Cy & Ellie's Pixies & Pirates 3rd Bithday Party

We celebrated Ellie & Cy's 3rd birthdays, on Saturday, with a combined Pixies & Pirates Party at Jump N Jungle.  The party was a hit for the kids and adults alike...and most importantly, & especially, our birthday boy & girl!  Happy Birthday, Cy Wesley!!! You are the sweetest, smartest, funniest (soon-to-be) 3 year old we know and have blessed our lives more than your Papa and I could have imagined.  We are extremely proud of you,

 and love you to the moon & back!

Pretty Birthday Girl!

Trevyn

Hannah Mae

Leah, Cy, Ryan & Hannah

Lucy

Cassie, Tiffany & DeLeisha

Harrison & Ryan

Joey Madison

Cindy & Grace

Luke

Hattie Lane

Happy Boy!

Love Cy's pose in this one :)

Group Shot:

L-R: Lucy, Luke, Harrison, Preslee, Grace, Lila, Cy, Hattie, Joey, Hannah, Ellie,

Leah, Ryan, Zaylee, Trevyn & Kail

Pixie Cookie Wands

Pixie Wands

Kase

Birthday Boy!

Happy Birthday, Ellie Kate!

Kara, Hannah & Baby Hudson

Cy & Ryan having a blast!

Laci & Leah

Kagney, Zaylee & Baby Parker

Kevin & Preslee

Our birthday cuties- post party (& Ring Pop)

Prepping hand to put handprint on wall.

Cy's new Thomas the Train Wooden Railway Table :) 
Happy Birthday, sweet boy!!!

Lila Grace loves it, too!

Easter- Part Two...

We had TJ, Cassie, Ellie, Gramsy, Joe & Steve over for lunch on Sunday and enjoyed great food, wonderful conversation, a few Easter treats for the kiddos, and more pictures, of course!

Easter-Part One,,,

We celebrated Easter with my family on Saturday, complete with a fun egg hunt & a visit from the Easter Bunny! Cy and Lila had a blast with all their grandparents, cousins, & friends. It was such a special day for our family.

Potty Power...

I just realized that I have yet to blog about Cy's recent accomplishment, potty training! Admittedly, I was dreading potty training due to some unpleasant experiences of friends, but I knew that Cy was ready, so we gave it a go. I could not have asked for a smoother or easier potty training endeavor! Cy did amazingly well, only having 3 accidents the first day of potty training, 1 the following day, and he's been virtually accident-free in the weeks to follow. WOOHOO!
DISCLAIMER: There will be a lot of talk of pee and poop in the rest of this post!

Here was my strategy:
We talked up getting to use the big boy potty & wearing big boy underwear for several days prior to "Potty Day". Cy and I watched a couple different videos about potty training including "Potty Power" (which was his favorite) and an Elmo video. The morning of Potty Day, he had a good breakfast, then we put on his big boy underwear & I showed him the prizes (small pieces of candy, stickers, small toys, etc) that he would get to choose from when he pottied in the big boy potty. Then I started filling him full of liquids and off we went. I set a timer for 10 minute intervals, so we spent the bulk of that first day in the bathroom. Luckily, he pooped in the potty right off the bat (which I know can be a challenge for some people), so I was ecstatic! I collected several books for bathroom reading, coloring books, stickers, whatever I could think of the keep in occupied and sitting on the potty, and kept offering/pushing the beverages. Cy had a couple of accidents early on immediately after he had success on the potty & was picking out his prize...I guess he wasn't quite finished, but by the afternoon, he was doing great! His reaction after every successful pee was (& still is), "Yay, I did it!!!" And after each poop, "Look at that big poop!" Of course, each potty use was followed my an abundance of praise, and each accident, lots of encouragement. Cy still wears a pull up at night, when we're running errands, at church, etc, but he is not a fan of pottying in his pull-up, so most mornings he wakes up dry (he even calls for me in during the night when he needs to go), and we visit many bathrooms throughout our time running errands. We are so very proud of our big boy and thankful that his potty training experience was an easy one!

Pantry Pasta...

This recipe came highly recommended by a couple of my best girlfriends, and Travis and I were equally complimentary when I gave it a try. Pantry Pasta is featured in Ree Drummond's (aka The Pioneer Woman) new cookbook "Food From My Frontier". Love her!

Pantry Pasta

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1/2 whole Red Onion, Diced
3 cloves Garlic, Minced
1 can (14.5 Ounce) Diced Tomatoes With Juice
1/3 cup Assorted Olives, Pitted And Roughly Chopped
1/3 cup White Wine
2 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Pounded To Even Thickness
Kosher Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Butter
Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 pound Linguine, Cooked Al Dente And Drained
1 teaspoon Olive Oil

Preparation Instructions

Heat medium skillet over medium-low heat. Add olive oil. When warm add diced red onion and stir. Cook slowly for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic, then stir and cook for one minute. Pour in diced tomatoes with their juice. Add chopped olives. Stir and cook for a minute or two.

Splash in wine, then stir and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While sauce is cooking, sprinkle salt and freshly ground black pepper over the chicken breasts. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a separate skillet. Cook on both sides until golden brown and done. Set aside.

Toss cooked linguine in olive oil and arrange on a small platter. Spoon 3/4 of the sauce over the pasta. Place chicken on top, then spoon remaining sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle on grated Parmesan and serve immediately.