It's the weekend

1. Zoey is completely obsessed with Blue's Clues.

It's pretty much her life right now.

2. Ty has strep throat....again!!!!

3. Truth

4. S'mores made using giant chocolate chip cookies in place of graham crackers.

Genius!

5.  I created a pinterest board dedicated entirely to Brownies.

When it is not 100 degrees outside I will bake some!

6.  I need this shirt to entertain myself during arm workouts :)

7. I can't believe June is almost over!!!!

I can't believe next week is the 4th of July......and more importantly....The New Kids on the Block concert.

(I hope Ty gets better fast!)

Happy Weekend!

No-Bake Eats

This weekend we are expecting temperatures above 100 degrees. There is even a heat index warning for our area! I have been getting the kids out of the house early when it is still not too hot and later in the day any outside time is spent in water play.....aka....sprinklers, water guns, popsicles, etc.

Nobody has wanted to eat very much at any one time. In the heat we tend to do more small snack-type meals. I am staying away from my oven as much as possible!

These are some of our favorite no-bake eats for summer.

Smoothies!!!

We love smoothies for breakfast or lunch or afternoon snacks and dessert.

Peanut Butter Banana and Oat Milkshake from Joy the Baker

I love my peanut butter in everything :)

a Strawberry and Cream smoothie from Averie Cooks

 This is more Ty's style. He likes his smoothies nice and fruity, and not so much peanut buttery!

Granola Bars!

These are great to keep in the fridge for any time.

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

I made these last week and took them along in my day-trip bags for snacks. They are kid-approved.....at least in my house.

Chewy Fudge Granola Bars

These are a healthified version of traditional no-bake cookies and I am kind of obsessed with them right now.

Peanut Butter Balls

THIS version from Texanerin is pretty awesome.

Little protein packed bites that taste like cookie dough. These are Mia's favorites!

And finally....Banana "Ice Cream" or "fro-Yo"

Have you tried 1 ingredient banana soft serve??

It is pretty life-changing.

I like to add peanut butter balls to mine and call it peanut butter cookie dough ice cream. (This one is also very kid-approved at our house.)

If all else fails there is always watermelon.

Have a fabulously HOT weekend!

 

2nd Breakfast

 This week I have been taking advantage of the free summer breakfast program our city offers to children. The kids each get a little cardboard box breakfast with milk and juice. It gets us out of the house first thing and entertains everyone for a little while!

This morning, after breakfast, we stopped by Stater Bros. to return a movie to Redbox. We drove right by our little donut shop and everyone called out for donuts.

Since breakfast was free I figured we could splurge and get dessert!

 Max's friend, Ian, was with us today. The boys had a sleepover.

 Max and Ian picked out enormous donuts! Zackary ate his raised glazed on the ride home. (raised glazed are his donut of choice. He can order it on his own!)

 Zoey was on the counter. She had eaten her donut on the ride home as well. She has a ridiculous amount of personality in her teeny little body!

Now everyone is running through the house on a major sugar high.

Happy Thursday!

At the Park

 We decided to begin our week at the park. 

It turned out to be a terrible park day. It was freezing! Mia had dressed herself in leggings and a sweatshirt so she was fine, but everyone else was dressed for hot weather and we were very cold.

 We spent some time feeding all of our old bread to the ducks.

 Zoey was content to hang out in my arms. Those ducks can be intimidating.

She was waiting for the playground.

 and for the swings!

 This little girl loves swinging. Max is such a great brother. He is always happy to push Zoey or help her climb onto the play equipment.

Max, Mia, and Zack spent most of the time twirling together.

 It was cute to watch them work together.

We decided to leave the freezing park and head to Chick-Fil-A for a little warmth and hashbrowns. It was actually freezing inside of the restaurant as well, but the hashbrowns were warm!

It is supposed to be 100 degrees here by Saturday, so I guess I should embrace the cold while I can. Long sleeves and cookie baking it is.

Happy Monday!

A Work Day

I finally made a decision regarding the kid's bedrooms.

This morning we went to work putting bunk beds together so that Zack could move into Max's room. I talked to Max and he was happy to share with Zack. Zoey is still such a terrible sleeper that she needs to be by herself and we were ready to get her out of the laundry room(that is where she has been sleeping!).

Her new room will be Zackary's old room and Mia will stay in her same room by herself.

I got the boy's room all done. We are getting pretty good at switching bedrooms around! Zoey's room is done....that was easy, because she has pretty much nothing.

Now Mia's room needs to be cleaned and organized, but I am taking a little break!

After a week of fun all of this work is exhausting!

Later tonight we are taking everyone to our ward's pine wood derby. Max has several friends who will be racing and I think Zack will love every minute!

After the bedrooms get finished chocolate will be baking in one form or another.

THESE double chocolate zucchini cookies

or

THESE  flourless chocolate zucchini brownies

or

THESE healthy chocolate cookies made with avocado and honey

I have a basket full of zucchini and avocados. 

I love busy Saturdays!

Have a great weekend :)

30

 Today was my 30th birthday!

It turned out to be one of the best birthdays I have had. This whole week was one big celebration.

It was so much fun to have Ty around to play with. We had a great time doing things as a family.

Last night I got to go out with my girlfriends for a girl's night.

 It really wasn't meant to be a birthday party for me, but it kind of turned into one!

Someone may have mentioned to the waiter that it was my birthday and then everyone was singing happy birthday and there was a giant plate of cake.

We spent today doing a little birthday shopping and having lunch with my parents.

I got little happy birthday messages from friends and family throughout the day. Birthday week has been awesome!

I feel very blessed to have the life and the people that I do. I am grateful for 30 wonderful years!

The Bedroom Set

 Our new bedroom set arrived this morning!

We are so excited for the new mattress and to finally have bedside tables.

 We got a matching dresser too!

I can't wait to start decorating!

Another Beach Day

 Birthday week continued today with a trip to the beach.

It was a busy day on the coast. I guess summer is officially here and everyone is at the beach!

 This was not Zoey's first beach visit, but it was the first time that she really got into everything. She loved standing at the water's edge with Ty. She wanted to water to just barely cover her feet.

 It was all kinds of cute.

 Mia is always our teeny wahini.

She is the only one in the family that can get a decent tan and she loves the water.

She has no fear and runs right in.

She was in the water for most of the day.

Max likes the water too, but he balances his water time with more sand time.

 He has been asking me to get him a rash guard for weeks.

 I found one last night that I thought he would love.

I was right ;)

 Everyone took a turn getting buried in the sand.

 We brought home about the same amount of sand in this picture.

We really like our garage shop-vac!

The kids fell asleep on the drive home, no one got sunburned, and there are still 2 days left of birthday week!

Happy Wednesday!

Boys

 Zackary and Max were sitting together on the couch watching a show. Zack had his arm around Max and they were just so cute! I grabbed my camera, but as soon as Max saw me with it the weirdness came out.

I just want a decent picture.

Monday

1. We had a wonderful Father's Day. The morning began with bacon. At church the kids sang....we were so proud. My parents came for dinner. I grilled. There was steak and corn on the cob. It was a very happy little celebration.

2. Ty is home this week! He took the week off for my birthday which is this Friday! We have fun things planned all week long. Today we went out and bought our very first bedroom set. We have been married for 10 years and still have a bedroom full of randomly collected pieces. I have wanted a nice set for a long time and I am really excited about it!

3. We took the kids out for a peruvian lunch. They have never had peruvian cuisine and Ty and I were excited to introduce them. It is very convenient that there is an actual authentically peruvian dish made up of hot dogs and french fries. 

4. I am  making brownies, because it is birthday week, and Ty is home, and I wanted an excuse to make my favorite peanut butter frosting!

I am using THIS recipe.....(just subbing almond flour for the all purpose. I actually love using almond flour in brownies. It adds a great flavor!)

5. The official first day of summer/summer solstice is this Friday AKA....my birthday. It is the longest day of the year, meaning the day with the most sunlight. Just FYI!

Happy Monday!

At the pool

 We have been starting each day with swimming lessons for the kids at the city pool.

It has been a great way to begin the summer. The kids are always very excited and they wait "patiently" for the teachers to unlock the gate.

 Mia heads straight for the stairs where she waits for class to start. She always wants to be first in the water.

Zoey sits with me and entertains herself with snacks. It seems to work well!

Zackary has made friends with several younger siblings of other swimmers. Everyone is loving our mornings at the pool.

Summer Things

Our summer is going great.

Max and Mia are really enjoying swim lessons and can't wait to get into the pool each morning. I haven't had to get very creative with entertainment, because everyone is kind of enjoying doing nothing.

Yesterday we did a little building with marshmallows and toothpicks.

Zack was quite the architect.

 Today I made play-doh and we had a big backyard water fight.

Zoey's cold is back! She has been coughing a lot. After lunch I set her on the couch so that she could get some rest.

She watched Blue's Clues and was very happy.

Ty wanted a treat last night. He requested that whatever I make please not include peanut butter or nutella. I don't understand him, but I do love him so I made him some of his favorite plain old chocolate chip cookies.

I am guessing he would not be happy with these Peanut Butter-Nutella Swirl Cookies

Tomorrow is Friday. This week has gone by quickly! I am trying to enjoy each summer day!

Birthday "Surprise"

Ty is not very good at keeping secrets from me for very long.

He already told me what he got me for my birthday.

Here is a HINT.....

Need ANOTHER.....

One more....

Got it????

I was surprised.

At first I was kind of horrified, because I was picturing myself at this concert surrounded by pre-teens and teenagers, but I am realizing that won't be the case.

It will be lots and lots of women my age, who were once pre-teens and teenagers.

I am excited :)

Little

Zoey often tries to fit into shoe boxes and other too tiny spaces. This morning I found her trying to drive in/on Mia's little pony car.

She had the doors open and was actually trying to get in before she gave up and sat down on top of it and went for a drive.

(I guess we need to fix the pink power wheel jeep that has been sitting in the backyard.)

Monday

1. I taught my first Relief Society lesson yesterday. People were so generous with thoughts and comments. It went great and I am very thankful!

2. We enjoyed a perfect Sunday afternoon. After church Ty took a nap and I relaxed with the kids for a while before starting the Sunday meal. We had grilled chicken, fried potatoes, and broccolini. We went for a walk to the park where we ran into friends and then ended the night with more friends and s'mores!

3. Swimming lessons began this morning. It was cool outside and the water was cold! The kids had a great time though.

4. I dropped off all the paperwork for Zack to start preschool in the fall. We should be good to go!

5. Max is already bored.

This may be a long summer for him.

6. I am not bored at all :)

7. Neither is Mia. She runs from one activity to another and falls asleep immediately when we put her to bed at night.

8. Zoey has been sleeping until almost 8 in the morning. I think it is great!

9. I was about to freeze a bunch of brown bananas, but I might make this banana bread instead

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

10. A perfect thought for Monday

Friday - summertime :)

I LOVE summer :)

1. Yesterday I took the kids to Victoria Gardens. They played in the splash pad and everyone got new shoes. I bought a few things and we had a fun lunch.

2. Today is a friend day. Max is taking a friend to spend the day at my parent's cabin. I am sure they will come home exhausted! Mia is having her good friend, Emma, over to play. They will love having girl time while Max is out of the house. Zac is going to a baseball game with Ty tonight......he can be friends with his dad ;)

3. I made homemade "nutella" yesterday and I am planning on using it today in one (or both) of these recipes

Nutella Peanut Butter Cookies by Averie Cooks

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies by Your Home Based Mom

Cookies are fun.

4. The house is already falling apart. This is the downside of summer vacation.

5. I am sure it will get clean again at some point.

Happy Friday/Summer!