Painting in the Park, Gardening, Family Meals, & Spring Time!
We made it to the 70s down here in South Carolina! After a week of very, very cold weather (for us Southerners), I was getting discouraged, but now I’m in full spring mode. I’m thinking about all the gardening that needs to be done, fun summer recipes, and all things summer. Last year, I didn’t have much of a life outside of the bakery business, but now I really get to enjoy my summer. My son is at such a fun age that I want to do all the things, so I hope you’re ready for some fun recap blogs this spring and summer! The leaves change so fast here that by the time I write my next recap blog, there may be greenery on the trees—and that makes me so excited!
A few weeks ago, in between the colder days, we had some nice weather sprinkled in. We met up with some of our good friends at Anne Springs for a day of outdoor play, hiking, and getting muddy in the creek.
When it’s nice outside, I just want my son to be out there, soaking up every minute of it. Being outdoors truly does something good for kids—I always notice a big change in his behavior when we spend our days fully outside.
After a morning of outdoor fun, we headed over to Ilios—OUR FAVORITE (because what’s a weekly recap blog without mentioning Ilios at least three times?)—for a delicious lunch. When you find a spot with healthy options that your toddler actually eats, you stick with it! I always order the chicken and rice, and my son eats so much of it—which he would never do if I made it. He loves dipping it in hot sauce and tzatziki.
Should I be worried about the amount of hot sauce and spicy foods my kid likes? He’s just like his uncle, who is obsessed with anything that burns the mouth!
When we got back to the house, I prepared a delicious pot roast that would be ready just in time for dinner. I’m going to share this recipe soon! My mom was planning on being there for dinner, so I wanted to have something yummy for her!
I seared the roast, added all the fixings, and let it cook in the oven for about seven hours. It turned out to be one of the best pot roasts I’ve ever had!
We were met with another gorgeous day—gosh, I love spring so much—and my mom and I took my son out to one of his favorite spots for a play day, Bush-N-Vine Farm.
He gets so excited about all the tractors, chickens, sandbox, slides, and just everything there for him to enjoy! I was excited about picking up fresh produce, my Arctic seasoning, some raw apple cider vinegar, and of course, ice cream.
How fun is this? If you have a toddler, then you know the excitement for a sandbox that looks like this…
I finally found a cute sandbox online that I think will be a hit this summer, and it arrives this weekend! I can’t wait to surprise him with it as an early birthday present. I just want to have all the fun things outside for this summer! He’s been using my garden bed and rock area as a sandbox, but now that winter is over, I need my garden space back. Hopefully, he’ll be so excited to have a proper home for his trucks there!
And of course, after every playdate at Bush-N-Vine, we treat ourselves to fresh strawberry soft serve and a delicious donut for the donut lover.
I know we had dessert before the meal, but after Bush-N-Vine, we headed to a really cute café called Southern Touch Bakery, Coffee Shop & Café! It’s an old gas station transformed into a café, with cozy spots to eat, an outdoor area, and REALLY good food. I also loved their coffee, which was my main reason for going! My mom and son shared a plate of fries, pulled pork, and potato salad, and, like most toddlers, he just ate the french fries.
We were just talking yesterday about how excited we were to repeat that day and just go to Bush-N-Vine and the cafe again. 
Kyle and I have been talking a lot lately about getting a cat—not right now, but maybe in a few years. My son is OBSESSED with cats, dogs, and all things animals. He’s so gentle and sweet with them too and keeps saying he wants a cat. Anytime our friends have a cat, he just wants to sit there and pet it the entire time. He found this cat in the window on our way back to the car, and it took a good twenty minutes to convince him to leave. He and that cat formed a cute little friendship, and he kept moving his hand around, and the cat would follow. I know we will get a cat eventually, just when he’s a bit older!
Or maybe if a stray kitten just magically showed up…you know, the cat distribution system kind of thing…
We are going to take him to the cat cafe soon!
After school, if it’s nice out, we always pick a park to run around at for an hour! I love that he’s officially at the park age where he can do everything there and never wants to leave.
After the park (and yes, lunch at Ilios), we headed to the backyard to do some potting. Once all of my tulips come up out of the ground, I’m going to take the bulbs out, store them in peat moss, and then plant my dahlias and some tomatoes. I saved the seeds from my kumato tomatoes, and I’m going to plant some of those this year! I’ll be doing a bunch of herbs and flowers too.
I’m so excited because next month, my dahlia tubers from several farms in New York and New Jersey will be shipped! I’m also going to be building a new section in my yard for cut flowers near my fences where all the sun hits. I’m going to be doing so many summer bouquets. I’ll be starting my flower seeds this week too!
I’m lucky to have my little dirt partner to help!
I’m entering my oversized overall era. I bought some overalls from Cotton On because they reminded me of the ones my mom would wear in the ’90s, and they came like three sizes too big. I’ve washed them and tried to shrink them, but I’m too obsessed to care. They are SO COMFY! I just clipped the back. I’m waiting for my size to be restocked so I can have two of them.
I had my SPF Land’s End shirt on underneath and spent Saturday trying my best to get the weeds out of the front garden beds. There are SO MANY, and I have to spend the next few weeks doing a few sections at a time.
On Saturday afternoon, we stopped by the kids’ day in the park that the town put on, but mainly to see LeMakron and get some of her delicious macarons, the ones my son is obsessed with! They’re gluten-free, dairy-free, dye-free, but AMAZING!!! Literally the best-tasting macarons you’ll ever have.
For dinner, I had my go-to lately: a salad with olive oil, balsamic, Arctic seasoning, avocado, Parmesan, gluten-free toast, and homemade chicken salad.
On Sunday, we headed out to Pretty Hippies Farm for a birthday party, and it was the cutest thing ever! My animal-loving son was in heaven. They had baby pigs, the cutest baby calves, goats, chickens, and cats. He just wanted to sit and cuddle the goats the entire time! I told my husband we are doing him a disservice. We should be living on a farm where he can play with rescued animals, and I can garden!
This one was a FRAMER!!
Just a kid living in his element.
A Monday morning breakfast when I’m in desperate need of a Costco trip: gluten-free toast with avocado, Arctic seasoning, and chicken sausage!
Same dinner, different day!
Park date and Ilios, different day.
We’ve still been on our same smoothie kick each morning. It has frozen banana, berries, spinach, kale, whole milk, elderberry, and one scoop of kids’ protein, and he eats it all up! Whatever he doesn’t finish, he drinks the rest at dinner.
While he was at school, I posted my chicken salad recipe!
We love our trader joe’s dates!
We always head to Green Brother’s Juice Bar for a kids’ smoothie and my favorite gluten-free cookies made by Honeybear! 
We picked up some rosemary from Trader Joes to plant in the garden when we got back. I’ve been thinking about making him his own garden box this summer.
We went to our favorite park with grandma the next day, even though it was SO COLD! We stopped for coffee first at Virtuoso, and then spent a few hours at the Waxhaw park before heading back to town for my appointment to have my stitches removed. I’ve been wanting to take them out myself the past week since they were more painful than the actual spot on my arm. There’s a point where things are healed, and the stitches just pull at the skin.
On Friday morning, I made some delicious homemade sourdough bagels to keep in the house for everyone!
On Friday afternoon, after school, we headed to Cabo’s Mexican restaurant, now owned by my friend LeMak! I was so excited to try it out, and I had been in the mood for chicken fajitas for a long time! Now I want them just looking back at these photos. Even my picky eater son had chicken, beans, rice, and all the dips! If you’re in Charlotte and need a new Mexican restaurant, definitely give this one a shot. They have a cute outdoor area to sit, too, and if it wasn’t so cold, we would have done that. But you’re going to LOVE this spot! The food was so fresh!
On Saturday morning, I whipped up some sourdough cinnamon rolls! I’ve been working on new variations and can’t wait to post some spring ones like carrot cake, lemon, and almond! These truly are the best cinnamon rolls, and if you haven’t tried them yet, you need to!
I was so, so, so excited for my date on Saturday afternoon. Becca and I planned a relaxing park date. Since we live a little under an hour away from each other now, we only get to see each other maybe once or twice a month. The weather couldn’t have been ANY more perfect for an afternoon of painting, picnicking with Ilios, and catching up.
I grabbed these paint-by-numbers poppy flowers from Hobby Lobby, which ended up being so fun. I wish they had even more options so we could do them once a month! Maybe they’ll start making more. I loved that they were on board and not canvas paper like most paint-by-numbers.
This was just good for the soul…
I’m tempting to set up a toddler version just so I can do this again soon.
I’m glad we brought extra white paint and a glass of water because the paint was so hard to work with, but it still ended up being cute! We kind of just rolled with it.
I love how it turned out!
I hope this inspires you to go set up a picnic with your best friend!
Of course, we don’t end any Tara and Becca date without coffee. We headed to Rock Hill Coffee Roasters for some of the best coffee! I never get flavored coffee, but I do here because their house-made syrups are always so unique and delicious. I had one with orange, cardamom, and some other spices! It was amazing, like always.
Sunday was all about running errands with the family. We did a few grocery store runs, played outside, and tried to tidy up the house, but it’s so hard to focus on that stuff when its so nice outside. And I also made the sourdough bread for the week that my husband and son eat every single night. They love toasted the jalapeño pepper jack right out of the freezer. Oh, and the honey cinnamon one a good one for french toast in the morning!
For dinner, we had taco bowls! It had ground chicken with taco seasoning, brown rice, Mexican cheese, roasted vegetables, and refried beans. I was inspired to make this after my son ate at the Mexican restaurant since he loves beans, and shockingly, he ate his entire bowl (without the veggies, of course).
It was a rainy one all Monday. After school, we met up with my parents for lunch at Napa. My dad had a doctors appointment in the area, and it worked out perfectly.
We had such a fun playdate yesterday with our friends and kept them outside most of the day since the weather was gorgeous out.
This kid is now in a size 8 shoe. IDK how his feet skipped two sizes, but I just ordered a bunch of new ones from Amazon.
And as I close out this recap, I need to share the newest recipe I just made, and OMG is it so addicting! I’m currently eating it now and will have the recipe up for you tomorrow, or maybe even tonight. It’s a blueberry crumble that is gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, and free from refined sugars! But it tastes like a sugary, buttery blueberry crumble! IT’S SO GOOD!!! We have blueberry picking season coming up here soon, and I’ll be making so many batches of this.
Also, funny story! I had whipped cream on it—coconut whipped cream, to be exact. I put the tub back in the fridge, and when I went to use the bathroom for 30 seconds, I came out to find my son sitting at the counter, digging his hands into the tub! I lost my mind—I couldn’t stop laughing, especially since he was feeding it to Leo too. Now, I don’t condone this behavior, but it was absolutely hilarious and something I’ll remember forever!
I hope you guys have an amazing week!
Questions for you!
My youngest was cat-obsessed as a toddler. Because of his obsession, and every cat’s obsession with him, we got our sweet Gloria 12 years ago from the shelter. He’s still obsessed with her as a 15 year old, and she has been the best addition to our family. Best $6 we ever spent!
Did I miss the announcement, or are you not bringing Little Brittle back this season?