I love thousand island dressing. It is probably my favorite salad dressing. I love it even more when it is homemade. Brad doesn’t like it though, so I rarely make it since it won’t last long enough for just me. I tend to just buy it in bottle form. But sometimes when we have company that will eat it, I will make it.
So May was a busy and fast month for us! It is always a super busy time because of all the birthdays, anniversaries, dance events, school events, etc. While we didn’t have quite as much, it was still a lot when we have done no real socializing in many weeks, ha! Check out all the fun we had below!
During this quarantine, we have been doing a lot of walks throughout our neighborhood. It has also ironically helped us connect and meet a lot of our neighbors since everyone is out walking. Anyhow, Melody gets bored sometimes during our walks, so I decided to make a scavenger hunt for her to do during our walks. She finished it pretty quick, so I am going to have to make another one that is a bit harder, ha. But I wanted to share it with you. You can find it below if you want to print it too!
Back before we went under quarantine due to COVID-19, we were still attempting to try new restaurants and go on “dates” on Fridays that Brad was off since Melody had school on Fridays. Well one of the last new places we tried was Super Chix. While it is still in Huntsville, it is about a 20 minute drive to get there. While that isn’t so bad, it isn’t the best for carryout for us for that reason. We went at lunchtime on a Friday while it was still fairly new. We were skeptical doing this because we were not sure we would find a seat, but we went for it anyhow.
A while back Melody wanted to play restaurant. Well I was in the process of laminating bookmarks for Mother’s Day, so I thought, why not make menus for her and laminate them. I took pictures of her most commonly used play food and made menus for them all. I did 4 for each group since that is how many people can sit at her table in the playroom. Then I laminated them so people can write on them what they want. Check them all out below!
So last year we got a new patio set since our new house had an actual covered patio. We used it some but not as much as I would have liked since our yard was still a disaster, and we traveled a lot in the fall. Well even though we didn’t use it an incredible amount, it still had some mildew like stains on it. I tried numerous things to clean it until I found a perfect solution. Check it out below!
Disney released their dole whip recipe a while back, and I decided to give it a try. It was really good, but I definitely recommend making about half of the recipe unless you want to split it, ha!
So back in February, I got the chance to try The Cardinal Drive In in Moulton, AL. My parents live near there, and I was visiting with my dad. While my parents have eaten there often, I have never been. It is similar to Sonic, but honestly, it was much better!
On Monday, Melody turned FOUR! It’s so hard to believe how fast four came. She is the sweetest, kindest, most caring little girl. She is growing into the most precious little girl. For her actual birthday, she wanted everything unicorn. She picked out a unicorn cake from Publix, and we bought unicorn plates, napkins, banners, hats and balloon. We kept her actual birthday small. It was just us and my parents. We plan to have a small birthday party this weekend for immediate family. She had the best day full of all of her favorite things (donuts, Animal Crossing, and pizza!). She was spoiled with lots of fun gifts, and she played until her little heart was content. Happy Birthday, Melody!
So this was far from an original idea, but it was a really great one and we had everything on hand to do this. I found this on Oriental Trading’s website. It is really easy to make, and a fun game to play for toddlers.
So as much fun as I have had doing these weekly posts, I am planning for this to be my last post in regards to homeschooling for a while. This current week we are taking a break since we have a lot of birthdays we are celebrating which means spending some much needed time with our families. However, I do plan to continue using the resources I have mentioned before throughout the summer for at least 2 days a week. I am aiming do to 3 days, but once things start to open back up more and we get out more, I don’t want to count on it. These posts will be neat to look back on as we get back to normal again, and I plan to of course continue blogging and updating you with all the things we have going on in our lives!
Luckily we were able to get in dance pictures prior to having to do dance at home due to COVID-19. We just recently were able to go through and get our pictures from the dance studio, so I wanted to share them! Melody promised me she smiled, but here we are again with no smiles. Oh well! She did smile when I was taking pictures before so there is that!
As a surprise for Star Wars Day (aka May 4th), I wanted to make Brad some blue milk like at Walt Disney World. We loved the blue milk, not the green milk so much. I found a lot of different recipes online, but this was also in the middle of difficult times to find unique things during grocery pickup. So I improvised one of the recipes with what I could find. It isn’t perfect by any means, but it is fairly close enough for us!
So while the school year was cut short about two months, we still took last day of preschool pictures. Just like last year, I dressed her in her same outfit she wore the first day of school. She was much happier this time, ha! I picked this particular day because we were able to go to her preschool to collect all of her things through a drive up system. It was so nice to have that closure, and I don’t think I even shed a tear! I am trying to remain hopeful that we will see those teachers again next year for her last year of preschool!
One of the restaurants we tried while in Pensacola in February was Red Fish Blue Fish. It was located directly across the street from our hotel, although we drove due to how cold it was. If it was warmer and lighter, they do offer a lot of play areas for kids which is nice if you are having to wait. Generally the restaurant seemed fairly big, but it was really hard to tell since there was no one there. I truly think we were one of two customers.
So obviously teacher gifts were a little harder this year. We did get to see Melody’s teachers briefly during a pickup of their things this week. So I wanted to do something small along with a gift card. So I opted to make bookmarks just like I made our moms for Mother’s Day. I won’t go into much detail since it’s exactly the same, but I did leave a blank copy below if you want to make your own!
So this would have been Melody’s last week of school and her last week of dance before her recital this past weekend. Well we know the ending to that story, right? We actually get to go to her preschool this week and pick up her things since we unexpectedly stopped school. It will be through the carline and we won’t get to hug or see any of her classmates, but at least this does give us some closure. As far as her dance recital, it has been postponed until June. And she actually gets to go back to dance class next week! Yay! Anyhow, onto the week. We did school as usual, but Melody was not into getting dressed in her tutu and tights for dance, so we didn’t argue. Our biggest battle this week was learning to brush our teeth with fluoride toothpaste. Anything that involves change is a battle. But by the end of the week she wasn’t fighting us as much!
One of our big projects we planned this year was tackling our back yard. I love the room we have back there, and our covered back porch is AMAZING! However, the flower beds just were not our cup of tea. Don’t get me wrong, if this is your thing, great. It just isn’t ours. I would MUCH rather have that space for Melody to run free, and we plan to eventually use that space for a grilling area. Well since we have been home during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have had the time to really devote to doing things all around the house. And that includes our backyard! LOTS of pictures ahead!
This is another discovered recipe that I made years ago (notice baby Melody down below!). Lemon bars are super yummy, and I am glad I found this because these are fairly easy to make and we almost always have these ingredients on hand!
Mother’s Day and our Anniversary looked a bit different this year due to COVID-19. We did see our moms both before and after Mother’s Day, but we still limited our interaction with the public. So no fancy meals or brunches inside of a restaurant this year!
