Happy Friday! Loving the warmer weather we have been having! My daughter started tennis lessons yesterday and I’m hoping she loves the game as much as I do! I started playing in high school so she’ll have many years on me! The Weekend Chef is at a Tae Kwon Do tournament all day Saturday, so I am Mom Extraordinaire! Soccer season starts up again tomorrow, so I’ll be bringing my son to his first practice. He’s so excited since he missed the entire fall season because of a broken arm. Then, it’s off to drop my daughter off with her Girl Scout Troop for overnight cabin camping. The weather is supposed to be awesome Saturday and keeping my fingers crossed the forecast stays that way. Her camping trips always seem to get rained on…..though they’ve always been troopers and camped on, rain and all! Not sure what else the weekend has in store for us, but rest and relaxation are going to be fit in somewhere! Now on to some of this week’s favorites!
1. Family Viewing: At first we were bummed that Man v. Food had suddenly disappeared from Netflix…..but then noticed that it came back with new episodes. In the meantime, we started watching Cupcake Wars. I love the flavor combinations that they come up with! The only downfall is that watching makes me crave cupcakes!
2. Favorite bookmarked recipe of the week: This Monte Cristo Breakfast Casserole from blog The Suburban Soapbox. My kids LOVE breakfast foods and most weeks I try to make at least one breakfast for dinner type meal. I will definitely be trying this casserole out!
3. Birthday Celebrating…..and celebrating…..and celebrating!: Our daughter turned 9 on Tuesday. We had the family birthday party on Easter. If you follow me on Instagram, you know that on Saturday we went to The Melting Pot for her birthday dinner celebration. The kids LOVE this restaurant (this is where she picked last year too!)! We were all stuffed by the time we left and our super awesome waiter, knowing it was her birthday brought our daughter her own dessert plate for the chocolate fondue AND a box of chocolate covered strawberries to take home! Dinner was of course AFTER we spent an hour and a half in Barnes & Noble (her request) while she browsed and chose some books. Finally, on Tuesday, her actual birthday, I surprised her by having the local radio announce her birthday on air, which we got to hear while eating breakfast. We finished off the birthday celebrating with her final request of steak and mashed potatoes for dinner with ice cream cake for dessert.
4. Yeah, that’s pretty much me and exercise…..with summer coming I know I should start exercising more. Tennis once a week isn’t cutting it…..but motivation needed!
5. What we are reading:
I am currently reading this book. I love reading about food, especially when mixed with travel. Prior to becoming an American citizen, the author, a chef who I’ve seen on The Next Iron Chef, travels across the United States trying to find out what it means to be American through its food. Although I haven’t had much reading time, I am enjoying it.
My daughter is currently reading this book. (She actually is in the middle of too many books to count, but she did just buy this book on our recent Barnes & Noble trip) It’s the third in the Disney After Dark series that she’s really into.
My son just finished this book. While he’s still really into the Geronimo Stilton series and the Thea Stilton book series I’m trying to get him to read some other books as well. This was a new chapter book that I had picked up from the library. Since we were out of Stilton books for him to read and we HAD to complete his book log for school he ended up reading (and I might add enjoying!) this book in which a group of kids find homes for shelter pets.
The Weekend Chef is reading this book which a colleague of his recommended. It’s historical and informational…..but according to him, not very enjoyable.
Hope you have a great weekend! Linking up with Tif @ Bright on a Budget, Amanda from Meet @ The Barre, Andrea @ Momfessionals and Jennie from The Diary of a Real Housewife.
Know what you mean, that watching food shows makes you crave foods, especially dessert ones! I wish Top Chef Desserts would come back though. Happy birthday to your daughter. Sounds like a fun-filled days of celebration. Cool that you got a radio station to announce her birthday!!!