Thursday

Why I'm Reviving This Blog

1. Two of my all-time favorites, Matt and Ginny, showcased me on their podcast.
2. It's been a rough year. I could use something get excited about.
3. I mentally do it anyways, thinking about new list ideas all the time...I might as well just publish them.
4. I would love to casually drop "I have a blog" into conversation. It seems so a few years ago, and I'm usually a bit behind. Or ahead. Mostly behind.
5. My kids are old enough...they might make guest appearances.
6. Are there blog awards? I'd like to win one of those.
7. I'm always looking for a quick task for this window of time to kill while I wait for my coffee to brew, as I'm too lazy and not technologically gifted enough to care about programming the maker to brew 10 minutes earlier each day. (Is a coffee maker considered technology?)
8. I'm always jonesing to go viral.
9. My millions of fans are going to be so thankful.
10. I think I'm a completely different person than I was five years ago. I've learned so much and have changed so much. So obviously a whole bunch of new content and thoughts.
11. Mostly #1.

Monday

Our Florida Meals

1. For breakfast every morning, the kids had some variation on cereal, milk, yogurt, and fruit. I had a Kashi GoLean instant oatmeal and a banana every morning.
2. The first night, we stopped at Senor Tequilas on the way from the airport. It was not good. I had bean nachos.
3. On the second night, we ordered Papa John's pizza so that we could just be at the house and let the kids swim. There were also strawberries.
4. Tuesday night, we were driving back from visiting my husband's grandmother, so the kids had a "supper" of peanut butter crackers, apple slices, and animal crackers. I had a late night egg sandwich when we got back to the house.
5. For lunch every day, we packed it and took it to the beach/club pool. It was usually some combination of PBJs, cheese sticks, grapes, egg sandwiches, pretzels, juice boxes, or carrots and peanut butter.
6. Wednesday, we cooked. There was grilled tilapia, baked sweet potatoes, salad, chips and salsa, and the kids had grilled cheese sandwiches.
7. Thursday, we went to Doc's Beach House for overpriced, mediocre dive-bar food. I had an egg salad sandwich and chips. The kids loved picking out an ice cream bar from the cooler for dessert.
8. The last two nights we went to TGIFridays (dorky families alert!) because it is so easy and cheap to eat there. I had a spicy black bean burger both nights. They were delicious. On the second trip there, I got crazy with a Blackberry Long Island Iced Tea.
9. On the last morning, we stopped at Bread Co. for breakfast (Panera for the non-St. Louisians out there). I had an iced chai tea latte and we all shared some cinnamon crunch bagels, which is one of the more coveted treats at our home.
10. Lauren and I had Bella Sera Pinot Grigio each night and there may have been handfuls of pretzel and peanut butter M&Ms involved.

Sunday

What's In My Fun Bag For The Airplane

1. Magazines- US Weekly, People, and InStyle
2. My iPhone
3. Chapstick
4. Headphones
5. Christmas cross-stitching
6. Kind bar
7.Sour Cherries
8. Sunglasses
9. Wallet
10. Stickers and blank books for the kids

Friday

What I've Been Eating A Lot Of Lately

1. Salty chips dipped in greek yogurt
2. THESE Field Roast apple sage "sausages"
3. Luna Peanut Honey Pretzel bars
4. Tacos
5. Kale chips
6. Frozen yogurt (we've been to Chill a lot lately)
7. Chili
8. Spinach, mushroom, and black bean quesadillas
9. Mushrooms
10. Cereal and almond milk as my night snack
11. Smoothies

Tuesday

The Kids "Fun Bags" For The Plane Ride

1. Ring pops
2. Coloring books and crayons
3. Calculators
4. W has a math workbook, and R has an activity book
5. Activity pack
6. Memory cards
7. A deck of cards

Monday

Our Teachers' Christmas Gifts

(spread out over 5 days, because of our trip and stomach flu, the kids only had 5 school days in December)
1. A little bag of festive things from the Kitchen Store in Conway- a cute little bird magnet, Caramel Praline Toffee hot chocolate canister, and some strawberry jam.
2. Panera gift card
3. Starbucks gift card with a Christmas clip clipped on and their favorite Starbucks coffee that morning
4. THESE apples and caramel cream cheese toffee dip (I used Heath bars instead of Skor because where in the world can you buy Skor bars). They turned out so cute and delicious!
5. A pair of earrings and a Christmas ornament tied on the gift bag
6. Their head teachers are also children's book collectors, so they each got a book- Mrs. B received Iggy Peck, Architect and Mrs. H received The Birds of Bethlehem.