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.

Linking up with Momfessionals

Cool End of the Year Teacher Gift Ideas

We have seven days of school left and it's time to say thank you to your favorite teachers!  We did a little bit of everything this year.  All of my kids had teachers they LOVED and teachers that they are ready to say goodbye to.  I wanted to make sure to shower the ones they loved with thank yous.

Jr. High // Olive asked for Amazon gift cards for her teachers.  We were going to do bigger gift cards for her favorite teachers, but then she decided she wanted to do gift cards for every teacher plus a handwritten note.  I ordered the gift cards.  She filled out the information, wrote a handwritten note to each teacher and hand delivered them to each teacher throughout her day.  I am going to finish the year by emailing a big thank you note to her favorite teachers.

4th Grade // I picked up cute tote bags for each of Fletcher's teachers.  We wrote a thank you note and I baked some cookies for some of his extra favorite people.

Kindergarten // Whew!  I'm feeling sentimental that Leo is wrapping up our year of kindergarten together.  He has learned so much and finishing the year so strong academically.  He's writing and reading independently.  He's grown a ton.  It's been such a sweet year together so we went all out for his teacher gifts.

I found these darling coolers for Leo's teachers. Aren't they SO COOL!?!  They were about $10 each and I added them to my Wal-Mart grocery delivery order.  I filled them with some of the teacher's favorite drinks, Leo and I worked on handwritten notes and I added a little extra something to their envelopes.

I made these gift tags on Canva.  Free and so cute!

I added a big bow and couldn't wait for Leo to deliver them.

Won't these be so fun for summer lunches or drinks on the go?  I think his teachers who are also moms of littles will use these coolers so much!

What are you giving your teachers for end of the year gifts?

Weekly Recap

I hope you had a great weekend!  We sure did!  There were not enough hours in the week last week to get everything done so my weekly recap is coming on a Monday.  We had a blast celebrating cousins, friends retiring, end of the semester cookouts and more.

The best parts of our week were:

1. One of my students surprised me with some personalized art!  He was so proud of it.  It captured me so well and is hanging by my desk.  This is a really fun, free teacher gift idea :)

2. I baked the cookies for Kevin's big end of the year student cookout.  He grilled all night and we caught up with his students and coworkers.  The weather was perfect.  The kids played on the playground, we ate a delicious dinner and we were just sad we had to zoom home because it was a school night.

I baked a huge tray of cookies for Kevin's cookout and a huge tray of cookies for a retirement party at work.  I haven't baked that much in a long time!

3. We went bowling for the first time in a long time and this is what Leo thinks of bowling: OMG! He loved it!  The boys bowled and I chatted.

My nephew turned 18 last week!  I still can't believe it.  He's such a nice guy.  Leo always says Hayden is my best friend.

4. New lunch box favorites!  I love when I find something new that the kids enjoy.  This week it was a lemon protein bar, pesto pasta and watermelon.  Yum!

5. Bath time supervisor.  Pumpkin is so sweet.  He just likes to see what's going on in every room.

6. It's honey suckle season in the Midwest!  Fletcher brought me a bouquet to sample.

7. Derby Pie for Derby Day!  We loved watching the Derby this year.  What an exciting finish!  Fletcher helped me make his first pie.  Look how pretty it turned out.

8. I LOVED The Bright Years.  I laughed when I looked up from my quiet reading corner.  I was surrounded.  Penny hopped up on my lap.  Leo pulled his pirate ship up right next to me and everyone kept popping in to ask me questions.  I know I'll miss this view one day.

9. Mr. Mittens likes to supervise my planning.

10. I had a great day off with Olive!  Tip: Ask if things are on sale if the signs are unclear.  We were at American Eagle where everything was buy one get one half off.  Our two items didn't ring up on sale so I asked.  The sales guy said - I can make that happen for you.  Yay!

10. Rainbow cloud!?  Olive yelled me for me to come outside ASAP.  She spotted a rainbow cloud that she knew I'd love.  We have never see anything like it.  The whole cloud turned rainbow for about a minute and then it went back to white.

I hope you have an awesome week!