Five on Friday

ONE:
Becky gave me an idea this week that Molly Anne loved - give her spaghetti noodles and mini marshmallows and let her build things.  In the picture she has bigger marshmallows but the small ones work better.  She loved it!

TWO:
Some of you may have seen my Instagram this week but there was a female police officer at her school for a couple of days this week and Molly Anne thought that was super cool that the police officer was "a girl police officer!"  (Usually it's always guys so that's why this was odd for her to see!) The officer was so sweet to Molly Anne and told her if she works hard she can be anything she wants to be and gave her a sticker.  It was adorable. 

The next day Molly Anne made a card and took her a chocolate bar.  She loved doing this!



THREE:
We hung out outside for a bit on Wednesday night.  We went to the pool after school/work but I had to bring Grady home early because he had a little rash on his forehead I think due to the sunscreen (that I've used on him all summer - Neutrogena!) and got worked up and rubbed it in his eyes.  A little benadryl and bath cured that right away.  It was weird but he was fine.  

FOUR:
I ended up jetting out after bedtimes and met up with some friends at Foxcroft for wine and snacks.  I think we covered about every topic possible on this night!

Checking on this little bubba when I got home. 

FIVE:
Molly Anne matched Natalie yesterday on purpose and it was so cute!  Us mamas have the same taste in clothes so they probably have more matching outfits than we even know what to do with!  These are the cutest and most comfy, well-made dresses. 

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Questions Answered

A couple of weeks ago I asked in this post if there were any topics you'd like me to write about and I really appreciated all of your sweet comments.  Yall are so nice!

Here are a few questions and the answers..

1.  From Courtney - As a working mom of two, I'd love to know more about how you balance life and work. I love reading about your family because our girls are almost the same age and Grady is just a few months older than my boy!

Balancing life and work is HARD!  And my work fluctuates so much that I never know what the day will hold.  I never have two days that are the same.  I could think it's going to be a low key day and then have big issues on a building that is under construction.

Honestly, staying organized is my biggest tip.  The ways I do that are below in #2 but I'll be honest, a lot of days are a circus.  My kids are my number one priority over work.  Always.  Always.  Always.  And I'm incredibly thankful to work for people that believe the same thing for their family.

Leaving my office at 3pm-ish makes me a better mom.  Getting to work from home a couple of days a week make me a better mom, wife, friend.  Exercise makes me a much nicer human being so thank you Kevin for the Peloton.  I also love to run Mills after the kids are in bed.  Girl's nights during the week after bedtime are so good. I also refuel by going out with Kevin on the weekends and taking the children to the pool or to birthday parties.  Those are FUN things and they keep me in check.  I am a much better employee when I'm doing other things that fill me up.  I've done the days of million hour work weeks, I've done the traveling and right now, I'm not in a place in my career where I want to do a ton of that.  



2.  From Mary - i'd love to see how you keep yourself organized! You're juggling so much and I'm curious if you've found a great system at work and home! Love your blog :)

I'm glad it appears that I seem organized because I don't know that I am all of the time.  Here are my top tips:

1. I live and breathe by my Outlook calendar on my phone and if it's not in there, I won't do it.  This is for work and home!

2.  Also as part of my Outlook, I use the Notes section all of the time - grocery lists, Target lists, questions for my kid's next well check.  If I think of something, no matter where I am, I can slip it in my phone. 

3.  I hit it hard at the beginning of the week and try to get all of the things done Monday and Tuesday so if something comes up Wednesday or Thursday, I have the capacity to do it.  AKA - I have groceries for the week by then, I have difficult things done at my work by then, I have errands done for home stuff (cleaners, sending boxes back).  Anything I can do early in the week to make Thursday Friday easier, I'm getting it done.

4.  I plan ahead big time.  Gifts for the next month have been bought a month ahead, anything I need to do for Molly Anne's school is done etc. etc. I am not a wait until the last minute kind of girl. 

5.  I don't watch a bunch of TV.  I know this sounds silly but I don't waste time in front of my TV every night...only when Bachelorette or American Idol is on.  Other than that, I waste my time on Instagram stories instead, ugh.  Haha.  But really when my kids go to bed at 7pm, I go to town on house work...cleaning floors, wrapping up laundry, wrapping gifts, prepping dinner for the next night, putting away toys or swapping some new things out for them to play with.  

6.  I do laundry almost every day but I don't make it be a big task.  I swap it when I think about it and fold it when I get to it.  And if clean laundry is ready to be folded and I haven't gotten to it, a laundry fairy named Kevin folds it and puts it away.  This has been a HUGE help.

7.  I pick my battles...I had to learn to do this especially after Grady was born when my home workload basically tripled haha.  Our bed is never made, workout clothes are my best friend, fancy dinners aren't going to happen for a few years etc.  Things that don't really matter!

This is all I can think of right now but it's a pretty good list!  



3.  From Loving Incredible Food while Living in Normal - I enjoy the day in the life posts. I think its great to see how you balance being a full time mom and a full time employee outside of the home! I can also see how much you love and prioritize your family! Do you mind me asking what interventions you have used for your little boy because it does seem a little strange that he isn't crawling/talking yet but my niece was much the same and because of early intervention with the state she was able to progress out of therapy by the time she started school last year! Let me know if I can provide any advice! :)

Honestly I think I'm doing all of the right things for Grady by taking him to his regular pediatrician appointments and to physical therapy every other week which I've done for a year at this point.  At times, it's been every week as well depending on what we are working on.  I've followed all of the physical therapists recommendations and I'm doing all of the things as best I can.  I noticed when he was 4 or 6 weeks old that he had torticollis so I think I was all over it from the beginning.  Yes, it is strange that he didn't crawl until 13 months but all children are on different schedules and timelines and develop differently.  Grady is talking.  Glad your niece is doing great and thank you for your offer!

Gifts Galore

I have been inundated in buying August gifts!  Here are some of the ones I have wrapped. 

Ms. Becky - a goodbye gift...I can't even discuss this without getting teary.  We got her this lantern.  This is a classic and we love the ones we have!  On sale right now too!  

End of Year Teacher gifts - gift cards to their favorite restaurants and we also gave these cute Yeti cups to the two main teachers. 

New School Year Survival Kits that I talked about yesterday. 

Two year old boy gift - this fire truck.  My friend Brittany told me about this brand and it's so well made, I'm impressed!

Four year old boy gifts - this lego set and this book times two in this case!

I still have two more gifts to get for August.  See what I mean?  Busy month!  

I use these stickers on all of the gifts that Molly Anne and Grady give their friends.  They are EASY and I just write the child's name and slap it on the gift.  Occasionally Molly Anne will make her friends a card but that's assuming we have time to do that ha.  The girl that owns the shop is so accommodating and can make you anything!

Hope this makes your gift giving easier!

Back to School Survival Kit

I made these last year for Molly Anne’s teachers but never put a post up about them and this year when I went to figure out what I did, I was lost!  So here is my documentation for next year!  These are honestly a little overboard but it’s a fun way to kick things off with new teachers.  Two for Molly Anne’s and two for Grady’s.  I bought the bins and most of the goodies at Wal-Mart.  The tags are from Target.  If I can do these, anyone can. I’m the least creative person ever!

This is what I ordered in the Wal-Mart app because I picked all of this up through their Order Drive up!

Skittles, gum, mints, post its, pens, Kleenex (wish these were plain but they weren’t ha), chapstick and a Starbucks gift card.  And I think they’ll be able to reuse the bin!

Done and done!

Fun Weekend, Carowinds

We have been living it up this summer.  Every weekend we hit it hard during the days with the kids and have fun at night too.  It's just been so much fun and I can only imagine them getting better as Molly Anne and Grady get older and can do more.  

Friday after work we headed over to my friend Kelly's for a happy hour she hosted.  It was so fun and let the kids run wild for an hour or so!

Saturday morning Mills snuck into Grady's room.  Bringing me back to dejavu when he did that to Molly Anne!  Grady has really taken an interest in Mills lately and it's so cute!

We met some friends from her school at our neighborhood pool on Saturday after soccer and had the best time.  We ended up staying until about 3:30 except Kevin took Grady home about 1 for his nap.  We all had the best time and maybe too much fun.  The kids were all wiped from 4 hours on the waterslide, splash pad, diving for fish etc.  Crazy! 

Emme was there too!  


Kevin's parents were extra kind to come over about 4:15 and we headed to Porter's House for appetizers and drinks with friends!  They have the best cocktails and apps.  Such a treat.  

We zipped home a little after 7 so they could get home and we ended up hanging out in the driveway and with our neighbors when they got home.  I literally have not laughed that hard in the longest time.  And it's on video so every time I watch it, I crack up.  Good times.  

Sunday morning bright and early we were up and I took Molly Anne to Carowinds to get some use out of our season passes!  Grady took his nap and Kevin worked.  

We had the best time together!  We were there for 3 hours and it was HOT when we left.  And crowded ha!

We ended the weekend with afternoon naps for everyone, chinese food for dinner and I watched CMA Fest for a little bit.  A weekend well spent!  Grady is likely going to move to one nap a day pretty soon and that's going to be amazingggggg so we can do things in the morning and he can be included! 

This morning we all got dressed and happened to be wearing navy and white.  I promise it was totally random.  Molly Anne picked her own outfit out and I just wore my old trusty ha!  Kevin was wearing teal so he took the pic! ;)

Hope everyone has a great week!  Also, thank you for your questions the other day...I should have the answers up this week!

Trees, #Joy4Charlotte and PT

A baby in a box!

We had four trees cut down on Tuesday this week and before we left for school and they started working, Molly Anne was back there telling the guys that she was going to go to NC State, be an engineer and then after college she was going to be 36 and a Mama.  Hmmmmmmmm!  She wanted to watch them all day but I finally got her to get in the car and go to school.  Meanwhile I watched those trees fall when I was working from home and WHOA!  They were huge.  

Watching the bachelorette with me on Tuesday night for the finale.  I hope Hannah and Tyler get together!!  He seems like such a great guy!

------
Wednesday we participated in the Kindness Movement in honor of sweet Charlotte.  Check out #joy4charlotte for ways you can pass kindness on daily.  We left a note for a friend, took a chicken biscuit to the police officer at Molly Anne's school, took donuts to Ms. Becky and the ladies at PT, picked up Nothing Bundt cakes for Molly Anne's afternoon teachers, thanked some nice men picking up trash on the side of the road (yelled out our car window while at a stop sign) and tipped the Uber driver extra.  She's working very hard for her family and I thought she was going to cry when I gave her the money.  She got out and hugged me.  This day was so special for Molly Anne and I...we both learned a lot.  One of Molly Anne's teachers left me the NICEST note the day after.  So so so nice.  Every day should be a kindness movement.  Most importantly we all felt JOY for our Char.

------ Wednesday at PT doing the stair master haha!  Ms. Amy is the best.  She did a one year assessment on him this day because we've been doing PT for a year.  They say he is 29% delayed and if you're over 20% then you should be in PT.  So, we're doing the right thing but whew.  He is about to start at Molly Anne's school and honestly I think being in a class with 7 other children born the same month will be SO GOOD for Grady.  But this picture does crack me up and I'm trying to see a little humor in all of this.  

I went to a work dinner at Legion Brewing on Wednesday night for our assistant who is retiring after 16 years.  Then I went to Bible study at my friend Ashley's and it was so great.  This summer we did a marriage one and it has been beneficial.  I don't have pictures from either event but it was a great night.  

That's all I have for now.  Chat soon! 

Concert

For our anniversary, Kevin bought us insanely amazing tickets to the Hardy, Morgan Wallen, Canaan Smith, Dan and Shay and Florida Georgia Line concert.  They included access to a VIP lounge before the concert where Morgan Wallen played a few songs for us.  It was awesome. 

Then we were in the pit for the actual concert but we were within another pit that was directly by the stage.  Unreal. 

All of the performers were incredibly talented of course.  We probably liked the openers more than FGL haha!  They were all outstanding though. 

We had such a fun night.  We always Uber up to the PNC Pavilion and book a black car to bring us home so we don't have to deal with Uber surcharging etc.  It's also such a treat to get into a nice car after being on our feet all night and hot and tired.  It was a super big treat to get the crazy tickets to this and such a great experience.  We had a blast together!