Friday Favorites




Hi there! We are here to share some of our favorite moments, meals and other "stuff" from the week. I have a busy day and weekend ahead. I work from 7-4 today, with a hair appointment after. And Saturday, I am going to a continuing education course with my dental office. I miss quality time with Ella soo much and can't wait for some downtime with her on Sunday.. Happy Friday everyone!
***Side note: I am thinking about getting a camera, but nothing CRAZY expensive. Something affordable that will take higher quality pictures than my phone does... And also easy to use. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment below. Thanks so much! ***

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One


Something about starting this week off with a one year old feels sooo fun to me. As much as I miss the cuddly newborn days, I absolutely love Ella at this age. My sweet Ella learning all sorts of 'big girl' things is my favorite.


We are still reminiscing about Ella's birthday party. If you want to see my very brief post on about her party, you can see that here.

Two



Speaking of birthday... We ordered Ella some cute things with her gift card that she got from her Aunt Samantha. The first was this adorable dress. It totally gives me Mini Boden vibes. It was only $13, which is a great price. It is made of thicker cotton, and designed to be a Fall/Winter dress. I can't wait to get it and have Ella try it on!


We also ordered Ella a mat for under her high chair. She is constantly dropping, throwing or spilling food when she's eating. It will be easier to clean this mat than constantly scrubbing our floor!  


Three





It is definitely that time of the year, for sickness and GERMS. Ella has been having stuffy noses off and on, which I contributed to allergies... But unfortunately woke up Monday with a full blown cold. I have it too. Luckily she has been in great spirits and absolutely loves when I use the boogie mist and nose syringe to suck out her boogers! Every time I go to stick the bulb syringe in her nose, she sits still and blows her nose. It is the CUTEST ever.

Four


Look at this girl! SHE FELL ASLEEP HOLDING MACARONI AND CHEESE! :D Hahahaha. I was loosening the straps to take Ella out of her carseat, when I thought "this would be such a good picture..." I have never given Ella macaroni and cheese before... and of course she loved it. I don't want to get her on a path of bad eating habits, so this was definitely a 'special occasion' and Momma ate most of it... Oops! 

Five


We have officially started child-proofing. I love these little rubber caps to put on sharp corners. Ella's pretty good about not opening drawers (right now) but the sharp edges definitely made us nervous. 

Six

UOFOCO Leopard Print Pants Sets for Women Tracksuit Leisure Wear Lounge Wear Suit 2Pcs Gray

I have my eye on these pajamas that I found on Amazon. How amazing do these cheetah print pajamas look? They look loose and comfortable and are made of 100% cotton! The two piece set is only $15, and right now there is a 15% off coupon you can apply at check out. Who doesn't love soft pajamas? These are going into my 'save for later' and possibly going on my x-mas list... :)

Seven


Because we had such a busy weekend, with both the wedding and the birthday party, I knew meal planning and prepping was going to be tough this week. We made a decision to sign up for Hello Fresh again, to help us out when we are busy! We got our box on Sunday morning, and we ate the meals for dinner all week. Honestly, they were all amazing. I love that I am able to select my own meals. I found 4 meals that all listed the total cook time as 20 minutes. I knew this would be realistic for our family.

On Monday we ate chicken sausage and spinach ricotta ravioli. It was absolutely delicious and super easy for Michael to whip up. The prep time was less than 5 minutes.

Tuesday we ate the sesame beef tacos and they were amazing! I am totally inspired to make this recipe again but in a "bowl" version. Can't wait to share that recipe with you all!

Wednesday we had shrimp with rice and zucchini ribbons. It was super simple, quick and heathy. Ella enjoyed stealing a shrimp or two!



Michael got all fancy with the garnish...

Thursday was Mediterranean salmon with couscous. We have had this Hello Fresh recipe before and it was amazing both times!

Every single recipe was easy to make, relatively healthy and delicious. We opted for the faster meals, 20 minutes or less, but there are recipes that focus on being vegetarian or low-calorie if that's what you are focused on.


I feel guilty when I am not the one doing the prep work and meal planning myself, but as a working Mom of a very attached one year old, life gets busy. I keep telling myself it's okay to accept help and right now, Hello Fresh is my help. It is definitely more expensive than if I were to do all of the work myself, but for right now, it's worth it for us. I have a few coupons for friends to try Hello Fresh for free, if you are interested, send me an email!

Eight


Melissa & Doug Food Groups - Wooden Play Food (Pretend Play, 21 Hand-Painted Wooden Pieces and 4 Crates, Great Gift for Girls and Boys - 3, 4, 5, and 6 Year Olds)

A package arrived in the mail this week for Ella. It was from her "Aunt" Eva. She had asked me what Ella needed or wanted for her birthday. I explained that I want to get her a nicer play kitchen for maybe around Christmas time and some play food would be fun for it. She listened and got us this great Melissa and Doug food set.

Hape Egg Carton | 3 Hard-Boiled Eggs with Easy-Peel Shell & 3 Fried, Wooden Realistic Educational Toy for Children 3+
Ella also had great fun playing with a fake egg carton set at our friend's last weekend, so I linked her to that and she got that for miss Ella as well. The eggs have been her FAVORITE ever. She loves sticking them in the little mini kitchen she has now. It's so cute and great for her to work on her dexterity!

Nine


I made a trip to Costco this week and got a whole bunch of our favorites. I shared the list of what we got here.

Ten


Ella got this toy as a present from our upstairs neighbors and it's her new favorite! She literally carries the little hammer around with her. It's precious. 


Eleven


And last but not least, is this hilarious picture Michael sent me while I was working on Thursday. Ella's new thing is sticking her tongue out, but I also love that her little legs are crossed! 



That's it for favorites this week. Have a nice weekend, we'll see you on Monday! 












2 comments

  1. Oh sweet Ella sleeping with the mac & cheese! Enjoy your relaxation & time with your girl on Sunday :)

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  2. Ella is adorable! I agree with Rechelle, that sleeping car picture w/the mac & cheese is too cute!

    I just went over to Amazon and saved those leopard jammies... so fun! Thanks for sharing!! Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete

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