Five on Friday 28/53

1. Things I Did This Week

-Watch two seasons of Girl Meets World. It's surprisingly good.
-Fill out paperwork to start a new job on Monday! More on that next week.
-Plan two completely different birthday parties for Alyssa,
because it is most likely going to rain out our original pool party plan.

2. Things I Did Not Do This Week

-Start the daunting project of cleaning out the basement. There is so much stuff down there and I've been planning to sort through it one bag at a time. I just haven't brought myself to get started yet.
-All of this week I've had my three kids, my sisters two kids and a few neighborhood kids running around my house. And they are all still alive. I've given up the notion that I may want a fourth child.
-Anything productive, really. I've put off all of my chores to enjoy my last week home with the kids.

3. Things I Window Shopped This Week

-This simple wire basket from Wal-Mart.

-This swimsuit for Alyssa from Old Navy.

-These wedge booties from Target.

4. Other Posts I Wrote This Week

-One on One: Here.

-Baby, You're A Firework: Here.

5. Pictures I Took This Week

Linking up here, here and here.

Baby, You're A Firework

Our holiday was pretty calm yeaterday. We swam a little bit, ate a lot and Blair got to hold her first sparkler. She loved it! Since we had a long, lazy weekend I am kind of just now realizing that I only have 4 more days to get ready for Alyssa's 11th birthday party on Saturday. Yikes! We are having a pool party and BBQ for our family and friends. Somehow this is the first pool party we've ever had for her birthday. I've been dreaming of checkered table cloths, fried okra and flower centerpieces for weeks. Her one request has been a donut cake, which is going to be the easiest part. I'll take it!

One on One

This little beauty has had her mommy and daddy to herself for three days now. It has been so fun (and pretty relaxing for me) to get to spend a little one on one time with Blair. It isn't often that we get to do this with the kids, but we try to give them all "up close and personal" time with us as often as we can.

Saturday we took her downtown for dinner and ice cream. In between the two, we stopped outside of the Tennessee Aquarium and let her play in the water fountains that they have. There were tons of other parents with the same idea. We hit up Ben & Jerry's for our ice cream and let Blair pick a candy topping. She chose mini M&Ms and she basically dug each one out of the ice cream with her fingers and only ate the candy. Oh well, that's what a date night is for... getting to do what you want.

Sunday we had a cookout with my mom and brother. Blair spent the day in her kiddie pool while snacking on a banana popscicle. I thought the sun and water would tucker her out, but she fought me really well at nap time. We finally got a late one in and then were able to stay up a little later than usually to let her see a few fireworks. She really loved them and afterwards she had me looking up videos of fireworks on my phone for her to watch.

We let her cuddle up with us and spend the night in our bed; something she hasn't done in over a year. It was a really great weekend and we are looking forward to spending the day togather again today.

Happy 4th everyone!

Five on Friday 27/53

1. Things I Did This Week

-Taught Blair how to "fist bump."

-Andy had a late start to work on Wednesday, so we took apart our sectional couch and cleaned out all the toys and spare change and vacuumed it and washed the cushion covers.

-Finally printed off some thank you cards for our wedding gifts.

2. Things I Did Not Do This Week

-Sell my kids on the internet after pitching their 4898472 fit.

-Make any real plans or lists for Alyssa's birthday party, which is NEXT WEEKEND.

-Spend an entire day hiding from the kids in my room and watching Netflix.

3. Things I Window Shopped This Week

-This off the shoulder dress from Old Navy.

-This grey rug from Target.

-This floral comforter from Target.

4. Other Posts I Wrote This Week

-Our Redneck Adventure: Here.

-Watermelon for Life: Here.

5. Pictures I Took This Week

Linking up here and here.

Watermelon For Life

Yesterday's post was a little wordy. So today I have a bunch of yummy pictures of some cute kids eating watermelon. I always forget how much I love watermelon until I get one for the kids. Does anyone else eat theirs with salt on it? I eat my cantaloupe this way as well. My husband says I'm weird. I think it's the perfect mix of salty and sweet. And so do the kids because they all begged for salt on theirs too. But to be fair, they want salt on everything.

Our Redneck Adventure

I am not an adventurous person. In my mind, I want to be. But most things terrify me and in reality I do way less adventuring than I should. Part of it has to do with my semi-paralyzing fear of heights, but mostly it's that I am terrified of dying from ignorance in trying to do something "thrilling."

My husband is the complete opposite. He is into being outside, climbing mountains, skydiving, zip lining, jumping off of cliffs - if it gets his adrenaline pumping then he is down to party. I actually did go zip lining with him last year. It was terrifying and I was glad I did it with him, but I wouldn't say I'd rush to do it again.

Growing up, he spent a lot of time on a local mountain that had nothing but trees, rocks and some really muddy, washed out dirt roads. I mean, you're not getting more than two feet up any of these "roads" without four wheel drive. People are known to take up four-wheelers and old beat up trucks and SUVS that are fixed up especially for climbing this mountain.

Nice and clean and ready to go to the mountain.

Andy bought an old Isuzu Trooper last year off of Craigslist for about $500. It only needed a little work to get it running good enough to be his "mountain ride." So when he had free time he worked on it and this past weekend it was finally ready for a test run up the mountain. He really wanted me to go with him so that he could show me how he spent his youth. (I never did things like this and had never even been to this part of our town.) I was terrified of something crazy happening, like the car rolling over, which happens a lot on the mountain. I think that's supposed to be part of the fun.

In my mind, we were going to roll over trying to climb some rocks, I'd probably hit my head and die immediately because of course the truck would roll over on my side first. And we would be at a spot of the mountain that was close to the edge, so the truck would just roll right over and slide all the way down into a fiery ball of death. Luckily, my skull was already cracked open when the truck first started rolling, so I was unaware of my body burning. THIS IS HOW MY MIND WORKS DAILY. It's exhausting. And it's why I was happy to take a Xanax before agreeing to spend the day with my husband and his best friend doing what I was sure would end badly.

But I love him and he assured me it would be safe and fun and that I was overreacting, as usual. Plus it was super important to him that I go. So, I went. And it was a really fun day. There were some scary parts and definitely some times when I got out of the truck and walked while Andy and his friend climbed rocks and hills that went straight up in the air. Overall, I enjoyed myself and I enjoyed making my husband happy and seeing him do something he loves. Fears conquered.

Random boot in the woods.

Thursday Thoughts: A Wedding Throwback

So I know there's some kind of rule on time for throwback posts, but I'm a rebel so who cares. We are nearing our three month anniversary of being husband and wife - aaaawwww - and seriously, it has been pretty great. We went two whole months from our wedding day without a single fight. That is record shattering in our book. Of course we had a huge blowup last week. Probably a build up of all the little things we've been letting each other get away with in the name of newly wedded bliss.

I haven't shared most of the wedding pictures that we got. There's a post about our little reception after the ceremony and a post with my top five favorite pictures from the big day. I'm going to share some more now because 1. I love these photos and 2. to inspire some more of that newly wedded bliss in our daily lives.

(Hey, we have three kids and Andy works like ALL THE TIME. Our lives aren't exactly sprinkles and unicorns. Just last night, Emily and Blair woke up about three times each for milk or really for no reason at all. They somehow ended up switching beds before the night was over with, too.)

My dad walking me down the "aisle".

Andy's first look at me and my dress.

During the ceremony.

The whole wedding party during the ceremony.

My oldest daughter and my Maid of Honor.

Sand ceremony.

First kiss.

The whole crew.

The Walkoff & The Details

All photos by SBB Photography

Linking up here.

Mom Guilt: Are My Kids Eating Healthy Enough

This morning for breakfast my kids had frozen waffles, go-gurt, sausage links, cereal and some strawberries. That sounds like a lot. In reality, Emily and Blair split one waffle. Emily had the go-gurt and Blair had the strawberries. They both had one sausage link and they both only drank the milk from their cereal.

All of my kids love most fruits and vegetables and would happily live off of those alone. (Except for spaghetti squash... I can't get a single one of them to eat it!) However, I believe they all need a good source of protein and don't want them getting it from eggs or processed meats alone.

Blair loves hotdogs. It is literally the only meat she will eat with the exception of the occasional piece of sausage or bacon. Steak? No. Ground beef? No. Chicken? No. Not in any shape or form or flavor. She usually won't even eat chicken nuggets. But I can't offer her hotdogs for every meal because, gross.

I've started serious meal planning with the intentions of 1. saving myself money and 2. trying to introduce new foods. We have tried several things lately and most have been really great. I'll link up some of our recent favorites below. But the kids have not been big fans. Most nights they barely take three bites and then they are done. Of course an hour later they are "ungry", as Emily says. I try to get them to try the dinner I already fixed again, but usually end up offering them something I know they will eat because I feel bad that they are not getting enough to eat.

As their doctor has said, they will eat when they are hungry and they will not let themselves "starve to death". In the back of my head I know this. I know I should not worry because they are all healthy and they all let me know when they are hungry and when they are not. That "mom guilt" still creeps up on me all the time though. Was that meal healthy enough? Am I feeding them too many processed and unhealthy foods? Are they going to live off of those three bites of broccoli? Am I overreacting? Should I offer them something I know they will eat even though I spent time and money making another dinner that they wouldn't touch?

Where does it end? Does anyone else out there have these same problems? What do you do to keep a healthy balance in your child's diet?

SEND HELP. I'm freaking myself out.

Broccoli & Cheese Spaghetti Squash

I added turkey sausage but the seasonings were too spicy for the kids.

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

Making this tonight.

Chicken Spinach Wraps

These are SO GOOD. I'm loving poppyseed dressing right now.

Orange Chicken

I enjoyed this but my husband said the flavor was a bit too strong for him.