Our weekend wasn’t wild and crazy but it was such a good one! I love simple weekends at home and the pure normalcy of the past couple of days left me feeling rejuvenated and my heart filled up. We celebrated Sadie’s birthday, had the most amazing dinner with wonderful people in our home on Saturday night and Chase was dedicated at our church on Sunday morning. But I’m getting ahead of myself! Let’s back up a bit…
Saturday
On Saturday, Sadie turned TEN years old!
Our little sugar-faced sweetheart makes us so happy and while she’s definitely more content to curl up on the couch than she was five years ago, her energy level is still high and she’s just as excitable and joyful as ever!
A few of you asked about Sadie’s annual birthday challenge last week when I mentioned her upcoming birthday and OF COURSE we had to keep the tradition alive this year! We opted for a Birthday Challenge: Breakfast Edition and placed bets on whether she’d pick sausage or bacon as her first go-to birthday treat. Based on Sadie’s past reactions when I’ve made various breakfast casseroles, my money was on sausage but bacon seemed to be the popular vote on Instagram Stories, capturing about 65 percent of your votes!
As usual, we let her sniff both plates and then Ryan backed her up and we sang Happy Birthday before releasing her toward her birthday treats to see which one she would eat first. Sadie kept us guessing with this year’s challenge because she immediately ran over to the bacon, sniffed it and then veered toward the sausage and went to town.
Sausage wins!
In addition to celebrating our special girl, our Saturday morning included a workout! I’m not sure why I love Saturday morning workouts so much, but I think it’s a combination of warming up with Ryan (it takes me back to our pre-baby workout days!) and beginning the weekend on an active note.
With a few days of gym closures last week due to snow days in Charlotte, I was craving a good workout on Saturday and took myself through a leg and booty workout that looked like this:
I rounded things out with my mini band booty workout (a short but serious booty burner) and called it a day.
Once we collected Chase from childcare, we made our way to Chipotle to grab burrito bowls for lunch before we spent the next hour or so at Barnes & Noble. We bumped into some of our friends at the bookstore and it was so nice to catch up while our boys all played at the train table together.
We made it home about 15 minutes before my mom pulled in the driveway! She drove in town from Florida to celebrate Chase’s dedication and he absolutely lit up when he saw “Mae” walk through the door! Chase talked Mae’s ear off and we played for a bit before I tried my best to settle him down for a nap which shockingly worked. (Nap battles are somethin’ fierce around here right now.)
Chase slept for an hour which gave us a chance to shower and get cleaned up before one of Ryan’s coworker friends and his wife came over. Ryan’s coworker, Matt, used to be a professional chef before switching to the corporate world. In the past, when Ryan has brought leftovers home from a work function or two and the dish was one of Matt’s, I’d rave about it for days because his food is INCREDIBLE. Matt made the amazingly generous offer to prepare a three-course dinner for us in our home with his wife for a mini dinner party. We bought all the groceries Matt needed to make the most incredible seafood-themed feast for our group of five (plus Chase who dined on a fancy schmancy box of Annie’s mac and cheese).
Matt’s first course included a fresh green salad with a homemade dijon vinaigrette dressing and the creamiest lump crab risotto. I think we all licked our plates clean!
The entree he prepared was pretty much my PERFECT dinner: A bouillabaisse packed with fresh shrimp, scallops, potatoes, salmon and sole.
Matt was such an animated and exciting person to talk to and his wife could not have been friendlier. I loved picking his brain and learning all about his training and experience and his fascinating cooking tips. I asked Matt if he has ever considered becoming a private chef for dinner parties and he said that while cooking is his passion, he prefers to leave it as a hobby because he loves being able to kick back, have a drink and relax with the people he cooks for and enjoy the entire process.
The dessert course was right up my alley and Matt prepared bananas flambé with butter-grilled pound cake, maple cinnamon whipped cream and salted caramel ice cream. Heaven!
Sunday
Sunday morning was a special day I’ve had on my radar ever since Chase was born and we finally made it happen! Our church organizes family dedications a couple of times a year and Chase was dedicated at the first service on Sunday morning along with a few other babies and children.
I had a few questions about a dedication versus a baptism on Instagram Stories and from my understanding, a dedication is often performed in non-denominational Christian churches instead of infant baptism. A dedication at our church welcomes a child into the church and indicates a family’s desire to raise their child to know God. It was a meaningful day for our family and Chase seemed to love being on stage! I wasn’t sure if he’d be nervous but he handled it like a champ and even gave our pastor an enthusiastic high-five!
After saying hello to friends and enjoying a small reception and some cupcakes, we made our way home for a relaxing Sunday afternoon. My mom encouraged Ryan and me to get out and take Sadie on a long birthday walk, so we wandered all over our neighborhood and covered about four miles with our girl before heading home.
Chase was napping by the time we made it back, so we flipped on some football and hung out on the couch together. I began typing up this blog post with Sadie curled up by my side until we dug into a big spread of breakfast for dinner thanks to Sadie’s birthday challenge leftovers.
I hope you all had a great weekend and enjoy the week ahead! Thanks for stopping by the blog today!
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Congratulations on the dedication! That is so exciting. It was so sweet of your mom to make the drive up!
I was so jealous when you posted on the Instagram stories the video of Matt making dessert for you all. The whole meal looks delicious!
It meant a lot to us that she made the drive up as well! She and Chase have the most incredible relationship and it truly makes me so grateful and happy to see them together!
What a lovely weekend! My kid would definitely also be the one eating Mac and cheese instead of gourmet food. Lol. That dinner looked incredible!
Wow that food looks incredible!!! I am right there with you bouillabaisse or cioppino is right up my alley and that dessert…oh my goodness! Congratulations on Chase’s dedication 🙂 it must’ve been so wonderful for your mother to share that experience with him. xoxo
Hey Julie! First of all, Happy Birthday Sadie! This is totally off topic from this post, but I had two questions about collagen.. Did you take it while you are nursing and which brand is your favorite? I have had chronic elbow tendonitis (has come and gone over the last 5 years), so I have been researching and considering incorporating collagen peptides to routine. However, I am still nursing my almost 9 month old little girl. Would love your advice! Also, I live in Charlotte and teach yoga! Would love to have you in class at Charlotte Yoga or Vibe5!
I did and I loved it! Of course check with your doctor before using it while you’re still nursing but I loved the Great Lakes brand of collagen (the one in the green container that dissolves almost instantly in liquid).
Loved this! Congratulations on Chase’s dedication! It was so sweet of your mom to be there for the event too!
And happy birthday Sadie!!
I LOVE that you celebrate Sadie’s birthday with such gusto! Our pets are our “fur children” after all!
May God richly bless Chase. I thank God for you, and Ryan for your desire to raise Chase in a Christian home.
Prov. 3:5-6
Congratulations on Chase’s dedication – what a special day! I always love when they do dedications at our church (also non-denominational). It puts such a big smile on my face. And my parents dog totally prefers sausage over just about any other meat, too!
I think there’s something about the smell when it’s cooking that instantly piques Sadie’s interest! She doesn’t leave my side whenever I cook sausage!
Such a special weekend – Chase is absolutely adorable! How come your Dad didn’t join your Mom? He must have been bummed to miss it! 🙁
It actually came up fairly last minute and he had a weekend of hunting with a couple of his friends already booked. We missed him for sure!
Congratulations on Chase’s dedication!! What a special day!!! And happy birthday to Sadie! Sounds like you guys had a great weekend; simple weekends are lovely! Enjoy your Monday! Xoxo
That sounds like the most fun dinner party!!
Happy Birthday to Sweet Sadie! I have followed you for a long time, and I just love her!!
Thank you!!! She appreciates the love!! <3
Is it just me, or has your mom lost some weight? It may just be the pattern of her dress or how she’s sitting but she looks great!
She has! 🙂 I passed your comment along to her and she smiled and said thank you for noticing her effort! <3
Awww sadie has such a sweet little face! That is very interesting about the dedication ceremony, I’ve never heard of that but it’s super super cool! And breakfast for dinner is my favorite way to eat breakfast!
That sounds like a wonderful weekend!
Um that dinner looks insane?! Love bouillabaisse!
Congrats to Chase on his dedication! GO EAGLES!!!
We’re church of christ, and do baby dedications as well! We don’t do infant baptism, which I’ve always thought was more of a Catholic belief? I could be wrong! Everyone does it different 🙂 Our dedication was like you said, just an acknowledgement that you want to raise your child in the church, and are asking for the Church to support you and walk alongside you 🙂 It’s such a special Sunday morning!!
I love the tradition of Sadie’s birthday treats! I want to start doing that with our pup, Tuki! Also, that dinner looks delicious. I want a friend to come over and cook me a 3-course meal!
Happy birthday to Sadie! I thought for sure she would have gone with the bacon.
It must have been nice to have your mom there for Chase’s dedication.
Julie! Happy Monday! Being a dog person, I have always loved how you celebrate Sadie’s birthday! Our little Rudy is almost three, and he will surely have a doggie birthday this year too hehehe. And as far as having a chef cook for you in your home — how awesome. We have friends with cool jobs, but boy, it would be awesome to have one who liked to cook like that. So fancy! Have a great week!
Congratulations to you and your family on Chase’s dedication, and happy birthday to Sadie 🙂
What a nice weekend. Your mom looks fantastic.
I think I need to befriend some more chefs…
Glad you had a lovely weekend – it looks special, that’s for sure.
Sadie’s birthday challenges always bring a smile to my face and as soon as you mention her birthday, I immediately think of the challenge.
You two are such fun doggie and human parents!
xxxx!
Yay for baby/kid church dedications! We’ve done it with both our boys and it’s is such a special experience imo just setting intentions for them.
Side question: what leg/booty bands do you have? I’ve beenwanting to purchase some but I’m not sure what to look for. Thanks for the advice!
Hi Julie!
I am from Australia and along with my partner welcomed a gorgeous vizsla puppy into our lives at the beginning of the year! He brings so much joy into our lives, but something I am finding difficult is how to maintain my own exercise routine while also having to the walk the dog every day. I’m wondering if you could share some advice on how you fit in both gym time and Sadie time, and for how long you exercised her. Some people say they need more than an hour an day, but I think I’d crumble in a heap!
Love your writing! Thanks so much!
Sophie