A Week!

It has been A WEEK!  Let's see, I went to Newport News, VA for an hour long meeting on Wednesday but ended up getting stuck there due to major fog.  My three options were:

1. Stay at the airport and wait it out even longer than I already had and hope the flight eventually went.
2. Get a car and drive north 3 hours to my parents.
3. Get a car and drive south 7 hours to Charlotte.

Keep in mind I had been up since 4am to get on the flight from Charlotte to Newport News.  And had no clothes etc.  At this point, it would have been unsafe for me to drive back to Charlotte and get home at midnight.

I know how the airport stuff works and I knew that I just had to make a call and go for it.  

No cars to rent at the airport so I called a local Hertz and found one, simultaneously checked on a flight from Salisbury, MD to Charlotte for the next morning and it all happened.  Gate agent rebooked my flight, I made the reservation for Hertz online, called Uber to take me to the Hertz and I went north to my parents.  

Silver lining - getting to see my parents for a few hours.  Rest of it - total chaos.  

6am flight the next morning got delayed so I didn't get home until after 9am.  Kevin hadn't taken the kids to school because we thought I'd be home by 8:15am.  He had work stuff to do.  I had work stuff blowing up on my phone.  I had my last bible study and Molly Anne's Kindergarten Orientation within 4 hours of being home.  I still had one the same clothes from the morning before with a pair of my Mom's underwear.  LIVING THAT LIFE!!!  

Did a quick change at our house, took the kids to school and proceeded about my day.  I did have a mini meltdown on the phone with my Mom because the chaos along with some ucky work stuff had gotten to me. 

Went to bed at 8:30pm last night, slept for almost 10 hours and today I'm a new human!  

I've had some travel chaos like this over the years but honestly not a ton of it so for that I'm thankful.  And with my parents being in Maryland, I've definitely driven to their house at 1am from Pennsylvania before.  Their house is always the best place to sleep for 4 hours in the mid-Atlantic ha!  Thankful for that nice dinner out with them (with no children!) too!  You know they both woke up at 3:30am to tell me goodbye before I went to the airport.  They are THE BEST.  

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Molly Anne got to the top of the rope (as far as they're allowed to go) this week at gymnastics!

Crabcake at dinner with my parents!

Aren't these pictures of Grady and Molly Anne at my parents adorable?!  I just have all of the heart eyes!!!

Molly Anne was SO excited for Kindergarten Orientation!  The Kindergarten teachers took the children then gave the parents a tour of the school.  Kevin and I enjoyed that part and learning more about what goes on.  

Yep, this was our dinner last night.  No judgement!!!  Sometimes it's all you can do and that's OK!  Grady and I loved it for the record.  Molly Anne ate green beans for dinner. And Kevin ate meatballs. I'm not a short order cook!

That time between dinner and baths.  Don't ask me why Grady's jacket is on the coffee table!  Grady might love Mills more than Molly Anne does.  Grady was sitting on the left of the sofa and Molly Anne was on the right with Kevin.  And Mills climbed up there right between them!  That love is something fierce!

Molly Anne is on an arts and crafts kick lately.  More so than usual.  Lots of these notes laying around!  I collected a stack last night and went through them all.  How can I ever throw any of them away?!!  

Chat soon friends!

Stitch Fix

I told y’all I’ve been in a clothes rut and I’ve known I needed to step out of my usual bubble. I have loved Loft and now I’m onto Stitch Fix. Considering I’m the pickiest human alive with what I wear, I needed someone else to pick some things for me to try!  I’ve done better in the past with someone choosing something and me trying it on.  Anyone else?!

The process - you create a profile with sizing and likes/dislikes of styles, tell them what you want/need to receive (pants/earrings/dress shirts etc), pay $20 and they send you a box.  Then the $20 goes towards anything you keep from the box. You can specify pricing of items too so you don’t get anything outrageously expensive. I think I did up to $50 for a top.  

This was the first box I received. And I ended up keeping the black shirt. It has buttons on the side on top and is a good work shirt. Comfortable but dressy!  The navy shirt had slits in the sleeves and that’s not entirely up my alley but probably would be fine for going out. The green shirt was pretty but I didn’t need it. The earrings are soo pretty but I passed.  And the maroon didn’t work. So anyway, I kept the black shirt and shipped everything else back in a free USPS bag that I put in my mailbox!  Got a new great shirt that I wouldn’t have otherwise chosen!

For my next fix arriving in March, I asked for spring/summer work clothes so I’ll let y’all know. I’ve heard it’s best to stick with the same stylist and give them a lot of feedback and detail and by your third box, everything is spot on. We will see. Oh and I got a box for Molly Anne too. She had a field day trying everything on!  I’ll have to post about hers next month!!  If you’d like to try it, feel free to use my referral code here.  You get a $25 credit and so do I. Thank you and I hope you get surprised with something you like!  

Grady Clothes

Aren't these summer clothes for Grady the cutest?  Got them from Shutterbugs.  He loves trucks, cars and fish right now so I can hear him saying, "truck" "ca" "ish!"  The striped shirt is by J. Bailey and is the performance material.  Both of my kids are so hot natured and this material breathes well so I know Grady will stay cooler in it.  The smocked shirts are Vive Le Fete. 

Aren't these shorts precious?  The top and bottom rows are Luigi and are the knit material. The middle pair is Zuccini and is a dressier material.  The dark pairs are both navy, not black! No black allowed in my house for my babies.  I know, I'm crazy.  I do want to get him a couple more pairs of khaki's that are chino material and then he's probably good on shorts this summer.  These are all size 3T.  

Nice Little Weekend

This weekend we didn't have a ton of plans but just enough!  This was my brother's sweater - isn't it adorable on Grady?!  Oh my! 

Friday night we went to dinner with Kevin's fam to celebrate his belated birthday. We went to Jim and Nick's and I had the best salad with pulled chicken on it.  I'll be getting that again soon.  And they have a drive thru so YES!

Molly Anne was in bed at 7pm but then told us about 30 minutes later that her "water had spilled on her bed."  AKA she wasn't tired at all (she probably napped that day at school) and she ended up staying awake until after 9 with me.  She helped me organize my Stitch Fix (more to come on this soon) and we played in my closet with clothes and jewelry.  She also helped me fold laundry.  She LOVES helping me so much these days.  

Saturday morning I tried to get Grady to watch cartoons but he still won't for more than 3 minutes.  Haha!




Molly Anne and I did some volcano science experiments.  She had done them in science class last week at school and hadn't stopped talking about them so we looked up some experiments online and went to town.  Honestly it was like 10 minutes of fun but she loved it!  Baking soda, water, vinegar, food coloring and dish detergent.  Done and done.  We did it two different ways - one adding the vinegar last and the other adding the baking soda last.  The baking soda last one worked the best!

I got a little run in during their nap time and my foot hurt like crazy yesterday and today so now I know it's something to do with running, not cycling.  I'm gimping around.  

After nap we went to Mary Scott's 4th birthday party at SAS Cupcakes!  Aurora came and it was so cute!

Birthday girl was just born yesterday!

We flew home for baths and dinner and our babysitter came around 6 to stay with them and we went to 131 Main for dinner.  We are "sit at the bar" for dinner kind of people most of the time.  We were able to snag two seats right away.  The couple next to us talked our ears off (well she did, he was quiet).  They were as nice as they could be but I was exhausted from listening when they left.  Ha!  Anyone had that happen before?!


Check out that ginormous pork chop!  Huge but so good!


Our friends Whitney and Matt picked us up and we went downtown to The Comedy Zone for a show by Orny Adams!  He was hilarious!  Of course Matt had gotten the front and center table for us!  Funny. 


Us with Onry!

Sunday morning laying low.  Mills was in heaven.  He and Molly Anne shared his chair and Grady climbed up there at one point too.  It's too bad he's not loved at all.  I got our groceries ordered from Wal-Mart and Kevin is going to pick those up for me this afternoon.  

Grady bubba and his loves.  

Kevin went clay shooting most of the day yesterday so after nap we were outside from like 3-5pm.  It was 60 degrees and sunny so why not?!  My children could live outside I think.  Will came over to play with them for a little bit and we had fun.  

Wrapped up the weekend with burgers on the grill, smiley fries and steamed peas.  Easy.  

On the menu this week:
Monday - sheet pan smoked sausage, onion, carrots, broccoli and maybe red potatoes with steak seasoning
Tuesday - probably Cava drive thru after gymnastics
Wednesday - Meatballs, green beans and mashed potatoes (Grady's fav)
Thursday - taco salad (kids will probably eat leftovers, quesadillas or chicken nuggets)

I also want to make this brie walnut chicken recipe that my friend told me about.  I have all of the ingredients but it's not a weeknight dinner for us because it'll probably take too long after work to get that on the table.  We'll see how the week goes.  I'm traveling and have early morning meetings uptown so it's gonna be a little nutty.  

Chat soon friends.

Weird Week

It’s been a weird week with Monday being President’s Day, Thursday was an early dismissal due to anticipated snow and today the public schools are closed and our school is delayed!  

Wednesday night we went to family night at the club. They had a face painter and Chase from paw patrol there. There was a mix up and chase didn’t get there until late so we didn’t get to see him. That was kind of a bummer but I think they figured out how to do these nights after this little test run.  

Grady had the best time playing!

Thursday afternoon watching a little Air Bud with her bestie. 

We played all afternoon.  I juggled work. It was awesome! ;)



This is the snow we got that they closed schools for!  And all of the northerners laughed!

Have a great weekend friends!

Clothes Rut!

My goodness I have been in a clothes rut and I'm tired of the same stuff I always wear.  Plus, I really don't have any clothes since I had Grady.  I literally go in my closet all of the time and tell Kevin how I have nothing to wear.  Anyone else raising their hand right now?!  I need new tops mostly.  I'm pretty good on pencil skirts, dress pants (I need to share these that I love so much - machine washable!!) and jeans.  

I had an hour on Saturday afternoon and I went up to Loft and tried some things on.  I ended up getting this top, but these are two others that I didn't see in the store that I want to order....

1.  Smocked split neck shell in pink.  They have this is in other colors too!  It's cute to wear by itself for this summer but I can wear it under a long cardigan now.  For work or going out as well.  Things that are semi loose around my stomach but still shaped nicely are the name of my game these days. 




2. V-neck Puff Sleeve Blouse ($29.50) - a going out or work top that I think is super cute!  I'd wear it with big earrings for going out and tuck it into a pencil skirt and wear studs for work.  

Our Monday

Monday was President’s Day so their school was closed and my office was open. Always!  These bank holidays (as we call them in Charlotte) are so nice for most of this town but some of us have to work!  Ha! I’m so fortunate I can wing it most of the time and move stuff around to their nap time or someone will cover for me.  I have been known to drive around in circles around town so I can do a conference call in silence with both kids entertained in the back!

Anyway, we had kind of been at home most of the weekend so Monday I wanted to do something in the morning before Grady's 12pm nap time.  I decided to avoid all of the germy places this time of year and we drove out to the John Deere dealer to let Grady run around and look at the tractors!  His favorite thing these days!  Come to find out, Molly Anne likes tractors a lot too!  

Here is he ready to roll in his John Deere hat and a shirt that Christine made for him!  

First we went inside their shop and both kids acted like they had never been in public in their entire life... so I had words with Molly Anne, we bought a couple of toy tractors, asked them if we could sit on the tractors outside (yes) and got on out of there and into the yard!

She had the best time!  I told her she'll make a good wife one day being so well rounded!!

I love this picture of Grady.  And I have a video from almost this exact moment.  He is squealing with delight!  

TRAC-TOR!



We stopped by Nana's work and got to visit with her!  

Then we stopped by the fire station and voted early!  It was a dual purpose for me - show the children that it's good to vote and they got to see a fire truck up close and personal!  Surprisingly Grady was scared of it...he has been so into firetruck books and doing the siren sound but then got scared at the real thing.  It is pretty big so who knows.  He would have warmed up I'm sure but we had to scoot on.  

We ran to Chick Fil A to pick up lunch, then through the Teeter Express Lane to pick up groceries then home for lunch and nap.  Molly Anne and I did some work - she did legos and I did work work.  

After nap, we walked/scooted up to the neighborhood playground so they could play.  Grady had a BALL.  I remember when it got easier with Molly Anne at this playground and that has officially happened with Grady.  Last time we were there I had to go up on the equipment with him.  This time, he knows where he can go and not go (well, mostly).  I keep a close watch on him of course.  And he only wanted to go down the super tall and fast slide this time, not surprised!  

We came inside about 5:30 for dinner and called it a night shortly after!  A fun day for sure.  Helps that it was 65 and sunny on February 17th!  

Birthdays and Out

On Saturday morning Molly Anne had a party for Ella's 6th birthday and it was at Atomz Lab.  It was so cute and educational!  They learned all about gardening and did three science experiments.  The lady that taught them all was so wonderful - Ms. Lori!


Playing with a worm!



While we were at the party, Kevin took Grady to do some errands - car wash, get gas, pick up prescriptions and lunch. 

After naps, we switched children and I took Grady to get a long overdue haircut!  He has never gone this long in between cuts!  But doesn't he look adorable?  Stud status as I say!  Ha. 

That night we went out for Kevin's birthday.  Started at Duckworth's with this crew.  

Then headed to Southend to Pins Mechanical.  It's a huge bar but has a bunch of arcade games, skeeball, ping pong, foosball etc. that are all free to play.  Check out this huge lite bright board!  

Benjy and Jess joined us for this part!

Double trouble in the middle!

Always good times with all of these great friends!  We were up way too late but had so much fun.  

Sunday morning we played around the house.  It was kind of a crummy day weatherwise outside so we didn't even get out.  I made stuffed shells and shrimp creole for dinners this week.  Everyone took long naps.  Since Molly Anne napped, I knew she wouldn't go to bed at 7 so she helped me with some chores.  She earned a quarter for getting all of the trash from every room into one bag so we could take it out to the curb for trash day.  I had to do this growing up and told her about that so she really LOVED helping us.  Kevin, Molly Anne and I also changed out the HVAC filters and she learned about ladders, vents, HVAC among other things!  I always feel so accomplished when I get all 6 of those bad boys changed out! Anyone else?  

Oh, she always finished the gymnastics lego set she got for Valentine's Day that I talked about yesterday!  

We wrapped up the weekend by watching some American Idol and eating popcorn, Molly Anne's and my favorite!