Happy Monday!

What a gorgeous weekend we had here in East Tennessee...we tried to take advantage of the amazing weather as much as we could as summer is coming to a close!

 Friday night pedis after dinner!

 

Look how long her hair is getting!

Hadley at the pool with her peeps...she came to her first Neighborhood Barre class with me on Saturday morning (yay for free childcare so the Mr. could do some yard work while we were gone!)....we were ready for some poolside relaxin' after class!

Someone is protesting their naps lately. This is what we got at about 5pm before a birthday dinner on Saturday night.

Every now and then, Hadley asks to hold my hand. Be still my heart...

Celebrated Jessica's 31st!  So happy these 2 are living in Knoxville now!

Got in a nice run on Sunday before church.

She doesn't like chips and salsa at all...

Ready for the splash pad!

 

On the menu this week...

Spinach and Tomato Chicken

Southwestern Quinoa Bake

Spinach Berry Salad with Grilled Chicken

Ingredients
Tender baby spinach
Sliced strawberries
Blueberries
Sliced almonds, lightly toasted
Green onion, sliced
Feta
Grilled chicken, marinated in your favorite flavor (we like a citrusy marinade with this salad)
Raspberry vinaigrette dressing (we love this one) 

Directions
Prep your fruit, almonds, and chicken. Layer all your ingredients on a big plate and top with dressing. Enjoy!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

 

 

 

Fall Edition! (mostly...)

 

 

Loving all the fall recipes I've seen on pinterest lately. Bring on the pumpkin lattes, cookies, cakes, smoothies, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

I am counting down the days till I convince the Mr. to drag out all the fall décor from the basement! When do pumpkins go on sale?

 

 

 

I am loving that we only have 10 more days until it's football time in Tennessee!  Ready for football parties, tailgating, and breaking out all the orange and white clothes for my little and me :)

 

 

 

 Loving the semi-cooler temps! Cannot wait to rock my Frye boots, skinny jeans, and sweaters. I've been on a bit of a buying spree for the Hadster too, stocking her up for fall.

 

 

 

 

Loving the fall party themes. Thinking of having friends and all the kiddies over for a pumpkin carving/painting party, complete with chili bar and all the fixins'. This just sounds good for the soul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loving planning Hadley's 3rd birthday party - we are having the party at a local park and I'm doing a rainbow theme. I'm really trying not to go overboard - trying to keep it simple - but Pinterest does not help.  Look at all these adorable rainbow themed party pictures! So cheerful and Hadley is sooo excited when I show her ideas on the internet....she's my little party planning assistant this year which is so fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loving this cute print I found on Etsy - so want this for my office! #truth!

 

 

 

Happy Hump Day!

Meal Planning Monday + Weekend recap

Mondays always seem to come around so quick!  Here's what our weekend looked like...

I am taking full advantage of the last few half day Fridays at work - only 2 left!  This past Friday I was able to get some shopping done for Hadley's fall wardrobe and make the 4:15p barre class - yay!

Hadley spent Friday and Saturday with the Skeens which equals date night for me and the Mr.  We ended up at Bonefish which never disappoints!  They have an amazing flourless chocolate cake which we finished off with no problem.  

Saturday morning we worked out, ran errands, and then headed to the Knoxville Open which is practically a skip, hop, and jump from our house.

someone's caddy photo bombed us :)

We all went out for dinner at Wild Wings afterwards and then the after party at the Bennetts' house.

Sunday we picked up the Hadster - I missed her!  Brandon's mom told me all sorts of funny things that Hadley said during her stay at Granna and Pappy's house over the weekend. My favorite was definitely this one: While Granna was vacuuming and Hadley asked her if she was almost done mowing. Hehe :)  Apparently mommy needs to vacuum more often, although I do usually leave that for the house cleaner because there are only so many hours in a day folks!  I guess the vacuum looks and sounds like a push mower? 

I took her on a lunch date to Salsaritas and then we went to Costco which is like her favorite. She's really into the sampling :) 

Hadley is really into "helping" me around the kitchen so we had fun prepping food for this week and doing dishes.

On the menu this week....

Honey Sesame Glazed Salmon, quinoa, green salad

 

Cilantro Grilled Chicken and Fiesta Bean Salad

 

Spinach Lasagna Roll-ups with Broccoli (I'll make a gluten free version with spaghetti squash for myself, and the regular recipe for B and H)

 

 

 

Have a great week friends!

that was not fun.

Hadley headed back to the allergist this morning for some additional skin testing.  Our appointment wasn't until 9:00 am so we went to Chick-fil-a for a breakfast date and some playground fun before the doctor's visit.

 

When we got to Dr. Ellenburg's office, he said there would be "5 small tests." 

The nurse then brought in 2 giant boxes and told me the doctor ordered a lot of tests for someone Hadley's age.  They pricked her little back what seemed like thousands of times while she cried and I held her.  It literally broke my heart to watch this.  I was in tears, she was in tears. I almost made them stop at one point. 

After they were finished, we put her shirt back on and were waiting on the doctor to come talk to us about the results.  Then, in walked another nurse with MORE tests.  Was not prepared for that in the slightest.

This time the nurse did them on the back of her arm (6-7 tests).  These were more painful for Hadley....the whole experience was just awful for both of us.

The good news is she has outgrown her egg allergy, still allergic to milk. She's allergic to molds and shellfish as well.  Hooray for no allergy shots!  We will continue her nebulizer treatments until we go back in December. 

When we left, Hadley said "that was not fun."  I told her it certainly was not fun and that we would go get ice cream tonight when I picked her up from school.  Love her little heart so much.

Our weekend in pictures

 

Celebrating Luke's 1st Birthday! Golf themed and everything was SO cute! Wish I would have taken more pictures. All the kiddies had so much fun!

 

 

 

Homemade gluten free pizza! Sorry for the crazy kitchen mess...wow. Anywho, it was a cute idea but the crust was not good. Like, it was nasty. And I was tempted to go pickup Mellow Mushroom after the first bite and turn our $15 at home pizza into a $35 pizza. Thank goodness I picked up a bagged salad because it saved the meal :) 

 

 

Sunday morning post-run treat!

 

Skipped church Sunday and headed for the zoo! The new giraffe exhibit is awesome! They get so close and you can pay a few bucks to hand feed them.

 

 

Taste of Thai, because what 2 year old doesn't love thai food? Playing with the sugar packets is like her favorite past time while we wait for our food. Also, check our her sweet "bib."

 



 

Made our favorite, Roasted Veggie Enchiladas. Brandon said I could start a restaurant with the following dishes: My Berry Chicken Salad, these Roasted Veggie Enchiladas, and.....

 

And he could never think of a third, so I guess he really only likes 2 things I make :)

But seriously, these are good y'all. I used broccoli and mushrooms this time - you can just throw whatever veggies you've got on hand in this dish. Love it.

 

 

 

Happy first day of school!