Pandemic Legacy Season Two Prologue

Pandemic Legacy Season Two Prologue

Brittany Payne
Randomness

So what feels like many years ago we started playing the board game Pandemic. It was a great game for us because you work as a team to save the world from a pandemic (ironic into today’s world, right?). Then we started playing Pandemic Legacy. This was an ongoing game that each decision you make effects the outcome of the entire game. Each game is its own “month” and there could be up to 24 games depending on how you play. We then started playing Pandemic Legacy Season Two. It was kind of a backwards version of Pandemic. You can go read all about the actual synopsis of the game here. I took photos during all of our games and kept some notes for you to following along with (if you are even interested). Also, you are going to find SPOILERS throughout all of these posts related to the game. Just beware if you don’t want to know what will happen. And we do make dumb mistakes as the game goes on. Don’t be us, ha!

Button Caterpillar

Button Caterpillar

Brittany Payne
Crafts

During our intense craft times this summer, I found this craft for Melody to do. I did most of the work myself since Melody can’t use the hot glue gun, but she still had fun picking out all the buttons.

My First Stitch Fix

My First Stitch Fix

Brittany Payne
Randomness

So earlier this month, I decided to give Stitch Fix a try. I desperately need clothes. I feel like I don’t even bat an eye when buying a $35 dress for Melody, but if I find the same for myself I question it and refuse to buy it. I also have trouble finding the time to go alone and shop and try on clothes. Plus during COVID times, I am not sure I feel entirely comfortable going out and shopping. So my thought with Stitch Fix is they will hopefully send me some cute affordable pieces, and I can start investing in my wardrobe again and looking cute!

Oreo Cheesecake

Oreo Cheesecake

Brittany Payne
Recipes

I love that this cheesecake is a no bake recipe, and in most cases, I usually have all of the ingredients on hand. So that means this is a super easy dessert I can whip up on whim if needed!

Popsicle Craft

Popsicle Craft

Brittany Payne
Crafts, Kids

This is a perfect summer craft with your kiddos. You simply cut up some construction paper in the shape of a popsicle. Then cut up more random sized pieces. The kids can then glue the pieces on the “popsicles”, and lastly you glue a craft stick onto the back. Easy peasy!

Handprint Work Gloves

Handprint Work Gloves

Brittany Payne
Crafts, Kids

For my dad’s birthday, we made a craft using work gloves and Melody’s handprint. I saw this a while back and knew I had to recreate it. I do wish the gloves did not have a logo on it, but I also didn’t want to pay an astronomical amount on gloves that I do not intend for him to use.

Food Play

Food Play

Brittany Payne
Kids

Recently Melody has started food therapy by seeing an Occupational Therapist. When she first started solid food, she did fairly well. She would eat almost anything we offered her. However over the last few years she has become a lot more picky. She has started giving up foods she once ate often, and now she is becoming even more particular about the foods she does eat. So we finally gave in and started food therapy after her 4 year old well visit.

Air Fryer Donuts

Air Fryer Donuts

Brittany Payne
Recipes

These donuts are really delicious and semi-healthy using the air fryer. We tried a few flavors for our first attempt, but I will tell you that the cinnamon sugar were by far the best! And we even fried up the donut holes too!

Painting Nails

Painting Nails

Brittany Payne
Crafts, Kids

When quarantine first started, I was on the lookout for some easy and fun crafts for Melody. I ran across this one on Pinterest. You take a piece of cardboard, and you draw hands and/or feet on it. Then draw nails on that.

Paper Plate Flower

Paper Plate Flower

Brittany Payne
Crafts, Kids

A paper plate flower is a cute and easy craft that you can do for the spring or summer, or even as a gift for a parent or grandparent. All you need is a paper plate, some paint, scissors, glue, a popsicle stick, and green construction paper (or white paper colored green!). And if you are missing any supplies, you can easily improvise!

Chore Chart

Chore Chart

Brittany Payne
Kids

A few weeks ago we started a new chore chart with Melody to earn an allowance (we had one two years ago, but it was for learning not money). Brad and I sat down and determined 5 chores that she can currently do but may also need help with learning to perfect. These are not chores we expect her to do daily (for the most part), but we do expect her to do them when we ask her too. If she does them, she gets to put a magnet on her chart for that chore on that day. If she does not do what we ask, I placed a “X” on that slot. This helps us keep track of how well she did throughout the week.

Simplified Meal Planner

Simplified Meal Planner

Brittany Payne
Household, Randomness

This year I started using a daily Simplified planner for all of my day to day activities instead of The Happy Planner I have used in the past. Being a little over a week in, I have really liked the planner itself. I think it will become exceptionally helpful once Melody is in school. My big dilemma was now meal planning. There is a note section in the daily planner, but I found myself using it for other things and not having the room for meals. I thought about the weekly notepad I bought, but it still didn’t provide me quite enough space. One week while doing my grocery pickup, I was able to snag a weekly Simplified planner at Walmart. This is NOT a signature planner like the one I bought directly through Emily Ley. It was 1/5 of the price and not quite as nice as the other, but it provides me the space I was hoping for.

BBQ Nachos

BBQ Nachos

Brittany Payne
Recipes

So after making BBQ Nachos at home, I really questioned why it took me so long to make this. It is really simple, and it tastes delicious. It reminds me a lot of the BBQ Nachos we get when we go to college football games. I used shredded chicken because of my pork allergy, but you could use any meat you prefer!

Dot Sheets

Dot Sheets

Brittany Payne
Crafts, Kids

Melody loves using her dot markers. She actually will use them in place of paint in a lot of our crafts because they are less messy and she has more fun with them. Well during the early quarantine days when we first started crafting and schooling at home, I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut and draw a bunch of different dot sheets. This lasted two days, but she enjoyed it. Using the Cameo was likely overkill, but at the time we didn’t have enough ink in our printer to print our own. Now I just print them!

Melody's First Haircut

Melody's First Haircut

Brittany Payne
Kids

Melody has been in desperate need for a haircut for quite sometime. I sort of thought about doing it at Disney back in February last year, but it wasn’t quite long enough for me to part with. We thought we would have a trip to Disney in September, but with COVID that is looking more and more like it will not happen. So we decided to just go ahead and find somewhere local to get her hair cut. It was becoming to hard to brush and full of tangles.

July Fun

July Fun

Brittany Payne
Household

July has been full of a lot of outside time at the pool and mainly inside time beyond that! It has been a hot month compared to the milder temperatures in May and June. We have tried to make the most of the last full month before school starts!

Simplified Planner

Simplified Planner

Brittany Payne
Household

Prior to this year, I have been using “The Happy Planner” (2018 and 2019). I have used it for many, many years. However, I started following Emily Ley about two years ago. I became really intrigued with her planners and how pretty they were and their size. Earlier this year, she offered her teacher planners for only $10 so I bought one to use starting in March until July. I really fell in love with the quality of this planner and ended up deciding to purchase one during the launch back in April.

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