Tuesday Weekend Wrap-Up!

Happy Tuesday to You!!

This birthday weekend of mine was fun and laid-back! Saturday morning started with a Chick-fil-A breakfast at home, thanks to my thoughtful Kyle.

 He didn't get me an actual gift for my birthday because we took a trip back in late February that was to celebrate both of our birthdays. But breakfast plus a date night counts as extra in my book!! 

We originally had Charleigh's birthday party planned for Saturday morning, but due to like 8 days in a row of rain, we had to reschedule it to the following weekend. Since the rain continued that morning as well, even our plan B of working on the tree house had to be rescheduled for another time. So plan C was to stay home, get some things done inside, and have some fun later in the day.

The girls spent the morning playing outside in the rain with their new rain gear. Still in the market for a good rain coat for Cam and rain boots for both her and Callie, but they were all happy with their new umbrellas. I am so ready for some sunshine days so we can work on our landscaping and porches! The weather has just been so nasty. April Showers!!

Later that day we went out shopping. I picked up some new shoes and new swim suits for the older girls. We have a beach trip planned in just a few weeks, and I wanted to make sure I had some options to choose from for both modesty and quality purposes. Ended up scoring some super cute and modest sets at Belk made by Jessica Simpson. I was surprised! 

After shopping we enjoyed a late lunch out, since we had late-ish dinner plans that evening.

Came home after lunch and our whole family took a much-needed nap while it rained more. It was heavenly. I slept so hard I woke up a good hour after I had planned to, and felt like I had been hit by a ton of bricks. Nothin' like a good nap though!!

Saturday night was date night!! 

After all our previous plans had been thrown out the window, Kyle asked me if he could take me out Saturday night with some of our friends to celebrate my birthday. We met up with our friends Dustin & Lauren, and Missy & Paul for some dinner and fun at a local place here, Meat N Greet. 

Lots of laughter, good food, great company, and the rain even let up while we were there so it was a really nice little local evening out!! Kyle had some sort of manly burger and I had a sweet potato with pulled pork. 

I'm tellin' ya, having really good friends that do life the way you do is what makes all the difference in the world, especially with homeschooling!! It is so important to have like-minded people in your life. We just get each other. So thankful for these friends and all the friends I have made throughout  the last two years. I know God sent them to me and I am so grateful!

Missy and Lauren both treated me to a little birthday present, and I love them! Thanks again :)

Sunday morning we went to worship service and the girls had a date planned to go home with my parents for the afternoon.

Love his little baby hands reading his little baby book during worship!! 

Also, Charleigh entertains herself pretty well during church. She doesn't like stickers at all, if you haven't noticed. ;)

My mom got Preston some toys for his car seat (she's been nagging encouraging me to get him some for like two months but I kept forgetting to!). He loves his little toy!! I feel bad for neglecting him of fun for so long ;)

I also came to the conclusion that I am pretty sure that I won't be able to tell this boy No. I just love his little face so much, and I kiss those cheeks about 1000 times a day. can't. get. enough.

 I spent the afternoon working on some things for our final Becoming that is in a week. Sunday night was sunny and gorgeous for a few hours. We went to dinner to Arby's with friends (forgot to take a picture) for a low-key quick meal before heading to the store to buy groceries.

Stuck with our plan to grocery shop on Sunday night together as a family. It is so nice to divide and conquer the store in half the time! 

Monday morning we were up early and out the door to head to our last day of CC! We are changing locations next year to one that is closer to our home, so I am sad to say bye to some of those faces but I'm sure we'll keep in touch. Monday morning was pretty hectic though and I totally sent this text to my friend Aimee who always tells me that she loves how laid back I am and that things don't get to me much. 

(NOT TRUE. I'M CRAZY.) Super behind on things from having so much fun the last 3 weeks. Okay so maybe 7 loads of clean laundry, and they're all sorted by person and folded, but still I am going nuts! Survival mode at its finest. Also, my mornings are now a two-a-day coffee minimum.

The kids all had a pizza party after class let out. 

We even had gluten free pizza for Char so she was a happy girl! 

Preston was exhausted so he cried most of the time but he made up for it in his super long nap when we got home. :) 

Mallory, Callie's teacher, and her kids (my kids good friends) are moving to Florida this summer, so we are super sad to see them go! 

This was a sweet moment I was able to capture of Callie, Madison, and Mariah (who is moving) at the pizza party. 

Rehearsing for Presentation Night!

Tuesday we've got school, riding lessons, errands, then a quick dinner at home before heading back to Co-Op for the girls presentation night. Looking forward to hearing their sweet voices tonight!!

I have a TON of things to do this week aside from school, our end of the year party, Becoming, and Charleigh's birthday party (Lord willin' and the creek don't rise- literally). Making lists and crossing them off like they're my job! Oh right, they are my job. 

Have a great week! Check back in the next couple of days for another In Case You Were Wondering series post, as well as some of my favorite week-night dinner recipes.

Our Days of This Week

HAPPY FRIDAY! Well, happy end of your Friday, anyway!

Hope you are home relaxing with wonderful visions of Saturday sweetness dancing in your head.

I wanted to wrap up our week real quick before I went in full-throttle to my Birthday weekend. I'm already looking forward to the memories I'll be making the next two days. :)

To help me remember how I'm spending these ordinary week days of life, I want to do a recap of them at the end of each week. I'm a big believer in how the every day's are really what make the biggest impact in your life. You know... how the Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday's of each week are the least favorite and hardly ever mentioned as being important. But, that's when the magic of the mundane happens! Those are the days that lead to all the childhood memories that my kids will most likely have when they grow up. So, I want to start writin' em down!

This week was another off-schedule one, as we had our Seattle family in town visiting so we got to go have a few fun days with them. :)

So we spent Tuesday with them, as you can read about here in my Tuesday Weekend Wrap-Up .

On Wednesday they met us at my parent's house and we took them out on the golf cart for some adventures!

exploring a creek off the cart path

We went to one of the "lakes" in town (some call it a lake, some call it a pond... either way there are fishin' docks :) ).

 The girls loved having their older cousins run all over the place with them, pointing at fish and looking at the crazy "chicken" walking around with the geese.

It wasn't raining, but it was cloudy, so the pictures aren't as lovely as I'd hoped but I'm still thankful for some smiling kiddos!

On our way toward some shopping and dinner, one of the golf carts ran out of juice so Joe and Jared volunteered to push it up each hill as the battery started dying. 

Thankfully we made it to my parents' business which was nearby, so we could charge it back up. While we were there, Jared and Logan also enjoyed getting to drive around the golf cart in the parking lot. It was quite entertaining. :)

Camryn spent the afternoon with her sweet friend who was in town from Connecticut, and they went to see the movie Home and out to dinner before meeting back up with us. These girls are both so sweet and I love that they get to have a little visit each Summer or when she comes to visit her grandparents in Georgia!

After all the golf cart and Cam's return, we all went to eat dinner at Ted's Montana Grill. We love it there and hardly ever go since we have so many kids and can't fit in a booth anymore (ha! true story). 

wearing his daddy's hat. So sweet!

After dinner, we went our separate ways after grabbing a free cookie at the cookie store. Thanks, #taxday.

Thursday was very much a normal day for us. 

She is so his boss. 

We stayed home and in pajama's all day. It was rainy, cold, and we needed a day to catch up on school work, normal sleep and nap times. 

We ended the day by grilling out and going to bed early. Ideal.

Friday was my birthday! I ended up meeting Kristyn and her kids for lunch and chat time at Chick-fil-A while the kids played. It was so fun we forgot to take a picture. Thankfully, being the great friend that she is, Kristyn ended up swinging by on her way somewhere to stop for a quick picture. Only because it was my birthday and I needed to prove I wasn't alone all day. And because she's just so nice like that. 

Good friends don't let friends go without a birthday picture!! Love her!

Ya'll, I have good friends. Like, SUCH good friends. I am so richly blessed!! Had a great time and loved getting to catch up!! So looking forward to our long days of summer at the pool together that are in our near future!!!!!

Friday night, after naps, the girls were treated to a special trip to Monkey Joes by Aunt Tammy :) They loved getting to run around like crazy and have special attention from Tammy and the boys.

We had to reschedule Charleigh's birthday party that was originally scheduled for Saturday morning, due to all of the crazy rain. So, after MJ's we all went to Red Robin for a birthday dinner for myself and Charleigh. Char and I were spoiled with gifts! I will recap her gifts on her birthday post in a week, but I am pumped about mine!!

A Garmin (that I've been wanting forever!), perfume, and a gift card to Ulta!!  Love!!!! 

Good food, great company, and a whole lot of laughter :) Said our goodbyes outside in the rain but managed to take a few more pics before heading out.

Notice Cam's addition of bunny ears behind us :)

Look closely for more bunny ears :)

We will miss our cousins! We are hoping to squeeze in a trip out there sometime next year, maybe in the Fall.

After dinner, we ran to Target for the fastest Target run I've ever had. Walked in and they were closing in 15 minutes, but I was desperate to get the girls some rain coats and boots! Thankfully we knocked it out fast, and even had some fun in the parking lot along the way. 

These are our "It's 9:45 and almost 2 hours past bedtime but WE'RE GOIN TO TARGET!" faces. :)

Perfect ending to my birthday. Love my family so much!!

Hope you all have a wonderful, relaxing, dry weekend ahead!!!

In Case You Were Wondering: First Edition

Since I'm a girly girl, I love all things girly. I also love when my girlfriends share things that work for them in the girl department. Things like favorite hair products, cosmetics, books, recipes and more. I'm going to start a little series of this blog called the In Case You Were Wondering Series. If you have any questions you'd like to ask me, feel free to email me any time at coveredingraceandkisses at gmail dot com.

To start things off, I want to share about one of my favorite topics ever: hair products.

Now, just to be transparent here, I must admit, I'm a low-maintenance gal in this department. God gave me naturally straight, fine/thin hair. So really I only have so many options on what to do with my hair each day (aka straight, straight, or straight). Please know, I am SO not *that* girl who always comes around with fab-looking hair. I wish! Maybe when I'm not in the having-babies season of life I will be her, but for now, my great-hair days aren't as often as I'd like. But when I DO get to do my hair, I can tell you, I've definitely shopped around when it comes to certain products for my hair, and others I've just recently discovered but am LOVING them, so I'm going to tell you all about it!

First things first: shampoo & conditioner. Right now I'm using Redken Color Extend for both my shampoo and conditioner.

 In years past, I've gone around six months between getting my hair done. But last fall I decided to go toward the Auburn/brunette family hair color, so I've been going more often. In order to save some money and also save myself some time, I switched to this product in hopes of extending the length of time between hair therapy sessions. ;) So far, I'm pleased. I recently had my hair done, but it wasn't because my color had faded, it was because I wanted to change up the color. So, I feel confident that these products are working!





For after the shower, I recently discovered this gem of a product, the Wet Hair Brush.

 I promise, I found it like a week before my last hair appointment, and even the salon had it. I'm pretty sure they had it before and I never noticed. But with a house of four girls, this brush is a miracle worker!! It never hurts to comb out any tangles, and my girls love how easy it is to brush their wet hair. Seriously a game changer, especially if you have fine hair as well and are used to getting tangles easily. Do yourself a favor and run to Target and get yourself one. You will never use another brush again!!


Again, as a girl with fine hair, I have to be careful about letting it get super flat at the roots. Needless to say, if I have time and on a good hair day, lots of teasing is done to help lift 'em on up to Jesus! To help me with that, I use this Big Sexy Hair Root Pump.

A little goes a long way with this bad boy, so I lightly spray my roots and crown area, and IMMEDIATELY blow it dry and lift it with the round brush. It works immediately. Love. it. Don't know how I went so long with flat hair.


My most recent addition to my hair products is this Living Proof 5-in-1 styling treatment.

LOVE it! My fine-hair girls out there know what I mean when I say usually I can never put any products on my roots, let alone all throughout my hair. This product is great about letting me use it all over and working as I'd hoped. I use about a nickel size in my hands and place it all throughout the length of my hair, as well as some on the roots area. I've used this product both at night with wet hair before bed, and at other times just before drying it. It works great either way.



I only wash my hair every 2 sometimes 3 days. I wish I could say I do this because it is so much better for your hair, and that is part of it, but honestly, I do it because I just don't have time to completely *do* my hair every day from start to finish. Not to mention I have naturally oily skin and product an insane amount of oil in my hair. After going most of my life of having to wash my hair every single day in order to not look homeless, I finally started using baby powder as my go-to product. I used it to absorb the oil and I can honestly say this stuff got me through most of my years in high school, bangs and all. But thankfully, the good Lord above let there be dry shampoo. And all God's fine-haired girls said Amen.

I've used TONS of dry shampoo products, from the expensive stuff to the $2.50/bottle stuff. Right now my absolute favorite is this Bastite in the Tropical scent.

First of all, it works great. Second, it smells like you just stepped foot into a pina colada. Amazing. It mentally takes me to Hawaii every time. Perfect for these Spring/Summer days!!

I try to wash, dry, and curl my hair on day 1, then sleep on it with an elastic hair band that won't leave a dent like these:

Then on day two, I wake up and spray it with the dry shampoo, brush it out, and am free to style it anyway I need to. It looks, feels and cooperates even better than it did on day one every time. 

End of Day 2 hair. Not bad considering underneath it is nothing but oily, flat hair!

The key to having great hair on day 2 and 3 for me is using those products throughout the length of my hair on day one! It makes a world of a difference. 

Day 3, I only need to apply about half the amount of dry shampoo. This day I can usually wear my hair up and it has lots of volume and is very easy to tease because it has great texture. Sometimes if I didn't sleep too rough on it the night before I can even get away with re-styling it with the curling or flat iron and wearing it down again. To me, as a busy mama of four, this is like winning the lottery! Love it when I get an extra day of wearing my hair down and it took no longer than 10 minutes total. 

For a wet hair/wavy look, I just started using sea-salt spray in my hair at night before I throw it into a bun. I'm going to keep playing with this style and see if I can perfect it before I share all the products that go into it. So far, I'm having a hard time getting my hair to fully air dry at night when it is pulled up tight in a bun. So when I take it down the next day, it is partially wavy and the rest is wavy but wet, so when it air dries, it dries straight. Not the look I was going for ;)

Well, so far, that's all I've got in this First Edition of In Case You Were Wondering.

Wondering about anything else? Ask me in the comments section or email me. I realize I'm not that interesting at all, but if you're anything like me, it is always fun getting some tips on good products without having to risk wasting your money up front! 

Hope you all have a fab hair day!!

Tuesday Weekend Wrap-Up

Hallelujah, Praise Jesus... it is Spring time in Georgia.

I always love this time of year. I'm a spring baby, so naturally I perk up a little bit every year around April. I can't help but thank God for all of the visual beauty he gives us each Spring. Not to mention all the lovely pollen. I could easily go without that, but I remind myself that the final outcome of pretty flowers and green leaves is worth it compared to the bare limbs and dreary days of Winter.

Our family had a fairly low-key weekend. Last week the local schools were on Spring Break all week, including Callie's pre-K, so we spent several days meeting up with our non-homeschooling friends at parks for some fun day-time playing.

I was able to work on a couple of projects at home since we didn't have a strict schedule, Kyle worked an earlier shift for a few days so he was home earlier than usual, and with the weather being so nice it was just a great week overall.

Friday I took the kids up to Phipps Plaza to have lunch with Kyle's mom, sister, and nephew. After lunch they took all three girls with them to Lego Land and Preston and I went to Lenox and shopped around for a few hours. It was fabulous. Do I need to even go on from there? ;)

Preston loved Anthropologie so much he asked me to feed him on one of the super comfy couches they have in there so we could continue to smell all the pretty candles  and relax. 

Lego Land fun lasted a bit longer than I was anticipating, so we didn't end up getting home til after 7. Thankfully Kyle was already home from work and ready and waiting to help me with the kids because I had a super fun night planned ahead!

Several of the girls met up for dinner and fun at a nearby restaurant both for a GNO and to celebrate Missy's birthday! There were lots of laughter to the point of tears, fun conversations, and oh yeah, good food. Always love being around my people and taking a breather from life and homeschooling.

Missy & Lauren. love these girls. for real. don't know what I'd do without 'em!

I think the funniest part of the night was when I got back home. It was late but not THAT late. Maybe 11? I didn't want to wake up the kids so I was super quiet when coming in the house. I used the flashlight on my iPhone so I wouldn't turn on the lights and wake them or the dog up. I was doing some things in the kitchen (AKA cleaning up their dinner and starting the dishwasher) before I came up for bed, all by way of said flashlight, when it dawned on me, about 5 minutes later, that I am indeed a grown up and there is no need to be sneaking around my own house. I can turn on the lights if I need to. Cue another laugh-til-you-cry moment (and in the kitchen by myself at that).

Saturday morning we all slept in. I say that loosely because what it really means is Camryn and I slept in (after multiple feedings throughout the night and early morning), and the rest of the family was up by 7 and hung out down stairs. The rest of the day, Kyle and my dad worked on the tree house that Kyle is building for the kids. He is about half way done, and this project is no. joke.  When its all said and done, we'll practically have a guest house in the trees.

While Kyle and Dad worked, and the girls played in the yard, Preston and I snuck off after lunch time for a little afternoon shopping. We are having Charleigh's birthday party at our house this coming weekend (a week before her actual birthday) so a trip to Hob Lob was a must. What was supposed to be a "quick" trip to HL and Target of course took 4 hours. The joy of strolling slowly along with just one child is priceless.



Saturday night we had dinner with my parents and came home to relax and get ready for Sunday worship.

Sunday morning our Seattle family flew in town to stay for a week of fun Georgia-only activities, and we met them for lunch after church before heading home for naps. Sunday night we went back to church and then had little family Target trip so I could buy a rain jacket and a few groceries, before heading home in the rain to have cereal for dinner and crash early. That worked out perfectly and Kyle and I both agreed we are pretty sure we want to spend every Sunday night doing an evening grocery run together as a family. It was just easy and didn't take long.

Monday was of course Co-Op, our second-to-last community day of the year! The girls are excited to share their knowledge at their presentation night coming up next week. I've been letting Callie come to Co-Op mostly every week, but sometimes I did let her to go Pre-K instead, depending on what they had going on at school. I brought her with us this week and plan on taking her with us for the last day next week. Can't believe another CC year is coming to an end! Love our curriculum and have so enjoyed this school year.


Today (Tuesday) was spent hanging out at home with our Seattle family (The Gray's) and then Kyle took Joe and the boys to the Braves Game while all the girls and Preston went to the Chick-fil-A Luau for dinner. Of course we loved sharing our treat of a CFA restaurant with Stacy. It was a gorgeous evening, despite it being cloudy, and we thoroughly enjoyed just relaxing outside by the waterfall after dinner.  We totally felt like we weren't even in town the whole evening!

in the words of our favorite comedian, Andy Andrews, "He's a fine ball PRAYer and a fine young man!"

Jared, Logan, and Preston 

Hope you enjoy the new look of the blog! It has been a long-time coming and basically the entire reason I took time off from writing.

Looking forward to the rest of the week's activities... golf carting around PTC, Stone Mountain, my birthday, and Charleigh's party on Saturday. Should be a week filled with lots of sweet memories!! So happy our cousins are here to visit!

Hope you all are having a great week and are enjoying the beautiful season God has given us! Don't forget your Zyrtec ;)