Friday Five - Easter Decor, Another Soup Recipe and More

Hello, friends and HAPPY weekend! I am just so thrilled another weekend is here. The weather has been so gross all week -- really cold, pretty wet and all together pretty dreary, which has kept us at home a lot this week, so we're looking forward to getting out.

| O N E | I've been itching to organize all the things this week. I don't really have the time or energy to tackle huge projects like our walk-in storage closets, but small victories like color coordinating the board books in the playroom make me feel happy, even if they only end up lasting a day or two before Luke throws them on the floor.

Also, do you follow @lifeineneral or @neatmethod on Instagram? They are serious organization goals.

| T W O | I like to buy a giant bag of broccoli at Costco with grand plans of using it all before it goes bad (2-3 days in the fridge after opening, says the directions on the bag), and this week I was actually successful. We had it with salmon one night, can't remember the 2nd night and then on the 3rd night I made broccoli soup on the fly. We all (except Owen, he doesn't do soup) liked is, especially Luke, who LOVED it! Here's the recipe I kind of made up:

BROCCOLI & VEGETABLE SOUP

INGREDIENTS:
Half a bag of broccoli florets, washed
2 cups carrots, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1- 1 1/2 quarts chicken stock
1 handful shredded cheddar cheese
olive oil
salt & pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS: 
Heat oil in a large heavy bottom pot. Sauté onion until transparent, add carrots, celery and cook until softened, add garlic and cook until fragrant being careful to not let it burn.

Add broccoli and chicken broth, cover and let it steam the broccoli for about 20-30 minutes over medium heat. Once the broccoli is steamed and soft, transfer the soup in batches (broth and all the other veggies) to a blender. Add the beans to one of the batches and blend until the soup is smooth or chunky enough to your liking.

An immersion blender is super handy here, but mine broke and I haven't replaced it yet.

Add back to the pot and mix in a handful or so of cheese to make it a little thicker and creamier. Enjoy!

| T H R E E | The struggle with stuffed animals in our house is REAL. Owen loves them, Luke loves them, and when they play with them, they're all over the place. They've lived on the top bunk for a while now while I've been trying to figure out a better storage system for them. I've tried purging them, but Owen will inevitably remember which ones are missing...

Anyway, earlier this week I was watching one of those "how I clean my house in 30-minutes" videos on YouTube (I'm obsessed with these cleaning videos) and the family had a STUFF 'N SIT and I had to have one immediately. I mean, how genius!

It arrived Wednesday and it has solved all of my stuffy problems. The kids no longer need close supervision to get their stuffed animals down like they did and they're easy to clean-up, and out of sight! Oh, and it doubles as a pretty cute little bean bag chair in their room. I'm SOLD!

| F O U R | It sure doesn't feel like spring outside with this storm we're having, but I'm getting in the spirit of spring inside with our Easter decorations. I bought that cute rabbit for $3 at Target (you probably saw it there too, or own it yourself) and the tulip bulbs came in the vase and are around $8 from Trader Joe's. I thought they were pretty and that the boys would like seeing the below the surface-ness of the bulbs. I've kept them alive for a week, so things are looking good.

| F I V E | Weekend plans, etc. Tonight is family movie night, and Owen is asking to watch The Lorax, so it's going to be a good one. Sometimes it's hard to balance movies that both boys will watch. Luke only watches about 30% of any movie at best, and Owen often wants to watch movies outside what's appropriate for his own age range.  We also have a weekend full of t-ball activities with Opening Day and team pictures. And Keith and I have a date night set. I'm hoping we'll see Game Night, but I know Keith wants to see Black Panther. Have you seen either?

That's all for now. I hope you have a good one!

You can see where I'm linking up HERE!

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