real food

I'm really proud of how far I have come in feeding my family Real Food and yet finding a balance in our life with birthday parties and eating out. I have been busy cooking and baking as much as I can, using only real ingredients. I even made my own Bisquick instead of buying the box for a homemade peach cobbler (and I saved money since I already had everything at home). It's not easy to cook and bake like this, and there are missteps along the way, but it's totally 100% worth it.

i scream you scream we all scream

When we got married we registered for an ice cream maker. Doesn't everyone? But we never used it and it ended up departing in a garage sale a couple of years ago. (Note to self: don't sell things that you might want to use someday!) Now that I am totally into making everything from scratch, I had to borrow this beauty from my parent's house.

I am hoping that "borrow" will turn into "keep" because I love having it. Can I just say that nothing compares to homemade ice cream, it is so good and so ridiculously easy. I love that I can make a healthy ice cream substitute or go for the real deal. Either way even though it may cost a little more, you cannot put a price on getting all of the preservatives and unnatural ingredients out. Real is best!

summer

We are on week 3 of summer and we are having so much fun!

Although to be honest, I am not calling this particular ride "fun." In fact I was keenly aware that we were practically hanging on by a wire and so I kept telling the kids, "don't move" because I was so freaked out. Luckily they couldn't entirely sense my fear and I was able to avert their own little panic attacks (mostly because I was afraid their crying would rock the little cart we were in). I might scale back the fun a little bit when it comes to adventurous rides that require heights and wires.

Nonetheless, summer is turning out way better than expected. The perks far outweigh the fact that I have all three kids with no break.

Summer IS lovely 

delicious!

I made this Carrot Banana Bread because it was the only carrot bread recipe I could find that used ingredients I already had at home. I wasn't expecting much from it but it was SO good. It was moist and delicious. This will be a staple in our home. Everyone loved it.

And just a side note, I didn't have enough vegetable oil so I read that you can use natural applesauce (which I had) to make up what you are missing and it worked perfectly! I think next time I will just use the applesauce.

it worked

Dawn + Vinegar = clean

(as seen all over Pinterest)

Just scrubbed my whole shower/tub and it totally worked! 

Go here for more info.

i like her

I'm not going to lie, I have a little celebrity crush on Emma Stone.  I have liked her since Easy A and my crush is continuing with this adorable article about her. I think the best way that I can put it is that I don't really like celebrities anymore. I don't like their drama, their entitlement, their extravagance, and their tacky ways. And I think it has changed even more as my kids get older. I just want my kids to have good role models and that's hard to find in Hollywood. Yes, you can find them, but it's not easy. And so I put Emma Stone on my list of celebrities who seem like someone I would want to be friends with, and I hope it stays that way. She is adorable!

delicious

Last week someone (I can't remember who, but you should take credit if it was you) told me that you can get a Neopolitan shake at In-N-Out Burger, it's part of the secret menu which I thought I knew all about. Apparently I missed this amazing item. Anyhow I had to have one so I ordered it for Friday night dinner out. I was good and waited until we finished our burgers to devour it, so that's why it's a little melty.... but it was so good!

Oh, and if you want to read an awesome blog post about the secret menu at In-N-Out you should go here.

for the teacher

Today was my son's last day of school, but I know for many of our friends and neighbors there is still one week left. For Teacher Appreciation week I did a bunch of teacher gifts that would work great for last minute end of year gift ideas.
Just wanted to share!

(almost all of my ideas were inspired or copied from Pinterest!)

An apple for the teacher

You're a bloom above the rest pencils 

Decorated clipboard

I designed the notecards

Personalized tote bag

Mason jar filled with her favorite treats

I made a book with pictures of all the students holding

a sign with a word that makes them think of their teacher.

And I decorated her door for the class!

SO fun.

father's day

Check out my Father's Day gift post over at my Family & Frills blog at OC Family.

coming back

I know I went missing for a bit... but I was trying to get life organized. It's not easy. I needed to get some rest, let go of some work commitments, write a little less, and run a lot more. And that's just what I did. But now I am back, hopefully with a little more balance and a lot more to blog about. There are so many lovely things going on right now. 

Thanks for coming back.