Friday Favorites! {9.1.17}

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. 😉  So I’m back, refreshed, linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea and ready to share my favorites on this beautiful Friday!

one

I’ve 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 don’t 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.

two

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. 😉

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.

three

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!

Four

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.

five

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.

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