Macky and cheese

Who doesn't love a good 'ol bowl of Macaroni and Cheese, or as my oldest son calls it "Macky and cheese"?  It's about as comfort-foodish as comfort food gets, and in this house it gets gobbled up so fast my arm gets sore from scooping it onto the plates.

Today I was in a hurry to get lunch together, and literally only had about 5 minutes before I had to leave to get my son from preschool.  I opened the fridge and grabbed some fresh carrots, shredded cheddar cheese, almond milk, olive oil, and some plain rice pasta left over from dinner last night.  Now I could have easily used whole wheat pasta, gluten free, semolina, whatev's, and same goes with the milk. Whatever pleases your palette! For me, I prefer my wee little Parker to be hive-free, so we opt for the egg-free/cow's milk free stuff!

I started with the sauce. I poured about a tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom of a saucepan and added some shredded cheese and a splash of almond milk and start stirring. It got all melty and I got all happy! I added a bit more of each until it was a creamy melty goddess of gooey and then added the secret ingredient - shredded carrot! I then tossed it all together with the pasta and poured it into a baking dish and popped into a warm oven to buy me some time.

Meanwhile, I informed Logan on the way home from school that we would be having his favorite lunch and he exclaimed "MACKY AND CHEESE! WEEEEEE!". That is a direct quote.

When the kiddos were good and hungry, I switched the warm oven to broil and let this bad boy crisp up and get all bubbly.  I can tell you... it smelled amazing. The carrot gave it a yummy crunch, and some obvious vitamin power.  I served it with apple's and cucumbers, and was immediately instructed that this needs to be added to our lunchtime rotation.

and it came out looking like this:

Okay, not the best photos, I know. Best I can do with the iPhone and 4 hungry kids. But I will tell you that this was probably the creamiest macky and cheese I have had.  It was my first time making it with the almond milk and I must say, I am a huge fan.  Our other household favorite for this yummy classic is the Squash Macaroni and Cheese which I talk all about on the most recent episode of Green Corridor Living!

Boys and 31

A few weeks ago, we headed back to Brian's Dad's house for the day.  Our boys dressed in their Sunday best, and if you couldn't tell, Logan picked out his entire outfit down to the argyle socks.

I took the opportunity to take some photos of my 

happy guys since they had all their clothing, 

they didn't have Cheerios stuck to anything, 

and they nobody was in footie jammies.

Instead we had owl hats and fun, spring-like ties.

And eyes that I could get lost in.

Oh, and eyelashes for days. 

And sweet middle kiddies who give me coy smiles.

And who think I am funny!

And has a comb-over. 

And a Punky!

Who makes me work for a good photo. 

And is cute regardless.

And oh so serious... 

We did some exploring!

This past weekend we celebrated my dear husband turning 31! Logan and I made dark chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting - all from scratch - and they were Ah-Mazing!

Every kid needs to learn the art of licking the beaters. Especially when they are 

covered in whipped butter and sugar. Mmmmmm.... 

Don't you want to just roll around in this bowl? No, just me then?

Last year, I started the tradition of giving Brian food with his age on it. 

Don't ask me why, but for his 30th he got a pizza with "30" in pepperoni. 

This year was 31 in cupcakes! 

This is the face Logan made when I told him "Daddy is 31 years old! That's old!"

The boys got Daddy a new pair of jeans for his birthday, and I went to a specialty store and got my hubby a yummy sampler pack of some fun beers that I knew he would appreciate - including two Hopslam which is normally $20 (minimum) for a 6-pack. I think he liked it!

(PSA - Do not pay any attention to the basket of clean laundry on the counter)

That night we got a rare adult night out with some friends.

 We enjoyed a dinner, drinks, laughing, gas station wine, and a shot that had

 something to do with a rooster. 

Um, it's March?! How did that happen? Also, it is going to be in the 70's next week while my boy is on Spring Break. I see the park in our near future! Happy Spring!

Bathroom hooks

When I was about 5 months pregnant with Logan, and home alone, I decided that I needed to paint the soon-to-be kids bathroom. right. that. second.  So off to the paint store I went and found this yummy, buttery yellow color that was so happy and creamy and I loved it the second the roller hit the wall.  Years later, when Logan was on his way to becoming a big brother, I waddled my twin-bellied-self through Target and let Logan pick out a fun shower curtain for the soon-to-be boys bathroom.  Little did we know that this shower curtain that my boy stood hugging in the bathroom section of Target would be the inspiration for Parker and Cooper's nursery, and their first birthday party! The Woodland Owl curtain perfectly complimented the buttery wall, as well as the other decoration I have for the bathroom (I will show those soon!). 

Until recently, I had a standard towel bar in this bathroom.  One towel bar for three dirt covered boys to hang their cozy towels wasn't going to cut it. I found these hooks at Ikea and knew they were perfect. I mean, they come in packs of three! I love that they can be folded up for safety, and are easy enough for little hands.  

I thought of a few different options for art above the hooks, but I had these large letters from Michaels laying around and figured this would be the perfect place! They were already painted three different colors, and happend to look great with the shower curtain.  Logan and I grabbed some rogue tree branches laying in a field nearby and broke them into small pieces.  About 6 sticks of hot glue and 45 minutes later we had some rugged, woodland art to go above Parker, Logan, and Cooper's towel hooks. I am pretty smitten with how these turned out, and the best part is that the entire project cost under $15! 

IKEA kids table re-do

I love being able to mix in adult pieces and spaces in with kid spaces in the main living area of a home. I think you can really achieve the best of both worlds when it comes to having a kid-friendly room without making it entirely a playroom.  I bought this IKEA kids table for $20 a few years back and it has migrated around the house.   Logan's reading and writing ability is developing so rapidly, and he loves practicing writing words.  I wanted to give the kids a space they could go if they got the itch to be creative, and not have to wait for me to get out paper/markers/etc.

Enter IKEA LATT Table. It is solid pine frame with a fiberboard top.

I told Logan he could choose the colors, and he went with black for the table, and a light blue for the chairs.  I went with RustOleum Universal Satin Spray Paint in Black. The can is great since it has an ergonomic nozzle (read: user friendly), and the product itself rocks because it is a primer and paint in one (read: less work for me!).  I took my opportunity on Sunday to get this project started because it was over 50 degrees outside. Holla! 

A couple coats of paint and we were looking good. 

{Notice the snow on the ground. And 53 degrees. Crazy weather}

Logan requested "some green" to be added to the chairs, so rather than increasing my workload with taping and painting, I did some Mod Podging! 

(Is podging a word? no?)

So I got some paint swatches, cut them into squares (removing the color information) and Mod Podged those suckers straight to the tops of the seats. It took quite a few coats, and in retrospect, I should have hot-glued the corners down first, but in the end it turned out cute. 

Finally, I bought Martha Stewart Chalkboard paint in black from Michaels with a 40% off coupon, which meant that little bottle was under $4. Not bad. I painted about 3 coats with a foam brush, and in about 24 hours was left with this fun table top. 

Doesn't it look inviting?

I put a $2.50 Target dollar bin bucket, with smaller $1 buckets that house crayons, markers, paper, stickers, a calculator, some English/Spanish flash cards, a box of colored chalk and a rock. Yes, a rock. Why? Because my kid likes rocks.

 And my kid rocks. 

Gettin' busy. 

By the end of the first night, the table looked like this. 

And I love it! That is exactly how it SHOULD look. Fun, creative, and whimsical, and now I want to chalkboard paint all sorts of hard surfaces throughout my house! 

And there you go. Under $40 from beginning to end, and *maybe* and hour total of work.

Danger!

So this interesting event happened a few weeks ago, and despite the embarrassment this will cause my dear husband, I still have to share it here. because it is funny.

Since I breastfeed our bambinos, there is not much the hubs can be in charge of in the nighttime hours. When a wee-one wakes up, he is not looking to Daddy for comfort. He wants one thing, and one thing only. A boob.  So, Daddy has always been in charge of nighttime diaper changes (in those early days) and baby-retrieval.  So even now, (and yes, I realize these babies should be sleeping completely through the night) when a twinkie wakes up for a snack and a snuggle, it is the job of Daddy to get up, get the baby, and bring him to me in bed. That is service, let me tell you.

So a few weeks ago, I heard a baby crying (can't even remember which one, is that bad?) and I started the normal ritual of poking the husband and saying "Bri. Brian. Get up. Go get the boy. Brian".  Nothing. I got nothing in return. I opened my eyes to find Brian sleeping in an odd position - one knee up and the other leg crossed over the knee. Weird, right?! So I poked harder, and spoke a bit louder "BRI! Brian! The baby. He's crying. GET UP!".  So Brian grumbles, moans, and goes to step off the side of the bed and that's when it happens... he falls to the floor like a ton of bricks. just disappears off the side of the bed and literally shook the floor. I shot out of bed yelling "WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?" and my dear husband is laying on the ground complaining that his leg was asleep and he couldn't move. I began laughing, of course and he in complete seriousness exclaims "I COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!".  This caused me to laugh even harder to the point where I could no longer breathe, and I couldn't help but ask how, in the world, could he have been killed, to which he replied "I could have fallen out the window".

And people think I am the dramatic one.

Salt Dough Fingerprint Pendants

We worked on Valentine gifts for about a week.  We made salt dough and I had Logan and Eliza make bowls to give to their Dad's and fingerprint pendants for Eliza to give to her mom and, well, I of course had some made for myself! They turned out pretty cute. The salt dough is 2 parts flour, 1 part salt. Mix with a bit of water to get it to the consistency of playdoh. I gave the kids total creative control with making their bowls.  They helped me cut out the pendant shapes, and of course, provided their fingerprints before baking. I put everything on a cookie sheet and baked at 250 degrees for several hours. When cooled, everything was painted. This was most definitely their favorite part of the activity! 

The Day of Love

Holidays become different when you have kids. and way more fun.

I had high hopes for Valentines Day this year.  Brian and I celebrated a few nights early with a post-kids-bedtime dinner to ourselves of steaks on the grill, baked potatoes and asparagus. It was divine. and quiet. and I didn't have to get up from the table a SINGLE TIME. This was huge, people.

Valentine's Day morning started with a nice "LOVE breakfast" of muffins and more at Logan's school.  My guy spent 40 minutes eating a blueberry muffin.  I snagged a photo of what Logan told his teacher that he loves the most.

I love you too sweetie.

I began preparing for the kids' Valentine's Day lunch a few days early. I steamed and pureed an organic beet in the Beaba baby food cooker. Note: beets turn your hands red... for about a day.

I used the Weelicious.com recipe for Beet Pancakes and renamed them for the day to Heart "Beet" Pancakes, which Logan totally loved.

Here is the recipe:

1 Cup All Purpose Flour
3/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
3 Tbsp Light Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt
2 Medium Beets, roasted & pureed (about 3/4 Cups)
1 1/4 Cup Milk
1/3 Cup Plain Greek Yogurt
1 Large Egg
3 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, melted
1 Tsp Vanilla extract

Of course, since we are an egg-free house, I had to substitute the egg with some flax powder mixed with water. What a fantastic and healthy trick! I also didn't have any greek yogurt up in here, so I used some plain yogurt instead. I had purchased one large beet, which made plenty of puree. 

The results were fabulous, and to say the kids loved them is an understatement.  The heart shape. the color. the yumminess... they were huge fans.  Plus, I have the remaining cakes in the fridge that we have been popping in the regular toaster for breakfast every morning since.  I don't really care for regular pancake syrup, so we have been drizzling a little amber agave nectar on top which is scrumptious. 

I also made my little loves some "I love you Berry much" smoothies.  Milk, banana, frozen berries, yogurt and blend. We like ours served in cute mason jars. 

Logan came home with a bag of love notes, candy and toys from his buddies at preschool for the first time and it brought back memories of making mailboxes out of old shoe boxes for Valentine's Day and being so excited to receive the cardboard pink and read notes. Now, thankful to Pinterest, Valentine notes have become quite the creative rave. 

We worked on Valentine gifts for about a week.  We made salt dough and I had Logan and Eliza make bowls to give to their Dad's and fingerprint pendants for Eliza to give to her mom and, well, I of course had some made for myself! They turned out pretty cute. The salt dough is 2 parts flour, 1 part salt. Mix with a bit of water to get it to the consistency of playdoh. I gave the kids total creative control with making their bowls.  They helped me cut out the pendant shapes, and of course, provided their fingerprints before baking. I put everything on a cookie sheet and baked at 250 degrees for several hours. When cooled, everything was painted. This was most definitely their favorite part of the activity! 

We gave the munchkins their gifts from us. Logan got a new game for his LeapPad (Mr. Pencil - which he was super excited about), and the Twinkies got Twin Seahorses. These things come with magic pixy fairy dust from a faraway land of preciously sleeping children who sleep a long and wonderful slumber because can I tell you something? Since the night we gave them this glowing, music playing wondrous delights of heaven they have slept a MINIMUM of 9 hours STRAIGHT. 

Let me repeat that.

Nine. straight. hours.

I mean, yea. This hasn't happened before. This is a long time. Do you know how much sleep Brian and I have gotten this week? Possibly more than the entire month of December. I wish I were kidding. 

They love these seahorses. Love. 

And I love these boys. 

We celebrate our love for these three every single day. But I must say, devoting an entire day to doing little things to show them how special they are to us was wonderful.