N-1 Children = Easy

It's a simple formula, really. No matter how many children you have, if you take away 1, it gets WAY easier.

We have 3 kids, the two older boys are my nephews who visited a while back:)

Examples:

Son stays home sick, I take 2 girls to Safeway: Magically I can grocery shop with darling princess practically dancing in the aisles.

Big sister is at school: Now I'm in happy stay-at-home-mommy land with my baby and preschooler, doing educational crafts, playing with dolls, baking from scratch...

Baby is at a grandparents for a sleepover: We are a functional family! Look how easy and normal it is with two kids? We can even do things like go to Disneyland (tips here), or stay out all day, because no one naps!

Then if you take away 2.. watch out! It's a party!

Recently we took our 6 year old daughter out for a fancy dinner. White tablecloths, amuse bouche, everything. She totally rocked it, sitting in her chair for 2+ hours, not complaining, joining in adult conversation etc. I can't even explain how different this is than our normal 5-10 minutes of shoving in food while cleaning up spills and reminding kids to stay seated already!

Clearly, as my Hogwarts sorting hat post points out, when the two big ones are gone, the baby takes over and we feel freedom like never before. 1 baby who naps? Time to talk to each other? Amazing.

Plus, when it's just our 4 year old son, we dream of taking him on vacation all alone. Unlike the other two (ahem) he is an amazing traveler, making plane travel with kids seem easy. Don't worry, my tips include ideas about what to do for other kids (ahem, talking to my two girls here).

Obviously when all 3 are gone, we are on a real vacation, like our recent trip to Israel. But that's just pretending we don't have kids and trying to come up with non-kid-or-house related things to talk about for 2 weeks:)

So those are my thoughts, this Family Friday*.

Jessica

*Good name right? Thinking it might make it easier for me if I "theme" my post days. Thoughts? Good to know, or super cheesy and annoying? Pin It

Making my own Pickled Vegetables

The best part of this dish is that it goes sooo nicely over a bbq brisket sandwich. I mean, salty, and sweet, and tangy, hot and cold, crunchy and soft...

The second best part was that I got to buy a new kitchen tool for this:) I'm a new addict. The Zyliss Julienne Peeler makes julienning things a breeze. I've already made a cucumber-mango salad with peanuts and mint that was restaurant worthy (or so said my husband).





The third best part, was that once I put everything in the fridge, I could effectively "set it and forget it". It pickles in an hour, and lasts at least a week. Perfect for make-ahead, or make and eat right now meals, whichever you prefer.

Today is my daughter's first day of 1st grade, so follow me on Instagram for photo updates:)

Jessica

I totally recipe copy-catted (is that a word?) from Smitten Kitchen, so here is the link to her actual recipe. Pin It