Five on Friday

Linking up today with The Good Life Blog for Five on Friday!

1) Simplified Planner - Back in Stock!!!

A few weeks ago I blogged about the AWESOME Simplified Planner

And at the time it was sold out... but ALAS!  Emily Ley has decided to do ONE more release of them! HOORAY!!!  Click HERE to visit her site and preorder.

2) #eandajanchallenge

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the LAST week of Erika and I's Photo-a-Day challenge on Instagram.  Even if you haven't participated up to this point - start today!!!  All you have to do is post a pic that corresponds with that days "theme".  Add the hashtag #eandajanchallenge and link up with us!

3) Sweetness!

These two crack me up.  They're so super sweet to each other and it's adorable!

Kensington made Luke a Valentine :)

 4) Compare and Contrast.  

I hear all the time how much my kiddos look alike and I just don't see it.  I did a couple of little 9-month comparison collages...

5) A couple of weeks ago, a girl emailed me, saying that she thought she and I shared the same passion for girl clothes... and asked for my address.  Yesterday a box FULL of clothing (including this AWESOME dress that I've been on the hunt for!) arrived on my doorstep.  It was so sweet, thoughtful and special.  I'm planning my own "Pay It Forward" this month and can't wait to brighten someone's day like she brightened mine :)

 A couple of other randoms from the week... 

Mason thought that Griffin's vest would make the perfect bedtime accessory.  That kid is crazy.

On Tuesday, I did a "Day in the Life" post.  If you missed it and you're curious about what a normal day in the life looks like for me click HERE.

9 Months and a Recipe

Griffin had her 9-month check-up on Monday.  She was excited to go see Dr. Chad!

She weighed in at 19 lbs 7.8 oz (60th percentile) and was 27" long (30th percentile).  

She and I bided our time waiting for Dr. Chad by doing SEVERAL verses of Wheels on the Bus and tearing up and chewing on the AWESOME white paper :)

Believe it or not this was after her Hepatitis vaccine.  Sweet girl cried for about 12 seconds after the shot and a solid 60 after I wiped her nose. #drama

She was perfect and earned herself some cheerios :)

After her check-up, she and I ran some errands (Hobby Lobby, Home Goods and Sams) and she was a TOTAL flirt everywhere we went.  She reaches out for people, screeches until they notice her and smiles at absolutely everyone.  Everyone.

Dr. Chad was SUPER impressed with G's eating skills.  He gave us the go ahead to start "table food" at which point I informed him that she'd been eating more than both her brothers for at least 2 months.  There hasn't been a single food we've put in front of her that she hasn't scarfed down.  Avocado, meat loaf, sausage ravioli, TONS of yogurts, pulled pork, etc., etc., etc.

One of Griffin's FAVORITE foods is baked spaghetti.  I love this dish because I can prep it on the weekend, pull it out of the freezer in the morning and it's ready to bake when I get home. 

BAKED SPAGHETTI

8 oz spaghetti noodles

large jar tomato sauce (24 oz)

1 lb ground beef or sausage

1/3 cup diced onion

1 block cream cheese

2 TBSP milk 

1 TBSP butter

shredded Parmesan cheese

French Fried Onions

1) Cook the pasta to al dente according to the package directions

2) Brown the ground beef, drain it and add in the spaghetti sauce.  Simmer for a few minutes.

3) Put the onion in a dish with the butter.  Cover and microwave for about 3 minutes or until they're soft (I use frozen pre-chopped onion).  When they're soft, add in the cream cheese and milk and stir until it's creamy (if the cream cheese is still too cold, microwave the whole dish for another 30 seconds)

4) Put a thin layer of spaghetti sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish

5) Put the cooked pasta on top of the sauce

6) Spread the cream cheese mixture on top of the noodles.

7) Put the rest of the sauce on top of the cream cheese mixture.

8) Put on as much shredded parmesan as your family likes!

9) Cover and bake at 350 for 30 minutes

10) Uncover and spread a bunch of French Fried Onions on top.  Bake an additional 5 minutes.  Enjoy!

And just for fun....

Luke at 9 months:

Mason at 9 Months:

Face lift!

I love and adore our house.  I love that it's down the street from my parents, I love our kitchen/eating area and I love our backyard (although it needs some MAJOR work this Spring).   Over Christmas Dave and I pondered moving to a house with more space, but ultimately have decided we want to stay in our house.  Our house was built in 1992 and so there are a few areas that are "lacking" compared to newer homes.  One area - the laundry room . It's teeny tiny and I hate it. hahaha

The other is our second bathroom.  Our hall bath is an awkward shape and has a single sink, which is fine for now, but I think might pose problems as the kiddos get bigger.  

Anyway... Dave and I have a 3-4 year plan involving new floors, new furniture and a major overhaul of this bathroom, but in the meantime I decided it needed a little impromptu "facelift" this weekend. 

Here's the before pic (usually the shower curtain is pushed back... but I wanted y'all to see it).  The shower curtain was actually something I bought when we bought our first home... almost 10 years ago!

Please note the "fancy" towels that had multiple cheetoh fingerprints and could only be hand washed.  Awesome.  (also note my linen pants line drying in the tub - hahaha)

And the counter.

The whole "revamp" idea started when I was browsing through World Market on Sunday and found THIS shower curtain.

I knew I didn't want to paint and when I saw this curtain I liked how light, bright and "whimsical" it was and I knew the brownish/gold color would be a great match for our current wall color..

Dave thinks it's super girly - but if Dave had his way, our entire house would be navy blue with plaid accents.  hahaha  Dave gives me total free reign in the house and is always super supportive of my ideas.  #blesshim

LOVED this antiqued frame and it was HALF off! YAY!!!  I got the matte (with the perfect mustard trim) at Hobby Lobby.

The little plant was a Target clearance find from several months back ($32 marked down to $6 - score!) and  the toothbrush/paste cup, actually came with a lid (I think it's designed to hold cotton balls, q-tips, etc).

I changed out the shiny knobs with LOVELY white centers for these cute and less shiny ones from Hobby Lobby. Next time they put them on sale I'm picking up more for our master bath.  I'd love to change out the faucet, towel bars, and toilet paper holders.... but that's a project for another day.

This cup has a hint of blue and is acrylic so the boys won't shatter it within the week :)

The little wall opposite the toilet... and yes, the tags are still on the towels.  They're cream, but I wasn't sure if they were "cream enough", so I was going to live them with a couple of days and decide.

I picked them up because they had a really pretty jacquard pattern embossed on them and I'm 99% positive they'll be hanging around.

Since I was showing you the bathroom, I decided I'd go ahead and show you my cabinets... because let's be real.... it's fun to be nosey :)

The cabinet above the toilet houses A LOT!

On the bottom shelf I have bandaids, flushable wipes, Luke's eczema prescriptions, some sunscreens that wouldn't fit on the middle shelf (I almost got rid of them because my  OCD senses were tingling!) and washcloths.  The blue stackable containers are from the Dollar Store.  The Dollar Store is great for CHEAP storage containers... perfect for bathrooms and places where you don't need great quality containers.

Middle shelf houses this wooden box where I keep all the kids' medications...

... sunscreens and creams...

... and medicine droppers and syringes.

The vanity has two drawers (one of them is empty... as is the medicine cabinet) and the other houses combs and extra toothbrushes (are my boys the only with TONS of toothbrushes?!?!?!).  These little baskets came from WalMart and I believe they were less than $1.50 for the two-pack.

And under the vanity I keep the kids bath and pool towels and extra toilet paper :)

There you have it!  A teeny tiny mini makevoer.  Nothing major... just a fresh look.

While I was out shopping, Dave was at home watching the boys play restaurant (Mason's absolute favorite game!)

... and sweet sister was hanging out watching :)

Weekend Recap

Friday morning started off beautifully....

It was a busy, hectic morning and this was an awesome "stop and breathe" moment as we were pulling in to school.

On Friday our entire school network drive was down which meant no access to documents, presentations, lesson plans, internet, etc.  My classes and I played table ping pong, heads up 7 up, and compared shoe sizes.  Mine is on the left and one of my eighth graders is on the right.  hahaha 

Dave texted me this sweet pic of Miss Griffin mid-morning...

Friday was Griffin's 9-month birthday and I reminisced over this pic of my sweet girl on the day she was born.

All three kiddos came home stuffy and stopped up, so it was early bedtimes for everyone.  Do kids ever look sweeter than when they're sleeping???

Saturday morning Griffin sported her cute Valentines Day jammies...

Mason lined up all of his "dino-sirs" :)

After her morning nap, Griffin spent some time reading and then I got her dressed..

She wasn't feeling great, but she still looked adorable!

I caught some unprompted sweetness....

... and I wore my comfies all. day. long.

 Griffin took another nap (the boys played outside and built a giant lego tower) and woke up happy (as always!)

 Saturday night the boys and I ate dinner by candlelight :) 

 Luke also constructed a "miners hat" :)

 Sunday I spent the day running errands, doing some work for school and I wrapped it all up with a super fun girls night with girls from my Sunday School class.  Mexican food, girl talk and no kids at the table... it was perfect :)