Category: Everyday Life


Nov
2017

What’s Up Wednesday {11.22.17}

categories: Everyday Life

Happy Thanksgiving Eve everyone! Today I’m linking up with Shay, Sheaffer and Mel for What’s Up Wednesday!

What we’re eating this week

Sunday – Baked ziti and salad

Monday – Barbeque Chicken Tacos

Tuesday – Taco Tuesday!

Wednesday – Sandwich Bar (We just set out a big bunch of deli meats, toppings, cheese and sandwich buns. Everyone chooses what to put on their sandwiches. My boys LOVE to do this.)

Thursday – Thanksgiving Day! I’m making our very favorite cinnamon rolls for breakfast and I’m in charge of pies for our Thanksgiving celebration. I’m making this apple, this pumpkin and this AMAZING pecan pie. (Seriously that is the best pecan pie recipe I have found. I’ve been making it for years.)

Friday – Pizza Quesadillas (We put sausage, pepperoni and mozzerella cheese in a quesadilla and dip them in pizza sauce!)

 

What I’m reminiscing about

Last Friday was World Prematurity Day and I posted on Instagram a little thank you to the doctors and nurses who treated our twins when they were born prematurely at 35w4d. After I posted that, I couldn’t stop thinking about that difficult time in our lives and how far we have all come. At the time, my doctor set a big milestone for us to make it to 35 weeks because of the likelihood that they would be born without complications. No one really expected them to need so much intervention. I was completely unprepared for what I was facing emotionally with my babies literally being taken from me and whisked away for emergency care.

Those NICU nurses were true angels in my life as they supported me when I had two babies receiving care and then eventually 3 children at home and one still in the hospital. I will forever remember those women and all they did for our family.

Two years later and thankfully that time is behind us but forever a part of our story!

 

What I’m loving

I have loved doing our thankful turkey with our family this year! This is the first year that Reid and Luke have been able to really participate in thinking of something they are thankful for every day. Hearing what two year olds are thankful for has been SO sweet (and SO hilarious!). I mean I am also thankful for ketchup so I get it. 😉 Also, Daddy was something that one of them was thankful for when asked almost every day. Those two and their Daddy are besties.

I’m also loving this little turkey! I picked him up from preschool yesterday and all the kids were decked out in these sweet turkey hats they made.

 

What we’ve been up to

Every year we go to an amazing holiday parade near us that has huge parade balloons. It’s our version of the Macy’s parade and my kids LOVE it.

Unfortunately when you have a parade in November, you have to expect some less than perfect parade weather. That was kind of an understatement this year! It was freezing cold and raining but we stuck it out and had a really great time together.

Elmo was new this year and we knew that Luke and Reid would freak out. They just stood and screamed “ELMO!” at it over and over.

The people walking with the Cookie Monster balloon passed out cookies right around the time that our two year olds were starting to get impatient. They sat on the curb and ate cookies the rest of the parade. 😉 #thankyoucookiepeople

Of course Santa and his awesome car brought up the rear. We went home and had some hot chocolate wrapped in blankets. A great end to a great day!

 

What I’m dreading

I’m dreading that impossible balance between the desire to go experience holiday things and traditions and the desire to keep our calendar open enough to have time to remember the true reason for the season and the time with our family. I get sort of defeated when I see how full our December calendar really is already! I want to make sure we stay in the moment with each other and avoid as much of that holiday stress as we can. How do you find the balance this time of year? Clearly I need some tips.

 

What I’m working on

Yesterday for Twin Tuesday, I posted a Twin Mom Gift Guide that’s full of awesome gift ideas for the twin mama on your list!

Also, I have a bunch of new Christmas designs up in my Etsy shop like this one.

If you are looking for a gift for that hard to buy for person, check out my new family tree personalized printable or a personalized family calendar!

 

What I’m excited about

I mentioned this in my Friday Favorites last week, but I’ve been in need of a serious jump start to my spiritual Christmas preparations so I ordered this Advent Devotional. It’s supposed to be here this week and I’m excited to dive into it.

I also ordered this one for my husband that he has been interested in.

And I’m reading this one with a small prayer group this Advent season!

 

What I’m watching/reading

I’ve definitely been taking in my fair share of Hallmark movies already this season. I’m sort of embarrassingly excited for the Candace Cameron Bure movie to premiere this weekend. (I mean she’s playing twins! I’m pretty impressed in your creativity Hallmark.)

My husband and I always watch all the Friends Thanksgiving episodes the week before Thanksgiving. It’s one of my favorite traditions!

 

What I’m listening to

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday so we always wait until the day after to decorate our house for Christmas, but that rule doesn’t apply to Christmas music. 😉 We’ve already busted out their very favorite Mickey Christmas CD that we will listen to 6 billion more times before December is over. I’m honestly not entirely sure my kids know that ‘Deck the Halls’ doesn’t typically include quacking from Donald Duck in it.

 

What I’m doing this weekend

Basically just eating and shopping. Next question.

I’m only sort of kidding. We are celebrating Thanksgiving with my family and I will very probably try to take advantage of a bunch of Black Friday deals. I usually try to have my holiday shopping done before December but this year I’m way behind. There’s a holiday event in our area that we are planning to check out and most of all – enjoying our long holiday weekend together with my favorite people!

 

What I’m looking forward to next month

This is an easy one because of course CHRISTmas! I’m so excited to share this magical time with our children, spend time with family and teach them and experience with them the real meaning of this beautiful season.

 

BONUS QUESTION: What’s your favorite thing to do with your Elf on the Shelf?

Our boys always find it hilarious when our elf Cookie, plays with their toys. In years past he has made snow angels in cereal with their Super Heros and TP’ed (I don’t even know how to spell that?) our bathroom with some of their stuffed animals.

The first day he comes he always brings donuts for breakfast which is kind of my favorite too. 😉 Can’t wait to see everyone’s elf ideas!

 

 

Thanks for stopping by for What’s Up Wednesday! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Keep up with us on Instagram here!

 

 


Nov
2017

Friday Favorites {11.17.17}

categories: Everyday Life

So there are weeks I bounce into Friday, obviously tired and SO ready for the weekend. But still bouncy. You guys, this week is not like that. I feel like I’m dragging myself inch by inch towards the weekend. Anybody else?

I’ve totally gone radio silent here these last couple weeks while I’ve been working like crazy on on a big publication for our school’s version of the PTA and all leftover moments on new designs for my Etsy shop. It’s been a couple weeks without bedtimes before midnight (or 1:30!) and this little lifeline was helping me through the last half of this week…

until I proceeded to spill it all over the couch. Obviously.

Ross just gets me.

I’m ready for you weekend. Haha! Like always, I’m linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea for Friday Favorites!

 

one

I have some brand new Christmas designs up in my shop just in time for the season!

As always, all of them are completely customizable with color or wording. Especially this family rules sign! If you have something fun you want to add to it, I’d be happy to do that for you!

I love this countdown to Santa sign. Just print, frame and use a dry erase marker to countdown the days with your kids on the brim of Santa’s hat!

These all work great as gifts for family, friends or teachers. If you are looking for gifts for grandparents or mother-in-laws, this family tree design is perfect.

I also love a family name sign as a gift for friends, grandparents or newlyweds! Just download, send to a local printer, frame and gift!

And of course, any of my dry erase calendars would be perfect gifts for any mom or woman in your life! I don’t even know what I would do without ours to keep all 6 of our schedules, what’s for dinner each night, school events, etc. in my head!

From now through next Sunday, November 26 – use code TISTHESEASON20 for 20% off your order!

So many more in the works! P.S. I also take custom orders! If you have something in mind but don’t see it in my shop, I’d love to create it for you! Contact me through my shop or email me at lovingourmessy@gmail.com

 

two

I saw these at our grocery store this week and had to snag a box. I’m not sure how you can go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter. They were everything I wanted them to be. I’m not a big breakfast person so I had these as a midnight snack this week which actually was the perfect choice. I’m hoping these are in store permanently and not a seasonal product! Is anybody else in love with these?

 

three

We took advantage of an early out at school to get outside and enjoy a beautiful fall day! We love getting outside every chance we can but super cold November weather and it getting dark so early now is giving all of us a bit of cabin fever. Our big beautiful tree in our backyard finally is starting to lose its leaves so I thought we’d go play for awhile and then rake up some leaves while it was warm.

We definitely played. And played. And played.

I started filling up some leaf bags while they ran around but it turns out the leaves inside the bags were way more fun to play with than the millions on the ground. And it’s true. If you cover your ears when I look at you, I can’t see that you have ripped open the leaf bag and pulled a bunch out. Haha!

 

four

When we bought our house last summer, I absolutely loved the space and it was clear that the old owners did a great job taking care of the house. It was also clear though, that we have very different design aesthetics so we are slowly going through and updating everything to our preferences. Our front door and shutters were a dark brown and it drove me kind of crazy because of how dark it made the house look. We repainted the door and shutters and a little paint has made such a HUGE difference!

We were limited in color choices to keep it coordinating with the brick parts of our home but I still love how it came out. It’s not easy to find time for DIY projects with four kids but little by little (slow as sloths) we are crossing things off!

 

five

I’m excited for this new Advent Devotional that I found. I’ve had a hard time finding quiet time lately with how crazy things have been. I absolutely need a jump start into Advent this year! I chose this one because it says it has ideas for family activities and discussions too. Are there any Advent Devotionals that you have tried with your kids and love or ones just for you?

 

Those are my favorites this week! I’m looking forward to reading everyone else’s. I hope you have the very best weekend!

 


Nov
2017

Friday Favorites {11.3.17}

categories: Everyday Life

Happy Friday! In my house, we are officially feeling the beginning of the holiday season and loving it! We have our thankful turkey going, we are getting ready to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with Josh’s family next weekend and I’m starting to watch all the Hallmark Christmas movies I can get.

Just like every Friday, I’m linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea for Friday Favorites!

one

Last weekend, we had family pictures taken in the cold, cold weather. It was 35 degrees when we started and our kids were such troopers to be marching around outside without coats! I absolutely LOVE how they turned out.

Our sweet photographer is so amazing that you can’t even tell we were freezing and Luke and Reid were really, really crabby.

If you are local and in need of a photographer, send me a message. I would love to recommend her!

 

 

two

I bought these boots for our photos on a whim and I seriously love them. I’m fairly tall (5’7″) so I struggle to find boots that don’t make me feel like a giant. These have enough of a heel that they are cute but I barely notice it’s there. Plus, I have never owned a more comfortable boot. I wore them all around the zoo the other day and loved them!

 

 

three

Last weekend we squeezed in all the Halloween fun we possibly could. We finally made it to the huge corn maze I’ve been wanting to go to even though it was freezing. We all bundled up and had a great time!

We made it through the 20 minute maze in only 5 minutes, so we figured we would try the 40 minute maze. An hour and four cold kids later, were still at checkpoint 3 of 8 and realized we made a poor choice. Haha!

We had Halloween movie night and watched Spooky Buddies. It was actually really cute and a little spooky without being too scary for our littlest boys.

The older boys and Josh and I hit up a Halloween parade and lucked out to find a perfect spot that was always thrown gobs of candy. Somehow, we only got a few trick-or-treaters on Halloween which ruined my plan for giving out the tons of candy we did not need to keep. I hid a ton of it in the freezer to keep myself away from it! (I clearly have no self control.)

We carved our pumpkins and watched football together on Sunday.

It was the coldest Halloween here since 2002 so our trick-or-treating was cut a little short but we still all had a great Halloween!

 

four

I’m a brand new contributing writer for Twiniversity and I wrote a post for them last week on 5 Simple Ways to Keep the Spark Alive in Your Marriage. Even though it’s written from our perspective of having twins, it absolutely applies to any couple in the trenches of raising children in any number ;). Josh and I have definitely struggled during different seasons of life with our children to find time for each other. We are always a constant work in progress!

We snuck in a shot of us while the boys were running around like crazy during our family photos. I love having pictures just the two of us.

 

five

Every year I sign up for Allrecipes Pie Countdown emails. They email you a pie recipe a day from November 1 through Thanksgiving Day. I always bring pies to Thanksgiving and I look forward to these emails every year for some new ideas! I have gotten some of my very favorite pie recipes from this countdown! Plus, I would never say no to 23 days of pie. Obviously.

 

 

Those are my favorites this week! If you missed my Confessions post on Thursday, you can find it here. I revealed a pretty ridiculous secret … it’s okay if you judge me. I judge me too. 😉

Hope you have the very best weekend!

 

Follow me on Instagram here!

 


Nov
2017

Confessions – Episode 1

categories: Everyday Life

Happy Thursday everyone! I’m here to join in with an awesome brand new link-up with Amanda from That Inspired Chick. This is the first week for Confessions where we can confess anything (and perhaps look for fellow understanding offenders?)! 😉

So here we go. I’m about to confess something that is a serious problem and drives my husband CRAZY. I’ve tried to stop but nothing has worked for me. I’m honestly embarrassed to admit this but I have an addiction to….

MY SNOOZE BUTTON.

 

 

You’re probably laughing at me or judging me (or both?) but really… it’s so bad you guys. When I was in high school, I used to have to wake up at 4:45 for swim practice before school. I would stay up late working on homework and then when my alarm would go off, I just could not do it. I started setting my alarm for 4:30 so I could press snooze a few times before getting up.

It became a terrible habit that I haven’t been able to break since. I kind of thought that everybody did it until I met my best friend and college roommate who not only bounds out of bed super early every single morning (to EXERCISE even!) but does all this on her first alarm. And then I met my husband who also is an anti-snoozer.

Once I’m up and awake, I can be a morning person with the best of them but it’s that initial wake up I cannot handle. Every night I tell myself I have GOT to get it together, use that extra time in the morning and stop with the snooze… but I don’t.

 

I saw this hysterical alarm clock on my facebook feed a few weeks ago and I thought to myself that I NEEDED to have it. The alarm doesn’t turn off until your feet hit the floor! I felt differently after I saw the price tag but seriously… still considering it. Haha!

 

I know it’s bad for me. I know I don’t get any real sleep during those 9 minutes of snoozing. I know it’s horribly annoying for my husband but I just can’t stop. Maybe I need some sort of 12 step program?

 

Tell me I’m not alone. Are there any other snooze button addicts out there? Or better yet, someone with some snooze button wisdom?

 

So now you know my dark secret. Looking forward reading all the other confessions!


Oct
2017

Friday Favorites {10.27.17}

categories: Everyday Life

Hey! Hey! It’s Friyay! My kids are on fall break for the next few days so we have been decorating pumpkins, filling our front windows with paper spiders and bats and cramming in all the pre-Halloween fun we can. Because all this silly stuff is what memories are made of. 😉

It’s hard to believe that this is the last Friday in October already! Next week we are officially in the holiday season and I can’t wait! Like always, I’m linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea for Friday Favorites!

one

So please don’t hate me for bringing Christmas shopping up already. Remember- I absolutely respect the turkey, but I wanted to put this out there before your list making is really started and it’s too late. A couple years ago, I found this awesome free gift app called Santa’s Bag. We buy for a lot of people every year, plus two of our boys and our nephew have birthdays right around Christmas. Keeping track of gifts always leaves me totally overwhelmed!

This app lets you enter a budget and divide it among your recipients. I even include everything for the season like birthday and Christmas gifts, Christmas cards, stocking stuffers, gifts to donate to local charities, etc. You add in the gifts, cost and what stores you plan to purchase so that you can sort your master list by any of those categories. I love that it easily helps me to budget and that I can walk into any store on my list and have a list of presents I need to buy sorted in front of me. You can mark the status of each gift: need to buy, purchased, and wrapped and sort that by list too!

This is a screenshot of my app dashboard with last years gifts still on it. This app is free (with a Pro version upgrade to archive all your gifts every year if you choose) and I have not found a better or easier Christmas gift app. I just love it!

 

two

This week we had our school’s annual Trunk or Treat and the kids had a blast. We decided to pass out candy this year and loved getting to see all the adorable kids in their costumes.

The boys were all different Ninja Turtles this year so I attempted the mom’s version of April (I was not busting out booty shorts but thank you) from the Ninja Turtles and Eli and I made Josh a last minute Shredder helmet to wear. I feel like we did pretty good for random things we had at home and an hour while the littles were napping.

Caleb and Eli immediately came home, dumped out their bags and sorted their candy. Does anyone remember doing this when they were younger? My sister and I would trade things we didn’t like. Haha!

 

three

Speaking of Halloween fun, I love getting in the spirit of the holidays with themed books for stories before bed. Room on the Broom is our very, very favorite Halloween story! We got a bunch from the library this year hoping to find a new favorite but none of them compared. This one is the best!

We just got these two new ones for Thanksgiving this year. Turkey Trouble and 10 Fat Turkeys are both super cute too. Great choices to add to our collection!

 

four

Everyone was off school yesterday and we were enjoying a quiet part of the afternoon while Reid and Luke were napping. I was working in another room for a little bit while the older boys were watching a show on their tablets. I walked back in to check on them and they had both moved from the separate couches where they were sitting to share that big chair and cuddle under the blanket together. Those two really are the best of friends. I love seeing them interact and am so grateful that God blessed us with them both so close together. I hope they always have this relationship as they grow.

Speaking of best friends, these two crack me up! When we were going inside from playing the other day, Luke was having trouble getting his shoes off and apparently Reid stepped in to help him. He would pull on Luke’s shoe, lose his grip and fall over and they would both laugh hysterically. They did it over and over. I couldn’t help but laugh and take pictures. 😉

 

five

Finally, a little funny to round this week’s favorites out. I saw this on Pinterest and was rolling laughing. This is SO me! We have all this amazing Halloween candy in the house and those Snickers bars are my weakness. The kids walked in the other day and this was exactly my face. Hahaha! I said to Josh, remember when I used to enjoy my stolen Halloween candy in peace? Those days have passed!

 

Also, if you missed my What’s Up Wednesday post this week you can find it here.

 

I hope you all have the very best Halloween weekend!

 


Oct
2017

What’s Up Wednesday {10.25.17}

categories: Everyday Life

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today I’m linking up with Shay, Sheaffer and Mel for What’s Up Wednesday!

 

///

 

What we’re eating this week

We have Parent-Teacher conferences and Trunk or Treat this week so we’re definitely putting my slow cooker to good use! I love tossing it all in while my kids are napping in the afternoon and coming home to a yummy smelling house and a warm dinner ready to go!

Sunday – Andrea’s Pulled Pork sandwiches + steamed broccoli

Monday – Slow Cooker Chicken Mushroom Stroganoff

Tuesday – Tacos! (My 6 year old has been obsessed with Taco Tuesday lately and I’m completely down with that!)

Wednesday – Hot Ham and Cheese (I’m going to slice up a loaf of french bread, stuff it with ham and sliced cheddar cheese, wrap it in foil and let it warm in my crockpot while we are at Trunk or Treat!)

Thursday – Leftover pork tacos!

Friday – Pizza night!!

 

What I’m reminiscing about

We went to check out a local museum last weekend when it was pouring rain and our plans for the pumpkin patch were foiled. I wondered if the stuff there would be too old for our kids but they really had a blast.

Josh played with the kids at the infrared light display for a really long time. They loved seeing themselves on the display and could not stop laughing hysterically. Even looking at these pictures makes me laugh remembering it. 😉

We hung out at the ‘take it apart’ exhibit for a long time too. Eli sat and worked on an old VCR and was pretty proud of his screwdriver abilities. I’m pretty sure my kids loved that area because it was a huge mess – just how they like it!

They made Lego cars, built bridges, and played with magnets all afternoon. This little guy refused to give up his safety goggles when we were ready to leave. Clearly he knew how adorable he looked in them.

 

What I’m loving

That it’s finally starting to feel like fall! The leaves in our trees are starting to turn and we’ve finally put the shorts away for good. (It was so ridiculous- the kids all wore shorts to their soccer games Saturday morning and the next day we were in sweaters and jackets.)

We had a great day at the pumpkin patch and have a porch full of pumpkins. (And yes, that is me inside the children’s barrel ride because he wouldn’t ride alone. Stop judging me.)

On our rainy weekend, the older boys and I made Halloween cookies in festive colors. Can you tell who frosted them all? I had to really let go and let them take over. 😉 I’m not sure if more frosting made it into their mouths or on the cookies.

I’m also loving a warm cup of pumpkin coffee on these chilly afternoons while I’m blogging or working on my Etsy shop.

 

What we’ve been up to

The end of the soccer season! My sweet Eli really came into his own this season and scored 3 and then 4 goals in the last few games. I just love his enthusiasm and wish I could bottle some of his energy (for my personal use).

We have one more rescheduled game to go and I think we will all be happy to have a little break from sports until after the holidays. I’m looking forward to having some our weeknights and Saturdays back!

We hit up Dunkin Donuts this weekend after Church for a fun Halloween treat! Their spider donuts were a huge hit. And have you had their pumpkin iced coffee? SO good.

 

What I’m dreading

Honestly, as much as I’ve been loving the cooler fall weather I’m really dreading the bitter cold that is soon to follow. I love getting out with the kids during the day when the older ones are at school and it seems anymore that is the only time I have to exercise. We’ve been enjoying our summer and fall mornings with a walk or jog and I’m sad that will soon be over.

 

What I’ve been working on

Josh is almost done with our fireplace renovation and I think it looks amazing. I’m so happy with it. We’re taking on the kitchen and dining room next and after accidentally getting sucked into a Property Brothers marathon a couple weeks ago, I’ve convinced us we should knock out a wall. So that should be fun. I’m pretty sure Josh is going to outlaw HGTV in our house now.

I’m also working on giving my Etsy store a little makeover and getting some new things up for the holidays. I just wish there was more hours in the day so I had more time to work! Those hours in between when the kids go to bed and I am too tired for my brain to function anymore somehow go by in a flash. Stay tuned!

 

What I’m excited about

The kids have fall break coming up so I’m excited to have more time with them this week. I’m hoping we can get outside, do some pumpkin carving, some pumpkin/apple baking and all that fun stuff. Not to mention just having a couple days that we don’t have to run out the door in the morning and can take it slow.

My four boys are going to be Ninja Turtles for Halloween and I’m pretty excited to get them in their costumes so they can finally stop arguing about which turtle they are each going to be once it is on their bodies (check out my instagram for that story).

 

What I’m watching/reading

I’ve been so terrible with making time for reading lately. I can’t even tell you a book I’ve finished in the last couple months which is so sad!

We haven’t even been watching that much lately either besides playoff baseball. I have so much to catch up on! We have been watching the new season of Survivor though. We never miss that one!

We’ve also been catching up on the new season of Will and Grace. I swear, those people never age. They look just the same as they did years ago!

 

What I’m doing this weekend

It’s the last weekend before Halloween so I am determined to find a corn maze for us! We hope to catch the Halloween parade and watch Caleb’s last soccer game of the season. We have family pictures this weekend too and I keep hearing there is a chance for snow. So that should be an adventure! 😉

 

What I’m looking forward to next month

This is an easy one. I’m excited to work on our thankful turkey, celebrate Thanksgiving with our families and keep our holiday traditions!

 

Bonus question for this month: What is your favorite Thanksgiving side dish?

I wish I had some super amazing secret recipe side dish to share but seriously my very favorite at Thanksgiving is traditional Green Bean Casserole! It has always been my favorite and I pretty much fill half my plate with it every year. I’m excited to see what everyone else has to say about this one!

 

That’s my What’s Up Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Keep up with us on Instagram here!

 


Oct
2017

Friday Favorites {10.20.17}

categories: Everyday Life

Happy happy Friday! It’s been quite a week in our house. I’m thankful that after this weekend, soccer and several other activities we have going on are over for awhile. I’m looking forward to having our evenings and Saturdays back for the holiday season!

As always I’m linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea for Friday Favorites!

one

We officially have two kids on two wheels! I love this sweet boy. He decided one night this week that he wanted to take the training wheels off his bike. I kind of dragged my heels on it because I love the freedom of being able to take all the kids out alone on walks/bike rides during the day. It’s hard to push a double stroller and help a child learn to ride on two wheels at the same time!

He really wanted to learn so we took them off expecting a slow and painful learning process like we experienced with our oldest. (He fell once while learning and then refused to get back on his bike for months.) But in typical Eli, he jumped on and learned in about 6 minutes. He fell a bunch of times but jumped up and hopped right back on. He is just fearless! I probably can learn a little something from him. 😉 Watching him learn so quickly and not get discouraged brought tears to my eyes. I just love his confidence and how proud he is of himself! Favorite thing about this week for sure.

 

two

I love cooking with my kiddos and I especially love making fun, themed food with them. One of our very favorite fun, simple breakfasts in the fall are these baked pumpkin donuts. I’ve been making them forever so I can’t even remember where I originally found the ‘recipe’. There’s only two ingredients and they are SO easy!

I have my kids mix a yellow cake mix and a can of pumpkin together. I absolutey love these Wilton donut pans and use the two I have all the time. We put the pumpkin mixture in a baggie or icing bag and squeeze the batter into the donut pans. (Don’t skip this and try to use a spoon or it will take you a few years to finish!) I bake ours at 350 for 15 minutes or until the batter is set. We dump them out of the pans onto cooling racks after they have sat for about 5 minutes and dust some powdered sugar onto the top.

 

I’m a huge donut lover and while these aren’t as good as old school donut places, they are pretty darn tasty for a baked donut made at home. Try them! You will not be disappointed. My boys love to have these for breakfast during the week with some scrambled eggs!

 

We also made these ‘Mummy hotdogs‘ Friday night for dinner. I sliced up the dough but otherwise my older boys completely made these all my themselves. They had fun putting faces on their mummies with ketchup and mustard! A simple, fun Friday night dinner during the Halloween season!

 

three

This week, I posted about the holiday traditions we keep with our kids. I loved seeing other people’s comments on what traditions they keep with their families! I loved that I wasn’t the only one who likes to watch all the Friends Thanksgiving episodes to get in the Turkey Day spirit. (I may have found my people. ;)) I was surprised at how many people paint pumpkins with their kids instead of carving them. That’s such a great idea! I think we might be trying that one out this year. Does your family have any fun holiday traditions? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

 

four

As I write this on Thursday, the Cubs are down 3 -1 in the playoffs against the Dodgers. I love baseball and the playoffs but what I really love is watching the playoffs with my husband! I feel like every couple has to have something in common that brings them together and helps them connect. For us, that’s sports! He’s my very favorite person to hang out with and we have had the best time watching our team this year!

Now anyone who knows me, knows that I bleed true Cubbie blue and never give up on my team. That being said, the Dodgers have proved that they are a tough team to beat and we have quite the uphill climb ahead of us! As you read this, it may be over for the Cubs this year – who knows. But either way, I’ve been loving all this extra time with my husband! He’s always my favorite. 😉

 

five

Story time at the library is a brand new favorite thing for us! Last winter when my twins were just a year old, we went through phase after phase of teething, colds, sleep regressions, etc. and I barely left the house with them. It was awful and I thought I was going to go insane! I’m hoping and praying that this winter will be different and am already looking for inside activities to keep us busy!

 

They sang and danced to the music, adored their name tags (haha!) and made some new friends. I’m hoping that this winter will be much better than last year and we can get out and have some fun! Any mamas with tips on what to do in the wintertime with young kiddos, please give me some tips!

 

Those are my favorites this week. A lot of fun memories with my crew! I hope you have a wonderful weekend with yours!

 

 


Oct
2017

Tuesday Talk – Holiday Traditions

categories: Everyday Life

Hi everyone! We made it through Monday!

This week instead of my usual Twin Tuesday, I’m linking up with Erika and Fancy Ashley for Tuesday Talk! I love Tuesday Talk because we can chat about anything and everything.

 

 

In July, we chatted about my favorite shows to binge watch with my husband

In August, I shared some random fun facts about myself.

And today, I’m chatting about holiday traditions. Maybe it’s because I’m the kind of person that likes to plan and hates change but there’s something about family traditions that make me feel all happy and cozy. Josh and I had very different traditions with our families growing up. After Caleb was born, we tried to keep the ones we loved and also create some new ones together. I hope that we can make traditions that create the same feelings for our children as they do for us. My momma heart hopes when they grow up, move away and someday have families of their own they will either continue some of these or come back and celebrate them with us!

Please comment and share with me some of your family traditions! We’d love to find new ones to add!

 

Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday and always has been! I love gathering with our family and taking an extra moment to thank God and reflect on all our blessings. Plus, it’s a holiday mainly about food so obviously I’m all about that. 😉

A few years ago, we started a tradition with our 3 year old Caleb and baby Eli. At dinner each night, we write down something that we are each thankful for every day in November until Thanksgiving Day. I cut this silly little turkey out of construction paper that we have used every year and we write one thing for each of us every day on a feather. I hang the turkey in our main hallway so we can all see it and be reminded of it daily.

Here’s our turkey from 2016.

And our turkey from 2015. I know we had one for 2014, but can’t for anything find a picture of it. I love to look back on things we were thankful for in this season of life. (2015 is also known as the year our thankful turkey was slacking – because we had one month old twins.)

 

 

This is a silly tradition just for Josh and I but every year I insist on rewatching all the Friends Thanksgiving episodes during the week leading up to Thanksgiving. Those episodes are some of my very favorites and they just get me in the holiday mood!

Thanksgiving morning, Josh and I wake up pretty early, drink coffee together and I make pies to take to my parents later in the day. When the kids wake up, I usually make homemade cinnamon rolls or breakfast casserole and we hang out all morning watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I love that time with my little family.

After we get back from my parents, we watch a Christmas movie together and let the kids stay up late. I usually do a little Black Friday shopping with my sister crazy early the next day and then we always put our Christmas tree up that evening. Since I love Thanksgiving so much, it’s a tradition in our family that we ‘respect the turkey’ and not get our Christmas decorations out until Friday. (I’ve caved on Christmas music though every year!) We spend all Friday afternoon and evening decorating and getting into the Christmas Spirit.

 

Christmas Traditions

 

Leading up to Christmas we do pretty typical family fun things. We see Santa, we drive around and look at Christmas lights as a family and try to jam pack in all the holiday family fun we can.

We always go to a local event with hundreds of beautifully decorated trees up for display. They have activities for kids, live music and a great parade with giant balloons. It’s freezing cold but so worth it! Especially because Santa brings up the end of the parade. 😉

We had a brand new tradition last year when we moved to our new house. One of our neighbors puts on a pretty spectacular Christmas lights show every evening that our kids LOVE to watch. We are constantly outside every night watching it. It’s one of our very favorite new traditions.

 

We get together with my family and have a Christmas cookie baking marathon day every year. The littlest child always gets to help make the thumb print cookies and I love seeing how that child has changed in photos over the years. It was my teenage cousin for so long, then Caleb, then Eli and now probably Reid and Luke and my niece.

On Christmas Eve, we go to Church and have lasagna afterward. Growing up my family had my mom’s famous lasagna for Christmas Eve dinner every year that I can remember. The first year that Josh came to Christmas with my family he told us that his family always had lasagna every year on Christmas Eve too! Literally the one tradition we share, so of course we had to continue it. 😉 I tried to use my mom’s recipe one year and it was just not the same. So now we go over to her house for dinner after Church instead. Haha!

When we get home on Christmas Eve, all our kids always spread ‘magic reindeer food’ all over our front walkway and yard. Our ‘magic reindeer food’ is oatmeal mixed with glitter that is a treat for the reindeer and guides them to our house. This is a fun tradition my mother-in-law started with Caleb his first Christmas and we have done it every year since!

 

Finally, we always make sure that all our Christmas celebrations are over by the 26th. We usually can’t celebrate with all of my family and Josh’s family on the 25th but plan to celebrate with them before Christmas instead. We have a Christmas season baby in our house so as of midnight on the 26th, our house turns into birthday zone and Christmas is over. I never, ever want Eli’s birthday to get lumped into our Christmas festivities so we keep this tradition in our house to make sure that doesn’t happen.

That’s it for our traditions. Now I want to hear yours! Comment with any holiday traditions you love to keep with your family!

Thanks for joining me for Tuesday Talk!

 

You can keep up with us on Instagram here!

 


Oct
2017

Friday Favorites {10.13.17}

categories: Everyday Life

Happy Friday everyone!

We’ve had a great week but a busy one around here. In true Iowa fashion, we started the week off above 80 degrees blasting the air conditioning in the car after school pick up for my first grader who was “SOOO hot Mom”. Now, as I write this on Thursday the high is 60 and all my kids are freezing. I’m refusing to turn the heat on based on principal but I may be caving soon with a low of 54 tonight…

Anyway, it’s Friday and I’m pretty darn happy about it no matter what the temperature outside is. We have a lot of fun planned for this weekend including a Saturday full of rainy, chilly soccer games. I’m down for whatever as long as I’m with this crew of mine.

As always, I’m linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea for Friday Favorites!

 

one

 

Because I seriously cannot get enough of fall this year, we went to check out a new pumpkin patch last weekend. You know those ones where you pay way too much money just for admission and then all the extra fun stuff and food is added to that. We have generally avoided those because activities for our family of 6 adds up quickly! This year we thought our kids were the perfect age to try it out.

You guys. We really pumpkin patched HARD and had the best time! We stayed the entire day and did every activity at least once.

Now that Reid and Luke are 2, it’s like they are full blown kids. These two just ran around doing just about everything the older boys did.

Corn mazes are always my favorite so we saved it for last. Right as we were getting ready to buy tickets (for a bajillion dollars), someone told us that this corn maze was so big it usually took over an hour to get through. My tired kiddos were NOT having it. 😉  An excuse to go again!

 

two

In my favorites post last week, I talked about genius meal planning/grocery tips that I got from other mommas. Taking their advice, I ordered groceries online for pick up on Friday from our local grocery store. It was seriously amazing. I drove home with a car full of kiddos and groceries and no grocery store meltdowns were had or packages of blueberries were thrown (I’m still not over it).

I caught a big sale on Honeycrisp apples which are my absolute FAVORITE this time of year. Look at the size of these apples they gave me! I swear I have a normal person sized hand, it’s the size of the apple that is making it look like a tiny toddler hand! I ordered 10 not knowing how huge they would be and we have been munching on them all week.

 

three

 

Some people had a great high school experience and some not so much but I have been blessed with some of the very best life-long friends that I met in high school. These two girls were in town this weekend and we were able to meet for breakfast. They were two of my best friends in high school, bridesmaids in my wedding and two of the people that know me the best in the world. They are family to me and I just love them! In typical mom life, I had to run out of breakfast early to make it to one of my kiddos soccer games but I was so happy to get to spend some time with my favorites! There aren’t that many people in my life that know me as Amy and not as Amy, Josh’s wife or Caleb, Eli, Luke and Reid’s mom. It was some much needed girl time!

 

four

 

Does anyone else have some serious Paw Patrol fans in their house? Eli used to be a huge fan of Paw Patrol a couple years ago and has now passed all his toys and books on to Reid and Luke who have taken over the obsession even though they have never actually seen the show. Haha! We got them these sweatshirts on a whim for their birthday and they love them! I tried to get a pictures of them with the sweatshirts on but I swear those two never stop moving. They are the cutest! We found Chase here and Rocky here.

 

five

 

 

It seems like it’s the season of brand new adorable babies everywhere I look! After bringing our twins home, we were in serious survival mode and were so grateful to our friends and neighbors for showering us with meals. I love to repay the favor to new moms!

If you want to bring a meal but just don’t know what to make, check out my post on my favorite meals to bring to new moms! They are all easy to put together and great for even picky eaters. Whenever I bring one of these, I always make double and keep one for us too! 😉

 

I’m excited to read the rest of the favorites this week! I hope you all have the best weekend!

 

I’d love to connect on social media. Keep up with us on instagram here!

 


Oct
2017

Friday Favorites {10.6.17}

categories: Everyday Life

Hey Friday. I’ve been waiting for you to get here! We had a great week and it seems to be finally feeling like fall around here! All the kids rooms are a giant mess because I got out all the fall clothes (Hello! It’s October!) and then we had to pull all our summer clothes back out. I’m ready to finally pack them all away!

Today I’m linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea for Friday Favorites!

 

one

At my mom’s group meeting this week, the topic was meal planning tips and tricks. Let me tell you. Some of these ladies have it figured out! I’ve always been a meal planner but lately with how crazy things have been, it’s become a chore I dread. I cannot seem to find a time of the week to consistently go to the grocery store and end up there during the weekend when I would much rather be home with my crew. I somehow always am running to several stores most weeks because I try to get everything for the best quality at the best price. I have started to loathe shopping for groceries.

 

A couple other mommas shared that they meal plan for roughly an entire month at a time (I usually only do a week at a time). Once a month, they shop for all the non-perishable items and pantry staples for meals for the entire month at one or two stores. The weeks in between they place smaller orders of fresh produce and perishables for pick-up or delivery at our local store and never have to worry about fitting in when to grocery shop on those weeks. They catch meat sales as they come up, buy a ton for the month, portion it out and freeze it. Oh and the best part is, only once a week (if that) do they have to bring their kids grocery shopping.

Seriously. Life changing advice for me. Today’s only the 6th of October so you better believe I’m going to attempt this for the rest of the month.

 

We all brought go-to recipes to share and this one was mine – Crockpot Enchilada Quinoa from Moms with Crockpots. It’s the perfect dump and go slow cooker meal when we have a busy night ahead. We top ours with cheese,chopped green onions and sour cream. It’s really good!

P.S. Anybody have any tricks for taking two year old twins to the store with me? We had a blueberry catastrophe one day and I am a little traumatized to try again…

 

two

 

This week, I blogged my last post for my Twin Birthday Series- a recap of our train themed second birthday party. My twins are obsessed with trains right now and walked around the party constantly saying “Choo Choo!” We had so much fun! With my older boys, the second birthday party is the last time I got to choose the theme so I definitely took advantage and chose something easy and fun!

In case you missed it, here’s the rest of my Twin Birthday Series.

Week 1: Best Twin Birthday Party Themes

Week 2: How to celebrate birthdays for two!

Week 3: Two year old Gift Guide

Week 4: Two year old Update

Week 5: Train Theme Second Birthday Party!

 

three

 

I’ve always been an Iced Pumpkin Spiced Latte girl in the fall. I’ve tried the Salted Caramel Mocha and it’s not really my thing. BUT this week I tried their new Maple Pecan Latte and I think it’s almost better than the Pumpkin Spice. I don’t even know what possessed me to try it because I’m not a big maple or a big pecan fan but it doesn’t even matter. It’s delicious. If you haven’t tried it, you really should.

 

four

 

Reid and Luke have recently developed a love of Daniel Tiger. They love playing with small toys that they can take places (Church, soccer games, in the car, etc) in their tiny toddler backpacks so got them this set of the Tiger family. They are completely smitten. Luke carries Baby Margaret and Tigey with him everywhere in his pocket. When he goes to bed they sit on his dresser and they are the first thing he grabs in the morning. #Momwin

 

 

We also got them this Daniel Tiger Family book which was the perfect companion.

 

five

I shared a little piece of my heart this week when I wrote about parenting my sweet middle child. We all have a child who we butt heads with more than others and I struggled for a long time to try to figure out how to be the mother that all my children needed.

Hardly ever do we get to really see God’s whole plan for us or can even attempt to understand it. He knew what our family needed when we didn’t and I think Eli was the one I most NEEDED. For me to become the mother He knew I could be. Each of my four children need different things from me and I learn different things from each of them. But my beautiful, strong willed, sweet, ‘most difficult’ child? Eli has taught me the most.

If any of you out there have similar struggles, I hope you will read and learn something from my experience that can help you with yours.

 

That wraps up my favorites this week! We have a weekend full of soccer and fall festivities ahead of us. I’m excited to hang out with my favorite people non-stop! 😉

 

Hope you have the very best weekend!

 

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