Burgess Family: Cooking, Crafting and Having Fun with the Kids!

Clever title right? J/K, I’m just not creative these days. O well, having a creative title is not a must in order to blog thank goodness!

This blog is simply a week in review for us, so here we go…

Cooking:

Since cooking was first up in my title I guess I’ll start with that. Brandon and I are really trying to focus on eating better. Not because either of us are wanting to lose weight, we are just trying to establish Healthy Living Habits into our lives so our kids will learn Healthy Living Habits as they grow and see the importance in it. It’s not like we are fast food junkies or anything, and we hardly eat out, but we are trying to cut out eating so much processed foods. Its easier said then done, especially since my kids love Hot Dogs, Chicken Nuggets and Mac n Cheese. Don’t get me wrong, my kids will still eat this stuff every now and again, but we are putting a conscious effort into limiting theses types of food big time. It’s going to be a process and it’s not going to change over night, but I am really trying to focus on healthy wholesome foods when I make my meal plan for the week.

1st up on the Menu this week was Vegetarian Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers. There is so much hype about Quinoa right now, that I decided we needed to give it a try. For those who aren’t familiar, Quinoa is a seed that some consider a whole grain. It is prepared like whole grains like rice or barley but usually takes less time to prepare. Quinoa provides all 9 essential amnio acids which makes it a complete protein. Its organic, kosher and gluten free. Here is the process that went into making this meal. (Just a side note, this meal was absolutely DELISH, but took a LOOOONNNNGGGG time to make. Definitely a meal I will only make when Brandon is home to watch the kids while I am cooking.)

This meal was jam packed with lots of fresh veggies.

There was a lot of Chopping, Dicing, Grating, Draining and Juicing involved in the prep work.

It was followed by sautéing and boiling.

Next up was stuffing the peppers with the amazing mixture of Quinoa, Black Beans, Diced Tomatoes, Chopped Spinach, Grated Carrots, and Finley diced Celery and Onions with a bit of pepper jack cheese. Pop those bad boys into the oven for an hour,

Take them out, top with cheese and put them back in for an additional 15 minutes. And….

you have an amazingly healthy wholesome dinner packed with lots of veggies and protein.

Add a side of freshly steamed green beans and you have yourself an amazing dinner!

It was well worth every bit of time put into making it. It was so so so flavorful and very filling. Even the kids ate and enjoyed them!

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Crafting:

I haven’t been crafting/sewing much lately with everything I have had going on over the past couple months. I have a lot of projects I would like to start but I just haven’t found the motivation or time yet. The great thing is that none of the things I want to do, need to get done so I can do them when I am good and ready. Any who, I did get my first order from Nessy’s Dressy’s (www.nessysdressys.blogspot.com) since moving to Colorado. The Principal of the school my Mother-In-Law teaches at put in a order for some girly burp clothes. I was pretty stoked for the order because it forced me to pull out and dust off my sewing machine. Lol.

I was super pleased with how they came out!

Now if I can only motivate myself to start the projects I want to do that don’t have deadlines. Lacking motivation these days. Must be because I have been so busy for so long that I am really thankful for the down time I get! Anyway, I did do a very small crafty project the other night while watching the Olympics. (Is anyone else LOVING the Olympics like I am? Such a fun time.) The project was to take an old t-shirt and turn it into a cute work out top with no sewing required. Fun, right? All you need is an old T-Shirt, a Pair of Scissors, and about 15 minutes.

I raided Brandon’s T-Shirt drawer for supplies. I found two old Broncos shirts, 1 is too small and the other says Tebow on the back and he wont wear it anymore. Lol. The navy one didn’t come out all that great since it was really big for me to begin with, but the other one came out great. A snip here, a snip there, a little twisting and tying and you have a super cute up-cycled work out top…

I love the way it came out! So much fun. I love using existing clothes that are not getting worn and turning them into something new and exciting. Of course, all the credit is due to Pinterest for the great idea! Watch out old t-shirt drawer, I am coming with my scissors in hand!!!!

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Having Fun with the Kids:

As always, we seem to keep very busy having fun with the kids. Especially now that everything we do is new and exciting since all our surroundings are new. We are trying to take advantage of all the fun now, because the “newness” part will eventually wear off and become normal. So where do I start???

Mall Play Area Fun-

There is a mall about 10 minutes from us, Southwest Plaza Mall. In my opinion the mall itself isn’t the greatest because it doesn’t have a lot of the stores I like to shop at in it, but it does have a GREAT play area for the kids. We are a huge fan of free play areas to burn off built up energy in so I think we will be spending a lot of our time there this winter!

Family Movie Time:

Since neither of my kids are huge movie watchers, movie time does not happen in our house all that often. They would much rather be playing or running around then sit and watch a movie. This particular day, the kids were pooped so we decided to put on a movie. Autumn insists on laying on my lap and having her back rubbed. This cracks me up because this is the same thing I would make my parents do to me when I was a little girl. Guess it’s payback time for all the amazing back rubs I got as a kid. Lol.

Family Walk along the Platte River:

We love a good family walk in the evenings after dinner. Fresh air + exercise = An awesome Family Night. We drove about 5 minutes from our house to the Platte River and decided to take a nice long walk along the river. For those New Mexicans, it’s kind of like walking along the Bosque. It was a beautiful walk and was enjoyed by the whole family! I see a lot of walks along the Platte in our future too!

All ready for our awesome post dinner walk.

It was pretty overcast that particular evening, but we decided to take our chances. It has been really stormy here lately you’d think we moved to Washington. Ok, it’s no way near like the Northwest, but coming from New Mexico, its kind of like the Northwest. Haha. We have had afternoon thunderstorms for 2 weeks strait every single day! It is so nice. I LOVE the rain not to mention it has really cooled down the hot temps we were having.

We parked the stroller and walked down to the edge of the river, and then of course it started raining. It was just a drizzle so it wasn’t a big deal and it felt wonderful! Can’t wait for our next family walk along the Platte.

Family trip to the Denver Zoo:

Tuesday was Brandon’s last day home before starting his new job. It’s really sad and going to be a big adjustment since he has been home everyday for the past 4 weeks :(. We decided since it was our last day of vacation that we should do something fun. Owen suggested the Denver Zoo. Why not? It’s a great zoo and the weather was perfect. We ended up buying an annual zoo pass so there will be a ton more trips to the zoo before winter hits!

Autumn was fascinated with the animals and Owen was fascinated with his map of the zoo. Complete opposites I tell you! Owen is now obsessed with maps. Lol.

3 Little Monkeys!

Little Miss, “NO, I do myself!”

On our last trip to the Denver Zoo, Owen got pretty freaked out by Bird World because all the birds are lose and flying overhead. Anyone who knows Owen, knows he is a bit terrified of animals. Birds, Cats, Dogs, Rabbits, Spiders, Insects…you name it and Owen has a fear of it. I can’t be too concerned because I was the same way as a kid. Its frustrating as a parent, but you have to take your kids fears and concerns serious because you don’t want them to feel dumb for being afraid of something, even though you know there is no reason for it. Anyway, I told Owen before we got to the zoo that we didn’t have to go into Bird World. When we walked passed Bird World, Owen announced to Brandon and I that he wanted to try Bird World out again so he wouldn’t be scared anymore. WAY TO GO OWEN for wanting to overcome your fears!!! I was so proud of him for even wanting to attempt it even after being told we didn’t have to do it. He was a bit timid walking through but he didn’t scream once. So proud of my boy!

Made it just in time for Penguin Feeding. So cool!

What a great time at the Zoo.

After the zoo, we headed to the City Park, Downtown Denver, to have a picnic lunch in the grass.

Beautiful Views +

The BEST company in the world

= a Perfect afternoon!

Staying Buy while Brandon is at work:

Since Brandon has headed back to work, and the kids and I still don’t know very many people, we spend most of our mornings and afternoons playing at the park and all the rest of our time doing chores and running errands. I will be joining a MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) group once school starts back up, but in the mean time the kids and I are on our own.