February Part 2: February Vacation, Peanut Butter Cookies, and Chocolate Zucchini Brownies

On the plate:  Peanut butter cookies, salmon and farro salad, and chocolate zucchini (dairy free) brownies

Soundtrack to cook to:  Cake by the ocean by DNCE (the edited version).  It's Penelope's absolute favorite song, which is hilarious.

February 15-19 the kids were on February vacation.  Thankfully Joseph took the week off and we had a wonderful "staycation" together as a family.  Normally we would have loved to have gone somewhere, but we decided to stay home because 1:  Oscar was still ill and needed to take lots of medications (three times a day) and 2:  We were having some renovations done on the house.  We planned a week's worth of fun activities and had a blast together.

Our first adventure took us to Disney on Ice!

We had great seats and all of the kiddos (Penelope included)
enjoyed the show.

It was still cold, so we kept our jackets and hats on
during the show.  The kids were captivated by all of their
favorite characters.

Penelope was actually watching the show!

The kiddos watching Disney on Ice.

Singing and dancing along

About 20 minutes into the show, Penelope fell asleep
and was down for the count.

William on February 15 during the show.

During intermission we got some cotton candy and an
Olaf hat.  :-p

The boys loved their surprise.

Our happy little William.

Lots of Genies from Aladdin skating on the ice.  Pretty cool!

Wait a minute...is that Olaf in the walker??!

HA!  Nope...just Penelope wearing her Olaf hat.
HAHAHAHA!

That evening, we invited our friends Ai-ris, Ian, and their daughters Yoshimi and Koharu over for dinner.  I made some amazing peanut butter cookies that had 4 ingredients!!  They were super delicious, dairy-free, and cooked up in no time.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup peanut butter (I used natural, chunky, honey roasted peanut butter)
• 1/2 cup sugar (modified from original recipe)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Put all of the ingredients into a mixer and mix until combined.

I used an ice cream scoop to scoop the dough onto
a silpat. 

Then, I wet a fork with some water and made the cross
pattern on top of the cookies.

*No worries, this dough does not spread, so you can place
the cookies pretty close to each other.

Bake the cookies in a 325 degrees F oven for 15 minutes.

These cookies were INCREDIBLE!!  Not only were they
easy to make, but they were deeeeeeelicious!  I will definitely
be making these again.

That evening, we had the kids decorate their own pizzas (Yoshimi and Koharu decorated their own, and William and Alex decorated theirs) for dinner.

Ai-ris with Yoshimi putting the toppings on their pizza.

Alex and William put red peppers, uncured turkey pepperoni,
and dairy-free cheese on their pizza.

Joseph helped William sprinkle the pepper pieces.

William and Koharu sitting at their "dinner table"
chit-chatting with one another.  They were so cute!

Yoshimi and Koharu made an adorable smiley-faced pizza (left).
The boys opted for a more symmetrical design.

William, Yoshimi, and Alex were excited to have dinner together.

The kids had so much fun together.
After they finished their pizza, they had some fruit
and then got to decorate their peanut butter cookies
with some frosting and sprinkles.

The big kids got a little carried away with the sprinkles,
but had fun decorating their own cookies.

Two days later, we had a babysitter watch Penelope while we took the boys ice skating.  Since it was raining outside, we searched and found an indoor ice skating rink to take the boys.

Joseph and the boys were super excited to go ice skating.

The boys and I were ready to go on the ice.

Soooooo, that was a disaster!  The kids were absolutely terrified of falling down on the ice, so they basically just screamed and held onto the edge of the rink.  We encouraged them and tried our best to calm them down.

Then, a lady who was renting out skates lent us two
crates that were stacked on top of each other for William
to use as a walker on the ice.  He was still pretty scared
and refused to move.

After Alex had fallen, I taught him how to get back up on
his own.  After the initial fear had gone away, he was
much more willing to try going around the rink some more.

William decided that he was done, so Joseph sat on
the side of the rink with him.
However, Alex said he wanted to keep going and did
a great job!  He was still a little skittish, but he powered
through and went out the rink two more times.
Way to go, big guy!

Alex skating on February 16

That next day, Penelope had her music class while Joseph took the big boys to get their hair cut.

She enjoyed holding onto the drum while I beat on it.

This was her favorite instrument.

That afternoon, we met my friend Suzie and her son Coda at Launch to bounce around on the trampolines.  The boys had SO much fun bouncing around with Coda.  Thanks for schlepping all the way out to have fun with us, Suzie and Coda!

Alex, Coda, and William on the trampolines.  It was
so cute to see these guys have so much fun together.

Joseph and William taking a breather from all of the fun.

That evening, we had a babysitter watch all of the kiddos so that we could go on a belated Valentine's day dinner.  We decided years ago that we would never go out for dinner on the actual date of Valentine's day because it's always crowded, you usually have to wait even though you have a reservation, and the restaurants typically jack up their prices.  So, we handed the kids over, kissed them good bye, and had an amazing meal at a restaurant called The Tasting Counter.

Happy Valentine's day 2016, darling!  We were so happy
to be out on the town together.

This was such an awesome experience.  The restaurant
only has 18 seats and only offers a tasting menu.  You get
a one-on-one experience with the head chef as he and his staff
serve you in person and describe each dish that you're going to enjoy.
It was so cool!

Our view for the evening.

It was so cool to see them plate each dish.

It was so awesome to be able to see the staff prepare
each dish in front of us!

Fish served three ways

Smoked scallop ceviche

This amazing sour cream spaetzle with crispy bacon
in a beef broth.  I would be the happiest lady if I could
eat 10 more bowls of this right now.  It was like food for the soul.

An incredible fish dish

Halibut with grilled mushrooms on a bed of lentils

An almond cookie with pine nuts and an aperitif

Steak with onion rings

Lamb sausage

Dehydrated pineapple with a sorbet

Chocolate, peanut butter, and jelly dessert....absolutely to die for!

A little sweet taste for the road:  gelee, orange chocolate,
and a delightful meringue.

After the dinner, we had a little time to kill, so we went
to a micro brewery for a beer after dinner.  What a lively atmosphere!

I love to smoosh faces with this little love muffin!

Alex loves to hold his sister.

There was one day where the weather was much nicer, so we decided to take the boys to the Franklin park zoo.  We hadn't been there since the fall and were so excited for the kids to have the room to run around and see some animals.

The kids were so excited to run around outside that morning.

Since it was during the week, there were no crowds,
so the boys had the beloved tractor all to themselves.

The boys checking out the goats in the barn.

Our little monkeys hanging out with the gorillas.

The boys connecting with one of the gorillas.

The boys were fascinated with the gorilla.

Monkeying around with the gorilla statue...and yes,
the boys did question whether or not they were real.

G'day, William the koala! :-)

Our happy Penelope on February 19

Little Miss Penelope looooooves to be held by me....and only me sometimes.  One morning we were having breakfast and Miss P wanted to be held...

...and Oscar wanted the prime real estate on my lap.
HA!  I ate my breakfast with one hand while holding
Oscar in my lap and Penelope on my left.  Gotta love
our quirky family.

Alex was showing his "play" remote control to Penelope.

Later that day, we went out to lunch with our little family to get a change of atmosphere.

Little brothers having a sweet moment together at the restaurant.

Since they ate their lunch so well, we went next door
to a cupcake bar where they had dairy-free cupcakes
with dairy-free frosting and dairy-free decorations.
The boys had fun frosting and decorating their cupcakes.
However, their favorite part was eating the decorations.
They took the cupcakes home to finish later.  :-)

Alex was so excited to have this special treat.

William loved it, too!

I can't get enough of this squishy little girl!

Oh my heavens!  I made an amaaaaaaazing salad with leftovers for lunch one day.  We had one filet of cooked salmon and some farro leftover from the previous night's dinner.  Since that wasn't enough for all of us to eat off of, I decided to stretch the meat as much as possible by making a salad out of the leftovers!

Cooked salmon (that I warmed up) and cooked farro served
on top of a bed of arugula salad and topped with Italian dressing.
The flavor was amazing and it was a super healthy and filling lunch.
I'm currently dreaming of making this again.

I love all of the love that I caught in this moment.
Penelope absolutely adores her brothers and they love her, too.

She has the men in this house wrapped around her little pinky.  :-)

Penelope checking out herself during tummy time.

Alex had a long day at school, so I asked William if he wanted
to go out on a date for lunch and he could pick any place he wanted.
He chose a little diner close to our house and was so excited
to have this special "date" with me (while Penelope was asleep
in her car seat on the ground next to me).  It was nice to have this
one-on-one time with our little guy.

Love this big boy!

William (reluctantly) doing yoga in his class one day.

Penelope on February 22

Our silly little girl :-)

Penelope loves tubby time!

On February 23, Alex had a publishing party
where he wrote about our family's trip to Disney Land.
He was so proud of all of his writing and illustrations.

Alex reading his published piece of writing.

"I went to Disneyland in California and I had lots of fun!"

"I went to Disneyland in Californeye (California) I felt happy!"

"I saw Buzz Lightyear."

"I went to the Disney Pixar Station."

"I wished I could hi five the caractrs (characters) like
C3P0 the galaxy is sooooooo cool I love the galaxy!"

William was proud of his brother and gave him a big hug.

The beginning of our basement renovation.

Penelope on February 24.

Penelope at her 4 month check up.  Her stats:
Weight:  14 lbs 13 oz (56th percentile)
Length:  25 inches long (63rd percentile)

She was tracking well, holding her head up,
laughing and smiling, and had her first taste of baby cereal.
Her first official food was sweet potato and she loved it!

She's such a special little girl.  We're so blessed to have such great kiddos.

Oooohhhh our little William Billiam...this kiddo loves to play outside with his friends at school.  He had been playing and was picking up sticks and rocks (to give to me as presents when I picked him up from school).  Then I took a look back at him to find him looking like a dirty little birdy!

Our darling, dirty William (he had wiped his hands
on his mouth and nose area).

Love this kid too much!

In school, William's class was learning about the different types of taste sensations:  bitter, salty, sweet, and sour.  Here's how William reacted to the different tastes:

Sour: lemon :-)

Bitter:  cocoa powder

The others weren't posted on their facebook page, but I thought these were HILARIOUS!  :-)

Penelope in her jumperoo on February 25.

Our sleepy little girl in the baby carrier.  She loves
being snuggled up against me in it.

One morning I was chatting on the phone with a friend
while holding Penelope, and she fell asleep in my arms
like this!  Such a darling.  :-)

These boys love their sister so much.

William doing an art project in school with one of his friends.

Penelope and William snuggle time one afternoon.

Penelope on February 27.

Our family has a sweet tooth.  When we found that Alex had a dairy allergy, we made it our mission to try and find foods and recipes that were dairy free and tasted delicious.  I hit up Pinterest right away and found some really great and easy recipes to make for our now dairy free family.
One of the recipes I found was chocolate zucchini brownies and I couldn't wait to make them with the boys.

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups peeled and grated zucchini (I didn't peel the zucchini and it was just fine)
• 1 cup dairy free chocolate chips (I used the chocolate chunk ones.  You can use semi-sweet chocolate chips if you're not a dairy free household)
• sprinkles

My little sous chefs sneaking some nibbles of the raw zucchini.

Mix the eggs, apple sauce, and vanilla extract,
along with the grated zucchini in a large mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder,
baking soda, salt, and sugar.

Combine the wet with the dry ingredients with a mixer.
Then, fold in the chocolate chips (or chocolate chunks in my case).

Pour the brownie batter into a greased 8x8 inch baking pan,
top with a few extra chocolate chunks and sprinkles.

Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 30-35 minutes or until
an inserted toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Me being creepy and sneaking in a couple baby
snuggles!

The kids were so excited to try these fun-looking brownies!
They were absolutely delicious, super moist, and you couldn't
tell at all that there was zucchini in them.
We'll definitely be making these again.

Our little Miss P taking her evening nap.  I love that
little bottom lip.  :-)

The weather was much more pleasant, so we took the whole
family for a walk to the park.  Joseph got some quality
baby wearing time with Penelope.

Our Monk Monk, monkeying around.

Our Jub jub following suit.

We take Penelope to both of the boys' rooms for her
to say "good night" to each of them before they go to bed.
It's so nice to see them love each other so much.

William having a heart-to-heart conversation with Penelope one morning.

William blowing bubbles while waiting to pick up Alex
one afternoon.

Our cheeky little guy.

The boys drawing an ocean scene one afternoon.

Playing around February 29.

On February 29 after we had put the boys to bed,
Joseph started working out in the basement.  He was
running in place and Penelope thought it was the funniest
thing she had ever seen!  It was so great to hear her laugh.

That last post only took me about four months to write.  Oy vey!  Things have definitely been busy, but it's been absolutely wonderful to see our little girl transform from a baby blob to a baby that can actually interact with us.  I'll keep trying my best to churn these out, but it may take me some time.  Thanks for being patient and I hope you enjoyed!
Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki