I pinned these cupcakes and boy did they turn out yummy! Get the original recipe here from Pastry Affair. I made them for our Easter picnic and the girls loved them (and I had the same paper cups so I did mine the same way). My slight change though is that instead of 4 cups of powdered sugar for the frosting, I just used 2 and a half. I got the consistency I needed using less sugar, so I figured I’d stop before it went into calorie overload because it already had plenty.

Other than that, not much else to say but try the recipe… it’s yummy! Have you pinned any good recipes lately and then made it to see if it’s as yummy as it looks? This one was definitely as yummy as it looks!

Resurrection Sunday was full of family and friends and lots of feasting. After church, we went over to Ben’s cousin’s house and we ate. Then, we went to my mom’s house and ate some more. Don’t forget to throw in all the sweet stuff and candy filled eggs, I think we were definitely eating more than we were supposed to.

My mom doesn’t know the meaning of the word simple and when she plans for a meal, she goes all out. Always. In fact, my parents went to the port at 2am to get all the seafood as fresh as possible. 2AM!!! My parents are crazy! Somehow my mom has the talent to cook for 50 people all the time, when in fact there usually is only about 20 people coming, and all she makes is delicious. No joke. Neither my siblings or I got that talent of hers. She definitely has the gift of hospitality. Sadly, it didn’t rub off on me too much. I’m horrible at hospitality!

The girls got to do another egg hunt, we all had lots of fun feasting, and I had a blast eating crab. It’s one of my favorite things to eat. My hands get all stinky, I break shell with my teeth, and the juice splatters everywhere, but to me, it tastes so yummy. It was my request for the Easter meal. There was fried calamari, salmon, yellow tail, shrimp, mussels, and lots of fruit and desserts galore. We left with our tummies full, hearts happy, and very tired little girls. It was a wonderful day full of joy to celebrate the day our Lord has risen. We most definitely had a glorious Easter!

Sundays are filled with gathering with our church family, then hopping from Ben’s family to mine, so we made sure to do our own family Easter thing on Saturday. We went to Citrus State Park to go on a family picnic and do our egg hunt in an orange grove. Every time we have passed this park, True always wants to go and roam, but we never do, so we knew that a little time at the citrus park that afternoon was going to be perfect to celebrate Easter together.

It’s a massive orange grove, so we limited our eggs to one row and within 4 trees on each side of that row. Ben did a good job hiding the eggs and if we left some, then someone will get a surprise one day when they find it. The girls were totally into it, especially that little Glow. She watched what her big sisters were doing and she immediately knew what to do! It took us a bit of time to get situated after the girls ran around, Ben laying the eggs out, then doing the egg hunt, that we didn’t get to actually have our picnic. The park close time was earlier than we thought, so we had to skedaddle out of there. Instead, we drove down the road a bit, pulled over on the side of the road right next to the orange groves and had the picnic in our car. With 4 kids, you’ve gotta try and stay flexible when things don’t go as planned. I don’t always flex so easily, but this day, we all just rolled with it. Thankfully.

It’s a place not too far from us, so we’d love to go exploring more when we’re able to. Next time, we will be sure to allow for ample picnic time in the orange grove. Despite our picnic getting cut short, I think it’s obvious from these pictures that the girls still had the most lovely time. Wouldn’t you agree?!

Crunchy Turkey Kimchi. I didn’t use pork, but lean ground turkey instead and we had broccoli raab as a side dish. I meant to serve this on whole wheat buns, but then last minute realized we we’re out, so we did brown rice. We’re totally due for a Trader Joe’s run. The girls devoured this dish. They loved it and out ate Ben and me. These girls of ours are tiny, but boy can they eat! When I make a recipe, I seriously quadruple it to feed everyone in our house, and even with that sometimes we still don’t have leftovers (or run out).

Grilled Chicken Banh Mi. I used this recipe to make the marinade for the chicken, but minus the lemongrass, and I use this recipe for the picked daikon and carrots. The pickled veggies came out yummy, but man oh man was it stinky when I was making the marinade for it. I used chicken breast for the meat and low fat mayo and that sandwich was yum-o. Ben says it was better than the ones we get at Mr. Lee’s. I thought it was good, but not sure if it was better than Mr. Lee’s, but I think the healthy factor made it that much more appealing to him. I would consider making a whole wheat bread to go with it, but I think it just tastes so darn good on a good ‘ole French baguette. I think I want to try this recipe that Robyn suggested next time.

Week 4/1 – 4/5
Monday: Spring Minestrone with Chicken Meatballs (thanks for the suggestion Steph!)
Tuesday: Dumplings
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Pork Meatball Banh Mi (will probably use turkey)
Friday: Pizza night

What’s on your meal plan for next week? I need some ideas!

I had True and Brave back to back, and after I had Brave, I pretty much didn’t venture out of the house by myself. It was fine by me because I’m a total homebody and also I love to stick to routines and didn’t want to interfere with their nap schedules. My kids thrive on routine. Then, Soulie was added to the mix and leaving with 3 terrified me, so you can imagine what happened when we moved up to 4. They were all so little and all took naps, so I didn’t mind not leaving the house. Ben does the grocery shopping and I just send him a list of what I need.

Now, True, Brave, and Soul are bigger and no longer nap, so it’s just Glow who naps (two times a day: 9am-12pm and 2pm-5pm). With that, I’m noticing the need to go on more adventures together. To actually leave the confines of our home. It does them good and it does me good too. The idea of leaving with all 4 by myself doesn’t scare me as much (as much is the key word here). Glow won’t ever nap in the car, so it does mess her up a little, but planning quick adventures out and coming back home before traffic hits (see, it all revolves around traffic here) isn’t so bad.

True, Brave, and Soul are getting so curious about the world around them that it does them an injustice to coop them up at home all day, every day. These girls of mine need to get out and explore, so I’m working on trying to give them opportunities to do so. Plus, we live in southern California where the beach, desert, and mountains are all within an hour or less of where we live. I better take advantage, don’t you think?! And if for some reason, we aren’t able to leave the house on a particular day, I’m making sure they spend it in the backyard playing. Lately, they’ve been spending hours out there. Being outside, just reminds us that the world is so much more than just our little family and home. It’s easy to live in a cozy little bubble, but we need to be reminded that there really is a whole world out there and we need to live intentionally and we need to live life well. We need to love and serve others beyond our little family, and honestly, I really suck at teaching my children that.

I don’t always feel like I’m living life well or intentionally. It’s more like I’m just trying to survive my days (and keep my head above water until it’s time to go to bed), but it’s something I need to keep in mind and work on. Sometimes a post about going to beach, turns into a little reflection. This is to remind myself… take the girls on more adventures and teach them how to serve others. I haven’t figured out exactly how to get better at both, but I’m working on it.

btw- they had a blast at the beach!

I woke up at 4am, picked up my friend Reese (and her bun in the oven) up at 5am (okay, 5 minutes after 5am), then we headed out towards Santa Barbara. We wanted to make sure to get out of the city before traffic hits and come back home before traffic hits. When you live in southern California, your outings revolve around traffic. You want to try and avoid it if you can!

It was a great drive up. Reese and I were chatty about everything and laughing about everything. We actually just met a year ago (as a result of her traveling to L.A. to meet her boyfriend’s family and friends), then she married said boyfriend (who is one of my closest guy friends), and they just moved back to Southern California from Minneapolis with a little baby on the way. Despite not knowing each other for very long, it seriously feels like we’ve known each other forever. She’s someone that I just feel comfortable speaking and laughing with despite only knowing each other for a short period of time. No awkward getting to know each other moments at all! I’m always thankful for kindred spirits and Reese definitely is one.

We got to Santa Barbara and walked around the beach, more like the cliff area of the beach. Then, we grabbed some yummy breakfast. After which, we continued about another hour northeast into the country until we reached our destination. The reason for the little road trip was to pick up some fantastic find on craigslist. It’s something Ben and I have been searching for and we finally found it! It’s a bench for our backyard and when everything is set up, I will definitely share pictures.

I found the listing Sunday morning and Ben and I would have picked it up Sunday afternoon, but the seller had work at 1pm, so we wouldn’t have made it in time. We didn’t want to chance waiting until our next chance to go together because I’m sure the bench would have sold had we waited a full week. We thought it would work out if I went on Monday morning. Thankfully Reese, who is a Starbucks manager and used to being up so early, was up for the challenge, we were able to borrow my dad’s truck, Ben had to leave the house at noon for work, so we had Steph, our babysitter, come watch the girls until I got home. We’re so happy it worked out and that we safely got there and back home. I love driving (as long as it isn’t in traffic) and I love road trips, so I had a blast even if I had to wake up before the sun did.

The bench is outside and we are still working on pulling things together for a cozy, comfy outdoor space, but it’s slowly coming along. We’ve been budgeting to be able to do some things to our backyard and that’s our main project for this spring (last spring was wood floors), so it’s been fun seeing it all come to fruition. Don’t worry… I promise to share it when it’s all done. Do you have any major house projects you plan on tackling this spring?