Month: March 2021

From the weekend.

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Here are a few photos from our weekend….

Before school on Friday, Hadley looked so cute with her hair. She has been wanting to do different things each day for school and I love that! She used to be an all hair down or all hair up type of kid. Now she’s branching out with new things.

After school and work, we visited Daddy at the fire house. He picked up an extra shift so it had been two days since we had seen him! We love going to the firehouse!

After dinner, we had a movie night! We made a fort, with pillows and her favorite blanket. The movie was Yes Day, and we watched it on Netflix! I made a small candy charcuterie board for us, a few new things she’s never had before and loved. One being unicorn marshmallows, yum!

Saturday morning after her shower, she’s been really into this Kindergarten workbook we got her when she was in preschool. Doing school work on her own? Awesome.

Saturday we worked on our front yard. After living here for almost three years now, we’ve been wanting to rip out all of the shrubs and old pine trees. In the top left photo, the tall half dead tree came out, the green weird tree behind the lamp post, and lots of other things. All came out!

The before photo on the left, is a great photo of all the random things that were planted we think when the house was built. The after photo on the right is a great shot of how much you can actually see the house now!

We are obsessed with how different the house looks! It’s only been a few days, and every time we come home or leave, we still look at the house like wow look at the changes! We have more to do, but the big things are pretty much done. With the exception of the huge pine trees that are not pictured here. Those bad boys are coming out this week!

Hadley was excited she can reach the garage door pad. She still looks so little though! She stayed outside with us all day, helping, playing, etc.

On Sunday, to end the weekend we did the Heart Mini! We ran most of it, and little Miss Hadley rode her bike for the entire three miles! She was such a trooper!

The weather was so nice over the weekend, and we got so much accomplished and had fun doing it. Huge thanks to my BIL/SIL for all the help! We have so many plans on sprucing up the front yard now, can’t wait to start!

From the weekend.

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around here tried a new recipe that was delicious! Pizza chaffles! The recipe can be found by clicking here. If you don’t already know, my husband and I are super picky eaters, and we both loved this so much!

around here it’s been so fun having Kevin join me for runs and workouts! We went to a new trail this week.

around here Hadley had her first softball practice. It’s going to be so cute to watch her play!

around here it was beautiful outside, we played soccer and I see something you don’t see game. And, I cannot get over how green our grass is already! Kevin cut the grass for the first time this year too!

around here I don’t care how old she gets, I will never tire of watching her sleep. Wish they could stay little forever!

around here made a chai latte for the first time! It was so good and easy! The recipe I used can be found by clicking here. During the warmer months, I’m going to try it iced too!

around here went outside and brought some flowers inside. So pretty and the house smells like spring.

around here she is just so cute in her school uniform. She loves to decide how to do her hair each day, and I’m so glad she’s finally gotten into the habit of trying new ways to do her hair. Just love her.

around here I’ve been doing random workouts the past few months. Sometimes I’ll run, walk, or do HIIT workouts. I use the Nike Training Club app on my phone which is awesome. It’s free and has a variety of different workouts to choose from. Download the app here.

around here we visited Daddy at the firehouse. He worked a double shift this week, so we just had to go visit. It had been awhile since we came to the firehouse anyways. Luckily it wasn’t very busy, so we got to hangout for awhile.

TGIF!

Have a great weekend!

Easter decor.

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Easter is right around the corner! I love decorating for just about anything! Easter reminds me of fresh flowers, springtime air, and childhood egg hunts. And let’s not forget to mention, brunch is the main course of food yum!

These tablecloths brighten up the living room so much!

I couldn’t figure out where to hang this wooden Easter sign with the white bunnies, so I put it on the bar cart table. Looks okay there for now. I originally had it on the back of the front door, but every time we opened it the sign would bang super loud so I took it down.

The bathroom! Changing out the shelves for each season / holiday is always fun and festive.

The fireplace is always a favorite part of the house to decorate. I could go a lot more wild with the mantle, and fill it with lots of more items but I kind of like the simplicity of it. I love to have the kids’ photos on there, and have a few small items that are festive.

One tradition that I’ve always loved even as an adult is coloring eggs. All of my aunts and cousins used to get together the Thursday before Easter at my Grandma June’s house. We would all bring fish sandwiches, or my Grandpa would order cheese pizza, and we would all color eggs. Now we color eggs at our own houses, but it’s something I still enjoy doing as an adult with the kids.

Pizza Chaffles.

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This week we made a new recipe and it was delicious! They were called Pizza Chaffles which is a keto version of mini pizzas!

First thing was to make the batter, which was super super simple! We doubled the recipe so we could have two mini chaffles each. It ended up being five mini chaffles total, all depends on how much batter you put into the mini waffle maker each time.

Ingredients:

  • 1 egg
  • 1 heaping tbsp almond flour
  • 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella (plus more for topping)
  • 1 tbsp grated parmesan
  • 1/8 tsp Italian seasoning
  • 1/8 tsp garlic powder
  • pizza toppings of choice

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and turn on mini waffle maker.
  • In a small bowl, whisk the egg together and then combine with the rest of the ingredients.
  • Once your mini waffle maker is hot, sprinkle it with a little bit of shredded mozzarella.
  • Pour a little more than a large spoonful of batter in, and then sprinkle the top of the batter with more mozzarella cheese. Close the lid, and wait until your waffle maker says it’s done.
  • Place each chaffle on a greased baking sheet, allow each one to cool, and then spread your choice of low carb pizza sauce. For one chaffle, we used our favorite LaRosa’s Pasta Sauce, two to three pepperoni’s, sprinkled bacon bits, and then topped with more shredded mozzarella cheese.
  • Bake for 3-4 minutes and then an additional minute or two to brown the cheese, or however done you like it!

After the batter has been cooked in the mini waffle maker, and placed on the baking sheet, and have cooled, spread your favorite pizza sauce.

Add shredded mozzarella cheese on top of the pizza sauce.

Add pepperoni, bacon bits, and more shredded mozzarella cheese.

Here is what they look like after the oven! They were delicious! I’m pretty sure these were 2 net carbs before the pasta sauce was added, but still compared to a regular piece of pizza? I’ll take it! Encourage you to try this even if you’re not doing keto. A great recipe for a pizza alternative!

Recipe source: Instrupix

St. Patrick’s Day.

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day 2021!

Hadley was so excited for school today, here she is with her magnifying glass to catch the little leprechauns.

Love that the teachers at her school take photos, here they are looking at a trap one of her friends made.

Have just a tiny bit of decor on the fireplace, the little leprechaun guy and the banner I got from Hobby Lobby a few years ago.

Made a little rainbow, with white balloons and rainbow streamers. Set the table with a green table cloth I made a few years ago out of thick fabric and some green plastic glasses.

Put some gold coins in a little tray in the center of the table.

When she got home from school, she was so excited from her busy day and the decorations at home. Simple things can make kids the happiest, and I just love that!

We made shamrock shakes for a fun little after school treat! The recipe we made is from Hip2Keto, the only thing we would do different is add a little less mint extract but other than that it was really good!

Before dinner, we did our nails green and gold!

We ate our dinner in the dining room. Hadley said we’re eating under a rainbow Mom! ♥

For dessert, we had St. Patrick’s Day whoppie pies! They were supposed to look like the ones from the recipe Olivia Wyles but they completely fell apart! But still, they weren’t too bad even picky Hadley ate one! I only made three anyway, these were the best ones that partially stayed together.

We ended the night with an early dinner, early shower, and early bed. St. Patrick’s Day wore this little lady out, but she had such a great day! Just love to decorate and make things fun for days like these!

From the weekend.

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around here she is always in the best mood after school. Just look at those blue eyes!

around here she brought home her birthday club book from school! You can donate to the school, and they get to pick out a book and get this cute little sticker inside the book that stays in the library! Very fittingly, she picked out a leprechaun book with St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner.

around here went into the office this week and the weather was just amazing! Sun roof was open, shades were on, and the sun was shining! It was beautiful. Just love when it’s warm like that, puts me in such a good mood!

around here saw a fox on our run! Oh my gosh it freaked me out, I kept looking behind me thinking the little guy was going to chase us!

around here she went over to her BFF’s house for a few hours, it was her first time going to another persons house that wasn’t family. She was a little nervous at first, but clearly was fine.

around here I will always always always love when he sends me pictures while he’s at work. He’s the happiest!

around here I could watch her sleep for hours. She always looks so cozy and comfy.

around here did the method by Go Clean Go, which is a little bit of Tide and hot water. It’s amazing.

Well, this pretty much sums up our week. Working out, eating the meals we planned for the most part, going to work, after school fun, play date fun, and some good cleaning. The weather has been so nice around here, but I think rain is coming. I’m going to soak up the sunshine while it’s here!

Have a great weekend!

Birthday project – Week 2/52.

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This is my birthday project for the next 52 weeks. You can read more about it here!

Week two! Watch a Disney movie. As previously mentioned in this post I secretly love Disney movies, still as a grown adult. After I had my kiddo, it was even more reason to watch them with her. So tonight, we watched Finding Nemo together. This whole self care project is all about doing things for yourself, no matter what it is, even if it sounds juvenile like watching kid movies. I want to be a kid at heart until I’m old and gray!

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This is week 2 of 52.

I am attempting to tackle 52 weeks of self care projects for the next year.
You can follow along here on the blog, or on Pinterest.

Birthday project – Week 1/52.

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It’s my birthday today! And I’ve started the birthday project for the next 52 weeks. So here it goes…

As I mention last week in this post, I’m going to be doing 52 weeks of self care for a fun birthday project. And here is week one. Read magazines for an hour all by myself. I love to read magazines! Especially girly ones, health ones, DIY ones, and one of my favorites Better Home and Gardens! So today, for a full hour of uninterrupted time I got to read some magazines. And I enjoyed every 60 minutes of it.

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This is week 1 of 52.

I am attempting to tackle 52 weeks of self care projects for the next year.
You can follow along here on the blog, or on Pinterest.

Day In The Life 2021.

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Yesterday was Ali Edwards first day in the life for this year. What this is, is a day that Ali as a blogger designates two days each year to document your life. Take photos, write text, capture anything you feel is worth capturing for the day and then either blog about, scrapbook about it, etc. However you choose to document the day. In years past, I just typically take photos on my iPhone, or big girl camera (DSLR), and post them on the blog. It’s a fun thing to do, and look back on the years and see how things change and evolve.

Here’s a look into my day in the life – March 9, 2021.

Started off the day with a workout with my favorite person. Loving it that he’s been joining me! It’s an even bigger motivator to have him along side this journey.

After I finished working out, took a shower and posted this before makeup photo. I hesitated posting this but figured what the hell, this is a day in the life and this is what I look like in real life. Who cares!

The above photo is a pretty standard photo of what my bathroom looks like when I’m getting ready. I have my huge bottle of water, makeup case and hair dryer on the top of the toilet. My SIL got me a new hair dryer for my birthday, so I still have the old one on top of the toilet and the new one on the bottom. But still, this is pretty much what the left side of the sink looks like.

As I drove into work, the sun was a shining! It was beautiful shining down on my sunroof in the car. It was glorious! I cannot wait for warmer weather, there’s just something about warmth and sunshine that makes everything brighter!

After work, I managed to get home in time to make lunch. On the menu this week was Keto cinnamon muffins, they would’ve been delicious if I would’ve followed the recipe correctly! The recipe linked above calls for 12 muffins, so I halved it and forgot to half the salt part and doubled it! So needless to say, these muffins were super salty! And I am not a salt fan as it is, so this was a bust. But I’d love to make these again with the right amount of salt!

Hadley had her very first elementary school project due this week, a leprauchan trap! Dad was in charge of all the hot glueing, and Hadley loved every step of this project. I cannot wait for more school projects to come, and to teach her how to organize and plan these out! I think Mom and Dad enjoyed this project, just as much as Hadley did!

Final leprauchan trap! We hope she catches that little guy, we made the trap very inviting for those little leprauchans!

Next up, softball season! Breaking out the bat and balls, and practicing hitting. If you follow me on Instagram, you can see in my stories yesterday how well Hadley is hitting the ball! Can’t wait for her first season. She was supposed to play last year, but the season got cancelled due to the dreaded “C” word had just came about.

Dinner last night was chicken club lettuce wrap. I didn’t take a photo before we devoured it, but it’s become one of our favorite keto meals. Instead of using a tortilla as a wrap, we’ve been using shredded lettuce or the big head of lettuce. What I usually end up doing is putting it all together and eating it that way instead of a wrap. Sort of like chicken salad I guess.

Dessert most nights for us is an Atkins bar, we put the caramel nut bars in the freezer and eat it like an ice cream bar. So good!

Watching the news, Channel 19 is my least favorite but it’s what we had on last night. The lady on the screen is my least favorite, just one of those news people that drives me crazy haha

I just love doing a day in the life each year, it’s fun to just focus on something else for a change! I love it when Ali Edwards does these day in the life days, and she also does a week in the life too! If you’d like to follow along, here is her blog Ali Edwards blog. Thanks for being such an inspiration Ali!

Lollipop Soccer Recap.

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Hadley finished her very first grade school sport soccer this past weekend! Kindergarten lollipops! She played two sessions with a team from her school, all in kindergarten. She enjoyed it so much. The above photos were from the first session, and it was a big learning curve for most of the girls. Even her big brother and sister got to see her play one of her games. With the pandemic going on, spectators have been limited. She loved wearing soccer shoes, the shin guards, socks, the whole get up.

By the second session, all of the girls improved tremendously! Kevin helped coach for this session, and Hadley loved every minute of it. With his firefighter schedule, he only missed two games! By the last game, it seemed like the team was finally getting the hang of how the game is played and then the season was over. It was such a great time for Hadley, and I hope she continues to try out different sports as she grows up.

The whole team! Well, two girls were missing, but most of them are pictured above. I can’t wait to watch these girls grow together through the school age years. Most of them are playing softball together in a few weeks. I just love this time in our lives. I’ve been waiting for twelve years to experience all of this, and it’s finally here, and I’m enjoying every second of it. I know it’s going to be over before I know it, she’ll be graduating high school and I’ll wish for these kindergarten years back again. Just love watching our kiddo grow up!