Friday Happies

Happy Friday!  I hope you've had a great week. I loved a post that I saw last week called Friday Happies.  I'm going to copy that for my Friday highlights this week.  These are all the things that made me happy this week.

Embroidered Sign //

I picked up this sweet Home Sweet Home sign at Walmart recently.  It's Pioneer Woman and it was under $5.  It looks great in my kitchen.

Poke A Dot Books //

Two different people gave Leo these fun Poke-A-Dot books from Melissa and Doug for his first birthday.  Have you seen them yet??  They are great for little hands.  The books are filled with these fun dots to push in and out throughout the book.  Leo is one and he LOVES them.  He can turn the board book pages by himself and pop his way through the book.  Even my older kids love them - everyone wants a turn to pop the dots and read the stories.  We bought a few more to give to friends for a birthday party this weekend.  The books are Melissa and Doug are so cute and they come in tons of themes.  We got The Wheels on the Bus, the ocean book, a color book and first words.  I'll put my Amazon affiliate links here if you want to check them out.

 

 #5 Jug // 

My dad has been collecting pottery forever.  He has a big collection so I asked him to look out for something with a #5 on it for me.  He sent me a picture of this jug and I knew it would be perfect.  I love 5 - 5 people in our family and it seems happy next to my Aldi aloe plant.  Tip: The plants at Aldi are super affordable and great quality.  I've purchased several and have been happy with them.

Hello Spring Charcuterie Boxes // 

I listed Hello Spring boxes on Jordan Bakery Box on Facebook and IG and will be building them for friends and local people this weekend.  The boys helped me shop for supplies this week.  Aren't these tiny charcuterie boards so sweet!?!?  You can follow me @jordanbakerybox on IG and Jordan Bakery Box on Facebook to watch for my next sales.

Leo Turned ONE //

We got to celebrate with family over the weekend.  His Wild One jungle party came together perfectly!

Picnic & Planes

We met some friends at our local airport for a picnic and to watch the planes come and go.  Culvers was delicious and it was neat to see the C-47 plane that led the invasion on D-Day.  You could buy tickets to take a flight on the plane and it flew over our house several times.

12 Month Well Check //

Leo got a great report at his 12 month well check.  He loves this crinkle paper!

Swimming Lessons //

We are wrapping up our session of swimming lessons.  The kids did great and learned a lot!

Penny & Pearl //

They are the sweetest sisters!  I've said this many times, but if you ever have the chance to adopt siblings as pets, do it!  They love each other so much.  I'm so glad the kids talked me into getting two kittens instead of just one.

Spring Flowers //

We've been keeping a close eye on all the Spring flowers in our yard, our neighborhood and watching the bees.  I picked up a flat of Lantana (the most perfect sun loving plant ever!!) It thrives in the full sun, hot heat and the plants get HUGE with flowers well into Fall.  I can't recommend them enough.  I planted 8 across the front gardens at our house with the help of the kids this week.

 

What a fun week!  We've got several projects we are hoping to tackle this weekend - building a new patio table set, putting together a water table, planting and some fun with friends.  It should be a fun weekend at home for us :)

Linking up with Momfessionals

Day Trip to Vincennes

What are all the fun destinations 1 hour, 2 hours or 3 hours away from your house?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately and hoping to to on some fun adventures with my kids this year.  Summer isn't that far away and I want to make the most of it.

I made my plans my parents to meet up half way between their house and mine yesterday.  One hour drive for each of us to bring us a few leftover things from Leo's birthday party weekend.  This is a city we rarely spend any time in.  It's a pass through city for us on our trips to visit family.  I started checking around and found an Indiana Military Museum in Vincennes, Indiana.  It would be open while we were in town and I knew Fletcher would go nuts to see a whole military museum.  I invited my parents and we all agreed to go after we grabbed some breakfast.

You can read all about the Indiana Military Museum here: http://indymilitary.com/

If you're local, it's a really neat stop.  We already have plans to go back.  It's amazing and wild to see the changes in military uniforms, gear, supplies, support from home and memorabilia they've collected.  A volunteer told us that many of the things they have on display are donated from families of veterans.  The museum is also set up in Chronological order as you walk through the display cases.  It was really interesting.

We started outside because we had never seen so many planes, tanks, helicopters, weapons and military equipment in one location.  We let Fletcher lead the way.  He was really interested in checking everything out and looking to see where the doors were on each vehicle and making sure they were locked.  There are three sections to tour - the outside lawn and two giant indoor museum buildings.

Fletcher was so interested in the vehicles - where they stored their weapons - the compasses, the knives in the cases, the bikes, the way the camo changed from war to war.  It was fun to see him get so excited about something.

The Annex was open on the day we visited.  The trenches were fascinating.  It's hard to imagine living, fighting and working in trenches like these.  The entire Annex is set up in scenes with mannequins.  It was so interesting.

One last tour around the giant submarines and equipment.

We also stopped for a quick visit to the George Rogers Clark National Historic Park along the Wabash River.  It's about 5 minutes away from the Indiana Military Museum and definitely worth seeing.  The grounds are gorgeous - perfect for a picnic and there is lots to learn.  We hope to go back and get to tour inside the Clark Memorial so we can learn more about it.

You can read more about it here: https://www.nps.gov/gero/index.htm

 

We all enjoyed our day exploring Vincennes!

What's a road trip that is on your radar near your home?

I've got several state parks, splash parks, zoo, friends and family on my radar!

6 Simple Dinners

I cook at least 5 dinners a week and don't want to be spending hours in the kitchen.  I love to share simple dinners with you that are affordable, quick prep, quick clean up and are recipes that the kids and parents will enjoy.

1. Charcuterie Boards

They're easy in the sense that you chop, grab lots of little bits of food and use no dishes.  Plates are optional, too.  That makes clean up a breeze.  I tried something new - sectioned off the board - salty crackers, meats, cheeses, fruits and veggies.  This would be great if you don't like your food touching or different kinds of foods touching.  

Tips: Aldi has the best price by far on cheeses, meats and crackers.  If you're interested in giving a charcuterie (char-coo-tree) board a try, start small.  Buy a couple cheeses, a couple meats and add in your favorite crackers.  Once you feel confident building a smaller board, you can start adding in new ingredients.

2. Teriyaki Chicken

I used 2 cans of cooked chicken drained, added Teriyaki sauce, sauteed a bag of stir fry veggies with some soy sauce and made boil in a bag rice.  My family thought this was a very delicious meal and it was so easy.  It also cost under $7 to feed the entire family.  It would have been 4 or 5 times that to get a similar meal out.

3. Taco Tuesday

I've been trying to put Taco Tuesday on the menu most weeks.  The kids have come to expect Mexican food on Tuesdays and it makes my life a tiny bit easier to just know Tuesdays are for tacos.  This night we did a build your own taco bar.  Some made nachos and some ate soft tacos.  Everyone was happy and I made enough leftovers for a few lunches that week.

I'm hoping to rotate soft tacos, taco casserole, taco lasagna, taco dip, nachos, build your own nachos, taco soup, tostadas, lettuce wraps, alternate meat - chicken, ground turkey, ground beef, etc. to keep things interesting for Taco Tuesdays.

4. Carry out

Figure out where you can get carry out or Door Dash affordably for your family.  And pay attention to coupons and deals they email out.  We know that we can get a delicious pizza and breadsticks at Caseys gas station for a great price.  It's delicious.  I know - gas station pizza!?!  How can that be good?  I don't know why, but it's the best pizza.  We'd highly recommend it.  We try to save carry out or Door Dash dinners for Friday nights or nights when we're busy with sports and don't get home until right at dinner time.

5. Traditional Easter Meal

I bought the 1/4 a ham that comes sliced at Walmart and fried it in a skillet.  No oils, just browned both sides a bit.  My family loves it!  It's about $10 and it's two meals at our house.  I made my homemade crusty bread, deviled eggs and premade mashed potatoes.  I love doing some homemade items + convenience items at the holidays.

6. Rotisserie Chicken & Roasted Veggies

If you ever need to "phone in" a dinner, this would be a good one.

Grab a rotisserie chicken at the store and then chop up all the veggies you have on hand.  I found these Lemon Pepper rotisserie chickens on clearance at my Walmart for $4.78.  It didn't taste very lemon peppery, but it was good.  We all dipped ours in different sauces.  We roasted the veggies (30 minutes at 425) with olive oil and Montreal Steak Seasoning, made some stove top cous cous (this kind is our favorite) and fruit and everyone was happy. 

Would your family eat any of these simple dinners?