#hiloskyeveryday2015 - Weeks 32, 33, 34, and 35

Day 218 - 100 Days to Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 219 - Fun Day with Aunt Laura at Sesame Place! 

Day 220 - enjoying the bounce house at Bradley's First Birthday! 

Day 221 - it takes a little bit more to be a Spartan!

Day 222 - John and I got to enjoy an awesome date at Grub Burger Bar.  Our good friend opened the newest location of this awesome burger chain out in Montgomeryville, PA.  And just an FYI - that is a Nutella Milkshake!  It is quite possibly the best milkshake I have ever had! 

Day 223 - How is this sweet face already 8 months old!  I may want time to slow down, but Paisley couldn't be happier to be 8 months! 

Day 224 - enjoying some family time at Sesame Place!

Day 225 - how cool is Paisley Jean?!?

Day 226 - taking the big girls to see their very first movie - "Inside Out".

Day 227 - A fun morning visit and waffle breakfast with Gretchen! 

Day 228 - we had to put the baby jail back up - Paisley in on the move! 

Day 229 - Mommy's helper at the food store! 

Day 230 - Lacie Jane's very last day as a three year old! 

Day 231 - Lacie's very first day as a four year old!  Happy Birthday Lacie Jane! 

Day 232 - Playdate with our very best girlfriends! 

Day 233 - sister love <3

Day 234 - I'm just in love with these matching zebra rompers from Aunt Laura!  

Day 235 - I don't know what to do with this child.  She walked into the kitchen like this and told me that she was ice skating! 

Day 236 - Paisley is so happy that she can finally pull herself up on the couch!  

Day 237 - Everyday.  Everyday I get to see this face first thing in the morning.  I am such a lucky Mama! 

Day 238 - Story time at Barnes and Noble!

Day 239 - it doesn't always look like this, but I love the moments when they read books quietly!

Day 240 - Blakely Hope trying on her very first pair of dance shoes!  

Day 241 - I think Lacie has some potential as a soccer player...just as long as she can wear her jewels and her crown on the field!

Day 242 - they always sit side by side, and I love it!

Day 243 - *sigh* I ask for nice smiles and I get these "cheese" faces instead!

Day 244 - a little soccer to tire us out before bed! 

Day 245 - Blakely was super excited to try on her tutus for Dance Class!  Two weeks until her very first class!

Crockpot Citrus Chicken With Corn Salsa

Today is September 1st!  This month will mean some big changes for our family.  John will be back to his crazy work schedule - not getting home until after the kids are in bed most nights.  Lacie also starts school - 5 mornings a week!  And in addition to Lacie having dance class one night per week, Blakely will start dance!  That means two nights each week where dinner time will be crazy!

So basically the crockpot will probably become my new best friend.  

Last week, I wanted to create a fun, summer inspired crockpot dish using chicken!  I came up with this, and it was just fantastic!  The Crockpot Citrus Chicken alone is delicious, but topping it with a simple corn salsa made it even better!  You could fix this a million different ways but I made tacos with it on the first night and then turned the leftovers into quesadillas!  Yum!

Your Shopping List for the Crockpot Citrus Chicken:

• 1 pound of chicken breast 
• zest and juice of two large oranges
• zest and juice of one lime
• zest and juice of one lemon
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pinch of dried oregano

Your Shopping List for the Corn Salsa:

• 1 package of frozen corn
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 jalepeno , diced
• juice of 1 lime 
• salt to taste (1/2 - 1 tsp)
• cilantro 

Additional Shopping List:

• toppings of your choice - cheese, lettuce, sour cream, etc
• corn or flour tortillas 

Now Let's Make the Crockpot Citrus Chicken:

1. Place chicken in the bottom of your crockpot 
2. In a large measuring cup, add both the zest and the juice of the oranges, lime, and lemon - the liquid should equal or exceed 1 cup (if it does not add a little chicken broth or water to meet 1 cup)
3. Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, and oregano to the juice mixture and stir to combine
4. Pour over chicken and set your slow cooker to low for 6 hours
5. At the 5 hour mark, shred chicken and allow to continue to cook for an additional hour in the slow cooker - this allows the chicken to really absorb the juices

Now Let's Make the Corn Salsa

1. At any point during the day cook your corn about 1 minute less than the package says
2. Drain corn
3. Place corn in bowl with diced onion and diced jalepeno
4. Add lime juice, cilantro, and salt - stir to combine
5. This can be made up to 24 hours in advance - the longer it sits the more the flavors come together

Serve your Crockpot Citrus Chicken with the Corn Salsa!  Enjoy! 
On the first night, we assembled them like tacos!
We used the leftovers to make quesadillas! 

I use this 6 quart slow cooker for all of my crockpot recipes:

Mommy Mondays: Lacie's Fourth Birthday

On August 19th, my first baby turned FOUR YEARS OLD! 

We woke up and I took my traditional "First Day as a __ year old" picture!

Here's Lacie Jane on her very first day as a four year old!  

You can see that Paisley didn't want to be left out of the action! 

Lacie got to walk downstairs to this birthday table! 

The first thing she did was put on her "4" crown! 

Then she got down to the business of opening presents!

Blakely got a present too! 

After presents, we had bagels for breakfast - which is what the birthday girl requested! 

Paisley and Daddy at breakfast! 

After breakfast we headed to Sesame Place where we did 3 rides before the power in the entire park went off.  We tried to wait it out with snacks, but gave up after about 30 minutes and went home (thank goodness we did because the power was apparently out for another hour).  

The girls got a bath and took a nap, so they would be ready to celebrate!  Here's Lacie showing that she is 4!  

As soon as Lacie woke up, the birthday crown went back on!  Everyone came over and there were lots more presents to open.  We ate pizza - also per Lacie's request! 

Then it was time for dessert!  Lacie wanted a PINK ice cream cake!  

She also wanted my Red Velvet Fudge Bars!  

Happy 4th Birthday Lacie Jane! 

This was the Birthday Princess Shirt that Lacie wore for her birthday:

What's Up Wednesday

Is it really already the last Wednesday of August?!?!  This summer flew by!  Today I am linking up and bringing you a What's Up Wednesday!

What We're Eating This Week

On Monday, we enjoyed my Tomato and Mozzarella Pasta!  The kids had the leftovers last night - even Paisley!  Girlfriend loves any kind of pasta!  You can find that recipe here

What I'm Reminiscing About

School.  On September 11th, Lacie will start preschool.  Five days a week - only half days though.  My heart can't handle anything else just yet.  She will be going to the same preschool that I went to.  Coincidentally she will also be young like me - all the other kids will turn 5 over the course of the year but Lacie won't turn 5 until a few weeks before Kindergarten - which is only one year away!  Her starting school is something that is very bittersweet!  I am so excited for her to have some independence and learn and meet friends...but at the same time I can't believe how fast these four years have flown by! 

What I'm Loving

The mornings are getting a little bit cooler and I know that fall weather is almost here! 

What We've Been Up To

So much Birthday Celebrating!  I turned 30 on August 1st and Lacie turned 4 on August 19th!  John took a week off from work and we did fun activities with the girls everyday - Build A Bear, Sesame Place, the shore, the movies, etc!  August was a really fun month!

What I'm Dreading 

John's fall work schedule.  We truly had the most amazing two months of John being home every single day at 2:30!  The fall will be the opposite.  He will work crazy late hours and most days will be gone from 6:00 am until well after the kids go to bed at 6:30pm.  I hate his school year schedule.  It's wonderful because it allows me to be a stay at home mom - which was always my dream.  But it's hard on me and especially hard on the kids! 

What I'm Working On

Cleaning out our house!  Over the weekend, John and I did a major purge and there is still more to do.  We got rid of clothes that were too small/too worn out.  We got rid of broken toys.  We got rid of things the girls don't play with anymore.  We got rid of things the baby doesn't need anymore.  Everytime we get rid of stuff, I think of this:

What I'm Excited About

Creating some new fall recipes over the next few weeks - and of course making some of my fall favorites!!!
You can find some of my fall favorites here!

What I'm Watching/Reading

I am taking any and all book suggestions!  Seriously I need to read a lot more than I currently do!  Lacie and Blakely got Kindles for Lacie's birthday (it's funny how that works right - I know Mom's of two kids - especially close in age - can relate).  I definitely want to make a point of reading on the kindle at night! 

What I'm Listening To

The Mother Goose Club...have you ever seen this show?!?  I randomly put it on for the kids one day - thinking it sounded educational.  It's not.  It's a bunch of songs by some very strangely dressed children.  But my kids are hooked on this!  We have two witching hours in my house - the one before nap and the one before bed - and if I put this on all three kids stop crying/whining/trouble making and watch.  They watch it like little kid zombies.  If you have Netflix and little kids you should definitely check it out.  You may hate me for it but your kids will probably love it!

What I'm Wearing

My very favorite Hue black leggings and a long sleeve t-shirt!  

Seriously these leggings are my very favorite! Ever! 

What I'm Doing This Weekend

Swimming!  Only one week of the pool left!  

and also

More Cleaning...insert one of those sad face emojis here...

What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month

So.Many.Things.

1. The start of fall - fall weather, apples, pumpkins!  Everything fall excites me! 

2. Lacie going to preschool

3. Lacie starting dance again

4. Blakely going to her first dance class

5. Lacie starting soccer

6. Having some special one on one time with Blakely while Lacie is at preschool and Paisley takes her morning nap

What Else Is New

Paisley is crawling and standing!  I have a feeling that she will be an early walker like Blakely!  Blakely took her first steps at 9.5 months and less than a month later was running!  We used to joke that she needed a helmet! 

What is Your Favorite Back to School Tradition

I don't have any yet!!!  This will be the first year I send Lacie to school.  So I cannot wait to read about everyone's back to school traditions and start one this year!