! The week before we only spent $60 when I wasn't getting the extra Thanksgiving stuff. Also I just realized that I talk about our personal finances way too much over here. Whoops.

(TJ's pulled pork pork with sweet potato fries)

1. Mac n Cheese (frozen section) with Sauteed Green Beans 
2. Chili Lime Chicken Burgers (frozen section) with Sweet Potato Fries (frozen section)
3. Mandarin Orange Chicken (frozen section) with Vegetable Fried Rice (rice made by me)
4. Panko Tilapia Fillets with Butternut Squash Risotto (both in frozen section)
5. Frozen Vegetable Supreme Pizza (I think it taste way better than Digorno but I also happen to not like Digorno so...)
6. Chicken Pot Pie (refrigerated section) 
7. BBQ Pulled Pork (pictured above, refrigerated section)
8. Beef Bolognese Ravioli (refrigerated Section) with Tomato Basil Sauce & Sauteed Green Beans 

What have you tried from Trader Joe's? What dinners do I need to add to my next shopping trip?

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8 Easy Recipes for Your First Thanksgiving

Monday, November 24, 2014

Last year I wanted to host my first Thanksgiving dinner, I also wanted to be a champion and cook everything myself. Luckily our friends that we were having over talked some sense into me, and they brought the mashed potatoes, rolls, salad, and a pie or two. My kitchen did still get quite a bit of use though over the course of two days. And I think that should I have any desire to cook a Thanksgiving dinner ever again, I should be pretty well set with this arsenal of recipes that I've acquired. These recipes have all been approved by two husbands, wives, and toddlers.

Just looking at all these recipes is making me especially thankful that we'll be spending Thanksgiving this year with our newly found NC cousins, Missy, and Sue, and their families. So instead of turning my kitchen into a disaster area, I'll be making stuffing, rolls, and one pie and calling it a day! Pot luck Thanksgivings are just one of my many love languages. 

1. Oven Baked Stuffing
2. Slow Cooked Cranberry Sauce
3. Orange Spiced Sweet Potato Casserole
4. Cinnamon Rolls
5. Dutch Apple Pie
6. Pecan Pie
7. Pumpkin Pie
8. 30 Minute Dinner Rolls

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Em at 3 Months

Friday, November 21, 2014

Em hit the three month mark this week. And with every monthly milestone in her life that meant that there were a few doctors that we got to visit. This month was neurosurgery and ophthalmology. This was the first time since Em was born that we actually got to sit down and go over her brain MRI with someone know actually studies the brain. Dr. Fuchs went over the MRI with us and we realized that her brain isn't as "almost normal" as we thought it was. Derek and I were under the impression that it was just the very front of her brain that didn't fully divide, but there is actually a significantly large portion in the back of her brain that didn't divide as well.

We asked the Dr if it was kind of odd for Em to be doing as well as she is and he said that it actually wasn't. I then told him about all the other babies that I read about online with the same diagnosis and how they're doing terribly and he said that online you mostly only ever find worse case scenarios because those people need an outlet or people to reach out to. The people that do well, just tend to go on with their normal lives. (But families with healthy babies, we want to hear from you too! Spread the HoPE!) So that was kind of refreshing. But then he also said that right now Em isn't expected to be doing much mentally, but as she starts missing milestones is when this is really going to start being real for us. He said that we obviously don't know when it's going to happen, but that it will eventually, and that the team at Duke will all be ready to help us when it does. 

Our first visit with ophthalmology was slightly disappointing. Mainly because the eye doctor was the first one to tell us that Em has something wrong with her that doesn't involve just her brain. Visually, she sees pretty well right now, but her optic nerves aren't as healthy as they're supposed to be. A normal healthy optic nerve is supposed to be pretty pink, and Em's are pretty grey. It's nothing that requires immediate surgery or fixing right away, but is something that we'll have to keep an eye on as she progresses. We have another check in with them a year from now. 

This week we realized that the doctors mainly only see Em for the things that are wrong with her. They only see her as "unhealthy optic nerves", or "prefers downward gaze", or "fully fused frontal lobe". Meanwhile, Derek and I just see Em as Em. She's our perfectly sweet baby, who does all the same things that Jay did as a baby, who has no obvious signs of discomfort. In fact, if there wasn't a line of doctors waiting to see her every month, we would probably forget that there was anything wrong with her. 

When I think of how perfect Em is to us in our eyes, it makes me think of how Heavenly Father thinks of each of us. We are Em's parents, and to us she is perfect. Heavenly Father is our Father. We are his children. So to think about how he sees each of us, beyond our imperfections is so comforting to me. He sees us for the potential we have, and for the perfect beings we can become. And that is exactly how we feel about Em. There were quite a few people who thought that we were crazy for not terminating our pregnancy because of the poor quality of life she would have. To that I say, she is perfect, and her life is worth living. 

Things to Know About Em at 3 Months:

• She's over 12 pounds and 2 feet tall
• She fits in 0-3 and 3-6 month clothes 
• She's sweet in the morning and grumpy at night
• She mostly sleeps through the night
• She can lift her head for 10+ seconds
• She is loosing hair at rapid rates (me too)
• Her cheeks are so perfectly kissable
• Her biggest fan is her big brother who loves tickling her toes

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PicStick Insta Magnets

Friday, November 14, 2014

A couple years ago on Taza's blog she mentioned how she had gotten her Instagram pictures printed out onto magnets that she had on her dishwasher. I thought that was pretty much the coolest thing ever and really wanted to do it. But, I'm cheap so I never really got around to it. Which obviously means I was really excited when PicStick approached me a couple weeks ago to do a collaboration over here on the blog! PicStick connects with your Facebook and other social media accounts to let you print your pictures fast, and easily... on magnets! 

We got ours in the mail last night and I just love looking at them when I'm in the kitchen! Because, you know, if you have to be in the kitchen cooking or cleaning, you might as well get to at least look at adorable pictures of your family while you're at it right? Jay has probably had the most fun with these. I put them on the dishwasher when they first came. Which apparently was the silliest thing ever, so Jay has taken it upon himself to move them back and forth from the fridge to the dishwasher... he's still rearranging them right now as I type this! You can get 25% off your next PicStick order by using promo code FLAMMILY25 at checkout! Woot woot! Ps, I think these would make awesome grandparent gifts for Christmas ;)

PicStick did provide me with a free sheet of pictures, but all thoughts, opinions, and two year olds are my own. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

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Build Your Blog: How to Make Money Blogging with a Small Blog

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

I've been writing this blog for almost three and a half years now. While my intentions weren't to make money when I started, over the last year or so this has kind of become a part-time gig. I'm really grateful for the opportunities that I've had, and I'm no where near being an expert on the topic, but I know that there are a lot of other smaller bloggers out there that could maybe find this useful. I'm going to be really open and honest with numbers and everything here... and like I said, I am a very small blogger. Right now on average my blog gets about 10,000-12,000 page views per month (it was about 15,000 over the summer when I was pregnant and blogging like a mad woman... but this is where I'm at as of today.) 

Right now I received income through a few different categories: sponsored posts, affiliate links, ads, and I don't know what category this one falls under but... My Recipe Magic. 

I work with a number of companies who pay me to test products, and I in return I write about them on this blog. These posts usually include a disclaimer at the top or bottom of the post, so you always know right away if I've been compensated for something that I'm writing about. The companies that I work with are:

Everywhere Agency: This company pays bloggers to attend events in their local area, and then write about the events on their blog, and post about it on all their social media outlets. When I got to meet Clinton Kelly from What Not To Wear last spring, this was the company that set that up. I was paid $75. That is the only campaign I've done with them, mostly because a lot of their events are in bigger cites that I don't live near, but I'm convinced if Derek gets a job in Atlanta, or Miami I'd be making bank. Most events pay about $100-150.

Linqia: I really love working with this company. They find bloggers to write posts about certain products and then you write your posts and share on social media. They give you a link that you have to incorporate in your posts and then you get paid off of the amount of times people click that link. They also give you a set number of clicks that you can make per campaign based off of previous campaigns and your social media reach. Typically I make more and more with each campaign that I do because they increase my click limit. I do about one campaign a month with them, and make about $200 per campaign. You can sign up for Linqia here.

Weave Made: These guys are the sister company to Pollinate Media Group. Their aim is to help small bloggers make money (yay!) Some campaigns that I've done with them include Lifeway Kefir, Klondike Bars, Instyle Magazine, and Smithfield Ribs. I typically do about one campaign a month with them, and make about $100 per campaign. 

My Recipe Magic: I'm not really sure what category this should go under, so I'll throw it here. One of my favorite blogs Six Sister's Stuff, started this website where bloggers can make money by posting their recipes on their site. When someone views your recipe on their site you make a small income, and it helps to drive traffic to your blog. I don't know exactly how much money I make per click from them, but I do make about $10 a month. 

Another way I make money off of this blog is through affiliate links. The company that I currently use for this is Shopsense. You can typically find these links on my outfit posts, or posts where I'm talking about certain products that I love, but they're not sponsored posts. Basically I'll link to the product and then when someone clicks on the link to the product, I make roughly 8 cents per click. I typically make about $5 a month through this. 

The final way that I make money is through the ads along the sidebar of my blog. Those are ran through Google Ad-sense. I basically get paid anytime anyone clicks on those ads, and the payout can be anywhere from a penny to a couple bucks... I typically make about $10/month through this. 

There you have it. You really don't need to be a huge blogger to make money blogging... although if I was a huge blogger I'm sure I would be making a lot more. Hopefully this was beneficial to someone... and hopefully everyone doesn't hate me for how open I was about everything. And again, thank you for reading and visiting my blog because if you didn't, I wouldn't even make a dime. So thank you, thank you, thank you. I really love you guys!

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Easy Vegetable Lo Mein

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a creature of habit. I'm the biggest bedtime Nazi with my children, I eat a couple marshmallows everyday around 4pm, I drink the same green smoothie almost every morning... So it should really be no surprise that when I get Chinese food, I order the same vegetable lo mein every time. While perusing Pinterest last week, I saw this recipe and knew I had to give it a try! I really don't know how people cooked a variety of meals all the time before Pinterest happened. This recipe was absolutely delicious, and I'm always amazed when I make Chinese food at home and it taste like it's supposed to!

Adapted from: Damn Delicious

Ingredients:

8oz spaghetti pasta

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 carrot, julienned 

1 red bell pepper, julienned

2 cups cremini mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup snow peas

3 cups spinach

Sauce:

1 tsp Sriracha

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp sesame seed oil

2 tsp sugar

**whisk everything together and set aside**

Directions:

In a large pot of boiling water, cook spaghetti according to package directions, and drain.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet or wok over medium high heat. Add garlic, mushrooms, bell pepper, and carrot. Cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in snow peas and spinach and cook until the spinach has wilted, about 2-3 minutes. 

Stir in egg noodles and soy sauce mixture, and gently toss to combine. 

Serve immediately.

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