Happy Friday! Can you believe we are closing in on the last week of October?? So crazy! I still haven’t watched Hocus Pocus this month, need to get right on that! Zoe and I started watching the Harry Potter movies together last weekend. We finished the first and are a little ways into the second. I read the books for the first time in 2013, and had never seen the movies. I think she is a fan, though she got scared during the troll scene. She asked for dolls from the movie for Christmas…so that’s a good sign. They make Barbie sized Hermione and Harry.

This was Zoe’s first week back to school, and the girl has been all smiles. Every day I pick her up, she tells me how it was the best day ever. So happy to hear!!! We had a little bit of a rough drop off yesterday, she said that she was going to miss me. Sweet girl. Her teachers are really good about just grabbing them and pushing you off on your way.

Favorite Find: I had this jacket in my cart for awhile, and one day I decided to just pull the trigger. I am so glad I did! It is so cute in person!!! It looks much higher end than it is, and it fits true to size. I had both Chris and Zoe tell me separately that I looked cool when I wore it. If that isn’t a win, I don’t know what is.

Zoe has said that she was going to ask Santa for this food truck for Christmas for the last 8-9 months…so I felt pretty confident ordering it this week. It comes put together, even better! I ordered several other things this week, and am about 90% done with her Christmas and birthday presents now. I need to figure out some stocking stuffers and get her a pair of boots for fall/winter.

Parents of older kids….where do you hide presents???? I have these in their shipping boxes in my office closet. She hasn’t figured that out yet…but I just know that maybe next year or the year after she is going to be too smart for them to be out in plain view.

Favorite Recipe: I cant remember if I shared this recipe or not after I made it the first time, but these boneless crockpot wings are amazing and so easy to make! We have been rotating them in our game day snacks and they would be great for a weeknight meal paired with a side as well.

Favorite Workout: Heather coming in hot with a no repeat! Sometimes I love no repeat workout because they always seem to go faster for me. Also, you know that move you hate isn’t coming back around on the second rep so it is easier to just get through it once and move on.

Favorite Funnies:

Linking up for Friday Favorites. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

This is the week that never ends! I thought Tuesday and Wednesday were both Thursday, so there is that. The Amazon holiday toy catalog arrived this week, did you get yours? I get really excited when I see it and Target. I absolutely love to sit down with Zoe and let her circle the items she wants for her birthday and Christmas. It reminds me of when I was little, and the Sears and Hills ads would come in. My mom, sister and I used to look at them together. And then I get the Hills jingle “Hills is where the toys are.” stuck in my head. Anyone remember Hills? I think Ames bought them out in the 90’s, and they were only up north. (And I still think the 90’s was the last decade, because when I typed that I was like…well that wasn’t that long ago. Oh wait.)

Anyways, Zoe circled about 10 things in the catalog, which is an improvement from the entire catalog like last year. She is really into Barbies, My Little Pony and dolls. I shared the Ily doll and accessories that we got her last week. They had the American Girl Wellie Wishers in the Amazon catalog. It says they are 14 inch dolls. Zoe already has an 18 inch doll, and the Ily doll is 18 inches. I wonder if it is even worth it? Or if we should just wait til next year and take her to get the regular size from the American Girl store in Atlanta. Girl moms, do you have the Wellie Wishers? Should we even bother?

Work has been keeping me pretty busy. I started decorating for fall on September 1st inside, but last weekend we put our Snoopy blow up outside. Zoe has to say hi to him every morning when we bring Mac out. I think we are all anxiously awaiting for the return of Gobbles, our huge disco lit Turkey. I am sure my neighbors are excited too, lol.

We have been talking a lot about the solar system, moon and stars, and have been working in an educational workbook about it all. Zoe decided she wanted to put her solar system puzzle together. It’s such a good one. We got it for her last year for Christmas.

Favorite Finds: I am a sucker for animal prints, I think you all know this. It is rare to see Zebra like this. And at such an affordable price from my favorite sweatshirt brand!

I am also obsessed with this sweater. It looks so much higher end than it costs. I have several pieces from this brand, and they do not disappoint. I can’t decide, all three colors are amazing. It is going fast.

And I am a fan of this sweater too. Me and stripes have a long history together.

Favorite Recipe: I made this sweet potato appetizer two weekends ago for game day. It was pretty easy to make and quite tasty! I candied the pecans myself and used cranberry goat cheese instead of getting a bag of cranberries. Delicious!

Favorite Workout: This low impact HIIT was a good one! I try to take it easy on my knees outside of leg day, so low impact is something I seek out a few days a week.

Favorite Funnies:

Linking up for Friday Favorites. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Friday! It was a rainy week here in Birmingham. There are some crazy stories of flooding in different areas. I heard that we lost four people due to flooding, and there are numerous homes that have water up to the top of the couches. While we got quite a lot of rain at our house, we didn’t experience it to that level. I am happy to see sun and dry days back on the forecast in time for the weekend, even if it is going to be hot. No one is more unhappy than a kid that can’t go outside.

I am in a bit of a reading rut this week. I started a book several days ago, and never really feel like picking it up. I think it might be a sign to ditch it. I have Apple Never Falls and I really want to start it, but man is it a long one! To give me some inspiration, I love looking at book lists for the upcoming seasons. Here is 14 books to read on a cozy Autumn night. And if romance is your thing, this is the best fall romances list.

Favorite Purchases: I am about out on my Dior Primer and I have got to say, I really love this stuff!!! I love it even more than Lancome. It really makes a difference with my lashes and I highly suggest it.

Had to grab a big box of the caramel apple pie kcups! I fell in love with them from Aldi, but of course they sold out the first week and haven’t been back. So glad to find a big box of these to get us through the season.

I have been working my way through Zoe’s birthday and Christmas lists. She asked for this Ily doll for her birthday, and it came in last night. It is soooo cute in person! I love that they are princess inspired without actually being the princesses. You can get all sorts of princess inspired outfits and different accessory kits to go with them. The best thing is that these are 18 inch dolls so they can share clothes with the American Girl and Our Generation dolls. We haven’t gotten into buying the actual American Girl dolls yet, but I have a feeling next year we will take her over to Atlanta and do that whole experience. What are your kiddos into this year for Christmas?

Favorite Aldi Finds: I haven’t made it to Aldi this week, but over the weekend I placed an order for pumpkins and coffee. This caramel cappuccino is SO GOOD! I am going to order a few boxes next time. I love how big their pumpkins are, Zoe and I placed them immediately on our porch when we got home.

Favorite Recipe: For game day last weekend (Roll Tide Roll!!!!!!!!!!) we made Olive Garden style Fried Lasagna in air fryer. It was so good! Zoe said it is her favorite. Definitely need to check it out!

Favorite Workout: I am loving the new structure of Mr and Mrs Muscles’ workouts. Instead of doing several moves in 4 sets, it is broken up to a a few moves twice then you move on. There is also a stretch at the beginning, when before there wasn’t.

Favorite Funnies:

Linking up for Friday Favorites. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Linking up with Tanya. Had a lot of Amazon purchases this month. such a random assortment, but aren’t they all? Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? I have a good chunk done, I need to go through and inventory what all I have collected the past few months.

The Pink Stuff – This stuff is seriously a miracle worker!!! I used it to clean our flattop stove and wow!!!! It looks brand new. I love that it works great, but it also uses natural ingredients and it smells pleasant. This will be a staple in our house.

The People We Keep – I had to order this one for book club last month. Despite the rest of my book club not loving the book, I quite enjoyed it.

Kitchenaid Whisk – I bought a new whisk from Homegoods about a year or so ago, and it already broke. I should have gone with one of my favorite brands to start with! This one is study and pretty, and dishwasher safe…unlike the other.

Garden of Life Vitamins – I switched over to these a few months ago and have been loving them. Have you looked at the ingredients in gummy vitamins??? Horrifying.

Sight Words – I grabbed this for Zoe, as we are starting to learn letter sounds and working on site words. She thinks it is just a game and hardly realizes that she is learning. Love this!

Dance Outfit – Zoe had a major growth spurt recently and we are needing to replace a lot of her dance outfits. This color is GORGEOUS in person, and the back with the criss-cross looks so fancy. The body is really soft too.

Dance Outfit – Zoe loved the colors of this one. Another winner. This reminds me of the 80s for some reason and I love it.

Clifford We Love You – We have checked this out of the library so many times, we decided to just buy it. It has a song that you sing for half the book and Zoe LOVES it. You can only find it used, and it is hard sometimes to get it.

Bike Seat – Chris ordered an exercise bike and man is the seat so hard and uncomfortable! This makes it a little more bearable.

Paddington Pancake Day – Chris ordered this for Zoe when it was international pancake day a few weekends ago. We made pancakes and read the book while breakfast was cooking.

Cherry Juice – Going to try daily Cherry Juice and see how it goes. Did you know all the benefits of pure cherry juice??

Halloween Face Stickers – How cute are these?? Going to add them to trick-or-treat bags for school and dance. I am the mom who puts lots of fun toys/activities in the bag and only like one piece of candy or a bag of Halloween themed veggie chips or something lol.

Halloween Treat Bags – Ordered these bags for school and dance friends for all our goodies.

Happy October! Wow, we are entering the last 90 days of the year. Crazy, right??? Does anyone else feel like it has been a week every week lately? I just wanted to sit down and share a few fun things before I dig back into the work hole that I feel I will never get out of.

We have had some incredible sunrises this week! I just wish that they were happening about 30 minutes earlier than they do. I don’t love taking my after workout walks in the dark.

Do you have any fun plans this weekend? We will kick off ours with some homemade pizza tonight, Alabama plays Ole Miss tomorrow (which is funny because work had me dealing with some Ole Miss things this week) and I am sure Zoe will want to spend some time in her bounce house at some point.

Did you know that you can now shop HomeGoods online?!?!? This excites me SO MUCH! Goodbye money.

Favorite Finds: I have been wanting to try Cle de Peau concealer for quite awhile, but it is pricey and I never wanted to pull the trigger. It is on sale here this week, and I figured YOLO!! My under eye area is my constant trouble spot and if this works as well as everyone claims, it will be well worth it.

How cute is this little set?? I am going to order it for Zoe. Such a great price!! I love that it comes with bows to match. She is totally into accessorizing and this makes it so easy. Would be great for other fall outfits too.

Favorite Aldi Finds: Fall is still going hard at Aldi this week, and I am here for it! I was really excited to see these makeup towels for $4.99. You get 5 for a fraction of the price of the Makeup Eraser and they work just as well. This is our second block of that Wickedly Habanero cheese, and y’all….wicked it is! Love the spicy kick to it. Probably going to make a cheese board for the game this weekend.

Favorite Recipes: I made this chicken enchilada skillet the other night. It had been awhile since it was in our rotation and comes together pretty fast.

We tried out this Italian Egg-Drop Soup. I like that it was meatless and another quick recipe for the weeknight. I am not sure that I want it reheated, so I may cut down on some of the amounts next time.

Favorite Workout: If you need a killer superset workout, this will do it.

Favorite Funnies:

Linking up for Friday Favorites. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!