spring break so far

For spring break this year we've been mostly home sweet home.


Yesterday Henry had one of his favorite school friends over to play and they caught a frog that was trapped in our window well.

He might have preferred to stay there after his ride down the slide.

New shoes have been a highlight.
 
Henry slept next to these beauties last night.

We explored Starved Rock on Tuesday. We climbed our way up ten flights of stairs and wound around wooded trails until we landed in the middle of a canyon listening to a waterfall. It was beautiful.

And adventurous.
Also my phone is completely dead and I'm waiting until Monday for a replacement. So it's been weird and nice to be disconnected.
We're off to enjoy today, Henry's last full day of break!

march 17

That sneaky leprechaun found us here, but we never could catch him.
 

He left a stack of chocolate chip cookies - green ones.

And green milk, too.

He hung hats on the ceiling fan and switched kitchen chairs all around.
\
The boys just could not believe he'd hang a pillow from the lights.

He's sneaky, that little leprechaun.

little things

We've been enjoying the small things.
 



























trees blooming, homemade pizza, watercolors, long baths with no soap just toys, basketball, finding frogs with the neighbors, lost teeth, sand, strawberries, rainbows, new clearance mug from starbucks, cereal and finding a washer full of crayons {after washing an entire load -- a mess}.

Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things. -robert brault

brownie bites

Because the only thing better than soft, chewy chocolaty brownies are cute mini ones covered in sprinkles.

Start with the basics.

Line a mini-muffin pan with muffin cups (mini ones).
{This step seems obvious, but I skipped it when I first attempted these, and they were a mess to get out of the pans and didn't look as cute either. They tasted ok, but who can tell when they're a hot mess?}

Fill the cups with a scoop of batter each and sprinkle them.

I baked mine at 350 for 14 minutes, and took them out when they were still a bit gooey looking.




I stacked them up and put them in a domed cake stand to serve for our small group.
{That cake stand looks covered in dust! Gross!}

A super easy way to make one box of brownies go a long way.
{And impress the neighbor children.}