Menu plan April 10-21

It's been a while since posting a menu.. Thought I would throw one in here ;) I always leave room for eating out or leftovers.. Here ya go!

Gumbo
Chicken Souvlaki
 pizza x 2
brisket x 2
One Pot Pasta
Jalapeno Chicken
Lo Mein
Taco Spaghetti
Crock Pot Roast

Spring Break 2017

Monday it rained all day! We watched lots of tv until we were able to go out around 4:30. 

..to our favorite indoor McDonald's playground..

Tuesday, we met some friends at the children's museum to play.. 

After that, I took them to my moms to spend the night with her. 

I came home, rested and met a friend for supper. 

My foot is getting much better.
The left pic is Saturday after it happened and the right is Tuesday night.  

Wednesday- I sleep in until 9! It was glorious! I start the morning with laundry before the rain, cleaning out the fridge by shredding and freezing cheese, freezing yogurt, blanching and freezing carrots and making homemade croutons from bread heels and crust, so none of it goes bad while on vacation.. Tons of rain mid-morning but many errands to run. 

I get home around 4 and start laying out clothes and packing for our 4 day trip. My mom brings the girls home around 5:30 and both are exhausted! She also brings one of my favorites-chicken spaghetti!

 

I put the girls to bed around 6:30, heat up supper and turn on some tv! Time to chill out!  Looking forward to some time together at one of our favorites spots, Montreat, NC. 

Thursday-Alan's flight got switched around due to the heavy storms in Atlanta on Wednesday night. Luckily, he could get a flight into Charlotte and drove over from there in a rental car. Meanwhile, I take Alan's mom to the airport here to pick up Alan's truck and bring it back home. Me and the girls leave for Asheville after that while she heads back to our house. We get to Asheville about 30 minutes before Alan and find a Target to stop in. When he's at the airport, we pick him up and head to Montreat. We check in a little early, get settled in and then head to the Asheville Mall to let the girls play on their playground. We play mini bowling and arcade games at Fun Depot then head back to the pizza place in Black Mountain and then all head to bed early! 

Friday- up and ate breakfast at Montreat. Back up to the room and I take a nap while the girls play and Alan works some. We leave and go into Asheville to eat BBQ and then to Fun Depot where the girls play on their playground. After a few hours, we head back to Montreat and hang out in the lobby while the girls play.. 

Around 6, we go to Coach House seafood. We eat and then head back for bedtime. 

Saturday- the girls oversleep(until 8!) so it's too late for breakfast at the Inn. We go eat at Louise's in a Black Mountain around 11. After that, I drive Madison and Alan up to hike around Lookout Mountain and me and Riley head back into Black Mountain and walk around. I find a Patagonia sling bag, a gift for a friend, a neat crust cutter for Riley and we stop for a smoothie, coffee and a cookie. 

We get done and go pick up Madison and Alan and head to the playground at Montreat

They spend 2 hours on the playground and we head into Black Mountain to Take a Hike. They're having a great sale but the kiddos never gave us a chance to look longer than 5 minutes. We lucked up on some items and then head into Asheville to spend the balance of their money at Fun Depot arcade games and eat at Papas and Beer. After that, we head back for bed!

Sunday- up and eat breakfast and go back to pack and leave. We are home at 11am! 

Weekend fun

 We had a birthday party Saturday...

What a genius idea for gift favors for a party before Easter.. Easter egg dye kits in a little basket.

After that, we met up with my BFF and her son to eat, play putt putt then get ice cream. 

Home to nurse a rolled ankle at said party... it's feeling and looking better already thanks to essential oils, prescription Ibuprofen, elevation and ice!

To Lowes for some plant updates..

These are all supposed to be flowering evergreens so I'm hoping they make it and I hope to remember to bring the red one in for winter.. all but the concrete basket planter is on the back porch. 2 blue planters with the same flower and 2 hanging baskets with the same grass. Makes a big difference! 

I have 5 episodes left of Brothers and Sisters left as I type this.. Will get it finished up by tonight! It's been a great series if you're looking! 

Goings on..

Lots of busyness the past week or two!

The girl's preschool hosted their great little "city" last week. The girls had so much fun! This is one of the big events of the year! There's a grocery store, car wash, Home Depot, science lab, art lab and a vet office.

I have been slacking on painting the laundry room since the last blog update! It is on the list for the next week, along with organizing pictures and putting into albums and organizing my online photos to get ready for Chatbooks to print. (use my referral code HERE)

 Spring Break is next week for the girls. We have some day activities planned and will be going to Montreat for a couple of days.

We have also booked a beach trip for June. We will take 4 nights in Myrtle Beach! We haven't been in 3 years and the last time we did go, Madison didn't like it. Riley was a baby so she didn't have a say.. So if they don't like the beach, Myrtle offers a ton of other options :)

I am finishing up Brothers and Sisters on Hulu. I have around 20 episodes left...and we started a new series on Netflix called The Following. It's so good!

 

House updates

Toys R Us for new toys to keep the girls busy.. Starbucks for a coffee and then Lowes for painting supplies for the laundry room. All before 11am on a Saturday. Back to the house and painted some trim.

Planted 6 Leyland Cypress at the corner of our lot. 

Found this drink dispenser and tiny mug at a local thrift store. It was in my plan to get one for our laundry room redo and I'm so glad I found this! $6 for the dispenser and .50 for the mug? Yes please! It is a little slow dispensing the detergent but it sure does look pretty! 

Life updates

My stepdad passed away on Friday after a battle with cancer. He died very peacefully at his home with most of his family there with him. The funeral was yesterday and was beautiful and very fitting for him. He was a silly guy, as you can see in the left picture and my mom was always laughing at him. He loved his family, kids, bee keeping, gardening, collecting old coins and working with his hands. He and my mom were married almost 16 years and he was the love of her life. I am so thankful for their time together.

 St Patricks shenanigans. Madison and Alan made and set a trap for the leprechaun but we weren't able to catch him. He did turn their yogurt and applesauce green before he left though

 Their St Patrick's outfits

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Madison with the bear my stepdad gave my mom for Valentines. This was taken the Wednesday before he passed away. The girls love this bear because he sings music.

Alan took the girls on a daddy/daughter date night at Chick Fil A, complete with roses and a limo ride.

The girls got these snuggie blankets and they love sleeping in them! I love it for Riley because she tosses and turns so much that this keeps her covered.

We were engaged 11 years ago on March 18!

Weekend house projects!

We strayed from our ongoing to-do list over the Winter. This weekend, we started back and actually completed 1!

We also got some Leyland Cypress from Costco that will be planted in our back corner this week.

We are repainting and remodeling the laundry room. This includes painting the door that we come in from the garage, and the garage closet doors black. We are repainting the laundry room the same color but will be switching out the light. Lowering or replacing the shelf and adding some art and storage bins.

 The current state.

 

When our HE washers die, I am going back to top loaders. Not a big fan of the HE washers.

With that said, I love this shelf right behind the washers. Somewhere to sit detergent, a lamp and some pretty stuff. The only negative with our room is our security system 'brain' is right behind/above the dryer so a shelf going all the way across wouldn't work. I would love to be able to hide that brain though. 

love these as detergent dispensers

Replacing the light with something like one of these..

We also painted the door leading into the house from the garage black.

The other project that is now completed is our crawl space door! We worked hard the past couple of years on the landscaping border. This weekend, we picked some square and rectangle stones in the matching color. Put them in, topped with paver sand, bought some more border rocks and mulch and ta-da! Now to paint that door black to match everything else...