Happy Campers

We celebrated Fletcher turning 8 and Leo turning 4 with HAPPY CAMPER themed birthday parties!  

Their birthdays are just ten days apart so it makes the most sense to gather our families together one weekend to celebrate both boys.  We both have big families that all live nearby so we host my family one night and Kevin's family another night.  Usually back to back nights.  Fletcher likes to pick the theme and Leo couldn't care less.  But both boys had thoughts on the menu.  Perfect combo.  Fletcher mentioned a camping theme for this year and it turned out so cute!  We used tons of things we already had so it was probably my most affordable party decorations ever.

Years 4 and 8 are going to be great!

Fletcher was SO excited to help me gather camping decorations.  He cut me tons of logs, branches and made sure I had plenty of supplies.  He also shared his rock collection and some other favorite things for party decor.  I printed out pictures horseback riding and had them on display.  They were perfect party decor and I can hang them up after the party is done.

Party banners were crazy expensive so I made my own.

Coolest rock collection made a great centerpiece.

Party favors and woodland creatures.

The solar eclipse was just a few days after the party so we did eclipse themed treat bags for all the cousins.

One night we did cookies, cupcakes and brownies for dessert!

The boys wore matching gone fishing tshirts.

Kevin took care of dinner - pizzas and breadsticks - and I just put together some fruits, veggies and chips.  Easy peasy!  If you remember this was the same week that our neighborhood was hit by a tornado.  That happened on a Tuesday and we hosted the boy's parties on Friday/Saturday.  It was a wild week, but I was so thank to be able to host.

Best great grandmas ever!

Tools, Lincoln logs, Play-Doh and more.  They loved their gifts!

Then we did a Chick-Fil-A inspired dinner the second night - chicken tenders, nuggets, tator tots, Wisconsin Cowboy Beans and sides.  The meal was a big hit with kids and adults.

Since I did a lot of cooking for the meal, I hit the easy button on dessert.  I grabbed these bite sized cheese cake variety box from Sams and everyone loved it.  We also did a s'mores station for the kids and some cookies.

We had lots of fun making s'mores and the weather was perfect.  Olive is always a trooper through all the boy's birthday festivities being a helfpul big sister.  It's a lot of attention on the boys, but her birthday is up next in May.

Cute cousin crew on my side.

We had the best tiem celebrating the boys with our families!

Leo is FOUR

 Leo turned four on April 7th and we had a really fun time celebrating him.  We tried to do all of his favorite things - church in the morning with his buddies, his favorite foods and lots of playing outside.

Leo loves cookies, Hawaiian Rolls, french fries, apples and vanilla ice cream.  He enjoys doing puzzles, cutting paper, benig read to and sitting on mom.  He leans towards the bossy side so we jokingly call him Boss Baby.  He loves to play outside, plays hard, everyone fights to be his favorite and he heads to PreK this Fall.  Babies don't keep!

He requested cookies and vanilla ice cream for his birthday treat.

We woke up early to open gifts wrapped in his favorite Paw Patrol buddies.

This sweet guy has been without a set of wheels for over a month and he was SO excited to get a new bike for his birthday!

His birthday was the day where we spotted 8 rainbows in our backyard.  We had to stop and snap some pictures with the birthday boy and the rainbows.

Happy Birthday, Leo!  Year 4 is going to be fun!

Easy Homemade Pico

Do you love pico?

It's one of my very favorite sides for taco night.

I do a variety of things to make taco night feel special - homemade pico, homemade guac, freshly shredded cheese or everyone's favorite toppings.  Pick one of two of those things and taco night will feel like a special dinner.  I promise!

Homemade Pico:

1 cup mini tomatoes diced (these are grape tomatoes) and the juices

1 small diced yellow onion

a little diced purple onion

2 chopped green onions

1 partially seeded fresh jalapeno diced

the zest and juice of one lemon

the zest and juice of one lime

a generous sprinkle of Kinder The Blend Seasoning (salt, pepper & garlic)

Directions:

Chop everything and combine it in a bowl.  Stir until all the juices are well mixed.  Refrigerate for about an hour and serve with taco night.  We love this as a topping for nachos, tacos or as a dip for chips and dip.  It's so good!!

This recipe is one that is best eaten the same day.  The tomatoes get mushy leftover.

Would your family enjoy this for taco night?  It would be a great Summer appetizer for any cook out!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!  It was a jam packed week at our house.  Did you catch my blog posts this week?  If you have ever thought about going to Wisconsin Dells, you've got to read these posts!

Wisconsin Cowboy Beans - DELICIOUS!

6 Favorite Wisconsin Restaurants

Wisconsin Highlights

Now onto my favorites of the week:

1. Dinner with friends.  I headed north and my friends headed south and we met in the middle for dinner.  Vincennes has a great Marshalls, Old Chicago and Lics.  We try to hit all of those spots and catch up on each other's lives.  It's my favorite night of the quarter :)

2. Hair.  I have been using something new on my hair and people are noticing.  

I'm getting nice compliments and my hair is growing.  The best part is that it isn't a crazy supplements, marketing scheme or subscription.  It's an $7.97 bottle of hair OGX Extra Strength Damage Remedy + Coconut Miracle Oil from Amazon.  I use a little on the ends every day and then put a heavier layer on as a conditioner before or after showers.  I also try to really limit putting any heat on my hair.  Never blow drying it and minimal styling tools.  My hair is thrilled with this routine.  You've got to give this miracle hair oil a try!!

3. Bible study luncheon.  I went to our end of the year Bible study luncheon and it was kind of sad.  I love these ladies and love seeing them twice a month.  The church gifted us with shirts and we exchanged some gifts.  I'm excited for a new devotional and hope to keep up with my new friends this Summer.

4. Pollination Program.  Fletcher's grade did a darling program and invited parents to come and see it.  The bee themed songs were so cute.  Leo loved it and I was so proud of Fletcher.  He loves a good play list, but he does not love performing for a big crowd.  He was so excited to see us waving to us throughout the whole program.  Then he shared all of his research with us back at his classroom.  He's learned a lot in 2nd grade.  I'll forever and always love second grade handwriting.

Or his signature of Fletcherj :)

The highlight of us being at school was Fletcher getting to proudly parade Leo around the room and introduce everyone to his baby brother.  It was so sweet!

5. Tulips!  My neice gave us tulip party favors and they bloomed this Spring!  They added a pretty pop of color to our landscaping.

Speaking of a pretty pop of color... we keep finding nests filled with eggs on our property!

6. We've been scootering, walking and biking all around the neighborhood.

7. Elite Air.  The kids got invited to a friend's birthday party and they loved this place!  The trampolines, ninja gym, inflatables and climbing structures were really fun.

8. Backyard Bonfires.  We've been making a lot of s'mores and enjoying time around the fire pit.  It's our favorite hang out spot.  Good idea, Kev.

9. All of my favorite things in one outfit - a dress in my favorite color, a headband and a puff sleeve jean jacket.  Yes, please.

10. Story time.  I love taking this cutie to story time each week.

11. Countdown to Summer!  We kept talking about how many school days we had left so I made us a countdown.  My crew loves a post-it note countdown so this was has been a big hit.  It's also been a good visual for me to figure out how many days I have left to get done all the things before everyone is home for Summer :)

I hope you have a great weekend!  I'll see you back here on Monday!

Linking up with Momfessionals

Wisconsin Highlights

We spent 5 days in Wisconsin for Spring Break and loved doing a mix of our favorite activities and some new ones.  We celebrated one birthday, Easter and Spring Break all in just a couple of days.  The resort was very crowded - maybe the most crowded we'd ever seen it so we got creative and fought for a raft or two when it came time to head to the lazy river.  We found tons to do and just did our best to avoid the big Spring Break crowds.

The highlights of our trip were:

It was sunny and chilly, but we bundled up and went for a walk on the Riverwalk.  It's been a mild winter so the boats were busy going up and down the river.  The downtown Dells area is fun to walk through and shop for souvenirs.  The day after we left, the dells got a foot of snow!!  We were kind of sad to miss a snow like that.

2. Arcade time.  The kids love arcades more than almost anything right now so it was fun to see them win some big prizes.

There's an impressive ropes course above one of the arcades.  Kevin took the big kids to do that and I was surprised at how much better, more confident and faster they were than the first time.  I could hardly keep track of them climbing and working their way through the course.

There is a free kid climbing structure called Timberland Playhouse that Leo loved to explore.  It was a tiny bit scary becuase it was HUGE, but I think I was only one who was scared by that.  Thankfully, there is just one entrance for the kids to come and go from.  There is also a smaller toddler section.  It's always awesome to find free things on vacation!

Can you spot Leo climbing over this bridge up at the ceiling?  He loved it.

Extra snuggles and family time is always a good idea.

Both big kids won the Kid's Camp coloring contests earning free glitter tattoos.  We did crafts and played there several times.

Olive's mission was to find a Wisconsin Dells sweatshirt that she LOVED.  We checked all the shops, tried on several options and this was the winner.  Oversized sweatshirts are 5th grader's love language.

We hit the waterparks!  This was our last day when the crowds finally died down.  We hopped around to each of the different indoor water parks.  The big kids love the big slides and activities and my job is to keep Leo's head above water.  He's fearless and can't swim.  Rough combo for his body guard.  Picture us in a twin raft in the lazy river and Leo falling out head first.  Thank goodness Olive was with us and could help me get Leo back in the raft.  It's funny now, but not so funny in the moment.

I packed everything to make sure we could celebrate Easter in Wisconsin.  The kids woke up to baskets, the bunny came to deliver eggs to hunt in the condo while we were at breakfast and we had a great Easter together.  The whole resort and area was decked out for Easter.

The big kids took me horse back riding!  They have gone multiple times with Kevin, but he insisted that I go with them this time.  I was a little scared, but I loved it.  Our horses were nice and mostly well behaved.  The trail was an hour long and no one warned me that my butt would be sore!  Whoops!  We had a blast and the kids loved introducing me to something new.  Fletcher came home with a souvenir horse shoe and I couldn't resist the photo package at the end of the ride.

Spring Break 2024 was a blast!

They played pool and swam in the pools.

Got treats at all hours of the day.

Ate more donuts than we could count.

And made some really great Wisconsin memories.