Friday Favorites: Fast Food Restaurants

I know its not great but we eat fast food a lot in our family.  With Collin's job we have church events a lot on week nights or he has meetings so planning for dinner is hard.  So these are some of my favorite fast food places to go.  Unfortunately, we don't have most of these in Colorado so when we go back to Texas we try to get our fill of them.

1. Firehouse Subs: This is exactly fast food but its not sit down either so I threw it in with the fast food places.  I love their sandwiches and that pepper sauce they have is delicious!  My kids eat great here too!  

2. Raising Cane's: This is one we don't have here.  I really like their chicken fingers (obv since its the only thing on the menu :D).  And their Cane's sauce is so yummy!  I wish it would branch out and head to Colorado!

3. Sonic: Who doesn't love a Sonic happy hour drink?!?  There are so many yummy choices of drinks and desserts.  The food isn't horrible either for fast food :D.

4. Whataburger: We don't have this here in Colorado either.  I love their hamburgers and fries!  Plus why does their "fancy ketchup" taste so much better than everywhere else?  Must be because its fancy, whatever that means!

5. Taco Bueno: Last but not least, our beloved Taco Bueno!  This is both Collin and my favorite fast food place!  It make me so sad we don't have it here!  When we drive to Texas it is always the first lace we stop to eat on the way.  The closest one is in Amarillo which is 6 hours away.  We usually eat it several time when we are in Texas just to tide us over until the next time.  This was actually one of the only things I craved when I was pregnant and it was probably only because I couldn't have it!

Next week will be favorite place to buy kids clothes!

FIrst Day of Preschool

Maddox had his first day of preschool this past Monday!  We have a private school that uses our church building and this year they decided to start a preschool class.  So we decided to enroll Maddox because we love the school and it would be super convenient for Collin to be able to take him to school and for me to pick him up.  He only goes half days Monday and Tuesday but will also be attending Thursday school again for the 3rd year.  He was so excited to start school and seems to have had a great first week!  His teacher is Mrs. Traci and he has 6 other kids in his class.  I think he is really going to enjoy being at Anastasis Academy this year!  We are hoping to be able to discern confidently after this year if he is ready for kindergarten next fall!  I can't wait to see all the new things he learns this year!

He and Addy (and momma) are super excited to start Thursday School next week!  That will of course get a post as it is Sister's first year!!

Friday Favorites: Sit Down Restaurants

We love to eat out in our family.  Most of my favorite sit down restaurants are ones we save for special occasions or date nights.  Here are some of my top favs...

1. Pappadeaux: I love sea food and this is one of the best places close to us since we don't live by any huge bodies of water to get it!  My favorite thing here are the crab claws.  They are seasonal so they don't always have them which is sad.  But they have tons of other amazing dishes to choose from if they are out of my favorite!

 2. Olive Garden: This is a family favorite at the Packer house.  Our kids LOVE Olive Garden.  They are always on their best behavior and clean their plates when we go here.  Maddox asks to eat here at least once a week.  We don't do that despite his frequent requests!

3. Cheesecake Factory: Good food and great dessert, a win-win!  Only problem is a lot of time we are too full after our meal to even get dessert!  I love their Red Velvet Cheesecake when I can cram some dessert in !  Delish!

 4. P.F. Chang's: This is my favorite restaurant!  Collin and I always share the Mongolian Beef and the Chicken LoMein!  If I get to choose dinner on date night this is always my choice!  They have some amazing desserts too but we are almost always too stuffed to get them.  The banana spring rolls are our favorite!

 5. The Melting Pot: This is our special occasion restaurant!  We usually go here on our anniversary!  Fondue is just a fun meal to share together plus its super yummy!  And since you have to cook it all yourself and there are so many courses it make you slow down and enjoy the evening!

Lets stick with the restaurant theme next week and do favorite Fast food places!

Friday Favorites: Cleaning/Household Products

This week we're talking about my favorite cleaning and household items.  Not many people I know enjoy cleaning their house including me.  But these items make things a little easier.

1. Shout Color Catcher Sheets: These things are seriously amazing!!  They make my laundry task so much easier.   When we had Addison we added a lot more pinks and reds to the mix...enter color catchers.  I now throw all of the kids laundry in one load with one of these sheets and don't have to worry at all about them fading!   

2. Mr. Clear Magic Erasers: These things will get pretty much anything clean.  THey have gotten marker and crayons off the wall.  They have gotten pen off of Addison's iPad cover.  And I am going to try the bathroom scrubbers soon because we have really hard water at our condo and its super hard to get the tubs clean!

 3. Swiffer Wet Jet: This guy makes mopping a breeze.  Just attach the pad to the bottom, spray the attached cleaner and mop away.  I like that they have different solutions for different floors types.

 4. Bath and Body Works Antibacterial Hand Soap: I have this at all of our sinks!  Caribbean Escape is my favorite scent at the moment but they have tons of delicious other scents.  They go one sale often and I usually stock up at their bi-annual sale each year!

5. Lysol Disinfecting Wipes: Love these in the kitchen!  They are great for wiping down counters and appliances.  They are also great in the bathroom and cleaning up after a sickness has gone around the house. The are quick and easy and we always have them at our house!

So those are some of my favorite cleaning products!  Next week lets talk about: Favorite Sit Down Restaurants.

End of Summer Fun

This morning the kids and I got all dressed and walked over to the pool only to find out that the pool is closed today because of a broken pipe or something.  Bummer!  Maddox was so bummed!  So he asked what we could do instead that would be fun.  We decided to go bowling and they were so excited!  It's one of Maddox's new favorite things.  They had a blast and since it was early it only cost us $7.50 for them each to play a game and rent shoes.

Friday Favorites: Adult Apps

Last week I shared my favorite kid apps so this week I'm sharing my favorite apps for me!  App are great.  They can be for fun or functionality!  Here are some of my favorites right now...

1. Camera +: This is an alternative camera app to the pre-loaded camera on Apple products.  I really like it because of all the editing options it has.  It allows you to give your photos some really cool looks.    It has a built in camera you can use or you can import photos from your albums on your phone!  I think is app costs $0.99 but is totally worth it!

2. Candy Crush Saga: My current addiction.  This game is so much fun.  It is sort of like bejeweled but with a lot more strategy involved.  The novelty will wear off and this app will eventually be deleted but for the time being it is one of my most used apps :D.  It's free but beware if you don't play it yet it is very addicting!!

 3. My Fitness Pal: I have a love hate relationship with this app.  It is a calorie and activity counting app.  It makes it super easy to track your calories but also blows your mind when you see how many calories are in certain foods.  Today I found out that one package of Chick Fil A sauce has 240 calories!!  YIKES!!!!!  It is great though if you are looking to eat better and drop some pounds! This is also a free app.

 4. Instagram: A fun alternative to the other social media sites.  I like that it is integrated with Facebook and Twitter and allows me to post my pic to all 3 with one post!  I also love the new feature that allows you to post short videos!  This app is also free.

5. Facebook: I'm pretty sure by now everyone knows what facebook is.  This is probablly the most used app next to messaging on my phone.  I love being able to keep up with others and what is going on in their lives even when we don't live close or see each other often.  It can definitely be annoying at times especially when controversial things are going on but for the most part I enjoy it.

 6. Pinterest: What a great invention.   A virtual pin board.  A place to share ideas, learn cleaning tricks, find recipes, etc.  I love having it on my phone for down times at doctors offices or whatever.  I have gotten so many great ideas from pinterest.  I know it will come in handy as we plan my sisters wedding too!

So those are some of my favorite apps for me.  I love trying out new apps...anyone have any suggestions?

Next week lets talk about some favorite cleaning products!

DBG

We spent another fun day at the Denver Botanic Gardens with some of our favorite little friends Max and Molly and their momma Deanna!  The kids had a blast and the weather was great!  We are trying to soak up our last couple of weeks of summer before school starts!  Tomorrow we have some fall like weather expected so we will be headed to Monkey Bizness for a MOPS playdate!  Fun Fun!!

Friday Favorites: Kids Apps

We love our Apple products at the Packer house.  We love iPhones, iPads, iPods, and MacBooks!  One of the greatest parts is the innumerable amount of apps available!  My kids know how to use all these electronics with ease!  There are so many free apps out there that are fantastic that we rarely buy apps.  Here are some of my favorite apps for the kiddos.

1. Sound Touch: this is a fantastic baby/toddler app.  Both of my kids have loved this app.  The free version has one page of animals and when you touch them it brings up a picture of the animal, says its name and plays the sound the animal makes.  I ended up buying the full version for $0.99 I think because my kids loved it so much. In the full version there are 6 different categories: animals, safari animals, birds, automobiles, instruments, and household items.  A great app that helps kids learn sounds and objects!

2. Cars Appmate: This is such a fun concept.  The app syncs with little cars that can then drive all over Radiator Springs doing missions, races and just seeing the sights.  Maddox has a blast with this one!  We have a Lightning McQueen and Holly car but you can also play it without the cars.  So much fun especially for our Cars loving boy!

3. Bubble Guppies: This is one we paid for.  I think it was $1.99.  Bubble Guppies is one of our kids favorite shows and the app is one of their favorites as well.  It teaches them all about animals.  The little characters are adorable and even Addy can play this app.

 4. Watch Disney Junior: What could be better than being able to watch all your favorite Disney Junior cartoon on the go?  This app has several shows including Sophia, Jake, Mickey, Oso and more.  Its really nice at the doctors office or in the car to be able to let them watch some of their favorite shows.  It is free and includes 1-2 episodes of each show that change every once and a while and if you have certain cable providers you can watch Disney Junior live on the go.

5. Team Umizoomi - Zoom into Numbers: This one was also bought but has taught Maddox so much.  It teaches about numbers, counting and patterns.  He just the other day got all the awards (which was like 50) and was so excited!  I think this one was also $1.99 and so worth it.  Maddox plays it all the time.

 6. Veggie Tales - Spotisodes: This is an adorable app.  It is one of Addy's favorites.  It has a bunch of different Veggie Tales songs and in each song you have to spot different things.  She can't spot them on her own so I just unlock all the songs and she enjoys watching the videos and listening to the songs.

What are some of your favorite apps for your kids?

We will stick with the same theme next week and do: Apps for Adults