Five on Friday!

Happy Friday, friends!

1. Yesterday was Trav's birthday, so I was nice and made him dinner (a rare occasion these days!).

My friend Rachel recommended this Red Wine Marinated Flank Steak with Cherry Tomato Caprese Salsa, and oh my goodness it was DELICIOUS! I cannot stand to eat steak these days, but this was an exception! I could also see using the same marinade recipe for chicken and having Trav grill the chicken. Anyway, I'll be making some version of this again for sure! 

Also: I am not a food photographer. Obvi.

2. We also celebrated Trav's birthday by singing to him (Ella insisted) and giving him a new baseball hat and tickets to a baseball game!

You know I love a good theme, so I attempted to make him a baseball cake as well. It was somewhat of a disaster, but Lucas keeps eyeing it on the counter and saying "BEE-BALL!" so I'll call that a win.

3. Last Sunday was Ella's dance recital and oh my goodness, was it precious!

Her tap dance was to "I Like to Move It, Move It," which was hilarious, while her ballet number was "You Are My Sunshine," which made me ball my eyes out. (Also, let's not even talk about another dance that was not even Ella's class that made me cry! The pregnancy hormones are real over here, friends.)

She was not nervous at all, and loved being on the stage! We are so proud of our little dancer!

4. Also on Sunday...we found a mouse in our house! AHHHH!!!! Trav had spotted one the day before we left for the beach, so we set out mouse traps while we were at the beach. Well, we didn't catch anybody and just were just kind of hoping the mouse ran away (Ha! Wishful thinking). My kids were eating breakfast Sunday morning and Ella said, "Look! A mouse!!!" and I promptly screamed my head off and sprinted upstairs, leaving my kids in the kitchen with the mouse. #momoftheyear 

I DON'T LIKE MICE, OK?! I am seriously TERRIFIED of them!!!!! Had I been about 12 more week pregnant, this mouse would have put me into labor, no lie. Anyway, Trav was running on the treadmill, heard me screaming, came down and was my hero forever and ever. He put the mouse in a shoebox, took it outside and let it go wayyyyy in the very back of our backyard. I still have PTSD from this whole thing, and my throat hurt from screaming for a few days, not even kidding!

5. Moving on! I finished a really good book while we were at the beach!

I feel like everyone has been talking about this book, but I promise it lives up to the hype! Girl, Wash Your Face was not only funny but super relatable (I think the author and I are around the same age) and I wanted to highlight or take pictures of basically something on every page. I highly recommend it...and thank you, Kathryn, for buying it for me!! :) 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!! 

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What's Up Wednesday {March}

Happy Hump Day, friends! Time for a monthly round-up of life around here!

1. What we're eating this week

Trav has been on a Mediterranean diet kick, and I've coincidentally been craving Mediterranean food, so he's been cooking up lots of yummy things from that area of the world. We've had some delicious salmon, chicken kabobs, chicken salad wraps, and lots of couscous. I don't have any recipes because Trav has been making a lot of them up himself, but everything is SO yummy!

2. What I'm reminiscing about

Looking back through old Easter pics, I found these from my absolute favorite photo shoot I ever subjected Ella to!

I tried it last year with Lucas, but seeing as he was about 9 months older than Ella was when I took hers, he decided he was too old for this garbage and hated every second!

3. What I'm loving

That spring finally got its act together and it's FINALLY supposed to warm up! I have been freezing over here!!!

4. What we've been up to

Oh, just 140,000 Easter Egg Hunts ;)

5. What I'm dreading

All of the pollen and the spring cleaning that comes along with it. Our screened-in porch is just a disaster and needs a good power-washing. I am dreading that. 

6. What I'm working on

Ummm, does growing a human count?! Ha! I've also been having lots of fun doing my online tutoring gig that I just started a few weeks ago! The kids have all been super cute and eager to learn! 

7. What I'm excited about

Warmer weather!!! More park play dates, spring clothes, grilling out, I want all of it! 

8. What I'm watching/reading

Still watching the train wrecks that are Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Vanderpump Rules. I am currently reading The Girl With Seven Names, which was actually recommended by Shay. 

It is really good, and I have a hard time putting it down every night! It is all about a girl who escaped from North Korea...and maybe y'all will think I am totally living in a bubble here, but I had no idea how backwards and outdated things were in that country! It is a really interesting read for sure. 

9. What I'm listening to

This is going to sound so dumb, but a while ago, my fav Emily Ley posted something about silence and how sometimes we need to just turn all that noise OFF. So I've been turning down the radio in my car (unless Ella is requesting to hear a certain song), and just talking to my kids and enjoying the quiet. It's been really nice!

10. What I'm wearing

Miraculously, still not maternity clothes although they are prob coming super soon (like in the next week or so). I am SOOOO over my winter clothes, ps. 

11. What I'm doing this weekend

 One of my best friends from high school is stopping to visit us on her way to the beach with her family! We are also planning on taking the kids to see the Easter Bunny, and of course celebrating Easter on Sunday! 

Here's a few pics of my kids with the creepy EB in past years!

12. What I'm looking forward to next month

WARMER WEATHER! DOING THINGS OUTSIDE!

13. What else is new

Not much, just suffering a little bit of seasonal allergies along with everyone else here in Charlotte (fun fact: did you know that Charlotte is the one of the worst city in the country for seasonal allergies?! Its true. They are awful here!)

Bonus question: What is your favorite Easter tradition?

Getting dressed up in new spring clothes (kids' Easter clothes are my FAVORITE!) and going to church! Look at these sweet babies from last year!

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What's Up Wednesday {February}

I haven't done one of these in quite a while, so I thought I'd link up and join the fun today! 

1. What we're eating this week
Trav grilled some really yummy steak and shrimp kabobs over the weekend, so we've been eating those leftovers for the past few days! We also had these Asian Lettuce Wraps that my friend Ashley recommended....definitely a winner!!

2. What I'm reminiscing about
With Ella's birthday being February 3, this time of year always KILLS me on Timehop!!! Just look at this sweet little bean!!!


{4 years ago TODAY! 😭}

3. What I'm loving



My kids in their summer clothes already!! This warm weather we had last week was AMAZING!!!! I'd love to not have to turn our heat on any more this winter!!!

4. What we've been up to
Ella went to another birthday party Saturday, at a local gymnastics place. She got ridiculously sweaty and had a blast.



We also took both kids to a Hornets game on Sunday. Lucas was mesmerized for the first quarter, and then decided to run all over the suite....

5. What I'm dreading
I'm honestly not dreading anything at the moment!

6. What I'm working on
I've been attending a Bible study for the past few weeks on Ruth, and I've been loving it so far!! 

7. What I'm excited about

Spring weather and March Madness basketball!!!

8. What I'm watching/reading
Now that the Olympics are over, my DVR is packed full of all of my trashy shows...Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Vanderpump Rules, The Bachelor, and I still need to catch up on Bachelor Winter Games!

As far as reading, I'm almost finished with Sisters First by the Bush twins. I love watching Jenna when she's on the Today Show, and this book has been a very fun, interesting read. 

9. What I'm listening to
Right now...Lucas kicking his crib and talking to himself about not taking a nap.

10. What I'm wearing
This time of year is so weird/hard for clothes! I've been wearing a lot of Lilly Pulitzer popovers; they are my faves!

11. What I'm doing this weekend
One of my favorite consignment sales is on Saturday! Ella also has yet another birthday party (#4 in the last month), and we are all looking forward to watching UNC vs Dook Saturday night! 

12. What I'm looking forward to next month
Easter egg hunts and fun spring activities!!!

Yay for Spring! 

13. What else is new?
Not much else! :)

Bonus question: What's your family's favorite spring break destination?
So growing up, since my dad is a minister, we could never take a spring break trip, since our spring break always fell during Holy Week (and the main pastor just cannot take off for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday!).
Now, it's in the middle of a busy time at work for Travis, so we usually aren't able to go anywhere!
 One year in college, 20 or so of my sorority sisters and our fraternity friends got a huge cabin in the mountains in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and spent the whole week partying it up, which was pretty fun....although I don't think my liver could handle that now!
And 9 years ago, my friend Natalie came down to North Carolina, and we went to Chapel Hill...it just so happened that this was the year UNC won a National Championship for basketball, so we got to be on Franklin Street that night, and that was so much fun! 

And that's all for today!!! Happy last day of February! 

Five on Friday!

Happy Friday!! I feel like this has been the longest week ever, anyone else?!

1. We had a great Valentine’s Day! You know we had to have a little photo shoot!

{felt board is from here}

2. April was sweet enough to have some of us girls over Tuesday night for a Galentines night! 

We had lots of fun trying on all of her LipSense products...I am not a lipstick person whatsoever, but I got hooked and bought some! I got Carmel Apple...I’ll take a pic of it on my face at some point, but here’s what it looks like on April!

3. Valentine’s Day was also the start of Lent, and I always like to something for Lent each year. Last year I did an act of kindness each day. This year, I decided I really needed to reign in my buying clothes for kids. I have a serious addiction to the Facebook resale groups, so I figured I’d give those up for lent. After thinking about it a little more, I realized I don’t use Facebook for much else besides those b/s/t groups, so I just decided to deactivate my account so I wouldn’t even be tempted to look! 

It’s been liberating so far. Although, I’ve already had people text me like, “I tried to tag you on a post with some clothes and it wasn’t working!” How sad is that?!?! Haha! 

4. Now that I’m not spending 1848 hours a day on Facebook (only a slight exaggeration), I have more time to read! Since my last update I’ve finished the following books:

Kisses from Katie

This was recommended by the girl who leads our bible study and it was a really interesting read. It was a bit redundant and got a little preachy from time to time, I did enjoy reading about her life in Uganda. I just wish she had written a few more stories about her experience. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. 

What Alice Forgot

This is the 3rd book by Liane Moriarty I’ve read now and all of them are just so good! This one wasn’t as page-turning as The Husband's Secret but it still held my attention for all 480+ pages. It was a story that I won’t forget and made me think about my own life. I gave it 5 stars. 

Grace Not Perfection

Oh Emily Ley, I just love you. I had to breeze through this since it was due back to the library just 4 days after I started it but luckily it was a quick read. There was nothing earth shattering in this book, but good reminders of how to hold yourself to a standard of grace, not perfection. I gave it 3.5 stars. 

5. Can we talk for a second about the weather yesterday?! It was 77° and absolutely gorgeous!! We played outside as much as possible...we are ready whenever you are, spring!! Too bad it’s supposed to go back to being cold again by like, tomorrow.

We have a fun little weekend planned...my mom is in town and we have a birthday party tomorrow afternoon! Have a fun weekend! 

Five on Friday!

Happy Friday!! 

1. We got SO much SNOW here on Wednesday!!

I was expecting a dusting, if anything, so we were all so surprised when it kept snowing and snowing and snowing all day Wednesday!!!! 

The kids had an absolute blast the 140 times we went out in the snow. But now that we've had one big snow, I'm ready for it to be gone and spring to arrive!! 

2. This big guys is 20 months old today!!

How we are only 4 months away from his second birthday is beyond me. He loves dogs, books, Paw Patrol and any kind of sports/balls. If I ask him what he wants to wear in the morning, he goes to the sports jersey section of his closet and says, "Ball!" He is so funny....nice try buddy, but I get a few more years of you in smocked clothes before you convert to all athletic apparel!

3. Speaking of cute, non-athletic clothing...the Shrimp and Grits Kids Spring 2018 collection is here!!! And I am obsessed with it. 

My kids went over to our local rep's house to try on a few things a few weeks ago, and I want it all!!

{Shrimp Boat Shortall & Rainbow Scallop Dress}

{Shem Creek Crab Shortall}

{Birdie Golf Shift Dress}

{Sailor James Bubble...I could have literally eaten Lucas up with a spoon while he had this on! 😍}

{Magnolia Eyelet Dress}

{Pink Eyelet Top & Rose Bud Bubble Shorts}

Stuff is selling out super quick, so I went ahead and ordered the golf dress and jon jon for my kids before those were gone! If you'd like to order something, just let me know and I can get you free shipping! :) Or put in my code 70024 at checkout!

4. I finished another book!! 

I flew through The Husband's Secret...it was SO good!! I highly recommend, especially if you liked Big Little Lies (same author) like I did!

5. My friends Dana sent me this soup recipe forever ago and I finally got around to making it on our snow day!

Cheesy Taco Soup from Iowa Girl Eats

It was the perfect snow day meal! Super quick and easy, but it warmed me right up! Definitely making this again!

Also, I need to mention that today is my grandpa's birthday!!! He and my grandma occasionally read here (they're cool!), so Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!