A Collected Home

One of my goals for our home is for it to be full of things we have collected.

Things that we love.  Things that remind us of favorite places and favorite people.  Things from trips, travels and adventures.  Plus a mix of antiques or family things.  We've got some new things, some things from Amazon or big box stores, but our favorite things are the ones that we've collected.  Those are the ones that last forever and make us smile.

This rainbow scoop was a souvenir from Key West.  That was one of our ports on our 30th birthday cruise.  I smile and think of key lime pie and Ernest Hemingway's cats every time I scoop sugar.

My dad has collected crocks my whole life.  My mom had baked my whole life.  I have a wooden rolling pin that was my grandmas in this crock and the crock is from my dad.  We both loved the blue finger prints that were surely a mistake.  This olive oil jar is a treasure from Park City, Utah.  My parents came out for a visit.  We headed up the mountain to Park City and my mom bought it for me.  I smile and think of the mountains and my mom every time I use it.  

Did you know that I have a plate collection?  I love a set of pretty plates.  I try to pick up floral or polka-dot plates in sets of 2 or 4 any time I see a pattern that I love.  We were strolling through the streets of Savannah, GA one Spring day when Olive and I tagged along with Kevin for a work trip.  We shopped and explored the moss tree covered streets.  I think of Spanish Moss and southern living every time I use these plates from Anthropologie.

This pretty plant was a housewarming gift from my aunt and uncle.  It seems to love this spot!  See that quirky little caterpillar?  It's hand painted by Fletcher when we were at a pottery shop in Wisconsin.  I love that happy little critter.  And the framed photo.  It's from my Class of 2000 high school graduation party.  Kevin's name tag said something like Whitney's Man on it.

This picture instantly takes us back to Ft Myers, Florida.  We had the best trip there staying at a tiny beach side condo.  We hope to go back one day soon!

What are your favorite collected items in your home?

7 Family Dinner Ideas

Every Sunday I sit down and do a quick meal plan for the week.  I write out 7 meal options for me to make at home and schedule my grocery pick up accordingly.  Then I pick out the dinner that sounds best or works best for that night.  We usually get take out one night and I like picking the dinner that works for that day vs mapping out every single day.

The kids are still helping with dinner and in the kitchen, but we're not currently assigning anyone to help me with the menu for the week.  That was fun for two months, but it was a lot of work to collaborate with that whole process.  I'm taking a little break and will do it again later in the year.  I think it's a fun routine to try, but it felt like too much work to do that every month.  It was also more expensive to have everyone picking their favorite meals for the week vs using up the food we already had on hand.

Let's talk about diner ideas:

1. DIY Salad Bar!  Chop up all your favorite veggies, make some crescent rolls and add in your favorite protein.  Chicken strips, Rotisserie chicken or a grilled chicken would be perfect.  None of my kids ever make a salad.  They skip the lettuce and just load up on veggies, protein and rolls.  Yum!  I love this dinner because it leaves me with leftovers for lunch all week.

2. Taco Salad.  We don't have taco Tuesday every week, but I'd say we have tacos a couple times a month.  I love making fresh pico and all the sides.  The kids usually have a soft taco, nachos or a taco bowl while I make a big taco salad.  This is a great meal for leftovers.

3. Leftover night!  If I've cooked a lot then we will have a leftover night.  I reheat all the leftovers in the oven and then we go through the buffet line to eat the leftovers that look best to us.  I usually send everyone through the line first and I'll finish up whatever is left.  This will ensure that your leftovers don't grow moldy in the fridge and save you money!  If we don't have enough leftovers for a full dinner then we'll do a leftover lunch on the weekend.

4. Breakfast for dinner.  I make some kind of carb (pancakes, waffles, cinnamon roll bites or toast) and then do eggs, bacon, turkey sausage and fruit or smoothies.  The kids would eat this meal every single week.  

5. Comfort food - green beans, mashed potatoes, ham & pineapple.  Yum.

6. We love these Member's Mark Southern Style Chicken Bites and Waffle Fries from Sams.  They give Chick-fil-A vibes for a fraction of the cost.  I think the chicken is under $12 and the fries are under $10.  Both bags are gigantic and will last us 3 meals if we serve other fruits and veggies as sides.  I do find that they bake a long time to get everything crispy.  Almost double the time that's on the bag to get everything crispy.

We did the Tyson chicken tenders from Sams that are also good with tator tots and salads.

I love having an easy protein on hand like these chicken bites or chicken tenders.  They are easy to bake and are so much cheaper than eating out.

7. Happy grilling season!!  I love when Kevin grills the protein and then I take care of the sides.  We'll do brats, hot dogs, burgers, chicken and more.  Then I plan one hot side, fruits and veggies and maybe some chips or potato salad.  This combo will be on repeat now through the fall.

I hope you finish this post with a new meal idea or two for your family!

Simple Charcuterie Dinner Board

Now that it has gotten HOT, charcuterie boards and easy dinners sound very good to me.  

I can chop almost everything in advance and keep it in containers in the fridge.  I chop in the afternoon and then prep dinner around 5:30.  It's so easy to pull out the containers of chopped veggies, fruits, cheeses and more and then layer everything on the board.

Kevin was at a work dinner last week so I hit the easy button on dinner.  I heated up some frozen breadsticks and grabbed a few meats, cheeses, salty snacks, fruits and veggies.  It's less variety than my typical boards, but I thought it might make this kind of meal more approachable to a lot of you.  

Just grab a 2-3 types of your family's favorite foods from each food group and put it all on a board.  Your family will love it!

The best part is that you can put all the board leftovers in your kid's lunch boxes the next day!

These dinners are the best because you're left with almost no dishes.  Super easy clean up.  And if you make sure to build your boards with mostly family favorite foods and one or two new things, you'll have a meal that your family really enjoys!

Let me know if you have any charcuterie board questions!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!  My kids have a 3 day weekend and we're so excited.  Did you catch my blog posts this week?

Hosting a Simple Lunch with Friends - you've got to try my chicken salad!

Slow Down - my best parenting advice

May Coffee Chat - always my most popular blog posts!.

Now onto the highlights of our week:

1. End of the Year Celebration!  Kevin's department hosted an end of the year cookout at a local park.  The guys grilled, the department worked hard to plan a great event, I helped with sides and cookies and the weather was perfect.  It was fun to celebrate the first year milestone with their program.

2. 8 year old boy style is my favorite.  Fletcher told me all the guys are wearing these sunglasses.

3. Mr. Basketball.  We've been going on walks again in the evenings.  The kids bring basketballs and we enjoy the pretty sunsets.

4. Shelbert the snail.  Fletcher has been collecting snails.  He did some snail research and made them their own enclosure.  So creative!  2nd grade handwriting is my favorite.

5. Most mornings I wake up to this view and it's my favorite.

6. The kids discovered a surprise rose bush on our property.  It's so pretty.  The roses have really popped this week so the whole bush is covered in white roses now.

7. "Pwease, Mama, can we go on a bike ride?" on repeat all week long.

8. Leo's favorite lunch.  PBJ, appleasuce and all his favorite sides.  I could offer him all the meals and this would be his dream lunch right now.

9. Iced coffee at a favorite local spot with friends.  Next time I'll ask for EXTRA ice in my iced coffee :)  The boys played while the moms chatted.  Perfect combo!

10. Choir concert.  Olive wrapped up 5th grade choir this week.  Her choir concert went perfectly and the boys were mostly great audience members.  She's loved doing choir with her friends.

11. Backyard rainbow!  Fletcher was working in the backyard and came running inside to alert me of the rainbow.  We never got any rain so this was a fun surprise.

12. My last favorite thing is a 3 day weekend!!

I hope you have a great weekend!  See you back here on Monday.

Linking up with Momfessionals

May Coffee Chat

Happy May!  The year is flying by all of the sudden and it feels like Summer is almost here.  I've got a lot to get done around the house in the next 16 school days before the kids are home 24/7 for Summer break.  Grab a cup of coffee!  We've got lots to chat about today.

1. We're going to a Kentucky Derby party this weekend and I'm so excited!  It's a fancy one.  We have a babysitter for the kids.  Hats and dresses required.  I can't wait to tell you all about it.

2. I have the best system for returns to share with you.  Keep all of your returns in the front seat of your car.  Keep the receipt with them and then when you find yourself near those stores you can return the items.  I like to return items ASAP when I know they aren't going to work for us and this system helps ensure that I don't miss return windows and don't lose money.  I do the same thing with library books or items that need to be dropped off to friends.  My front seat is the perfect visual to do list.

3. I was so proud of tackling a project - organizing my bill pay binder.  I updated forms, cleared out the clutter and got everything organized.  I also apparently threw away last month's water bill without realizing it.  It's one of the only bills that I don't have on autopay.  I might need to update that ASAP.  I got a higher than usual bill this month and realized it never got paid last month.  I guess I was a little too ruthless in my decluttering efforts.  Whoops!

4. How's your Summer planning shaping up?  We have the kids signed up for one camp and have two trips on the calendar.  We're hoping to sneak in a beach trip maybe in June.  What's your favorite beach to visit?  Bonus points if it's within driving distance from Indiana.

5. It looks like we have another night owl on our hands.  Olive has always been a night owl like me and Leo seems to be following in our footsteps.  He's so sweet and snuggly late at night, but I'm ready for some quiet time when 10pm rolls around.

6. Have you planted your Summer flowers yet?  I'm tempted because it has been warm in the Midwest, but I usually wait until Mother's Day weekend.  I'm getting ferns, planting pots on my patio and I have a bunch of seeds to try growing this year.  We'll also plant our vegetable garden later this month.  

7. Family reading time.  Is this a thing?  We're trying to get into a good rhythm of reading with the kids or idependent reading time.  I know it'll take some practice to make it a habit, but I'd love for this to be something we all do after dinner.  Or all do in the afternoon during the Summer.  Stay tuned.

8. I ordered some lighter wash, boyfriend fit jeans from Old Navy and I'm hoping they'll be perfect for Summer.  I ordered my favorite Sofia Vergara jeans from Walmart in a lighter wash and a looser fit, but I was so disappointed that all of the distressing was at the top of the jeans meaning that underwear was visible.  Ewww!  I'm hoping Old Navy will come through for me.

9. I read an interesting hair tip recently: If you are struggling with oily hair very quickly after washing it, make sure you are blow drying your hair.  It helps the scalp dry better and keeps your hair cleaner.  It's working!

10. Do you have any flowering bushes that you love in your landscaping?  I'm thinking of spending my plant budget on some flowering shrubs that I could enjoy and also cut from throughout the Summer.  I've had Limelight Hydrangeas before and Butterfly bushes at our last house.  Comment with your favorite flowering bushes for my full sun yard.

11. I washed all the kid's coats and cold weather gear yesterday.  What are the chances that it'll get cold again or that we'll get some Midwest snow in May?

12. Olive's birthday is coming up!  She'll be 11 at the end of the month.  What are your best gift ideas for an 11 year old girl??

Let's chat in the comments!

Slow Down

We are big fans of slow Saturdays or slow weekends anytime we can get them.  

I know from friend's posts on social media that weekends are BUSY for lots of people.  

One friend posted that they had 4+ sports games to attend on Saturday, another friend was too busy to get our kids together for weeks and another friends posted that they did about ten different events on the weekends with their family.  There's nothing wrong with any of those examples, but my family does not thrive with that kind of nonstop, on the go schedule.

We intentionally slow down.

We sign up for things sparingly.  

Plan a few things to do for the weekend.  

Don't set early alarms if we can help it.  

Go to church on Sunday mornings.

Plan to be home together as much as possible.  

And that's okay.  Actually, it's GREAT!  

You don't have to schedule your family to the max.

I like to fix big breakfasts on the weekends.  Play outside with the kids.  Go for bike rides.  Go for walks.  Do art projects.  Read.  Get take out for dinner.  Grill.  Hang out with friends.  And give our kids time to play together.  We add in things like a trip to the zoo, ocassionally head out of town, sporting events and such.  It is just not enjoyable for us to be gone from home as much as possible.  

I hope that's encouraging to you as you are looking ahead to Summer schedules and the pressure to sign your kids up for every camp, every experience and every outing.  I bet your kids would enjoy some down time in their schedules, not have to be rushed from point A to B and would enjoy just getting to be home with you!

I made pancakes one morning and muffins the next.  The kids love to help with a big breakfast.

I keep this Hungry Jack Light and Fluffy pancake mix on hand at all times.  You just add water and end up with the yummiest, fluffiest pancakes!

How's your schedule looking for Summer?  Leo wants to encourage you to build some down time into your Summer routines!

Hosting A Simple Lunch with Friends

Have you wanted to make lunch plans with friends, but something is holding you back?

Maybe it's the expense of going out to eat?

Maybe it's the trouble of going to a restaurant with kids?

Maybe you don't have any great lunch spots near your house?

Take this as your sign to host your friends at your house!

Leo and I hosted our friends for lunch last week and it went so well!  I made the easiest menu - simple foods, my go to dessert of chocolate chips cookies and the kids played.  It wasn't expensive or a ton of work.  I tidied up the house just like I do for any company.  It was low key and easy.

I love these navy gingham melamine plates and have a stash of napkins that go perfectly with them.  I grab them anytime I see a pattern that would go with navy gingham at places like HomeGoods.  That way I'm ready to host down the road.  Cute plates and napkins instantly makes a meal feel pulled together.  I added a table runner to the table.

I wanted fresh flowers, but didn't want to run to the store to get them or spend the money on fresh flowers.  I opted to head outside to our yard and cut a bouquet of honey suckle.  It kind of feels like the perfect Midwest bouquet and it looked really pretty on my table.

There were just 4 of us so I made a tiny fruit salad, a veggie plate, chicken salad for the moms and PBJs for the kids with a side of salty crackers/chips.

The moms loved this chicken salad.  It's my go to recipe.

2 cans of shredded chicken drained and shredded

1 cup of grapes halved

1 apple diced up

1/2 cup of pecans

3 T Spicy brown mustard 

1/2 c Duke's Mayo

Mix until everything is well coated.  Refrigerate and serve with crackers, crusty bread or croissants.  

Easiest meal ever!  The whole meal probably cost me around $15.  That is way less than what it would have cost for us to go out to eat.

Cookies for dessert and I sent the extras home with our friends.

The moms chatted and the kids played.  We had a great time together!

Here's a nudge from me to you - invite your favorite friends over to your house!!  Breakfast or lunch guests feel like less pressure than dinner guests.

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!  I hope you've had a nice week.  No complaints here!

Did you catch my blog posts this week?

Easy Homemade Pico - the best way to make taco night feel special!

Leo is Four

Happy Campers - a really fun double birthday party for the boys!

Now onto the highlights of the week:

1. Days with Leo.  I'm soaking up our last few weeks of Mommy/Leo time before Summer starts.  Next fall he'll be headed to PreK several days a week so we are enjoying our days together. 

2. Costco.  We went with my parents to Costco and found seveal fun things to try.  We tried a delicious salsa, sourdough bread, popsicles, produce and more.  We did not come home with this giant Squishmallow much to Olive's dismay.

3. We met a friend for lunch at Jason's Deli.  It's our favorite.  Leo loves pasta and ice cream at Jason's Deli.  I love their salad bar.

4. Kites.  We had some really windy days that were perfect for kite flying.

5. Snack plate lunches are perfect for kids and adults.  It's my favorite lunch when the weather gets warm.

6. Every spare second of free time this week was spent assembling our new swing set.  We started last Saturday thinking it surely wouldn't take that long to assemble, but hours and hours and hours and almost a week later my dad and Kevin got it done. I helped a little, but mostly just kept an eye on Leo and kept everyone fed.  The kids are SO excited about their new play set!  I'll come back with more details about it after we've had it for a few weeks :)

7. Meow.  I had to snap a picture of this cat meeting.  They were all chasing the sunniest spots in the house and it landed them in the kitchen.  Topher will be 15 this Summer!!  Penny & Pearl our dilute calico sisters will turn 4 in September.  Olive is sure that 4 cats would be the perfect number for us.

8. Bike training.  Leo has been practicing and learning how to ride his new bike.  He's doing great minus one full speed trashcan encounter.

9. These two love to stroll through the aisles of Sams and sample the samples.  I did enjoy visiting Costco, but we love shopping at Sams.

10. Fletcher is always asking me to snap pictures of him doing cool things.  Example: Fletcher and the moon.

11. We spent the day at Christmas Lake with my parents over Spring break.  It was a little chilly and a little windy, but we had a great day.  We ate a yummy lunch at Frostys (watch out for the spicy cheese curds!! but the rest of the meal was yummy!) and we played outside a ton.  The kids are ready to go back and swim or hike or explore.

12. Fairy garden supplies!  I grabbed a few new fairy garden houses for our fairy garden set up this year.  Dollar Tree has the cutest houses this year.  You can't beat the prices and the assortment is so good this year.  Take this as your sign to build a fairy garden this year!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Linking up with Momfessionals