Sadie-Approved Recipe: Summer Pasta Bowl

All the warm weather got me in the mood to fix a summertime meal, which for us usually consists of whatever happens to be 'pick-ready' in our garden at the time. Of course, being February, yesterday's veggies came from the grocery store, but in this recipe they could definitely trick your taste buds into thinking it's June. :) And if my 13 month-old loves it, I know you will, too!

Summer Pasta Bowl (Serves 4)

• 2 large chicken breasts, thawed
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1-2 Tbsp minced garlic (depending on your taste)
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 zucchini
• 1 yellow squash
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1 cup grape tomatoes
• 1/2 lb spaghetti noodles
• salt & pepper to taste

Boil water, and cook spaghetti to slightly undercooked. Slice chicken into 1/2 inch strips. Drizzle olive oil in your biggest skillet over med-high heat, and add chicken, garlic, lemon juice, and basil. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Cook 3-5 minutes, then flip chicken pieces over to cook through. Slice zucchini and squash into about 1/3 inch round slices. Remove chicken (or push it to the side of the skillet if yours is large enough) leaving as much liquid as possible. Add zucchini and squash and toss to coat with liquid. Cook the squash only until it just starts to become tender. Combine chicken & squash, and add butter to the skillet. Add the cooked spaghetti, tossing to combine and coat with butter. (If it wont fit in your skillet, you can combine the chicken and squash with your pasta in a large bowl later.) Slice grape tomatoes in half and add to skillet. Heat for 1-2 minutes (until tomatoes are hot), and serve.

How-To: "So Lucky" to have little hands in our home :)

Here's a fun St. Patty's day decoration to make with your kids! If your kids are old enough, they can even assemble them on their own. :)

Start with these supplies:

• Scissors
• green paper
• glue & glitter, glitter glue, or paint
• ribbon
• scrap piece of thin wood or dense cardboard (Optional - not in the picture below)
• tape (not in the picture below)
• marker (not in the picture below)
• metal brad
• and WIPES!! haha.. unless your kids are old enough to control their little sticky hands ;)

Start by cutting out 4 hearts big enough for your child's hand (or foot for really small babies) to fit on. Use the glue to make a handprint on each heart.

Then, sprinkle with glitter and let them dry.

Once they're dry, use a brad to connect them all at the points, and fan them out to make a shamrock.

Tape ribbon streamers to the back to make the stem, and tape a loop to the back on the top to hang it from.

You could always leave it at that, but since I have 2 little ones, I decided to make a sign the hang them both from. Using your scrap wood or cardboard and a marker, write something on the sign - mine said "So Lucky".

Then, tape the shamrock hanger to the back of the sign. *Why tape? This allows you to easily remove it and put it in a baby book or some other special place - I love little handprints. :)* Add a ribbon to hang the sign by, and you're done!

De-germing your kids' plastic toys

After a nasty stomach bug hit our whole family, I decided it was time to do some major cleaning in the toy room. As much as I hate Lysol smell, it became my best friend for all of Sadie's giant toys. As for the smaller, battery-free toys, here's an easy way to clean and sterilize them: load them in your dishwasher!!

Throw all the tiny toys (play silverware, mega blocks, shapes from a shape sorter, etc) into a laundry bag and toss it in. :) Just make sure the bag is out of the way of the dishwasher blade.

For toys big enough to not fall through the rack, but lightweight enough to still get blown around, pile them in the top rack, then flip your dish drainer on top of them. This will keep them in place while still letting water through.

Happy cleaning!

How-To: Custom Happy Birthday Sign

After scouring the internet for months searching for birthday party inspiration, I stumbled upon some really sweet birthday signs. Feeling ambitious (and too cheap to pay for one - lol), I decided to make it myself. Turns out, a custom-made party sign is surprisingly easy to make and inexpensive! I used my Cricut cutter, but if you don't have one, there are definitely other options - try stencils, stickers, stamps, alphabet rub-ons, or die cuts. :)

Here are the things I used:

• Cricut
• Cricut Doodletype font cartridge
• Spray glue
• white & multicolored cardstock
• curling ribbon

I started out by cutting the pieces. the Doodletype cartridge has this really fun-to-use button:

It's the circle button.. meaning it cuts out a circle, then cuts the letter out of the middle. Cut all of your letters out using the circle button on white cardstock. Then cut out a foundation (whatever background shape you want) for each letter on colored cardstock. *Make sure your letter fits on the first foundation cut before you cut them all!* Then lay out all of your pieces.

Use spray glue on the back of the letters, and press them onto your foundations. Easy enough. :) Then punch two holes in the top of each piece. Thread the ribbon through the holes. You can put a piece of tape on the back to keep the letter from sliding on the ribbon, or you can use a small sticker on the front (I used candy and ice cream stickers).

And, voila!! Done. It's an easy and super inexpensive way to make something special for your party. :)

Sadie's party!

Well, I'm finally sitting down at our new computer to post pictures of Sadie's party! Our theme was 'It's Sweet to Be 1!" and it turned out great. :) She had a wonderful time playing with her friends, and we had a great time visiting with their parents and our families.

Let the pictures begin!!

The first of many homemade birthday cakes for my pretty girls!

The kids' party favors were bouncy balls wrapped in basket wrap to look like gumballs. :)

Tissue paper cupcake decorations..

Star lights that went across the whole Florida room..

Sadie's 1st Birthday sign! (How-To in another post)

My favorite part: The clothesline of pictures that went around the kitchen.. from day one to day 365! :)

The sweet table - complete with cookies, cupcakes, candy, applesauce, & jell-o jigglers.

A few cheap rolls of streamers and some balloons go a long way if you've got a helper and lots of patience!

Ignore me -- this is the only decent shot we got of the gingerbread house! Josh and I made it from plywood to be the backdrop for present-opening. Plus, it'll be an awesome Christmas decoration!

The party girl and her cake. :)

Yum!!!

 And, of course, that's only a few of the pictures... but you get the idea. :) Only 8 1/2 months until we celebrate another 1st birthday -- I better get planning!! Haha.