Tag: Weekend Top 5

Hello and Happy Monday! We had a pretty good weekend around here, and I hope you did too. The weather was really great especially on Saturday. Even with the lovely weather, I was still in a funky mood. My allergies have really been bothering me, and I haven’t been sleeping very soundly, so I think that all caught up to me.The sunshine and Vitamin D did help a bit though. I’m sure this week will be better.

We continue to find joy in the little things, and that’s what this weekend was all about.

Friday morning, I decided to make the kids a breakfast charcuterie board. Shay shared one she made for her kids recently. I decided it was the ultimate challenge for me with it being Friday, and I was in need of getting to the grocery store. I had made muffins the night before, so that got me off to a good start while making the plate. Like with the snack trays I make for the kids, I offered food items I knew each kid would like, so nothing would go to waste. Hayden eats Cinnamon Toast Crunch on repeat, but doesn’t like bananas. Hadley loves the chocolate chip muffins as well as bananas. Of course, both of them love bacon…#duh

Friday afternoon and evening were so nice. Hayden played basketball in the driveway while I read. Then, Hadley joined him for a few minutes while Travis went to pick up pizza. We ate pizza on our back patio and then Travis built a fire, and the kids had s’mores. It was a nice evening at home.

Saturday was absolutely gorgeous. Hayden helped Travis do yard work, and Hadley helped him plant flowers. Then, we rode our bikes to celebrate cousin Neko’s 7th birthday. Even though it was a social distance birthday, it was still great to see them.

*Also, apparently I’ve given up on making my kids change their clothes. Hayden wore that Mahomes shirt Friday and Saturday! haha

Saturday should have been Derby Day. There are other tracks with horses racing, so Travis tuned in to some of those races while also watching some of the “virtual” Derby coverage.

The kids and Travis stayed up late Saturday night completing a puzzle. I went to bed early. I was hoping some extra rest would help my sinus headache!

I finished watching The Morning Show yesterday. I’d been wanting to watch it since I’d heard about it back in the fall. As I mentioned in a previous post, Travis got the free week of Apple TV, so he could watch a Beastie Boys documentary….so I was tasked with binge watching all ten episodes of TMS this week. #Iwasupforthechallenge

When I first saw the cast lineup last fall, I initially thought it would be more of a comedy…but it’s definitely a drama series. Basically, Steve Carrell is Matt Lauer who is fired leaving his co-host, Jennifer Aniston, in search of a replacement (insert Reese Witherspoon). That being said, it was a pretty heavy series to watch, and it certainly focused on the topics of the work place environment, the abuse of power, and the misconduct that is covered up. Some of the minor characters made the show even more than the main cast, in my opinion. I believe there is a season 2 in the works, and I will definitely tune in when it premieres.

On Sunday, Hadley helped me make Shay’s Oreo Peanut Butter Ice Box Pie. It was absolutely delicious. For the month of May, I made a goal to give up sweets….except on any Sunday where we’ve made anything with the words “peanut butter,” “Oreo,” and “PIE!” It was a great way to cap off our weekend.

So, that’s what we were up to this weekend. I was very grateful for the beautiful weather and hope we have more of it this week. Now, it’s time to wake up two kids for week 5 (I think?!) of distance learning.

I hope you have a great week.

Thanks for reading,

This weekend was filled with fun, festivities, family, friends, and sports (of course!) Here’s the Top 5 from our weekend.

Friday, after school, the kids and I volunteered to ring the Salvation Army bell at Kroger for our church. We had a good time and witnessed, first hand, the generosity of our community. (Then, when our shift was over, we went into the store for a few things…where they spent two minutes arguing about wavy or original Lays chips. Rock, paper, scissors decides all…Hadley “won” and got the original Lays. #givingandfighting #balance haha)

Friday night, Hadley went to a sleepover and the rest of us went to Trav’s work Christmas party. Great food, great company, and a bonus visit with Ho Ho. (And, on our way out, we bumped into some friends we haven’t seen a while which was such a pleasant surprise!)

Basketball season has started! Win or lose, these two are so excited to each be on the same team as their besties this year. So fun to watch them all play.

We are so blessed to have awesome neighbors who we also call great friends. Krista outdid herself hosting. The place settings were gorgeous and she served beef bourguignon while the rest of us brought sides, salad, and dessert. The adults and kids had a wonderful time.

My dream job would be to decorate cookies and be as talented as Maddie (of Maddie’s Cookie Co) is with her creativity and decorating skills. The closest I can get to that dream is by occasionally taking her cookie decorating classes. I’ve gone to a couple of the classes with friends and this is the third time I’ve taken Hadley to one of her classes. On Sunday, Hadley and I went to her Christmas cookie Mom and Me class, and our friends joined us as well.

Hadley has really gotten the hang of both outlining and flooding, so I don’t do much but help when she asks me to. The cookies are so pretty …almost too pretty to eat!! BUT…they are delicious and too hard to resist.

Two more weeks of school before break…I think I can. I think I can. I think I can!

I hope you had a great weekend, and, as always, thank you for reading!

Jen

Instagram: @showmeandsweettea

Facebook: Show Me and Sweet Tea

Although, (per usual), we were busy this weekend, it wasn’t all about the athletic activities. We had a good mix of family time, down time, and even an adult night out with friends!

Friday evening started off with Hayden having an indoor soccer game against his bestie!

While Travis and Hayden were at the soccer game, Hadley and I went to the kids’ sitter’s performance.

Movement Continuum performed Neverland which also included aerialists. The music, the performance, and the aerialists captivated our attention the entire time! I’d never been to this theater and arts center downtown, and it was a special place to visit!

We’ve known our sitter since she was five years old, and dancing has always been a part of her life! Hadley was so excited to see her perform; she didn’t take her eyes off the stage for a second.

On Saturday, Hayden and Hadley celebrated their cousin’s 9th birthday! He’s one year and one day younger than Hayden and Hadley. Lots of November birthdays in this family.

Saturday night, we met up with friends for pizza and then went to an ax throwing place; it was definitely more fun than I thought it would be. We have some friends moving to Michigan soon, so this was a chance to get together with them and all hang out. Believe it or not, the guys organized this activity…haha…and someone suggested we wear plaid (flannel was a bonus) , and we were very committed to the Paul Bunyan lumberjack theme!

The ladies held their own!

I even got a bullseye! (It went downhill from there!)

I saw this idea on an Instagram story of a local cake decorator, and thought it sounded easy, fun, and delicious. I found the mini cast iron skillets on Amazon, and then just bought chocolate chip cookie dough to put in them and baked them for 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees. Then, we added a scoop of ice cream to the top. The skillet cookies were a great way to cap off our weekend!

Bonus

The highlight of Homer’s weekend was that we took him to get a bath and have his nails trimmed. Hadley was in charge of the water for 30 seconds and more water ended up out of the tub rather than in the tub…just ask Hayden 😂

I hope you have a great week!

Jen

Instagram: @showmeandsweettea

Facebook Page: Show Me and Sweet Tea

Why do the weekends always seem to fly by?! Per usual, we had a busy weekend filled with athletics, but we also had a few other fun activities too.

My dad was visiting this week, so the kids were excited for him to pick them up from school on Thursday and Friday. Hayden later told me, “I love when Major picks me up. AND I love the smell of his car!” 😂 #cigars

Also, when my dad visits, he always requests a pic of him with all the grand kids on the front steps…each time, the pic gets easier to take because the know which step to sit on and know to sit and smile ASAP.

If you know anything about the state of Kentucky, you know they love their basketball team. Travis took the kids to Big Blue Madness Friday evening. Both kids loved seeing both the men and women basketball players as well as the coaches…BUT Hadley loved watching the dance team the best! She showed me their dance routine when she got home.

While they were gone, I had a glass of wine, read my book, and binge watched Shark Tank with my dad. #winwin

When we were dating, Travis took me to Big Blue Madness once and back then it started at midnight. Full circle moment taking the kids. Memories I know they will all cherish.

Lots of UK activities this weekend as Hayden and Travis also went to UK’s football game with their exciting win over Arkansas! (Missouri won their game too!)

Saturday morning started with another cross country meet. It’s been fun to see the kids and their teammates improve each week. This was the first meet with much cooler weather, so the kids actually looked like they enjoyed running during this race. haha.

Both kids had top 10 finishes with Hadley placing 7th out of 100 3rd/4th grade runners, and Hayden placed 5th out of 123 runners for the same age group. AND…so exciting….BOTH the 3rd/4th grade boys and girls teams finished in 3rd place and brought home a trophy.

Running is in my kids’ DNA (#notmysideofthefamily), and I preach to them how fortunate they are that running comes so naturally to them, but again, it’s always so awesome to see the team come together and cheer for one another. Each runner reaches some kind of personal goal each week which is amazing to watch.

And, what’s better than two top 10 finishes?? Having so many of their fan club there to cheer them on. People who have family who live nearby tend to take for granted grandparents, cousins, etc who can just pop in to watch the kids or attend athletic and school events. In our lives, most visits are planned around the opportunity to see a ball game or field day.

Hayden had two soccer games this weekend. This team is so fun to watch play together. They won on both Saturday and Sunday, and Hayden was one of the players of the game on Saturday. More soccer next weekend!

It’s no secret that my favorite time of the year is fall. We make it a point to go to the pumpkin patch every year. We go to Evans Orchard and we usually have time for the kids to run around on the hay bales, go down the slides, feed the animals, and play on the inflatables, but this year we were on a time crunch…so we went to the orchard Sunday for about an hour to pick out our pumpkins to carve, get our hot apple cider and apple cider donut fix, and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Bonus…

I made pumpkin muffins Sunday morning. I used the mix from Trader Joes, and it made 18 muffins! The kids love these as much as I do!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are ready to tackle the week!

Have a good one,

Jen

Instagram: @showmeandsweettea

Facebook Page: Show Me and Sweet Tea

I usually take one day at a time, but all last week I was so looking forward to this weekend….mostly because we only had one activity that we were committed to, and that was Hayden’s soccer game on Saturday. The rest of the weekend was spent sleeping in a bit, doing some chores, reading, and running errands…but it was nice to feel like I actually had the time to do those things rather than squeezing them in between other events and activities.

I’m starting the Top 5 Weekend post off early with a Thursday night soccer game. Hayden had been wanting to go to one of my school’s soccer games, and our boys team is ranked pretty high, so they were fun to watch and we cheered them to a victory.

Hayden had a soccer game on Saturday. His team worked really well together, and they came out on top with a win…I’m looking forward to a time when he doesn’t have a game in 85 degree heat!

On Friday, after school, I stopped by my favorite local place to pick up pumpkins for our front porch. I know the weather is still hot, but I’ve been known to purchase pumpkins Labor Day weekend, so I certainly showed great restraint while waiting this long! 😉 I love the stackable pumpkins and had a few extra minutes to look around and pick up a couple of other extra gourds, striped and mini pumpkins as well.

When I arrived home, I got my cardio in as no one volunteered to help me lug these from the car to the porch!

Friday night, the kids’ school’s PTA hosted Family Movie Night where they showed Horton Hears a Who! The kids watch the movie and/or run around while the parents socialize a bit. It’s always a fun event.

All you can eat popcorn!

Saturday morning, Hadley and I hit up Trader Joe’s while Hayden and Travis took Homer to get a bath and his nails trimmed.

I feel like I cook a variety of things for dinner, but sometimes get stuck in a rut. So, once a month, I like to go to Trader Joe’s and wander around to sort of plan dinners by what I see and what looks good. Of course, we had to purchase a few pumpkin items (It was Hadley’s idea, I swear!)

The beef sirloin and bacon cheddar ranch are new items that I’ve never tried. I’m hoping the sirloin will be an easy Monday night dinner with Trader Joe’s risotto that I already had in my freezer.

I love the burritos and picked up a couple. They are easy to heat up for lunch. I also love the Roasted Red Pepper soup and saw on another blog that Andrea, at Momfessionals, mentioned putting in a dollop or two of Boursin Garlic and Herb cheese. Lastly, Hadley picked up the baked cheese crunchies.

For one of our low carb dinners this week, I’m going to try this quick recipe that I saw on an Insta Story. Shelby with Glitter and Gingham is a local Lexington blogger and I saw her post about putting carnitas and salsa verde in the crockpot for 3-4 hours on low and serve with this salad. The kids will eat tacos, but I will follow her recipe idea.

A few of the pumpkin/fall items we picked up were pumpkin: bisque, bagels, cream cheese, and waffles. Hadley couldn’t resist the fall leaf chips.

Saturday night, I was on the struggle bus of allergies and sinuses, but I rallied for dinner at a new local taco place. Travis had taken the kids there, but I hadn’t been yet. Hadley was at a sleepover and by the time we left for dinner it was already 7:30. So, we chose the Painted Taco to get a quick bite to eat…plus, Travis and Hayden could watch some football on the tvs there.

And–here’s Hadley and some of the crew having fun before the sleepover. These girls are the sweetest, and I’m sure Hadley was having more fun with them!

Sunday was spent prepping for the week ahead: church, grocery store order pick up, laundry, and a few other to do list items (with a side of me trying to get a handle on my allergies, finishing a book, and trying to get caught up on a show or two)

Happy Monday!

Jen

Instagram: @showmeandsweetea

Facebook Page: Show Me and Sweet Tea

Book club / Dinner Out on Friday

Friday night I met up with some friends for book club. We were to have read Elin Hilderbrand’s Summer of 69, but only a few of us had read it. I was recently added to this group, and the waitlist at the library was long for the book…since I was reading a couple of other books, I never got around to Summer of 69…and I wasn’t the only one in the group who hadn’t read it 🙂 Instead, we all chatted, caught up with one another, and enjoyed hibachi. It was a great way to start the weekend, and I’m determined to actually read our next book choice: Ask Again, Yes which I’ve heard good things about. (Also, a friend is letting me borrow Summer of 69, so I may actually read it too! 😉 )

Finished a book & started a new book

On Friday night, I finished a book I started a bit ago: Sadie. At my school, our librarian is awesome…and gives great book talks to my students. I had added Sadie to my list after hearing her book talk on it. It’s a young adult (YA) book, and I do try to read those every once in awhile, so I can share with my students book ideas as well. Overall, I liked it…especially how it was formatted alternating between a podcast and the point of view of the missing main character Sadie. I hope to write more about it in my September Book Review.

Then, I started reading The Mother-in-Law after being on the library wait list for a bit to get it. I’m about 100 pages in, and so far, so good.

Hayden’s Soccer Game

Hayden finally had his first soccer game of the season. This year he’s on a new team with many friends that he knows from baseball. It’s fun to watch them play a different sport together and while they are young for their age group, they dominated with an 8-1 (I think) victory with Hayden scoring the final goal of the game.

Cross Country

While Saturday was hectic with a soccer game and cross country meet immediately following the game, at least the soccer game and CC meet were at the same park!

Travis had hoped to start a cross country team at the kids’ school last year, but it logistically didn’t work out at the time. This year, with the help of a teacher at their school,he and Travis started the program.

The first meet EVER for their school was on Saturday with schools from Lexington but also surrounding areas as well. Running is definitely something that’s in our kids’ blood #buttheydontgetitfromme, and they did great. It was fun to see the sense of community with parents helping out, parent volunteers getting kids where they needed to be, kids cheering for one another and an outstanding showing for the sixty or so runners with the girls (3rd-5th grade) placing 4th overall and the boys (3rd-5th grade) placing 6th. It was a great effort by all: the runners, the parents, and the coaches. We can’t wait for the next meet!

Homer & the KC Chiefs

It’s been awhile since Kansas City has had a strong football team to cheer on…last year’s season was amazing and much like the wait and anticipation of the 2015 KC Royals season (#WorldSeriesChamps), KC is ready to once again cheer on Mahomes and the Chiefs. At times, we call Homer “Homie” which sometimes also turns into “Mahomie.” Once again, thanks to Etsy and the Golden Doodle Dog Co, Homer is stylish and cheered his team to a victory today.

Besides the top 5, we also tailgated for a bit with friends before UK’s home football game. Hadley and I headed home while the boys stayed at the game.

Sunday is always a day to regroup for the upcoming week and we did that with church, laundry, grocery shopping, keeping an eye on the Chiefs score, and an afternoon nap for 🙋‍♀️.

I hope you have had a great weekend!

Take care,

Jen

Instagram: @showmeandsweettea

Facebook page: Show Me and Sweet Tea