friday I’m in love {april}

Hello Friday, it’s been awhile! Life gets busy and it is easy to just shrug off extra work, but I do miss creating (& sharing) these Friday posts. So I have decided that instead of doing them weekly I will do a monthly post instead. Seems reasonable, right?

So here’s my Friday loves this month.

{one} Keenz Stroller Wagon.

You may have seen on my Instagram recently that I picked up this wagon and it is LOVE! I have been thinking about getting a wagon for the girls, especially for the summer, but was waiting until Daphne was sitting really well (um, that’s been happening for a while!) and the weather got nicer. I had my eye on the Keenz wagon since probably last year, but the price point gave me pause. But then the Target heavens opened up a few weeks ago and there was a deal for $100 off, so I frantically searched the Seattle area for one and ended up driving 45 minutes out to Issaquah one afternoon to pick ours up. We have been using it as an alternative to our stroller and I cannot wait to take it out on all of our summer adventures to the park, zoo, and splash pad!

You can get one here, here, and here.

{two} Madewell jeans.

I have professed my love for Madewell jeans in the past and will continue to do the same here. I was already a convert with the 8″ rise that I had previously purchased but the 9″ high rise skinnies are true LOVE! Guys, these are really so good that I refuse to purchase any other brand of jeans. Seriously. The rise is perfectly high (without being too high) and there is no bagging or sagging and they are skinny all the way to (just above) my ankle. Plus with the higher rise you can wear cropped tees and sweaters without showing too much skin (or feeling to hipster). My advice is to go down a size than your normal (WIN) since the fabric has a bit of stretch.

{three} Instant Pot Mac N’ Cheese (with veggies).

Have I talked about our Instant Pot? Aaron got one for Christmas and recently I have been really trying to use it, so at least once per week I plan a meal using it. And actually last week I planned three meals with it since it was spring break and I knew I would be short on time (and patience) by the time 5 o’clock rolled around. There are lots of amazing things you can do with the Instant Pot, including that it is an amazing rice cooker and it can cook frozen meat so quickly (you don’t even have to defrost it). But our favorite recipe, by far, that we’ve made in the Instant Pot is Mac N’ Cheese!

This is the recipe we use though there are about 7,000 on Pinterest and floating around on the Interwebs. When we make it, I make sure to get spiral-y noodles and use only about half of the evaporated milk. (And you can get organic evaporated milk at Trader Joe’s!) I also add veggies to make it feel a little healthier and more like a meal (rather than a side, though it would do that well too) like roasted broccoli or cauliflower, or defrosted peas or broccoli. *Also, if you haven’t used an Instant Pot before, this recipe says it can be made in 4 minutes which is true for actual cooking time, but it takes more like 20 minutes since the Instant Pot takes some time to pressurize before cooking.*

{four} Nutcase helmets.

As we are getting into spring Eloise is more frequently asking to ride her bike (she has this Miir Bambini pedal-less one which we love) when we go out for family walks in the afternoon or evening. And about a month ago we were headed out the door and realized that Eloise’s old helmet did not fit… but we LOVED her last one (and will save it for Daphne) and got her a new one from the exact same brand which is our favorite: Nutcase! (And Aaron has one too.) Eloise’s old one was this Baby Nutty in Moo and her new one is this Little Nutty in Cake Pops. You can find these helmets locally (at Gregg’s Cycles) and on Amazon as well. We love them because they are easy to adjust, have super cute prints, and the chin buckle is magnetic (super easy for getting off and on).

{five} ASICS x Liberty shoes.

As you know from Instagram and my recent blog post I have been doing the BBG workout program along with my regular Pure Barre class each week to stay in shape. Once I finished the first 12 weeks, I decided it would probably be a good idea to get a new pair of workout shoes. Embarrassingly I haven’t bought a new pair for many years! And while I still need to get a good pair for my walking cardio, I spotted these beautiful ASICS x Liberty shoes and was sold: my new BBG shoes. My love for Liberty fabrics goes back a while and this was just too perfect (I got them in the Sprout Green). Plus, this style of shoe has good reviews for a BBG-type workout and I wouldn’t have gotten them just because they were so pretty! And after a few workouts, it is still love (and they are super light weight too)!

{six} Date Nights.

And I will wrap up my April loves with something that Aaron and I have been doing since the beginning of the year and it is a definite LOVE and that is DATE NIGHT! Each month, we set aside one evening and hire a sitter and head out, just the two of us. I wanted to really focus on us this year and even though it feels like a splurge sometimes (holy cow it is expensive to hire a sitter for two littles!) but it is worth it. We’ve done manis and pedis, lunch, a birthday dinner celebration, and a few double date nights which have been so, so fun! And we have found a sitter that consistently comes and knows the routine with the girls which makes it that much easier.

What are you loving this month?

M

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