Meal Prep

​I've been trying to do more actual meals type meal prep on the weekends. Instead of only fruits and veggies cleaned and cut. Having a main breakfast dish for the week has really helped (think sausage, egg, cheese "cupcakes") and things like that. 

I also always cook extra of whatever we are doing and that goes in lunch boxes. Grady isn't a sandwich guy so if we have leftover dinner, he will eat it the next day for lunch. For most things, he will eat them cold. Others I use one of the hot thingys - put hot water in it for a few minutes to rest then pour it out and put the food in right before we leave. It works so nicely. 

We have been loving our Ninja pizza oven. It's fun for a weekend night!

Made some manicotti on Saturday to have after a busy Sunday. And I froze half so I will be glad about that next time I need a quick meal! 

Oh and for these two meals and the egg casserole, I cooked all of that sausage in the same pan. And basically made all three things at the same time. Messed up my kitchen once and had a ton of meals! 

I don't know, none of it's rocket science but I'm just trying to get by these days yall! The sports are sooo fun but I have to plan ahead so we don't eat garbage!

Next time I'm going to do some stuff with rotisserie chicken. We did pork chops last week and loved those. 

Chat soon! 

Baseball Weekend

​Lots of baseball this weekend! 

Got to see tons of friends at the ballfield which is always super fun! 

Including my friend Kimmy from college!! 

Skiff had some fun with friends  

Grady's team won a tournament which was SO awesome. They're 6-0 now!

Oh and Molly Anne went to a super fun backyard glow pool party which she LOVED! 

I did some meal prep which I'll share probably tomorrow. 

All in all, a great weekend!

Thursday Finds

Here is what's on my brain this week! 

ONE - these kicks​

TWO - every year around late September I have the urge to buy brown leggings. I figure $60 is better than $130 ones and these actually hold up!

THREE - cute throw on dress

FOUR - when you see something good for the holidays, you grab it

FIVE - a bright bath mat would make me happy

Supporting Each Other

​One thing my friend and I talked about recently is something basic but more important than ever as we get to mid 40's and have plenty going on with our children and with our parents - asking how each other are doing. Like genuinely! 

Health stuff starts happening and we as moms have to look out for one another. Sometimes husbands don't know what to ask. But we have to follow up with each other to be sure we are taking care of ourselves every once in awhile.

It's so basic but call a friend and ask how they are truly doing. 

Weekend Round Up

Honestly pretty low key weekend. We went to a teammate of Grady's challenge team for a get together Friday night. Molly Anne loved the hot tub. We took Costco pizzas and I will tell yall - it's a deal for $10 cheese or pepperoni pizzas. Call earlier in the day to order ahead!

Bad dude

Saturday was baseball and the pool then last second had a few families over for Mexican food door dashed! It was easy and low key!

Molly Anne and a new neighbor's daughter!

Skiff is a rascal these days! But oh so sweet sometimes. He is 8 months old now! And 68 pounds!

Sunday was chill then Grady and I got to go watch a friend of his play basketball. I worked on consignment stuff. Then back to the baseball field for practice! 

Kids are off school today so we will be winging that and work. I'm trying to get the kids to do all of their homework for the week so they have a light week when they go back! Stay tuned on how that works out. Ha

Thursday Finds

ONE - sorry for the Christmas but I feel like Molly Anne needs this for her room. ​

TWO - this sweater with ecru jeans

THREE - fav blouse but make it a dress! Super flattering on.

FOUR - perfect color, perfect length, perfect material, this top is good

FIVE - saw my friend Lisa at the mall this week and she got this necklace. It's bold and classic at the same time!

Randoms

​1. Well, this will be the first year since Molly Anne's threes class that I'm not one of my kiddos room mom! It wasn't really intentional but I sort of missed the boat for Grady's class and there aren't room moms in middle school of course. I'll still find ways to help out at the school but it will be different!

2. Grady's homework load is substantial from what I can tell thus far. We will see how the weeks ahead shake out but it's a lot. I don't know how kids are supposed to get it all done, have an extracurricular a couple of nights a week and play outside to be a kid after school. We shall see. 

3. I am finally getting my little world back in business since March when we got skiff. I need to figure out more an exercise routine instead of constantly winging it and I have a few more things on my overall to do list but I'll get there. This school year has been quite a shift with start times 1.5 hours apart from each other, a middle school sport and no Ms. Julie! 

4. Christmas is in 100 days ish?! I actually have been keeping a list all year of gift ideas and writing things down for certain people. Hopefully it'll come in handy shortly! 

5. Speaking of holidays - tons of birthday parties for my kid's friends popping up. I always make an effort for them to attend those. It means so much to the birthday boy or girl! Molly Anne feels like so many people including close friends and family forgot her birthday this year because she was at camp. It has been sort of sad to see that for her but I keep reassuring her that they still love her! Birthdays mean a lot to children and not for the gift - that's not it at all!

6. Meals this week - chicken enchiladas, salmon bowls, pork chops / steamed broccoli / mashed potatoes, sheet pan dinner with sausage, carrots and baby potatoes. And worst case - breakfast for dinner if we run out of ideas. 

Chat soon! 

Weekend of Baseball

​Grady played A LOT of baseball this weekend. Two practices and three games! His teams won all three games including a tournament. The other highlight was a got a new car! Mine was just fine but it had a lot of miles and every trip to the Toyota dealership was $1k. We also celebrated my friend Kellie's birthday with a a Mexican fiesta at Hilary's! It was fun! Kevin had gone to the beach to swap cars as the new one was in Little River. All in all, a good weekend! 

Thursday Finds

​Short week this week!

ONE - saw this dress in person and loved it! 

TWO - always on the lookout for flowy workout tanks. 

THREE - this tank and white jeans 

FOUR - a little different and cute 

FIVE - the CUTEST jacket and I love it in creme too!

Under 600 Calorie Meals Out

​Well I went to the doctor last week because my blood pressure has been creeping up. Interestingly he showed me a graph where my weight has gone up almost linearly with my blood pressure. And this is like 10 pounds over 8 years. So needless to say, I need to drop 10 or 15 pounds! I know I'll be happier too but I just gotta do it. And I'm not cheating with a shot (not yet at least haha). He suggested back to the basics - calorie counting with My Fitness Pal! So here I go! 

I've survived a whole week so far. And I still eat popcorn at night bc I don't want to give that up! Honestly I really haven't changed much, maybe just more portion control and less eating a bite of my kids leftovers.

Thought it'd be fun to share some meals I've dreamt up while looking at apps. I have only had the cava meal so far but it's good to know I'll survive on other meals out for lunch (or dinner) if need be. 

Chick Fil A

Jimmy John's 480 calories - no mayo

Cava - prob could double the chicken for more protein 

Chopt - my fav bowl but lightened up a bit. Still have to have some ranch!

Jersey Mikes - the no olive oil blend saves 200+ calories and I don't know about you but I don't taste it anyway.

Share your fav low cal meals! 

Lunch Meal Prep

Little meal prep for school lunches. Naan dippers, marinara, mozzarella cheese and pepperoni minis. Bake for a few min and a lunch they like! If this wasn't Thursday night, I would have made a bunch for them to have a few lunches in one week! ​

LDW

​We had a nice Labor Day weekend and hope you did too!

We cruised down to Ocean Isle on Friday afternoon. We took MA out early by a couple of hours and it worked out well. Grady just got out regular time. It still took 4 hours to get here but that is a holiday weekend for ya. Always worth it when we arrive though!

Dad was with us from charlotte! He had flown down to watch Molly Anne's field hockey games! Pics to come. 

It was college colors day at school on Friday so poppa joined in as well!

We picked crabs 

Skiff went in the ocean with my dad more than he had with any of us!  

We did 59 causeway for breakfast! The three of us had fun doing that!

Got the boat out of the water thank goodness!

Oh and Skiff got on his namesake and was not impressed with its unpredictable movement!

We beached and boogie boarded. Kids are obsessed.

Hung out and made good meals at home every night!

Took skiff to bass pro shops where he came face to face with fish!!

A longggg drive home and almost ready for the week! Happy Tuesday yall.