Hello all! Continuing to catch us on up! November 4th, DJ and I had a date night! Gigi and Gordie stopped by to watch Quinnie. I had to give a big hug and kiss to my babies before leaving!

We decided to venture to Ohio City. We’d never explored the area before (although I’d been once to Le Petite Triangle technically located here).

We put in our names at a Thai restaurant called Banana Blossom. We were both in the mood for Thai, and this place had great reviews. We had about a 30 minute wait, so we decided to kill the time by shopping at City Goods!

These shops all adorably display the cutest local goods. My favorite was the honey store.

Right next to City Goods is an outdoor play area for kids. Look at this slide! How fun! It seems they have concerts here in the summer months too.

When finally seated at Banana Blossom, we were not disappointed. We had the rice rolls for appetizers, and they were as refreshing as could be and were accompanied by a delightful peanut dipping sauce.

I had their duck entree, and it was beyond flavorful and savory!

DJ got their classic pad Thai noodles. I had a bite (of course) and they were very tasty.

This was the closest Thai to Olarn that we’ve had since moving from CA. It definitely gave us our fix and the service was fantastic too.

After dinner, we walked into the main part of Ohio City and stopped into Mitchell’s for some ice cream cones.

If you walk to upstairs of Mitchell’s, you can see the ice cream being made!

On our walk, we scoped out many fun restaurants and dives we’d love to check out at some point. There’s even one spot called Tabletop Board Game Cafe that has tons of board games you can play while you eat your food.

November 5th, we chased a truck down the street. Quinn loves anything with wheels and will sign “wheels” whenever she sees a car or a school bus pass. She also loves singing wheels on the bus, so she’ll sign for wheels frequently. She lights up when she hears “Alexa, please play wheels on the bus!”. Yes, we try to be polite to our robots just to set a good example lol.

That evening I made an extremely easy meal of air fryer chicken, corn and a veggie rice.

November 6th was Quinn’s 18 month appointment! It goes by as fast as everyone says. We stopped by the playground in the mall after.

November 7th I did a little shopping spree. I finally got back to my pre-pregnancy weight (by gaining about 20 lbs). This was so much harder than I anticipated, emotionally, but I keep trying to “zoom out” and know this weight gain is worth it in the big picture. I decided to use a daycare day to get clothes to feel good in my skin again since pretty much nothing fit in my closet. I call them my fertile clothes 😆. I also hit a jackpot on sales this day- particularly at Altar’d state!

November 10th was a beautiful day. I decided to take advantage by taking Quinn to the zoo.

Always have to feed the goats too!

When we got home, I made some zucchini fries in the air fryer!

November 11th, we went to the Stow Kids’ Playground. It was the most epic outdoor playground I’ve ever seen!

After, we zipped down the street to the library.

“Hello?”

That evening I made the Feeding Littles Shepherd’s Pie with lamb. It was a winner! Moose ate the first batch off the counter (😭), so I kept it far from his reach this time!

I slowly started getting out some Christmas decorations on November 12th.

It was a gorgeously frosty morning, so it felt appropriate!

November 12th, we had a baby shower for my sister in law, Renee 💕. As I write this, her sweet baby girl is here!

This was Quinn’s face when she heard the Brown’s won the next morning. I know, we were all shocked too, girlfriend 😆.

For dinner on November 13th, I made a super easy dinner of Perdue Chicken Breast cutlets, Lima beans and potatoes.

I saw this, and it made me laugh. So relatable 😄.

That afternoon, Quinn said “bubble” for the first time, so we played with bubbles on the back porch for a good chunk of time then chased Moose around. I live for these moments! ❤️ I was chatting with DJ about this recently, how after having Quinn I’ve just found so much joy in simplicity again. It’s a wonderful part of motherhood I hadn’t anticipated.

After work on November 14th, I made an eggplant lasagna to have on hand for the next couple days.

DJ took over watching Quinn while I met up with Rachel for a girls’ night at Teschners in Richfield. I’ve passed this place countless times without paying it any mind, but Rachel said it’s a favorite of hers.

I see why! Their menu is huge with awesome options. I annihilated this burger and truffle fries. It was tremendous. I can’t wait to go back!

November 16th for breakfast I made these blueberry butternut squash oatmeal gingerbread men for Quinn. They were a huge hit!

The evening of November 17th we ordered from On Tap again. It was as delicious as the first time we tried it! I had their shrimp tacos, and just talking about it makes me want to order them again! (I ended up ordering them again after working on a draft of this post ha!).

We went out for a little froyo after at Sweet Frog.

After church Sunday, we went to Garretts Mill for breakfast.

This and Blue Door are definitely my two favorite breakfast spots in town. The owner of Garretts Mill goes over and above to make you comfortable from the moment you walk in. He’ll grab anyone waiting for a table a water or coffee and works hard himself to serve patrons. You can tell there are a lot of “regulars” here.

November 19th I set up a Velcro Christmas tree. Quinn loved it and played with it happily for a while. It’s lost it’s luster at this point, but maybe it’ll be a hit when I bring it back out again next year.

This is plenty long! All the Christmas Festivities coming at you next!

<3,

Mackenzie