This is everything we were up to in the month of March!
Grandpa and Grammie had to be down in Florida for some family matters and were coming through on their way home so they stopped for the night and a visit! I LOVE every chance we have to see them and it was so sweet of them to bring little gifts for the girls as well as Kye’s birthday present. They came through the day we left Disney so it worked out great! We were able to enjoy dinner together and the kids all got some quality time in as well.
Not only did they bring gifts for the kids but also for Zach and I which was above and beyond sweet. Especially when mine was a bag full of THE most PHENOMENAL scrubs! My legs always get really itchy, especially in the winter months and the scrubs that Audrey has made me have totally changed up my skin in the best ways possible. Zach is so annoyed by how obsessed I am with them but seriously. I told her she needs to sell them because not only will I BUY THEM ALL but I bet I have a bunch of friends who are looking for an amazing scrub too 😉
Gotta love candids 😉
So thankful for BOTH Dad and Audrey and everything they mean to ME but also to my whole little family 🙂
The church where Zach grew up was celebrating their 30th anniversary homecoming. We couldn’t attend the church service b/c we had stuff going on at our church but we were able to attend the Homecoming dinner the night prior. Of course any chance I can I try to snap a few pics of our crew 😉
This is what life with three looks like haha
When Tess is over it I just tell her to go ahead and get out of the picture. I’d rather have her not in it at all than it in and pitching a fit or something!
The DAB annoys Zach SO MUCH.
It was such a nice event that so many worked hard to put together! We enjoyed getting to visit with many people we haven’t seen in a long time!
This month the live action Beauty and The Beast was released and I was SO PUMPED! I love my themed leggings that Jennifer sent to me and I got a themed shirt to match from Happily Ever Tees.
I had to watch the original with Tess, of course!
Our theater had the premiere night on a Thursday. Katie, Robyn and I grabbed a quick dinner before heading over and we all three LOVED the movie. Like it’s AMAZING. Awesome casting, perfect balance of true-to-original and adding new details, fabulous songs, it was just fantastic!
We did our fair share of moving watching this month…not only did live action Beauty and the Beast come out but Moana came out on DVD. I snatched it up as soon as I can and then waited for the right time to surprise the kids with it 😉 I was REALLY excited to do a themed movie night for them and have it be a surprise.
Something I’m working on is really truly thinking through what brings me JOY…and doing stuff like this really does just make me so happy. I love it! I searched on Pinterest for Hawaiian themed food ideas and enjoyed making each thing for our dinner!
Any excuse for Hawaiian rolls 😉
Some hula girl stirrers I had (random) worked great for fruit kabobs
These turned out SO CUTE and were SO EASY! Blue Jello in clear cups, chocolate wafer cookies, graham cracker crumbs for the sand. Then I just drew the symbol and cut out the flags and stuck and toothpick through ’em!
I pulled out random tropical decorations I had and put it all together!
Hawaiian punch with umbrellas of course 😉
I also got donut holes to serve as our “coconuts”
I couldn’t think up a Hawaiian veggie so donuts were close haha
The kids came down for dinner and did NOT realize why we had the themed meal. I took a video of the surprise 🙂
I love how she always puts her shoes on the wrong feet and her sunglasses on backwards 😉
Poor cardinal wanted to join in our movie night!
Yes. We had treats. Haha
We did Moana Friday night and then Saturday we went to see Beauty and The Beast as a family too. Told you we had some movie fun this month!
I know there was a LOT of controversy surrounding this movie. I read TONS of articles about it and debated a LOT about seeing it myself and then about taking the kids to see it. At the end of the day the scenes in question were very brief. I knew my children wouldn’t pick up on them and really thought the movie followed the original storyline so closely that I wasn’t concerned about my kids having any issues at all with the movie (including being fearful). Britt was really dramatic about it and looking back I think we should have watched the original as a family rather than just Tess and I!
Had to get some candy!
Zach agreed: he loved the movie too!
In February Zach was approached by our elders at our church regarding being nominated as a deacon. He attended a meeting about it and there was an announcement of all the men who were nominated and then time was given for church members to express any concerns. Not just about the nominated men, but also their wives (no pressure Emily haha!). They set aside time on a Sunday morning to officially announce all of the new deacons for our congregation. I’m very proud of Zach for fitting the qualifications for such a role in the church and for the Godly man he is. I found me a keeper for sure and he’s honored to have such a hands on role in our church family. I made sure to let all of the family know about the special portion of our worship service that morning and both of his parents (as well as Colt and Payton b/c Court and Brad were out of town) came to show their support. It meant a lot to us both to have them all there and we enjoyed getting to go out to lunch afterwards together! It was pretty adorable too to see Mr Rusty record the entire thing. I had to cut it down to even be able to email it myself from his phone but you can see it here 😉 I was SUPER thankful that Sara (Don’s wife) was called up after me so she could help me not feel so short standing beside Zach haha!
Sweet Payton drew this for me during church…I laughed so hard at the 85 jersey 😉
Sweet Sisters!
The day Kye had his well check we had a “skip school day.” It’s the first time I’ve ever intentionally allowed my kids to miss school without us traveling. And it was a BLAST! I tried to make it as fun as possible for them and think I succeeded in my mission, even with a drs appointment on the agenda 😉
Everyone got to pick ONE donut and Britt caught on to Kye’s genius idea to always pick a chocolate cream filled b/c they are MASSIVE.
This random Star Wars guy found it’s way in my bag and was the guest of honor for our treat.
The look you make when you’re skipping school and your teachers husband walks in the donut shop haha! We told him we wouldn’t tell his wife he was getting donuts if he didn’t tell her he saw us 😉
Had to have a picnic lunch after the dr!
The girls both had their Muffins with Mom this month (more on that in their individual posts) and before school we took some pics to show how Britt and I were matching but it quickly turned into everyone getting a turn at using Mommy’s camera haha
CFA kids night dinner for the WIN!
Tess is always iffy about the cow. She used to hate him but now she kinda loves him but also gets shy and nervous when he comes close. It was a more chill kids night (rare!) so he was pretty bored and ended up giving our table a TON of attention!
First date. With a cow. Ha!
We also love us some Zaxby’s on Wednesdays!
(Kids nights are our jam as needed)
Zach has been really missing quality time with his parents. Which is so precious. He keeps talking about how he misses eating over at their house. We hate to ever put his mom out or cause her added work but there is just something special about being at his childhood home eating his mama’s cooking. They had us over and it was a great time and so cute to see Britt helping G-mama in the kitchen!
G-Mama portions for dessert…
Tess was sick this month so we had ANOTHER family movie night! We recorded the made for tv Rapunzel movie and watched that together. The new show on Disney is also our first ever family tv show. We record it each week and try to watch it on the weekends at some point together. The original cast is part of the show and so far it’s super cute!
YEARS ago I read The Shack and LOVED it. I don’t remember a ton about the book only that it really helped in my spiritual growth at the time. When the movie came out there was a lot of controversy but y’all it’s a MOVIE (well book first but still). It’s not saying that it’s TRUE or that it’s from God’s Word. Take it for what it is and enjoy it and take home the many golden nuggets of truth sprinkled within it.
I’ve been part of a ladies bible study on Wednesday nights for many years now and much of our class is made up of ladies a few generations wiser than I am 😉 Our group went together to see the movie and it was fun! We filled three rows of seats in the theater!
I am personally struggling on my walk in the area of forgiveness lately. There have been people in my circle over the years who have known God’s Word yet who have chosen to go down paths that are directly against what God wants for us and our lives. Not only is it painful to see how these choices affect them, but also it’s crazy how poor decisions people make can hurt SO MANY. I haven’t really ever felt like I struggle with forgiveness but I realize it’s easy to forgive people who don’t know the Lord. Who don’t know His teachings. Who don’t know that their choices are sinful. I’m struggling with anger and the ability to fully forgive those who KNOW right but CHOOSE wrong. This was perfect timing for me to see this movie.
I love that it pointed out these things about forgiveness specifically:
1. That is does NOT mean reconciliation. You can forgive but not have a relationship with that person.
2. That forgiveness isn’t snapping your fingers. It’s a journey. It’s a path. It’s not “I forgive you!” and then BAM! It’s all washed away.
3. It takes reminding. It’s okay to get angry again. It’s okay to have those hurt emotions. You may have to remind yourself over and over again that you forgive them. It may take a LONG time to FULLY forgive but that’s okay too!
I left feeling much more at peace. Of course I’m not fully through those emotions still but I’m a work in progress on it 😉
After a few of the ladies invited me to DQ and we had THE best time! I love that friendships can span generations, we can all learn so much from each other and still have so much in common. I’m so blessed by all of these amazing women and thankful to have them in my life!
Speaking of reaching out hahahaha I about died when Zach came home on St Patrick’s Day and told me to look up the business he’d been to that day for work. Oh what you’ll do as an insurance salesman bahaha
Our month was crazy due to one word: SWIM. On days that Britt had swim I had to pack the girls’ lunches so they could eat while we waited!
One of my adoption goals for the month was to start freezing some meals. My routine is to cook a meal and as I cook it to just dump the ingredients into a freezer bag to freeze a second meal to eat later 🙂 This is a family favorite!
Zach and I hosted a small group from our larger Spiritual Enrichment Group at church and we did a brunch. I made two new recipes…crock pot cinnamon roll casserole and a crock pot breakfast casserole. Both turned out great!
Chicken pockets are an easy family meal (often something I make when Zach is out of town). Cook chicken and chop it up then put it in two crescent rolls (shaped into a square) and top with cheese. Cook at 350 for about 10 min!
Zach has been trying to up his healthy eating game since being officially diagnosed with MS and one thing he’s gotten into is making his own bread.
Another yummy favorite! If you try this one I’d recommend using less pasta and add extra cottage cheese. This was my second time making it and it turned out SO GOOD because it wasn’t dry!
I’m trying to work in more veggies and this was an okay dish…I liked it a lot but it had a little too much broccoli I think!
I still have TONS of books from my childhood! Books really are THE best gifts and always try to write a little note in them too, so special that I have this 🙂
Omg y’all. Did y’all know about this? NO MORE LOWE’S BUILD AND GROW. I am so so sad. We’ve been going to these for YEARS. It’s so disappointing that they have ended them! It’s something I know Zach and Kye were looking forward to doing with Tab one day too!
Warmer days meant our walks started back up!
I love that he’s so proud of his camera and isn’t embarrassed at all to take pics 😉
Poor outfit choice Tess if you wanted to get out of the stroller and walk!
We had SUCH a warm winter that I was pretty pumped that we’d get to be swimming in our pool probably in March! But then a random super cold front hit and it was FREEZING for a few days and totally ruined that plan!
I’m usually pretty hardcore about ONE big monthly grocery trip but here lately life has just been too crazy for it and it’s easier to run in and grab some stuff off our list in little chunks of time. And it’s made easier during those times when I have 2 kids rather than all three 😉
It was a rough emotional month with the adoption (you can read about it here!) and some emotional eating DEF HAPPENED. haha!
Mike and Sully!!!
Zach and I have been so busy. It’s a busy season and it can be hard to keep the focus on EACH OTHER. But I love that we both keep trying to make sure the other knows how much we love them and value our relationship 🙂
I found sweet notes all over the house in the most random places 🙂
We had this date night planned to get Panda Express and watch Con-Air (HOW has Zach NEVER seen it?) But then I couldn’t find Con-Air on Netflix or Amazon or HBO or whatever other options would be free…the cheapest I could find was $3.99 for it. I mean it’s a classic movie but not $3.99 worthy haha
I’m not big on getting my car cleaned. I get it done once a year haha and it’s after our annual beach trip b/c hello sand. But this month Tess dropped a sippy cup FULL OF MILK in the car. Milk was EVERYWHERE. I was pretty luck not to be able to smell 😉 I had it cleaned and FINALLY put my new decal on that Casey got me for Christmas and that aNn Monograms designed! I LOVE IT!
Mrs Charlotte, Courtney, Casey and I went to get pedicures and I about died when I googled the place to make an appointment and saw a picture OF MYSELF hahaha
Big shocker that we all felt pretty cruddy all month. This was after only a couple hours of my van sitting in a parking lot. INSANE.
We’ve been working to fix some damage I had to my hair and this was the first time I’ve left feeling SO GOOD about it! I LOVE this COLOR!!! Whoop whoop!
Part of my mission to focus more on what brings me JOY has been finding ways to be happy throughout the day for ME. Not just about my kids or husband but MYSELF. Gah y’all I know laying out isn’t good for our skin. But that sunshine just makes me feel SO AMAZING. I’m lathering on the sunscreen and covering up with a hat and just enjoying it! We all need more Vit D right?
Another thing I’ve been doing is reading more. Robyn really inspired me with this as she is reading 100 books this year. I def don’t have that goal but I’ve started carrying a book with me everywhere and when I have any downtime I READ rather than scroll my phone. I’ve been LOVING it!
I read The Hypnotist’s Love Story
(y’all this is a MUST READ. It was SO GOOD)
Whew. It was a FULL month, as you can tell, but our favorite moments are always those spent together. Love my sweet family SO MUCH!
A few family videos from the month:
- Jedi training at our house!
- Going through baby boy clothes for Tab 1
- Going through baby boy clothes for Tab 2
- The girls LOVE going through the car wash
- Lunch conversations between the girls
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