A little bit of this, a little bit of that

At the beginning of the school year, we discovered a new restaurant called Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers.

The first Tuesday of every month is their kids night.

With the purchase of an adult entree, kids get a free entree.

They also get: a free frozen custard, free face paint, free t-shirt, and free balloons and coloring pages.

Who doesn't love free everything?!?

The girls and I went at the beginning of February and they enjoyed getting their faces painted while we waited for our dinner. 

 Caroline was patient and calm.

 Caroline picked this colorful bird.

 Elizabeth was super excited!

Elizabeth picked this awesome butterfly.

 After dinner, they enjoyed their complimentary frozen custard.

Chocolate for Elizabeth.

 

 Vanilla for Caroline.

A couple days later, we were working on Caroline's 100 days of school project.

 And Valentine's for our school friends.

The girls made one Valentine for girls and another Valentine for boys.

 They both have large classes (23-24 kids), so they spent a lot of time writing names on their Valetine's.

 Ninja stickers with a Ninja valentine for boys.

 Scrunchies for the girls.

 On February 9th, it was our 12th date-anniversary.

We had a GREAT time, but we were both horribly sick.

We powered through with antibiotics, DayQuil, and cough drops.

Dinner and a movie to celebrate 12 years together!

 

February 11th was the 100th day of school.

Caroline dressed like she was 100 years old.

Cutest 100-year-old!

And that's a little bit of this, and a little bit of that.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Thursday y'all!

Groundhog Day

The girls have been very into Groundhog Day for the last couple of years...

So I try to make it fun with a little craft and special snack.

Caroline and I started the day by watching Punxsutawney Phil predict an early spring.

Well, you guys, it was all over after that.

Caroline insisted it was "now spring" and that I could pack away all of her coats.

She didn't understand why it was snowing in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania since it was now spring.

She also wanted to know why her grandparents were not with Phil since they live in Pennsylvania.

I tried explaining how Phil's prediction works... meaning he is hoping for an early spring, not that it immediately becomes spring that specific minute.

If y'all have any suggestions for explaining it to a five-year-old...I'm open to hearing them.

After the video, Elizabeth made an appearance and we went into the kitchen to get ready for breakfast.

I had set-up a few groundhog day coloring/worksheets for them to complete while Ben made a special groundhog day breakfast for them.

 Elizabeth got to work right away on labeling the different parts of a groundhog.

 Caroline and I were discussing what color she should make her groundhog.

 Caroline decided to make her spring predictions before coloring. :)

While the girls were working, Ben made them Groundhog Pancakes!!

I think that is a #pinterestwin!

In the afternoon, I surprised everyone with groundhog snacks.

Chocolate pudding with teddy grahams.

Yummy groundhog day snack.

The rest of our day was spent celebrating the Super Bowl with the Giacobbi's.

Groundhog day was a fun day for sure.

Happy Wednesday y'all!

Natural History Museum

Towards the end of January, we headed to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.

Ben's parents were visiting for the weekend and it was a chilly day, so we opted for some indoor fun with the museum.  The girls had not been to that museum in over a year and they had forgotten most of it.  It still amazes me how much kids can forget, even if they have been to something a dozen times.

 We started in the Ocean Hall when we arrived at the museum.

 The girls spent almost an hour in here exploring everything.

 

 They were very into all the "animals that used to be alive".

 

 Nana found these giant polar bear for us.

 We made our way out of the ocean hall and explored other animals.

Elizabeth asked me to take her picture "just like this".

  

  Then Caroline insisted on jumping into the picture with her sister.
They were super into the porcupine for some reason. :)

 Last but not least, we checked out a few dinosaurs.

Check out those bones!

Happy Tuesday y'all!

Eight

Dear Elizabeth,

Last week you turned eight years old!

I'm so excited for you to be eight!  You accomplished so much while you were seven, that I know eight is going to be great!  You amaze me almost every single day at how smart, funny, silly, brave, and insightful you are.

You had your well visit last week and you are 49.5 inches tall.  You are wearing a size 1 shoe and size 7-8 clothes.  You LOVE accessories and you are always trying to decide which necklace/bracelet/headband combo will be just right for school or outing.

You had a pretty amazing year, despite getting the flu twice (on your birthday and Christmas) and having strep throat.  You helped your sister recover from breaking her collar bone and you took many tumbles while learning to ride a bike.  You always got back up and tried again.

This past summer we traveled to another new country- Canada.  We spent a few days in Niagara Falls and a few days in Toronto.  We also went skiing in Maryland and Pennsylvania. 

We sold the only house you have ever lived in, our townhouse, and moved into our new house.  You had a really hard time leaving your house, but have grown to love your new house and all the fun that comes with having a yard to play in.

You attended Nationals and Wizards games, and watched the Nationals win the World Series!
You celebrated Easter with your cousins Jessica, Noah, and Oliver and your grandparents Nana and Pap Pap. 

Mom and Dad went on a week long cruise and Ga-Ga kept you for a week.

We received season passes to Six Flags and went a bunch throughout the year.  One of your favorite days was when the Giacobbi's came with us in June!  Throughout the summer we did a lot of swimming, bowling, girl scout camps, and family time.

You love to play outside, ride your bike, and have a good time with friends and neighbors.

You started second grade and have been loving school, even though the work is harder. :)

We went to a Pitt football game, a mommy-daughter girl's trip with Kylie and Kelly, and celebrated Caroline's birthday with a princess party.

You joined Run Fit Kidz in the fall and completed your first 5K race!

For Halloween, you dressed up as Wonder Woman and trick-or-treated with Caroline, Emmy Lou, and Jada. Thanksgiving week; Gramps, Ga-Ga, Uncle Andy, Aunt Lolly, Annalise, and Emi all came and spent the week with us.  You loved playing with your cousins all week.

In December we celebrated most of the month by going to ICE! at the Gaylord, Brunch with Santa, Zoo Lights, and a lot more.  We celebrated Christmas at home (with the flu) but a few days later traveled to see Nana and Pap Pap.

You have done Girl Scouts this year, your first year as a Brownie.  You have loved it and enjoyed camping, cookie rallies, volunteering, earning badges, selling cookies, and going to meetings.  You also loved having your sister join the troop this year.

Seven was fantastic and I know eight will be even better.

 

 We love you nugget!

Love,

Mom and Dad

Ranch chicken with potatoes and veggies

Tonight was Elizabeth's turn to make dinner.

She picked ranch chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, and mixed green vegetables (steam fresh bag).

Elizabeth and Ben made dinner tonight.  

Here is what (and how) they made: 

Mashed potatoes:

As for the potatoes, I cut up two large brown potatoes that we had left over.

We boiled them to soften them up.

Ben and Elizabeth mashed them up in our Kitchen Aid Mixer and added garlic, salt, pepper, butter, and lactose free milk.

 

Chicken:

I had a Hidden Valley Original Ranch dry seasoning mix.

They threw the tenders with some extra virgin olive oil into a gallon bag, dumped in the seasoning and shook it all up.

Once the tenders were coated, Ben and Elizabeth baked them in the oven.

Once the chicken tenders were done, Elizabeth wanted to pose like her sister did last night.

 

Elizabeth put a bag of stream fresh vegetables into the microwave for five minutes, and that was our dinner.

Chicken, mashed potatoes, and veggies.

It was really yummy!

Thanks Ben and Elizabeth for making dinner!

Happy Wednesday y'all!

Easy dinner- Sheet Pan Shrimp Boil

This week we are trying something new.

I had both girls pick out dinner recipes for us to try.

They are each helping me cook the meals they picked.

Tonight was Caroline's dinner: Sheet Pan Shrimp Boil

Let me back this up before I tell you about the meal.

I don't like to make dinner.

I despise having to decide what's for dinner.

I will make breakfast and lunch all day and all night, but I HATE making dinner.

So part of this experiment with the girls was to also help me:

learn some new recipes

get out of my dinner rut

and involve the girls more in cooking (so hopefully that enjoy it more than me)

Now... back to the meal:

IT WAS SO EASY!!!

From start to finish, I think it was 40 minutes.

15-17 minutes of that was the food cooking in the oven.

While the potatoes boiled, we mixed up the seasoning and put the sausage and shrimp on the sheet pan. We tossed in the corn the last five minutes like the directions said and when everything was done boiling, we added it to the shrimp and sausage.

 Caroline was so excited about this recipe.

Everything ready to go into the oven.

 Posing with her meal :)

 Showing off her dinner after it came out of the oven. :)

 Looks yummy!

 Ta-da!

Looks yummy and tastes yummy!

All four of us liked this recipe, which is a miracle.

I recommend using a mild sausage if your family doesn't like spicy sausage.

If your family likes shrimp/sausage and potatoes/corn then this recipe is for you!

Happy Tuesday y'all!