So this post is over a year late. I actually found this in my drafts and could not believe I had not finished it. Just a bunch of pictures. So I wanted to share it finally!
April 2022 Carnival Cruise Food
On our cruise back in August, we had some delicious food options available to us. We cruised on the Carnival Liberty for 4 nights. This particular cruise ship was larger than ones I had previously taken, and there were definitely more options to take advantage of when we were hungry. Unlike past cruises, if I were ever hungry, it was easy to find something to eat. That was not always the case before. There was such variety, we did not even get to try all of the inclusive dining options. But I did snag some pictures of most of those to share.
Cheer Fall 2022
Melody has been asking to cheer on and off the last year or so. She has seen Lydia’s cousins cheer in a few instances, and that has peaked her interest. But cheering at our local school requires quite a bit of dedication between practice and games. Plus with her involvement in dance and gymnastics, we just do not have the time. But we found a new opportunity from a local church. It was cheer on Saturdays only for one hour. So we opted to do that. It only lasted 6 weeks, and it was great for what we needed. I think Melody really enjoyed it, and it was enough for her to do and still get to do the other things she loves too.
Red's Drive in
On our Dollywood trip, one of the quick service places we had lunch at was Red’s Drive in. We arrived around 11 am after spending some time in that area riding some rides that morning. There was not a single wait or even really a crowd when we arrived.
G.I.JOE Happy Birthday Banner
Melody picked out a G.I.JOE themed birthday party for Brad. It is fairly hard to find old school GI Joe birthday party decorations. So I had to make it all. Today I want to share the birthday banner I made.
DIY Backdrop
We had Melody’s 6th birthday party at a local gymnastics/cheer gym. I wasn’t entirely sure how I could really decorate the walls or how much time I would have to decorate them and also look pretty. I had seen a fellow local mom who made a backdrop to help with her decor at the same location. So I decided to make my own myself. I don’t love it, but it works for now. I plan to make it out of thicker PVC pipe in the future. It is just a little bit too floppy for me.
April 2022 Carnival Cruise Day Five
Now comes the last day of our cruise back in April 2022. It is hard to really even classify this as a day since we were literally off the cruise ship before 7 am. But I still wanted to share a bit about how that day went.
Aubrey's Restaurant
When we went to Dollywood earlier this summer, we stayed in Sevierville, TN in a beautiful cabin. I did some research into some restaurants in the Sevierville area for us to grab dinner at after our days at Dollywood. We really didn’t want to deal with the crowds in Pigeon Forge proper every night if we could avoid it. One of the places I read about was a placed called Aubrey’s Restaurant. So that was a place we kept in our back pocket for when we needed it.
miss to mrs bridal shower
Last weekend, I helped host a bridal shower for my cousin, Ashley. She is getting married in November, and I love hosting a good event! Her maid of honor and mom help with all the ideas, but I wanted to share how adorable everything turned out. I plan to post more details later about different parts of the shower! But the general theme was “miss to mrs”.
Pool Days 2022
We do try and get in as much pool time as possible during the summer. Especially between my parents pool and Melody taking swim lessons. I even bought a super cheap pool this summer for the kids to use some days we didn’t want to drive to my parents.
April 2022 Carnival Cruise Day Four
Our our fourth day of our cruise, we had a day at sea. This meant we would not be docking at any port. Instead there was a day full of activities throughout the ship for us to explore and do.
Doc McStuffins Birthday Shirt
For Melody’s 6th birthday party, I originally bought her an adorable Doc McStuffins dress to wear. However, they only had it in a size 7, and I was really hoping it would work. But it did not. It was just way too big. Especially since we were having her party at a very active place. So last minute, I opted to make her a shirt. I happened to have a blank purple shirt of hers along with some pink vinyl. I think used the tracing tool in Silhouette to trace the characters from Doc McStuffins. Then I added her name to it. I decided to keep her age off of it so that she could wear it anytime!
Summer 2022 Bucket List Updated
At the beginning of the summer, I made a bucket list for us. We did a lot of the things on the list, and I wanted to share the pictures!
August 2022 Fun
August was a busy month and full of a lot of change! Melody started FIRST grade earlier this month. We tried to enjoy the time we had her at home outside of school, so we have enjoyed the library, pool, games, and cooking. Melody started cheer and started back at gymnastics. We celebrated both my dad’s and Brad’s birthdays, and we simply had fun!
Brad is 39!
This year Brad was able to celebrate his 39th birthday at home with us unlike last year! Melody picked out the theme for his birthday back in February. She picked G.I. Joe. Her love for G.I. Joe has really grown over the last year, so she had fun with the theme.
Doc McStuffins Cupcake Toppers
Instead of doing a cake for Melody’s birthday party, I did cupcakes. I did this for a few reasons. One, I do not have to cut a cake this way. It is one less thing I have to plan for. Two, even before COVID, it made me feel better to have her blow out a candle on a single cupcake vs an entire cake that people will be eating. Three, it is generally cheaper. And four, it makes it easier to give out cupcakes (or this time around we already had plates made), rather than cut pieces of cake to hand out. I always pick colors that match the theme of the party, but I also add some form of cupcake toppers. I decided to make easy ones this time around.
Kiddie Carnival
One item on our bucket list the last two years was to attend the Kiddie Carnival in Athens. With the way our summer was going, I honestly thought we would miss out on it again this year. But we managed to find time the last weekend they were open in July. We decided to go on a Thursday in hopes the crowds would be smaller.
Dollywood Parking
We found parking at Dollywood during our May/June trip a breeze. However, a Facebook group I am in had a lot of people thinking differently. Apparently it is much worse than last year. But seeing this is our first trip, it was all we knew.
American Girl Birthday Party
Back in June, we visited the American Girl store in Franklin, TN to celebrate both Melody and my niece’s birthdays. Their birthdays are one year apart but two dates apart (May 25 vs May 27). So this was their birthday present from my mother in law. I recently wrote a post all about our hotel experience of this trip. Now I want to share the party part.
April 2022 Carnival Cruise Day Three
Our third day on our cruise was our Princess Cay day. This is a private area owned by Carnival. I am unsure if another cruise company also uses this area. I say area vs. island because it is at the southern end of Eleuthera, Bahamas. So it is not just an entire island to yourself. From what I have read and heard, prior to COVID, there were actually excursions to explore the rest of the island. But I did not hear about that during our cruise. But we were still excited to take part in this port and have a nice beach day!