So now that we lost all of January, we are moving onto the start of February. With that comes new cards from the Legacy Deck.
Back to School Gift
With this being Melody’s last year at her sweet preschool, I wanted to give her a little gift the day before starting. We bought Melody a Pottery Barn Frozen backpack and lunchbox a long while back. She asked for a backpack for her birthday, so we decided to go ahead and give her that then. So we knew we had a lunchbox to give her. And I wanted to get her a new back to school book. The last thing we ended up with was a Rainbow Rangers toy set. I happened to find this on the Walmart website, and I knew I had to have it! It just so happened this was the perfect occasion to give it to her!
Cinemark Private Watch Party
To start the week of celebrating Brad’s birthday, we visited our local movie theater for a private watch party. For approximately $100 you can rent an entire theater. You can pick a movie from their list, and then you can bring up to 20 friends. It’s a great deal for a group of friends wanting to go to the movies but remain socially distant from other people and have some privacy.
Waffles
We love waffles in this household, but we have never found a recipe we just love. We have the tried and true Bisquick version, but I do keep attempting better versions. These were really good, but still not the fluffy waffles we were going for. I would make these again though!
Pandemic Legacy Season Two Late January
Ok, so we lost the game originally played in January, so now we get to attempt it again. You will see me refer to months as “early” or “late”. If we lose the “early” game, we get one more chance by playing a “late” game. The changes made during the early game still stand, but you get another shot to conquer that month’s objectives before calling it quits and moving on. If you lose, you also get to add 2 more Rationed Event cards. However, if you win, you take away 2 Rationed Event cards for the next game. Since nothing changed other than that, you can see the 6 cards we picked below, and I will dive right into game play! nothing changed other than that, you can see the 6 cards we picked below, and I will dive right into game play!
Back to School Teacher Gift
I have not done this in previous years, but since it is Melody’s last year, I decide to send a back to school gift to her teacher. This year is the first year she only has one teacher, so that also made it easier. During the summer, I bought these adorable paper clips from Simplified. The specific ones I used for this gift were apple shaped, but I also bought some pencil shape ones too I may use as a gift for someone else later. I then wrote a nice note on matching cardstock, and I had Melody sign it. Then I attached it using ribbon. Super cute and easy!
August Fun
August has been one busy month!
Italian Chicken, Potatoes, and Green Beans
Brad absolutely loves this recipe that my best friend, Emily, has been making for years. So I finally decided to make it for us. It makes a LOT. It’s a great recipe when you are having a group of people over because of this too!
Brad is 37!
On Sunday we celebrated Brad during 37! Unfortunately it did not live up to the hype of last year’s birthday at Disney, but the pandemic had other plans. (Ironically we were supposed to be at Disney World this week.). We celebrated at home with a lot of Brad’s favorite foods (that aren’t McDonald’s or Wendy’s). I think he had a great laid back, relaxing day of celebrating.
Pandemic Legacy Season Two Early January
As mentioned in a previous post, I plan to try and post weekly about our experience playing Pandemic Legacy Season Two. There will be many spoilers, and I honestly can’t identify them before each one, so reader beware! Now follow along on our very first game post-prologue!
Melody's First Day of Preschool
So this year is Melody’s third and final year of preschool. I remember first signing her up for preschool and crying after dropping her off for her first day. Last year was complete chaos because we had just moved, and it of course ended just as chaotically. She goes to school the morning of March 13, and we never went back except to pick up her belongings in May. This year we have high hopes on a really great year. There are some changes this year, but we are looking forward to getting back into a routine and getting Melody back to school to learn and socialize.
Shrimp Fried Rice
I was really skeptical about this all in one pot kind of air fryer meal. I mean you literally cook it all in the air fryer which seemed kind of crazy. But it went really well and I can’t wait to make it again!
Pandemic Legacy Season Two Prologue
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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!