We did a little Valentines decorating last week! 

I cut a bunch of hearts with my Silhouette and then we did red shaving cream marbling on them! 

Once they were dry we strung them up! 

I love how festive it is! I don't want to take it down! 

I also bought some heart lights from the Target (3) Dollar Spot! The girls had a fun time in the bath with only the hearts lit! Fun and Festive! 

Happy Almost Valentines Day! 

(I used to dislike Valentines Day... Since ya know, it can steal my birthday thunder... but it is so fun to see how excited the girls get for each holiday! I love it now!)

Avocado Chicken Salad

Today I have a great recipe for you to add to your lunch rotation! 

Avocado Chicken Salad! 

Not only do I love avocados because of how they taste, I also love avocados because of their many health benefits! Avocados are high in the good fats that we need for our hair and skin, they are high in fiber, and they are rich in B, K, and E Vitamins! As you know, I've been doing Whole30, which is all about eating protein, vegetables, and good fats all at each meal. With this Avocado Chicken Salad, I have all those bases covered and it is delicious! It is so hard to tell that I swapped the mayonnaise out for avocado! Even my chicken salad and avocado hating husband told me that he really liked this dish and would gladly eat it anytime!

Avocado Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

1 lb cold cooked chicken (I bought mine pre-cooked from Trader Joes)

1 ½ medium avocados

½ cup chopped raw pecans

½ cup diced celery

½ cup quartered red grapes

½ cup quartered green grapes

¼ cup pomegranate seeds

Salt & Pepper to taste

Spinach for serving

Directions:

1.     Add cold chicken to the bowl of a stand mixer. Turn to the slowest setting and let chicken shred into desired size pieces.

2.     While continuing to mix, add avocado to the bowl.

3.     Once the avocado and chicken are well mixed, gently stir in pecans, celery, grapes, and pomegranate seeds.

4.     Season with lots of salt and pepper.

5.     Serve on a bed of spinach.

Enjoy!

Kenley is learning to read!

Kenley and Brian were playing her Super Why game last night and she started sounding out the letters to short words and blending them to say the word! It caught Brian and I totally off guard! Then Brian and Kenley went on to sound out some Bob books! We are so excited!

Playing Catch-up! Frozen!

Before Christmas Brian and I took the girls to see Frozen. We all loved it! For Christmas the girls got Anna and Elsa dolls and dresses and a little after Christmas we bought the Frozen soundtrack. We were all having fun loving Frozen so Brian and I thought it would be fun to take the girls to go see Frozen again! This time was so fun! They loved it! It was so fun to listen to Kenley sing along to the songs! 

Catch-up! Life Lately!!

I am so behind on blogging! The truth is I think that I have replaced my day to day blogging with Instagram. I would really like to get back to blogging though! 

Here is a little of our life lately...

Kenley puts together the wackiest outfits! She reminds me so much of my niece Carly! 

Adding to our peg doll friend collection! We needed an Emma, Malia, and a Violet! I need to order boy style dolls soon! Kenley asks for James and Nate dolls all the time!  

We're trying to bring back Craft of the Day's! 

Kenley shares my love of monograms :) any time one of the moms writes her initials on her school papers she adds her middle initial to make it a monogram.

Now we just need to work on how to make J's correctly :) 

Kenley loves "her dog" Moxie...

This is to Gracen from Kenley :)

It says "Do you want to go on a sleepover Kenley Gracen" 

Doing a Kiwi Crate with Claire was ...... interesting..... 

 We headed to the zoo last week! 

Zebras for Claire...

Don't you think that hippos are the weiner dogs of the wild animal kingdom?

Giraffes for Kenley...

Isn't this pot holder neat? 

Brian's grandfather passed away at the beginning of this month. We are so glad that we know he is no longer in pain and is in Heaven with Jesus right now. His passing has brought up some interesting discussions with Kenley.... 

M&M's Math! 

I am thankful for whoever invented adjustable pants for kids! Without them Kenley would only be able to wear dresses! 

I made some Seahawks cups for the girls and James and Nate! 

Go Seahawks! 

My rose gold monogram necklace arrived! It was my gift to myself for finishing my last whole30! 

CLo loves eggs of all kinds! This day she ate 4 deviled eggs with her lunch! If you know Claire you know that it is a BIG deal for her to voluntarily eat anything so this is a really great!! 

Play-doh! It never ceases to amaze me how long the girls will play with it! 

Isn't this the cutest rainbow ever?!

Even Elvis loves my Lilly Pulitzer planner! 

I'm excited to have a craftroom/schoolroom/playroom soon! This is one of my inspiration pictures! 

Kenley helped me write my grocery list this week! 

That's all for now! I really am going to try to be better about blogging!!! 

Super Awesome Meatloaf (Paleo & Whole30)

Lets be honest. Meatloaf is one of the most un-photogenic foods ever! 

Since it won't look pretty either way lets settle for this iPhone picture :)

Meatloaf is one of my favorite meals! Coming from a former vegetarian that says a lot! I posted my old recipe for meatloaf on this blog a few years ago. This is my updated recipe that is both Paleo and Whole30 approved! I combined my old recipe with Eating for Idiots Meatloaf Recipe and came out with a winner! 

Paleo/Whole30 Meatloaf

Adapted from Eating for Idiots and my old meatloaf recipe

Ingredients:

 Meatloaf

• 2 lbs grass fed ground beef
• 1 tablespoon ghee
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 celery stalks, diced
• 1 cup carrot puree
• splash balsamic vinegar (to deglaze pan)
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
• 4 oz white mushrooms, minced
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons coconut aminos
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1 tablespoon coconut flour

Ketchup

• 1 can tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• pinch ground clove
• pinch ground allspice
• pinch cayenne pepper

Directions:

Ketchup:

Mix all ingredients well

Meatloaf:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Add ghee to a cast iron pot set over medium heat
3. Add onions and celery to the pot. Cook until onions are softened and beginning to caramelize.
4. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar to de-glaze the pan.
5. Add minced mushrooms to the pan and cook 3-5 more minutes. 
6. Combine remaining meatloaf ingredients in a bowl. 
7. Add onion, celery, mushroom mixture to the meat mixture.
8. Add half of the ketchup to the meat mixture.
9. Shape meat mixture into a log on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a baking stone
10. Cover with remaining ketchup. 
11. Bake for 1 hour.
12. Let cool 5-10 minutes before cutting and serving.

10 on 10!

10 pictures on the 10th day of the month!

{Document a snapshot of your life & find beauty among the ordinary things in your day!}

I have been wanting to participate in 10 on 10 for quite a while now but I have always forgotten so last night I set an alarm for this morning to remind me! 

Here is our ordinary Friday in January! 

First thing.. Chicken breasts and salsa in the crock pot for dinner (shredded chicken tacos)...

We spent the morning playing at the Children's Museum with Liam, Miss Amanda, Auntie Becca, and Grandma Ruthann! (Nearly every picture I took had 1 child as a total blur) 

On the way home we rocked out to the Frozen soundtrack... Let It Go is playing on constant repeat inside my brain...

Nap for CLo... 101 Dalmatians for KenKen...

 Laundry and Bones (on my laptop) for me... 

Nap/Rest time crafting! I finally put all of our Christmas cards from this year together! 

I also made a bunch of Lilly Pulitzer magnetic bookmarks with pages from last years planner! I made a little instagram video while I did it! (Man, is it hard to instavideo with one hand and do things with the other! Also, notice the Bones theme song in the background... I'm hooked!) 

After dinner we all snuggled on the couch and watched Brave.

After Brave we drew targets on the glass door with window markers and then played with the girls Brave bow and arrow sets. 

Then it was bedtime! 

Join in the fun and do 10 on 10 in February!