Olive Celebrating with Friends

Olive turns 13 at the end of the month. I can hardly believe it.  She found a date that worked for all of her friends and we planned the perfect sleepover to celebrate her a little early.  

Pasta bar, volleyball, crafts, candy, treats and a fun night together.

Olive and I made to do list of tasks, the menu and the activities.  Then we got busy.  She is old enough to be really helpful which was wonderful because I worked all day and came home to help her throw a party.  She reqeusted pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and cookie bars.  Her colors are pink and red with some cute mice decorations.

We ran by Dollar Tree to grab all the blue candies we could find.

She set the table.  I added the bows.

I got home at 3:30.  The girls arrived at 5:30.  We did one pasta, one sauce, meat, two salads and sour dough bread.  The girls loved it.

Everything was so sweet.

I'm always excited to host.

The gift giving was one of my favorite parts.  Each girl hand picked things they knew Olive would love.  They had stories behind their gifts and plenty of things with inside, friends only jokes.  Olive felt so loved.

Volleyball in the street, side walk chalk, a walk and chatting with neighbors. I'm so thankful Olive has such sweet friends.  Some of them were the very first friends she made in 3rd grade when we moved to Evansville.

Olive planned a really fun craft - name key chains, rubber duck key chains and a Fuggler for each girl.  I helped a little and then they planned and beaded out their own key chains.  They have big plans for matching key chains the last week of school.

Hosting the girls is always a good time!  Everyone went to bed early - May seems to be wearing us all out and we had an assortement of cereals for breakfast.

Trader Joe's Haul

I have a really yummy round up for you today!  We visited Trader Joes when we were in Louisville.  I brought a big cooler to stock up on all of our favorite things.  This is our closest TJ - 90 minutes from home.  We make it here a few times a year.  What a treat!  Kevin found some great deal on TJ beer and we found a lot of fun new foods to try.

These were amazing.  I love them even more than Reeses and they are way cheaper.

Best. Caesar. Salad. Kit.

If you like a salad with a spicy kick, my boys love this one.

The kids inhaled this bag of chocolates.

Pretty good, but I probably wouldn't buy them again.

The Mandarin Orange Chicken was yummy!  We cooked it in the oven and bought two bags for dinner for our whole family.  I'm excited to try the potstickers.

The kids said these were fine, but would like to try a different flavor next time.

I can't wait to try these cheese curds.

The frozen rice was so good!

I won't tell you how many boxes of these I bought.  They are my favorite fancy treat.

The pizza dough is amazing.  I always wish I could buy more or make it last longer.

These looked yummy for pasta night.

Lots of pasta!  It has all been delicious.

I think I'm most excited to try this Lemon pasta with the lemon pesto sauce.  Grill some chicken.  Add some parm.  It has to be delicious, doesn't it?

I enjoy the apple mango pouches.  Leo does not.  The sauce are yummy!

We put together a yummy snack gift for Kevin's grandma.  She was thrilled with these choices.

And I ended the trip feeling all sentimental.  This quote.  Shopping with my kids.  Enjoying a weekend out of town.  I loved it all.

Have you tried any of these Trader Joes items?  Tell me about it!

Mother's Day Favorites

We spent our second year in a row in Louisville, KY for Mother's Day weekend.  It's the perfect 90 minutes from home road trip.  We had lovely weather, got to go to our favorite spots and I felt so loved.

My favorirte gifts - the handmade, handwritten gifts are ones I'll treasure forever.

We did some basic things like grocery shopping at my favorite place before we left home.  I love when we stroll through the store and everyone puts things in the cart that they love.

We got on the road and were ready for a yummy meal.  Leo loved checking out the train next to the restaurant FlipDaddys while we waited for a table.

Kevin found a new restaurant for us to try - FlipDaddy's just outside of Louisville.  It was YUMMY!  Delicious burgers.  Tons of beer options and lots of food that we all enjoyed.

We were up bright and early for our favorite breakfast spot - Wild Eggs.

Soaking in the days of surprising Leo with a silly egg Hotwheels and a kid's cup at the table.  Breakfast was amazing.  I'll be dreaming of that blueberry muffin forever.

We stopped by our favorite park around the corner from Wild Eggs.  Brown Park is so nice and clean.  The boys chased ducks and played.

We went to the outlet mall and found a few things.  We also brought along a big cooler so that we could do a big Trader Joe's haul.  We found so many new things to try!  Stay turned for a TJ favorites post.

We got our favorite drinks.

And then Fletcher caught a few fish for me.

I hope you have a great weekend!  See you back here on Monday.

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