Friday Favorites {5.20.16}

Happy Friday! This week seemed to fly by and now I'm ready for a pretty low key weekend. I'm hoping we can get Ella's big girl room finished up *fingers crossed*

{ONE}

Speaking of Ella's new big girl room, here's a little peek. - I am IN LOVE with this tassle banner! I ended up going through Etsy and was soooooooo pleased with the shop YUGUCU. Seriously, Yuri was so good to work with! She went out of her way to help me decide which colors would look best together and I really appreciate that extra time and attention she put in with me.





{TWO}

Salads are my favorite!I shared this week a super easy and yummy summer quinoa salad - you can check it out here.

{THREE}

One of my favorite authors, Elin Hilderbrand, shared this week on FB that Winter Storms was in!! Although I have to wait until October of this year to get it, but that's ok because it will help put me in the holiday mood. Part of me wishes I would have waited to read Winter Street and Winter Stroll until this one came out because it's the last one; maybe I'll just re read them again :)

{FOUR} 



These look SO good and so easy, I know the kids would love them!

via

I'm totally making this for my kids

via

{FIVE}

One of my kids' favorite TV shows is coming to Chicago next year! I asked Brayden & Ella if they would rather have tickets to go see this or presents for their birthday and they picked this. We'll still get them something small for their birthdays but this will be so fun and won't sit and collect dust in our playroom :)

Happy Weekend!!

Linking up with:

Momfessionals

Hello Happiness

September Farm

Spring Family Photos

I mentioned a few weeks ago we went and took some family photos - well I got them and I'm pretty much in love all over again with my little family.

We used Mandy Ringe Photography for this session and I'm so happy with what she captured, given it was 42 degrees outside, no sun whatsoever and our kids were having some major meltdowns (some which were totally understood given the cold weather!)

Now to bombard you with the pictures!

*linking up with Home of Malones for Thoughts for Thursday

Easy Summer Quinoa Salad

Happy Hump Day, friends! Today I'm sharing a super yummy and easy summer salad recipe (of course this can be made at any time of the year, but summer is so close so I'm going with that)

If you've been around for some time, then you know I love me some quinoa! My kids even use to love to quinoa but I'm not really sure what happened because now, not so much, and the hubby, well he deals when I make it but not his first choice (or second, or third LOL)

I love salads and am always looking for ways to change them up.  I thought the other day how yummy quinoa would taste with a greek salad.  I didn't have all the ingredients to make this totally a greek salad but it still works, and is still really good.

I made a big batch of this then ate it all week for lunch, it was sooo good.

What you need:

For the pasta:

1 cup of dry quinoa

handful of cherry tomatoes

1 cucumber cut up

1/2 small onion

Feta cheese crumbled (as much as you like)

For the dressing:

3 tbsp of olive oil

1 tbsp of red wine vinegar

salt + pepper

oregano (as much as you like)

What to do:

Cook 1 cup quinoa with 2 cups of water in a saucepan according to directions (I boil then cover and bring to a simmer for about 10 minutes)

As your quinoa cooks, cut up your cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, onion and feta - set aside

Once quinoa is done, place in a bowl and put in the fridge (I want it to stop cooking and be cool for when I add everything in - this is a cold salad)

While the quinoa is in the fridge cooling, make your dressing by combining all ingredients into a smaller bowl.

Take the qunioa out of the fridge, add in your chopped fruits/veggies/cheese then mix in the dressing. 

Enjoy!

This would make a great side dish to bring to a BBQ or to have for a weeknight family dinner, or you can eat it everyday for lunch like me :)

*linking up with Jessi's Design for what's hap-"pinning" Wednesday

A day in the life

I've been meaning to do a post like this FOREVER, but it just kept getting put aside, but don't worry, the time has finally come and today you will get a glimpse of what our day to day life is like...I'm sure you can barely contain your excitement :)


5:10am alarm goes off and I hit snooze a boat load of times.

5:40am I finally get up, use the bathroom, change into workout clothes and head downstairs

5:50 - 6:30am - work out

6:30-7am - Eat breakfast, publish a blog post if I have one that day, and read other blogs/news.

7am - This cutie joins me downstairs and I see my alone time drifting away...

7:15am - this cutie joins us too and now it's almost a party...just waiting for Miss A to get up

7-8am - Make the big kids breakfast, get myself ready for the day (super quick! I shower at night which makes it alot easier) make Brayden's lunch (which I always say I should have done the night before), Avery finally gets up so I get her changed and bring her down then make her breakfast

some days I give a note, some days I don't

the princess has joined us

8-8:20am - the kids play/watch TV, I empty the dishwasher and Brayden gets himself ready for the bus


8:25am - I walk Brayden to the bus at the very last minute so I don't leave the girls alone too long (the stop is right next door to our house) When it's not so cold, we all go to the stop.

 

8:30-8:50am - We have to watch Goldie & Bear on Disney - it's Avery's favorite. She seriously demands watching it by grabbing the remote, pointing to the TV and yelling BEAR!!

8:50-9:30am - Storytime and playtime

9:45am - We leave for Costco

10-11am - We shop at Costco and most of the trip goes like this...Ella crying because she didn't want to sit in the cart in the front by Avery, she wanted to sit IN the cart, but there would be no room for my stuff so she has to sit next to her sister - I know, it's a tough life. We quickly drop off the groceries at home so we can get to the library for story time.

these are SO good!

11:15am -12:30pm - Library.  I had a total fail moment when I thought story time was at 11:20 but nope, it was at 11, so we missed most of it but still had lots of fun playing.

crying because she didn't want to leave when yet an hour earlier she was crying she didn't even want to go...oh toddlers!

12:30pm - I make the girls lunch (Ella HAS to help, which I really do love..most days) then I continue to put the Costco stuff away that I left out

Max is just waiting for food to drop

1-1:30pm- Playtime then I put Avery down for a nap

1:30-2:30pm - Ella heads up to her room for quiet time (which on this day she actually stayed up there the entire time, thanks to her tablet) - I eat lunch, then clean up all of our lunches, sweep, and clean the appliances

2:30-3:10pm - Ella and I play and do some school time then we go get Brayden off the bus

3:15 - Avery is up! It's snack time all around and Brayden works on his homework

3:30-4:30pm - Play

4:30pm - I start dinner and let Brayden & Ella play on their tablets and Avery watches, you guessed it, Goldie & Bear!

5:15-6pm - dinner 

6:15-7 - I ran out to Target and Michaels alone since I knew it wasn't bath night (we do every other night) and it was glorious! 

7-7:30 - Hang out and play -tonight we played Spot It! The big kids love that game

7:30pm - Avery goes down first

7:45-8:20pm - We put Brayden & Ella to bed, which consists of reading, laying with each other them, playing rock, paper scissors a handful of times and rubbing their backs (this is all done by me mostly, ha ha)

8:20-9:45pm - Me and the hubs hang out on the couch and catch up with our shows. Then I crawl upstairs and get ready for bed and am usually sleeping by 10:15

There you have it! A glimpse of what our everyday lives look like - exciting huh??

*Linking up with Our Pretty Little Girls for Tuesday Talk