Five on Friday!

I have seen a lot of blogs doing this Five on Friday recently. I love the idea of it! I actually have a few random tidbits to share today, so it works perfect! ;)



One
I think everyone knows that Robbie and I have a penchant for eating out at restaurants. Unfortunately, it gets sooo expensive seven nights a week, ha! Yesterday, I got off work a little early and ran out to Harris Teeter to grab a few essentials for a dinner at home. I have been scouring Pinterest lately for some dinner ideas that don't break the bank, and use ingredients that we have! I found a delicious chicken recipe that used spices I already had in my pantry. So, I literally only had to buy chicken breast. Thanks to a tip from Laura, I went to the butcher counter at HT and got three HUGE fresh chicken breasts, and they are only $1.99 a pound. That is cheaper than anywhere around here. I picked up a few other goodies and headed home to prepare. The recipe that we used can be found here. It was super easy, and Robbie threw them and some corn on the cob on the grill. Awesome. Mama made mashed potatoes and I made peas. Try the delicious rub - it gives a TON of flavor!!

BBQ Spice Rubbed Chicken Breasts

4 chicken breasts
2 tablespoons mild chili powder
1 teaspoon black pepper, medium grind
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice (I didn't have this so I just used a touch of cinnamon)
1 tablespoon coriander, ground* (optional)
2 dried bay leaves, crushed* (didn't use these)
1 tablespoon salt

Mix all dry ingredients and rub liberally over the chicken. Grill until done and enjoy!! :)

Hiding from Dada when he came in the door!

The finished product!! So delicious!

Two
I have wanted to get William a Radio Flyer Steer and Stroll bike for forever!! But the $90 price tag was keeping me at bay. I checked a few consignment stores around, and they didn't have any, BUT offered to put my name down on a list in case they got one. They called me last week and said they finally got one in and they could hold it for me. I was so excited! We picked it up Wednesday night! It is a little faded, but for $25 and working great, we will take it!! He LOVES it! As soon as you ask him if he wants to ride his bike, he drops what he's doing to go outside haha. The night we bought it, he cried when we put it in the car. He thought we were leaving it at the store. He is the funniest thing. I hope he will enjoy it for a while. The handle for us to push him can be removed once he starts pedaling on his own, so it should be a good investment!

Riding after dinner with Nana!

Love!

Three
Last night after dinner, William was "cooking" in his kitchen and then brought his bowl and spoon over to us to try his concoction. Riley was sitting beside us and he started letting her taste it too. She was less than impressed. 

Mixin it up!

Here, Riri!

LOL!

Four
Last night, William fell off of his little bike. Surprisingly, he didn't get hurt. However, a few minutes later, just walking down the driveway he fell and skinned his knee. He didn't even cry! But I was grossed out haha because there was blood. After bathtime, we used our first of our Jake and the Neverland Pirates bandaids - a Capn Hook one! He was obsessed with it and still won't leave it alone. He keeps pointing at it and saying, Ooooh, Ooooh like an old man!

So cool!

Five
For those who don't know, I have just started drinking coffee - about 2 months ago. I just have never liked the taste, and I LOVE a Diet Coke. But lately, I've read so much about artificial sweetener, I have tried to distance myself as much as possible. When we can find it on sale, we splurge and get the Dunkin Donuts Hazelnut coffee. It is delicious!!! We've tried a couple other brands with hazelnut flavor, and none of them are as good as DD! Add a little hazelnut creamer, and you are set!

Mmmm!

Our Weekend

Well, last weekend was definitely different than planned. Robbie had Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off from work, and I decided to take Monday also. So, we planned some good family time!!

Friday night, Hannah, William, Mama and I went to eat dinner. William was such a ham with a lemon after he ate his dinner. He is a mess!! Hannah, William, and I rode down to the mall to do some quick browsing before it closed.

Silly!

Double paci!!

Saturday morning, I saw this on the monitor - he was lining up all his paci's on the ledge of his crib. So funny!! We went to the movies after lunch and came back for naps. We ventured to Chick Fil A for dinner to support a family at our church who are in the process of adopting three siblings! Dessert was at Laura and Caleb's house - homemade brownies and ice cream!! We stayed too late as usual and got home and crashed.

OCD?!

Not so sure about the blueberries :/

Dessert time!

Entertaining himself after the girls went to bed!

I was up all Saturday night getting sick. I could NOT catch a break. Robbie insisted we go to the doctor Sunday morning. I didn't want to go, but I am so glad we did so that I could at least get some relief from anti-nausea meds. Shew. The dr says it was food poisoining, but I am FINALLY starting to feel normal today. We were so upset to miss Sunday school and church! We never get to go as a family, so we were really looking forward to it. We literally stayed in bed all day. Poor Robbie did all of the William duty, and did lots of picking up food for them. I am SO thankful that he was home. I know it wasn't the fun weekend he had planned, but we were still together, and tried to make the best of it! Our church was having a celebration night Sunday night, and we were so excited about it! Missed it also. :( It was based on Psalm 150, and was just a fun time of praise and worship. We were able to watch it live on the internet, so it was alllllmost the same.

Keeping Mama company in bed!

Psalm 150!

Monday, we had planned to take William to Marbles for the first time. I was feeling better, but still very weak. We went to Zaxby's for lunch, and hurried back home because I already was feeling rough. Poor William - Marbles WILL eventually happen, I promise!! I am so thankful that Robbie was with us all weekend. Sometimes a low key weekend is just what we need, even though I could've done without that nasty sickness. Robbie was definitely a trooper and the biggest help. William was so funny and behaved so well. He knew something was going on because he kept coming over to me and hugging on me and wanting to be held. Bless his heart. Here's hoping for another family weekend SOON, with everyone well!!

Sesame Street in Mama's bed!

First Movie Theater Experience!

This weekend, Robbie and I lost our minds decided to take William to the movie theater for the first time on Saturday. Our movie trips have been very few since he entered our lives, and anyone who knows Robbie, knows that going to a movie is his love language!! Soooo, we figured that if we can get William into watching them, then that is one more thing we can enjoy together! We bought Monsters Inc a couple weeks ago on DVD (after I kept SWEARING to Robbie that we already had it...(we did...but on VHS LOL)). Anyway, inside of it was a code for Disney Movie Rewards. I had already signed up for DMR a while back, so I went online and entered the code, and our reward was a free ticket to Monsters University!!! I was SO excited. I LOVE Monsters Inc and of course wanted to see Monsters U.

Anyway, Saturday we packed up and went. William has been great at live shows (the circus, Disney, Sesame Street Live), but I really wasn't sure how he would do. But he did enjoy Monsters Inc and saw lots of Mike and Sully at Disney, so he definitely knew who they were. His kids meal at Subway one night came with this cute little MU bookbag, so he carried his snacks in that. I found this super cute tee at Target with Mike on one side, and Sully on the other, ha! We had the sweetest person at the ticket counter, and she actually gave us the entire value of the voucher ($10) off of our total, instead of just a free ticket. So, for all three of us, we only paid $6 to see it!! (William was free, even though when I called a few days ago, they told me he was $7.75) I figured for $6, even if we had to leave, it was worth a shot!!

Walking in! Looking like a big boy!!

His little bookbag was so sweet!

Pointing and saying, "OOOOOOOH!!!"

Mike! :)

Once inside, William and I found seats while Robbie got our snacks. We sat at the very top, just because I didn't want him to disturb anyone if we had to bust out the iPhone for a quick relief. He had his own seat, and we even got him a booster seat from the theater to help him see over other people. He sat beside a little boy and they held hands. It cracked me UP! He mainly sat in one of our laps though. He is a little popcorn hog! He watched the entire movie. He got a little antsy the last 15 min or so, but who doesn't - after 2.5 hours?! (We were there early since it was PACKED for opening weekend). It was the sweetest little movie with a really precious message about just being you. We all really enjoyed it.

My own seat?!

He thinks he is big stuff!

He couldn't even make it home!!

Super Summer Adventure!

William and I had the pleasure of attending Super Summer Adventure this morning at church! Super Summer Adventure is also known as VBS. I am so old school and still called it that all week haha! I can't wait until William is old enough to go and participate! But this year, I was asked to help in the babies room, and I quickly signed up to help on Friday! I loved that William could come with me, and I got the opportunity to watch how he interacts and plays with other kids, ha!

We were at church at 8:30 to get all signed in. SSA was from 9-12, so we had some fun playtime!! Our classroom had about 8 kids, and we had 4 teachers in our room. William was the only boy!! It was so fun watching them all play together, and they all behaved great! We took them outside to play and they loved it! While we were on the playground, the other baby class came out. I recognize so many kids from reading blogs, haha! Ashley's little Evelyn came out, and I was telling her hi as if she knew me, lol! William loved on little Lucy all.day.long. He kept taking toys over to sweet little Zoe and smiling at her and hugging her. Time flew by, and the kids just played and snacked. Before we knew it, it was 12 and we headed home to see Dada after our fun morning!

I can't tell you how blessed I was by this experience! I met even more amazing people just this one morning! I have always looked so forward to doing things like this with my own children, so for William and I to participate was just so fun to me! I look forward to us doing more fun things like this in the years to come!

Sweetest girl!

Lucy getting some air!

So corny of me...but I loved being all official with my name on the door ;)

Sharing with Amelia!

Clara and Lucy!

Loving on Minnie!

Giving Lucy a kiss!

Riding the duck!

His favorite - the swing!

Swinging with Clara!

Sweet Evelyn!

They did so well with taking turns!!

Whee!!!

Evelyn and William wanted to escape!

We had such a great time and just can't say enough how blessed we have been by Providence!!!

Happy Father's Day!!

Sunday was Father's Day! Robbie did have to work, boo, but he got off around 3:30 - so we still had plenty of time together! William and I got up and got ready and were out the door for church early! I went to Sunday school, and then met Mama and Barbara for big church. William is obsessed with the big fish tank right outside of his classroom. As soon as we start walking down the hall, he starts saying, "Fish, fish!" We always stop and stare and point at them for a few minutes. After church, we had lunch at El Rodeo and William was just so exhausted that he finally just passed out in my lap. That NEVER happens.

When Robbie got off, we decided to go to Texas Steakhouse for dinner. If you know Robbie, you definitely know that his meal of choice is always going to be a steak! We met Mama, Barbara, and Beth and had a great meal. We went to Kilwin's for ice cream. Yall, you have got to try it! It's in Cary in Stone Creek Village, and so awesome. The ice cream and chocolates, etc are all homemade and just delicious. William got his own cone of vanilla and LOVED it. Every bite was, "MMMMM". When we got home, I was going to skip William's bath since it was getting late, but he killed me by going into the bathroom and was standing in front of the tub and tugging on his outfit. How could I refuse that??! The boy loves a bath.

William just loves his Dada. I am so thankful for their little relationship. Robbie is just a great dad, and comes in from working an eleven hour shift, and gets right in the floor to play or change diapers, etc. He is the perfect mix of stern and fun, and is becoming such a great spiritual leader to our little sweet boy! I just love watching my husband be a father. It has been the highlight of my life. We are just so thankful for the baby doll that has made us parents.

Fish Fish!!!

Hugs for Dada at dinner!

MMMMM!

Do you think he's enjoying it?