Chick-Fil-A Kids Meal Giveaway

My love of Chick-fil-A is hardly a secret. I love the food. I love the service {remember when I posted about the manager who carried an umbrella over me and my two kiddos until I loaded them into the car!?}. As if I didn’t already love CFA enough, I received an email last week that made me love Chick-fil-A even more.
Chick-fil-A has expanded their kids menu to offer more nutritious options for our kiddos… AND they are offering a free kids meal for THREE of my lucky readers. They have created a neat Old School Fun app that offers classic old school games for the family and a fun throwback quiz!

Have a look around at the fun outdoor family activities and check out the Old School Quiz. I tallied in as The Bomb Dot Com—flared jeans, cassette tapes, and pogs, oh my! But I really want you to take a quick look here at this infographic.

For the past almost four months now, our family has been making healthier food choices. We eat a ton more fruits and veggies. We are cutting back on sugar and sweets. And I am trying my best to eliminate High Fructose Corn Syrup and Trans fats completely—those two guys pop up everywhere! But not at Chick-fil-A. I found on their website that CFA removed trans fat from the ENTIRE menu in 2008 and they have recently eliminated high fructose corn syrup from its chocolate milk, and some salad dressings and sauces.
The other day, I took the kids to Chick-fil-A so they could play and I could use their free wi-fi. We tried the grilled nuggets and I have go to say that they are delish—much better than I expected to be honest. I hope they bring them to the adult menu soon!

Three of my lucky winners will win a free Chick-fil-A kids meal! Enter using the widget below!

Loose Ends

I've had intentions of blogging for the past several days with pictures and updates, but my desire to sleep during my free time has trumped getting on my computer. Here's a little bit of what's been going on:

Gram-Gram

Since sweet baby Belle was born, I have had a ton of people helping around the clock- my mom, mother-in-law, other family members, friends from church, friends from college... my front door has basically become a revolving door (which is totally okay by me!). This past week, my grandma (Jackson refers to her as Gram-Gram) was on "helper duty". She drove down on Monday and stayed until Friday. It was so, so nice to have her here!! She cooked her coveted noodles, baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, folded laundry, washed dishes. She went to my MOPS group with me and to church on Wednesday night. It was so nice having her as part of our everyday life for a whole week!

The weather was nice so we headed out for a walk on a nearby trail. See her trying to keep up with Jackson?

Another nice day, we headed to the park and she took Belle for a walk while I stayed with Jackson at the playground.

I think this was her favorite-- snuggling Belle and reading books to Jackson.

I hardly ever make it up to Trenton these days, so it was just so wonderful to get to spend a whole week with her! Plus, I got to take a few extra naps!

Derek's Graduation
In just 10 days, Belle and I will be flying to Georgia for Derek's graduation from AIT. I am so, so excited! I have been wanting to go all along, but Derek kept brushing it off as something he didn't really care about and didn't want to spend the money for me to go out there. I was doing my best to respect his wishes, but when he finally mentioned that he would like for us to be there, I practically jumped out of my seat!

My mother-in-law and I were going to fly out together, but the cost of the airline tickets more than doubled over-night and so now it's only me (and Belle). Seriously, on Thursday night- $250 a person covered flight, hotel, and car rental. On Friday morning, I paid $475 for flight, hotel, and car-- and that was using Priceline's feature of not selecting my flight times and just taking what they give me. It would have been $680 otherwise. Is that not unbelievable?!?!

But even that can't take away my excitement to go see him! I am so, so, so proud of him. And I'm pretty sure he's excited to show Belle off to some of his Army buddies too. Belle will be 3 1/2 weeks when I fly with her. Hopefully she'll still be the easiest baby ever and make it a super easy trip!

Chick-fil-a
I totally heart Chick-fil-a. The people there are always so kind and I may have a waffle-fry addiction. Plus, I'm a fan of styrofoam cups and Coke- so it's the perfect place! Yesterday on Gram-Gram's way out of town, we met up with my mom for lunch at the Chick-fil-a in Liberty. Let me share with you how awesome the people were yesterday.

First. When I was walking in I was carrying Jackson in one arm and the baby carrier in the other. One of the employees must have seen me from inside because she came outside to open the doors for us. She totally didn't have to do that.

Second. As people were oohing and aahing over Belle (because it happens everywhere we go!) another one of the workers stopped and gushed as well. She also pointed out that there we had four generations all together at our table- how cool! Mom mentioned how she would have liked to have gotten a picture the other day when we were together and I had my camera. Well, awesome Chick-fil-a girl comes back with the owner (I think) with camera in hand. He takes a picture with his camera and emails it right away! She (and he) totally didn't have to do that!

Third. Getting ready to leave, I packed up the kiddos and headed for the door. I had my Coke and the carrier in one hand and was holding Jackson's hand with the other. I was prepping myself for the mad dash that was about to take place as it was raining like crazy. Mr. Owner guy comes out behind the counter to open the door for us-- how nice! But, then he told us to wait... he went and got an umbrella and walked us out to the car! He stood there with the umbrella while I got both kids buckled in and I got in the driver's seat. He totally didn't have to do that!

Are you seeing the trend here?? No other fast food place would ever offer out service like that!! Granted, I would love to see a dollar menu pop up soon, but with service like that-- they can charge whatever they want for a chicken sandwich and we will go back!!

Weekend Getaway

This past weekend, we headed down to Springfield to visit some family and friends. Maybe it's just the nostalgia from spending my much-loved college years there, but I just love that city. I am desperately hoping for my sister to decide to go to college there just so I have more reasons to go visit more often.

Our friends, Jeff and Missy, bought a house in Republic last year and they always willingly allow us to bombard their place with baby/toddler paraphernalia for a few days when we visit. Missy has done a super cute job of decorating their place. I am working on getting her to come up and "work her magic" on my place!

 Jackson played the role of Jeffrey's shadow all weekend.

We met up with our old (as in former) campus minister from the BSU for lunch at Chick-Fil-A. Billy was there for us in such critical times in each of our lives and even though we don't get to talk or meet up often, I am always encouraged and blessed when we do!

A picture of Billy and me at Jeff and Missy's rehearsal dinner

Of course, we spent some time with Brad and Mary (the in-laws) and the super cute nephew, Gabe. They are moving to St. Louis next month and I am pretty bummed that she didn't find a job here in KC. I love watching Brad play with Jackson. He's so good with kids (something I never would have guessed when we first met and we didn't really see eye-to-eye) and Jackson loves him.

Have you ever seen a diehard* Jayhawk fan loving on a Mizzou fan ?

*understatement

  

I know I am a bit partial, but aren't these boys just the cutest?

On Sunday, we found our way to Jordan Valley Park- probably my favorite place in Springfield. Home of possibly the most fun, impromtu nights of my college experience. I was disappointed that the fountains weren't on, but all the more of a reason to make sure that we go back soon. Jackson would just love it.

Nothing is cuter than a little boy with his daddy.

We were able to catch up with several friends, but there were still a few that we didn't get to see- which of course is a bummer. It was so nice to "get away" for the weekend, even though I am still catching up from the sleepiness that incurs from traveling with a one-year-old. Okay, so maybe we just enjoyed staying up way to late playing The Game of Things (birthday gift anyone?) and just enjoying time with friends. While I enjoyed great converation with Missy, Derek and Jeff took to watching the NASA channel for and since there was no sound, they narrated the events taking place as the astronauts prepped for a spacewalk. Apparently, that is really funny stuff. They entertained themselves for an hour (it's really best to avoid trying to understand these two when they are together).


On our way home, we discussed some places that we want to make sure we visit next time we travel south and aside from the park, they are all restaurants- does that say anything about us?

St. Patty's Day at Chick-fil-A

Derek has the day off so to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, we decided to take the kiddos to Chick-fil-A for lunch. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea. We buckled the three kids in our two cars (my car won't hold three seats), drove to Overland Park, walked in and got the last available table!! Two high chairs, three bags, five coats... If any place is worth that hassle, it's Chick-fil-A, no doubt.

Grandpa stopped by to see Jackson as we were heading out the door, so we invited him to come with-- I'm not sure he knew what he was getting himself into!

Waffle fries- delicious!

Chacey- cute as ever!!!

David enjoyed his nuggets. He kept calling my chicken sandwich a 'chicken burger'.

One of the greatest things about Chick-fil-A is that it is caters so well to smaller kids. The McDonalds here in town does have a playplace and we go sometimes, but it is so big and there are often lots of older children running around. Chick-fil-A, however, has a smaller playplace and it is wonderful. Jackson started playing at their place before he was even one. And it is in its own separate room so the kids can't run outside either!

Chacey having a fabulous time.

David and Jackson spent most of their time in the tunnels so I couldn't get a good picture. Come to find out, someone had spilled a glass of water, so they were enjoying stomping and splashing water more than anything else. They both came down pretty wet.

As soon as we got home, Derek said "Whew. I don't think the kids got as worn out as the parents did!" I think he was right. The little ones weren't quite ready for their afternoon nap, so they continued to play... and dance. Be sure to watch their performance:

Jackson's 1st Birthday

The last week of October marked Jackson's birthday week and much celebrating took place. Despite the fact that it's now the middle of November, I am still a little bit in denial that my baby has become a toddler and that he is officially one year old.

Jackson's first birthday picture

Jackson's birthday party was on the Saturday the 24th and was in our new house in the basement, even though the upstairs was still a major construction area. It was kind of a last minute plan because when we first starting thinking about his party, we had no idea what shape our house would be in. We swept up the basement, put down a rug, and brought our little playground inside and I think it went nicely. Mom and I (but mostly Mom) made food and it was yummy! We had sandwiches, fruit, spinach dip, chips, some veggies, and of course- a cake! My friend Tammy has a special talent for making cakes and she did a FABULOUS job.

The cake- half chocolate, half fun-fetti- Delicious!

Jackson eats his cake

Just a little big messy!

Jackson had several friends come to the party and he had fun and of course grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles joined the party too! Linda and Forrest got him a kid broom to appease his desire to carry the big broom around the entire house. Grandpa Duff got Jackson this little big that dances, sings, and squeals and needless to say all of the kids love it. Jackson got several other gifts and he plays with them all, though his favorite thing is get to play with the 'big kids'!

Yum- a basketball!

Jackson and I went up to Kearney on his actual birthday and went to Chick-fil-a for lunch with Grandpa. They have a playplace that is more suited for the toddler and Jackson always enjoys climbing and going down the slide. The manager at the restaurant gave Jackson a balloon and Jackson carried that thing around as if his life depended on it-- up the stairs, through the tunnel, down the slide, even when he fell asleep in the car. Both Jackson and Grandpa had a good time.

Jackson and Grandpa

He sure loved that balloon!

Since Jackson's birthday was on a Wednesday, we planned to have a mini celebration after church with cookies and edible markers. The kids all decorated some cookies and Jackson just squealed in delight of having the 'big kids' around once again. Not only is Jackson loved and adored by all of our family friends, he also have a fan club from kids ranging from age 2 up to the 7th graders at church- especially our Sunday school students. In fact, we are having a Sunday School party tomorrow and the 4-5th graders have insisted on Jackson being present.

Decorating cookies

Happy Baby!

These boys love each other-

Grant and Jackson

And can't forget to mention that Jackson was just so excited about his birthday, that he was up several times in the night. We were awake from 3:30-5:00 all because Jackson wanted a banana and it took us that long to figure out what he wanted. We are so blessed to have Jackson in our lives and also for our friends and family who love him so much! And here is a video I made for Jackson's birthday. It is kind of long, but it's really cool. And for more birthday pictures CLICK HERE.