Hanging out at Home Music

Today I'm sharing one of my very favorite things - MUSIC!  We have music on all the time at our house and this is one of my current playlists full of music that we like to listen to while working on school stuff, doing art, playing outside, etc.  As we get closer to summer I'll update my "Smells Like Sunscreen" playlist that we like to listen to while in the pool and playing outside but for now ENJOY!

What's Up Wednesday

Today I'm linking up with  Shay and  Sheaffer to talk a little bit about what's been going on around here!

Snacks, snacks and then some more snacks.  FOR REAL - my kids have been eating non-stop and we're burning through berries and apples like nobody's business.  Nothing super exciting has been happening in my kitchen but I have been making zucchini bread on repeat because YUM and it counts as a vegetable, right? ;) 

You can find my zucchini bread recipe HERE if you're on the lookout for a tasty treat!

Cheese Enchiladas

I have  a great chicken enchilada recipe and use  this recipe as my go-to for beef enchiladas but have never attempted  cheese enchiladas until this break.  I'm not sure why because one of us always orders them if we go out to eat but I decided to give it a go and they were DELICIOUS!!!

Rosie Roo

Meet Rosie Roo!  I joke that every time I say "NEVER" it ends up happening and a second (giant!) dog is no exception to my theory.  You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!!!   Erika and I are so excited about y'all linking up with us!  Make sure you grab our graphic, link back to one of us and share a blog post packed full of your favorites from the week.

Day In the Life - Quarantine Edition

Today I thought it would be fun to share a day in the life "quarantine edition".  Even though we're kind of stuck in "groundhog day" mode every day does look a little different based on school assignments, zoom calls, what my classes are doing, Dave's work schedule, the weather (because recess!), etc. 

Yesterday was going to be a pretty "normal" day for us so I thought it would be a good one to document.

I've said it a million times before - I wish I could be a morning person... but I'm just not.  Quarantine has pushed me into ALMOST full on summer-sleeping-in mode :)  

Yesterday I was up around 8:30, which gave me enough time to get up...

Cookie Cake

Mason requested cookie cake with white icing for his birthday and I was excited because I had never made one before!  I decided to give  this recipe a go and am so glad I did because it was SO EASY and super delicious.

Griffin's Birthday Recap

Wrapping up the birthday festivities today with a quick recap of Griffin's special day.  She turned 7 last Friday and I feel like the picture below pretty much sums up our day :) 

Mason's Birthday Recap

Mason turned nine last Thursday and we had so much fun celebrating him!  When I realized that birthdays would look a little bit different this year I decided I wanted to make them memorable in their own way and when Dave and I were talking about what Mason loves A LOT we both cracked up when I said "WHATABURGER!"

Friday Favorites / Happy Birthday, Griffin

Before I dive into sharing way too many pics for G's birthday -  Erika and I have a new graphic and we're so excited about y'all linking up with us!  Make sure you grab our graphic, link back to one of us and share a blog post packed full of your favorites from the week.

Today's Friday Favorites is all about my FAVORITE 7 year old - because y'all.... my BABY is SEVEN!  SEVEN!!!

Happy Birthday, Mason!

Out of all three kids I feel like Mason has grown and changed the most this year.  While he's for SURE lost some teeth and most of his "baby face" some things are the same - he's still fiercely loyal, a wonderful friend and deeply empathetic.  He's kind-hearted, hard-working and has one of THE BEST imaginations out there.  Happy birthday, Mason!!!  We love you SO MUCH!

Staying Busy - Part II

I couple of weeks ago I shared a few things that we were doing to stay busy in  THIS POST and today I'm going to share a few more :) 

First up is this super simple "fire extinguisher" experiment...

Prime Lately

Amazon has been my LIFELINE lately and I've been priming pretty much all my kids birthday presents, Easter basket items and other miscellaneous things we've needed during quarantine.

I bought  this game based on a few recommendations and it is SO MUCH FUN!  It's easy enough that all of my kids can play it together and I love that it helps younger kids practice their addition facts (essentially you roll two dice and let's say you rolled 2 fives... you could close your 1 and 9, 2 and 8, 3 and 7, 4 and 6, etc. and the goal is to try and close your box.  It's simple and fun and we've played it constantly!

Weekend Top 10 - Easter Edition

It's been FOREVER since I've done a weekend recap mainly because the weekends have been no different than the weekdays because #quarantinelife but this weekend I'm bringing it back because we had a BLAST the past few days - good for our souls!

First up, Griffin got a haircut!

GOOD Friday

Today is short and sweet as we get ready for Easter weekend and while I've for sure been bummed about our "normal" Easter being cancelled - no family dinner, no friends over, no big Easter egg hunt that we've done every year, no in-person church service, the list goes on - I'm actually really excited to kind of strip it down to the bare bones and focus on what's REALLY important.  

It's going to be quieter than normal but I'm prayerful that it'll be easier to hear God's voice - what a blessing.

This and That

Today I have a little of this and a little of that.  I miss our "regular life" SO MUCH - but have also been soaking up the slower pace and trying not to miss out on the "good stuff" right now too :)

Like impromptu mid-afternoon fishing trips...

THE BEST Deviled Eggs

I almost feel silly sharing this recipe today because I kind of figured that everyone knows how to make deviled eggs but Easter is on Sunday and maybe your aunt always brings the deviled eggs to go along with lunch and now she won't be there and it just won't be Easter without them :)  OR maybe you're like me and could eat a deviled egg and piece of cheese every day for lunch and be fine with that OR maybe you're the person who emailed me after my Harry Potter post last week and asked me to please share how I make mine because your mom's recipe is way too mustardy.  EITHER WAY I'm sharing today because my kids love these, Dave and I love these and they've been a quarantine fave for sure.

Distance Learning Update

Happy Tuesday, friends!  We have two weeks of distance learning under our belt and I thought I'd share an update on a couple of things and a few "hacks" that have proved super helpful for us. 

This was me the first week of online school...

... I was STRUGGLING because I honestly felt like I couldn't get more than 7 minutes of time to sit down and get anything done and by 2:00 in the afternoon I was completely frazzled.  I'm having to rethink and reformat my classes, record videos, etc. and with what felt like constant interruption from my own kids it just wasn't working.  My own students are working during the same hours that my kids are so I don't have the option of just putting my work off until after dinner or something like that and EVERYONE needed me at the same time - something had to give!

Enter... Mason's task board. 

Paper Easter Egg Craft

Confession - I haven't brought out a single piece of Easter decor this year.  I just haven't "felt it" and I never make myself put decor up unless I'm feeling excited about it so this year I skipped it.  Not sure if it's quarantine life or how overwhelming the past couple of weeks have been with online school starting but either way it was feeling a little sparse around here.  This weekend the kids and I worked on a really fun project that ended up bringing the perfect amount of Easter cheer to the house.

Friday Favorites

HAPPY Friday, friends!

This week has actually FLOWN by thanks to some great weather, feeling like we have school-at-home a little more under control (PRAISE JESUS!) and a birthday! 

Erika, Narci and I are so excited that lots of y'all are linking up with us and if you're linking up with us make sure you grab our graphic, link back to one (or all!) of us and share your own Friday Favorites post.

First up on my list of FAVORITES was some face-to-face grandparent time.  They drew the circle to ensure that nobody got too close and I swear that they all stood there for 30 minutes and just talked her ear off.  SO SWEET!

Harry Potter Birthday Dinner

So last week I had a pity party about all three of my kids birthday parties being cancelled, them missing celebrating at school with their friends and postponing our annual family fiesta indefinitely - then I decided to suck it up, make the most of the extra time and make the kids birthdays memorable in their own way.  

I immediately knew that I wanted to do something Harry Potter-themed for Luke and so I hit Pinterest HARD for food ideas and then just kind of ran with it from there.  I added a few items to our weekly grocery list and started to plan things out in my head. 

It was even better than I had thought and Mason, Griffin and I  (particularly Mason) had so much fun pulling it together for him and making it really special.  It's for sure a birthday none of us will ever forget.

 

Happy Bday Luke

Y'all.  Luke is TWELVE!!!  TWELVE!  I still can't believe that his birthday is happening out during a pandemic quarantine BUT his attitude about the whole situation pretty much sums up his personality perfectly. 

Luke is flexible, loves being at home, is easy-going and independent.  He's still a HUGE Harry Potter and Lego fan, loves to fish and while I'm sure this isn't how he anticipated 5th grade ending he is SO READY for Middle School. 

I'm not sure anyone other than me cares to see 20+ pics of my kids on their birthdays but that's okay because looking through a year of camera roll for my favorite pics is a birthday tradition at this point.  What a great year 11 has been!!!