Twinning with the fam is a lot of fun! Some folks aren’t into it – clearly I am a person who loves it! Ha! 🙂 Today, I’m sharing Spring and Summer finds that will have you swooning and in a matchy matchy mood. If you are excited for warmer temps, have plans with your little ones, nieces, nephews, or maybe even a friend vacation – this is for you! My exact white dress with tassels is linked below (I’m in a Small and Sofia is in a 5/6). I linked lots of options, including beachwear for the entire fam – not just the girls! Comment below w/ questions – happy to help! You can also DM me on my Instagram anytime! Enjoy and have a great week! xo
Anyone else always on the hunt for easy weeknight recipes? Raise of hands! Well, I sure am! 🙂 This is a very easy recipe that can be pulled together quickly with items that are in the pantry and fridge. I try to pick up chicken thighs with my regular groceries each week, even if I’m not sure what I’m going to make with them yet.
The flavors in this recipe go really well together and make for a family friendly meal. I served this Sesame Ginger Chicken over white rice (easy to sub out for brown rice), and steamed edamame. My kids loved it and it took almost no time to prepare. I would normally add some sesame seeds and green onion as a garnish, but my little one’s like it without. No matter what – this is a big win! Let me know what you think! xo
Ingredients
- 2 lb Boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 Tsp Minced ginger
- 3 Cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 Tsp Sesame oil
- 1/4 Cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce
- 3 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 Tbsp Honey
- 1 Tbsp Brown sugar
- Water
Instructions
In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, honey and brown sugar together. I used a fork to mix it together, though a whisk works just as well.
Press sauté on the Instant Pot and pour in your mixture. Let it heat up for a minute or two so that the honey and brown sugar can dissolve. Once it’s combined well, you can hit the cancel button.
Next add your chicken thighs to the pot. They nestle nicely into the sauce. Add the water on top of the chicken, which helps the Instant Pot to have enough steam to pressurize.
Put the lid onto the Instant Pot, close, and ensure that it’s on sealing (not venting). Pressure cook on high for 7 minutes.
While the chicken is cooking, I usually steam some edamame and rice. Something I love is organic edamame from the frozen section of the grocery store. It’s fast, easy, healthy, and my kids love it! I can also control the salt level, which I add once it’s steamed. I keep frozen organic white and brown rice on hand as well, which speeds things up when I’m low on time.
Once the chicken is done, quick release the steam (venting). Be careful to guard your hand/arm when moving to venting – the steam is very hot and comes out fast. I usually use a dish towel or something to move it to venting.
Use a slotted spoon to take the chicken out of the Instant Pot. If serving it all that night, you can put it on a nice dish. I put the chicken into an airtight container as part of my meal prep, and take out a couple of pieces for the kids to eat right away. Hit the sauté button and reduce the sauce for 5-7 minutes. Pour over the chicken for additional flavor and deliciousness.
Serve chicken with rice, edamame or your other favorite side dishes. Enjoy!
Optional garnish: sliced green onions, sesame seeds
Sleep deprivation…one of the many things parents have in common. New parents are basically like zombies, muddling their way through life with ta new bundle that is super cute but needs a lot of attention. Toddler parents still have zombie moments – so don’t be fooled – even if you have a great sleeper! My pumpkins have been fantastic sleepers from early on. Not bragging – juts saying that this sleep deprivation thing still applies to me – even with good sleepers (no bueno).
There are the normal things that come up, like sleepless nights because of bad dreams, a wet bed, or a sick kiddo. Yes, our little ones have those moments and they are unpredictable. But what about those early risers? That is a whole other thing! I have one child who will sleep until 7am without an issue, and one child who is up at sunrise (or before), ready to take on the day! If you’re in a similar boat with an early riser (or child who won’t stay in their own bed) – keep on scrolling!
Meet my friend – the Hatch Baby Rest. First off – this is NOT at all sponsored. In fact – I purchased the 2 we have in our house on my own because another mom told me about it. This is a share from parent to parent – because I know how tough it can be when littles won’t stay in their room or bed – and wake you up well before it’s time! So, let’s dive in! The Hatch Baby Rest is amazing! It’s a nightlight, sound machine, and sleep trainer all in one! It has several sounds, several colors, and you can create a schedule that meets your families needs including nap, bedtime, bath time and wakeup time. My kids don’t nap anymore, so our schedule is music during story time, water sounds for sleep time, and birds chirping at wakeup time (7am).
There’s an app for your phone which is how you can schedule and control everything. It’s been amazing for changes in schedule, like daylight savings, because I was able to easily adjust the times. The Hatch Baby Rest team even sent out an email with advice on how to set it for daylight savings – which was super helpful! It’s also great because there is a child lock that you can set through the app. If you have kids who like to touch everything (like mine) – then a child lock is huge! They can touch the Hatch but they won’t be able to mess up the settings. Huge win!
As you can see from the images above, there are lots of custom settings, but the app makes it easy. My sons favorite colors are green and blue – so I have set his Hatch to use those colors for bed time and wakeup time. Sofia loves pink and purple, so I’ve set her Hatch to use those colors.
As for sounds, you can see some of the options in the middle image, which you can select for your various needs. You can test them out and then decide what is right for your kiddo(s). Gabe and Sofia are old enough that they were able to help pick out their own sounds. It was really cute and made it more personal – which helps the whole process.
Lastly, you can set the noise level. I love this because my kids are very different and one wants their noise machine louder, the other wants it softer. If it seems too loud or too quiet after your child goes to sleep, you can adjust the level from the app without going into their room. You just need to be close enough for it to connect (near their door). Another win to not have to go into their room and risk waking them up!
Lastly, you can pick a coverlet that matches your decor. They come in sets of 3, so you can make them feel like a true part of your home. We didn’t get a coverlet for ours (yet), but I do think they are super cute and am thinking about the moon walk set for our kids. Gabe would love the rocket ships and Sofia would love the stars. They are in the same pack so it’s a win! The Alpaca Adventures set and Into the Woods set are both really cute as well!
Now lets talk about how it works. I had my kids help pick the settings for their new Hatch. If you have a child too young for this, you know what they like and can pick for them. 🙂 We talked about what the birds chirping meant, and then we talked about what would happen if they did stay in bed until the birds chirped on their Hatch. We used this as an opportunity to celebrate our kids victories. We use a marble jar to reward our kids for good actions, like staying in bed until 7am (birds chirping). They get a marble in the jar for good things that they do throughout the day (not everything, but it’s a great tool). Once the jar is filled up to the top, they trade in the jar for something special, and then we start over. It works well in our house, and I highly recommend it for kids who need a little bit of instant gratification.
In any case, we used the marble jar to help us with our new Hatch routine. It took a couple of weeks to really get good at it for Gabe. He is my early riser, and it is really hard for him to stay in bed. For Sofia, she stays in bed no problem. We celebrated both kids when they stayed in bed until 7am, making it fun and really positive! When Gabe was still getting used to it, we would have him go potty (always good if kids wake up early), and then we brought him back to his bedroom. If it was too early, we would tuck him into bed and talk through the routine one more time. If it was close to wakeup time, he had the option of playing quietly in his room with the light on (as long as he stayed in his room and didn’t wake up his sister). Though it took a little time, he got used to it and now our kids are great about staying in their beds until 7am! It’s rare when they get up before that, and it’s usually because of something normal, like having to potty or not feeling well (stuffy nose, etc).
Click HERE to check out the Hatch and to get your own. It’s a little pricy compared to others that we’ve tried, but honestly, we tried several others that didn’t work and spent all that money on them for nothing! Had I gotten this one first, I would have saved a bundle of $$$, had less random kid alarms in my house (that don’t work), saved all that effort, and I would have gotten more sleep a long time ago!
I need sleep – I just do! I’m not a happy person when I don’t get enough rest – so this was worth every penny! And when you think of it as an alarm clock, sleep trainer, noise machine and night light (with an app) – it really does make sense why it costs more than your run of the mill alarm. Now if only it had a baby monitor in it – man would that be great! Haha! Enjoy, I hope this was helpful, and that getting more rest is on your horizon (or that of someone you know)! xo