High Five for Friday

Hi there! Today I'm linking up Jennie to share some of my favorite stuff from the past week.

1) Last weekend I made and delivered this fun beach themed birthday cake!

It was my first attempt at making palm trees!

2) On Saturday we went to a birthday party for Grant's best friend. He was so excited that he couldn't get to sleep Friday night, woke up early Saturday morning, and asked every hour if it was time to go to the party. The party was at a place that teaches circus-type aerial tricks and the kids had fun swinging and playing around. It's always so fun to watch Grant play with his friends!

3) Sunday, we went to the park for a walk and some playtime.

4) And I made Grant this fun mask:

5) My co-worker and, as she calls herself, "work mom" is retiring this week. We had a little celebration for her yesterday and I made her this cake:

6) Have you ever heard of a hot brown sandwich? Maybe I watch too much food TV but I've been wanting to try one forever. Last night for dinner I gave it a shot and holy crap was it good! I used THIS simplified version from Kraft. But I found a baked potato version online somewhere as well and I think I'll be giving that a try soon!

I actually can't stand tomato so I made a couple without it for me
but Husband and Grant enjoyed the tomato ones :)

Happy Friday everyone!

Have a great weekend!

High Five for Friday

Hi there! Today I'm linking up Jennie to share some of my favorite stuff from the past week.

1) Last Friday, Grant was sick and home from school. I stopped for a movie on the way home thinking we'd do a movie night. We ended up not watching it until the next morning (Frozen, again...we love Olaf) but I still fixed our typical movie night food: stove popped popcorn! Its one of my favorite things. My mom used to make it for us and I've got Husband and Grant hooked on it. We don't even buy the microwave stuff anymore. 

When I make it I like to send pictures to my sister (who got revenge
by sending me pictures of homemade dinner rolls a couple days later)

2) I haven't been walking or running much yet this year (ok, I haven't been running at all since sometime in December) and Saturday was so pretty! So I set out for a walk in the afternoon and got in 4 miles. It made me feel a little better about not getting out so much last week...and walking is always so much more enjoyable than running!

There's this rundown farm house in the middle of  cow pasture
that I love to look at on my walks. And it was such a pretty day!

3) I had promised Grant some baking time soon since he got some new kitchen tools for Christmas. Over the weekend we decided to make some brownies (just the box kind). He got to use his new giraffe whisk and was so excited! Soon I have to make time for cut-out cookies because he's chomping at the bit to use his alligator rolling pin!

Baking lesson: always, always lick the spoon :)

Enjoying the fruits of his labor (he'll eat brownies but not cake!)

4) Monday I was off! That in itself is wonderful. I kept Grant home with me that day and we explored a new park ("new" meaning we'd never been there) and had lunch together before running some errands. I love our days off together!

Jumping on the bridge

He loved sliding down the pole pretending he was in "Paw Patrol"

Me and my guy :)

Happy Friday everyone!

Have a great weekend!

High Five for Friday

Today I'm linking up with Lauren to share some of my favorite stuff from the past week. It not exactly just this past week because I'm including last week too.

1) It snowed again! Just in case I was clear HERE, HERE and HERE...I love snow and winter and cold weather! Love it! And so does Grant. So he was jazzed about another day to play in the snow (and had his first, second, and third snow slushies).

He begged to play with the Hulk fists outside.

2) The day after "Snowmaggedon" hit Raleigh - also Valentine's Day - my co-worker and I headed to Hickory for a conference. So she and I were once again each other's Valentine date. Later on, Husband texted me a picture of the Valentine that Grant made us at school. So stinkin cute!

3) I got home from my trip Saturday evening to flowers on the kitchen table and a happy little boy.

4) I took Grant to the park on Sunday. The weather was great and we needed some exercise. So I took a nice long walk and then let Grant have some playground time afterwards. I even managed to meal-plan while I walked and we hit the grocery store on the way home!

5) Wednesday was Taco Night. I never mind that night of the week because I don't have to cook much besides the meat. But Grant looks at like a buffet table of "I can do it myself" and he eats better than any other meal I make. He had four tacos and was excited about every single one.

Happy Friday!

Have a great weekend!

High Five for Friday

Today I'm linking up with Lauren to share some of my favorite happenings from the past week.

1) On Saturday we had a yummy picnic at a local park (Kids Together Park) with my friend, Elizabeth, and her little guy, Henry. Neither of us had been to this park before but we were both glad to check it out! It rained some but that just made the park less crowded. Grant loved the dragon sculpture/statue that they have on a hill for the kids to play on!

Dragon statue!

Brave squirrel trying to steal our yummy lunch!

2) On Sunday, we took Grant to his first birthday party for one of his school friends. It was at Jumping Jax in Garner and he couldn't have had a better time. Jumping in the bounce houses, climbing all through their floor-to-ceiling jungle gym thing, and playing his first arcade games! 

Way up in the jungle gym!

3) With Grant's 3rd birthday party about 6 or so weeks away, I went ahead and ordered him a birthday shirt like I did last year just in case the seller on Etsy was backed up. It came this week and I love it! I showed Grant and he was so excited that he gasped and then jumped up and down. He's so looking forward to his Cars birthday party!

Shirt made by lilshabebe on Etsy

4) I bought a shirt for Grant about two months ago that I thought was adorable and hilarious. I've been on the hunt for coordinating shorts and I finally found some. So he wore this outfit to school Wednesday:

I love the fake tie.

5) I started packing for vacation! We're leaving today for a week vacation in [waaaay] upstate NY to see my family!

HAPPY FRIDAY AND HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

The Slippery Slope

I have a habit of indulging my child's fearlessness, much to Husband's dismay. Mostly when it's a Mommy & Grant trip to the park rather than a family trip to the park. I have said before that of the two of us, Husband is most definitely the worrier. I tend to let Grant explore and figure out what he can do - although I'm always right there with him.There are two parks we frequent and they're right across the street from each other, which is really convenient.

On Sunday, to take picture for Grant's 19 month update, he and I went to White Deer Park in Garner. There whey have what I refer to as "the really big slide". It's bigger than your standard park slide. It goes down a hill and then has a set of wooden steps going back up. Grant loves to slide. I think it's his favorite park attraction at the moment. And because Sunday was on and off rainy, the park - and "the really big slide" - was pretty empty. So I did it. I let him go for it - partly because Husband was not there to say "You need to go down with him!".

When I set Grant at the top of slide, excitement was just oozing out of him. So I told him to stay put and then I bolted down the hill. When I was at the bottom I told him to come on. He pushed off and down he came. I don't think anything could have wiped the grin off his face. Then he'd scoot himself off the slide and run back up the hill (completely ignoring the stairs) for more.

I let him go down a few more times, but there were some older kids hanging around to play on it and I didn't want Grant to get trampled. But hopefully we'll get back there this weekend and he'll get some more slide time. I think I might have to ride with him a time or two...it looked like he was having an awful lot of fun!

FYI: For anyone as concerned as Husband was when I showed him the pictures, he was perfectly safe on the slide by himself. It is not a steep slide and the bottom has a long area to slow down. He did not come anywhere close (and probably couldn't even gain the amount of speed needed) to falling off the end of the slide.