Five on Friday

ONE:

Nurse Grady taking care of his Mills!

Did you know you could take photos like this on your iPhone? I found out through a local moms FB group. Go to portrait mode then scroll all of the way to the end and it’s called High-Key Light Mono!

TWO:

Evidence of the beautiful weather this week - popsicles and a golf cart ride! 

THREE:

Grady LOVES listening to the organist as she practices in the mornings on our way to his classroom!


FOUR :

Last night I hit the easy button and grabbed chick fil a for dinner. We all ate outside and the kids ran wild. We let them stay up a little late (7 for Grady and 7:15 for MA) since she doesn’t have to get up early on Fridays. They loved it. 


FIVE:

The cutest dress that will be making an appearance for Easter I believe! I got Grady the dark periwinkle polo to match! 


SIX:

Cuddled up in bed and she reads to him. Melt my heart. Kevin and I just watch and look at each other like “is that really happening?!”


Making this chicken pizza bake for dinner tonight!

Happy Weekend!

Randoms

 1. This week we have had three days of BEAUTIFUL weather and it's been so refreshing at a time when I needed it most. It's been 65 degrees or warmer Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Yesterday I picked up the kids super early and we played outside for hours until right before dinner. Then I've gone back outside and walked with my friend Jen every night after bedtimes. 

2. January and February have been incredibly draining covid wise and not being able to be outside. Something about March seems good and new. I'm excited. Hoping we can start having girls nights outside again!

3. Grady goes to the dentist for the first time tomorrow so that's sure to be an adventure. And his dentist is only in the office on Fridays right now so that means Molly Anne will be with us as well.  Good times. I usually try to always do their doctors appointments etc with just one child and I but this should be fine with her being there too. She will encourage him on.

4. I have been so sore lately from doing peloton strength stuff. I was getting bored from straight cardio so I've def been upping my strength time. I've also found it's fun to stack classes - like do a 20 min run on the treadmill, 20 min on the bike then 20 min strength. That would def be a weekend workout but you know what I mean.

5. Every day this week Grady has taken a monster truck or stuffed animal in to show his teachers then I bring it to the car for the day. I remember Molly Anne going through this same stage and it's so cute. 

6. I'm working with a new client out of Winston-Salem but we are doing projects all over the east coast and midwest. It's been fun to do some deals in locations I've not worked in before. It's funny, I live in Charlotte, but after 14 years I'm wrapping up my first Charlotte project. Everything else has been pretty much out of state. Oh what it was like to travel every week!

7. We have fun plans on Saturday and I'm excited for a change of pace to get to do that. Something to look forward to.

Happy Thursday!

Tank

I’ve been loving this tank so much to work out in or to wear under long sleeve shirts with leggings.  It’s the perfect amount of flow to hide my rolls! And it sweats well for a big workout. Yesterday I stocked up and got this blue, black and white.  I know they can’t keep colors in stock come Spring so I thought it was a good time to do it. Happy Wednesday! 

Chill weekend

Pretty chill weekend over here. Mills is still in recovery mode over here and requires short walks on a “short leash.” It’s very exciting.  

He is always wherever I am. On Friday I worked downstairs from Kevin’s office for something different. 



Saturday morning Grady got his haircut by Ragan again and he sat in the chair by himself. He was a good boy and didn’t require any entertainment. 



Then the four of us rode up to Mooresville to pick up Kevin’s old car that hadn’t sold. He’s going to keep that one and sell back the new one he bought. Very confusing and I don’t keep up with all of that mess. He has another one on order that’s coming sometime this summer. A little side hobby of his.  


Young man looking mighty sharp! Molly Anne went to a friends house during Grady’s nap time on Saturday so I went to Target and HomeGoods which was productive. 


Then we played outside for awhile, Kevin picked up Duckworths for dinner and had a little family fun. 


Until these two played in the mud out back while I went to walk Mills. Those rascals. Who looks the guiltiest? I’ll give you one clue - Molly Anne. She was trying so hard not to cry here because I had just told her how disrespectful it was when I had explicitly told them not to do that!! Grady has mud on his face. Needless to say they both got hosed off and into the bathtub. 


After baths! This is such a good pic of all three!



We didn’t do a ton on Sunday. Kevin made French toast for breakfast, I worked out during Grady’s nap, Molly Anne did legos, Grady put slime in his hair. Kevin googled how to get it out so thank you Dawn dish detergent for making that happen. Slime is never allowed in our house but it was a party favor from Molly Anne’s birthday party on Saturday. It was thrown away immediately after the hair incident. Gosh I really sound like a super fun mom after this blog post. I know, my kids lead very awful lives because they don’t play in mud or with slime!!!

Some sunshine after naps and before dinner! 

ANYWAY! Hope you all have a great week! 

Five on Friday

ONE:

My new fav picture of my fav little people. Molly Anne’s dress is Boden and her leggings are Luigi from Shutterbugs in Raleigh (good online website!). Grady’s shirt is J.Bailey and his pants are Luigi from Shutterbugs. Trying to get better about telling y’all where their clothes are from because I get emails sometimes asking! :)

TWO:

If you don’t have a squirt bottle then buy one. My kids have LOVED this little thing and it’s provided endless quiet moments. I have it to spray fresh wreaths and boxwoods but they found a better use for it - “cleaning” their outdoor equipment.  

THREE:

Another day after school playing outside - she got her old bike out and got him learning to peddle! He loves it. I know what he’s getting for his birthday!



FOUR:

Stud status. He picked out his shirt and 1/4 zip this week to wear. Both are VV. 



FIVE:

She asked me to pick her up from school on Tuesday through carline instead of going to after school so I did and we had time to go for a nice walk! Kevin grabbed Grady so that was a huge treat for all too!



Mills had surgery yesterday (done by a wonderful sorority sister) so we are on nurse duty today and the next couple of days. He will be okay. He had most cysts taken off. 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

What Does Life Look Like Right Now?

Thought it'd be nice to have a post to look back on that tells how things were on February 18th, 2021 during the covid world that seems to be getting much better.  There were days in January where 10,000-11,000 people per day were getting diagnosed with Covid in North Carolina. Yesterday it was under 2,000. And more like a few hundred in the County where Charlotte is.  That's really good. Like really good.

More people are getting vaccinated including a lot of our friends because they're in healthcare and most importantly all four of our parents have had their first shots and one has had their second shot!  WOOHOO! The relief I felt from that was HUGE.

Kevin has been going into his office from day 1 because he owns the place and was by himself. Also, both of his offices are very large and can accommodate way more people than he has. Social distancing is easy. It's been totally fine.

My office was closed to us coming in from last March until last May. Then we started going in two days a week on an A/B schedule which really flopped early on because people went to the office when they wanted.  Again, it's a large space and plenty of room. Plus we all have our own offices. And we wear masks if we leave our own office to go to the bathroom or whatever. I think in October it was expected that we all be back 5 days a week in person. Again, small private firm.  

Molly Anne went back to school mid-August last year as our County opened with going one day a week in-person and the rest remote. Then the last week of September it went to two days a week in person. Then October 26th they started going 4 days a week and that is still how it is today. THANK GOODNESS. I knew we lived in the right County but this solidified that. There have probably been under 10 cases at her school and who really knows the background on all of those. Who knows if the people/kids have been there with a symptom etc but it hasn't been numerous cases at once. The school has done an AMAZING job with keeping each case contained and none has spread AT school, it seems like at least - it's been very spread out timewise. Also, the County after school program opened at her school in January so she goes to that a few days a week and loves it. I don’t love it as much as she does but I’m trying to balance work too so it is what it is for now.

Grady's daycare/school opened early August and has been open ever since. They've probably had more covid issues than the elementary school but they've contained it well. And they're probably more conservative as well which is never a bad thing. 

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Day to day we eat at home almost every meal. We have dined out maybe 3-5 times for dinner and mostly at our club. Molly Anne does a couple extracurricular activities that are very covid regulated - she wears a mask at jazz the whole time she is there. In tumbling she has to wear one into the building but takes it off during class because that class is in South Carolina where they don't have the law about exercising in a mask. She plays tennis at our club with friends from the hood and they're outside. Grady is about to start swim lessons where Molly Anne took them from last June until December. They're wonderful at Charlotte Aquatics.

With all of this covid stuff I know we have all 'suffered' (some way more than others) but I want to shield my kids as much as possible from life not being normal. I want her to get to do normal 5 year old things because she should be able to since she has no health risks. I talked to their pediatrician early on and he firmly believes that children need to be in school and doing activities because it's best for their mental health. Risk versus reward. All about taking mitigated risks. That's what Kevin and I have tried to do the whole time. Still have a life so we don't go crazy but be smart about it. 

I think in general we've done a decent job of it all. Sure we've been out a few times and probably have done stupid stuff but it was worth it to us. It's all about each family's risk and what they're willing to do. To each their own as I always preach on here. Do what's right for you. 

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We are THRILLED to get to get on a plane in the future and go wherever we want to go. We want to show the kids the world and let them have amazing experiences and we plan on doing that. Not tomorrow but when we feel like it's right to do. I also want to fly to Maryland and see my parents whenever I want...that will be a good feeling.

Okay that's all I have for now! Cheers friends.

 

Hilary's Birthday

On Saturday night we pulled off the surprise of a lifetime for someone who is always interested in what everyone else is up to....you know...one of those really good friends that knows about what's going on with everyone all of the time! We surprised Hilary for her 40th! 

Drew took her out for drinks and his parents were "watching the girls at their house then would bring them home before bed time!" What really was happening was his parents were bringing the girls back over and I had booked a babysitter to keep them because Drew's parents are awesome and helped us set up! Leah and Todd, Kellie and Michael came over and we had two and a half hours from the time they left to get it all set up. Keep in mind, it was POURING down rain all day. Most of the stuff was at our house next door so we just had to get it over there and put together. The guys set up tents and heaters and made the fire. The girls decorated and got it all set up. It was a blast!  Some other friends arrived at 5:30pm but we did keep it very small (and mostly outside) for obvious covid reasons. 

Kellie had the great idea of a southern theme! We ordered 521 bbq. Kellie made this amazing southern charcuterie board, Leslie made deviled eggs and Katie made corn dip.  It was all delish!  Gail made a cake that was strawberry flavored - Hilary's favorite. 



She was so surprised - it was AMAZING!!! 


Time to party on down to celebrate being 40 years young!



















I'll save the rest of the pictures, not for a public blog! We had a GOOD time!

We had the best time celebrating her big day that is in a couple of weeks! CHEERS to Hilary!!

Loving Right Now

I picked up this set for a birthday gift for one of Molly Anne’s friends who is turning 6. I brought it home and Molly Anne said, “ohhhh I want that!” It’s a good gift that the birthday girl will be able to use to keep anything in or use it for a sleepover!

The classic Barbour jacket we got Kevin for his birthday that I talked about last week. 



I really love this dress but zero clue where I'd wear it these days. Although the sun is out today so spring is coming!

This is much more my speed right now. My fav long sleeve shirt back with new colors. Cute with leggings after working out or partially tucked into jeans with cool mom shoes to look semi put together.

I also cannot stop wearing this Zella sweatshirt that my parents gave me for Christmas.  It's heathered. I don't typically love heathered things but this one is good.  They also have some Spring colors too. It's high low and is perfect with leggings.

 

Valentine’s Day

Valentines Day at our house was verrrrry low key and fabulous. It was a cold and rainy day so just playing inside was perfect. 

Some gifts for the kiddos and Kevin. He came downstairs early and had gotten me some red roses and Molly Anne some pink tulips!! Grady and I went and grabbed bojangles (because the grease was necessary after a 1am night - more to come) and heart shaped donuts from dunkin. 

We knew we were going to be out late the night before so I had planned ahead and gotten things to do fondue for dinner. I chopped and prepped it all on Saturday so I didn’t have to do much Sunday. Fondue does take a lot of time chopping, cooking, planning out but it’s worth it. This was my first time doing it but I live next door to a professional so I’ve watched her do it several times. 

Cheese fondue - I used this recipe except I didn’t have cornstarch so I read about it online and it said you can use flour as a substitute but to double the amount. The other thing I did was add about 1/4 cup of Miller lite. That’s a trick from the pro. I used freshly grated gyruere, cheddar & gyruere block and some pre shredded creamy cheddar. I prob put more like 3 cups of cheese in it. Anyway, it was really good! We dipped button mushrooms, broccoli, mini white potatoes and smoked sausage (all roasted ahead of time) in it along with french bread cubes.

The kids had fun dipping and then putting it on their plate. 


For the dessert, I used the chocolate recipe from the fondue machine maker (see below). We dipped pound cake, strawberries, nilla wafers and marshmallows!  So good. 







These two lovebirds played so well together and were so sweet. On school nights Molly Anne goes to bed at 6:30 because I wake her up at 6:30am. I usually don’t put Grady to bed until 7 and last night he and I were laying in his bed after reading and he blurts out “I love you so much!” I about died!!! So then I asked if he would say it again so I could record it and he did. Love love love. 

Hope you had a nice weekend! More to come!!