A little rainy day fun..

Today was really gray and rainy.. the perfect excuse to be lazy and sit around all day.. Oh wait not really possible when you have two little ones running the show =) Back to reality.. It was the perfect setting to bake, make kitchen messes, read stories, and play every game one little girl could think of! I recently ordered these cookie cutters and have been excited to use them! Of course we baked graham crackers... chocolate graham crackers ! ( recipe of course from weelicious ) It was a fun tasty messy little day =)

Monday Mornings..

Monday mornings can be so blah... not with these two around =) Today they woke up at a decent time, I even got to enjoy my coffee in peace and quiet =) ..and then we were off ! Monday was in full swing! Through all the chaos two little ones can bring I look at these little pics I snapped during our "morning adventure " and my heart is full of joy and thankfulness that I get to spend my Monday mornings and every morning with these two little peeps. =) Happy Monday!

Jyselle's World : Gymnastics!

Lalalalalalalala Jyselle's world! ( singing in an Elmo voice of course =) ) These days its her world and I'm just in it lol! I don't mind at all because my little girl is growing up! Almost 3 and now is in her very own tumble tykes gymnastics class! Last Friday was her trial class and she did amazing! So she is officially our little gymnast! She had so much fun getting dressed in her leotard and had no problem saying bye bye  to me as she joined the other little ones and of course I was a proud mommy looking on through the window and snapping a ton of pics n videos! don't worry I wont share them all just a few =) Afterwards she ate her packed lunch (pb n banana sandwich, raspberries n her favorite muffin ) in the car and we strolled through target and she got an icee for being such a good listener and back home for nap time, which she declared she was very tired from all the jumping! YES! Only 3 more months and boy boy will be ready for the mommy and me classes! My new favorite Friday mornings! Happy Weekend!

A healthy little snack : Homemade Hummus

Hummus. We love hummus. It makes us very happy. It was one of Jyselles first foods in fact she was called "the hummus baby" at our old farmers market lol she would eat  it by the spoonful. It looks like boy boy is following her lead too he loves hummus, not as much as he loves black beans but I digress. Hummus is super healthy and versatile so its a great thing to always have on hand. There are a handful of great store brands you can buy and I usually buy a tub a week but like I said we eat ALOT of hummus so its more budget friendly to whip up your own. Its fun too getting the little ones involved picking the flavors and watching it whirl around in the food processor ( Aaron loves that part ) and then sitting on the kitchen floor enjoying your creation together. =) Give it a try sitting on the kitchen floor isn't required =) I adapted the recipe from here and added some fresh herbs from our garden ( which I cant wait to share its coming along! )
 Happy snacking =)

Ingredients:

• 1 can no-salt-added chickpeas  rinsed and drained
• 2 garlic cloves ( or more if you like garlic )
•  2 tablespoons water
•   2 tablespoons tahini 
•   fresh lemon juice 
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 
•   salt, pepper, n a little bit of cumin
• fresh herbs (optional )
• Put everything in the food processor and give it a whirl until its nice n creamy, scape the sides n add more water if you need. Enjoy! 

"Pre-School" at home

These days trying to keep Jyselle engaged and entertained as well as Aaron can be a bit of a challenge, but one that I'm up for ( some days more than others) Ive talked about my thoughts on pre-school before and I'm still back and forth with homeschooling and public school and yada yada yada.. all I know is right now I love the time I get with these little ones and I am always looking for fun ways to fill our days. I love love love this book its got great ideas that I tailor for us and of course I love Pinterest! Ive been trying to have little "pre-school" days too with Jyselles little friend ( so far so good! ) And with the help of a good fellow mommy friend of mine ( smile if you're reading =) ) we are working it out!

A little bird house.. ( n a little hello again =)

Ok so I know I said goodbye and all.. but I couldn't stay away lol. Actually Ive been feeling like Ive gotten into the groove of this little life of ours and finally settled into this new peachy state we call home. And today we were having a great little family time and the hubby said "hey you should blog this"and I said, "oh yeah about that..." It got me thinking I really do love blogging and there is no reason why I cant share here and there when I can. So my faithful 13 followers lol if you're still there I hope you enjoy my little posts from time to time and I always appreciate the visits =) 
    So now about that little bird house.. Jyselle has been enjoying our adventure walks ( and I must admit me too after our first winter!) and she loves spotting birds, we even made our own little binoculars one day to bird watch. Well one day a little bird came on our balcony and she was so excited! So I thought lets make a bird feeder! And hubby jumped right to it! ( I really love when he makes things) It was the perfect way to spend our Sunday morning. Jyselle and I painted mini houses while Daddy built the feeder, and during nap time I painted it and she woke up just in time to fill it with bird seeds. Now we wait happily for the first little eater! She keeps exclaiming "the birds are almost here!" I love it =)

A sweet little treat..

Ok so I will admit it. I have a bit of a sweet tooth... Make that a lot of sweet teeth : ) I love chocolate specifically dark chocolate ( which added bonus is antioxidant friendly ; ) ..) but I tend to go overboard which is really conflicting with my whole 30 minutes to getting back in shape , I'm a work in progress!.. So enter Jyselles favorite brownie! I make a batch of these for her ( us ) to keep in the freezer, they are a great lil snack when u you want something Chocolatey n we eat them straight from the freezer n they taste like fudge ! You can heat them up if u want but try them frozen first yummy ! Of course this is another fave from weelicious ! They are made with whole wheat flour and apple sauce so they are healthy ! The only change I made was I used white whole wheat and a fruit n veggie applesauce to bump up the nutritional content even more ; ) They are fun and easy to make with the kiddos in fact I have a baking station set up for us to make a new batch after nap time! So go ahead n have a few ; )

Gather up:

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour (sometimes I even use all white whole wheat still yummy!)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup applesauce (or one motts medleys applesauce!)
• 2 large eggs (best at room temp)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

  And Then you:

Preheat oven to 350
Mix all the dry ingredients
Then in another bowl whisk the wet ingredients and then pour into the dry, mix it up ..
Then fold in mini chocolate chips...
Then scoop batter into a greased mini muffin pan and bake 10-12 min or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Enjoy!

**To freeze place the baked brownie bites in a labeled freezer bag n freeze up to 3months,defrost at room temp n serve or eat em right out the freezer like us =)

Another Pinterest inspired activity..

Bubbles!!!! Its been raining a lot lately and our outside time hasn't been as much as we were used to in Cali.. Pinterest to the rescue! I have saved a bunch of cool little projects n things I want do with the kiddos and this was perfect fun for a rainy day! We made our own bubble solution  in the morning and then after nap time we blew bubbles from the balcony =) I love how these little things get the biggest smiles =) Happy Friday!

P.s. we got the instructions here.=)

Got any Grapes?

One of Jyselles favorite you-tube videos. Its guaranteed to bring a smile.. The other day I decided to turn it into a fun little craft!  A few Paper plates, glue sticks, paper and crayons later we had a new creation to hang on her art wall. ... Waddle waddle =)