five on friday

1. On Saturday Bryan had a meeting so I put on my brave (crazy) pants and took the girls to Princess Night at Chick-fil-A.  It was packed and lines were super long, but we did alright.  We met Aurora, Belle, Elsa, and Cinderella, ate chicken nuggets, Jilly bounced in the bounce house, and she got a balloon "Aurora wand"- whatever that is.  I was happy to escape to peace and quiet at home with my little princesses.

2. We celebrated Cinco de Mayo in the very best way- eating ourselves silly.  We had taco chicken, Santa Fe lime rice, Mexican sweet corn cake, and black beans (my first time really enjoying beans- monumental.)

3. We also went to San Jose to see Lisa and boys this week.  I've said it 800 billion times, but Lisa really is the besty best friend a girl could ever ask for.  We had a great time chatting and the kids had so much fun playing together.  

4.  A couple weeks ago I made Jilly a Job Chart to hopefully help her be more responsible and helpful.  She gets stickers for putting her plate in the sink, putting toys away, putting her clothes in her laundry basket, etc.  I told her when she got enough stickers she could have some money and go to the dollar store and pick whatever she wanted.  At some point when I wasn't paying enough attention she asked if she could get an Elsa dress at the dollar store and I unfortunately said yes.  So, now her little dollar store reward has turned into an Elsa dress (that will not be found at the dollar store.)  But she is so, so excited- she tells everyone (gymnastics coach, Blake, my family on Skype, complete strangers) about earning her Elsa dress.  And, she really has been helpful.  Plus, I made the chart pretty big so hopefully we can draw this out for a couple months.  It's kind of scary that she's already figuring out how to get what she wants- too smart!

(one of her favorite activities- counting her stickers)

5. Next week is Mother's Day, Jilly's half birthday, and Mattie's full birthday.  Consider yourself warned as I plan to turn this blog into a full-on gush sesh.  

Happy Mother's Day to all!

cinco de mayo

We take Cinco de Mayo very seriously at our house.  In the words of my dear husband, "Cinco de Mayo is like Christmas for my mouth."  Lucky for me, May 5th fell on a Sunday this year so Bryan was home to do most of the cooking.  He made pork chili verde which was so, so, so delicious.  I'd post a recipe, but he kind of created his own compilation of a few different recipes he found online.  We had it over this rice, which was an excellent suggestion from my cousin-in-law.  I usually make this rice, but have recently decided I'm over cilantro so this new recipe is a perfect replacement.  I also made Mexican sweet corn cake for the first time, and we will definitely be having it again soon.  Even Jilly, who can be picky, scarfed down this meal.  Muy delicioso!