Catching up with the Kelnhofers-106

This week on Catching up with the Kelnhofers, I’m sharing all about our stay-cation family adventures.  They’ve been so fun, but so tiring too!  Check out what we did below 👇🏻

We’re over here trying to squeeze the last of summer days out over here. We took a ‘stay-cation’ and I cannot recommend doing something like this enough.

Benefits are that you can return to your own home to sleep (it gets a little tricky and pricey and not so fun with lots of small kids trying to find accommodations and get there and then have them actually sleep in said location) and there are so many ‘we should go do one day’ things in our own city that we actually went and did, which was super fun. 

But wow – this is how I feel 

Some of our adventures:

• Harbor View Plaza – it’s a lovely little new park, it does look a little bigger than it actually is, but the kids had an absolute blast and Ben keeps asking to go back. But it had 1 slide. That’s it. 

• Lynden Sculpture Garden – wow, so so beautiful and free (it used to be pricey I had heard!) We explored and then found a park by the lake and had a picnic!

• Zoo – we just had to take a trip to the zoo (although not going to lie, the smells still get me!) The kids got to have a delicious ice cream treat on the way out. 

Sharing the latest posts up on Sweetphi.com:

• Weekly meal plan – easy meal planning with a grocery list!
• School lunch ideas for kids – this post includes a printable idea list to hang on the fridge
• Mini apple galettes – easy and fun to make with kids in the kitchen
• Love List – fun finds from around the web.
• Japanese pan noodles – a great vegetarian dish to try on any night of the week.

Getting ready for back to school and getting back in the groove of making snacks and quick meals (and some freezer meals!). A few of my favorites

• Oatmeal cookie energy bites (if you press them into a square 8×8 pan lined with plastic wrap, you can turn them into bars!)
• Frankie helped me make fluffy buttermilk pancakes -we made a double batch for the freezer so we have quick breakfasts

• Chicken broccoli alfredo freezer meal is one the whole family loves, so I just made 2 for the freezer!
• 5 ingredient skillet pizza pot pie I made for a very quick family meal 
• And we had pizza burgers – so easy!

With back to school looming here in Wisconsin and already starting in Illinois, I love these two comments about how meal delivery services have helped them.  They always help me in busy seasons (like back to school!).  Check out my meal delivery service comparison here.

• “This is really helpful. I myself have been ordering Home Chef for a year now and I have not been disappointed once with their meals. Each one tastes so good and it actually helped me lose weight and stay healthy. However, I do need to be on a budget and their meals can be a little pricey, so I am so glad I found your blog because it breaks down the variety of homemade meals instead of having to try every single one of them. I am though going to give EveryPlate a shop since you mentioned they are cheaper. I still love Home Chef and have recommended to many friends, and I won’t leave them completely, but will give EveryPlate a try. Thanks!”
• “My mom tried Sun Basket. She loved it. She actually said it helped her try different culturally-inspired foods that she would not have tried otherwise. She also doesn’t cook much but she loves following recipes so this was the perfect recipe to “spice” up her home meals, pun intended!”

One of my readers made my banana caramel swirl cake and it looks delicious!  She event used gluten free flour!

• If your kids haven’t started school yet and you’re on the hunt for a first day of school sign, I’m loving this one!  And it even includes the chalk markers.  Win!

• Currently reading the romance book The Roommate which a friend recommended-it’s on the steamier side!

• Next on my reading list is Seven Days in June AND it’s a Reese’s Book Club pick!

• What are you reading? I always love hearing!.

• The most delicious pizza! I always love getting inspired by meals I have at restaurants. It’s one of the ways I create unique recipes. This 5 ingredient jalapeno enchilada pizza and this hot cheesy blt dip are two favorites from restaurants I’ve recreated. Well, I just NEED to recreate this pizza we had out for Nick’s birthday – I normally don’t like pepperoni on pizza, but it was incredible. Pepperoni, bell peppers, and hot honey!

• Ben loves the library. I continue to be awed at Ben’s library love and choices. This week when we went, he wanted a book on tornadoes and a book on how to be a doctor. 

EAT

• We went to my in-laws and Nick grilled cabbage steaks – everyone loves these!!

• They also had gone to the WI state fair and picked up some Original Cream Puffs, they’re SO GOOD!

WATCH/READ

• I remember reading The Last Letter from Your Lover YEARS ago and it made me very emotional, it was so well written, I remember sobbing. It’s one of those books that I remember 10 years later! 

• I saw a preview for the movie version of The Last Letter from Your Lover (trailer) and watched it. Womp womp, it fell super flat for me. It was meh I thought, I didn’t feel an emotional pull or anything like I remember having with the book. Have you seen it? Thoughts?

PURCHASE

• It’s been a while since I raved about this mop … but really, it’s my favorite thing ever, and Ben helps me with cleaning, I cannot recommend this mop enough (and lots of readers have purchased it and told me how much they love it even when they used to hate cleaning!)