A recipe so easy I can make it

I don't keep it a secret that Paul is the cook in our house.  That is just one talent that I was not blessed with.  He rarely uses a recipe and just knows how to throw things together.  Since I am not very good at cooking, it is not something that I care to do too often.  So, I am very happy that Paul is good at it and enjoys it.  Occasionally I will get the urge to try a recipe I found.  I was searching on Pinterest and found this recipe for Pesto Pasta with Chicken Sausage and Roasted Brussels Sprouts.  It immediately caught my eye and sounded like something the whole family would like.  There weren't too many ingredients involved, and I felt certain I could handle this one.  I can say it turned out really well, and even better, the kids gobbled it up!

Recipe is as follows:

Pesto Pasta with Chicken Sausage and Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients:
-1 lb fresh brussel sprouts, ends trimmed and cut in half
-3 Tbsp. olive oil
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp ground pepper
-1 lb penne pasta (this is what I used, but you can use whatever)
-4 chicken sausage links (I used apple chicken sausage, because I didn't want anything spicy that the kids wouldn't like)
-5 cloves garlic (didn't have fresh garlic, so had to use minced garlic)
-1/3 cup pesto
-parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large bowl mix together brussels sprouts, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Prepare a baking sheet with aluminum foil, then spread the brussel sprouts on it evenly. Roast for about 20-30 minutes, stirring once partway through or until they are crispy on the outside and cooked on the inside.

Ingredients

my helpers

Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, turning occasionally , until nearly browned, about 6-8 minutes.  Add the garlic and continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions.  Once the pasta is cooked, drain the water (reserving 1/4 cup pasta water), and then toss together the pasta, pesto, cooked sausage and garlic, and brussels sprouts. 

Serve warm, and sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. (I also added a little balsamic glaze to the brussels for extra flavor.)

Easy peasy and ready in about 30 minutes!

Adult version

Child version- same just quartered the sausage and cut up the brussels to hide them!

They approved!

Linking up with Natalie and Annie for Thoughts for Thursday.

Home Tour: The Kitchen

I LOVE how our kitchen turned out.  We probably had the hardest time getting everything in the kitchen to come together.  First of all we had an issue with the cabinets.  We kept going back and forth on having them site built or not.  After going back and forth with a cabinet company (that I was less than impressed with), we decided just to have our trim guy build our cabinets as well.  I am so glad that he did, and I think we ended up with a much better product.  I love how they go all the way to the ceiling, and the trim is gorgeous.

This is our desk area with built in mail slots.  I thought about cleaning those out before I took these pictures, but you know what- this is real life.  That is our area to stick bills and other junk to get it out of the way and off the counter.

I hung a little fishing line and got some clothes pins so I had a place to display the kids' artwork and hang invitations or appointment reminders.  Brady loves seeing his work on display.  He points it out to me often. "I made that picture for you momma."  So sweet!  (Yes, I know there is still an Easter picture up there.  The kids are not in school right now, so we are running a little low on the new artwork.)

 I knew I wanted white glazed cabinets, and these could not have turned out better.  When I saw them without the glaze I second guessed whether I wanted to do it, but I think it turned out great!

I love this fruit bowl that we got off our Pottery Barn registry when we got married.  I knew I wanted a little pop of color with our back splash, but nothing too crazy so I think these subway tiles work great.  Simple and classy, but they add a little something extra.

I also knew I wanted to have a little contrast in the colors and do the island a darker color than the cabinets.  We went with Sherwin William's Gauntlet Gray.  We used it on our interior doors as well.  

The granite was another adventure. Who knew buying granite was so cut throat.  I was getting so annoyed with the process.  Tip to people on the search for granite: if you find something you like buy it IMMEDIATELY.  I would find a slab that I liked, and by the time we would tell the supplier that we wanted it, it would already be sold.  White granite that is not super expensive is very hard to find. By suggestion of our decorator, we went to Charleston where there was a big warehouse.  I will give credit to Brady for finding this granite as he ran off while we were looking around.  Paul chased after him and found this slab.  It was exactly what I was looking for and in our price range!  

The bar stools are from Restoration Hardware.  We picked those up when they were having a sale.

We didn't go crazy on appliances.  They are all Kenmore Elite brand from Sears, and they work great.  I'm so happy with how it all turned out!

Scenes from our weekend

It was just a laid back weekend over here.  No real plans, we just kind of played it by ear.  It was a nice change of pace as I feel like we are always going 100mph.  Friday afternoon we talked about having a date night, but we just decided to stay home.  It seems like we do that a lot.  We need to be better about making time for ourselves, but most of the time after working all week we are both just ready to crash by Friday.  My dad came over and had dinner with us and played with the kids.

Saturday my in-laws picked Brady up and took him and his cousin Henry to the zoo.  Those boys had the BEST time together.  They are just 2 months apart, and they are really starting to become best buddies.  Brady was less than thrilled to see us when we came to pick him up.  He did not want to leave Nanna and Papa's house.  Paul took the opportunity to go play golf (and for the record I am up to about 15 hours of free time given I have let Paul play golf 4 times in the past two weeks- who's in for a girl's day??).  That left Katelyn and I have to a mother/daughter day.  It was nice to get to spend some time one on one with her since she doesn't get that luxury too often.

Daddy made blueberry pancakes!

She approved :)

Building towers to knock them down!

Shhh...don't tell Brady she was driving his car.

Taking after his momma...he loves to ride horses!

Looking just like Papa

Showing off their "big bellies"

Sunday we decided to change things up a bit and go to The Pancake House for breakfast ;).  We have learned that Katelyn has no time to wait on her food. As soon as she is in the high chair the Queen B would like to be served immediately.  We got her some toast to tide her over until her pancakes were ready, but oh no- she was having none of that.  I took her out of the restaurant to calm her down until the food got there.  As soon as we walked out that door she lost it even more and started pointing at the door to go back in.  Poor girl thought I was making her leave with no breakfast.  As soon as she got her pancakes she was happy as a clam dancing in her chair while she shoveled them in her mouth with a huge grin.  She is going to be our diva child for sure (wonder where she gets that from??).

After breakfast Henry came over to play for a while before heading back home to Charleston.

After naps we headed to Waldo's to swim in his pool.  Brady thinks he is an Olympic swimmer now, and he scares me half to death.  He constantly wants to swim under water, but the problem is he hasn't learned how to come up for air.  He will just hold his breath the whole time.  We pick him up for air, and he immediately wants to go back under.  He goes for round 2 of swim lessons this week, so maybe they can teach him how to do that before I have a heart attack.

Katelyn discovered that she can stand up on her own!  I happened to snap a picture at the perfect time when she took her hands off her walker to give herself a round of applause.  After she discovered this new trick, she kept doing it on the pool step (of all places), but of course I was there to catch her.  I have a feeling we will have a walker in a few weeks.

Big girl!

Love my girl!

Look momma- no hands!

I could eat her up.

It was another great weekend spent making memories with family.  Now, back to the grind!

Fashion Friday: Boden Sale!

I mentioned before that lately I have enjoyed shopping online at Boden.  I love their clothes.  They are good quality and they fit me really well.  They just announced they are having a sale through the weekend up to 60% off and FREE SHIPPING.  Here are some items I am lusting after:

Flowershow Dress

St Lucia Dress

Printed beach throw on

printed tank

Chelsea turn up pants

I actually have the Chelsea turn up pants in two other colors, and I love them!  Paul can attest that they make your back side look fab ;).  

I can't forget my little people!

Retro Print Pinnie 

Applique Play Set

Applique t-shirt

2 pack long johns

Happy shopping!  I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thoughts on Thursday: Summer Goals

Is it too late to make a list of summer goals when July is already almost half way over?  I figured better late than never right?

1. Read at least 3 books- For some of you this may sound silly, but for me that is a lot.  Like I said before, I am not much of a reader.  I just feel like my time is better spent doing something else (like watching Gossip Girl on Netflix- important stuff.)  I do like reading though, and once I get into a book I really enjoy it.  I am half way through the Mary Kay Andrews book I mentioned last week and for me that is some good progress in a week.

2. Start working out- I used to love to work out.  Going to the gym after work used to be my routine atleast 3 days a week, and I loved it.  I especially loved the classes as they didn't bore me like running on the tredmill.  Once I got pregnant with Brady, put on bedrest, and he was born I just fell into a new routine.  I lost my baby weight relatively easy without working out which is maybe why I wasn't too motivated to get back into it.  However, I just feel blah now and wish I was more toned and had more energy.  Going to classes after work is out of the question since that is my only time I get to spend with the kids during the week, but I am going to try to come up with a new routine.  Even if it is just going on a walk in the morning or the afternoon and doing some simple exercises at home - it's better than nothing.

3. Do some crafts with Brady- The internet and Pintrest can make you feel like an inadequate parent.  I am not one of these crafty moms and DIYers.  I wish I was, but I am not.  However, there are a couple little crafts I have my eye on that I would like to do with Brady specifically to help him learn his numbers, letters, shapes, and colors.  He is pretty good with the colors, but he can always use a refresher course :).

4. Finish/ start scrapbooks for last school year and Katelyn's first birthday- I have started working on a scrapbook of all their school pictures and artwork from last year.  I would like to make one for each year.  I also want to make one for Katelyn's first birthday.  I like photobooks, but there is just something about being able to touch printed pictures and save cute details from her party.  Although I'm not super crafty, I have always enjoyed doing stuff like that.

5. Finish decorating the upstairs- I have slowly but surely been hanging pictures, adding finishing touches, etc. to upstairs.   The upstairs consist of Brady and Katelyn's rooms, bathrooms, and playroom. I would like to have it completely done by the end of the summer.

6. Start meal planning- I am not the grocery shopper or the cook in our household, but for whatever reason Paul always insist that I make a list for him.  I feel like lately we haven't all been eating together as much as I would like.  A lot of days we just feed the kids something easy and then we eat later.  I think if we started planning out meals for the week we could be sure that we all eat together and eat the same things.  Lucky for us our kids are pretty good eaters, so this shouldn't be too hard to achieve.

7. Take Brady tubing at the lake- I'm not not talking like real tubing, you know the kind where you try to throw the kid off the tube.  I am just talking like him and daddy slowing being pulled behind the boat.  I think Brady would love this!

I think these are pretty attainable goals even if I'm getting started a little late!  I'm linking up again with Natalie and Annie for Thoughts on Thursday :).

Going from 2 to 3

I think about this a lot- when we should have another baby.  No, I am not pregnant, and we are not trying.  I always said I wanted 2 OR 3 children, and Paul has always been stuck on 3; that is until we actually had the second child and he started thinking maybe 2 was a good number ;).  I was kind of the opposite, after we had Katelyn I thought I would just be content.  No more thoughts of babies, just settle in as a family of four.  But, for whatever reason my mind never really got off of wanting another baby. 

Part of me feels like I should just feel so blessed that we have 2 perfect, adorable, healthy children.  And I do feel incredibly blessed.  I thought if the second was another boy I would probably want to have a third to see if we might have a girl.  If we had a girl, I thought I would be content with 2 children- a boy and a girl- how perfect, right?  Well even though we have a boy and a girl now, I just feel like our family is not totally complete.  When I watch Brady and Katelyn playing, I can always invision another little person down there.  I see Katelyn being such a great big sister.  I want to experience pregnancy and the miracle of giving birth one more time.  I am still so young, and I just feel like that chapter of my life is not over yet.

I'm not ready to go there quite yet, but I don't want to wait too long either.  Part of me wants to wait a while simply because this will probably be my last pregnancy, and I know it will fly by so quickly.  I want to savor every moment of it.  I am also enjoying having a little bit of freedom back right now.  Katelyn is old enough for me to feel comfortable leaving her for longer periods of time with our parents or a babysitter.  They are getting to the age where they play together and can entertain each other.  There are no more bottles in our house.  All kids are in bed by 7-7:30.  All these things are so nice and make me question whether I am ready to go back to square one just yet.  Then another part of me thinks why wait?  We are already doing diapers, catering to their every need, getting them dressed, putting on shoes, the crib is still out- it seems to me it would be harder to go back to having a newborn once all these phases are over.  Plus, I want them to all be close in age so they are interested in the same activities and will all play together.

I also worry about how the dynamics will change going from 2-3.  I mean at that point we are out numbered- that's a little scary. I also don't want one child to feel left out. Will two of them be buddy, buddy and the other kind of feel like the 3rd wheel?  I don't know how that works in a family of 3, because it was just me and my brother.  We were always so tight and still are.  I want all my children to feel that way with each other.

I had different fears with going from 1-2 and you know what it all worked out.  We all adapted.  I can't imagine life without Katelyn.  I am just going to lean on God to guide me through this decision.  He has a plan for me and our family. Anybody have words of wisdom on what it was like growing up with 2 other siblings or how things changed going from 2-3?