Weekend Wind-Down

This weekend was one of the most relaxing and comforting weekends we've had in quite a while!

It all started Friday night after my husband got home from work.  Teagan and I prepped dinner and had it sitting on the table when Lance walked in at 7PM sharp.  We made a salad that I found somewhere online-- I was thinking it was a Blog that I follow, but cannot, for the life of me, find the link to the website.  Anyways--Talk about a labor-intensive salad that is oh-so-worth-it...

We chopped. -romaine lettuce, green pepper, onion, salami, fresh mozzarella, olives, parsley, garlic
We mixed. -balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, dried basil, sugar
We combined. -the dressings with the prepped salad
We DEVOURED. -OMG, this salad was so amazing- and light and refreshing, too!

We also made some homemade garlic bread wedges to go with our yummy salad.  I wish I had a picture to show you what it looked like, or exact measurements so that you could go make some rightnow!  Seriously, DELISH!

Just waiting for Daddy to get home  :)

So, after we cleaned up dinner, we picked up the house and packed our bags to head North. We got to see Aunt Lexi get ready for prom.  Teagan insisted that she partake in the primping festivities, too!

Oh-my dear LORD!

Aunt Alexandria and Teagan looking so PRETTY!

Teagie with her Lala

Testing out the new bunk beds at Lala's

<3

A little wedding date with my hubby, 9 days before Juliana's Due Date!

Saturday, Teagan got lots of hangout time with her Lala, while Lance and I went to a no-kids-allowed wedding/brunch.  It was a very nice ceremony, but felt kind of weird to not have our Teagie Tot with us.  Teagan went to a wedding reception with my Mom Saturday night, so she got plenty of dancing and acting crazy in, while I came home and crashed on Mom's most-comfy sofa!

Because we only got one day with Lance (due to his stupid work schedule), he headed back home Saturday night, which left Teagan and I to spend our Mother's Day together with my mom!  My sister, her fiancee and their three kids came over, too.  We definitely missed my brother, but he's out in CA for work.  It was such a nice dinner.

Mother's Day Menu:  BBQ ribs, bow-tie salad, baked beans, twice-baked potatoes and a DELICIOUS trifle for dessert.  It was the perfect ending to a PERFECT weekend!  

Super Quick and Easy Berry Trifle

Ingredients: 1 angel food cake, 1 lg box of vanilla pudding, container of lite Cool Whip, 2 qts. strawberries/ other berries of your choice.

Directions: Mix pudding according to package.  Add Cool Whip.  Cut up the angel food cake into 1 inch chunks (I do it right in the package so it's not messy!).  Slice the strawberries. Create the trifle with the pudding mixture, berry mixture, and angel food cake, and continue to layer until all of the ingredients are used up!  SUPER Quick and Easy, too!!  This is always a crowd-pleaser!

*39 week prenatal appointment for sweet Baby Juliana today, and hoping some progress is being made, as I have been a complete crampy-mess since last Friday :)*

This Week's Dinner Menu

Wow---only 20 days until my due date for little Miss Juliana Kate.  Can't freaking believe it!!  My husband and I sat down to pay bills last night, and as we were making out the check for day care, it hit me that this is our second to last schedule that we will be filling out for Teagie Tot until next fall when both of our girls will be in day care full time--  HOLY CRAP!

I'm so freaking excited to spend the entire summer with my two girls!  It's going to be AWESOME!

 On another note, Juliana's nursery is just about complete.  :) 

So, along with paying bills, it's also time to make out our weekly menu/grocery shop.  My husband and I split the costs of most everything--groceries included.  We usually spend about $140 (combined) on groceries for a full week's menu.  Is that a lot?  What's your weekly grocery budget?  

Here's a sample of this week's menu (LOVING iowagirleats.com for menu inspiration and pure reading entertainment, too!):

Tuesday: Philly cheese steak subs w. garlic red skin potatoes

Wednesday:  Pizza stuffed burgers w. asparagus

Thursday:  Chicken enchilada bake

Friday:  Meatloaf w. corn on the cob, scalloped potatoes (Mom's specialty)

Saturday:  Reubens w. baked beans, pasta salad

Sunday:  Cheeseburger macaroni

***Our normal weekly menu usually doesn't contain this much meat, but it is what is is this week :)

My mom's coming down Thursday to watch Teagan while I'm out of town for work.  She's also prepping us for a weekend of the garage sale that we've spent a month talking about!  I'm so excited to purge my garage with all of the junk that we've accumulated since we moved in our first house two years ago.

Pure Family. Pure Love. Pure Michigan.

My husband and I have decided that we are going to start taking FULL advantage of our family time together, with Teagan, before Juliana arrives.  Furthermore, once Juliana is born, we're going to start spending family time together visiting places and spaces right here in our home state, Michigan!  Because I am taking a very-much-needed ten weeks off of work for maternity leave, this summer is going to be an awesome time to embark in activities and visits, to places that are located in the Mitten State.

Last weekend we visited the Children's Museum--where Lance taught Teagan how to milk a dairy cow.  P.S. for growing up in a small town in Michigan, my husband is soooo not a country boy ;)

We played at the water table, which is the absolute messiest learning station they have at the museum--FYI  :)

We planted some 'Forget Me Nots' in honor of Earth Day!

We played in the maze--mama had a hard time fitting in the little spaces!

We made a stop at the 'Dentist' where we were intrigued with the mouth--and got to sit inside of it!

And finally, we weren't about to call our visit to the Museum complete without a beautiful cupcake face-painted on Teagie Tot's cheek!  By this point, she was SO tired and about to fall asleep.

Overall, we had such a great day!  It was so much fun to hang out together as a family:)  

Not sure who had more fun though, my two year old--or my HUSBAND.  Here he is hanging out at the 'Eye Doctor'!  LOL!

What type of things do you like to do with your kiddos that the entire family enjoys?  What are some cool MUST SEE/DO family attractions in your home state?

36 Week Pregnancy Update!

How far along?/Weeks Highlights: 36 weeks, 0 days...28 days to go! 

This morning I had my 36 appointment-- it was a two hour ordeal, but so worth it after hearing that everything is looking 'AWESOME' and going really well.  Music to my ears.  We started the appointment with a NST(non-stress test), then moved into the ultrasound room, and finished with a quick prenatal appointment with my Midwife.  Finally got a nice face shot of little Miss.  She's been sitting very comfortably up against my uterus throughout this entire pregnancy, which is reason to believe why we haven't gotten a good picture of our itty bitty, and also why her nose is appearing semi-smooshed in the one pic that we did manage to get of her...  So far, she is looking exactly like her big sister did in the womb.  

Size of the babe? 6lbs 11 oz.  Measuring bigger than her older sister did at BIRTH! Oh my! ;)

Weight Gain: 27 pounds--up to 181-ahhh! 

Cravings: Have really tried to subside with the cravings lately.  I went through a pretty rough patch of eating a bag of Cadbury Eggs, with the hard shells, pretty frequently.  Damn 70% off Easter Candy!!  I think I'm good now.  I've been eating super well and really have tried to cut out extra processed sugar--aka whole bags of candy--from my diet.

Symptoms: Sciatic nerve pain shooting down to both butt cheeks, but nothing too painful.

Movement: All the time.  Sharp, intense movement.

Baby to-do list: Finally feeling much more prepared for baby Juliana.  Need to purchase diapers (going to be using Pampers Swaddlers), and get the bassinet, car seat, swing, bouncers and stroller washed up, and we'll be good to go.  My mom has helped out tremendously with washing all of the newborn-6 month clothing we had in storage :)  Also on the to-do list:  *Prep hospital bags *get breast pump out to figure out any supplies we need to update it with

Maternity Clothes: Still rocking the super annoying maternity clothes.  If it would warm up, I would LOVE to start wearing dresses SANS leggings!  I'm so over undershirts that don't quite cover my entire belly.  I CANNOT wait to start wearing my normal clothes!!

Baby Buys: Haven't bought anything for the baby in a while.  She needs NOTHING!--except a diaper stash!  Also, am super interested in cloth diapering, so I need to start on that, too :)

Gender/Baby Names: We're so ready to meet Juliana Kate in four short weeks!!

OK, Mr. Easter Bunny- We're Ready for YOU!

I left work Friday at 5:00PM with the mind-set that I wasn't going to do a dang thing the entire weekend.  Since hubs had to work, Food Network, my bed and my two year old were about the only three things on my agenda :)  

I contemplated stopping by Michael's to grab some things for a little diddy that this pretty lady inspired me with, and when it was snowing/raining and 28 degrees (it was 80 two weeks ago...), it took all I had to get out of my car and go into the store...  

Let me just start by letting you in on two little secrets--

1. I am so NOT crafty!  I have the best of intentions, but creativity/crafting just does not come natural to me- which is why I'm in LOVE with Pinterest and Bloggers, who give me that boost of inspiration!!

2. Sharpie Paint Markers are the absolute WORST invention!

So, I'm pretty sure I had Teagan's Easter Basket made and my MESS was cleaned up by, oh, about 9:30AM on Saturday morning.  So much for being a lazy  sleeping in!

Supplies: 

*Galvanized metal tub

*Sharpie Paint Markers (Next time I'll just use regular Sharpie Markers)

* Stencils (but just because I have TERRIBLE handwriting to freestyle!)

*ribbon of your choice

There really are no rules when making this Easter Basket, but check out Dana's awesome how-to to get you started.  I definitely started out with this project STRESSING  out because I was trying to be too perfect!  It really doesn't matter that my bunny's face is a bit dis-formed, or that my eggs didn't turn out to be perfect oval shapes. 

Thank you so much, Dana for your coaching and inspiration on this CA-UTE project!  Pretty sure this basket will be around for years to come :)  P.S. If I had more patience, I would have made Juliana a basket too.  Poor baby girl will have to wait until next year!  Not quite sure how the heck you did THREE of these!

Current Favorites

Call these my current favorites, call them obsessions, call them what you will, but these are just a few of my indulgences that are helping through weeks 30-31 of pregnancy ;)

EOS lip gloss-- I have the tropical fruit, but want to try the other flavors!

These suckers have 9g of fiber in them and are the perfect fix for those evil 3PM chocolate cravings!

I love pink nails. period. 

Also in love with this chap stick.  Makes my lips feel like  SILK! 

These itty bitties are just too much.  Can't.get.enough!

YUP--polished a bag of these off in two days.  OOPS!

 

Making drinking 400 oz of water (it seems like that much) much more enjoyable!

One of my new favorite blogs!  Adventures of Decorating!  So CUTE and inspiring! & I found this banner at  TARGET!

 

That's all for now.  Hoping to spend some time in Juliana's nursery this weekend and Springify our home :)

Spring Wish List & A Pay Raise!!

Hey there!  The sun is shining, the grass is green and I just noticed this morning that my apple blossom tree, in my front yard, is in full bloom I just had to Google what type of tree I have in my front yard, OMG!  Today is supposed to be 80 degrees--almost of unheard of for the Mitten State in March!  Needless to say, it's kind of hard not to be in a good mood :)


(this is not my tree, but I hope mine turns out to be this gorgeous!)

I'm just now getting over my 11 day (but who's counting) stint of sickness.  BLAH!  I literally have not been sick in years, and this cold that I'm recovering from kicked my ASS!  Ear ache and all.  EWWWWWW!

Anyways, things are starting to look up for this girl, and I couldn't be happier.  I received a phone call yesterday morning that, I believe, was the turning point for my two weeks of misery that I've been experiencing.  I'm pretty sure the Big Man upstairs had something to do with it, as I have been praying every single day for his guidance and support :)

 --Back to that phone call--

So my boss calls to tell me that I have just been given a $5,000 raise because of all of my hard work and dedication that I have given to my team in my newly appointed position as 'Team Leader.'  WHAAAAT?!   I know that I am very underpaid for what I do, but for crying out loud, I work for a non profit, and getting that kind of a raise is almost unheard of around here!  LOL!  Instant gratification instilled upon me, and I literally wanted to reach through the phone and hug my boss!!

So what are we doing this weekend?  We're celebrating, my friends.  Not with cold beer and good food, like we normally would if I wasn't preggo, but we are going shopping and out to lunch with our two year old. :)  The weekend cannot come soon enough.

Here are just a few things that are on my wishlist...

Cute flowy dresses to wear in these final weeks of pregnancy and also post baby...

Nautical inspired cuteness...

 

Statement necklaces--preferably some big PEARLS!



RUFFLES--lots of ruffles!



Bright colored jewelry!


COMFORTABLE and CUTE dresses!



all images from my Pinterest site which can be found HERE!

Let's be honest, our trip will not be complete without purchasing our Teagie Tot her favorite pair of summer shoes--- crocodile dundees AKA CROCS--don't judge, they're cute and practical--for a two year old :)


Talk to you tomorrow-- wait, WHAT?  Two posts in one week?  Yup that's right, I'm doing a Current Favorites post tomorrow, so come by and check it out!! :) :) :)