Category: Holidays
Easter 2013
| April 1, 2013 | Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under Family, Holidays |
**Congratulations to Sarah G. for winning my THINaddictives giveaway! Email me at foodfitnessandfamily (at) gmail (dot) com to claim your prize!
Happy Monday friends! We are enjoying a long weekend here since Chris has today off of work. The last couple of days have included multiple egg hunts, trips to the park, and a certain basket delivering bunny 
This was Emmalyne’s second Easter but definitely the first that she could participate in. The Easter Bunny left her a pretty fun basket!
She got some crayons, sidewalk chalk, books, shorts, and the Sofia The First movie. Chris popped the DVD in while I got breakfast ready. Em loves Sofia and I managed to catch this gem of her watching:
After a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, fruit, and cinnamon rolls we headed out the door to church. I LOVE Easter mass and this one was no exception. I also love cute little girls in pretty new dresses 
We got home in time to have a light lunch and attempt a nap for Em. Unfortunately for us, she decided to skip it all together. FUN. Our friends Bryan and Cassie rented out the club house in their neighborhood and had a bunch for us over there to celebrate Easter. When I can’t be in Phoenix, I am thankful for my Army family to fill in the gaps on holidays! We had an awesome food spread:
The company was even better. We spent the afternoon chatting away with our friends, watching tons of babies be cute, and stuffing our faces. The day ended with an Easter Egg Hunt which was the highlight for Em.
It was SO MUCH FUN hunting eggs with the Emster. She definitely understood and was on a mission to hunt all the eggs. She even figured out how to open them thus leading to her first M&M consumption. I’m so proud.
I hope your weekend was full of good times with friends and family. I have to get the house together today to get back on track for the week! Happy Monday
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St. Patrick’s Day in Savannah
| March 18, 2013 | Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under Holidays, Savannah |
Ever since moving to Savannah last year Victoria has told me about how St. Patrick’s Day in Savannah is an epic celebration. Needless to say, for the last 11 months I have been patiently awaiting the sacred weekend to see the festivities for myself. And it did not disappoint. V’s and my book club sets up in the same location every year and since Victoria is awesome (and my social planner in Savannah), she had a Google spreadsheet for our pot luck style celebration. We were ready.
Saturday morning my alarm sounded bright at early at 5:15AM. The thing is, you have to get downtown EARLY to get prime real estate. Victoria was prepped and scouting our location at 5:30AM. Chris and I picked up Mike and made our way to Lafayette Square by 7AM. Upon arrival we were in awe. So many tents and people in this one small square over 3 hours before the parade was set to start. Thank goodness for V and some of our other friends for getting our tent set up!
We had tons of food to keep our tummies happy. We had yakimandu, pigs in a blanket, sandwiches, cookies, cheese and crackers, taco dip, and so much more. We had drinks to get our Irish on. Victoria made some pretty green jello shots, mimosas were flowing, and beers were popping. One of the best parts of living in Savannah is that you can drink on the streets The day drinking shenanigans took me straight back to college haha.
Being a proud Irish Catholic, St. Patrick’s Day is one of my favorite holidays. Don’t you love the green fountain?? Our location was optimal and right next to St. John the Baptist Cathedral. The church did “potty for a price” and for $5 you had unlimited access to their REAL bathrooms. Best $5 I spent that day. The festivities start with mass at the cathedral with the Bishop. After mass, the clergy head to the parade start and the parade kicks off. There were bagpipers from all over, local businesses, different Irish heritage groups, high school bands, etc. The parade lasts about 3 hours.
I seriously had so much fun hanging out with my friends. While there were families with children down there, I am glad that Yon is in town and watched Emmie for us at home. I get nervous having her in large crowds and my anxiety would have been HIGH. Plus, I am pretty sure she would run off, find someone with food, and adopt them as her new family. It was such a PLEASURE to just get to enjoy myself for the day with Chris. Knowing that Em was in loving and capable hands let us let loose and have some fun which all parents need to do
St. Patty’s Fashion: Shirt from LOFT, Shorts from LOFT, Shoes by TOMS
Thanks to Victoria our first St. Patrick’s Day in Savannah was perfection. I am already looking forward to next year. We all took notes about what we can add to our tent space to make it even better. Look out 2014 … we already have you in our sights
How did you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Savannah consistently ranks in the Top 5 US cities to celebrate in. Come celebrate with us next year!
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Valentine’s Day 2013
| February 14, 2013 | Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under FitGear, Holidays |
Happy Valentine’s Day! I am a sucker for reasons to celebrate so you better believe that we are over here. Chris has tomorrow off so we are heading out to dinner tomorrow night to celebrate. Our friend Mike graciously offered to babysit Emmie. Heck yes!
In honor of Valentine’s Day, Emmie made her first official piece of artwork. I whipped up some edible finger paint using the following recipe:
- 1 cup flour
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- Food coloring
I cut out a heart and taped it on the sheet by rolling the tape behind the heart. Em painted over it and when it was dry I took off the heart so a white heart was left. She LOVED painting. She did pretty well with the paint brushes in the beginning and only ate the paint once Eventually she moved on to her hands and got down and dirty.
And the final product:
Her artwork reminded me that I need to buy frames for our up and coming play room to start framing them! Normally Chris and I just go out to dinner for Valentine’s Day but this year we both had some fitness gear in mind. I got Chris a Polar FT7 heart rate monitor. He does Army PT and then CrossFit and has been curious about his calorie expenditure. Since I love my Polar FT40 so much it’s only fitting the love of my life gets his own
Chris surprised me with something that was on my Christmas list. He got me the Lululemon “The Mat”. It actually arrived last week so I got it early. I tried it out in yoga last weekend and on Monday and for the first time ever I wasn’t slipping and sliding on my mat. I really wanted a black one so it wouldn’t show dirt but bless his heart, Chris thought the mint green was better
I have to say I feel incredibly blessed to have a partner in life who is as focused on fitness as I am. It makes it that much easier to stay focused on my goals and health when I get to do it with my hubs. There are some big things popping for Chris in the fitness arena that I can’t share quite yet but will soon. I am hoping that Em grows up happy in a fit family
Since I love Valentine’s Day so much I have a Valentine’s Gift for one of you too! Shabby Apple has graciously given me a $50 gift certificate to giveaway here on the blog. You can find them on Facebook and Twitter too! Shabby Apple has beautiful and vintage-y clothes for women. Seriously how cute would this be fore a date night?
You can enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter widget below. Giveaway runs from today until 2/18 at midnight and is open to readers with a US mailing address only. Winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize before a new one is chosen. Good luck!
Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?
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Christmas 2012 Recap
| December 26, 2012 | Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under Family, Holidays |
Welcome back to blog-land friends! For those that celebrated I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! We sure did. Ready for picture overload? Good because so am I.
To start off our celebrations we took some pictures of Emmalyne in her beautiful party dress. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate for good natural lighting. Oh well
Afterwards we headed to mass for the Christmas Eve service. We went to the children’s liturgy and watched the Christmas pageant. I can’t wait until Em is old enough to be in one.
After church we had to run home, eat, and change into comfortable clothes before loading up the car with plates of food for Chris’ Soldiers who were working. We hung out at the Military Police station for about an hour before getting home to tuck Em into bed. We jumped on Skype with my family to open our annual ornaments for our Christmas tree.
From top left: Emmalyne got the most epic ornament of all time. It’s a Packer’s helmet with a baby in it wearing a onesie saying “newest fan”. I die. My mom rocks. We got her the Mickey Mouse to commemorate our trip to Disney World in May and her undying love for the mouse himself. I got the sunflower from my mom because they have always been a special thing for us and our family ornament was the holy family. Once again mom nails it.
Our work wasn’t done though because now we are *gasp* parents and are now responsible for assembling Christmas gifts. A couple hot choclates later and sometime after midnight we collapsed into bed.
Only to wake up to having Santa outdo us
Emmalyne got absolutely and ridiculously spoiled by everyone who loves her. Highlights? Her Radio Flyer wagon, a rocker, a Tricycoo, and so much more.
I also got positively spoiled rotten by my family. I have a BIG family so I guess that means more gifts? My life is complete with an iPhone 5, new Toms, Lululemon clothes, and Oakley sunglasses. Chris was tired of me running in my normal sunglasses so I feel like the gift is half for him? Some of the items were one my Fit-Christmas list and others were complete surprises.
My favorite gift this year though was from my sister. It’s my wedding video. It’s been missing for 3 years in their house and she found it this year. Seriously best gift ever
By 10AM we had a house full of Soldiers enjoying a Christmas brunch and watching Elf. Perfection. The truth behind Christmas though? Once Emmalyne saw her baby stroller (IE: the first gift she saw) it was game over. Homegirl pushed her baby throughout the house all. day. long.
Overall we had a nearly perfect Christmas. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if I was with my family. Luckily technology makes that possible and we were able to Skype in while they were opening gifts in Phoenix.
Now, it’s time to get back on track, look back on 2012, and set some goals for 2013. :)
If you celebrate, what was the best gift you received this year?
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Merry Christmas
| December 25, 2012 | Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under Holidays |
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas, from our family to yours. May your day be full of light, love, and lots of happiness with the people you hold most dear.
Like what you see? Make sure to subscribe to my feed! I would love to hear from you on Facebook or Twitter! Need a daily dose of Emmalyne? Find us on Instagram!
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas, from our family to yours. May your day be full of light, love, and lots of happiness with the people you hold most dear.
Like what you see? Make sure to subscribe to my feed! I would love to hear from you on Facebook or Twitter! Need a daily dose of Emmalyne? Find us on Instagram!
