{Oh Hey, Friday}

It's Friday ladies and this girl is singing the Hallelujah chorus. This hasn't been a bad week by any means but this girl is just exhausted. I feel like no matter what time I went to bed this week I felt more and more tired each morning. You can best bet that my alarm clock and I will not be getting together this weekend! No sirree. To kick off this weekend, I thought I'd link up with Amy of the Farmer's Wife for her Oh Hey, Friday link-up. So let's get this kick off started...

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1. Fall

Earlier this week we had a sneak peek of fall weather in NC and it was amazing. It may have rained for two straight days but the cloudy skies, leaves on the ground, and cooler temperatures were just enough to get this girl giddy and excited for the coming weeks. Not that it took much as I've been looking forward to fall since I started thinking back-to-school thoughts. I've yet to bust out my fall decor (though I've been dying to) but I couldn't pass up some fall scented candles on Monday while at the grocery store. These two babies have been burning in our house and they smell glorious! Do yourself a favor and go to Walmart right now and pick them up. For $5.88 a piece how could you say no?!

2. These Two 

On Wednesday, this guy took Harper to the pool so I could clean and do laundry. Brooke, my brother-in-law's girlfriend, sent me this picture as she's a lifeguard there and it just melted my heart. These two cuties are my world <3 nbsp="" p="">

3. The Nesting Place

Over Labor Day weekend, I snagged a copy of The Nesting Place on my kindle for $1.99. I'd seen quite a few bloggers share the book on their blogs and as a wanna-be interior designer I couldn't pass it up. I'm so thankful that I grabbed it because I haven't been able to stop reading it. It truly spoke to my heart and has given me just the motivation I needed to complete some of the house projects that I have been wanted to do for a while now but have just been afraid to do myself.  I'll share more on this book in the future, but for now, take my word for it and go grab it!

4. A Military Vest

Last week I grabbed this military vest on a whim at Marshalls for $29.99! After perusing Pinterest for outfit ideas, I'm so thankful I did. There are so many super cute pins on there. I can't wait to try styling them all. I definitely see this being a weekly worn item in my closet. I may or may not have already worn it several times in just a week's time. Which leads me to the question, is it bad to wear the same item to work in the same week as long as it's a different look?! What do you ladies think?

5. Best Friends and Visits
Tomorrow I'll be having a girls' day with this girl! Olivia and I have known each other since kindergarten and we're more sisters than friends. Earlier this year she moved to Wilmington so we don't get the opportunity to see each other as much as we used to. But as of tomorrow, this girl is making the drive all the way from Wilmington just to come see me and Harp for the day while the hubs works his Saturday away. I could not be more excited!

{Bucket List}: Grasshoppers Game

As I mentioned yesterday, at the beginning of summer, Kevin and I made a bucket list of things we hoped to accomplish over the summer. You can find that list here if you're interested. Unfortunately in the hustle and bustle of summer, I forgot to blog about a few of our adventures. Since summer is coming to a close, I wanted to share some of those things before I forget about them and it's too late! So stick with me today as I share one of my favorite memories from our summer!

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This summer one of mine and Kevin's bucket list items were to try to catch a Greensboro Grasshopper's baseball game.With the exception of last year, we've attended a game every year since we were dating. It's an annual tradition that we've sort of set even though we never intended to. But it's something we've enjoyed doing together even though baseball is more of Kevin's thing than mine. I'm more of a basketball girl myself. 

Back at the end of August, Kevin and I had the luxury of attending a Grasshoppers game with his aunt, uncle, and his mom while Harper spent the day with my parents. Kevin's aunt and uncle are employed by Miller-Coors and as a family fun day, Miller paid for all of it's employees to bring their families to the game free of charge. There was free parking, free tickets, free food and drinks, and even free popcorn, cotton candy, and snow cones. It was amazing! On top of that we got to enter the park an hour earlier and get players' autographs as well as play on the field. It was definitely one of the coolest experiences I've ever had at a game.

{Bucket List} A Trip to the Natural Science Center

  As the summer is coming to a close, I wanted to share a few things that I never quite got around to blog about. So bare with me over the next couple of days friends as I recap some of my favorite summer memories and of some of the Holt family's summer fun!

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If you read our summer bucket list that I posted right after school ended you may remember that this summer we had big plans for Harper. We had planned to take her on quite a few "field trips" while I was on summer vacation and Kevin was off. We had plans to visit the Children's Museum, the Ashboro Zoo, and the Natural Science Center to name just a few. Despite our high hopes, the weather just did not cooperate with us. On the days Kevin was off or we didn't have plans, it was always either super hot or it was raining and neither made for a good combination of a family fun day with a toddler. But just when I thought Harper wouldn't get to go on any field trips this summer we caught a break! We had the perfect Saturday filled with sunshine and mild temperatures.

On August 16th,  the hubs, Harper, and I loaded up in my parents' Suburban and hit the road to spend the day with them. It just so happened to be my Mom's birthday that day so as per her request we hit up Country Barbeque for some tenderloin biscuits before making our way to the Natural Science Center. As a kid I can remember going to the Natural Science Center and loving every minute of it. I loved it so much in fact that I even visited it back in college with some of my teaching buddies. Since the last time I'd been a lot had changed. They'd added on an aquarium, had more animals in the petting zoo, and changed out each of the exhibits. Needless to say, I was as excited about our visit as Harper was!

Our first stop was the new aquarium. The aquarium was a smaller version of Ripley's but had quite a large selection of fish, sharks, stingrays, and penguins. The penguins were by far Harper's favorite. She was obsessed with them and was not keen on the idea of leaving them.

After checking out the aquarium we toured the health exhibit then made our way to the dinosaur exhibits. While in the dinosaur exhibits Kevin thought it would be funny to feed Harper to the dinosaurs. What a crazy dude! It kind of backfired on Kevin though because Harper wanted to climb up on the dinosaurs after that! But thankfully a quick photo with Papa as a pirate (their featured attraction is a pirate show at the Natural Science Center this summer) made her forget about the dinosaurs and move on to better things.

Our last stop of the day was the zoo. Growing up, the petting zoo was always my favorite so we headed there first. The petting zoo includes horses, llamas, goats, donkeys, hogs, and a variety of other animals. Unfortunately, the only animals wanting to cooperate and not sleep in the shade were the goats. But Harper didn't mind. She just thought they were dogs and kept shouting "ruff ruff" at them as she petted them.

After hitting up the petting zoo, we made our way around the rest of the zoo to see the meerkats, lions, kangaroos, and monkeys. We also went to the reptile center to see the snakes, lizards, and turtles.

By 1 o'clock Harper was worn out as it was an hour or so past nap time. So instead of making our way through the rest of the museum we called it a day and headed out. Guess that just means we'll have to go back again some other time!

If you're ever in Greensboro, be sure to check it out!

Weekend Recap

Well here we are again. Another Monday. Despite how fast the weekend flew by, I have to admit that it was a good one despite that Harper and I barely saw the hubs.

Friday

Friday afternoon, I finished up grading papers, preparing for this week of school, and getting my classroom in order before leaving. By 4:15 I was out the door and on my way to pick up Harper doodle from daycare. Since Kevin was working and was planning to go to the gym for a quick workout after, Harper and I made our way over to my parents' house for the remainder of the afternoon. As soon as we arrived, Harper immediately told her Papa she wanted to go outside... her absolute favorite place to be. Since the weather was so nice, Harper, my dad, and I took a stroll through the neighborhood. When we got back Harper chowed down on some snacks and spent an hour playing in the yard while we sat on the side porch. By 8:00 the hubs was finished with his workout so we headed out to meet him for dinner at Reid's House, a local diner in our hometown. 

Saturday

Saturday morning, Harper and I met my parents for brunch at our usual Saturday morning spot while the hubs pulled another twelve-hour shift at work. When breakfast was over, we rode by and saw my best friend and her husband who happened to be in town for the morning. Harper had a blast with Uncle Clint and Aunt Aly. Of course that's because they'll let her do whatever she wants. Who wouldn't like people like that?! (;

Around lunchtime, Harper and I made our way to Greensboro to pick up a birthday present and pick up some fall decorations. Sadly after a trip to Target, Homegoods, and Marshalls, we had no such luck on either front. Looks like I'll be doing quite a few diy projects this fall... that is if I can find the time! 

Saturday afternoon, Harper and I headed to Thomasville with Kevin's parents for a birthday party. It was the first kid's birthday party Harper had ever been to and let's just say, she's clearly going to be a fan of parties. She loved all the attention she got, the unlimited food (and cake!), and all the toys that belonged to someone else. A toy playhouse being her favorite!

When the party was over, we swung by Carter's where my mother-in-law picked up Harper the cutest Halloween costume. This year she's going to be an owl. I just couldn't pass up the mint green, pink, and white cuteness!

Sunday
Sunday morning came bright and early. Harper decided 5:30 was the perfect time to let me know she was ready to start her day. However, this little mama was not at all ready. A whole Coke later, I was finally back to my morning person self and was able to get myself in gear to get ready for church. Speaking of church, this week it was an adventure. Since Harper decided to start her day much earlier than usual, her nap schedule got all off. Ten minutes into the service, she threw a massive fit. Embarrassed as all get out, I yanked her up and headed off to the nursery. I seriously contemplated not going back into the service after Harper's melt down but once she finally fell asleep, I managed to get over myself and head back in to the place I needed to be.

After church, Harper and I headed to my parents' house for our usual Sunday lunch with the family. We hung around the house until shortly after 3 then made our way to an open house in a neighborhood not far from where we currently live. Unfortunately the house wasn't much. The pictures online made it look much nicer than it actually is so we'll be staying put at our house for a while longer. After the open house, Harper and I headed back to the house. Brooke and Bryan swung by and kept us company until the hubs got home from work shortly after 6.

As soon as Kevin got home, he ran upstairs and changed clothes and then we were out the door again. Our neighbors are expecting a baby early next year and they were kind enough to invite us to their gender reveal party so we didn't have far to go... just four houses down. They revealed the baby's gender during the halftime of the football game that was on at the time. They had everyone choose a pink or blue balloon and blow it up. The blue wouldn't blow up which meant they were having a girl. It was the cutest idea! We're so excited that Harper is going to have a neighbor she can play with when she gets a bit bigger!

Following the gender reveal party, we caught a late dinner at a local pizza joint with a coworker of mine and her boyfriend, who Kevin happened to grow up with. By the time we got home shortly after 9, we were all exhausted and called it a night. The next thing I knew it was 5:30 and my alarm clock was going off...

Hope you ladies had a great weekend!

{Weekend Recap} Labor Day

Well it's Thursday and I'm just now sitting down to write about our weekend when another is just around the corner. For this to be a short week, it sure hasn't felt like it. But for me, short weeks are always faster paced probably because I'm trying to cram five days into four. Is it just the teacher in me or do all you ladies feel the same? At least Harp's with me!

Our Labor Day weekend was perfect and just what we needed. Friday as soon as all the kiddos were gone, the school secretary announced that they were "paving the parking lot". This just so happens to be the code that you can go home early and not wait until our usual dismissal time of 3:30. Thank you long weekend! After laying out all of my stuff for Tuesday, tidying up my classroom, and gathering my things I headed out the door. Unfortunately as much as I wanted to go home, I had a doctor's appointment that was calling my name. As I mentioned last week I came down with this random sickness that left me feeling like I had the flu yet I wasn't actually sick on my stomach. As a precaution since it was a long weekend I made a doctor's appointment to be sure there wasn't anything major wrong. Thankfully I did because apparently I had a serious throat infection... yet, my throat didn't even hurt. Weird?!

After my doctor's appointment I headed to my in-laws to pick up Harper doodle. My mother-in-law was kind enough to pick her up in case my appointment ran over. We spent the evening there until it was time for dinner. Since we weren't going to do dinner with the Friday night gang being a holiday and all, we hit up a local restaurant with my sister and her family for breakfast for dinner.

Saturday Kevin had to work so my sister, Harper, and I headed to the Tanger outlets to do some fall shopping. The stores were running some good buys but I didn't end up with a whole lot. I scored some long sleeve shirts from Gap for $10 each and picked up Harper a pair of jeans and a couple of shirts. On the way home we grabbed lunch at Texas Roadhouse, one of mine and Harp's favorite restaurants. Then made a quick Old Navy, Ross, & TJ Maxx run where I found absolutely nothing. Oh well. More money in my pocket.

Sunday morning we headed to my parents' place at Belews Lake for a cookout. Following lunch we headed out for a day on the water while Harper was spoiled rotten by her grandparents and great uncle and aunts back at the house. Despite how crowded the lake was, the water was still relatively smooth so it made for a great day of wake boarding and wake skating.

We ended our Sunday with another cook out at Kevin's great uncle and aunt's farm. Unfortunately it got darker faster than our last visit so Harper didn't get to go on a trail ride or visit the animals. I'm pretty sure she was disappointed!

Thankfully the hubs had the day off on Monday so he volunteered to watch Harper while I ran some errands early Monday morning. I hit up Target, Marshalls, Old Navy, and Sam's Club. By the time I was finished it was lunch time so I swung by Chick-fil-a to grab us some lunch and headed home. As soon as I walked in the door and Harper saw the food bag she threw a fit. The kid loves their waffle fries and chicken nuggets. Needless to say, her food was gone long before my lunch.

After lunch we took Harper to the park to swing and ride the slide. Usually we spend an hour or so there but it was just too hot and humid so we only made it a bout thirty minutes before Harper wasn't having fun anymore. As soon as the fussiness began, we knew our time was up. We packed up the car and rolled out.
Not long after getting back home, Kevin's brother, Bryan, and his girlfriend, Brooke, showed up. They ended up spending the rest of the day with us. We watched the new Captain America movie, chowed down on some fettucini alfredo, and sat around chatting with each other long into the night. By the time they left and we locked up the house, it was hours past my bedtime but the lack of sleep was totally worth it.

Here's to hoping this coming weekend is just as grand!