What's Up Wednesday :: February 2015

I thought it would be fun to share about What's Up?

A little random, a little bit of everything!

I did this last month & it was fun, so I thought I would do one this month!

What We are Eating this week:

I am all about Meal Planning. 

Every Sunday I do our meal plan for the week. 

It helps me stay organized!
Sunday - Tri Tip

Monday- Leftovers

Tuesday - Creamy Cajun Pasta
Wednesday - 3 Ingredient Crock Pot Chicken Tacos
Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Pizza Night!

I also like to bake something each week. We have some brown bananas, so Kate has been asking if we could make  Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

What I'm Reading:

Earlier this month I finished "What Alice Forgot" and "The Best Yes"

I loved both books and highly recommend both of them. They are both totally different books/genres. The author of What Alice Forgot is Liane Moriarty, and this was the first book I have read by her. I loved her writing style & her character development. So, this weekend I decided to start reading another one of her books, "The Husband's Secret" which several of you recommended.

Need book suggestions? Read THIS post. 

Check out the post and read the comments of all the great books people suggested!

What I'm loving:

  I am loving our Rodan + Fields Microdermabrassion paste!

I apologize ahead of time for getting the song stuck in your head, but I truly am ALL ABOUT THIS PASTE!
R+F Micro-dermabrasion Paste will be your best friend... Not only does the jar seem to last forever, but the uses are endless!
The gentle exfoliation can be used a couple times a week on your face to help cell turnover and improve skin tone and texture.
Its also great for rough spots like knees, elbows and heels!! You don't want to go through winter without it!

Exfoliation is key to glowing skin!
If you want radiant skin you NEED our Micro-Dermabrasion paste.
I LOVE it and one jar lasts me about 6 months.

I use it 2-3 times a week at night to wash my face.
Our Micro-Dermabrasion Paste is a high-glide, oil-free formula designed to promote maximum gentle exfoliation, featuring vitamins C and E.
Use it 1-3 times per week on dry skin in place of your cleanser to refresh and renew the skin’s surface  & then follow with your skincare routine (one of our Regimens!) Helps to enhance cell turnover and improve your skin tone and texture.
It smoothes away the rough spots.

Right now it is a life saver for my skin because we are having such warm weather during the day (60's & 70s), but since it is February (and technically winter!) the temperature drops to the 30's & 40s at night & we are running our heater.
All those drastic temperature changes can be rough on your skin and dry you out, but I swear our paste is saving my skin this month!
I use it on my face, arms & legs 2-3 times a week.

 I know so many friends who are IN LOVE with our Microdermabrasion Paste AND our Foaming Sunless Tanner, so I am placing a BULK order this SATURDAY just in time for Spring!
I am offering these at my CONSULTANT PRICE!

Microdermabrasion Paste-$64
Foaming Tanner- $20

These prices include tax & I will ship them to you for FREE!
For best results I ALWAYS exfoliate with the Microdermabrasion paste first on my legs and arms and then use the sunless tanner.

If you want the Sunless Tanner for FREE, then you can take advantage of my February Special!
For all new preferred customers you get $20 cash back, 10% off your order, FREE shipping AND a FREE  Foaming Sunless Tanner.
This deal ends on Saturday at midnight!

ALL of our products come with a 60 day empty bottle, 100% money back guarantee!

You have nothing to lose for trying them out!

Email me to place an order or if you have questions.

I would LOVE to help you with your skin care needs!

melissa_larson17{at}yahoo.com

 Email or comment below if you want me to add you to the bulk order, and how many you would like!   

What we've been up to:

We've had sick kids most of February, but this week we were hit hard.
Kate told me on Friday night that she couldn't hear out of her right ear.
Being the mom of the year that I am, I assumed it was just fluid & congestion leftover from her cough & sinus congestion that she got a few weeks ago.

I gave her Sudafed regularly over the weekend to see if that would unclog her ears.

Didn't work, so I took her to the Dr on Tuesday & she had a full blown ear infection. 

The dr said there was puss it was so infection. Oops.

Kate never complained of any pain, she must have a high pain tolerance.

Claire & Luke also had fevers and coughs.
Having sick kids is no fun!

What I'm Dreading:

I am dreading giving my kids all this medicine!

Their bathroom has everything lined up...cough syrup, motrin, penicillin, night time cough medicine, essential oils, thermometer and syringe.

I am dreading nightime because for the past few weeks they have been waking up in the middle of the night with cough attacks. I dread giving it to them in the middle of the night because they are half asleep and don't want to take their medicine because it tastes bad.

What I'm Working On:

I'm working on getting my laptop fixed.
My laptop crashed about a month ago and it has the black screen of death.
It was my laptop with Photoshop on it & all my party stuff. Most of it is backed up, but I just really want my laptop to work! I have been watching You Tube videos trying to fix it, but no luck.
One of our neighbors is a computer wiz and he said he will check it out for me.

What I'm Excited About:

I am excited about going away for a long weekend in a few weeks to celebrate my mother in laws 70th birthday!
I'm excited about seeing a sunset like this one:

It's right here in Northern California....I can't wait! I love the beach!
And, I am excited to spend a weekend with Kevin's parents, siblings, their spouses and all the kids!

What I'm Watching:
Of course I am watching The Bachelor!
Who are you rooting for? This is one of the first sesasons I actually like BOTH girls that are left.
I don't know who Chris is going to pick, I can see him with either one!
Are you Team Whitney or Team Becca?
Can't wait for the finale to find out!

  And...side note....Can we discuss the places they have gone this season?
I don't understand why they went to some of those places...there was literally nothing to do.
For the date with Ashlie and Kelsey, they took a helicopter to the middle of no where and just sat on a bed? Huh?
And the camping trip in Southern California. That "lake" looked like a pond. It was so hot & dusty, I would have been miserable. We have so many amazing lakes in California...Lake Tahoe, Bass Lake....why oh why was that camping trip at at pond? So strange!

Anyways.
I am also watching American Idol and I am excited that the Top 24 has been picked.
I don't have a favorite guy or girl yet, I will narrow that down after I watch the performances tonight & tomorrow, but I will tell you that some of my favorite guys are Daniel, Qaasim & Savion. For girls I like Jax, Joey & Maddie.
I also LOVE that the same judges are back this year. Love the chemistry.

Kevin and I are also hooked on Scandal.

We are almost done with Season 2. So good!

What I'm Listening to:
Currently, I'm listening to my kids coughing in bed.
Claire & Luke have bad coughs.
It is 10pm at night & both of them are still coughing and coughing in their sleep.

What music am I Listening to: 
Have you listened to this Mash Up?
Loving this!

What am I annoyed by?
 I am annoyed that the weather has been so warm in February & therefore all the trees in our town are blooming which is causing my allergies to flare up. So much pollen!

At least the trees are pretty :)

What I'm Reminiscing about:

I am reminiscing about the fact that my sweet Lukey turned 2.5 this month.

He is closer to 3 than 2. What in the world?!?! 

Tonight I was upstairs rocking him since he was coughing so much and he fell asleep on my chest and I just sat there in his chair with this big 2.5 year old boy asleep on my chest and soaked it all in. He is my snuggler and even though he is sick, I am glad I got to snuggle with him for so long.

It reminded me of when he was a baby like this and would sleep on my chest for hours and hours.

 Sigh.

What I'm Looking Forward to:

 The Weekend!! This week has been so long.
The weather is going to be gorgeous and then it's going to rain on Monday.

 Yay! We need rain, this California drought is serious.

What I'm Thankful for: 
Craiglist!
Kate needed a new bike (she got her last bike when she was 4 & she has totally outgrown it)
I looked on Craiglist for a new bike for her & got this for $30. Regularly $120. It is in pretty good shape! Score!

What I'm hoping for:

I am hoping for my kiddos to feel better.
And, I am hoping that Kevin & I don't get what they have!

What I Wore Today:

Jacket // Pants // Shirt // Shoes // Bracelet // Necklace (Stella & Dot)

It's a bit of a sneak peek for Pinspired on Monday!

What else is new:
Luke is talking up a storm now....it's fun to see how much his vocabulary has grown in the past 4 months, all of a sudden he figured out how to say lots of words (all our kids have been early crawlers/walkers, but late with speech)

 I love that we are getting to an age where we tell him things & he understands and he knows how to communicate with us.

Phew! If you got through all that, give yourself a pat on the back!

 So, what's up with you?

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos (3 ingredients!)

It's no secret that I love my Crock Pot.

 During the Fall, Winter & Spring I  use my Crock Pot at least one time per week.

I have the EASIEST recipe for you today.
This might even be easier than my Easiest Dinner Ever meal.
I actually can't believe I haven't shared this recipe before.
This is the VERY first crock pot recipe I made after Kevin and I were married almost 13 years ago & I got a crock pot for one of my showers.
Are you ready for 3 Ingredient Crock Pot Chicken Tacos?

Here is what you need:

- 2 lb bag of chicken breast tenderloins or chicken breasts

- Package of Taco Seasoning

- Bottle of Salsa (I use La Victoria Medium Thick & Chunky because it's my favorite!)

That's it....just 3 simple ingredients!

Directions:

Put your frozen chicken in the crock pot and sprinkle the package of taco seasoning over the chicken breasts.

Pour the bottle of salsa over the chicken:

Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

When it's done, shred with a fork.

Once you have shredded the chicken, serve it up in tortilla shells & add your favorite toppings.

*These can get a little watery from the chicken & salsa, so you can strain the entire mixture in a colander* 

We love white corn tortillas and I add sour cream, guac, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese & lettuce. 

Kevin adds olives to his tacos.

Sometimes I will use this chicken for burritos 

(just add some rice & beans to the the tortilla along with the toppings.....so good!)

You can also use the chicken to make a chicken taco salad or to make THESE Chicken Nachos!

Add these 3 ingredient Crock Pot Chicken Tacos to your meal plan ASAP!
It's so easy it's almost embarrassing!

Just 3 ingredients....so, so, simple & so, so, versatile!
Tons of flavor!
Happy Friday & I hope you have a great weekend!

A Weekend of Love {Valentine's 2015}

This past weekend was just  awesome.

It was simple. 

It was filled with love & it was filled with hanging out together as a family.

Our weekend started off on Friday when both girls had their Valentines Party at school.

I teach part time, so I am done teaching at noon each day,  and because of the timing of the girls parties I was able to attend both of them!

 Both of their classes had fun stations that the kids got to do, from crafts to snacks to Valentine word searches & Valentine math worksheets.

 I was so excited that Valentines Day was on a Saturday so that we could celebrate Valentines Day as a family. 

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I love making holidays special for my kids, even if it's something little to make it special...like adding sprinkles to their waffles or hanging up some decorations.

Here was our table for Valentines...I always hang up the heart banner & have tulips during February. 

I decided to hang up some of the paper lanterns that I have in my party supply bins.

The light pink ones were from the Cookies & Milk Baby Shower, Dark Pink from Claire's Tangled Party & the red ones were from Kate's Pizzeria Party. 

Love re-using the supplies I already have so that they get more use!

 

On Saturday mornings we usually have a big breakfast.....pancakes, waffles, monkey bread or cinammon rolls. For Valentines Day I decided to make waffles because my waffle maker makes waffles in heart shapes:

To make the waffles "extra" special, I added cut strawberries, whipped cream, powdered sugar and Valentine sprinkles. 

I also made bacon because....duh...bacon!!!

And, I made a little fruit salad:

I also served our orange juice in wine glasses :)

 The weather was absolutely incredible over the weekend. Blue skies and 75 degrees! Gotta love California! Trees are already blooming!

We had a lot of outside playtime on Saturday afternoon.

 I made Kevin & I some fun cocktails before dinner. Sparkling pink lemonade, vodka & strawberries/raspberries. Delicious!

The girls and I made a fun Valentine treat for our afternoon snack. I took my Valentine Cookie in a Jar mix and made one big heart cookie/pizookie. Yum!

 

The kids got Valentines goodies from both sets of gradparents...

Kevin helped the girls make me these adorable frames:

Saturday night we made pizza for dinner...and I made it into a heart. :)

 Pizza, Caeser Salad & Wine. What's not to love?

 For dessert, I had a special treat for us....Chocolate Fondue!!!

 Our favorite things for Chocolate fondue are oranges, marshmallows, strawberries & bananas!

We ended the night watching the Charlie Brown Valentine movie. 

It was such a great day!

The next day on the 15th, Kevin and I celebrated our Un-Valentines Day.

13 years ago on February 15th  is when Kevin proposed!

 

 Yes,  he proposed the day AFTER Valentines Day. 

It is actually genius because we always go to dinner on the 15th & celebrate our engagement/Valentines that day. 

Click {HERE} to read our Engagement Story!

Because the weather was so nice, we decided to take the kids up to the hill where we got engaged. Even though it's in our town & less than 5 minutes from our house, we haven't been up on that hill in 13 years! 

Everything is so beautiful this time of year....the hills are so green! 

We even saw some cows up on the hills.

 Here we are....13 years later!

That night we had a date night!

It was so nice out, even at night, so we sat outside!

So, the new trendy thing is Moscow Mules (in copper cups) I decided to see what all the fuss was about & I ordered one!

 Valentines weekend calls for red lipstick (and red nail polish!)

 It was pretty good! Normally, my cocktail of choice is a Lemon Drop, but it was fun to mix it up and get a Moscow Mule!

The food was amazing. 

We had an ahi-tuna tatar, beet salad, lamb sliders, pork belly sliders & truffle fries!

Kevin and I also started watching Scandal over the weekend. We finished Season 1 and 6 episodes of Season 2.

Such a great show. We both really like it.

I was also thankful to have Monday off of school. 

It was spent doing laundry & enjoying the sunshine with the kiddos.

I must say...this weekend was one of my favorite weekends we have ever had as a family...it was simple & just sweet.

Hope you had a lovely 3 day Valentines Weekend!