Whirlwind of a Weekend

About 2 weeks ago, we had a crazy busy, and absolutely amazing weekend!!!  On Friday, my Mother-in-Law and our niece, Charlotte, flew in from Virginia.  We grabbed lunch, took Charlotte shopping for her upcoming birthday, and then we headed out to take our maternity pictures.  Since I have zero patience… here is a nursery sneak peek with some of my favorite maternity pictures!

On Saturday, we headed over to my mom’s house because she threw us a baby shower!  It was so much fun to see everyone, and to celebrate Aubrey!  I was absolutely overwhelmed by the amount of love I felt from everyone there as we all shared in the excitement as we anticipate her arrival!  We received so many generous gifts, we honestly could not be more thankful for each and every one! Can we also take a look at the decorations and the food?!  Apparently my mom and sister are pros at baby showers that look like they took them right off Pinterest!

Also fail for me… I had my mom and my mother in law in the same place with me at once and failed to get a picture with them both at the same time!! These photo opportunities are not easy to come by when your Mother-in-Law lives 11 hours away! So mom and mom, keep this is mind for when Aubrey is born!! I want a picture with the three of us (we can even have Aubrey in it!!)

After the shower on Saturday, we had my dad and another couple take my mom out to dinner for her 50th birthday!! Little did she know, while they were out, we were transforming the house yet again for a surprise party!  Again, I failed at pictures.  I wanted a picture with my family, and a picture with Paul’s family, and I got neither.  Too much excitement I guess.

Sunday, we finally relaxed a bit!  We headed over to Nana’s house in New Smyrna, and afterwards we headed to the beach.  It was a gorgeous day out, and it was so fun to just relax and spend time with family.  After the beach, we headed to dinner.  Paul’s parents and Charlotte, were not in town long enough, but fortunately it won’t be long before they’re here again… this time to meet their newest granddaughter!! 🙂

So that was it.  One amazing, eventful, exhausting weekend with the ones we love that wasn’t quite long enough!!

Pinterest Perfect Party

This past weekend was EVENTFUL!  Literally!  Paul and I headed up to Tallahassee on Friday, where we met our friends for dinner.  Then Saturday morning was my first baby shower, that night we headed to an engagement party, and on Sunday we headed to a gender reveal party!  So much excitement for one weekend!

On Saturday morning,  my sister hosted a baby shower for me with some help from my mom and a couple of my friends.  When I walked into her house, I cried… on more than 1 occasion.  I think the tears were triggered, because 1.  This is happening.  I am really having a baby, and I never thought I’d see the day where someone was throwing a baby shower for me!  2. It was perfect.  The entire house looked like a party you see on Pinterest, but it never works out that way when you do it yourself.  The pictures don’t do it justice, because these are off my iPhone, because I’m just too impatient to wait for my sister to send me the pretty ones.

Let’s pause for a second to admire this cake… have you ever seen a more beautiful cake?!  My brother’s girlfriend has become the family cake baker/decorator, because I mean obviously she’s good at it! Not to mention, once we cut into the cake, she had each layer a darker shade to match the outside of the cake.  Perfection.

Now that we’ve admired the cake, let’s take a look at this onesie.  My sister is the crafty one of the family.  I draw stick figures, she makes things.  Lots of things that are always adorable.  So I saw this onesie, and I thought she bought it from a store or off Etsy… No, she made it.  Of course she did.  So I see the onesie, and I cry.  Again. It’s a little hard to read, but it says, “This little light of mine”.

Paul and I received so many amazing gifts for Aubrey, and we were so blown away by everyone’s generosity.  We are so lucky to have such amazing people in our lives, but I think Aubrey is even more lucky, because she isn’t even here yet, and already she is loved more than she knows.  We cannot thank everyone enough for everything!  We love you all!

My niece, Kennedy, might just be the best present helper.  She was so excited to rip the paper off, I don’t even think she ever saw what was wrapped.  She just loves tearing into the presents.  At one point, my sister said, “Kennedy, let Auntie open her present okay?”.  Kennedy looked right at me, and in the sweetest voice said, “MAY I help you open the present?”… Not can I, but may I!  There is no way I can say no to that!  That little girl is just adorable.

I’ve mentioned before that 3 of my friends in Tallahassee are also expecting.  I think it is so exciting that there are 4 little summer babies all due within 2 months of each other!   Here are three of us, but Whitney had already left and we missed the photo op!  All three of them are having little boys, and Aubrey is the only little girl of the group!  It’s so fun getting to experience pregnancy for the first time, with 3 other first time moms.  I just wish we lived close to them all again!

It was such a beautiful and fun baby shower.  I couldn’t have asked for anything more! It was so great to see all my friends in Tallahassee, and to celebrate the precious little girl growing inside of me!  Thank you so much to everyone!

Again, iPhone picture… I couldn’t wait for the real one 🙂

Time to Meal Plan

Meal planning is easily one of the best ways for Paul and I to stay on budget and save money.  Not only do we eat out less, but when I actually know what ingredients I’ll need for dinner, our grocery bill is smaller.  That being said, let me admit that I’m terrible at meal planning.  I typically go grocery shopping each week and buy a bunch of food, meats, veggies, etc. but I never actually make a plan to use it each night.  So when it comes time for dinner, I either A) haven’t thawed meat, B) don’t feel like cooking, or C) don’t have the right things.

When we made our move from Tallahassee to Orlando, I finally started meal planning, and then actually sticking to it!  We were doing so well, and then I got pregnant, and sick and didn’t cook a real meal for almost 2 months.  When Paul would pick up my slack and cook, I would get sick.  Part of me thinks it was seeing the actual prep side before a meal was complete that I couldn’t handle, but to be honest, I’m really not sure.  Aside from breakfast and lunch, we ate out for dinner almost every single night.  Which, as you can guess is EXPENSIVE!  Dave Ramsey would be so disappointed… 🙂

Well, I started feeling better, and I started going back to my old routine… which isn’t the best as I’ve already stated.  So, now I am actually going to make a meal plan, a grocery list, and stick to it!  So tomorrow I’ll go grocery shopping and at some point during the week I’ll cook the meals that I have bought the ingredients for.

Here’s our menu! Side notes: I don’t make a plan for 7 nights, as we always have left overs since it is just 2 of us, and we will eat leftovers as meals.  As of a few nights ago, we made shrimp and chicken skewers, and now all I want is shrimp.  I am also going to try and add chicken back into my diet as my aversion lessens… we’ll see how it goes!

• Shrimp Scampi 
• Chicken Wings – I don’t have a specific recipe, this is Paul’s area as he grills them, and they’re good.
• Skillet Pasta with Sausage
• Shrimp Stir Fry – I’m just winging this one and hoping it turns out.  I don’t think you can really mess up a stir fry right?
• Baked Chicken and Veggies

I am so excited to cook these meals, because aside from the wings they are ALL new recipes (thanks Pinterest)… and the two with shrimp I’ve been craving for about a week now!  Hopefully they turn out, otherwise I think we will be making PB&J 🙂