Five on Friday!

Happy Friday! Let's get right down to it because I'm chasing the rugrats around this morning solo...

one. Why, whyyyyyy, whyyyyyyyyyyyy did we wait so long to get Thomas his own hi-chair? For the longest time we've been able to get away with sharing one hi-chair since Thomas primarily uses (and loves) his Bumbo Multi-Seat and Caroline loves to sit at her table. However, double hi-chairs is a game changer. The minis are obsessed with sitting next to each other, trading food back and forth and eat 50% more dinner.

Lets hope these monograms prevent any "he's in my chair" arguments.

two. We traded in our June Supper Club for a night out in Uptown! My goodness, I think I am still recovering from going out on a school night. We started with happy hour at Fahrenheit which has the most incredible skyline view. After a couple glasses of wine we went down the block to 204 North Kitchen, a brand new restaurant we've all wanted to try. The food was unbelievable. 

 

I know I say this after every Supper Club but these girls really are the best and I am so damn lucky to do life with such a solid group of girlfriends.

Not the first time we've showed up wearing the same outfit.

For real, LOOK at that view!

Last group picture, I promise.

three. Matt returns home this afternoon from golfing Pinehurst with two of his best friends from high school. They've got 2 more rounds of local golf on the books for the weekend and Matt is so excited to have them here. Tonight we're grilling out so the guys can spend some time with the kiddos. I've been marinading chicken for two days and am planning to boil some corn using a new method which includes...milk? 

Best Way to Cook Corn on the Cob: Fill a large pot about halfway with water. Bring water to a boil. Add 1 cup milk and 1 stick butter. Add corn and reduce heat. Simmer corn for 6 to 8 minutes Remove corn from cooking liquid and its ready to serve.

Welp, thought I could get to five but Caroline is screaming for me to turn on a new episode of Elmo (preferably not a re-run we've watched 34534534x) and Thomas is 30 seconds away from finishing his banana and demanding his second course of breakfast.

Anyone interested in chasing my minis around all weekend with me? I promise it will be fun. Ha! Happy weekend friends!

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Wanna join April, Natasha and I on the Friday fun? You can link-up on any of our four blogs every Friday! All you have to do is...

1.) Write your post about five things you're lovin' this week (or any five things you want to share!).

2.) Share the logo on your blog and link back. 

3.) Link-up at the bottom of the post so some new readers can check out your five things and say hello!

Garlic & Parmesan Roasted Broccolini (Toddler Approved)

I don't know why it's taken me so long to jump on the broccolini train. Oddly enough, Caroline loves broccoli (aka "trees") and it just recently dawned on me that I really should capitalize on her love for this veggie before she changes her mind. 

So without further ado, I present the yummiest (and super quick) roasted trees recipe for your next side dish...

Garlic & Parmesan Oven Roasted Broccolini

Ingredients

2 bunches broccolini, trimmed
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Salt
Pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven broiler.

2. On a foil lined baking sheet (or roasting pan), spread the broccolini in an even layer. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic, salt, pepper and cheese.

3. Place under the broiler and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until lightly browned and the stalks are fork tender.

4. Serve immediately.

2016 Father's Day

We had a super fun Father's Day weekend.

We kicked off the weekend with a fun surprise for the kids - a house! For 6 months I have been patiently waiting to score one of these in a local mommy resale group. These play houses go SO fast in our group and I am usually 15-20th in line for them by the time I see them listed. Anyway, there was a strict pickup deadline on this particular house which none of 15 mamas in front of me could meet but thankfully Matt has a truck and a flexible schedule! Home sweet home...

We picked up the house during lunch Friday but didn't actually surprise the kids with it until Sunday because it took Matt two days to de-bug and bleach it to his comfort level. I'm sure that surprises no one. However, it was perfect we revealed the surprise Sunday because I'm not sure how many more plastic slices of cheese pizza I could possibly eat in one weekend.

And because our family is notorious for being the worst at waiting until the actual occasion to present gifts we surprised daddy with the yummiest Father's Day cookie cake from the kiddos. Is this cake not parfect?! By Saturday night it was already demolished.

The kids really stepped up their card making skills for the occasion too.

 

Both kiddies also made their daddy the sweetest little gifts at school -- tie art from Thomas and a tie dye shirt from Caroline.

Side note: it is nearly impossible to get pictures of my kids without one of Matt's hands or a hairy foot in them. He is literally always within 10 inches of them. Ha.

On Saturday we packed our bags for a fun morning of splash pad fun. The puddle jumper was a huge success for Caroline. She was obsessed with lazily floating around the pool and now has absolutely no interest in learning to swim.

I successfully convinced Matt to stand outside the frame of this picture.

As for the goggles update - huge fail. Thomas is pretty tolerant when it comes to us harassing him with eye stuff (contacts, eye drops, patching, etc.) but he drew the line at goggles. We're going to attempt each time we arrive to the pool but in the meantime we literally crawl around the splash pad (imagine how ridiculous we look) to stay at eye level with him to ensure he doesn't get a DROP of chlorinated water in his contacts. 

We rudely interrupted Caroline's cheese cracker break for this family picture.

Wrangling two non-swimming toddlers solo -- super daddy.

Verdict is still out on whether or not his patch is Harry Potter themed.

We incorrectly assumed our busy morning at the pool would ensure solid naps but both minis refused to go down so off to an early bird dinner we went! We met our friends at a new dive restaurant close to our house. The restaurant was completely empty so we let the kids dance around to the jukebox next to our table. It was all fun and games until a corner of our table intercepted Caroline running to her daddy. She has a pretty solid gash in her forehead but thanks to the restaurant staff we quickly doctored her up and let her back loose to run around. After dinner our kids still had way too much energy so we took the party to the park and let them exhaust themselves before hustling home for bedtime.

After the kids went to bed I gave Matt his Father's Day gift which was burning a whole through the envelope. I can't believe I was able to wait as long as I did but was too excited to keep the surprise until the next morning. Not to toot my own horn but (toot toot) I knocked Matt's gift out of the park. I had a custom watercolor painted of his new office location. He LOVED it. Like, really loved it.

 

On Sunday I made a big breakfast and then we ran every dad's dream errand - Ikea! Ha! It actually wasn't too bad and we were in and out in record timing. We picked up a second hi-chair so the kids don't have to fight over our current one, some frames, the perfect little toddler pillow and a few other toys for the kids that they definitely did not need.

When we got home we surprised the kiddos with their play house which they played in the rest of the day (see: earlier pictures).

Once the kiddos were down for bed I made Matt the best steak ever and roasted broccolini for dinner.

And that was a wrap on Father's Day! I am so very lucky to have an amazing daddy to my minis a great father-in-law and a super dad of my own! We are so fortunate to be surrounded by so many wonderful men!