I cannot tell you how nice it feels to be sitting at my desktop computer right now without feeling nauseated. Last week took a lot out of me and I’m happy to say I think I’m finally on the other side of whatever bug hit our house. And, in even better news, the rest of the family seems healthy as well. I’m hoping all of you out there are staying germ-free and strong during cold and flu season this year. It seems to be a pretty rough one!
Saturday
Since our family was all healthy and back to normal energy levels on Saturday, we were thankfully able to make the most of my father-in-law’s visit! He arrived in town on Thursday afternoon and will be staying with us through tomorrow and we’re all grateful he made the trip up to see us.
Saturday’s weather was pretty dreary so we limited our adventures to mostly indoor activities. We spent a decent amount of time around the house catering a bit to the boy’s naps since rest seems to be key for fighting off sickness. Our main plans for the day centered around dinner when we hosted our friend Ben and his family at our house for a rainy evening feast! Earlier in the day, we took the boys out to Whole Foods to stock up on some food for dinner and Ryder had his first experience in a car cart which pretty much blew his mind!
I wasn’t sure if he was big enough for it, but once he was buckled in, there was no prying that steering wheel out of his grabby little baby hands. He was ALL IN and we joked that the car carts at grocery stores are Ryder’s version of Disney World right now.
Chase also seemed to love having a driving buddy and it made the whole grocery shopping adventure feel fun which is saying something when it comes to shopping with two kids under four years old. Mini victories! We kept the menu for Saturday night’s dinner pretty simple and made carnitas in my Ninja Foodi to serve with tortillas and all the fixings. I also made a double batch of my crockpot chicken corn chili which we all loved! (If you haven’t made that chili recipe yet, please do so ASAP because it’s seriously the easiest recipe on the planet and always a crowd pleaser!)
Of course Sadie was never far from the action and made her presence known just in case we felt like tossing a little bite of pork or chicken her way.
Ben is originally from England and we loved spending time with his family when they made the trip over from England a year ago, so we were excited to see them again on Saturday night.
(Chase requested a seat next to Mr. Ben of course. His love for Ben runs deep!)
The highlight of Saturday evening occurred after dinner when we broke out our deep fryer and made zeppoles for dessert! Gosh, I love those things so much! They’re easily in my top five favorite foods EVER and Chase had a ball rolling the fried balls of dough and mozzarella cheese in powdered sugar for everyone. He called the zeppoles “snowballs” and was an instant fan as well to the surprise of no one.
We had a great time with Ben and his family and I’m so glad they made it a point to spend time with our crew during their visit!
Sunday
Sunday morning began bright and early! Ryder was up early enough in the day that he was ready for his morning nap by 8 a.m., so I hung back at home with him and the baby monitor while Ryan, Chase and Greg went out for breakfast. It was really nice to ease into Sunday and I streamed our local church service and prepped a batch of collagen baked oatmeal for the week ahead. Once the oatmeal was done, I dug into a slice as I sat down at the computer and played catch up on some things I neglected on the computer last week.
Once the guys were back and Ryder was awake, we were ready for some family fun and spent the rest of the morning at the local bowling alley and arcade. Ryan and his dad used to bowl together when Ryan was younger and Chase seemed to enjoy it as well!
The rest of our Sunday was pretty low key. We made it back home for the boys’ naps and then spent the evening at home watching The Incredibles 2 after dinner and digging into a big bowl of popcorn before heading off to bed.
As for the week ahead, it should be a relatively normal week around here! We have a birthday party for one of Chase’s friends on the agenda for today (he doesn’t have school today in honor of President’s Day) and we’ll be doing our best to make the most of the rest of my father-in-law’s visit as well.
I hope you guys all had a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by the blog today!
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Looks like such a fun weekend and I’m so glad to hear you’re all feeling better!
I am so glad you are feeling better! I will never forget the first time I saw my two boys in a cart together (it was a car cart at Home Depot!). Soooo cute! I would love to hear if you are still watching Bachelor and what you think will happen or who you like!
YES!! Still watching!! Just caught up on Monday’s episode last night. I’m honestly not sure WHO I like for Colton. Right now there’s something about Hannah G. I like. I also feel like the whole Caelynn/Cassie drama was crazy! To me, the producers of the show would’ve definitely shown a conversation about them wanting to be the bachelorette so I feel like it was fabricated a bit and felt for them since it did seem a bit out of nowhere and almost seemed to come from a place of the other girls feeling threatened by them. Who knows how it really went down though! What are you thinking of this season so far?
Am I the only one who thinks Ryder looks just like your father in law?
I see it, too!! I’ve had a few people make the same thing on Instagram as well. 🙂
I thought the same thing ?
PSA for that chili! I’ve made it a few times with my favorite harissa salsa from TJ and whatever cheese I happen to have on hand. The only way I switch it up is chicken broth instead of water and omg, it’s so sooo delicious!!! I made it for my mom when she came to visit and she still talks about it! It’s so quick and easy (I made it on the stovetop!), yet it has so much flavor! Def a favorite in my kitchen. Thanks for sharing!
Love that swap!!!
Glad you and Chase are feeling better! For the chicken chilli when you add veggies do you saute them first?
Nope! The beauty of the recipe is that you can just basically pour everything into the slow cooker — no chopping or pre-cooking required!
So happy you are well! My home finally recovered as well!
Fun weekend. I’ve made your baked oatmeal twice. I didn’t add baking powder, collagen or MCT oil and it turned out great. Yesterday, I added a cup of blueberries to it. I top it with Greek God’s Honey Yogurt….so good.
I printed your chili recipe, I will use chicken broth also instead of water. Thx!
So glad to hear you liked the oatmeal recipe & really hope the chili recipe is a hit, too!! Thanks for letting me know!
I am so glad you’re feeling better. This winter has been the WORST with sickness. I swear we’ve been sick the entire month of December and January. Healthy for a few days, then sick again. Ugh!
I’m also glad Ryan’s dad didn’t cancel his trip. You’re a trooper for still hosting, but he seems pretty go with the flow, which is always appreciated. Y’all are always on the go!!
We hear a lot about your parents, obviously, and Ryan’s dad. Is it too personal to ask where Ryan’s mom is in the picture? Does she get to see her grand babies a lot?
Also, how is your sister doing?? Would love an update on her and that sweet niece of yours! When do you all plan to see them? Must be hard being so far away!! That’s how I feel–we have family that we only see a few times a year and it breaks my heart!!
My FIL is so laidback so it definitely took the pressure off during his visit which was so helpful after last week! He’s definitely a go-with-the-flow guy thankfully and seems to genuinely enjoy just being here regardless of our plans/and lingering sickness.
As for Ryan’s mom, we are hoping to see her this spring. 🙂 We chat with her a lot and really hope for a visit ASAP! Of course we wish we could see her a lot more often but sometimes coordinating everything is a little tricky, especially since she travels a lot and has been busy selling her mother’s house which seems very emotionally draining and hard. <3
As for my sister, she's doing so, so well. Callie is growing and such a happy baby! I am dying that I haven't seen her in nearly 2 months b/c that feels like forever in baby time! Leslie frequently sends videos & pics but it;'s not the same as seeing her in person. Hoping to see her soon, too!!
So glad your feeling better!
Do you plan to share an update on the marriage retreat you and Ryan went on? I would love to hear your opinion about it as I’ve heard of them but never been on one.
Hi Vera! I was going to but then I got sick last week and my weekend recap went down the drain. I will say we weren’t a huge fan of the one we went to (lead by Paul Tripp) and found it almost negative buuuut the pastor from our church did a service on marriage on Sunday that weekend that was FABULOUS and touched on a lot of the same things that the conference did but in a much more relatable, positive and encouraging way. If you’re interested in his sermon, you may find it here: http://podcast.covechurch.org/videoplayer?msg=1310
How was it bowling with a 3 year old? My son is almost 4 and we thought about taking him, but haven’t yet. I assumed you used bumpers? Just curious because it’s on our to do list!
Also, didn’t Ryder’s hair used to be dark? Crazy how fast these kids grow and how much they change!
We did use bumpers and Chase loved it! I will say that ONE game was enough though. 🙂
Looks like the best weekend! That photo of both the boys sitting in the car shopping cart is the CUTEST!!!
Hi Julie…I love your blog …reading about your beautiful family…so happy Greg got to spend time with you all…Loved the picture of Greg and Ryder…they look so much alike…Love you Guys??