Easter/Grady’s Baptism

You may remember Molly Anne was baptized on Easter Sunday two years ago.  Honestly we hadn't thought much about the fact that Grady would be baptized on Easter Sunday too but it's kind of the way it worked out.  And I love it.  

First up, you know Molly Anne was up at 6:30am ready for her Easter basket!

They loved everything the EB brought them!  Then we got ready for the 11am service at church while Grady took a nap.

We got this sweet boy ready and took some pictures outside in my parent's beautiful yard!  Grady's outfit is this one from Shutterbugs, except Grady's is a size 2T!  I love this picture of the boys...

Molly Anne is wearing my pearl necklace that I wore as a little girl and a hand-me-down dress from my nieces!  I love the dress I picked out for the occasion and I know I'll wear it a ton over the years.  It's a classic for sure!

My parents and my children. Love love!

Twins

Molly Anne and Grady have gotten tight.  She is really such a sweet big sister and their bond is something special!

Grady loved getting baptized!  Not one tear or peep!  He was perfect!

Molly Anne on the other hand walked down the aisle with them and when she got back to the front she exclaimed loudly, "that was fun, I wanna do that again!"  She's so shy.






After the baptism, Molly Anne stayed for the children's message then we took her to the nursery to play with other children her age!  Grady stayed with us for most of it until Kevin took him out at the end because he was getting a little loud!

Kevin's parents with Grady!

I think Dad likes having a boy around!

We celebrated with Easter brunch at a local place called EVO and they had a bloody mary bar set up.  Check out my Dad's!  I had an Orange Crush which was delicious then Dad and I went to the bloody mary bar ha!  I had the Eastern Shore Benedict for brunch which was an english muffin, spinach, crab cake and poached egg.  Unreal!  



We didn't hang around long because Kevin and his parents had to get to the airport so it was a bit rushed at the end but it was still a good time!

Grady stayed up way past his normal naptime and handled it like a champ!  He became very flexible on this trip and very go with the flow!  He's so sweet.

So that was Easter and Grady's baptism!  Very special!

Maryland

Hope everyone had a nice Easter!  We drove back from Maryland yesterday and boy was that fun! ;) Took me 9 hours and 55 minutes so I saved 5 minutes from my drive up there last week.  I know it sounds like a lot with me driving two young kids up there by myself and it is, but I think we have it down pat!  It should take 8 hours but I always have to make at least 2 stops when I have them.  And one of those stops is a meal and Grady can't eat in his carseat yet so it's going in to a place and sitting down kind of a thing.  There's certainly a science to traveling with young kids by yourself because you're very vulnerable and you have to be on your p's and q's.  I think it takes a lot out of me but I try to ignore that and just move on.  It's ALWAYS worth it to visit with my parents for that time though!

Moving on....two big things happened while we were up there - Grady was baptized on Easter Sunday and we went to the White House for the egg roll on Monday.  I will recap those separately but here are some other pictures!  We had the best time!

My parents had gotten Grady this ride along John Deere.  My brother has always loved John Deeres so this was super cute!  And Grady LOVES it!  We even brought it back with us!

They had gotten Molly Anne a huge box of 100 magnatiles to play with too!  She was in heaven!  And yes she dressed herself on this day!

We dyed eggs!


Of course Mom had gotten them bunny ears!  I was able to go for a three mile run on this day and that was such a treat!  It was full of pollen but I loved running an old route I used to do in high school.  It's so flat up there so that was nice!

My parent's next door neighbor is moving and she has lived next to my parents for 30+ years so she is family to us.  She's moving to North Carolina to be closer to family.  We will miss her!  

She loves my children like they're her own great grandchildren!

Poppa read to Molly Anne every night and this was a load off of me and I know that sounds so silly but I was bathing them and getting them ready for bed every night by myself so this was so nice!!  And I'm not sure who loved it the most out of the three of us!   


Flying Grady.  Grady really came out of his shell in the last couple of weeks and I think me having him for a whole week straight may have helped.  He is getting wild and that's REALLY good for Grady.  He's been super laid back and chill his whole life so this is big that he's getting crazy!  I encourage it and am excited for him to move around!  


Grady getting all of the Nannie and Poppa love while Molly Anne napped!

Eating at Lombardi's which is a pizza place I grew up going to every Friday!  This was on Saturday night after Kevin and his parents flew in for Grady's special day on Sunday (and Easter)!  Grady's first time eating pizza was a hit!

Checking on those fish that we got a few days prior, sadly they didn't make it 48 hours.  

Okay I'll be back soon with our Easter Sunday and Grady's baptism!  Then the White House Egg Roll!

Easter Festivities at School

Both Molly Anne and Grady had Easter festivities at school on Tuesday so Molly Anne wore her bunny dress and Grady just looked extra cute!  Molly Anne had an egg hunt and the moms and I got together and each brought something to put in an Easter bucket their teachers got for them.  It turned out adorable, see picture below of the hallway of the children that were left!

I had to take a double take of her in this picture.  Looks just like my mom.  She never gets to watch anything in the car unless we are on a longgg road trip but I let her watch Mickey about once a month if she’s been good that day ha.  This past Tuesday on the way to get Grady was that day.  


Grady’s egg hunt which I got to attend!  Precious little ones hunting for eggs on Ms. Becky’s front porch!


Picture from Molly Anne’s teacher!

She crashed after the egg hunt at school!  She never naps there so this was huge!

Kevin has been in Atlanta all week (but he is back) so I have been holding down the fort.  This boy was playing outside while I put the children to bed and when I came down I found him like this. Cracked me up!

Yesterday morning the kiddos and I left Charlotte at 4:50am to head to my parents in Maryland.  I was glad to get a few hours under my belt in the darkness of the morning.  I kept the car quiet with low key Lionel Richie music and no electronics.  We stopped north of Durham about 7:45am for breakfast at Chick Fil A.  Then our day kind of started and we rolled.  

We got to my parents 10 hours (on the dot!) later so it was nice to still have part of our day left!  We made three stops total and it really wasn’t terrible.  Both of them were so good. Maybe Molly Anne was so easy because she was eating skittles at 6:30am?!  But she woke up at 4:15am that day for us to leave and didn’t fall asleep until she was in bed at 6:45pm!  A trooper!  And a very excited little girl!  Grady was easy as pie too and just chilled and slept!  He’s a good boy!

We brought her scooter and helmet so this morning we went around the neighborhood during Grady’s nap!  Then we went to the local market and bought a couple of fish for my parents pond.  That was been a real thrill for Molly Anne and per usual, Grady is just sitting back watching everything go on. Low key and cool boy. 

Chat soon!

Meal Prep

I always function better during the work week when I meal prep on Sunday or at night on a Monday or whenever.  Here is my grocery haul from a couple of weeks ago and I haven't been back to the store since.  Haha.  

A lot of this are staples but I did make these dinners: 
Skinny Taste Fajita Shrimp Bowls
Avocado Toast
Filets/Spinach/sweet potato fries that I already had
Skinny Taste Mexican Cobb Salad
Friday night pizza night
Meatballs/sauce for pasta that I still haven't made but it's always good to have in the freezer/pantry
Grilled cheese stuff for weekend lunches 

Also includes sausage biscuits which Molly Anne and I eat some mornings in the car on the way to school (#reallife) and salad stuff for my lunches during the week.  

My children love the Perdue chicken nuggets and we grew up with the Perdue family so I will only buy Perdue chicken!

Tried these that my friend Shauna told me about and both kids liked them!



And tried these that my friend Ally told me about.  Grady ate them but Molly Anne spit them out.  Eye roll face haha. 



This is what I did because my friend Brittany inspired me to cut and clean all fruits and veggies right when I came home from the grocery store!  It made life so much easier that week!