Author: nk330

Holiday · Parenting · Travel

Corn, Pumpkins, & Sun

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One of our family’s favorite things during UPT is the 3 Day Weekend. They only happen around holidays, and since Andrew can’t take time off during training, these weekends are our only chance for mini trips. With the weather cooling off, we really have been trying to get out and explore our area of Texas as a family when we can.

The most recent 3 day weekend Andrew got was for Columbus Day. We were originally hoping to do an overnight trip, but Gerrit ended up picking up another cold bug. It just seemed like a day trip would be a better idea in the end. So we decided to go to Hondo, TX that Sunday afternoon. Just outside of town, Graff 7A Ranch sets up South Texas Maize for the season. It seems like, for those of us in Del Rio, this is pretty much THE thing to do in the fall if you like corn mazes and fall fun! There honestly isn’t much else around that offers that.

We left later than we planned on Sunday, but it ended up working out great, because Gerrit slept almost the whole way there! He really needed that nap, and I’m glad he got it before we got there rather than right before dinner. It was a Heroes Weekend, so we had free admission because Andrew is in the military. I love that they have several of these weekends as a big thank you to those in the military, firefighters, law enforcement, and EMS personnel.

After we got our entry bracelets, we got food! The lady at the ticket booth told us the food was great, and she wasn’t lying. Maybe I was just really hungry, but I thought my cheeseburger and fries were definitely above average! Plus Gerrit got a fun pumpkin cup that he absolutely loves.

Once our bellies were full, we headed over to see some goats. Gerrit said hi to them, but he didn’t want to touch them. As we made our way over the the corn maze, we had to pass the big slides: MatterCorn Mountain.

Andrew took Gerrit on the slide, and he loved it! Not enough to do it more than once, but he still said it was fun. We headed into the MAiZE next. There are two different mazes to do, and since it was about 90 degrees out, we opted for the short one!

There were numbered posts in the maze with a question to answer at each post. If you got the answer right, you would head down the correct path to the exit. Despite getting all of our answers right, we still got a little turned around, I think! Gerrit was in no hurry, and kept wanting to look at ears of corn that had fallen on the ground. Eventually we made our way out of the maze successfully!

Right after we made our way out of the MAiZE, they were announcing that the last pig race of the day was starting, so we headed that way. We stayed to watch one pig race, but we were pretty hot and sweaty after wandering through the corn for half an hour!

After watching a pig race, we found some shade under a tree and rested for a bit. Gerrit’s little cheeks were getting so red from the heat, so we just kept telling him to drink his water! He was happy to do it since it was out of his big pumpkin cup haha.

Gerrit played on the hay bales for awhile after we rested for a bit, and then we headed over to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin to carve. We haven’t carved a pumpkin with Gerrit before, but I think we’re going to try it this year!

Andrew picked out a big one for us to carve in a couple of weeks, and Gerrit picked out the one he wanted to take home. I almost pointed out the flaws in the pumpkin Gerrit picked (lots of scuffs on one side), but I’m so glad I just kept my mouth shut and let him choose the one he wanted. He was so proud of it!

We only spent about 2 hours at South Texas Maize, but we really had a great time! I think if it had been cooler or a little overcast, we would have stayed longer. We didn’t get to do everything we wanted in 2 hours, but it was still a fun fall day trip. Gerrit is already asking when we can go back!

 

 

Crafts · Daily living · Holiday

Fall Frenzy

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I grew up in the Midwest. When fall weather arrived, it was a little bittersweet. Summers just aren’t that long in Wisconsin! But I loved sweater weather. I loved hot cider, scarves, boots, snuggling up with a blanket… ahhh… fall.

Now let’s talk fall in Texas. The temperatures dropped into the 70s the last week of September, and it felt almost like fall. I was so excited!! But I didn’t feel the urge to snuggle up and be lazy. Oh no… I finally had the energy to get stuff done! I feel like the heat of summer sucked up every drop of motivation in me. As soon as that hit-me-like-I-opened-the-oven feeling outside was gone, I was ready to do all the things. I wanted to clean, decorate, blog, crochet, organize… I just had such a burst of energy and oomph to be productive! I feel like fall in the South is like spring in the North… you have that glimmer of better things to come, be it cooler weather after a brutal summer or warmer weather after a frigid winter, and you feel human again.

Obviously, you can see that I’ve been blogging again. Ah, I really had missed it. I had so many ideas for blog posts to write, and I just never made time to sit down and type them up! Part of it was not wanting to finish drafts that had been collecting cobwebs for months. So I deleted the ones I wasn’t interested in and moved on. I don’t know why I don’t do that more often. Purging and starting fresh does wonders for me in almost every aspect of my life that feels cluttered.

I’ve been thinking of ways to pare down on holiday decor as well. I think when we moved to North Carolina after being overseas for a few years, I had this need to go decoration crazy any time I went to a craft store! I definitely accumulated more”stuff” in my holiday decor bins, and it was honestly driving me a little crazy. So after I changed out my summer mantel for my fall one, I decided to just get rid of everything I didn’t use. And again… the sigh of relief. It’s like spring cleaning… in fall!

I’ve also decided to only use one wreath for our front door year round. I think it will be a work in progress, but I’m planning to just use a plain grapevine wreath and rotate things to attach to it. My fall wreath above is just a fall garland that I tied to the wreath with bits of yarn. It’s a little tedious, I suppose, to have to re-make a wreath every holiday/season, but it will save space! I mean, if I had unlimited space and resources, I’d have a wreath for Christmas, winter, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, spring, summer, 4th of July, Halloween, and Thanksgiving/fall. That’s 10 wreaths!! So over the next year, I’m going to experiment with my rotating wreath idea. If you have done anything similar, please share your tips!

Daily living · Parenting · Recipes

And Then I Became a Mom

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I’ve been going through my blog posts from the beginning to organize and delete some. I love reading through those early posts about moving to and settling in England — it seems like so long ago! I also have to laugh at a few posts… mostly about things I said. It’s interesting to see yourself grow and change through old musings.

I had written a few posts with thoughts on being a parent, and I just laughed and laughed at my naive ideas. I think I had some good intentions with my hopes for parenthood, but wow, actually becoming a parent is such a shock to the system! I know when I was pregnant, I kind of avoided reading books about caring for infants, because I didn’t want to become obsessive about doing things the “right” way. But having a challenging baby meant I had so many questions and concerns about things. I scoured the baby websites. I asked so many questions on Facebook pages. I bought ALL the books I could get my hands on for ideas, suggestions, and information. I’m sure I went overboard, but I just needed answers!

I think one reason parenting is so different now is social media. Social media is so helpful in some ways: you can quickly connect with people to get advice about things, you can read through other peoples’ questions and concerns, and you can vent and commiserate with people you don’t have to see every day! But social media and the internet in general can be so anxiety-provoking too. You can Google things and get worst case scenario answers. You can ask a question on a breastfeeding Facebook group and be told everything from “your baby is normal” to “you need to get checked for a lip/tongue tie immediately.” Other people are well-meaning, I’m sure, but treating the internet like a medical professional can definitely be a bad idea. Not that I think medical professionals always have it right either, but that’s a whole separate topic!

Distance, I believe, plays another big role in parenting. I’m not sure if this is a global thing or more of an American thing, but people just don’t live near their extended families anymore. Not having family nearby means no built in support network for raising children. I think this changed fairly quickly too. It wasn’t that long ago that families generally stayed in one area, with grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins only a street or a town away. Having family ready and happy to help makes a huge difference in the parenting experience. And being far from family? Well, it might just drive you to buy every book out there on baby sleep, breastfeeding, and early learning!

So what am I getting at? Nothing really, haha. I was just having a laugh at my pre-parenthood self and pondering parenthood in general. And I thought that, on the subject of parenthood and kids, I’d share one of my son’s favorite recipes: homemade chicken nuggets!

Parmesan Chicken Nuggets

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4-6, depending how hungry your toddler is

2 eggs
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
1/3 cup plain bread crumbs
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes

  1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
  2. In a shallow bowl, lightly beat the eggs. In another shallow bowl, combine the panko and plain bread crumbs, Parmesan, garlic powder, pepper, and salt.
  3. Working in batches, dip the chicken pieces in the eggs followed by the Parmesan mixture. Make sure to coat the pieces evenly.
  4. Arrange the coated chicken pieces in a single layer on the baking sheet.
  5. Bake until the chicken is cooked through 15-18 minutes, turning the chicken at least once.
  6. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

The sides shown above are Pepper Jack Cheesy Mac & Honey Garlic Green Beans. The only things I skip with the macaroni and cheese recipe are the tortilla chips on top and the crushed red pepper (too spicy for Gerrit), although it’s yummy with those ingredients as well!