Category: Family

Family, Food, Stay at Home Mom, Uncategorized, Women

Football appetizer

Hannah Lucio

It’s officially football season! Yes!! This was such a fun memory in the beginning of our relationship. We typically do fantasy football and this season he is playing two types so it’s gonna be a fun one! My goal is to try to make two types of foods a week. The idea is to do one appetizer and one meal but it will depend on how things are going. This time I made a simple and easy appetizer. All that is needed is wooden skewers, tater tots, bacon and cheese. And whatever dipping sauce you like. I used barbecue sauce, my husband used ranch and ketchup. 

1. Bake as many tater tots as you want. I made probably 50 tots. Bake for 30 minutes

2. While tots are baking cook the bacon and crumble once done.

3. Take tots out when they are done and let cool for about 5 minutes. 

4. Put tots on skewers and place back on the pan. I put 10 tots on each skewer. 

5.  Sprinkle a little bit of cheese on the tots, sprinkle the bacon crumbles and then more cheese. Put as much or as little as you like. I honestly did not put on as much as I should have. More the better 🙂 

6. Place loaded tots back in the oven for 5-10 minutes. Just until cheese is melted and a little crispy. 

7. Take out and serve. 

Simple. Easy. Yummy. 

Husband approved! 

Live full

And

Live simple

GO SAINTS

GO CHARGERS

Family, Stay at Home Mom, Uncategorized, Women

Nap times are the best!

Hannah Lucio

I don’t know about you but having a baby and toddler at home is exhausting. I love being able to be home for them but it can wear you down. My husband and I set up an awesome deal so I can get a little time to myself so I don’t get to overwhelmed. I am so thankful and so lucky to have a husband that is so supportive of me. The schedule is to workout in the morning before he goes to work. 30 minute break at lunch and 30 minute break after he gets of work. It doesn’t always go as planned but it’s such a great thing for me. I used to wonder why women need so much me time. Well, now I know. I do have to say that sometimes I think it gets out of control with some. But, to each their own. I do not like being a stressed out mom because it is not good for us all. I have also lost my joy for things in life. So I am trying to work things out to get my joy back. It might sound weird but that’s how I feel. I really cannot remember the last time I was outwardly excited about something. I was reading an article about this and it is true. We must take care of ourselves and there is nothing wrong with needed to “find yourself”. 

Today was one of the not going as planned days. I “slept in” today, well, we all did! 6:30 am instead of 4:40am. Awesome stuff! My husband had a follow up appointment so that cut out my other 30 minutes alone. That’s way more important then my me time. So I’m finally relaxing while the boys sleep. Thank goodness they are both sleeping 🙂 Which means I should have 1-2 hours of kid free time? Wahooooo!! I start with a hot cup of coffee and typically an apple and peanut butter for snack. I also catch up on my dvr shows. Big brother, Flipping out, real housewives of Orange County, and Keeping up with kardashians. I am such a reality tv fanatic hahaha  When it gets to 1-1.5 hours I can start cleaning and stuff so if they wake up they aren’t grumpy from lack of nap. Ha! 

Well, I’m off to relax and finish my hot coffee and Flipping Out show. It’s gonna be an awesome start to the weekend. Homemade pizza for dinner, fun filled Saturday and all day football on Sunday! 
Live happy

Live simple

Family, Food, Stay at Home Mom, Uncategorized, Women

Best hard boiled eggs

Hannah Lucio

One of the hardest things in the kitchen for me is getting an easy to peel hard boiled egg. When I was younger we had an egg timer. We also boiled the eggs in water. They were still not the easiest things to peel. I don’t want to buy a timer so I was experimenting with different advices online. I have literally tried everything. I almost gave up until……I found the solution! I have tried these tricks twice and each time they came out perfect.

1. Steam the eggs. This trick is the best! Boil water with the steam basket in it. Once water gets to a boil place the eggs in the basket. Cover and steam for 20 minutes. Take out and spin the egg, if it spins fast then it is cooked. 

2. Take cooked eggs out and place them in a bowl of cold water and ice. Take them out once they have cooled off.

That’s it! Peel and Enjoy 🙂 
Live easy

Eat good 

Live simple

Family, Food, Stay at Home Mom, Uncategorized, Women

Funbites Food Cutter for Toddlers

Hannah Lucio

We were at Buy Buy Baby a few months back and saw this gadget for food. We thought that it would be fun to cut shapes in our toddlers food to make him want to eat it. We bought it on impulse and tried it out. Apparently you should read the directions because it did not work for us. It really made the sandwich look non edible. A month after purchasing I saw a Shark Tank episode with this gadget on it. She showed them how to use it. I then realized that I did it wrong and tried to use it again. The proper way. Well, it was still frustrating. I made him a sandwich and used this gadget and it smashed the sandwich together and almost pancaked it. This is what it looked like on the top part of the plate:img_77371 Minus the sushi rolls I attempted to make him. Haha! To save yourself $10 and frustration, I would just use good ol fashioned knives to cut shapes. I made him “shapes” this morning and they looked like this:img_77591

And, he actually ate more of these versus the cutter. They are not Pinterest perfect but he loved them. So there you go, save yourself some money and time it takes to go buy the cutter and do it yourself.

I will be doing more “fun” things for him with foods so he can love the foods we try to introduce to him.

Live wisely

Save Money

And

Live Simple

debt, Family, Food, money, Uncategorized, Women

So much for sticking to our budget this week….

Hannah Lucio

We set our budget and goals for last week and it didn’t go as planned. Thankfully we are on a budget and do not live paycheck to paycheck. I truly believe that if we lived paycheck to paycheck then we would have to have credit cards. Did you know that living paycheck to paycheck is actually considered normal? Yikes! I understand why people have credit cards as their “back up plan” but it in not the lifestyle we want to have. Thankfully.

Our oldest dog had to go to the vet because we believe she has a UTI. We took her in and an hour later and finding out she has arthritis (not really surprising at age 12) we spend $300. We will know her test results this coming up week. An hope it will not cost anymore for us.

Then, Friday around 4pm my husband and son were chasing each other around the house and rough housing. I was making brownies and I heard some “calm” talking from his room. I was going to go in but I typically like to have my husband and son have “guy time” and just let them be. Well, about 5-10 minutes later my husband came in and said we need to take Maverick to the hospital. I do not like those words but I know it’ll happen because boys love to play. I’m so thankful this is the first time. And I know it will not be the last. He was a trooper and so good for the dr’s and nurses. I wish he was that way with us all the time ha ha. Anyway, we found out he hyper extended his arm/elbow and the dr was able to pop it back into place. It was night and day after he popped it back into place. Once Maverick found out he could move his arm again he wanted to give me a hug and kiss. Gosh I loved that! We put his shoes on and he wanted to take a “tour” of the ER. So we walked around and came back in time to get discharge papers and we were out of there. It was really a great experience there and we were in and out in less than 3 hours. We are so thankful. So that was another $135 co-pay.

Going into this week we were thinking we were on track to save a lot this month by keeping under our $60 grocery budget. Things happen. We are saving an average of $120 a week on groceries and I feel lighter 🙂 Did I mention that being on a budget and making sure you get the right health foods you can lose weight? That is how I lost weight with the first kid and plan to do so with this second kid. I know we did not stick to budget because two emergencies came up with week. But it is such an amazing feeling when you can pay your co-pays or emergencies with money you actually have. And, not have to stress or worry how we are going to afford it. Or charge it on credit cards. Thank the Lord for opening our eyes and ears to a more positive way to live.  Thank you Dave Ramsey for showing us the way to financial freedom.

On to this week….goals will be met and positive thinking will be done!

Live healthy

Live less stressed

Live financially free

and

Live simple

 

 

debt, Family, Food, money, pregnancy, prenatal, Uncategorized, Women

Getting Back On Track

Hannah Lucio

Since we found out we were pregnant last year we took a pause on getting out of debt. Dave Ramsey recommends pausing paying off debt. Instead you save up the money you would put towards debt just in case there is an emergency/complication with the pregnancy. Now that our baby is born and things are going good we are getting back on track.

One of the main things we did to cut back on costs was not renewing our Costco membership. Costco is a dangerous place. I could go there and easily spend $200….a week!! And that would not cover everything we would need for putting meals together. Spending got a little out of control. So I told my husband I need him to help with our budget and keep me more on track until I get used to it again. I am typically the one who does it all but I wanted to get some help and encouragement from him. So far in the last two weeks we have managed to keep way under budget on groceries. We are also going to eat only healthy foods. We went to Harris Teeter today (my favorite store on the east coast) and got everything we needed for every meal next week and spent $59.00! I know we can cut down more on costs but I really want to get healthy foods still and not just cheap junk foods. We could eat top ramen instead and keep our food bill to $30 or less a week but our medical bills would increase because our health wouldn’t be that good. So we are trying to just balance it all out.

At the end of the month we will calculate what we have saved each week on groceries and apply that to debt. For example: we budget $100 a week for groceries, if we only spend $60 then the left over $40 goes to debt. I feel excited to get back on track with budget and health food.

We also are cutting out extra stuff like going out to eat. That typically can get out of control when you let it. We have been spontaneous in this area and not really controlling it. Not anymore. When I was pregnant the only thing I could stomach most of the time was the Chick-Fil-A Grilled market salad with honey mustard dressing. So it got a little pricey. I really love to cook and eat healthy so its going to be fun to get back to it. I will also be taking a before and after picture of myself and also weigh myself to see if there is a huge difference. I am curious how big of a difference it makes. I will try to update more to hold myself accountable and hope to help others out that want to get rid of debt. 

 

Live happy

Live healthy

Live debt free

And

Live Simple

 

 

Family, pregnancy, prenatal, Uncategorized, Women

Planning for childbirth

Hannah Lucio

This is the last week before he gets his eviction notice. My bag has been packed for at least a month now. I’m sneaking in protein bars this time around! I literally did not eat for well over 24 hours and that was not good at all. I have to eat every few hours or I get low blood sugar. Not a medical issue I just trained my body to eat throughout the day. And since I will be there alone for a lot of it I am bringing stuff to make me feel comfy. And will be bringing stuff to keep me occupied in the case of having my induction. I will be alone that night (for the induction) as well. I am completely OK with that 🙂

39 weeks pregnant
I am not sure if it is just my eyes but it looks like I filtered/altered this picture. Weird, but I did not.

So, every day I pretend like I will go into labor that day.  I have been cleaning every day all day for the last two weeks just in case. That is kind of typical for me anyway because I do not like a messy house. But, I have been stepping it up a notch so my husband will not have to do it as much when he is home. And every week for the last month I am making sure we do not run out of anything that we would typically eat. I have been stocking up on certain foods so we have enough to last us so we won’t have to go for at least the first week that we come home. Last time I did this and it helped a lot. I was not as active and high energy as I am this time around. So it is a lot easier to prepare this time…..which I think is weird because I have a two year old this time around to tend to all day. HA

The main things I am getting done is laundry, cleaning and new exercises. I went to the Dr yesterday and he has not dropped into place yet. And his due date is Saturday 😦 I am not stressed over it but I am bummed nothing has progressed between the last Dr appt and this one. So I went to Target and bought an exercise ball. I have 3 exercises that I will be doing everyday 3 times a day.

  1. Ball bouncing: this is recommended but not a guarantee. This I will be doing 3 times daily for 30 minutes.
  2. Walking: I still go to the gym and walk for 30 minutes. I also am going on at least 3 walks outside daily for about 30 minutes each. Maverick loves it and the dogs….well they like it but the heat is getting to them ha Oh well!
  3. Pelvic tilts: This I will be doing 3 times daily for 3 minutes at a time.

I have read so many ways to induce labor but I do not want to induce him on my own. I just want my body to be more ready than it was last time. Over the 3 day weekend we rode bikes twice daily and it was a pretty hilly ride. I also went to the gym and walked a ton. And that had not helped so if anything this will just make me more toned and not gain so much weight. Thankfully I have not gained a lot of weight so it’ll be easier to lose it this time around. I also feel great because I have been able to exercise this entire pregnancy. I have some super goals after this last pregnancy. I am excited about this! I am also super hungry this week. Super hungry! We shall see if these exercise and my “getting stuff done” will ease the labor stuff. I am hoping so! Less than a week left and we are really excited!!

 

Live healthy and live simple!

 

Family, pregnancy, prenatal, Uncategorized, Women

2 weeks left! 

Hannah Lucio

I am just shy of 38 weeks pregnant. Thankfully I am still able to ride my bike to the gym, do 3+ miles of cardio and ride home. That is something I was not able to do with the last pregnancy. I was in so much pain last time and not so much this time around. I also gained a little to much weight last time and this time I am right on track. We have a big dr appt on Monday that will determine if we will try to start the labor process. I was not for inducing but the last labor was pretty rough for me. So all of the Drs in this practice have suggested an induction to try to prevent complications. We shall see this Monday. It is exciting but I have a little bit of stress and anxiety that comes with labor. I have been reading a ton and talking to the Drs about everything so it has been helping me. Thankfully this is the last kid so I won’t have to have this type of anxiety again. I am just staying as active as I can and praying we do the right thing. I am also excited to not have to wear pregnancy clothes and have heartburn ha! I am not a huge fan of the pregnancy process. Haha But, I am also thankful to be able to have children. In the end it is a wonderful thing! 
Live happy and live simple! 

Family, Food, pregnancy, Uncategorized, Women

The BEST brownie recipe you need to try

Hannah Lucio

I have been making this recipe since I can even remember baking brownies. The only thing I have changed is the Crisco ingredient, I use butter now and it tastes better! I also add more vanilla 🙂

 

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup Cocoa (I used Hershey Cocoa)

2/3 Cup Butter

2 Cups Sugar (I use raw sugar from Costco)

4 Eggs

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla

1 1/4 Cup Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

 

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees

-Spray cake pan with non-cooking spray. I used Pioneer Woman’s 3.6 qt ceramic turquoise baker and it was the perfect size. I have actually used round pans, 9 x 13 size pan and other varieties so choose what you like.

-In a medium size saucepan melt the butter on the stove and then add cocoa in. Set to the side to cool down a bit.

-In a medium size bowl beat eggs and then mix in sugar and vanilla

-When cocoa mixture is cooled off a bit add the sugar mixture and mix well. Set aside.

-In a small bowl mix flour, baking powder and salt together.

-Add flour mixture to saucepan and mix until just mixed.

-Pour into pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick tested in the middle of the pan comes out clean.

brownie blog post 3

-Enjoy! I try to wait until it cools but I normally do not HA!

 

 

Live Happy, Live Simple

 

 

 

 

 

 

Family, Food, pregnancy, Uncategorized, Women

Oatmeal Blueberry Applesauce Muffins

Hannah Lucio

I have looked at a lot of recipe’s for toddlers and finally decided to try this one. I am trying to expand our toddlers food choices and I found a winner!

 

Ingredients:

1 1/4 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/4 Oats

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Cinnamon (next time I will do 1 tsp)

1 Cup Applesauce (3 applesauce pouches from Costco)

1/2 Cup Buttermilk (or Greek Yogurt)

1/2 Cup firmly Packed Brown Sugar

2 Tbsp Canola Oil

1 Large egg, lightly beaten

1 1/4 cup Blueberries (I used frozen but you can use fresh as well). Make sure to wash the frozen blueberries so your batter will not be all blue.

 

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees

-Line muffin pan with liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray

-In a large bowl combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

-In a medium bowl combine applesauce, buttermilk, brown sugar, canola oil and beaten egg

-Mix wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients until just mixed. Do not over mix batter. Fold in the Blueberries.

-Put batter in muffin cups. I actually had extra after filling the 12 cups so I made 5 mini muffins in addition.

-Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin from the middle of the tray comes out clean.

-Once cooled I froze half of the muffins and will enjoy the rest

Our son ate 3 mini muffins in a row. That is how much he liked them!  He loves to “help” cook and bake with me and this was a fun recipe. It is also a healthier muffin to make.

blueberry muffin blog 2

 

Live healthy, live simple