Emma is 5!

Last birthday post for the year! My oldest baby is 5! She decided to have a sleepover so we put together some pedicure kits, made bagel bites, ate cake and ice cream, and watched movies late (but not too late) into the night. We ended the party with a waffle breakfast. You can find the waffle recipe here. 

Tristyn is one!

Better late than never right? Especially now that another birthday has gone! Oops!

Anyways miss Tristyn turned one on July 12th and we had her party on the 13th. We featured a menu of southern fare. Chicken and waffle sliders, baked mac n cheese cups, sweet potato casserole, fruit salad, sweet tea, and of course red velvet cake (that didn't come out red, silly natural dye) with cream cheese frosting! We had a great time, and lots of love for this spunky little girl!

Vacation to Legoland

My oldest daughter has been asking to go to Lego land since she was 3! 

I am definitely glad we waited until this year, and she is now 5. 

We went all out and booked a room at the brand spankin new Legoland Resort hotel, and got 2 day tickets. 

The ticket cost:

The deal on the 2 day tickets was awesome for military. $50 each for 2 days at Legoland or $60 each for 2 day park hoppers. The park hoppers allow you to get into the waterpark and aquarium as well as the Legoland theme park. We decided with not being able to spend 2 full day we just did the Legoland theme park. 

The hotel: 

The Legoland hotel isn't cheap but trust me its worth the price! The kids loved it, and honestly I think hubs and I loved it just as much! 

When you book you can choose from 3 room themes: pirate, adventure or kingdom. Each floor has a designated theme so, if you prefer the first floor go with the kingdom. Pirate is on the second floor, and third is the adventure. Every part of the hotel is well decorated! Lego figures everywhere, extra large mini men who talk as you enter each room hall, and carpet that matches the themes as well! 

Even the elevators are fun! They are decorated as a disco party. With a disco ball. "Normal" elevator music as you load, then the door closes and a party ensues! 

Also each of the standard and premium rooms sleeps 5. They have a queen bed, then in the kids nook there are bunk beds and a trundle bed. The kids nook also has its own tv! Each room also has a safe, and the kids receive a treasure hunt upon check in, once they find all the clues they open the safe and find a surprise. 

Rooms also have a mini fridge, coffee maker, coffee essentials, and we also received water bottles, and juice boxes for the kids! Also there is a small bucket of Legos for kids to play with during free time!

We picked the pirate room! There were red and white striped comforters, red and white striped curtains, a log monkey guarding our safe, and even a coordinating shower curtain! 

For military discount call the hotel to book! 

Hotel restaurant:

The hotel has a few choices of places to eat. We picked the Bricks Family Restaurant and ate there twice: one dinner and one breakfast (they are closed for luck). They have a buffet that had a great variety from, BBQ to Asian. They also have a kids sized buffet that the kids loved being able to serve themselves from. Drinks are also included in the price. At dinnertime all the tables are covered in giant coloring sheets! The girls loved being able to color after they finished eating and mom  and dad were still munching! 

The other options for eating at the hotel include room service, mini's cafe and the skyline lounge. 

The park: 

When you book your room at the hotel you also receive early access to the park (hour early) and can ride a few of the high demand rides before the lines become outrageous! We took advantage of this and rode: The Fairy Tale Brook, The Safari Trek, The sky Cruiser (which still had a long line), and on day 2 we rode: sky tower, and got in line for the coastersaurus, but the kiddos got scared and didn't ride. 

We also learned go on Sunday instead of Saturday if at all possible! Man, the lines on Saturday were unbelievable. But Sunday we were able to ride many of the rides we did on Saturday with no wait time before noon!! Our original plan was to go during the week, but the Marine Corps had other plans, and that's okay ;) 

Ride Info:

Legoland is NOT a place for small children. As in children under 34". Most of the rides require a height if at least 36" and some even have an age restriction. 

This being said baby Tristyn didn't get to enjoy any rides except for the fairy tale brook. 

The great thing was that every ride was very accommodating. They had no problems letting us swap out and ride in 2s so we could take turns holding Tristyn! 

Emma and Abiageal had a blast! They rode almost all the rides they wanted too. The only real disappointment came is when we discovered they are too short for the teacup like ride. Their favorite ride was the Volvo jr driving school! The get to drive around a mini track with no help! It was hilarious and adorable watching them attempt to steer their way around the track!

Birthday extras:

When you get into the park make sure you let the person at the turnstile or ticket booth that you are celebrating a birthday. The birthday guest will receive a free button with their name on it, and everyone they pass will wish them a happy birthday! 

Also at the family restaurant they will song and being out a special slice of chocolate cake. 

Want to order a cake? Give the park a call, and you can order a cake for $20. It has an image of a mini figure with the child's name, and a few duplos for keeping. They will even provide candles for singing. They cakes are available for pickup at the Funtown market. They will also box up and hold the cake until an hour before the park closes. 

All in all the kids had a great time! Can't wait until miss Tristyn is older and we can plan another trip we can all enjoy!

Whole wheat muffins

A long time ago I went on a search for a good, no great whole wheat muffin. I was lucky and the first recipe I found had an great base. It used a few ingredients that we don't use here and prefer to substitute but it gave me a place to start. 

What you need: 

2 tablespoons melted butter

3 tablespoons maple syrup or honey

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 tsp salt 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375

Combine butter, vanilla and maple, and mix until combined, add each egg mixing until blended. 

In a small bowl combine dry ingredients. 

Pour into wet mixture, and slowing pour in milk while mixing. 

Bake 18-20 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean when inserted. 

One reason I live these muffins is that there are so many options. 

Today I added 1 cup fresh blueberries, you can also add a mashed banana, just use a bit less milk, chocolate chips, nuts or anything else you can think of! 

I also made a simple crumb topping today. 

 

Combine until crumbly: 

1/4 cup butter, cold and cubed

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Pinch of salt. 

Sprinkle on muffins and bake as directed. 

I hope you enjoy these little gems! We sure do! 

Caramel chocolate shooters

So my husband bought me this awesome set if dessert glasses.

Two years ago. I haut never found a use for them! Then a few weeks back we had a girls night and I made cheesecake shooters! They were a huge hit! So I am here to share the recipe! 

Caramel chocolate cheesecake shooters: 

Here is what you need: 

Shortbread cookies

1/3 cup sugar

12oz cool whip, divided 

8oz cream cheese 

1 tsp vanilla

Caramel sauce

Chocolate sauce

What to do: 

 

Smash cookies into a fine crumb. (I used one sleeve and popped them in the blender). 

Combine cream cheese, 8oz cool whip, sugar and vanilla, beat until smooth. 

Them layer in a glass in this order:

1tsp cookie crumbs

1 1/2 tsp cheesecake

1 tsp caramel sauce

1 tsp cookie crumbs

1 tsp chocolate sauce

1 tsp cool whip. 

If desired top of finely chopped pecans! 

All my measurements for layers are estimated so please be forgiving :) 

I hope you enjoy! 

Mason jar mugs

I just had to do this project when I saw my friend with one! And I thought how cute for Emma's upcoming sleepover! This is a cheap and simple project! 

What you need: 

drill

3/16" drill bit

9/32x1/2x1/4x3/8" rubber grommets

Mason jar ( I recommend pint size or larger)

Mason jar lid and ring

Pliers 

Directions: 

-screw lid and ring tightly onto mason jar. 

-using the drill and bit, drill a hole in the lid. You may need to run the drill around the edge of the hole to make it just slightly larger, but not too big! If you have a slightly larger drill bit feel free to use that, I just worked with what hubs had. 

- remove lid and use pliers to remove shape pieces hanging down from lid. 

- slid in rubber grommet 

-insert straw and enjoy! 

My daughters are in love with these and they look super adorable with paper straws!! 

If you make them let me know!!

10 day real food pledge

I have been wanting to do a 10 day real food challenge for a while now. I was hoping some friends would join in but I think they were just too intimated. It can be a lot for some people. BUT with the help of 100 Days Of Real Food, I have managed to make a 10 day plan and we started our challenge today.

Our 10 day meal plan

DAY	Breakfast	Snack	Lunch	Dinner
1	Eggs,Grapefruit, and Whole wheat Toast with Strawberry butter	Popcorn with Raisins, and cinnamon	Cucumber and Cream cheese on Whole Wheat bread with Applesauce and 1/2 Lara Bar	Greek Fajitas* (whole wheat pitas, with sauteed chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, and tzatziki) with Whole wheat couscous.
2	Whole Wheat Waffles with Maple, and bananas	Apples with Peanut butter and raisins	Pita with Hummus, carrots, sugar snap peas, and cantalope	Whole Wheat pasta with tomato sauce, and salad
3	Plain greek yogurt with granola and frozen blueberries	Grapes, and triscuits.	Whole wheat zucchini muffins, peaches, and cheese	Coconut Chicken Satay*, with Brown veggie fried rice
4	Oatmeal with apples	Lara bars, with cheese	PB& fruit spread sandwiches, with peas and watermelon	Leftovers
5	Leftover waffles with berries	Applesauce	Hard boiled eggs, toast, peas, melon and grapes	Grilled cheese and roasted veggie sandwiches*, watermelon
6	Yogurt with Blueberries and granola	Smoothies	Hummus with pita, sugar snap peas, carrots, melon and cheese	Chicken nuggets, veggie pancakes, and grapes
7	Whole wheat muffins with berries, and melon	Triscuits and hummus	Leftovers	Sauteed talapia with brown rice, peas and carrots
8	Granola with milk, blueberries, and peaches	Melon and cheese	Mac&Cheese (homemade sauce, and whole wheat noodles)grapes, and peas	Carnitas Tacos, refried beans, and fresh salsa
9	Omelets with toast and melon	Smoothies	Zucchini muffins with grape, and cheese	Quesadillas on corn tortillas with leftover pork, and beans, with salad
10	Leftover muffins with berries	popcorn and raisins	Cucumber sandwiches with bananas and 1/2 lara bar	Fettichini alfredo with salad

Please pardon my bad HTML usage, its been quite a while. LOL.

Anyways that is our complete menu. The girls also get a 4oz cup of milk at breakfast, but only water throughout the day with the exception of Emma who receive coconut water during our long days outside in the darn desert heat. I also have a cup of unsweetened tea in the morning and hubs is sweetening his coffee with honey. I will also be working on a grocery list to accompany this as well, if you are interested and would like a copy please feel free to comment with your email, or send me a message on fb.

Also we had to make one exception for this challenge, the tortillas. Our local commissary only carried a variety with 8 ingredients rather than the rule of 5, and I don't have a tortilla press, so that was my cheat moment.

All recipes for foods with an * can be found on the Facebook Page for 100 Days Of Real Food on their meal plans!



And Just for kicks a quick recipe!!

Strawberry Butter:

1 Stick cold butter
3-5 Strawberries cut in to 4s
1/2-1 Tablespoon honey

Toss in a blender and let it go until smooth.

It took mine about 6-7 minutes to finally get that smooth consistency.