Balsamic Chicken amd vegetables

So during all this quarantine time I decided to try out a few new recipes.

I actually made a double batch to freeze. (By the way I just threw the frozen contents in my instant pot to quickly reheat it. A crockpot, baking, or pan cooking would also work).

This meal was absolutely delicious! And it honestly came together so quick. I think this would be a perfect quick meal for those night you get home from work late. Being a preschool teacher and mom of two I’m really busy. Most nights I get home just before 6 and if I ever have a chance of getting my kids to bed by 8:30/9 I need to have dinner on the table within 30 minutes of getting home. This was ready in just under 30!!!!

Step 1… Gather everything you need!

1 diced tomato (I don’t like chopping a tomato so I just use half a can of diced tomato)

1/4 cup Italian dressing

2 tablespoons Balsamic dressing (or balamic vinegar but I prefer using a dressing)

1 tablespoon honey

Half a bunch of asparagus (if you only use the tips then use a whole bunch of asparagus)

1 and 1/2 cups shredded carrot (I use half a bag of pre shredded carrot)

Olive oil

Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes all based on taste

Step 2 & 3. Prep and cook chicken

Personally I like to cut my chicken into 1 inch thick and about 2-3 inches long pieces However, this recipe would be good for any preparation of chicken you want. Salt and pepper liberally.

Then cook the chicken in olive oil using about 3 tablespoons. Cook until cooked through (pink is gone). Usually this takes 4-5 minutes flipping once and cooking for another 2-3 minutes. Once done remove the chicken and cover to stay warm.

Tip!! Chicken is ready to flip to the other side when it no longer sticks to the pan and pulls off easily.

Step 4. Mix the sauce

Mix in a bowl the honey, Italian dressing, balsamic dressing, and red pepper flakes.

Step 5. Cook vegetables

Honestly I just cook the vegetables until the asparagus is mostly tender. I didn’t drain the liquid the chicken let off as it cooked because I think it helps steam/cook the vegetables. This take maybe 6 minutes. 🤷‍♀️

Step 6. Put it all together and cook!

Personally I like to toss the chicken in without the vegetables and add the sauce. I get the chicken coated really well then I add the vegetables back and toss it around for about a minute.

Part 7. Serve and enjoy!!!

Final product!

Tip. I drizzled a very small amount of balsamic vinegar over the top at the end and I think it made it pretty good. Just a yummy added touch.

It was so good and both my 1 year old and 3 year old seemed to enjoy it!!

Let me know if you try it and how you like it!!

Talk soon,

Marena

Day 14 of Quarantine

Let me start off by saying I absolutely LOVE getting to be home with my babies right now!

I spent almost 3 years being a stay at home mom. We went on walks, to the park, had play dates, explored, and so many other great adventures. We spent as little time home as possible but even when home we had a nice grassy fenced in back yard allowing us to go in and out as much as we wanted.

Then we moved and I got a job as a preschool teacher. (By the way I’m loving my new job and it finally inspired me to finish up what I needed to do to go back to college! I start May 1st!) Anyways we moved to Washington got our town house January 1st and I was hired and started working January 16th. Thus ending my stay at home mom career. The kids love preschool/daycare and I love working at the same school they are located. It makes for the perfect transition from stay at home mom to working mom.

Then quarantine #covid-19 happened. Our school stayed open until March 27th when our director finally decided it was time to close down. We will all miss our students but we knew we’d also enjoy being home with family and knowing we won’t be at risk any longer. But that’s not to stay we wouldn’t have all been happy staying at work because we love our students and their family. Because they are all an extension of our family.

So now that leads me to why I’m writing. It’s now day 14 of quarantine and I can officially admit this type of stay at home parenting is rough. My kids and I love to be social so being home 24/7 is kind of hard.

Here are a few things we’ve been doing to keep entertained.

Bubbles. Lots and lots of bubbles. Preferably with a bubble machine because after a while blowing bubbles is tiring.

Crafts…. Paint even though it’s always a big ordeal and usually leads to a bath. Color with all sorts of different tools. Pencils, markers, crayons, the unconventional chalk on black paper. There are so many options.

Speaking of crafts go outside with chalk and make a mural. Regular chalk, chalk paint, chalk rollers, go crazy! Even use tape to help make a stencil.

Play with playdoh. Have building competitions, animal making competitions, use cookie cutters or other random household objects. Again… Go crazy!

Do yoga, stretching, races, workout indoors and out. Do you work out every day while the kids nap or after they go to bed for the night? Why not try doing it before they go to bed and let them join? It may not be perfect but it may get out the last of the wiggles. And it could cause for a lot of laughs.

Have a bubble bath. Or 3….. Who cares. My kids love the bath with or without bubbles. You could also get bath tub paint or bath tub crayons. Put on swim suits grab a beach towel and turn on tropical music. Pretend you’re at the beach.

Grow and indoor garden. Or an outdoor garden.

I guess what I’m saying is as bored as we are there is still so much fun we can have. It just may take a little extra looking.

Oh! I almost forgot. We make a lot of cookies. And we make fun meals together. My son sits in his high chair playing with a hard spaghetti noodle while my daughter gets on a stool and helps stir the pasta. She really enjoys helping in the kitchen. It also fills about 30 extra minutes of time.

What are you doing to pass the quarantine time?

Talk soon,

Marena

Self Care? What’s that again?

Let’s be honest here…. Who actually has time for self care when you have little ones? I have 2 children, my daughter is almost 3 and my son just turned 1. We are at the wonderful stage of exploration and with that means Mama is doing a lot of chasing, corralling, and cleaning.

I can’t just drop everything to have a pedicure. I can’t always carve out time for yoga or spend an hour taking a bath. Not to mention if I have to leave the house I have to find a sitter… If I want a pedicure I could spend upwards of $80 just for some “self care”. I don’t know about you but kids are expensive and that’s a lot of diaper money.🤷🏼‍♀️

However, I do truly believe in self care. How can I possibly give to others if I have nothing to give. I have little people who depend on me so no matter what I have to keep giving even when I have nothing to give. This means I need to find small moments to care about myself.

Getting groceries and see a cheap bouquet of flowers? Splurge. In a hurry and just need a quick McDonalds dinner? Get that $1 cookie. Kids napping? Take a cat nap. Even just 5 minutes before getting up to clean. Like wine? Have an extra glass. Kids in the bath? Paint your nails while supervising.

I could go on but I think you get the point. Not every day can you find a self care moment. That’s why it’s so important to find them where you can. Self care doesn’t need to be expensive, time consuming, or crazy. Self care can be so easy all you have to do is try.

One last thing to think about…. It’s never to late to teach your children self care. Your toddler my not get it (but who knows maybe you’ll have the child who gets it). But older children will 100% get it. Maybe make it a mommy daughter date (or mommy son, daddy daughter, etc. I think any combination of teaching is important).

I guess what I hope you get out of this is that self care can be easy. It can come from the little moments. And it can cost as much or as little you want to spend.

Talk soon,

Marena

Potty Training Frustrations

Let me start off by saying this isn’t some kind of mushy happy ending story where my kids are potty trained and doing awesome.

No. This is where I’m about to rant on the frustrations and anger I’m feeling towards potty training.

My children are doing awesome and i love them tons. But I’m definitely not loving potty training. 😄

First off my daughter is the perfect age to potty Train. She’s a month and a half from 3 years old. She was almost potty trained a year ago then I had her brother. She tells me when she has to go potty/wants me to change her, she wants to help wipe herself, she can go all night without wetting her diaper, pretty much every tell tale sign of being ready she has. Look at her she’s precious. ⬇️

Unfortunately she refuses to use the potty. She has maybe peed on her kid potty a handful of times and even less than that on the big potty. She LOVES her kid potty…. As a chair.🤦🏼‍♀️ Every time she looks at, goes near, or even thinks of the big potty she screams bloody murder. I swear if you even think about her trying to actually use a potty kids or otherwise she reads your mind and starts screaming.

Fighting tooth and nail every hour just to not have an accident is rough. I knew accidents were going to happen. What I didn’t expect was absolutely no successes, terror, and AT LEAST one accident an hour.

I hate to say it but sometimes I feel like I’m failing my daughter because no matter what I do it’s not working. And somehow she created a toilet phobia. No amount of positivity, excitement, or bribery seems to be working. Heck, stickers don’t even work and that’s her all time favorite thing.

But to have one moment of goodness in potty training is I did convince her to sit of the potty for 2 minutes while watching Puppy Pals.

Okay so I guess this is about to end on a good note. 😄

On top of Kairi sitting for 2 minutes I’m pretty sure my son is about to be potty trained by a year and half old or so.

He loves going pee in the potty! Although he has to be held up so he doesnt fall off the big potty. I’ll take a success anywhere I can! When I pulled out the kids potty he climbed up all on his own. If he didn’t have a diaper on I’m sure he would have gone potty.

And since I shared a cute photo of Kairi I’ll share one of Weston.

Talk soon,

Marena

Pregnant? So soon? Why?

Well it’s officially official. I’m pregnant with baby #2. In fact I’ve been pregnant for 20 weeks. I’m half way done!

My daughter is one month shy of being a year and a half old. She’ll be a year and 9months old when baby #2 is born. So I’ll have 2 under 2.

For some reason I keep getting the same questions. Why would you want a second already? Don’t you feel like that will take away from your daughter? Are you bored? Are you crazy?

I’m just over here like uhhh….. No I’m not crazy nor am I bored. But I have tons of love in my heart (and so does my husband) and we’re ready for baby #2. Also of course I don’t feel like I’m taking anything away from my daughter. Just because we’re growing our family doesn’t mean we’ll leave the family we already have behind. In fact part of growing our family means each and everyone of us will grow in our own ways. And guess what? That means so will our daughter. She’ll receive just as much love if not more as she already does.

Part of why we were ready for baby #2 is because we want our children to grow up together. Not just in the same house but as friends. My sister and I are 5 years apart and we’re close but one thing we know for sure is if we were even 2 years closer in age we’d be so much better of friends. My husband says he’s so far in age from his youngest sibling that even though they are close he’s definitely not as close as he could be if she had come just a few years sooner.

All in all what I’m trying to say is I wish people didn’t have so many opinions. Just congratulate me and my family and move on. Keep the comments to yourself. Better yet if you feel the need to comment then tell your therapist. Don’t take away a special moment like having another baby from someone.

Well it’s that time! Meet baby W #2 from the womb! Baby #2 is a sweet baby boy! He’s growing amazing and very healthy!

Talk soon,

Marena

Destination Oahu

We’ve now lived in Oahu for a full year! I thought I’d share a few places here on island that I’ve LOVED visiting!

1st. Ko ‘Olina Lagoons. Specifically Lagoon 2. The water is warm and calm. The beach isn’t that crowded. My favorite thing is the grassy patches and the shade right by the beach! I really don’t like sand and honestly with a 1 year old it’s easier to play on grass. Plus shade is on of the most important thing to have with outside play. Just be sure to pack a lunch because the store and restaurants in the area are a tad on the pricey side.

2nd. Eat The Street for some delicious Ulu’s Lemonade. ❤❤ I preferred the blue raspberry the most although all were great. I’m not ashamed to admit I went every month just for the lemonade! Although Eat the Street was an awesome program with tons of food trucks and a theme. They meet at various places the 1st friday of the month. And many of them donate a large portion of profits to the local schools!

3rd. KoleKole Pass was an easy and fun hike with a beautiful view. This hike is located on Schofield Barracks Military Base so you will need military access. Don’t worry with a valid drivers license you can have access by going through the Lyman gate entrance. Just be warned you need a relatively clean history and that usually means no criminal charges.

4th. Moleka Trail was found purely on accident. My sister and I have a passion for driving and trying to find the highest peaks or the coolest house on top of hills. Over the years that has given us wonderful adventures. Including this trail we found while driving around the Punch Bowl area (another cool place to go). After driving the mountains for an hour we were ready for a hike. And what a perfect moment because we found a turn off point and a small sign that said “Moleka Trail” and another that said “Cliff edge hike with caution”. Being as we had my 4 month old daughter with us we decided to try the trail but only go as far as we deemed safe. Turned out our “cliff edge” wasn’t as dangerous as it was made to seem (but let’s be honest if we were drunk, the path was slippery, had young children hiking, or we didn’t use common sense I could see some areas how it could seem unsafe. But the hike was like walking in a jungle it was beautiful, had so many wonderful sounds, and smelled AMAZING. As we got to the cliff portion we could see out to the Pearl Harbor/Honolulu area and that was the coolest thing.

5th. Monoa Trail and Rainforest Hike. Oh my goodness this was such an awesome hike. Unfortunately I went during a dry spell so the waterfall wasn’t as roaring as it usually is. All the same it was a fun hike and I’d do it over and over. They say as long as there is flowing water you can swim in the river below. I personally don’t wish to swim in the fresh water on the island because many locals have told me the fresh water isnt as safe as we’d like to think due to bacteria. Now I know there is bacteria everywhere but the way the one local talked about it I decided to stear clear just to be safe.

6th. Last but not least is Hanauma Bay! This place has spectacular snorkeling. Inhave to laugh because when going to the falls I was concerned of the bacteria but then I hame here and they are none for closing done often due to dangerous bacteria and what not.😄 I will admit the falls happened during the beginning of my first year and the bay was towards the end. So I like to think I grew up and got over it. Truthfully I just don’t think I cared and I think I started to realized it probably wasn’t a big deal. I do still agree with not swimming in standing water.

Oahu this first year has been wonderful!

Talk soon,

Marena

If I won the Lottery….

If I won the lottery I’d first have to find out how much the lottery is. I have to be honest I’ve never paid enough attention to that stuff. I know it can get pretty big but I’m not sure how big. I’m probably going to max out the actual number but here’s what I’d like the lottery to offer me….

If I won the lottery I’d love for it to pay off my student loans and pay for me to finish school (after scholarships and what not).

If I won the lottery I’d love for it to pay off any lines of credit my husband and I might have. Credit cards and car loans are a must.

If I won the lottery I’d like to put a small chunk of change in a savings account for all of our children. I’d like them to use it on a car and to help pay for college. But when I say small chunk of change I do mean small. I just want to give them a start to their savings.

I’d also like to put a small chunk away for my husband and I to have. Nothing special maybe for a rainy day or an emergency.

I’d like to have enough to take 2 wonderful trips. One with my husband and children. Somewhere fun, exciting, and kid friendly (so you know Disney). I’d also like to take a trip to Ireland and Greece just my husband and I. I want to fully embrace these two countries like I’ve lived there my whole life.

If I won the lottery and had any left over (and since I don’t actually know how much the lottery is I’m pretty there is a decent amount left) I’d like to donate it to a worthy cause. Non profits such as March of Dimes, M.E.N.D., Susan G. Komen, St. JUDES, or any other no profit that might be important to me.

I might be crazy to want so much but truthfully if I won the lottery I’d want it to fulfill so many things in my life.

The reality is if I won the lottery I’d spend a portion on my car loan and put some fluff in my savings. Most importantly give back to my church and donate to a worthy cause.

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Talk soon,

Marena

#mommytime

I’ve recently taken time to give myself Mommy time. It’s been a much needed 1 hour a day to spend time with just myself.

I take a bath, read, watch a movie, or even take a nap. It’s a great time to recharge and just feel altogether well rested.

Taking a few moments to myself has really helped me be more motivated to clean, excited to lay on the floor and play with my daughter, and not feel stressed. It’s also been great because it allows one on one time with my husband and daughter.

But honestly sometimes I can only get 5 minutes to have mommy time and that’s okay. Even just a few minutes is a great way to recharge.

How do you spend your mommy time?

Talk soon,

Marena

#getterdone

The only possible way for me to get everything done is to do it while my daughter naps. I swear she never lets me leave her sight when she’s awake. Not only that she wants to be in the toy room.

Goodness gracious she’s an interesting little girl.

Honestly though I wish I had all the energy, encouragement, motivation, whatever to get everything done. I wish I could keep am absolutely clean house all the time. I can’t even keep is clean for a whole 24 hours.

Maybe it’ll finally happen in 10 or so years when my children are older. But I doubt it.

How do you #getterdone?

Talk soon,

Marena

#heartofawarrior

So if you’ve followed my blog long enough you’d know I had an ectopic pregnancy before I had my daughter Kairi. I used to think I had the strongest heart to be able to handle that situation the way I did. To grow and become an even better mom after a loss. And I still believe this….

But…. I met a lady in my MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers) group who talked about struggling with infertility and had multiple losses and failed attempts. Even after all the loss she kept trying. She never gave up. Then one day she finally had her rainbow baby.

To see that kind of strength made me realize that I may have a warrior heart but she is the true warrior.

To those women and families that struggle with infertility, miscarriage, infant loss, and anything in between you are the true MVPs. You are the best parents because even through all that you still have the strength to be amazing. To those of you who haven’t had your rainbow baby I still think your MVPs. Because even though your babies might not be in your arms you still have such a strong love for them.

Talk soon,

Marena