Hey Friday. It’s about time you got here. Plus, it’s not just any Friday. It’s the first day of fall! Which means there is officially no reason for side-eyes from my husband for having our pumpkins out already.
Today, I’m linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea for Friday Favorites!
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My new fall candles are absolutely a FAVORITE. I have Autumn Wreath, Apple Spice and Spiced Pumpkin. They are all amazing but Autumn Wreath is my hands down favorite.
My husband finished our fireplace remodel last weekend just in time for me to fill the new mantle with fall decor. The weather here in Iowa is in the 90’s this week but looking at all our pumpkins makes me feel all sorts of cozy! (This fall print and a bunch of others are available for instant digital download in my Etsy shop!)
For more fall love, check out my Celebrate Fall post.I joined a group of sweet bloggers to bring you the best fall recipes, decor, ideas for family fun and more!
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We spent last Sunday celebrating our sweet boys that turn TWO tomorrow. We had a train themed party fit for two and they had such a great time. My party recap coming next week is the final part in my twin birthday series. This week, I posted a two year old update and shared pictures of our FAVORITE sweet birthday boys.
For our second birthday spectacular last weekend, Josh and I decided to serve Luke and Reid’s favorite things. So we had mac and cheese, hot dogs, grapes and lots of desserts. š I found this recipe for Mac and Cheese in the crock pot by Brown Eyed Baker and it was AMAZING. It tasted like total restaurant quality. I cooked the pasta early in the morning and mixed up everything in two crock pots before we left for Church. When we got back, everything was warm, gooey and ready for guests! It was the easiest party food prep I’ve ever done. (Easy party prep? FAVORITE!)
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We are so into the fight for post season baseball! As of Thursday when I write this, the Cubs magic number is at 8 (the number of Cubs wins or Brewers losses to get into the postseason). With only 10 games left after today and a big series with the Brewers this weekend, it’s getting down to the wire. So suspenseful and SO exciting to watch! Watching my team fight to play October baseball is always a FAVORITE. (Image via CSN Chicago)
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Has anyone watched Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race? Josh and I used to watch it years ago and we just started catching up with the season that is currently airing on the Food Network App. The seasons are short (usually only 5 or 6 episodes) but it is so addicting! A bunch of 3 person teams run different genres of food trucks and travel around the country competing to see who can make the most money. Like a typical reality show, there are random challenges they have to participate in and curve balls thrown along the way. We are loving it! Anything I can cuddle up with at night to watch with my husband that we both enjoy is a FAVORITE in my book.
Okay… that’s it for this week! I hope you all have the very best weekend. When I see you again… we will have two TWO year olds!
I don’t care what the calendar says, it’s officially fall in our house! My pumpkin candles are lit, we have already hit up the apple orchard and I’m searching out all the pumpkin spice in the stores. (And I’m excited to see what crazy stuff they’ve come up with this year!)
Today, I’m joining with some sweet bloggers to bring you a list that’s full of all the fall you’ve been looking for. Read on for some of the best recipes, ideas for fall family fun, decor, fall crafts and more!
Happy Friday everyone! I’ve been loving this short week. Let’s just pledge to make every week 4 days. š
Like every Friday, I’m linking up today with Erika, Narci and Andrea for Friday Favorites! This Friday though, since my birthday is on Sunday I’m going to talk Birthday Favorites and all those things I’m coveting this year.
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I’m always on the look out for cute coffee mugs. They had a huge selection that I loved when I was at Hobby Lobby last weekend but I could only find a couple of them online to link to – here and here. Coffee makes me human again in the morning and its the only reason I’m able to enjoy some alone time before my kids wake up. Fun mugs give me some cheer on these sleepy morning!
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I’m LOVE loving these cozy double hooded sweatshirts from Mindy Maes Market. I have a couple shirts from there that I love and I think these are adorable! I look at these sweatshirts and I think fall. The striped ones are calling my name!
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Does anyone else hear angels singing? Haha! I’ve been wanting an apple watch for awhile for a ton of reasons but mainly because of the fitness appeal. I use my phone right now for tracking steps/mileage but I don’t always have pockets or a place to keep my phone on me constantly. I also love that you can get texts and notifications through it so I would be able to keep my phone up and out of the way of toddlers who are constantly hiding it or locking me out of it!
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A few weeks ago, Josh set my beloved Big Bubba water jug on top of the car assuming I would grab it before getting in. I didn’t see it. We drove away and it flew off the car and cracked down the side. (We still disagree on whose fault this actually was. Cough…his…cough.) This is my second Big Bubba that has perished in a fall so I’m thinking it might be time for me to try something a little tougher. I’ve been looking at a lot of water bottles lately but the Hydroflask has my attention. I’m loving the mint and raspberry colors and that handle! I always have my water bottle with me so I need a big one that I don’t have to fill up a million times a day!
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Are these booties not the cutest? I love the color and the fact that they would go with everything.
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These Gap cardigans! I love that they are a bit longer than normal without being trench coat long. I’m too tall to look normal in trench coat long. The berry and gray color are my favorite. They are the perfect wardrobe transition for fall!
I’m noticing that all my birthday favorites have a cozy, fall theme. š I wouldn’t expect anything less.
Happy Wednesday! Today I’m linking up with Shay, Sheaffer and Mel for What’s Up Wednesday!
What We’re Eating This Week
Somehow this is one of those weeks that we have something going on every single weeknight. With back to school meetings, swimming and soccer practices we need some quick meals this week that can be ready for the kids to eat early and Josh and I to eat later once everything is done. I hate weeks like this but back to school brings all sorts of crazy. Enter slow cooker for the win.
We took the boys to a local ‘Farm Days’ festival last weekend and we had so much fun. We only planned to stay for an hour or so but ended up being there almost four because there was so much they wanted to do!
We ate a bunch of amazing kettle corn, went on a tractor ride, watched a tractor pull, visited the petting zoo and looked at all the beautiful old school tractors for display. We had the best time together!
They even had an old truck that looked like Mater. My boys saw that and they were sold!
What I’m Loving
My boys are enjoying the start of their school year so much! They are both loving their teachers who have done a great job making all the kids feel welcome and excited for the year.
Caleb has had a little bit of a rough time getting back into the school routine of early bedtimes and wake-ups and remembering what it’s like to have a tired brain at the end of the day! š A lot of his friends from his kindergarten class are not in his class this year so I think he just needs a little extra time to get used to having a new group around. (P.S. No one told me I was going to be super sad on the first day of school dropping him off- I thought that was just kindergarten! I was a mess! I already miss having him home all day.)
My sweet Eli of course jumped into school with both feet and never looked back. He told me I didn’t even need to walk him inside. This one amazes me constantly. I wish I had his no-stress, no-worry, just dive in attitude!
What We’ve Been Up To
Getting back in to the swing of school and fall sports! Josh is coaching both older boy’s soccer teams this season so Luke, Reid and I have taken up residence on the sidelines. Luke tried to impress us all the other day with how many soccer balls he could hold at one time. He walked around like this for a long time!Ā Haha!
We haven’t had homework yet since school started so we have been enjoying every minute of spending all our afternoons outside waiting for Daddy to get home.
These two are the best of friends and are so happy to see each other at school pick up everyday!
What I’m Dreading
I saw this and immediately knew this was meant for me.
I’m not really dreading anything… more like stressing about how to get it all done! The new school year brings about the start of school and Church activities for us and for the kids. It’s all good things that we love being a part of.. I just always get overwhelmed at the beginning of the year when I see all the deadlines and meetings looming. I used to feel this way at the beginning of a semester in college when I would get the syllabus and panic because it seemed like there was no possible way to get it all done. (It’s a character flaw. Haha!) It will all be fine.
What I’m Working On
I’ve been working on adding some new fall decor designs to my Etsy shop. These are only a couple of the ones I have listed. All of them can be customized to any color if you so choose. The fall signs are only $5 and available for instant download! Just send to a local printer like Walgreens, frame and display for a wonderful fall touch in your home! I also have a couple new family calendars added to the shop.
I’ve also been deep in party planning for our twins who turn two in just a few weeks. In case you missed it, Twin Tuesday this week was all about how to make birthdays special and unique for twins. My husband shared his expertise with us and took over the blog post for the day – he’s a dad of twins and a twin himself! (If you want to know what we are planning for Luke and Reid’s second birthday party.. check out my Pinterest boards!)
What I’m Excited About
I’m excited about getting to spend extra time with these two sweet boys while the older boys are in school. I’m also excited to see how much Caleb and Eli progress at school this year. I feel like the year before kindergarten has so many milestones and growth in different areas and I think my Eli is so ready.
What I’m Watching/Reading
Josh and I have started watching Friends From College on Netflix. There are 8 episodes in the first (and so far only) season and we are on episode 5. (Just got renewed for season 2 btw.) I love me some Fred Savage, Cobie Smulders and Keegan-Michael Key so I had some pretty high expectations. I’m honestly not sure how I feel about it. Clearly, we keep watching it so there is something about it we like – and parts of it are really, really funny. I’ll report back when we are finished with the season.
We’ve also been catching up with This Is Us. We started the season and never picked it back up when it came back from break in the spring. I feel like we are just about the only ones in the universe that didn’t watch religiously every week! We are trying to catch up before it comes back for the new season!
I just started What Alice Forgot and so far I really like it but I’m not far enough into it yet to comment more than that. š I finally finished Lauren Graham’s book Someday, Someday Maybe and I LOVED it. It was a light, easy read that was totally relatable for any women who has ever doubted her path in life.
What I’m Listening To
Now that both older boys are in school for part of the day, I’ve been going on nice long walks with Luke and Reid. I’ve been listening to different podcasts but have really gotten into AfterBuzz Tv’s post-tv show podcasts. They have a huge long list of shows they cover but I’ve been listening to the Suits aftershow and The Bachelor franchise aftershows. Loving them!
What I’m Doing This Weekend
My birthday is this weekend! So I’m hoping a lot of family time, a lot of relaxing, a lot of football (how nice of the NFL to give me kickoff weekend as a gift!), and a lot of yummy food. And coffee!
What I’m Looking Forward to Next Month
While I love the holiday season, September is my very favorite month of the year. I love September for cliche reasons like the start of fall with cooler weather and beautiful scenery, a new tv season premieres, football is back, the fight for the postseason in baseball and I’m in the mood for baking all the things apple and pumpkin. For us though, September also brings my birthday and our twins birthday. It’s just my very favorite month!
Happy happy happy Friday! And the Friday of a long weekend too! I missed Friday Favorites last week and took the week off the blog to get all my kiddos ready for school. We finally got every last one of our supplies, filled our panty and they were off! They have had a great start to the school year and I’m happy to have a routine again. Even though I sometimes feel like a shuttle service. šĀ So I’m back, refreshed, linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea and ready to share my favorites on this beautiful Friday!
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Iāve been working on adding some new fall decor designs to my Etsy shop. I have two up and two more in the works to list this weekend!
The fall signs are only $5 and available for instant download! Just send to a local printer like Walgreens, frame and display for a wonderful touch of autumn in your home! I also have a couple new family calendars added to the shop. And donāt forget! Anything you see in my shop can be changed to a different color to match your aesthetic if you choose! Fall decor that make my home feel cozy is always my FAVORITE. After working on all these signs, my heart belongs to fall. My pumpkins might just make an appearance this weekend already.
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Today makes it officially the birthday month of half of our family and my very FAVORITE month. My birthday is next weekend then Luke and Reid’s is 13 days after that. We do birthdays big in our house so I’m pretty excited! Pretty sure a cookie cake, zero cooking of the meals and a day filled with football watching is all I really want this year. š
We are throwing our twins a train themed birthday party in a couple weeks and party planning/decorating is my happy place (until the night before when I’m scrambling to get everything ready and wonder what in the heck I was thinking obviously). I may be more excited than they are.
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My husband has been coaching both our older boy’s soccer teams this fall. The first grade team is at the age where they are starting to really get the game and the rules – and more importantly understand where to kick the ball. The preschool team? It’s like herding a bunch of super adorable, easily distracted cats. No one knows which way to kick the ball and they are having a hard time understanding why you can’t just pick up the ball with your hands and run with it. I’m telling you… if you haven’t watched preschool soccer before, you really should. It’s the best thing ever.
Anyway. My husband bought these soccer goals off Amazon to try to give the little ones a direction to kick and the older ones a chance to kick on the goal and practice being goalie. They have been wonderful! We’ve even been using them in the backyard at home. If you have a soccer loving child- think about these! They fold up in a small bag for easy storage/transport!
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Last Friday Josh and the boys built the most epic cardboard box fort that we have ever built. Josh’s work had just received a bunch of new office chairs so he brought all the giant boxes home from work for the boys to play with. Together they built a giant castle fort complete with a drawbridge, towers, windows, etc. All of them played out in that fort all evening long.
We left it out for them to play with the rest of the weekend and then Sunday night before recycling was picked up, they all played Godzilla and smashed it flat. It was so funny! The joy of free cardboard boxes – FAVORITE.
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We have gotten a lot of zucchinis from our garden this year and we were loving it. I love to roast zucchini as a dinner side- sliced with just a little EVOO and salt on it at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes. We also put it in spaghetti sauces or make little zucchini pizzas with the big ones. I have to say though, now that we are towards the end of the season my family is a little zucchinied out (I know I made up that word). Until I found Shay’s recipe for zucchini bread a couple weeks ago. I made one loaf to try it out which was literally approved and gone in seconds. Then I started making some double batches of it to use up our zucchini! It tastes awesome and freezes great (we wrapped ours in foil and then put in a ziploc freezer bag). My first grader has loved taking it to school as a morning healthy snack. If you have any extra zucchini in your garden or not, this recipe is a must try! FAVORITE for sure.
And as a little bonus favorite, if you missed my Best Twin Birthday Party Ideas post and have twins or siblings that have a birthday close together you should check this one out. There are choices for two boys, two girls and even one of each.
Hope everyone has the very best long weekend with your people.
Happy Friday! This week kicked my butt. I’m pretty sure this has been me since Wednesday.
On the plus side, I was the crazy lady waiting outside Target on Saturday for them to open so I could finish school shopping in peace. At least that part is done! I’m ready for a chill weekend so we can relax and get ready for a week filled with back to school activities.
Today, I’m linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea today for Friday Favorites!
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Obviously this has to be my first FAVORITE of the week. For Mother’s Day this year, my boys got me the Cubs W flag that I’ve been (not so) secretly wanting. Finally, this week we hung our flag pole and our beautiful flag has gotten to fly several times already! This last month of baseball has been really exciting and the Cubs division is in quite a race. As of today, we are in first place but just by a hair and everybody is fighting to get to play October baseball! It makes me so happy to see this beauty flying! Go Cubbies! (Does anyone else see the clear rays from heaven shining down on it in this picture? ;))
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Josh and I both love to read (whenever we can squeeze in some time!) and we are determined to pass on that love of reading to our boys. My family always gifts books with toys for holidays so we have quite a collection of some amazing children’s books in our house. Check out our Top 10 favorites in yesterday’s post. We chose some bestsellers that are probably familiar to you and some that are lesser known but all of the picks will not disappoint. Some teach lessons, some are just for fun and ALL of them you will love as much as your kids!
Also, in this week’s Tuesday Talk I shared some random fun facts about me! If you are curious about my similarities to Chandler Bing, how I met my husband in a way I never imagined, how many sets of twins are in our immediate family and my current dream job – this post is for you! š
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When I was at Target on Saturday for some early-morning school shopping, I obviously had to run through the clothes. I found my FAVORITE cute shirts on clearance because Target is getting rid of the whole Mossimo brand! A version of this shirt has been a part of my weekday momiform almost daily for a couple years so you better believe I bought every color shirt in my size that was left. I’m so sad that they won’t be available anymore but I think my newest stash will hold me over for awhile. If you are a fan of these shirts too, run to your nearest Target and buy up all you can! I found them at Target.com earlier in the week and now they aren’t available online anymore to link to.
I hear that the new brands that will replace these are just as awesome – fingers crossed!
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As we are nearing the end, I can say this summer has been a hands-down favorite. This has been my second summer home with my kids. Last year, our twins were only 9 months old, needed two naps a day and weren’t walking yet so we were really limited in how we could spend our days. This year, everybody was old enough to have fun and hang outside without eating grass and chewing on sticks and we had a blast together.
Watching them enjoy their days and play all together has been such an amazing privilege. We’ve gone on countless bike rides, visited Daddy at work, enjoyed different camps, swim lessons and more back yard playing than one can describe!
Summer you have been so good to us this year! We are sad to see you go. What a difference a year makes!
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Finally, if you missed my Home Sweet Home free printable click here! It’s perfect to print and put in a cute frame from Hobby Lobby or Michael’s for your entryway or living room in your home. It can be printed 8 x 10 or 16 x 20!
Hope you all have the best weekend! I’m excited to read all the end of summer favorites today. See you next week!
One of my favorite things growing up was going to the library every week with my Mom during our summer breaks. I absolutely loved to read when I was younger (and still do- if I could just find the time to do more of it!). Some of my favorite memories are even tied to books I was reading at the time. My older kiddos love to read together and I hope to foster that love of reading with them like I had.
My mom is a teacher and firmly believes that gifts for birthdays or Christmas should be accompanied by a book. We have quite the collection going in our house and I thought I would share some of our very favorites. I love a book that starts a conversation or teaches them something in a way I wouldn’t think to do. Almost all these books do just that. This list is perfect for children that are preschool and kindergarten aged (3-6+).
The story is about a mischievous pig making a serious mess running through different colored things at a fair. The illustrations in this one are wonderful! It’s written in a very catchy repeating rhyme that my kids love to join in saying. This book has been a favorite of ours for years and it’s perfect for this age range. It’s funny because they have loved it for different reasons at different times. When they were three or four, they loved to shout out the color in the rhyme that the pig would run through. Now that our oldest is 6 he likes to jump in and read all the words he can.
One of our boys favorite things in the world is their Grandpa so this book was a obvious gift for them. It was wonderful for us because it tells a really funny story of a boy’s day spent ‘taking care’ of his Grandpa while his parents are away. However, it also subtly addresses the child’s fears about being away from his parents. They do fun things together and eat awesome snacks (ice cream topped with cookies and cookies topped with ice cream- my kind of snacks!). Then the worst part happens- his parents return and he has to say goodbye. My grandpa was also one of my very favorite people and this book reminds me of the grandpa-only fun we had together! If you like this one, check out How to Babysit a Grandma. That one is a favorite of ours too!
We are big Pete the Cat fans but this particular book especially. Poor Pete keeps losing buttons on his coat until he doesn’t have anything left but his belly button! I love this book because every time he loses a button they say “Does Pete cry? Goodness no! Buttons come and buttons go!” Our Eli is famous for making a huge sobbing deal out of something pretty small. This book has been perfect for us to try to encourage him not to fall apart every time something small goes wrong. We say “Do we cry? Goodness no!” š Plus, there are videos on Youtube to go along with Pete the Cat books that we love too!
This book has been wonderful for us to continue talking about kindness towards others. Poor Billy starts the story with 10 friends, but cuts in line, hogs toys and pushes people to slowly count down to zero friends! He realizes the error of his ways and begins to share and think of others until he can count all his friends back. It has sparked many conversations about kind behavior to friends at school and how our actions affect others. Plus, our boys love to count friends on each page!
This one is about a little girl pretty much having her worst day ever. Her peas are “TOO HOT!” and her bath is “TOO COLD!”. Even her toothpaste is “TOO MINTY!” As a parent I find this book hysterical because we have all been there with our kids. Seeing the behavior from a different perspective has been great for our boys. We all have bad days, this book won’t change that but it gives us an opportunity to talk about how to handle our emotions when we are super upset. The book ends with her mom telling her that everyone has bad days like that and tomorrow will be better. Love this!
This one is just total fun. There’s no lesson in this book (except maybe that dragons shouldn’t eat super spicy salsa) but it’s a favorite of ours nonetheless. The pictures are great and for some reason my boys just think it is incredibly hysterical that those dragons love tacos so much. It’s a bestseller so clearly, that must be a popular opinion. Whenever we get out the salsa for taco night, Caleb has taken to ask us “is that super spicy jalapeno salsa that dragons don’t like?”
Our kids love this one for the beautiful pictures of the animals and the silly words but I love it for the lessons. Mr. Duck loves being alone in his pond all day to do his own thing how he likes it. When his pond is invaded by other animals, he freaks out and makes them all leave after throwing a giant fit. Later in the story, Mr. Duck realizes that life is more fun with friends and compromises his quiet pond for a fun hangout two hours of every day. This book has helped us talk more about compromise, sharing and not losing our cool like Mr. Duck when someone suggests another way to play with something! Obviously that never happens in a house full of boys. Haha!
This is my favorite pick to read aloud to them because the story is hilarious. Each crayon that belongs to the little boy in the story, writes him a letter with their grievances. One is exhausted for being used too much, one is sad they are only used for outlines, one is embarrassed that his wrapping was torn off and he’s naked and a couple crayons are fighting over which one is the true color of the sun. I would imagine that our kids are still too young to catch all the jokes but they still think this book is hilarious. I can’t promise this one has a lot of life lessons but it sure has the laughs to make up for it. šĀ And if you like this one, definitely check out The Day the Crayons Came Home. That one is a favorite too!
I’m sure you have heard of this one because it’s crazy popular but I still had to put it on here as one of our very favorites. This book has helped us through the nerves of starting different school years and a new school. The sweet story of a momma racoon and her baby explains how a kiss from mom on a child’s palm will stay with them wherever they go throughout the day. It doesn’t go away until they are back together again (and a kiss from child to momma too!). It was a sweet tradition we did every morning last year and I’m hoping that my first grader isn’t going to be ‘too old’ for it this year! This one is a bestseller for a reason! Love it!
I could talk about this book forever. It is made up of pictures of real life families of all different kinds with colorful words that talk about how amazing and wonderful having a family is. They show big families, small families, families whose children look like their parents and those who look different, families with grandparents, single parent families, adoptive families and everything in between. We first found this one at the library and my boys asked so many amazing questions that I had never thought of. I just loved this book so much!
That’s our top ten favorites. I hope you love them as much as we do. What great children’s books are we missing? Are any of these a favorite in your family too?
Happy reading!
For my favorite children’s books about twins, click here!
Today I’m linking up with Erika and Ashley for Tuesday Talk! I love Tuesday Talk because anything and everything goes. Last month, I talked about my favorite shows to binge watch as a couple and this month I decided to have a little bit of fun. I have some new readers lately so I thought I would share some random facts about me. Join me in the comments and share something random about yourself! These kind of posts are always some of my favorites to read!
I have never, never (not ever) met a donut I didn’t like. I’m not really a fan of coconut things or nuts but when you put them on a donut, I’m totally down for that. š When I was in grade school and we were allowed to bring a birthday treat to school for the class, I always brought donuts. Every year. We have an old fashioned donut place in our city that makes the very, very best and that’s all I ever want for my birthday/Mother’s Day.
I’m a terrible public speaker because it gives me such crazy anxiety that I shake like a leaf. My high school speech class was one of the most stressful experiences in my life and I tried everything to get out of taking it in college even though it was required of all freshmen. I love the fact that THAT class was where I met my husband. We were partnered together by the professor on a group speaking project and I found myself drawn to him partially because he is kind and amazing and partially because he can speak confidently in front of anyone and rocked our project for the both of us.
I am a crazy huge Friends fan and speak in show quotes whenever I can. I became friends with someone who would later become my life-long bestie and maid of honor because of our mutual love of the show. Our freshmen year of college we stayed past finals in our dorm rooms so we could watch the series finale together and eat pizza. One of my favorite memories to date.
Speaking of Friends, (fellow fans will understand this) I have this terrible habit of ‘Chandlering’ (as we have come call it) when I am in social situations that make me uncomfortable. It’s this horrible compulsion to make repeated bad jokes to ease the awkwardness for myself. “Hi. I’m Chandler and I make jokes when I’m uncomfortable.” Totally me.
I have a degree in Biochemistry and worked in that field for 9 years before I quit my job to stay home after my twins were born.
You know that we have twins. But my husband is a twin and his twin brother also just had twins. That part is weird and cool but the really weird part is that all three sets of twins are fraternal not identical. Identical twins can run in families on the either side but fraternal twins run in families only on the female side (because hyperovulation can be an inherited trait you receive from your mother). How this all even happened fascinates the science side of me.
If you asked me when I was 7 what my dream job was I would have said a cheerleader. š If you asked me at 19 I would have said a doctor. At 27 I would have said a stay at home mom and now I would probably say an author.
Ever since I was little, my leg would hurt before it rained or snowed. My grandma used to have the same thing happen in her thigh and my dad in his knee.
I had four jobs at one time in college. I worked in admissions at a hospital, at a nursing home as a nurse assistant, a lifeguard and at a summer camp.
I worked at Subway in high school but now hate to eat there because no one knows how to make my sandwiches as good as I did.
Before I met my husband, I hated avocados, beans and steak and he has somehow gotten me to like them all. (Only black beans though.. I can’t even think about the others.)
Join me! Comment with a random fun fact about yourself!
Happy, happy Friday!!! What. A. Week. As of today, we have less than two weeks until school starts and I’m trying to get pumped up. I’m seriously considering quietly whispering “pumpkins… football… pumpkin spice lattes… scarves” on repeat to myself as I’m navigating the school supply aisle this weekend to get our last list of stuff. Totally normal.
Linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea today for Friday Favorites!
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On this week’s Workin’ It Wednesday post I shared some back to school tips that work for our family. My FAVORITE of course is our dry erase family calendar we have hanging in our kitchen. It’s the only thing that helps me keep it together especially during the school year. I sell them as digital files in my brand new Etsy shop and if you use code OPENING20 you get 20% off your order until this Sunday. PLUS, Walgreens is having a printing sale until tomorrow giving 40% off poster sized prints.
This shop has been a goal of mine for awhile but as any mommas of littles know, it takes awhile to find time to do something for yourself! So if you feel so inclined, visit my shop and favorite it to show me a little love.
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This is a huge FAVORITE. So, so proud of this one. On advice from Caleb’s eye doctor, he wore an eye patch over one of his eyes every minute he was awake for the first month of summer and part-time every day after that (and this was after wearing it for 4 hours a day since December). Apparently poor vision can be improved until 8 years of age and one of his eyes doesn’t see as good as the other. They said that by patching his ‘good eye’, we can strengthen his ‘bad eye’ and improve his vision enough that he may not need glasses anymore.
It SUCKED but he was such a trooper. He wore his patch in the pool, on bike rides and while it has been sweaty hot with hardly any complaining. (I was probably complaining more than he did.) At his appointment this week, they said his vision is completely restored and NO MORE PATCH. We have been celebrating!!
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This may be a controversial one. š When I was working, I used to buy the popular ‘life planner’ every year and I loved it. However, *spoiler alert* when I quit my job to stay home with my four our budget was obviously tighter. It pained me to admit but I just couldn’t justify the price anymore. Four kids are expensive! Last year I bought a planner I was unimpressed with and relied on a pile of post-it notes stuck to it. I heard about the new Recollections planners at Michaels a while ago, got fed up with my post-it pile this week with back to school on the horizon and went to check them out. I bought one and I LOVE it. They are the closest I have seen to the popular brand and the price is awesome. They sell for $29.99 – I used a 40% off and walked out of there with a great planner for $19.25. Score.
They are similar in that they are spiral bound, have plenty of notes and daily space, have stickers, a folder and a zippered pocket. I miss the personalization and some of the other cutesy features BUT these are an amazing price-conscious choice. Love it! I took a few pictures of mine in case you also have a desire for an adorable budget friendly planner!
FOUR
We spent our weekend visiting my in-laws and had the best time! We mini-golfed, enjoyed dinner outside in the beautiful weather, and spent our Sunday at a family picnic for Josh’s dad’s work.
Our boys got to sit in construction vehicles, race cars, climb on a mass amount of inflatables and slept the entire way home and until 8:30 the next morning. We had a great weekend but that last part may have been my favorite. š
FIVE
We started our first garden this spring and planted cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, cauliflower and peppers. We’ve definitely learned A LOT for next year but most importantly we have learned to scale back our cucumber plants. We planted four this year and they took off like crazy so we’ve been trying every recipe we can find to use them!
Our hands down FAVORITE has been this amazing cucumber tzatziki sauce that we put on a chicken wrap. It makes it taste like a gyro (minus the lamb obviously) and we’ve been having it every week since we tried it.
I cut up the chicken into fajita style pieces (long and thin), seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked it in a couple tablespoons of EVOO. Make sure not to overcrowd your skillet because we found it was the best when I cooked the chicken in two batches and the chicken got a nice crust on it. We put it on flour tortilla wraps with sliced red onion, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese and the cucumber tzatziki. SO yummy. (P.S. We found that this recipe made a ton so you may want to half the recipe or use the leftovers as a veggie dip. It was great for that too!)
There are my favorites on this beautiful Friday. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend soaking in the end of summer.
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Happy Wednesday! Today I’m linking up with Shay and Erika for Workin’ It Wednesday- Back to School style. I’m going to share the stuff that works for our family to get us back in the school groove. (I’m kind of shuddering even typing that. Where did summer go?)
FAMILY CALENDAR
It always seems like once the first day of school hits, our calendar BLOWS up. We have soccer practice x 2, swim lessons, homework and school stuff, PTA meetings, etc, etc. as I know we all do. What keeps it all straight for us is our giant dry erase calendar that we have hanging in our kitchen. I have these colored dry erase markers and use a different color for each of us. I write everything (including our dinner menu!) on it and look at it throughout the day. Even our older kiddos know to find their color on the calendar and ask what is going on that day.
I design and sell these calendars in my brand new Etsy shop and am running a shop opening sale this week. You will get 20% off your order with coupon code OPENING20 until Sunday, August 13th. Check out my shop and if you don’t see a calendar in a style or color you like, contact me here or on Etsy and I would love to design something for you.
PLUS- Walgreens is having a 40% off their in-store poster printing this week. SO (I’ll do the math) with both coupon codes, you will have a custom family calendar ready to go for back to school for under $20. Grab any glass frame of your choice (this is my pick) and dry erase markers and keep everyone on the same page! It was truly life changing for us.
SCHOOL CLOTHES
Our kiddos wear uniforms to school and we have not found better prices or quality than Old Navy. Last year we ordered several different brands and at the end of the year, only Old Navy shirts/pants held up for us. Their prices right now are awesome and stocking up on the next size in school uniforms is on my list for this week. (This is not sponsored in any way.)
LUNCHES
My first grader prefers to bring lunch from home everyday which is fine by me. Last year I made this list of food choices and I usually choose a couple from each category per week to alternate. No matter what is on the list, school lunch choices get old quickly so if anyone has any suggestions to add please comment! I’ll list what we pack below in case it sparks ideas for anyone else. (We are a peanut free school.)
‘Main Dishes’ – bagels with cream cheese, turkey or ham and cheese wraps, meatballs, pigs in a blanket, crackers/sausage/cheese
Last year when my oldest was in kindergarten, I was grossly underprepared for the mass amount of paper and projects that came home in his folder everyday. We created this Art Wall for our kiddos projects and it’s really worked for us.
Each of our older boys have 7 clips to hang something on and choose what they want to hang every day. When the clips are full, they choose what to take down to put something new up. Sometimes they really love something and leave it up for a long time and other times things only stay up for a couple days. When we take something down, we take a picture of the things we really liked, keep the really, really important things for their memory boxes and recycle the rest. It keeps stuff from overtaking our refrigerator and saves us from drowning in paper clutter. See my post here for what we used to make it.
Okay. That’s what works for us for back to school. I still have supplies to buy which is so unlike me. When we went to buy supplies last week (at a super random time of day), the aisles were still packed with carts and crabby parents. And I felt like I was going to get hives. Why do school supply lists make everyone so crabby? God speed to all you fellow parents and your school supply lists.
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