We have set meal times and the littlest one is always asking, “Is it lunch time yet? Middle to lunchtime? Is it snack time? Middle to snack time?” Lunch time is pretty much on the dot at noon everyday and snack time is always at 3:30pm, but I guess telling time isn’t her strongest suit. Lunch is pretty much the previous day’s dinner, but I’ve been stumped lately on what to serve for snack. It’s been pretty monotonous, so I’m trying to figure out other options for the girls. Therefore, I’m teaming up with So Delicious Dairy Free Organic Almondmilk to come up with something I know they’ll enjoy.

To pick up the So Delicious Dairy Free Organic Almondmilk, we headed to Target (check here to locate a Target near you that carries it) and found it waiting for us in the cooler of the market section. I’ve totally been impressed with the changes Target’s been making lately, feels very much like Tarjay. If you treat your grocery budget like a game, and try to save as much as you can, download the Cartwheel app and you can get 20% off Cartwheel offer on So Delicious Dairy Free from 2/18 to 3/17. I love how Target is a one stop shop, so we proceeded to pick up some frozen organic berries and other fresh fruit, and we had everything to make our smoothie bowls.

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Smoothie Bowl for Kids

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups frozen strawberries set aside a few for decorating
• 2 cups frozen blackberries set aside a few for decorating
• 2 cups So Delicious Dairy Free Organic Almondmilk
• 1 banana slices for decorating
• 1/8 cup almonds for decorating

Instructions

1. Combine the frozen strawberries, blackberries, and So Delicious Dairy Free Organic Almondmilk in a blender until completely mixed. Pour into a small bowl for each child. 

2. Have children decorate their own smoothie bowl! They can create flowers, animals, and rainbows from various fruit & nut toppings. 

The girls had so much fun decorating the top of their smoothie bowls and they had even more fun devouring it. We stopped consuming dairy milk a few years ago in an attempt to be more plant-based. We aren’t full on vegetarian, our motto is everything in moderation, but we do limit our meat consumption and up our intake of fruits and vegetables. Being married to a dietitian ensures we are making good food choices and that certainly includes what we feed our kids for breakfast, lunch, snack time, and dinner. We definitely loved the So Delicious Dairy Free Organic Almondmilk, and as I attempt to be an ingredient conscious parent (moderation, right?), I appreciate that the number of ingredients in it doesn’t exceed my two hands, and that even the container is plant-based. Now, if you have a child with a nut allergy like I do (1 of 4 of my girls can’t consume nuts, so making this with So Delicious Diary Free Coconutmilk will work better for them). There will for sure be future experimentations with various versions of this smoothie bowl for snack time. Plus, you get extra points with the kids if you make something delicious and cute!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of So Delicious Dairy Free. The opinions and text are all mine. Thank you so much for the support you give this space and the brands I partner with! 

Flower Crown

Supplies:
Bunch of fresh flowers
Floral wire
Shears
Wire cutter

Directions:
Cut out small bunches of flowers about 5′ long. Wrap wire around the bottom of the stem and continue to wrap downward to add more small bunches of flowers. Continue wrapping flowers together until desired size to fit around the head. Wrap wire to connect both ends together. Tip: Wrap wire in a downward as you continue adding flower bunches to your crown.

These could easily be made with lavender stems, herbs, vines, or other plants you have growing in your backyard, which is how we made the other crowns for our Galentine’s post.

We befriended one of the photo booth operators from our yearly OC fair tradition (I’m even friends with her on facebook, and she’s typically the one that takes our family photo), so she’s always telling us all about the Date Festival in February. The past few years, we haven’t been able to make it, but finally this year, we made it happen. Also, thanks to being homeschoolers, we got a school pass to get in for free (get info here). The reason she convinces us to go is because at this fair, they (the company that runs the photo booths) have a mini studio that uses this old school film camera to take these black & white family portraits. You take the photo (and try not to blink because they only get one shot) and you have to wait for someone to develop it, then come back to pick it up. The package we chose has 3 – 8×10″ and 8 – wallets ($32 minimum for more than 3 people). We really love the simplicity of these portraits and it’s definitely worth the trek out if you love film photography.

Besides the photo studio and photo booth, there were plenty of shows to watch at the fair. There are all your traditional fair rides too, but we didn’t ride any and spent all our time watching shows. There were pig races, a magic show, marionette puppet show, date cooking show, ostrich, zebra, and camel races, and a few others. The shows were all quirky, rough around the edges type stuff, but still entertaining and fun. Of course, all that fair food was there, but fair food just ain’t our thing. Family time, fair fun, and film photographs as souvenirs are what fairs are all about for us.

More info about the Riverside County Fair and Date Festival here. It runs to February 26th if you want to try and catch it.

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Hamachi Sushi with Spicy Cilantro Lime

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

Hamachi Sushi

• 1/2 lb hamachi, sliced
• 1/2 cup shaved white radish
• 1 bunch thinly sliced green onions
• 1 avocado thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp masago
• 1/4 cup radish sprouts
• 4 serranos
• 1/4 tsp black sesame seed

Spicy Cilantro Lime Sauce

• 2 limes, juiced squeezed
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 serranos
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• sprinkle salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

Spicy cilantro lime sauce

1. In a food processor, blend limes, EVO, serranos, cilantro until completely blended. Sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste. Set aside. 
   

Arranging together

1. Lay out the radish, serranos, and green onions on the plate. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of the sauce on top.

2. Place the avocado on top, then layer the hamachi over it, slightly overlapping each piece. Drizzle the top with another 2 tablespoons of the sauce.

3. Sprinkle with masago and radish sprouts on top. Lightly sprinkle with sesame seed. Add a very light sprinkle of coarse salt and black pepper to top it off. If desired, drizzle more sauce or serve on the side. 

We ate this with a side of brown rice and some small sheets of seasoned seaweed. This is definitely one dish we are adding to our Friday night date night repertoire, when we have the budget for hamachi. We got spoiled by my parents and they gave us this amazing filet. I’m certainly thankful for parents and sushi.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

Thankful we had a good family day at the Date Festival on Friday.

I like most of Justin Timberlake’s new album. I’m not one to swoon over him, but I do think he puts on a good show and makes catchy music.

Gorgeous blue acetate earrings from Dear Soho.

We are starting to get used to Ben’s new work schedule and we are loving having his 4 day weekends every other week. It’s something we prayed for for awhile and it’s been a blessing.

I’m teaching a macrame workshop next Saturday. If you’re interested in hosting your own, just gather your friends, and I’d love to come you! Send an email for details.

Obsessed with these Island Girl Workouts on youtube. I want the DVD. Oh my legs, buns, and abs feel good after.

If purple is your color, get this minimalist linen dress.

I’m curious, for those of you who are still blog readers, what do you want to see more of here? I have some ideas I’ve been brainstorming, but I would love to have your feedback. Do you come here for crafts, life/heart rantings, homeschooling, style? I know my blog reading list has dwindled over the last few years, and instagram is the thing now, but I hate the algorithm change and I miss the community aspect blogging used to be. I’m so appreciative of the time you’ve taken here over the years, it means so much. I’ve been thinking lately, what do I want to do at 49 (the age I’ll be when Glow goes off to college)? With that in mind, I’ve been pondering about what I really want to do with my online presence and the things I am passionate about.

We’ll be enjoying the sunshine here this weekend. Hope you get some of the same wherever you are!

Simple and sweet describes how we celebrated yesterday’s love fest. The girls and I went to Ben’s work to leave him some banners on his desks, while he was out doing errands for lunch. Then, came home and baked strawberry cupcakes, watched a movie and the olympics. When Ben got home, he had a flower for each girl and a special love note for me with a hidden message. After, the girls did their homemade Valentine exchange (loads of notes and artwork). Also, True picked a Valentine pummelo from our garden and put a little message on it for the rest of the family. Of course, sometimes it’s nice to go out with a bang and a couple girls ended up fighting, I stepped in in a not so loving way (had to ask for forgiveness), Ben was frustrated with what they were fighting about, and so by the time Ben and I sat down to eat our dinner together (he picked up sushi), we were both exhausted and frustrated. Such is life sometimes, and I’m reminded about the hymn I’ve kept (attempted to keep) in my heart this past week, “Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus… O for grace, to trust Him more.” My heart was cranky, but I need to remind myself those truths to give myself a hard reset. Even if it takes awhile for the reset to kick in. With all the sweet and frustrating, it was still a good love day.