NEON.

My little LEVI turned TWO 

just two weeks after I had my brand new baby. 

As his birthday approached, my energy wasn't quite where it needed to be for a celebration, so we settled for a small celebration at home, just the six of us. 

It came and then it went... 

But then I really started feeling sad that we didn't do more to celebrate the fun and sweet boy that he is..
He is such a bright spot in our home.
So we took the kids, some family friends, and my sisters + their cute husbands to the skating rink for an afternoon of fun. 

And NEON! 

I think I should call this my Dollar Store party because I'm pretty sure everything came from one quick trip to the Dollar Tree. That's what I call easy!

It was pretty fun... I can't remember the last time I put on roller skates. I feel like I used to be pretty good back in the day. You wouldn't be able to tell now! 

Wait, this is about Levi, not my skating abilities ☺

Glow sticks, more glow sticks, a giant balloon and sugar!

What more does a party need?

 

 

 

He wasn't quite sure what to do with wheels on his feet, but the rest of us had a good time!

Happy birthday to our colorful boy!

Black Bean Soup.

This is a standby at our house... one of those meals that requires little time, 

few ingredients, its healthy, its filling, and my kids LOVE it.
I have served it to some impressed guests too
(you don't have to let them in on the secret of how easy it is ☺)

Black Bean Soup

What you need:

2 cans black beans

1 cup salsa

1 can chicken stock

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder
Kosher salt

Put all ingredients (except salt) in saucepan and bring to boil.
Once it has boiled, simmer for about 10 minutes and then transfer about 3/4 of the soup to a blender.*

Blend until it is smooth. Mix back into 1/4 of reserved soup so that you still have some whole beans. Add salt to taste.
Serve with cheese, sour cream, chips and cracked black pepper.
Makes 4-6 servings.

Now the rest of the recipe is what is key to making it delicious... vary it according to your own taste. 

Its great though because I am always able to use up some of those veggies that are about to turn:

Corn, tomatoes, radishes, lime, avocado, green onions, olives, cilantro...

Enjoy!
And be sure to always keep two cans of black beans stocked in your pantry ☺!

*I tried making it in my Blendtec on the "soups" setting without putting it in the saucepan first, and I didn't love the results.
 But if you try it and have better results, let me know what you did because eliminating one step would make this even better!

[the easiest] Happy Birthday cookies ♥

The afternoon before the birthday celebration at the preschool... my sweet little L reminded me that she should bring a birthday treat to share with her class. I forgot, and didn't plan, and therefore didn't have anything to send. I was not about to pack my four kids in the car for a (not-so) quick grocery trip, and I really didn't want to make a mess  making something from scratch. I had a cake mix and that was about it, but the teacher asked for no cupcakes because they are too big of a mess. 

So we improvised and made that cake mix into something less crumb-y...

Luci's Birthday Cookies

Cookie:

1 box Funfetti Cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

Frosting:

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup cream cheese

1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar (or enough to make the frosting stiff, but spreadable)

1 teaspoon vanilla 

and of course, SPRINKLES!!!

Easy as pie, or COOKIES.

Valentining.

How cute are these sweet Valentines I found? Thank you, Pinterest (of course!). 

I think they were meant to be birthday cards, so after some cropping we slapped  

"Happy Valentine's Day" on them and changed the lips to a heart and and called the Valentines.

My L really loves them because she thinks it is a drawing of her 

(she kind of thinks she has blonde, or honey, hair).

Here's the link I used from Willowday. 

The illustrator made up other variations of hair, eyes, etc.

For Cason's, we printed off a cute idea from on Eigtheen25. Some people are so clever. 

Happy Valentining!

♥♥♥

Apple Turkeys.

Years ago, before we ever had kids, my dear friend Shannon had us over for a fall-ish meal

then had us channel our inner child and taught us how to make Apple Turkeys.

When I finally did have kids, we passed on the tradition and its now something they look forward to every year.

I'm always game for something quick and easy that the kids can get excited about, especially as the weather is changing when we have some cooped up days...

What you'll need:

Red delicious apples

Tooth picks

Chocolate Tootsie Pops

An assortment of colorful candy that can be strung on a toothpick

My kids like to eat theirs right away... especially the lollipop with all the goodies on it!

Halloween Crowns.

I know it's a little late to be posting about Halloween, especially since we are only four days away from Thanksgiving, BUT my kids had too much fun making these crowns. 

Plus, they could really be made for any occasion. 

My Luci and I were trying to think of something fun to do with her play group of four 4-year-old girls on a wet and dreary day, 

so we raided my craft supplies and dreamed up these super fast and easy Halloween crowns.

All you will need is: 

2-3 pipe cleaners

aluminum foil

a hot glue gun

an assortment of stickers and embellishments

 

Attach two pipe cleaners together by twisting them at the ends and fit it to the child's head.
Wrap it in foil. Then get creative making different crown shapes by wrapping more pipe cleaner in foil and attaching it to the front of your crown.
Then embellish away using your glue gun.
Done. Seriously a ten minute craft.

 

 

 

Party time: GOooo Cougars!

To say that my Cason is a BYU fan, might be an understatement.

I think it happens to be because we live close by BYU and because blue is his favorite color.

(...or is blue his favorite color because..? Doesn't matter)

Cason wanted to play a Blue and White scrimmage with all of his friends.

He invited all the boys from his kindergarten class, plus a handful from the neighborhood.

If you're keeping track, that's 20 of our favorite 4-6yearold boys total (including my own). 

It was quite the energy-infused birthday party. No one was allowed inside ;)

When he was running through details with me, he said he wanted pizza, cougar tails (BYU's own donuts), a pinata and of course a cake. 

But mostly, just to play football with his friends.

I honestly didn't start pulling party details together until the day before, 

and on the day of the party, I chaperoned the school field trip, 

so there wasn't much time.

It didn't quite live up to all that I hoped it would when we started talking about it months before!

Oh well. 

The birthday boy was happy with it and all of Cason's fellow cougar fans thought it was pretty cool, too.

I raided the BYU Bookstore and Creamery for paraphernalia then printed a few labels. 

Cason came up with the games, and even set them up.

All I had to make food-wise was the cake! 

And that's all I had time for!

I have to say, less prep time was kind of nice.

It was a windy day--totally ruined my decorations.

But the sweaty footballers sure enjoyed the breeze!

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

It was still too windy, so he blew out the match instead of the candles.

I think his wish will still come true ;)

 

GOOOOO Cougars!