Shauna's Shower

On Saturday I went to Shauna's Baby Shower!  It was supposed to be the Saturday before but the snow kind of interrupted that!  

Lots of food!

  
I was in charge of the punch.  It's one can of orange juice concentrate, one two liter of ginger ale, one two liter of sprite and one bottle of sparkling apple cider.  It was easy (aka no sherbet or any of that) and tasted good!

Shauna, her mother in law and sister in law. 

She received lots of wonderful gifts!

Erin and I with the Mama!  She doesn't even look pregnant does she?!  She's 37 weeks!  Our three husbands/boyfriend are the best of friends from growing up!

Brad came at the end to load up gifts! 

We loved celebrating Shauna and Molly Anne can't wait for her friend Sarah to arrive in early February!  

House Progress

These pictures are from Sunday, January 15th.  They finished clearing and rough grading the lot last Friday.  The trees in the back of the lot are on our property and we hope to keep them all so we have a tiny bit of privacy when the leaves come back.  

Next step - this week it is getting surveyed again so we have the four outer points of our house located then we will decided exactly where it will sit on the lot.  Monday is when the footers will begin.  County permit was received on Friday.

Weekend - Two Words for MA

This morning as I left, Molly Anne said, "Bye Bye Mama!"  It just about made me melt and stay there with her all day!  I think I mentioned on her last update that we are working on putting two words together.  The first time she did it was on Saturday morning and of course she chose to say, "Hi Mills!"  Well actually she says Mills more like Mulls but it was so cute!  

Friday after work I grabbed Molly Anne and we went to downtown Waxhaw!  We met up with Kevin who had met a guy for work stuff.  We had dinner at Maxwells Tavern and walked over the bridge across the tracks which Molly Anne thought was pretty cool!  Downtown Waxhaw has gotten a lot more vibrant now that liquor by the drink passed and there is a neat brewery down there and some cool restaurants.  Highly recommend visiting for something different!

After we put Molly Anne to bed, we hung out in the backyard and Kevin made a fire.  Mills loves hanging with us back there. We turn up the tunes and lounge on the patio.  

Mills gets up on the sofa out there now...especially after he has a beer! ;)

Saturday morning we chilled then went to swim lessons!  

Also, this is random but I took this picture to remind me to tell you all that Beads Inc. in Myers Park is wonderful.  I took this necklace to them that had broken and they fixed it in less than 5 minutes!  They have the cutest stuff and they can always make you any piece of jewelry you need for a special occasion.  Highly recommend you visit their cute home just off Providence!

After swim lessons we ran home and I got ready to go to a shower for my friend Shauna!  Kevin had Molly Anne duty as I was gone until about 3pm.  I'll post about the shower on Wednesday...it deserves it's own post!  Plus, I want Shauna to blog about it first so I don't rain on her big day!

Saturday night we had a low key night consisting of Dominos, lots of playing in her new kitchen and early bedtimes.

Sunday we really didn't do anything either.  We played all morning at home.  

After naps we went to Blakeney and strolled around in and out of some shops then picked up dinner at Chopt before heading to the lot to check it out (pictures to come tomorrow).  

This babydoll cracks me up.  Put her fingers in her ears because she was tired of hearing whatever it was.  Look at those legs....sorry Molly Anne.  You get those from Nannie and your mama!

Back to the real world today.  I guess a lot of people and schools are off for Martin Luther King Day.  It was an easy commute this morning.  

Five on Friday - MA Favs, Mantel

It's Friday!!!  

1.  First, thank you all for your suggestions on Wednesday!  If you're also struggling to get meals on the table, I definitely recommend going back and reading all of the comments because y'all have some amazing ideas!  And remember if you don't have your email linked to your account, I cannot reply to your email so I'm sorry!  If you didn't get a reply from me, that's probably why!  But THANK YOU and I will be using your suggestions! 

2.  It's going to be in the 70's today so flip flops and white jeans for work it is!  I live for Spring and Summer clothes!

3.  Do any of you all leave little notes for your husbands?  Kevin is the best at doing it and we keep recycling the same notes from when we first started dating and he'll stick one in my work bag if I'm traveling and I'll find it when I get to my hotel.  Stuff like that...super cute!  

4.  These are all the things Molly Anne needs in her life she thinks....Mills, Elmo, Elf and Duck!  Her very favorites right now!

5.  Love this mantel and fire place.  We are going to need to figure out what we want and this is top on my list for now.  Image via JS Home Design.

Linking up with April, Christina and Natasha!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Dinner on the Table

Getting dinner on our table is my biggest struggle of being a working Mama.  I have no idea why it's so hard for me but it is, so let's discuss.  I'm hoping you all have some magical ideas and solutions.  

A couple things - 
 - we've tried Hello Fresh but it still takes 30 minutes to make each meal and my idea of fun after work is playing with Molly Anne and spending quality time with her, not being in the kitchen while she's all over the house causing a ruckus. 
 - we think it's important to eat as a family and not feed Molly Anne first then after she goes to bed, we eat.  One thing I remember from growing up is eating dinner as a family and we want Molly Anne to have that memory.  To each their own on this...

Meal Plan
Some Sundays I meal plan, load up my Harris Teeter Express Lane cart on the app on my phone and place the order.  But then, I have to find the time to make each recipe and that is the hard part.  

I like to meal prep for the week on Sunday during nap time.  That sometimes doesn't happen if I have other more pressing things to do or I sit down for 30 minutes on a weekend (gasp!)!  The reality is, I don't always have my act together.  

IF, and that's a big IF.  If I meal plan and do realistic (aka FAST) meals, I try to make them after Molly Anne goes to bed, for the next day.  Last night I made chicken enchiladas (via rotisserie chicken - fast!) so I can easily pop them into the oven tonight and serve with a side salad.  This sounds ideal but doesn't always happen.  

Kevin
Kevin thinks it's cheaper to eat dinner out every meal instead of spending $200/week at Teeter and never having any meals to put together.  It's funny because one of the guys in my office was complaining about this exact same thing yesterday about his wife.  What Kevin doesn't understand is that:
1.  that's not true, it's cheaper to eat at home
2.  it is not enjoyable for me to take 18 month old Molly Anne out to dinner every night (can I get an amen?)
3.  it isn't as healthy to go out every meal
4.  I've been at work all day and the last thing I want to do when I get home is to go right back out

Truth be told, he has somewhat of a point because we do throw food away at home if it goes bad.  But overall, I'm standing by what I think is true - I don't think it's economical or healthy to go out for dinner all the time.  

So, we've compromised.  Hello Marriage 101!  We like to break up the week by going out one time (usually either Wednesday or Thursday night) and then we usually go out once on the weekend for breakfast or dinner.  

Other Options
Occasionally (aka every week lately), we order off the Chopt app and I run in and grab our salads.  Yesterday I even left my purse in the car and I was literally back in my car within 30 seconds.  Can't beat that.  I've also heard about the $15/$20 weekly meal deals at Fresh Market and the $14 rotisserie chicken, two sides and cornbread deal there.   And Whole Foods has a similar family meal plan.  I've bought premade dinners at Pasta and Provisions (a local Charlotte place) and those are easy and good.  Zoes Kitchen is also easy to order from on the app and run in to pick up.  

So, tell me how you do dinners!!!!  Help!!!

Life/House Update

Just thought I'd do a random life update post today....honestly because I had nothing scheduled to post early this morning.  I was lazzzzy on Sunday when I usually draft posts for a few days.

1.  We are supposed to start clearing on our lot this week.  Our grader died just before Christmas so it's taking an extra couple of weeks to get going.  So sad about him.  

2.  Speaking of the house...we got news this week that the structural engineer said we could get an 600 square feet of floor area on the 3rd floor.  We weren't sure if we would have enough room up there to make it worth it but we think we may finish it as much as possible now then come back in a few years and put in real flooring and a half bath.  We'll see.  This isn't included in our loan so it depends on how much it ends up being.

3.  This week I'm working on getting pricing for moving companies, plantation shutters, safety fencing for our pool and technology so I can figure out our out-of-pocket expenses we will have this year.  We also know we are going to have to buy some furniture...patio furniture, a couple of chairs for the den and a breakfast table.  I've started an excel spreadsheet so we can keep track of these expenses.  

4.  You may remember we ordered a couple sofas for our den back in November.  They should be here by the end of January so we really look forward to updating our current den.  We bought these for our new house but we look forward to getting use out of them now.

5.  Things are slowing down in our world.  I just feel like being a hermit in January after such a busy December.  

6.  Did you all get anything from the Lilly sale last week?!  I got a bunch of stuff for Molly Anne and a few things for me.  I'll share when I receive everything!

7.  My cousin in Richmond had her baby on Sunday and I can't wait to go meet her next week!

8.  One of our garage doors broke in our current house so we are getting that fixed this week.  It's always something when you own a house, especially an 18 year old house.  Seems like this is the prime time everything breaks.

9.  We are also working on getting pricing to add some hardwoods to our current house in the hallway back to our room and in our room.  We want to do it now so we can enjoy it for a bit before we move out.  

That's all I've got today.  Happy Tuesday! 

Snowy Weekend!

Good morning friends and family!  It is cold here today.  17 degrees right now.  We had a fun weekend but we didn't get as much snow as predicted which was a bummer.  Lots of ice then a tiny bit of snow where we are in south Charlotte.  

Let's start with Thursday!  Danica from Chic Runner was in town from LA and we got to go over to Nina's and meet her!  It was so much fun!

Friday I worked and more importantly got my hair cut.  My girl Val took a good three inches off the bottom and left the longer layers.  It feels so much shorter.  Tonight I'll wash and dry for the first time and I'll really get an idea of what it's like with short hair!

Friday afternoon, Molly Anne was supposed to have swim class but they canceled it due to the impending snow storm.  So we waited for snow...and of course ice came before snow.  

That night Kevin and I just made dinner at home and hung out.  I was in bed by 9:30pm and it was glorious.  

This is my parents house in Maryland.  They ended up with 10.5" which is a lot for them!

Saturday morning we woke up to this.  They had initially said 2-8" but then it ended up being maybe 1" where we are.  North Charlotte got a lot more than us.  

We hung out inside and chilled.  Of course I had to take Molly Anne out to check it out.  It was not the first snow she's seen (she saw some last year in Maryland and a little bit in Charlotte) but it was the first time she really got to mess around in it.  I do realize this is barely any snow but let's pretend it was.

Of course the king of the castle was in his element!  Mills LOVES snow!

Saturday night....sooooo tired.  We had made chili for dinner and really just had a low key family day!

Sunday morning, Kevin made us breakfast in bed.  Molly Anne has never gotten to do that so this was a very special occasion and actually wasn't a mess like I thought it would be.  She offered Mills every bite before she ate it.  

Kevin's parents invited us to brunch at their club so we got all dressed up to go!  Dress is by Charlotte Proper.  

The rest of the day we just hung out and Kevin and I got some things done for the house and we are working on tying up loose ends on some other projects.  

Back to the grind today!  Hope you all had a nice weekend.  It will be 71 on Friday.  Whoaaaaaaa.