Friday Favorites {10.20.17}

Happy happy Friday! It’s been quite a week in our house. I’m thankful that after this weekend, soccer and several other activities we have going on are over for awhile. I’m looking forward to having our evenings and Saturdays back for the holiday season!

As always I’m linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea for Friday Favorites!

one

We officially have two kids on two wheels! I love this sweet boy. He decided one night this week that he wanted to take the training wheels off his bike. I kind of dragged my heels on it because I love the freedom of being able to take all the kids out alone on walks/bike rides during the day. It’s hard to push a double stroller and help a child learn to ride on two wheels at the same time!

He really wanted to learn so we took them off expecting a slow and painful learning process like we experienced with our oldest. (He fell once while learning and then refused to get back on his bike for months.) But in typical Eli, he jumped on and learned in about 6 minutes. He fell a bunch of times but jumped up and hopped right back on. He is just fearless! I probably can learn a little something from him. 😉 Watching him learn so quickly and not get discouraged brought tears to my eyes. I just love his confidence and how proud he is of himself! Favorite thing about this week for sure.

two

I love cooking with my kiddos and I especially love making fun, themed food with them. One of our very favorite fun, simple breakfasts in the fall are these baked pumpkin donuts. I’ve been making them forever so I can’t even remember where I originally found the ‘recipe’. There’s only two ingredients and they are SO easy!

I have my kids mix a yellow cake mix and a can of pumpkin together. I absolutey love these Wilton donut pans and use the two I have all the time. We put the pumpkin mixture in a baggie or icing bag and squeeze the batter into the donut pans. (Don’t skip this and try to use a spoon or it will take you a few years to finish!) I bake ours at 350 for 15 minutes or until the batter is set. We dump them out of the pans onto cooling racks after they have sat for about 5 minutes and dust some powdered sugar onto the top.

I’m a huge donut lover and while these aren’t as good as old school donut places, they are pretty darn tasty for a baked donut made at home. Try them! You will not be disappointed. My boys love to have these for breakfast during the week with some scrambled eggs!

We also made these ‘Mummy hotdogs‘ Friday night for dinner. I sliced up the dough but otherwise my older boys completely made these all my themselves. They had fun putting faces on their mummies with ketchup and mustard! A simple, fun Friday night dinner during the Halloween season!

three

This week, I posted about the holiday traditions we keep with our kids. I loved seeing other people’s comments on what traditions they keep with their families! I loved that I wasn’t the only one who likes to watch all the Friends Thanksgiving episodes to get in the Turkey Day spirit. (I may have found my people. ;)) I was surprised at how many people paint pumpkins with their kids instead of carving them. That’s such a great idea! I think we might be trying that one out this year. Does your family have any fun holiday traditions? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

four

As I write this on Thursday, the Cubs are down 3 -1 in the playoffs against the Dodgers. I love baseball and the playoffs but what I really love is watching the playoffs with my husband! I feel like every couple has to have something in common that brings them together and helps them connect. For us, that’s sports! He’s my very favorite person to hang out with and we have had the best time watching our team this year!

Now anyone who knows me, knows that I bleed true Cubbie blue and never give up on my team. That being said, the Dodgers have proved that they are a tough team to beat and we have quite the uphill climb ahead of us! As you read this, it may be over for the Cubs this year – who knows. But either way, I’ve been loving all this extra time with my husband! He’s always my favorite. 😉

five

Story time at the library is a brand new favorite thing for us! Last winter when my twins were just a year old, we went through phase after phase of teething, colds, sleep regressions, etc. and I barely left the house with them. It was awful and I thought I was going to go insane! I’m hoping and praying that this winter will be different and am already looking for inside activities to keep us busy!

They sang and danced to the music, adored their name tags (haha!) and made some new friends. I’m hoping that this winter will be much better than last year and we can get out and have some fun! Any mamas with tips on what to do in the wintertime with young kiddos, please give me some tips!

Those are my favorites this week. A lot of fun memories with my crew! I hope you have a wonderful weekend with yours!