Crispy Chicken & a salad with Orange and Honey Dressing

I have had an amazing week. Saturday was my 30^th birthday and I ushered in a new year of my life by celebrating every day for 9 days! 9 days of fun + a mom of 2 boys under 5= 1 exhausted mama! But life must go on and my family still has to eat. It is times like this I pull out some of my super quick and easy meals; ones that require very little work on my part, but still seem special to my boys. Here is one of those meals…

 

Crispy Chicken & a salad with Orange and Honey Dressing

 

The chicken is as easy as can be! Just follow this simple recipe. Really, it is so easy!

 

Now, for the salad. My boys love it when their food looks fun and they can help make it. So while I am busy finely chopping any vegetables I choose to use for the salad, my Little Jedi juices the oranges for our dressing. Then he helps me add all the other ingredients and blend it. I have learned that if I make a chopped salad and my Little Jedi helps with the dressing all my guys are sure to eat it all! Ease of preparation + super tasty makes this dressing a win/win.

 

 

I hope you enjoy!

 

Lots of Love,

Ashley M

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to this beautiful woman. I am proud to call you my friend. You are an inspiration and an example to women every where!

Galveston Island Family Vacation

My family just returned from a 3 day 2 night trip to Galveston Island in Texas, and it was wonderful.

I highly recommend this as a family vacation destination and here is why:

1. Super awesome Hotel room.

We stayed at The Casa Del Mar. It Had an ocean view and was under $200 a night! Our room had a kitchenette, sleeper sofa, bunk beds and a separate room with a queen size bed. The Kitchenette was used both mornings to make breakfast with food purchased at Walmart. The hotel provides plates, silverware, pots, pans, and cups. The Super Center was really close and the prices beat our Walmarts for sure, some things were a dollar cheaper! The hotel also has two pools to enjoy, or as in my case get dragged down to at 9:30 pm kicking and screaming (I was the one kicking and screaming). This is the hotel we will come back to for all future vacations. 

2. So much to do for the whole family.

We went to:

Moody Gardens Aquarium

This was a blast! All of us enjoyed this aquarium and it's air conditioning. Jax took a minute to warm up to the giant tanks but after that he was hooked. Get it ? Hooked? LOL fish joke! It took us right under an hour to go through but if you are one of those families who like to read the signs and such it could possibly take up to two hours.  Do not plan for this to take up your whole day.

Moody Gardens Rain forest Experience

After we went through the Aquarium we walked right over to the Rain forest Experience. Just a little warning here, half of the exhibits are in a rain forest, so expect humid conditions. The other half are in the coolness of indoors so relief from heat is never to far away. This only took us an hour to go through as well. It might have lasted longer if not for my lack of patience in the heat. All of us would go again.

Galveston Island Train Museum

So much fun. Ethan loves trains and so we originally planned to go here just for him. As it turns out we all loved it as much as he did. There are open cars to walk through, some to climb around on and tons to explore. It is the old train depot and they have it set up like it was back when it was in use. It is was gorgeous  inside and kind of made me wish thats how people still traveled. The whole family loved the model trains exhibit with all the little towns and villages. I recommend this to anyone.

The Beach

Galveston has a ton of beaches to choose from. This beach was right across the street from us so we walked on over to it. The waves are perfectly small for the kids and the sand perfect for castle building. Emily never wanted to leave. We purchased the boogie boards at Walmart for under $10 each. Well worth it for all the fun they had with them. Even Jaxon got in on the boogie board action.

3. So much Food!

We enjoyed,

Denny's

We went here because we had just drove onto the island and everyone wanted breakfast, well, except for Noah who ate almost exclusively giant cheeseburgers the entire time.

Rainforest Cafe

We waited 45 minutes to get a seat here. The busiest place in town for sure.The kids loved it here. Jaxon loved watching the animals move around. The whole place reminded me of Adventure Land at Disneyland. If you plan on eating here be prepared for theme park prices.

Tortuga Mexican Food

I ate my favorite meal of vacation here. It was an avocado stuffed with seafood and veggies. Everyone else enjoyed their food too. I will be thinking about that avocado for a while.....

Joes Crab Shack

There are two Joes on the Island. We chose to eat at the one on the harbor side. Honestly what not to like? 

Shellfish and butter... delicious! 

There was so much more we could have done but we ran out of energy and time. The Hubby and I are already planning our itinerary for next years trip down. I am over the moon with how our official first family vacation went.I am so blessed to have a husband who works hard so he can take us places like this.

If you ever want to go here on a vacation I recommend checking out Galveston.com for a bunch of great tips and ideas. Also if you want to go to any of the attractions we went to for up to 40% off check out
galvestonislandpass.com. We saved so much money on tickets through this website!!

On the way back home my amazing husband took us to IN & OUT as our final vacation meal. I cant strees to you enough how much I love this burger place. We dont have any here so this was a big treat. If you have never been to one, I'm sorry you are missing out, you must go to one if you ever get the chance.

I'm glad I got to share this adventure with you.

Love,

Ashley B

Something Sweet, Yummy and Good

“I would like something SWEET, YUMMY and GOOD!” This sentence is one I, Ashley M, hear every day from my oldest son. My little Jedi, who is almost 5, believes that all food should fall under these three descriptors which is great and all except for his intolerance to any kind of sugar and his numerous food sensitivities. All of that has left me on a continual hunt for special treats he will love, and wont hurt him. This is a challenge I gladly except and love to try and conquer. One of the wonderful gems I have discovered is Melon Ice! It will remind you of tropical snow or an Icee and the beautiful thing is, it is extremely easy to make and good for you! My boys love it and I hope you do to!

Lots of love,

Ashley M

Welcome Ashley M.

I have known this woman since middle school. Dont ask me exactly when we met because I have no idea. What I do know is I have always loved her and I am positive you all will too! So enough of my jibber jabber lets let her do the talking.

The other Ashley

Let me introduce myself: My name is Ashley. Ashley M. Not to be confused with Ashley B, the amazing woman and creator of this blog. I am excited to have the privilege of joining Ashley B in writing and sharing here on For GOD so Loved the Mom. 

 So, a little about me. I have an amazing life here in my little corner of Colorado being a wife and a mama to two little boys. Some of my greatest passions are teaching my boys about this world, this life, and the God who made and loves them, hanging out with my man, cooking and enjoying wonderful foods, and sharing and gleaning insight and wisdom from the many amazing people I have in my life and have the privilege of meeting along the way. I so look forward to sharing with you all and getting to know you better!

Lots of love,Ashley M

Oh my Stink! Teenage Hygiene with my Autistic Son

Teenage boys stink. I have two of them and it only get worse in the summer. My oldest , who is not on the autism spectrum, understands that a little hygiene can go along way with his peers, however Ethan does not.
As far as autistic people go, from my experience, social norms are bizarre and make little sense. It is not uncommon for Ethan to play outside, get dirty, sweaty , as well as be covered in whatever he spilled that day to want to go out in public. He also tends to get frustrated when I send him  to get changed and cleaned up.I guess he feels as tho if he feels good about his hygiene so should I. Unfortunately for him. I do not, so I came up with a non verbal way to remind him to be clean. If he checks this list out he will be reminded of what to do on a daily basis to keep mom of his back.

This also comes in handy for older son who sometimes gets a little lax on his daily hygiene. Please feel free to print out and use.

Love 

Ashley B