Krissy's Short Locks

The girls flower girl dresses came in this week and we were excited to pick them up!  When they tried them on, I couldn't help but love how Allies bob cut looked with the dress!  I had thrown around the idea of cutting Krissy's hair ever since Allie got hers cut, but I just hadn't done it.  Dress shopping gave me the motivation I needed to chop those scraggly little curls off.  She was a little wiggly for the cut but she loved getting it done!

I know it's blurry, but I love her expression!

When I tried to get a picture of the back, she kept doing some dance moves!  Her ends are a lot like mine. They have a mind of their own!  I'm going to take her and Allie to get a real trim before the wedding!  

And since we are on the subject of hair, I've been looking for some easy updos that I can do with my hair.  When I came across this look, I busted out laughing.  This "sexy style" is what my morning bed head looks like everyday.  Who knew it was one of the latest hairstyles?! Ha!

Homemade Granola Bars

I'm so excited to share this recipe!  I stumbled upon it on Pinterest.  I was actually looking at a bread recipe on a lady's blog, and she had popular posts attached to the bottom on the page.  It was a recipe for homemade granola bars.  They looked really good, but I haven't heard many great things about homemade versions.  It seems every homemade recipe I ever looked at resulted in a crunchy granola bar.  I like chewy, not crunchy, and I'm brand loyal to the Sunbelt ones with the mini chocolate chips.  I didn't really have high hopes for the recipe, but her writing about the recipe convinced me it was worth a try.

I actually made these twice.  The first time I didn't have the right oats {old fashioned}, so I substituted {quick cooking}.  And I also wanted to use my Peter Pan Peanut Butter instead of an all natural one.  The end result was good.  I didn't hear a single complaint.  They were a good consistency, but they were super sweet.  When I was reading the comments on the ladies blog, she said she recommened using an unsweeted peanut butter because they would be super sweet if you didn't.  She was right!

Attempt #1

I couldn't wait to make them a second time.  When I first started, my peaunt butter mixture wasn't looking smooth and creamy like it did with my first attempt, and it was a darker color.  I whisked my hardest, and the mixture was still a big clumpy.  I decided clumpy was ok and finished off the recipe.  Turns out, you can't even tell the mixture wasn't silky smooth.  I LOVE this second version of the recipe with old fashioned oats and natural peanut butter!  My kids preferred the first version, so I think the next time I make them, I'll do half old fashioned oats and half quick cooking.  I'll probably also do half sweetened peanut butter and half unsweetened peanut butter!  The options are endless!

Attempt #2 was SO GOOD

I was blown away that this little treat was so tasty and there was no added sugar, or corn syrup, and they are relatively healthy!  My kids love them, my husband loves them, and anyone that's tried mine has loved them, so don't be afraid to try them! 

Source: FiveHeartHome

Ingredients:

1 C peanut butter (I used PB2 because it's what I had)

1/2 C honey

1/2 C coconut oil

2 1/2 C old fashioned oats

1 C coconut

toppings of your choice (I used mini chocolate chip and walnuts)

Directions:

Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper and set aside.  Melt peanut butter, honey, and coconut oil over medium-low heat in a large pan.  Whisk until smooth (or as smooth as you can get it).  Remove from heat and add oats and coconut.  Press mixture into the parchment lined pan.  Add toppings and press to set them into the granola bars.  If using chocolate chips, immediately press chips into the mixture.  They will melt if you don't do it immediately.  Refrigerate for 2 hours, then cut into bars.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge. 

If you aren't familiar with PB2, it's a powdered peanut butter you can buy at Walmart.  It's with the other peanut butter.  You just add water.  To make 1 C, I used 16Tbsp powder and 8 Tbsp of water.  It's all natural and good! 

One side note, I chopped up my 1 C of coconut in the food processor.  I didn't want my kids complaining about weird white things in the bars, and they didn't even notice them!

Charlie Update

Late Saturday afternoon, I received an email with updated pictures of our little Charlie!  

I'm already so obsessed! Xoxo sweet Charlie!

Oh The Places She Will Sleep

Krissy has been fighting her afternoon naps.  Over the last two weeks she's fallen asleep in strange places. Here's some photo proof!

This is inside my bedroom door.

The loveseat

The hallway.

She's normally happy with or without a nap, but I still feel like she needs one.  Maybe I need her to nap more than she needs to nap ;)

Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits

The day after the kids started to feel better, Allie requested biscuits and eggs for breakfast.  It sounded great, but I didn't have any biscuits here, and I wasn't going to Walmart.  I quickly searched allrecipes.com and found a biscuit recipe to try. 

I was so impressed with these yummy little biscuits!  I actually ate the leftovers for lunch and dinner!  They were so soft and tender and everything I could ever want in a biscuit.  I made them again just to make sure they were as perfect as I thought.  And they were!

Here's my slightly adapted recipe!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 cup buttermilk
• Melted butter to brush ontop

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in the shortening until the mixture is coarse. Gradually stir in buttermilk until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.  Don't over mix or the biscuit will become tough.
   
   
   
   

   
   
3. Turn out onto floured parchment paper, and knead 15 to 20 times. Pat dough to 1 inch thick. Cut biscuits with a large cutter dipped in flour. Repeat until all dough is used. Brush off the excess flour, and place biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet.  I actually used my silpat liner and it worked beautifully!
   
   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   
4. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from oven and brush melted butter ontop of each biscuit.
   
   We topped our biscuits with turkey sausage and gravy!  It was a hit at our house!
   

Meet Charlie

We have been on the hunt for a maine coon kitten for several months.  The breed is often referred to as a "gentle giant".  They are a large breed cat (20-25lb is the average male), and tend to have wonderful personalities.  Kevin and I love the breed and had been wanting another cat since Holeshot died.  We had only found one local breeder and her business is rather small.  We knew we wanted an orange male kitten, but didn't know if we'd be able to get one from this local breeder.  She emailed that she was expecting a litter at the end of December, and I told her if there was an orange male in the litter, we'd take him!  Unfortunately, there was already a wait list going, and one of her breeder friends got first pick.  I wasn't very hopeful we'd get a kitten from the litter.  Early in January she posted pictures on her website of 7 kittens.  There was only one orange male!  I immediately emailed and said we'd be interested in him and I didn't get a response.  

When the kittens turned two weeks old, she updated her kitten pictures, and sent out a group email.  It said that if anyone was interested in a kitten, email and let her know.  She'd start with the first person on her wait list then go on to first come/first serve. I didn't know where I fell on her list, but about 10 minutes after the initial email, I responded back we'd take "Patmos" if he was still available.

Sunday night we got the email I'd been waiting all my life (ok really more like a few days) for!  He was ours if we wanted him!  

I paid my for my new baby, we've renamed him Charlie, and he's officially ours!  He's 3 weeks old and she doesn't let us pick up till they are 10 weeks.  That puts us at March 10th.  I'm so excited to get him!  Be prepared for kitten overload pictures in March! :-D

Here's the rest of his litter mates!

Sick Day(s)

Here's our sick report:

Sunday night Krissy complained of stomach pain that resulted in nothing.

Monday, at lunch, I gave Austin a can of Chef Boyardee for the first time.  We were having a spicy taco dip and I thought I'd play it safe with ravioli.  I left to run an errand and Kevin text to let me know Austin threw up his lunch and was not napping because he seemed to be in pain.  He didn't nap for me, but he did have diarrhea when I got home, and again that evening.  He woke up Tuesday good as new.

Tuesday morning, Hayden was the first one out of bed.  I came in the family room to talk to him and noticed his right eye was as pink as could be.  I was thankful we had some eye drops from our last bout with pink eye.  I broke the news to him he'd have to stay home for the day and he was pretty much thrilled since he wasn't feeling bad at all. 

These two were attached at the hip all day!

Kevin went by the school and picked up Hayden's school work for the day.  It was fun feeling like we were doing home school again.

Sidenote:  We also had a parent/teacher conference this week with Hayden's teacher and she wanted to tell us Hayden needed more of a push to do more reading.  We decided to bribe him with Pokemon cards.  Every book he reads = 1 new card.  He wanted to read to us ALL day, and we were so happy to listen! 

Tuesday evening, Allie tells me her belly hurts.  I don't think much of it because at the time I had convinced myself Austins throwing up/diarrhea was a direct result of eating a nasty lunch.  Before bed, Allie had diarrhea.  I'm starting to think maybe we do have a stomach bug at our house... along with a nasty pink eye bug!  Over the next two hours, Allie threw up 5 times.  Talk about horrible.   She ended up throwing up/dry heaving 13 times over the night.  Hayden woke up at 1:30 and throughout the night had vomiting and diarrhea.  Kevin woke up shortly after Hayden with the same problems.  We didn't get much sleep Tuesday night!

So far today, everyone's been able to keep small amounts of food and drink in. I'm hoping the worst is behind us!  Make sure you are washing and sanitizing your hands a lot! 

Flower Girl Dress Fitting

I took the girls to get fitted this week for their flower girl dresses!  The wedding is in March!  I assumed the store would take the girls measurement and order the dresses, but they had them try on sizes to see which dress size fit the best.  The girls loved trying on dresses!  Allie was very curious about all the beautiful wedding dresses and I told her she'd get to pick out a pretty when she met her prince :) 

And a fun fact... One of the dresses pictured is THE dress that the girls will be wearing (just different colors!).

Buffalo Chicken Cheesy Rotini

This is one of our new favorite recipes.  It's a great for when you're wanting something different!  We are fans of Buffalo Wild Wings, but hardly ever go because it's so expensive to take the whole family (especially now that all 6 of us eat off the menu)!  This satisfies our "buffalo" cravings. 
My slightly adapted recipe is from Little Leopard Book and she has lots of pretty step by step pictures if you're into that :)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups shredded chicken breasts (I cook mine in the crockpot ahead of time)
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/3 cup Franks buffalo Sauce
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 3/4 cup ranch dressing
• 12 oz uncooked rigatoni pasta 

Optional toppings: crushed red pepper flakes, chopped green onion, or bacon bits

Instructions:

1. Begin making the cheesy, buffalo sauce by melting the cream cheese, buffalo sauce and chicken broth together.
2. Add the paprika, garlic powder, black pepper and salt.
3. Cook for 5 minutes over medium heat or until all of the ingredients are combined and the sauce is creamy.
4. Add the ranch dressing.
5. Add the shredded chicken.
6. Allow the sauce to cook for an additional 10 minutes over low heat.
7. In the meantime boil a large pot of water and cook the rigatoni pasta for 10-12 minutes, drain and serve.
8. Combine the cheesy buffalo chicken sauce with the rigatoni pasta.
9. You can top with red pepper flakes, green onion, or bacon bits (which is what we added!)

This is a hotter dish that your kids may not enjoy as much as you.  Kevin said it's perfect game day food, and I agree!  Hope you enjoy!

Weekly Happenings - January 9

We are in a month full of change, mostly because Kevin's work schedule has changed a lot. He will be on a day shift, but the hours are still a little weird.  All are good changes, but it takes some getting use to!  Here's my highlight reel for the week!

1.  My latest thrift store gems:

For Krissy... (actually the polka dot one is for Allie but I had it in the wrong pile!  It will be Krissy's shirt soon enough...)

Pink for Allie, navy for Krissy. From GapKids. On my to-do list is get a cute pic if them in these matching shirts!

For Allie

For Hayden

And not pictured, I got Austin a navy v-neck sweater with tags still attached (from children's place) for him to wear next fall/winter!  I also grabbed a cute white Tshirt from GapKids for my niece Addison!  All of this for $40.

2.  I gave Allie a mani/pedi this week while the kids napped!  It's from Jamberry.  It took me about 45 mins to apply them all. I'm was very happy with how they turned out..... until bath time.... She lost 3 throughout the day, which I kind of expected, but 16 of them came off during bath time! I definitely won't be investing in the kids Jamberry nails anymore.  (But I do love the adult ones!)

3.  I started watching my niece this week.  It was perfect timing because the girls would have normally been in melt down mode with Hayden going back to school, but having another play mate here kept them completely distracted!

4.  Allie is signed up for a "Twinkle Toe" class that starts next week.  I went ahead and bought her some clothes to wear and shes obsessed.  I even let her sleep in it one night :)

5.  I made a few family room changes that I LOVE!  After 5 years of living here, I finally hung curtains in my family room! It was so over due!

I've also been keeping my eye out on Craigslist for a piece of furniture I could add to our family room. I found this piece early this week!  It will get filled with kids toys for the time being, but I can see using it in any room of our house!  It may even get painted one day?!

Some more pics from the week...

Austin still isn't walking on his own, but he uses all kinds of toys to help him walk all over the house!

This was after a plate full of spaghetti.  It was E-v-E-r-Y-w-H-e-R-e!  He went straight to the bathtub.

CeCe got groomed this week.  She was running through her electric fence because her fur had gotten too thick around her neck.  She looked so pretty and smelled so good and it only lasted about a day.  I wish dogs weren't so stinky.

Hayden came home from school and Allie jumped into his lap.  They sat like this for awhile watching tv.  Melts my heart how much they love each other. 

I gave Hayden a new hair do before school started back up!

Hayden and Allie had dentist appointments Monday.  Hayden has his first cavity, and I'm bummed about that, but Allie had a great check up!

Austin had his 12 month check up a week ago.  He's 91% in weight, weighing in at 24lbs 12 oz.  and he's 99% for height at 33 inches tall.  We found out he had a right ear infection, but overall a great check up!