Merry Spring Break Wednesday!

Is that a thing?  Merry Wednesday?  It is this week!  It's my Spring Break😍

So...life lately + plans for this week off.

one. menu plans

You guys, I have really struggled lately.  With energy, food, motivation for life.  Saturday I thought I had turned a corner, even with what seemed like an impending sinus infection.  Nope.  Struggling again today on this Sunday eve as I type the first part of this post.  I think I've convinced myself to self medicate.  To do that...its going to require a lot of planning & prep on my part.

I've had a lot of yucky side effects from my nausea & prenatal medicine this time around & after my doctor visit last week, I've found that what I put into my body is extremely important this third time around.  Not that it wasn't before, I've always tried to be conscious of my diet/exercise/ & lifestyle during pregnancy, but every pregnancy is different.

For whatever reason, this one requires more of an emphasis here.  I haven't felt like cooking AT ALL so we've resorted to eating out or getting frozen meals for the past couple of week, & of course, when your nauseous, you eat what you can tolerate.  I've seen how a few changes in my diet has made a huge difference over the past week.  Not to mention my essential oils that I've put on the back burner lately due to expense.  I'm ready to get back in the kitchen & back to healthier options.  Thankful to have this week to plan!

two.  organize

I had a burst of energy to do this around Christmas, & here I am per usual on Spring Break.
That same desire to divide & conquer our mess!  Especially my + my Mr's closet, the boys closet, & figuring out how to prepare for the new baby.  Our playroom will be a bedroom now, one way or another, & that is going to take quite a bit planning!
Turning my diffusers on & getting things DONE.

current playroom situation🙈

three.  learn to French braid/fish braid?
I've felt super lazy in fixing my hair since pregnancy set in.  I have a new desire to learn this before I start back to work.  How cute would this be?

four. Soak up ALL the Vitamin D & have Lunch with Cam!
One of mine & the boys favorite thing to do is park hop.  We love to try new parks & visit the ones we love.  I leave it up to them-new or find something we know?  We grab drinks & head out!  We need allllll the sunshine this week.

Cam begs me to have lunch with him, & most of the time, my job keeps me from it.
(it breaks my HEART)
So this week off, every day we can-we have met him at 10:40 (YEP-early birds) for lunch!  Today was our second day with our big boy!  He has been so excited for our company-but I know my excitement outweighed his to pieces.  I treasure this💜

five. planning easter
I've been a cookie making machine...so these lemon white chocolate m&m cookies are up this next week for dessert.
Also, I just completely had a mini freak out realizing easter is a mere 2 weeks away.  It is the one holiday that always seems to creep up on me.  Trying to think up things for the boys baskets that are "needs" with a side of something special that they will actually use.  Con & I are going to go walk around Target before we pick Cam up from school & maybe come up with ideas today.  And last year, we recycled our Easter Sunday best, so I'm not going to panic as that is always an option.
On a side note: do any other adults out there like to hunt and hide eggs as much as I do?
We started doing that in early March😂

And let's just be real.
All I've really done so far is conquered tons of progress reports.  That may be all I get done.  After this week, I think I only have to endure them one more time - so I think I can do this!  And I'll enjoy doing it from home as I do❤️

Friday Favorites || Cade is 30

Cade is THIIIIRRRTTTYY!  

Despite his best efforts to make everything low key, how can you not celebrate the big 3-0?  

I at least went to Gigi's & got cupcakes for myself on my big day last year ...

(& had a job interview😝).  

Last week, I started the prep.  Ordered balloons, a platter from Sonny's Barbecue, & got all the ingredients for the cake.  I called in our neighbor buddies & recruited them for a mini surprise party.  Had it been the weekend, how nice it would have been to have with the whole family, but it all turned out just fine & I think a great time was had by all.

Tuesday evening he caught on to something.  I had went upstairs & while I was gone, Mr. Nosey had  been texting my group message back about a little favor they needed to do.  The group message in which I had been texting about the surprise party.  Now, to have him tell it...he didn't see anything.  But he became "suspicious" after I showed concern over him answering the group message.  

What secret are you keeping?  Are you leaving me?  Are you pregnant?  Oh, the drama!  

Of all the things to ask!  Bahhaaha.  

For the rest of the week, he walked in practicing his surprise face.  He finally convinced himself we were in fact having him a surprise party.  Thursday, birthday day, our neighbor Drew, text him to ask to help him move furniture that evening.  Something that has happened before.  He said he didn't think anything about it until a couple of hours later, & by the time I called him, he said "I'm on to your little plan."

What plan??  We are going to eat Mexican!  Hurry, I'm hungry!  (I'm always hangry after work🤷🏻‍♀️)

I know he didn't believe me, because then he said, "Okay, then just meet me there."🙄

CAN'T YOU JUST GO ALONG WITH ME & AT LEAST ACT SURPRISED!?

I finally convinced him without cracking (I'm so terrible at lying) to go move furniture first & then we would ride *together* to Mexican.

One family of neighbors missed the surprise part-he ended up being way earlier than anticipated-

but despite the flaws, I think it made his day memorable & special as I hoped it would.

I definitely died Thursday night, though.  I was pooped.  And here I sit on Friday night, brewing a pot of coffee to MAKE myself stay up past 10 pm (Cade has already thrown in the towel-he is working tomorrow 😂.)  No Gossip Girl/Office marathon/watch the first ten seconds of When A Stranger Calls tonight...Saturday night, it is then!

It's really not about us...but we are the only cooperative ones with pictures👯‍♀️

---

About the cake...

It turned out to be quite the task when you factor in the fact that I worked on it secretly for three days.  I will say I'm happy with how it turned out, though!

SOUTHERN LIVING CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE CAKE

Cake Ingredients

• 8 (1 ounce) semisweet chocolate baking squares
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1¾ cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2⅔ cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1¾ cups buttermilk
• unsweetened cocoa
• Chocolate Truffle Filling
• Ganache
• 2 (14 ounce) containers of Pepperidge Farm Pirouline hazelnut rolled wafer cookies

Microwave chocolate in medium glass bowl for 1 minute or until melted. Set aside. Beat butter and sugar together at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, and then chocolate and vanilla and mix until blended. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat just until blended after each addition. Pour batter in 3 greased 9-inch cakepans dusted with cocoa. Bake at 350 for 22 minutes or until wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes and then transfer to cooking racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Truffle Filling

• 4 (1 ounce) semisweet chocolate baking squares, chopped
• 6 TBS. butter
• 6 TBS. whipping cream
• 2½ cups powdered sugar

Microwave chocolate and butter for 1 minute or until melted. Stir in whipping cream. Gradually add powdered sugar, stirring until blended and smooth. On cake stand, place first cake and then spread truffle filling between each layer as you stack.

Ganache

• 10 (1 ounce) semisweet chocolate baking squares, chopped
• ½ cup whipping cream

Microwave chocolate for 1 minute or until melted. Add whipping cream and stir until smooth. Spread ganache on sides and top of cake. Break cookies into long pieces and and line the sides of the cake with them. Decorate with thick ribbon and tie or hold in place with a long pin.

*What made it even cuter was the chocolate chip cookies that came with our bbq platter...they added SO much to the cake by lining them up around the cake!

Friends, I just don't have that much chatter left in me tonight.

 The Super Bowl.  Would you believe I used to be a Patriots fan?  Only because I thought Tom Brady was hot.  Now, I feel too much of a bandwagoner to care...We are going to do a mini Super Bowl thing.  Are you?  I read that $81.17 is the average spent on food and decorations for a party on Super Bowl Sunday.  Yikes!

Happy weekending!

Shark Attack Lemonade

Because, #sharksarelife

And... little boys get thirsty in the summer time.

We go through a pack of Gatorade in a hot second!

 

Ingredients:

4 lemons

1/3 cup Truvia
Pitcher of blue raspberry lemonade kool aid
Ice cube tray

Shark gummies
 

A couple hours before serving, fill ice cube tray halfway up with blue kool aid.  Add a shark gummy to each cube.  Alternate heads & tails sticking out of cube of ice.  Freeze.

 

Squeeze juice of 4 lemons in the bottom of a pitcher.  Pour in 1/3 cup truvia or other sugar of preference.  Mix with spoon.  Fill water to top.

Now your ready to serve with your blue  shark ice cubes!
*This lemonade is a healthier choice, too!  Not tons of sugar.

 

Add a paper straw with a shark, a lemon wedge, & sip away the hot summer day😎

Of course, there are lot's of fun kid friendly summer drink options on Pinterest, we just came up with this because we didn't have ingredients for the ones we liked. 

A little imagination & using what ya got can go a long way!

 

*Con totally busted his face ALL to pieces at Bible School... he fell down the concrete steps- he gets his clumsiness from ME.

Do you guys have a fun go to summer drink?



H54F || May Happenings

Happy Friday, friends!

 

I have had such a hard time finding motivation to blog lately.  May has been extremely hectic & busy... has it been that way for you guys?  End of school year, so much to prepare for on the weekends & during the workdays.  I'm so ready for things to slow down a bit.  Maybe June will bring slower days for this little family of mine. 

I KNOW this... I'll be ready & looking forward to it!

 

So much to share this week!

 

One.  I'm hired! 🙌🏻👩🏻‍🏫🙏🏼

Remember that interview I went to back on my birthday at the beginning of March? 

Well, last week I f I n a l l y heard back from them once they got their schedule together for the next school year & learned that I am officially a speech language pathologist for the Speech Pathology Services of East Tennessee!
 

Can I just praise Jesus for a second, because this has been such a focus in my prayer life since the beginning of the year.  Specifically, not just to have a job, but to have one I love as much as the one I have now, (and to maybe get to stay in Preschool though that didn't sound possible at all from everyone I had talked to)

 

But you know what.  NOTHING is impossible with God.  I was told that the current plan is for me to be at a setting (the SAME school) PRESCHOOL five days a week.  This is something that typically doesn't happen in contracted SLP work.  I am beside myself excited in a bittersweet way (I will miss my Rville Pre-k friends so much), & I'm nervous all at the same time.  I pray God can use me to be a help to the kids I see everywhere I go!  It is a blessing to be in an occupation that allows me to do that!
I officially "start" in August!

We went to Dollywood  (yes, again) with our hometown church last weekend & I used it as an opportunity to drive by my (projected) new workplace on the way!  I will be (should the plan work out & I get to work at this placement) be like 4 miles from the Woods of Dolly.

Two.  Magnolia cooking

If you haven't got the Magnolia Table cookbook yet, run don't walk!

And it irks me to be a fanatic about something that everybody in the nation is a fanatic about, but Joanna rightfully earns it.

I will lightheartedly take a stand against the farmhouse craze, though.  As much as I love aspects of farmhouse, I will never be a gung ho farmhouse girl, simply because it is becoming every house in America-& I do not live on a farm.

 👩🏻‍🌾

I tried the sour cream chicken enchiladas & chocolate chip cookies for dessert last night, & in the words of my husband during the prayer:
"Lord, thank you for Joanna Gaines enchiladas."

 

I kid.  But, he really did say that.  He's a goofball.

Saturday night, were going to try the beef tenderloin.  I'll keep you posted...

 

three.  DATE NIGHT

An actual date night. 

First one in probably two years. 

We went to Chesapeake's & Walgreens🤪

(I had to get my picture taken for my TN Speech Licensure).

So romantic, y'all.  But it's a start!

 

summer date night bucket list😛

 

four.  May the fourth

We did may the fourth up right this year. 
Cam ordered Star Wars pancakes & I tried to deliver.

 

five.  Happy mail days

Need I say more? 
I think I'm gonna wear that necklace for Mothers Day!  I am gravitating toward tassels.  I tend to gravitate toward the things I’ll regret in the years to come🤗

I'm excited about our date night tonight, visiting the flower truck, & mothers day gathering this weekend.

What are you guys looking forward to?
Happy Mothers Day, sweet mamas!

 

Linking up today with the girls of Friday favorites & high five for Friday!

 

 

weekending + meal planning monday

happy monday!
Is it just me, or if I can just make it through Monday & getting back in my routine, the rest of the week just falls into place.  I'm so glad I finished strong today!

First things first.
If you could sum me up as a mom in one incident, it would be the fact that I was doing so many things at one time this weekend-I almost poured Gatorade on top of Cam's cereal🤪

I've been in somewhat of a blogging hiatus since spring break...

life happened & the thought of blogging on top of my other responsibilities overwhelmed me & those are the times where it is put on the back burner:)

But now I'm back to tell y'all what's been going on in the Adams bode these last couple of weeks...

i know you all have been patiently waiting on the edge of your seats for my return

#notreally

----

SO the weekend.

Lot's of playgrounds + food.

I also spent the majority of it in the trenches of trying to figure out how to gradually get the boys out of our bed SO I CAN FINALLY SLEEP AGAIN after five years (don'

t feel sorry for me-totally my fault) & to research how to potty training tips for a stubborn two year old.

I'm all ears.

We had a free friend pass to Dollywood that had to be used before June for Cade, so since he's working Saturdays right now, we decided to leave after Sunday school & head to the land of Dolly!  The boys were so excited Conley even made up a song about it...
"Dollywood, you are so beautiful!"

 It was such a great time, but Cade DID actually make Cam an emotional wreck most of the time by convincing him that if he rode a thrill ride/rollercoaster, he could get "an x wing star wars Lego type thing" that he seen in claw machine.
Way to go, dad.
We stood in line for at least two rollercoasters in which we waited in line up until it was time to board & he then bailed.  If anyone in the park passed us Sunday more than once, I'm sure they wondered why our little boy was crying + petrified every time we went by them.  We're talking he cried ALL day.

Somehow, he finally decided to ride the Barnstormer.  Which... not sure if any of you are familiar with it... but naturally, it's basically the scariest ride in Dollywood.  And big brother rode it like a man.  Screaming "WERE GONNA DIEEEEEE" at the top of his lungs the entire time.

 If I could only bottle up this smile & keep it forever.

Now on to meal planning Monday!

*if your new we are only home Wed-Sun= the shorter meal plan!

THIS WEEK...
This is a L7 weenie week... but I still thought I'd share!

Monday:  X

Tuesday:  X

Wednesday: Lately it's always Bojangles b/c I miss their tea + chicken sandwiches & we are traveling that evening!

Thursday:  Baked Spaghetti

Friday:  Homemade pizza night

Saturday: Leftovers (b/c MAN our refrigerator get's toooooo full after three straight nights of cooking!)

Sunday: Eat Out!

I wanted to kind of explain my method of madness with my recipe board & box.

It's very simple & help's me plan & stay organize for the upcoming week

+ I love having a recipe box in the kitchen.  It's one of my favorite things to admire & add to when we find something we love:)

 If the recipe makes the cut with my picky boys... I place the name of it on the front of my recipe card & then squeeze (AND I MEAN SQUEEZE) all the how to's on the back of the card.  I always come to my box-unless of course, as in this week's case, I have a new recipe book or magazine I'd like to try...& then I pick out all the meals for the upcoming week.  All I have to do is flip the card over for the ingredients, make my list, then hang the cards up on the board in the order I'd like to cook them.

I try at least one new recipe every week...

I can't help myself-so much food, so little time lol

This week we tried this crock pot orange chicken with cream cheese wontons, rice, & sesame noodles.  It was a hit with the hubs--- not the boys.

Prob not gonna be a regular dish at the Adams Abode.

Orange Crock Pot Chicken, recipe here.

It keeps me straight with a visual plan of what's to come & nobody has to ask what's for dinner:). How do you meal plan for the week?  Or, how do you miraculously wing it-my mom does that, & I am always ever so impressed.

 Have a great week, sweet friends.