February Part 1: S'Mores Cake, Lost Power, Chicken Curry, and Penelope's First Solids

On the plate: S'mores cake and chicken curry

Soundtrack to cook to:  DNCE's Cake by the Ocean...definitely the radio edit version but the kids love to dance in the kitchen to this ditty.

The first part of February brought us some snow (the first real collection for the season) and a brunch meetup with Joseph's cousin Ilias.

Alex, Ilias holding Penelope, Joseph, and William
at brunch.  It was very nice to catch up with him and thankfully
all children behaved during the meal.  Woo hoo!

The weather was nice and Penelope had just fed, so
I tried putting her in the stroller when it was time to
pick up Alex from school.  William was very excited
to see his little sister in the stroller (because I'm usually
wearing her in the baby carrier).
*Unfortunately, this excitement was short-lived and
Miss Penelope wanted me to wear her.  She looked really
happy for this picture, though.  :-)

A much needed parent's night out brought us to a lovely dinner at a restaurant called Mei Mei.  Our friends Liz and Peter arranged for a whole lamb to be cooked and shared that evening.  We had a delicious salad, soup, and the lamb was served alongside some soft bao buns, crunchy pickled vegetables, and hoisin sauce. 
We had such a great time chit chatting with friends and making new ones.

Thanks for arranging this dinner, Liz and Peter!

At nap time one afternoon, Alex was comforting Penelope
and wanted me to take a picture of him.  He's such a proud big brother.

Time for music class!

This week, the kiddos were playing with colored
scarves that we tossed around while the music was being played.

Penelope liked grabbing them and putting them in her mouth.

Our little Buddha baby playing with some mallets.

I was watching The Chew one afternoon and was inspired to make a S'Mores cake.  Of course, I had to make sure that it was dairy free for our big guy.  While I was shopping at Whole Foods one day, I found a boxed chocolate cake mix that was dairy free and got a couple of other supplies to put the dessert together.  We want Alex to be continually excited about having dairy free foods, so I had both of the boys help me make it one afternoon.

Alex pouring in the chocolate cake mix.

William pouring in the water.

Here's the mix that I bought from the store.  I think it
also had you include 2 eggs and vegetable oil (but I substituted
apple sauce for the oil instead).

I found a vegan "marshmallow" fluff and it was the perfect
amount to put on the outside of the cake and in between the layers.

This is the brand of chocolate chips that I got that were dairy free.

After baking the cake and letting it cool, I put the
"marshmallow" fluff in between the two layers, sprinkled
it with mini chocolate chips (to give it a little texture),
and then stacked the layers and put the fluff on the outside.

Then, I put the cake under our broiler on HIGH and watched
the top of the cake get nicely toasted.  Be very careful with this
step, as it gets toasted pretty quickly.

Then, I topped the cake with some more mini chocolate chips.
*You could also sprinkle some crumbled up graham crackers on this
to make it a real "S'Mores cake".  I just didn't have any at the time.

It was SO delicious and the caramelizaion of the "marshmallow" on
top gave it a really nice flavor and texture.  So good!

While we were waiting for the cake to bake, the boys got into our Amazon boxes and had some fun.

They built a ship and decorated it.

The boys with their "telescope" boxes.

They allowed their little sister to join in on the fun.

Another afternoon, it was a bit chilly outside, so the
boys prepped their valentines to pass out to their classmates.
Alex wrote out all of his valentines to his friends this year!

Cheeky Penelope hanging with her big brother William.
This month she started to drool quite a bit...
I can't believe she may be teething already!

On February 5, the boys had school canceled because of snow.  The snow didn't start to fall until around 10 a.m., and frankly, I was happy to have the boys home.  We didn't have to set an alarm and had fun easing into the day together.  That is, until the power went out at noon with no sign of it coming back.

The boys playing around on the patio in the snow
during the storm.

That evening, the sunset was so bright that it lit up
the sky and everything seemed like it was glowing.
It was breath taking.

That evening before he came home from work, Joseph stopped by Whole Foods and picked up warm, prepared foods.  We had dinner by candle light...large scented candles that is, LOL!  William had fun carrying around the hand crank lantern, Alex was a little worried, and Penelope was blissfully unaware of what was going on.
The next morning, we woke up a bit chilly as we still didn't have any heat.  I got the kids up and ready for the day while Joseph drove to McDonald's to quickly pick up some breakfast.  He found a pet-friendly hotel nearby, so since we hadn't heard from the power company, we decided to pack everyone into the car and stay at the hotel for the day (hopefully not the night).  We got there around 9 a.m., showered, and watched Kung Fu Panda.  The boys were SUPER excited to be hanging out at the hotel for the day.

The boys at the hotel on February 6

 After Joseph and I showered, it was the boys' turn because they weren't able to take a bath the previous night.  Joseph had to leave to go to a follow-up endodentist appointment, so it was just me with all of the kiddos plus dog.  Alex had a blast in the shower, but William was so not about the shower and screamed the entire time.  He was fussing so loud that I couldn't hear my phone, and apparently Joseph had tried calling me five times.  Since I didn't answer my phone, he became worried and called the hotel to ask them to check on me and the kids. 

William did not like his first experience with a shower.

After William had calmed down and gotten dressed, I heard a knock at the door (which then caused Oscar to start barking his head off).  I picked up Penelope and went to the door.  I bent over to pick up Oscar up so that he wouldn't run out the door when I opened it.  Penelope immediately spit up all over herself, me, and Oscar.  The person at the door was the lady from the hotel lobby checking on us (because Joseph called and asked her to).  I must have looked quite the sight as I was covered with spit up, the dog was barking, and I'm SURE she had heard William fussing in the shower as well.  I assured her we were fine even though we sounded anything but.

Oscar at the door with spit up on his back.

A close up of Oscar with Penelope's spit up on his back.

After the movie had finished, the boys started to get creative with their new play space.

Alex decided to put on a puppet show.

The boys playing around in the hotel room.

Alex was pretending to be a bridge while William went
under him.

After the kiddos calmed down from all of the excitement,
they decided to read some books.  Alex was reading a book
to Penelope.

At around 12:30, Joseph got back with some food he had picked up from Whole Foods.  We enjoyed a delicious lunch as well as each other's company. 

William decided to read the book Robo-Sauce by himself.

At around 2 p.m., I got a call from the power company letting us know that our power was back on.  The boys were pretty bummed that we weren't going to spend the night there, but Joseph and I were definitely happy to go back to our warm home.   

Joseph reading Robo-Sauce to the boys once we were home.
After all of the excitement of the morning, the kiddos
were happy to be back home, too.

Oscar was happy to be home, too.

The next morning, I asked the kids to get ready and
come downstairs as usual.  Our cheeky little guy William
came downstairs with a pair of socks on his hands. 
This little guy is quite the character.  :-)

Penelope giving the boys a disapproving side-eye.

Penelope and I were sad because Joseph had to work late
hours and didn't come home until 10:30 p.m. one evening.

Woo hoo!  Miss P got a set of wheels!  She wasn't ready
to use her feet to make it move, but she did enjoy playing
with the buttons.  The boys enjoyed pushing her around.
Here's William pushing Penelope around the kitchen.

They both had a blast.

Our goofballs playing around together.

I love these kids a ridiculous amount.

Let's be honest, and I mean really honest...some mornings/days are better than others.  This one particular morning, the boys woke up on the wrong side of the bed and there were tantrums-a-plenty.  Then, I got home to find that our dog had pooped not once but twice in the house (after having taken him out twice before we left the house).  Once I cleaned that up, I fed Penelope, and as I was getting ready to rush out the door, she spit up majorly all over herself and my shoulder....which then made us late for her music class.  It was one.epic.morning indeed. 

Me displaying said spit up on my shoulder.

Our little peanut loves music class, though.

She loves to "nom" on the instruments, listen to the music,
and watch the older kids dance around.

Another favorite part of her music class is the mirror time!
I love seeing her little dimples.

William's teachers set up a fruit and vegetable stand and William LOVED
playing with the cash register.

Little Miss P was super happy one morning in her walker.

I was inspired to make a new recipe one evening as I was watching an episode of The Chew.  I was excited about it because it was quick, healthy, and a different recipe than we had had in a while.  Ladies and gents, it's time for chicken and vegetable curry!!

Ingredients:
(I used a bunch of vegetables that I had on hand in this dish.  You can definitely use your own artistic license.)

• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 peppers, sliced
• 2-3 cups sugar snap peas
• 1 bunch enoki mushrooms
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp ginger, grated
• 2 tsp red curry paste (you can use more, but this was a kid-friendly meal)
• 1 lb chicken breast cut into very thin slices
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup light coconut milk

Put all of the veggies in a pot and cook in some extra virgin olive oil
for about 3-4 minutes.

Add the curry paste and cook for about 2 minutes.

Then add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer.

Place the chicken breasts and coconut milk in and cook until chicken is cooked through
(8-10 minutes).

Ta-daaaa!  That's it!  So delicious, healthy, and quick to make.
I swear that the prep work for this dish took even longer
than it did to cook the entire dish.
It was so good that Alex had 3 servings!!

Penelope petting Oscar while Joseph read to the boys one evening.

Penelope on February 12

Love our squishy little girl!

In school, William was working on using his five senses.
This is William taking objects and putting them
on a play board to show which sense he would
be using.

William playing the game with one of his classmates.

Penelope started teething, so I gave her a cold carrot
to gum.

Penelope gumming a cold carrot on February 12

She looooooved it!  :-)

Happy 4 month birthday to our darling Miss Penelope!
She was in size 3 diapers, aimed and grasped things with her hands
really well, controlled her head and held it up, and started
teething this month.

We love that she smiles with all of her body.  As soon
as she's happy about something, she kicks her little legs,
pumps her fists, jiggles her little body, and smiles
the biggest smile while showing her gorgeous dimples.
It's quite a wonderful sight to see.

On her 4 month birthday, as we did with the boys, Penelope got her first taste of rice cereal.

Penelope on February 13...ready to eat!

This little girl LOVED her first taste of rice cereal!!

Our smiley and happy little girl.

She loved her first taste of solids.

Daddy's turn to get in on the fun!

Daddy's turn to get in on the fun. 
*Fun fact:  Joseph absolutely LOVES giving the babies
new solids.  By this time, he had already ordered a HUGE
variety of solids for Penelope to try, even though she was only
 eating rice cereal.  He gets so excited to give
the kids their first tastes of solids.

She loved it so much that she grabbed the spoon from our hands.

Happy Valentine's Day 2016!!  Since Valentine's day is usually full of chocolatey treats (things with milk in them), I decided to get the boys some non-dairy treats as a surprise.  For Valentine's day this year, the boys got Nerf guns and Star Wars (surprise surprise) light saber candies.  They were quite thrilled.

Our little guys were super excited to get their first
Nerf guns.  Happy Valentine's day, darlings!

Oscar got a new squeaky/crinkly toy to destroy.
As you can see, he was losing patience with me
for the picture and desperately wanted to take this
lion apart.

Little Miss P on Valentine's Day.  She's such a happy baby.
We're so blessed.

What a fun month filled with milestones, bonding, and memories a plenty.  I've definitely had to do some major convincing with Alex that whenever we have a snow storm that we won't lose our power.  This winter has been pret-ty interesting to say the least.  :-)
Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki