Our 2 Weeks in Charlotte: hanging out with G&G Briggs

While we were in Charlotte, the girls and I were able to drive up to see Ryan's parents on two separate occasions. They live about 45 minutes north from my parents house. On the first day, we went to the mall to have lunch at Chick Fil A and to ride the carousal. While we were there, Brinley decided to do this trampoline jump thing. She watched a girl do it before her, and she tugged on Grandpa Briggs arm and said, I want to do that! She walked right up to the machine, got strapped in, and jumped away. It was crazy! She was so brave. On the way back from the mall, we drove to this amazing park and fed some ducks and played on the swings. Ellie was getting pretty crabby and tired at this point, so we headed back to have a quiet afternoon. Ellie went down for a nap, and Brinley played outside with Grandma and Grandpa. It is so nice to be able to see both sets of Grandparents in one trip!

The next time we went up was nearing the end of our 2 week stay, and we were all feeling a bit vacationed out. We spent the afternoon with Grandma Briggs and had so much fun doing fun indoor activities. It was another super cold day, so we couldn't really play outside, but we had fun regardless. It was nice to spend time with them. Ryan will see his parents when he flies out to Idaho for his sisters wedding in April. And wee will see Grandma and Grandpa Briggs again when we go up this summer for our Steele family reunion. 

Isn't Brinley's princess cat shirt the cutest!? 

Our 2 Weeks in Charlotte: week one

I'm exhausted! Vacationing (do you even call it a vacation when 2 kids are in tow?) for 2 weeks without Ryan was hard work. I had plenty of helping hands, but when you're their only parent, you deal with every middle of the night wake up (multiple every night...), every meltdown, every moan and groan and request. My mind feels a bit like jello, but we had SO MUCH FUN.

Our first week in Charlotte was full of fun. My sister in law Cassandra flew out for the first week and we had so much fun everyday with her. She is pregnant with my first niece and we are so excited to see what a Steele baby girl looks like. I listened to the Fox song (why was this the first time I heard about this song!) and Pete the Cat probably 100 times. Brinley knows all the words and requested a dance party at least 5 times during the day. And at night, I spent my time catching up with my mom and dad and Cassandra and watching the old seasons of Bones. We tried to FaceTime with Ryan as much as we could during the day and especially at bedtime. The girls definitely missed him! Ellie would yell into the phone when she heard his voice and would slobber kiss the phone whenever she saw his face. 

I love going home and letting the girls just soak in grandparent time. We won't be back in Charlotte until the summer time so we tried to do as much as we could. It was sooooo cold. And not just cold for us wimpy Floridans, it was cold for everyone! We had many days in the 30-40's and we were all wearing 2-3 layers. I lived in my moms ugg boots and sweatpants and sweatshirts. It was fun to live in cold for a bit before we have to live through the relentless heat of south Florida until...basically Thanksgiving!

dog tricks with Sophie

bedtime routine

Costco trip!

Lots and lots of playing with my old toys when I was little

Library song/story time

bundling up to ride bikes

 Our Epic Haircut!

Before

After!

I was able to tag along my mom's exercise class, Cardio Sculpt. I was sore for at least 5 days. It was a fantastic class! This is us with her fabulous instructor.

Trader Joe's with Auntie Cass

Best cookies EVER

A trip to Charlotte isn't complete without a trip to IKEA

Girls day: delicious lunch, fabric store, and Ulta for some makeup. (and grandpa was a champ and watched the girls for 4 hours!!)

Brinley woke up every morning before 7am and would immediately walk to my parents bedroom. I was able to sleep in a few mornings :-) and one morning I found her like this with my Dad. Too cute!

Walk down to the lake. By the weekend, the sun came out and it was about 70 degrees. Thank goodness.

25 week belly

the girls (plus 2 more, Sophie and Penny)

Leftover Cereal Muffins

While we were in Charlotte, I finally tried and helped make my mom's famous cereal muffins. After many many half eaten cereal boxes, my mom searched for a usage for these crumbs! She has perfected the recipe, and I am so excited to start making them for my family. They are the perfect breakfast muffin for Ryan to grab and go. They go perfectly with some greek yogurt. Or just by itself. and bonus, they freeze well.  And I'm happy to share the recipe with you!

Start with 4 cups of any kind of leftover cereals, doesn't have to be one kind. You can mix and match, just note if the cereal has sugar in it.

Put the cereal in a large mixing bowl and cover with 2 cups of any kind of milk.

Let it soak for a few minutes to soften up the cereal and then add the following:

4 large eggs
1 cup applesauce
3 cups of flour (any combination of white/wheat)
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 to 3 tsp cinnamon
half tsp salt
1/4-1/2 cup sugar (depending on whether you use sugary cereal)

Extras to add in:
chopped nuts
dried cranberries
dark chocolate chips
fresh blueberries
1/2 cup ground flaxseed

Stir everything together with a large spoon until it is all moistened.

Heat oven to 375 degrees and spray muffin tins.

This recipe makes 24 full muffin cups and they don't rise much so you can fill the muffin cup right to the top.

Bake for 20-22 minutes and let cool for 30 minutes before turning out of muffin tin.

I freeze these in large Ziploc bags and just pull a couple out in the morning. They defrost well in the microwave for a few seconds or just leave to defrost on the counter for about an hour.

I made this batch with LIFE cereal. I didn't add any extra sugar. I realized after I got started that I only had 2 cups of flour, so I added in 1 cup oatmeal and it turned out perfectly fine. I also added in dried cranberries, flax seed, and fresh blueberries.

New Mom Ride

Phew, this was years in the making. Years, people! We have been looking, saving, waiting, looking, waiting, and waiting for the right car to come into our lives.

The week before we left for Charlotte, Ryan went to go see a small SUV at a local car dealership. The moment the sales guy opened the door, Ryan detected cigarette smoke and immediately said that this was a no go. We were really bummed out because the SUV was priced well and it had great reviews. And we were ready to pull the trigger and buy a second car!

After a few hours, Ryan called me and said that the sales guy called Ryan about a trade-in SUV that he felt was perfect for us. Ryan made plans to visit it the dealership during his lunch break. The next thing I knew, Ryan was driving home with it! I didn't know too many details about what it was, but when I saw the SUV, I knew that I had to have it.

The story about the SUV is that an older couple bought it brand new from our local Volvo dealership in 2004. Over the past 10 years, they had only put on 44,000 miles. UNHEARD of. Seriously. We're assuming they drove it to the grocery store and back for 10 years and never left South Florida. They had a completely clean service record and zero accidents. It felt stupid of us to leave this gem! The couple traded it in for a 2014 Infiniti c50, so Ryan is now dreaming that in 10 years, we'll buy their c50 if they trade it in again. Wouldn't that be insane!

So, we got a babysitter that night, drove over to the dealership, signed the papers, and drove her home! (and stopped at 5 Guys for dinner...my request of course). 

When we got home, we switched carseats over, loaded her up with our things, and started driving to Charlotte the next morning. The SPACE. and it drives so beautifully! The worst part was, I was gone for 2 weeks the day after we bought her, so now that I am back, I am getting to know her again. I love being able to leave when I want during the day without having to worry about driving to and picking Ryan up from work. We have all sacrificed and I am so happy that the stars finally aligned for our family to add another member!