Spring Break, pt. 1

We LOVE spring break around our house (and the fact that Matt has a job that allows him to have a whole week off for practically no reason)! However, I'll admit that it's hard to keep up with housework when there's so much fun to be had. :) Today's been dedicated to catching up around the house, so in keeping with the theme, I'll catch up the blog world on our past few days...

Oh, and if you just want to see the pictures, scroll down. I didn't take any pictures over the weekend, go figure!

{FRIDAY}

On Friday morning Avery and I went to an old friend's house so Amanda and I could sew and Avery could play with Amanda's kids. Poor planning on my part (i.e. not cutting my fabric ahead of time) made it a not-so-productive sewing day for me, but it was fun to catch up and let the kids play. 

On our way home, we stopped by the high school stadium so I could do a mic check for senior soccer night, during which I'd be announcing all the seniors over the loudspeaker. (Talk about intimidating!) 

Avery's only nap that day was in the car (yikes), so I was completely relieved that my brother Nick called and offered to babysit (and put Avery to bed) while I was at the stadium and Matt was running the clock for the JV games at the track field. 

The announcing ended up being not so scary, and it was fun to see the girls I remember as little freshmen babies on JV1 take the field for their last home game. I can't believe they're seniors already! Being in the soccer environment again almost made me miss coaching.

{SATURDAY}

Matt was being honored as an outstanding educator by DeMolay (um, yeah, I'm not quite sure what to think about the organization, but yay for Matt) on Saturday morning, but before we went to the meeting, we stopped at a local consignment sale since it was half-price day (that is so when you score the best deals). While the sale was much smaller than the national ones I've been to, it was surprisingly good! I got some great pants and shirts (and even a Rangers cap!) for Landon (and Avery even got a pair of shorts for the summer) all for $15. If you've never gone to the big consignment sales, I highly recommend checking them out. They typically hold events twice a year (spring and fall), the clothes are usually name brands in great shape (better than thrift stores, which I haven't really gotten into), and they usually mark everything half off on the last day of the sale. I know you don't get first pick when you wait until the last day, but I've been able to find some really good deals that way.

We got to the DeMolay meeting right as it was supposed to start, but they didn't even start for another 30 minutes (read: Avery was done before it even began). The whole thing was a little awkward, and because Avery was being a huge disruption (she and I ended up spending most of the time outside), we left after Matt was recognized.

As soon as Avery went down for her nap, I went up to church to get classrooms ready for Sunday, and then my mom and I went to JoAnn, aka the store I go to every single week. It's getting ridiculous. We ran to Costco afterward and since we had stayed out way later than I planned, we picked up Matt and Avery at my house and all of us went and ate some delicious tilapia at my parents' house.

{SUNDAY}

Combine a late night with the time change, and you get a girl who completely overslept and barely made it to church on time. Oops! Combine the beginning of spring break with all the sickness going around, and you get a pretty quiet Sunday at church. 

Matt had to be back up at church by 1:00 for worship team rehearsal, so we went with a bunch of people to Whataburger for lunch, where Avery ate her weight in ketchup. And we let her. Sigh. 

We had a chill afternoon and evening, and Matt went riding on my brother's police shift, so after Avery went to bed, I stayed up until 3:00 in the morning sewing. I'm working on a super-cute pair of shorts for Avery, and I started Matt's top-secret birthday present. :) I quickly learned that there's a reason I go to bed before midnight these days. Snooze.

{MONDAY}

We had to recover from our aforementioned late night, so I'm pretty sure we just hung around the house all day and napped when Avery did. 

My brother Aaron and his wife, Chelsea, stopped in town on their way down to visit her parents for spring break, so we had Matt's family birthday dinner a little early (we missed you, Allison!). My mom made Reata steaks with mashed potatoes and green beans. Y'all. My mom can cook. We even got fancy cupcakes for dessert, and Avery got to stay up way past her bedtime. All the siblings and their significant others played a rousing game of Bohnanza (so fun!) before we tortured the boys by watching the DVR'd season finale of The Bachelor. Yay that Brad picked Emily! Although I'm still not really sure why I continue to watch that show. That's another post.

{TUESDAY}

Tuesday was our designated "date day," and we spent the whole day trying to be as cheap as we could possibly be. Haha! Matt had signed up for a kajillion fast food and restaurant email lists for their birthday rewards, so we took advantage of all the free coupons he accumulated:

• Our first stop was a free meal at Chick Fil A ($5.65)
• Then we drove through Schlotzky's for a free sandwich ($4.99)

We stopped and ate in the mall parking lot, and I'll tell you right now that food tastes even better when it's free. By the way, I always forget how much I love Scholtzky's! I just wish it wasn't so dang expensive. I mean, really, $5 for a sandwich? At least Subway's is a foot long.

• Then we had lunch #2. That's right. It was a day of gluttony. We went and split a flauta platter and beef fajita taco at Taco Cabana. I never go to Taco Cabana; in fact, I usually forget the place even exists. But y'all, they have this salsa ranch sauce that I could eat all day long. How did I not know about this stuff?!? ($7ish)

We had to walk off all those calories somehow, so we went to Target and Babies R Us to create a baby registry for the (surprisingly few) things we need/want for Landon. For the record, Babies R Us completely overwhelms me. And I have a pretty good idea about what kind of stuff is necessary for a new baby; I can't imagine walking in there without a clue! We really didn't register for much there because their prices are significantly higher than Target (for the exact same items), but they did have some things that we've had our eyes on that Target doesn't carry.

• We wanted to pass out from exhaustion, but we decided to take advantage of the fact that we were right by the mall and had a B1G1 coupon for Auntie Anne's. I'm a sucker for soft pretzels (I blame my mother for this fact), so we each got one and people-watched while we ate. ($2.69)
• Total of food consumed = $20.33, and it was all for the cost of one (delicious) pretzel. Hooray for being broke! :)

I love hanging out with my husband, even when we're doing relatively mundane activities.  I'm also so thankful that my parents live so close to us and like to keep Avery when Matt and I need to spend time together.

We picked up our sweet little girl and went to eat dinner with some of our favorite friends, Kendra and Carlos. Since they live about 45 minutes away from us, we don't get to go to their place very often, so we're hoping they're able to find a place out this way soon! Carlos is Venezuelan and made us some fantastic tostadas (which were not like any Mexican tostadas I've ever had; they're like fajita sandwiches with fried arepas as the bread). YUM!

Avery loves Carlos and Kendra. She had a blast running around their apartment, eating tostadas, rough housing with Carlos, and watching The Backyardigans from inside an ottoman. She's so much fun these days!

{WEDNESDAY}

And that brings us to today. Avery slept until 9:30 this morning after all the late nights she's had this week, and since we haven't set our alarms all week, we got to sleep in, too! Matt got three walls painted in Landon's room (he'll paint the fourth tonight), and I did some vacuuming and laundry.  It can't always be fun and games, right? Avery doesn't know that though, and she had a blast helping both of us. :)

Ahhh, and now the munchkin is fast asleep, Matt is at a pre-St. Patrick's Day party with the soccer guys, and I'm about to spend some quality time with my sewing machine. 

Have I mentioned that I love spring break?