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Tuesday we had a chance of snow, that never happened. But it stayed cold. (Funny, because all of the schools shut down and most businesses too. Even my office decided to close late Monday. I bet they wish they could take it back! Free off day!!! ) Then all of a sudden it was in the 60’s again! So we decided to make the most of it this weekend!

We took Zoe to the Galleria, a mall about 45 minutes away that has a Carousel in the middle of it. She was so excited when we could start to see it in the distance, and she took her time picking out the perfect horse. When it started to go, she was a little unsure and was gripping the pole so hard her fingers turned white. But then she was smiling and having the best time saying “Again! Again” when our turn was over.

Pure Bliss.

We walked down the hall to Build a Bear for another fun surprise. She had a hard time deciding which bear to chose. She started with a unicorn, then a troll, then my little pony, then back to a unicorn and a troll and then a paw patrol dog…and somehow we ended up with pink sparkly barbie bear. I made her stay firm in that decision because while we were looking, more and more people were filing into the store and then there was a birthday party going on. We ended up waiting for about 45 minutes to actually build her bear. But it was worth it to see her so excited to pick out her heart, and take her bear to the bath and chose an outfit. She went with an Anna dress, obviously. Chris decided to do a Yoshi too to add to our ever growing basement game collection.

After that, we were all hungry and headed over to Firebirds for some delicious eats. We started off with some lobster queso, which was ah-mazing!!!!! Zoe ordered the chicken fingers and I landed on the Durango burger. Everything was so good!!! Zoe loves eating out and is always on her best behavior.

When we got home, there was still plenty of daylight left, so we headed outside for some bubbles, sidewalk chalk and walks! Zoe living her best life!

My sister and nephew came grocery shopping with us Sunday morning. Zoe absolutely adores both of them and is constantly asking about them through the week. Cooper plays really well with her, even though he is six years older. I think him being the youngest of four, with the next oldest in his family five years above him….he understands how you can feel left out a little bit. He is always so sweet with Zoe and never hesitates to play with “baby toys”. He is always bringing her his old books and stuff to keep too.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Linking up with Biana.

Is it just me, or does January last a year? I saw some people posting Whole 30 pictures on Instagram the other day and I was like…geez…that is STILL going on???

The weatherman is calling for snow here Tuesday. So basically the grocery stores are out of everything and the entire state is preparing for a shut down. Gotta love the south! In all fairness, it is because we have ZERO ways of keeping the roads safe here. There isn’t much need for salt trucks and snow plows, so we are completely unprepared. Also, you might not know this about Alabama…but it is hilly AF.

This past weekend, we didn’t do a whole lot. We mostly hung around the house and played. We did go to visit Chris’s parents on Saturday night, and got our weekly meal planning/grocery shopping done.

I did make some delicious banana bread on Saturday with some bananas that were turning. We bought Zoe some powdered donuts as a special treat, and she didn’t like them because they were messy. Wouldn’t even try a bite. Toddlers. I guess I have to eat them now? Sacrifices we parents make.

Have you tried the Jackson Morgan drinks yet?? My favorite is salted caramel, but they are all so delicious. I heard there is a banana pudding one that I have to find!!! I drink mine straight over ice. Chris experimented with them this weekend and mixed some of the salted caramel with milk and vodka. It was pretty tasty too!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Linking up with Biana.

I haven’t had the chance to do an Amazon favorites post in quite some time. I love seeing what everyone is ordering, because sometimes I feel so overwhelmed when I go there to look for something. I get trapped in a sunglasses black hole or twenty clicks later and I forget why I even went there in the first place! What have you ordered recently?

Bathmat Set – Chris ordered these replacements after we had a horrible flood in our basement bathroom. (Ugh, septic systems!!!) They are surprisingly really high quality for the price!! Really thick and soft. The Amazon picture doesn’t really do them justice.

100 Days to Brave -When I lost my job last year, I had so much self doubt and zero confidence. I kept telling myself all these lies that I am worthless and no one wants me. But then I had this inner peace about it all, and started rocking interview after interview. Where did that peace come from?My faith. God let me know he had something better in store for me and that everything was going to be just fine. I realized I had a void in my life for quite some time where that faith used to be, I never want to lose that again. I have never really done a devotional before. After everything I have been through in the last year, I thought this would be the perfect place to start. So far, it is amazing.

Toddler Shopping Cart – Zoe LOVES this toy and it has been a huge hit!!! It has a seat for her baby doll or stuffed animal in the front and holds a surprising amount of stuff. Chris jokes and says that she looks like a homeless person with the amount of stuff she can store in there.

Munchkin Falls Bath Toy – I am still on that quest to find the perfect bath toys that don’t get gross after a few weeks. These cups are so much fun! Three of them have holes in them to turn into a water spout or make the little things spin underneath, and one is a cup for putting water in the other three. You can move them around and create different ways they all work together and it has provided plenty of entertainment for Zoe. No mold or grossness and we have had them for awhile!

Hair Bows – Ummmmm 40 bows for $10.99. Do I need to go on??? Every color you could possibly want. The only problem? The 10 minutes it takes Zoe to decide which one she wants to wear every day. These things stay in all day long and we love them!

KidKraft Play Dishes – We got Zoe this kitchen for Christmas, so we got these dishes to go along with it. They are pretty colors and good quality! She has so much fun with these!

Tomy Eggs – Zoe loves these way more than I thought she would! You can match the egg lids to the right color, and the bottoms each have their own shape to match with the shape of its place in the container. Plus, you can push down on the eggs and the sort of make a chirping sound. Hours of entertainment and learning!

Soni Cutting Food – We also got this to go with the kitchen. Each piece of food has velcro holding it together so you can cut them in halves and match them back up. Really great hand/eye coordination skills. Again, hours of entertainment! It comes in a nice little bag that Zoe has deemed her “diaper bag” for her baby stuff.

I always like the coffee chat posts that people do from time to time. Just like you were chatting with a friend over coffee and sharing random bits from your day to day life. Speaking of coffee, anyone try the new Starbucks Cinnamon Shortbread?

I spent most of the day yesterday thinking it was Monday. I even sent out my normal Monday marketing email at work, only to realize about two minutes after I hit send to all 308 recipients, that it was in fact Tuesday. Oops! No one else really noticed, so a win for me.

The weather here can’t decide what it wants to do. One day it is 60 and rainy and humid and we have tornado warnings, and then over night it drops down into the 20’s and cant seem to make it out of the 30’s the next day and you see snow flurries.

I really enjoyed our long weekend. Saturday morning we walked around Best Buy and grabbed some Mexican for lunch at Casa Fiesta. Zoe LOVES eating out, and Mexican is her favorite.

The rest of the day was spent watching Blacklist while Zoe napped, and hanging around the house. It was fabulous!!!

Sunday morning, Zoe and I headed out to our usual Target grocery trip after I had done some cleaning around the house. Of course, Zoe had to take some OOTD pictures first. She cracks me up!!! If you notice, Zoe is almost always sitting on our brick wall by the bushes. I had her take a picture there once about a year ago, and now she thinks all pictures must be taken there.

During her nap, Chris was working on re-wiring our entertainment center in basement, and I took down a TON of stuff for bulk trash pick up. And of course, we got in some more Blacklist with homemade lattes!!!

Monday, we had some errands to run and returns to make. Zoe had received a duplicate toy for Christmas, and we took it back to Walmart and let her spend the gift card money on anything she wanted. It was her first time having “money to spend” and a certain amount to budget. She actually got A LOT with her little bit she had on her gift card. She even understood that she had to put something back because she wanted to pick something else more.

She was hardcore people watching in that shopping cart. She got a baby car seat for her dolls, a ball with hearts all over it, and then we let her go over budget with a Moana necklace because it was in the wrong place on a shelf and I figured that wasn’t her fault. The last picture is super blurry, but it is her taking pictures in her necklace from all angles. The kid cracks me up!!!

We also got some crafting in this past weekend. Michael’s was having a BOGO sale on Disney crafts, so I grabbed this Mickey felt board that can be rearranged over and over again, and a princess crown that Zoe spent quite some time finding the perfect place for all the princesses and jewels. You can tell she is in deep concentration trying to decide where each character should go on the board.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Friday was Frozen day at school. Zoe went in her Elsa costume and was soooooooo excited!!!! She would wear this daily if we let her.

Have you read How to Walk Away??? I just finished it last night. Such a good read!!! Definitely add it to your list! I am going to start Little Fires Everywhere today. Hopefully. What are you reading?

It was nice getting to chat with you. I am off to take Zoe to her 2 year wellness visit today. I think I am going to grab one of the Cinnamon Shortbread drinks on my way into the office afterwards, as a treat for the guilt I feel watching Zoe get her shots. It is heartbreaking to watch her face as the realization hits her that I am holding her down and just let someone stab her in the leg multiple times and she doesn’t understand why. Traumatizing for all parties involved!

I meant to blog all week, but here comes Thursday. The days keep getting away from me lately! One of the things I want to get better about, is hanging out with friends more often. I am totally that meme that goes around…

I can’t help it! But I am always glad when I actually get there and am participating in those plans. So anyways, Laura has the same goals in mind and we decided to book our first family outing of the year! We ended up at Back Forty for some beers and burgers. The kids had a blast running around inside the brewery, and we even let them play outside for awhile in the cold too. Zoe says the cold never bothered her anyways. Literally. That kid must have gotten some of my northern blood, she always runs hot and didn’t seemed bothered in the least with the wind blowing us away out there.

Do these two get any cuter??? I took a picture of my burger too, but forgot to download it. A crime really, because it was a work of art!!!

One thing I wanted to share with you all is this delicious new snack that I discovered while walking around Target. There is an older woman who works the free sample table there every Sunday. She is so funny, and she just loves Zoe. She always gives Zoe extra of whatever she is giving out. One day we were there before Christmas, she was sampling some things from the Wonderland line that they carry for the holidays. It was a raspberry mustard spread on crackers with cheese. It was so damn good!!! I immediately went to get all the ingredients around the store. Come to find out that she did her job so well, that they were completely sold out of the mustard.

No need to fear, because she went and got someone to check in back for me, and they came up empty handed. So he flat out told me how to create it myself! You just need a jar of jelly and some honey mustard! DONE! It tastes just as good and Chris and I have been eating these all week for snacks. Zoe loves it too.

You just mix up some honey mustard and a spoon full of the jelly and spread it on these specific crackers (Honey and Flax) with that Parmesan Cheddar cheese you can find near the deli. AMAZING combination!!! These crackers are so good that I can think of about a million ways to serve them, but I am stuck on this for right now. Just do it and thank me later.

Other than that, I am just plugging away at life. Work has been a little hectic since it is a new year and new goals and all that business. I am still trying to clean up some stuff the person who left made a mess of. And my co-worker in my department is going out on maternity leave soon, so I must absorb all her knowledge before then! She is good and knows everything and has been such a resource for me since I have started. I hope I can fill half her shoes while she is out!

The major interstate system that runs through Birmingham’s Central Business District is being torn down next week. That means EVERY single car that has to go through Birmingham will have to reroute on I-459 (the interstate that loops outside of the city) or drive the back roads/service streets through downtown. Lord help us! This is going to be going on for at least over a year, maybe longer. I just dont even know how I am going to deal. I can barely make it to daycare to get Zoe on time without this mess!! Send me all the good car vibes. I have major anxiety about this!

Hope you all have a great week! You know, the last two days of it 😉