SOCIAL MEDIA

Monday, August 24, 2020

Weekend Highlights

 Good morning everyone and happy Monday!! This weekend was a perfect blend of busy and relaxing. I can't wait to share with you all what we were up to!

Friday felt like fall in Charlotte! It was in the 70's and rainy all day, and I have to say, we were NOT complaining about it! We moved Lily Grace's art/Play-Doh table from the back patio to the front porch because it's covered and we sat out there and played all morning!

Liam played in his bouncy chair for a little while but eventually he was over it and wanted to get up and crawl around. 

We brought out his squishy playmat and his playpen so he could safely play with us on the porch. 

Lily Grace and I climbed in there with him to play for a bit too. 

After our busy morning of playing, we headed inside for lunch and nap time. Rainy days make for the BEST nap days! Devin headed to swim some laps at the Y (the outdoor pool is open for lap swimming!) while I folded laundry and watched trash TV. What is it about trash TV that makes it so good and so addicting!? When you're in the mood for it, there's nothing better.

After nap time Lily Grace headed to Aqua Tots for swim lessons. We have been so impressed by how much she has learned in such a short amount of time taking lessons! She is thiiiiis close to being a completely independent swimmer. We are so proud of her!!

After Aqua Tots we swung by our favorite sushi restaurant to pick up some takeout. 

Then it was bath time and bedtime for the kiddos, while Dev and I watched a little TV-- no trashy shows this time, I think Devin would've up and left. 😂

Saturday morning we woke up, had breakfast and went for a family walk through the neighborhood.

When we got back, I went up into the attic and pulled down the September and October kids books I have. Back when I was a kindergarten teacher, one of my coworkers told me she put all of her seasonal books into these jumbo ziplock bags and would store them in her attic. 

Then, every month she would go into the attic and swap out the old seasonal books for the new ones. The handles on the bags made it easier to carry than a giant bin. I thought it was genius and did the same thing with all my books from my classroom library. Now that I am no longer teaching, I pull those books out for my own kids! I usually only pull them out one month at a time, but the Halloween and Christmas books get extra time because I have so many good ones. 😁

Lily Grace was on cloud 9 with all the "new" books! 

Then we put our swimsuits on and headed to our YMCA to swim... except we got there and were told they changed the hours. The splash park/kiddie pool is closed in the morning and open from 12-4, you know... peak nap time. 😏 So we went home, blew up our inflatable pool, and swam/splashed around in the backyard instead. 

After lunch I pulled out a pen & paper, my meal planner pad, and some of my favorite cookbooks. I planned all of our meals for the week and what I needed to grab from the grocery store. These three cookbooks are the ones I use the most often: Kayla Itsines' Cookbook, Good Housekeeping Mediterranean Diet, and Shay Shull's Eats.

Then I put some clothes on that weren't athletic shorts and a t-shirt and headed to Trader Joe's. I saw another blogger post these sandals and they are truly the most comfortable sandals I own! Super cheap too.. win/win! Order up a size though, they run a little small.

When I first rolled up, the line was out the door and around the corner of the building... yikes! But it actually went very fast, I was only in line for maybe 15 minutes, tops. Does your Trader Joe's have a long line outside these days or is it just in NC because of our social distancing/maximum capacity laws?

The kids were still napping when I got home, so I whipped up a little snack for Devin and I. I know they look burnt but these artichokes were amazing!! The "meat" part of the artichoke was tucked inside and cooked to perfection, not burnt at all. I will definitely be making these again. 

After eating all those artichokes though we knew we wouldn't be hungry for dinner, so I whipped up a dinner charcuterie board for the family to just kinda pick and choose what they want to eat. We do this from time to time when we aren't all that hungry and it's always a big hit!

Just a random hodgepodge of berries, cucumbers, sweet potato bites (recipe here), crackers and pumpkin seeds. We added some cheese and another sweet potato afterwards too. 

Liam eats the same thing as us, just cut up smaller and with less seasoning, if any at all.

It's safe to say it was a hit 😊

After dinner the kids played for a bit in Liam's room.

Then we put Liam to bed and played Disney Princess Candyland with Lily Grace. This girl already loved Candyland, so when I stumbled across the Princess one it was like two of her favorite things colliding to make one perfect game. She LOVED this and we played multiple rounds. I was lucky enough to find it at our local consignment store this week when I was selling LG's old clothes, it was kinda pricey on Amazon 👎.

Then Devin went to go have a few drinks with a friend for his birthday, while I put on a sheet face mask and listened to my audiobook, it was a great end to the night! 

Sunday was a much more relaxing day. We woke up and instead of me going for a run we went for a nice family walk instead. 

We listened to online church, did laundry, and lazily played around the house. It was a little chilly in the morning, so I lit a fall candle. I am in full ready-for-fall mode now!

A friend called and said she was going to walk at one of our favorite parks and wanted to see if we would join her, we were happy to go! The weather was in the low 70's and there was very little humidity. Lily Grace ran up and down this giant hill about 10 times and wore herself out, it was great! 

Devin chased her up and down the hill a few times too 😊

Then we came home, had lunch and put the kiddos down for their naps. The kids had pb&j while the adults had mini tacos topped with arugula, corn and cotija cheese-- yum!


The rest of the day was spent playing in the backyard, finishing laundry and chores, and getting ready for the week ahead. Our weekend was a perfect mix of busy and relaxing-- it was exactly what we needed! I hope you all had a nice weekend too! See you back here on Wednesday.

7 comments :

  1. That sounds like a lovely weekend! Ours was nice and relaxing too and filled with family.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've been lighting my fall candle even though it's still 100F out...ha, ha! The book/ziploc idea is genius and so fun for LG. Our TJ's has been the same with a line since April. The other day I saw that there wasn't a line and popped in for the first time in months. Have a wonderful week!

    ReplyDelete
  3. My daughter had one swim class before lockdown hit and I really want to get her back into it! Glad you guys had a great weekend! xo, Biana BlovedBoston

    ReplyDelete
  4. We rotate books out too and we just pulled out the fall books! We are loving them! Bring on September first LOL!

    ReplyDelete