What's Up Wednesday - Loving Our Messy

Happy Wednesday everyone! I can’t believe it’s already the last Wednesday in July. I’m linking up with Shay, Sheaffer and Mel to chat about everything we’ve been up to lately.

What We’re Eating This Week….

We have quite the busy week this week with the end of summer swim lessons and a special zoo members night in the evening. We haven’t been getting home until after 6:30 so quick and easy is the name of our game this week!

Sunday- Chicken gyros with homemade cucumber tzatziki

Monday – Blue Cheese Burgers and Wedge Salads

Tuesday – Sloppy Joes and steamed broccoli

Wednesday – Paninis with cold veggies/dip

Thursday – Grilled barbeque chicken with pasta salad

Friday- Pizza night!! (#andallthemamassaidamen)

What I’m Reminiscing About…..

We took the boys to a Truck Jamboree a couple weekends ago and they still haven’t stopped talking about all the giant trucks and race cars they saw. They’ve apparently been reinspired to get their Hot Wheels tracks out and have their own Truck Jamborees every day since.

The snow cones were also a big hit with everyone except for Eli who being Mr. Picky insisted on a vanilla flavored snow cone instead of the Spiderman flavor everyone else got. And he hated it. Who is surprised.

What I’m Loving….

This age with our twins! We’re finally having more success getting them to use their words instead of pointing at the air and whining all day long. They are way more into playing together and reading books with us then ever before and I’m loving it! We’ve found some seriously adorable twin books that they are pretty obsessed with and will even sit and flip the pages together and look at the cute pictures.

For my picks of the best children’s books for twins check out this week’s Twin Tuesday post! Twin books are perfect gifts for those who have or are expecting twins and their siblings!

What We’ve Been Up To….

A lot of swim lessons.

A lot of bike rides.

Except when the bike path looks like this…

Soaking up the last of our summer days before life gets crazy again.

What I’m Dreading….

I feel like dreading is kind of a harsh word for my feelings but I’m sort of not looking forward to all the preparation for the start of school this next month brings. We have 5 doctors appointments scheduled in the next few weeks, school registration, and of course the back to school prep!

What I’m Working On….

After the kiddos go to bed every night, we’ve been working on giving our family room a facelift . So far we’ve painted everything, replaced all trim, added a toy closet for storage and are currently working on remodeling the fire place. I never liked the color of it but now it sticks out even more so now that everything else in the room is lighter and brighter. The black mortar just really gets me… so it has to go! I also believe we are single-handedly keeping Home Depot in business right now.

I think we’ve made some serious progress though so far… stay tuned!

What I’m excited about….

I’m excited that this is the last month of the year without football. And it’s almost over! We are counting down the days until Iowa Hawkeye Football is back and of course Bears preseason games.

And we can’t forget the most wonderful time of the year. The hunt for October in baseball, the start of the football regular season, my birthday AND Luke and Reid turn 2. 😉

What I’m watching/reading….

I’m in the middle of two books in two very different genres. Lauren Graham’s Someday, Someday Maybe and The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. Loving them both!

As for what we’ve been watching, check out my favorite shows we’ve been watching as a couple!

What I’m listening to….

I’m clearly not in charge of my own car radio anymore so we always have this year’s Vacation Bible School CD playing. Last year’s CD was pretty awesome and this year’s came pretty close to being as good. We’re big fans.

What I’m doing this weekend….

We have a few more things left on our Summer Bucket List including finding a new zoo to visit, riding a train and going to a waterpark. So I think we will knock one of those things off the list!

And I’m going to paint the new shutters and front door that I have been putting off for weeks. Hold me to that. Ok?

What I’m looking forward to next month….

I’m not looking forward to the back to school prep but I am excited about getting back into our routine! I’m excited for the beginning of pumpkin and apple everything season.

Bonus question: What’s your favorite thing about summer?

I feel like everything and everyone just kind of hit ‘pause’ during summer and I love it. We have a break from sports, from school meetings, from homework, from a rigid schedule and it gives me a chance to breathe. I love that I get my older kiddos back from the world for a bit.