one fun mother's day weekend

Kicked off the weekend Friday afternoon with lots of snuggles from my best girl (my niece Macy) when I got home from work! I'm obsessed with this LaRoque Betty B top just because 1. it's a great white blouse that goes with everything 2. the peplum style and arms are insanely flattering. Definitely a great investment piece. I paired it with these fun gingham shorts and my necklace has a garnet tassel (Go Gamecocks!) and is by Laura Cox Designs from Greenville, SC (who is actually A Liz Adventure's (or now A Smidge of This blog) sister! We all met at a trunk show called Swoon! in Greenville last Fall). So lots of local love with this fun outfit...

So I went to a sweet friend/customer's home on Thursday night for a Wildtree Tasting Party. Wildtree is all certified organic and mostly gluten free ingredients that you use to make up amazing recipes for your freezer. I came home with ten awesome meals, one of which I didn't have the chicken to go with when I was at the party so I just threw in shrimp and we made shrimp tacos with rice. It's the Zesty Lime Fajitas recipe. So flavorful and so GOOD FOR YOU. I have been trying to "diet" and do Weight Watchers to try and shed these last 10 baby pounds before Summer (which are the absolute hardest to come off...sheesh...) and I hope this helps me come up with easy, quick healthy meals!

I may have a party soon, so if you're local and interested in learning more about it and making quick freezer meals that are HEALTHY this Summer, then comment below or message me on FB! I bought a bundle last Fall and just used the ingredients here and there, but the key is to actually follow the bundle recipes and do the workshop to prep the freezer meals. It's amazing how many meals you can get done and it's GOOD STUFF. I rarely ever jump on board with direct marketing gigs, but uh good food is one thing I can get on board with. Again, I'm not a rep that's selling it - one of my customer's is - and I just want to do another workshop to make more meals!!!

On to Saturday afternoon it was time to celebrate our cousin Blain's second birthday. He is seven weeks ahead of Charlie, if you remember Holly and I were pregnant at the same time and even had a shower together! Can't believe he is T W O already.

He and Charlie are "double trouble", so we say. I kept them both a couple weeks ago and they fought like brothers. Charlie does not know how to share, ohmygah. He kept saying "MIIIINE!" and Blain would point his finger at him and say "NO!". I couldn't help but to laugh, but yes we are all going to the beach together later this Summer so this maaaay be a problem if they don't learn to share with each other better. Geez. I'll have to put them in different rooms!  

isn't he the cutest thing?? It was a fun construction themed party...

Charlie LOVED the trampoline. 

"Beep, beep! Who got the keys to the Jeep???"

how adorable is this cake???

and I thought this was hilarious and oh-so-fitting...

Ok, so THEN...I had been dying to go see Chris Stapleton again in Charlotte. We went last year around this same time because I got the tickets for Chad's birthday (which is tomorrow on the 17th) My bestie Beth had asked me to go but I knew we had Mother's Day plans - an early lunch - and I just had major mom guilt leaving them again/trying to find a sitter/missing church/etc... knowing how busy we've been lately and how much I've left them lately. But you know what? Mamas travel. It's OK to leave your babies. It's hard, but I also believe that it's important to make time with your spouse (as well as your friends!) to keep it all balanced. 

When my in-laws offered to keep them, we literally bought tickets at around 4pm on my iPhone and booked a hotel within minutes. The boys were napping and we literally knew if we got up around 6am/7 to come home, we'd only be away from them for less than 12 hours. SO, off we went. I literally grabbed the same outfit I wore to see him last year and have never shoved things in an overnight bag so fast!

We arrived at the hotel and even had to ask them to print our tickets out! Also, I got the wrong hotel so we were actually like 15 minutes away from PNC Music Pavillion and it wasn't even the same place we had seen him last year. (which was like the music factory or something and a much smaller venue with a lot more character). Chaos. We finally got a Lyft and arrived at the amphitheater just in time for Chris to start.

I should have just sucked it up and went with my bestie and her work friends (yes, Beth I know you're reading this and are going to be like "I told you so!!!" - cue hand palm to my forehead) but Lord knows Chad is the whole reason I love Chris Stapleton so much because he had me listening to him years ago so I just chalked this up as his birthday present (errrr and Father's Day, so Chad don't forget this). It really was a fun time spent together, being spontaneous and doing something we both LOVE and nope, I don't regret going one bit. It was awesome. Spontaneity and music = two things that are good for the soul in my opinion, so there ya go. #YOLO

We did get up at the crack of dawn to hightail it back down 85 to see our babies!!!!! They were still in their pjs and we enjoyed an amazing lunch. My father in law I swear should be a chef or on some BBQ challenge. Ribs, porkchops and chicken on the grill with all the sides. Even my MIL's famous pecan pies. We enjoyed time with the only grandparent we both have left - our precious Grandma Frieda. She got me the prettiest hanging basket which I'll have to share pics of later. It really was the best lunch!! Me and the boys had fun playing on Mimi & Papa's "playground" too while Chad helped his dad plant new shrubs we (and his sis/bro in law) bought for his mom for mother's day...

That moment you realize this is my circus and these are my monkeys...

Charlie took a good nap, so me and Cade went over to Chad's sister's pool while they were at a Clemson baseball game (and Chad was plantin'). It was fun QT time and I actually got to sit still for about 30 minutes, listen to Bob Marley and pretend I was in Jamaica. Once they got back, Charlie woke up and we all were at the pool and they made a slip & slide too. They all had the best time.

We went back and ate leftovers and didn't get home until dark! It was a long, fun day. The best day. The initial plans were to celebrate at our house for my sister's first Mother's Day, but then they ended up having plans and as for our mom - well I have the privilege of seeing her everyday since she keeps our kids, so I think she just enjoyed a day of REST, bless her heart. We celebrate her every single day, seriously, but we're definitely going to do a mother/daughter pedicure day soon too! 

I'm so grateful for her, my mother-in-law and Grandma Frieda. So many amazing women in our lives that we don't know what we would do without! Hope all you mamas enjoyed your day as well. 

Life is short. Life is sweet. I say this over and over, but I just never want to take one bit of it for granted. When Father's Day rolls around next month, I'll celebrate without a father of my own here on Earth. I miss him every damn day and think about him all the time, how his life was cut short at the young age of 53. It just always brings things into perspective and even though he was a man that definitely lived his life to the fullest (and I thank him for passing that on to us), I do think about how much more he would have done had he known it was going to be so short. One thing for sure - he knew how to show that he loved us and he made a point to give me a kiss on the cheek and say "I love you" when he left me just hours before his heart attack.

Point is. You eat that pecan pie. You buy the concert tickets. Hug the babies and kiss them as much as you can. Rock on the front porch with your grandparents/parents and hold their hands. Make that slip & slide out of any old tarp you can find.

JUST DO LIFE. and enjoy every sweet second of it.