Camp Prep

Wanted to share the camp stuff in more detail for a couple friends that asked and also because I forgot to link the things in last weeks post. Sometimes I get a tad wrapped up in life/work and don’t have my act together!!!

Anyway, here I am, back with my sister in law’s advice for sleep away camp! Molly Anne is going to Camp Seafarer this year and is sooooo excited!

Here are some must haves:

- Labels for non clothes items - I got the small rectangle so they can be used on small items - toothpaste etc. Maybe a variety size pack would be a good idea. 

- Iron on labels for clothes

- Trunk for one week, with wheels

- Shoes for water (ugly imo but evidently everyone has them)

- Hanging organizer (can hang this and organize clothes etc in it, but narrow enough for lack of space in cabin)

- Bath mat for beside bed (get rid of sand)

- Shorts Molly Anne loves 

- Eggshell for on top of mattress 

- Electric clip on fan so you don’t have to mess with batteries

- Mesh laundry bag

- don’t overpack! 

I’m planning to keep everything together (in the trunk) until the time gets closer. I know I’ll be glad this is done come May when life is wild with swim team!

I can’t wait for Molly Anne to experience an amazing place with amazing people! She’s going to grow up so much and have an absolute blast. And I’ll probably be first in line for pick up haha! 

Weekend at Home

We were in Charlotte this week and didn’t have much on the agenda. It was very necessary! 

Molly Anne had a teacher work day on Friday so she came to a work lunch with me then we went to a couple of places looking for a daddy daughter dance dress. Including Nordstrom where she had to touch every shoe in the fancy shoe area. Then she decided not to listen…at all…which was the theme of last week. Anyone else in the same boat?

That night we headed to the club with some friends. Kids table and adult table yessss!!!! Glad we are at that point! 


Saturday morning lounging and good breakfast before her basketball game. 


We took Mills for our mile loop that he likes so much. I have an oncology appointment for him today so hoping to have a plan soon! 


Saturday night we went out for Mexican then even sprung for ice cream! Big night out! 




Sunday we went to church, brunch at the club then hung around the house.


Played outside in the driveway for awhile! 


Kevin made us a big dinner so we had leftovers for Monday night. That’s our big sports night so we always have to have a plan before Monday. 

I got some extra work-work stuff done this weekend so I can have the time to take Mills tomorrow. It’s always a balance juggling all of my “jobs!” 

Talk soon friends!

Five on Friday - Camp, Menu, Mills, Cereal

1. Molly Anne is going to sleep away camp at the coast this summer and I’m starting to get a bunch of things together for that. Labels for her non clothes items. Iron on labels for her clothes. Trunk. Shorts (she loves these for all of the summer and sports). Things that are easy to find now but may not be when everyone starts getting ready for camps. Also, I don’t like doing things the week before (makes me crazy)! My SIL is very much helping me on the camp items, she’s the pro!

2. Menu from this week:

 - Beef Nachos

 - Chicken tenderloins marinated in zesty Italian (air fryer), steamed broccoli with shredded cheddar on it, and red potatoes roasted. 

- Shrimp Fried Rice (I sauté shrimp in sesame oil) and use the frozen fried rice from the store. Easy. 

- Grilled cheese (Kevin made) and broccoli cheddar soup (premade from the store)

Maybe this inspires you for next week? Easy stuff!

3. Still working on coming up with a plan on Mills’ health stuff. 

4. Grady at school! Playing hockey during fun and fitness class! 

5. Saw this cereal somewhere on Instagram and got it to try. It’s so much healthier than typical cereal, which we have very rarely. Kids say it tastes just like fruit loops. I happened to have a bag of fruit loops so here is the comparison. I got this from Target! Only bummer is it’s $10 for a small box. 

Thursday Edit

Found some good things this week!

ONE - love this dress. Also comes in black and light blue. Super reasonable at $100. 

TWO - I like a basic shirt with a little zaz and that's what this is. Love this color for Spring. 8 colors and $49

THREE - I feel like I need this adorable bag. 



FOUR - I have this "sweatshirt" in two colors and it's one of the most worn pieces of clothing in my closet. I wear the ivory one constantly and put a fun necklace with it and wear it with my fav black jeans. Looks put together.


FIVE - anyone have a dressy event to go to soon - check out this dress! I love navy always but especially this time of year until Summer starts. $148

Some Grady Milestones

Wanted to share a few Grady milestones that have happened recently! I’m not trying to have my infant grow up but I must say, it’s pretty nice when they can start doing some bigger things!! 

1. He taught himself to zip his coat over Christmas break. I guess he wanted to do this because I had nothing to do with it. Pretty cool to have that knocked out. 

2. He can take his own bath and brush his teeth. I still monitor this quite closely or Molly Anne does haha. The soap pouring becomes slightly questionable and he can’t do his own hair but he can start the water, get in and out and all of that by himself. Progress! 

3. He can dress himself. I set his outfit out each night and the rule is that he has to be dressed before he comes downstairs for breakfast. He thinks he can’t put his shirts on but he can. Buttons are still hard but he’s gotten them a few times. 

4. Working on buckling in and out of the car seat. Well this one is slightly complicated but I need him to be able to do this starting in August for car line at school. I’ve learned that the bigger kid car seat is much easier to do this in rather than the one he’s still in. He also has some fine motor stuff that we are working on so this is a bit harder. But, he’s done it in the big boy car seat so I may have to do a shuffle of car seats starting in August. I really don’t want Molly Anne in a booster yet on the regular because we drive on essentially an interstate to the beach pretty often. (Crazy car seat lady over here). We will see what happens but I think I can have this solved by August (Kindergarten). 

5. He can count to 50 but skips 13. I had no idea he could do this and he broke this out a few weeks ago. He also counted to 10 in Spanish the other day thanks to Spanish class at school. I was like whatttt how do you know that!

6. We are using these Bob books to learn to read. Same ones that Molly Anne used. He understands the concept of sounding words out and that words make sentences. He has even read a few sentences by himself! So fun and he loves it. Soon we will be onto the magic flash cards that I swear changed Molly Anne’s vocabulary the summer before Kindergarten. 

Don’t worry and don’t compare. We have plenty of other items to work on and plenty of things for me to worry about on a daily basis. Like hand writing and speech. They all do these things in their own time or need extra help. No biggie deal and it all shakes out. Just wanted to record these things for the ole blog/diary! 

Sunday Shuffle

Are you one of those that has to get their act together for the week on a Sunday afternoon? I am or it totally makes my week off to a chaotic start. It's always better for me to spend a few hours getting my world in order and the week goes much smoother for everyone in my household! Here are the things that I do to make life easier for the work week ahead. Please share any of your ideas in the comments!

1. Laundry completely done and put away. I try to do towels and sheets on the weekends too.

2. Meal plan has been done and grocery order has been placed and picked up.

3. Fruits and veggies clean and cut. Makes lunch box packing wayyyy easier. I act like I pack Molly Anne's lunch...I don't. Julie does every day except I do Sunday night for Monday.

4. My hair is washed and ready for a couple of work days. I never do sweaty workouts on Monday because I do not have time on a Monday night to wash my hair. This buys me a couple of days which really helps. 

5. The playroom and downstairs are all tidy. I have the kids pretty much do this for me. 

6. Trash is out to the curb for Monday pick up day. 

7. Sometimes I lay Molly Anne's outfits out for the week. I'll be honest, this isn't a priority for me because we don't have arguments over what to wear...she'll wear whatever I pick out and she can pretty much pick out whatever she wants and it's pretty good. A lot of days she'll ask Alexa what the weather is and she picks out her own thing. Check check. 

8. Bags are packed for Monday morning - Molly Anne's back pack with her snack and water in hydroflask so it stays cold for a day, my work stuff, Grady's swim stuff etc. And it's all by the back door. 

9. Know what I'm making for dinner Monday or make it Sunday and reheat on Monday. I try to make the earlier side of the week very easy for myself because usually I'm inundated otherwise. 

10. Look at my calendar and work email on Sunday night. I know this is probably like why on earth would you do this? But honestly it makes my world much easier to know what's going on ahead of time. I live and breathe by my Outlook calendar which is also on my phone. My whole life is on there, hence why I do not share my calendar at work. I also like to clean out my work email on a Sunday night so it's not insane on Monday morning. About to do that right now after I type this on a Sunday night!

Weekend Roundup

The kids at school celebrated Chinese New Year on Friday and Molly Anne had a blast! My friend Candice sent me this picture and I love it so much! Makes me happy to see her happy!

Grady got to make his winter wish bottle finally! Molly Anne has one from Ms Fran’s class so he had been waiting for his turn!

We played games and hung out on Friday night. We had gotten some not good news that day about our furry friend that I’ll share another time. We just needs to regroup. 



They read together in Grady’s bed and it was super cute! 


Saturday morning Molly Anne had her basketball game. She scored and had an assist! 


I got my nails done midday. Color is OPI Let’s Be Friends. Gel. Running out for 45 minutes was something I never would have done two years ago with little children. It made me realize that my little friends are growing up! Something little I know but still! 





I took the kids to the new playground at Ballantyne Resort and they loved it! So much fun. 




Saturday night we went out with Brad and Shauna! We went to Beef and Bottle and then to Pins Mechanical. This is on the roof top there. 




Good times as always!



Sunday was a rainy day so we just hung around the house and chilled! Good catch up day from the week. 

Thursday Looks

ONE: loving this new dress. 

TWO: this dress is the one you all loved that I have in black. It’s a good one and very pretty colors for spring!

THREE: the black is pretty sweet in this gauze top. I have white and pink and wear it often. 

FOUR: saw this top when I was at the mall this week and love it for throwing over top a tank. The color is so pretty. 



FIVE: I still swear by the Bobbi Brown eye shadow sticks and this duo is a great way to try them out. I had another brand and it broke in half and bobbi brown is still kicking it! I did grab this duo recently though. You can even layer them…dark then light. 

Random Wednesday

1. These are from the freezer section at WalMart and they’re so good. I put them in the air fryer for 9 minutes and done. Served with steamed fresh broccoli and raspberries and green grapes. Keeping things easy around here. 

2. I haven’t gotten my nails done since before Christmas. I need to do that soon. It feels odd not to have them done. I do gel and typically only get them done during the school year, not during summer. 

3. Rushing out of the house every morning is not a favorite part of my day. I feel like I run out to take Molly Anne then run back and do Mills and Grady then rush out again to take grady then run to work. I’ve had an entire day by the time I sit down at my desk to work. Let’s end on a positive? I can run an errand at lunch and that’s a good thing. 

4. Shall we discuss mental load of our multiple jobs as working mamas? Yes I worry about my kids, dealing with the house, and still have a job to mentally hold in my head which requires me remembering about 10,000 details. One of those weeks friends!

5. We have an upcoming trip in the next month to look forward to and I’m very excited about that. I hope it’s as good as people say it is! We shall see! Kids are excited. 

6. Kevin loves going to Sams Club so I’m using that to my advantage these days and letting him get a bulk of the groceries. I add things we need to a list on Alexa so he can see them and he will let me know what they didn’t have. That way I can put that in my grocery drive up order. It works for right now so I’ll take it. 

7. Getting our gutters cleaned today. Super fun adult home ownership stuff!

That’s all I have today. What’s going on in your world?

OIB and Pawleys

We scooted down to Ocean Isle for the weekend because Molly Anne had off school yesterday. On the way down we decided to bug my brother to see what they were up to. We ended up heading to Pawleys on Sunday for the night to see them! It was a perfect weekend!

Friday night - dinner at Sharkys when we got into town. It’s nice with Grady being a bit older that we can go to dinner at 6:30 or 7 and he doesn’t fall apart! We are typically 5:30 dinner eaters but we didn’t get there until 6 because of school! No getting out early for this weekend!

Then we stopped by 59 Causeway for a drink and let the kids color and hang. 

Back porch chilling after the kids were in bed! 


The big event was Saturday when Furnitureland South delivered our sofa that we ordered last February! I must say, it was worth the wait! It’s by Four Seasons and has performance material slip cover on it. It’s our same one that we have at home but sectional. We are so thrilled with it. We picked out the fabrics of the pillows too. Aren’t they gorgeous? Up close photos below. 


Now we need a new rug. Working on that!





Then we headed to Alligator Adventure in Myrtle Beach. And it was an adventure! Kids loved it even though it was soooo cold! 




Baby alligators. I won’t bore you with more pictures!


We stopped by Hurricane Juels in Little River, SC on our way back to Ocean Isle for a late lunch early dinner. It was good!

Sunday we did a few things around the house then eventually hit the road to Pawleys. Only about a 70 minute drive!






They recently got a cat and Molly Anne was obsessed to put it lightly. Poor mills was jealous of the attention. We gave her a hard time for liking the cat more than Mills! All fun! We are not cat people but evidently I should say Kevin and I are not cat people. 



Pretty sunrise!


Greeley



We got back to Charlotte in time for both kids to swim and Molly Anne to play basketball. Back to it peeps!