Friday Favorites

Happy Friday and Happy 3rd Birthday to Leo!  I can't believe my baby is 3!  Having my first c-section and delivering a baby in April of 2020 when the world was shut down was quite an adventure.  Searching stores for diapers, wipes, formula and food was something Kevin and I will never forget.  Those were stressful times.  They were also sweet times with our new family of 5.  We all survived and are happy to be living life a lot differently in 2023.  

We had a fun week and are excited for a happy Easter weekend.  Did you catch my blog posts this week?

Birthday Fiesta

Last Minute Easter Desserts

Easter Egg Carton Lunch

Now on to my favorite moments of the week:

1 // Happy Birthday Leo!

Our 3 favorite things about Leo are that he's so squishy and lovable.

Leo is everyone's favorite and we all try hard to be his favorite.

Leo is talking so much.  He's always telling us things about his dinosaurs, bikes, diggers, Sheriff Callie, Minions and he's started joking around.  He's got some songs that he likes to sing very LOUD.  He makes lots of noises and is chatty all day long.

No yike dat = I don't like that.

Hold you = hold me

I do it = he wants zero help these days

Stop doze Boom Booms = Stop the thunder

You okay, Mom? = anytime you sneeze, cough, fall or cry

 

And because I can't let a birthday go by without revisiting baby pictures... baby Leo!  I had to cancel all of his newborn photo shoots and do them myself.  I'm so glad I have these pictures.

2 // HomeGoods Haul

We found some really great stuff at HomeGoods this week!  Come back next week to see them!  Leo is a loud shopping assistant.  I think he was snacking and singing here.

3 // Storms

It was a really stormy week in the Midwest.  Leo hates storms so he was up early, late and everything in between.  Here's to hoping for a quieter week next week.  Although the extra snuggles were nice.

4 // Crumbl

Kevin surprised us with Crumbl Cookies for dessert this week.  Have you had them?  I've heard mixed reviews.  Basically, they're fine if you aren't a baker and know what homemade cookies taste like and some people are obsessed.  We tried their brownie cookie, iced oatmeal, chocoate chip and iced sugar cookie.  They're HUGE cookies.  I really liked the brownie.  Everyone else loved the iced oatmeal.  We'd get them again to share for a fun dessert.

5 // Dyed Eggs

I prepped everything for the kids to dye eggs this week.  Each kid got one dozen eggs to color and had fun!  I'm making deviled eggs, potato salad and egg salad with all these hard boiled eggs :)

6 // Love Gardening

Our speaker at mom's group came to talk to us about her love of gardening.  It was so neat!  She covered the tables with plants and flowers for us to all take home.  Have you ever had a breakfast Hawaiian roll slider??  I had not and it was delicious!  I've got to try to make them on my own.  Leo had a blast at his class and came home with some Easter art.

My new plants!

7 // Outside

The weather has been nice in between the storms.  Both boys got some really cool outdoor things from family for their birthdays.  We played outside a ton!  The kid dug up two huge boulders in our yard.  They look great in our landscaping.

8 // Penny

She loves a good basket.  This one is not meant for her, but you can't convince her that's true.

9 // Lunch dates

Leo and I met a friend for lunch.  He chatted, watched Blippi, ate pasta and ice cream.  I even shared my chocolate with him.

10 // Backyard fun

Leo was determined to clean off our windows.  I'm not sure that it helped, but it was super cute.

Kinetic sand is awesome!!

11 // Easter food

I'm making my kids Easter lunches like this one this weekend.  We're also doing Resurrection rolls, I'm baking Easter cookies for all of our family gatherings and I'll probably fix a little Easter ham dinner for us at home next week.  Yum!

Sending you all the good vibes for a Happy Easter weekend!  See you back here next week!

 Linking up with Momfessionals

Easter Egg Carton Lunch

I have been making these Easter egg carton lunches for my kids since Olive was tiny.  They all love them.  They're festive and fun and so easy to customize for your kids. I like to add in a mix of fruits, veggies, salty and sweet (Easter candy!)

You could serve breakfast, lunch or a snack in them and I bet your kids would love it!

Leo's Easter lunch yesterday:

White cheddar popcorn = bunny tails

Bunny food = carrots and cucumbers

Bunny poop = jelly beans

And all his favorite foods.

He went straight for the Reese's Cup.

He wolfed it down and kept saying SO FUN! as he was eating.

Happy Easter week!

Last Minute Easter Desserts

What are you in charge of making for Easter?

I'm bringing Easter cookies to our family gatherings this year and I can't wait!  Look at these darling M&M bunnies on top of my chocolate chip cookies!  They're so sweet!  I'm taking orders all week long if you're local and want me to take care of dessert for you.  Just comment or message me.

 

I've got a few other last minute Easter dessert ideas for you from my archives!

Resurrection Rolls - an easy crescent roll + marshmallow recipe to do with your kids to illustrate the story of Jesus's death and resurrection for Easter.

Easter Candy Board - gather all of your favorite Easter candy in one spot for a yummy dessert.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes - my whole family loves these!

I hope you found something your family would enjoy for Easter and I can't wait to hear about what you're making for your Easter gatherings!

Birthday Fiesta

We celebrated both boy's birthdays with family this weekend!  We had a birthday fiesta - Fletcher loves tacos and a Three-esta seemed like a fun idea for Leo.  Cue the pinatas, colorful decorations and a yummy taco bar!

We both have big families so we hosted my family Friday night and Kevin's family Saturday night.  We had the best time.  I did the same menu/decor for both parties and it worked out perfectly.  Fiestas for everyone.

The boys had the very best time surrounded by family.  I am so thankful that they get to celebrate their birthdays at home after years and years of traveling to see family on their birthdays.  It was great.

I made their invitations on Canva for free and texted them out to family.  I love how they turned out!

I got them matching taco shirts from Old Navy.  Cute boys.  Who 99% end up in a headlock.

I collected mini pinatas to give to all the cousins.  I found them at Target and 5 Below.  We picked up Fletcher's favorite candies and packed them full.  All the cousins were excited to take home their own pinata.

We did balloons and all the fun pinata/fiesta things we could find.

Olive and Fletcher helped me make a big balloon garland.  We got all of the balloons from Amazon.

Leo is my only cupcake loving kid and he was thrilled to see cupcakes in progress.

I did a mix of cookies + cupcakes and brownies for our parties.

I was too busy having fun to get pictures of everyone, but here are a few favorite pics from the weekend.

Cute cousins!

I love collecting party supplies from my favorite spots - Target, Hobby Lobby, Walmart, Dollar Tree, Amazon, etc.  Dollar Tree had this darling pinata wrapping paper!  I covered all the tables with it and it was so cute.  The fiesta napkins came from Hobby Lobby.

This cutie was so excited for his party.  He loved the theme and the menu.  Taquitos were his top request and he hopped in line first to get the food flowing.

The taco bar menu was so fun and such a big hit!

I did ground beef with taco seasoning in the crock pot, the carne asada pulled pork from sams and chicken and cheese Taquitos.  I had all the taco toppings, chips, soft and hard shells and fruit on the side.  It was easy to prep ahead of time and a crowd pleaser menu!

We had our biggest crowd ever with Kevin's family and it was so fun!  We ate well, had good conversation and really enjoyed celebrating the boys.  The weather wasn't cooperating for any time outside so we spread out upstairs and downstairs watching March Madness and eating tacos.

Olive gets a BIG, big sister shout out after several days of birthday attention for the boys.  She was a total trooper helping me set up for the parties, decorate and she appointed herself Leo's present helper.  She handed him gifts, read him the cards and kept him focused on opening gifts.  Her birthday is in May and she's excited for her turn :)

Fletcher said his birthday celebrations were awesome!  He loved every second and got some of the coolest gifts.  Leo has been sleeping with his new favorite toys.

We 10/10 recommend a birthday fiesta!!