Cooking Machine

It has been a very lazy weekend for us at the Holleran house and its just what we needed. Finally this afternoon I was getting a bit stir crazy so I started cooking. I ended up with two delicious meals, chicken and veggie enchiladas for dinner tonight and broccoli salad for my lunches with week. I love cooking big meals on Mondays because  then I will have leftovers for the whole week and I don't have to cook after work, which is awesome! Here are the recipes, yum!

Meal #1 Chicken and Veggie Enchilada Cassarole

2 large shredded chicken breasts
1/2 white onion
1 can black beans
2 cups salsa
1/2 bell pepper
1 small can of green chilis
1 jar of enchilada sauce or green chili (I used green Chili)
corn tortillas
cheddar cheese

1)  Preheat oven to 350
2) shred chicken breasts (I cooked mine in the crock pot all day with salsa, water and taco seasoning so it was very easy to shred)
3) combine chicken, beans, green chiles onion, bell pepper and 1 cup of salsa, and season to taste (used salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder and cumin)
4) Layer tortialls, chicken mixture, 1/3 green chili and cheese, then again tortillas, chicken mixture 1/3 of green chili and cheese then final layer should be tortialls the rest of the green chili and followed by cheese
5) bake for 40 minutes covered, then 20 minutes uncovered

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Meal #2 Broccoli Salad

2 large heads of broccoli rinsed, cut into bite size pieces

1/2 red onion, chopped

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

6 strips of bacon, crumbled

1 cup mayo

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup of raisins

1) combine, broccoli, onion, bacon, sunflower seeds and rasins

2) mix dressing: combine sugar vinegar and mayo, mix until smooth

3) pour dressing over broccoli mix and stir

4) refrigerate a few hours before serving.

Im a working mother and wife

Today was a really rough day for me as a working mom. I find myself jealous of those people who have a set schedule 8am to 5pm and they get to leave at 5pm every day. My job is only done once all the tasks are done for the  next day, and sometimes that is 5pm sometimes it could be 6pm, 7pm or later. As a working mom who only gets to see my little dude a few hours a day during the work week this is  challenging not to mention how little I see my husband these days.

I find myself wishing that I had one of those jobs that ends at 5pm no matter what, or even being one of those super cool moms who juggles a demanding job and being a great mother and seems totally happy in both places. But I have come to the conclusion I am not one of those moms. As much as I do like working and as much as I love the the field that I went into, I just like being a mom and a wife more. I get so much more satisfaction from reading Harold and the Purple Crayon over and over or chasing that little man around the house to get pants on  him, or preparing dinner for my husband than I have ever gotten in a single days work.

Being a working mother and wife is an amazing struggle any one who tells you otherwise is wrong. A dear friend of mine explained it to me perfectly tonight, when I called her for some mom to mom talk. She said that when you work, you feel like a bad mother and wife, when you leave work early to take care of a kid you feel like a bad co-worker its a no win situation. When Elliot was born Ted and I made the decision not to put Elliot in day care, we wanted him to be with us as much as possible or with a family or friend when that wasn't possible. That means that Ted and I work opposite schedules which leaves the two of us with less time together.

As much as I wish every day that I was at home with Elliot and Ted, I know that's not really an option;  Ted and I need both incomes to support our family. And I am grateful that I have a good job that pays well enough to cover our bills and where I really like the people I work with. I am still holding out for the day that I actually would rather go to work than stay home, or I don't spend the day wondering what Ted and Elliot are doing. I am hopeful that there will be a day that I accept being a working mother rather than constantly hoping to win the lottery so both Ted and I can stay home. I know that being away from family is something that mothers and fathers struggle with every day, but I wonder if that feeling ever fades. Is there a magic age where it gets easier to be away from your family? where you get used to seeing them less? Part of me hopes that day never comes, the other part of me ...well I'm not sure. 

Hair Cut

I really want to write tonight but I lack the words. So tonight I will just share a picture of my day.

Today Elliot got his first hair cut, Ted and I pinned him down in his high-chair, and i must say we did not do the best job. But it was so much fun! There will certainly be touch-ups going on tomorrow, if we can wrangle him, if not he might be a bit uneven for a little while.

Sisterly Love

As I have mentioned before we recently moved in next door to my parents which also means we moved in next door to my little sisters too. They always keep things interesting for sure.Living in Fort Collins one of the things I felt like I was missing out on was seeing my little sisters grow up so its great being close to them now.

I take the two older girls to school every morning on my way to work which gives us a great chance to catch up. And all the girls  love to come over and help with Elliot, which is so great to have them entertain him, he loves his aunties! They also call me to ask if they can come over and clean my house or poop scoop the yard, my answer is always YES!!!!! Having them around is really awesome.

Tonight my parents went out and the girls came to spend the evening with us, they argued for 15 minutes about to watch after Elliot went to bed, and still couldn't decide what to watch. Ted came in with what I thought was a wonderful suggestion... Pete and Pete (one of our favorite shows from when we were kids). The girls were reluctant when they saw the outdated clothes the characters were wearing but  soon the room became quiet and the girls  really got into the show.  I love being able to share the things that I loved when i was a kid with my little sisters!

Sweet Kisses

This afternoon as Ted was getting ready for work Elliot and I sat down to watch  The Lorax on Netflix. Elliot is usually not very interested in TV but sometimes when he is teething a little TV calms him down. Elliot pulled himself up on to the couch with me and we hit play.

Elliot climbed off my lap and plopped himself down right next to me and we started watching. Not 30 seconds later he stoop up on the couch and walked right over to me and gave me the sweetest kiss, just like he had seen daddy do a minute before. My heart melted. Then Elliot did a face dive back into the couch and watched The Lorax for about 2 minutes. Then once again he stood up and walked across the couch and planted another sweet kiss on me! It was the most adorable thing I could hardly contain myself!

Elliot did this over and over for about 20 minutes, until he got hungry again and then a little terror came out until I fed the little monster. Those 20 minutes were by far the best in my day, its moments like those that make all the hardships of motherhood so very worthwhile.

LIfe on the mountain

Its been about 6 weeks since we left our life as suburbanites. There are definately convienances we miss but there are so many benefits I think are WAY BETTER!

1)  my view consists of trees, elk, and on occasional car
2) living next to our family! they are awesome
3) just a 20 minute drive from Denver (feels like worlds away)
4) Brother and sister in law live just across the mountain  (cool for more than one reason)
5) We knew more neighbors here before we moved in than we had met in 3 years at  our old place.

cons

1) Grocery store is 7 miles a way rather than 1, (but its all highway so it doesn't take long) 
2) the closest liquor store is outrageously expensive (we have learned to stop before we climb the mountain)
3) the closest gas station is way more expensive than the average place..we have  quickly learned to get our gas down the mountain.


Bottom line: we live in the mountains and we love it! I think this was the best move we have ever made! lets hope we have many more years.

Elliots adorable

Since I am getting back in the swing of this stuff,  I thought  I would post some pictures of the cutest little man in the whole world!

Here is one of Elliots very first pictures

 just two months old.... gosh he was so cute in his little overalls

 One of my favorite pictures of the little guy, 4 months old

 Such a happy little man, I think he is about 4 months old here too

 He loves reading! he really is his fathers son

 Elliot's first Thanksgiving 10 months old!

Super cool dude! Already a year old!

Cha Cha Changes

It’s been a long time since I have had the desire to write. There was a while there that I was really enjoying blogging but then I just felt like I had nothing to say. And perhaps I still don’t have anything to say but for whatever reason I just want to write and even if no one reads it I figure it makes me feel good.

Those close to me know how difficult it is for me to accept change in my life, I am stubborn and I fight it tooth and nail.  In the last 2 months I have had to give in and just open my heart to change, because I have changed about as much in my life in the last  2 months as any person can. In the month of December I quit my job in Fort Collins, I moved to a new city, rented the house next door to my parents and moved not once but twice (more to come on that)  In the month of January I started a new job and my son turned one, officially becoming a toddler. Oh yeah and there were a few holidays in there too that added to craziness that was my life.

Things are finally starting to settle down and feel like I can breathe again and actually begin to wrap my head around all that has happened in the last few months.

I had been working at Home Instead Senior Care in Fort Collins for about two and half years and it had been time for a change for along time. Ted and I had been talking about  moving to Denver for quite a while so when a job opportunity opened up I jumped on it. The hard thing was that we had less than 30 days to move, and there just so happened to be a holiday bunched in there as well, oh yeah and we didn’t have any where to live yet so we needed a place to move to. We got really lucky and the house right next door to my parents was available for rent so we jumped on it. The only road block was that we also had to help the gentleman who had been living there move out before the house was available to us. So amidst all of our packing and preparing for our move we also had to move our landlords stuff out too.

But it was totally worth it.  We love our new house, it’s in the mountains and it has lots of land for the dogs and Elliot to run around on, the rent is reasonable and we actually like living next to my parents. Most people think I am crazy when I tell them I moved in next to my family but honestly its working out great so far. We pretty much always call before we visit each other and we don’t even see each other every day, it’s like having neighbors who you are really close with. It makes it really convenient for babysitting, both them watching Elliot and me helping out with my little sisters.

My new job has also thrown me for a loop.  I am still working for the same company but it’s a different franchise so it’s completely different. I am still doing the same thing within the company but it’s been great to see how things are different and in a lot of way better than they were at the office in Fort Collins. I got this job because an old boss/friend of mine recently became the general manager here and when a position opened up she got me an interview. It’s like it was meant to be. I am really happy here at my new job, I am still getting used to things here but there are a lot of perks here that I know I am going to enjoy.

This move has really been great for our family. Ted, Elliot and I actually have more time together as a family and its nice living close to a lot of friends who we have not been as close with for several years. The move was absolutely worth it but can I just recommend that if you are ever thinking about moving at Christmas time to just change your plans and wait a few extra weeks.

I am hoping that my inspiration doesn’t fade and I am able to continue blogging, whether any one reads it or not, I just love to write and it feels good to just put words down.