Five on Friday!

Busy, busy week! So y'all get a little recap today!

- ONE - Last Saturday Matt's firm sponsored the 4th Annual Casino Night benefiting the Ronald McDonald House of Charlotte. It was so fun dressing up for the fancy occassion. Speaking of fancy, we had to buy Matt a tux for the event. Less than 20 minutes before the event Matt pulled out his tuxedo pants to find the security tag still attached!!! Soooo, other than an emergency trip to Belk to have the tag removed it was a fun night of Black Jack. 

- TWO - My sister stayed with us a few days this week while she was in town for a work trip! It was so nice having her here.

- THREE - On Wednesday Caroline's school had "Donuts with Dad", which is quite possibly the cutest thing ever. It was Caroline's first donut experience and (no surprise here) she ate TWO Krispy Kreme donuts.

- FOUR - Last night we had Supper Club! Since this month was open for hosting we decided to go OUT! We had the best time at RuRu's Tacos & Tequila! We were also down two girls this month because both of them had their babies this week (two weeks early)!!!!!! There was extra tequila enjoyed to celebrate our new moms!

- FIVE - And last but not least...a little surprise for ya! Today I am teaming up with SuZeeBee Littles for a bibble giveaway! Wait, what's a bibble?! A bibble is a trendy scarf bib designed to protect your baby's neck while also keeping their clothes dry. We recently received several items from this adorable shop (including a few scarves for Caroline that many of you have asked about) and are obsessed!

Anyway, SuZeeBee Littles is offering a bibble (of your choice) to one lucky reader! Just use the rafflecopter below to enter the giveaway! To win, you must be a follower of Carolina Charm. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wanna join Darci, April, Natasha and I on the Friday fun? You can link-up on any of our four blogs every Friday! All you have to do is...

1.) Write your post about five things you're lovin' this week (or any five things you want to share!).

2.) Share the logo on your blog and link back. 

3.) Link-up at the bottom of the post so some new readers can check out your five things and say hello!

Southwestern Chopped Salad with Avocado Dressing

It's so pretty. So, so, so pretty.

There are many versions of the Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing all over Pinterest but this one is my favorite! It's actually a combination of several salads I found on Pinterest with a few extra tweaks. I love to make this huge salad on a Monday night for dinner and eat leftovers for lunch the next few days. I can't get enough!

So here's the deal...

Southwestern Chopped Salad with Avocado Dressing

Adapted from The Garden Grazer

Salad Ingredients

1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cups corn

1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
5 green onions

2 cups Mexican cheese, shredded
1 avocado, diced

Dressing Ingredients
1 cup loosely packed cilantro, stems removed

1/2 avocado
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
Juice of 1 lime

1-2 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Instructions
To make the cilantro lime dressing, blend all ingredients until smooth, adjusting seasonings if necessary. To assemble the salad, place romaine lettuce in a large bowl; top with tomatoes, corn, black beans, onions, cheese and avocado. Pour the dressing on top of the salad and gently toss to combine.

Caroline Grace {10 Months}

Caroline Grace,

You are officially out of control these days and I am having such a hard time keeping up with you (especially at 5 months pregnant). If I take my eyes off of you for 3 seconds you are happily unloading the Tupperware drawer in the kitchen, terrorizing Charlie, throwing your paci in the bathroom toilet bowl then laughing uncontrollably, pulling every tampon and hair product out of my bathroom drawer, slapping the water out of Charlie's water bowl, climbing up the blinds or unrolling the toilet paper onto the floor. Thank goodness you're still a great napper and love your sleep because that is the only time your mama and daddy get to rest these days. You dropped your cuddle time in the mornings with me and now are more interested in racing towards the edge of the bed over and over again until I ultimately give up chasing after you and get up with you for the day.

In addition to your mobility you are eating us out of house and home. You are quickly ditching your purees (and bottles) and are happiest when feeding yourself table food. You eat more food during some meals than I do. For breakfast you love English muffins/toast/bagels with peanut butter, whole bananas (your favorite!!!), yogurt, scrambled eggs, diced fruit, pancakes/waffles and anything else we put in front of you really. You eat the school lunch (and steal pieces of your classmates lunches once you've finished yours). Your teachers say there isn't a food you've disliked yet and comment daily on your hearty appetite. And for dinner we usually give you avocado, macaroni and cheese, fruit, veggies, string cheese (another favorite!!!) more yogurt and pieces of whatever we are eating. Speaking of eating, it is getting much harder to eat out with you these days. You are not a fan of the high chair at restaurants and would much prefer to crawl all over the nasty floor eating random pieces of food. Lucky for you, we don't let you do that so instead you just throw temper tantrums at the table with us unless we share half our plate with you. No other moms warned me that our easy days of eating out together were numbered!

You are ridiculously fun and outgoing. You keep us laughing constantly at the things you do and we just adore your personality. You favor your daddy more and more each day which is totally unfair because I let you embrace adventure and explore the house while he is always one step behind you bracing for a fall, taking away the fun non-baby objects, scheduling doctors appointments every time you sneeze and worrying about you every single moment of the day. You will never fully understand the love he has for you. We both love you so dang much and constantly say to each other "Can you believe we get to keep this baby forever? We are so lucky she's ours and that she is awesome."

Love,

Mommy

  10 Month Highlights:

• Stats: 16.7 pounds (15%), 26.25 inches tall (3%!!!), 43.3 cm head circumference (25%) 6-9 month clothing and pajamas, size 3 diapers, 6 teeth (four on top, two on the bottom).
• Nicknames: Muffin (shortened from Love-Muffin), Fuzzy (you still only have a bit of fuzz on your head), Pooky (or Pooks), Lovey and Monster (when you're being mean).
• Tricks: waving, clapping, lip smacking/popping, 5 second temper tantrums, crawling at 35 mph, pulling up, dancing (which is more like power squats), walking assisted with the walker and saying a few words (dadda, mama, baba).
• Favorite toys: Tupperware, cups, a fresh roll of toilet paper, remotes, phones, daddy's glasses, Charlie's tail and your walker. 
• Boycotting 4 six ounce bottles of Earth's Best Organic Formula a day and consistently leaving anywhere from 3-4 ounces in each bottle but eating tons of table food so the doc says it's okay.

10 Month Favorites {Items We Couldn't Live Without}:

Vtech Sit to Stand Learning Walker // Play Kitchen // Disposable Place Mats {for eating at restaurants} // Baby Locks {for drawers & cabinets} // Outlet Plugs // Anti-Slip Baby Socks // Nuby Sippy Cup // Baby's 1st Blocks & Rock Stack Bundle // Activity Balls // Triple Paste

 

For the 2% of you who think Caroline looks like me, please see side-by-side pictures below of Caroline and her daddy wearing his bear sweater.

And a video of this crazy little muffin. I promise you won't be able to not smile while watching this.