{FRIDAY FAVORITES }

It's Friday! I'm linking up and sharing my favorites 

{One}

Eric has been working long hours lately. It's been the hardest on Nathan...he is such a big daddy's boy. So Thursday Eric stayed home a little later in the morning and took Nathan on a little breakfast date and then to school. It's all Nathan could talk about all day. #meltmyheart

{Two}

Last week I finally bit the bullet and bought a real.adult.camera. As the boys are getting older and busier, it's almost impossible to get a picture where one of them isn't blurry. So now I just need someone to come over and teach me how to use it #somanybuttons and then i'll be all set!

{Three}

A couple weeks ago, I started Weight Watchers. Ya know, if it's good enough for Oprah...it's good enough for me. I've been doing a lot of stuffed pepper recipes for dinner. One of my favorites is a lightened up version of this recipe. I skipped the oil and cut down the cheese to just 1 slice per pepper. 

{Four}

2015bestnine.com

This was such a fun thing to do at the end of the year! It took my most liked instagram photos and put them all together. I loved seeing some of my favorite moments all put together. You can follow me on Instagram here. It's my favorite place to post pics of our day to day life.

{Five}

I have a serious love for Adele #whodoesnt. This was circling around Facebook yesterday and I was dyinggggg. Now I've added "go to England and run into Adele" to my to-do list #dreambig. 

{Life Lately}

Life around here has slowed down quite a bit now that the holidays are over. Here's what we've been up to lately! 

Our Brycie got his first professional hair cut! He sat on Eric's lap and just looked around. 

#bestillmyheart #goodbyerattail

A couple weekends ago we had our good friends and their kids over for dinner. Nathan and Gracie were just wild! We finally sat them down and gave them a cookie and a show. #workseverytime

Yesterday my mother in law came by to see the boys and kicked me out of the house!

I snuck away and got a pedicure!  She sent me a text while I was on my way home saying "We are doing beautifully, stay away!" I did a couple more errands and stopped for lunch! It was such a great little break! 

Paraffin wax and hot tea

Fresh nails and a diet lemonade 

He claimed he didn't miss me at all!

Nathan is fighting nap time lately. I've had to get a little creative to keep him in his room for at least long enough for me to get a couple things done around the house. I'm pinning some "quiet time" activities to keep him quiet and happy in his room.  

Click the bloglovin button below to follow me! 

Follow

Bryce: 11 Months!

Our Bryce is 11 months. 


E. LEV. EN. 


My heart just stopped for a second. 
How did this even happen?


He really is the sweetest baby. He fits perfectly in our little house of crazy. Just goes with the flow. Guess it's time to start planning his big day! #thisishappening 

{oh my heart}

{Brothers}

{my loves}

{Best Buds #kinda}

and a little #byefelicia to the sticker. 

Photoshoots don't last long around here. 

What's Cookin

I thought I would do a little post here to share some of our favorite dinners in the Smialek house! These are our tried and true dinners. The ones I find myself remaking every couple weeks. 

I use Sundays to look at our upcoming schedule for the week and plan out what i'll be cooking. If I get in a rut, and I can't think of anything to cook, I'm usually texting my friend Kelly to steal her ideas #thereisaidit.

So here ya go! Links to our family favorites! What's your favorite weekday recipe?!

1. Skinnytaste Chicken Enchiladas 

{I love all of Skinnytaste recipes, but this one I find myself making over and over. I do use canned enchilada sauce #gasp, instead of making my own because...well.. #babysteps. Either way. It's so yum}

2. Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup

{This is the BEST homemade Chicken Noodle Soup ever. It's almost creamy. It makes lots of leftovers that are perfect for weekday lunches! I make the chicken the day before in the crockpot using this recipe #lifechanging}

3. Roasted Potatoes, Chicken Sausage, and Peppers 

{Another Skinnytaste recipe. We always have Chicken sausage in our fridge. It has a super long shelf life and so you can keep in the fridge for weeks without thinking about it. That one night when you have NOTHING to make....there it is! I've switched this up with sweet potatoes and it's just as great}

4. Clean Chicken Fajitas 

{We love this one! It's easy, and healthy #winwin. You can wrap it into a tortilla, make a burrito, or use the it to top a salad. The meat comes out nice and tender and the flavor is excellent. I'm making these this week}

5. Baked Spaghetti 

{This isn't the healthiest recipe out there, but its one of my favorites to cook for my Momma friends after they've had a baby. It's family friendly, not spicy and easy to reheat for quick leftovers. It travels well, and I always bring it in a disposable 13X9 so they don't have to do many dishes. Add some crusty bread, and some cookies and you'll have one happy Momma friend}

Friday Favorites

It's FRIDAY! Woo! 

I'm linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea 

And sharing some of my favorites from this week! 

{One}

Sisters 

Omg. This movie made my week. Grab your girlfriends and go and see it immediately! 

{Two} 

Simplified Planner 

It's a new year which means... I needed a new planner! I picked up the Simplified Planner by Emily Ley for this year and I'm loving it's simple design and smaller size to throw in my bag. 

{Three} 

This guy #melt 

He was so excited to tell me all about his day when I picked him up from school yesterday. He ran to the car, jumped in my arms and said "mommy I missed you". #thesearethemoments 

{Four}

The Bachelor is back! 

I'll be honest, I kind of snooze through the first couple episodes. It's a lot of theatrics and show in the beginning and I don't have energy for all of that! But lets be honest...Ben is not difficult to look at. #amiright 


Have a great weekend! 

New Look

I'm doing a little remodeling on my blog today! Changing my whole look! 

Check back tomorrow I'll be sharing my FRIDAY FAVORITES!

Show and Tell Tuesday: #SmialekLife

Happy 2016!

With the start of the new year, I'm jumping back into blogging! 

I loved being able to have a place to document all the little moments of life! Things got a little crazy around here (that's a whole other post) and blogging got pushed to the end of my list. So...without further ado #yesididgooglethat

It's Show and Tell Tuesday and I'm linking up with Andrea and Introducing Myself. 

I'm Ashley. 

Hey.

I'm 30ish living in Northern Virginia with my husband, Eric and our two boys. Eric and I met our senior year of high school and he's been putting up with my Sass ever since #thankyouLord. We married in 2008 and lived in South Eastern Virginia for the first 4 years of marriage. 

Young love in 2002. 

Our Wedding Day. August 2008. 

At the end of 2011 we found out we were expecting our first baby! Nathan Timothy was born 9/12/12 after the longest.labor.ever. He came out bald, screaming and took too big of a breath and ended up spending the first couple of days in the NICU. He has spent the last 3 years of his life teaching me everything there is to know about being a mommy, how to take deep breaths, and how not to curse out loud #threeyearoldsarespecial. I love every inch of him and his personality. He looks like his daddy and acts just like his mommy. Lord help his future wife <3 

In 2013, when Nathan was only 9 months old we were started thinking about moving back to our hometown. I craved being "home". There really is so much joy in being around family and friends. The stars aligned and in 30 days we moved to Northern Virginia and we are loving life living back home!

When Nathan was about 1.5 we started thinking about baby #2. In June of 2014 we found out we found out I was pregnant and in September we found out Nathan was going to have a brother! Bryce was born 2/5/15 and I blogged about his birth here.  It was quick and as soon as I pushed him out I thought "Oh, I could totally do that again" #thatsnotnormal. Bryce looks just like mommy and has every bit of daddy's laid back, go with the flow personality. He's the perfect little brother, he puts up with a lot around here. #sorryiforgottofeedyouthatonetime. 

So back to me. I stay home with my wild animals boys during the week and fit in one night shift as a RN at a local hospital. Being a nurse is so good. and so bad. all wrapped into one addicting career field. It's a love-hate relationship most days. #andnothinglikegreysanatomy. 

I don't have any hobbies. Unless reality tv counts as a hobby... Then I have lots of hobbies. That about sums up "me". 

Ashley