Weekend Happenings

We had such a great weekend! 

Friday was a lazy day for me and Thomas. It always seems like those days at home just put him in the best mood!

We actually had a great night Friday, just relaxing at home and then we went to spend a little time with Derek's family.

Saturday we had Derek's grandmother's surprise tea party. She knew that she was coming over to have a tea party with Anna-Kate and I but what she didn't know is that there would be 3 friends from her hometown there too! The look on her face when she walked in and saw her friends was absolutely priceless! I am still kicking myself for not getting a picture of it!

We had so much fun visiting and catching up with the ladies. I was so glad they got to come help make it a special day for his grandmother. It has been hard on her to move away from the town she lived in for over 50 years.

After lunch, we visited and then took the ladies to see her house. 

I tried a few new recipes for lunch that were so good!

Here's what we had on the menu:

via Taste Of Home

Chicken Club Ring
(This turned out really well! I knew I'd be in a hurry, so I used deli chicken. I just rolled several pieces together and cut it into chunks. It worked really well. I also added a little bit of parmesan and cheddar cheese and a small piece of bacon to each crescent roll. It was a big hit!)

via Food.com

Cucumber Sandwiches
(I realized that I forgot to get cream cheese so I substituted with sour cream. I also felt like it needed a little extra flavor, so I added maybe a tablespoon of vinegar. I liked the way it tasted and these were a hit too!)

Fresh Fruit
(I wasn't sure what everyone liked, so I just stuck to some favorites. I cut up fresh pineapple and tossed it with grapes and orange slices)

Veggie Tray

Sour Cream Pound Cake
(This is so unlike me- but I bought this cake! I knew I couldn't go wrong with Paula Deen. It was perfectly moist and a great combination with the lunch!)


We got to spend the rest of the day with Derek's grandmother and we watched the Hogs play the Vols. The one game where Derek and I are not friends. ;) Sadly our Volunteers lost. At least Anna-Kate told me that she wanted to be a Vol instead of a Hog. (She might have turned right around and called the hogs... but who's keeping track?)

We had the most perfect, relaxing Sunday after church! I love Sunday's when we can just spend time together. I don't worry about the housework or dishes because I know I'll be home Monday to tackle all of that!

We have a busy week getting ready for our first Thanksgiving this weekend! Look for a different Menu Monday this week! I'll be posting Thanksgiving recipes! :) 

On The Mend

I've not been posting lately because I've been sick. Last week I was really tired and drained. I could tell my allergies were the cause and unfortunately by Thursday night I was coming down with a sinus infection. I meant to go to the doctor Friday but I felt better and had a few things to do but I felt horrible by Friday evening. Sunday my ears started to hurt and I could tell I was getting an ear infection. I pretty much spent as much time as I could this past week on the sofa! Plus, I wound up going to the doctor twice. (lesson learned!) 

I'm thankful that today, I was able to do a lot more. I'm feeling a more like myself than I've felt in days! I can tell my ears are still pretty stopped up but thankfully they aren't hurting quite as bad and I've got a little bit more energy! 

Derek was amazing and kept everything going so I could rest! I know he's ready to see me back 100%. ha. Poor thing! It really is hard to do all that a mom does and it's even harder to step in for the other parent and play both roles. 

Derek and the kids actually had a pretty full weekend and he even took pictures for me! 

Thursday: 

They Love their rain coats!

Anna-Kate had picture day when I asked her to show me the smile she gave, this is what she did! ha! 

Friday: 

I made a simple sensory bin for Thomas and he loved it! 

He even picked everything up when he was done. 

The girls love going to the games!

We went to the high school game! Thomas loved it! 

They are so silly! 

 Saturday: 

They went to watch the Hogs play Alabama at a friends house. They love playing together!

Pretty Shelby

Derek said Anna-Kate wanted in that and they played with this for a long time! ha! 

Sorry for the picture overload, but I guess that makes up for the lack of pictures lately! 

Amanda, posted about a fun link up going on the month of October. Basically you pick something to blog about for 31 days. It can be 31 days of knitting or cleaning or your favorite books. Just something fun to share every day! 

I decided to play along and I'm going to be doing 31 days of Fall Cleaning! I don't know about you, but my house needs some good deep cleaning more than just in the spring! Since I've been home I've noticed several areas that need to be organized and deep cleaned. (Under my bed is a scary place right now...) I also think it'd be fun to share a few quick cleaning tricks and hopefully even some fall decor so that I'm not just blogging about cleaning! ha. I think you'd get pretty tired of that! To keep up with the 31 posts, I've created a separate tab, just like my Menu Monday tab. I'll put a link to each days post! 

If you'd like to join, you can go here to learn more about it! 

Oh, just for a change, I've added a new header! What do you think? I like it a lot more than the last header I had, but I really want to add a family picture. When I was looking for one of all of us I realized that we have not had a family picture made in almost a year! It's definitely on my to-do list and when I get a good one, I'll change my header again! 

Weekend Happenings and A Prayer Request

Friday I came home from work to this little beauty...

After my Corolla was totaled I knew I wanted a minivan! I guess I'm on my way towards becoming a soccer mom, but I don't mind at all! 

Derek and I have spent a good portion of the weekend playing with all of the features and driving all around! 

Anna-Kate was super excited about "her" minivan too! 

Friday night, Kristen spent the night with us but the girls were so worn out from playing all day that they went right to sleep. This was a big step for Kristen because for a long time she has not wanted to spend the night away from home! 

Saturday we played around and then loaded everyone up for some Chick-fil-a. The girls had a great time playing, but Thomas was traumatized by a little girl who was much bigger than everyone and decided to play "monster!" 

The girls and Thomas napped and played the rest of the afternoon while I ran to the store with Derek's mom. We might have stopped by Hancock's fabric (which has gotten a refreshing little makeover). 

When I got home, Amanda and Jackson came over just in time to make peanut butter play dough with us!  The girls liked it, but they mostly just ate it. haha. It was really nice to get some time with Amanda, despite all of the chaos! 

I've gotten terrible at taking a lot of pictures, but I did manage to snag a few pictures at lunch today! 

Sorry for the gross food in his mouth! I just thought his face was too funny! 

This is all I could get Anna-Kate to do! haha! 

Tonight we had a sandwich and homemade ice cream supper after church. We brought chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream! Yummy! I love homemade ice cream! 

It's been a great weekend! I'm looking forward to a good week and then party prep all next weekend! 

I do have a prayer request from my church back home: 

Scot and Heather Baker and their new baby boy, Maddox. He had a very traumatic birth and is in the NICU being closely monitored. 

You can read about Maddox and follow his story here. 

I think that the main concern is that his umbilical cord was severed and they are not sure how long he was without oxygen. He has had a few seizures and they are worried about his brain. 

Our Weekend- Lot's of Pictures...

Since I went on an unplanned blogging hiatus last week, I wanted to include the rest of the week's pictures, along with this weekend. So that made this post loaded down with pictures! Sorry! 

Last week, we did lots of playing! I realized how much Thomas loves to play outside and that even though Anna-Kate can sort of swing herself, she will not if someone is there to push her! Acceleration is just not something that a 3 1/2 year old understands... hmm...

Thomas enjoyed swinging with the girls and whoever else would get on this with him! 

When he is outside he just goes and goes... it's hard to keep up with him! I was trying to catch him before he fell out of Kristen's car, but I was too late and he fell and scraped his little cheek and nose! 

He's also getting to an age of boundary pushing! If only the two's could just hold off a few months... 

Wednesday we went to lunch with Derek's parent's. 

He's such a ham! 

The girls- goofy as always!

Wednesday after church, we did a little baking with her Easy Bake Oven! She was so into it! 

Wearing her apron and heels :) 

Baking with her is always interesting... she has to taste everything! haha. 

Turns out we had the wrong kind of light bulbs for her oven, so we wound up baking them. They were still good! 

Thursday, I decided to let her bake the pink cupcakes my mom got her for Christmas. She loved that idea! 

We mixed them and then they baked during her nap. I iced them and then let her "decorate them." 

And by decorate I mean dump the whole section of pink sugar on the cupcakes! ha! 

Friday and Saturday we had a yard sale with my friend Amanda! Anna-Kate was hardcore and woke up at 6:15 with me on Friday. She did great playing on her own. 

Anna-Kate picked these flowers and we decided they would look perfect in Maddie's hair! :) 

After the yard sale on Friday, we went to Chick-fil-a and did some shopping with Derek's grandmother. When we got back, Anna-Kate was so excited about Derek getting home that night, that I could not get her to take a nap. She was worn out though! 

After dinner, we went to Derek's parent's house and they watched the kids while I picked up Derek. 

When I pulled in their driveway, I looked back and Anna-Kate was OUT! haha. I took about 100 pictures... between her still holding the monopoly money and the balloon and her drool, I couldn't help myself! :) 

We had a great day Saturday. We are all so glad Derek is home! 

I'm trying to get a Sunday picture of Anna-Kate and Thomas (I just thought it would be fun). Here are today's.

After church, we had a picnic at the park. It was fun, but Thomas just wanted to roam everywhere! 

Sitting like such a big boy! 

Anna-Kate helped push Thomas! 

I just love them! :)

 Sorry for the picture overload! 

We are all looking forward to getting back into our routine this week! 

Weekend Happenings

We had a fairly relaxed, low-key weekend! It was so nice.

Friday, I got off work in time to run to a consignment sale with Derek. They didn't have much left (it was the second to last day) but I did find two cute play dresses for Anna-Kate and the cutest Harding cheerleader uniform that I got a great deal on! She was so excited about it that she wore it all day on Saturday!

After we picked the kids up from school, we had to run an errand to the fire station. Anna-Kate went with her class earlier this year so she was pretty excited. When we got there, they let her get in and sit in the driver's seat. She was pretty nervous and wanted Derek right by her side. Thomas, on the other hand, was thrilled and could not wait for his turn! Before we left, they flashed the lights and Thomas just giggled! Future fire fighter on our hands, maybe? I wish I had taken pictures but I didn't expect to get a tour of the truck!

On a side note- did you know they had to leave the truck doors open? It makes sense now that I think of it, but dummy me shut the door! ha! I was a little embarrassed, but they didn't say anything!

After the fire station, Anna-Kate wanted to eat at Chick-fil-a, so we decided to go. After we ate, we saw my friend Amanda, her husband Jordan, and their son Jackson, so we decided to stay for some ice cream! While we were talking I let Thomas play. He's played before but never been interested in climbing. I guess Jackson encouraged him, because he went all the way to the top and just hung out! He stayed up there for a while, but Anna-Kate made sure and checked on him. I finally had to come up there and get him down so we could leave. While I was coming down this little boy said "um, you're too big to be up here" ha! Gotta love his honesty!

Saturday, we got up and decided to go over and see Derek's parents. Derek's mother and I went on and made our grocery run while the girls played.

When I got back, Anna-Kate was bawling! Apparently, the dog had bit Anna-Kate when she tried to pet one of the little puppies. Derek calmed her down but then Anna-Kate got my camera out of the diaper bag. Derek's dad told her that the camera was for mommies to use and it hurt Anna-Kate's feelings SO bad! She has been on a kick lately where she thinks she's a mommy. She has about 5 babies, so that does qualify her... :) So when she got my camera taken away and was told that she actually was not a mommy, she lost it. You guessed it- she was beyond ready for a nap! :)

We had a normal afternoon evening. It was our cooking Saturday, so that's mostly what we did but we had it all cleaned up by about 7:30.

Derek had the guys over for a long game of Risk. Seriously- you don't want to know how long the game lasted! (5 1/2 hours!) Thankfully, Derek has been working hard to get our shed cleaned out and converted into his "man cave" so they played out there.

Today, we had Derek's family over for lunch... my first pork pot roast. It turned out so good. I think I'm going to switch over to pork roasts all the time from now on- so tender! I also made Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Sheet Cake. That's my absolute favorite thing. It's fast and simple to make and it's so good it melts in your mouth! Definitely a crowd pleaser!

I thought it would be fun to start taking pics on Sunday mornings.

This afternoon, I met Amanda to help me pick out some fabric for my dining chair project. I found a fabric I liked, but it was a little high. When I got home I decided to search for it online. I wound up finding a fabric that I liked better for 1/3 of the cost! So, I can't wait to order it and get my chairs done! :)

My weekend got off to a really great start. I am overwhelmed by all of the sweet comments on my family post. I really appreciate you taking the time to read it. It is nice to feel so much love and support. Thank you all. I can't explain it but I know I am one blessed girl. I am so grateful that I could share my story with you. 

Weekend Happenings

Well we had another relaxing weekend! We have been working so hard at maintaining the cleaning and laundry during the week so we have more downtime during the weekend. So far, so good- we are only a few weeks into it but just a few more and we've got a habit, right? ha. 

Anna-Kate was pretty worn out on Friday so she and Thomas went to bed early. Derek and I decided to rent Inception. It was one of those mind twisting movies where you really have to pay close attention but I really liked it!

Saturday morning I decided to meet my friend Amanda and her son, Jackson, for breakfast so then Derek could have the house to himself for his studying. (He's on week two of studying for his Series 66 and Series 7 exams).

I really thought it would be more relaxing than it was! I hate to admit that but by the end I was not feeling my best and jittery from juggling the kids and our conversation. I don't think I was much fun to be around! Sorry Amanda!

When we first got there Anna-Kate decided to whine about not having a friend to play with and that she wanted this or that. All Thomas cared about was eating. I tried to go in the play place with both of them, but poor Thomas was worried I was going to just leave him in there so he clung on to me for dear life and cried.

Things were better after Amanda showed up and we got our food. Having to balance the two of them is so hard for me when they are both fussing over one thing or another. Thankfully most of the time it's just one of them. I think they were thrown off that they didn't have Derek there with them.

When we got home, we put Anna-Kate and Thomas in bed for a nap. Anna-Kate decided she didn't want to nap so we let her play outside with our neighbors little girl. She had so much fun with her!

Derek and I decided that it was a great day to start on spring cleaning! We want to tackle a different room every week so that we don't get in over our heads and can really focus on total cleaning.

 We started with our living room. It was a big task but we moved everything out and cleaned the floors really well and "shook" out our rug and then we re-arranged! I always love moving things around. It makes me feel so refreshed! I took a couple of pictures but they turned out funky so I will re-do them and post them later.

After we finally got everything in and settled Anna-Kate and I took a nap while Derek and Thomas played together.

Derek's parents came over for dinner and the girls finally got to play. Poor Anna-Kate was really missing Kristen! 

We had a normal, relaxing Sunday! I even got a nice long nap. 

What's not to love about that weekend? 

Ps. Sorry there are no photos! My camera was dead most of the weekend! :) 

Weekend Happenings

We had a really great weekend! We didn't have any obligations, so it was nice to just relax and make our own schedule! 

Friday night we went over to Derek's parent's house and visited with everyone. Anna-Kate heard that Chick-fil-a was open so she worked really hard to get everyone to go get some ice cream. She absolutely loves going there! So we all gave in and went to check it out. We had so much fun! The girls played in the play place and then ate their ice cream and went back to playing! They did really good and it was nice to get out and relax! 

Saturday morning we got up and ate at Chick-fil-a again... yes... we went back! I am proud of it too! ha. Anna-Kate ran into several little friends from school and church so she played really well. Thomas was happy because he got to finish her food while she was playing! After we ate we got our groceries and then went home and put the kids in bed. After they went to bed Derek and I got to work on our meals for the next week or two. I'll post that menu soon! We always enjoy cooking together and this time we got to experiment a little bit more. A few of the "recipes" we used weren't really recipes, so that was fun. I am excited to eat everything- ha!

Anna-Kate waving to us! 

I looked over and noticed that Thomas was mimicking Derek! He mimics us all the time! So funny! 

Thomas likes to hold his dvd player. On our way home from the store I turned around and saw that he was out! So sweet!

After the kids woke up we played and waited on Kristen to come over and play! The girls played really well. I was excited they didn't really fight like they have been. Once they went to bed Derek and I watched a few of our shows and that was that. Not extravagant or exciting but so nice! 

Thomas testing out his cooking skills! 

I am serious, the poor boy needs some of his own toys! ;) Or at least a momma who can take some pictures of him playing with boy things instead of Anna-Kate's pink toys! 

Anna-Kate played with us too. She had a bowl of fruit to feed her babies. Apparently she decided that the babies didn't want to eat their fruit so she had to eat it. And by eat I mean lick the whole fruit. It was gross! I didn't even realize she had done this until she was on the last piece of fruit! Whoops!

After Thomas eats he signs and says "Ah du" which means 'all done'. It's pretty cute! I think this was after he did it the first time, so he wasn't very happy I got out the camera instead of letting him out of the highchair! 

The best thing about our weekends lately is the simplicity of them. We miss our Lepanto family but it is nice not to have the drive take out such a big chunk of our Sunday. 

After church today Derek's family came over for some nice homemade lasagna and Mississippi mud cake! It was so good! I've never made Mississippi Mud Cake but I had some marshmallow cream and I thought it would be fun to find a recipe that incorporated that into it. I actually wound up using Paula Deen's recipe but instead of mini marshmallows I used a 7 ounce jar of the cream. You bake the cake and then we heated the marshmallow cream for about 20 seconds in the microwave and spread it on and then poured icing with chopped pecans on the top. WOW- so good! 

After lunch I headed over to the church and got to help some of the ladies make meals for someone. It was so much fun. I'm so glad I went! I love any chance we get to spend time with church family!

Tonight we had Derek's family back over to help us eat all our left overs! We still had some things in our freezer so we pulled them out yesterday but I knew there was no way we could eat all of it! So they helped us out. It was fun just having a little bit of everything! 

After everyone left Anna-Kate picked up all of her toys without our help! She even put them up in the right places! I was so proud! She was so sweet and funny this weekend!!

Tomorrow is the first Monday in two weeks to have school and work! I am definitely looking forward to a more normal week than what we have been having!