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Friday Favorites

August 21, 2020 1 Comment

We made it through week 1 of virtual learning! The boys have terrific teachers, I’m so hopeful that they will soon be able to get back into the classroom to learn in person and see their friends. J is currently obsessed with Epic which is a platform that reads books to you. He is currently on Chapter 9 of a 39 Clues book. A is very excited about band and playing the trumpet. The first day of my classes went great, I was excited to meet with my students even if it was on Zoom! We are working towards our house (hopefully, finally) closing next week, and navigating moving while still teleworking, and the kids going to school remotely. Here are some of my favorites of the week!

I had a favorite striped shirt and it shrunk, and this one is just like it!

Paper bag popcorn!

An amazing collection of sports memorabilia that includes some of the boys’ favorites.

Easy family meal plans.

Tips on kid proofing a house while still keeping it stylish.

Styling a desk.

And a finally, perfect cheese tortellini for meatless Monday.

Learning with A & J

First day of school surprises

August 17, 2020 No Comments

Well it’s not the beginning of the year I (or any of us probably) could have ever predicted, but we are going to attempt to create as normal of a school year start as we possibly can. The boys will be starting the first nine weeks remotely which means we spent this past week and weekend making sure the kids could access their learning platforms and necessary resources to start the school year. Each of the boys has a weekly schedule that looks like this:

I have written on it when each “live” teacher session is, so they are prepared to switch at each time. In addition, I created a “master schedule” on card stock and laminated it for them that essentially plans out their school day from start to end. We also made a master copy of things like passwords and other login information so we can find things quickly. I always pick up some sort of back to school surprises for the boys, and this year was no exception:

They are each getting a lap desk to give them space to work elsewhere if they get tired of sitting at their desk, a new little peep to cheer them on, and a stack of new books since reading is an assignment in both of their classes. A is in middle school now (I can hardly believe it!), so J is the only one still in elementary with one teacher. I got his teacher this year a book stack as well, because I know she likes reading!

And in another move of the weird year this is, I haven’t been school supply shopping yet! I had general supplies left over from the Spring for the boys, so we are starting with those. I’m checking each of A and J’s syllabi as they become available and I’m making a master list to order it all from Target (and the music book and stand from Amazon) tonight.

Friday Favorites

August 14, 2020 1 Comment

Twilight hour watch. The boys officially start back to school (remotely) next week, and my semester starts (online). We’ve got schedules ready to go, Zoom meetings set-up, and we are as prepared as we can be.

Library and sitting room goals.

Tried whipped body butter in a Sephora sample, and love it!

Acrylic coasters, would be fun for the bonus room!

Sheet pan corn nachos.

Fall cardigan inspiration.

Grilled peach burrata salad.

Mixing styles at home.

Favorite Recipes

Uncle Todd’s Parmesan Chicken Tenders

August 12, 2020 No Comments

When I was a kid some of my favorite food memories are my Uncle Todd cooking flour tortillas on the grill with melted butter and rolling them up, wrapping the bottom of them with a paper towel and handing them out to my cousins and myself. Whatever my Uncle Todd cooks, he cooks a lot and it always tastes like the best comfort food. My Mom introduced me to this recipe, and it was an instant favorite. It starts with melting butter in a pan. Then coating the chicken tenders and placing them back in the pan:

Then sprinkle with Parmesan and butter:

And cook in the oven until crispy and tender:

Check out the full recipe below and how to make the sides:

Uncle Todd’s Parmesan Chicken Tenders

3 lbs chicken tenders
1 stick of salted butter divided
4-6 ounces Parmesan cheese shredded
Three large eggs whisked in a shallow bowl
Bread crumb mixture in a shallow bowl
- 1-2 cups plain bread crumbs
- 1-2 tsp salt and pepper
- 1-2 tbs Italian seasoning

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut up 1/2 stick of butter, place in a 9×13 (or slightly larger) baking pan, and melt in oven (just barely melted). Take out of oven (with potholders, it will be hot!) swirl in pan to coat bottom and place on trivet.
Coat tenders individually in whisked eggs, and then coat in bread crumb mixture and place side by side in pan with melted butter.
Use about 1/4 to 1/3 of the cheese and sprinkle over the top of the chicken.
Cut remaining butter into cubes and place all over top of chicken.
Cook for twenty minutes.
Check temperature of the chicken (should be about 145-150) and sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the chicken.
Cook for another 5-15 minutes until chicken is done. The higher the temperature of the chicken when you first check it, the less time it will take for the second cook.

Roasted potatoes and asparagus

1 bag of small potatoes (usually about a pound)
1 bunch of thin asparagus

Directions

Preheat oven to broil (or 400 degrees if cooking in same oven)
Cover a large cookie sheet with foil
Slice potatoes in half & trim asparagus
Toss potatoes in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper
Place potatoes on the pan and cook for twenty minutes
Toss asparagus with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper
Add asparagus to pan after twenty minutes and cook for another ten.

It was all delicious!

Home Decor

Laundry room inspiration

August 10, 2020 No Comments

I love cabinets. And one of my major issues in our old house was lack of cabinets. I spent years trying to organize our laundry/mud room space of our old house and now in a few short weeks (hopefully) I will have both!

We added in top and bottom cabinets with a sink and then a hanging rack over the washer and dryer was included:

And the cabinets in the mud room area will hold backpacks (there are hooks included that aren’t in yet), and other grab and go items for school, band, and sports:

And here’s the close-up of the sink, a necessary inclusion for pre-treating stains on clothes:

There isn’t really a lot to add to all this fabulous storage space, so I’ve just got a few little items on my list:

The lost socks sign I picked up months ago from Target to hold the little baby socks that were on a string in our old house. I love the idea of a pump sunscreen for the boys to remember to put on before leaving for sports practices, or school, eventually. I loved this iron and iron board holder, but we had it bolted in the wall in our old house and had to leave it behind, so I’m getting a new one. I’m also picking up a letter board to hold Bible Verses and a little frame for a picture on the corner counter. To keep the area smelling fresh, I’m ordering one of my favorite scents in a diffuser. Finally, our favorite neutral hand soap for washing hands right when we get in the door, and a laundry basket for transferring clean items back to rooms. The laundry room also gets a lot of natural day light, so I’m transferring this plant there:

In hopes that it will start flourishing again…it’s been a little sad without full light. While this is mainly a utility space, I’m excited for the functionality of it in keeping things organized and clean!

Friday Favorites

August 7, 2020 1 Comment

So proud of A! He played one of his best games ever this week, and he and his teammate won their part of the match! I loved not only getting to watch him play, but see how proud he was of his success. This weekend we are working on getting organized for the boys’ remote learning and how that’s going to fit in with our work schedules. Two things I’ve picked up for them is these acrylic organizers, and weekly marker board schedules. We also had our house closing date moved back again, so we are praying hard that this is the last delay. Now here are some of my favorites of the week!

I’m thinking of bringing back art in the afternoons with the boys on Fridays, and starting with this multimedia bird art.

Mixing multiple rugs in the same space.

The Lions of Fifth Avenue is next on my reading list.

The first book I’m unpacking to read with J.

My yoga practice of the week.

Started a New Testament Bible study recently, that coupled well with the start of 1 John sermons at our church.

Medicine ball workout.

Finally, fashion goals.

Family Style, Mini Cupcakes

Outdoor fun

August 5, 2020 No Comments

Ah, the midsummer reprieve. That lovely short period of time, where the humidity and temperature drop enough that we can be outside in the late afternoon, and it doesn’t feel like I’ve jumped in a pool after we go running. The boys have taken take opportunity to ride bikes:

And draw with chalk:

Home Decor

Bonus room inspiration

August 4, 2020 No Comments

The upstairs room of our house was a special request (that we paid for), to make it an entirely open room (so we removed a wall), but also kept the bathroom. This (in part), my friends, is what we bought the house for. As you can see it’s a large space:

One of my favorite things about this room is the huge windows with a terrific view. The furniture in this room is going to be a lot of the pieces we already have, so my focus for this room is mainly blinds, curtains, and items for the walls. So first up, I’m using a bookcase that was in J’s old room and moving it upstairs. It’s going to have shared books and stuffed animals, and a few potted plants (that require little maintenance):

I love these amusable plushes, especially because J has been all about sushi lately. The crates are for stacking some of their shared books, and the A-Z bookends are for the Calvin and Hobbes collection I purchased them as a surprise when we move in. While living at my parents, the boys have read my Mom’s collection of Calvin and Hobbes over and over, and A told me he doesn’t know what he’s going to do when we move out and he doesn’t have them to read anymore. So, I got them the collection. This little sheep is the perfect amount of whimsy, with some fluffy succulents in it, and a little chain of pom pom garland adds color to the space. I’m looking forward to switching the books out seasonally for them.

Next up is the walls. There is a ton of wall space in this room, and I know with nothing on the walls the sound is going to echo. I have done quite a bit of print searching and these are the ones I settled on with coordinating frames:

How fun are these?? The Disney prints are some of our favorite rides, and the movie posters with the quotes are some of our favorite movies. I also picked coordinating frames from Target and Amazon. Finally, I picked up curtains and rods for the windows.

I wanted blackout curtains for the room and rods that wrapped around. I also picked up a coordinating shower curtain and curtain rod for the upstairs bathroom. The boys are so excited about this room, and I have to say I am as well! I want it to be a space where they can just play and be loud and not worry about the mess. In our old house everything spilled into our living room, and we’d always have to clean up at the end of the day because we would step on it all at night.

Friday Favorites

July 31, 2020 No Comments

J is top toothless! He was bound and determined to get his loose tooth out. He finally did it with a little help from me. You wouldn’t think a missing tooth would make him seem older, but it really does. He was concerned if the tooth fairy was going to show up, but he happily found two dollars the next day and is already trying to figure out where to spend his new found wealth. And here are some of our favorites of the week!

Sea otter escape!

Garlic butter ramen noodles.

Total home inspiration.

My favorite yoga of the week.

Love this print shop! Got three for our bonus room.

Perfect summer to fall transition dress.

The book I’m binge reading this weekend.

And finally, a chicken quinoa bowl for lunch!

Paper Doll, Seriously. Fashion. Love.

Nordstrom anniversary sale

July 30, 2020 No Comments

Hanging out in my current home office, it’s hard to determine what I could potentially need from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, besides perhaps my house finally being done so I could move into an actual home office space. Some years there is quite a bit I pick up from the anniversary sale, and then other years I don’t really find anything. This year I have my eye on some work from home basics, that means tops for Zoom meetings and exercise clothes. First up, Zoom meetings: