Meal Planning

I had a reader ask how I meal plan and I loved the blog post suggestion!  Honestly I try to have my act together every week but it probably only happens a few weeks a month!  And during the holidays, forget about it! 

First, I keep everything in my phone...because I always have my phone. I don’t always have a piece of paper.  If I think of a meal at a stoplight, I’ll stick it in my “Meal Plan” note then revisit when I go to meal plan for the week.  

Ideally I like to meal plan on Friday or Saturday and order groceries for Saturday or Sunday pick up depending on what we have going on.  

Because I do order pick up and don’t actually go into the grocery store, as I think of other ingredients or staples that I need, I add them on the app right then!  I don’t keep a separate grocery list. 

When I sit down to meal plan (literally I usually figure it out when I’m driving or doing another mindless activity), I put the meal in my Note and then add the groceries for that meal into the grocery store app to order. I usually plan for three nights during the week and one day we have leftovers and another night we go out. I rarely cook on Friday and Saturday nights.  

I never delete the meals out of the Note.  So I have a long list of meals I’ve made over the years. If I can’t think of anything for that week, I’ll go back through my list to spark ideas.  And if I’m really bored of our meals, I’ll hop on Pinterest and make a new board and add some fresh recipes to try. 

That’s it!  How do you do all meal plan?  Mine isn’t rocket science but it works for me!  

Class Valentines

It's never too early to start, am I right?!  Last week I couldn't go to sleep so I spent one of the nights figuring out Valentines for both of my children's classes.  Exciting right?  Thought I'd share both ideas here!

Ring pops for Molly Anne's class.  Ordered them from Amazon here and got these tags from Etsy!  Molly Anne will write her name on the tag where "Audrey" is on these.  I'll probably have her put her friend's name on the top too.  Total is $11 for all of it!



Bubble wands for Grady's class (from Amazon here) with these adorable free printables!  I'll hole punch the tags and tie them around the bubble handle!  Figured you can't go wrong with bubbles for almost 2 year olds!  $11 for these too even though we will only need 7 of the 12!



Usually when I get printables like these, I'll send them electronically to our local FedEx and have them print a couple of sheets on cardstock then I'll cut them out that night!

Hope this helps the little Valentines in your life feel special!

Lilly Sale and Weekend

Who is shopping the Lilly sale this morning?  It begins at 8am!  Make sure you know your login information for a fast checkout! 

I will have my eyes peeled for some shifts for Molly Anne. It’s all she wears all summer!  She loves them and they’re so comfortable and cute!  If I see a bathing suit for her, I’ll grab that too!  

I’ll be on the hunt for some workout tanks (love their luxletic line) and maybe a matching shirt to one of Molly Anne’s dresses. She loves to match these days and I know that isn’t going to last forever!

Happy shopping!  Find the sale here!

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We honestly didn’t do much all weekend!  We stayed home Friday night for dinner then I did some catch up from the week after they went to bed.  Saturday morning we had a handyman over to discuss some projects we may do to the house soon. More on that later.  We discovered on the way to Harris Teeter to pick up groceries that Molly Anne was 4.5 that day!  And if you have a toddler then you know how big that “half” birthday is haha!! 

During Grady’s nap, Molly Anne and I went on a 2.5 mile adventure. She rode her bike and I walked/ran beside her. There was a lot of stopping and starting because our neighborhood is really hilly and getting up those hills on her bike was hard work!  I was so proud of her riding that far though!  

We had a little dance party after dinner that night and both of the kids love turning the music up loud and acting silly!  It’s the little things!  I made this pizza that was so good. I used the crust recipe from this recipe and the rest was from this recipe   Very few carbs and delicious!  And leftovers so win!

Sunday morning, Molly Anne and I wrote thank you notes while Grady played. She did some legos and “learning” on her tablet during quiet time. I did a Peloton ride with my friend Jodie which always gets me right for the week!  

Otherwise, it was a quiet weekend getting ready for a busy week. Have a little travel, a little fun and a lot of work ahead!   Up tomorrow on the blog are the Valentines I put together for their classes and on a Wednesday is how I meal plan!  Funny topic for me since I’m not a good meal planner every week but just sharing how I pretend to cook!!

A Look Ahead

I’m not a very big resolution person (because I feel like it’s setting myself up for failure!) but I do enjoy the reset of a new year.  It seems like a fresh look on things and I think that’s always positive. I’m such a creature of habit that I need that extra push sometimes to break out of my little shell!

Here are some things I’d like to focus on or keeping working on:

1. Keep going on my working out thing. I love love my Peloton and not only for the cycle classes. I love the running outdoor and strength classes too. This year I finally realized that every workout doesn’t have to be a 45 min hardcore cardio sweaty to the max workout. Sometimes it can be some strength stuff that you find on Instagram. Or it can be a bootcamp that you get your tail kicked in. Or a 20 min Peloton class. It’s all good and I need to continue to be well rounded instead of all cardio. 

2.  I need to do a better job of meal planning. My life and world feels right when I’m putting healthy meals on the table for Kevin and my children. And having those planned out for the week on Sunday with our fridge stocked makes my little engi-nerd heart feel WAY better about the work week!  I operate so much better in so many ways when I do this. 

3.  I started to learn how to delegate things at work and for my room mom duties and that felt good to take some of that off my plate. Most people always want to help and I just gotta release control and let people do it!

4.  I need to remember that my name isn’t on the outside of the building where I work. And never will be. I hope to find balance here. PS do you all like when I talk about work stuff or is it boring?!  

5.  I like the structure of what goes on under our roof now and I know all of that will change in August when Molly Anne goes to kindergarten and they’re at different schools again. I hope I can find a happy middle ground on that chaos and my biggest hope/worry is that her after-school activity or whatever it is will work out. 

I think those are the big ones. Of course I’d like to lose 15 pounds and all of that stuff but really I’d rather be healthy and show my kids that exercise, having fun and vegetables are equally as important!  Cheers to 2020!

NYE and New Years Day

Is everyone back to work and the grind today?  Public schools here don’t go back until Monday but I’m back in action at the office.  Their daycare is open. 

We didn’t have any big NYE plans and we didn’t mind one bit!  Molly Anne’s class did a countdown and noon and we picked them both up at 3 and played outside the rest of the afternoon. Yes, we are outside constantly!   

I actually went INTO (usually I’m an express lane girl only!) the grocery store on NYE to grab things to make a delish dinner after my friends shared their dinner plans. 

An easy carbless appetizer.  Not the best shrimp I’ve ever had but they were perfect for us. 

I had picked up a banner, noise makers and headbands for the kids at Target a couple of weeks ago. 

I used this SkinnyTaste recipe for the filets, the recipe for the salad is below from my friend Nina and those are Bob Evans premade mashed potatoes!  Don’t judge. Balance ha!!  I had gotten three filets and the children split one. They ate it all minus the salad! 

We played after dinner and had a dance party!  They both love dancing!

Grady went to bed at 7 and we let Molly Anne stay up and watch some of Dick Clark’s Rockin Eve. I love watching Ryan Seacrest on there!  Molly Anne loves some Kelsea Ballerini! 

After she went to bed, I ran over to my friend Margot’s for a little bit! It was fun!

Came home for the ball drop. Kevin fell asleep around 11 ha!  Then there was a fireworks show right outside our house!

Crazy!

Yesterday Molly Anne, Grady and I met some friends at the playground while Kevin worked then just Molly Anne and I went to lunch with them during Grady’s nap!  We let the kids run around wild at the club afterwards.  We came home and I fell asleep for an hour while Kevin and Molly Anne did legos. That was nice!  We played outside after naps and Molly Anne and I pulled a little prank on our next door neighbors!  All in good fun!

Here’s to a new year. I’m going to pull together a few calendars (two schools, my work) and see how the year will be shaking out with days off etc. 

Hope everyone has a great start to 2020!

Year in Review

I always love looking back on these posts that I do on the 31st of every year.  It really sums up our year very briefly, of course.  

2019 was a good year overall.  We got into the groove of being parents to two which as I've mentioned before was a harder transition than I thought it'd be.  We have them both at the same school now which was a HUGE decision because we love Ms. Becky dearly but for my sanity we had to do it.  Things are ever-changing in my career and I'm at a weird cross-roads right now that I'm trying to figure out.  Kevin sold one agency earlier this year so he was able to be much more present which was amazing.  Lots going on behind the scenes of this highlight reel of a blog!  I love to show you fun pictures but know that it isn't anywhere close to perfection behind them. 

Okay here it goes:

January - Molly Anne was 3.5 years old and Grady turned 8 months

February - The children had some great milestones and we had some visitors!  

March - Daddy Daughter Dance - still a highlight to Molly Anne, she hasn't stopped talking about it since!

April - Dad turned 70, Kevin and I went to Greensboro for a concert, Grady got baptized in Maryland and we went to the Egg Roll at the White House

May - Grady turned 1, Kevin and I went to Savannah, we went to Disney (post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4)!

June - Father's Day, 

July - we went to Pawleys for a few days over Molly Anne's 4th Birthday (party here, her day here) and went to Maryland for a week or so (post 1, post 2)!

August - Last days and first days of school.  Harder than I thought it'd be. 

September - a wonderful weekend and my bestest and her family here  

October - one final swim and the Panthers game and Grady walking!

November - Mom and Dad visit, Grady is 18 months, Thanksgiving in Pawleys

December - Ashley visits, Christmas Festivities Galore, Molly Anne's program and Christmas Day

Here's to 2020!

After Christmas Fun and Panthers Game

The day after Christmas we played inside for awhile then it got nice out in the afternoon so our neighbors came over to play for a little bit.  Oh and Mom and I snuck out during nap time to a couple of shops in Blakeney and found some wonderful Christmas decor for 50% off!  I will love pulling that out next year!

It was my parent's last night being with us.  This picture cracks us up now, I can't imagine what it'll do in 13 years when Greer is driving Grady!

Love love love this picture. 

Twinsies at Midwood!

Friday was a sad day when Nannie and Poppa left so we headed straight to the mall to do some returns.  Don't ask me what prompted me to take both kids to the mall by myself two days after Christmas but it actually was really great. Molly Anne was so good - she listened and stayed right by me the entire time.  Grady was a good boy and very happy in the stroller (confined!!).  Noone was there at 10am when we got there so we got about 5 places knocked out quickly!  

We had extra time so we went to the American Girl store to see if Molly Anne was interested in anything for my future reference.  She said she liked Mary Ellen but that's because we just gave that to our niece.  Little monkey see monkey do kind of thing.  We headed to the food court for a 10:45am lunch then got home by noon for Grady's nap!  

That afternoon it was 65 degrees and so nice out so we loaded up some snacks, outside toys and headed in the wagon to the playground.  We picked up the girls next door so Hilary could get some things done and the four kids and I had a blast!  We played soccer, learned how to throw a frisbee, ran races, went down the slides a million times, watched Grady fall about 10,000 times (because the material the playset sits on is variable), shared snacks and the big girls walked/ran both ways from the house!  

We came back to our driveway and Kevin was home.  We ordered some pizzas and played out there until dark.  Grady went to bed at 7 and the girls played played played some more!

It was a sweet afternoon!

Saturday morning playing.  

Lots and lots of legos! This is a set Kevin's parents gave her and she finished. 

Saturday night the four of us headed up to Southpark to visit Onward Reserve and exchange a shirt.  We grabbed dinner at the Roasting Company and checked out some Christmas lights on the way home!  PS - yes Molly Anne is holding an 8 ball (one of her favorite Christmas gifts; from my parents) and Grady has my keys.  Oh my.  

Sunday my friend Kelly had invited a bunch of her friends to her parent's suite at the Panthers game.  It was SUCH a fun afternoon.  I was really really looking forward to it and it was an absolute blast with wonderful girlfriends! 

I knew some of Kelly's friends from college at NC State and then of course our normal crowd!

Got home and Kevin was feeding the kids dinner and after that I got them bathed while Kevin ran and grabbed us something to eat.  He was very kind to hold down the fort for most of the day!  A sleepy Grady boy!

Today the children went to school (!!) and I got things done!  And one of those things I got done was a 30 minute ride on my peloton.  Whew, I needed it badly.  Mills is a pretty lazy workout partner!

Picked them up early and Molly Anne had made this.  They read the book about the purple crayon at school then drew something with a purple crayon.  She said this is the road to their house.  And that's a mountain in the middle.  Ha!

I still have a zillion things I need to do - mainly thank you notes, meal planning and organizing this house.  Getting to it all step by step!