Between a scary trip to McDonald’s, playtime with the kids, a date night, a double ear infection for one of our kiddos, and making a big batch of breakfast sandwiches, this week has been nothing short of our usual chaos!

Grab a cup of coffee and a snack and let’s catch up!

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A Wild Night in McDonald’s 🍔

Our family goes to McDonald’s for dinner every Sunday night after our church’s evening service. This past Sunday was no different, except when we pulled up to the drive thru, we were told the ordering system was down. We’d have to go inside.

The kids thought this was thrilling since we usually just stay in the car.
“Can we pretty please go in with you, Mom?” Sadie begged.
“I wanna go too!” Mordecai shouted from the backseat.

Jimmy said no at the same time I said, “Sure!” He didn’t want me to go through the hassle of unbuckling everyone and dragging them inside, but I didn’t mind. Oh, how I wish I hadn’t!

We went in, placed our order, and as I was paying, a woman came in asking the workers for someone’s cousin. Then out of nowhere, a man approached her—and suddenly they were in a fight. She spit on him, and he choke-slammed her to the ground. Food and drinks went flying. They were wrestling, choking each other, and yelling, less than two feet from Sadie and Mordecai.

I finally got my change and drink cup and ushered the kids toward the drink station.
“I’m really scared, Mommy,” Mordecai said.
“Me too,” Sadie whispered, tears in her eyes.

I quickly walked the kids outside to the car, then went back in to wait for our food since I had already paid. By then, the fight had stopped and someone had called the police.

A security guard came into the lobby, geared up like he was ready to handle it. Everyone started pointing, telling him where each person had gone. Then he said, “Uh… I’m just here to pick up my mobile order?” 😂

When our food was ready, I grabbed the bag and got out of there fast—especially since the man who’d been fighting had come back inside. My heart was racing as I walked past a police car with its lights flashing. Poor Jimmy was sitting in the car with all the kids crying, completely confused about what had happened.

The kids struggled to process it later—especially Sadie. She couldn’t understand why people would fight. We had a long talk on the way home, and I was just so thankful we were all safe. Whew. What a night!

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Everyday Moments This Week 📅

Our everyday moments lately have looked like school time, walks in the beautiful autumn air, and even a date night for me and Jimmy 😍

Now that Dakota and Sadie both sleep in their bedroom, they totally wake each other up. Sadie loves to get her and Mordecai out of their cribs in the morning. I snapped a picture on their baby monitors and it was so sweet!

Sadie is becoming a little mommy lately. She has been into baby dolls and has one that actually cries (helppppp!!!) and needs its diaper changed. She even pushes it in a stroller around the neighborhood. Too cute!

Speaking of Sadie, she is truly one of the most generous people I know. She would literally give someone the shirt off her back! She is constantly giving away toys and things to her friends and it’s inspiring to me. She has a light grasp on material things and is very thoughtful.

Sader Tot had her seven year check up at the doctor this week and is growing and healthy! She is going to have her hearing tested again soon. She’s had a history of a speech articulation disorder and mild hearing loss, so the doctor wanted to check on it again. We’re working on getting that scheduled!

Dakota was crabby the day before Sadie’s appointment. It was so out of character for her and she wasn’t napping well. Then her nose started to run and her eye was goopy on the morning of Sadie’s doctor visit. I added Dakota onto Sadie’s appointment and what do ya know, she had a double ear infection. Poor girl!

I don’t know how the infection developed that fast, but I’m glad I could squeeze her in with Sadie’s appointment! Mordecai came along and told the doctor that Sadie’s bike was taken by the garbage truck, haha. It must have made an impact on him! Dakota has been on her antibiotic for a few days now and is thankfully taking it as well as last time!

The kids have done their Bible lessons and school work together this week. Nobody is more excited for Mordecai to be doing school than Sadie. She cheers him on and helps him with everything 🫶

We’ve had more chilly weather but the sun is shining so we’re still trying to get outside as much as possible. It does wonders for everybody’s mood!

Sadie finished her school work for the day one afternoon and had her daily free time to play. She made an extensive magnatile race track for Mordecai to be surprised by when he woke up from his nap. She was so excited to show him her creation!

Sadie and Mordecai play, and play, and play together all day. I love it! I was busy making a big batch of breakfast sandwiches (more on those in a minute!) and when I finally looked up from the frying pan, below was the scene. Apparently they were playing doctor? I’ve never had a banana taped to my head at the doctor’s office, though 🤣

Jimmy and I were able to go on a quick date night this week! We went to Barnes and Noble to browse around the books, Jimmy got a coffee, and I picked out a supplemental math workbook for Sadie!

It was a rainy night in the ‘Burgh, so I wore my rain boots. They’re probably my favorite item of footwear and I’ll use any amount of rain as an excuse to wear them 😬

Sadie and I made an apple pie during her school time! She wrote the recipe, did all the measuring, and helped me put it together. She’s very interesting: she likes the apple mixture and she likes the pie crust dough, but she doesn’t like it all baked together 🤷🏼‍♀️

I found the cutest mini s’mores kit at the store! It came with wood skewers, tiny chocolate squares, mini marshmallows, Golden Grahams cereal, and a tea light candle to roast the marshmallows. Sadie, her friend, and Mordecai had such a fun time roasting their marshmallows and assembling the s’mores.

Mordecai is getting so good at balancing on his bike! I think he’s going to have a great transition to a big kid bike in the next couple of years.

And Dakota is still smiling despite being a sick girlie! We had our first evening walk with hats on for the kids. Eek! Can’t believe we’re in the double digits of October already.

Those have been our everyday moments! Simple, sweet, and a little crazy—as usual 😊

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Prepping Breakfast Sandwiches 🍳

Every few weeks, our kitchen gets completely covered in English muffins, eggs, bacon, and cheese as I make sandwiches for Jimmy’s breakfasts. He eats breakfast at work (he’s out the door at 6:00 am or earlier every day!) and I like to prep big batches of sandwiches for him to grab and go.

I have a recipe page detailing my process here, but basically what I do is split 12 English muffins, fry 12 eggs, cook 12 slices of bacon, and use 12 pieces of cheese to put together sandwiches. I wrap them in Press’N seal and freeze them in gallon bags. He pulls out 5 sandwiches every Sunday night and they’re all thawed for the week ahead! He heats them up in a toaster oven at work for a few minutes and breakfast is served!

I do the same process with his lunches, except I use burritos or bread, deli meat, hot peppers, and cheese. It makes everything streamlined so we don’t have to think about what to pack him or rush at the last minute to put something together!

Sometimes I switch things up from breakfast sandwiches and make:

• Crescent rolls with sausage and cheese rolled into them.
• Biscuits with an egg, cheese, and sausage patty inside.
• Sourdough bread with egg, cheese, and bacon.
• Burritos with scrambled eggs, chopped bacon, and shredded cheese.
• A casserole with eggs, potatoes, cheese, and bacon. I cut it into slices and freeze those (see this post for a picture!).

What do you eat for breakfast? Do you ever do big batches of meal prep? I also like to bake corn muffins and cookies and freeze them so we can have a muffin or treat anytime!

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Other Notes and Thoughts 📝

• Update on Dakota’s sleep training: she is now (mostly!) sleeping through the night. Her double ear infection isn’t helping, but she usually goes to bed around 7:30 pm and wakes up at 6:30 am. Muuuch better than the 11:00 pm, 2:00 am, and 4:00 am wake ups before we sleep trained her. 😴
• I say Dakota is sleep trained… just in time for Daylight Savings, ha. I can’t believe the time change is upon us in less than a month. Our kids (and sometimes us adults, am I right?!) are usually wrecked for a week and then we all adjust. ⏰
• If you’re into skincare, you have to try this pumpkin enzyme face mask! I love the tingling sensation when I use it and how smooth my face feels afterwards 🧖‍♀️
• Sadie received the Amazon toy catalog in the mail the same day I got the King Arthur Baking catalog and we were both so excited to flip through our respective catalogs. It’s a dangerous thing for me to get a baking catalog! I really want to try Valrhona chocolate 🍫
• I used this spicy panko for breading chicken this week and I loved it. Lots of heat! 🔥
• Amazon had their big Prime Day deals. Did you buy anything? I found good prices on some really random things that we needed: cereal, reusable muffin cups, baby spoons, vanilla beans, a spelling workbook, and rain boots for Sadie ☔️
• I’ve been working on making the Thanksgiving cards for my family’s real estate brokerage to send to clients. Next, I’ll be making the Christmas cards for Jimmy’s steel business to send to their clients. I love doing this, lol. I feel like it’s a good business idea 💡
• A lot of homes in our neighborhood are decked out for Halloween (read: gory/scary). Sadie loves seeing the decor andddd Mordecai is terrified. I’m with him and can’t wait to see Christmas decorations and lights instead of the ten foot skeletons, lol. 🎄

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Whew, if you made it to the end of this post, thanks for sticking with me! From wild moments, to sickness and sweet everyday memories, I’m reminded that God’s hand is in it all—protecting, providing, and filling our home with joy. Thanks for catching up with me—see you next time for more stories from our full (and sometimes funny) life 😉