Hi Friend,

I've spent the last three nights of "postpartum meal prep" making blueberry chia jam, veggie loaded marinara, and breakfast bars. All for Jamie. None of it has gone into the freezer stash I'm supposedly building for the four weeks after this baby arrives when I won't want to cook anything. I keep telling myself I'm just clearing out freezer space to make room. Three batches in, I'm pretty sure there's a metaphor in there about who I actually prioritize feeding, but I'm choosing not to examine it too closely this week.

🌱 What We’re Doing

Your week in Charlotte, planned.

This week Charlotte's stuffed with MLS All-Star Week programming. Soccer Celebration takes over Romare Bearden Park both Saturday and Sunday, there's a free youth all-star game at the Sportsplex Monday night, and Chime is running a free soccer themed money lesson at the NASCAR Hall of Fame Plaza (compound interest disguised as drills and prizes, an odd combo but the kids won't clock it). On top of that, the Peruvian Festival is back at Victoria Yards Saturday, and Grow Cafe is throwing a full Toy Story birthday bash, cowboy hats included.

✨ A few standouts:

• Robot Block Party at Tuckaseegee Rec Center, kids actually get to drive the robots, not just watch
• Winnie the Pooh's Silly Saturday at Rock Hill Children's Museum, the whole exhibit turns into the Hundred Acre Wood for the day
• Jingle & Jolly in July Market at Urban District Market, a full Christmas in July pop up, Summer Santa included.

👉 Check out all 49 events here

🚨 On Our Radar

Quick hits you'll want to know about.

• Target just launched its biggest baby collaboration yet, and it's with Olivia Culpo. The Picolette collection lands July 26 in about 1,400 stores and online, 60 items of apparel, mealtime essentials, and keepsakes named after her daughter Colette. This one actually looks like it was designed by a mom. Alongside the standard "ONE" birthday outfits and hats, there's a bib in the mix, because obviously you need a bib on hand for the inevitable cake smash. Something practical a mom would actually think about. I'm already planning to buy Jamie the Oliver dog crewneck sweater for football season.

   

• Daniel Stowe just opened a StoryWalk on the Adventure Trail, and it looks really well done. Twenty one panels now line the half mile trail through the Lost Hollow Children's Garden, each one a page from a children's book, printed in English and Spanish. Right now the story is "Scary Gary and the Super Sock" by C.G. Baird, and it rotates from there. It's a built in reason to actually walk the whole Adventure Trail instead of beelining for the playground.

   

• Queen's Feast, aka Charlotte Restaurant Week, starts Friday. More than 120 restaurants across the metro run three course prix fixe dinners from July 24 through August 2, priced between $30 and $55 a person. My picks this year: Napa on Providence, get the corn soup and the beef ragu pappardelle. Indaco, I've done restaurant week there with a group of girlfriends more than once and it's always stellar, go for the burrata and the ravioli. And Coquette, I haven't tried their new location yet but had dinner there on my birthday last year and it was divine, the French onion soup and the salmon are the move. For something completely different, try Gyu-Kaku, Japanese BBQ where you grill everything yourself right at the table. Reservations recommended, don't wait until the weekend to book.

   

• I finally made a dent in the freezer, just not for me. This week's batch: a blueberry chia seed jam that doubles as instant chia pudding stirred into yogurt, a veggie loaded marinara, and breakfast bars with a jammy center that Jamie inhales. All three freeze well and all three came from Yummy Toddler Food, my go-to when I need something that isn't a chicken nugget.

📣 Spotlight: New Mom School Ballantyne

There's a studio in Ballantyne where new moms are required to join a group chat on day one, and some of them are still best friends seven years later. I toured it this week and left wanting to actually sign up instead of white knuckling round two alone like I did with Jamie.

Here's the full scoop →

What Jamie's Into

"Cookie Book!!!". That's the actual demand, every single day, in the specific tone of a toddler who has never once considered that I might say no. It's from the Cook in a Book series (we've also got Spaghetti, Tacos, and Pizza, tacos is a close second favorite), and it's got sliding tabs and spinning gears that walk you through mixing and baking, then a page of punch out cookies at the end that Jamie rips out and pretend-eats one by one. Every so often he hands me one of the paper cookies first, which is the closest thing to sharing food he's ever done voluntarily, so I'm counting it. He loves the taco one because it has a paper knife that he can use to "chop" the veggies on the page.

It's technically a real recipe hiding inside a board book, and the long term plan is to actually bake cookies with him using the exact steps on the page. For now we're still in the pretend phase, and honestly that's fine by me, one less mess in a week that already has enough of them.

Help The Sprout grow. If one idea made your week easier, please forward this email or tag @thecharlottesprout so more Charlotte parents can find us. 🌱