Saturday, June 29, 2013

It's Never Really the End


If you haven't heard yet, Google Friend Connect is going away as of July 1st, 2013. That means you will no longer be "following" us. We don't want to lose you! If you haven't found a new way to follow us, here's a few ways:


On our Right Sidebar:
Follow by E-mail: Get our blog posts to your e-mail!
Networked Blogs: Use your FB account to follow!
Follow us Via Bloglovin'.

Social Media:
"Like" us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us, and keep up on our fun, tutorials, DIY's, recipes, and antics!
See you soon!

Friday, June 28, 2013

Crockpot Orange Chicken


One of the biggest luxuries when you're a busy, working mom, is not having to cook dinner yourself. That is why my crock pot gets used over and over. I just love how easy it is to prepare a delicious meal for my family, without doing much of anything at all. 

Now this recipe is special to us because Bubba went to great lengths to get it done. We did this while on our blog hiatus (aka, computer failure), when I had zero drive and zero want to do anything with my blog. He had remembered a pin I posted on Pinterest. We didn't even click the link to be totally honest, but he saw his ingredients and would not let it go. The next day, he came home with the supplies and asked me to make it.


What You'll Need:
3-4 chicken breasts (cut into bite sized pieces/strips if preferred)
1 jar Smuckers Sweet Orange Marmalade
1 bottle Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce (Original)
White Rice (Cook separately)

How to do it:
Add ingredients to the crock pot and stir well. Cook on low for 6-7 hours, stirring occasionally.
Serve over white rice or with veggies.


Enjoy!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

the Workmans


As I've been doing a lot of blog re-design, blog overhaul, and on a forced blog hiatus, I found myself asking my husband one night a very big, nearly impossible to answer question. "What does it mean to be a Workman? Who are we as Workman's?" 

We discussed this for hours, brainstorming ideas, thoughts, stories and experiences. We discussed our time together as a family, about his growing up, about mine. We finally came to some conclusions, and in turn, prompted this Workman Wednesday's blog post. 

Who are the Workman's, and Why Should You Care?
Bubba: We are a functionally dysfunctional family who is willing to admit it. 


Workman's are family oriented. We travel for everything we have to for family. My brother and sister in law have flown across country for Christmases, summer breaks, and so many more trips. We've driven hours to attend a birthday party. We celebrate the family every chance we get, and we invite everyone, family or not. to the Workman's, family is everything. 

Workman's are loud. Between the loud laughing, the silly jokes, funny faces and noises, we get loud. We love to get noisy while playing board games, BBQ's, and even discussions about the most simple and mundane things. We love to turn on music and dance, we love to laugh and play, and we love our "everyone's invited" policy, making the more, the nosier! 

Workman's are busy. We do as much as we can, because we can. We work hard, we play harder, we help our families, and we bust our butts to keep up with everyone. We support each other every chance we get, every tee-ball game, every school recital, every work benefit and every event we can, we're there to support our own. 


Workman's are great cooks, bakers, and foodies. Now that there's a bunch of us (access to Pinterest isn't helping us either), we're sharing recipes, trying great new foods and teaching each other our tricks to the trade. The only kind of bad food with the Workman's is no food. 

Workman's LOVE kids. Not just like, or are good with kids, we LOVE them. At Easter, my husband pointed this out to me when he realized I was feeding my nephew, my sister-in-law was feeding my niece, and my mother-in-law was feeding my son. No one had their own kid to feed, and it wasn't an issue with anyone. Not a day goes by when we aren't busy enjoying our little ones, and having three in the same year last year makes our five total so much more fun! We just love our kiddos, what can I say?


Workman's are crafty. Every year we do a different craft for Christmas gifts, and we're constantly putting something together, be it wedding centerpieces, kids crafts, home decor projects, or just making cute hair bows, we are ALWAYS out for a new project or craft. And, unlike me personally, always finish them!

The Workman's are our family. We are the Workman's. While we struggle to define ourselves in a basic question, we can answer it when we talk about our family as a whole. The definition of our name describes us best; Workman; a craftsman, an artisan, a working man.
It's like Grandpa Cory always said, "It's not all about the work, but Workman." 

Happy Wednesday! 

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Review: Funbites Cutter

I first found Funbites during a giveaway hosted by the Chirping Moms. I'm always on the lookout to make meals fun for the little guy, so I jumped on that giveaway. While I didn't win, I did get into contact with Funbites and requested a cutter for our family. They were happy to send one over and I was excited to test it out and review it! 

The first thing I have to mention that I was impressed with with them was how quickly they replied to my emails and questions. I had my replies within the day, if not within the hour. I was so impressed by how efficiently they responded to my questions! Also, the shipping was unbelievably quick! I got my cutter in a few days and it came with such cute packaging and a sweet note! If anyone takes the cake for customer service, it is these guys!


I had chosen the triangle cutter for little dude. We had fun testing it out on different products, but I kept forgetting to take photos of it. At one point I even filled the cutter in a food storage container with juice and froze the juice into triangles for his sippy cup! The cutter is dishwasher safe, freezer safe, and works SO WELL! 

It works the best on fruits and veggies for us, bananas, tomatoes and apples being little dudes favorites. After  testing a few different foods, we discovered it works very well with sandwiches too! I love this because it means that he isn't getting too big chunks into his mouth, reducing the risk of him choking on a too big piece of sandwich (my kid eats in bigger bites than I do, this is a big win for me!). 


If you have a toddler you want a Funbites cutter! Use this link to check out all the different cutters they offer, and then check out the ideas page for tons of cute ideas! You know I've got some plans for adorable lunches for little dude! Thank you Funbites, for letting me try out this fantastic product, we're in LOVE with it!

Monday, June 24, 2013

Mani Monday: Watermelon Art


I love summer nail combos. Neon colors. Fun art. 
Neon Green: xoxo - Charolette
Neon Pink: Sinful Colors
How to get those seeds? Sharpie! 

What nail trends are you sporting this lovely Monday? 

Sunday, June 23, 2013

June Hauls

Truly, I really don't shop much, honestly I am too cheap to shop unless it is clearance (and when I do, trust me, it is). I really don't ever get items for fashion, jewelry, for the home, etc. I really keep to what I have and use it up. That being said, this month I had found some FANTASTIC deals and steals that I wanted to share with you, with my "June Haul" post.


Target Haul!
Tee: Women's "Let's Get Lost ... in love" $5.00
Chevron Cell Phone Case: Gifted from my Mom ($9.00)
Kids Tee: "Dad's Wingman" $1.50
Coupon Organizer: $1.00


Giveaway Haul:
Crochet One-Skein Wonders book ... AWESOME book. I love it! My grandmother and I are working our way through it now, she's WAY better than I am, but it's still fun to share the hobby and learn from her based off of these patterns.
Bracelets c/o Pick Me an Outfit. I just adore her and her blog! I've been wearing these bracelets to work to brighten up my black scrubs!
Fun Bites Food Cutter (You'll see a review on this one soon, so fun for little dude) c/o Fun Bites!
Headbands c/o with love, Little Lottie. I've also been wearing these to work and just adore them! I've gotten tons of compliments on them, go check out her shop!

What have you been buying this month? Show me your haul's by leaving your link in the comments section below!

Friday, June 21, 2013

Guest Post: No Bake Protein Poppers

Hey guys!
If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you know my computer bit the dust, however we have lovely readers and followers that have volunteered to guest post for us, so today for Foodie Friday is Katie, and you will LOVE what she has in store for you today!

--------------------

Hi all you lovely readers! 

I'm Katie and I blog over at www.divinedelightsblog.com and I have the pleasure of sharing one of my favorite recipes with ya'll today.
I have been in search of the perfect on-the-go energy bar recipe of some sort that you can grab on the way out the door or have a few for breakfast in the morning and have finally come up with one that is just right. My favorite part is you know exactly what is going into these & of course there are no added preservatives or any of that which makes me one happy lady. This is a super easy recipe to play with and substitute some ingredients in or take some out- whatever you want to do. Have fun with it! P.s. if you have little kiddos watch out because they will devour these things, they love em! ;)

proteinpoppers

WHAT YOU'LL NEED // 

  • 2 cups dried oatmeal (I used whole wheat instant oats and they worked fabulous) 

  • 2/3 cup coconut flakes

  • 1 cup peanut butter

  • 1/2 cup ground flax seed

  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips

  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

  • 2/3 cup agave nectar (could easily use raw honey)

  • 2 tbsp vanilla

  • 1 tbsp cinnamon


LETS START //

  • combine all of the ingredients into a large bowl and start the mixing. You will have to put your back into it a little and use some elbow grease ;) making sure that the ingredients are fully mixed here is key.


Image


& should look something like this when fully mixed:


Image



  • place the mixture in the fridge for at least an hour (the longer the better.) Once that's complete start by pressing about one inch pieces then just roll, roll, roll into little balls and enjoy! I promise, these won't disappoint.

some possible substitutions:

  • almond butter or sun butter (for those allergic to nuts) instead of peanut butter

  • possible additions: white chocolate chips. dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, etc.
  • ps- you can find the ground flax seeds in the baking aisle

I would love to hear how you guys changed up to recipe and how it turned out for you! Also, let me know if you have any questions!

xo,
katie

Monday, June 17, 2013

Fathers Day Fun

We had a very laid back fathers day, full of BBQs, swimming and relaxing family time!

Friday, June 14, 2013

Better than Anything Cake


Inspired from THIS recipe, we made a few changes and served this baby up for a family dinner. I know the photos don't do it any justice- you can thank my lack of planning and my cell phone... Let me just say though... yum!

What You'll Need:
1 box chocolate cake mix (and whatever it requires to make it)
1 container of cool whip (or cool whip lite)
chocolate syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk
mini chocolate chips
heath pieces

How to do it:
1. Bake cake as directed on the box. Let cool.
2. Poke round holes into the cake. Pour condensed milk and chocolate syrup onto cake, making sure to try to fill the holes you just created. Set aside for a little while (we did overnight).
3. Add toppings, cool whip, chocolate chips and heath pieces. Serve!
Enjoy!

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

A trip to Bear Lake

My parents rented a cabin up at Bear Lake for Memorial day weekend...so we took a day trip up to see them and to explore the area with them. We took little dude to the lake for a little bit...and here are the photos I snagged!


Walking in the water with Omie.


Brayden and Opa considering playing in the really cold water!


Figuring out this sand stuff.


Walking on the beach with Opa.


"I wanna go play in the sand some more!"


Photo op! (Someone else had done it, we just took the op!)


Muddy baby toes!

Friday, June 7, 2013

Stuffed Peppers Recipe


I've been wanting to make stuffed peppers since I got married. But Bubba had told me many, many times, that peppers just weren't his thing. Anytime we made anything with peppers, he'd pick them all out and eat everything but. He was just that picky... until I made this recipe.

One night without his permission, I made this dinner up, hoping that he'd enjoy it.
And shockingly enough... he did. 


What you'll need:
2 large green peppers
1 lb ground beef
1 pkg taco seasoning
shredded cheese
(Sides: Rice / Corn - from a box and from a can - we're classy like that)

How to make it:
Brown your ground beef in a skillet. Add taco seasoning.
Cut the tops off of the peppers, clean out all the seeds and the inside of the peppers. Set aside and place a small layer of shredded cheese in the bottom of the pepper.
Once beef is cooked, place inside pepper, top with cheese and place in the oven for a few moments with the top on the pepper. Wait until cheese is melted to remove from oven.
Add sides and serve while still warm!


Enjoy!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

What can we say, we're an RSL family.


We took little dude to the RSL game against the Chicago Fire over Memorial Day weekend. We had an extra seat, and know he loves soccer and his Daddy and Uncle Bubba who were joining us.
Plus it was an excuse to be silly and spoil him. And as a mommy, I love to be silly and spoil my kiddo. 

We enjoyed a dinner of McDonalds (chicken nuggets man!) and went over to the stadium where Brayden enjoyed piggybacks from the boys an juice while we enjoyed warm-ups. We got him a pretzel as a snack (we're super healthy in our family, can't you tell?), and enjoyed the game. We scored a few photos before, and at half-time.

I adore our family photo where he is crying. Frankly, he's crying because we didn't let him wander around with everyone else at halftime and instead took a photo of us having a blast. He was really enjoying the game, obviously. Uncle Bubba kept things fun, he made silly noises and faces with him, gave him popcorn and ice cream to share and snack on, and even took him to see Leo the Lion (who I think Uncle Bubba liked WAY more than Brayden).
I think he wins Uncle of the year award. 

Overall it was a great time, great game, wonderful company, happy baby, and RSL tied! I love nights like those, don't you? 

Monday, June 3, 2013

Mani Monday: The Accent Nail


If you follow me on Instagram you know that I paint my nails far more often than I blog about it. I just love having a clean, fresh, and pretty (read: chip free) mani. More often than not I do an accent nail... probably because I think its fun to switch it up and its easy to do.


I just love to add some flair, what can I say?



Here are three of my most recent accent nails. Do you still rock it, even though its "outdated?"