David’s group of college besties (guys don’t say besties, I know) have been turning 40 over this past year, and given it’s been a challenging year to plan any kind of get together, a friend was finally able to get guys lake weekend on the books in Georgia. He left on Friday, leaving the girls and I to plan out a girls weekend!

We kicked off the weekend (after the girls end of year testing!) with the help of our neighborhood’s Food Truck Friday, an event where the set up a band, invite some food trucks, and residents gather in a giant field for the evening. It was a beautiful evening, the girls ran around, sugared up on ice cream, and I made the rounds chatting with friends.

We eased into Saturday morning (I slept 10 hours that night!) by meal planning and ordering groceries with Hailey. Life skill summer was in full effect as Hailey helped add items to the virtual cart and estimate the total, etc.

After breakfast we all took off to visit an old favorite, The Davidson Farmers Market! We used to go every weekend when the girls were little but soccer and such makes it more difficult now. It was as lively as I remember and the woman inside of me that longs to be the one that strolls markets each week and only eats local produce fought to get out. Alas, she enjoyed her day, and the local microgreens and small batch olive oil she purchased, but reality of feeding a busy family has me sticking with regular meal planning and grocery shopping for now.

Kaitlyn decided to buy carrots with her own money and Hailey bought strawberries. I was certain she’d quickly regret spending birthday money on carrots, but munched on them happily and felt a lot of pride in “her carrots.”

We came home around lunch time and decided to pack a picnic to take to the local bike track. I use that term loosely, as it’s just a spot in the neighborhood where kids have cleared out a path for bikes, but it’s pretty neat nonetheless.

I had been trying to wrack brain to come up with something special to do that David isn’t a big fan of and one thing kept coming to mind- the movie theater! The girls and I love the movie theater; David, not so much. Plus our local theater had upgraded their seats just before the pandemic hit, so we had not gotten a chance to try them out altogether.

We’ve been waiting for Raya and the Last Dragon to come out on Disney+ for free in June, but it ended up being the best movie fit for our group so we got online, made reservations, and soon two very giddy girls and I were off to the 4:00 showing.

The girls loved the movie. It’s action-packed and moves quickly, has a cute a quirky dragon, strong female main characters, and some life lessons woven into the story line, too.

We came home from the experience and while the girls got showered, I had a moment with Dad down by the lake. It was one year to the day of his passing and I always feel close to him when I’m by water. Inspired by mom’s lead, we all chose to honor him by taking his advice to “live life and enjoy it” and doing something with the day that would bring a smile to our faces. I had a conversation with him, thanked him for all he did on this earth, then was called back by a chorus of “mommmmmm where are yous?” I miss him so much, but was glad this anniversary was filled with smiles and a feeling of mostly peace. I’m still so grateful for the incredible weekend we had celebrating him; it brought about the ability to begin to move forward.

We ate spaghetti on the porch, then I tucked the girls in. Per usual, Kaitlyn asked when I would sleep with her. We aren’t really a co-sleeping family so I have no idea where she’s gotten this idea from, but I was tired so I said we’d find a time, then I went to get myself ready for bed.

Mom guilt sneaked in while I washing my face and I figured now was as good as time as any, so I went and got the girls out of bed and we all piled into mine to watch an episode of the Brady Bunch and sleep for the night. Hailey ended up opting to go back to her room for a better night’s sleep (I guess the queen size bed wasn’t roomy enough, ha!), and I promised her next time we’d make a pallet on the floor for us all.

Sunday I took advantage of the get up and go energy I awoke with. I got through all the laundry, cleaned up the house, packed away all our homeschool work from this past year, set aside curriculum I need to sell, finalized and ordered our curriculum for 4th and 2nd grade, got a workout in with David, and tested a new recipe I’ve been working on. Needless to say, I slept very well last night…

If you’ve made it this far, you deserve a prize! I’m quite chatty this morning apparently.

Let’s talk meals for the week before I wish you a very happy week ahead! Remember, all the printables I use can be found under the resources tab for your convenience.

Highlights his week include:

• Simple kale salad (with the help of the food processor)
• Marinated chicken and noodles (I love how many of you have shared with me on Instagram that your families love this meal, too!)
• Lasagna (Hailey picked out this simple recipe to try for her first lasagna making attempt!)
• Daily Harvest (I didn’t want to love these as much as I do, but they really are that great)
• Squash casserole (my mom’s recipe that I’m planning to share on the blog because it was one of my childhood favorites!)

Have a FANTASTIC week! 💜