Jeremy's birthday party

Pressure cooker - chicken and potato

Now I am a proud owner of the Instant Pot pressure cooker! I only have it for about a week now and I am in love with this device. I would even call it "must have" for every kitchen.
How many times we come home and dinner takes to long to cook and you don't have that much time? Boiled potato in 5 minutes? Chicken drumsticks or  thighs in 20? Full rotisserie chicken done in 30!
I did not try many dishes yet, but everything we tried - was good!

This was our first dinner from the Instant Pot
Chicken  thighs with potatoes
Ingredients
potato
chicken  thighs (or drumsticks)
onion
carrot
salt, pepper, spices
oil

Hebron Christmas

This was last night. The fastest I was able to do pictures :)
We had a lot of fun! Different rides, bouncy houses, crafts, games. Girls won a large size blanket with Frozen characters on it. We've met Ana, Elsa and Olaf there. Minions  were walking around too but we didn't take any pictures with them. And Santa! Couldn't miss him for sure.

Hebron Fall Festival

Timing is everything but not in this case :) 
Trying to finish up so many pictures and I just don't have time for everything on time. So now I will try to do at least 1 post per day (maybe?) and organize my photo folders. 
This was in the middle of October. Fall Festival at the Church. 

Visit with Santa

Every year the Bass Pro Shops store turns into Winder Wonderland for the kids. Santa village with crafts, carousel, different game and the Santa himself. Biggest plus - it is all free!

Jeremy, 3 days away from turning 1!!!

In just a 3 days my sweet baby boy will turn 1!!! It's just crazy to even think about it and I still can't believe it.... 

Corn Dawgs Pumpkin farm

This year we decided to try something new and went to the Corn Dawgs  farm. It was great! Much better then any other farm we've been to! Definitely going back there next year!

Halloween at Ashley's school

On Friday before Halloween Ashley's school arranged some nice party for the kids. A lot of game stations, games, crafts. They had so much fun there!

Halloween at Karate

Halloween

There will be few separate posts about it.
Actual Halloween we spent at home. Out Club house did a great job this year! Different game stations, pumpkin decorations, food, photo booth etc.
In the evening we just walked around our neighborhood and girls had a lot of fun!

Ashley 4.7

Mostly just pictures. At this age there in nothing huge happening every months or two. Everything slow and steady.
She loves school and Karate. Most of her days spent there. Sometimes we go to karate  5 days a week...
She is very sweet and loving if she is alone, but together with Emily she is trying to be better at everything, but can't due to age and she gets upset easy. Crying a lot, whining and just needing more attention. She is very sweet and good at school, until some body gets on her way or infront of her in line. Then she turns into little monster and pushing every one away.
Loves Jeremy! But doesn't have patients to play with him :)
Finally took a picture of her daily schedule at school and menu for last month. Not bad :)

Cheese balls

We made it few times already and every one loves it!

You will need - croissant or biscuit dough, cheese sticks, and butter+garlic +herbs for topping, but it is optional.
                                      

Breakfast muffins

Easy breakfast recipe.

Saturday at the Mall

Last week we had to go to the Mall to find Halloween costumes for the girls and Emily wanted to go to American Girl  doll store. We haven't been to this Mall for so long, didn't even recognized some stuff.
Dresses were picked, then we went to have lunch at Olive Garden. Jeremy loves their bread and girls ate 2 bowls of soups each. It was delicious!
Last even for that day was book store. Barnes and Noble did Lego Star Wars event. Story time, making crafts and later building your own Millennium Falcon.

Front yard games

Jeremy 11 months old

Weight - 17.2 lb  - 7800 g
Trying to walk and crawl, but not there yet.
Still fully breastfed and no teeth.
Very sweet boy, loves giving kisses
Waving hi or bye
Clapping hands

Barbie event

Last Sunday we went to the Mall of Georgia because they had this event going. It was a lot of fun for the kids. A lot of games and toys, singing, dancing and a live show.
Emily even got picked to sing one of the songs.

All total we spent there close to 3 hours! Girls didn't want to leave.

Chick-fil-A kids club

Starting September we joined Chick-fil-A kids club. They meet on the last Tuesday of each months. Each month is a different event. In September it was Hero day, in October will be Halloween. Kids do crafts, games and receive free kids meal. It was fun for them, definitely going back in October.  

Barnes and Noble with Ariel

Another week and story time at the book store.

Atlanta airport international terminal

This was our first time in the newly build terminal. This terminal is made just for international flights. Very nice and clean. Easy to find parking, but a little confusing inside. There is no really place to eat there before security. Kids loved watching the planes pull to and from the gates and taking off. We spent more then 2 hours there, mostly just looking at the windows.

K'Nex

K'Nex is the toy building system which can be put together by wide variety of pieces. This sets designed for kids ages 5-12. Both of my girls love it! It is still a little to hard and complicated for Ashley ( she is 4 1/2), but easy to put together for Emily. Sometimes she would follow the instructions and sometimes create something on her own. 

Barnes and Noble with Rapunzel

One of the Thursday's story time at the book store. Meet with the princess, make a craft, and listen to the story. Emily was so excited! At the end of each Princess story time they had a giveaway and Emily won! Big pop-up book and a coloring book. Thank you Barnes and Noble, we had a great time!

Home Depot

On the first Saturday of every month Home Depot organizing building event for the kids. We like it a lot, girls are enjoying building stuff there and playing with it at home later.
This is all completely free. Sometimes you get 1 item to build, sometimes 3. All depends on the day and time you come.
In this post I combined our visits for the past few months.
In April they made Flower pot with chalk board
                                                    
In May they made picture frames

Coconut glazed salmon, sweet pea and mushroom risotto plus Pina Colada.

One great dinner!

Pretzel crusted chicken

Something I made by my self. Combining few different recipes and idea in one.
We had some pretzels at home and nobody wanted to eat them. So I took about 15 pretzel sticks and stuck them in the food processor.
Then you prepare 3 plates

1. With flour + spices
2. egg+milk mix
3. Pretzel + Parmesan cheese (don't have to add cheese)

I had 3 large chicken breasts. Flatten them a little bit and cut in strips.
Then dip each strip in every plate and fry it.
Delicious! 

Ocean in the bottle

Small kids project we did a while ago.
You will need a bottle, some rocks, small toys or anything you want to be in your "ocean". Water and oil. Food coloring.
We did 2 bottles - one with vegetable oil and one with baby oil.
With vegetable oil bubbles are a little yellow, but moving faster, but also more foamy.
With baby oil it made "ocean" brighter, no foam, but items don't float as much.
If you flip or shake the bottle, you will see how bubbles trying to go to the top almost immediately.

The Mall day

August 2015
We started with the Movie theater. Jeremy's first time there and he did great! He watched for a while and then fell asleep.

Jeremy 10 months old

Weight - 16 lb 7 oz - 7450 gr
Trying to stand all by himself, but can't eat.
No teeth, no crawling, no sleeping through the night :)

Homemade snow!

Last night we decided to do something fun and we made snow! Kids won't have much chances to play with it in Georgia at any time.
It was very easy to make
3 cups of baking soda
1/2 cup of conditioner
All mix together and done!

Barnes and Noble with Tinker Bell

Every week our Barnes and Noble story time is having a different theme. First one we ever went to was this one - Tinker Bell. First kids were listening to the story, then doing some crafts and finally meeting Tink!

Lanterns parade - Atlanta Beltline

This was our first time at the parade and we liked it a lot! Coming back next year for sure and making our own lanterns. 
Parade was on Atlanta Beltline. A lot of people, but there was plenty of room to watch and not get stepped on. 
My camera refused to take any pictures, everything was blurry and dark, so I had to use my phone which did pretty good job.

We parked by Ponce City Market and walked to the Beltline from there. 

Lanterns parade - Atlanta Beltline 2015 videos

Still working on the pictures. Didn't get much. My camera refused to focus on anything so I had to use my phone. 

But at least I was able to take two of this videos. It was a lot of fun!

Volunteering at CHOA

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston was our location. Program is called Young Friends and  made for kids K-5 to help sick kids in all kinds of different ways - making cards, decorations for room, toys etc.
This time kids were making pinwheels for kids with Asthma and other lungs problems. They can blow on it and made their lungs to be healthier.
Girls loved it! I think it is important for kids to do this kind of programs. They learned a lot, especially that there are special kids in this world, but they are still kids and like doing the same stuff at them.

Focus week 2 - math

We started with the multiplication table. First just some basic understanding that 3x3 will be the same as 3+3+3. Thank you to Pinterest where I found a lot of different work sheet and material how to learn it the best way.

Here is the best way to explain multiplication in a few different ways.