Favorite Games - Vol II

 I wrote a really big post a year or so ago highlighting some of our favorite family games and thought it would be fun to add a few recent favorites to the list.  These are games that we've added to the rotation recently that are all so much fun!

I'm not sure how we hadn't heard of Rook before but we started playing it in WA and it is SO MUCH FUN!  I love that there's a team as well as individual way of playing and our entire family can play or we can play with pairs.

Back to Schoo Brinner INSPO

 Back-to-school-brinner is one of our family's longest-standing traditions.  I started doing a special breakfast for dinner the night before the first day of school since the first day of school is HECTIC and I couldn't do a special breakfast and we've done it every year.  I change the decor up a bit every year and you can click below to see various years including...

2023

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Monday, friends!!!  Friday one of the counselors who was staying with us had a birthday, so G surprised her in the morning with a big ol' balloon ;)

Friday Favorites

  Erika and I are so excited that lots of y'all are linking up with us every week.  Make sure that you're grabbing our graphic, linking back to us and sharing your own Friday Favorites post ;)

First up on my list of favorites for the week is Pine Cove City camp....

Mini Apple Spice Cupcakes

Because I first shared this recipe almost exactly 10 years ago and I still make them this time of the year I thought I'd re-share my mini apple spice cupcake recipe.  I made these last night and, as always, they were a huge hit.  It's the cream cheese frosting, light apple spice flavor and the fact that they're bite-sized that makes them absolutely irresistible. 

Here's what you'll need...

- 2 cups flour

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 3/4 tsp salt

- 2 tsp cinnamon

- 1/2 tsp nutmeg

- 1/8 tsp cloves

- 1/2 cup butter 

- 1 cup sugar

- 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)

- 4 eggs at room temperature

- 1 1/2 cups apple sauce

(enjoy these pics from my old kitchen!!!)

Back to School FAVORITES

Well... it's undeniable at this point.  All my kids are home from camp and we're in the home stretch of summer.  SIGH.  In the spirit of back-to-school I'm sharing some of our FAVORITE things for this season because if you have to go back to school a fresh pair of sneakers eases the pain just a bit ;) 

We all have officially converted over to Owala freesip bottles and love them so so so much!  Love that the lid just pops up and you can drink from a straw without actually putting your mouth on a straw. I also love that you can throw them in a bag and they don't leak!

Summer Declutter Update - The Pantry

 Before the kids went to camp I started a couple of small "decluttering" projects which somehow led to the beast of a project - the pantry.  My "just this one thing" turned into a full overhaul and, unfortunately, I don't have any before pictures but JUST KNOW that it was rough.  

After a day or so of organizing, cleaning, purging, etc here is where I ended up....

Reading Recap

All the Dangerous Things

"One year ago, Isabelle Drake's life changed forever: her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room. With little evidence and few leads for the police to chase, the case quickly went cold. However, Isabelle cannot rest until Mason is returned to her―literally.

Except for the occasional catnap or small blackout where she loses track of time, she hasn’t slept in a year.

Isabelle's entire existence now revolves around finding him, but she knows she can’t go on this way forever. In hopes of jarring loose a new witness or buried clue, she agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster―but his interest in Isabelle's past makes her nervous. His incessant questioning paired with her severe insomnia has brought up uncomfortable memories from her own childhood, making Isabelle start to doubt her recollection of the night of Mason’s disappearance, as well as second-guess who she can trust... including herself. But she is determined to figure out the truth no matter where it leads."

Friday Favorites

 Erika and I are so excited that lots of y'all are linking up with us every week.  Make sure that you're grabbing our graphic, linking back to us and sharing your own Friday Favorites post ;)

Happy Friday, friends!  This week has FLOWN by - like crazy crazy fast.  With all the kids gone I'd planned on being super productive.  Instead I did this...

PNW Trip: Waterfall, rose ardens and heading home ;)

 On our last day in WA we loaded up....

Amazon lately

I ordered this bandana set for Jack Bauer and Frank to wear on the Fourth and was super impressed with the quality.  There are a TON of other cute color combinations available and you'll probably be seeing our boys in another coordinating set this Fall ;)

Happy Wednesday, friends!  Today I'm sharing a few things that I've been priming lately.

PNW Trip: Hood Canal

 After our day on San Juan Island we made our way to our last stop - a rental house right on the Hood Canal.  I booked the house solely for the incredible views and the wildlife sightings that all of the reviews talked about.

Weekend Recap

 I don't have a ton to post today because the past few days have been packed with time with friends, a small cleaning/decluttering project that turned into a total overhaul of several areas, trying to get a new game plan together for Rosie (more below), having a bunch of work done on the outside of our house and getting these cuties packed and ready for camp!

Friday Favorites

 Erika and I are so excited that lots of y'all are linking up with us every week.  Make sure that you're grabbing our graphic, linking back to us and sharing your own Friday Favorites post ;)

Happy Friday, friends!  First up on my list of FAVES is our "puppy manners class" ;). One string cheese split multiple ways and everyone getting a refresher on waiting nicely!

PNW Trip: San Juan Islands

When we were planning the trip to Washington I googled where the best orca viewing tours were which led me to the San Juan Islands.  I found a tour company, googled how far it was from Olympia and bought the tickets. We were figuring out the drive time one night after dinner when I realized that the ferry only ran a few times a day.  Rookie mistake ;) hahaha. We decided to just go for it anyway which meant that we were up and out of the house by about 5:45 on Saturday morning.  

We drove about 2.5 hours to the Anacortes ferry terminal, parked the car, bought our tickets and hopped on our first ever ferry. 

Salsa Verde Crock Pot Chicken

 I'm always on the hunt for a good crockpot recipe, especially in the summer when the last thing I want to do is run my oven.  I made this salsa verde crockpot chicken last week and some of us ate it in bowl form, others made tacos with it and some used theirs in quesadillas.  It was easy, full of flavor and tasted great reheated for leftovers - it was a winner!

PNW Trip: Olympia (Part II)

Okay - on to other things we did while in Olympia.  

Enjoyed the GORGEOUS view and ocean sounds...

PNW Trip: Olympia (Part I)

The second part of or trip was three GLORIOUS days at the most incredible spot in Olympia, WA. Our days were pretty low-key and SLOW which is exactly what we wanted 

I've been trying to figure out how to share everything and have it not be super boring and repetitive so I think rather than going day by day i'm going to highlight different aspects of what we did while at this spot in two posts and see how that goes ;)

First up - the water.  I feel like it goes without saying that the views/location of this house were the selling point.  I had no idea just how special they were though until we were there. 

The house sat at the end of a creek which over hundreds of years has created this incredible beach area... we spoke with the neighbor several times over the days we were there and he told us how these two houses are really the only two on the inlet that have a beach area like this.  At low tide it was super expansive....

Friday Favorites

 

 Erika and I are so excited that lots of y'all are linking up with us every week.  Make sure that you're grabbing our graphic, linking back to us and sharing your own Friday Favorites post ;)

Happy Friday, friends! Short and sweet this week because MAMA IS TIRED after a full day of fun yesterday and zero forethought to write this post ahead of time ;)

We kicked off the July 4th festivities at the Party in the USA 5K on Wednesday night...

PNW Trip: Seattle to Olympia Day

After a travel/baseball day on Sunday and a FULL day in the city on Monday we were dragging just a bit on Tuesday morning ;) We grabbed some breakfast at the hotel (again - omelette bar was SO GOOD!) and then packed up and headed out...

Summer touches

 Happy Monday! Today I thought I'd share a look into what little touches I've changed out around the house for summer.  It all kind of started when I found this Uncle Sam planter at my local antique store...

Red, white and blue week

Today I'm sharing some of my very favorite red, white and blue recipes, crafts and posts in case you're looking for some inspiration heading into the Fourth of July.

Red, white and blue snacky lunch ;)