I’ve had a strawberry-rhubarb pie once before in my life. We were visiting my aunt’s parents in Maine and the only two things I remember from the trip are the lake water in Maine is WAY too cold for swimming and strawberry-rhubarb might be my favorite combination in the world. AND YET, until last week, I never tried to make anything with rhubarb. It’s hard to find in the grocery store around here and a little intimidating. I suppose I could grow it myself, but the leaves are toxic and I’d be worried about the kids or pets accidentally gnawing on them.

But when I saw fresh rhubarb in the grocery store last Wednesday I decided it was time to give it a shot. I knew there was a recipe for strawberry-rhubarb crumble in my Weight Watchers Cookbook so I grabbed some strawberries too (I love buy one get one free!). It would have been better if I remembered to grab all the other ingredients that recipe called for, but I made it work.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble
adapted from the Weight Watchers PointsPlus Cookbook (but I promise no one will know!)
Serves 8

Topping:
3/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons butter

Filling:
2 stalks rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (about a cup)
2 – 2 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 Tablespoon grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a 7 x 11 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray (you can use a slightly larger or smaller dish but be sure to watch your bake time)

Combine all the topping ingredients in a medium bowl. Using the back of a fork, break up the butter and stir it into the dry ingredients until it looks like crumbs.

Combine the filling ingredients in a large bowl and stir well until the sugar coats all the strawberries and rhubarb. Spread it out evenly into the baking dish. Repeat with the topping. Bake on the center rack for 50-60 minutes until filling bubbles and topping is golden brown.

I think it’s the perfect combination of sweet and not too sweet, especially with the crunchy topping. And the best part about a crumble is it’s not REAL baking, so if you need to substitute or switch ingredients it’s easily done without risking a huge disaster (ask me about the time I tried to make a pie from memory and forgot to put shortening in the crust. BLECH.)

Enjoy!

We did some stuff this week. And some other stuff. Honestly, I can’t even remember right now, so it’s a good thing I have a whole bunch of pictures to remind me!

Sunday:

We left Rochester early early to get home and pick up Brutus

Holding hands while watching TV

Giving bedtime the side eye

Monday:

Doing his stretches after Stroller Strides

He thinks putting his socks on his hands is the HEIGHT of entertainment

Uh, someone took my shirt off during nap. I'm not saying who.

Tuesday:

I'm thinking of getting a fish tattoo. This one might be cool.

Watching the sea lion show like Big Kids

Suspicious spy toddler is suspicious of spies

Wednesday:

How YOU doin'?

Oh look, I bought seed to kill

Horrifying dental tools of DOOM (I got a cavity filled)

We had to go do a quality control check on the new Five Guys in town. They passed.

Thursday:

He was mad I wasn't scared when he jumped out of the closet

Doing art while he waits for the dentist

LASERS!!!!!!!!

Friday:

Our attempt at a self portrait was foiled by the super bright flash

Sleepface

May the Fourth be with you!

Saturday:

"Weeding" my garden is more like "cutting down a jungle" in my garden

VERY EXCITED to be going to the dump

VERY EXCITED about goldfish. Also about her adorable romper, because OMG ROMPER.

Luckily, now no one needs to see a doctor or dentist for at least 6 months and we can use our time to do more fun stuff like playdates in Mystic and visiting the Seaport and using our NEW zoo membership at Roger Williams Park Zoo. That is, if it ever stops raining. Although this is perfect nap weather so many I’ll just…close my…eyes…for a…secon……zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

This post contains affiliate links.

I asked Evan want kind of party he wanted for his 3rd birthday and he said “Dinosaurs”. I told him he could have anything he wanted – trucks, trains, pirates, diggers, ANYTHING – and he said “Dinosaurs”. So we went with a dinosaur birthday. It ended up being an excellent and fun birthday theme.

It seems that no matter how much I try to stick to a color scheme I always end up with ALL THE COLORS. But since according to Dino Dan the dinosaurs WERE all the colors I figured I was safe as long as I toned it down with some natural accents. I got lots of moss, fake leaves, and branches from places like the craft store and the dollar store. All the tablecloths are cut from one big roll of burlap I bought in the garden department at Lowes. I made a zillion dinosaur “terrariums” (an idea I got from Mandy) with a bag of garden rocks (also from Lowes – $5 and I barely used 1/10th of them!) moss and tiny dinos left over from the favor boxes. The backdrop to the food table is two rolls of cork I bought at JoAnn’s. I cut every triangle pennant by hand with pinking sheers and printed the banners on my little printer.

For food, I had three sections: carnivores, herbivores and dessertivores. I thought I was pretty cute and clever, until I started looking at dino party supplies on Etsy and saw I was DEFINITELY not the first person to come up with “dessertivores”. It was still cute.

Menu:

Dinosaur shaped sandwiches (PB&J and cucumber)
Dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets
Mini hot dogs
Mozzarella sticks
Fruit
Individual hummus and veggie cups

Ice Age punch (blue punch with tiny dinos frozen into ice cubes floating in it)
Juice for the kiddos

Dessert Menu:

Brownies
Fossil cookies (I made mine with almonds)
Cereal bar “bones”
No-bake nest cookies (I did peanut butter & chocolate)
Dirt pudding cups (chocolate pudding & crushes Oreos)
Dinosaur shortbread cookies with royal icing
White wedding cupcakes with cream cheese cake batter frosting
Dino fruit snacks and candy eggs

And an AMAZING cake made by my friend Heather (I HIGHLY recommend her if you’re in the Eastern CT area and would be happy to put you in touch with her)

Since Evan and his friends are all old enough now for games and activities but the thought of trying to wrangle 25 kids into organized activities makes me break out in hives I planned lots of free-play fun.

We filled our old kiddie pool with sand for a fossil dig and hid tons of green eggs filled with stickers and candy for a dinosaur egg hunt. I also ordered a couple of inexpensive dinosaur coloring books from Amazon and dinosaur shaped crayons for a quiet, inside activity.

A few more details:

I saw dino party hats on Pinterest but didn’t really have enough ambition to make them from scratch. Just a few days before the party Evan said he NEEDED party hats so I dragged last year’s 2nd birthday party hats from Target out of my paper goods storage box and turned them into dino hats. It was really easy – they’re folded together with a tab, not glue or tape, so I just opened them flat, cut a piece of colored paper into a “spine”, cut a slot in the spine for the tab and reassembled with a little tape to reinforce it. I did a terrible job of explaining that, but trust me – if you take a look at a store-bought party hat you will definitely see how easy this is.

Between the hats and the masks we had quite a few tiny dinosaurs terrorizing the party.

My friend Amanda mailed me these leggings 2 seconds after I said we were doing a dinosaur party. So perfect!

Brilliant idea I stole from my friend Cheri – Take’n’toss cups for all the kids. No worries about juice or punch spills on my floors and they’re cheap enough to toss out if they get ruined.

Adorable invitations designed by the very talented Denae at New Mom Survival Adventure and printed (as rounded-corner post cards) by Overnight Prints – an idea I got from Tam.

I think that’s everything! Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to where I got stuff and as always let me know if you have any questions. I’m more than happy to share and info!

OK, just a few more pictures (the not awesome ones were taken by me)…

Resources and Sources:

Pinterest party board for inspiration
Template for straw flags
Custom stamp from Tickled Pink Paper + Ink
Paper straws & favor supplies from In The Clear
Evan’s dino shirt – Gymboree
Photography by Open Shutter (Website)

Dinosaur stickers – Amazon
Dinosaur cookie cutters – Amazon
Dinosaur sandwich cutter – Amazon
Dinosaur coloring books – Amazon
Melissa & Doug dinosaur stamps – Amazon
Dinosaur cupcake wrappers & toppers – Amazon
Dinosaur banner (I disassembled half to put on my cork backdrop) – Amazon
Dinosaur skeletons for fossil dig – Amazon and Oriental Trading (cheaper from Amazon)
Dinosaur masks – Oriental Trading Company
Dinosaur crayons – Oriental Trading Company
Dinosaur candies – Oriental Trading Company
Inflatable dinosaurs – Oriental Trading Company
Giant inflatable T-Rex – Amazon
Brown paper bags – Oriental Trading Company

Let me know if you see anything I missed or forgot to link!

(Oh and in case you are confused compared to previous party set-ups, we rearranged the house a few weeks ago and flipped the dining/family rooms. I was worried it wouldn’t be a good for the party but it was great! With the new set-up – and the patio – I have tons of space to invite even more people next time.)

Thank you to everyone who came and made our day so special!

Party Day! The house is insane this morning, so this is going to be quick.

Sunday:

Your peaceful sleeping face is a LIE

That blur is my baby be thrown

Game of Thrones!

Monday:

Trying to escape out the window at the pediatrician

Happy to be naked

Sup, yo?

Tuesday:

Evan is getting really into his gymnastics class

Mommy, look how dirty this floor is!

This diaper was in my way so I took it off and peed on the floor. You're welcome.

Thursday:

3rd Birthday Balloon Kicking!

BAH BAH BAH

Toy box fort

Friday:

Dollar store adventures

Saturday:

Conserving his energy for the party

I'm a decorating fool

Insane number of cookies and cake to be eaten today. Sleeping in to be done Sunday. Dinosaur 3rd Birthday party pics to come Monday. Happy weekend!

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

We are a snack-loving family. At any given moment my purse contains at least three granola bars, string cheese, baby squeeze pouches, three sippy cups, fruit snacks, and apple and two snack traps. Snacks are great for keeping the kids busy while I focus on my workout at Stroller Strides. Carrying around extra snacks mean we don’t have to rush home in time for lunch if we’re having fun at the playground or want to make an impromptu trip to the aquarium. Snacks work well for both kids’ eating styles – Caroline eats TONS OF FOOD and needs snacks between meals while Evan is meh about eating his meals but is much more likely to snack. And bringing my own snacks for all of us means I am much less likely to swing through a drive-thru for “just a snack” and end up with an entire double cheeseburger meal and a milkshake (how does that happen?!)

So when my friend Alena asked if I’d be interested in trying out a PackIt lunch bag I said yes immediately. PackIt is a freezable personal cooler that keeps your food colder, fresher and safer for up to ten hours – no ice or bulky toxic ice packs needed. You just store the folded PackIt bag in your freezer until you’re ready to fill it and go!

I tried out a Personal Cooler and a Shop Cooler last week and loved them both. The Shop Cooler was perfect for keeping my ice cream, chicken nuggets and Cool Whip cold on the way home from the grocery store – even though I stopped to pick up a couple dozen bottles of wine on the way. Plus my Stop & Shop gives a 5 cent discount for every reusable bag you bring. Score!

The Personal Cooler was perfect for carrying the daily snacks that are better kept cool – cheese, yogurt, juice boxes, fruit, veggies, and milk. You know, the healthy stuff.

The yogurt is for me. And don't judge the disgusting American cheese slices or Caroline will come scream in YOUR face.

Still plenty of room for a sippy cup.

It fits in my bag! OK, so my bag is on the hugemongous side but it's still super handy.

My snacks stayed refrigerator-cold all morning, which was definitely more pleasant than eating soft, warm cheese that got squished in the bottom of my bag. And when we got home I just stuck the PackIt back in the freezer so it would be ready for the next day!

PackIt Coolers are PVC-free, BPA-free, lead-free, non-toxic, earth-safe and reusable. They fold compactly in the freezer for storage and keeps food cold at USDA-safe temperatures. They come in six sizes and tons of cute colors and patterns. PackIt even has a size for wine bottles – it’s like the KNOW ME. Check out all their products and get more information on their website.

How would you like to win a free PackIt Social Cooler? It’s perfect for picnics, a day at the beach, ball games, day trips and all the summer fun that’s quickly approaching.

To enter, just like PackIt on Facebook then come back and leave a comment telling me you did. So easy! I’ll leave the comments open until Friday April 6th at 5 pm and choose a winner using Random.org. Make sure you use a real email when you comment so I can notify you if you win. Good luck!