High Five for Friday

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

1) Friday I got to wear a new scarf that I made!

2) Friday night Grant spent the night with his Gramma & Grandpa so Husband & I could go to the Hurricanes home opener. We were very excited! Then they lost. But we haven't had a date night in a while so it was nice to just spend some time together.

3) We practice a lot at home with Grant helping him learn to write. He's gotten so good at writing his first name (I can't believe it's not all over our walls yet because he loves to write it!). Now we're working on his full name and he's even more excited about that!

He was so proud of himself!

4) After consulting with a friend who told me how to make real chicken & dumplings, I tried it out on Sunday (since I had a chicken in my freezer). It turned out great! Seriously, I've been eating it for lunch all week. The best part of making it, though, was my helper. Grant begged to help me. So when it came time, he was the official adder of the dumplings (and stir-er...very important jobs). 

5) Our State Fair started this week. Which I sort of dread since I have to work out there. BUT this will be our last fair of the year. I am looking forward to taking Grant, though. As much as I don't enjoy it when I'm working out there, it's much more fun when we get to watch Grant enjoying himself!

Throwback to my first year working at the fair...back
when I still got excited about it!

Happy Friday everyone!

Have a great weekend!

High Five for Friday

Today I'm linking up with Lauren and Jennie to share some fun stuff from the past week.

1) Friday night Grant went to my in-laws house for the night while Husband and I enjoyed our Christmas present from my sister. Hockey tickets! They were really great seats and it was, for the most part, a great game...until they lost. Can't win 'em all, right? (Or even most, as this season is turning out).

2) After we picked up Grant Saturday evening, we went out for dinner with my in-laws. And since we were in the neighborhood-ish, we finally took Grant to the new Bass Pro Shop that opened. Husband's thought was that Grant would love their huge fish tank...and he really did...but we ended up spending over an hour in the store because it's actually kind of a fun place. 

Rooooaaaar!

3) I was feeling crafty on Sunday and made a necklace for my sister out one of my Dad's old ties. One of Dad's favorite things was dressing up so when my sister found his old ties for me, I knew I had to make us both something from them. 

Sister's pick of the ties. I think it turned out pretty well!

4) Tuesday evening was gorgeous and I had no plans for dinner. So right after we all got home we went right back out, swung through a drive-thru for a quick dinner and headed to the park. We ate dinner at a picnic table and then turned Grant loose on the playground until it got dark. So much fun! We'll definitely be doing that more.

5) I rarely make dessert to go with our meals. Desserts are typically a special occasion thing but I want to start making a treat to go with dinner every once in a while. It's difficult to do given Grant's dislike for cookies, brownies, cake, ice cream, etc. But the boy loves popsicles and snow cones. I found this on Pinterest ages ago for Jello Shaved Ice and whipped it up for a treat this week. Not only did it turn out as easy as the recipe sounded, it was good too! I say that as someone who absolutely despises Jello with every fiber of my being!

I made this using cherry lemonade flavor Jello. It was
easy that I made a grape one too.

HAPPY FRIDAY!
I hope you all have a great weekend :)

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High Five for Friday

My first High Five of the new year! I was too lazy last week so this week I'm linking up with Lauren to share some of my favorite stuff from the past week.

1) Over the weekend I was feeling pretty crummy from a cold-type-thing that keeps coming and going. But Sunday I was ambitious enough to try two new recipes. I made chicken and rice soup using THIS RECIPE from Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible (thanks to my Mother-in-Law for that!) and THIS RECIPE for Hummus from Smitten Kitchen. Both were really good and I'm so glad I decided to try them!

Mmmm...good soup!

My first hummus attempt (and the first real attempt at eating it).

2) Also on Sunday we had some Christmas gift exchanges to do. Grant received and outfit that was too small and that store was lacking in toddler boys clothes. So Grant picked this instead:

It's *ahem* a little big and you can see that really bothers him.

3) In honor of Downton Abbey's return - and because they're just good and I wanted some-, I made maple oat scones for those at work fortunate enough to get to the container before they were gone (the recipe only made 8 and I claimed 2 for my Tuesday & Wednesday morning coffees). This was another new recipe for me and it was really good. Although, I have yet to meet a scone recipe that I wouldn't make again. If you're interested, THIS is the recipe I used.

Not all maple syrup is created equal and I accept no grocery store substitutes!

4) There is hockey in my living room most nights, whether on TV or between the three of us.

The boy loves hockey.

5) Speaking of hockey, Husband and his brother went to the Hurricanes game last night which gave me a date night with Grant. Evidently a date night with me means Cracker Barrel because that's what Grant always picks for our dinner dates. So it was Cracker Barrel for him...and some shopping for me :)

His Iron Man pose.

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) I wore these super cute shoes to work on Friday. I've had them for a few months but don't wear them often so I get excited whenever the opportunity presents itself.

2) On Saturday we took Grant to the Hurricanes Summerfest and had a great time!

3) Also on Saturday we did one of our Family Movie Nights. I made stove-top popcorn (not jiffy pop, popcorn in a pot with oil and butter and salt and it was wonderful) and we watched the Smurfs movie. It was cute and Grant liked it...and it was only 75 cents from Redbox. Regardless of the movie, we love Family Movie Nights.

4) I felt like a walk this week so I busted out our very under used wagon and took Grant around the neighborhood a few times. It was HOT but it felt good to just get out for a bit of exercise. 

5) I made Grant try on the outfit I'm planning on having him wear to my sister-in-law's wedding at the end of August. Grant was less than thrilled with this idea. But he looks super adorable all the same in his little seersucker blazer...even if the hat is a little big.

Happy Friday! I hope you have a great weekend!

Hurricanes Summerfest 2013

Last week sometime I got an email notice that the Hurricanes would be having a summer festival and I thought "What a terrible idea". I mean, it's JULY. In North Carolina. Every time I leave an air conditioned space for the sweltering heat and humidity of the outdoors I curse my decision to move here. 

But then I saw it was inside the arena and I thought "Lets go!"

So we did. Not for very long, we were a little lazy that morning getting going but it was worth the trip for just the couple hours we were there. 

Upon exiting the truck, Grant saw one of the few things they had stationed outside the arena which was a huge inflatable slide. Slides being one of his favorite things ever, he pointed and said "OHMIGOSH ITS A SLIDE! I need to go on the slide!" 

He always has to go backwards too.

He could have stayed on that thing until it shut down. And even though it was outside, it really wasn't too hot standing there. And if the slide was hot, none of the kids coming down had any complaints.

We managed to talk Grant into checking out what was inside. There may have been mention of a bounce house.

And there was a bounce house. But Grant seemed intimidated by the crowd around that one and didn't want to play there. So we walked and just happened to see the Hurricanes mascot, Stormy. Figuring there was no way he'd get near the giant pig ("Ice Hog"), Husband tried to ease him into it. When he set Grant down, Stormy crouched down too. And that's when Grant walked over to him with his little arms spread out for a hug which just about knocked us on our butts with shock.

Also, it was one of the cutest things I've ever seen. Ever.

Posing with Stormy!

We had passed a little slap shot station they had set up on our way to say Hi to Stormy. So after that little meeting, Grant told us he wanted to go play hockey and made his way over there. Grant was patiently waiting in line while kids who'd already had turns let other kids cut in line...which really pisses me off considering there a mom standing there acting like a 12 year old that thought the whole thing was funny. So I made a not-so-quiet comment about how Grant had two kids in front of him and now they've magically turned into four. Then a dad appeared and made the two boys who'd cut in front of Grant get behind him. Husband calls that "showing my NY side"...I call it "making parents teach their kids manners". So anyway, Grant had his turn at the slap shots and he did great.

He was serious about his hockey. I'm thinking we've got a little sports player on our hands (which isn't a bad thing...just an expensive thing).

Future player checking out the feel of a locker :)

After that we just checked out some more stuff they had going on. Some of it was too big for Grant. Like the bull riding station he almost cried to ride on. It was nice because it wasn't too crowded so there wasn't a lot of waiting and it wasn't wall-to-wall people.

Grant loves to throw the football so he had to check out this station

They were also having their prospect scrimmage so visitors could go in and watch that too. We didn't. As soon as we walked in there, Grant started whimpering to leave. I'm thinking he was having flashbacks from his first hockey game. Or maybe he just didn't want to sit down and stop playing. Who knows. We stood at the deck area for a minute to watch but that was it.

It was definitely worth a trip out there. We've never gone in the past but knowing it was inside this year was a big incentive. Plus, much to my surprise, it was totally FREE. All the activities were free and they even had a little cotton candy station for the kids (well, adults too I guess...we didn't partake). I think it's awesome they do that for the fans! Grant had a great time and maybe he'll remember how much fun he had there the next time we make an attempt to get him to a game.

Grant's First Hockey Game!

 On Christmas morning there was a surprising box under the tree. It was to me and Grant from Husband. He's never gotten us a joint gift before so it really got my curiosity up. It was kind of big but light so I had no idea. When we opened it, I saw it was something from Ticketmaster (Grant's attention immediately went back to toys). First thought was that it was Monster Jam tickets, it's coming back to Raleigh in March. BUT IT WAS HOCKEY TICKETS! If you're a hockey fan (or maybe even if you're not), you know there's been a lock out. But the Hurricanes minor league team, the Charlotte Checkers, were coming to Raleigh for one game. On a Sunday at 1:30...perfect for a toddler's first game.

All week we'd been talking it up. Then we'd ask Grant what we were doing that weekend and he'd say "Uuummm...hockey man game!" He was very excited. Fast forward to the day of. Husband and Grant got up before me and I was barely functional enough to make coffee when Husband said "Look at the news". And there it was - lock out over! Hockey is coming back! Yippee!

Not having had a nap all day, Grant passed out in the car on the way to PNC Arena. When we got him out of the car he wasn't awake enough to be excited, so Husband carried him.

Mini Caniac dressed for his first game :)

Clapping with the crowd as the Checkers take the ice.

We had great seats! 

Grant & Daddy (Grant's wearing earmuffs to
 dull the sound - hockey fans can get loud!)

Curious guy checking things out.

It's never complete without a fight.

 Grant was scared at first. It was loud and kinda crazy. But he got comfortable and even started bopping to the music they played. During the first intermission we grabbed a late lunch. Grant must have started to get hot because after he ate he wanted his jacket and hat off. With the hat, the earmuffs came off as well. That's when the Checkers scored and the place went nuts. Grant looked at Husband and told him "I need go outside". He was scared, poor guy. Husband took him out and I stayed behind to gather our stuff. Nate said that the whole way up the steps Grant was yelling "I be right back Mama! I coming back!"

We never went back in. We kept asking but he kept saying "No, it's loud and scary". So instead, we walked around and Grant talked Husband into every souvenir his little heart desired.

Grant & Daddy checking out a John Deere tractor...in their matching gear :)

So we only made it half way through, but it was fun all the same. We had to start somewhere, right? And maybe with the season starting back up we can give it another try soon. Even if we'd only stayed 20 minutes...it was nice to see hockey again :)

P.S. After we got home and Grant was playing with the hockey set that he so easily talked his Daddy into, he kept calling himself "Hockey man!" And consistently yelled "Go Checkers!" until he went to bed.