Monday, August 31, 2015

{weekend in review}

What a great weekend! I love weekends where we don't have much planned or where we have some things planned but not a lot of time and energy goes into getting to them!

Friday evening, my mother & father-in-law took the kids, while Mike and I had a staycation at our house. We love to have date nights and try to do it at least 2-3 times a month! We were going to go out to eat, but really we just wanted to relax and watch the Chiefs and the Royals at home and honestly not get out of our jammies, so that's exactly what we did. I made some oven-baked tacos, which are delicious by the way - super easy recipe can be found here.  We used the normal recipe and added the normal toppings + some Thousand Island dressing on top.  My best friend totally has me hooked on the Thousand Island with tacos thing! I also use french fried onions on top of my salads in place of croutons, but that's a topic for another day.  It. Is. So. So. Good. Anyway, we popped open some Corona's with some fresh limes and I watched some sports with my honey :) 

Saturday, we woke up later than normal, because we didn't have kids & my mother-in-law came over and we went to the Big Trucks event at a high school near us, it was pretty cool that morning so I pulled out some of my fall sweaters for the first time.  


We decided to go to this event because we missed one a couple of weeks ago & Landon is obsessed with all things cars/trucks/police/firetruck.  We had a good time and it was a great FREE event sponsored by our beloved library, Woodneath! Then we went and had lunch at Cheddar's {the monte cristo is a must order!} & I stopped by Target to grab a birthday gift for our neighbor, Landon's friend.   Of course, I can never go in and just get what I'm needing to get at Target, so I came home with some cute gift tags from the dollar spot that I'm going to use on our Christmas gifts and a lighter for all those fall candles :)

Also, a little public service announcement, Halloween is slowly filtering in! EEK! I want that BOO! top for Harper to wear with her green or cream tutu but they didn't have her size on the floor yet. BOOO {pun intended} The kitten set could be used past Halloween too, so I may get that one instead!


When everything was said and done on Saturday, we had two very tired babies and a quiet/clean house to relax in and watch the Royals on Saturday night! 





We ended up drinking wine with a citronella candle and blankets on the front porch and then our neighbors came over and we chatted until the wee hours of the morning. 

Sunday, we woke up early, made a big breakfast and went to church.  They do donuts on Sundays at our church downstairs and you get to socialize and meet other members of the church.  This weekend, we could barely pull Landon away because he met his new best friend.  Finally, they said their farewells and "I'll see ya next Sunday"s. My dad and stepmom came out and brought lunch for us and watch the Royals and are you noticing that we never miss a game? We don't.  They visited for a bit, before Mike went to his fantasy football draft on Sunday night and we went to my mom's for dinner and then the kids and I fell asleep super early exhausted from a busy but fun weekend! 

Bring on another 






Thursday, August 27, 2015

{just a basic fall post}

Hi! So glad you came to check out my all things fall post.  If liking fall is wrong then I don't want to be right.  Full steam ahead, folks! 

I have been non-stop talking to my husband and my kids about all things fall, so obviously I have to do a blogpost too on it right? I know, basic, but I like to think I'm just more verbal about it than others...

Here we have some of my early fall favorites.  Yes, this is early fall in my eyes. Next month is September, which equals Harper Kate's first birthday AND fall.  Plus, it was 60 degrees the other morning and it's currently chilly raining right now.  I told my friends that I think fall should be declared August 21st and go through to winter.  Everyone loves it the most anyway!  Here are some things that I've been crazy about lately!


First, is this amazing light jacket. I tried to find it online, but apparently it's not listed yet, so I took a selfie for your reference.  So stinking cute.  Perfect for summer into fall & is just my style!  Looked like it was brand new, they had every single size & multiples when I went, but you know how Target is.  If you don't get it when you see it, it's gone. I saw a fellow library mom in it on Wednesday & asked her where she got it.  She said I just bought it at Target the day before.  I feel like it is such a versatile piece! I also needed to get some more of my favorite tanks there anyway & was out of the best makeup eva, so off we went, me and my crew.  


Target also has some yummy fall snacks filtering in.  These were right by the front door & Landon had a meltdown about them, I always eat/use these for crafts so in the cart they went.  I'm a fan of candy corn, some people aren't.  I love them because to me they symbolize FALL! Such a classic, just like it says on the bag.  It's like a fall requirement to buy at least one bag.



Next up is this amazing coffee recipe that I tried this week. I've been trying to test out a few because I got sick of the one I was using.  This one is sooo good and I have enough to probably last me at least a week....if I have one glass a day.  I store the coffee and the syrup in mason jars (1 large 1 small) in the fridge. My taste in coffee is so finicky, it just depends on what I feel like when I wake.  Sometimes it's hot coffee to warm the soul & other times it's iced that I drink super quick! I have a whole coffee board on Pinterest that you can check out here! You totally should, too!


And, lastly, our tree out front.  It's turning colors! Leaves are falling off & almost totally gone now! It's one of the early fall signs.  It turns super early, last year when we moved in the tree had already turned by the first week in September.  Which reminds me, we have almost lived here for a whole YEAR! I can't believe it! We need to open the bottle of wine that the builder gave us! 

Cheers to fall & our year houseiversary!



Monday, August 24, 2015

{trip to the orchard}

The weather has been tricking us with all of the cool mornings lately, our neighbors even have their windows open!! As much as I love the fresh air coming in, when it gets to be in the 80s mid-day, I just can not deal :).  Because it is definitely early-fall, we made a very impromptu trip to an orchard that we have never been to before.  They grow all their own apples, peaches and such! It's called Sibley Orchard, we picked up loads of peaches because they are SO delicious right now & some apple butter prepping for fall & I snapped some pics along the way.  

My phone is on the fritz, so I haven't been on it nearly as much {mainly because I can't swipe to unlock & the keyboard is all messed up, started this weekend and my hubby is bringing me a new one tonight!} and have been using my big girl camera, which I love 1000x better than the phone camera anyway, it's just much more cumbersome for day-to-day!  Anyway, I'll do a quick photo rundown of our quick little trip to the orchard today.  We really just visited the store which has amazing preserves/maple syrups/local honey and of course what we came for - PEACHES! 












 Hope this post finds you excited for more orchard visits in the upcoming fall! Pumpkins, and apples and cider, OH MY! 


Wednesday, August 19, 2015

{the BEST slow-cooker baked potato soup}



Edited: I totally don't know what happened to my original post.  I went to edit the formatting, because for some reason, all the texts are different and it disappeared.  Tear! Such a sad day.  So here is the shortened version of the recipe.

Again, all of my Pinterest recipes can be found here & this particular recipe, which I changed only slightly can be found here!

I made this recipe on a Sunday and if fed us for a couple of days.  I LOVE this recipe & we will be using it from now on as our go-to potato soup recipe! This is a slow-cooker recipe so you just put it in and go :) My kind of recipe.

- 5 lbs. of Russett potatoes (peel but do wash, of course)
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 10 cloves of garlic, minced
- 8 cups of chicken broth
- 1 tbsp seasoned salt (I didn't have this on hand so I used a homemade mixture of red ground pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, ground black pepper, and salt to equal 1 tbsp)
- 2 block of cream cheese, softened - this won't be used until the end (I used Neufchatel instead, tastes the same and less fat!)

Throw it in the slow-cooker on high (or low) and let it go!

Chase your baby around, tickle your toddler, put your Hunter boots on and help your mom look for her phone on the side of an old county road that flew off the roof of her car on her way over to your house, go to Sonic to get an Ocean Water, do a little online shopping...or just whatever you want... 

At about 6.5 hours, I put my neufchatel cheese on top of the lid of the slow-cooker to soften it. 

After about 6 or 7 hours on high or 10 or so hours on low, take 1/2 the soup and the neufchatel/cream cheese both softened blocks and put them into your blender to mix up and puree.  Re-incorporate that mixture into your soup.  

Now you are ready to eat!

You MUST add bacon, cheese and green onions to top your soup.  We also had some baked french bread, so yummy! 

I hope this post gets you in the mood for fall and soup season, but if it doesn't, this picture that spoke to me and that I pinned on my Halloween board a couple of weeks ago certainly will!!


Monday, August 17, 2015

{this week's library favorites - aug 15}

Last week we checked out some good ones. Sometimes, I put books I want to read/read to the kids on hold at our local library. It is so convenient, because we just look on a certain shelf at the library and there are all of our books. Lined up and waiting for us! 

Also our library makes checking out and returning books fun for the kids. Maybe I'll take a pic next time and show you how it all works. It's pretty awesome!



Harper Kate got 4 books this week! She newly LOVES books! Most of the books above are ours, about 5 are the library's. I am beyond excited that she loves being read to now or at least likes the pictures. I was scared she wasn't a book worm like her brother. It's a tie of which is my favorite of hers. Because I am seriously obsessed with all things fall, I saw this book and thought it'd be perfect! Wouldn't you know she loves it? The crinkling leaves page is our favorite, behind the cuddling with daddy page with some warm apple pie...Mmm. Our other favorite is the Fairy Handbook which is a little advanced, but I read it To her and Landon one night before bed. I just have to introduce Fairies to my baby girl! She also got a first word book which is pictures but has always been a great learning tool for my babies.



Landon got Rude Cakes, which I though would be great at teaching manners, but I wasn't crazy about it. It wasn't as straightforward as I had hoped & he didn't really think it was funny. He did, however LOVE THE Incredible Book Eaing Boy. Questions galore, "Mama, why does he want to eat the book?" "Why is the book in his belly?" "So now he's smart?" "Should I eat books?" Nope. An added bonus was the bite taken out of the back of the book. So cute! We laughed about that one, and of course he tried to eat the corner after reading it...I'm sure he's not the first either...  :/ 

We also checked out a young readers version of The Wizard of Oz. He loved the movie (was a little scared of the flying monkeys) so I figured we should try a short chapter book. We read it over the course of a week! He would really get so excited to read it! It has a little built on bookmark too to keep your place.

We also checked out The Big Book of Feelings which got him talking about his feelings and thinking about them. I like this one because sometimes/always kids have trouble expressing their feelings. I always encourage Landon to express his feelings. When he's mad he says "Mom, I'm getting mad at my Legos!" And I like when he tells me rather than just throwing things or hitting people that way we can get to the bottom of it all.

Lastly, we got a fun easy read for both of the kids.  This Little Piggy, a twist on the old classic that's pretty cute.  

And that rounds up our library picks from this last week! We will finally be going to storytime this week on Wednesday!! Last week we decided instead to go to an event with my mom's group at a park with a little splash pad ;) I can't wait to get some more books for the kiddos!!

Now go and read to your babies! 


Friday, August 7, 2015

{this weeks library favorites . aug 8}

This past week, we didn't go to storytime, we did make it to the library just yesterday, but haven't had a chance to read any of the newest books yet. My mom's flight home from the Galápagos Islands came in on Wednesday so we went to brunch and hung out with her a bit. 

I did want to show one of our new favs from the last trip, last week. This one was really for Harper & the one book that wasn't shown from the past library favs post. 


It's a cute little book about mommy/daddies and their babies. It's a simple but interesting read with the "book in the book" feature. I highly recommend it for little bitty ones. It kept her interest and made her smile & that's what's important to me! It also looks so cute on her shelf, as an added bonus.

When we check out books they are never mixed in with the books that we own. They are put in a specific spot in the kids rooms. 

For Harper, hers are put on her bookshelf. Landon's are put under his nightstand. That way they are super easy to find when it's time to return them :) 

Now go and read to your babies!! :)

Saturday, August 1, 2015

{this weeks library favorites . aug 1}

This week we had so much fun at storytime! There were quite a few people we knew & we stayed quite a while playing and chatting with the other moms afterward. 

I pulled some of the books they put on display to take home with us. 

This one is our favorite!


Landon has asked me to read it every night. It's a pretty long book, for a 3 year old I guess, but it kept his attention pretty well & got him asking questions. Anything that gets his mind working is a good one in my book! 

Here are a few of our favs from this past weeks trip! 



Top of the world is a story about a pig that wonders off and his other piggy friend looks for him and they go on an adventure together! It's cute, I mean, it's piggies, how can it not be?

Disappearing Desmond was cute too. It is a book about a boy that likes to hide/is shy. Another animal comes around and he comes out of his shell a bit. 

Tap the Magic Tree is a cute interactive little book about a tree and all of the changes it undergoes with different actions you take. For example, you tap the tree and leaves appear on the next page, then more leaves, then flowers. It's very cute! I had been wanting to check this one out for a while & with the handy dandy hold feature, I just look online & put a hold on it. Sing that to the tune of "Put a ring on it". Yes, do that.

Also, while we're on the topic of books. Landon got this book for his birthday from one of my best friends, Kasey. 


She is known for buying books for kiddos, because she's a kindergarten teacher & I love it! Books are like the gifts that keep on giving! 

The Napping House! You should definetly check it out! It has become an instant classic in our house. He asks to read it all the time!! And he laughs so hard!

I swear we do check out books for Harper Kate, just not that many.  She's not that patient with books.  Our goal is 1 a night with her!

Now go read to your babies!!!