Tuesday, February 28, 2017

I Want to Be a Party Planner


I love planning parties!

I love everything about it...
designing the invitations
gathering the supplies
making the lists
planning the menu
shopping for decorations
decorating
baking
cooking
hosting

It's ALL fun... well maybe not the part where you ask people to RSVP and they don't.  It's always awkward to track down those non-RSVPers :)  I have hosted tons of baby showers, wedding showers and love planning birthday parties for my children.  I love to include them in the planning and pick a theme that goes along with their current favorites.  I don't break the bank with our parties and love to find a good deal or DIY as much as I can.  I have started making our invitations, love to find party supplies at The Dollar Tree, Target, Amazon & Wal-Mart.  


Throwing a darling party on a budget that everyone enjoys is always my goal.


I'm currently working on a dinosaur themed 1st birthday party for my son in March
and we are brainstorming ideas for my daughter's 4th birthday in May.

Do you enjoy throwing parties???

Princess Olive Turns 3







Some Bunny is Turning TWO
It's the perfect time of year to stock up on all the bunny things!











Olive Turns ONE









Graduation Party for your Favorite Graduate:




I've shared these before and they're still true today:


Linking up with Momfessionals & my favorite Tuesday Talk ladies!
Be sure to join us :)
Crystal at Hall Around Texas | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram  
Stephanie at Wife Mommy Me | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram
Becky at BYBMG | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram
Lindsay at Lindsay's Sweet World | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram
Sarah at Sarah E. Frazer | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Polka-Dotty Place

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Monday, February 27, 2017

February Recipe Round Up

I'm excited to share some delicious recipes with you this month.  We ate a mix of family favorites and new things this month.  I cooked almost 6 nights a week all month long.  I'm not going to share all of those meals with you, just our favorites.  All of my recipes are easy, take around 30 minutes or less to make and are crowd pleasers.  I also try to make big dinners so we can eat the leftovers for lunch.  Here's what we've been eating this month:


My favorite meal of the month was
HOMEMADE PIZZA!!
It turned out so good and we've figured out the secrets to making a delicious pizza.  Since we're friends, I'll let you in on all the tricks.  I always use Kate from The Small Things Blog's pizza dough recipe.  It's delicious and needs no changing.  Be sure to bake the crust for a bit before putting on the toppings.  Then continue to bake it with the toppings until the pizza is done.

We LOVE the Homestyle Ragu Thick & Hearty Traditional pasta sauce for Pizza Sauce.  It comes in a smaller square jar and it has a navy label.  It's the best and makes the pizza feel gourmet!

I always do one small bag of mozzarella cheese
turkey pepperoni
a sprinkle of Seasoned Salt
and veggies for Kevin's side (black olives, onions and peppers)

Taco Lettuce Wraps:
All of our favorite taco ingredients in a lettuce wrap instead of a tortilla.  It was a great low carb meal.  My husband was not a fan of the lettuce wraps so he had his taco fixins over chips.  I'd highly recommend doing two pieces of romaine lettuce for each lettuce wrap.  It was nice to have a sturdier wrap so two pieces were perfect.
Seasoned taco meat (Ortega taco seasoning)
cheese
jalapenos
sweet peppers
onions
black olives
romain lettuce
sour cream
taco sauce/salsa
tomatoes
avocados

Taco Salad:
We had leftover taco ingredients so I ate taco salads for lunch several times.  Another great low carb option that was really tasty.

Queso:
Loaded Queso was amazing for our Super Bowl party.

 Pesto Chicken Pasta:
1 can cooked white meat chicken
3 T pesto
your favorite pasta
freshly grated parmesan
salt and pepper

Super easy dinner that made great leftovers for lunch.

Chicken Sausage + Quinoa Mix:
I fried chicken sausage + purple onions
and served it with
this quinoa mix from Sams and added craisins.

It was a tasty, quick dinner.  The chicken sausage had apples in it so it was good with the craisins.


Our favorite breakfast this month was this Pepperidge Farm swirled cinnamon bread.  It's so good!!  The kids love to eat it plain and I like mine toasted with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.  I'm guessing it would also make delicious bread for french toast.



Best treats of the month:

Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread:
Sometimes I make this when cinnamon rolls are sounding good because it's so much less work that homemade cinnamon rolls.

My most famous recipe
Chocolate Chip Cookies with festive sprinkles.

Chocolate Oatmeal Bars



Have you tried any new recipes lately??

Now I'm starving!!  Which recipes are you anxious to try???
I'm linking up with 2 of my favorite cooking ladies today
and we're all sharing our best recipes from the month.

Linking up with Southern Plate

Katie @ Cup of Tea
New Recipes to Try

Whitney @ Come Home for Comfort
Lots of Snacks!

Head over to their blogs to see what delicious meals they are sharing this month!
 We've also started a Pinterest Board called
New Recipes We've Tried and Loved!
Be sure to check it out and get some great ideas for meals at your house.

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Friday, February 24, 2017

The Highlights

Happy Friday!!  It's been a great, healthy week at our house.  We've done fun things with friends, played outside and enjoyed some beautiful Indiana weather.  Anyone else having a really WARM winter??  I think that the ground hog was a bit off this year :)  I took the kids on a quick road trip and we had a blast.  It was a good reminder to me that adventures are always worth the effort.  I think Fletcher's big smile on my dad's lap means that he agrees!


The highlights of our week were:

// 1 //
New Glasses... on Accident
I've had a rough time with my eyes lately - pink eye, running out of contacts, trouble finding a new eye doctor, etc.  So I was thrilled to find a great eye doctor and get new contacts this week.  I was wearing my glasses and I asked one of the tech's to adjust them for me while I waited.  It had been a few years since I'd had them looked at so I figured it was time.  She tightened all the screws and then set out to adjust the side pieces.  She promptly snapped my glasses in half!

We were both horrified and she looked like she was going to barf.  I didn't even know what to say.  She handed them back to me and assured me she'd fix things.  I looked at the frames and quickly realized they were beyond fixing.  My heart sank a bit because I really liked those glasses.  I also have a large head and it's always tricky to find glasses to fit me.  So her boss comes over and tells me to look around and pick out a new pair.  She says they'll just switch over my lenses.  I try on lots of options, stress a bit over having to make a quick decision and end up picking out these new frames.  I didn't intend to get new glasses this week, but I'm pretty happy with them.  Especially since they were free :)


// 2 //
St Patrick's Day
I picked up a few new St. Patrick's Day items at Target this week.  I found this cute polka-dot banner on clearance and this glittery shamrock for $3.  I got my whole house cleaned and dusted so I'm hoping to decorate for St. Patrick's Day.  March is going to be an exciting month with St. Patrick's Day and Fletcher's first birthday!

// 3 //
Festive Food
I love to make food for the holidays and fun plates of food for my kids.  So it's exciting to get a shout out for my efforts.  My snowman breakfast got regrammed by Cheerios this week!  I've got some cute ideas for clovers, rainbows and St. Patrick's Day in March.

My husband requested Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread this week so that was probably our most delicious treat of the week :)


// 4 //
Get Moving!
As I mentioned, the weather has been gorgeous lately!  My current exercise plan is to load up our double stroller and push for at least an hour.  The kids love to go for stroller rides and it's been a great way to keep me accountable.  Olive reminds me to go on walks and makes sure that we walk as often as possible.  We've also been playing outside and enjoying seeing the sun again.



// 5 //
Road Trip
The kids and I went on a quick road trip to visit my family on Sunday.  We loaded up the car and had a wonderful day.  The kids are really great travelers and it was so nice to see our family.  We had a delicious lunch.  My mom made homemade meatballs and I've got to get her recipe because they were so good.  The kids loved seeing everyone and our time flew by.  Fletcher had a moment of fussing in the car and I looked back to see Olive holding his hand.  Such a sweet big sis :)





Polka-Dotty Place Week in Review:
Monday: Types of Moms
Thursday: DVR Run Down


What was your FAVORITE part of the week??

I hope you have a really great weekend!!

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Thursday, February 23, 2017

DVR Run Down

I am so thankful for our DVR.  It makes it possible to watch all of my favorite things after everyone goes to bed at night.  I can't imagine trying to time our plans around watching my shows live.  I know we all did it for years, but man is it nice to just set things to record.

I thought I'd share my DVR run down with you today.  I look forward to watching in the evenings a few nights a week.  It's great to fast forward through commercials, delete episodes that don't look particularly interesting and watch when I get a chance.


Whitney's DVR Run Down:

Grey's Anatomy:
I didn't start watching this when it first came out, but thanks to it being replayed regularly I got caught up quickly.  Now I look forward to watching it each week.  I love all the drama and my husband loves hearing a weekly update of the show.  He isn't interested in watching it though :)

Fixer Upper:
Chip and Joanna Gaines have become household names and their show is wildly popular.  I love watching the new episodes and seeing how they make over spaces.  I wish I had a green thumb like Jo and I love how they mix old and new things together when they decorate.  They do things I didn't even know were possible and I love watching them work together.

Counting On:
I know the Duggars are kind of controversial these days, but I still love seeing what their kids are up to.  It's fun to see what they are getting involved in as adults and all of their different interests.  I think Ginger's wedding might be the prettiest one yet and am excited to watch the wedding episode.

The Pioneer Woman:
I enjoy her recipes and watching her cook.  Olive loves watching with me because they're always showing farm animals and life on the ranch.  I know she mispronounces spices, says the same adjectives over and over, but I still enjoy seeing what she's up to in the kitchen. 

The Voice:
I really love watching The Voice and love watching the coaches interact.  It'll be fun to see the dynamic change with Gwen being back this season.  Blake is my favorite coach and I'm looking forward to Luke Bryan helping him out.  I think they're both funny and the coaches are just as interesting as the singers to me.  I've marked my calendar for the new season to start next week.

A Chef's Life:
I really like watching this PBS cooking show about restaurant owners trying to make a name for themselves and their restaurant.  They do everything local and work hard to include their family in the process.  They also cook with interesting ingredients, go out to visit their local farmers and I end up learning about cooking and facts about the produce in the process.

Modern Family:
We like to watch this together in the evenings.  The family dynamics, the ongoing story lines and then embarrassing things keep us laughing.  I think the show is super relatable, easy to watch and gets funnier every year.

The Goldbergs:
If you grew up in the 80s or around then you'll likely think this show is hilarious.  It's funny to see them bring things back that we used to love and the fashion is great.  Kevin and I both like watching this one.  I can't believe every episode is based on a vintage video clip from a real life family.


What shows do you enjoy watching?
Do you DVR them?
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Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Wardrobe Must Haves

It's been a long time since I blogged any of my outfits or about fashion in general.  I found it much easier to take outfit pictures when I was teaching and dressing up every day.  It's trickier to photograph cute outfits for the blog when I'm getting dressed and going out during the day.  I can't really rely on a three year old to take my pictures so I'm trying to be better about snapping pictures in the evening or on the weekends when Kevin is home.  My sweet husband will happily... well maybe it's not his favorite thing to do, but he knows it helps me out... take my pictures.


I'm currently wearing a lot of:
cuffed skinny jeans
floral print
stripes
peplum tops
booties


It's so easy to throw together a cute outfit when you use this formula.
Great top + skinnies +accessories + booties
You just can't screw it up!!


// 1 //
Flowy Floral Tops
I find myself adding more and more beautiful printed tops to my wardrobe.  Old Navy has some realy pretty ones for Spring.
top - Old Navy (NEW)
scarf - Marshalls
leather earrings - Nickel & Suede
skinnies - Old Navy Rockstar
booties - Lucky



My sweet helper wanted in on the pictures.  We both have clothing in this print and get lots of compliments every time we wear them.  We haven't worn them at the same time yet, but you better believe that'll happen soon :)


 // 2 //
Pattern Mixing & Peplum
Stripes and florals are some of my favorite patterns to mix.  It's easy to put them together when you've got coordinating colors and it adds some interest to your outfit.
top - GAP
vest - Sams
scarf - TJ Maxx
skinnies - Old Navy Rockstar
rose gold bow earrings - Kate Spade
booties - Lucky



// 3 //
Animal Print & Stripes = Another great pattern mixing option
cardigan - Kohls
top - GAP
skinnies - Target
gray booties - Meijer
glasses - Lucky
bow earrings - Kate Spade



Do we have any outfit favorites in common??

Linking up with The Pleated Poppy today.
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