Naples: We Love the Water!

I'm here today to document our trip to Naples, Florida for Thanksgiving break.  For the past couple of years, Olive and Kevin have BOTH had the whole week of Thanksgiving off of school.  I am not sure how long this will last so it was Kevin's idea to do a fun birthday getaway for me.  The tradition stuck and we found ourselves planning another Fall Florida trip.

The weather was LOVELY the whole time we were there mid 70s to upper 80s and lots of sunshine.

I always want to say, our trips always have their ups and downs.  It's challenging to travel with two kids + a pregnant mom and things don't usually go as perfectly planned.  I've learned to be more flexible and just take things as they come.  In case you need you don't believe me...

1. Our flight landed a little early at 10:30pm, we got our luggage quickly and hurried to claim our rental car.  That all went smoothly and we soon found ourselves scoping out vans.  We picked one, loaded everything up, installed two car seats, strapped two kids into said car seats and went to start the van.  We quickly realized the keys were missing.  They were no where and the employee said our only option was to pick a new van.  We picked a second one, opened it up to smell SMOKE.  Picked a third one and got everyone/everything loaded.  We were worn out!

2. Kevin made plans to golf one whole morning and then it rained the entire morning.

3. Kevin headed into the ocean with the rental van keys in his swim trunk pockets.  He realized it just as he was about to go under water.  Close call #1.  I ran out to meet him to save the keys. Then we thought we lost our one rental key for the van in the sand.  Spent a chunk of time looking for said rental key and then it turned up folded up inside one of our beach chairs.

4. Fletcher woke up in the middle of the night towards the end of our trip and was very sick.  He'd had a little cold all week, but it escalated so quickly.  He couldn't catch his breath, was coughing until he'd throw up and it was so scary.  He had never had anything like this.  He just couldn't calm his breathing and was so congested.  We got him some medicine and prayed he'd feel better quickly/be okay to travel home the next day.  He had a much better night and was okay to travel.  I booked him an appointment a couple hours after we got home only to find out he had bronchitis, needed a nebulizer, had an ear infection and would require several prescriptions.  Life with kids is never dull!!

5. We flew home to 45-50+ mile an hour winds at our airport.  They prepped us for a rough landing.  I'm a nervous flyer when the weather isn't great (thanks to a really scary flight several years ago) so this made me on edge.  It ended up not being as bad as they prepped us for, but it was a rough landing.  The wind knocked the plane around in all directions.  The kids were unphased and I was just thankful I didn't get sick.

So all that to say, as you check out our vacation pictures, just know they're documenting the highlights.  There were plenty of highs and lows behind the scenes, but we are thankful that these two are really great little travelers!

On our first day we spent the morning at the pool.  The kids love to swim!  Olive rarely wears her puddle jumper at the pool these days and both kids love goggles.  They're at the age where they usually pick the pool over the ocean.

Then we headed off to the ocean in the afternoon.  We don't usually go near sunset, but I am so glad we decided to this time.  It was so much fun!  The weather was perfect.  The ocean was so calm and we all really enjoyed ourselves.

 The ocean water was calm and a little chilly.  Neither kid minded.

We played, collected shells and swam.

Fletcher LOVES the ocean.  It's so funny because he's had to learn to love the ocean and all the textures and waves that come with it.

These big pelicans were really fun to watch.

Olive's first trip to the ocean was when she was about 6 weeks old.  She's LOVED it ever since.  No convincing required.

The kids bundled up after their swim.  It's definitely different than when we were here in June.

Fun first days in Florida!!

Brown Sugar Bacon Wrapped Smokies

Let me introduce you to THE very best appetizer I have ever eaten...

Brown Sugar Bacon Wrapped Smokies

They are AMAZING!

I've heard about these before and maybe tried them a time or two, but this was my very first time making them for Kevin's Christmas party.  We talked over options of food to bring and he picked this one.  Good call, Kev.

I searched Pinterest for recipe ideas and came up with my own.  You've got to try them!  They were gone in minutes and I was wishing I'd doubled my recipe.  My WHOLE family loved them.  Can't wait to make these again very soon.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pkgs little smokies/cocktail sausages
1 pkg thick cut bacon
1 c brown sugar
1 container of colored tooth picks

Tips:
The smokies and bacon were great prices and great quality at Aldi.
Pick out Christmas colored toothpicks from the package to make your app feel very festive.

Directions:
Open little smokies packages and drain.  Cut the bacon slices into fourths or fifths depending on the length of your little smokies.  Tip: Lay out your little smokies the length of the bacon to determine how many will fit along one slice of bacon.

Wrap each little smokey in bacon.  Use the toothpicks to secure the bacon.  Only stick the toothpick through the little smokey enough to hold the bacon in place.  You want them to sit flat in your 9x13 pan.  Line a greased 9x13 pan with all of your wrapped little smokies.

This recipes will completely fill a 9x13 pan.  Preheat oven to 350.  Wrap all smokies and then sprinkle your cup of brown sugar over the top of all the smokies. 

Bake for 30 minutes and then drain off any juice in the bottom of the pan into a bowl.  Bake an additional 15 minutes to let the smokies crisp up.  Let cool and then serve.

Done!  They were SO good!  See how the toothpicks are holding on the bacon, but don't poke through the bottom of the smokey??  I can't wait to make these again soon.  I'm thinking I will drizzle some pineapple juice on top of the next batch and see if I like that combo. 

Another fun treat this time of year is a pan of Christmas Rice Krispie treats!  I love making the recipe on the box and saving a handful of mini marshmallows to sprinkle on top.

 I hope you have a reason to make these recipes very soon!  Please report back and let me know what you think.

Top 10 Toy Must Haves for Boys & Girls

It seems like everyone has Christmas shopping on the brain this time of year.

Toys are everywhere.  Stores are stuffed with fun products and it can be overwhelming to navigate.

I am excited to share with you our Top 10 Toy Must Haves for Boys & Girls list today.  These are all toys that we use, love and own.  I'm not making a random list of affiliate links for you to shop based on a title.  These are all toys that are in our home and we love.  All the links below are my Amazon affiliate links.  That means that I'll making a very small commission on the toys your purchase through my links at no extra cost to yourself.  Thank you for reading and supporting my blog!!

The kids sat down to write out their Christmas wish lists and several of these toys are loved so much that they're asking for more.  For references, I have a 6.5 year old girl and a 3.5 year old boy.  All of these toys get their stamps of approval.

1. Picasso Tiles
I've talked about these for at least a year.  My kids got them last year and loved them so much they're getting more this year.  They play with them daily.  Each day they build new and different structures.  Some days they collaborate and other days they solo build.  They are the best toy!  We have never had one break even after rough play and can't recommend them enough.



2. Duplos
We've been adding to our Duplo collection for probably 5 years.  We have a giant basket full of Duplos.  They get played with all the time and are so much fun.  The kids have built zoos, garages, cities and can really enjoy playing together.  I love that they can build without all the frustration of having tons of tiny pieces (ie Legos).



3. Barbies
I mentioned this before, but it's worth saying again.  My kids love to play Barbies together as long as they have boy and girl Barbies to play with.  I've pulled out some of my old Ken dolls and New Kid's on The Block guys and the kids love playing Barbies together.  The mini Chelsea series of Barbies is also a hit at our house.  Olive asked for an is getting a Barbie house for Christmas.  We got both kids new boy/girl Barbies to play with.



4. Paw Patrol
Olive started the love of Paw Patrol a couple of years ago and we've just been adding to our collection ever since.  The Mighty Pups are hot on our current love list and Christmas wish lists this year.



5. Games
We are always up for adding new games to our collection.  I'll list our family favorites plus the new ones the kids are getting this year.  They are all kid/parent approved.  That means I won't be adding Chutes and Ladders to my list because that is my least favorite game of all time - ha!




6. Kindle Fire
Olive received this as a gift last year and it's been such a fun resource for us.  There are books, learning apps and games that both kids love to play.  We travel with it, it holds a charge for a very long time and it's kid and parent approved.  One day we'll get  both kids their own tablet, but for now it's perfect to have one tablet to share and take turns with.  It comes in so handy for flights, long car trips, sports activities, waiting at doctor appointments and it's great on the go.



7.  LOL Dolls
My daughter first started liking LOLs when she was 5ish.  The first version she got were glittery pets and they came with this sandy play-doh.  They were messy and not my favorite toy.  I'm VERY happy to report that LOL Dolls have changed for the better each year.  There are now many versions to buy and they are really fun.  She currently loves the LOL Glitter Globe dolls and the LOL Pets.  She loves to play with all of them and my son enjoys playing with the pets.  There are also Lil' LOLs, LOL Boys and LOL Fuzzy pets.  They come with little pieces and offer a fun variety.  You do not know which doll you are getting inside the packages.  Each ones is sealed and under wraps.  The doll + all of their accessories are disguised in blind bags so each item you open is a fun surprise.



8. Nerf Guns
We own a few Nerf Guns and they are on the wish list again this year.  Kevin LOVES them.  The kids LOVE them.  So Nerf guns are the perfect Dad activity at our house.  He supervises and they have the best time making toy towers to knock down and finding characters to use as Targets.  We don't let the kids play with these unsupervised.


9. Hatchimals
Olive gets most excited about the new Royal Hatchimals series, but both kids enjoy playing with them.  She put them on her wish list again for the 2nd or 3rd year in a row.  Each year Hatchimals seem to come up with a new version or a new variety of Hatchimals.  The royals have tiny accessories and are glittery.  It's not the kind of glitter that sheds at all.  It just makes the Royal Hatchimals sparkle.


10. Art Supplies
Both of my kids really enjoy doing art together.  You can't go wrong with Crayola markers.  Olive has the Crayola Inspiration Art Case and it's AMAZING.  It has held up so well over the years.  She feels very official with a case for her supplies.  We love it so much that we've gifted it to friends a time or two.  They love lots of different art supplies so I'll link our most used ones below.  These are all items that I've purchases a time or two and that we use on a regular basis.



Let me know if you have any questions!  It was fun to share our favorites with you.

What toys are on your family's favorite list??

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas Here

We've had a fun kick off to the Christmas season so far.  We added lights to the outside of our house, put up a few trees inside and are excited to finish decorating this week.  We've also done some fun Christmas activities.  I don't know about you, but there seems to always be way more events than we can possibly attend.  This means that I end up sitting down and going over our calendar to pick and choose our FAVORITES.  That way we are doing things we love and leaving plenty of time in our schedules for down time.

We had our annual gingerbread house decorating party on Sunday.  Each kid picked out their own house to build and it was really fun.  Baby brother was doing some serious ninja kicking during the whole event.  I kept startling me and making me laugh.  Our houses both made it home and are proudly on display in our kitchen.

Fletcher picked out the gingerbread house kit that came with the most candy.  Smart guy.

Olive picked the Frozen gingerbread house.  It was more complicated with mixing icing colors, loads of sprinkles that made quite a mess and a tricky triangle shaped house.

Then we had a delicious dinner - meatballs, spaghetti, chicken tenders, veggie lasagna and more!  Give me all the comfort food!

We got to see Frozen 2 with our cousins.  Review:  We enjoyed Frozen 2, but didn't LOVE it.  To be fair, it's hard for a sequel to live up to the hype of the first movie.

The plot was more complicated/harder for kids to follow, they were more villains, the music was complicated and difficult for kids to sing along with and both kids asked when it was going to be over several times during the movie.  I even found myself checking the time.  It was definitely a darker movie than the first one.  We still enjoyed ourselves, but none of us are eager to own the movie or watch it again.  Have you seen it?  What did you think?

We headed to our favorite local spot and picked out a Christmas tree.  We looked at lots of options and the kids picked this tree as their favorite.  I can't wait to decorate it once I find our Christmas lights. 

North Pole Breakfast

Every year we welcome in the Christmas season with a North Pole Breakfast.  I've been doing it since 2014 thanks to Andrea of Momfessionals for the inspiration.  My kids love it.  I love it.  I just seems like an easy, fun way to kick off the holidays.

Rules: I'm super flexible with the details of our North Pole Breakfast.

It's always breakfast, but the date changes every year.  I managed to pull it off on December 1st this year.  I try to always do it on a Saturday to give the kids a slow morning to relax and enjoy the festivities.  I start collecting goodies for the breakfast in November stashing them away for this event.  It's low stress, low key and tons of fun. 

I always get the kids new Christmas ornaments to match events or favorite memories from the year, new Christmas books and the rest changes from year to year.  I've done slippers, Christmas pjs, bottle brush trees, Christmas stuffed animals and Christmas themed candies.

We don't have a set menu.  I try to come up with cute Christmas plates every year.  The Christmas meals are rarely filled with homemade treats.  Just lots of fun, easy to prep holiday foods.

North Pole Breakfast 2019.
I'll link anything I can at the bottom of the post.

Mini Muffin snow man
Nutragain bar hat
bacon
Favorite Christmas candy
Mini Marshmallows
Mix of cereals - Reese's Puffs, Honey Combs & Cinnamon Chex

Three new Christmas books - one for each kid.  I'll put my links to them at the bottom of the post if you're wanting some new Christmas book ideas for this year.

Both kids started with the candy.
Some years I remember to put the kids in Christmas pjs for bed the night before.  And other years I remember last minute that the next day is December 1st and the kids show up to breakfast in regular old pjs.  Oh well.

My kids love Beanie Boos and play with them a lot.  I found these sequined Christmas ones at Once Upon a Child in their new toy section.  They LOVED them!

North Pole Breakfast Archives:

2018 (details here)

2017 (details here)

2016 (details here)

2015 (details here)

2014 (details here)

My amazon links to the products above.  Thanks for supporting PDP!

Vegetable Beef Soup

Happy December!  I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a fun time with family and friends.  We had a great time in Florida and fun times with family.  I'll recap that later on in the week.

Today I have a delicious soup recipe to share with you.  I've been craving comfort foods my whole pregnancy so vegetable soup was on my radar.  I looked for recipes on Pinterest and ultimately ended up making up my own.  I did a grocery pick up order with all of the ingredients.  My kids helped me make it.  We've been enjoying it all weekend.

Vegetable Soup Ingredients:

Montreal Steak Seasoning to taste
Salt & Pepper to taste
64oz V8
1/2 c Quaker quick barley
2 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 yellow onion diced
1/4 purple onion diced
1 c diced tomatoes
1/2 c frozen peas
1 carrot peeled and chopped
1 can corn
1 can beef broth
1 can green beans
1 can diced potatoes
1 can mixed veggies
1 15oz pkg Hormel Beef Roast Au Jus (use beef + au jus sauce)

Directions:
Diced up veggies, open and drain all cans and microwave the beef roast.  Let it cool, shred and remove any fat pieces. Add in shredded beef + au jus sauce to all the soup ingredients.  Season to taste.  Let cook for at least an hour and serve.  Reheats really well and tastes better the longer it cooks.  You can make this on the stove top or in a crock pot.

This recipes is wonderful because you really can add in ANY veggies that you like.  You can customize it to work for your family.  I used this as an opportunity to clean out my freezer.  I had a mix of random frozen veggies to finish off along with plenty of canned veggies.

Shred the beef:
Microwave it for 2-3 minutes.  Separate the meat out on a plate, let it cool and the shred it.  Remove any fat and throw that away.  This Hormel Beef Roast is SO GOOD!  It's about $5 and saves you SO MUCH time when making this soup.  It's tasty and adds so much flavor to the soup.

All the ingredients are added and now it's ready to cook.  You'll noticed all the fresh veggies softening and the barley puffing up as it cooks.

 After the soup cooks, things will soften and look more like this.

Moms, Aunts, Grandmas, Friends...
This is a really fun recipe to make with kids.  It's really fun to practice taking turns, being patient and adding in all the ingredients.  They loved alternating adding ingredients.  My kids are also more likely to try a new food or eat a food if they've helped prepare it.  They were SO PROUD of the soup.  They kept coming in to check on it, smell it and couldn't wait to try it.  Fletcher ate several bowls of it.  Olive enjoyed tasting it, but wasn't sure she loved it.

Hope your family loves this soup as much as we do!