Princess Popcorn

So my kid has a thing with sprinkles. It has pretty much become a food group. I wish that I had some clever advice about adding sprinkles to broccoli and the child will miraculously eat it but… no. She has figured out how to pick the sprinkles out of undesired food. Nice try mommy. Fail.
So while the sprinkle trend obsession lasts I try to take advantage and include sprinkles in our arts & crafts and cooking projects. While we work we talk about things like counting sprinkles, or concepts such as big and small/ a lot or a little. We spend time together, learn something new, make daddy and family some yummy treats and eat as many sprinkles as we can before mommy puts them away.

Princess Popcorn
What you will need:
Popcorn (we used Skinny Pop because that is what we had on hand)
Candy Melts - these can be found at Michael's or most craft stores
Sprinkles

We called this batch Princess Popcorn because the sprinkles are pink and purple like Sophia the First. The day we made it, it was forecasted to rain in the afternoon so we made a midday trip to the park to run the energy out then the craft store find fun things to do at our Princess Party that evening (which turned into watching Sophia the First will wearing tiaras, dancing to disney radio and eating princess popcorn) 

Directions: 

1. Pour popcorn in bowl

2. Melt candy melts according to directions on package.

3. Pour candy over popcorn stopping frequently to stir.

4. When popcorn is coated to your liking, pour sprinkles stopping frequently to stir.

5. Let popcorn cool and harden

Enjoy

Other sprinkle recipes we've tried

Sweet Sprinkle Recipes

Life Lately

Somebody share the secret to having multiple children and still managing to style your hair... wear makeup... shower regularly. 

I swear I will get it together sooner or later. 

So lately life has gone on as normal (because naturally normal means potty training a toddler who think "mommy mommy mommy mommy" screamed at the top of her lungs is your official calling card and an infant whose love language is physical touch.... Love them tho, really) with one major exception IM A SAHM! For those of you non-Baby Center frequentors that means Stay At Home Mom. BTW readying baby center is like reading hyroglifocs, there are more abbreviations on that thing than real words. 

It was extremely scary decision to leave my amazing job but I love being home with the girls and I know I will never get this opportunity again. 

I love planning activities and doing project with the kids and watching them grown and learn. I'm not going to lie, the whole yoga pants and top knot thing is bitter sweet and there are times I wish the naps were little longer but being a mom is an irreplaceable occupation. When the kids are both asleep at night and the house is quiet, I often tell Tim that I miss them and want to sneak in and cuddle 1. I'm not crazy enough to do it and 2. Those moments are few and far between recently cause the kids are striking against sleep

but you get what I'm saying. In efforts to get dinner on the table and have some fun I have been doing cooking projects.

Some of laylas food groups right now are carbs and sprinkles so we tried to make some mini pizzas from lunch yesterday. 

Ingredients:

Turkey pepperoni 

Sandwich thins

Pizza sauce or marinara 

Mozzarella shredded cheese

1. Cut pepperoni into shapes

2. Cut sandwich thins into shapes

3. Spread tomato sauce, cheese and pepperoni on bread. 

3.5 Eat handfuls of cheese while mommy completed step 3. 

4. Bake and enjoy

Fitness Friday

This year Tim and I's lives changed again with the birth of our second baby girl Kaylee.

Forgiveness points for not posting to my blog in over a year??

Between working, still learning how to be a mom to a now super energetic toddler, transitioning into a new home and being pregnant,  you can say I fell off of the diet wagon… it was more like face planting into a swimming pool of Little Debbie cakes. Being healthy and feeling happy is very important to me. Its something I want to pass down to my girls. After I had Layla, I was pretty sedentary for a little while. I was afraid to get up and leave her for more than a couple minutes. I would sit for hours just rocking her or playing with her or watching her as she slept. After a while, she got older, I became less afraid, and reality struck… So you mean I can wear my maternity sweatpants for the rest of my life?!?! I will still working my way down to pre-pregnancy weight when the news of baby number 2 was delivered. The day before Kaylee way born, I was almost 200 lbs. Yes, you read that correctly, Dos Zero Zero. I gained about 60 lbs, almost double what I gained with my 1st pregnancy. Needless to say, I started working out walking it out the moment the epidural wore off and I could feel my legs again. Now I am not a doctor and I would never recommend anyone put themselves in harms way to hurry up and burn the baby fat but I did start with slow walks, usually holding the baby, and I increased the speed or distance when I felt like my body was ready. 

For mothers day, Tim purchased me a Fitbit Flex to help me on my baby weight journey. After reading the reviews I initially thought that I wasn't going to like it. People commented a lot on the motivation aspect of it and how it helped them to keep moving. I thought "my mirror is motivation and I am walking around all day. How easy is that?" After I started using it, I became obsessed. I could not sleep until I reached my 10,000 steps. I was not content unless I saw all green lines on my app screen for the day. I started using phrases like "Fitbit says…" in normal conversation. 

 A brief explanation of how it works: You wear the band all day and it tells you how many steps you've taken based on the synchronization of your arm movements with your steps. There is an app on your phone and on the computer that keeps you updated on how many steps you have taken that day (which is color coded based on how close you are to your goal for the day), how many miles you have walked, a guestimation of how many calories you have burned and how many minutes you were "active" aka swung your arm consistently which indicates you were exercising. It also has a record of your food and calories and can add additional calories lost for exercise (for example if you used a stationary bike, your Fitbit would not record you as exercising because your arms were not moving. You could manually enter in that exercise for the day in order to have a more accurate measure of your calories expended). It really gives you a better idea of what you are doing all day rather than just during your workout.

I really like the Fitbit and think it has helped me to get on track and lose weight. In just a couple days my baby girl will be 2 months (I can't wait to post her 2 month update) and I am happy to say that I have lost 41 lbs without breast feeding. I still have a bit more to lose but I am motivated and hope to have good news to share in the future. 

Our Summer Bucket List

So I'm just going to go ahead and start talking as if Iv bee updating my blog regularly for the past year (insert awkwardly guilty face here) because I wanted to share something I am really excited about… Our Family Summer Bucket List.
Seriously, I do plan on writing a post all about whats been happening in the past year Iv been M.I.A. but Im excited to share about our bucket list today because it is what inspired me to get back to writing.
I am really into celebrating holidays, like Taco Tuesday or New Years (those are equally exciting- are they not?). Making small things special gives us all something to look forward too. And by us all I mean me, because Im pretty sure Tim just plays along
I found this bucket list printable on Pinterest from Yellow Bliss Road that I absolutely love

and made a summer list for my family which includes adventuring outdoors, eating ice cream and giving some attention to a blog that I may or may not have let gather dust for a little while.

Im excited to be able to document and share some of our family's summer fun and I hope to be back soon for a "where have they been?" update.