What's Up Wednesday

It's the last Wednesday of July (hard to believe, right?) and that means I am linking up and bringing you a What's Up Wednesday post!

I will be answering these questions:

What We're Eating This Week

We have been trying to use our grill as much as possible this summer!  So we've been eating a lot of burgers, hot dogs, and my absolute favorite Grilled Chicken Salad! 

Baby spinach, cucumbers, strawberries, mozzarella cheese, sunflower seeds, and grilled chicken!  It's delicious!

What I'm Reminiscing About

Lacie Jane!  I can't believe my first baby is already going to be FOUR YEARS OLD!

Then she starts preschool in September - so I have been thinking a lot about her little life so far! 

What I'm Loving

Blakely's Queen Bee shirt and the fact that she wants to wear bows in her hair now!

What We've Been Up To

Basically a lot of this - 

What I'm Dreading

Turning 30.  UGH.  I know that sounds ridiculous and age is just a number and blah blah blah...  But listen, I LOVED MY 20's!!!  So many wonderful things happened in my 20's!  

I graduated with my Bachelors from Montclair State

John and I got engaged

John and I got married

John and I bought our first home

I graduated with my Masters in Reading from Monmouth University

John and I found out we were expecting our very first baby

I gave birth to my beautiful Lacie Jane

I found out I was pregnant AGAIN when Lacie was six months old *surprise*

I gave birth to my sweet Blakely Hope

I got pregnant with Baby Girl #3

I gave birth to our precious Paisley Jean

That is one pretty amazing decade!!!  30 has a lot to live up to! 

What I'm Working On

Selling our house.  Seriously.  If you have been reading my blog for awhile - our house has been on the market for one year.  John and I are giving it until the end of August and if it doesn't sell we are just going to stay here.  Forever and ever! The end!

What I'm Excited About

I'm excited about a few new recipes that I will be sharing over the next couple of weeks!  

Paisley is excited about Football Season! 

What I'm Watching/Reading

I just finished watching the Bachelorette!  I already can't wait for next season!  Does it drive anyone else crazy when they don't announce the next Bachelor on After the Final Rose?!?!

What I'm Listening To

The news.  And silence from the three kids upstairs! 

What I'm Wearing

Pajamas!  It's what I always wear when I blog and pretty much what I'm always wearing when I'm home!  I may or may not be wearing Christmas pajamas right now!  It could be time to invest in some new ones...

What I'm Doing This Weekend

Celebrating my 30th Birthday.  Even though I am dreading turning 30, I am still happy about celebrating and eating cake!  Mostly the cake! 

This was what 29 looked like...

What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month

Enjoying the final month of summer!

Lots more food on the grill! 

More swimming!

and

Lacie's Birthday!  

What Else Is New

Not much else! 

What Will You Miss Most About Summer

John being home every single day at 2:30pm!  Seriously it has been amazing for him to get home so early in the afternoon.  We have had so much quality family time and then lots of quality couple time after the kids are asleep.  I will miss that so much once the fall starts and John's work schedule gets crazy again! 

Friday Favorites

It's my favorite day of the week...

FIRDAY!!!

I am seriously so grateful when I get through another week and we get to Friday!  The weekends are never long enough! 

Here's What I'm loving this week!

Summer Nail Polish

I shared last week how I was loving some new OPI pink colors!  Well I decided to change it up this week!  Essie's All Access Pass and No More Film are two fun blue/purple colors!

And for a bit of summer sparkle, I picked up I See You Wear OPI at Wegmans!  This shimmery blue is a part of their brights collection and it is so fun for summer!

Princess Dance Camp

Lacie has been attending a Princess Dance Camp all week from 9-12.  She will be four years old next month, and I have never ever dropped her off anywhere.  Like ever.  Her dance class this year - I stayed in the waiting room the entire time.  She will start a half day preschool in September so this camp was a good trial for that.  And she loved it!

Nordstrom Anniversary Sale

Nordstrom is one of my favorite places to shop - especially online - because everything ships for free.  Seriously everything.  Order an $8 nail polish - it's shipping for free.  I always go to Nordstrom when I need new skincare stuff for me or the baby!  Since they are currently having their anniversary sale, I thought I would share some of my favorites!

I've shared it before, but I'm saying it again - this Mustela Face Stick is everything when you have a baby!  Seriously I love how this protects their sweet baby skin!  It clears up all baby skin issues!  It's less than $10 and whenever I need one I always just order online because of the free shipping!

How fun are these glitter earrings by Kate Spade?!?!  I love all the colors, but pink is the best in my opinion! 

My all time favorite perfume - the one I was wearing when I started dating John 9 years ago -
Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb!

I always order Clinique skincare for myself because it just works best for my sensitive skin.  Plus I don't have to worry about my lotion bothering any of my kids - especially Lacie and Paisley who have sensitive skin too! They also send free samples with every order which I love because (1) I get to try a new product and (2) I never have to pay for mascara because the free samples last me for about a month - and did you know you should throw out your mascara after a month!  You should!

Today I am linking up my Friday Favorites over at:

 

Almond Butter Banana Muffins

Every week I go to the food store and buy a ton of bananas (because everyone eats them)!  But in the summer they get over-ripe really quickly!  When that happens I make Banana Bread or Banana Pancakes!  Well the other day, I had two over-ripe bananas and decided I wanted to make a new recipe!  And these Almond Butter Banana Muffins were born!

These muffins are healthy and delicious!  We use a brand of almond butter called Barney Butter because it's Peanut Free and safe for Lacie!  The texture of consistency of the Barney Butter is perfect for these muffins!

Your Shopping List for the Almond Butter Banana Muffins:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 over-ripe bananas, mashed (I use a fork)
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 2 tbsp coconut oil (melted and cooled)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Now Let's Make the Almond Butter Banana Muffins:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line 12-18 muffin tins with paper liners
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, almond butter, coconut oil, egg, and milk
4. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir with a spoon until just combined
5. Fold in the chocolate chips
6. Divide mixture evenly into prepared muffin tins - this will make 12 to 18 muffins depending on size
7. Bake in preheated oven for 20 - 25 minutes
8. Allow muffins to cool for 10 minutes in tins before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely 
9. Store cooled muffins in airtight container

And just in case you ever wanted to know how I develop my recipes - this is how I write them out (ignore the fact that the paper only has Lacie and Blakely on it...I desperately need new notepads with everyone's names!).

I use this Muffin Tin:

Mommy Mondays: Paisley Jean is Seven Months

On Saturday July 11th our sweetest Paisley turned seven months old!  It's so crazy to think that with each month birthday, she gets closer and closer to ONE! I am so grateful that this sweet, happy, funny baby is a part of our lives!  It's clear by her presence in our house that John and I were meant to have a third baby, and Lacie and Blakely were meant to have another sister.  Blakely especially was meant to be a big sister.  She is so loving towards Paisley!

At Seven Months Old Paisley:

*says "Mama"

*rolls all around

*spins herself in circles

*sits on her own

*waves

*eats all pureed food plus soft food like pancakes

*sleeps 12 plus hours straight at night

*sleeps in her crib for nighttime and all naps

*finds her pacifier and puts herself back to sleep if she wakes up early 

Paisley Loves:

*pancakes, puffs, and yogurt melts

*seeing her sisters faces first thing in the morning

*waving at the front door

*Minnie Mouse

*music and dancing

*taking baths in the big tub with her sisters

*swimming in the pool 

*pacifiers - we just got her 6 more yesterday

Paisley Hates:

*getting lotion on after bath...

...and seriously that is it!  She is the happiest baby on the block! 

Here is a Side by Side of the girls at SEVEN MONTHS:

Here's what I think about all three girls at seven months:

*Blakely was the biggest - Paisley is the smallest (this was true at birth)

*Lacie had the most hair and the darkest hair (this was true at birth also)

*They all have the same heart face shape

*They all have the same blue eyes

*They each have their own unique smile

Friday Favorites: Pink Pink Pink

Happy Friday!  Today I thought I would share some random PINK favorites that I've been loving lately!

Pink Nails

I love painting my nails - both my fingers and my toes!  I love doing it myself!  Even at 39 weeks pregnant - with all 3 girls - I managed to paint my toes before going to the hospital! No way was I going in for my c-section without manicured toes (and fingers to match of course).  I have tons of nail polish in all different colors, but my favorite for summer is anything Bright Pink! OPI just came out with some new pinks that I love love love!

Currently I am wearing Hotter Than You Pink on my nails!

Online it looks more purple but you can see that in real life it's PINK!

I also LOVE LOVE LOVE On Pinks and Needles!  It's a really fun pink sparkle that I've been layering on top of other colors!  

And on my own toes I'm currently wearing Can't Hear Myself Pink (I've said it before, but I would truly love to be the Nailpolish Naming Person)

Pink Kitchen

Seriously, if I could, I would make my entire kitchen pink.  The whole thing!  Like this:

But until I can figure out a way to make that happen, I will be happy with my pink accents all around my kitchen!  I already love love love my pink Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, which I shared with you in this post.  

And recently I've been looking to add some more pink accents.  

I love this pink cake stand:

Or this pink cream and sugar set:

Honestly, when it comes to my kitchen I find myself saying:

Pink Coffee

I love love love my Keurig because I want to be able to make a cup of coffee anytime I want.  I do not want to have to wait for an entire pot to brew and drip.  However, sometimes John and I do talk about putting a regular coffee maker next to our Keurig coffee maker so that on the weekends or when we are having a party we can brew a whole pot.  And well, quite honestly, I always look at this coffee maker and it pretty much seems like it is calling my name!

Pink Desserts

I normally only think of Pink Desserts around Valentine's Day but I should really make them more often!  My favorite are these Strawberry White Chocolate Bars!

Today I am linking up at:

and

#hiloskyeveryday2015 Weeks 26 and 27

Day 175 - Dress rehearsal #2 for Lacie! 

Day 176 - Playdate with our favorite girlfriends! 

Day 177 - Picking up some Blueberries at the farm!

Day 178 - my tiny dancer in her very first Dance Recital 

Day 179 - Dance Recital Day #2

Day 180 - water fun at Sesame Place! 

Day 181 - Paisley is so close to crawling!

Day 182 - First taste of yogurt! 

Day 183 - Having some girl time at our weekly playdate! 

Day 184 - this is the face of a baby who ate her first pancake! 

Day 185 - Paisley's First July 4th!

 Day 186 - sisters make the best friends!

Day 187 - She's a fancy baby!

Day 188 - Loving her New Jersey blueberries!

Day 189 - I turned my back for a second and she rolled herself under the crib!