Catching Up With The Kelnhofers-11

Hi Friends! This week on Catching Up With The Kelnhofers we’re talking about twins sleeping through the night, a trip to see a lights display and talking Halloween recipes!

This week a huge milestone happened at our house … the twins are sleeping through the night and so we moved all the kids into one room! Just because the kids are sleeping through the night doesn’t necessarily mean that I am lol – I’ve gotten so used to waking up multiple times that I find myself doing so unprompted…does this happen to anyone else?

When we talked about moving the kids into one room, I used an online interior design service (called Havenly) to help me conceptualize the layout and really liked working with them. I also shared a post about the room and layout of our house/why we have them all in one room. Also, a quick comment that it doesn’t escape me how completely lucky and blessed I am to not only have a baby that sleeps through the night, but twins that do so, at 12 weeks old. 

New on the blog this past week:

• Twins and a toddler shared room
• Catching Up With The Kelnhofers
• M&M’s Surprise Cookies

What to Make:

This week, I’m cooking with apples! We have so many from our visit to the orchard, I figured I’d put them to good use with a few of these recipes:

• German apple cake
• Coffee crumble apple pie
• 5 Ingredient slow cooker apple butter
• Chocolate caramel apple bites
• Upside down apple and pear loaf

Reader Comments

This week I’m sharing sweet comments on this healthy recipe for a Slow cooker lentil vegetable soup:

• “Just tried this recipe, and it turned out delicious! I used spinach instead of kale, and it worked perfectly. I also added a little more stock because I was serving it to a larger crowd, so I also added a little more of the spices and a little quinoa to thicken it up some more. Everyone loved it! I’ll be making this again soon!”

• “Making this for the second time tonight. My husband said it’s the best soup he’s ever had!”

General/stories/things I’m loving

• In my Instagram Stories I’ve been sharing a picture of what I’ll be making all week and then the links to those recipes, you guys have really liked those…would you like to see ‘meal plan’ type posts?
• Speaking of meal plans and what’s for dinner…once or twice a week, we always have a meal kit – this month, I’m really loving Home Chef for quick and easy ones (they have the HomeChef Express or Oven Ready ones – until the end of October, get $40 Off With Code 40SWEETPHI ($30 Off Your First Box, $10 Off Your Second!) I also really like Sun Basket for organic and healthy meals that actually taste good!

• Nick took Ben to the grocery store and came back with a funny Halloween decoration that Ben uses as a toy – it’s quite funny and I love it

• It’s crazy to see Freddie wearing something Ben wore  

• Frankie.s been under the weather so we’ve stayed in pjs a lot lately and had a girls night last Sunday (Nick took the boys to his parents for Sunday dinner and Frankie and I stayed home and coughed lol – I’m sick too).

• We took Ben to go see the China lights at the botanical gardens with Aunty Nina, he loved it!

• Ben tried s’mores for the first time – we microwaved them and it was a glorious mess

• I took Ben to Target and we looked at Halloween stuff and I got him a wooden leaf to paint…Note to self – never buy acrylic paint for a toddler – he got it everywhere and it does not come out!

• Just finished “Evvie Drake Starts Over” and it was SO GOOD and cute. It was such a refreshing book with a more realistic love story with a normal seeming time-line…not like one of those books where in the span of a week the characters meet and fall in love and get married (lol). Now I’m listening to The Overdue Life of Amy Byle and it’s super cute…I would say I’d suggest reading this book vs. listening to it…the narrator is ok but I could see her inflection might not be for everyone and might turn some people off of the book when it’s a good one. The story is of “Overworked and under-appreciated, single mom Amy Byler needs a break. So when the guilt-ridden husband who abandoned her shows up and offers to take care of their kids for the summer, she accepts his offer and escapes rural Pennsylvania for New York City.”
• In the past I’ve used this meal planning journal which I really liked…but it’s also a little intensive. I’m finding that if I don’t plan out ahead at least a little, we’re left scrambling, so more and more I’m doing make ahead or recipes from my cookbook, they’re all fast and easy recipes. This past week we had the bbq apple cheddar burgers – so seasonal, quick and easy! 
•  21 Feel-Good Romantic Comedies To Watch When Everything Seems Terrible – YES, love lists like this!

What are you doing for Halloween? Leave a comment below!

Until next week,

Phi