In My Girl's World

We are here to talk about our weekend! Also linking up with some of my favorite bloggers for today's post. 

I will be cleaning teeth from 11-7 today, and reminiscing about our lovely weekend!!!

After work on Friday, my office had a get together for a coworker who is leaving. We had a great time! Micheal stayed home with Ella and put her to bed, while Momma got some girl time! I decided not to share any pics because I didn't get everyone's permission to post. But I had so much fun. 

Ella got up around 6:30 on Saturday. I had already been up for a little while, drinking coffee & browsing the internet. She ate some breakfast, spent some time with Dadda, and then I took her out for an early walk and trip to the park.

At some point during our morning, this happened. #momlife

On our way to the beach/park. All smiles!

GORGEOUS day outside. I love the beach in the morning, nice and empty!

Lots of playing at the park. Swings, playing in the sand, and making new friends.

When we got home, I cleaned Ella up a bit, and put her down for her first nap at 9:30. I started working on making chicken pot pie. Thanks to Andrea at Momfessional's for the recipe! It was a lot of work in our tiny kitchen- I kept running out of space! Next time I will be more organized. I also had no clue what I was doing with the crust, so it came out looking like this... 

Luckily it tasted good and that's what matters, right? Haha! I also was using regular pie crust instead of the recommended deep dish crust, so I had enough filling for 2 pies (1 in the freezer) and a bunch of leftover filling that is hanging out in my freezer. Hoping it reheats well later.

Ella woke up around 11. It was time for a bottle and shortly after that, some lunch. I saved her some chicken pot pie filing and she loved it. She was smacking her lips and begged for more.

We had some play time and then headed to Michaels Craft Store.

I had their 40% off coupon saved and wanted a budget/bill organizer. I found this one for 6$ before the coupon. I am pretty excited to get more organized with our budget, so we can save for a house.

Michael's has some really cute budget organizers right now.

This is what the inside of mine looks like- clean and simple!

This one is a bit nicer quality, but was $20, which I could not justify paying.

After returning home, I attempted to put Ella down for a nap. She sat on her crib in complete silence for 30 minutes and then cried hysterically until I went to get her. She ended up fighting her afternoon nap completely, so that was fun!  That was not the first time she skipped her 2nd nap, and I really hope she isn't trying to drop down to one nap... I am not sure I'm ready and neither is she!

Michael got home around 4, and while they played, I cleaned up a bit. We played with her, fed her dinner, gave her a bath and put her to bed early. 

I put on The Greatest British Bake Off on Netflix, and fell asleep pretty early myself. It was a good end to my Saturday. Who else loves that show?? It makes me want to eat all the baked goods!!!

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Sunday started way too early, but I had a feeling it would since Ella was in bed by 6 pm. She was up at 4 am, READY TO GO. I desperately need to figure out her schedule, because something is just not working. Skipping naps results in early bed time, but she doesn't always sleep 12 hrs at night, so a 6 pm bedtime might mean a 4 am wake up. Any sleep schedule tips would be greatly appreciated! 

We all watched a movie on the couch to occupy the early morning. I was really hoping Ella would fall back asleep, but she did not. Michael and I took our coffees to go, and went for a walk to the pier to watch the surfers. 

Ella really enjoys sitting on the pier and looking at the waves! It was absolutely gorgeous weather.

Look who fell asleep on the way home??? This girl! Luckily, I was able to transfer her to her bed and she kept napping! While she napped, I did 2 loads of laundry, picked up the living room and did an enormous amount of dishes. I have no clue how we accumulate so many dishes, but we do. The same goes for laundry. How in the heck?!? 

We ended up not making a chili last week that was on our meal plan and had leftovers from the night before instead. I decided to make it over the weekend. In between my morning chores, I threw the chili in the dutch oven on low. I also worked on my meal plan for the week. I had pinned a bunch of yummy recipes, and from there, generated a grocery list. I cleaned out the fridge to make room for some fresh produce, and the mango and pineapple that I cut up. I knew Michael would be so happy to see fresh cut fruit when he got home from playing basketball.

Ella woke up at 10:30 after 2 glorious and productive hours.  I fed her some lunch, Michael got back from the gym, and we all headed to the farmer's market in Long Beach.

We love eating lunch at the farmer's market. Michael ordered us some Filipino noodle dish, a chicken skewer and a fruit smoothie to share. After we ate, we looked around at all the different farm stands. We arrived toward the end of the market, so the produce options were unfortunately limited. I was hoping to find some good spinach and broccoli but wasn't finding what I wanted.

Ella had a great time! Notice her wearing her new Maine t-shirt from Grampie! Thanks Dad, it's so cute on her!

Our farmer's market goodies. 

We went home and put everything away and then brainstormed on how to spend our afternoon. We decided to head to Huntington Beach. On our drive, Ella fell asleep again! Instead of stopping and disturbing her sleep, we kept driving and headed further South.

We took Ella to Fashion Island in Newport Beach to walk around and do some window shopping. By the time we arrived, she was awake and ready for more fun! Please excuse my t shirt that is falling off. Michael didn't let me know before taking the photo... -_-

There is a Koi pond in the middle of the indoor/outdoor shopping area. It's a great spot for kids, they love looking at the fish. Surprisingly, Ella (who loves the aquarium) wasn't that into it.

Window shopping turned into real shopping when I saw that Bath & Body Works candles were buy 2 get 2 free, and there was a 10$ off coupon! I had to get some! I got 1 pumpkin scented, 2 of my absolute favorite scent, fresh balsam, and 1 cleaner scent that Michael picked out.

This one smells like something I want to eat!

Once we got back from Newport, I decided I had to finish the rest of my grocery shopping, so we can start the week off on the right foot.

I was organized and tried not to veer from the list, so I was in and out in about 30 minutes total (which includes long wait lines) and was right on target with my budget.

I came home and put way the groceries. I fed Ella some dinner- pasta, chicken thigh, a whole container of peas/spinach/carrots and some puffs. I can't believe that girl's appetite sometimes. While Michael cleaned up from dinner, I started making some spinach-banana muffins for Ella.

They look SO weird. They came out dense and really weird in texture, and look super over baked but the inside was still slightly moist when I took them out. Something with the recipe is definitely off! I tasted one to see if they were savable and they actually taste really banana-y and I think Ella will still like it. I kept a few in the fridge and the rest are in the freezer.

After my near disaster muffin endeavor, it was bath time. A nice fun bubble bath with my girl, and then pajamas, bottle, and bed. She fell asleep all on her own by 7 pm. She was so smiley and happy all day, even the moment I left her room and said "I love you, goodnight." I can't ask for much more than that! She melts my heart completely.

Once Ella was crashed, I finally got to relax! I enjoyed a bowl of my chili topped with some shredded cheddar cheese, green onion and some Fritos. Chilis and soups just feel like Fall! I watched a bit of 13 Reasons Why, ate a bowl of ice cream for dessert and was in bed by 9:30. 

Thanks for reading, if you made it this far :). We had an incredibly relaxing weekend and are so ready to start a great week! I have Tuesday and Friday off this week and am sooo pumped about it. 

I hope you had a nice weekend, did you do anything fun?? Share in the comments below!