Seattle (part IIII) Frozen

Our dear friend Katie has just about the nicest family ever and we were invited not once but twice to their house for dinner and even a Frozen birthday party. We just love her parents and her sister Mary is a riot! She had me cracking up on our dreadful car ride to Katie's birthday dinner (pre-vomit) and on the way home (post-vomit).

 

A niece of Katie's brother in law owns her own character business and let me tell you people, SHE'S AMAZING!! She's local to us Bay Area folks, so if you're ever in need of Princess Ana, let me know and I'll send you her info. She sings beautifully too! I can't say enough good things about her. She's just adorable. Her grandmother even sews all her costumes for her. Crazy!!



Princess Ana telling her story to the kids

Elliot just wasn't having it. "I don't like Frozen! I like Toy Story lady!"

Where'd my cupcake go?

 

Thank you so much MacFarlane family for opening your home to us, for being amazing hosts and for raising such a beautiful children that we now call our friends.

 

Now I'm craving some MacFarlane garlic bread!

 

xoxo

Seattle (part II) Downtown

Downtown Seattle is awesome! I don't think there's any other word to describe it other than just that. It's full of some amazing restaurants, Pike Place Market, the Seattle Great Wheel, the Seattle Aquarium, a Red Robin (had to throw that one in there), great shopping, the original Starbucks, the original Nordstrom and a ton more fun and cool stuff.

 

We decided to hit up a few of these places during our trip.

Noah & Eloise enjoying freshly made Pike Market donuts

Noah & Mommy selfie #1 (Pike Place Market)

Pike Market family photo op

BFF photo op (Seattle Aquarium)

I can't remember where this was taken, but it's our second Noah & mommy selfie.

Well downtown Seattle, you didn't disappoint! Until next time!

 

xoxo

And Then this...

Night #2 proved to be....actually, I don't know what it proved to be other than FUNNY!

 

I don't know what's funnier here. The fact that our kiddo is sleeping outside his new prison gate or sleeping with his blanket stuffed in his mouth. Ha! These kids!

 

xoxo

Seattle (Part 1)

 

15 hours, 1 trip to McDonalds, 1 night in a hotel, 3 tanks of gas and a plethora of family memories later and we finally made it to Seattle.

 

Would I ever drive to Seattle again you ask? Probably not...

 

We did however have the best time once we got there, which I'll share in a later post.

 

This post is purely about our adventures getting to the great Pacific Northwest.

 

We left Friday at 5:00pm, mostly due to the fact that we wanted to have a mostly quiet car ride up to Medford, Oregon where we would be staying for the night. I think Elliot finally conked out at 9:30pm which is extremely late for him.



Happy family

We made it to Medford around 12:30am and the boys decided they'd wake up once we stopped so I think we finally fell asleep around 2:00am. We had a 6:00am wake up call to get our butts in gear, grab some free grub and hit the road so we could make it to Portland to meet my cousin and her daughter for lunch.

 

Fun fact: Did you know that in Oregon, they have full service gas stations still? It felt so strange to have someone else pump our gas for us.

 

We enjoyed a nice lunch with Renee and Ella and then followed them over to the Laurelhurst park which is an amazing park if you're ever in Portland. It's huge and so old.

Brothers who lunch together, stay together

I'm a tree hugger!

After lunch and letting the kids run around to get all their energy out, we said our goodbye's and hit the road. Next stop....SEATTLE!!

 

 

 

We arrived around 6:00pm to our beloved friends, the Carters, house. We were so happy to see them. It had been months (March) since we'd last seen them, which was too long!

 

Our amazing reunion was followed by even better pizza and Caesar salad which in my opinion is all you need in life.

 

Here's to an amazing upcoming week!

 

xoxo

 

And then this happened...

 

Happy Monday all! I haven't written a post in so long and am working on our week long trip to Seattle post so stay tuned.

 

I hope you had a great weekend! We sure did.

 

And then this happened...

 

Yeah, someone has decided that they would prefer to climb out of their crib not only after we've put him down for the night but during the middle of the night as well. So, without losing sleep over whether he's going to hurt himself while we're sleeping trying to get out, we've converted his crib to a toddler bed and added a 36" gate in his doorway. The first night, however, was not a success in our book. Let's hope night #2 goes a little better.

 

What 17 month old gets to sleep in a toddler bed??? Man, they grow up fast!

 

xoxo

Friday Finds

 

Happy Friday! I'm so excited the weekend is finally here. We've got some fun plans this coming week, starting today actually and I can't wait to get started!

 

 

 

1 | I'm in LOVE with these kitten heels from J Crew. Shocker, I know. I want them in this amazing blue color and leopard as well.

 

2 | This work space from Oh My Dear blog is just adorable. I'm dying for the glitter DIY hanger. So cute!

 

3 | Need I say more??!

 

4| I have to try out these chicken enchilada stuffed zucchini boats!

 

5 | Baked kale chips are delicious!

 

6 | This kitchen is to DIE FOR!

 

7 | Adorable dainty necklace.

 

I hope you have a terrific weekend!

 

xoxo

A Quick & easy Dinner

 

How many of you have a ton of energy when you get home from work? Sometimes I just want a quick meal that has minimal thinking and is super easy. Who's with me?

 

My go-to comfort food recipe is Beef Stroganoff. It's super easy, somewhat quick and leaves you with only one pan to wash. Sounds like a win-win to me!

 

Beef Stroganoff

 

Ingredients

1 large steak cut into strips (London broil works great) or chicken if you prefer that

1 can of Cream of Mushroom Soup

¾ cup of milk (use empty can of soup to measure)

1 package of mushrooms chopped

4 oz. (1/2 tub) of sour cream

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 bag Wide egg noodles or any noodle really. We use gluten free noodles.

SECRET INGREDIENT | 1 Tbsp. dried dill

 

Directions

Add olive oil to your pan and heat on medium. Add the meat and season with salt & pepper to taste. Next chop the mushrooms and once the meat is browned on one side, throw them all to the pan to cook with the beef.  Cook the meat/mushroom mixture until lightly browned. You don’t want to overcook the meat. There will still be some red in the meat. Next add the can of cream of mushroom soup, the ¾ can of milk and the sour cream. Stir the ingredients in the pan until it becomes a sauce and starts to boil. Once it boils, reduce heat to your lowest setting. It will be ready after about 10-15 minutes of simmering, although it can simmer for up to 30 minutes. At this time you can add dried dill to your dish and stir.

Boil a large pot of water and cook your wide egg noodles. Once cooked, drain and serve the stroganoff over the noodles either individually or family style. ENJOY!

Meals always taste better with little helpers

 And that's it! It's super tasty and so easy to make.

xoxo

 

 

Growing up too Fast

 

Happy Tuesday! I hope you all had a great weekend. We sure did! Dress up, a pool party and a train ride.

 

 I can't believe how much faster time flies with two little ones now. People always told me that time flies once you have kids, but until you do, you really don't understand that expression. Time really got away from me when Noah was younger, but with Elliot it's almost as if I blink, it's the following week. It's so bitter sweet.

 

The hubby and I are looking forward to when we can sit down and enjoy a nice meal out as a family without screaming kids, however I do love the ages they are at now. Elliot is talking so much these days. I can't believe the amount of words that are coming out of his mouth. He's really turning into such a smart kid.

 

So smart that he finally climbed out of his crib for the first time on Sunday morning after the hubby put him down for his morning nap (another thing that bitter because I think those have been exhausted). And again that night. Let's hope he doesn't do it again, because I'd rather not convert his bed over. Who knows what he could potentially get into in the middle of the night.

 

Any advice mothers out there?

 

Someone loves wearing their big brothers baseball helmet

 

The boys had a great time swimming with their cousins on Saturday.

On Sunday, we took the boys to Vasona Park in Los Gatos for a fun family train ride and playground time. Then of course we hit up J Crew and Gap.

 

Love this little guy

We have a week long, fun filled, family vacation coming up and I'm so so so excited! We can't wait to visit all our amazing friends, relax and sightsee our little hearts out. Plus we'll be logging in some crazy miles so stay tuned on how a 4 1/2 and 17 month old do in a car for 2 days straight.

 

xoxo 

Friday Finds

Happy Friday all! I'm so glad this week is over. It's been a long week full of this, that and the other.

Onto more positive stuff, here is what's making me happy this week.

1 | How yummy does this Mexican fiesta look?

2 | These slabs of grilled sweet onions with dollops of warm gorgonzola look amazing!

3 | This outfit is now my new favorite weekend outfit.

4 | These boots! Need I say more?

5 | Starting to finally like gray/brown combos.

6 | Loving this House of Harlow pendant.

7 | Prosciutto wrapped asparagus...mmmmm!

Any fun plans for the weekend? We'll be with family on Saturday to celebrate our newphews birthdays and I'm having a girls only brunch on Sunday. Looking forward to both.

 

xoxo