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. 

High Low Finds

​ONE - a $12 shirt that is super cute with leggings or an athletic skort

TWO - balanced by a fancy Dillards dress. Dillards has stepped it up. One of my fashionable friends told me to check there for Molly Anne too! It's good!

THREE - snagged this top for Molly Anne and it looks so good one her and now I want it too! On sale this week!

FOUR - a good cardigan - the right length and weight!

FIVE - and a long live summer dress on sale!

Homemade Minis

​I've been on a mission to do some different meals lately. These were super simple and lasted a few days in our house! Just sliced the Hawaiian rolls, put some cooked chicken nuggets on them and put them on their side in a baking dish. Baked for 10 minutes on 350 then drizzle honey on it. Good for breakfast or in the lunch box!