Spring Cleaning with Kids

Well guys, Spring has finally sprung. There is just something about the sunshine and birds chirping that is so refreshing, especially after a long, cold winter. A clean home is just as refreshing. That spring cleaning checklist can be overwhelming though, am I right? To lighten the load, and just as a general rule, I try to get the kids involved. They seriously love to "help". Don't get me wrong, they definitely don't enjoy helping with everything on my spring cleaning list; but there are some things the kids seem to find exciting. Teaching my kids what it takes to take good care of a home is something I strive to do. Spring cleaning is a great opportunity to teach them things they may not see you do on the day to day basis. Sometimes  it's the simple things that are the most fun! Here are some easy things the kids can help you with this spring.

Washing Windows

We love to use this recipe to wash windows:

1 Cup Vinegar

1/4 Cup Dawn Dish Soap

1 Liter (ish) Warm Water 

 All you need is this mixture, a bucket, a washcloth, a towel, & a squeegee. Our kids love to scrub the windows with the soapy washcloth, and using the squeegee is their fave! They can also help measure the washing mixture & pour it into the bucket. 

Cleaning Mattresses

Sprinkle some baking soda on the mattress and get that vacuum out! The kids think its super fun vacuuming the mattress. Not sure why, but I think it is because vacuuming a mattress just seems silly, and out of the norm. 

Shower and Bath 

We have super hard water here in Eastern Washington, its awful! On our glass shower doors we use vinegar mixed with Dawn Dish Soap, heated up and sprayed on to be left overnight. The kids love spraying ANYTHING, and I let them put their bathing suits on and get in while the water is running to help scrub it all off. Don't forget the squeegee at the end! 

Baseboards/walls

Our baseboards, as well as the majority of our walls are white. We use a Magic Eraser to get all the scuffs and spots off. Honestly, I think the only reason my kiddos love this is because they get to use a "MAGIC" Eraser. Hey, if they're helping I'll call it a win! I just give them one and we tackle each room together. Before we use the eraser I usually use a microfiber cloth and some dusting spray. PRO TIP: Don't get the knock off brand Magic Eraser! They don't work and you will end up using twice as many! 

Dusting 

This one is pretty self explanatory. In the spring I usually take down all of my home decor on my shelving and dust those hard to reach places. The kids love to spray the dusting spray as well as help to wipe it off. One thing I let my daughter do this year, is take a picture of how the shelf was arranged before we took everything off. She loves to take pictures, and enjoyed telling me where to put everything back when we were done.

Hope this helps to get you into the spring cleaning mood. Thank you so much for reading! I'll be posting my favorite spring cleaning playlist soon on my insta page so keep an eye out! Happy cleaning! 

-Kaci

A Night in Snohomish, Washington - A Hidden Gem

Hey Friends! 

Hope you all had an excellent weekend! Over the weekend, the kids and I made a trip over the mountains to see some of my best and oldest childhood friends. My first stop was my hometown, Enumclaw. Unfortunately I didn't snap any good pics of the area while I was there. Someday I will do a whole post about that sweet little town. It is nestled just below Mt.Rainier with gorgeous views of the mountain almost daily. After leaving Enumclaw I headed toward Snohomish. My friend and her husband recently bought a home there. I had never been to the area before, and I was surprised by how beautiful it was. 

Heading into the downtown area of Snohomish, there were gorgeous views of lucious green farmland and marshes. I am not sure if it is the changing of the seasons, or what it is exactly, but I have recently been in awe of how beautiful nature truly is. It is easy to let this beauty go unnoticed while we are all rushing through life, but taking the time to "stop and smell the roses", really has it's perks. Snohomish is definitely a place I would love to return to for some more exploring. Here are some pictures I took on our way out of town. 

It was a very quick trip, and there wasn't very much time for adventuring. We spent most of our time visiting, catching up and watching the Washington State Cougars beat Cal. But before the game started, we had dinner at Cathouse Pizza. The pizza was so flavorful and the energy in the restaurant was fun and laid back, perfect for a family/friends outing.

Thanks for reading! If you have any more hidden gems in Snohomish I should know about for next time, please share them with me! I love trying new places. I know there is some kind of "haunted" bar there that sounded like a neat place to explore sometime.

-Kaci

Trip to San Francisco - The Best Stops & Shops at Pier 39

Hey Friends!
While we were in San Francisco we decided we had better make a trip to the famous Pier 39. Here we visited the sunning Sea Lions and walked around browsing all of the cute little shops. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for it. If you are in the area I would suggest making a trip here. Parking was a breeze for us luckily, we found a spot about a block away, for free. I would suggest taking the cable car down to the pier if you can, that way you can avoid having to deal with parking.
The pier had so many shops, we weren't really in the mood for shopping so we ended up only visiting a few spots. I don't enjoy looking through all of the nick nacky shops, and the kids really do not enjoy shopping, let alone "window shopping". This is our list of the best places/things to check out (with kids) at the pier.

Sea Lions

For some reason, the Sea Lions all like to gather on the open docks at the pier. There are hundreds of them, all squawking and flopping around; fighting for their perfect spot in the sunshine. Leighton & Kade both enjoyed walking the pier and watching the Sea Lions yell and knock eachother off the docks. They are entertaining, to say the least. This is also a good sightseeing stop, as it is just across from Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Candy Baron

The first shop daddy spotted was the giant candy shop, Candy Baron. The nostalgic shop had buckets and buckets of salt water taffy and other bulk candies. It was obviously a huge hit with the kids, although the adults had fun finding their old childhood favorites as well. My favorite was always lemon heads and jawbreakers! Do you remember those things? I passed on the jawbreaker ( it was HUGE), and grabbed a few lemon heads instead. We ended up all picking out a few candies to have to eat throughout the trip. The prices were a bit steep, (as is everything else in the city) but the experience was fun.

The Carousel 

Just down from the candy shop, we spotted this giant two level carousel. It was $5 for one token or $10 for three, and it cost 1 token per person to ride. Ty's dad decided he would take the kids on; I get motion sickness fairly easily and Ty was still enjoying his spoils from Candy Baron. The kids loved it and it lasted quite a while. TIP: Bring cash, because not all debit/credit cards were accepted, only certain banks.  

Houdini's Magic Shop

Unfortunately I didn't get a very good picture from this place. We walked in and were the only customers in the shop. Immediately Leighton went up to the counter and asked the guy if he knew any magic tricks, since it was a magic shop after all. He said he did, then proceeded to do three different tricks for us and the kids. The guy was so freindly and fun with the kids it was great; he even let them use a "magic wand" to help him complete some of the tricks. The shop had tricks for all ages and interests. We didn't end up purchasing any, but included with each purchase is a private lesson on how to perform the trick. You got to go into a separate V.I.P. room where they would teach you. Pretty cool if you ask me!

Pier 40

It is just a short walk down the street to Pier 40. There you will see massive ships and submarines on display, as well as small maritime museum and some other historical info. If you want to actually board the boats and submarines, you need to purchase an actual ticket; but our kids found it entertaining enough to just walk by them and look from the outside, so we just enjoyed that. Leighton has recently become more comfortable with reading, so it was fun for her to stop and read some of the things to us aloud. 

Lombard Street

This last one is not at Pier 39 but is just a short drive from there. Lombard street is a famous street in San Francisco. It is known for it's one block section of hairpin turns. It is said to be the most crooked street in the world! The view from the top is pretty cool. Ty and I got out and walked down the street, and the kids and Ty's dad drove down to meet us at the bottom. The brick lined street was very neat to see; I tried to walk down the middle of the street to get a quick picture, but was quickly, and loudly reminded by a nearby "guard", that no one is allowed to walk on the street. The kids described the ride down as "like a roller coaster".  The first picture is from the very top of the street, and the second is just a neat looking house I noticed along the road. 

I know it's a short list, but like I said above, it worked best for us to avoid the lengthy window shopping and keep them engaged. The one thing we did not do while we were there was eat. It looked like there were quite a few fun little places to stop and grab a bite. Have any of you been to any you would recommend? Id love to know for next time, and someone else reading this might, too! Thanks for reading, as always!

-Kaci

The Secret to Stress Free Travel Prep with Kids

Happy Wednesday friends!

This week we are preparing to leave on a short trip. Here it is the day before and it seems like I have a million things to do! One of my favorite ways to prepare for a trip or an event of any kind, is by making a list. Lists are the only way I can really be sure I haven't forgotten anything. Today I created an awesome, simple, checklist to help get our bags packed and ready to go! It includes a checklist for each person (two kids, two adults) for both suitcases and carry on bags. It also includes some other bonus tips for stress free vacation prep!

My secret to stress free travel preparation, with kids, (or without, honestly!) is to simply make a list, and plan ahead. That's it! No one likes to feel like they are forgetting something, OR like they are rushed. Rushing not only creates stress for you, but your kids as well. Without fail, if I am in a hurry, you can bet my kids will either A) have a melt down, or B) make a huge mess, or both, at the same time. Can we all agree we want to avoid those things at all costs?!

Another awesome thing we do is let the kids pack their bags. No, I don't mean it's a "free for all"! Lord only knows what they might pack if that was the case! Leighton is able to read now, so she can easily look at the checklist and pack her bag herself. Kade is a bit younger, so we just read the things to him and he grabs them for us. In the past I have also created a "picture list" of what to pack and had them do it that way. It takes a little bit longer but it really helps the kids feel involved and teaches them how to pack a bag. Real life lessons are a fave in this house. I don't want to be packing my kids bags forever and ever, (although I am sure I'll miss it, someday).

Here are the kiddos suitcases, all packed and ready to go. You'll notice, in Kade's suitcase, a plastic bag with an outfit in it. Some people like to put each and every outfit in a separate plastic bag, but that is just a little bit too much for me. (No judgement!) I find that when my kids pick out their outfits they are more likely to ACTUALLY get dressed when we ask them to. Yes, sometimes seeing what they come up with can be painful; but like I have said before, I like to pick my battles wisely! So, with that being said, the outfit in the bag is a "nice" outfit. We have a fancier dinner planned for our trip and I want to make sure his outfit stays separate and available for that specific dinner.

Having well packed, carry on bags when you have kids, is a must! Here is a general list of things I like to pack in each kids carry on backpack. I like them to have their own, that way they aren't arguing over who's carrying it, or who isn't, etc.

- Snacks: Try to stay away from things that need to be refrigerated and things that are liquid. Those won't make it through security, and no one wants a kiddo crying in the airport because their favorite snack got thrown away! We usually do dried fruit and some sort of cracker.
- Entertainment: This can be different for each kid. Leighton loves to color so I usually pack her a small baggie of crayons (less is more!) and a coloring book. She loves music, so I let her bring her MP3 player to listen to with headphones. I also pack her "Letter Lunchbox". This is something I made before our trip to Disneyland last year. She loves it. It helps her practice her words, and the magnets & dry erase markers are fun for her to use.

For Kade, I also pack some color crayons and a small coloring book. He really likes to stay busy with hands on things so I like to pack a small container of playdough, with some pipe cleaners, and cut straws for him to stick in it and play with. It isn't messy and keeps him entertained. Another great idea for toddlers I have heard about, but haven't tried, is using window clings to let the kids stick on the tray and windows to play with.
- A Change of Clothes: This is not only for the younger kiddos still getting through potty training, but for the older ones too. You never know what kind of spills can happen and it's always better to be safe than sorry. Along with this, I usually bring one used grocery bag in my carry on to put wet or soiled clothes, just in case. It is also a good idea to bring a light jacket or sweatshirt for the kids so they adjust to the temperature on the plane as well as your destination.

I won't go into too much detail about what I pack in my carry on but here are a few of my must haves. I will also say, I love the convenience of carrying a backpack vs a purse. Being hands free, with kids, is a huge bonus!

- Phone charger
- Headphones
- Magazine & Book (My current favorite books are "The Subtle art of not giving a F*ck", and "Simplicity Parenting", although I highly doubt I will have time to read on an airplane with two small children; ha, ha!).
- Breath Mints or Gum
- Water bottle
-  Notebook - I like to have my notebook on me at all times for brainstorming!
-  Wallet - duh.
-  Protein Bar - My favorite ones are the Mint Chocolate Chunk Quest Bars
-  Compact powder makeup 
-  Hair tie 
- Travel size deodorant
- Chapstick 
- Printed flight and hotel info - I have everything on my phone, but I like to have a printed copy just in case!

I sure hope these tips helped you to make your next family trip prep, a breeze. I absolutely love going on adventures with my little family. Sometimes it is easy to let the stress of traveling take over your mood. Don't forget what a blessing it is to be able to do it in the first place, and remember your kids will reflect your mood! Make sure its a positive one and you should be all set!

Thanks for reading & please comment below and let me know if this post was helpful or not! Safe travels and happy adventuring!

*BONUS* If you share my link with some friends on social media, or simply shoot me an e-mail, message or comment & I will send you a FREE PDF of my "Travel Prep Checklist"!

-Kaci

Friday Faves

Happy Friday friends!

Just a few more hours until we start making those memories. For those of you who don't have weekends off, I feel you! Don't forget to take some time to fill your cup on "your weekend", too. Each Friday after Leighton leaves for school I try to take some time to reflect on my week and think about the things that made me smile. It's easy to think of the day-to-day blah, blah, blah; but doing this helps me to dive into the weekend with the fam with a thankful heart. Here are my Friday faves!

1. New Coffee Bar Set-up 

I have had this vintage milk crate for about a year now. It has gone from, centerpiece, to crayon holder, and now this. I have to say I like this the best so far.

It is currently holding two of my favorite things from Starbucks;
 - One pound of whole bean Guatemala Casi Cielo (Here is a review I enjoyed on the coffee).
 - Two sets of awesome reusable cups. You can find these at your local Starbucks store. They are super affordable(I'm talking like $2-$3 each). During the holidays they sometimes sell them in 6 packs. Each cup has a cute saying on it and they are all different colors.

All the other stuff is just the usual coffee necessities! Different sugars, tea, stir sticks, measuring scoops, filters and some Mio! My kiddos love to put it in their water.

2. Hockey Practice

We love hockey in this house! Winters are seriously jammed packed with it. In our town, we have an outdoor ice rink. That means we can only have our ice during the coldest winter months. Most other surrounding cities have indoor rinks, so this year the association decided to offer some pre season ice time at an out of town rink. Leighton and Kade have been asking about this night for weeks now, so they were so excited when it was finally here! Ty helps coach the kids' hockey team so he took them while I was at work. It made for a fun daddy and me hockey night for them; which makes my heart happy. Anytime Ty goes out of his way to do something fun with the kids that they all can enjoy my heart literally explodes. Go Coyotes!

3. Teal Pumpkin Project Idea

The teal pumpkin project is something we decided to start participating in, last Halloween. In pre-school, Leighton had a friend and classmate with a severe peanut allergy. After hearing the about some of the challenges they had faced regarding halloween and trick or treating, I decided to look into allergy friendly alternatives to candy. While searching Pinterest I came across The Teal Pumpkin Project! It is a super cool program, if you live in a neighborhood with lots of trick-or-treaters I encourage you to check it out.
I finally thought of what we should do this year. Last year we made playdough. This year we will be doing glow in the dark halloween slime! Super easy to make and super cheap, too. Kade and I tried it out this week and it was awesome! He loved it and it kept him entertained FOREVER. I found the recipe here; we used glow in the dark glue and added googly eyes! It would be fun to do halloween themed confetti inside the slime, too!

4. Fall Centerpiece Success 

Not too much to say about this, other than I was excited to be able to transform my centerpiece by simply adding the pumpkins. That is why I love having a super versatile centerpiece. I can easily change throughout the year without having to purchase a plethora of supplies which will in turn need to be stored somewhere the rest of the year. Succulents provide a great backdrop year round!

                                                                                                                   

5. New Children's Book Ideas

This week I had the privilege of learning more about early childhood literacy, through a parent education meeting put on by Big Bend Cooperative Preschool. Our speaker this month was from the community library. She told us about lots of her favorite books and what each helps kids with, excetera. Anytime I have the opportunity to learn something new about helping my kiddos and upping my mom game, I am all over it. I can use all the help I can get! Here is a list of my favorites she mentioned at the meeting! These will most likely be Christmas gifts and/or birthday gifts for my kids. 

-"The Read-Aloud handbook", by Jim Trelease

- "Reading Magic", by Mem Fox

- "The Little Red Cat Who Ran Away and Learned His ABC's the Hard Way", by Patrick McDonnell

- "Who Put the Cookies in the Cookie Jar", by George Shannon

- "The Big Book of Animals", by Scholastic

- " The Pig on the Hill", by John Kelly

6. Leighton Home

 Finally, my last big thing to make me smile this week is having my daughter Leighton home ALL DAY TODAY! She had today off school, and I have been looking forward to it all week just as much as she has. Being able to sleep in and cuddle with her while watching cartoons is one of my favorite things on the planet. Now that Leighton is in school, I really treasure any extra time spent with her. She was able to sleep in and relax this morning which makes for a lot happier kiddo and a lot happier mom!
Hope you all had a fantastic week and cheers to the weekend! Feel free to share what made you smile this week, below.
-Kaci

My Favorite Coffee Drink

Happy Tuesday, friends! This post is all about one of my favorite things; coffee. "First I drink the coffee, then I do the things", pretty much sums up my everyday life. This morning I woke up, after a rather sleepless night, in a panic. My daily alarm had not gone off and we were already behind schedule for our before school, morning routine. Why the sleepless night, you ask? Well, funny enough, the cause was indeed, coffee. I had worked a night shift last night and was especially dragging when I arrived at 3pm to clock in. I thought it would be a great idea to order a quad shot of espresso. Let me tell you, this made my shift much more enjoyable, but sleeping; not so much. I drug myself out of bed and quickly woke the kids up and we all started getting ready for the day. Between teeth brushing, lunch packing & pancake making, I tried to pull myself together and look at least semi presentable. All I really had time for was to brush my teeth, wipe the mascara from under my eyes from the day before, & throw on some black yoga pants and a big comfy sweater. All that was missing from the typical "tired mom in a hurry" ensemble, was a messy bun, which I usually try to avoid. Have you ever seen that meme about messy buns? Here it is.  Enough said. The kids looked and smelled clean, which is what really mattered, so we rushed out the door and got to Leighton's school just in time. After dropping Leighton off, I headed to Kade's preschool. My immediate next stop was Starbucks. Not just any Starbucks though, MY Starbucks; where they know exactly how I like my drink. Every time I visit, weather they greet me with complaints about an awful morning, or thank yous for an awesome close the night before, I always leave with a smile, ready to chug my magic bean potion and start my day. This morning, not only did they make my drink just how I like it, they wrote me a sweet note. Such an awesome way to re-start my day and forget about the hectic rush of the early morning.
Here is my current favorite coffee drink at Starbucks: a grande iced quad espresso with one stevia and salted cold foam. Can you say that 10 times fast? If you haven't tried the salted foam, just go ahead and do yourself a favor and order it on top of any iced drink you prefer. It will even come with a special lid. I usually avoid drinks high in sugar and go for the ones that give you the most bang for your buck. I love the taste of coffee though, so it is easy for me to say no to those PSL's and white mocha's. When I am being especially "good", I order the same drink but instead of the salted cold foam, I get it topped with a splash of almond milk.
Before I got in the habit of drinking the quad espresso's, I was in love with our cold brew iced coffee. I used to order a grande iced cold brew, with an added shot of espresso, no water and light almond milk. When I ordered this from other stores I was often met with a look of shock, or a barista asking me if I wanted to have a heart attack. If you are really needing a pick me up, with little to no carbs, sugar, fat or dairy; order a cold brew this way.
My original favorite coffee drink from Starbucks, was a grande iced coffee with an added shot of espresso and super light non fat milk. This is what got me through those exhausting college years at W.S.U. It was usually accompanied by a chonga bagel toasted with cream cheese, which is probably why those freshman 15 turned in to 20. Did you know that Chonga is actually an acronym? It stands for cheese, onion and garlic, and boy is it delicious. It has also provided some humor throughout the years of different customers ordering it by various names. I think my favorite was the, "Chimichonga bagel".
Starbucks can be a touchy subject for those in the Pacific Northwest. People here either love it or hate it. Some blame the old C.E.O. for loss of the Seattle Super sonics pro basketball team. Some say the coffee tastes burnt all the time or that the prices are too high. I am a Starbucks-lifer and proud to have worked there for the past several years. Sure, it's not my dream job, but it has provided me with many blessings. Full time benefits with part time hours, a schedule that allows my family to avoid the cost of daycare and allow for weekends spent off together. They will even pay for me to go to college. Plus, I get a free pound of coffee each week along with as many drinks as I get breaks while on shift. Another added bonus most people don't know, is if I work there for at least ten years, I will receive FREE COFFEE FOR LIFE! This alone, is enough motivation for me to stay. I get to work just 3 days a week and be able to enjoy my beautiful family on all the other days. Yes, I get sick of the rude customers; but the conversation with the pleasant ones usually makes up for it. I try not to take my job too seriously; it is just a cup of coffee, but sometimes it can really make a person's day, just like how it made mine, today.  I hope you all have a fabulous Tuesday!

-Kaci

Family Pizza and Game Night

"Fri-yay" is officially the new "Friday" in the Howard home. I am not sure when it all started, but when the kids told Ty and I about their new name for the "best day of the week", it stuck; and for good reason. Fridays are the end of the long, busy, work & school filled week for all of us. It's the last day of early wake ups. The last afternoon of kid and car switches in the Starbucks parking lot. The last day of the "opposite work schedule" parent life shenanigans. The last day of meetings, workouts & alarm clocks (unless the next day is Cougar Football Saturday). Fri-yay is the beginning of a weekend spent together as a family, making those precious memories. We are very fortunate that our schedules work out this way, with both Ty and I having weekends off. It hasn't always been as such, but I sure am grateful it is now. 

It was Friday afternoon and I decided to ask Kade, if it were up to him, what he would like to do tonight. I wasn't expecting much, his usual answers consist of "I don't know" or something crazy like, "go fly an airplane". His answer was perfect. He said he wanted to have a family game, pizza and movie night. He was especially excited and clapped his hands together joyfully after telling me his epic idea. I was excited about the idea, too and got to planning & making a grocery list. The only thing I had to do was sell Ty on the idea. I was sure he would love everything except the pizza. Ty has recently been following a new diet, the Keto diet. He has been very successful in following it and has lost over 50 pounds. Here I was thinking what a pain it was going to be to cook him a separate "keto friendly" dinner. Not to mention the whole eating one of his favorite foods in front of him part. Then it clicked! One time a while back, when he was really craving some doughy carbs, he made a keto friendly pizza. It only had 4 ingredients (plus the toppings) and was surprisingly tasty. After some recipe research and a trip to the grocery store we were all set to make our own individual pizzas and bring Kade's epic idea to fruition. 

The ingredients for the dough are simple; cream cheese, shredded mozzarella cheese, eggs and almond flour. We prefer the texture of the super fine almond flour for pizza crusts. Here is a step by step description of how we made our pizzas. (I will add a link to the full recipe at the end of the post)

After preheating your oven to 425 degrees, combine the mozzarella cheese and the cream cheese in a medium to large microwavable dish. We used our largest Pyrex for this and it worked great. 

Then you will microwave it for 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds. We had the most success after 1:30 of microwave time. Once it is done, use a spatula or spoon to mix well until combined. After a couple of minutes a sticky, thick ball of dough will form. It should look like this:

 Next you will add the 2 eggs. It is very important to make sure the eggs are incorporated well. If you don't get them all the way mixed in it totally changes the look and texture of your pizza, for the worst. Then you will add in the almond flour. It is easiest to add in half at a time. Mix until well combined. If your dough gets a bit crumbly, place it back in the microwave to soften, for about 1 minute. All this mixing took some muscles, good thing Ty has been hitting those weights. We made 3 batches and he did the first two. 

For this next part you want to make sure to get your hands super wet, otherwise the dough will stick to your hands. Place the ball of dough on parchment paper and get to squashing and stretching that stuff til it's just how you like it. We split the dough in half and let the kids make their own mini pizzas. They love helping out in the kitchen and anything resembling play dough is extra fun. We had a tough time getting them to keep their hands wet enough at first. Then Ty came up with the idea to use the water filled pie dish, so they were able to get their hands wet as needed. Brains and muscles, how did I get so lucky?! Well..I know how, but that's a story for another day. 

After getting the dough to the shape and thickness you prefer, place your parchment paper on a pizza pan or a cookie sheet. We used a cookie sheet for the kids' so we could cook them together. Use a fork to poke a few holes in your dough, then let it cook in the oven for about 8 minutes. After 8 minutes is up, take the dough out and it's time to start adding those toppings. For toppings, we decided to use a classic pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, spicy sausage, mushrooms, artichokes and spinach. 

The kids picked their favorite, pepperoni for their topping. Big surprise there. I tried to convince them to be a little more adventurous but it was a hard pass on the veggies, this time around. You have to pick your battles, right? Ty opted for mushrooms, pepperoni and spicy sausage while I went with spinach and artichokes. 

After the toppings are all added place your pizza back in the oven for about 6 minutes. Super quick! We were wondering if the cook time would be different for the mini pizzas versus the regular sized ones, but all came out perfect. I think these faces say it all. 

Family pizza, game and movie night was off to a great start. Now with our tummies full and the kitchen a mess, we moved onto the games. These are the ones we went with; Uno, twister and an assortment of kid friendly card games I found at the very bottom of our ottoman. 

Uno is always a hit with our kids and works great for all ages. Kade, 3 years and Leighton, 6 years old can both play with little to no help from us. It is a great way for kids to familiarize with numbers and colors, too. Yay for an educational bonus! Next, Leighton chose Old Maid. I had never played this but it was another perfect one for both of the kiddos. Kade needed a little bit of help but not much. This game is a good one for matching, reading and colors as well. My favorite was Twister, Ty opted to be the spinner. I did better than I had expected going up against my two super flexible energetic kiddos. I felt super silly, but hearing their little giggles and seeing their eyes light up made it all worth the effort. Overall, I think Uno was the overall family favorite, as usual. But it was fun to try some new games and I was glad to switch it up. 

As the night started winding down, we moved onto the movie portion of our evening. Pj's were on, popcorn was popped, and both our tummies and our hearts were full. Leighton chose Loony Toons, a classic that our whole family enjoyed. Although, I can't lie, I was secretly hoping for Hocus Pocus; my all time fall and halloween favorite. Luckily there is still plenty of time to sneak that one in here before the season is over. Family time with the four of us is truly what makes me happy. It's not always easy to find things to do that the whole family can enjoy, but it sure is worth the effort when it all works out. I would say Kade's idea of a fun night turned out pretty amazing. I hope this post gave some of you new ideas on how to have a fun Fri-yay the entire family can enjoy, or at least a new fun recipe to try.  Here is the full Keto Fathead Pizza Recipe . Thanks for reading! -Kaci