All About Kylie Jo Pinterest CHALLENGE Day 23

Cutest Alarm Clock EVER!

This morning I heard Lila start stirring at 6:20.  I sat there in my bed for a minute enjoying that time of being awake but of doing nothing but relaxing.  Then I stepped out of bed , warmed a bottle, and walked in singing her Good Morning Song before she even had a chance to cry out that she was awake!  We had 30 minutes of quality time with just us before I heard Kylie Jo singing in her bed.  I love being able to have that individual time with my girls.  That time when that one child has all the attention on them.  But it was time to sing Kylie Jo her Good Morning Song so Lila's one on one time was up.  Kylie looked so cozy in her bed that Lila and I decided cuddle time in Kylie's bed sounded like a good idea.  It didn't last long though because Kylie was bursting with energy and somebody was gonna get hurt.    

As soon as Kylie Jo gets up she wants to eat.  Literally walks to the fridge to get her milk and tries to negotiate what she thinks she should have for breakfast.  We have about 3 or 4 breakfasts that are pretty typical; cereal, banana bread with fruit, smoothies, and eggs with toast.  Lately it seems like I have to fight Kylie to finish any meal that's in front of her.  So, I thought today I would start the day with a new breakfast that she would LOVE and I could escape the whole "EAT YOUR BREAKFAST OR ELSE" daily grind.    Of course I still had to say TAKE A BITE a million and one times but she liked this Blueberry Breakfast Grilled Cheese.  

You put cream cheese on one piece of bread, load up the blueberries, butter the outsides, and grill. (The recipe mentioned adding powdered sugar but we omitted that)  The sandwich press makes it easy and seals it nicely but you could totally grill it in a pan.  I don't know why I never thought of making breakfast sandwiches before.  I think Kylie Jo would really like one with bananas, honey, cinnamon, peanut butter OR eggs, cheese, sausage OR peanut butter strawberries.....the creations are probably endless.  I'm pretty excited about this new find!  

About half way through breakfast Kylie Jo had to use the potty.  We are in the process of potty training.  (Kylie hasn't pooped in her pull ups in over a week) YEAH!  So we have poop down but pee, tee tee, urine...whatever you feel comfortable calling it....she has just struggled with.  On several occasions my mom has said that they make pull ups TOO absorbent.  Kylie doesn't usually even know that she has gone to the bathroom because of this.  Today I decided that it was time to dive full fledged into this potty training thing and ditch the pull ups, which I really think are holding us back!  

I read a few blogs to refresh my memory about potty training and what works for other moms!

This one was my favorite!  

Well I lied....I REALLY like this one too!

Potty Training Specialist Post

As I sit back down to continue writing we have had two accidents and not a single potty success.  I am wondering what got in to me to start today but then I remember that no day is a good day to commence potty training.  You just gotta bite the bullet, do it, and keep the end goal in mind.  One day not far from now I will only be changing one kids diaper instead of two!  

SOO... since I am having Kylie sit on the potty so much today I decided that I really needed to come up with some fun things for her to do while she was sitting.  I pinned an amazing site for Homeschool learning so we tackled the first lesson today while she was on the loo.  NO, I am not homeschooling our kids!  I just know how much Kylie Jo loves to learn and so why not expose her to everything I can while she is a sponge and loves to soak it all in? 

Today's lesson was on the letter A.  She listened to a video on what the letter A looks like and sounds like, we looked at a bunch of letter A's on google, she colored a picture of April the Alligator, and then watched a movie on April the Alligator screaming "aaaaaaa" because she is scared of everything.  It was short, it was sweet, and now when I ask Kylie what letter A says she remembers!  Best of all I really didn't have to do anything because it was ALL there!  So if you are homeschooling or want to teach your kids a little on the side I would totally recommend the site!        

Preschool Lessons

Watching the Alphabet video that started off her lesson!

Lila and Kylie listening to April the Alligator's story of why she is a scardy cat!

That's funny Mom!  AAAAAAAAA

That's been our day thus far in a nut shell!  Trying to survive the toddler phase one meal, one potty break, one fun lesson at a time! 

Pinterest Challenge Day 21 & 22

Day 21

Cheddar Bacon Ranch Chicken Pasta, & Contact Paper Art Project

Yeah sooo this was a hit...but then any time that you cook things in bacon grease you really can't go wrong!  Obviously not the healthiest dinner in the world but Jake really liked it so this will grace our tables presence again!   

Cheddar Bacon Ranch Chicken Pasta

1 pound mostaccioli or other short pasta
6 strips of bacon, diced
1 tablespoon butter
2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-size pieces
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 packet ranch dressing mix
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste


1. Cook pasta according to package directions in boiling salted water; drain, return to pot, and keep warm.
2. Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Drain all but one tablespoon of bacon drippings from the pan.
3. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the butter to the reserved bacon drippings, then add the chicken to the same skillet. Cook until tender, no longer pink, and slightly browned.
4. Sprinkle the flour and ranch dressing mix over the chicken, stirring to coat evenly. Stir in the milk, and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened and bubbly. Stir in the cheddar cheese and half of the reserved bacon; cook and stir until the cheese is melted. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.
5. Add the cheese sauce to the reserved pasta and stir to combine. Serve each plate of pasta with more bacon sprinkled over the top. Green onions would also be a delicious topping.

Contact Paper Project

When I saw this pin I knew Kylie Jo would be all over it because she got to make a mess but her hands didn't have to get messy!  She gets pretty concerned when her hands start gettin messy!

First she had to rip tissue paper into pieces.  She spent a good 10 minutes just ripping the paper!  

Look at that concentration!  Who knew ripping tissue paper could be so much fun?

Once the tissue paper was ripped up we started sticking pieces onto our contact paper.  Then we started adding some glitter.  Whew glitter was an exciting turn of events for this glitter lovin girl!

Grabbed Duck to help out with this project.  (We picked just green because this was a St. Patricks-ish project)

All finished.  I'm a big fan of Kylie Jo helping clean up her messes!  Before we could move onto snack time (which she LOVES) all the extra tissue paper had to make it in the garbage!

This was really fun for Kylie Jo and really easy to get all together for me.  It's not something we will probably do again (except maybe for leaves in the fall) but it was a fun one time project!

Day 22

Avocado Lime Salmon

 One of my good friends in college made the best tilapia and I've been hooked on fish ever since!  Every single bite of fish that I take I seem to find myself letting out a nice long Mmmmmm!  There is just something about how a well cooked fish melts in your mouth.  So when I came across this recipe I was extremely excited to try it.

This was probably the single best recipe that I have yet to find for Salmon.  The seasoning rub on the fish is so tasty.  As if that isn't enough, the nice Avocado salsa on top really adds an interesting and delicious flavor.  Avocados are a staple in our house because they are arguable the best fruit out there!  They just have such a rich and creamy flavor....they added such a unique twist to this dish.  The fish was cooked nice and crispy on the outside and was melt in your mouth good on the inside.

Jake, an absolute fish hater, even liked this.  Not something he'll be requesting but for a person who doesn't like fish to eat the entire thing and say it was good is a BIG deal!

The only thing that I deviated from was cooking the fish on the stove instead of grilling it.  AND I used jalapeno peppers for the hot pepper but a red or yellow hot pepper would make the topping look so pretty!  I will be making this fish tomorrow for lunch and I cannot wait!

 Ingredients (for 4 people):

2 lbs salmon, cut into 4 pieces

1 tbs olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp paprika powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp black pepper

Avocado salsa

1 avocado, peeled, seeded and sliced

1 small red onion, sliced

3 mild hot peppers, seeded and deveined, diced or sliced

Juice from 2 limes

3 tbs olive oil

2 tbs finely chopped cilantro

Salt to taste

Suggested sides – Rice and patacones

Preparation:

1. Mix the salt, coriander, cumin, paprika, onion and black pepper together, rub the salmon fillets with olive oil and this seasoning mix, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Pre-heat the grill.
3. Combine the avocado, onion, hot peppers, cilantro, lime juice, olive oil and salt in a bowl and mix well, chill until ready to use.
4. Grill the salmon to desired doneness. (OR cook on stove)
5. Serve the salmon topped with the avocado salsa, and with rice.

Fort Worth Museum of Science and History

Lately we have actually had some weekends with nothing going on.  Today was one of those days that we had nothing at all planned.  It was super overcast and rainy so Jake suggested heading into Fort Worth to check out the museum.  We quickly got the troops ready and made our way to a day of fun!  And fun was what we had!  I think Kylie Jo could have been there all day playing!  Here are some pictures of our adventures!

We Walked into lights on the floor!  SO excited already!

The biggest light bright ever!

So fun to watch her interact with other kids!

Lila having fun chewing on her stroller.

SCARED mom SCARED!

Dad showing her all the animals!

About to let the plate and cup go flying!

OBVIOUSLY she liked this!

Dad gettin in on the fun!

"Something's wrong with his hiney dad!"

Got tired of my strap...moved onto my fingers!

Probably my favorite part of the whole museum....gotta love watching kids grocery shop!

So excited about her purchase that she came to show us her goodies!

That's my girl...load the carbs in the basket!

Forget the stinkin basket...I stole a cart from a kid who wasn't lookin!

Not even a little scared of this snake!

Lila is entranced by the bubbles.  Kylie is using the heat of her hands to make pinwheels spin!  This place is SOOO cool!

Now Kylie is a Dr taking care of "sick" babies.

Let's go riding in the emergency vehicle!

"How do I open this fence?"

Surprisingly NOT scared!

Our archaeologist digging for dino bones.

Just got in trouble for bein crazy with the sand!

Tryin to figure out how to get over to those boys without climbing on the rocks

I can't believe how big this girl is getting!

Still goin at those fingers but those eyes are gettin more and more heavy!

Dad helpin dig for bones!

REALLY not happy that she can't go play with the village!

Checkin out the truck

I love how Jake actually listens to the videos in these rooms!  

"I'm at work MOM"

Pushing some buttons!

Dad watching the Earth spin while Kylie runs right on by him....she wants to go do something else!

Riding a "horse"

Jake wishing he still had a truck!

This part of the museum is boring but Jake likes it so Kylie finds some things to open and close to keep her entertained!

Leaving the museum we found some water fun!  She is in awe!

Got close enough to touch the water and then try drinking it.  Think it's time to go find this girl something to drink!

WHEW what a day!  After the museum we headed out to lunch at Chuy's.  The girls were both so good the entire day.  We got them nice and tired and now they are both conked out in their beds!  Such an unexpected day of quality family fun!