It's Friday, Y'all!!

Happy Friday, Y'all! We have officially finished our first week of Summer and it was wonderful! We mixed in lots of pool days, no real schedules, but unfortunately no sleeping in. My kids are still waking up before 7!! Yikes! I'm hoping to change that in the very near future! :)


~ONE~

But speaking of Summer, we bought our first watermelon. And as usual, I was dreading having to cut it. I just really detest cutting one and my hubs never offers. But he quickly reminded me we had a special gadget for cutting it. SCORE!

(The middle piece is missing b/c daughter grabbed it and started eating it before I snapped a pic.)

This thing is seriously life changing! I purchased ours at Sam's Club last year, but I found one on amazon too.

~TWO~
Even though school is out, we still have dance and GA's (my daughter's church group) on Wednesday nights.  But it all wraps up this weekend. Her recital is Saturday but we had dress rehearsal on Wednesday. The song she is dancing to is "Going to the Chapel", so she's showing off her fancy "diamond ring".

~THREE~
My daughter and I worked on our family "Summer Bucket List". I wanted to keep it simple this year but also fun. I've learned that my kids really just enjoy the simple things (as do most kids, I'm sure). They don't need extravagant things to entertain them, just family time/friend time/fun. I wrote each item and then my daughter wrote how often/when we'd be doing them.

~FOUR~
I know I mentioned it in an earlier post this week, but you MUST try the S'mores Oreos. I'm not typically a fan of any of the specialty ones, but these are amazing. I love the graham cracker cookie, and the filling, oh my!

~

But then I read Astleigh's blog yesterday about Blueberry Lemon Bars and I honestly can't wait to fix them. I'm hoping to run to the store this wknd for the ingredients. I'll keep you posted. It's just funny b/c I don't typically waste calories on "non chocolate desserts", but these just looked/sounded so good!

~FIVE~
I  recently realized that the hubs and I haven't had a date night in quite some time. We were trying to go out at least once a month and for some reason we have missed a few. But thankfully I texted my mom and lined up childcare for next week. I can't wait! Now to plan my outfit. :)

I guess that's all for now. I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend. We have my daughter's dance recital on Saturday and her GA coronation on Sunday. But then we are officially finished with everything! Wahoo!

As always, my fun link ups:

 Liz

Erika, Narci, and Andrea

 Hill Collection.

What's Up Wednesday (5/27/15)

Happy hump day! Today I'm linking up with Shay and others for  "What's Up Wednesday".

1. What we're eating this week...
this weeks meals include; chicken caesar salad, baked tortellini, chicken dumplings, and baked ziti.
But the salad from last night was soo yummy! I bought a bag of the frozen fajita chicken strips. They really improved the taste of the salad. I love salads but I tend to eat them more often in the Summer.

2. What I'm reminiscing about...

beach days! I sure do love the beach and fortunately we booked a last minute trip with my hubs' family for late July. I can't wait!

3. What I'm loving...
PEONIES! And while I did buy a few plants this year, I only had one bloom. BUT, a friend/neighbor has quite a few bushes in her yard and I convinced her to cut a few for me. I think I may need to buy quite a few more bushes to plant so that I will have lots of pretty blooms next year.

4. What we've been up to...
pool days!

5. What I'm dreading...

I honestly can't think of anything right now. I'm still on a "summer high". Ha!

6. What I'm working on...

my summer project list. It's a long list but I'm trying to organize it and assign certain projects for each month.

7. What I'm excited about...

summer days - no alarm clocks, no schedule, lazy days!

8. What I'm watching/reading..
I previously discussed what I'm currently watching in this post. 

I've read this book before, but needed a refresher. I also plan to read "Bringing up Boys" when I'm finished.

9. What I'm listening to..
KIDZ BOP! My kids are pretty much always in the car with me. So while I'd rather be listening to country or the 90's station, I tend to stick to the christian music station (we only listen to XM radio in our car). But my daughter is always begging for the Kidz bop station. So we have to take turns. :)

 10. What I'm wearing... 

since most of time is spent at the pool, you'll find me in this green bathing suit, and this coverup.

11. What I'm doing this weekend..

I'll be attending my daughter's dance recital on Saturday and then the usual on Sunday (church, naps, etc).

12. What I'm looking forward to next month...

June is a pretty uneventful month for us. But I do have one thing I am looking forward to, just can't share about it yet! Sorry!

13. What else is new...
Smores Oreos!! 

OH MY WORD!! They are probably my favorite specialty oreo so far. I highly suggest you trying them, however you have been warned. ;)

Hope you have a great day!! This four day week sure is flying by!

Weekend Recap + Share Your Summer Linkup

HEY HEY HEY! Wow! It was such a busy but fun weekend!! The fun just kept going thru last night, hence the reason I didn't blog yesterday. So today I'll try to do a quick recap and then I'm also linking up with the Magnolia Mamas for the first of their "Share Your Summer" series!

Friday was my daughter's last day of school. I honestly couldn't believe the day had come and I still can't possibly believe she will be a second grader next year! (insert sobbing)

After we dropped her off at school on Friday, we went to the gym to wait for the awards to start. They were having school wide awards and 5th grade graduation. Her teacher had informed me my daughter would be given an award, so of course we didn't want to miss it. Sure enough she was awarded the Citizenship Award (for only one boy and one girl from each class). We were so proud of her!

Then we patiently waited for her to come home from school. We had to snap a pic of the "cul-de-sac crew". These sweet kiddos are such a joy to be around and I absolutely love the time we spend together every day outside. It will certainly be a fun summer with this crew!

Friday night we let my daughter pick a restaurant for dinner and she chose Panera. I forgot to snap a pic there, but we stopped for dessert before heading home. Who doesn't love HOT GLAZED DONUTS!

On Saturday we spent the entire day at my family's lake house. We always have a get together for my mom's side of the family during Memorial Day weekend. I loved being able to spend time with this side of the family (as we only see each other a few times a year).

On Sunday my hubs had to work, so I took the kiddos to church decked out in their patriotic gear. My daughter was less than happy for have her picture taken that day. Ha!

After such a long day on Saturday, I just wanted to take it easy on Sunday after church. My parents stopped by to visit for awhile and we had to take advantage of a quick photo-op. My mom was wearing the patriotic earrings I bought for her. I also bought a pair for my daughter. They are such cute earrings and we can't wait to wear them again for July 4th. My friend from high school makes them in her shop.

You should check them out for yourself!

They're only $6!!!

Oh, and my parents came back Sunday night to take my kiddos to a nearby church to see fireworks. I didn't feel too well, so I stayed home. They had a blast!

-------------------------------

And now that I've reached Monday, this starts my link up post!

This week's idea was "share your summer". Our summer usually consists of:

Pool
Popsicles

Play

And while we only had 2 of the 3 yesterday (didn't manage to squeeze in the Popsicles), we pretty much did exactly what we'll be doing all summer.

I packed lunches and a ton of pool toys and we headed to our neighborhood pool. It just opened this weekend and yesterday seemed like the perfect day to go! The pool is literally just down the street from us, past the other cul-de-sac. I love how convenient it is. We don't have to load the car (with our sticky sunblock coated selves). We just load up our big wagon and start walking.

My son always thinks he wants to pull it the wagon, and he gives it a good try. But it's soo heavy that he quickly decides that he'd rather "push from behind" while we pull.

And this Summer should be even more fun b/c of all of our new friends. We have church friends, neighbors, school friends, etc, that all have memberships at our pool. There are so many kids for my kids to play with. Not to mention, quite a few of my friends go to our pool too. It's quite the social hour for us moms! Ha!

And one of our friends hooked us up with ride on their golf cart for the way home. I even pulled the wagon beside it so I could ride too! Haha!

So that will be our Summer (in a nutshell). Lots of pool days and fun in the sun with friends. And on the days we don't make it to our pool, I might pull out the sprinkler and let the kids ride their bikes through it. Or I'll blow up our large inflatable pool. Whatever we do, it usually involves water and popsicles. :)

And one more pic from our weekend. After a few hours at the pool, we came home to freshen up and head to my in-laws house for a cookout. More pics in more patriotic clothes!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!

It's Friday, Y'all!

Happy Friday!!! And HAPPY SUMMER (for us, anyway!)

~ONE~

I can't tell you how happy we are in this house. I don't have to set my alarm anymore, I have both of my babies under the same roof all day, my daughter doesn't have to go to school anymore, and my son has his best friend back.  HOORAY!

~TWO~

I feel sorta bad b/c I didn't get around to decorating for Memorial Day this year. If you recall from previous holiday posts, we usually go all out for every holiday. But May was just so busy, it literally slipped my mind. I did manage to put a few things up on my mantel, but that's it! :(

~THREE~

And speaking of Memorial Day, here were my 3 (my niece included) cuties last year.

~FOUR~

I really want to try this recipe soon. I saw it first on Natalie's blog. In fact, her entire meal left me hungry for Mexican. And I think it will make the perfect summer side dish.

Source from recipe link


~FIVE~

We always go to my family's lake house for Memorial Day Saturday. Then we typically stay around the house on Sunday and usually hit up the pool on Monday (opening day). This year we may go to our in-laws for a cookout on Monday. We shall see. The weather has really cooled off, so the water (lake and/or pool) will be pretty cold. Regardless of what we do, I'm excited to have the hubs off and the kids home.  Do you have any specific/annual Memorial Day (weekend) plans?




I hope you have a safe and fun weekend!!! See you back on Monday! (Or maybe Tuesday.. depending on how the weekend goes with free time to blog.)

As always, my fun link ups:

 Liz

Erika, Narci, and Andrea

 Hill Collection.

Flamingos!

I recently purchased some flamingo pillows for our new patio set. They weren't at all what I had originally set out to buy, but I was strangely attracted to them!! And since then, I have become aware that they seem to be very popular. I hope to add a few more fun things (lights, LED flamingo, etc) to our outdoor area.  And I REALLY wish we had a pool so I could buy the float!

two flamingo pillow / LED flamingo / pool float (only $20) / ice trays / scarf  / pillow / lights / bikini

TV Shows (Ending and Beginning)

Wow! There are some exciting things happening with my DVR box lately! So many shows wrapping up but also a few starting new.

NASHVILLE

I know I already touched on this earlier, but I still can't believe they left us the way they did. I think Deacon's sister is the one who dies. I can't imagine them killing off Deacon. And then, when Rayna walked out of the waiting room, and the Mayor was being arrested on TV. Did her daughters see him? And how about Juliette and her craziness? Poor Avery - where does he take the baby?  Lots of suspense!

THE ROYALS

I wasn't sure about this show before I started it, but I am SO glad I gave it a chance. But wow, just wow! Crazy stuff every.single.week! And did you see the preview for next season with Prudence being pregnant with Cyrus's baby? And I'm still perplexed by the guy who "killed" Henry. Why was he standing at the palace gates the day that the King was killed??

DANCING WITH THE STARS

I have watched almost every season of this show. I personally love to dance and LOVE watching others dance. Plus early on, some of the past contestants from "So you think you can dance" would appear as pros or troop dancers. (Did you know Witney Carson, last seasons winner, was on SYTYCD a few years ago?) So it is fun to follow their career. (By the way, they haven't had a season of that show in awhile. I miss it!)

Anywho, I can't decide whether I am team Riker or team Rumer. I like them both for different reasons. I love Allison, Riker's pro, b/c she brings a fresh new flavor to the show. But I also really love Val, Rumer's partner. Unfortunately I won't know who wins until later in the week. With my DVR box, I NEVER (and I mean NEVER) watch anything in "real time". I can't stand commercials and I just feel like it's not very time efficient.

BACHELORETTE

And I'm obviously pumped about this show starting. I especially love all of the Bachelor seasons (including Bachelorette or Bachelor Pad), bc my hubs watches them with me. And I enjoy hearing his take on the show. Plus, after about the first 2 episodes, we always place bids on who the top 3 contestants will be. That being said, I have NO idea how this season will pan out. I think Britt will be a fan favorite (initially). I mean didn't she win the first impression rose with Chris? And honestly, I loved her early on too. Katelyn took awhile to grow on me, but I ended up really liking her. I just don't know if the guys will have a chance to see the "real" girl before they choose. But certainly they watched last season, right? Nonetheless, I also won't be watching this until tonite. The hubs was gone yesterday 15 hours for work and I just couldn't stay awake. I took my tissues and went on to bed. So as much as it pained me, I had to wait. :(

Do you have any opinions about the shows I'm watching? Or do you have any good ones you recommend me starting? I'm sure another favorite, Southern Charm, will be ending soon. :( I will need some shows to entertain me while the hubs works so much!

Weekending

Happy Monday, friends! This is the LAST Monday for alarm clocks in this house! We are in our final week of school. But please don't be too jealous. We're only getting out early b/c the poor kids go back around Aug 12!! In my world, I think they should have off June-Aug (ending May 31 and going back Sept 1), but no one asked me. ;)

Anyway, back to our weekend. I was very thankful to not have any plans b/c I ended up getting sick. I woke up Saturday morning with an excruciating sore throat. I knew it was only a matter of time before I got sick b/c my son had been sick. But boy, I sure do hate a sore throat.

Fortunately I felt great on Friday for my daughter's school activities; Field Day and Class Party.
 I always love watching my kids interact with their friends. My sweet little daughter is probably the smallest in her class. They participated in relays and different events outside for Field Day.

Then we came inside for the party. And the kids all LOVED the beach balls!

On Saturday I woke up feeling awful and the kids woke up before 7 begging to go outside. UGH! So despite my efforts for wanting to crawl back in bed all day, I obliged. (The single parent days are rough, and I'm always thankful that I don't have to do it alone all the time. Kudos to single moms!) We spent most of the day outside playing. We had an early picnic, rode bikes (I even pulled my bike out for a few family rides), played with neighbors, and enjoyed our first snow cones of the Summer. And did I mention nobody napped that day? Including myself!! :(  

Needless to say when Sunday rolled around, I felt even worse. I couldn't manage to take the kids to church. I really wanted to stay in bed again, but obviously that was NOT an option. Thankfully the kids started playing really well together (inside) while I tried to clean the house a bit. I took them back outside for a picnic lunch and then my son napped. We ended the day back outside with minimal activity on my part.

Hopefully I didn't bore you too badly with my wknd recap. Here's a great last week of school and then lazy days ahead.

And don't forget my link ups with Biana and Meghan.

It's Friday, Y'all!

Happy Friday!! It's been another busy week around here and I couldn't be more excited for the weekend to be here!

~ONE~

If you remember, I wrote about Orange Cream Mimosas earlier in the week. Well I had the pleasure of making them on DayTime Blue Ridge on Wednesday.  You can watch the clip here.

~TWO~

I honestly can't believe the school year is almost over. It seems like she was just starting Kindergarten! And now she's about to be a rising 2nd grader!!

And while my son has been livin' the life around the house (yes he's driving the car with his leg hanging out), I know he'll be thankful to have his sister home for the summer too!

~THREE~

Ever since I saw the gorgeous Caitlin  in this Trina Turk one-piece I loved it! I just don't love the price! Ha!

But then I found a romper in the same print! EEK! Why am I being tempted so badly lately with rompers?!? First the Lilly one and now this one! I absolutely love the detail on the back!

~FOUR~

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before or not, but I'm the head room parent for my daughter's class. We have the end of the year party today and for some reason I thought buying/passing out beach balls to all of the kids would be a good idea. I guess I didn't think about having to blow up 23 balls!! Oh well! I think they'll love them. I'm hoping to have each child sign each ball with a sharpee so it'll serve as a fun reminder from their 1st grade classmates. Wish me luck today with this process! Ha!

~FIVE~

How could they end the season of Nashville the way they did???? UGH! I don't know if I can make it until next Fall!

~SIX~

As much as I've complained about how busy the month of May is. I am shocked to discover that this weekend is completely empty! The hubs is working, both sets of grandparents are out of town, and the kids/I have NOTHING to do! I am actually pretty excited about it. I know we'll be having a family movie night tonite. Then I'd like to plant some tomato plants (that my father-in-law gave me) on Saturday and maybe mix in a picnic lunch. I'm not going to over think it b/c I know we will all enjoy taking it easy!

I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!! See you back on Monday!

As always, my fun link ups:

 Darci, Liz, Natasha, and Christina.

Erika, Narci, and Andrea

 Hill Collection.